Salvation (Physical)
A hammer and a spear.
Both were weapons I had handled well — weapons I had used hundreds of times, no, thousands of times more than any other.
The difference between the two was simple.
'The spear is a weapon of technique; the hammer is a weapon of strength.'
Of the two, I had always preferred the hammer.
*Clang!*
'An overwhelming single blow that could smash even principles and divine authority.'
Instead of elaborate, respectable techniques, it offered raw destructive power — the kind that could crush an enemy just by swinging it.
I had used the hammer almost as much as the spear, and when facing the 'ancient monsters' in particular, the hammer had been my mainstay.
*Gulp.*
Those monsters were mostly colossal in size, and they took the hammer's damage exactly as it was dealt.
"Is, is this really going to be okay?"
─Yes, it will.
Young Lily grips the hammer as she slowly approaches the sea stretching out beyond the village.
Half of the town is already submerged, and the villagers are trembling at the very top of it.
─Better to do *something* than to sit still and be devoured by the nightmare.
"I will... I will..."
─Shall I tell you something fun?
Young Lily looks up at me with a wide-eyed "Hm?"
It feels a bit self-congratulatory to say this, but she really does have such a pretty and adorable face.
With the body of a fairy, I stroked her hair and pointed out toward the distance.
─See that thing over there? That's an octopus.
"...An octopus?"
─Yep. Whoever revived the Nightmare Great Demon King must have really loved octopuses, because they brought the nightmare back in the form of one. So the Nightmare Great Demon King looks like an octopus too.
The biggest octopus in the world.
*Kuuung... Kuuung...*
As we drew closer, its true form slowly came into view.
And there it was — a purplish...
*Flinch.*
"......?!!"
In an instant, young Lily's body pitched forward.
The bodily imbalance caused by Gaze.
On the verge of losing control of herself and plunging headfirst into the sea—
"Huaaagh!"
The White Savior wrapped around her body, forcibly jerked her upright, and set her back in place.
At the same time, I used the gem to partially block out the Gaze and clear her head.
Young Lily stares at me, her eyes trembling.
"Wh-what was that just now?"
─You know how the sun stings when you look at it with your bare eyes?
"...Huh? Yes."
─It's the same thing.
The supreme authority of the Kraken, something no ordinary living being could ever hope to oppose.
This was a creature that passively carried Territorialization — a domain capable of drowning an entire town within hours.
Its sphere of influence was vast enough to swallow up a subcontinent whole.
If she couldn't even properly resist the Territorialization, imagine meeting the Kraken's 'eyes' head-on.
Not just the flesh — the mind and soul alike would fail to endure and be crushed.
The one saving grace was that this wasn't the real thing.
'It's only affecting her body and mind. It's not the real deal — the kind that crushes even the soul.'
If it isn't the real thing, then it's doable.
I set the White Savior in motion.
The pristine white material crept and slithered along, gathering over young Lily's eyes.
[Goggles?]
[Huh?]
"Eh?"
─You need protection when you're looking at the sun, don't you?
*Click!*
A pair of pearly, translucent goggles snapped into place over her eyes.
Young Lily fidgets with them awkwardly, her head tilting.
─Can you see better now?
"What is this... oh?"
Her vision cleared in an instant.
The wind-battered sea and the waves crashing high against the shore.
The dark seawater had once filled her with an inexplicable dread, and the enormous purplish something visible in the distance had made her recoil on pure instinct.
'Once had.'
"...?"
It was different now.
The wind and waves no longer felt so ferocious, and the seawater had turned a refreshing blue — perfect for playing in.
And above all, that purplish something in the distance.
"The Nightmare Great Demon King?"
It wore the very shape of the Nightmare Great Demon King she'd seen in the storybook.
A round, lavender face and a black robe with sharp, jagged edges.
Its expression was wicked, as if plotting some sinister scheme, and the numerous legs splayed between the folds of its robe writhed menacingly.
The one difference — just as the Dreamland Fairy had said, it wasn't a demon-like figure, but an 'octopus.'
It was unmistakably a villain, and yet... how should I put it?
"It's not scary anymore."
It was worlds apart from before, when something strange and unknown had made her whole body shudder.
If anything, the adults back home would probably find it cute.
*Tap tap.*
The Dreamland Fairy, perched on my head at some point, nods.
─That's right. There's nothing to be afraid of. We never had any reason to tremble in the first place.
'Honestly, it's just a pushover of a creature.'
*TOOOM!*
*CRASH!!!*
The vivid blue waves split apart, and a road of white clouds unfurled into being.
This, too, was from the storybook.
The path the little girl had fled down, luring the Nightmare Great Demon King away with the Dreamland Fairy's help.
"The Path of Dreams!"
─Time to feed it a knuckle sandwich, no?
"Yes, ma'am!"
The moment she stepped onto the Path of Dreams, brimming with joyful dreams, she tore off toward the Nightmare Great Demon King at high speed.
She could feel its staggering enormity even from here.
'That's practically a mountain... wait, how big even is that thing?'
It was genuinely enormous.
─It's still just the Nightmare Great Demon King, though.
But its appearance remained unchanged.
The same comical villain it had always been.
I had to land the hit, but... where?
It was so absurdly huge that I had no idea where to even strike.
"Should I just hit it anywhere?"
─Yep.
"Well, I noticed earlier that its eyes looked suspicious, so if I hit the eyes..."
Even in its comical form, the Nightmare Great Demon King's eyes remained hard to face.
Surely striking the eyes would deal a great deal of damage?
*Shake shake.*
The Dreamland Fairy perched on my head shakes her head.
─No. Let's attack the legs first.
"Why?"
─If you attack with real intent, it throws an absolutely monstrous tantrum. Then things get much harder to handle.
"?!"
Isn't that true of hitting anywhere else too?
Why would it get *angrier* if she hit the eyes?
Because the eyes are precious?
I was a little puzzled, but in the end, since I was fighting under the Dreamland Fairy's direction, I resolved to go for the legs.
*Kuooooo...*
After a brief exchange as we practically flew along the path, we were soon right on the Nightmare Great Demon King's body.
The pressure mounted the closer we got, but the Fairy had apparently set up some defenses, because it wasn't unbearable.
"Hah!"
She grips the hammer.
She's never held a hammer before, never swung anything at another living thing — and yet somehow, it feels surprisingly familiar.
So, like this...!
"URRRYAAAAAAAHHH!!!"
She swings with everything she has!
The White Savior delivers Salvation (Physical)!
*KWAAAAAANG!!!*
With a colossal explosion, the Nightmare Great Demon King's massive body lurched.
For a moment she was stunned by the sheer force — far greater than she'd expected.
*KWAAAAAANG!!!*
Another hammer blow hammered into the Demon King's leg.
And yet she hadn't swung it. The hammer had struck all on its own.
Her eyes went wide for an instant, and as she glanced to the side, she saw it — a second hammer, floating lazily in the air.
"Uh... Fairy, that's augh..!?"
*KUgugung... PHWOOOOSH!!!*
The massive body toppled completely, kicking up a gigantic wave.
She was still reeling from the towering deluge when the tsunami spreading out around the Nightmare Great Demon King snapped her fully awake.
"The village!"
─Don't worry.
The Dreamland Fairy had, at some point, been crafting something in midair with her small hands.
A bluish substance spread toward the village, forming a translucent barrier.
Peering through the thing now covering her own eyes, she confirmed with relief that the tsunami had been stopped by the barrier — the village had been spared.
The Dreamland Fairy bows her head, looking a little weary.
─...I can't use much power here in the dream. Holding it back is the best I can do.
"Oh! Yes, ma'am!"
We can't just sit here underwater!
We have to defeat the Nightmare Great Demon King quickly — before the Dreamland Fairy's barrier gives out.
I hurriedly burst up through the sea.
And dove back down.
*PHWOOOOSH!!*
"...Ugh!"
One of the other legs — not the one she'd struck — pressed down on me, trying to drag me into the depths.
Perhaps because of its sheer size, its strength was comparable even to my own empowered body.
*TWUP!* The leg wrapped around me completely.
In the darkened space, I exhaled slowly — *hooo...* — and raised the hammer.
Honestly? I'm scared.
I've fought friends before — sparring, practice — but I've never fought to hurt someone, and never, not once, fought for my life.
If the Nightmare Great Demon King had still looked like that grotesque thing from before, I might have frozen in place or turned and run.
"But not now."
The Nightmare Great Demon King isn't scary, and the Dreamland Fairy is helping me.
And behind me stand all the people of the village.
I can't stay trapped in here!
She tightens her grip on the hammer.
She needs a stronger attack than before.
If she attacks the way she did earlier, she might disable one leg — but the Nightmare Great Demon King has at least eight of them.
Another leg would come wrapping around her, and the result would be the same.
Of course, maybe she could pin down every single leg, but this side is racing against the clock.
'One blow!'
Something beyond merely toppling a leg — a technique that would affect the Nightmare Great Demon King as a whole...
'The wind and rain are blowing in.'
Wind and rain?
'Read the movement of the clouds. Where and how they shift. How the currents of power flow.'
...She closes her eyes.
The wind and rain haven't weakened — they've only *seemed* to.
They look calm because the Fairy has shielded her eyes; in truth, the storm is still raging.
She reads the flow of the downpour.
...*tap tap...*
'Something caught.'
...Yes. It's caught.
Honestly, by now I know full well these are no longer just my own thoughts.
But that doesn't matter.
*CRACKLE...!*
"Beating the Nightmare Great Demon King matters more right now."
*Whirr!*
She reverses her grip on the hammer.
With a small ripple of laughter, the technique's usage explodes into being, carved into her mind.
Yellow currents streak through the heavens beyond the black storm clouds, blazing against the sea below.
A bludgeoning art...
'Thunder God Dragon.'
"Thunder God Dragon."
*KRAKOOOOOM!!!*
The judgment of the thunderbolt crashed down upon the nightmare's head.