Beast Subjugation (3)
Masterpiece.
The seven golems Arcel had personally created lived up to that moniker without a shred of bluster, radiating tremendous power, mana, and heat.
“It’s sooo hot~?”
Especially grating was that steam. Scalding vapor poured from their entire bodies at a level ordinary humans could never endure, making it difficult even for a Hero to close the distance.
Even from this far away, the combined steam of all seven golems felt ready to cook them alive. The fact that even the dragon Mersius was sweating buckets from the heat said everything that needed saying.
“Lizard, you look fine though~♡”
“This body is a Blue Dragon. My entire form is filled with cold, so of course I am strong against heat.”
“Hmm, then….”
Erinn snickered.
“Could you take care of those for me instead~?”
“That is impossible. With my power alone I doubt I can pierce their special armor.”
Caesius raised a finger and tapped the back of Erinn’s neck with a claw.
“Instead, I shall share a little of my power with you. That should let you endure somewhat.”
Caesius’s mana seeped into Erinn’s body. At once her whole body felt considerably cooler. No—beyond that….
“…It’s a little cold?”
“Better than cooking alive, is it not?”
That was true enough.
“Yeah, I’ll use it gratefully~♡ Thanks to you, it’s definitely not hot.”
Erinn gripped the Holy Sword’s hilt with both hands and lowered it on a diagonal.
“I can fight freely now.”
The golems, sensing Erinn’s changed aura, belched even hotter steam and drew out their mana.
Response level set to maximum.
Eliminate without leaving a trace.
Watching the golems’ mana gather once more around their cores, Erinn gave a short laugh. Before they could do anything, she moved first.
“I already figured out where all your cores are earlier~♡”
Whoosh!
Erinn leapt high, spinning a full circle in midair. Her strength, acceleration, and rotational force all poured into the blade as mana surged.
Hero Erinn activates [Extreme Sword Art: Revolving Heaven]
She struck the core of the foremost golem dead-on.
KAAAAANG!!!
“…It tanked that?”
Yet the monstrous golem’s core refused to shatter even under the Holy Sword and Erinn’s full power. Mithril ore—supposedly the hardest material—was useless before her, and yet the golem’s one true weak point had held.
“Hero! Dodge!”
Mersius’s shout came at the same instant Caesius supported her.
Blue Dragon Caesius activates [Freezing Tempest]
A freezing ice storm instantly locked the arms of the golems lunging at Erinn’s back. Seeing that, she poured even more force into her blade, and at last—
CRACK—!!
On the second strike she completely shattered the golem’s core. Erinn immediately withdrew; Mersius approached at once.
“Are you all right, Hero?”
“…Hey, why are you just watching~?”
“A Green Dragon’s power is poison… so it’s useless against golems. They aren’t living things.”
“Then why did you even come…?”
“Benefactor told me to come this way….”
Erinn was left slightly speechless. Apparently Albrecht had sent her here without considering a Green Dragon’s traits.
“Can’t you do anything else?”
“Golems have high mana resistance, so just hitting them with raw mana probably won’t do much… Ah!”
Something seemed to occur to Mersius.
“Shall I carry you, Hero?”
“What?”
“So you can reach the cores more easily.”
“…Doesn’t sound very efficient. You’ve been struggling with that steam yourself since earlier~.”
“Ah….”
Caesius spoke up.
“Mersius, just lend me mana from the side whenever I start running low.”
“Ah, I’ll help that way at least!”
Watching Caesius use polite speech toward Mersius left Erinn looking incredulous.
“…I think that’s the first time I’ve ever heard you speak politely, lizard? You knew how and just chose not to?”
“There is no reason for me to speak respectfully to you lot who have lived far shorter lives than I.”
“Hah, nice talk~.”
Erinn continued.
“Oh, come to think of it, you were pretty polite at first, weren’t you? At some point you just dropped the formalities…….”
“…Th-that is not important. They are moving.”
True to her word, the golems were advancing as if the loss of one of their fellow Masterpieces meant nothing at all.
“Not even a hint of sorrow. Because they’re golems, I guess~?”
“Expecting emotion from a golem is ridiculous in the first place.”
Erinn gave a small nod at Caesius’s words and rested the Holy Sword’s hilt against her shoulder.
“Isn’t it just as ridiculous to think things that enter battle with neither emotion nor purpose can stop a Hero~?”
The seemingly wild stance made Caesius slightly puzzled.
“Erinn, that is….”
“Don’t worry and just support me properly~!”
Erinn kicked off the ground—more precisely, she kicked off Grandis’s back. The instant she closed on the golems, they unleashed steam of tremendous heat.
This time, instead of firing mana cannons in unison, each prepared a different mana-based attack. Erinn dove between them and spoke as if for Caesius’s ears.
“Hegemon Sword has a raw, unrefined flavor to it.”
She said it with a wicked curl of her lips. Then her blade moved all at once.
Hero Erinn activates [Extreme Sword Art: Crimson Flower Barrage]
CRACK! CRACK-CRACK! CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!!!
Dozens of sword strokes whirled in an instant. The brilliant golden hair scattering with each slash transformed the scene into pure art for a single heartbeat.
That spectacle unfolded in the split second before the golems’ massive metal fists—already reaching for her—could crush her flat.
BOOM!
Every extended arm was severed, and the cores that should have been protected were left completely exposed by the strikes aimed precisely at their locations.
Having created an indescribable sight with a single sword, Erinn spoke to Caesius.
“Now you know where to aim, right~?”
While Erinn’s blade was cleaving clouds and slicing the sky, far below the others were working tirelessly to subjugate Grandis.
First Clara inflicted even the slightest wound on Grandis’s hide. Given the nature of her daggers, dealing serious damage to Grandis was difficult, and the curses she used were only marginally effective against a monster of this size.
Several of her useful techniques required specific conditions, so for now she focused on support.
Rip!
Even so, Clara’s dagger tore a long gash across Grandis’s belly hide. Performing such a feat with a dagger that normally could not pierce the hide at all was something only she in the entire world could manage.
“…Aria, now.”
“Leave it to me!”
Ser-Aria loosed a follow-up arrow. It was no ordinary shaft. Mana rode the arrowhead, shining as clearly as moonlight in the night sky.
Divine Archer Ser-Aria activates [Moonlight Downpour]
The moment she released the string, the moonlight-laden arrow streaked forward. The mana dwelling in the tip activated a formula and split into dozens of moonlight shafts.
Those arrows drove with perfect precision into the hide Clara had torn, embedding themselves mercilessly. Not a single one missed.
Confirming the hits, Ser-Aria made a light gesture.
“Bang!”
Then—
KABOOOOOM────!!
Every embedded arrow detonated. Because mana already rode them, detonation was possible. With the hide already torn, the explosions left even Grandis’s tough flesh no chance of enduring.
The abdomen was driven to the brink of rupture. Seeing that, Ser-Aria let out a small cheer.
“Yes!”
Yet Grandis still did not thrash. It was not that the beast failed to notice their actions; rather, the golems were currently fighting atop its own back.
That was exactly why they had sent Erinn up to handle the golems. While Erinn and Albrecht’s side held out, they only needed to bring down the immobilized Grandis.
Even so, watching Grandis rapidly regenerate the wounds, Ser-Aria called for the one who would deliver the finishing blow.
“It’s healing already?! Freya, hurry!”
“…Yes.”
Vast holy power flowed from Freya, who had been offering prayers for some time.
“It’s complete now.”
Freya interlaced her fingers, lightly pressed her lips to them, and spoke.
“Return all things to the primordial void, O Great One who bestows life and ends it.”
That vast holy power soared skyward. At once a brilliantly shining circular array unfolded in the heavens. It resembled a magic circle, yet its nature was entirely different.
Saintess Freya activates [Genesis Extinction]
From the circular array, vast holy power became a single beam of light and slammed into the abdomen already shredded by torn hide and exploding arrows.
KAAAAAAAAAANG───────!!!
The giant beast’s abdomen burst open; blood poured in torrents and entrails spilled free. Matching the creature’s colossal frame, those organs were larger than most buildings….
“Oh, if we just stand here we’ll get crushed.”
“If you know that, then hurry and move, Aria! Over here!”
Thud, thud-thud, rumble!!
Blood and massive entrails crashed to the ground, painting a truly horrific scene. Blood flowed like a river, swallowing everything nearby.
Ser-Aria and Clara sheltered inside a holy barrier Freya hastily raised, while Letisia and Albrecht—who had been facing Arcel—were lightly lifted into the air by Elysia.
“Are you unharmed?”
“I’m fine. Albrecht, you’re not hurt anywhere, are you?”
“I’m fine too.”
BUOOOOOOOO────!!
Only after suffering such a grievous wound did the enormous monster finally feel agony, loosing a cry that was nearly a scream.
Even then it still did not rampage. Whether it fully understood it had become the golems’ battlefield… or whether it was simply obeying the Magic Legion Commander’s orders was impossible to tell.
“Tougher than most of them!”
“…It’s okay.”
Clara stared at Grandis’s exposed organs and spoke.
“I can do it now.”
She sheathed her daggers and raised mana in both hands. That mana was no ordinary magic; it transformed into a slightly alien energy.
It was a curse. Clara’s mana coated her hands, turning them black as if steeped in darkness. Those hands reshaped themselves after her own, as though gripping something.
Something round… about the size of a fist.
At the same time, among the spilled entrails, the most vital organ that had not yet spilled free was located. That vital organ—the heart—was stained with shadow in the same shape as Clara’s hands.
“Heart-Sound Curse Kill.”
Thief Clara activates [Cursed Art of Regret: Heart-Sound Curse Kill]
The shadow-stained heart immediately burst with a wet pop.
POOOOF!!!
The sound of the heart exploding was almost like a bomb. Given the beast’s size, its heart was enormous as well. Air rushed outward with a tremendous noise that everyone present could hear.
“…They pierced Grandis’s hide.”
Arcel clicked his tongue. At this rate, things had gone far off the original plan. To think they would snuff out Grandis’s life while both the Hero and the Spirit King were committed elsewhere.
There was no longer any reason to fight here. He had only come this way hoping his legion would collapse humanity’s second front line; he was not yet prepared to face the Hero. With a Spirit King present as well, the battlefield was hardly favorable for Arcel.
“Splitting into three prongs beyond a mere diversion… that was not arrogance but the correct choice….”
He had thought a human whose mana capacity was unremarkable—aside from being a spirit mage and possessing that peculiar power—would be easy to handle when they came to face him. He had been completely wrong.
In the end he had lost only Grandis, and from what he could sense, two of the golems were already destroyed. Though Arcel himself was not at full strength, this time he had no choice but to acknowledge it.
“A strategic defeat.”
Arcel seized the edge of his cloak and gave it a light flourish, raising mana. Vast power immediately enveloped his body.
“Hero Erinn, and the human called Albrecht.”
Arcel spoke.
“I will remember today’s events.”
With those words Arcel’s form vanished without a trace. Disappearing via teleportation magic without even a chant left both Letisia and Albrecht considerably startled.
His magical skill was impressive, of course, but the fact that Arcel had vanished meant….
“…Did we win?”
“Albrecht! The enemy ran away!”
Letisia beamed with pure delight and threw her arms around him.
“!?”
“We did it!”
“Uh, uhh… w-well, that’s true, but….”
Letisia’s soft, pliant curves pressed fully against Albrecht’s abdomen in several dangerous places. Elysia, who had just saved the two of them from the wave of blood, narrowed her eyes.
“Contractor, doing that in my arms is hardly proper etiquette, is it?”
“Huh?……Ah.”
Letisia startled and hastily released Albrecht. He finally exhaled in relief, as though he had just survived.
“S-sorry… I was just so happy.”
“No, well….”
“Hmm. You two have grown quite close.”
“What are you talking about…!?”
I denied it, yet somehow Letisia did not. Instead she half-agreed.
“I’ve decided to keep only this person in my heart now, so yes, we’ve grown closer.”
“…!”
“Haha, my contractor has become rather bold.”
Elysia looked down below.
“Once that thing’s blood stops, I shall set you down.”
“Ah, yes.”
Albrecht nodded, and just then a light breeze rose. Looking up, he saw none other than Caesius and Mersius flying.
“You are unharmed.”
“Benefactor, you worked so hard!”
A certain woman perched on Caesius’s body peeked out and grinned.
“What, you pulled it off in style~♡”
“…You’re safe, Erinn.”
“Did you think I’d lose to some golems~? I’m not a scrub like someone I know~♡”
Erinn giggled. Spotting Freya, Ser-Aria, and Clara safe below as well, she continued.
“Everyone’s okay~.”
“Yeah, thank goodness.”
“Then….”
Erinn snickered. In a voice that sounded thoroughly pleased, she declared:
“Our victory, right~?”
“That’s right, we got proper revenge!”
When Letisia spoke with a touch of excitement, Erinn laughed as if surprised.
“It was bothering you more than you let on, Letisia?”
“Ehk… that time we just had no choice….”
“…She’s right.”
Albrecht spoke with firm conviction.
“We lost last time, but this time we won.”
“…Yes, that’s true.”
“Pfft♡”
Erinn laughed mischievously.
“Then we should go do what Albrecht mentioned before we sortied~♡”
“What?……Ah.”
“What else~.”
Erinn said.
“We’ve been working hard for a while, so we should rest a bit~.”
“…Yeah, we should.”
Albrecht agreed with Erinn’s opinion and pointed downward.
“First let’s pick those three up. Keeping that barrier going will be hard on Freya. Mersius, Caesius—split them between you and give them a ride.”
“Yes, Benefactor.”
“Understood.”
Primary objective: Grandis subjugated and two Masterpieces destroyed. Arcel and the remaining five Masterpieces forced to retreat.
That day, Hero Erinn’s party’s independent operation achieved a success that was nearly perfect.