The Berserker’s Second Playthrough Novel - Chapter 88

Chapter 88
Chapter: 88

Chapter Title: Followers of the Forgotten God (10)

—

An infinite void of shadows, a plunge without a bottom.

Whish—crack!

The edge of the weapon sliced the murk like a crimson bolt. The creature unfurled its wings to break its velocity and dodge the strike. Kadim utilized the force of his swing, pivoting his frame mid-air to deliver a rising axe blow powered by that very rotation.

―――――Screeech, cra—ck!

* Kyaak!

The blade bit deep into the wing’s shoulder, shearing away clumps of meat and plumage. The beast faltered, spinning out of control for a heartbeat. However, the nearby ooze surged forward almost instantly, sealing the cavity in its wing.

The creature contorted its body to evade the returning heavy blade.

Whirrr, snap!

Having regained its balance, the beast folded its wings and plummeted. Both the high priest fused to its neck and the avian head shrieked as one.

“Perish, Demon Slayer!!”

* Kyaak, kyaak!

Screeeeech—

Claws sharp with lethal intent tore through the air. Kadim crossed his blade and axe-head, bracing to parry the massive force. Yet, his own weight was negligible compared to the titanic beast; he couldn’t absorb the sheer inertia of the pounce. The impact hurled him backward.

―――――――Qua—bang!

Kadim slammed violently against the stone surface. The collision fractured his skull and shattered several ribs, but the Hydra Tattoo pulsed, knitting the breaks instantly. Before he could breathe, the claws struck again; he dropped down the wall to escape. The talons only managed to gouge the masonry.

Kagagagagak—!

Vrooooom—

Air roared past his ears as gravity claimed him.

Engaging in aerial combat without the gift of flight while the foe possessed wings was a losing game. Kadim drove his axe into the stone to friction-brake his descent. The stalking predator reached out with its talons, trying to crush him against the wall.

* Kyaaaaak!

Qua—bang!

He wrenched the axe free and leaped toward the far wall to avoid the strike. Infusing his legs with blood essence, he cleared the nearly 30-meter gap with ease. The creature shot past him toward the depths but spread its wings, carving a wide arc to climb back up with terrifying speed.

* Kyaaaaak!

Kadim stood his ground this time. Positioned above the rising enemy, he saw a perfect opening.

Qua—bang!

Using the wall’s cracks as starting blocks, he launched himself downward. Noticing the descending red shadow, the bishop let out a panicked cry.

“What…?”

―――――――Splu—ck!!

The axe buried itself in the beast’s chest. Regardless of its scale, no living thing could ignore such a focused impact. The ribcage collapsed like a hollow shell and tore open, leaking thick, dark fluid.

* Kehak, kahahahaak!

Kadim wasn’t just aiming for a wound. He had noted a metallic, rod-like object lodged within the beast earlier. He grabbed onto the tumbling monster, digging through the mangled chest cavity. Eventually, his fingers brushed against something solid and circular buried in the meat.

Kadim clenched his fist around it and ripped it out.

Qua—duk!

* Kyaak, kyak!

Immediately, the flesh of the avian beast began to dissolve in rivers of sludge, and the very air of the pocket dimension flickered and compressed.

It was the natural consequence of seizing the “Silver Coin of the Fallen Kingdom,” the linchpin of the summoning and the spatial warping.

“You thief! What do you think you’re doing?! You refuse to return the holy artifact and now you pillage more?! Return it this instant!!”

The bishop screamed in a fit of rage. As the flesh sloughed off, the monster’s skeleton was revealed down to the hips. As it melted away like hot wax while tumbling through the air, it was a gruesome sight. Kadim paid no mind to the priest’s rants and moved to grab the next coin.

* Kyaak, kyaak!

Roarrrrr—!

This time, he was thwarted. Ebon flames suddenly burst from the crow’s hide, engulfing the torso and wings in a heartbeat.

A suffocating heat saturated with corruption billowed out. Kadim’s skin bubbled and turned to soot upon contact. The tattoo worked overtime to heal the damage, but staying would mean being reduced to cinders. Kadim grunted and pushed away.

“Where are you going, Demon Slayer?! Give back the stolen prize!! Otherwise, this holy fire will consume your body until not even a splinter of bone remains!!”

* Kyaaaaak, kyaaaaak!!

The fight had become complicated. Wreathed in fire, the crow was far more dangerous to approach. Close quarters were suicidal, and throwing his axe only took out chunks of meat without ending the threat. Avoiding the claws and the heat left him with few openings.

At that moment, a sharp instinct pierced Kadim’s consciousness.

The strength of the Hydra Tattoo was fading. He required fresh demonic essence to sustain the struggle. And he carried a trump card capable of obliterating the foe and ending the conflict.

The blood that had unlocked his past life’s strength.

The essence of the high demon Pebilatus.

“……”

Kadim’s eyes narrowed. His hand had instinctively moved toward the flask containing that specific blood.

* Kyaak, kyaak!

Roarrr—!

Waves of fire cascaded from the crow’s wings. Shielding the canteen with his body and curling inward, Kadim’s back was charred and torn open by the heat. However, the flask remained protected.

Kadim fought back the urge and chose logic over instinct. It was a craving born of battle-lust; this burning bird wasn’t worth such a rare resource. He tucked Pebilatus’s blood away and instead consumed a mid-ranking demon’s blood from Soltana.

The liquid revitalized his spirit and renewed his strength. The tattoo still held a spark of life. Kadim steadied his breath, gripped his steel, and flew forward like a projectile.

Qua—bang!

The creature didn’t flinch. It saw an opportunity, opening its wings to meet him. It figured a few burns were a fair price to pay to catch and incinerate the warrior.

That assessment was a fatal error.

The damage dealt was far more than a “minor” burn.

―――――――― Splorgak—!

The red steel carved a massive furrow from the jaw down to the stomach. The leathery skin ripped like wet paper, and the internal slime erupted like a bursting levee.

* Kyaak! Kyak!

This was far more devastating than the previous axe strike. With the tattoo and the new blood buff active, Kadim’s power had surged.

The slime might have mended the wound if given time, but Kadim offered none. He dove into the opening, hacking at the interior. By pulling another coin, he caused more of the creature’s form to disintegrate, leaving the beast wobbling in the air.

“Urk! Graaaah!”

The inferno couldn’t reach him while he was inside the monster. He had bypassed the burning shell. The dampness of the slime acted as a natural shield against the heat.

Crunch, crunch—

* Kyaaaaak!! Kyaaaaak!!

After he had gathered four or five of the coins, the crow was stripped of its flesh. Psssh—the fires died out as their fuel vanished. The skeletal remains lost their buoyancy and began to spiral toward the bottom. The illusion of the endless fall broke, showing a floor rushing up to meet them.

Vrooooom—

“You devil!!! Demon Slayer!!!”

Despite the hopeless plunge, the bishop refused to let go. Clinging to the bones, he tried to force the skeleton to wrap around Kadim in a death grip. He intended to turn the remains into a tomb for them both upon impact.

That plan failed.

Snap. The monster’s ribs snapped like dry twigs. Kadim broke through the bony cage with his bare hands and lunged out. Using the falling debris as a platform, he kicked off to propel himself toward the safety of the wall.

He slammed his axe into the surface to halt his momentum.

Quagagagagagak—!

“Goodbye, mad priest. It’s a shame you weren’t useful in stopping the true threat.”

“……!!!”

Only the skeletal wreckage and the screaming bishop were left to face the full force of the fall.

―――――――― Quaaaaang!!!

They collided with the ground in a spectacular crash, shattering stone and throwing up a massive cloud of grit.

Kadim landed lightly on the floor. The wall he had used to slow himself shifted, becoming part of a ceiling. With the magic broken, the area reverted to a simple chamber of brick and mortar.

Scanning the room, Kadim’s brow furrowed. Something felt wrong. The bishop’s impact should have left a bloody mess, yet there was only a pile of dust and charred bone fragments. Feeling a sense of unease, he walked toward the center of the wreckage.

His gut feeling was correct.

Instead of a broken body, there was a swirling black pit in the floor, leading to another location.

Vroooom……

…Had he managed to warp the space with a hidden ritual at the last second?

He couldn’t have traveled far.

Kadim gripped his axe and jumped into the dark void without a second thought.

“Shadow of the truth that sees further than the light… Bestow upon your servant your might, your might, your might……”

The leader of the Night Raven faction pressed his palms together in frantic prayer. He had never prayed with such desperate sincerity in his entire life.

He was a product of the fading Forgotten God cult. Worse, he possessed no natural talent for the priesthood. Under normal circumstances, he would have spent his days as a servant to his superiors.

Whether by luck or curse, his ambition was far greater than his station.

When a vision appeared, the cult saw it as a sign of a savior. He, however, saw it as the root of ruin and gathered like-minded dissenters to create his own group: the Night Raven sect.

By partnering with university council members and gathering artifacts, he had laid a foundation. But hearing that the source of the disaster held many relics gave him a reckless idea.

“A chance to solve two problems. Kill the source and take the treasures. Just like with Councilor Vittorio, send the double of that woman in the academy… And bring out the ‘Dark Beast’ as a backup……”

The plan wasn’t inherently flawed. It failed for only one reason.

The disaster’s source—the “Demon Slayer”—was far more powerful than any projection.

Losing the doubles was acceptable, but losing the cult’s ultimate weapon, the “Dark Beast”? This wasn’t a man; it was a walking catastrophe. If he had known the Slayer’s true strength, he never would have engaged without a vast arsenal of relics.

Deprived of his artifacts, the bishop was powerless. Even his attempt to take Kadim with him to the grave had failed. Falling through the air, all he had left was a final, desperate plea.

“Ancient darkness, whose name is lost to time, grant your servant your might, your might, your might……”

Was it luck, or did something hear him?

Vroooom……

A dark portal suddenly tore open in the floor beneath him. A basic warping spell.

It was a sign. The Forgotten God had answered. The bishop nearly cried with joy. Relief and newfound faith washed over him like a wave.

“Bless the Forgotten God, bless the Forgotten God, bless the Forgotten God……”

But this was no divine reward…

As he transitioned through the portal, the bishop realized something was terribly wrong.

“……Eh?”

His body was flying upward, inverted. The speed of his fall had carried through. A solid brick ceiling was rushing toward his feet.

So it was that the bishop met a bizarre and sudden end: exploding out of the ground only to be flattened against the roof.

―――――――Quajik—!

He was crushed like a piece of fruit. Blood and fragments of his bird mask sprayed everywhere; red liquid began to drip from the ceiling like rain.

“Eek!”

“Urk!”

The tunnel below was instantly painted with gore. Perun and the warriors of Atala, who had been waiting there, were splattered by the sudden mess.

Dazed by the event, they could only stare. They didn’t even think to wipe their faces as they looked at the mangled remains and hanging limbs stuck to the ceiling.

Then, hearing a noise, they looked toward the black portal on the ground.

A massive figure holding an axe vaulted out.

“Wait, it leads here? Where’s the priest?”

Kadim hit the ground with a perfect roll. Perun and the Atala fighters simply pointed upward in silence.

Looking at the smear that used to be the bishop, Kadim offered a dry remark.

“……I guess his god forgot to mention that the floor was actually the ceiling.”

“……?”

The warriors just stared back, completely lost.