Ch.1194Words Become Seeds.

Flames and ruin runes. Spatial severance.

And the most dangerous ability, time stop.

The spider woman and the orc who had roughly figured out my main skills began to attack in a completely different way than before.

“Time stop… truly an impressive power. However, such a mighty ability must have clear limitations. You cannot use it recklessly!”

“Well, if you’re curious, why don’t you come closer and find out!”

“Either the duration is extremely short, or it consumes enormous energy to activate and maintain. Or perhaps both, isn’t that right?”

“So you’re just going to poke at me from a distance? How disgustingly cowardly!”

After that, Caljarat persistently maintained his distance, swinging his great swords from a range I couldn’t reach in a single bound.

– SWOOOOOSH!

Each time the two great swords cut through the air, the atmosphere across an area hundreds of times larger than their trajectory was torn apart with a death wail.

Unlike my vacuum blade or severance slash that fired the slash itself, his attack style was like wielding an invisible blade hundreds of meters long.

Because of this, his slashes became slower and weaker the further they traveled, but unlike my single-shot long-range slashes, his were surprisingly fast, powerful, and continued endlessly.

Joshua’s Tale of Heros, the Giant Hunter’s Sword probably felt something like that.

That was an actual sword growing gigantic, while this was a normal sword with an invisible force layered over it—that was the difference.

And that made it more dangerous. Since it was merely a mass of invisible force, I couldn’t defend against it just by raising Durandal against its trajectory.

Like how a waterfall that wouldn’t wet a single piece of clothing if you had an umbrella could never be blocked by a sword.

Of course, there were ways to block it.

“Hagalaz!”

– CRAAAAAACK!

In theory, if I spread the power of ruin like a shield over an area larger than my body, his slashes would flow past me without making contact.

– WHOOOOSH!

…That would work if he only had one great sword.

But he had four weapons. Only two were being swung ‘in this manner,’ but that was enough to threaten me.

Since the ruin rune could only negate attacks from the direction where I extended my left arm, it was impossible to block blades swinging from both sides simultaneously.

I tried using the flame rune instead, but it didn’t work. The blade extending through the flames nearly sliced my waist in half.

“What an annoying trick…!”

So I had to abandon defense and close the distance by dodging every slash with acrobatic flight maneuvers like a drunken dragonfly.

“You dodge well. Truly impressive!”

Of course, that wasn’t easy either.

“But how long can you keep it up!”

After the first time stop, Caljarat had one left arm and three right arms remaining.

So, while two great swords were slashing through the air, what were the other two arms doing?

“KRAAAAH!”

The answer was right before my eyes.

– CRAAAAAASH!

A wave of shredded and shattered earth and rock crashed down on me.

“Oh come on, seriously!”

Fast and fierce like flames sweeping across a plain, a tsunami of earth and stone filled my entire field of vision.

That rock wave was incomparably faster than shotgun pellets, and each fragment glowed with energy, making it quite powerful.

– CRUNCH!

“Kuk…!”

Thanks to my armor and divine protection, I wasn’t torn apart or penetrated, but I couldn’t avoid being stiffened or pushed back by the impact.

– SWOOOOOSH!

When I stopped like that, invisible blades immediately rushed in, leaving me no choice but to click my tongue and increase the distance again.

“Hahaha! Come, try stopping time again! Not that you’d have anywhere to escape to anyway!”

– RUMBLE!

A second wave of rocks arrived with a time delay. The area covered my entire field of vision, so even with Defying Fate, I had nowhere to dodge except backward.

Even if I stopped time and charged forward while smashing the rocks in front of me, the next wave would be right in my face the moment Defying Fate ended.

‘Hah, he’s actually using his brain. How annoying.’

A wild maelstrom of destruction tearing and crushing everything in all directions. It was an irritatingly cowardly but undeniably effective method.

“Where are you looking? I am your death!”

“Bullshit, without him you’d have been dead long ago!”

If Caljarat were my only enemy, I could finish him with Sky Slash, but I couldn’t do that because of the spider woman who rushed at me whenever I showed an opening.

“Hah, your mouth can say anything.”

“If you don’t believe me, just wait there quietly! I’ll deal with you one-on-one after I kill this bastard!”

“Why should I do that? If you have complaints, take them up with that barbaric orc.”

Hubrisia, Queen of Arachnes.

This annoying spider woman was clearly weaker than me, but the gap wasn’t so large that she couldn’t exploit openings after my Sky Slash or time stop.

The power contained in her attacks was also threatening enough that I couldn’t escape unscathed if hit directly.

Ominous light spider webs that erased everything they touched, persistently narrowing the space I could dodge in.

– RUMBLE!

Every time her slender arms swung, thick lightning lashed through the air like whips, and below her feet, terrible poison surged like waves, making it difficult to approach.

But keeping my distance wasn’t any easier.

Simple vacuum slashes exploded before reaching her, intercepted by lightning whips, and even flame streams were neutralized and scattered by light spider webs and poison.

“Eat this and get lost!”

Even my severance slash was meaningless.

“Spatial severance. Certainly a rare and powerful ability, but…”

Spreading eight spider legs to pierce through space, then closing her claws like drawing curtains, Hubrisia twisted and gathered space itself.

The folded, pulled, and twisted space piled up to form an invisible barrier. Like layering dozens of spatial distortion fields in one place.

“When blocked by an ability of the same system, it’s just a contest between spear and shield.”

– CRAAAAAACK!

My severance slash, upon touching that barrier, shattered along with the layered spaces, eventually twisting, dispersing, and completely disappearing.

“Impassable Corridor. I’m afraid your blade will never reach me.”

Since a single spatial distortion field couldn’t block it and would break, she layered several to withstand it, twisting the force in all directions.

Unlike my severance slash that was finished once fired, she could attach new distortion fields even if one broke, so it was natural that I couldn’t penetrate it.

As the spider woman herself said, I had lost in a pure output battle.

I could probably break through if I cut directly with my sword, but with the orc rampaging on the other side seeking revenge for his severed arm, I had no such luxury.

This is why two-on-one fights are so frustrating.

I could defeat them easily in one-on-one fights, but when they attacked simultaneously while covering each other’s weaknesses, there was no opening to exploit.

If they were much weaker than me, I could have taken a hit to finish one of them off decisively, but they weren’t weak enough for me to afford taking hits.

If I took their attacks head-on, it wouldn’t be surprising if my head flew off in a single blow.

‘This is more troublesome than I expected…!’

Should I be grateful it’s not three-on-one?

Dealing with two demigods was already this difficult—if that winged mass above had joined in, I would have been forced into a completely defensive position.

“Phew…”

As I thought that and let out a slight sigh of relief.

【 ――Analysis ■mplete. ■■ Interference subject conf■med. 】

Above my head, a mechanical, emotionless voice resonated with a faint vibration.

“…Huh?”

Not just me, but even Caljarat and Hubrisia momentarily paused and glanced in the direction of the voice.

And we saw it.

【 ■sence extraction ■quired. Engagement ■suming. 】

The eye-covered winged mass that had kept its wings folded was now slowly spreading them wide, speaking incomprehensible words in a static-filled voice.

A halo shaped like flames blazed brilliantly as if doused in oil, and waves of divine power began to flow outward, shaking the air in concentric circles.

– RUMBLE…!

Along with an ominous vibration, strange magic circles filled with mysterious characters appeared around it, beginning to dot the ceiling like stars.

‘Why is it… moving?’

The sight was clearly alarming, and the energy emanating from it made me break into a cold sweat. I gulped.

There’s a limit to words becoming reality.

The moment I thought it would have been dangerous if that thing had attacked, it immediately began to move as if it had been waiting for that exact moment.

A trick of fate, or a malicious joke. I felt like I’d been thoroughly victimized by something like that.