Chapter 358: A distraction, but a fierce battle nonetheless

Chapter 295: A distraction, but a fierce battle nonetheless

The battle at the coast of the Demon King’s Continent was growing fiercer.

The ‘Bloodlust’ was spreading as a dense crimson fog, and Cuatro and the fake Cuatros had resumed their bombardment. The demigods defending Botin slipped past these attacks to attack Vandalieu and his companions, alongside the surviving monsters of the horde they had used as their frontline.

“You bastard, defiling my son’s corpse is unforgivable!” shouted the Colossus of Roaring Thunder Brateo as he cast lightning from the sky upon Vandalieu.

“You knew from the very beginning what would happen to you if we beat you and recovered your corpses,” said Vandalieu as he created a thin sheet of water overhead to block the lightning. “Well, I’m sure that sort of cursing is normal when you’re trying to kill each other, and there’s not much meaning behind it.”

“You didn’t need to bother to reply, then,” said Orbia, the water and earth-attribute Scylla Ghost whom Vandalieu had used ‘Dead Spirit Magic’ with to generate the defensive sheet of pure water.

“Impossible! You blocked the lightning with water?!” exclaimed Brateo.

He did not know that pure water did not conduct electricity; he was so surprised that he stopped in his tracks… If it had been natural lightning, the high voltage might have been enough to pierce through the sheet of pure water. But the lightning Brateo conjured was created using his Mana, and the pure water that had blocked it was created with a spell using Vandalieu’s Mana.

Even if Brateo’s attack had the theoretical advantage over Vandalieu’s defense, there was no way that he could defeat Vandalieu in a clash of Mana. Unaware of this, his movements had become slower due to his astonishment, and Vandalieu’s explosively-expanding fist closed in on his face.

“But it’s not all too surprising coming from you!” Brateo shouted, deflecting Vandalieu’s fist with his gold-colored gauntlets.

Brateo threw out his other hand, curled into a fist, which sank into Vandalieu’s twisted, distorted one.

“… So, you were just pretending to be shocked,” said Vandalieu.

He had immediately returned his expanded arm back to normal size, but it was now in a tragic state; it was twisted and broken, with jagged pieces of bone protruding through his skin.

“I suspected your attack would be weak to a counter. I was right!” said Brateo triumphantly.

He had likely been watching when Vandalieu defeated the Satan Giant. He had found the weakness of the current Vandalieu-style ‘Muscle Technique.’

The explosive expansion was indeed a threat, but the moment Vandalieu’s limbs were expanded, they were weak to an attack from the side.

The force produced by Vandalieu’s limbs during the expansion was capable of destroying the body of a demigod. But once they had finished expanding, they were like balloons waiting to be deflated.

“You really hit me where it hurts, huh,” said Vandalieu.

“That’s what happens when you get carried away just because you were able to master the ‘Muscle Technique’ you desired for so long, Your Majesty,” said Princess Levia.

“I have nothing to say in response to that,” said Vandalieu remorsefully as he used the Demon King’s jaws to tear off and devour his broken and twisted arm.

Taking this lesson to heart, Vandalieu decided to stop his experimenting with ‘Muscle Technique’ and go back to his usual methods of fighting.

“‘Hollow Cannon.’”

In response to the beam of black light fired from Vandalieu’s hand, Brateo immediately covered his entire body in electricity and raised his golden gauntlets in an attempt to protect himself.

But his defensive magic was easily pierced, and the gauntlets he had apparently taken from the Bronze Colossus Lubug fell apart.

Brateo screamed in pain. “To think that Lubug’s gauntlets would be destroyed by one attack!”

But that was all. Vandalieu’s attack had not managed to pierce through Brateo’s hands. Borkus had torn Lubug’s bronze armor to pieces, but it seemed that this was not because the armor had been weak, but because Borkus was just that skilled.

“Now it’s my turn! Take this rain of lightning!” shouted Brateo.

“… ‘Barrier Bullet,’” said Vandalieu.

As a countless number of lightning strikes rained from the sky, Vandalieu blocked them by releasing a countless number of projectiles – barriers that were compressed into spheres.

But on the other side of Vandalieu’s layer of barrier projectiles, a spear-like kick from Brateo was closing in.

Having sensed this with ‘Danger Sense: Death,’ Vandalieu activated ‘Monster Flesh’ on his fist and threw it forth to cancel out the momentum of Brateo’s kick.

“You’ve gotten smarter all of a sudden,” Vandalieu remarked.

“I refuse to let Harinsheb and Repobilis’s sacrifice go to waste!” Brateo retorted.

By releasing attacks generated using Mana, Brateo had forced Vandalieu to create a ‘Barrier Bullet’ wall, which was made of compressed spheres of ‘Magic Absorption Barrier,’ and then used that wall to conceal an ordinary kick… Physical attacks that didn’t use Mana could not be blocked by ‘Magic Absorption Barrier.’

Of course, it was unclear as to whether even ‘Impact-Negating Barrer,’ which absorbed all energy including kinetic energy, would have been able to stop this kick.

Demigods were about a hundred meters tall, and each of their movements generated vast amounts of kinetic energy. The Shellfish Beast-King and Starfish Beast-King had become unable to move after they lost their momentum, but even Vandalieu would find it difficult to stop the movements of Brateo, who could continuously keep moving while releasing lightning from the surface of his body.

“Vandalieu, perhaps it is wise to defeat Brateo here?” suggested Gufadgarn as Vandalieu regenerated his arm that was no longer under the effects of ‘Monster Flesh.’

Vandalieu was struggling in his battle against Brateo, but he could almost certainly defeat him by using ‘World Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon’ or ‘Dark Peak Death Flash.’

This was likely on Brateo’s mind as well, and perhaps he had come up with a counterattack for that. Even so, with Gufadgarn lying in wait, Vandalieu would be able to deal with this.

“No, it’ll be a problem if this guy doesn’t survive until the second stage… If I defeat this guy and Madroza, all of their forces will be under Gorn’s command,” said Vandalieu.

Brateo was the strongest among the forces defending Botin, and perhaps Gorn or someone else had given him the idea, but he had started to take troublesome measures against Vandalieu’s magic, but… he was a necessary enemy to disrupt the opposing forces’ chain of command.

Vibrating rapidly, the Radatel Zombie produced even more powerful lightning than he had when he was alive, and fired it at the monsters and demigods.

Luciliano let out a maniacal laughter. “Do you see the lightning attacks of the Zombie Radatel, whose body I remodeled using the principle behind ‘Muscle Technique?!’”

He was wearing transformation equipment in the form of a lab coat with protective armor pieces covering places like his chest and his elbows.

After the battle against the forces defending Peria, Radatel had come back in a tattered state. Luciliano, wanting to test how powerful he could make a hastily-made Zombie with his skills, had repaired and remodeled it.

Luciliano was not capable of making large-scale changes such as replacing the bones or muscles on his own. It was impossible to acquire monster parts that would fit the enormous body of Radatel, who was a Colossus.

Thus, Luciliano had decided to implement ‘Muscle Technique,’ which Vandalieu, Legion and even Oniwaka, who joined midway, were learning from Zorcodrio.

Radatel had been born with the ability to generate lightning. Now, the Zombie Radatel was able to do the same by vibrating its muscles. Luciliano had remodeled it so that it could generate and fire even more powerful lightning attacks than Radatel when he was alive.

The demigods directed their rage at Luciliano as they approached the Zombie Radatel.

“Curse you! To toy with corpses, you bastards truly are evil!”

“We shall purify Radatel’s corpse and free his soul!”

But these words had no effect on Luciliano.

“Ah, it seems that it is working as bait as Master intended, too,” he said in a satisfied tone.

It was a characteristic of humans to strip the bodies of things they killed of any usable equipment and materials. That being pointed out to him only made Luciliano want to say that it was too late for that.

It was possible that Vandalieu and Luciliano, master and apprentice, were actually quite alike.

“But that Zombie does not look like it will last for long,” said a doubtful Bone Man, who was standing next to Luciliano and watching the Zombie Radatel fight. “Its lightning is indeed powerful. But because it is acting as bait, the demigods are approaching it one after another… Jyuoh! One of the demigods’ attacks just landed!”

“Well, that is probably true. My remodeling only improved its electrical attacks; nothing has changed about the strength of its body. In fact, the muscles may have deteriorated drastically by being made to vibrate at high speeds,” said Luciliano. “Its movements are becoming visibly poor, after all.”

The Zombie Radatel was being beaten by the Demigods’ fists and burnt by Breath attacks; it was being broken rapidly. Perhaps Luciliano’s theory of its muscles having deteriorated was correct; its movements were sluggish and lacking in sharpness.

“Ah, an Elder Dragon has hit its neck. It’s doomed now,” said Luciliano calmly, showing no signs of frustration.

“Jyuuh? Is that not one of your creations?” said Bone Man, finding his reaction odd.

“It is indeed one of my creations, but it was nothing more than a tool for testing my skills. It is not a work of art or a creation I would consider beloved, so it doesn’t bother me that it is being destroyed. And Master will likely recover the spirit inside.”

The Zombie Radatel was not immeasurably invaluable to Luciliano. It had more than carried out its role of acting as bait, so he was satisfied with that.

“That does not seem to be true for those demigods, however,” Bone Man remarked.

The Zombie Radatel met its fate at the hands of an Elder Dragon, a Colossus, and a Beast-King. Of course, Vandalieu recovered Repobilis’s spirit, but Radatel’s corpse was burned by the Elder Dragon’s Breath attack and turned to ash that scattered towards the sea.

“Refusing to let their comrade’s corpse be toyed with any further, they moved ahead of the monsters they were supposed to be using as their vanguard and defeated it while being hit by lightning attacks. I suppose their anger will be pointed towards the creator of the Zombie next,” said Luciliano. “So, I’m leaving the frontline fighting to you. I’ll be devoting myself to your support.”

“… Jyuuh,” Bone Man groaned in a rather dissatisfied tone, despite having been next to Luciliano from the beginning for this very purpose at Vandalieu’s orders.

But there was nothing to be done.

Luciliano did not have the ability to fight three demigods at once, and his transformation equipment was built to provide defense more than improve his magic. If Bone Man abandoned his task of protecting him, he had only two choices – run around to stay alive, or die.

“Send a signal,” said Bone Man. “Facing three demigods at once would be difficult, so I would like to call Borkus and the others over.”

“I see. Then let’s waste no time,” said Luciliano, reaching into his pocket to pull out a signal flare… fireworks that Kanako and Doug had successfully put to practical use.

Soon after that, Knochen’s groan could be heard as he approached to recover the bones of the Zombie Radatel.

Among the heavy explosions of cannon-fire, the ‘Sword King’ Borkus heard a smaller bang and saw a red light in the sky. The corner of the remaining half of his mouth rose in a smirk.

“Sorry, but I’m going to have to put an end to this now,” he told the iron-armor-clad Colossus that he was facing.

“N-not yet. This isn’t over yet! I will not let you leave!” said the Colossus as he put himself between Borkus and his destination, his will to battle burning brightly in his eyes that were each as large as Borkus himself.

But the armor he was wearing was heavily damaged, and his body carried deep wounds.

“I shall avenge my brother! I must avenge him!” he shouted.

This was the Bronze Colossus Lubug, who was wearing the armor of the deceased Iron Colossus Nabanga. His gauntlets began glowing crimson, and he unleashed a series of thrusts at Borkus, threatening to incinerate and crush Borkus with his fists that were now hot enough to burn the air around them.

To a demigod like a Colossus, Borkus, who was only three meters tall, was like an insect or a rat. Thus, they possessed no techniques to defeat mortals.

They could swiftly bury any mortal with quick movements of their hands or feet. Elder Dragons and Colossi were like wonders of nature, and mortals were neither enemies to them nor allies to protect.

They simply needed to rule over them, strike fear into them, pay them just enough care that they didn’t go extinct, and accept the very rare challenge from them. Teaching and guiding them was a job for the gods.

“I see. That’s a good reason! ‘Elder Dragon Slayer!’” roared Borkus.

The mere shockwaves from Lubug’s punches could sear flesh and send someone flying. Borkus weaved between the storm of attacks and unleashed an attack of his own.

Borkus’s magic sword, which was made of fragments of the Demon King, cut into the gaps in Lubug’s red-hot gauntlets.

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“That reason is much easier to understand than saying we’re your inferior descendants or that we have dirty blood! Fights to the death need to be simple, after all!” Borkus shouted, the half of his face that still had skin smiling like a ferocious beast.

Lubug screamed in pain, but even as blood poured from his wounded arms, he didn’t stop his attacks.

His blood, which was pouring from his wounds like waterfalls, evaporated from the heat of his gauntlets, creating steam that stank of blood.

Like ‘Bloodlust,’ this mist blinded even Undead, which were capable of seeing in the dark as if it were midday. Of course, Lubug had also lost sight of his foe, but…

“Die!” Lubug shouted.

He had overwhelming size on his side. He swung his arms around, slamming every corner that was concealed by the mist.

“Those stupidly huge arms are really obvious, even in this mist!” said Borkus.

Lubug’s movements, and the sounds generated by them, were large. Borkus leapt up, avoiding Lubug’s arms, closing the gap and aiming for Lubug’s neck.

But Lubug had predicted this.

“‘Bronze Needle Rain!’” he shouted, using a spell to conjure a rain of bronze needles… which would look like spears to ordinary people, towards the fast-approaching Borkus.

“‘Super Rapid Reaction!’ ‘God Iron Form!’ ‘Flowing Willow!’”

Lubug’s spears were made of bronze, which he ruled over, but Borkus used martial skills to increase his reaction speed, parry the bronze spears with his magic sword, and deflect them with his armor.

Still, a significant number of spears pierced Borkus. The moment Lubug saw them pierce the gaps in Borkus’s armor and break the bare part of skull, he was certain that he was victorious.

But Borkus did not stop despite missing the right side of his head.

“‘Familiar Spirit Demonfall!’” Borkus roared.

With ‘Transcend Limits,’ he surpassed the limits of his magic sword and armor. Covered in a black aura, he finally ignored the bronze spears and swung his magic sword.

“‘Demon Blade Flash!’”

Having already used his arms as bait, Lubug was unable to defend himself against Borkus’s newly-invented ‘Sword King Technique’ martial skill.

“Impossible… Your sword does not stop even after your head is broken…?!” Lubug groaned.

With his helmet broken, his blood poured from him like waterfalls once more as he began to fall towards the sea.

“My brains are built differently from yours… and I’ve only got half of them left,” said Borkus as he took out some jerky and chewed on it… jerky made from Radatel’s meat.

This was a preserved food item that he’d had made in order to activate his ‘Strengthened Attribute Values: Eating Demigods’ Skill; without it, he might have struggled a little more against Lubug.

Borkus watched Lubug’s corpse being recovered, then noticed that a friend had joined him.

“Ordinary Zombies stop moving when their heads are destroyed, though,” said Jeena.

“Oh, Jeena. You’re finally here,” said Borkus, smiling with the quarter of his face that was still left. “Hurry up and heal… Damn, you can’t,” he said, remembering that he was an Undead. “This is bad, I’ll probably go crazy if I lose all of my brains.”

Even Jeena, who had the Title of ‘Saint of Healing,’ couldn’t heal Undead.

Only Vandalieu’s ‘Corpse Healing’ spell and Blood Potions could repair Undead bodies. And unfortunately, Borkus had already consumed the Blood Potion that he had been carrying.

“Borkus, have you already lost all of your brains? His-Majesty-kun gave you a Demon King Familiar for healing so that you could use it at times like this, right?” said Jeena.

“Ah, now that you mention it, he did!”

Borkus reached into a pouch hanging from his belt and took out a Demon King Familiar that had been made to use ‘Corpse Healing.’ It was a jewel-beetle-like Demon King Familiar, with antennae, segmented legs, and a treasure orb of the Demon King. It cast ‘Corpse Healing’ and restored Borkus’s head and joints.

“Alright! Now, let’s go and help Luciliano and Bone Man! … Come to think of it, what about Simon and Natania-jouchan?” Borkus asked.

“Zandia and Zadiris have gone to support them, so don’t worry. Eleanora and the others are there, too,” said Jeena.

Luciliano, Borkus and the others were fighting the demigods without much difficulty, but some of Vandalieu’s allies were, of course, struggling.

Arthur and Simon were in a hard-fought battle for their lives.

Arthur grunted in exertion. “‘Instant Triple Slash!’”

“Go, ‘Flying Sword!’” said Simon.

Arthur’s martial skill of three consecutive high-speed slashes struck a two-headed bear-like monster with eight legs in total, causing it to fall back with blood gushing from its wounds. However, Simon’s artificial arm, which had been fired like a projectile while holding his sword, was deflected by one of its front legs.

But –

“Separate!” Simon shouted.

His deflected artificial arm split at the elbow, and the forearm thrust into the bear-like-monster’s back, skewering its heart.

But the bear-like monster roared; it would not stop. Simon and Arthur would learn this later, but this monster had multiple hearts.

A loud bark came from Fang, who attacked with a body slam to stop the bear-like monster as it tried to attack the one-armed Simon.

“‘Dark Arrow Flash!’” cried Miriam as she was teleported into the bear-like monster’s blind spot by Borzofoy’s spell and pierced its right head with an arrow. “Simon-san, please continue attacking with your arm!”

It seemed that losing a head was a more painful loss than losing a heart despite having multiple of both; the bear-like monster’s movements stopped. And as Miriam had ordered, Simon continued using ‘Long-distance Control’ on his artificial arm to perform one thrusting attack after another.

With a claw attack from a fast-running Natania and spells from Kalinia and Borzofoy landing, the bear-like monster finally breathed its last.

“Phew, we managed to beat it… I wonder what Rank it was?” said Simon as he re-equipped his artificial arm and wiped the sweat from his brow.

“Probably around Rank 11, I suppose. Nee-san and the others should come and help us with ones that are Rank 12 and above,” said Natania, whose artificial limbs were still in their transformed state.

Rank 11 monsters were foes that even A-class adventurers could not defeat with certainty. Simon and the others were B-class adventurers, whom the Adventurers’ Guild considered to be strong enough to face Rank 7 or 8 monsters. Ordinarily, they should have been trampled one-sidedly and slaughtered by the bear-like monster.

That hadn’t happened because their Attribute Values were increased by Vandalieu’s guidance, because they had undergone training in the Demon Empire of Vidal with powerful training partners that most people wouldn’t get the chance to train with, because they had received transformation equipment, and because they had summoned familiar spirits upon themselves.

It was also the result of their coordination.

“Rank 11… It was a fearsome foe. I shudder to imagine facing it alone,” said Arthur, whose transformation equipment was in the form of a bright red cloak and chest guard.

He was glaring around with an expression that would make even the most fearless ruffian flee for his life; he was likely keeping an eye out so that they wouldn’t be attacked by another monster while their guard was down after defeating one enemy.

From the perspective of an outsider, he looked like a berserker with his black-red cloak covered in the blood of his enemies, looking for his next prey.

“Indeed. However, it is fortuitous that we were able to defeat it without anyone suffering any major injuries, thanks to our coordination and Miriam’s command in battle,” said Borzofoy, holding his staff in his arms and letting out a sigh of relief.

His transformation equipment took the form of a black robe and cloak, as a symbol of respect to the God of Shadows Hamul, the first god to have given him a divine protection.

No matter how one looked at him, he looked like an evil wizard.

“M-my command is nothing worth mentioning,” Miriam said, realizing that she was being complimented as someone amazing and hastily downplaying her role in the battle. “I acquired the Skill for some reason so I just did it, but it’s not an amazing strategy or anything. Borzofoy-san and Simon-san, you guys are the ones who are really amazing, timing your movements so well!”

Her transformation equipment was a white leotard, a brooch and ribbon on her chest, a frilly skirt on her waist, long-sleeved gloves on her hands and long tights on her legs.

She had told Vandalieu that a normal-looking transformation equipment was fine; it was so normal that it actually stood out among the transformation equipment of her party members.

“That’s not true, Miri. You understand us better than anyone, and you’re the one who has us breathing in sync. You’re the only leader for us,” said Kalinia, giving Miriam earnest, honest praise and foiling her attempt to escape compliments.

As for her transformation equipment, she had said to Vandalieu: “I want mine to be the same as Miriam’s… but wearing bright colors is embarrassing, so plain colors… No, please make it the color of the night sky that is ruled by Zelzeria.”

Thus, it had a dark blue and purple color scheme.

And unlike Miriam, she was a warrior priestess and fought on the frontline depending on the situation, so she had extra armor instead of frills.

As a result, it was like a bodysuit with protective armor over the chest and limbs, so it was completely differently shaped from Miriam’s.

That, in combination with her unpleasant-looking eyes, gave her the appearance of a female villain (battle-ready version).

“Th-that’s not true! Right, Simon-san, Natania-san?!” said Miriam, pleadingly questioning the two who weren’t members of the ‘Heart Warrior Brigade’ in a desperate attempt to avoid being complimented.

“No, I think you were magnificent,” said Simon.

“Yeah, you helped me out a lot as well,” said Natania.

Seemingly not noticing the pleading tone in Miriam’s voice, they complimented her honestly.

Incidentally, Simon’s artificial arm, which was his transformation equipment, was jet-black. Thus, he currently looked like a warrior of darkness. Natania’s artificial limbs, which had changed shape to resemble the limbs of beasts, made her look like a monster with a woman’s head from a distance.

“W-why does it turn out this way?!” Miriam screamed in despair.

A sympathetic Fang rubbed his heads on her to cheer her up.

Perhaps Miriam was destined to be loved by good people who looked like villains. Of course, there was no mistake that her command had contributed to her companions’ victory.