My Wife is a Dead Villainess, and I'm Her Living Weapon
Chapter 171: Deeper

Chapter 171: Deeper

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

Like a dog snacking on a biscuit, Elian ate his fill. A large tree stump lay in front of him, secured by silver tentacles that slowly drove deeper into the wood. A pair of oversized blade jaws crushed, ripped, and chewed the lumber morsel by morsel.

This tastes like crap. And I haven’t even eaten 10% of this bastard.

A melodious voice giggled in Elian’s mind amidst his whining.

"Fufu, they often said no evil will go unpunished. Consider this your comeuppance for all the times you force-fed me stinky red ant cores till I puked rainbows."

You are never going to let go of that, are you? It was for your own good.

"Hmph! Even if it was for my own good, you were too much! My stomach practically exploded from all those cores! How could you say you love me when you were smiling the entire time? Thank goodness we have the new mana drinks now so it’s no longer an issue."

I made the mana drinks from liquefied monster cores because I loved you, you spoiled penguin, Elian snapped.

The Weapon couldn’t help but smile in satisfaction at the joy of being able to joke around with his lover. Although, considering that they were in the middle of a battle for their lives, it might not have been the best time to do so.

"Still, this is who we are," Elian murmured in a low voice.

He looked up and saw the gigantic Ironwood Wartreant crash to the ground. The tremors vibrating underground were enough to shatter buildings. Elian only stayed stable due to his chainsaw tentacles.

High-pitched screeches rang out as his arms carved chunk after chunk from the enemy’s body. Elian’s faceplate would open up, and the black Living Metal jaws would come out. Their Valestrian Steel teeth gleamed in the sunlight as they moved.

"Devour."

These chunks, which were as big as cars, would then be bitten, chewed, and eventually swallowed. Like a demon from comic books, Elian literally consumed his opponent as they fought.

Although given the immense size of his opponent, the process would take weeks. Still, Elian didn’t worry; instead, he scanned the main body as he ate.

"System Scan."

___

Name: Depth Deeper than the Center (M)

Species: Karnathian (Ironwood Wartreant)

Lvl: 69 | (Mid Dusk)

HP: 620,478/650,780 (678,900) | MP: 400,105/450,000 (465,000)

Strength: EX | Intelligence: S | Agility: E

___

"Hmm. 28,000 HP and 15,000 MP. It’s a start, I guess."

With each piece that Elian tore off from his opponent, both his HP and MP began to decrease. And it wasn’t just the current amount but the total number available. This meant that even with regeneration, the enemy Tyrant’s life was being forcefully culled.

"You have a really long name; I’ll call you Deeper," he said aloud.

The ground rumbled. Elian watched as Deeper’s entire body shrank by a small amount. But in return, he quickly grew back his missing foot and the torn parts of his arms.

But even then, the Tyrant’s left arm still sagged lifelessly as he stood up.

"YOU! WHAT DID YOU DO? WHY CAN’T I USE MY ARM!"

Elian didn’t answer and quickly swallowed the final car-sized piece of the tree stump he had cleaved off. The oversized jaw quickly retreated back into his armor and the silver alloy closed, sealing the opening.

He couldn’t help but smile as he brought up his arms, which had chainsaws at each end, along with the ten tentacle limbs from his back. Twelve serpents that thrum violently rose from Elian like a hydra.

The Tyrant Candidate didn’t bother to reply but simply leapt towards Deeper. In anger, large vines burst from the ground and tried to grab Elian; however, his chainsaws all raged. The sharp teeth of his weapons quickly tore apart the vines, severing them completely.

Before Deeper could counterattack, one of Elian’s silver tentacles elongated and shot out towards his opponent’s left leg. Like a grappling hook, the tentacle raced and sped towards its target. The chainsaw at the end spun and morphed into the shape of a triangle.

BANG!

With a loud sound, the chainsaw arrow buried itself into the wooden stump that was Deeper’s leg and began to spray Living Metal into the wound. In the same moment, it pulled Elian toward Deeper like a zip line.

Thousands of leaves and ’gun trees,’ as Elian called them, fired at him. Yet their projectiles simply bounced off or were ripped apart by the rampaging chainsaws along Elian’s body. He was like a ball of teeth that ripped apart anything that came too close.

"YOU! GET AWAY!"

In anger, Deeper swung his right arm towards the chainsaw arrow. If Elian did nothing, he would be smacked into the ground with lethal force. However, rather than face the attack, Elian did the unthinkable.

Snap.

With a thought, he forcefully severed the base of the tentacle, letting it snap cleanly like a spent harpoon line. Losing his destination, he shot out another chainsaw tentacle, but this time it was aimed at the underside of Deeper’s right arm.

The second chainsaw tentacle similarly morphed into a triangle-like arrow and buried itself into the approaching limb. Within seconds, it pulled Elian hurtling toward the arm, but rather than getting in range of the attack, he was pulled beside it.

Now upside down beneath Deeper’s elbow, Elian secured himself in place as he used all his remaining chainsaws to carve up the lumber of his opponent’s limb.

Each piece was quickly hauled to the top of his head, where a monstrous jaw swallowed it whole. When Deeper moved to swat Elian, he unfastened himself and leapt off the gigantic Wartreant, only to shoot out yet another tentacle and continue his assault.

Like a monkey, swinging along the vines, Elian used his tentacles as grappling hooks and rapidly changed directions while climbing along Deeper’s body. His speed was so fast that his opponent barely had time to react.

Every spot along Deeper’s body Elian stumbled upon was ravaged for resources. The defenders were cut apart or ignored; Deeper’s wood was gouged out and eaten, and Elian’s Living Metal continued to dye his wounds black.

Eventually, Deeper made a drastic choice. The roots fastening his dead arm undid themselves, and his left arm fell to the ground with a devastating quake. Elian felt the surge of mana race from Deeper’s entire body up toward his empty shoulder.

Figures. Of course, the giant wooden bastard can do that.

"But that entire section of him is now ours, isn’t it? What should I do next?"

Elian thought for a bit and gave Bianca a command.

Order the Karnathi Weapons we forged earlier to take it away and dismantle it. I have a feeling this battle is still far from over. He kinda reminds me of me; do treants have cores like golems?

"I do not know, darling. I am sorry for not having an answer."

At Bianca’s low-spirited reply, Elian couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly.

Bianca, cheer up. I am not blaming you. It’s fine. The current battle tactic we have is working. We will slowly whittle down this bastard by using his own size against him. Don’t worry; we can win this.

"Okay, I will fly back to the weapon army and tell them your orders. I will come back immediately after. Be careful while I am gone."

I will, thanks. Take care as well.

Bianca wasted no time and quickly went on her way. She vanished with a thunderclap, breaking the sound barrier as she streaked toward the army they had left behind. But as Elian and Bianca didn’t stray very far, she should be back in a few minutes.

Alright, back to work.

***

Hours passed as Elian and Bianca terrorized Deeper. His immense size prevented him from fighting back, much like how a dog could not fight a tick. Only the ticks that ravaged Deeper were far more malicious than he could even begin to guess.

Elian watched Deeper shrink his body bit by bit. Every time the Weapon devastated a vital part, Deeper would regrow it at the cost of his size. When entire sections of his body drooped like dead fish, Deeper would purge the limb and regrow it.

Eventually, from a colossal being taller than even mountains, ’Depth Deeper than the Center’s body was barely the size of the 18-meter humanoid treants they first came up against.

"It’s time."

Elian no longer tried to dance around Deeper and attacked him head-on. His twelve chainsaw serpents made short work of the Treant and ripped it apart piece by piece. Helpless, the Tyrant of Karnathi’s body was shattered into pieces.

However, one of the pieces radiated immense mana, prompting Bianca to secure it with Ice VII.

"Elian..."

"Yeah, this must be his core."

The chest portion, which was taken hostage by Elian and Bianca, then opened up. Like a flower bud, the bark swirled open and exposed a green humanoid. It had a featureless face, a pair of glowing green eyes, and a body that looked made from green ore.

Its eyes furrowed as it saw Elian, although it had no other features; it expressed its anger and disdain with a single glare.

"You are perhaps the most contemptuous bastard I have ever fought. Vile and without a shred of honor. I came here to experience a battle worthy of my end, yet all I got was a disappointing excuse for a fight. How unsightly."

Elian raised his right arm and made the chainsaw on it spin faster. The sharp buzzing sound made the green being flinch in fear.

"If dying is all you want, I have no complaints about ending you right now."

Depth Deeper than the Center, step forward and snapped, "You disgusting piece of leftover tree sap! You dare defile the Ironwood legacy with such savagery?"

Elian tilted his head, completely lost. "What the hell are you talking about?"