WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 68: Puppet Progenitor and the Unpleasant Puppet Show (5)

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"Grrrrr."

A low rumble echoed through the Abyss. As the beast's growl swept past, my muscles spasmed with fear for a moment. The same was true of the regressor and Finlay.

The King of Dogs had always taken humanity's side and lived closer to humans than anyone else. When humans fought among themselves, she would not intervene, even if she had to close her eyes and plug her nose.

But she showed not a trace of affection or trust toward monsters made of blood. Whenever humans fought vampires, Azzy was humanity's strongest ally.

"Grrr."

Azzy bared her teeth in the truest sense at those who had once been human.

"S-stop her!"

Finlay gave the order in a panic. Hundreds, then thousands of Black Knights rose from the ground. Clad in pitch-black armor and armed with all manner of weapons, the Black Knights stood before Finlay and the vampire.

Thud.

Black Knights bearing tower shields coated in darkness formed the front line, while sharp lances rose between them. The armored knights held their breath as they cautiously awaited the beast's approach.

They intended to surround and hunt her the moment she recklessly came close.

"Woof-!"

But.

Neither spears, shields, lances, armor, nor Black Knights could stop the King of Dogs.

Azzy leaped with a tremendous howl. The instant I thought that, she was already in the middle of the Black Knights.

Even the regressor lost sight of Azzy for a moment. Not even the wind could keep up with her, blowing a beat behind.

Crunch. Azzy snapped her head up. One Black Knight's head flew into the air. Black smoke, spilling out in place of blood, filled the air.

The King of Dogs used a Black Knight's blood to signal the slaughter.

The shield-bearing vanguard turned around, while the knights with spears tried to redirect their shafts. Knights with swords thrust out their blades, and those with maces raised both hands high.

None of their attacks were carried out. Every time Azzy stamped her paw, armor shattered, weapons broke, and black bodies were torn to pieces.

"Awooooo-!"

Overwhelming bestial violence swept through them. Azzy was a beast in human form, a calamity to vampires who played with corpses.

Human blood. The scent of blood from humans, whom dogs loved beyond measure, excited Azzy, the King of Dogs. The Progenitor could conceal even the scent of blood through bloodcraft pushed to its limit, but Finlay could not. Azzy found the smell unpleasant, and that displeasure became a desire to destroy.

A Black Knight caught in her claws crumbled like smoke. Once she crushed one, she was already on to the next. Once she tore out one throat, she moved on to the next.

At a glance, she was steadily defeating them one at a time with each strike. Yet the speed at which she did so was so great that it looked like a wildfire spreading. Black Knights shattered in ripples from wherever Azzy landed, and each time, black smoke and red blood scattered through the air.

Finlay felt fear as he watched the Black Knights get ground apart by the second.

"Progenitor! That beast!"

At Finlay's cry, the vampire slowly waved a hand.

The scattered darkness and blood rose again, forming a massive shape. A huge Black Knight, seemingly five meters tall with armor a meter thick, stood holding an enormous mace forged from coagulated blood.

Just as Azzy sank her teeth into a remaining Black Knight's neck, the giant Black Knight brought down its mace. It moved far too swiftly for its size. The ponderous weapon struck Azzy's head, and the impact alone shattered concrete in every direction.

The sound was deafening.

Silence followed the storm. Sound vanished after the impact. Amid the ringing in my ears, the only things moving were bits of debris floating up and settling back down.

"Finish her!"

Even then, the giant Black Knight twisted its mace halfway around and thrust it down. Short and powerful, as if to make sure she was dead.

When it raised its arm again, though,

the mace had been bitten clean through the middle.

"Grrr."

Azzy, with all four paws planted firmly on the ground, raised her head. Between her teeth hung the enormous mace, seemingly three times the size of her body, severed in the middle.

With that weight and durability, her teeth should have been crushed and her jaws forced open. Instead, Azzy lightly lifted her jaw as though she had bitten down on a toy, then shook her head from side to side.

Thud, crash, crunch, crack.

The huge mace, heavy enough to seem immovable, swung with impossible force. Whenever Azzy shook it as though shaking water from her fur, everything from one to five meters to her left turned into dust and smoke.

The remaining Black Knights, the giant Black Knight's legs, and the concrete floor were all equally helpless before Azzy's strength.

Pulverization. No other word could describe the destruction that swept through.

Snap. The mace broke in the middle. It could not withstand the force Azzy put into swinging it. Unaware of this, Azzy shook it a few more times before spitting out the mace, now reduced to a stick, and glaring at Finlay and the vampire.

When that savage wildness turned toward him, Finlay flinched without realizing it. Then he became furious at the fact that he had been frightened and shouted.

"It won't matter!! This isn't all of the Progenitor's power!"

Fanaticism toward the Progenitor, and the madness it created, surged within him. Finlay used his power to seize the vampire's heart.

The Progenitor's body twitched as her heart convulsed. Red light briefly returned to her vacant eyes, but only for an instant.

Having briefly seized the Progenitor's heart through bloodcraft, Finlay forcibly moved the blood flowing through her body.

"Progenitor! Show that beast your power!!"

The Black Knights. They were the vampire's strongest force, summoned without preparation or risk. They could not last even a moment before the King of Dogs, but that was not the Black Knights' true nature.

Shadows gathered within the scattered darkness. From rounded pits of darkness, pitch-black arms suddenly emerged and braced against the ground as Black Knights hauled themselves upright.

It happened in every shadow within the Abyss.

The immortal Black Knights that had fallen beneath Azzy's claws and teeth rose one by one. In only a few seconds, the Black Knights had returned to their original numbers.

The resurrected Black Knights faced the King of Dogs, red light shining from within their armor.

"The Black Knights rise without end! The ones you defeated were nothing but dummies I can remake at any time!!"

Finlay screamed wildly and pointed at Azzy. At that command, the Black Knights began advancing as one.

An advance against a single being. They had the advantage in numbers, yet the sight of the Black Knights advancing fearlessly toward the Beast King was enough to inspire awe.

"Be swept away and die in the sea of blood, beast!!"

Finlay shouted, blood spraying from his mouth. He expected the King of Dogs to gradually tire while fighting the endless Black Knights and eventually collapse.

"Grrrrr."

Azzy might not have been very intelligent, but she was not stupid.

Instinctively staring toward the source of the blood scent, Azzy growled loudly, planted her front paws, and lowered her body.

Her rear claws dug into the concrete while her forepaws gripped the ground. It was the posture of a predator flattened low, preparing to leap.

By the time Finlay sensed something ominous, that premonition had become reality.

"Woof!"

Azzy gave a short bark and leaped that way. Her target was the vampire sitting blankly atop the coffin.

The moment her paws left the ground, Azzy was already soaring toward the vampire.

Sharp claws cut through the darkness. Her outstretched hand was already within reach. The overwhelming violence of the King of Dogs closed in on the vampire's small, fragile body. The momentum was so savage that it looked ready to burst the vampire apart in one blow.

Finlay's eyes widened as though they would pop out.

"No...!"

Finlay's power could not stop her. He had not even sensed her. All he could do was feel something ominous and realize the danger too late.

Just as Azzy, moving beyond perception, was about to drive her hand into the vampire's chest,

a red hoof fell onto Azzy.

Azzy was flung back even faster than she had flown in. Her body smashed halfway into the ground before bouncing back into the air, and above her, the blood horse spun half a turn and leaped. A massive hoof the size of a human torso struck Azzy.

Smack.

The sound of flesh meeting hoof was loud enough to reach us. Azzy flew through the air like a small ball, far faster than any ball I could throw.

Then, with the sound of crumbling bricks, the entire third-floor prison wall turned into a cloud of dust. Azzy disappeared into it.

[Snort.]

The horse snorted afterward.

Rallion, the blood horse. The Progenitor's first familiar, which obeyed only the Progenitor's orders, had entered the battle as the Progenitor faced danger.

Finlay, who had fallen into hell and found a thread of hope to cling to, smiled pitifully.

"Haha! Rallion! Yes! At last, you're following my orders...!"

[Neigh!]

Rallion blew out a breath as though the thought was absurd.

The blood horse's exhale was like a storm. Finlay's unprepared body was lifted off the ground. He bounced across the floor a few times and rolled along it before barely managing to turn himself over and stand.

"You bastard! I'm controlling the Progenitor right now. I'm the regent! If you're one of the Progenitor's servants, you have to obey my orders...!"

Naturally, the blood horse did not budge. It only snorted powerfully and stared intently in the direction Azzy had disappeared.

Finlay became flustered when he saw Rallion still ready to fight.

"What? Why are you looking over there?"

The reason soon became clear. Finlay's body jerked as he slowly turned his head.

"Grrrrrrrrrrrr..."

The ground trembled. An enraged beast was making the world shake from somewhere far away on the third floor.

Finlay's face went pale.

"D-don't tell me. She's fine after taking a hit like that?"

The King of Dogs. Humanity's finest friend and ever-loyal beast.

And a natural hunter born to hunt enemies.

Finlay had misunderstood something.

The King of Dogs disliked vampires because they were human corpses. Even humans avoided corpses that had once been human, so how could a dog with such a sensitive sense of smell welcome a human body walking around with the scent of a friend's blood?

But that was only simple aversion, far removed from the killing intent to destroy an enemy.

In other words, the savage aggression that made a beast a beast was not directed at vampires.

But.

"...No, King of Dogs. You weren't even fighting at full strength yet?"

When facing another beast, the King of Dogs became a hunter.

A blurry shape shot up. The wind following behind left only a trail of dust. She was so fast that the dust cloud could not keep up, twisting into a vortex.

"Woof."

A chunk of the blood making up Rallion burst apart. About half its mane-covered neck vanished. Blood splashed across the ground.

Azzy landed lightly behind it and spat out the red flesh in her mouth. The torn chunk fell to the ground.

[Neigh.]

Rallion staggered heavily from the fatal wound, but only for a moment.

The red flesh on the ground melted into a mush before sliding back into Rallion's shadow. Right after that, the torn-off portion of its neck regenerated.

Rallion had regenerated with the Progenitor's power. Even after its neck had been torn open, it still glared at Azzy with fighting spirit blazing in its eyes. Each time it scraped the ground with a forehoof, concrete flipped over.

"Grrr."

Azzy also barked in displeasure at Rallion, which remained standing despite having its neck torn open. Her stiff claws dug into the ground.

The two beasts glared at each other, then howled at the same time as if they had agreed to it.

"Awoooooo!"

[Neighhhhhh!]

With only those cries left in the air, the two beasts charged at each other.

Footnotes:

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