The Transmigrated Author
Chapter 242 : Dominance (4)

The force of Rel's charge slammed his biceps between the necks of Vester and Balwark. As he propelled himself downwards, he aimed to crush both into the ground.

However, Vester, with a serpentine slither, managed to escape Rel's grasp, sliding right under his arm.

SLAM!

The blood pool splashed upwards, momentarily obscuring Vester's vision as he slithered away as quickly as possible.

To his surprise, half of Balwark's face had sustained severe damage. Half of his transformed face was gone, but the other half remained intact.

Balwark had managed to partially evade the attack. Using the blood pool to his advantage, he teleported towards the edge of the elemental zone barrier.

The damage, however, had a devastating side effect.

Balwark was neutralized due to the effects of Rel's aura.

Vester looked over at Balwark, whose body shook and twitched uncontrollably.

With each passing second, small black bolts of lightning shot out of him.

"Mumu... It hurts..."

『How is he able to do thisss?!』

Vester felt staggered that Rel could overpower Balwark's massive frame with such apparent ease.

The strength required for that feat made Vester feel like they were the ones being hunted. If Rel had intentionally led them into a trap like this, he could likely overwhelm them with his own zone.

"...!"

As Rel struck the blood pool with his foot, he felt solid ground splash up to his hip.

"Solid ground and control over the liquid?" He muttered, puzzled, but stopped short as he heard screams and pleas for help.

A hand emerged from the blood, grasping his ankle.

"I'm sorry..."

BOOM!

Imbuing his elemental attribute into the part of his body being grabbed, the body part exploded, consumed by Rel's anti-magic.

However, he realized another fact: the blood pool seemed to be controlled by Balwark. Though Rel felt solid ground, he understood his subconscious mana control was keeping him afloat.

"Y-You're quite fassst?!" Vester's voice echoed through the zone. "Letsss see how you beat thisss."

Vester formed another hand sign, clasping his palms together, and demonic energy surged from him.

From the depths of the blood pool, a relentless tremor began to shake the area.

drip...

"...!"

The pillars at the far ends of the zone vanished, and before Rel could blink, a massive form of arms and legs shaped into a gigantic hand descended from above.

"Demonic Fist!"

CRASH!!!!!!

Vester watched the hand plunge towards his opponent, sighing in relief, thinking it was finally over.

But the hand barely moved, as if struggling against an unseen force.

"What?!"

It was clear the fist was being pushed back.

Shsksk!

A hand emerged from the blood pool, slowly pulling the demonic fist upwards. Then, the same figure they considered a threat emerged, drenched and covered in the carnage.

Both of Rel's hands were raised against the gigantic fist, and he simply stared at the monstrous being in front of him.

EEEK!!!

Though his expression remained hidden behind the mask, Rel effortlessly pushed back the demonic fist with his bare hands.

Vester stared in shock.

The observer becomes the observed, and the subject becomes the target.

"I can fix thissss, slavesss drown him!"

As Vester commanded the hands and legs to drown Rel, he began to slowly descend into the blood pool. The demonic fist pressed down, and ligaments dropped into the river, floating towards Rel and trying to grab hold of him.

Shaaaaa...

Just as Vester thought Rel would be submerged, he realized Rel had stopped descending, even as the hands and arms swarmed around him.

BOOM!

The massive fist Rel had been holding vanished in a burst of black flame.

"...!"

"My... control! It's all gone!"

Vester had lost contact with many bodies within the zone and couldn't understand how he had lost control. But he underestimated the problems, assuming the man before them was the only reason.

"Balwark! Get up!"

"Mu...mu... I can't... something's hurting me from within."

Balwark floated on his back at the rear of their zone, incapacitated. He had taken immense damage from Rel's earlier attack and felt shocks of pain coursing through his body.

"Sssshit, I'll have to—"

The air quivered, and in a split second, Vester took his eyes off Rel.

"Gotcha..."

Grip!

Rel appeared out of thin air, catching Vester off guard. He grabbed Vester's neck tightly and unleashed anti-magic.

CRASH!!!!!!

The barrier of the elemental zone shattered. Rel held the serpent's neck in his grasp.

"KYAK!!! Let go!!!" Vester screamed and writhed, desperately trying to attack Rel.

SHKSHK!

Vester attempted many tricks, shapeshifting endlessly into different monsters and humans. But Rel's grip remained unyielding, and Vester was eventually stuck in the form of a human girl.

Desperate to buy time for Balwark to recover, Vester tried to appeal to Rel.

"Mister!..." Vester spoke in a girl's voice, "Don't kill ME!" She screamed and squealed as Rel's grip tightened.

Black flames rose from his arms and engulfed Vester.

"KYAKKK!!!! BALWARK!!!!! HELP!"

Those were Vester's last words as the black flames consumed her, reducing her to nothing but a skeleton.

Rel released the remains, and the bones scattered and shattered on the ground. Within the remains, Rel noticed a hole pierced directly through the center of the skull. Beyond it was a mana crystal filled with demonic energy.

Seeing the crystal, Rel immediately consumed it without hesitation, realizing that if anything came near it, there would be lingering aftereffects, regardless of its condition.

The system screen popped up, and Rel dismissed the notification, knowing his job wasn't finished yet.

Balwark was still alive.

Rel looked around, trying to locate Balwark, and heard faint scratching coming from down the corridor. Following the noise, he saw Balwark crawling away.

Tap...

As Rel took a step forward, Balwark turned his head, seeing an elongated shadow creeping towards him.

"...mumu!"

Balwark used all his remaining strength to crawl away from Rel as fast as he could.

"I see... they are the same," Rel muttered, summoning his bow.

The recurve silver bow materialized in his hands, and Rel positioned himself comfortably.

Wuuushh...

Rel pulled the string back, and an attribute-less arrow appeared. He imbued its tip with anti-magic.

TAK!

Rel fired the arrow, and it soared through the air at high speed.

SHAAAAA!

Upon impact, Balwark the demonic bull was set ablaze, the anti-magic consuming him from the outside, leaving him with the same fate as his comrade, Vester.

Creaaaakkk...