Chapter 79 - Please Don't Do This (4)

The Inquisitor gripped her mace tightly as she faced the dragon, which resisted fiercely even with its entire body bound.

Would things have been different if she had a shield? The useless thought crossed her mind for a moment, but she immediately discarded it. If she was weak enough to lose just because she lacked a shield, she shouldn't have started this journey.

"Oh, God."

She craved divine power even more. And with it came the forewarned pain. It was the agony of flames flowing through her veins and the flesh beneath her skin roasting.

But if she could erase the world's evil by sacrificing this one body, if she could burn away all corruption by using herself as a wick.

She was more than ready to burn her flesh.

"Your servant is here."

It was an offering.

"Use me as a tool, and reestablish the laws of the world."

An offering of dedicating oneself for the peace and safety of others.

"Save the innocent."

The divine power that had been lingering around her since the battle began finally overflowed in all directions.

ROOOAAAR!

The first to be struck by the wave of divine power was the dragon, which could not dodge due to its bindings. Its scales melted away, and its flesh began to burn.

The foul stench rising from it was being purified, pushed away by the divine power just like the blood-soaked earth.

"Gaaah!"

It was the same for those who had formed contracts with demons. The ones who had rushed over to eliminate the intruders collapsed, crying out in pain without even being able to use their strength.

If they had received mighty power through their contracts, they might have at least resisted. Instead, they had no power to resist but were holding a target on their backs, making them easy prey.

"Fuck, what's happening!"

"These thief bastards!"

In that regard, the ones who existed as humans without contracting with demons had it better.

They couldn't feel the warmth provided by the divine power, but they weren't particularly hindered by it either.

"Whoops, please just die."

Of course, having to face a Thief—who had even been buffed by the Inquisitor—with purely their own strength was a different matter entirely.

"There are too many of them! Hey, when is the dragon going to die?!"

However, it wasn't necessarily advantageous for this side either. Thieves had the upper hand in battles involving ambushes; they couldn't use their full strength in a frontal war like this.

If not for the support through buffs, the Inquisitor would have had to expend her own strength killing them by now.

"... Endure just a little longer."

The encroaching pain had dryly stolen even the moisture from her voice. After squeezing an answer out of her parched throat, she advanced toward the dragon that was looking straight at her.

Perhaps the dragon also realized it was time to settle things, as it had lowered its high-held head. It was the first and last chance.

A massive flame began to spew from the dragon's mouth.

"Haaah!"

At the same time, the Inquisitor ran as well. Formidable heat approached, but she wasn't afraid of it. She was someone who always threw herself into holy fire.

The warrior clad in white light finally threw her body into the fiery inferno. The flames that pierced through the divine power hotly licked her skin and cooked her muscles.

But divine power also possessed the power of healing. Her burned skin instantly regenerated, and her muscles grew even denser.

The ash fluttering from her body looked like fragments of light.

"Righteous judgment upon the corrupt!"

The one who ultimately defied the fire planted her feet firmly on the ground. THUMP! Her body, holding the mace aloft, leaped past the mass of flames and stood above the dragon's head.

"A fitting punishment!"

CRASH!

The Flanged Mace, shaped with several attached iron plates, smashed into the dragon's upper jaw.

Every single grain of its scales shattered, and its head was slammed straight into the ground.

A heavy vibration followed, as if heaven and earth were shaking. Struck by tremendous force, the dragon didn't merely drop its head; it created a crater.

Above the crushed and exploded head of the dragon, the red-haired warrior finally lifted her head.

RUMBLE!

"...?"

"T-The castle!"

"Hey, looks like something crazy is happening at the castle!"

At that moment, a massive commotion suddenly erupted from the direction of the castle.

Wondering if perhaps the Demon Knight had caused it, the Inquisitor's green eyes briefly sparkled.

"... Wasn't the real monster inside the castle?"

But what she saw instead was a mass of tentacles, a monster that looked like it was trying to swallow the castle whole.

"Die—Gah!"

CRUNCH!

She crushed a few pirates the Thieves hadn't managed to kill and looked for the Thief. There was only one dark-green-haired Cutie race member, so finding him was quite easy.

"Get ready!"

The original plan was to hunt the dragon and then flee into the city to play a game of tag, but... plans were inherently meant to be broken.

After confirming that a pitch-black slash was cleaving through the monster at the castle, she shouted.

"We're heading to the castle!"

As expected, the Demon Knight hadn't fallen to those things.

* * *

Maybe it was because I always fought with just a single sword, without anything like a shield. I realized for the first time that fighting while holding something was incredibly annoying.

It was especially true since it wasn't small like a dagger, and it had the distinctive trait of being on fire at the tip.

Why, you ask? Fire naturally tends to face upward, and its heat doesn't distinguish between friend and foe. Because of those factors, a torch was incredibly tricky to handle.

[You rat-like pest!]

But if this was the only weapon that could deal damage to the enemy, I had to endure it. What else could I do?

I ran along the outer wall of the castle, facing the monster that had grown even larger than before. I had no choice if I wanted to stop it from heading to the central garden in search of sacrifices.

The fact that the bastard had gotten that big was all because I failed to prevent it from eating the wardens and guards. If it drank the pooled blood in the central garden on top of that, things would get even more troublesome.

Well, even now, the Demon Contractors who had gathered after hearing the commotion were trying to help it by casting buffs or sending Gargoyles and the like.

SCREEEECH!

However, the latter was actually a hindrance to it. Since tentacles were flying in from all directions, they ended up blocking the flying demons from getting close to me.

Furthermore, they crashed into each other and obstructed their own paths, giving me a breathing room more than once. The larger Focalor's body grew, the more this repeated.

"Haaaah!"

"Why are you attacking us!"

[Offer your flesh and blood to help me.]

As for the former, since she was directly gobbling up her supporters, very few buffs actually landed properly. It seemed stuffing them into her mouth and digesting them was more efficient than receiving buffs.

Thanks to that, the Demon Contractors, not wanting to be discarded after outliving their usefulness, were abandoning the area regardless of buffs or anything else.

Either way, it was a benefit for me.

"Gaaaaah!"

I swung my sword as I saw a new human being dragged out through a window. The majestically fired slash severed the tentacle holding the person and left a vivid scar on the castle wall.

"Aaaaah!"

SMACK!

Ah, for reference, keeping a human out of Focalor's second mouth and saving that captured human from falling were two separate things.

Why would I save bastards who weren't even civilians, but were sucking up the sweet benefits under superiors who held hands with demons?

「Madness Gauge 19%」

Above all, even I didn't have the leeway to catch every falling person and place them somewhere safe.

Just dodging the attacks from Focalor and all kinds of mobs, cutting tentacles, and quickly pressing the torch against the severed parts to scorch them was hard enough for me.

And so was the gradually accumulating Madness Gauge!

Feeling a sense of crisis that I shouldn't drag this out any longer, I kicked off the outer wall.

The tentacle aiming for me missed by a hair's breadth. It was a very fortunate thing.

[How long do you think that tough thread of life will last!]

Of course, it was also true that kicking off the outer wall of a 7-story castle would only result in a fall.

But who am I? Am I not a gamer who had grown another level after experiencing a mid-air naval battle? There were leftover footholds everywhere.

"I'll be the one to end your filthy life right now."

I stepped on the jaws of a Gargoyle that tried to bite me and unleashed a small slash at a tentacle aiming for me from a different angle. It was just enough to slice the tentacle without severing it completely.

And it happened exactly as I hoped.

Because it wasn't completely cut off, it regenerated to suture the wound instead of sprouting a new one, and that brief moment of recovery gave me time to use it as an additional foothold.

It was thanks to the fact that the tentacle couldn't listen to the main body during that split second of regeneration.

[You lowly wretch!]

Thanks to that, instead of getting my ankles grabbed, I ran freely through the air. Other tentacles lunged at me, but it posed no problem at all.

Instead, two of the tentacles were simply torn off by the teeth of flying demons. And some couldn't even regenerate anymore thanks to me applying the torch to them.

[I am the being who will dominate all of this land and the earth across the sea! I will reclaim even the throne of the Demon King and become the one and only king of this world!]

Yes, sure. Knock yourself out. Not sure if that's going to be possible, though.

Seeing her spout her ambitions in such tedious detail without even being asked made me want to pick my ear.

I didn't have the luxury for it, and doing so would truly break my character, so I didn't actually try.

[So why won't a bottom-feeding human like you just die!]

Well. That's what I should be asking.

The mishap of my torch going out while searing flesh had already happened three times. I had scorched that many tentacles.

And yet, so many of Focalor's tentacles remained. It was because she had regenerated them even while gouging out her own burned sections.

She was a truly disgusting and persistent boss.

「Madness Gauge 20%」

Facing a boss with whom my compatibility was far too terrible, I felt a surge of irritation welling up.

To be honest, I wanted to shove her into a vat of oil. If I deep-fried or baked her like that, at least she wouldn't regenerate.

「Madness Gauge 21%」

No, could I really not do that? Damn it, if I only knew the location of the kitchen, I'd loot some oil and douse her in it.

If I set her on fire after that, wouldn't she burn up ablaze?

「Madness Gauge 22%」

Ah, when did the Madness Gauge pass 20 percent?

Clicking my tongue, I ran to dodge the densely packed attacks firing at me. My body bounced up, stepping onto the castle roof as if doing a flip.

The slanted roof was a little slippery, but it was better than a 90-degree wall. At least I wouldn't plummet downward when standing still.

"Phew."

Above all, this was an opportunity. A chance to attack while enjoying the stable support of a foothold, without relying solely on my muscle strength.

A situation like this wouldn't easily present itself against an enemy climbing up the wall. Not wanting to miss this chance, I poured mana into my sword. Since my mana recovery speed had increased, this much wasn't much of a burden.

And when the repositioned tentacles aimed at me, I violently threw the torch into the air and dashed straight into Focalor's chest.

[Foolish!]

Naturally, Focalor wildly swung her tentacles and arms, as if she had seized the opportunity.

SLICE!

However, right before her attacks could reach me, the mana slash I had pre-cast before my dash carved diagonally through Focalor's body.

The tentacles in its path were no exception.

[I told you it's useless!]

Thin, thread-like strands popped out from the severed cross-sections and began to connect with each other.

STOMP!

Before they could fully restore themselves, my leg stomped onto her chest. Some of the tentacles used for regeneration urgently wrapped around my ankles and waist, or grazed and pierced through parts of my body. My HP plummeted.

"Die."

But this much loss was expected. My arm slammed the sword straight down.

Ground Crash. The skill I hadn't used in a while explosively unleashed a wild energy in all directions.

[Ugh!]

Pitch-black energy cleaved through the darkness and mangled everything around me. The tentacles wrapped around my body, the torso I was trampling, and the demons flying within range were no exception.

[You bastard!]

But I didn't use Ground Crash just because it was an omnidirectional attack skill.

Ground Crash had a knockback (pushing the target backward) effect. Focalor's body finally detached from the outer castle wall and began to plummet.

Well, I knew she would somehow reattach herself with her tentacles anyway. Hooking a tentacle on every window frame would make dropping her meaningless.

Still, preventing her from heading to the central garden, even if just for a moment, was a win in itself.

Above all, I had landed back on the roof using the recoil. Jumping down from this position and simply reusing the skill I just used on Focalor would be enough to block her.

Of course, I was a liiiittle worried that the torch might get caught in the shockwave and go out.

CATCH.

I caught the torch I had thrown up earlier and adjusted my grip on my sword. SLASH! A Harpy lunging at me was split in half and rolled down the roof before falling to the ground.

Suddenly, an anomaly caught my eye.

[I'll kill you!]

"... The wounds aren't recovering?"

The wound that had been sliced diagonally earlier hadn't fully restored itself. Even though I didn't apply fire to it.

Whatever the cause, it meant I could overcome her regenerative power and cleave that body in half.

「Madness Gauge 24%」

No, would just cleaving her in half be enough? I needed to tear her limbs to shreds. After how much she annoyed me.

「Madness Gauge 25%」

Still, I at least saved myself the trouble of rushing around to fetch oil.

I smoothly bisected two approaching demons and stepped forward. The leg that dared to step into the empty air paid the price.

My body began a vertical drop. The torch left a long trail in the dark blue air.

'I'll kill you.'

「Madness Gauge 26%」

Even that was intended.

After my sword tore apart all the tentacles, the torch scorched Focalor's shoulder. The acrid smell of burning flesh mixed with the sound of screams.

And in the midst of it all, what erupted as if to suppress everything was the earth-shaking skill.

BOOM!

[Why, why!]

The splintered torch scattered embers in all directions. Finally, Focalor's heavy body plummeted to the ground.

Even then she tried to aim for me, but it was visibly apparent that even her tentacles' regeneration had slowed down.

[After everything I did to reach this position!]

Was the term "terminal lucidity" a thing in this world? Realizing that her regenerative power was running out, Focalor went into a frenzy and attempted even rougher attacks.

Whether her emotions were being reflected on her flesh or not, it was an even more violent offensive, with an exoskeleton covering the tentacles and over ten of them lunging at me instead of just seven.

The sky was filled with flying demons vigilantly watching for an opportunity.

[This cannot be! This cannot be!]

But offensive or whatever, I was faster. That was all that needed to be said.

I unleashed a mana-infused slash. I put less mana into it than earlier, and perhaps because of that, the wound healed cleanly.

Attacks with too little mana still didn't seem to work.

[I am different from them. I am a far better being than Bifrons, who ran wild without knowing his place just to climb the ranks despite his lowly origins, and better than Naberius, who abandoned his status for his inquisitive mind toward demonic energy!]

In the meantime, her arm, which had grown even larger, smashed the spot where I had just been. A section of the castle wall crumbled, leaving a gaping hole.

It was formidable power. Even if her movements were so telegraphed and easy to dodge that she looked like free exp to me.

[There's no way I would lose to someone like you, who only managed to contain a Great Demon through sheer luck!]

What is she talking about? I didn't listen to a single word Focalor said and prepared my next attack.

'If a weak slash doesn't work, I'll just have to slash harder.'

「Madness Gauge 29%」

At the same time the scimitar spat out a metallic shriek like a scream, pitch-black darkness overflowed from the blade.

With every layer of pitch-black energy added, the sword rattled and shook. This was a service purely for that monster.

[This is my kingdom and my throne!!]

I suppose she wasn't an idiot. I stopped gathering power and shifted my steps to dodge the tentacles surging in like a tidal wave.

With the castle behind me, Focalor in front of me, and solid ground below me, there weren't many directions left to dodge.

My feet stepped on the castle's outer wall, and I started running upward again.

[Stop being a nuisance and dieee!]

And right when it felt like my body was being affected by gravity, I kicked off the wall. I forgot about the demons aiming for me.

Mere things like them couldn't dare to kill 'me'.

'To a single point, straight and true.'

「Madness Gauge 31%」

Like a dancer performing a spin, I twisted my body and changed my upward-facing front to face downward. Directly below me was a wave of tentacles, and at the end of it lay my target.

The demons in the sky let out long howls.

'Slash.'

「Madness Gauge 34%」

My vision turned red, and a massive sword strike surged forward.

「Madness Gauge 39%」

The world was cleaved in two.

* * *

THUD.

I landed on top of the tentacles that had lost their power and fallen down. As the legs that had bent briefly to disperse the impact on my ankles straightened, the hem of my coat also spread out stiffly once more.

[Why, why...?]

I lifted the scimitar that had finally shattered. The clouds parted slightly, and the faintly descending moonlight illuminated the remains of the scimitar.

Unlike last time, it hadn't just snapped off; the entire blade had been completely pulverized. There wasn't even anything left attached that could be called an edge.

[Everything was supposed to be mine, I kneeled to Satan and Helel for this.]

A sword without a blade is useless.

I tossed aside the sword, which now had nothing left but the hilt.

[Why?]

And I took in what was in front of me. I saw that everything in a straight line had been misaligned and split wide open.

Focalor's half-body was the same. She had been cleanly cut from her left shoulder down to her lower torso. Her tentacles desperately tried to reattach the separated flesh, but the regeneration speed was worlds apart from before.

[I, I will not lose.]

Even so, Focalor didn't give up. Her arm raised as she tried to strike me down.

[I will never step down from the throne—!]

She merely tried.

[Urgh, eegh!]

Her arm didn't reach me. It was quite a sight to see it trembling in midair, as if blocked by something.

[Why, why!!]

Her screams sounded quite sweet. Could I listen to them a little longer?

[Everything was supposed to be mine!!]

No, let's not.

'Now I just need to clean up the castle.'

「Madness Gauge 48%」

There are still a lot of things left to kill, aren't there.

「❖ The Fangs Aiming at Zakrati

∎ Liberate Ayu Hin

」