Ch.102102. Guardian of the Desert (2)

The golden heat ray that the Sphinx shot from its two eyes contained the heat of the sun, capable of melting everything it touched.

Sand touched for barely 0.1 seconds melted into glass-like substance, with sticky molten sand splattering in all directions.

This attack from the Sphinx, which completely liquefied everything it touched, finally struck the rear of our desperately fleeing group……..

-WHOOOOSH……..!!

[Master, this is bad……]

“—Robo!”

Thanks to the unexpected valiant efforts of our animal companions, the attack fortunately failed to annihilate our party.

Robo released such powerful cold energy that it nearly destroyed himself, reducing the heat ray’s power, while Minerva’s defensive spell, cast at the cost of her life, activated.

Of course, despite these two animal friends’ life-risking efforts, we couldn’t completely eliminate the damage.

“Ah, aaaah…….”

“S-Sophia……!!!”

While I suffered relatively less damage being next to Robo who sacrificed himself to reduce the heat ray’s power, it was a different story for Sophia who received less protection from the cold energy.

No matter how much Minerva had put into her protective magic, how could it easily block an attack from a high-rank divine beast?

Though direct hits from the heat ray were blocked, Sophia collapsed to the ground with one arm bloodied from the resulting shockwave.

…To be honest, I felt an overwhelming urge to rush to her side immediately.

[Master, I’ll treat Sophia!]

“……..Got it!”

But now that Astra, who was still relatively unharmed, had declared she would take on that role, I had to somehow respond to the Sphinx that was showing obvious hostility from beyond…

“……..I’m sorry for the unreasonable request. Die for us.”

[I would do so gladly, my master.]

[Ugh…… It’s scary, but there’s no choice.]

[Leave it—leave it to me!]

After sending out the Squeak-squeaks, Gretel, and Mary… while ordering them to their deaths, I steeled my resolve and began to harmonize my soul with Corin’s soul that had returned to my inner self.

If it were magic released externally, it would be interfered with by the necromantic energy of the Death Desert, but this magic was completed entirely within my inner self.

Based on our accumulated bond, I drew magical power from the staff I held in my other hand without my wand.

Without hesitation, I pulled in power to transform the substance composing my body, creating ripples in my physique while recalling old memories.

—CRACKLE-CRACKLE-CRACKLE!!

Not ignoring the electricity naturally occurring in my body, I naturally modulated the power… and flew up into the sky, flapping my wings to attack the Sphinx that was flying toward us.

[Claws of beasts, talons of the thunder bird! Slash that enemy before me!]

The result of casting a single-target slashing magic with complete incantation—without my usual shortened incantation or omission.

Dozens, hundreds of claws formed in the air targeting the Sphinx, pouring down on the Sphinx’s body wrapped in lightning and flames.

Of course, if a divine beast could be defeated this easily, the Sphinx wouldn’t have been a high-rank divine beast in the first place.

Right after countless slashes poured down targeting the Sphinx, what I saw was the Sphinx having taken no effective hits whatsoever.

Not even a scratch appeared on its brown skin-leather, including its majestic face, and the flames or lightning included in the slashes were largely ineffective against the Sphinx with its powerful elemental resistance.

For the Sphinx, embodying mysteries like a small sun descended to earth, elemental attacks merely added as side effects to my attack weren’t even enough to make it itch.

And……. at almost the same moment.

—Clop, clop, clop, clopclopclopclopclop—!!!

Mary, who had already covered her skin with flames and purified her magical power, seized the opportunity during my slashing magic to launch a life-risking charge attack.

With strength enhanced by Astra’s buff magic cast after finishing Sophia’s emergency treatment, plus the flames wrapped around her entire body manipulated through the Nightmare’s unique flame energy control ability, her firepower was considerable.

Combined with the overwhelming physical abilities innate to Nightmares, this charge had enough destructive power to instantly neutralize even an intermediate knight handling aura.

But— unfortunately, the opponent was the high-rank divine beast Sphinx.

—KWAAAAAANG!!!

The Sphinx flew up slightly into the air and then landed, swinging its glowing red claws with perfect timing, which was enough to slice through the Nightmare’s body like tofu, cutting it into pieces.

The still low-rank Griffin lost its life, caught in the magical slash generated from this attack, and the aftermath of the attack reached me in the rear, forcing me to desperately avoid it.

And…. becoming a streak of lightning, I now launched a life-risking charge.

—CRACKLE-CRACKLE-CRACKLE—!!!

I could be certain. If nothing else, my current reflexes and speed were enough to contend with the Sphinx before me.

[■■■■■■■—!!!]

Indeed, I was able to avoid the fire storm generated by the Sphinx and the heat rays shot from its eyes more easily than expected.

Not only that, but also the attacks the beast made by throwing its body directly.

I could dodge its claw swipes or biting attempts at an earlier timing. The blade winds shot by flapping its wings were somewhat lethal, but even these became manageable enough to avoid with adaptation.

Of course, I could barely manage to avoid attacks at best.

In the current situation, it was impossible to even find an opportunity for counterattack, but……

—……..KUGUUUUUUUU!!!

Into that opening, the Squeak-squeaks that had been hiding and holding their breath rushed in.

Swarm-type monsters like the shadow rat swarm usually don’t show their true value against higher-ranked opponents, but the shadow rat swarm is one of the few entities that can be an exception to this rule.

Their teeth can penetrate the skin of any being.

Skin defense, pure durability, even magical protection. All defense enhancement abilities were meaningless before the shadow rat swarm.

So I was about to attack to create an opening, betting everything on the shadow rat swarm, the Squeak-squeaks’ valiant efforts—

—FWOOOOOOOSH!!!

But my expectations… completely evaporated the moment the Squeak-squeaks tried to cling to the Sphinx’s body, as the Sphinx’s body became engulfed in flames.

The flames that burst from the Sphinx’s body.

Focused more on release rather than control, they instantly burned and incinerated the Squeak-squeaks that were sinking their teeth into the Sphinx’s skin.

More than half of the entities collapsed into mere ashes. No, more than half…. to be precise, almost all of them did.

Of the approximately 13,000 Squeak-squeaks that had grown in number, over 10,000 were burned up. What remained here were barely a few hundred individuals.

The remaining thousand or so were positioned to protect Sophia and Astra over there.

“This……..!”

As I darkened my expression, trying to somehow devise a method… right at that moment.

—KWAAAAAANG!!!

The Sphinx showed behavior I hadn’t anticipated at all.

The desert sand had melted from the flames the Sphinx had emitted from its body and transformed into glass, and the Sphinx began to smash this melted and hardened glass floor with its body.

“Ugh……..!!”

Naturally, fragments of the shattered glass floor scattered in all directions, and in this process, the sharp glass fragments imbued with the Sphinx’s magical power mercilessly struck my body.

If I had been in my normal state, I could have easily blocked such crude shotgun attacks with the defensive power of my robe and protective magic.

But unfortunately, my current body, with my soul resonating with Corin’s… had become quite unstable in exchange for overwhelming reflexes and speed.

“Kuh, kuhk….!!”

Thus, hit by the wide-area shotgun attack with no way to avoid it, I coughed up blood and fell to the ground.

—KUUUNG!!

With the resonance broken by the external impact, I urgently used self-healing magic applying Hydra’s mystery within my body to rapidly improve my injuries.

The attack on my imperfect body resulted in a mixture of external and internal wounds, so if I didn’t treat the injuries quickly like this…. the result would probably be death.

Of course, the Sphinx doesn’t seem to have any intention of waiting for my recovery.

The Sphinx, a high-rank divine beast with a human face, was emitting killing intent, glaring at me as if to kill me, recognizing me as an intruder to the ruins.

It approached right in front of me as my injuries recovered somewhat instantly, heated one claw red-hot, and raised its foreleg with all its might.

And—

[—■■■■■■■■■■!!!]

—KWAAAAAANG!!

From the side of the Sphinx, an entity I hadn’t expected at all.

A high-rank fairy with gleaming eyes full of madness, wrapped in magical power, hurled itself toward the Sphinx with all its might.