Overwhelming Prowess
If someone as overwhelmingly powerful as Sena suddenly joined the fight, how would Irmela react? The answer was simple—though not in a good way.
Violet Sword Barrier
A dark aura scattered as Irmela launched the first strike, reigniting the battle.
“Her trait is rampaging?”
Fwoooosh!!!
Something exploded. “Oh. Well, that’s not good.”
Witnessing the immense energy pouring from Irmela’s entire body, I finally understood why the system had labeled it a rampage.
Tehelum’s Bridge
“What the hell is that…?”
“That’s no ordinary tentacle like before!”
Perhaps the rampage had amplified it. The manifestation of the evil god’s power could no longer be dismissed as mere tentacles. They were pillars—massive black columns covered in countless violet suckers, plummeting toward us.
“Still as disgusting as ever, that evil god’s energy. Fine. Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Flutter.
With a single step, Sena reached the front lines, her coat billowing. Her face had lost all trace of leisure; she looked deadly serious now. She drew her sword from its scabbard at her waist and raised it high.
Fwoosh—
A flame-like aura ignited along the blade she held aloft, radiating a density far beyond anything Asan’s sword aura could achieve.
If sword aura has a next stage… is that sword ki? Or do they call it an aura blade?
Seeing it, I realized this was the level I would one day have to reach… yet right now, it was something I couldn’t even dream of attaining.
True Frontal Slaughter Strike
Thud—!
She stomped her right foot forward with tremendous force.
“Urgh.”
“Wh-what was that?”
In an instant, the surrounding air grew heavy. It wasn’t a metaphor—the pressure was real, crushing down on our bodies and drawing involuntary groans from everyone.
“Hah!”
With a sharp battle cry, she swung her sword with both hands. A single, devastating slash descended, brimming with terrifying power.
Shhhk!
The energy I had tentatively called sword ki sliced cleanly through the massive pillar’s body, bisecting it even before the blade made contact.
Crack!!!
It was, in essence, just a simple downward slash—four words at most. Yet the sheer elegance of that straightforward trajectory produced a horrifying result.
“Kiaaaaaagh!!!”
Irmela screamed, black tears streaming down her face just as Shurika had earlier. One of her arms had been severed, blood fountaining from the stump.
Why is it that as an apostle of an evil god, she enjoys inflicting pain on others but finds it unbearable when she suffers herself? Disgusting woman.
Sena, the Sword Guild’s guildmaster, had done more than just cleave the rampaging attack in half with a single strike—she had also taken Irmela’s left arm.
“Krrgh… You think I’ll just sit here and take it?!”
Grind.
“Are you insane?! So what if an arm got cut off?! It’s already regenerating!”
“Just how vile is this creature…?”
…No. Even though new flesh was sprouting from the severed stump amid rising bubbles, Irmela’s overall aura was visibly weakening. I didn’t know which trait granted her regeneration, but it clearly came at a cost—whether mana or life force.
“Don’t panic! She’s paying for that regeneration with mana. Look closely—the black energy has grown slightly fainter overall!”
“Shut your mouths, you worthless rabble! Shurika! Finish them off and help me already!! Die, die, die!!!”
Tehelum’s Bridge
Creak. Splash—
She had realized that concentrating everything into one powerful strike was pointless if Sena could simply erase it. This time, the massive pillars raining down from above split into hundreds of razor-sharp tentacles.
There are threads hidden between them too. Anyone hit will obviously get controlled again!
The dozens of adventurers here were at least mid-layer level—meaning even the weakest had only recently left the lower floors. If even a few fell under Irmela’s control, internal conflict would erupt and chaos would spread rapidly.
Spirit Unity
What?
…Ah! Come to think of it, our enemy wasn’t just one person.
Boom!!!
“Khaaaak!!”
“Urgh, how am I supposed to cut down my own comrade with my own hands… Shurika, please come to your senses—!”
While our attention had been focused here, the members who had been holding Shurika back were now all in terrible shape. The monk who had long since retired, the twins whose bodies were blistered and bubbling from burns, the exhausted party leader whose mana was depleted, and even Asan—whose sword had been snapped in half along with the left sleeve that had burned away. The only one still relatively unscathed was the arcane mage who had been supporting from the rear.
In the slowed world caused by the flying tentacles and threads, I rolled my eyes toward Shurika.
That mage alone can’t possibly hold her off.
True to the skill’s name, Shurika had merged with the lion spirit, her body now blazing with flames. A mane like a lion’s had grown from her head, and her ears and tail bore eyes born from the evil god’s power. Tears still streamed down her face in agony, yet her appearance could no longer be called human.
Damn it. If they broke through, the ordinary people and lower-floor adventurers would be next. Lumia was among them!
Just as I was about to dodge Irmela’s attack and rush toward Shurika—
Murine
“…Hah.”
—A short exhale.
A storm of sword strikes erupted before my eyes.
Shhhk shhhk shhhk shhhk—!
Hundreds of slender tentacles were instantly diced apart. She had spun her saber in a whirlwind arc, moving like a streak of light. It was so fast that I could only infer she had swung at high speed—most of the motions were invisible even to Chaos Eye.
“Hah!”
After carving through most of the incoming attacks, she didn’t stop. She gripped her sword once more.
Unterhau
Unique equipment!
The first attack had been too fast to notice, but Sena’s weapon changed form every time she activated a skill.
Fwoosh!
She spun half a turn, bringing down a zweihander wreathed in sword ki in a massive overhead strike before reversing into an upward slash.
Whoosh!!
She immediately followed with a heavy diagonal downward slash using the back edge of the blade.
Shhhk!!!
Then, stabilizing her stance, she delivered a horizontal mid-level slash, carving through everything in her path to finish the combination.
This devastating sequence of strikes unfolded in mere seconds.
Speed comes from agility, but the fact that each different motion flows seamlessly without breaking the chain—that’s true swordsmanship.
I couldn’t definitively say whether Ivelin’s explosive sword style or Sena’s precise, elegant technique was superior, but one thing was certain: I was deeply impressed in this moment.
“A-ah… Nothing… works?”
Irmela’s horrified murmur echoed softly. Hundreds of attacks had been effortlessly neutralized by a single person in an instant—it was only natural she felt fear.
“Did you really think that would work?”
Click.
“You only know one monotonous pattern, so why were you so arrogant? Did you really think your mana reserves alone would be enough?”
Sena turned and spoke quietly to us.
“All of you. Dozens of you just standing around watching without offering any support… Honestly, it’s embarrassing. I’ll wrap this up quickly and join you, so go stop that spirit mage over there. Go! Now!”
“Y-yes!”
“Everyone, move out!”
Valestra
The moment she finished speaking, a fierce wind rose.
Bang!!
She closed the distance to Irmela in an instant with high-speed movement and thrust her rapier like lightning.
Sena was right. While Irmela’s attacks kept coming, what had we done besides watch or dodge? …Nothing.
The Sword Guild’s guildmaster. Every single attack she displayed lived up to that title, and everyone had been staring in a half-dazed state.
Damn it, I admit it. Relying on Sena alone while standing behind her like an idiot must have looked pathetic to anyone watching.
It was time to focus. The paladin, the barbarian, and the other adventurers seemed to share the sentiment—they looked ashamed and began forming ranks.
The paladin shouted from the front.
“Our opponent is a spirit mage between mid- and high-layer level, specialized in fire. Her attack power in this evil-god-possessed spirit rampage state surpasses even high-rank adventurers! However, this state won’t last long!”
“Get to the point! What exactly do you want us to do? Anyone with half a brain can see that much!”
The hot-tempered barbarian snapped impatiently.
“Calm down and listen to the end! So, the frontliners—including me—who specialize in defense will take turns tanking attacks in a rotating formation while the damage dealers exploit openings! We need to drag this into a war of attrition! Also, is there a priest here?”
“Everyone else is over there! I can guess why you’re asking. To buff this many people, I’ll need to concentrate, so don’t talk to me and just wait!”
The long-haired man who had called himself a priest clasped his hands together mid-run and focused. Was he praying?
…Flash!
“O God of Light! Illuminate our path with your radiant brilliance and bestow your indomitable blessing upon these warriors of reversal!!”
Radiant Blessing — All stats below B-Rank increased by two stages for three hours.
“Whoa! That’s an incredible buff!”
“This feeling… it’s not just one stage, it’s enough to push us into the next rank!”
“B-but I won’t be able to use holy arts for a full day after this! Someone needs to protect me!”
I was momentarily stunned by the ridiculous amount of the buff, but I didn’t stay idle either. I pulled out the last remaining Earth’s Firmness from my pack. This was exactly the kind of moment doping items were made for. No point saving it now.
Pop!
I opened it and downed it in one go.
◈ Strong jungle resistance for 30 minutes
◈ Minor defense increase for 30 minutes
◈ All piercing damage received halved for 30 minutes
I had no doubt Sena would overwhelmingly defeat Irmela. That left only Shurika, who had become our enemy.
“Alright! Let’s go!!!”
With our morale soaring, only one final battle remained.
…By the way, why hasn’t Chaos said anything?