In the raging sea of fire—
In an instant, Wyald's massive maw was covered in blood. The pain was unbearable. He saw the spiny, thick stalk on the ground and felt both regret and even greater fury!
He immediately gathered his strength, rose, reached out, and grabbed the spiny stalk, trying to reattach it.
Nidhogg was just in the middle of his backward leap. He activated Bloodhound's Step again to lunge forward, executing a continuous change of direction in midair. He suddenly struck Wyald's shoulder!
THUD—!
The Lordsworn's Greatsword pierced the giant eye on Wyald's right shoulder, impaling it. The giant eyeball burst, spraying fluid!
Wyald was struck again in the blink of an eye!
He threw the spiny stalk to the ground. His bloody, wounded right arm and his relatively intact left arm both grabbed for Nidhogg.
Nidhogg slipped through the gap between the two long arms.
His Bloodhound's Fang and Lordsworn's Greatsword danced and slashed. The sword arcs were like rings. First, he shattered the vertical eye in the center, then he destroyed the giant eye on Wyald's left shoulder.
The entire process was as fast as thunder, unstoppable!
Thus, all three giant eyes beneath Wyald's neck were destroyed. His right arm was also mangled in the chaos.
For a time, Wyald was covered in blood, quite miserable. He no longer had the majesty and composure he usually possessed.
At this moment, Wyald didn't know whether rage had overtaken him or a fear he had long forgotten.
As a result of these attacks, Nidhogg was genuinely threatening his life—so much so that he could no longer maintain his former calm and had abandoned his creed of carnival pleasure.
Regardless, kill him first and survive!
Only by surviving can anything else matter!
Wyald frantically swiped his arms, trying to grab the air but failing, like trying to catch a mosquito buzzing in his ear!
Nidhogg evaded the grasping of those two huge arms every time. Even when evasion was impossible, he could use Bloodhound's Finesse to escape dramatically.
Suddenly, he charged onto the top of Wyald's giant ape body!
Wherever he went, his long fangs and greatsword never stopped slashing and cutting, leaving wounds of various sizes, carving up the neck and causing agony.
Wyald, controlling the human half atop the giant ape's head, could only watch as Nidhogg drew closer and closer.
So he suddenly grabbed at his own face with both hands, trying to crush Nidhogg to death at the last moment!
But Nidhogg could already read Wyald's chaotic thoughts by now. He warily retreated from close range.
Wyald's palms missed again!
FWOOSH—!
Nidhogg instantly circled to the back of Wyald's giant ape body.
His two swords struck together. Silver light danced. Amidst a series of cracks, he severed Wyald's human half from the giant ape's body!
"You... you bastard!"
Wyald's human half fell through the air, cursing Nidhogg through gritted teeth, trying to suppress the panic in his heart.
Nidhogg sprang from the giant ape's body, leaped directly onto Wyald's human half, stomped him down, and sent them both plummeting into the sea of fire below.
"What are you—?"
Before Wyald could finish, Nidhogg lifted him with his greatsword and, with a grunt, pinned his human half to a broken wall.
He immediately raised Bloodhound's Fang and sliced Wyald's eyes, rendering him completely blind.
Then he used Bloodhound's Fang to continuously carve Wyald's body, slicing flesh and skin from him piece by piece!
SCREECH—!
Wyald cried out in pain.
The connected giant ape body, having lost its three giant eyes and the two human half-eyes, was also blind.
With its eyes not yet regenerated and dark, the giant ape body hastily followed the direction of memory, seeking the human half, trying to grab it back.
If it wasn't retrieved in time, such wounds wouldn't heal!
But the giant ape body immediately tripped over a broken stone pillar. Its entire body lost balance and pitched forward!
CRASH—!
The giant ape body fell into the boundless flames.
This time, the flames quickly climbed up its fur and burned. Collapsed houses crashed onto its body, further spreading the fire across its broad back.
The furry giant ape, as it burned, looked like an incomparably thick pillar of fire collapsing into the dark night!
Beside it, Nidhogg focused on carving Wyald's body with Bloodhound's Fang.
At this moment, he didn't know whether he was doing this to completely kill Wyald or to torture him.
Wyald howled from the dual pain of his human half being carved and his giant ape body burning.
No matter how fast he regenerated, Nidhogg could always carve more flesh and blood from the human half, and the flames could always burn more of the giant ape torso.
Finally, at a certain point, Wyald could no longer endure.
He gave up regeneration in the midst of intense pain and, naturally, sacrificed his life.
Regeneration was an extremely powerful ability, but now it had become a curse.
He didn't revere carnival hedonism as much as he had imagined. Otherwise, he wouldn't have endured so long under the carving, torture, and burning before choosing death.
The next moment—
BOOM—!
The giant ape body suddenly exploded like a balloon!
Countless vengeful spirits burst forth, stirring up a whirlwind of flames. With shrieks and a wave of thought, they plunged into the vortex of thought deep in the underworld.
Nidhogg also stopped carving.
What he had pinned to the stone wall with his greatsword was no longer the terrifying, long-faced strongman, but a shrunken, dead old man.
Nidhogg gasped sharply.
Soon after, the three Lone Wolves returned to him.
This meant that the remnants of the Black Dog Knights had also been eliminated.
「Quest」 Eliminate the Threat of the Slug Count's Forces (Completed)
「Quest」 Eliminate the Black Dog Knights (Completed)
「Rewards」
Level Up: LV 69 → LV 71
Acquired: Green Amber Medallion +1 (Increases maximum Focus)
Acquired: Golden Seed
Acquired: Sacred Tear
Acquired: Ghost Glovewort (All types, all general use)
Acquired: Smithing Stones (All types, all general use)
Nidhogg withdrew his two longswords and walked out of the fire.
After confirming that the Black Dog Knights in the street were truly dead, he left and vanished into the darkness before other people came to investigate.
Soon after, more and more civilians spontaneously came to put out the fire.
It took them the entire night to stop the fire's spread, and another day to extinguish the remaining flames everywhere. The fire was finally over.
But the death of the Count, the burning, the looting, the sudden destruction of the Black Dog Knights, and the aftermath of these giant monsters...
The shock caused by everything that happened tonight was only just beginning.