“Aaaaack!”
Siegfried screamed while struggling to find his balance after the Terramorg started rolling on the ground.
“Gwuok…! Gwu… Oack!”
The Terramorg eventually settled down.
“Oh? You’re quite tough for a kidney… Let’s see how tough you are,” Siegfried grumbled. The Terramorg’s kidney was still intact, but it had swollen quite a bit after getting pummeled.
Siegfried knew that it wouldn’t be that easy to destroy the Terramorg’s kidneys. He had to deal a lot of damage at once to prevent the Terramorg from thrashing about once again.
“Here I go!” He tightly gripped his +15 Gaia’s Fist and swung it mercilessly at the kidney.
Puk! Puk! Puk!
Machine Gun Smash!
The Debuff Master’s skill with the highest DPS hit the Terramorg’s kidney.
Splurt!
Foul-smelling fluid gushed out from the kidney the moment it was destroyed, and the Terramorg thrashed even harder and roared at the top of its lungs.
“GWUU…! Oaarkkk!”
The Terramorg continued rolling on the ground for around five minutes before it finally calmed down. Then, Siegfried continued marching toward where the heartbeat was coming after finding his balance when the monster calmed down.
Swoosh!
He walked like unleashing his green radioactive fog to contaminate the ancient monster’s insides.
“Hmm… Is this the liver?” Siegfried muttered while looking at an organ he reached with absolute fascination.
He could immediately recognize the organ at a single glance, as the ancient monster’s organs looked quite similar to a human’s organs. The lava traveling through the ancient monster’s veins also illuminated its insides, making it easier for him to move about.
“Hmm… I don’t think you’ll be needing this from now on, so…” Siegfried said while gripping his +15 Gaia’s Fist.
“Gwuu… OOOOAAARK!”
The Terramorg jumped about in agony and trashed violently after its liver was destroyed. Fortunately, Siegfried was starting to get used to the tremors, so it wasn’t that difficult for him to waltz all the way up to its heart.
“Because of your liver~ Because of your liver~” he sang an old commercial song[1] while walking.
“I’ll probably melt to death if I pop that, right? Pass!”
He decided not to mess with a large pouch-like organ that was probably the stomach. He had to be insane to a certain extent to risk getting covered by an ancient monster’s stomach acid.
Shwoop! Fwooo! Shwoop!
The next organ he reached looked like two large pouches next to each other that repeatedly deflated and inflated.
“Those must be its lungs,” Siegfried muttered. He grinned and gripped his +15 Gaia’s Fist tightly.
Kwachik…!
Pukeok! Pukeok!
He immediately went on a rampage.
Shwooong! Kaboom!
The combination of Splitting Heaven and Earth together with the ability of the +15 Gaia’s Fist—Earthquake—was truly destructive.
The Terramorg’s lungs, rib cage, fascia, and other organs were turned into a mess by Siegfried’s atrocities.
“Gwuo… GWUOO! OAAARK!” The Terramorg staggered before crying out in agony. “Gwuok… Gwuo…. Gwoo…. Oarkk…!”
The ancient monster could no longer even cry out in pain after its lungs were destroyed.
‘Hmm? Why look at you?’ Siegfried clicked his tongue upon seeing that the ancient monster’s organs were regenerating.
Badump! Badump! Badump!
The ancient monster’s heart beat wildly and pumped as much blood and nutrients as it could to regenerate its organs.
‘So it’s all for naught…’ Siegfried thought upon seeing the ancient monster’s insane regeneration rate. The main target was supposed to be its heart. The ancient monster’s heart was the source of its regenerative ability.
It was impossible to defeat it with its heart intact.
However…
Siegfried revealed an insidious grin.
Badump! Badump! Badump!.
He was right in front of the ancient monster’s heart, and there was nothing it could do about it. He was basically like a virus in its body that would not stop until its heart was destroyed. There was a saying that internal enemies are scarier than external enemies, and this was a great example.
Badump! Badump! Badump!
It did not take Siegfried that long to reach the ancient monster’s heart, but its heart was protected by thick layers of muscles and membranes.
‘How am I supposed to get through that? I already used Quick Draw…’ Siegfried pondered. Quick Draw had a long cooldown of twenty-four hours.
‘No, I don’t really have to destroy it, right? I can just contaminate it with my radioactive energy.’ Siegfried shrugged and cranked up Irradiate to max.
Swoosh!
The green fog around him became so thick that Siegfried was convinced that it would kill anyone that took even the slightest graze or whiff from it in the blink of an eye. The potent radioactive seeped into the ancient monster’s heart muscles.
It didn’t take that long for Siegfried’s radioactive energy to spread throughout the ancient monster’s body.
[Terramorg’s Heart]
[HP: ⬛⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜]
A notification popped up in front of Siegfried’s eyes, and it informed him that the ancient monster’s heart only had ten percent of its HP remaining.
Badump! Badump! Badump!
The heart’s beating started to slow down as well.
“Just die quietly and peacefully. I’m tired of hitting you,” Siegfried grumbled under his breath. Then, he poured all of his remaining mana into Irradiate.
***
“Hmm? What’s wrong with that thing all of a sudden?” Seung-Gu tilted his head in confusion after seeing the mighty Terramorg fall to the ground and gasp for air.
“Gwuok… Gwuok… Gwuok…”
The ancient monster had become too weak to even thrash about.
“…”
It slowly calmed down and closed its eyes. Its auburn hide slowly turned pale, and death’s presence slowly enveloped its gigantic body.
[Alert: Your party member Siegfried has successfully killed the ancient monster, Terramorg!]
[Alert: You have gained Experience Points!]
[Alert: You have leveled up!]
[Alert: You have leveled up!]
[Alert: You have leveled up!]
[Alert: You have leveled up!]
[Alert: You have leveled up!]
[Alert: You have leveled up!]
[Alert: You have leveled up!]
Seung-Gu gained a jaw-dropping seven levels at once after the Terramorg’s demise, and it was all because his level was lower than the Terramorg’s level.
“H-Hyung-nim…? Did he really manage to kill this thing from its inside?” Seung-Gu muttered in disbelief.
Chwa… Chwaaak…!
The Terramorg’s mouth opened, and Siegfried slowly crawled out of it.
“Hyung-nim!” Cesc shouted and ran to the Terramorg’s mouth.
He grabbed the ancient monster’s mouth and opened it up with his monstrous strength to help Siegfried.
“T-Thanks… ugh… I stink…” Siegfried grimaced. He had to crawl up the ancient monster’s esophagus to escape, so he got covered in its bodily fluids as a result.
“Kyu! Owner punk! Good job!”
“Here, a towel, Your Majesty!”
Hamchi and Gringore rushed over to escort Siegfried.
“Wow! Hyung-nim! Did you really kill that monster all by yourself?!”
“You probably got some experience points, right?” Siegfried asked with a smile.
[Alert: You have reached Level 216]
[Alert: You have reached Level 217]
[Alert: You have reached Level 218]
Siegfried gained a whopping three levels after killing the Terramorg, which was equal to a jaw-dropping amount of experience points.
Siegfried didn’t gain even a single level despite grinding for a whole week.
‘Three levels means—wow, this is a huge profit. I’ll invest all of my skill points into my debuff skills as well…’ Siegfried thought.
A single level was a huge chasm between Adventurers above Level 200, and the fact that the Terramorg gave him three levels was astonishing.
Ding!
A message popped up in front of his eyes.
[Alert: You have cleared the Quest – ‘Back to Basics’!]
[Alert: Collect the Terramorg’s Core located within the Terramorg’s brain and consume it!]
“Good,” Siegfried smiled after reading the message. He took out many different tools he would need to dismember the ancient monster and immediately got to work.
It was then that an elf kid waltzed toward Siegfried.
An elven child walked toward Siegfried and shouted, “King Siegfried!”
“Hmm?”
“Thank you for protecting our city!”
The little kid jumped and planted a kiss on Siegfried’s cheek before placing a flower garland around his neck. However, it seemed that the kid wasn’t the only one with the same thought.
“Thank you for protecting Elondel!”
“Thank you!”
“You are a hero! We will never forget what you did for us!”
The elves who were hiding started to appear one by one and thanked Siegfried. The number of elves increased until they reached a massive fifty thousand. These were the elves without any combat abilities, and they would have definitely ended up as the Terramorg’s snacks if Siegfried hadn’t protected them.
The city was left undefended after most of its combatants were deployed for war, and the Terramorg appeared at the city’s most vulnerable time.
Siegfried had not only stalled for time against the ancient monster, but he also bravely fought it and even managed to slay the beast.
This novel is available on bit.ly/3iBfjkV.
In other words, it wasn’t strange that the elves regarded him as their hero. This achievement alone was more than enough for the elves to fully trust Siegfried and look favorably upon the Proatine Kingdom.
***
Two hours later, Siegfried was drenched in his own sweat.
“Ah… I thought I was going to grow old from doing this… Why is it so difficult?” he grumbled.
He barely managed to extract the Terramorg’s Core after going through its hide, bone, fascia, blood vessels, and muscles. The only silver lining was the fact that he was quite skilled at dismembering monster corpses, so he managed to do it in just two hours.
Otherwise, he would have had to spend one to two days dismembering it.
[Alert: You have obtained ‘Terramorg’s Core’!]
A marble glistening in five different colors was on top of Siegfried’s palm.
“Oh, so this is the Terramorg’s core…” Siegfried muttered with a satisfied smile.
Whiiiiiiiing!
The sirens across Elondel blared once again.
—Alert! Alert!
—Alert! Alert!
—A nationwide conscription and mobilization is enforced from this moment onward! I repeat! Nationwide mandatory conscription and mobilization are enforced from this moment onward!
—All able-bodied elves are requested to gather at the rally point!
It was a sudden broadcast for conscription and mobilization.
“Huh? Conscription? Mobilization? Aren’t these things only broadcasted during wars?” Siegfried tilted his head in confusion. Those two words sounded different, but they both served the same purpose—to recruit more manpower for war.
In other words, Elondel needed more soldiers.
“But why? Don’t tell me…” Siegfried muttered and raised a flag.
—Alert! Alert! The Elondel Forces led by His Majesty have been surrounded by the Niflheim Forces! All able-bodied elves are requested to raise arms and gather at the rally point!
—I repeat! Our king is in grave danger! We need all able-bodied elves to arm up and gather at the rally point!
The dreadful news immediately spread throughout Elondel.
1. This is the song in case some of you are curious: ☜
