Chapter 8: Battle with Overlord Lazar

Hades gripped his scythe with both hands, struggling to withstand the powerful blow from the Overlord in front of him. They were locked in a fierce stalemate.

Herila's figure gradually faded from sight, and Hades secretly breathed a sigh of relief. But facing the psyker Overlord Lazar, he couldn't afford to be careless.

The difference in their strength was too vast. One mistake could cost Hades his life.

As if sensing Hades' intention of calling for reinforcements, Overlord Lazar's twisted, ugly face contorted into a mocking grin.

"Weakling, you won't hold out until that monster arrives. Your frail body will be torn to pieces by me!"

Hades gritted his teeth, trembling from the exertion, but he managed to squeeze out a few words.

"Lazar, but you've already lost, haven't you?"

Overlord Lazar flew into a rage. His blood-streaked, injured body was proof that he had been the one at a disadvantage in the fight against Mortarion.

Another claw suddenly emerged from the Overlord's car-sized body, reeking of blood and swinging at Hades with lightning speed!

Damn! I shouldn't have provoked him! I shouldn't have been so cocky!

Hades immediately used the scythe to deflect the blow, spinning the handle to dissipate the force and then jumping back. The green-black, poisonous claw narrowly missed him.

Close call!

That claw was definitely poisoned. One scratch and it'd be over!

Damn, he's a max-level enchanted melee mage, and I'm just a newbie. How am I supposed to fight him?

Adrenaline surged, and Hades' mind raced for a strategy. He closely observed the terrain and his opponent, analyzing the situation.

They were on a narrow mountain path, with a bottomless cliff on one side and a steep mountain wall on the other. Some rocks were scattered on the path, and a few dead trees jutted out from the mountain wall.

Besides the possibility of a desperate escape by jumping off the cliff, the terrain offered him no advantage. He even had to be cautious of Lazar throwing him off the cliff.

He focused intently on Overlord Lazar, who resembled a grotesque fusion of a human and a tiger. His ugly, fat face was covered in drool-soaked whiskers, and his car-sized body was riddled with strange indentations. The claw that had just attacked emerged from one of these pits.

Additionally, embedded deep in the densely pitted back was a fist-sized, eerie stone that emitted a faint green glow.

According to the resistance's previous investigations, this stone was some kind of Psyker amplifier that Lazar had obtained through human sacrifices.

Lazar had been a minor Overlord in a peripheral area, but after acquiring the stone, he won numerous battles among the Overlords using powerful psychic magic and gradually gained control over the Morava Mountains.

However, Hades found it puzzling that Lazar hadn't used any psychic magic in his last two attacks, relying solely on his physical strength.

This was strange and didn't align with their previous intel on Lazar.

Hades quickly formed two hypotheses: first, Lazar might be deliberately using physical attacks to lower Hades' guard against his powers.

Second, Lazar might be severely injured from his battle with Mortarion and currently unable to use his Psyker powers.

But Hades knew that Lazar, now a defeated foe of Mortarion, wouldn't have the luxury of saving his Psyker powers for an insignificant soldier like him.

So, it was likely that Overlord Lazar was too injured to use his Psyker abilities after fighting Mortarion.

Hades silently prayed it was the second possibility. Facing a severely wounded, out-of-mana melee mage was something he could handle.

At least, his chances of survival were higher.

While his brain worked overtime, Hades didn't stop moving. He adopted a defensive strategy, comically hopping around the narrow mountain path platform to dodge attacks.

He swung his scythe, the huge blade intercepting most of Lazar's strikes. Claw and steel clashed rapidly, sparks flying with each collision.

When he couldn't avoid an attack, he used his reinforced elbows and shins to block, causing a mix of his red blood and black-green poison to splatter, staining the gray-yellow path along with Lazar's blood.

Unlike Hades, who was firmly defending and aiming to delay, Overlord Lazar grew increasingly frenzied.

Time was running out! He couldn't let this soldier stall until Mortarion arrived! He had to escape!

If only his psychic teleportation hadn't been abruptly interrupted! If he had reacted faster, he wouldn't have let the other soldier escape!

Overlord Lazar was in a state of panic. His once-proud psychic had been shattered by Mortarion's masterful physical scythe techniques. Realizing that continuing the fight would be a dead end, he seized an opportunity to escape using psychic teleportation.

No matter how powerful Mortarion was, without psychic power, he could only watch helplessly as Lazar escaped using his powers.

However, Lazar's prideful psychic power encountered a sudden problem. He had set the other end of his teleportation at the mountain's base, but midway through the process, he felt his connection to the Warp weakening.

Barbarous was a planet where the barrier to the Warp was thin, allowing Psyker Overlords to easily draw power from it. But suddenly, the connection was severed, and the ever-thickening physical laws of reality pressed on Overlord Lazar, forcing him to stop the teleportation.

He was squeezed out of the short-distance teleportation from the Warp, and upon emerging, he saw Hades and Herila clearing the area behind him.

What's going on?!

Not only that, but he noticed his connection to the Warp becoming even weaker! He couldn't even muster the energy to cast a simple spell!

No! This can't be happening!!!

What's going on?!

While fighting Hades, Lazar's mind raced through the countless forbidden books he had studied. One forbidden term after another flashed before his eyes.

Finally, he found a term in the depths of his memory—

"Untouchable"—a being who could not be touched by the Warp.

Could it be that this soldier was an Untouchable??!!

No, impossible! Untouchables were ancient legends. Even in the mythical Golden Age, there were no mentions of Untouchables!

Lazar, a xeno Overlord who didn't believe in legends, was continuously reminded of his weakening connection to the Warp. He even felt his soul being slowly consumed since he started battling this insignificant soldier.

No!!! Impossible!!! Besides Mortarion, no lowly human could threaten him!!!

They are garbage! Weak insects!!! Weeds found everywhere!!! They couldn't possibly be those legendary beings!!

Overlord Lazar's keen senses detected Mortarion's heavy footsteps approaching rapidly from the mountain path. 

Time was running out!!

This damn insect, jumping around, using only weak physical attacks!!!

I, Lazar, am far above you!!!

Die!!!

Ignoring his already weak connection to the Warp, Lazar extended a pale, human-like hand from the indentations on his back. The space around it began to distort, eerie white light crackling and gathering in the hand.

He intended to obliterate this insect in one strike!!!

Hades focused intensely on the white light in that hand, raising his scythe to guard his vital areas.

Thanks to his time with Typhon, Hades knew that turning and running downhill would not take him out of the Psyker attack's range.

However… he might try—

—running uphill!

Feigning a defensive posture, Hades kept his eye on a dead tree on the mountain wall beside him.

He planned to jump up at the moment of the attack, hook onto the tree with his scythe, and use the momentum to swing up and avoid the attack!

If the Psyker attack's impact was strong enough, the shockwave might even propel him to a safer spot above!

Lazar wouldn't turn back for another strike, as he was also trying to escape!

Though Hades had blocked most of Lazar's attacks, his cut limbs were showing signs of weakness and spasms. The massive blood loss made him dizzy.

Despite clenching his teeth to hide it, Hades knew he wouldn't last much longer.

If Mortarion didn't arrive in the next two minutes, Hades would choose to jump off the cliff.

In other words, their next actions would be crucial in deciding the outcome.

However, an unexpected event occurred.

While Hades focused most of his attention on the gathering Psyker energy, an unnoticed change happened in another dimension. The near-Untouchable black hole surrounding him began to deform. The pure black void twisted, writhing and extending forward slowly.

In the Warp, if one were to observe Hades, they would see a dense, black humanoid figure at the center. Like a tiny star, it emitted black light, devouring everything it touched.

But from a distance, the black light weakened and blended into the impure darkness of the Warp.

Because everything was black, this small black figure was hard to notice in the Warp.

At this moment, Hades' black void deformed slowly and inexorably, consuming the yellow-green glow belonging to Overlord Lazar beside him, along with the floating bits of putrid flesh.

In the Warp, the sleeping Nurgle murmured some dead language softly.

Hades kept his eyes on Overlord Lazar.

Suddenly, the intense white light in Lazar's hand vanished as if it had never existed. At the same time, the stone on his back exploded, a massive shockwave radiating from Overlord Lazar.

The rolling shockwave surged towards Hades. 

Without hesitation, Hades leaped into the air, using the momentum to hook his scythe onto the root of the dead tree!

With all his strength, he swung himself upwards, using the tree as the pivot, he drew a perfect arc.

His blood splattered along his path, marking his trajectory in the air.

With heightened senses, time felt like a thick swamp. Hades heard his heartbeat slow down.

Now above Overlord Lazar, the monster still wasn't dead despite the eerie explosion. His back split open, blood gushing out like a fountain.

But he wasn't dead yet. Hades could see his struggling limbs and hear the monster's dying wails.

Great opportunity!!! Without hesitation, Hades released the scythe from the tree and, in mid-air, swung it heavily towards the monster's head.

Simultaneously, "Hades!!!"

Mortarion and Herila appeared on the mountain path above, with Mortarion hurling a dagger at Lazar.

However, airborne Hades was oblivious to all this.

His mind was blank, fully concentrated on the scythe in his hands.

Then, Hades swung the crescent moon scythe, reaping death and harvest—

—head and blood flew together.

He was a Death Guard; he was humanity's scythe.

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Note: The protagonist has a near-Untouchable physique, later simply referred to as an Untouchable for convenience.

For now, consider the protagonist as an enhanced version of an Untouchable.

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