Chapter 123 – The aristocratic assassin kills
Chapter 123 - The aristocratic assassin kills
Translator: VALIANT
We ripped off the subterranean dragon’s armor and dragged his real body out of it.
I had already discussed with Tarte and Dia about what to do next, and given instructions to them.
The information provided by the Sanctuary on the demons tended to become more detailed with each passing struggle from the heroes.
On that note, the description of the subterranean dragon’s giant body was very detailed, but as for the real body of the demon, all they knew was that he was defeated inside the former’s body.
In all likelihood, the demon himself wasn’t that strong.
Which is why we still went with our basic tactic.
Tarte would stall him, Dia would hit him with【Demonkiller】, and I would kill him.
When you want to catch someone by surprise, it’s best to remain in their blind spot, and this pit he dug was perfect for that.
[【Freeze】!] (Lugh)
I froze the surface of the water to create a foothold.
This was enough for me to fire a precision shot. And even from down here, I could aim at him.
With the super firepower of my Railgun, my shots could easily run through these earthen walls and reach my target.
I took the Railgun out from my Leather Crane Bag and used my probing wind magic to link my vision to the wind.
My role was to kill him by sniping him m, and if Tarte and Dia couldn’t deal with him, to go and back them up immediately.
~ Dia and Tarte’s perspective ~
Dia and Tarte both emerged from the trench.
When they threw the Fahr Stones, Dia was digging a trench just far enough away for Tarte’s wind to reach them.
She did not dig it randomly, it was calculated so that the blast and flying iron scraps would pass over their heads, and at the same time as they threw their projectiles, they dove into the trench and put up a strong barrier to cover it.
Otherwise, they would have died, which was why Lugh left it to Dia to ensure their own safety.
[Say, did we get it?] (Dia)
[Yes! We blew up that huge, creepy monster, and only that shiny white person regenerated.] (Tarte)
[Which means Lugh’s deduction was correct.] (Dia)
Tarte was also capable of using Lugh’s probing wind magic.
That was how she observed the situation while staying in the trench.
Although, in Tarte’s case, her proficiency in magic and computing ability were a few steps below Lugh’s, so the area of effect was narrowed down, and she tried to simplify it by reducing the number of information items to gather.
[…We’ll follow Lugh’s plan and stop him in his tracks.] (Dia)
[Yes!] (Tarte)
[And don’t forget, if it starts getting even a little bit dangerous, we run away.] (Dia)
[It will be alright. As I am now, I can keep my composure at all times.] (Tarte)
Tarte clutched her spear, Dia drew her handgun, and they both leapt out of the trench.
Tarte injected a drug into her own neck.
Though it only lasted a short time, it removed her brain’s limiter, enhancing her physical abilities and mana flow. It also improved her concentration.
The reason why she started with something that should be saved for the decisive moment of a battle was because of Lugh’s instructions.
Their opponent was a demon whose abilities were yet unknown. Using it sparingly would be tantamount to suicide. Lugh also instructed them to leave him behind and flee immediately if they could not settle it quickly.
Tarte put her strength into the hand in which she was holding her magic spear, and Dia pulled out her handgun from the holster on her thigh, and attached something to the barrel.
A closer look at it revealed that Dia’s gun was a new model.
It was one size larger, and by attaching an additional part to it, it became a bayonet. And the blade was inscribed with magic characters.
[Yup, looks good. I can perform better than usual with this.] (Dia)
This was meant to improve her aptitude in close quarters combat, but most of all, it was to turn this gun into a mage’s staff.
A staff’s function was to give directionality to the user’s spells, and to assist in the convergence of their mana. Magic could be used without a staff, but it was less powerful and less accurate as a result.
However, holding a staff would prevent her from using her handgun, which was necessary for close quarter defense. For this reason, Lugh devised a weapon that had the characteristics of both a staff and a gun.
The increased weight of the gun and the fact that its center of gravity was in the front part made it harder to handle, but the efficiency more than compensated for it.
[I’m going first.] (Tarte)
The Noppera-Bou demon that was inside the subterranean dragon was trying to flee the area. (Note : A /のっぺらぼう is a yokai that looks like a faceless human.)
He gave up on completing the Fruit of Life in favor of his own survival.
They could not let him escape.
There was no guarantee that this demon would not attempt to create another subterranean dragon. If that happened, another city would perish.
That was why Tarte rushed in first.
She had grown fox ears and a fluffy tail. By means of【Beastification】, her trump card. The color of her eyes reflected her aggressiveness as a predator.
As she ran, she finished chanting her【Windshield Armor】spell, which allowed her to be clad in wind armor, used for both protection and acceleration.
[My homework is paying off.] (Tarte)
In the past, Tarte had trouble chanting her spells while using【Beastification】because she could not suppress her animal instincts, but her daily training and the “homework” Lugh gave her had paid off, and she could now cast difficult spells.
[Danger danger danger! I’ll kill you!] (White demon / Noppera-Bou demon)
He had no eyes, no ears, and no nose, yet the Noppera-Bou demon turned his face to Tarte and extended his right hand.
He stretched his sharp fingers, the tips of which were hardened, at bullet speed. Tarte reacted to them with the sixth sense and super reflexes that animals possessed, which were unique to her beast form.
She accelerated and closed the distance as she forced herself to dodge his attacks by discharging wind.
As each of the fingers she dodged pierced the ground, each part of the soil he stabbed with his fingertips turned into a giant golem and attacked Tarte.
Perhaps this was part of his ability to create the subterranean dragon.
If Tarte had been stabbed herself, she might have been turned into his puppet.
[Too slow!] (Tarte)
Tarte ignored the golems chasing her and accelerated.
By unleashing all the wind she had left to propel herself, she gained super speed and left the golems in the dust.
[Too fast too fast too fast!] (Noppera-Bou demon)
The Noppera-Bou demon was now about to extend his left hand.
At such a short distance and such high speed, it would be impossible, even for Tarte in her beast form, to dodge the same attack as before. No matter how good her reflexes were and how agile she was, it was just physically impossible.
Therefore, Tarte chose not to dodge it.
[You’re mine!] (Tarte)
Tarte did not slow down at all until the very last moment, and as a result, she thrusted her spear into the Noppera-Bou demon before he could even lift his left arm. …If she had hesitated even for a moment, she probably wouldn not have reached him in time.
The Noppera-Bou demon was nailed to the ground with her spear.
To pin him down, Tarte thrusted her spear diagonally downward, and as soon as it penetrates his flesh, she let go, and it ran through him.
Tarte’s attack did not end there.
She turned around and chanted a lightning spell developed by Dia an Lugh.
The name of that spell was【Mighty Thunder】.
As the name implied, it created thunderclouds and sent down lightning bolts.
It was possible to deliver more powerful lightning strikes by using thunderclouds instead of directly generating electricity by consuming mana.
The only problem was that it took time for the lightning to strike, and due to the properties of lightning, the accuracy of that attack was low.
However, if the target’s movements were sealed due to being nailed down and the spear were used as a lightning rod, then it became a different story.
The golems eventually caught up to her and attempted to interrupt her chanting.
But at that moment, each one of them was carved with a bullet hole.
Given the golems’ massive size, a bullet would not even slow them down. That should have been the case, yet the mana contained in the bullets swelled up, and the golems’ joints collapsed and hardened, leaving them unable to move even a single inch.
[I’d appreciate it if you didn’t forget about me.] (Dia)
Dia briefly announced herself and began to chant a new spell.
Tarte gave her a thankful look and finally completed her own spell.
[【Mighty Thunder】!] (Tarte)
Thunderclouds appeared and lit up.
And then, lightning struck.
It fell as if it was being sucked into the spear.
A bolt of ultra high voltage and ultra high intensity swooped down on the Noppera-Bou demon, striking the spear that impaled his body and burning him from the inside out.
It had successfully paralyzed him.
At that moment, Dia completed her spell.
There was only one spell she could cast here.
[【Demonkiller】!] (Dia)
It was the only super spell in the world that could kill demons. Dia easily chanted the spell that was so complex that aside from Lugh and herself, no one had been able to invoke it.
A red mana ball compressed like a bullet was released form the tip of her bayonet, which acted as a staff.
When it hit the Noppera-Bou demon, a field deployed itself, and the demon’s red jeweled heart shone from his abdomen.
It was the demon’s core.
Unless they destroyed it, he would continue to regenerate — or rather, restore himself — indefinitely.
And vice versa, if their core were destroyed, then even the immortal demons could be killed.
[My heart… So pretty…] (Noppera-Bou demon)
The demon, whose skin was regenerating after being carbonized by lightning, muttered in an absentminded voice. He still had not lost his cool.
Unless it was materialized by the【Demonkiller】spell, only the Hero could destroy his heart, and once materialized, it was much harder than any metal on earth.
No ordinary amount of firepower could shatter it, and the effect of【Demonkiller】only lasted a few seconds.
It was because he knew all this that he could afford to be complacent.
However, there was one thing that demon did not know… It was that a phenomenal attack was coming at him.
The next moment, a super high-speed bullet, going at ten times the speed of sound, emerged from the ground and perforated his Crimson Heart. Then in the aftermath, after a slight delay, his body was torn to process and blown apart.
He would never regenerate again.
He probably could not even process the moment of his own death.
The excessive speed and destructive power of the Railgun brought about an anti-climactic conclusion.
Another demon had passed away.
[I am in awe at his sniping skills.] (Tarte)
[That was incredible, even though linking himself with the wind and using it to see should give a different sensation than seeing normally. Only Lugh could pull it off.] (Dia)
Tarte deactivated her【Beastification】skill, her fox ears and tail vanished, and Dia removed the bayonet blade from her gun and put it back in its holster.
Then the two girls high-fived.
[I’m so glad we won. …Though, of all the demons we have faced until now, this one was by far the weakest.] (Tarte)
[He probably dedicated most of his power to that giant creepy bug-like monster. Normally, that thing would’ve been invincible. I don’t think it would’ve been possible to kill something that big. And going underground to run away should be illegal too.] (Dia)
[I agree. It was absolutely clever of Lugh-sama to come up with a plan to kill that monster.] (Tarte)
Tarte proudly complimented Lugh.
[That’s not the only reason we won. You became so strong that you made that fight look so easy. You might even be a good match for the demons.] (Dia)
[…I’m sure it’s because Lugh-sama is by my side. I feel like I can keep going strong as long as I am with him. You have gotten stronger yourself, Dia-sama.] (Tarte)
Lugh would have surely loved to hear this.
Not too long ago, Tarte would have said something more humble. So this was a good change.
[Maybe so. Now, how about we go and meet up with Lugh?] (Dia)
[Yes! I can hardly wait for him to praise me!] (Tarte)
The two girls smiled and ran to the pit where the city had collapsed.
In order to meet up with the one they cherished, who had crawled up from that pit.
For them, the joy of being praised, caressed, and hugged by him was much greater than the joy of defeating the demon.