Chapter 10

"What kind of attack is this...?"

I was taken aback by the sudden attack from the woman in revealing clothing and stood there in shock.

The ground was deeply indented as if a meteor had fallen.

When I was hit directly on the head, a shock ran through my entire body.

Although I am undead and do not feel pain, I must have taken some damage.

I tried moving my body to check.

...Yeah, it moves just fine.

When I touched my head, I didn’t feel any injuries.

Just how tough am I...?

"What a monster..."

"To withstand Estina’s full attack and remain unharmed..."

The people in front of the town were pale-faced as they looked at me.

They were probably adventurers, judging by their attire and equipment, but they seemed completely terrified.

Upon closer inspection, I could see the four people I had encountered in the ruins, and they too were trembling with fear.

The red-haired woman who had attacked me earlier was standing there, seemingly having lost her will to fight.

"Well... isn’t this a chance?"

It seemed better to talk than to be attacked.

Thinking positively, I approached them with a smile.

"Ah...!"

Some of them, as if their legs had given out, crouched down or fell on their butts.

"Don’t be scared, okay?"

"I’m undead now, but I was originally human and I still have my reason."

Just then,

"Roar!"

A man with a particularly muscular build leaped at me with a battle cry.

He seemed to be middle-aged, with a lot of white hair, but his muscles were bulging as if they were about to burst.

"Palm Blast!!!"

With a fierce cry, he thrust out a powerful shock wave generated by his fighting spirit.

"~!?"

Although I didn’t feel any damage, I was blown away a considerable distance.

If I had just let myself fly, I would have soared for a few hundred meters before rolling on the ground.

"Even conversation isn’t allowed..."

I had been approaching them by just a few meters, but now the distance between us was several hundred meters.

Feeling a deep sense of rejection, I was quite disheartened.

Thud!

"…?"

The sound of the ground shaking came from behind me.

I turned around.

"!?"

Right in front of me was the giant tarasque.

Even from a distance, it seemed enormous, but up close, it was like a mountain.

True to its reputation as a dragon subspecies, its mouth was lined with sharp fangs, and it exuded an overwhelming presence.

Our eyes met.

"U-Uh, hello..."

"Roar!"

The giant tarasque, apparently annoyed by my presence, let out a roar and suddenly stretched its neck.

And it opened its mouth wide.

I had a bad feeling...

Crunch!

Sure enough, I was swallowed whole!

---

This was undoubtedly Estina’s full attack.

Despite that, the undead showed no signs of pain or injury.

"What a monster..."

"To withstand Estina’s full attack and remain unharmed..."

The top adventurers in the town were trembling.

Even Estina, who had lost her will to fight, stood there, likely realizing the truth.

The white-haired undead was on a different level.

In the midst of everyone’s despair,

"Roar!"

Naturally, a man was charging at the undead with a loud cry.

It was the guild master, Balda.

What was he planning to do?

No matter how strong Balda was, he couldn’t possibly affect an opponent that even Estina’s attack couldn’t harm.

"Palm Blast!!!"

Balda unleashed a powerful shock wave generated by his fighting spirit, and the undead was blown away to a great distance.

And where the undead landed was—

"Tarasque Road!?"

While we were fighting the undead, it seemed to have approached us without us noticing.

The undead, who had not been affected by Balda’s attack, got up and faced the Tarasque Road.

In the next moment,

The Tarasque Road opened its mouth wide and swallowed the undead whole.

The adventurers gasped in shock.

"Now! Attack the Tarasque Road and change its course!"

Balda shouted.

Did he plan this from the start...!?

The Tarasque Road has a very hard shell, making it almost invulnerable to external attacks.

So, adventurers would try to attack from the inside after entering its body.

However, none of them ever returned.

Dragons, in general, are not only strong externally but also internally.

Many can breathe fire, so their insides are built to withstand such attacks.

If they couldn’t defeat the undead, they could feed it to the Tarasque Road.

By driving the Tarasque Road back to the demon realm, they could dispose of both at once.

To come up with such a plan in an instant...

He truly is the guild master.

We spread out as planned to drive the Tarasque Road away.

Most of the people circled around to the left side.

Standing in front of the tarasque is dangerous, and if you have to attack, it’s best to do so from the left or right.

Attacking from the front would result in the same fate as the undead.

The tarasque can attack with a powerful bite from the front, but it is very weak against attacks from the sides.

Since the shell is almost invulnerable, we aimed for the head or limbs of the Tarasque Road, launching attacks one after another, all from the left side.

"Roar!"

Although the shell is hard, the attacks were still annoying, and the Tarasque Road started to rotate to the right.

"Good, the Tarasque Road is changing direction!"

"Keep it rotating to the right...!"

To drive it back to the demon realm, we needed to change its direction by almost 180 degrees.

Just then,

The Tarasque Road suddenly stopped moving and let out a painful cry.

"Is the attack working?"

"But it doesn’t seem to be injured much?"

"Then what’s causing this pain...?"

As we were puzzled,

Boom!

A part of the Tarasque Road’s shell suddenly exploded.

"Wh-What...?"

We stopped our attacks and stood there in shock, wondering what had happened.

Then, another part of the shell exploded with even more force, sending fragments flying in all directions, including near us.

"Roar!"

A large hole opened in the Tarasque Road’s shell, and it was writhing in pain.

From the hole, a hand emerged, and the white-haired undead crawled out.

Covered in a sticky liquid, he was frowning, but he seemed unharmed.

Did he really break through the shell from inside the Tarasque Road’s body?

That shell is as hard as adamantite...

The Tarasque Road, having been pierced through its shell, soon lost the strength to even struggle and stopped moving.

No matter how high its natural healing ability, it was now just waiting to die.

"J-Just kidding..."

"Even a monster has its limits..."

We were once again faced with despair.