Chapter 190 : The Northern Front (2)
“…The demonic energy has increased.”
My head snapped up, sensing the shift in the battlefield’s atmosphere. The demonic energy had spiked, thick and suffocating.
Just like when Pepia had appeared.
“…Captain.”
“Right. She’s here.”
I nodded at Lancelot, then placed my fingers on the bowstring and activated my ability.
<Clairvoyance>
My vision expanded, sweeping across the battlefield.
Soon…
“Found her.”
A woman with short, dark hair and skin as pale as bleached bone. Judging by the Aura she radiated, she had to be the Countess of Slaughter.
I released the bowstring.
With a sound like tearing air, my arrow flew.
<Heartstopper>
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The arrow, more a bolt of judgment than a simple projectile, slammed into her.
But the title of a Twelve Noble wasn’t for nothing.
“Hmm?”
She glanced down at the arrow embedded in her shoulder as if it were a bothersome insect, then her head snapped in my direction.
A slow, cruel smile spread across her face.
“There you are.”
In that instant, she vanished from my clairvoyant sight.
I hurriedly spread my Aura, searching for her presence.
A moment later, I sensed a flicker of movement behind me and whipped my bow around to block.
The bow my master had gifted me shattered with a deafening crack.
“Wow!”
The woman who had swung a dagger at me widened her eyes, a grin spreading across her lips. It was the expression of someone who had just found a fascinating new toy.
She spoke in a low, dangerous purr.
“Not bad. You’re a Grand Master, then?”
“…Are you the Countess of Slaughter?”
“Not going to answer?”
The Demonkin giggled.
I used the opening to drop the splintered bow and pull a new one from my dimensional ring.
The sight of a bow materializing from thin air seemed to intrigue her.
“Oh, an artifact?”
“…”
“Lucky you. Are humans even allowed to use those? Curious.”
Myu paused, tapping a finger to her chin, before shrugging.
“Well, does it matter?”
Her words had barely faded when she lunged. In the blink of an eye, she crossed the distance between us.
“I’m going to kill you anyway.”
Whoosh!
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
I raised the new bow and blocked her attack.
It shattered.
I summoned another.
One bow per attack.
…At this rate, I’ll run out of bows.
I had stored every bow I could find in the Holy Kingdom, but even that supply felt finite.
Clang! Clang!
“You have a lot of toys, don’t you?”
Myu’s eyes curved into crescents as she relentlessly swung her daggers. Each blow was impossibly heavy. An ordinary knight couldn’t have parried even one.
Too close!
I quickly nocked an arrow and fired.
<Buckshot>
An explosion erupted, spewing acrid smoke.
Myu strolled out of the smoke without a scratch on her face. There were patches of flesh on her body that were burning from the blast.
Sizzzle—
But even those began to heal in an instant.
She was the very definition of a creature that could not be killed.
Immortality.
Even Pepia took damage.
I sighed, letting another broken bow fall.
Just then, Myu spoke.
“You use divinity, so you must be the one who defeated Pepia in the Holy Kingdom. The Holy Archer.”
“If you want an autograph, I’ll consider it.”
“Ahahaha! So confident. It seems you didn’t win by luck. I suppose even an imbecile like Pepia isn’t stupid enough to lose to a fluke.”
Myu covered her lips with a delicate hand.
“But what a shame for you. I’m far more resistant to divinity than Pepia ever was. It’s one of my stronger traits.”
“We’ll see about that.”
Fwoom—
I drew up my Aura. A war of attrition was a losing battle for me. I had to use my full power now and end this. The main Demonkin army might be two weeks out, but the others could buy that time.
The priority was eliminating the threat before me.
If I end this quickly, I’ll have more time to recover.
I took a long breath and activated my Stigmata. Blood trickled from my forehead as a crown of thorns woven from pure light materialized above my head.
<Halo>
An immense Aura of demonbane property radiated from me, a palpable wave of power.
“Wow…!”
Myu clapped her hands, her surprise genuine.
“I see. This would certainly be enough to kill Pepia. I’ll give you that.”
“Don’t worry. You’ll be joining him soon enough.”
I cut her off, forming a colossal arrow of light in the air—a spear to pierce the heavens. The massive weapon began to descend upon her.
The pressure was immense.
“Die.”
As the spear fell, I unleashed a storm of smaller arrows.
Just as Myu was about to be annihilated…
“Accelerate.”
She muttered the word, a vicious smile on her face.
Her form vanished, and screams erupted from behind me.
“Aaargh!”
“Help meeeee!”
Thud-thud-thud!
Crack.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Grotesque sounds mingled with the crash of the holy spear striking the earth.
Acrid smoke billowed out. From within it, Myu emerged with a smile, holding the severed heads of two knights. Their necks were ragged stumps, their faces masks of agony.
Myu’s smile widened as she tossed the heads toward me.
“A gift.”
They rolled limply across the ground. I didn’t recognize them, but Lea, who clearly did, choked out strangled sounds of shock.
They must have been from the Praha Guard.
I clicked my tongue, my gaze locked on Myu. She had slipped from my sight twice now. Twice, while I was using Clairvoyance.
Did she rise to the Twelve Nobles on physical prowess alone?
No special Aspect. Just sheer physical power and combat sense. That was the Countess of Slaughter.
“…You’re fast.”
“Ahahaha! Is that a compliment?”
As she laughed, she stabbed a knight who had tried to sneak up on her, killing him instantly.
“Urk!”
His body fell to the ground. For a moment, a hush fell over the battlefield.
“By the way,” Myu said, licking her lips seductively, “aside from you, the others are a bit disappointing.”
She spun a dagger in the air.
“I heard there were four Grand Masters here… One is a decrepit old man, one is a fool who telegraphs his every move, and the other… a fledgling whose power has yet to fully ripen. Pepia really lost to this lot?”
She was right.
Luck had played its part in defeating Pepia. He hadn’t anticipated the Grand Duke, who had used his Mindscape the moment he arrived.
On top of that, I had pushed myself to the brink of death to drain Pepia’s strength. If I had to face him again, I couldn’t guarantee victory.
And Roxen can’t tap into that emotion like he did before.
Revenge. With that powerful emotion resolved, Roxen’s swordsmanship was closer to the peak of a Master than a true Grand Master.
The only way… is my Mindscape.
I felt the seed of my Mindscape stir within me. I hadn’t fully grasped it yet; I couldn’t use it. But I could buy enough time for the Grand Duke to use his.
Fwoooom!
I materialized arrows of Aura in the air and glared at Myu.
“I’ll make sure you follow Pepia, so you won’t have to miss him for long.”
“Hmm… I don’t really miss him. And besides.”
Myu vanished and reappeared behind me.
“Shouldn’t you say that after you actually hit me?”
She swung her dagger at my neck, the blade now brimming with a terrifying amount of demonic energy.
Just as it was about to touch my throat.
<Ice Cage>
A cage of ice erupted between my neck and her dagger, blocking the attack.
BOOOOOM!
“Hm?”
Myu frowned, turning to the cage’s creator.
It was Lea Praha, glaring at Myu with an inferno of killing intent in her eyes.
“Back off.”
“…A Master?”
Myu let out a disbelieving laugh. Her expression asked how a mere Master dared to interfere.
“Are you insane?”
“You’re insane for daring to pull this stunt in the North.”
<Ice Age>
<Frostbloom>
The air around Lea frosted over as a flower of ice bloomed at her sword’s tip.
She charged, her sword coming down in a vertical slash that painted a flower in the air.
“…Hah.”
Myu’s eyes were filled with contempt. She reached out and grabbed Lea by the throat.
“Ghk!”
“You’ve lost your mind, little girl. How dare you stand in the way of a Noble.”
Myu’s grip tightened, intent on crushing her windpipe.
<Demonbane Shot: Rend>
My attack tore Myu’s arm from her shoulder, sending Lea tumbling to the ground.
“Aaaaaaaargh!”
Myu screamed, glaring at me. Her arm was burning, and for the first time, a look of genuine pain crossed her face.
“How dare you… HOW DARE YOU!”
She bared her fangs and charged.
But this time, a crimson sword Aura flew in from my side.
<Lindal’s First Form: Wrath>
Myu halted her advance, leaping back to avoid the attack.
The exchange took less than a second.
“Dammit, stop trying to do everything yourself!” Lancelot roared, striding forward to stand before me, spear leveled. “We’re here to have your back, not to hide behind it!”
I stared blankly at my comrades. I hadn’t realized it, but I had always seen them as people I had to protect. Hadn’t I always sent them to clean up the remnants while I faced the greatest dangers alone?
…Have I gotten soft?
I reflected on myself. I had gathered them as pawns for my revenge. Their lives shouldn’t have mattered.
So why did I fight so desperately to keep them alive?
“You sons of bitches!”
Myu was still screaming, but paradoxically, my mind grew calm.
I turned my gaze inward, asking myself a question about an emotion that had been growing inside me, day by day.
And finally… I understood.
“…My apologies.”
I offered a silent apology to my comrades fighting before me.
The conclusion was simple.
As much as I still craved revenge… I also wanted them to live.
A new purpose was taking root in the barren wasteland of my soul.