Deadly Battle
Arisa here. Back in my teen years, I thought my parents were annoying when they worried about me, but deep down, I relied on my parents, and before I knew it, I was very dependent on them. That’s something you only notice when you lose them.
“Now, remove my binds! Or I’ll order the undead to break into the Castle!”
The old guy called Zanzasansa or something yelled out, seemingly smug.
“In that case, we’ll just kill you before you can order them.”
“W-wait! If you kill me, the forces will break free from my yoke and head straight for the nearby living ones—the Tauruses of the Castle! It will only hasten your destruction!”
As his own life was hanging on the line, he seemed desperate. Though, they were already inside the Castle—so I didn’t know what he was babbling about. The wolflike guy, Mr. Fen, probably didn’t think it would cause a Taurus stampede. He was still standing above the old necromancer guy with his sword held high.
“Hey, could I have a moment?”
“What is it, girl?”
Mr. Fen had Zanzasansa stuck in place with his magic, so I figured Zanzasansa could drop the act already. Though he was just acting, his voice was shaking.
“So I heard from one of my familiars that the undead are already in the Castle. Mr. Tiga and his party are currently holding them off—they haven’t even reached the inner gate.”
I relayed the information that Master told me to the old necromancer. The old dude looked a bit shocked.
“Th-that’s not possible! I didn’t order them to enter it yet!”
He seemed really confused. I wondered if he wasn’t expecting that to happen.
“In that case, there’s no need to keep him alive.”
Mr. Fen spoke, a sense of bloodlust crossing his handsome, wolflike features.
“Wait! That’s not all I can do!”
“I told you, stop with the jokes—”
“I mean it! I can show you!”
The sword, swung down to decapitate, stopped at Zanzasansa’s neck. I thought it was 120 percent just a bluff, but considering the slightest possibility, I think they couldn’t go through with it.
“Haah, haah, haah… Open.”
Zanzasansa was wet with a cold sweat as he breathlessly said a command word, as if opening an Item Box. But it was a little weird. He didn’t have the ability “Item Box”…or at least, he shouldn’t have. Nothing happened…or maybe it did?
“Come out.”
Zanzasansa ordered someone to do something. Everyone looked around the room.
“I found it?”
At the spot where Tama, who had climbed on top of the turtle that had its shell stripped away, pointed, a black square that resembled an Item Box appeared, and I could see a mummified, dried-up hand reaching in to take out a short horn.
That was the short horn Master was talking about.
“Tama!”
“Yessir?”
Tama snatched the short horn away from the dried-up hand.
“Feed on my desires—”
The short horn in Tama’s hand began to exude miasma.
That’s bad.
“Tama!”
Liza shouted.
“Throw it away! Quick!”
“Roger.”
Tama threw it away without a moment’s hesitation.
“The Power of Tyranny—”
“It was a trap.”
Mr. Fen brought his longsword down on Zanzasansa’s neck. His decapitated head rolled away on the battlefield—it was yucky. The rolling severed head and the short horn that Tama threw away seemed to be drawn to something, as if trying to stick to it. I didn’t really want to use an “Abort Object” on that.
“…Deracinator!”
I created a spatial wall to separate the two.
“Dammit, dammit, dammit!”
“Ew, the head is talking.”
Unfortunately, it seemed the necromancer was now undead. Not that we could expect anything less.
“Perish.”
Mr. Fen sliced the necromancer’s head into two clean halves, causing it to freeze solid and shatter into shards. He was thorough, to say the least.
“Gah-ha-ha, the old man’s dead!”
“Nya-ha-ha, he’s going straight to hell!”
“Nye-hee-hee, the old man gave us so many lives!”
Discordant voices rang out through the battlefield. They gave me the creeps.
“…Demons.”
There were three—no, even more—low-rank demons behind the turtle. Their appearance is bizarre, as if their bark-like skin has parts of a face, such as lips and ears, with limbs attached.
“Where did you come from…?”
“How I wish you’d used the Summoning Egg sooner.”
Damn. The short horn earlier was just a decoy to distract us.
“We’re filled with death.”
“The stage is set.”
“Time for our Master’s entrance.”
“Prepare to feel despair, humans!”
The demons danced around. Nana and Lulu both attacked, Nana with her javelin and Lulu with her Fireburst Gun, but the demons, even after having parts of their bodies blown away, continued to dance wildly without a care. To make matters worse, the shattered fragments turned into smaller demons, making it unclear whether the attacks were even effective.
“Mew!”
Tama yelped out in fear around the same time a seed burst out from beneath the turtle, growing into a giant tree before taking the twisted form of a human.
A high-ranking demon.
I didn’t even have to use “Status Check.” I could tell from its overwhelming presence. It didn’t match up to the high-ranking demon we saw in the museum in Shiga Kingdom, but it was on the level of the demon lord we saw in Parion Province. Bazan the Discordant One was amazing, but the one in front of us at the moment was a lot more terrifying.
Of course, I knew why. Master wasn’t here. I realized how much I relied on him then.
“Finally found you!”
Mr. Fen came running up, though he turned more and more wolflike, eventually turning into the giant Divine Beast Fenrir. The Divine Beast closed in on the high-ranking demon immediately. The high-ranking demon who created a shield of magic barriers disappeared beyond the sea of trees. Massive trees flew through the air one after another, while chunks of earth and vegetation erupted with clouds of dust.
“Arisa, should we follow after them?”
I gave Liza’s question some thought. I heard something from an adventurer when we first saw the Divine Beast. The Divine Beast was supposed to be an even match against the treelike monster, the high-ranking bark demon.
“…No, we should stay here and defeat the low-rank demons.”
“Watch out!”
Tama’s hairs were standing on edge as she grabbed Nana’s arm and pointed in the direction of where the high-ranking demon was.
“…Fortress.”
The simplified version of the Fortress system installed in Nana’s silver armor was deployed in an emergency. In the next moment, an enormous beam of light swept through the forest, cutting down the trees, and collided with the Fortress barrier, unleashing flashes of light and a deafening roar.
“It is close to its limit, I declare.”
Oh no.
The outside layer of the fortress crumbled, causing the inner layers to crack.
“Deracinator!”
My Deracinator spell deployed outside the barrier was obliterated in an instant. With a sharp cracking sound, Nana’s feet, which were supposed to be anchored by dimensional stakes, slid backward. The force was so overwhelming that the dimensional stakes couldn’t hold. Nana, having lost her anchors, was pushed back along with the Fortress barrier. It seemed that even the barrier, which was supposed to be fixed in place, could no longer withstand the force.
“Liza!”
“““Phalanx”””
“Sir!”
The disposable defensive shields, Phalanx, installed in Nana’s armor, deployed three layers of barriers inside the Fortress she was holding up. I also reinforced the Fortress from within using Deracinator.
“Hitting its limit, I declare—‘Flexible Shield’!”
The Fortress finally broke, the three layers of the Phalanx broke down, and Nana used all her magic, her greatshield, and her skills to deflect the destructive beam upward.
—Gah.
Nana’s feet were torn from the ground, and we were all blown backward. In my spinning, swirling vision, I caught a glimpse of the eggshell-like outer wall, newly split open.
“We somehow managed to stop it.”
“It was hard, I declare.”
I noticed Nana was frowning slightly. Usually, she was expressionless. It seemed the attack just now wounded her ego.
“No surprise there. That attack was on the level of a demon lord’s, after all.”
“If they keep throwing hits like that, won’t even the Divine Beast struggle with it?”
I think they’re evenly matched for now, since I can see trees flying through the air and dust clouds rising in the distance.
“No need to worry about that, human girl.”
I heard a voice come from the sky. I looked up and saw a sorceress with a heavily decorated staff floating down. She was wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a luxurious black robe, with slender legs peeking out from the hem, seemingly clad in flying boots.
“Ah, are we finally seeing the Great Sorceress? Or should I refer to you as the Great Sorceress’s pupil?” I called out to the Great Sorceress Arcatia, who was hiding her face behind her wide hat.
“This is why I don’t like reincarnated folks or heroes. Concealing myself, disguises, and everything else doesn’t work on you.”
Judging from her tone of voice, she had moved from Great Sorceress mode back into pupil mode as she shrugged her shoulders.
“Found an opening!”
“Time to get rid of the small fry!”
A lower-class demon, which had possessed a small insect to sneak closer, launched a surprise attack.
“What opening?”
“Agh, if you’re gonna do a surprise attack, try to remove your miasma before doing it.”
My Deracinator blocked the charge of the lower-class demon, and Tia’s Earth Magic, Toss Beryl, pierced through the demon, turning it into a black mist.
“Yes, sir. He didn’t hide his miasma, sir.”
“Oui, ouuui.”
Pochi’s and Tama’s Magic Swords vanquished the lower-class demon, along with the insect it had possessed.
“““Attack together!”””
Realizing their ambush had failed, the lower-class demons dispelled their possessions and attacked all at once.
“… Kyuubouchou Balloon.”
“Unleash chaos, fire!”
Mia’s Water Magic sent the lower-ranking demons up into the sky, with Lulu’s continuous fire hitting them in their weak points.
“Skywalking—‘Helix Spear Attack’!”
“‘Dimension Slasher’!”
The two tenacious ones that survived were finished off by Liza’s special move, which she unleashed while soaring through the sky, and with help from my Space Magic.
“I wonder if that’s it?”
The Great Sorceress looked around as she spoke.
“Not yet.”
Tama responded.
“Hmm, miasma.”
Mia spoke, pointing in the direction of the torn-off turtle shell. With a clattering sound, scattering debris around, a sludge-like shadow rose from the ground.
“Gooooooootttt yooooou.”
The face of the old necromancer appeared on the sludge-like torso. There was also the face of a middle-aged necromancer with hollow eyes, who seemed to be a companion. The place where a face should normally be was a featureless, smooth surface, with long horns growing where the forehead would be. It was around level 50 and seemed to be both undead and demon-like.
“…Zanzasansa, what the hell are you doing?”
“Uaaghhhhh, Tiiiaaaaa.”
He called out the Great Sorceress’s name. It seemed like he knew her.
“Shall I leave the rest to you?”
“Sorry about this. I might be completely tied up for a bit, so can I leave the support for the Divine Beast to you?”
“It’s fine. You’ll just owe me one.”
“Got it. I’ll pay you back.”
The Great Sorceress pulled down her wide-brimmed hat with a sharp motion and held her long staff like a spear.
“I’ll be off, Zanzasansa. Don’t wait too long for a hug!”
“Uaaaghhhhh, Tiiiiiaaaaa.”
Countless green pillars emerged from beneath the mid-level demon, mercilessly piercing its body. There was no sign of chanting, so I figured that staff must be some kind of artifact.
“Protect the Great Sorceress!”
“Show them the real strength of a golden lion rank!”
The adventurers became a shield to protect the Great Sorceress. The sorceress who controls the spring can use abundant magic power, and with the adventurers providing protection, I figured they’d be fine.
“All right, everyone, let’s go!”
We headed toward the first Teleportation point.
“…Ugh, Mr. Fen is covered in wounds.”
After changing into our golden gear, we observed the fierce battle between the Divine Beast and the high-level demon from atop a nearby great tree.
“Look. The demon has an amazing self-heal ability.”
From the wound of the high-level demon, torn by the Divine Beast’s claws, new sprouts began to grow, quickly sealing the wound and restoring its bark-like exterior to its original state.
“Magic disable?”
“Yes, Mia. The lower-level spell for restraint has been nullified, I determine.”
It seemed that the Divine Beast was also using a lower-level spell with weak convergence, intending it as a blindfold, assuming it would be nullified as well.
“Something’s on its back?”
“That’s Mr. Large Gun, sir! Pochi knows this for sure, sir!”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I saw it, too. I think they were holding that under their arm just before the previous beam attack.”
Even Lulu had seen it.
“In that case, we should aim to destroy that.”
“If we can’t stop the artillery fire, we should respond to it by stacking Fortress and Phalanx like we did earlier.”
“No, Arisa. I will definitely stop it next time, I declare.”
“No.”
Mia spoke, trying to restrain Nana, who was fired up.
“That’s right. While I feel like Nana wearing golden armor may be able to stop it, we don’t need to get ourselves into situations like that. Master will be so sad if we get injured.”
“He did order us to stay safe, I declare.”
Nana nodded, after seemingly being lost in thought.
“…Ah, the Divine Beast!”
The sacred beast came rolling forward, shattering trees in its path.
Uh-oh. Maybe our briefing went on a little too long.
“Time for round two!”
I declared as I fired off the spell Tactical Talk.
“““Yes.”””
“Sir!”
Nana and the beastfolk girls ran across the broken ground left by the Divine Beast and headed toward the high-ranking demon. Lulu shot cover fire using her Fireburst Gun. Mia began chanting a Spirit spell—I figured it was to summon Behemoth. I played the role of support for the front line. I had already cast Buff spells on them, so I figured it would be better to buy time using Deracinator and Labyrinth.
“Amaaaazing.”
“Mr. Big Gun is on standby, sir!”
Ominous particles gathered with a buzzing hum around the cannon that the demon had braced at their hip. It wasn’t aimed at us. It looked more as if he was planning a follow-up strike on Fen.
“I’ll use Phalanx. Nana, use Fortress!”
“Yes, Liza—”
Nana stopped in her tracks as the floating shield of the golden armor moved forward.
“…Fortress, I declare.”
As the word was chanted, parts of the golden armor transformed, deploying magic barriers one after another to construct a fortress. The Fortress armor looked a lot sturdier than her silver armor. I wondered if it was like a Fortress times two effect?
“They’re coming.”
Following Tama’s signal, the beastfolk girls deployed Phalanx. Since Phalanx was only effective for a short amount of time, timing it together was crucial. With a blinding flash that stung the eyes, a massive beam of light shattered the Triple Phalanx deployed outside the fortress, crashing into the layered barriers of the fortress. My eyes and ears hurt as a result of the light and the loud roaring sound. It felt like we’d end up blind or deaf if we didn’t have the golden armor’s shielding system.
“Hnnngg!”
The fortress was pushed back, and even Nana’s large shield that was supporting us was being forced backward.
“Deracinator!”
I also used Space Magic to support the fortress from behind. I did have the advanced skill “Devine Deracinator,” but it wasn’t suited for small, subtle maneuvers like this. It was an underutilized spell, as its pure defensive power was slightly inferior to that of Fortress, so there hadn’t been many opportunities to use it so far.
Crack.
While I wondered about such things, Deracinator looked close to breaking.
“Powerfuuuuul, sir!”
“More power?”
Tama and Pochi pushed on Nana’s shield from behind.
“Arisa, use Deracinator behind me as well, I request.”
“Okey-dokey!”
While I didn’t quite understand what she was asking, I set up my Deracinator behind Nana.
“‘Emergency Jet Expulsion,’ I declare!”
The center of Nana’s golden armor changed shape as a nozzle-shaped spout appeared.
The jet flames bursting from the nozzle hit the Deracinator, obscuring it from view, but it seemed that it managed to push back the Fortress, which was on the verge of being overwhelmed.
“Tch, Master, you modified it way too much.”
Amid the roaring sounds, as I muttered my complaints, the endurance battle ended in victory for Nana and us.
“Changing to cooling mode. Due to overload, I will need around ninety seconds of cooldown, I declare.”
“All right. Let’s go, Pochi, Tama. We can’t let our opponent get the chance to fire that huge weapon.”
“Yep.”
“Yes, sir.”
The beast girls dashed toward the high-ranking demon with instantaneous movement.
“… Majuu Ou Souzou Create Behemoth.”
Mia finished channeling her spell, and a behemoth appeared from a huge magic circle.
“Go.”
The behemoth let out a roar as it headed toward the battle. The behemoth overtook the beast girls almost immediately, crashing into the high-level demon unleashing a flurry of lightning strikes.
“Temporary repairs complete. Arisa, please move me closer to the high-ranking demon, I request.”
“Got it. Push yourself if you have to, but don’t do anything reckless—Portal Door.”
Two doors appeared before—one in front of us, and the other closer to the battlefield.
“Thank you, I declare.”
Nana spoke as she went through the door in front of us and appeared at the other door near the battlefield.
“O bark demon! You should make like a tree and leave, I declare!”
I heard Nana’s voice as she fired off a “Provoke” attack using her skill, followed by a talk about tactics.
“Lulu, when I provoke him again, you can use your Acceleration Gun—Lulu?”
Lulu was next to the Divine Beast—who had lost its power and had gone from the size of a mountain to around sixteen feet tall.
“Please drink this. It’ll make you feel better.”
It looked like Lulu was helping the Divine Beast.
“…You saved me again, Roro.”
“I’m not Ms. Roro, I’m Lulu.”
“Back then, I was as weak as a cub. But not now. Witness me, Roro.”
The Divine Beast shook as it stood up.
“Wait, already! If you’re so beat-up you can’t tell the difference between Roro and Lulu, you’re in no fit state to do anything. Please rest a little.”
“Our opponent is a high-ranking demon. You are powerless against it.”
“I wonder if we are?”
Using my Clairvoyance Mirror spell, I reflected the current state of the battlefield onto it and showed the Divine Beast. Ms. Liza was stabbing the demon with her lance, Tama used her ninjutsu to toy with the demon as Pochi stumbled, narrowly avoiding the demon’s attack, while Nana deflected the demon’s kick with her large shield.
“The only one landing any attacks is the scaled one. I need to help—”
“Lulu, it’s time.”
I shrugged my shoulders as I called out to Lulu.
“Understood.”
Lulu pulled out a long Cannon of Acceleration stored in her Space Storage found within her golden armor.
“The high-ranking demon is pretty fast. Think you can hit it?”
“It’ll be fine. I studied its movement patterns—aim, ready. Lock on.”
Lulu, aiming the Cannon of Acceleration, issued a command to the support AI.
“Yes, my lady. ‘Dimension Pile.’ Stand by.”
The Acceleration Support AI voice responded. The Divine Beast looked shocked, asking if someone else was with us. The invisible dimensional stakes fixed the heavy, long Cannon of Acceleration weapon in midair. The demon wasn’t in front of the cannon, but Lulu’s aim never failed.
“‘Virtual Barrel Deployment.’”
“Okay, ‘Virtual Barrel,’ spread.”
A pseudo-material barrel of about sixty-five feet, created by Arcane Magic, extended in all directions from the Cannon of Acceleration.
Man, that transformation gets me fired up when I see it!
“Acceleration magic circle, restrictions lifted.”
“Aye-aye ma’am, battery, full charge.”
Mana from the power cylinder attached to the Cannon of Acceleration was channeled to generate a magic circle. Every bit of mana battery, including the spares, was completely drained.
“Acceleration, overdrive.”
Along the virtual barrel, red-glowing magic circles unfurled. With a hundred layers of magic circles stacked together, it formed the shape of a barrel. It was impressive as always.
“Now.”
As Mia murmured, a high-ranking demon smashing through the jungle trees came into view. It seemed like it finally noticed us.
“Outta the way!”
I stopped its rampage with a Deracinator barrage. The high-ranking demon warped the surface of its body, forming something like a hollow space, which it then filled with particles of light. It was probably planning to attack with that—but it was already too late.
“Fire!”
“Ignition!”
Lulu’s slim finger pulled on the trigger, firing out a Holy Shell. With a thunderous boom that resonated deep in my stomach, a blue streak shot out from Lulu’s Cannon of Acceleration. The blue light shot like a laser into the high-ranking demon’s torso, and it sliced the massive bark-covered body in two from top to bottom, blowing it away.
“Huh?! Where did the high-ranking demon go?”
The Holy Rounds fired from Lulu’s Cannon of Acceleration were custom-made by Master and packed with an absurd amount of mana. As an anti-demon attack, they had power rivaling the forbidden spells Mia and I could cast.
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