Chapter 96
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 96
Mid-tier magic: Gravity Point.
Under the crushing gravity, Marmolia staggered mid-swing. But she had already used this spell multiple times; simply invoking Gravity Point again wouldn't be enough to stop the beast's movements.
Melju knew this.
Once again, her staff flared with light.
Mid-tier magic: Increasing Magic.
Thoom!
Unable to withstand the crushing weight, the ground caved in. Marmolia's fist struck empty air yet again. Every time Melju cast the same spell in rapid succession, the earth gave way with a heavy, echoing thud.
When Marmolia shook off the gravity and swung its other arm, Melju used Transference to blink out of harm's way.
Mid-tier gravity magic like this couldn't deal any real damage—this, too, was something Melju had already deduced.
"Charge!"
Mid-tier magic: Light Feathers. Mid-tier magic: Bone Ashes of Famous Warrior. Mid-tier magic: Strong Body.
While Melju drew all of Marmolia's attention, the swordsman and the knight charged, bolstered by three buff spells from the human mage.
"Graaaaaah!"
Marmolia roared at them. Their eardrums, ruptured moments before, had already been healed with Cure, and Strong Body helped them easily withstand the new onslaught of sound.
As they closed in, the swordsman and the knight split to the left and right. Marmolia's fist swung toward the knight first. He braced himself, raising his massive shield.
Just before the fist made contact—
The human mage finished his incantation just in time, throwing up a barrier spell at the point of impact without a moment's hesitation.
Shatter! The sharp, deafening sound of breaking glass echoed through the air.
The barrier couldn't withstand the sheer force of the blow and shattered into a million pieces.
Yet, it had successfully cushioned the impact. The knight's shield absorbed the weakened fist, and he barely managed to hold his ground.
With one attack blocked, Marmolia immediately pulled back the arm it had swung at Melju.
It used the same arm to deflect an incoming arrow before sweeping its forearm across the ground to intercept the charging swordsman.
But the swordsman didn't slow down. Even as Marmolia's massive arm swept toward him, he only accelerated, charging straight ahead.
And just before the arm could crush him—
Low-tier magic: Transference.
Melju's magic teleported him directly above Marmolia's head. As he plummeted, the swordsman poured all his strength into his blade.
"Hyaaaaaah!"
He plunged his magic-infused sword deep into the nape of Marmolia's neck. More than half the blade sank into its flesh, and a violent explosion of flames erupted from the buried tip.
Marmolia shrieked in agony from the devastating internal damage. Seizing the opportunity, the swordsman twisted and wrenched the blade embedded in its neck.
The gaping wound was instantly charred black. By the time Marmolia unleashed a wave of curses from its body to shake him off, Melju had already teleported the swordsman safely back to the ground.
"Huff... huff..."
The swordsman panted, trying to catch his breath. He was an A-rank subjugation squad member, an elite by any standard, yet he was trusting his life to low-tier magic. He couldn't entirely shake his anxiety. Worse, the one pulling the strings was a Demon King—a realization that sent a chill down his spine.
Just focus on swinging the sword.
Forcing himself to calm down, the swordsman gripped his blade and charged once more.
As Marmolia swung its arm, the transference magic triggered again, and the swordsman vanished into thin air.
His target was the same as before: the nape of its neck.
Determined not to fall for the same trick twice, Marmolia immediately swung its arm upward. Its fist surged toward the space above its head with bone-crushing force, intent on obliterating the swordsman.
The sound of tearing air rushed past the swordsman's ears.
But this time, he didn't strike. He was teleported back to the ground, leaving the massive fist to smash into empty air. The waiting knight immediately scooped him up and retreated at full speed to get out of range.
The swordsman had been a decoy.
The real attack was a single, precisely aimed arrow from the archer, who had been drawing his bowstring taut from a distance.
Focusing all his senses on the target, the archer released the string. Aimed directly at Marmolia's heart, the arrow tore through the air with a sharp shriek.
Realizing the danger, Marmolia tried to bring its arm down to shield its chest. In response, the human mage poured every ounce of his remaining strength into his final spell.
Mid-tier magic: Invisible Chain.
Although he was capable of high-tier magic, even for someone of his caliber—near the level of a Sage—such spells required far too much preparation time.
Thus, this was the best and final spell he could muster.
The rattling of phantom chains echoed from Marmolia's joints. The beast's movements visibly slowed.
"Please, work!"
The mage's scream was a desperate, strained cry. The sheer volume of mana he was burning to bind Marmolia drained the color from his face.
His face turned pale as a corpse, his body trembling violently as if his very life force were being siphoned away.
Watching silently from the side, the archer tracked the arrow's trajectory and thought:
...We've done well so far.
They hadn't exchanged a single word, yet the Demon King moved as if she knew their strategy inside and out.
Of course, he didn't mistake this for cooperation.
It was fundamentally different—not even an alliance. The Demon King was simply using them.
It was an unpleasant realization, but it was also the reason they were steadily gaining the upper hand.
...But what came next was what truly mattered.
Demon King, just how far can you go?
Against an enemy that barely took damage from mid-tier magic, an ordinary arrow would never suffice.
Even though the shaft of this arrow was made of Tantalunite, that alone wasn't enough. What they needed was a single, lethal blow.
To make that possible, the most difficult technique was maximizing the arrow's destructive power through "arrow acceleration."
He had drawn his bow from as far back as possible, but the distance was 150 meters at most. That meant barely two seconds before impact.
In that brief window, how many times could Accelerate be cast on the arrow?
Glancing sideways, he saw Melju's staff glowing a brilliant crimson.
Applying Accelerate to a projectile already moving at high speed was no easy feat. An ordinary mage who couldn't even track an arrow's trajectory wouldn't be able to pull it off even once.
The mage beside him had said once was his limit, but to bring down a monster like this, once was nowhere near enough.
But what about the Demon King?
"Just now... wait, what?"
The arrow was so fast that its trajectory vanished from sight. All he could register was the crimson light of Melju's staff flashing three times in rapid succession.
"Aaaaargh!"
At that moment, the mage beside him let out a strangled cry.
His mana already depleted from casting multiple spells, holding the bind for even that split second had pushed him past his absolute limit.
Released from its shackles, Marmolia's arm began to fall. At that exact moment, the arrow—bolstered by three consecutive acceleration spells—broke the sound barrier with a thunderous boom and slammed directly into the beast's chest.
A momentary, ringing silence fell, swallowed by the sonic boom.
The arrow had hit its mark.
However, Marmolia's massive arm had been just a fraction of a second faster.
The arrow tore through the skin of its wrist, ripping through flesh and shattering bone as it buried itself deep—but it failed to pierce the heart.
"W-we failed..."
The archer collapsed to his knees in despair. They were all running on empty; this had been their absolute final trump card.
The knight and the swordsman hung their heads, all hope drained from their eyes.
It's over.
The mage stared blankly at the ground, his mind hollow. Then, he turned his gaze toward the Demon King. Having poured every drop of his mana into Invisible Chain, he only had enough strength left to teleport a single person. He had no intention of fleeing alone to save his own skin.
His eyes looked completely lifeless.
...But as those lifeless eyes fell upon Melju, they suddenly filled with confusion.
The mage parted his dry, cracked lips.
"No..."
A hollow sensation washed over him in the wake of despair.
He felt a sudden, absurd urge to laugh. And then, he realized.
They were still being used. Even now, they were dancing in the palm of the Demon King's hand.
The triple acceleration had merely been cast while she was preparing a high-tier spell.
Melju had already completed her high-tier incantation.
—She had simply needed them to buy her time.
Ah, the humans truly made excellent pawns.
Because they had played their parts so well, her plan was a flawless success.
A smile, dark and fitting for a Demon King, spread across her face, revealing her sharp fangs.
"You did quite well."
With that single, victory-assured remark, an overwhelming wave of frost erupted from her staff.
High-tier magic: Brinicle.
A massive pillar of ice materialized in the air directly above Marmolia. Sensing the deadly chill, the beast tried to flee, but with its naturally sluggish movements and the collapsed ground beneath its feet, escape was impossible.
The ice pillar expanded downward, growing larger by the second. Everything the freezing air touched froze instantly, groaning and cracking as if being crushed by an invisible force. The sight of the ice devouring everything in its path was reminiscent of a monster gorging on its prey.
Melju only stopped her spell once Marmolia was frozen solid up to its shoulders.
It would take about thirty seconds for the ice to melt.
Just moments ago, time had been in desperately short supply.
"But now, I have more than enough."
Leaving the humans to stare at her in stunned silence, Melju stepped up to Marmolia and began casting another high-tier spell.
Her target was the hollow cavity inside the beast's body, carved out earlier when Black Extermination had pierced through it.
The high-tier explosion spell detonated from within, showering the area in putrid flesh. Only then did Marmolia's massive frame collapse.
Once the dust settled, the humans stood around restlessly, casting tentative glances at Melju. She, however, seemed entirely focused on Marmolia's corpse.
The humans understood. This was the final mercy she would grant them.
It was a silent command to get out of her sight immediately.
If they were still there when she finally looked up, she would slaughter them without a second thought.
"...We can worry about the aftermath later. For now, we need to move."
The subjugation squad had no strength left to fight. Hastily gathering their gear, they quickly retreated.
The mage, walking at the very rear, cast one last look over the ruined battlefield.
Gore and chunks of flesh lay scattered across the ground like piles of putrid filth.
What on earth was that monster? Why had it suddenly appeared in the middle of the city, and what lay behind its arrival that had drawn out a Demon King to fight it?
And above all...
"...Huh?"
As the mage stared at the mangled remains, a sudden sensation washed over him.
Unless his senses were playing tricks on him, it was undeniably the presence of a living creature radiating demonic energy.
There was something inside.
A creature that should have been dead was still breathing. Something unknown was slowly crawling out from within the carcass.
It slithered out—and then, mid-tier magic: Dumb Dagger.
The watching mage’s head instantly exploded.
*
It crawled out from within the corpse.
It looked like a giant reptile shedding its skin, or perhaps a newborn emerging from its mother's womb.
Lacking the strength to stand, the entity dragged itself from the carcass, propping itself up on its arms.
Its skeletal, emaciated frame resembled an undead at first glance, but the aura it exuded was on an entirely different level.
It was utterly alien.
It was a presence Melju had never felt before, yet so sinister that she knew instantly how dangerous it was.
The moment she laid eyes on the entity, she knew. The power radiating from it surpassed even that of a Demon King. This was not an opponent she could defeat in her current state.
I must inform Lord Swallow.
"K-kuh... a-ack..."
Just as she resolved to flee, a pained groan escaped the crawling entity's mouth.
A sudden wave of terror washed over Melju. She realized something. The human mage's head had just been blown off by Dumb Dagger. The alien presence she felt was the entity's mana—this monster could cast magic.
Even if she used Transference to flee right now, she would likely be caught before she could get far.
Escape was not an option.
Did she truly have no choice but to fight?
—Was there any other way?
The only realistic hope lay in reinforcements. It had been quite some time since she arrived in Knecht. If she was lucky, Swallow and Rene might be on their way back.
Grasping at straws, Melju closed her eyes and sensed the flow of mana. She swept her senses across the immediate area, then pushed further out. Still sensing nothing, she stretched her perception to its absolute limit.
A soft sigh escaped her lips.
She couldn't feel any trace of Swallow or Rene.
...There were no reinforcements.