Salvos (A Monster Evolution LitRPG)
Chapter 735: Salvos Clone

735. Salvos Clone

“Do you hear that?”

Edithe snapped her gaze up, looking towards her three companions staring back at her. Willy, Druma, and Centina all exchanged quizzical glances.

“I don’t hear anything.”

Centina shrugged, before looking towards Druma.

“Do you?”

And the [Ancient Yaksha] shook his head.

“What are you hearing, Edithe?”

Willy asked as he flitted towards the redhead. But she immediately raised a hand, shushing him.

And she paused as she squinted. Leaning forward, she strained her ears to listen. The words almost seemed to echo all around her. Like a dozen voices were speaking at once, but coming from the same person.

“...touch me.”

“Come here—”

“Give it to me.”

“Stop ignoring me—”

“GIVE IT TO ME!”

Then the voices all grew silent in that instant, overwhelmed by the booming words. The redhead almost recoiled from the shout, but she focused. She could actually tell where the last voice was coming from.

And her eyes widened as her gaze focused on the object she had dropped to the ground. The Legendary Grade Weapon— the Scythe of the Arcraem.

“It’s telling me to give it… this.”

Edithe looked down at the broken sphere in the palm of her hand, before raising her head to face the fallen scythe. Willy flew up to her side and faced her with a concerned blue glow.

“Edithe?”

“Willy, Centina, Druma…”

Edithe shook her head as she looked towards her three friends. Taking in a deep breath and striding forward, she spoke simply.

“I want you all to step back. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but if anything bad happens, I want you all to be as far away as possible from me.”

“Master? Can you explain what’s going on?”

Druma asked, tilting his head to face her. Edithe gave him an apologetic look.

“Sorry, Druma. I can’t really explain anything right now. Please, just listen to me.”

The redhead took in a deep breath as she came to a halt right before the Scythe of the Arcraem. Willy, Druma, and Centina all hesitated, evidently not understanding what was going on. But after sharing a glance, they nodded at each other and moved.

“I don’t know what you’re doing, Edithe. But please, stay safe.”

Will said as he paused right next to her, before trailing after Centina and Druma. Edithe nodded back at him.

“I’ll try.”

That was all she said in response. Then she waited until all three of her friends were far from the crater, before she steeled herself. Exhaling deeply, she raised a hand over the scythe.

“Let’s hope this works.”

Edithe whispered to herself as she lowered her hand to touch the handle. For a moment, nothing happened. Which made her frown to herself.

“Was I just imagining—”

And then there was a blinding flash of light.

***

It was the Matriarch Centinel of the Bloodied Gulf. The Progenitor of all of Secely’s Centinels. A Level 200 monster.

No— it wasn’t just Level 200. [Identification] didn’t give a result, which meant that it had to be at least Level 220. Unless it had some kind of Skill which prevented others from appraising it.

But Sally highly doubted that. Which meant it was very likely even higher-leveled than even [The Great Agarus].

…who’s [The Great Agarus]? Sally blinked a few times as she spaced out for a moment. But then she shook her head, dismissing the thoughts when the Matriarch Centinel landed right in front of her.

“Rachel…”

Sally whispered, looking down at the young girl she was protecting. Even though Sally had taken the brunt of the attacks with her [My Flames Shall Burn Until Eternity Ends], Rachel had sustained a critical amount of damage just from the sheer impact of the attacks.

Grousing, her head lolled up. She weakly looked towards Sally and croaked.

“S-Salvos… what do we do?”

Sally pursed her lips. While she wanted to correct Rachel, now wasn’t the time.

“The Matriarch Centinel is after me. I’m going to distract it. You just need to focus on escaping alive, alright?”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Sally said as she set the young girl to the ground alongside the Dreaded Goblet. With the snap of a finger, the Salvos clone summoned another Salvos clone. Except, this clone was made of entirely silver flames.

The Sally clone picked up Rachel and the Dreaded Goblet, before she nodded back at Sally. Rachel opened her mouth.

“B-but you’ll die…”

Rachel choked out. Sally paused for a moment when she heard that.

But it’s fine, I’m just a clone, Sally wanted to say. But she couldn’t bring herself to utter those words. Closing her eyes, she took in a deep breath. There was a lot she wanted to say at that second, however they didn’t have the time to speak. So she just smiled at the young girl.

“I’ll be fine. Just live.”

“I—”

Rachel started. And with that, the Sally clone took off flying straight for the school in the distance.

The Matriarch Centinel’s head snapped up, watching both Rachel and the Sally clone escape. She looked like she was about to intercept them, when Sally pointed at her.

“[Sacred Hellfire].”

A burst of gray flames erupted from the Matriarch Centinel’s right shoulder as she looked back towards Sally. The Salvos clone… the clone who gained sapience… the one who had been left behind and dedicated everything to protect those she cared about… she spread her arms wide and bared her teeth at her overwhelmingly stronger foe, before activating her [Divine Essence Of The Angelic Devil Princess].

“It’s me you want. So come and get me!”

Sally bellowed as she activated [Divine Haste], and the Matriarch Centinel’s mandibles clicked together. Striding forward, the Matriarch Centinel faced Sally with a dangerous gaze.

“You. Will. Pay. For. What. You’ve. Done.”

And as the Matriarch Centinel spoke, half a dozen or so [Ancient Centinels] erupted from the ground behind her. But they didn’t attack Sally. Instead, they gave chase to the Sally clone and Rachel.

Sally gritted her teeth and commanded her clone to summon even more clones to distract the swarm of [Ancient Centinels]. With this distraction, the clone wasn’t going to be able to teleport away like Sally had planned.

However, she had to focus at the moment. Because right before her was—

And the Matriarch Centinel moved. In an instant, she was right before Sally, her claw-like hands already raised.

Sally’s eyes grew wide as she couldn’t even react. She blinked, and she found herself already sent flying a thousand feet away, tumbling through the forest and ripping apart the landscape.

The iridescent flames coating her still protected her from the strike. But it was not enough to help her fight back. Spreading her [Angelic Wings] wide to catch herself mid-air, Sally looked up just in time to see the Matriarch Centinel leaping across the vast landscape to get to her.

“[The Call of Armageddon]!”

Sally brought her hands together, raising a sphere of black flames into the air. All at once, the sphere exploded into a rain of dark stars, crashing in the direction of the Matriarch Centinel.

But as expected, the attack didn’t even slow down the Matriarch Centinel. She brushed aside the oncoming attacks, reaching Sally in the next moment.

However, right as she was about to land another strike, Sally raised a hand like she was about to catch the attack. And right as their hands touched, Sally whispered.

“[The Devil’s Grace]. And—”

The Matriarch Centinel suddenly went flying back— going back in time to where she was just ten seconds ago, a thousand feet away from Sally. All the while Sally just grinned as she snapped her fingers.

“[Divine Demon’s Mark].”

A powerful explosion overcame the Matriarch Centinel as Sally watched for a moment, thinking she could take a moment’s reprieve. Perhaps she could even teleport away once she was certain Rachel was safe. However, at that moment, she recoiled as another vision played in her mind.

***

And now, my dreams have finally become a reality. Now, I could touch Haec, and he was really here. I could cling onto him, and he wouldn’t disappear. The promise we made to each other— the life we imagined as companions— it finally could be real.

I continued to hug Haec, remaining silent. He didn’t say a word either. We both simply chose to luxuriate in this moment. The relief we felt was shared. I didn’t even need [Truth Divination] to know that he felt the same way as me.

He was Haec. He was my first companion. And he was here—

***

Sally clutched her head as she groaned.

“What are these—”

But a second later, a beam of crimson light shot out of the exploding [Divine Demon’s Mark], cutting through the blast, before cleaving the landscape in half and shooting straight for Sally. Even though Sally had an aura of invulnerability protecting her, she reacted instinctively, diving to the side to dodge the attack.

And the Matriarch Centinel exploded out right for Sally in that moment of distraction. But this time, Sally could somehow see the movements of the Matriarch Centinel. Not enough to dodge the oncoming attack. However, Sally wasn’t completely lost like she was earlier.

Even still, the Matriarch Centinel crashed into Sally, knocking them both out of the air and into the ground. Instead of just landing another powerful strike, the Matriarch Centinel decided to grapple with Sally this time around so she couldn’t escape.

Sally wriggled and writhed in the Matriarch Centinel’s arms. But Sally couldn’t break free. No matter how hard she tried, the Matriarch Centinel’s grip was unbreakable. The best Sally could do was try to fly up into the air, but she just brought the Matriarch Centinel with her.

All the while this happened, the Matriarch Centinel shrieked and chomped down on Sally, biting into the iridescent flames.

Sally gritted her teeth as she tumbled through the air, being relentlessly struck by the Matriarch Centinel. This was a bad situation to be stuck in. There was nothing Sally could do to escape or break free. And once her [My Flames Shall Burn Until Eternity Ends] ran out, she would be instantly killed.

So she had to break free. But she had no Skills in her repertoire that could… that could…

But what about…? Sally instinctively thought for a moment.

She didn’t even know where the idea came from. She never even knew she had this Skill. But she focused as she grabbed onto the Matriarch Centinel.

“[Worldbreak]!”

The Matriarch Centinel’s eyes flickered as her body began to distort and twist. She released her grip over Sally, flying back into the air. Sally dropped to the ground and watched as motes of iridescent light wisped off the Matriarch Centinel’s body.

Convulsing, turning, and spiking in all directions, the Matriarch Centinel let out a horrible screech that echoed out for miles. All the while, Sally watched for a moment, trying to process what she did— before realizing that this was her one and final chance of escaping.

“Is Rachel safe yet—”

Sally started, glancing to the side. But before she could even divert her attention elsewhere, the Matriarch Centinel’s screech grew more and more distorted— turning into what sounded like a chittering cry.

A familiar chittering.

The sound of the corruption.

Sally’s gaze snapped up, watching as the Matriarch Centinel’s figure shifted. Chunks of her carapace began to break off and glow with an iridescent light. Her face became distorted, no longer visible as anything but a blur.

The corruption that was holding the Matriarch Centinel in stasis began to twist, before collapsing into her body. And her spine straightened. She grew taller, while the flaking iridescent extended from her lower back like it was now a part of her body.

Sally gaped in horror as the Matriarch Centinel’s figure finished shifting. And now, there hovered in the air the true form of the Progenitor of Secely’s Centinels. A tail of corruption that was a hundred feet long held her up, shaped like the body of a centipede. And her body was nothing but a mass of floating carpaces circling her like an aura of protection.

[The B̵͖͇̲̲̱̗̆͐̈͜r̵̨̧̧̡̲̥̰̗̺͎̘͎̰̱̿̇͋̆̌̈́͌̎̇͗͠ŏ̸̧̢̙͍͕̺͙̖͕̺̾̆͗̊̋̈̋ͅo̷̡̯͉̪̜̺̬̦̫͕͉͂̀͋ͅd̶̛̝͉̟̦͕̙͇͕̈́̇͌ͅm̶̪̄̓͒̏͆͑̈́̈́̾̉͝͝ô̶͕̤̳̼̜͔͇͈̤̎͂̿̑́̑ͅt̶͕̖̗̭̫̰͈̦̉̽͒̂̊̏͋̿͂͠h̵̳̼̮͑͜ẽ̵̘̥̞̭̟͂̍̆͆̀r̵͕͓̱̞̉͒̿̿͋̿͌͆̈ That Remains - Lvl. 238]

And Sally realized that Rachel was right.

She was going to die here.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.