The hour was past midnight. In a corner of the Noble District, the climax of the night’s chaos was unfolding at Boruntar’s Residence.
Koldo and Minas had been literally blasted from the reception room into the garden. Rei and Set now stood over them, prepared for the final confrontation.
"You two..." Rei began, his voice trailing off as he studied them.
Neither Koldo nor Minas had emerged from the wall-shattering impact with their robes intact. The fabric was shredded in places, revealing what lay beneath. Unless a garment was a magic item like Rei’s Dragon Robe, it was simply cloth—and their robes were merely a means to hide their grotesque forms.
The reason for such secrecy was obvious the moment their true appearances were laid bare.
Koldo’s facial skin had been replaced by a crustacean shell, reminiscent of a crab. Within that armored mask, his eyes were not the stalks of a shellfish, but unmistakably human, creating a nauseatingly discordant image. Compared to him, Minas still bore some resemblance to a human woman, though she was no less a freak of nature. Four feelers sprouted from her forehead, and her ears had grown into massive, thirty-centimeter fans. Even so, she was far more human than Koldo’s chitinous visage.
To an ordinary person, encountering Minas in the dead of night would be enough to trigger a state of total panic, yet she was almost pleasant compared to the man beside her.
"Monsters? Or demi-humans? No... I see." Rei frowned, quickly deducing their true nature.
Elena mentioned that the Bestia Empire had simplified the Ritual of Inheritance, he thought. So, these are the results?
Rei observed the pair closely. Compared to Elena, who had undergone the formal ritual at the Altar of Inheritance, these two had clearly discarded their humanity. At best, they were hybrids—crossbreeds between man and beast.
"What’s wrong? Are you terrified by our appearance?" Koldo asked in a flat, monotone voice.
He’s given up being human, but he still speaks the language fluently enough, Rei noted. He gripped the Death Scythe and allowed a thin smile to play across his lips.
"Hardly. I was just surprised because you look more human than I expected."
"You think we look human?"
"Yeah. I half-expected you to have even more monstrous faces."
"You... have you seen other Beast Soldiers?" Koldo asked, his voice betraying a hint of confusion.
Rei’s brow twitched. So 'Beast Soldier' is the name for those who underwent the simplified ritual. And judging by his reaction, there's a fair number of them out there.
"Who knows? Even if I had, what would you do with that information?"
"What? What do you mean?"
"You're a bit slow. Is that a side effect of becoming a Beast Soldier? I'm saying there's no point in you two asking questions when you're about to be killed by me and Set."
"How arrogant," Minas spat, her irritation plain. "You truly believe we, the Beast Soldiers, would fall behind a mere human? Even if you have an A-Rank monster like a Gryphon, it is still just a beast. It is no match for us—beings who possess the power of a monster and the wisdom of a human."
Despite her bravado, Minas was clearly wary of the Gryphon. Every time Set shifted, her eyes snapped toward it, tracking its every movement.
"Set, take Minas. I want to hand these Beast Soldiers over to Margrave Larkus as specimens, so neutralize her without killing her if you can. But only if you can. If things get dangerous, kill her. We still have Postgera as a source of information, and he’s the real prize anyway."
"Guruuu." Set gave a low, rumbling cry of acknowledgment.
Koldo watched the exchange with cold indifference, while Minas scowled in offense.
"It seems you underestimate what it means to be a Beast Soldier. Fine. Koldo and I shall shatter that groundless confidence of yours."
Minas tore off the remnants of her robe. Beneath the fabric, her body was covered in scales like a Lizardman. While the scales were everywhere, her torso still retained the silhouette of a woman. It only made the two purple tentacles growing from each of her shoulders more repulsive to behold.
"So combat is unavoidable. Very well," Koldo muttered, shedding his own robe.
Unlike Minas, Koldo had moved even further from the human form. His body was a fusion of man and crab. His arms had become powerful pincers like those of a crayfish, and three purple tentacles sprouted from each of his flanks. His lower body was a mass of nearly twenty squirming appendages—part tentacle, part leg—covered in suckers like an octopus.
Rei’s eyes narrowed at the sight of the monstrosity. The only Ritual of Inheritance he had witnessed was Elena's, performed with the Ancient Dragon Magic Stone. Though her ritual had been harrowing, her appearance hadn't changed at all.
They call this a simplified version, but it looks like a completely different process, Rei thought, readying the Death Scythe. Beside him, Set tensed, ready to pounce on Minas.
"I’ve got things to do tomorrow. Let’s end this quickly."
"Your life ends today. You won't have to worry about tomorrow," Koldo replied, his voice as flat as ever despite Rei's provocation.
"Guruuu!"
"Come, little kitty," Minas beckoned with a scaled hand. "You may be an A-Rank monster, but you are still a beast. You are twenty years too early to face a Beast Soldier."
Set growled with murderous intent.
"Ha!"
Rei made the first move, kicking off the ground and closing the distance in a heartbeat. He swung the Death Scythe in a heavy Diagonal Slash.
Koldo’s human eyes tracked the blade. Using the mass of wriggling tentacles on his lower body, he skittered backward with surprising speed.
"Flying Slash!"
As Rei pulled the blade back from the initial swing, he triggered his skill. A vacuum blade sliced through the air. Startled by the sudden projectile, Koldo froze for a fraction of a second. Realizing he couldn't dodge, he thrust his heavy pincers forward to intercept.
Clang!
A sharp, metallic ring echoed through the garden.
"A pity," Koldo droned, lowering his pincers. The shell hadn't even cracked.
"I see. Those pincers are remarkably tough. But if Flying Slash won't cut them, I have plenty of other options. In fact, you're the perfect practice targets for learning how to deal with your kind."
"Overconfidence will be your undoing. Not that it matters for a man who is about to die."
When I fought Vel, his purple tentacles blocked my attacks, Rei recalled. These look identical, though these are part of the body rather than a magic item. He didn't block the Flying Slash with the tentacles—no, he couldn't. In that case...
"Hup!"
Rei drew a knife from his Misty Ring and hurled it. He followed immediately behind the projectile, closing the gap once more.
"Futile."
Koldo swiped the knife aside with a tentacle from his flank. It was exactly what Rei had expected, and he was already mid-motion for his next attack.
"Flying Slash!"
Rei swung the scythe again the moment the knife was deflected. The vacuum blade screamed through the air.
Slice!
The tentacles that had just swatted the knife couldn't recover in time to block. Three of the purple appendages on Koldo's left side were severed in a single stroke.
"And here's a bonus!"
Rei swung the Death Scythe itself this time. Koldo grimaced from the loss of his tentacles, but a faint smirk touched his lips. His chitinous armor was incredibly dense. In his experience, swords, spears, and arrows did nothing; even axes and hammers often shattered against his shell.
This Rei person is using a magic item, so my shell might not break it, but his weapon certainly won't break me, Koldo reasoned.
It was a fatal miscalculation. Rei’s target was never the armored upper body.
By the time Koldo realized the danger, it was too late. The Death Scythe vanished from his line of sight, and in the next heartbeat, ten of the squirming tentacles on his lower body were hacked away.
"What?!"
Koldo felt his balance collapse as half his legs were taken. Instinctively, he used his remaining limbs to kick off and retreat into the shadows of the garden.
Impossible. To cut my lower tentacles so easily...
He had fought countless battles as a Beast Soldier, but no one had ever managed to sever his legs like this. Others had tried, thinking the lower body was a soft target, but the tentacles secreted a Protective Mucus that caused most blades to slide off without biting into the flesh. To have them sliced through so effortlessly was beyond his comprehension.
"I didn't even need to channel magic power into the Death Scythe's blade for that," Rei noted. He gave the scythe a sharp flick, shaking the viscous fluid from the edge. "It seems your legs aren't quite as sturdy as your pincers."
Koldo stared in silence. To him, those words were a death sentence—they implied Rei's true attack power was even higher than what he had just displayed.
"Well, I've tested your shell, your torso, and your legs. I have a good handle on you now. Do you have any other tricks? If not, I'm ready to wrap this up."
"Do not... mock the Beast Soldiers."
As Koldo spoke, Rei’s eyes widened slightly. From the ragged stumps of the severed tentacles, flesh began to bulge and stretch. In ten seconds, an entirely new set of legs had sprouted.
"I see. You have a Regeneration Ability." Rei frowned, processing the new information.
A crab-like shell, flank tentacles, and octopus legs. What kind of monster magic stone was used for this? I don't know any creature with these specific traits. Either it's a monster I've never heard of, or...
Rei watched Koldo intently. The purple tentacles on the ribs are likely a separate implant, like the one Vel had. That leaves the crab shell and the squid legs. They're both sea creatures. Well, whatever. It’s not my job to figure out the biology—I’ll leave that to the Margrave’s men.
"That regeneration is impressive," Rei said. "But it only works for the legs, doesn't it?"
It was a bluff, but a calculated one. The lower tentacles and the upper shell looked like entirely different biological systems. Koldo’s expression twitched ever so slightly—a tell that was more than enough for Rei.
"Looks like I hit the mark. That makes this much easier!"
With a sharp exhale, Rei kicked off the ground, closing the distance once again.