There, before Gobta’s eyes, Piriod had been beautifully transformed. She had always been atypically beautiful to start with, but now anyone who saw her would agree—there was a new, mystical sort of beauty to her.
In fact, it wasn’t a transformation so much as an evolution. The battle scars Piriod had accumulated over the battle tore themselves open, revealing a beautiful woman with completely untouched skin underneath.
“Hello. My name is Piriod, queen of the insects.”
Even her speech had become smoother. This was clearly something supernatural, not at all the same opponent as before. And no wonder. This Piriod was the second-in-command of the insectors, the empress who was the true leader controlling the other Insect Masters. And now that her true nature was revealed, any chance Gobta had at winning was as good as lost.
“You really gotta stop screwin’ with me, guys,” Gobta muttered.
Ranga nodded, no doubt agreeing with him. “This goes beyond a mere increase in strength. Us becoming stronger will no longer make any difference.”
“So what’re we gonna do?” Gobta asked.
The question was greeted with silence at first. Ranga was unsure how to answer.
“We will have to run. She must seem dangerous even to you, does she not, Gobta?”
“Well…” Now it was Gobta looking for a response. “I mean, yeah, but…if we run away by ourselves, that seems kinda mean to me…”
Even he knew Ranga was right. Up until then, maybe they had a chance to beat Piriod if they found the right move to make. At this point, the possibility of that was close to zero—such was the overwhelming presence she now had. She called herself queen, and her power was clearly above that of any other Insect Master. Even Zeth, the chief insectoid general that Carrera was dealing with, was no match for her.
Ranga and Gobta knew what they were dealing with. Defeat would be inevitable like this. But they didn’t want to be the only ones to escape. They’d never be able to face their friends like that. They were damned if they did, damned if they didn’t—but there was no time to ponder this.
“Don’t give me that crap! Whether you look different or not, it’s all the same thing to me!”
With that cry, Carillon was the first to make a move.
This one was Burst Roar, his best special strike. With no regard for the future, he unleashed his ever-changing particle diffusion-focusing cannon strike, his body transforming into conscious particles that swarmed Piriod. It all happened in an instant.
Piriod didn’t move—and not because she couldn’t.
“What…? That’s crazy…,” said Carillon.
She didn’t need to move. Her breath had turned into a poison mist that clung to the particles Carillon controlled. It took away all his kinetic energy, effectively blocking him from action.
But Frey had predicted Carillon’s initial defeat. She flew off, using his attack as a feint, and landed behind Piriod. Now it was her turn to fire off her most powerful strike.
“Time to bind you where you are,” she announced, just after using Garuda Claw to grab her.
Frey’s Magic Interference had become effective enough that it reached the ultimate, divine realm. It was so strong it could even seal off Adalmann’s Necronomicon—and combined with the Garuda Claw she was relying on, she could shut down the abilities of any opponent, no matter who they were.
Or normally she could. But even though she should have felt endangered, Piriod just smiled.
“It’s sad,” she said. “My children, being defeated by opponents of this caliber.”
“What?”
Before Frey got an answer, she took a massive blow to her abdomen, silencing her.
“Ngh! Krhh…?!”
She still had a startled expression on her face as she spat out blood. Following her instincts, she removed her hand from Piriod. That saved her life. If she trusted Garuda Claw enough to keep it going, the next strike from Piriod would have killed her.
“Hmm… You have good instincts,” Piriod said. “Your claws kept me from leveraging my power a little, but I could have finished you off with two blows instead. But now I’m convinced of it. You may not have strength, but you do have extensive combat experience. Perhaps my children deserve to have their honor restored a little.”
Piriod’s voice sounded like a song.
“I can’t believe it…,” Frey managed. “Nullifying my claws, just like that… You really are an unbelievable monster, aren’t you?”
Frey was sure of it now. This site was soon to become a slaughterhouse, just as it would be for Gobta and Ranga—and for Carillon, sprawled out on the ground. He was too exhausted to even speak, much less try to defend himself. The only choice remaining was to run away.
Ugh. Not to quote Frey, but I never thought she’d be this much of a monster…, thought Carillon.
He regretted not being able to recognize as much at the start of their fight.
Not that it would’ve mattered even if I did…
Carillon chuckled at himself. Looking back, Piriod deflecting Carrera’s Abyss Annihilation probably should’ve raised some warning flags for him. Assuming she was a mid-to-long-range fighter was a mistake everybody on Milim’s side had made.
But did Milim not notice it, either? I sincerely doubt that. So why didn’t she do anything? …Oh. Could the Insect Lord Zeranus be that much worse of an opponent?
A chill ran down Carillon’s back. He recalled his own battle with Milim. Why would she, an absolute presence wherever she went, not be moved by this danger? The reason obviously had to do with the Insect Lord. And that meant they couldn’t expect any help from Milim here.
That’s it! …Damn it! So this whole battle…
Finishing that sentence in his mind would be nothing but an affront to his friends. Carillon, realizing this, shifted gears, trying to think about what else he might be able to do.
Frey was badly hurt, although not as much as Carillon. She and Piriod exchanged glances.
Frey was prepared to die. As long as Piriod was the clear champion among them, no one would be able to stop her. It made sense, then, that Piriod would start by killing Frey, the weakest. Frey knew she’d do the same thing in her shoes.
I’m sorry, Carillon, Frey thought. I wanted to know so much more about you…but I guess this is it.
With that resolve in mind, she prepared to lodge one final attack. But then a man stood in front of her. It was Middray, facing Piriod as if to protect Frey.
“Hoh… So this is how things stand?” he remarked. “The purpose of the barrier you set up in this battlefield was to gather up the energy of your dead comrades and send it to you, wasn’t it?”
“Not gather, no.” Piriod smiled as she turned her gaze toward Middray. “I want more power, you see, so I can give birth to even tougher children.”
That was enough of an answer for Middray. Clearly, he saw Piriod had to be defeated before she could do anything else.
If we let her escape from here, she’ll just create more and more monsters like those Insect Masters we just defeated, he thought. A shame it’s our side that wants to flee more than she does…
He grinned a bit. But there was still hope left in his eyes.
“In that case,” he announced as he held his chest down in a fighting stance, “try and defeat me first!”
Shifting his weight to his right leg, he lightly moved his left forward. At the same time, he clenched his right hand and drew it toward his waist, his left hand in front of him to check Piriod’s movements. The next moment, he exploded with power from the toes of his left foot up, surging his body forward like a cannonball. Then, thrusting his fist with all his might, he formed a mass of fighting spirit in the air, also shaped like a fist.
“Dragonic Cannon!”
Uniting the planet’s energy with his own fighting spirit, he focused everything he had in every part of his body straight into the fist. Then he let it all out, not sparing even a drop of strength as he combined it with the force buried in the soil. It was a divinity-tinged blow, one powerful enough to work against superior opponents. This was the secret move of Middray, a high-level chaos elemental better known as a dragon-born.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work on Piriod.
“What a fascinating strike,” she said. “I’m sure it’d make my children stronger if they learned it.”
She smiled as she deployed a space-altering magic circle with ease to banish the Dragonic Cannon. But this, too, was what Middray predicted. He didn’t actually think this would be the end at all; that Cannon was just a decoy. The real attacker, of course, was Gobta.
“Hey, don’t forget about me!” he yelled. “Try this on for size!”
Jumping out from behind Middray’s shadow, Gobta chose just the right moment to launch his Apocalypse Howling. But that, too, didn’t work. The unfazed Piriod just deployed another magic circle at the same time to cancel it out. It was a completely successful surprise attack, but none of it reached Piriod.
But even so, there was still a glimmer of hope on both Middray’s and Gobta’s faces. There was another person ready to give her own best shot—and who could it be but Obela?
“Don’t get too proud of yourself, bug!” she cried.
While Piriod’s attention was drawn toward Middray and Gobta, Obela had been preparing an attack of her own. It proved to be the second Planetary Bombing of the day. Unlike Middray, Carillon, and the others, Obela boasted an EP that was actually on par with Piriod’s. Thanks to that, not even this insect queen could emerge unscathed…unless she did.
“Zarario was a wise man,” Piriod said. “I had thought that you, as his colleague, would be as well.”
“What?!”
“Oh, no way…”
“She’s that good?”
Piriod was still in supreme control. But there was no time to wail in despair.
“Now for some payback,” she said with a light smile.
And the meteor shower appearing above revealed her intentions. Piriod had diverted the power of the three finishers thrown her way and now was dispersing it across the battlefield. It was a truly demonic piece of work, this furious attack, and it was bound to take the lives of many friends and foes alike.
“Nngh!” Middray stared up at the sky, agitated. “Brace for impact, everyone!”
Gobta, for his part, used Thought Communication to warn his companions. Obela, meanwhile, was calmly flailing away at Piriod all by herself. If magic- and beam-type attacks didn’t work on her, Obela would need to finish her off with melee combat instead.
This, at last, made Piriod wince. In fact, there was no large difference between her and Obela’s overall combat ability. Piriod’s Dominate Space skill gave her an insurmountable advantage against medium- and long-range foes, but she wasn’t that good up close, as shown by her inability to finish off Esprit and Phobio. Her plan was to first establish mental dominance over Obela, then overwhelm her—but seeing her attack fail didn’t seem to disturb Obela at all.
Obela, too, was a fierce warrior with ages of experience fighting the cryptids. She had dealt with all kinds of troublesome opponents with all kinds of unique characteristics, and nothing could faze her in battle.
That was a miscalculation, yes, but Piriod still had the absolute advantage. Death was raining down across the battlefield, and the subsequent energy released would all belong to her.
But it’s strange, isn’t it? Piriod thought. I was able to recover the energy of my children, but apart from that…
Piriod looked around, trying to solve the riddle. Then she realized her second miscalculation. The enemy force—Milim and her army—was being protected by Geld and his troops.
“Don’t give up! As long as we’re here, nobody will have to die!”
Geld’s strong, dependable voice stormed across the landscape.
“““Yeahhh!”””
The forces he led pushed themselves forward, hoping to meet the expectations of their leader. Even if their shields were shattered and their armor lost, they’d use their strength to its fullest to protect everyone else from the meteors raining down on them.
And that wasn’t all. The demons serving Carrera were also swooping onto the scene. Recovery magic flew across the battleground, offering healing to any wounded soldier. And…
“Hey, hey, you still got a lot of work to do!”
With that light chiding from a member of the Diable Chevalier came the invocation of Resurrection, a divine miracle. The demons’ firm faith in Rimuru now allowed them to even raise the dead.
Even if their bodies had been torn apart, the demons could recover their souls and resurrect them at a later date. There was a time limit to this, but it still meant bringing the wholly dead back to life, which kept morale high across Milim’s force. Everyone on hand was tackling this crisis head-on, doing everything they could to complete their mission.
Piriod, realizing this, finally began to feel distressed.
“The dead are coming back to life? I had no idea such a skill existed in this world…”
Obela shrugged at Piriod’s surprise. “Yeah, I thought it was marked as taboo, but now it’s spread well beyond the point of no return.”
Obela herself had been stunned when she heard of this. She was first informed of it at a strategy meeting, and it made her look at the ceiling and say, “No way!” But it was too late. If the technique had spread this far, it was best to make the most effective possible use of it. Besides, if it reduced battlefield losses to nearly zero, maybe she simply ought to accept it.
Obela expected this to happen to some extent. She didn’t think her own attacks would be repelled like that, but the only casualties so far in this battle were all on the bugs’ side. Having all their energy revert to Piriod was a pain, but now that Piriod was effectively the only enemy left, suddenly things didn’t seem that awful anymore.
“All right,” Obela said. “I hope you’re ready for this. From now on, it’s going to be a very one-sided hunt.”
Hunting down and killing her prey was something of a specialty for Obela. She had been commander during many group battles against foes more powerful than her, and now she was even letting a composed smile cross her face.
“May I ask for your orders, Master Strategist?” said Middray.
He, too, was relieved to see little permanent damage among his allies. He didn’t expect destruction on that scale, but thanks to the efforts of Geld and his forces, they had escaped disaster—an unexpected bit of good news. No longer worried about his future, he was happy to go back under Obela’s command.
“Yeah, bring ’em on!”
Gobta was on board, too. Against someone as powerful as Piriod, teamwork was the only path to victory. But since they hadn’t trained together before and probably couldn’t work as a team straight away, he decided to join Obela instead.
It was Obela, Middray, and Gobta-Ranga against Piriod. But then another would-be challenger chimed in.
“My mother, grant me the honor of crushing your enemies!”
Mujika, abandoned by Geld, had dug his way up from the ground to jump out. It was three against two, and even that didn’t last long.
“Hey, don’t forget about me, either.”
“And me. I don’t want people to think that was the end of me.”
Carillon and Frey rushed on the scene, freshly healed by Geld but still covered in scars. Their external wounds were all fixed up, but there was no getting back the energy lost so far. They were too out of gas to break out any truly devastating strikes, but they steeled themselves and joined in anyway, reasoning it was better to fight than not fight.
“I’m here, too,” Geld said, visibly excited and exhaling a mighty gust of air to accentuate his point.
That made it six on two. Gobwa and the Three Lycanthropeers were still active as well, dealing with what remained of the insect force. None of them could do anything against Piriod, though, so it was fair to assume these gathered forces were all they had.
But even this team-up elicited nothing but an eerie smile from Piriod.
“What wonderful core bodies you all have,” she said. “I’d love to use you to birth even more tenacious children than before.”
She was brimming with confidence as Obela and the others eyed her. And she had good reason to.
“Reconstruct Life.”
Piriod was able to use the energy she accumulated to strengthen the children of her own creation. That only applied to those who were still alive, of course…but Zeth and Mujika were still present and in good health. So with two super-warriors as her wingmen, the queen and wife of Zeranus the Insect Lord finally revealed her true colors.
When will Zegion come in clutch?