Chapter 238: Family Struggle
Link: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n7583de/
Author: Hirukuma
Translated by Gumihou
As a reminder, the Five Finger Generals (and Left Arm) are as follows:
左腕将軍 Left Arm General, Ruler of the Netherworld (Skeleton)
小将軍 Pinky General Kayorings (Goth wraith thing)
薬将軍 Ring Finger General Sulrim (Snow Spirit)
中将軍 Middle General Zen (Samurai wannabe)
人差将軍 Index General Eno (Half Shark)
親将軍 Thumb General Kyous (???)
“I can’t believe it! I thought you’d be the most loyal of us all! To think you’d be the one to betray us, what a shocker huuuhhh!!??”
This person appears to have only one volume. Maybe they could not speak without shouting? Moreover, she had the added skill of shouting while shaking her head with her tongue sticking out. It was quite disconcerting. There were also those chains around her. For something that looked semi-transparent, those chains jangled quite noisily.
“I have found something very precious to me.”
Was Sulrim’s reply.
“Hah! You’ve got some nerve, you cold-blooded woman! But you know what? I’m pretty happy with this. I’ve hated your guts for a long time. Getting to kill you with my own hands is the best thing ever!”
So, it looked like these Big Sis Sulrim and that woman don’t actually get along with each other despite being fellow generals. Sister Sulrim is glaring at her through half-closed eyes.
“Hmph, you should know that as the Pinky Finger General. You, Kayorings, are inferior to me, the Ring Finger General. Do you think you can ever win against me?”
That’s right, the Five Finger Generals are ranked from the lowest at Pinky Finger, with the most powerful general being the Thumb General. In other words, this semi-transparent, shouty girl is the weakest among them.
“You’re always like this! Always looking down on me! Sure, you might be stronger in a one-on-one fight, but I won’t lose here! You haven’t forgotten my abilities, have you?!”
This Kayorings appeared quite confident with her puffed-out chest and loud declarations. She was even swinging her chains around.
“A Necromancer… wait, don’t tell me…”
“That’s right!! About six months ago, a massive outbreak of monsters happened here. Naturally, humans came to fight them off, but a nearby cliff collapsed, burying them all alive!”
[1] Kayorings swung her chain wide, pointing at one of the nearby mountains. There were clear signs of a landslide, and more importantly, although most of the land around it was open field, there was an unnatural raised area in the otherwise flat ground. I had vaguely wondered why no weeds were growing in that area, but now I knew.“I’m going to kill you and raise my rank, you eyesore! Then, I’ll kill all those other annoying pests as much as I want!!”
With a final scream, she slammed her chains into the ground, and rotting corpses erupted everywhere. At a glance, I could tell there were over a hundred of them.
“Hmph, a few rotting corpses are nothing to me.”
Elder Sis Sulrim said as she extended a hand towards the writhing figures. Suddenly, her hand snapped towards Kayorings.
Ah, a blast of silver light–!
The light slammed into an ice wall, a translucent chain bouncing off its surface.
“Your opponent is me!! You can’t fight properly with that dead weight stuck to youuuuuu!!!” she shrieked.
So, the enemy targeted Big Sis Sulrim because she thinks I’m a hindrance to her. Shall I stay back? But back where? With monsters around us, acting alone could be fatal.
The rest of my family was already fighting the moving corpses. What should I do?
“Dead weight, you say? Fufufufufu, looks like you have a death wish, eh?!”
Big Sis Sulrim was speaking in a low voice I had never heard before. When I turned to look at her, her eyes were so cold that it made my whole body tremble just by looking at them.
A powerful blizzard began to swirl around us, freezing the nearby ground in an instant.
Even Dad and the others, while busy fighting monsters, instinctively moved away from the cold. However, I didn’t feel the cold at all. It’s amazing how she could create such powerful blizzards yet still shield me from it.
“”Big Bro, you’re so gonna be bossed around for life.”
“”Honestly, I had been really jealous that you caught a beauty that I thought I’d die of frustration. But, right now? Not so much.””
The voices of Red and White reached me directly. As triplets, we possess the ability to speak with each other telepathically. Right now, they were using this Gift to tease me.
“”Maybe I should ask Big Sis to cool down your side of the field,”” [1] I thought drily at them.
“”I’m so jealous of Big Bro! Having a beautiful future wife is the best!””
The moment I teased them back, they immediately switched their tunes and started flattering me. I don’t dislike their slightly flip-flopping attitude; it was part of their charm after all.
What made me the happiest was that they still treated someone as tiny as me as their ‘Big Brother’, which really touched me. Not that I would ever admit it out loud. That would just make them too cocky.
There were a lot of enemies, but since their bodies were already rotting, their movements were slow and were no match for my family, who were steadily whittling down their numbers with precision and determination. Looks like that side was fine at least.
“Hah! I’m not losing to some love-sick fool!!”
Two more silver chains lashed out and were easily deflected by Sulrim’s Ice Wall. They snaked around the sphere like serpents, attacking from all directions, but were nothing against Big Sis’s ultimate defence.
“It feels like a tiny fly is buzzing around me. But seriously, when are you going to launch an actual attack?” Sulrim said with her head tilted to the side, a finger on one cheek.
She looks cute, but her eyes were unsmiling…
On the other hand, Kayorings’ narrowed her eyes, veins popping out on her face as she glared at us. She looked furious.
“That’s what I’ve always hated about you!! Don’t you dare mock me!!”
More than ten chains flew at us, striking from different directions. However, the sphere of ice held firm. Big Sis is really in a completely different league than this Kayorings person.
“My, my, if you’re not planning to attack, I shall take the lead. Try not to go down too easily, hmm?”
Ice Spears formed in the air. Each one is larger than an adult human. There were so many that I could not count them in one go. All of them shot forward at the light wave of her arm.
“Wait—stopppp!”
My vision was obscured by the ice attack, so I couldn’t witness that woman’s last moments. However, I could hear her final, frustrated wail of despair. There was no way anyone could survive a direct hit like that. Big Sis was just too powerful.
I pressed my hands in prayer for their unfortunate soul.]”
“Well, that should do it. You’re safe now, Ash. Wait…”
The gentle smile that had been forming on Sulrim’s face vanished.
She stared at the mass of ice blocks where the spears had struck. Could it be…
Where the translucent Kayorings had been moments ago, a giant flesh golem about the height of five human men [2] roared into existence. Its bulging muscles were covered in earth-coloured skin that had ripped in places, exposing bone and flesh. In place of blood, a strange fluid seeped from its wounds.
The silver chains around its body looked like stitches keeping the whole body together. Where the head should be was Kayorings. The entire upper half of her body stuck out at the top, and she was laughing.
“How about that! This is my Rot-Guard Armour, made by stitching corpses together. I’ve infused mana into the chains to boost resistance to your magic! Furthermore, I’ve placed humans with magic resistance on the surface of this body, so your spells won’t work! On top of that, this thing feels no pain! You can fire at me all you like, but I’m invincible!!”
It was really very kind of her to explain everything in such detail. Was she perhaps so very frustrated for a long time that she felt like she had to brag about her advantages?
Big Sis Sulrim merely smiled. Her eyes narrowed at the huge flesh golem.
“So, you’re not just talk, hm? What a relief. In that case, I shall properly use my freezing powers on you.
Sulrim raised her arms to the sky. Snow swirled around us and gathered above. An ice spear the size of the flesh golem started to form.
“H-ha hah! Big doesn’t always mean better!!!”
I must say this sounded very unconvincing from someone who had buried half their body in such a huge flesh golem. Additionally, though her tone was bold, I could see signs of anxiety in her expression. This might just be her downfall, though… [1] considering her semi-translucent form and the way she had survived the earlier attack… I can’t quite tell.
Keyorings remained motionless, staring at the huge ice spear in the sky. Surely she must understand how dangerous her position is?
“After this, I won’t ever have to hear that grating voice or look at that repulsive face ever again. Strike.”
Big Sis slowly swung her arms down in the gentlest-looking attack move I had ever seen. The ice spear soared higher into the sky, becoming a mere dot before plummeting like a meteor.
It was obvious that this was a dangerous attack and that avoiding it was better than any attempt to block. But the flesh golem was too slow. It was moving at a rate faster than even my walking pace.
“D-damn it! Bone Wall!”
Having no choice but to play defence, the chains around the flesh golem plunged into the ground, and a wall made of bleached white bones erupted from the ground. There were bones of humans, animals, and even monsters on the wall.
Unfortunately, the wall merely blocked the front, leaving the area above her head unprotected. Or so I thought.
[3] Just as the ice spear was about to strike her, the flesh golem suddenly grabbed the bone wall, ripped it out of the ground and held it over its head. The spear collided with the makeshift shield, sending pieces of ice and bone everywhere.I was almost swept away by the aftershock, but I managed to hold on.
When the ice and debris settled, I looked up. The bone wall was completely destroyed, and the flesh golem’s right torso was frozen solid. Miraculously, however, Kayorings appeared unharmed.
“Hyah-hah! How’s that!? I endured your best attack! You act all cool and stuff, but I know you poured a massive amount of mana into that last hit!!”
I have to admit, Big Sis looked a little strained behind her smile. Her composure was clearly shaken.
The flesh golem raised its left arm and shattered its own frozen right arm and torso. Then, began walking towards Big Sis Sulrim. That Kayorings person clearly intended to finish Big Sis off while her mana was depleted.
“Just think about stomping on your smug face is just too funnnn!!!” Kayorings shrieked. She was literally trembling with uncontrollable joy.
Then, the flesh golem started to move. One earth-shaking stride at a time. Big Sis was too exhausted to even move away from the slow monster. Just as it was about to take the final step and crush Big Sis under its foot, the flesh golem collapsed to its knees.
“Wh-what? Did it just trip?! Oi, move! What are you doing!!??”
[3] Kayorings was screaming and smacking at the golem, unsure what had happened. She impatiently made the golem slam its left arm into the right leg and… the knee shattered and tore away. [3] The left arm that had struck the leg broke with a wet, sickening sound and was bent at an odd angle.“Haahhhh!!!?? Wh-what’s going on? This rot… why is it rotting so fast?!?”
[3] So, she had finally noticed. The reason this giant flesh golem could no longer walk and broke so easily was that it had rotted to the point that its bones had softened too much. Even the flesh was barely clinging to the bones and was literally sliding to the ground.It was no longer a Rot-Guard Armour, but a rotting armour that was rapidly becoming a pile of collapsing bones.
“Apologies, I’m the one who accelerated the rot.”
I said as I looked down at the miserable opponent. She looked up at me with her mouth wide open.
“You bastard! Didn’t you run away?! What’s with those wings? And what do you mean you accelerated the rot?!”
I gave her a brilliant smile as Kayorings tore at her hair in confusion.
The wings on my back were the result of my mother’s bloodline, which manifested itself as bat wings. As for the ability to cause rotting. That was due to the Gift of [Corruption] that had tormented me for so long.
When the Dungeon Master was about to remove this terrible Gift, I mentally asked him to give me the ability to control this ability at will.
The Dungeon Master had kindly agreed and modified this curse so that I have full control over it. The fact that I had lived with it for so many years and felt it eating at my body for so long meant that this Gift had been active for as long as I could remember.
As a result, the Gift of [Corruption] had been thoroughly refined and polished to the highest degree of potency.
While the enemy had been distracted by the giant ice spear, I had approached stealthily, flying in low altitude to approach that giant flesh golem from a blind spot and cast my spell. I’m glad it worked so well.
“I don’t get it, but I know you did this! Die-!!”
Her voice was cut off, literally, by a dagger. Dad had somehow covered the distance and plunged a dagger into her neck. A short sword and spear stuck out from her body.
“Do you think I’d let you lay a hand on my son?” Dad said, his eyes glowing red.
“Had to show off a little bit, didn’t we?”
“We’ll take the credit for the finishing blow!”
And that was how our battle against the flesh came to an end.
Well, that was that, but my real problem just began. Just how am I to explain my reckless actions to Big Sis Sulrim, who was now stomping over with puffed-up cheeks.
This might be the biggest challenge I have had to face yet.
[Gumihou: Well, well, well…] [1] Added details [2] Added ‘roared into existence’ because in the original writing, it was just… there, suddenly. [3] Adjusted details for more dramatic delivery
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