Chapter 436
Now then, everyone.
Out of the blue, let me ask you: are there people you should never pick a fight with?
They are opponents you must never challenge, for if you do, a crushing defeat undoubtedly awaits.
"Well, whatever. Boy, get out of the way."
Instinctively, one should sense this and avoid it, but this demon judged me by my appearance.
Even though the boy who defeated his supposed comrades—the demons bearing the Seven Deadly Sins—was standing right at his feet.
"No, maybe you shouldn't get out of the way."
He generates a fireball in his hand, smirks, and hurls it at me.
"Die here!"
I can tell he's drunk on the power of Pride obtained from the Cup of Apostasy.
A brute-force tactic that completely disregards any collateral damage.
"Calculating from its power... Class 7 Pride, huh. Well, easier to take down than Class 7 Greed."
I have no obligation to get hit by such an attack, so I casually dodge.
It slams into a tree, bursting and exploding.
Spreading flames everywhere, a wildfire begins.
If we keep fighting like this, this entire area will go up in flames.
"Hmph!"
To prevent that, I blast the ground with my morning star and smother the flames with dirt.
Having to do this every time would be incredibly troublesome.
In that case, the only option is to take him down quickly.
The Demon of Pride is a back-line type.
A demon specialized in summoning minions and attacking from a distance.
If he had a front-line, physical attacker like Wrath, or Greed, whom I just crushed, who usurps items and skills, he'd be a troublesome existence, but—
"If it's just you, I can handle you any way I want."
The Deadly Sin demons basically operate solo, with the only exception being when Lust mediates.
Lust, due to its特性, tends to be seen as an existence that manipulates好感度和 confuses opponents, but its true value lies in being a lubricant.
It mediates between the egotistical demons, utilizing their characteristics and making them cooperate, multiplying their combat power several times over.
Because of this nature, its individual performance isn't that high.
But leaving it alive would have been troublesome.
Having also crushed Lust, the mediator, there's no longer any possibility of cooperation.
In other words, if I take down the demon in front of me now, this battle is essentially over.
The Heretic Church doesn't have the surplus resources to mass-produce demons equivalent to Class 7.
They've投入d a large number of precious Cups of Apostasy, which can only be made by consuming hundreds of their already scarce believers or by sacrificing many captured villagers.
With the Heretic Church's budget stretched thin and their finances poor, this operation must have been quite a gamble for them.
Using the dust cloud kicked up when I blasted the ground with my morning star to obstruct vision, I take advantage of the opening to slay his minions, one after another.
"Hello, and—"
Breaking through, I leap right in front of the Demon of Pride.
"—goodbye."
"Wha!?"
I'm already exhausted from the trial, you know.
I'm here trying to resolve this commotion out of goodwill.
So what's wrong with handling it with cost-performance and time-performance as my top priorities?
His eyes widen as if to say, "When did you get here?", and he looks like he wants to say something. But unfortunately, I have not a single reason to give you any more screen time.
"Guhoh!?"
In an ordinary manga, a heated battle might unfold here, getting everyone excited.
But to expect that kind of development, you're just not strong enough for me, tempered as I am by FBO.
"Gaha!?"
A full swing to the face, then closing the distance with Aerial Step for a solar plexus kick, followed by a roundhouse kick.
Another full swing of the morning star to the face.
When he's sent flying, I get ahead of him with Aerial Step, kick him up into the air, then swing horizontally from there.
Slam him into a convenient tree to kill his momentum.
"Kah!?"
As a follow-up, using Magic Edge on the sole of my foot, I kick through near his shoulder joint, pinning him to the trunk of a large tree.
The target is securely fixed by Magic Edge. From there, it's time for a full-on beating with the morning star.
This is the strike locking technique that caused so many rage quits in FBO PvP.
Good kids shouldn't imitate this; I only unleash it because my opponent is a vile demon.
A dull, thudding sound echoes relentlessly as I chip away at the demon's life.
"Phew, done."
The result of carelessness, so typical of a Pride demon.
No demon is easier to hunt than a Pride demon without a front line.
The Greed and Lust combo from earlier was actually more troublesome.
Once the summoner, the Demon of Pride, vanishes, his minions disappear too.
"I worked up a good sweat."
Watching them disappear out of the corner of my eye, I wipe my sweat, thinking this is finally over.
"......Why is that one still here?"
But for some reason, one minion remains.
"Squeak!"
"Hey, 'squeak' doesn't cut it. Whose minion are you?"
Did it forget to go home? No, that can't be. If that were the case, what about the others?
I acknowledge its effort to intimidate me, to scare me even a little.
But.
"Ah, could it be it wandered into the mountain?"
I take down the minion with one swing of the morning star.
And as I deduce the reason why it remained, a headache sets in.
That minion was probably a contact for another demon. If that's the case, it means the Heretic Church really scraped together their budget.
"You're kidding me. You want me to search this mountain for lurking demons?"
I thought the Heretic Church's budget would allow at most two or three Cups that could transform into Deadly Sin-class demons.
Considering they produced that many small-fry demons, even if they squeezed out more, I figured that would be the limit. But my prediction was wrong.
"Alternatively, it'd be easy if they were just playing dead..."
Just in case, I confirm that Pride is dead, and also check on Lust and Greed.
"So that's not how it ends, huh."
And with confirmation that they're all finished, it's happily confirmed that there are still Deadly Sin demons out there.
"I sure hope the demons lying in ambush on Bishop Trades' end are the last ones."
Taking down these lurking demons is good, but the confirmed fact that there are still more brings a wave of mild despair.
Even I don't know an easy way to find demons lurking in a mountain.
They should be weakened by this barrier, and I know they can't fight a prolonged battle.
I snap a few trees around here to mark the spot, making the location of the demons' corpses conspicuous, then hurry to the rendezvous point with Bishop Trades.
"It can't be that all Seven Deadly Sins are here, right?"
I've taken down three demons, each a different Deadly Sin.
The reason is that demons have同族嫌悪—they don't tolerate the same sin among themselves.
Even with Lust acting as mediator, you can't make the same sin work together.
You can投入 as many lesser demons as you want, but with Deadly Sin-class, infighting occurs, making them unmanageable.
Therefore, the maximum number of Deadly Sin demons that can be投入 at once is seven.
If my prediction count is off, I should assume the worst-case scenario: that there are four more Deadly Sin demons left.
Anxiety in situations like this tends to be accurate, which is no joke.
Gluttony and Wrath are physical front-liners. Envy is a debuffer type. Sloth is the sole healer among demon types.
The most troublesome to have lurking among these is Sloth.
That demon is truly low-maintenance and stays still, making it a real pain to find if it's not moving.
Yet, its core is a Heretic Church believer, so it will carry out terrorist acts properly.
"The last resort would be to bring Amina to the summit for a massive choir of hymns."
Finding such demons is exhausting.
Hoping this will be the end, I hear the sounds of combat in the distance.
"Please let this be the end."
Thinking that searching is more troublesome than defeating, I increase my speed and dive into the battlefield where the combat sounds echo.
"Gluttony!"
A demon with an absurdly large mouth is rampaging, fighting Bishop Trades and the knights.
Arrows fired from a distance bristle from its body, but it shows no sign of collapsing from the damage.
"Lord Liberta!"
"I'm engaging the front line! Provide support! Avoid the face and chest! This thing eats anything! Aim for the feet or the back!"
This guy is a troublesome, muscle-brained physical front-liner that devours everything and recovers.
Its skill is literally just 'Demon's Devouring'.
"Understood!"
Its strength seems around Class 6. Their plan was probably to stall with this Gluttony, have the lurking demons launch a surprise attack, and annihilate the temple's forces.
I drip holy water onto my morning star again, imbuing it with light attribute.
"Fall back!"
A knight's spear gets devoured.
It indiscriminately devours even blades, and Gluttony's hand reaches for the knight who lost his weapon.
I knock that hand away with my morning star, buying time for the knight to retreat and ensuring his safety.
"Loose!"
Taking that opening, Bishop Trades commands, and arrows are fired from a distance.
Several are devoured, but some stick into its arms, legs, and back.
"For now, let's shatter those prized fangs."
The troublesome thing about Gluttony is its toughness—unless you seal its devouring ability, it keeps recovering.
Its attacks are monotonous, and it has no ranged attacks, so it's relatively easy to handle, but it takes forever to take down.
The tank role among the Deadly Sin demons.
"Take this!"
The standard tactic for taking down that tank is to seal its devouring.
So, I have to either shatter its teeth or its jaw.
The jaw is a bit tricky, so I aim for the moment it thrusts its face out to devour and swing the morning star.
CRACK! The morning star and Gluttony's teeth collide, sparks flying.
"As expected of a primary weapon. Not so easy to shatter. But still, I put a crack in them."
In terms of toughness, it's second to none among the Deadly Sins.
Having taken down Greed, Lust, and Pride—sins not designed for front-line combat—my blow lands, and despite taking damage, this one endures.
A demon possessing both defense and recovery.
That's Gluttony.
And its teeth, boasting the highest attack power, are, as expected, sturdy.
But my eyes clearly catch the crack that appeared when it clashed with my morning star.
"Damn it! What are you!?"
With a crack in its prized teeth, Gluttony recoils.
"A passing-by guy who just wants to go to sleep!"
I step forward without hesitation, advancing.
"Fool! My mouth isn't just one!"
Gluttony smirks at my movement.
It thrusts out its arm, and a mouth appears from its palm.
Drooling, with exposed teeth, it lunges to devour me. If it bites me, I won't get away unscathed.
"I know."
But that's only if I didn't know.
I casually dodge its arm, and as I pass by, I toss a bottle into that open mouth.
"GYAAAAAAH!?"
It might think having many mouths is advantageous, but—
Logically, that also means carrying the disadvantage of increased entry points into its body.
Holy water tossed inside, Gluttony writhes in agony as the morning star swings down.
On the second blow, I shatter Gluttony's front teeth.
A double punch of holy water and the pain of shattered teeth.
A seasoned warrior might endure the pain and stay冷静, but a newly-made demon has no such experience.
"Don't run."
Terrified by the pain, Gluttony tries to turn and flee. I smash the back of its head with my morning star, sending it sprawling to the ground.
As it gets up and turns around, fear is evident on its face.
"Greed! Lust! Pride! Aren't you coming yet!!"
Realizing it can't win, Gluttony calls for help.
But no demon answers its cry.
"Already defeated."
And I answer instead, confronting it with reality.
"Huh?"
At those words, its eyes widen in disbelief, and I punch it away.
"E-Envy! This isn't what we agreed! Why, why is there a monster like this here!!"
And that's what it said, looking at me.