Bound To The Dead: The Deceptive Class-E Farmer-Chapter 47: Now Came The Blood

Isaac stood tall between Harper and the downed generals.

The plaza was still in chaos, Aiah with Nai, Putol and Ben, along with the loyal soldiers, were doing their best to protect the citizens from the corrupted humanoids. freёweɓnovel.com

Harper narrowed his eyes at Isaac.

"Nice seeing you again... I never liked how our first meeting ended. But one thing’s certain, I’m not the same Harper you faced before."

Isaac didn’t flinch. His twin sickles gleamed, the swarm presence flickering like whispers in his shadow.

He gave a quick glance to the two generals. Then he leaned in toward Broner and whispered...

"Swarm Healed."

Their eyes widened as the locusts crawled toward them.

"Stay calm. They’ll heal you. The people need you."

Before he could turn back, Harper launched a massive punch.

Isaac crossed his arms, blocking it, but the impact sent him skidding backward, crashing into the capital wall with a deep crunch.

"I just told you I’m not the same Harper," Harper said, walking forward with a smirk.

As the dust cleared, Harper’s eyes narrowed, Isaac wasn’t there.

He looked up.

Isaac was descending, his sickles flashing, one slash horizontal, one vertical. Harper raised his thickened, furred arms to block. The blades scraped across his hide, but didn’t bite deep.

Isaac landed. Harper responded immediately, slamming his fists into the ground. A quake exploded outward, tiles shattering. Isaac flipped back just in time, avoiding the shockwave.

Harper grinned, holding up his thick arms, only faint marks remained.

"Just like what you saw, farm boy. These aren’t rice stalks for your sickles to cut," he taunted, flexing.

They met mid-air again, steel and claws colliding. The shockwave knocked nearby soldiers off their feet.

Isaac rolled as he landed from the clash, sliding across shattered stone. Harper didn’t give him time to breathe, he charged, four powerful legs pounding like war drums.

Isaac raised both sickles just in time...

Clang!

He blocked a hammer-like punch. The force cracked the earth beneath him.

Isaac grunted, skidding back again, boots carving trenches in the stone.

Harper laughed.

"Come on, farm boy! I want to hear those bones snap!"

He lunged forward again, this time swinging with both massive arms.

Isaac ducked low, spun, and slashed across Harper’s flank. A clean hit, except Harper’s thick fur and twisted muscle only let a shallow gash through. Blood oozed, but Harper didn’t slow down.

Instead, he twisted mid-attack and slammed his elbow into Isaac’s ribs.

Isaac flew across the plaza, smashing through a stone stall and rolling over debris.

’He’s fast... and heavier now,’ Isaac muttered, spitting blood as he stood up.

Harper stomped forward, tilting his head.

"Is that it?"

Isaac closed his eyes for half a second, focused. The black mist around him thickened. His veins pulsed with abyssal energy.

He vanished.

Harper blinked, but it was too late.

Isaac appeared beside him, twin sickles slashing in a perfect X formation.

Sparks and blood flew as the sickles bit deep into Harper’s back. The monster roared and spun, tail whipping out, but Isaac ducked and delivered a heavy knee to Harper’s gut.

The impact lifted Harper off the ground for a second. But landed on all fours, snarling.

His arms bulged even more, muscles twitching as he slammed his fists into the ground.

A shockwave exploded outward.

Isaac crossed his sickles in front of him, but the force still launched him high into the air.

Harper followed, leaping up with impossible speed for his size.

He grabbed Isaac mid-air and slammed him down like a meteor.

Boom!

The ground shattered, leaving a wide crater.

Dust covered the area.

Aiah screamed from afar. "Isaac!"

But before the dust settled, the system screen blazed to life.

[Skill Unlocked: Abyssal Bind]

"Struggle feeds the chain."

[Manifests chains from the Abyss to trap enemies. These chains are strong, fast, and grow harder to break the more you use them.]

[Condition: Abyssal Overdrive must be active.]

[Cooldown: 20 minutes]

Isaac wiped the blood from his eye with the back of his hand and grinned, teeth bared, feral.

"Good," he growled. "Time to chain this bastard down."

He drove both sickles into the earth with a vicious clang.

The crater trembled.

From the shattered ground, black chains erupted, writhing like starving serpents. They snapped onto Harper’s wrist with a brutal crack, yanking him mid-roar.

"Got you," Isaac’s voice echoed.

Harper tried to pull back, but more chains burst from the ground, grabbing his ankles and shoulders. Isaac, bloodied but still burning with energy, rose from the crater floor.

"I’m not done."

He spun both sickles, then pointed them toward Harper.

[Skill Unlocked: Abyssal Drill]

"Drill until nothing screams."

[A dark, spinning attack made from the power of the Abyss. It’s rough and not fully formed, but evolves through mastery.]

[Condition: Abyssal Overdrive must be active.]

[Cooldown: 20 mins]

It spun toward Harper like a drill made of shadows and blades.

Harper roared, breaking free of one chain and raising his arm to block.

The Spiral hit.

The impact blew a hole straight through Harper’s shoulder.

Blood sprayed. His golden fur scorched black.

Harper dropped to one knee, breathing hard.

But he grinned through the pain.

"Good... good," he said, voice shaking. "This is what I wanted."

He stood again. His body started changing.

"You pushed me past my limit," Harper growled. "Now I’ll show you what I really am."

Isaac narrowed his eyes. The monster’s aura flared brighter.

Harper roared as his transformation completed. The horns grew and curled back. His golden fur pulsed with raw energy. Veins glowed beneath the surface of his arms, and his fangs jutted down past his jawline.

Isaac tightened his stance, breath sharp.

Harper didn’t wait. He charged again, zig-zagging with terrifying speed for his size.

Isaac swung, but Harper weaved under, slammed an uppercut into Isaac’s chest, and followed with a spinning backhand that sent him skidding across the ground.

The force of the blows shook the earth.

Isaac coughed, blood spilling from his lip. His boots dug in, stopping him near the plaza’s edge.

He barely had time to recover before Harper leapt again, both fists raised.

Boom!

Isaac blocked, but it was like catching a collapsing building. His knees hit the ground.

Harper grabbed him by the collar and slammed him into the dirt.

Once.

Twice.

Crack.

Isaac’s back scraped across broken stone. The third slam dented the floor beneath him.

"You’re slowing down," Harper grinned, voice darker, deeper. "Is that all your dark smoke can give you?"

Isaac didn’t answer. He grit his teeth, eyes glowing faint violet. His shadow rippled.

Harper darted forward again, his massive arm crashing toward Isaac like a hammer.

Isaac ducked under, slashed upward, both sickles aiming for Harper’s chest, but the monster twisted mid-air. Thick fur absorbed the strikes, and Harper landed behind him with a ground-shaking thud.

Isaac turned just in time to block a savage kick. He slid across the plaza, boots digging a trail in the stone.

Harper cracked his neck. "You feel that now, farmer? You’re strong. But I’m stronger."

Isaac didn’t answer.

His sickles dripped black ichor from earlier blows, but Harper’s body showed no signs of fatigue. His breathing was steady. His muscles, still growing more grotesque by the second.

Isaac’s arms throbbed from the impacts. He was fighting alone... and Harper had evolved far beyond the creature he once faced.

He needed his swarm. Now.

Isaac lowered his stance. Shadows flickered around his feet, twisting unnaturally.

The buzzing changed... sharper, louder.

Above the plaza, the swarm shifted. Some were still feasting on humanoid corpses, their wings twitching with hunger.

But the rest turned, their glowing eyes locking onto Harper.

The air grew heavy as the swarm waited, still and ready, hanging like a storm above the battlefield.

[Command is required]

Isaac raised his voice, low and cold.

"Attack."

The swarm shrieked and dove...

But suddenly...

SNAP.

A crisp sound cut through the chaos.

Then light exploded mid-air.

A clear shimmering dome appeared in the center of the plaza where the two were fighting, flashing gold and white.

The locusts slammed into it and rebounded, hissing in confusion.

They tried again.

Nothing.

The swarm buzzed, angry and confused, swarming along the edge but unable to break through.

Isaac’s eyes widened. "What...?"

He turned his head.

Up on the balcony, King Geoffrey stood completely still.

His hand was lowered from the snap.

He didn’t speak. He didn’t gloat.

No mockery. No wide-eyed theatrics.

Just a small, tight smirk.

His eyes, cold and calculating, locked with Isaac’s for a second.

There was no joy in them. No madness.

Only control.

Terrifying control.

Then the barrier pulsed.

A low hum echoed across the square as the dome solidified. Not even light could escape now. Isaac and Harper were trapped inside.

Harper let out a low chuckle. "Looks like it’s just us again."

Isaac didn’t respond. His focus had shifted, but not away from Harper.

To Geoffrey.

That wasn’t just magic. That was something else.

The king turned and stepped back into the shadows of the balcony, silent and composed.

Isaac’s grip tightened around his sickles. Harper cracked his knuckles.

The warm-up was over. Now came the blood.