Chapter 77 ≪Extreme Sword≫...!?
What should people call this?
The cold atmosphere of the snowy plain was shaking, and the intense battle sounds were echoing.
It was like a series of explosive magic blasts, a succession of incredible sounds.
But in reality, it wasn't that simple. The magic being exchanged between the two was not something that even an Expert explorer could handle, with each blow being a sure kill, and the diverse range of magic and skills being used was beyond the norm.
The ones fighting were the monster we had faced just a minute ago――the false angel. And on the other side, it was likely Fiona Ackerman, which was obvious to everyone present.
"""......"""
Starting with Glenda von Lorentz, many explorers had stopped in their tracks, silently gazing at the spectacle.
Not a single one of them was going to offer assistance.
But it couldn't be said that they were heartless. It wasn't that they didn't want to help, but rather, they couldn't.
The battle between the two was too fast-paced.
Without needing to be told, it was clear that they couldn't keep up with the speed of that battle.
Each movement was swift. Too swift.
And every attack unleashed was incredible.
To help in that battle, they would need to have Garon and the other shielders form a shield for them, but it seemed impossible to surround the false angel, which was moving at high speed, like Nord had done before.
Maybe if they formed a battle formation with Garon and the others at the front, they could manage somehow.
No, even if they did that, they would just get hit by a wide-range lightning attack from behind, and the damage would be severe. Or maybe it would use a wide-range Gravity magic, which even Garon and the others might not be able to defend against.
In the first place, there was no way to counter Space magic. To be honest, it was a lost cause. If the false angel wanted to, it seemed like it could take them down without much effort.
――That's how strong the false angel was.
There's no way they'd call the Nord weak. In reality, the previous Nord and the false angel didn't have much difference in strength overall. There's no denying that it's weakened since losing its host.
But, compared to the Nord, the false angel's small size, speed, and its ability to use Gravity and Space magic, which it hadn't used before, as well as its semi-liquid body, made it incredibly troublesome.
So...
Who's the one fighting on equal terms with the false angel――no, clearly dominating it one-sidedly?
Fiona Ackerman?
Sword Dance Maiden?
Either one is correct.
But to Glen, who was watching the intense battle with a burning gaze, there seemed to be a different answer.
She remembers.
The scene from the Stampede she witnessed before.
The "light" that flew around at high speed, shooting arrows nonstop from the rooftop of a building, amidst the countless monsters that flooded the city, amidst the undead army from the Seal Temple, the giant army, and the dragon army, in the midst of the ruined city.
It wasn't just something with an aura wrapped around it.
It was as if it was shining with its own light, an incomprehensible existence.
That incomprehensible glow made it impossible to discern the person's face or figure, even from a distance, and Glen couldn't grasp their appearance.
And what she's seeing now is the same as that "light" back then.
At least, that's what it looks like to Glen's eyes.
She can barely see Fiona's outline as she moves around, but she can't tell anything beyond that. If she didn't know Fiona as a person, she wouldn't be able to identify who it is.
The words spill out unintentionally.
"Wait, is... ≪Extreme Sword≫...?!"
The silhouette is different from what she saw before. It's probably a different person. That's all she can tell. But ≪Extreme Sword≫ is said to be a group of multiple people.
Then, there's no mistake.
That's also ≪Extreme Sword≫, Glen is convinced.
* * *
The battle between the false angel and Fiona has now moved to the air.
Fiona was chasing after the false angel that was flying away in a bewildered manner.
She was attacking it one-sidedly, and the false angel was turning into a bloody mist multiple times. It looked like she was toying with her prey.
However, that wasn't the case.
In reality, Fiona was trying to land a finishing blow, and the false angel was using magic to restrain her. It was using magic to control her, and Fiona was trying to find an opening to attack.
The blow that destroyed 20% of "itself".
Before using that attack, the parasite knew Fiona needed time to accumulate her aura.
The problem was that every time she landed a blow, its cells would disconnect and scatter.
With the few remaining "selves" scattered all over, it couldn't use high-level magic. If it didn't quickly restore a large enough "self", it would lose its thinking ability, control, and even its ability to unify itself.
What awaited it was death.
To prevent that, and to not give the Fiona a chance to accumulate its aura while it was scattering into a bloody mist, it had to constantly use restraining magic.
That's why the false angel hardened part of its body using [Heavy Attribute Bestowal] to prevent it from scattering due to impact, and maintained that state.
It created a black sphere within its body, allowing it to maintain its thinking ability even if most of its body was temporarily erased.
No――
The false angel took it a step further, dividing its consciousness into 2: the "self" within the black sphere and the "self" outside.
The ratio was exactly half and half.
This way, even if the outside of the sphere turned into a bloody mist, it could immediately use restraining magic from the safe sphere.
In exchange, by dividing it "self" in half, its usable power was also halved――but that wasn't a huge problem.
The problem was...
Hero Battle Skill――[Sky Drive Instant]
Hero Sword Skill――[Heavy Blast Blade - Shockwave]
It was as if she was using teleportation magic, instantly closing the distance, and was much faster than its counterattack with her dual swords.
Immediately after.
Gravity Magic――[Graviton Bomb]
The false angel unleashed Gravity Magic from a safe distance, but it was easily avoided, just as predicted. The black orb that was released futilely exploded in mid-air, compressing the atmosphere to no effect.
If Thunder Magic were to connect, it would be a bit harder to dodge, but for some reason, the enemy couldn't take damage from lightning, a painful lesson learned from experience.
On the other hand, Gravity Magic and Space Magic seemed to be avoidable, so they would be effective if they hit.
Anyway...
The problem was that, amidst this rapid series of exchanges, the enemy's movements were becoming increasingly familiar.
If this continued, it was only a matter of time before it took an even more painful hit.
And if that happened, a fatal opening would emerge.
A plan to break this situation had already been thought of, but there was no confidence in its success. If its own predictions were wrong, it would be cornered in a desperate situation.
That meant, in other words, death.
The false angel, too, had the natural instinct to avoid death.
That's why it hesitated. It was afraid. The strong sense of self that could overcome primal fear was no longer 'present'. To overcome this fear, it had to survive on its own.
――It made a decision.
It had been putting off execution, trying to increase the chances of success, but――it was already running out of time. There was no longer any room for hesitation.
Hero Battle Skill――[Sky Drive Instant]
The false angel approached the enemy again, arms at the ready.
It had deliberately transformed its sword-shaped arms back into human hands.
The enemy, sensing something suspicious, focused its guard on the false angel's hands.
But there was no need to be on guard. Just watch and see.
In an instant, the false angel activated 2 magics simultaneously.
Thunder Magic――[Thunderclap]
Multiple thick, snake-like lightning bolts radiated outward, like a giant tree.
The intense lightning bolt burned the eyes that tried to gaze directly at it, and the thunderous roar awakened a primal fear. Even a single lightning strike contained enough energy to reduce a human to ashes.
But.
The enemy, as if it were nothing, took the lightning strike head-on without flinching, and then charged forward with a bundle of lightning.
"――――!?"
The false angel's expression changed slightly as it closed in on the enemy.
Surprise?
No, it was just an act to make them let their guard down.
The enemy's right sword was already infused with a massive aura, and it let out a ringing sound like a bell. This was a sign that the enemy was about to unleash a powerful technique.
But that was fine. To make them think that, it deliberately reduced the number of restraining attacks and released a useless lightning bolt.
The enemy swung her sword.
The false angel, who had just used magic, had no way to dodge or defend against it.
Sword God Technique —— [Absolute Death Prison]
The swung sword, unable to withstand the infused aura, transformed into dust mid-swing.
However, the aura released from the sword was perfectly controlled, enveloping the false angel's body in a spherical aura.
The false angel, trapped in the aura's prison, realized that the inside was filled with high-density aura.
"――――!!"
It was crushed from all directions.
It was pounded from all directions.
It was slashed from all directions.
The series of attacks was simultaneous, and everything was over in an instant. The aura's prison, with no escape, was a hell worse than anything imaginable. Or, perhaps, it was a mercy to be killed instantly, without feeling any pain. The attack was merciless, with no room for escape.
Inside, the destructive power reached its limit, and everything was reduced to dust.
There was no way to endure it.
Clank――, a sound like metal scraping against metal at high speed echoed, and the aura's sphere disappeared.
The false angel, trapped inside, was nowhere to be found. It had taken damage beyond recovery, turned to dust, and vanished.
Thus, the false angel was completely annihilated.
The battle was over....
――Or so the enemy thought.
In the Space where the false angel had turned to dust, the enemy's face, which had been gazing at it, naturally looked up towards the sky.
As it released the [Thunderclap] and simultaneously used [Short-Distance Teleport] to escape to the sky, half of itself was already fleeing. The false angel, which had transformed into a black sphere, was silently terrified.
"~~~~!?"
Had it failed? Or was its prediction wrong? Or maybe the observation results were deceived.
If it had intended to escape from the start, it would have already teleported away from this place.
But it couldn't do that because it was bound by the command, and escaping was forbidden. In other words, for the false angel to escape, it had to fulfill the command.
The command given to it before destroying the barrier was to kill the golden-haired, golden-eyed woman.
If it could just kill that woman, there would be no one to stop the false angel's escape now that the barrier was gone.
But for that to happen, this enemy was in the way. Fulfilling the command meant eliminating this enemy, and it was equivalent to that.
So, despite being driven by fear, it took a gamble with its life on the line.
That gamble, now, had failed――――
"Cough――――!?"
And, in the next instant, the enemy's expression changed.
The light emanating from her entire body disappeared, and shadows and colors returned to her body. Her wide-open, crimson eyes, which had lost focus, were staring blankly, and her mouth, which was agape, was gasping for air.
No big deal.
It was only natural.
――Magical energy depletion.
Although the battle was short, its intensity was extremely high. She had unleashed techniques with that much power, and at the same time, consumed an enormous amount of aura with 2 massive techniques that couldn't be compared to those.
It was shocked by how suddenly she had become stronger, but the false angel knew through its [magical energy sense] that her magical energy capacity hadn't increased.
In other words, it was a state where only combat skills had increased to an unbelievable extent. That was the variation that had occurred in the enemy's body.
And that variation also, having lost magical energy, returned to her original state――no, it's now in a state where continuing the battle is impossible.
That enemy has lost her combat power, and it seems she's even lost her means of moving through the air. She's desperately clutching her chest, falling towards the ground.
Well, then, all it has to do is go back and kill the golden-haired, golden-eyed woman as ordered. It can just leave that enemy alone.
"――――."
Now, the false angel transformed the black sphere into a variation, regaining its angelic form.
However, its appearance had shrunk significantly. Compared to before the battle, the number of "selves" had decreased by nearly 40%.
The angel's wings had decreased to 3 pairs of 6 feathers, and the part that imitated its former self was no longer an adult, but a young child's form, varied.
"――――."
The false angel floated an evil grin on its young face.
The fear it's felt until now. The humiliation of being cornered this far. The anger of possibly being killed. The certain resentment of having more than 60% of its "selves" killed.
This is the only chance to release these emotions. Would it let it slip away?
――It's no way.
The golden-haired, golden-eyed woman must be killed to escape from this place.
But before that, it'll absolutely kill that enemy!!!
Driven by the emotions of anger and hatred for the first time, the false angel accelerated towards the enemy below, flying towards it.
It transformed its right hand into a sword shape, hardening it with heavy properties.
It won't kill her easily with magic, turning her to ashes in an instant. It'll pierce her belly with this sword, mixing up her entrails while observing her agonized expression from up close, slowly and carefully.
With that determination, the false angel's body flew towards the enemy, but
BANG!
It was suddenly blown away.
"――――!?"
The intense shock that spread throughout its body turned it into a bloody mist, dancing in mid-air.
The false angel, while confused, quickly restored its body, and only then did it notice the "something" surrounding it.
It was a small, numerous number of aura blades.
A symbol of fear for the false angel, which had been attacked and killed many times by the divided bodies it once connected with.
It was surrounding it like a spherical cage, slowly circling around it.
Through the small gaps between the blades, it could see the enemy falling from above.
It wasn't just one person. It didn't know when they had moved, but a human man was embracing a red-haired woman with both arms, and they were falling together.
That's right.
It had forgotten that red-haired woman was not only the one who is strong.
The enemy wasn't just one person.
"――――!!"
Fear.
The false angel had given up on killing the red-haired woman. It decided to kill the golden-haired, golden-eyed woman as soon as possible and escape from this place. The anger and hatred it felt just a few seconds ago were easily blown away by fear.
It didn't want to fight that man with its current weakened "self".
So, to escape, it had to blow away the cage surrounding it first.
Thunder magic――[Stormbreaker]
Although there were many, each one was a small aura blade. It already knew that these could be destroyed by thunder.
However, it didn't know that.
When it was surrounded by a large number of humans, the aura blades it destroyed with thunder were different in nature from the ones it was facing now.
My unique sword technique [Continuous Blade Barrier] variation――[Resonance Barrier Sphere]
"――――!!?!?"
The released thunder struck the inner surface of the barrier and immediately rebounded, attacking it from all directions――.
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