Ch.1195One Can Simply Have Another Child.

“…More pests have appeared.”

The mass of wings suddenly spoke and began to move. Looking up at it, Hubrisia clicked her tongue in disbelief and muttered.

“To think ‘that thing’ would show a reaction. What admirable misfortune. Have you been cursed by the gods a dozen times over?”

Her sneering mockery came with a hollow laugh. Unlike the ignorant orc, her tone suggested she knew exactly what that winged mass was.

“What exactly is that thing?”

Instead of keeping it to yourself, how about sharing that knowledge with me?

While dodging the relentless slashes from Caljarat who was attacking mindlessly even in this situation, I casually asked her about the creature’s identity.

“Indeed, as ignorant as you look. You don’t even know that?”

Hubrisia looked at me as if I were some monkey, snorting derisively.

“……”

What’s wrong with my face? Says the one who looks like she belongs in some cheap C-grade horror movie with bad CGI.

“That was originally a heavenly messenger. A divine herald and tool sent to the mortal world… what you would call an angel.”

“That’s an angel…? That monstrosity that looks like a bunch of rotten grapes stitched together?”

The angels I know are pretty people with wings attached, like some pigeon-human hybrid. Not that disgusting mass of eyeballs.

“Strictly speaking, it ‘was’ an angel. Its essence has already become something else.”

“Something else?”

“Whether it lost its god or committed sins and was abandoned… the cause is unknown, but it is now merely a fallen abomination wandering without a path back.”

Way to make a simple explanation unnecessarily verbose. In short, it’s a Fallen Angel. And even she doesn’t know why it fell.

“So Fallen Angels look like that?”

“Their form depends on how the gods shaped them. Did you arrogantly assume angels would naturally resemble you humans? Such human arrogance.”

“I didn’t say that.”

How did she know?

I did think angels should normally be winged beauties, but I only thought it—I didn’t say it out loud.

“Ha, your thoughts are obvious even without hearing them.”

Oh, is that so?

It was an irritating response, but since she had actually read me correctly, I had no rebuttal.

【 Interference factor■ calculated. 】

…Not that I had time for a rebuttal anyway.

【 Original■ elimination, ■mediate. 】

The Fallen Angel expanded its fiery halo widely, revealing explicit and brutal hostility that contrasted with its mechanical voice.

Then, after strange bell sounds rang through the air a couple of times, the characters floating around it all transformed into orbs of light of various sizes.

…That definitely looks like it’s about to shoot something.

As I swallowed dryly and took a defensive stance at this ominously familiar sight…

【 Tristis gladium. 】

With a suddenly clear voice, a downpour of red light beams covered the entire area.

—-

The red beams shot by the Fallen Angel carried the destructive power to decompose and erase any material they touched.

In principle, it wasn’t much different from the power of my rune of destruction. Its power was even somewhat inferior.

It felt roughly equivalent to the breath of a young dragon that had just reached maturity. Dangerous if hit directly, but manageable if blocked.

– RUMBLE—!

…The problem was that it wasn’t just a single beam, but 72 shots per second raining down madly.

“This is insane…!”

It took barely 3 seconds for the ground to be completely devastated.

“…How unfortunate. It seems there’s no distinction between friend and foe.”

“To interfere now…!”

Since the light beams were indiscriminately pouring down across the entire area, not just me but also the spider woman and the orc had to hurriedly dodge.

I could take one or two hits, but if that slowed me down, I’d quickly be riddled with holes all over my body, ending up like a deep-sea sponge.

“Lord Haschal!”

“What on earth is that…?!”

“A Fallen Angel? There’s such a thing…? This is truly insane.”

Meanwhile, my companions and the allied forces belatedly joined the battle, adding to the chaos on the battlefield.

“Sorcerer unit! Can you extend the defensive spell to that area?”

“Is that possible?”

“If so, target those lights. Intercept them from the side to neutralize them!”

The Nagas, including Hiyalbajer, protected the fortress with sorcery and intercepted the light beams shot by the Fallen Angel rather than targeting its body.

– WHOOSH!

A dark blue mist rose from the fortress walls and quickly covered the entire structure.

The light beams that touched the mist scattered, grew dim, and eventually disappeared.

Had they been concentrated in one spot, the defense would have been instantly shattered, but only a couple of beams were heading toward the fortress.

That’s why they could easily block them with the hastily deployed defensive sorcery.

“Now! Attack!”

After blocking the light, the Naga sorcerers shot shadow hands and lightning snakes to intercept the beams targeting me.

– CRACKLE!

The shadow hands grasped the light beams and distorted them, while the lightning snakes exploded above my head, scattering concentrated lightning in all directions.

Honestly, it wasn’t much help, but I appreciated the effort nonetheless. Not much help, but still.

Meanwhile, the rock monkeys led by Turangkai didn’t even consider defense.

They must have been certain that they couldn’t block such attacks with their abilities.

“Light! Light! Wings! Spider! Crisis! Crisis!”

“Too many! Too big! Our world is doomed!”

Or perhaps, being slightly less intelligent than the Nagas, they were simply overwhelmed by the sight before them and couldn’t think of any countermeasures.

“Don’t panic! Why fear something that isn’t even targeting us!”

Fortunately, at least Turangkai kept his wits about him.

“Focus on the ground first. While those spiders can’t approach, wipe out as many as possible!”

Turangkai on the fortress wall harshly scolded the half-panicked monkeys and pointed at the Arachne horde with his enchanted hammer.

“SCREECH–!”

“Our Queen…!”

“We can’t approach like this….”

The hundreds of thousands of spider monsters that had been advancing toward the fortress were now hesitating, blocked by the barrage of matter-decomposing light beams firing at 72 shots per second.

Even if they tried to dig tunnels to approach, the light beams were practically plowing through the earth, making those tunnels their graves.

“Turangkai said so! Follow him!”

“Even thrown rocks get blocked!”

Although the rock monkeys’ projectiles were also being pulverized by the light beams, they were still in a much better position than the Arachnes.

While the spiders would have to sacrifice thousands to break through the storm center, the rock monkeys only needed to throw stones from a distance.

“They keep breaking! What do we do?”

“Just keep throwing! If we throw enough, some will get through!”

Since it was only their thrown rocks being shattered by the Fallen Angel’s light, not their bodies, they just needed to keep throwing until something got through.

– CRASH!

If they threw enough, some would eventually be lucky enough to fall into enemy territory.

“SCREECH…!”

“My legs, my legs…!”

The rocks that made it through crashed down on the lined-up Arachnes like a meteor shower, crushing them.

– CRUNCH!

Carapaces and flesh were crushed and torn away, and blood mixed with bone fragments sprayed like snowflakes.

Human-like heads burst like watermelons, spider bodies were flattened, and legs that protruded from between rocks trembled before going limp.

Their large numbers, which had caused them to cluster together, had become a disadvantage.

Every time broken rocks penetrated the light beams and hit the enemy lines directly, holes were punched in their formation, forcing dozens of spiders to hold joint funerals.

“Scatter! Scatter!”

“HISS! Where to?!”

Even when they belatedly tried to disperse, the chaos everywhere left little space to scatter.

A small but definite crack began to form in the morale of the Arachnes, who had firmly believed in their overwhelming numerical advantage.

“…No choice, then.”

It was around this time.

Hubrisia, who had been busily moving her eight legs to avoid the light beams or twisting space to deflect them toward me, turned around with an extremely displeased expression and shouted:

“What are you doing?! Not only do you stop in fear, but now you try to flee in panic! Do you dare bring shame upon me?”

A cold and sharp cry like the north wind and snow.

At this rebuke suggesting she was embarrassed by their behavior, the retreating Arachnes froze in place.

“Y-Your Majesty…!”

“Advance! Fill this plain and move forward, cover their fortress and bring it down!”

A resolute order to advance.

It was a declaration full of determination to destroy us, even if it meant pushing hundreds of thousands of troops into the hell before them.

“What reason is there to fear, when I personally will collect your souls and grant you new life!”

And the words that followed that declaration were encouragement that she would resurrect them even if they died.

It was hard for me to believe.

“…Collect souls and resurrect them? That’s impossible for a mere demigod.”

Collecting the souls of the dead and perfectly resurrecting them is a miracle that even celestial gods would not easily attempt.

Unless it was a twisted form of resurrection like necromancy or reincarnation as an entirely new being, ‘complete resurrection’ should be impossible with a demigod’s power.

“Yes, it is impossible.”

As expected. Hubrisia calmly affirmed my challenge as if it were obvious.

She lowered her voice significantly so the Arachne horde wouldn’t hear, apparently not feeling entirely righteous about it herself.

“Then what is this? Since there are over a hundred thousand, you don’t care if ten thousand die miserable deaths?”

“Wrong. How could dying for me be a miserable death? It would be more accurate to call it a glorious and proud sacrifice.”

This spider seemed to have a talent for packaging nonsense in plausible wrapping. But it was still nonsense.

“You’re ruthless. You said they’re all your children.”

The very premise of her declaration of war against me must have been avenging her children, so how could she do this?

Watching her calmly order sacrifices several times the number I had killed made me doubt whether that premise was sincere at all.

What, are you planning to blame all those sacrifices on us too?

“What’s the problem? Children can always be born again.”

“You crazy bitch.”

The familiar-sounding statement made me curse instinctively.

—-

Hubrisia, who deployed human wave tactics amounting to suicide charges with her own children and couldn’t even understand what was wrong with that.

Since our fundamental ways of thinking were so different that further discussion seemed pointless, I just kept quiet, focusing on protecting myself while waiting for an opportunity to counterattack.

…It took quite a while.