The Berserker’s Second Playthrough Novel - Chapter 82

Chapter 82
## Chapter 82: Disciples of the Relic Deity (4)

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The skull struck the floorboards with a heavy thud, tangled in its own messy locks. From the jagged stump of the neck, a frothing liquid bubbled over. Just like the previous encounter, the counterfeit person began to liquefy into a viscous, tar-like substance.

Eliminating one didn’t clear the air. The boarding house remained saturated with malevolent auras shifting through the darkness like ghosts. Kadim swiftly bolted the entrance and jerked his chin toward Duncan and Yulitan, ordering them to vacate the premises immediately.

The pair remained paralyzed by the sudden violence. Even so, the sheer weight of the impending ambush was impossible to ignore. Yulitan retreated a few steps, his voice trembling as he called out,

“H-hold on! I’ll get the city watch! Just stay alive!”

“…Forget it, they’d only be in the way. Just find a hole and crawl into it. Don’t go getting yourself murdered in an alley.”

“…”.

Duncan, displaying a quicker wit, grabbed Yulitan by the sleeve and pulled him away. The two shadows vanished from the side path and merged into the main thoroughfare. Standing alone by the threshold, Kadim rolled his shoulders, his neck popping with audible cracks.

He wasn’t sure how they had anticipated his arrival at the inn. Ultimately, it didn’t change his plans. If they hadn’t brought the fight to him, he would have hunted them down in the streets regardless.

‘The moment I step through, they’ll swarm. They likely have marksmen positioned for a crossfire…’

While he could parry a few strikes with his bare hands, there were nearly twenty killers waiting inside. Kadim decided on a more pragmatic, violent approach.

He tightened his grip on his steel and centered his focus.

As the crimson light began to pulse from the etching on his arm, he slammed his weight into the wood, splintering the door as it flew inward.

Crash—Boom!

Within the gloom, dozens of eyes shimmered with a murderous light.

And then, as if a dam had burst, a vertical deluge of steel descended upon him.

Whir—thud, whir—thud, whir—thud!

Bolts, throwing knives, and heavy iron skewers… A torrential storm of metal filled the doorway. It was a barrage designed to mince a man into nothingness.

Kadim didn’t flinch.

He threw up his forearm to shield his vitals, letting the projectiles bite into his hardened skin. In one fluid motion, he snatched a spinning dagger out of the air and whipped it back into the dark.

Whiz—thwack!

“…Argh!”

A choked gasp echoed from the shadows as a figure stumbled and fell. Though it was only a small blade, the force of Kadim’s throw had collapsed the target’s skull as if hit by a boulder.

The remaining mimics ignored their dying twin. They wore unsettling, synchronized smirks and spoke with one voice.

“Impressive for a sellsword. Tell me, was that trick a ‘gift’ unearthed from the buried halls?”

“…”.

Identical features. Identical tones.

Kadim looked down at his arm. The rugged, bark-like hide covering his limb was crisscrossed with deep gouges. He had hoped the ‘Demonic Woodification’ would be impenetrable, but these attackers possessed unusual strength.

He stared down the mob of mimics, every one of them wearing the face of Ilenia.

“I heard this place was vacant, so I dropped by. I didn’t realize the guest list was so long.”

“…”

“I suppose I’ll just have to clear the room.”

The air in the common room turned frigid with tension.

A streak of silver light served as the opening bell.

Slash—crack—shred!

The moment Kadim launched his axe, the shadows moved like a swirling fog.

Snap—thud!

The first mimic rolled under a bench to avoid the flying blade. Those behind it weren’t as agile; their heads were cleaved clean through. Another mimic lunged, a hidden blade sliding from its sleeve. Kadim deflected it with Blood Ghost and drove the sword straight through its throat.

Squish!

The blade sank into a pulpy interior, and a spray of black ichor coated the floor. Blood Ghost shuddered in his hand, seemingly disgusted by the taste of the artificial blood. Before he could even retract the weapon, a fresh wave of knives flew at him. Kadim turned his sword flat to catch the impact and raised the hilt high.

“Gack…!”

Thud, thud, thud!

The mimic still skewered on his blade served as a makeshift shield, absorbing the projectiles. As the volley slowed, Kadim adjusted his grip. With a brutal tug, he split the mimic’s head from the jaw upward. Dark fluids and gray matter erupted like a broken fountain.

Crack—thud!

Using a magnetic pull, he jerked the axe back in a wide arc. The cold steel pulverized the skulls of the ranged attackers before returning to his palm. Kadim used his sleeve to wipe away the clogging sludge, keeping the edge sharp.

Immediately, he felt new movement.

Attackers went low, slashing at his legs from both sides. Long furrows were carved into his wooden shins.

Grate—grate!

Kadim responded by bringing his heel down with the weight of a falling mountain.

Crunch—snap!

“Gah!”

The neck of the first attacker was crushed into a dozen fragments. The one beside it took a blade to the crown, black blood geysering upward. As the circle closed in, Kadim began kicking the heavy oak tables.

Bang—smash, bang—shatter!

“Urk!”

“Guh!”

Driven by his inhuman strength, the tables became battering rams, pinning the mimics against the walls and liquefying their internal organs. They let out brief, wet screams before vomiting black bile and melting into the furniture.

In a matter of seconds, the crowd was decimated. Yet, ten remained.

“Heh… you’ve got spirit, mercenary. But how much stamina do you have left?”

The mimics shifted their formation. Half moved into the shadows to stalk him, while the others maintained a steady rain of steel from the perimeter.

If he tried to engage one, they would cycle out, keeping him in a constant state of defense. They threw darts even as they retreated, feinting and baiting to create an opening. Their coordinated movements were slowly tightening the noose.

Thwip—slice! Grate, thwip—slice!

“Look at you, flagging already. Do you really wish to suffer through this?”

“…”.

“Surrender the silver coin… and we might grant you a quick end.”

A violent throb pulsed behind Kadim’s eyes.

If he surrendered to the urge to drink demon blood or unleashed the power of the Hydra mark, these creatures would be dust in heartbeats.

But Kadim held back. That shortcut was a path to a different kind of death. If he relied on such corruption for mere ‘pests’ like these, he would lose his mind long before his quest was over. He needed to win on his own terms.

First, he needed to control the environment. Standing in the center of the hall allowed them to swarm him from all sides. He needed a choke point—a corner where he only had to face one direction…

Crash—smash!

…Actually, he decided to just annihilate the entire space.

“Raaargh!”

Kadim erupted forward like a starving predator. The mimics, who had been preparing to back away, froze in shock. That split second of hesitation was their undoing.

Rip—crack—sever!

His strike began at the hip of the first, tore through the ribs of the second, and ended by decapitating the third. Their lights went out simultaneously. The sword hummed with a sickly vibration as it reluctantly tasted the fake blood.

Vrrrrm—

Kadim pivoted in a massive arc, discharging a wave of dark energy at the remaining enemies.

BOOM—whoosh!

The strike was so powerful it carved a line through the stone-and-mud wall. Because it wasn’t fueled by true blood, the power was only a shadow of its peak.

But it was plenty for the survivors.

“…!!”

Crunch—thud.

Heads fell like overripe fruit from ruined necks. Dark tresses fluttered to the ground as the headless torsos dissolved into pitch. The sound of melting matter blended with the groaning of the broken door.

Creak, creak—

A draft blew through the shattered ruins of the inn.

All twenty mimics were neutralized. Only the lone figure, drenched in black fluids, remained standing like a monolith.

As the magical glow faded, the wood-like skin receded, leaving Kadim human once more. He began cleaning the stains from his clothes. Some might have wondered why he killed them all without asking questions, but he hadn’t been reckless.

He sensed one remaining life force beneath the floorboards. It hadn’t moved during the entire skirmish—the puppeteer, most likely.

But he was mistaken.

As Kadim descended into the cellar, his expression soured. The figure hidden in the dirt-floored basement wasn’t a mastermind.

It was a woman with amber eyes, her mouth stuffed with a rag and her limbs bound tight.

“Mmph! Mmmph!”

“…”.

Yet another version of Ilenia.

Kadim raised his axe, prepared to end it. However, unlike the monsters upstairs, this one didn’t lunge. She didn’t snarl. She simply squirmed in terror, trying to crawl away from the blade.

After a moment’s pause, he used the tip of his knife to cut the gag. Ilenia gasped for air, her bound hands shaking as she held them up in plea.

“Hah! P-please! Don’t! It’s me! Mercenary, you know me! I’m Ilenia, the scholar from Galen University! We were in the ruins together! I gave you the stone tablet, remember? I asked you to find the lost site and bring back the knowledge…”

“…”.

Her reaction was perfect. Too perfect. Kadim watched her with narrowed eyes. Ilenia cowered under his gaze.

The trial to determine her life or death began.

“Explain this. Why are you tied up, and why is the floor upstairs covered in your clones?”

“I… I don’t know! I was traveling to the University, and everything went black. I woke up in the dark…”

“…”.

“Where are we? Are we in Galen? I have a research deadline… I have to submit my papers today…”

“Why didn’t you fight back with your artifact? You used it to shred maps and kill enemies the last time we met.”

“A-artifact? I tried, but those… those things that looked like me took it. Did you see it? A glass blade with just a handle? If I lose that, my career is over…”

“…”.

She continued to ramble in a panic. Kadim didn’t untie her; he simply loomed over her. Ilenia’s eyes flitted about, searching for some way to prove her identity.

Clutching his axe, Kadim barked a final question.

“In the ruins we explored—what kind of guardians did we face?”

“What? Why are you asking that now…”

“Answer. Now. If you lie, I’ll take your head.”

He lifted the heavy axe to emphasize the threat. Ilenia shrieked, her face turning ghostly pale.

“Stone warriors! They were made of carved stone! Please, I’m begging you! I didn’t do anything wrong!”

Kadim swung the axe without a moment’s delay.

Squelch—crack!

A spray of thick liquid erupted from her chest. Her ribs shattered, and the heavy blade buried itself in her vitals. Ilenia went stiff, the air leaving her lungs before she could even cry out.

Then, her eyes rolled back into her head, and her face distorted into a grotesque, wide grin.

“How. How did you catch me again?”

“…”.

“It was a flawless act… Did you just get lucky?”

It wasn’t luck.

The ruins had been guarded by ‘clay’ constructs. He had intentionally lied to a previous mimic, telling it they were ‘stone-carved’ to see if the information would spread through their collective mind. This one had fallen for the trap.

He twisted the axe deeper into the wound. The mimic hissed in pain. Kadim’s lip curled in a snarl.

“I’m done with the games. Tell me what I want to know before I dismantle you piece by piece. Who are you, how did you take her face, and why do you want the silver coin?”

“Heh… and how will you force me? These bodies are just echoes. You have no idea who we really are. How will you find us, you primitive brute?”

“I’ll find a way. If I have to gut every person in this city to find the original, I will.”

The mimic tried to mock him, stretching its mouth into a jagged line. But the agony in its chest and the absolute coldness in Kadim’s eyes silenced the laughter.

It looked at him with a fading, curious expression.

“…You really are meant to die. Speaking of such slaughter so easily… you truly are the ‘Root of Calamity.’ You’ll bring more blood to this world than any demon ever could…”

“…”.

“Heh… but aren’t you forgetting something? You won the fight here… but did you check on your little friends? Are you sure they found a good place to hide…?”

It wasn’t a warning; it was a taunt. Kadim looked toward the stairs.

“…They’ve been taken?”

“Keh heh… you’re sharp! Yes! If you don’t want to see their heads displayed in the town square, bring the coin and end your own life…”

“I’ll take the head and throw the rest to the hounds. No sense letting good meat rot.”

Kadim replied with a voice as dry as bone.

The mimic went silent. It stared at him, completely stunned.

For a brief second, it wondered if the artificial body it inhabited was actually more human than the monster standing over it.