Bound To The Dead: The Deceptive Class-E Farmer-Chapter 49: Thank You For Your Service

They clashed in a single, earth-shattering instant.

Harper moved first.

He shot forward like a cannon, the ground shattering under his charge.

Isaac barely crossed his sickles in time...

BAM!

Harper’s fist smashed into the blades, slamming Isaac across the dome like a ragdoll. His spine lit up with pain. He hit hard, coughed blood, forced himself up.

Harper was already coming again.

The giant’s claws ripped through the air.

Isaac ducked under the first swipe, but Harper’s knee drove into his ribs.

CRACK.

Isaac gasped, half-folding over. He staggered back, blocking desperately.

Each blow was a hammer. Each block rattled his bones.

His legs felt like sandbags. His vision blurred. Outside, the swarm hammered the dome like a storm.

Inside, Isaac fought alone.

He gritted his teeth.

’That thunder... made him stronger.’ Isaac realized.

Harper swung again, a blur of golden claws.

Isaac barely weaved under it and countered, sickle flashing.

The blade cut deep, blood spraying, but Harper didn’t flinch. He grabbed Isaac’s arm and hurled him.

Isaac slammed into the stone floor, dirt choking his mouth.

He spat it out, spit bloody, hands shaking as he forced himself upright.

Harper was already there.

Isaac blocked, but Harper’s fist broke through, smashing into his ribs again.

More cracks.

More pain.

The taste of iron in his mouth.

He dropped to one knee, gasping for breath.

[Abyssal Overdrive: 35 minutes remaining.]

Thirty-five minutes.

Not enough.

BAAM!

Another brutal punch collapsed him against the dome wall.

He hit the ground hard, coughing.

Harper rushed again, a relentless storm.

Isaac crossed his sickles to block, the impact made his arms go numb, weapons almost slipping from his grasp.

The swarm outside shrieked and slammed into the barrier, a mad symphony of hunger.

Inside, Isaac rose again, blood blurring his vision.

One sickle in each hand.

Breathing ragged.

Harper growled low in his throat, stepping forward, towering.

Isaac reached out with his mind.

’Hopper. Can you hear me?’

There was a pause.

’Yes, Master! We’re coming! We’ll break this barrier!’

Isaac shook his head.

’No. Listen carefully.’

’Yes, Master!’

’Forget the barrier. Devour every humanoid outside. Now!’

Hopper hesitated, then his voice returned strong.

’Understood, Master!’

Outside, the swarm shifts. They stop hitting the barrier and dive onto the plaza. They start consuming everything, flesh, bone, blood. The sounds are loud and messy.

Isaac forced himself up straighter.

His hands stopped shaking.

Harper grinned, blood dripping from his fangs.

Isaac glared back, silent.

Harper lunged.

Isaac dodged, barely, the air slicing open where the claws missed.

He countered, swung low, but Harper caught the sickle mid-air.

Isaac’s eyes widened.

CRACK!

Harper crushed the blade like tin foil.

It snapped in two, shards raining down.

Isaac jumped back, one sickle left.

Harper moved faster.

Isaac dodged, but not fast enough.

Claws raked across his shoulder, spraying blood into the air.

Pain exploded through his body.

Harper closed in for the kill.

Then the system flashed:

[Swarm Devour Effect... 100% Absorption.]

[Swarm Authority +7%.]

[Swarm Authority Level: 85%.]

Isaac felt it, a surge of dark power blasting through him.

The pain dulled. His arms steadied. His mind sharpened.

Cooldowns reset.

He wiped the blood from his mouth. Smiled thinly.

"Now it’s my turn."

Harper froze mid-step, sensing the shift.

Isaac moved first.

He dropped the broken sickle, reached back, and ripped the axe free.

Black energy cracked across the blade, humming like a starving beast.

[Skill Activated: Abyssal Smash]

Isaac roared and swung downward.

BOOM!

The ground exploded beneath the blow, shockwaves ripping through the plaza.

CRACK-KRAAACK!

Jagged fissures shot toward Harper, tearing the earth apart under his feet.

Harper staggered, momentarily off balance.

’Perfect.’

Isaac dropped the axe with a heavy thud and stabbed both sickles into the ruined ground.

[Skill Activated: Abyssal Bind]

SHING!

Chains of black energy erupted upward, snapping around Harper’s legs and arms in a blur.

Harper roared, thrashing violently.

The ground shook, but the abyssal chains held.

Isaac didn’t hesitate.

[Skill Activated: Abyssal Drill]

He spun his sickles, the shadows thickening, spiraling into a massive black vortex.

He hurled it with all his strength.

WHOOM!

The spear of death ripped into Harper’s chest.

KA-BOOOM!

The explosion tore the air apart.

It was the same combo Isaac had used a while ago, but this time, much stronger.

Harper screamed, a raw, broken sound, as the drill shredded through muscle and bone.

One massive leg snapped off with a disgusting CRACK!

His left arm hung useless, nearly torn free.

Dust and smoke roared through the dome.

Isaac stood unmoving, sickles dripping, breath ragged.

’Not enough.’

He raised his weapons again.

[Skill Activated: Death Reel]

CLANG! CLANG!

Chains shot from his sickles, moving like vipers, sinking into Harper’s remaining limbs.

SHHK-SHHK!

The chains snapped tight, and wrenched Harper toward Isaac like a slaughtered animal.

THUD.

Isaac met him mid-air with a savage, whirling strike.

WHSSH!

Both sickles carved deep.

A wet SPLURCH as Harper’s right arm severed at the shoulder.

His last good leg ripped free with a heavy THUD-CRACK.

Harper screamed, no longer a roar, but a high, broken shriek.

Blood flooded the cracked stones, black and steaming.

Isaac stood over the twitching wreck of a monster.

Breathing hard. Sickles dripping.

Eyes cold.

Harper’s shattered limbs twitched, dragging toward the torso, still trying to regenerate.

Isaac stepped forward.

Sickles raised.

Ready to end it...

CRACK-BOOOOOOM!

A flash of light, like a bolt of pure thunder, pierced through the dome from outside.

It struck near Harper with a deafening crack.

Isaac stopped mid-step, shielding his eyes from the sudden blast.

When the smoke cleared, a figure stood beside Harper.

King Geoffrey.

He didn’t rush. He didn’t even look at Isaac yet.

He stared down at Harper with calm eyes and a faint smile.

"You did well, Harper," Geoffrey said, his voice smooth.

Harper’s bloodshot eyes widened. His body shook as he tried to lift his head.

"You bought the time we needed. You pushed him harder than anyone else could."

Harper tried to rise, chest heaving, thinking the king would heal him... or grant him more strength.

Geoffrey crouched down and placed one hand gently on Harper’s battered head.

"Thank you for your service."

There was no warning.

Electric power exploded from Geoffrey’s hand.

Harper’s body jerked once, twice, then tore apart in a violent flash of light.

His skin burned and peeled away. His muscles split open. His bones cracked and shattered.

Harper’s roar of pain barely lasted a second before it was swallowed by the thunder. freeωebnovēl.c૦m

In moments, nothing was left of him but drifting black ash.

Geoffrey stood up, brushing dust from his fingers.

Then finally, he turned his gaze to Isaac.

"You impressed me, farm boy. Let’s see how long that lasts."

Isaac tightened his grip on his sickles.

His heart hammered in his chest.

This was no ordinary king.

Geoffrey smirked, savoring the moment.

Then, with a lazy snap of his fingers, the shimmering dome above them rippled once and disappeared.

It broke apart silently, the pieces fading into the air.

Isaac tensed, watching closely.

But Geoffrey didn’t attack.

Not yet.

He turned slowly, looking over the plaza, at the traitors, the panicked citizens, and the swarm tearing through the remains of the humanoids.

"Pathetic," Geoffrey said, his voice calm but full of cold amusement. "All of you, fighting over scraps you don’t even understand."

He lifted his hand, palm open and facing upward, as if holding something invisible.

Sparks of electricity flickered between his fingers. The air around him buzzed with energy.

Isaac’s instincts screamed at him to move, but he stood his ground.

Geoffrey’s smile grew sharper, his eyes cold and calculating.

"Let’s clean up the mess."

The ball of energy in his hand flared.

CRACK!

Bolts of electricity shot out from his palm, splitting in every direction.

Each stream of lightning moved fast, targeting the humanoids, alive or half-eaten, no matter where they hid.

BZZZAT!

SKZZZRAK!

One by one, the creatures were hit. Their bodies burst apart or burned into ash instantly.

The humanoids fighting Aiah’s group and the soldiers dropped where they stood, turning into piles of blackened bone and dust.

The corpses being eaten by the swarm caught fire too, burned into smoldering piles within seconds.

Even Isaac’s locusts weren’t safe.

Hundreds, then thousands of swarmlings were caught mid-bite, their bodies burnt to cinders by the deadly lightning.

The smell of burned flesh and scorched insect husks filled the plaza.

Isaac gritted his teeth as he felt the connection to his swarm weaken.

Geoffrey lowered his hand.

The lightning faded, but the threat in the air stayed, heavy and sharp.

"You think I didn’t notice?" Geoffrey said, his voice low and smooth.

"Every bite... every scrap your swarm consumed... made you stronger."

He stepped forward, his boots crunching on the scorched stone.

"You grew stronger by feeding off my leftovers."

Another step.

"But here’s the truth, farm boy," Geoffrey said, his smile turning cruel, "I was just fattening the pig before the slaughter."

Isaac’s grip tightened around his sickles until his hands ached.

Geoffrey raised his hand again, lightning sparking between his fingers, a new storm building.

"And now," Geoffrey said, his voice steady and full of threat,

"...it’s time for the real feast."