148. High-Performance Auto-Turret
148. High-Performance Auto-Turret
A pure white trajectory shot across the earth.
It was the trail of Atlas's Aura Blade.
Every time he swung his sword, a massive scar was carved into the boiling hellish land, and the White Demons were swept away like autumn leaves.
The end of that trajectory was always aimed at Asmodeus's main body.
Just as it had wiped out the White Demons in a single strike, Atlas's attack pierced through Asmodeus's barrier and damaged his main body.
But that alone wasn't enough.
The sword auras he fired with one hand, unable to properly gather power, pierced the barrier but couldn't inflict major damage on the main body.
[[[I see you possess enough skill to put on airs. But how long can you last? Do you seriously believe you can endure for long in this hell with a human body?]]]
As Asmodeus shouted, several moray eels attached to his body extended toward Atlas.
They shot out at an incredible speed, but Atlas's Shukuchi was faster.
The moray eels devoured only the innocent demons and then swam through the air toward Atlas again.
And after that, crimson flames blazed, targeting 'positions that were convenient for Atlas to dodge to.'
It was Asmodeus's Authority.
Asmodeus tightened his grip on Atlas's life, employing the Authority of Ignition—making hellfire blaze at any desired location.
He used Shukuchi to continuously flee to completely unpredictable locations, enduring by stepping on air, but the space was limited.
He couldn't last long like this.
Demons that appear in the human world are not beings of that world, so injuring them with objects from that world was difficult.
Even if they died, they simply returned to their own hell.
But in hell, demons could be killed.
The problem was that once they reached the level of a Great Demon, they could exert near-infinite power in their own hell, turning the battle into an endless war of attrition.
Atlas could smash through Asmodeus's barrier and strike his main body.
However, due to various factors, the power was reduced and couldn't deal a fatal wound.
The attacks of various creatures Asmodeus extended from his own colony were also fatal to Atlas.
But Atlas hadn't allowed a single attack to land.
A delicate balance existed between the two.
[[[Your baggage looks heavy. If that was the case, you should have just accepted my offer in the first place!!]]]
"It's as light as a feather, so mind your own business!"
Amidst the bloody struggle between the Master and the Great Demon, Amy had become Atlas's baggage.
Amy wasn't some pushover weakling.
She had faced countless real battles against demons at a young age, possessed rich experience, and was already a talent on the verge of reaching Upper-Class Expert.
But recently, every opponent she met had been one of the handful of the strongest.
Atlas was frantically running around with one arm wrapped around Amy's waist.
The fact that his attacks couldn't deal proper damage to Asmodeus was also due to this situation.
Holding a person larger than his own body with one arm greatly reduced the precision and destructive power of his attacks.
However, he had absolutely no intention of putting Amy down.
That was because an endless horde of demons commanded by Asmodeus flooded the ground, and he didn't think for a second that Amy could face those demons while simultaneously dodging Asmodeus's attacks.
Carrying Amy and dodging wasn't difficult.
Because the Law Atlas possessed allowed him to travel a thousand ri in a single step if he truly focused on evasion.
Since he was trapped in the Scorching Hell ruled by Asmodeus, he couldn't escape this place with Shukuchi, but evasive maneuvers so unpredictable that Asmodeus couldn't keep up were entirely possible.
And Amy, who was being treated like baggage, wasn't just being carried around helplessly.
Like an auto-turret, she was firing her pistol wildly, preventing other demons from becoming a nuisance.
-Looking at it again, it's a huge mess. Requesting a situation report.
'I fell into Asmodeus's trap, and when I escaped, I ended up delivered right in front of Asmodeus..!!'
The Companion's voice, which had been completely silent when she was trapped in the Small World, began to be heard by Amy again once they arrived in hell.
Amy had thought the Companion had passed on or something when they went to the Small World, but apparently not.
-Oh dear... That mansion had something like that...? I'll answer everything within my knowledge, but I didn't know about that one either.
The Companion, whom she thought had caused a big problem, was the same as she had been before her voice went silent.
She shamelessly disappeared and reappeared, then began offering advice about the situation they were in.
'What's past is past... Right now, finding a way to overcome this situation is more important!'
-Right. The choice to fight Asmodeus is correct. That bastard is nasty even among Great Demons. If you've drawn his interest, he'll keep tormenting you, so it's better to fight... or just not run into him in the first place.
'Does he have a weakness?'
The Companion pondered for a moment before speaking.
-There is one.
A giant bird's beak grazed right past Amy's nose.
Atlas had noticed and pulled his body back; otherwise, her neck would have been torn off.
-Unlike Beelzebub, who uses his Authority to become the colony itself, that bastard hides his main body inside the colony. If you can find it, you have a chance of winning.
'The main body? What does it look like..?'
-The only thing with horns growing like a demon is that one. You'll know right away when you see it, thinking 'this is the main body.'
"Atlas..! He said the main body is hidden inside that thing! We can finish this if we kill it!"
——————————————
It was somewhat difficult.
Except for a single sword, I had no equipment, so I was wasting a lot of energy.
Damn, I should have brought a Sacred Orb.
If I had a Sacred Orb, I could have started by exterminating the demons buzzing around like flies.
'Who would have thought I'd end up fighting a Great Demon when I just came out to look at houses!'
My attacks could damage Asmodeus, but Asmodeus's attacks could also deal major damage to me.
The various creatures rapidly extending from his body possessed immense mass, so regardless of type, if I allowed an attack to land, it would be fatal.
Besides the direct attacks, the extended creatures also carried out additional secondary attacks according to their individual characteristics, which was incredibly annoying.
The insect-like marine creatures didn't just stop after extending; they scattered byproducts everywhere as additional attacks, and on top of that, Asmodeus's Authority, which manifested sporadically, kept me on edge.
Asmodeus's Authority was the 'Authority to make hellfire blaze,' as his droning about burning love suggested.
Yes, he possessed the ignition ability to set any desired point ablaze.
For now, I was continuously dodging with Shukuchi, but the moment my feet stopped, my entire body would burst into flames like the Flame Sea burning beyond the horizon.
No matter how much of a Master I was, if my body caught fire from an Authority, my feet stopped, and I was crushed by that mass, survival would be difficult.
The terrible heat, the demons swarming from all sides, each and every attack from the Great Demon was nerve-wracking, yet even so, boundless vitality coursed through my body.
The small beat of life pounding in my arms—the existence of something I had to protect—constantly drove me forward.
I was carrying Amy like baggage, but she wasn't really baggage.
Rather than baggage, should I call her a super-high-performance automatic demon interception turret?
Amy's upper body stuck out behind my back, gifting silver bullets right between the eyes of demons targeting my rear.
"Atlas...!! Unlike Beelzebub, Asmodeus has a 'main body' inside that thing! We have to strike that!!"
"Main body?"
Surprised to hear there was a weakness, I turned my head down, but I couldn't see Amy's face.
I realized my posture was odd.
Since she was behind my back, unless I changed the way I was carrying her, I'd only barely see her face by twisting my neck at a weird angle.
It wasn't her face, but instead, I saw her round, appealing buttocks, as tempting as apples.
Every time she twisted her posture to shoot at demons approaching from behind, she wriggled slightly to keep balance, and it looked incredibly elastic.
After watching that scene blankly, as if possessed, I bit down on Squete's hilt with my mouth and raised my empty palm.
-Jjak!
"Kyaat??"
Since she was wearing only a thin skirt instead of her usual thick pants, the sound was remarkably clear.
And the springy sensation on my palm was nice too.
Seized by an urge to hit it a few more times, I felt a dull pain on my back.
"What... what are you doing??"
"Haha, that was great information!"
The flustered Amy tapped my back with the grip of her pistol, but I just laughed.
Her face was probably bright red.
"Ugh... really, I won't let you off when we get back!!"
"Right! Right, but first let's get over this hurdle."
After laughing out loud once, my head, which had been burning hot until just a moment ago, cleared up in an instant.
Squete held in my hand began to glow white-hot again, and once more, pure white trajectories annihilated the demons filling the earth and sky.
'It said there's a main body, right..?'
Actually, my knowledge stopped at the line of 'Demon Archbishop.'
In the novel, they never really fought Great Demons head-on; I just watched them get one-sidedly beaten before being dragged into this world, and even with the materials remaining here, information on Great Demons was extremely scarce.
I was a bit curious how Amy knew this, but since she was a demon specialist hunter walking a different path from me, I just guessed she had another informant or something.
Her words were trustworthy, and there was no other method anyway besides trying that.
The so-called main body would clearly have a presence different from the other tangled creatures.
I heard it was the only one with demon-like horns.
First of all, looking outside... I couldn't see such a thing.
I wanted to just blow that whole demon away, but it wasn't easy because of that damnable Authority.
The moment I stopped, the endlessly swarming demons and the Authority of Ignition would turn me into nothing but a lump of charcoal.
"Hoooh...!!"
The one saving grace was the fact that I could breathe fine.
The air of the Scorching Hell was hot, but the power contained within it surpassed what was originally present.
It wasn't even filled with Demonic Energy.
Though it was a bit peculiar, it had a type of power that could be sufficiently circulated within the body and converted into Aura.
"5... no, about 10 seconds... I guess..."
It seemed I'd have to push myself a bit.
Firing off little potshots while running away like this wouldn't deal major damage to Asmodeus.
The hellfire Asmodeus manifested was gradually filling up, limiting the places I could move to, so I didn't know how long I could keep dodging like this either.
If his main body was hidden somewhere inside him, just blowing away the entire body would do the trick.
An attack powerful enough to smash through his constantly maintained barrier and obliterate all of that massive mass...
It was possible if I used Titan's Secret Sword Technique, but preparing the technique took time, so I had to buy at least 10 seconds.
I calculated quickly.
Assuming Amy dealt with the demons, how long could I withstand Asmodeus's Authority?
I estimated that if I could hold out for a maximum of about 10 seconds, I could finish off Asmodeus.
"Amy, can you help me out for about 10 seconds?"
"...I'll try."