Chapter 343: Acknowledged by the Evil God (3)
Chapter 343: Acknowledged by the Evil God (3)
Looking at the majestic form of the Meat Tree that had sprouted from Mariel’s corpse, I couldn't help but mutter under my breath.
"Fuck’s sake, seriously..."
The true value of Ugly Prosperity lies not in direct combat, but in the buffs and debuffs that empower allies while weakening enemies.
And the fact that a Meat Tree had taken root on the battlefield meant the situation had turned significantly against us.
We’d managed to take down a fair number of them without any major casualties so far... but that was only because most of the ones we’d killed were small fry.
The forces of Ugly Prosperity were still vast, and the ones remaining were likely far stronger than anything we’d faced yet.
These were people who lived with the insane mindset that they could just use their own children as kin, drive them onto the battlefield, and if those children died, they could simply breed more.
The powerful ones were likely in the back, gauging our strength... or waiting for us to tire out.
If we were to keep fighting here, we’d have to be prepared for significant losses. And that went against our original objective.
If everyone died here, who would protect Alfheim? For that reason, I shouted without a moment's hesitation.
"Don't fight, just fuck!"
My allies froze for a split second. However, Carla—who always acted on my words before even thinking—pulled a yellow potion bottle from her robe and hurled it using Telekinesis. Only then did the others start fumbling through their pouches.
Instead of the constant stream of sword qi and magic, potion bottles began to arc across the sky.
Low-ranking priests and monsters with slow reactions were drenched in the yellow liquid, though most of the bottles were intercepted mid-air and spilled onto the ground.
But that was fine. It didn't need to make direct contact; the scent just needed to spread.
The stinging, pungent stench of urine mixed with the acrid smell of hallucinogenic substances and the revolting, sickly-sweet scent of night flowers, wafting through the air.
It was a bizarre odor that made even my allies grimace, let alone the enemy. One of the priests of Ugly Prosperity roared.
"You cur! How dare you attempt to mask the grace bestowed by the Goddess with such a foul stench!"
He was a massive, muscular man with a buzz cut, standing at least one and a half times the size of an average person. However, his fashion choice was radical, to say the least—he was dressed in leather bondage gear.
His very existence was practically a mental attack... but his indignant attitude didn't last long.
"A paltry trick! Look! We, the children of Prosperity, remain unscathed, while you can barely even hold yourselves up—hm? Get away, you Goblin!"
"Kieeeek!"
"Kik-kik!"
"Kereuk!"
"What?! This strength... S-stop! Not there... Gwaaaaagh!"
The muscular giant was swarmed and suppressed by Goblins in an instant. Despite his appearance, he seemed to lack actual strength.
Or perhaps the Goblins had become excessively powerful.
The fact that they pounced on him regardless of him being a man suggested that something beyond my expectations was happening...
Was it because of the buff radiating from that Meat Tree?
Unlike other greenskins, Goblins have no desire for honor or combat; they are hideous runts who live only for their lust.
And the representative buff of Ugly Prosperity is a physical boost that scales with sexual arousal.
That was exactly the nature of the disgusting energy emanating from the Meat Tree.
In other words, their strength multiplies several times over when they are trying to rape someone...!
With the effects of the Urine Potion and the Authority of the Meat Tree stacking, the Goblins' bodies—now fully erect—were drastically enhanced... and they weren't even discriminating between genders anymore!
What terrifying creatures. What on earth have I unleashed?
Well, it was good news for us.
The enemy's formation began to crumble instantly as the Goblins ran amok, acting as if they didn't care what they stuck it in as long as they could stick it.
"Stop! The command of the Great Ugly Prosperity comes first—Hyah!"
"I-I prefer being the one doing the thrusting—yeheeet!"
"This isn't the time to be secretly enjoying it! They're getting away!"
The cultists of Ugly Prosperity tried to pursue us, suppressing or even killing the Goblins when necessary.
However, if there was one thing Goblins had in spades, it was numbers.
No matter how many they cleared away, more Goblins kept popping up, pinning them down and preventing all but a few from giving chase.
Specifically, only the Archbishop-class priests and high-level monsters managed to break through...
"Flying Slash!"
"O seething rage, become a great wall and incinerate my enemies! Fire Wall!"
"O Cyclic Life! Grant your power to this place...!"
As they say, the nail that sticks out gets hammered down.
Those who lunged forward were either struck down by sword qi or blocked by magic. Some were even ensnared by vines and roots erupting from trees that were thought to be dead.
Seeing my comrades staying behind to keep the pursuing enemies in check, I decided to prepare one last gift.
Thump—
A hot energy surged through my heart. Highly concentrated mana filled my entire body, eventually overflowing into the staff I held.
Perhaps because it was a weapon synced to me, the staff accepted the mana without resistance. The magical light gathering at its tip drew a massive magic circle in the air.
The patterns were intricately woven, far more complex than any magic I had used so far. This was the kind of magic where calculation was more important than intuition.
...Though I planned to fudge those calculations using Spirit Language.
"[O Rift of the Void. O insatiable longing. I call upon the shackles fastened to the ankles of all, unbeknownst to them. In this moment, cast aside your own laws and gather at my call.]"
The magic circle drawn in the air began to turn a deep violet-black.
At the same time, my vision began to distort. However, my eyes were fine. It wasn't my perception that was warping, but space itself.
I felt the instinctive dread unique to space-time magic—the feeling of touching something that shouldn't be touched. I forced it down and focused my mind.
Then came the activation word.
"[Gravity Fall.]"
There was no thunderous roar. Instead, the center of the magic circle began to turn black, as if someone had spilled ink into it.
The black stain quietly expanded until it consumed the entire magic circle, matching its size.
As I slowly pointed my raised staff toward the enemies, the writhing, elongated mass of magic blocked the path between us and them.
Before long, an Incubus who had broken through the various obstacles touched the black barrier.
"Finally! Stop running and submissively accept the touch of the Great Ugly Prosper—huh?"
It didn't take long for his bewildered voice to turn into a scream.
"Gwaaaaaagh! I-impossible! That I... that I would be defeated like thiiis...!"
He was slammed into the ground and flattened like a fly crushed by a giant hand.
He tried to stand up, but every time he did, his joints twisted and his muscles tore, slamming him back into the earth in a grotesque posture.
After a few more struggles, he finally collapsed into a mangled heap like a broken doll.
Considering the tenacious vitality of cultists, he was likely dead after that.
Gravity Fall. As the name suggests, it was an Advanced Magic that concentrated gravity.
Its raw destructive power was lower than other spells... but it was an incredibly tricky spell that would take considerable time to dispel. Even trying to break it with brute force wouldn't be easy, given the amount of mana I had poured into it.
Of course, they could bypass it by taking a long detour, but by then, we would have already put plenty of distance between us.
Deciding this was enough, I shouted to the others who were frantically preparing their next attacks.
"That's enough, pull back! We're leaving!"
Only then did they disperse their mana and Aura, joining the others who were already ahead.
*
A few more pursued us after that, but most were either struck down or quietly shaken off.
Though the forest had been withered by having its life force drained, this was still part of the Great Forest.
No race is as free within the Great Forest as the Elves. With a capable guide, our movement speed was fast.
Eventually, we arrived at a nearby Nidhogg station.
The knights, with their sturdy bodies, were relatively fine, but the mages and priests were sprawled on the ground, panting heavily. I deactivated my Dragonization.
"Ugh."
A wave of dizziness hit me as the dragon traits receded back into my body.
It was a manifestation of lethargy—a mix of the backlash from Dragonization and the sensory comedown as my expanded perceptions shrank back to normal.
Dragging my heavy body, which felt as if it were weighted down by lead, I looked around.
Everyone looked exhausted, but no one was dead or seriously injured.
This was likely thanks to the priests of Cyclic Life, who, while lacking in combat ability, specialized in healing.
Only then did I relax and sit down on the ground.
"Whew..."
A sigh escaped my lips involuntarily.
At that, Grimhill and Tumila—who were essentially the representatives of the group, excluding my women—approached me.
"Can we talk for a moment?"
"Ah, of course. Since things turned out like this, we have a lot to discuss."
As I spoke from my seated position, the two nodded and took turns speaking.
"The enemy's scale is larger than expected. What do you plan to do now?"
"I am more concerned about the fact that Ugly Prosperity is intervening so actively, even using their own followers as disposables. I doubt Duke Lindelheit would ever defect, but if he were to be captured..."
Their voices were filled with worry.
It made sense. If things went wrong here, Alfheim could fall into the hands of those madmen.
To them, this was the home where they had lived and grown for a long time, the very root of their faith.
"Looking at the big picture, the operation was a success. We toyed with the enemy and made a safe escape. However, that was entirely thanks to the Urine Potion I threw at the end. The next encounter won't go like this one."
"Ah, that..."
"Don't fight... ahem. You mean that?"
The two cleared their throats, unable to bring themselves to say it. My naming sense wasn't the priority right now.
"It was effective, but we're out of stock now. We need to think of another way."
"I agree. But if we retreat now, all our efforts will be for naught."
"Yes. They will pillage the surrounding villages and push all the way to where the World Tree is. By then, they'll have an even stronger army. So, we have to resolve this before they reach Yggdrasil."
"...I agree, but even if we join up with reinforcements, I do not think we can win."
She was right. The original plan was based on the premise that the forces of Ugly Prosperity hadn't fully mobilized yet.
The snowball hadn't just started rolling; to face a fully prepared army like this, we would need the full military might of a nation.
It wasn't something a small elite group could handle.
As Grimhill said, even if we joined forces with the reinforcements from the Levantine Empire, it would be meaningless if we couldn't crush them.
However.
"There is a way."
There was the minor issue of it being a bit dangerous, but then again, when was it ever not?