149. Asmodeus
149. Asmodeus
"Amy, can you buy me about ten seconds?"
"I'll manage somehow."
At my request, Amy planted her feet and began slaughtering the swarming demons.
Since most of the demons attacked from the ground, and I'd done most of my dodging in the air, the hellfire hadn't spread much across the earth.
I set both feet on the crimson ground and took a deep breath.
From the earth I stood upon, from the very air I breathed, I began greedily devouring the hellish earth veins, making them mine.
A scorching heat spread throughout my entire body.
"Ghk...!!"
Circulating the essences swirling inside me was hot as well, but this heat wasn't coming from my dantian—it was heat against my skin.
My body had begun to burn.
[[[So you've finally stopped moving!!]]]
Halting my Shukuchi, standing still, and gripping my sword had made me a target for Asmodeus's Authority.
I'd been prepared for this much from the very beginning.
"Atlas!! Your body's on fire!!"
"Stay back!!"
[[[How about it—accept my terms now and I can end this right here!]]]
I stopped Amy, who had been about to tear off her anti-demon coat and throw it over me after seeing my body catch fire.
If she came near me for no reason and the flames spread to her, that would be a problem, and she had the job of keeping the demons from closing in on our perimeter.
My body burning was one thing, but the demons harassing us from all sides were the bigger problem.
I endured the flames blazing across my entire body as best I could.
If I used my power to try to block the fire, I would defeat the whole purpose.
My mental focus nearly shattered from the pain I felt through my skin, but I gritted my teeth and held on.
So this was hellfire... I wouldn't be able to withstand it much longer.
I had to end this with this attack.
[[[No answer, I see. Then negotiations have broken down. At the very least, I'll leave your original form intact, stuff you, and remember you for a thousand, ten thousand years!]]]
Thick octopus legs extended from Asmodeus's body, reaching toward me.
The technique wasn't complete yet, but his attack was faster than usual.
If I could just concentrate for three more seconds, all my preparations would be finished.
Avoiding it would only shatter my focus and leave me unable to do anything anyway, so I decided whatever would be, would be, and poured every ounce of my mental focus into my sword without even attempting to dodge.
Praying that my preparations would finish before Asmodeus's octopus legs—each as thick as a house—reached my body, I gripped Squete even tighter with hands that were burning bright red.
Amy swung her Aura Blade, trying to deflect the trajectory of the octopus legs, but she was sent flying.
She flew back worryingly far, but I saw her somehow getting back up.
One second remained. The octopus legs were vividly visible right before my eyes.
Was I too late?
If I had just one single second more, it would all be over—was this the end?
"Kuwoooooooor!!!"
At that moment, someone who had cut through the horde of demons appeared and let out a fierce roar.
Simultaneously, five crescents of Sword Aura sliced through the crimson earth, shattered the barriers, and hacked the octopus legs Asmodeus had extended into pieces.
'This is my chance..!!'
Without even turning to see where the Sword Aura had come from, I immediately raised my sword.
Squete greedily sucked in everything around it, as if it had become a massive wind vent.
Things with tangible form, like specks of dust, crumbled away the moment they touched the aura flickering upon the blade, and even the hellfire that had filled the area through Asmodeus's Authority was sucked in.
I didn't care who had just unleashed that slash.
I couldn't miss this opportunity.
The wind vent ceased.
Around the pure white Aura Blade, which had gorged itself on hellfire, the very hellfire it had devoured now blazed alongside it.
"Take this..!!"
When I swung down with all my might, a cluster of light brimming with heat surged forward with the momentum of a typhoon.
It scraped away the crimson earth, pierced through the blazing flames, and swallowed the gigantic Asmodeus whole.
The barriers protecting his body were the first to come crashing down.
The currents of Sword Aura, raging with almost brutish ferocity, shredded away Asmodeus's flesh like a grinder.
Rather than strike through that colossal mass to find the main body, I had chosen to sweep it all away in a single blow.
[[[Uu... Aaaaaargh!!!! What is this..!!!!]]]
Asmodeus let out a scream.
His body, which had been as massive as a mountain, was being whittled away by a single sword strike from a tiny, insignificant human.
The creatures that had been intertwined and stuck together like puzzle pieces began falling away one by one, and the points where their flesh had been connected were ground to dust.
The Sword of Taesan, Yeonraksanjeok—it was the widest-ranging technique among Titan's secret swordsmanship. Like the Blade Mountains formed by countless stacked peaks, it was a technique that contained innumerable Sword Auras within a single massive Sword Aura and fired them like a raging typhoon.
By the time the severed chunks of flesh had formed a small hill, the storm of Sword Aura, which had seemed as if it would last forever, finally lost its momentum and dissipated.
Asmodeus was not dead.
He had withstood a killing blow.
Whether it was because my power was insufficient, or because I failed to locate his main body... for whatever reason, the Sword Aura had only managed to obliterate about half of Asmodeus's body.
Through the gaps in the tattered flesh of the colony, the form of a demon with large horns was revealed.
That was Asmodeus's main body.
Half of the massive colony had been torn away and vanished, but because the main body remained, he could recover in an instant.
Perhaps thinking he was truly in danger, Asmodeus shouted as if elated.
[Heu... I'll remember this for ten thousand years. You came up just a little short, huh!!]
Asmodeus, who had been reveling in his perceived victory, gradually grew quiet.
He looked as if he had seen something impossible to believe.
[Huh...?]
What startled him was probably the sight of me, once again preparing an attack with the same power as the one just moments before.
Immediately after the first attack ended, a second Yeonraksanjeok descended upon Asmodeus in succession.
[You said it takes ten seconds... to prepare a single attack, so how..??]
I never said a single attack took ten seconds.
I said preparing the attack that would finish him off would take about ten seconds.
Whether it was the first attack or the second, preparations were complete in five seconds.
From the very beginning, I had intended to fire twice, which was why I had asked for about ten seconds.
Asmodeus, whose main body had been exposed, had no time to recover and could not withstand the second slash that flew at him immediately after.
[[[Aaaaaaaargh!!!!]]]
Asmodeus's body disintegrated.
And the slash also reached the main body of Asmodeus—the demon with large horns that had been buried within.
[To think I would... die in a place like this!!!]
Screaming a wretched death cry, Asmodeus's body was swept away by the cluster of light and transformed into minced chunks of meat.
"Haah... haah...."
The hellfire that had been clinging to my body was completely extinguished.
The Authority Asmodeus had been using was dispelled.
The aftermath of the Yeonraksanjeok I had unleashed had turned the surroundings into scorched earth.
It left deep scars upon the blood-red earth, and countless demons that had tormented the souls all the way to the Sea of Sulfur Fire were annihilated.
Because my entire body was burned, even taking a single step was agonizing, but I somehow forced myself forward.
Even so, I had to confirm Asmodeus's death with my own eyes.
Although the disappearance of his Authority could be taken as a sign that Asmodeus had perished, it wasn't certain.
[Hieeek??!]
"As expected... you survived...!!"
[How is that crazy bastard still alive!! His whole body was roasted to a crisp!!]
"You're one to talk!! Your entire lower half was blown away, so how the hell are you alive..!!!!"
We were both pointing fingers at each other, and we were both wrecks.
My body was a mess, having been set ablaze by hellfire.
The fragile human body, seared by hellfire that burns even the soul, had sustained severe burns and was agonizing even when I stayed still.
It was an injury that would have already killed a normal person, but I was alive and moving.
Asmodeus's main body was also far from normal.
Having been struck by the slashes multiple times, all his limbs had been severed, one horn had been blown off, and everything below his upper body had disappeared.
He was in a state where only his head and a bit of his upper body remained, but he too was alive and moving.
"Stay right there...! I'll finish you off...!!!"
[D-don't come any closer..!!!]
With the entire colony annihilated, Asmodeus's voice no longer sounded in multiple layers.
All the creatures that had been protecting him were gone, and Asmodeus, left all alone, was gripped by terror.
As I staggered forward, clutching Squete and nearly crawling, Asmodeus screamed and fled.
"Amy, we have to catch that thing!!"
"Yes!"
Despite having only his upper body left, Asmodeus floated into the air and fled with incredible speed.
If my body were in normal condition, I could have caught him with a single use of Shukuchi, but it wasn't working properly right now.
When I asked the stumbling Amy, who had been hit by the octopus legs, she immediately turned around and fired silver bullets at Asmodeus.
-Tangtangtang!!
[Hieeek?! Protect me..!!]
The bullets Amy fired did not hit Asmodeus's body.
The demons that had been swarming nearby changed their target and clustered around Asmodeus this time, so the bullets couldn't reach him.
[Heu... you gave me a scare for ten thousand years.... To think I'd be done in by a mere Master...]
Amy even drew her mithril greatsword and swung it, but the attack couldn't reach the main body of Asmodeus, which had already begun forming a new colony.
She had even used the Flame of Saint Macinto, but it wasn't enough.
"Haah... haah..."
At this rate, we would be attacked again by Asmodeus once he recovered his strength.
The recovery speed of a Great Demon in this hell was far faster than the rate at which I could heal my body using the essences within me, so I was at an overwhelming disadvantage.
Even moving a single step was hard, but I somehow gripped my sword and rose, trying to ignite my aura once more.
"You look like you're struggling... let me lend a hand."
At that moment, someone passed in front of me.
Judging by the voice, it was the unidentified figure who had fired the five slashes earlier.
From beneath his tattered robe, he pulled out his thick forearm, revealing sharp claws.
Those claws, which looked sharper than any famous sword, were all glowing a dazzling, pure white heat.
"...A Master?"
"Hup!!"
When he swung his arm powerfully, five Sword Auras generated from his five claws obliterated the demon colony in a single blow.
The demon colony, which had not yet recovered and possessed no barriers or the like, was destroyed without offering any resistance.
His Sword Aura... no, should I call it Claw Aura?
And amidst the falling fragments of demons, the small form of Asmodeus was nowhere to be seen.
"Damn, he got away...."
It seemed he had escaped while they were clustered together.
"Uh... how... Atlas, are you okay...?"
"I'm fine. I can hold out."
Amy looked at my battered state and was on the verge of tears, so I told her it was nothing.
Though it didn't seem to console her at all.
Obviously, I was anything but fine.
I had only been exposed to the Great Demon's Authority for about ten seconds, but it was hard to find a single intact spot on my body.
I staggered over and picked up an object that had fallen among the crushed chunks of flesh.
It was one of Asmodeus's horns, severed by my Sword Aura.
"I could only see demons, so I never imagined there'd be people here."
The man in tatters who had helped us approached.
I felt his gaze from high above.
He seemed to easily exceed two meters in height.
I had already figured out who he was from his attack earlier, so I decided to address him amicably.
"Haah... thank you for your help."
"To pick a fight with something like that... you've got quite the nerve."
I knew who he was, but he probably didn't know who I was.
We had encountered each other once, but at that time, I had been wearing Squete's perception-inhibiting armor, so he wouldn't remember me.
The giant of a man enthusiastically flipped back the hood of the tattered robe that had been wrapped around his body.
With bluish scales covering his bulging, ready-to-burst muscles, and small horns sprouting from his head, he looked like a dragon in human form.
"...Do you two, by any chance, know where this place is?"
He was none other than 'Hulan,' the famous wandering Master and Dragon Beastman.