Ch.134Demian’s Battle

======[Demian]======

Demian struggled to his feet with Millia’s support.

His sense of balance was completely ruined, making it difficult to adjust.

He couldn’t even tell if his body was standing upright or tilting toward the floor.

“…! ……?! …curse…, this…!”

Millia was shouting urgently, but Demian could barely hear her.

He could only guess her meaning from the holy water she was offering.

‘A curse that damages hearing. That’s fortunate, at least.’

Though his body kept staggering, Demian’s mind remained calm as a lake.

Leaning on his greatsword, which he had stabbed into the ground, he calmly assessed his condition.

His equipment had sustained no major damage, and his body was fine except for his ears.

Once his sense of balance returned, he would be able to fight immediately.

Demian drank the holy water Millia had given him and looked toward the monster—the Cursed Mother.

The creature was rampaging, swinging a sword and an axe.

Whether it needed time to reuse the doll that had incapacitated Demian, or for some other reason, the monster was wielding only two arms.

Frider, gripping his saw with both hands, jumped around the monster’s flank, constantly parrying its attacks.

Frider’s movements were both flashy and practical.

He dodged the sword and axe with dance-like footwork, and whenever the monster showed signs of shaking its bell, he would swirl his coat to cover it.

He seemed to be wary of the acidic fluid, as he never approached the Cursed Mother from the front.

This occasionally left openings, but whenever that happened, Millia’s arrows would fly in to check the Cursed Mother.

Every time an arrow flew toward its six breasts, the Cursed Mother would stop all movement and prioritize blocking the arrow.

Thanks to this, they were barely maintaining a stalemate.

But it was a precarious balance that would collapse the moment Frider’s stamina gave out or Millia ran out of arrows.

Demian discarded the empty holy water bottle and took out a recovery potion to drink.

The holy water broke the curse while the recovery potion regenerated his damaged eardrums.

As he felt his distorted senses rapidly recovering, Demian drew his greatsword once more.

—-

The fierce battle continued.

The room, which had been a mess to begin with, had been transformed into something resembling ruins due to the battle between the three people and the monster.

The brutal fight demanded blood from all four combatants.

Demian, who had taken the brunt of most attacks, was already covered in wounds all over his body, and Frider’s torn clothes were deeply stained with blood flowing from various cuts.

Only Millia had avoided major injuries.

Thanks to shooting arrows from a distance, her only wounds were two fingers that had been worn raw from constantly pulling the bowstring.

However, she was also the most distressed among them.

Millia anxiously looked at the quiver on her back. Only two arrows remained.

Most of the deflected arrows had their arrowheads crushed and shafts broken, making them impossible to reuse.

In other words, unlike Frider and Demian who still had strength to fight, once Millia shot these arrows, she would have no way to harm the Cursed Mother.

If she tried to engage in close combat with her three swords, she was more likely to be defeated and become a burden to her allies.

These two arrows needed to be shot more carefully than ever before.

Millia waited for the decisive moment with an arrow nocked on her bowstring.

—-

The Cursed Mother wasn’t in great shape either.

Its sagging skin was torn to shreds, oozing blood and pus, and the arm holding the axe had been severed.

Though its chest was unharmed, blood streamed down its face from a cut on its forehead.

The arm holding the bell had its shoulder bone shattered, making it impossible to lift, and arrows embedded throughout its body tore into its flesh with every movement.

Seemingly tireless, the monster extended its arm holding the doll again.

The flesh doll, which had been crushed multiple times, had been restored once more.

This would be the fourth curse.

Demian hurriedly blocked Frider’s path.

He wanted to limit the curse’s target to himself alone.

For Demian, this was the best decision.

Even if he was incapacitated by the curse, Frider’s skills would allow him to hold out until Demian recovered.

On the other hand, if Frider fell victim to the curse, it would be difficult for Demian and Millia alone to protect him and hold out.

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaa!”

Once again, the death throes of the doll’s curse enveloped Demian.

He gritted his teeth, bracing for the curse’s effect.

The first curse had shattered his hearing.

If not for Frider, he would have been completely vulnerable.

The second curse had aroused fierce lust.

He had almost pounced on either Frider or Millia, but the memory of Haschal beating him had calmed his desire.

That was something he needed to keep secret from her.

She would go berserk again if she knew he had used her face as a sedative.

The third curse had been one of weakness.

He had dropped his greatsword and collapsed from the intense feeling of exhaustion.

Thanks to Millia’s frantic barrage of arrows, he had gained time to escape, and he had consumed all his remaining holy water, but…

A deep fatigue still weighed heavily on his shoulders.

‘Then, the fourth is…’

The curse activated.

Pink smoke penetrated Demian’s body.

Demian’s movements stopped.

“Enchantment…!”

Recognizing the nature of the curse, Frider took a step back and raised his saw.

Far from protecting the defenseless Demian, he was clearly on guard.

This was completely different from his attitude until now.

His reaction was understandable.

Enchantment—it was the most troublesome curse of all.

The enchantment curse turns its victim into a prisoner of love.

Even if the other person is a mortal enemy, the victim will devote themselves to the point of sacrificing their life.

In other words, someone under enchantment would help the monster and attack their allies.

Demian raised his greatsword and slowly turned around.

He positioned himself as if protecting the Cursed Mother, raising his sword toward his allies. Frider let out a groan.

“Demian?! Snap out of it, Demian!”

Millia called Demian’s name desperately, but he showed no reaction.

The Cursed Mother, sensing victory, laughed like a child.

The black iron greatsword swung, drawing a black arc.

A spray of blood erupted.

—-

“Aaaaaaaaaaargh!”

The laughing monster retreated with an ear-splitting scream.

Black blood gushed from the severed stump of its arm.

Demian’s greatsword followed through, grazing the monster’s neck.

The Cursed Mother’s gills split open and writhed frantically.

‘A bit shallow…!’

Sensing he hadn’t delivered a fatal blow, Demian charged at the retreating monster again.

“Huh? What’s going on, did he block the curse?! With his bare body?!”

“Are you okay, Demian?!”

Demian didn’t answer.

He was too busy trying to cut off the monster’s remaining arm.

The hand holding the bell was already severed, and his upward swing of the greatsword struck at the armpit of the arm holding the doll.

The blade penetrated without resistance, cutting through the monster’s shoulder.

“Aaaaaaah!”

The Cursed Mother let out a venomous scream and thrust out its chest.

Acidic fluid. A direct hit would be fatal.

Demian released the handle of his greatsword and rolled across the floor.

The greatsword he had let go of remained embedded in the monster’s body.

The hem of his clothes touched the acidic fluid and dissolved with a pungent smell, but Demian’s body was unharmed.

‘That was lucky.’

Demian muttered to himself.

An enchantment curse—it might have affected someone else, but for him, it was truly a stroke of fortune.

There was no point in casting a love curse on someone who didn’t know love.

Sure enough, the curse had no effect on him.

Thanks to this, he had been able to exploit the monster’s moment of carelessness.

With the most threatening curse attack neutralized, the monster’s combat power had been reduced by more than half.

“That’s not the kind of curse one can overcome through sheer willpower…?”

Though bewildered to the point of muttering in confusion, Frider charged at the monster and swung his saw.

The black iron greatsword circled endlessly.

The saw blade didn’t cut but rather scraped and tore.

The Cursed Mother resisted desperately, but with only one arm left, it was difficult to block all attacks.

Eventually, a flash of light swept across the monster’s abdomen.

Its belly skin ripped open with a tearing sound, and a pink sac flowed out from inside.

“Uwaaaaaaaang!”

The cries of children.

The sac that fell to the floor with a splat writhed violently.

As if several children were trapped inside.

The Cursed Mother let out a strange cry and bowed its head deeply.

As if checking the wound on its cut abdomen.

“Now! Cut off its head!”

Frider shouted with excitement.

She grabbed the iron chain wrapped around the Cursed Mother’s arm and pulled again.

She could only hold it for a moment, but it was a moment when the monster was completely defenseless.

Demian also judged this to be the decisive opportunity and leaped.

Intending to cut off its head like an executioner.

At that moment, the monster raised its head.

Its mouth was covered with acidic fluid.

‘This creature, not its belly but its chest…!’

Demian’s expression contorted.

The Cursed Mother hadn’t lowered its head to check its wound.

It had been sucking its own breast to spray the fluid!

Having already jumped into the air, there was no way to dodge.

Demian hurriedly pulled his greatsword up like a shield.

He wasn’t sure if it could block the acidic fluid, but he hoped to at least reduce the damage.

The premonition of death crept up his spine. His pupils dilated.

Memories of the past flashed through his desperate mind.

His childhood when he couldn’t understand others.

The past when even his father rejected him, calling him a monster.

Even his mother’s last words as she lay on her deathbed.