Ch.265Third

A bug discovered by a player who had been focusing on developing Asha up to Episode 4.

When landing a critical hit on Isabella with a charge attack, then hitting her with a healing spell, her resurrection power breaks.

The person who discovered it didn’t even know why this bug occurred, so they simply thought the critical hit was the cause…

But it didn’t work with other characters, only Asha could do it.

It was natural for players to think it was a bug.

In the game, it was difficult to tell that Asha’s attack hit precisely “that spot.”

However, I clearly remembered what happened to the student who got hit by Asha’s attack during the sparring lecture.

Thanks to that, I could roughly guess.

The core of the bug wasn’t about which character attacked, but which body part was targeted.

Netherworld Escort.

The source of that power originated from the reproductive organ tainted with dark mana.

The number of visitors remembered by the witch’s womb was the count of lives remaining to her.

Even if her lower body was completely destroyed, as long as her breath was cut off, the power would activate and she would resurrect without any issues… but what if that part alone was replaced with a new one before the power could activate?

The result was right before my eyes.

The worn-out cave that thousands had ravaged had transformed into a pure virgin crevice under Elpinel’s blessing.

A power is as inflexible as it is mighty.

Without considering what damage it might cause to its master, Netherworld Escort simply accepted the virginized flesh.

Isabella herself would understand what this meant better than anyone.

Her contorted expression made it clear.

The tower of sacrifices the witch had built up had completely vanished in this moment.

—-

“This… this can’t be. How could my immortality be broken by such a… method?!”

“What a shame. All that money you earned by working your aging body has gone to waste, hasn’t it?”

Isabella, Witch of Lust and Pride.

Her obscene groin, once the symbol of lust, had transformed into a pink virgin, and the power of immortality, the source of her pride, was broken.

So now, how would she respond?

“Aishan-Gioro!!!”

Yes, of course she’d be furious!

Like night falling, thick dark mana spread across the ceiling cracks, covering everything in blackness.

Objects touched by the dark mana shattered into pieces.

Destruction swept around us as if the witch’s anger itself had materialized.

Like thousands of black whips lashing out simultaneously.

A storm of dark mana that tore through and crushed everything, regardless of whether it was rock or metal.

It was clear that if I got caught in it, I wouldn’t escape unscathed.

“Why so angry! You should be grateful for getting a clean, rejuvenated body!”

“Silence!”

I withdrew my sword that had been aiming for her neck and dodged toward Lacy.

A moment later, blades of dark mana sliced through where I had been standing.

“I can’t believe it actually worked… though I’m not sure how to record this…”

Lacy shook her head in disbelief.

Deep fatigue lined her eyes, suggesting she had used considerable power to instantly regenerate Isabella’s wound.

Record it… Well, I suppose writing about tearing off genitals and replacing them with a virgin one might be a bit inappropriate for church documents.

“Why not just gloss over it? Something like ‘Elpinel’s radiance purified the witch’s flesh and broke the evil god’s power’… something like that.”

“How dare you speak as if you’ve already won!”

Purple eyes spewing dark mana glared at me fiercely.

With emotions completely different from before.

“I found your little tricks amusing, but now a young wench like you dares to bite me? Can you handle the consequences?!”

Madness-filled passion erupted as her anger tore everything around us apart.

Then, the witch’s body transformed into something monstrous.

Her face, which had been smiling seductively, twisted with hatred, and her eyes grew unnaturally large, emitting an ominous light.

Her lower jaw split and opened sideways, leaving no trace of humanity, resembling insect mandibles grafted onto a human face.

Dark carapace covered her previously naked body, and more than ten arms sprouted from various parts of her body.

A hideous, repulsive form like a mixture of all kinds of insects.

The witch’s unveiled killing intent overturned the heavens.

Yes. Until now, she had just been playing around, knowing she could resurrect anytime.

Now that her absolute sense of security was shattered… she had no choice but to stop playing and get serious.

Because now, one good hit could kill her like an insect!

“You were having fun taunting me earlier, but now that you’ve been bitten hard, it hurts more than you expected?”

“I’ll tear you limb from limb and throw you into a drug den! Not just you, but everyone you care about!”

Even her voice had changed to a harsh metallic scraping sound.

Now the true battle begins.

The start of a literal life-or-death fight with no room for jokes.

—-

Her swirling hostility embroidered the air with hundreds of magic circles.

Darkness, several times thicker than before, boiled up.

And she claims this still isn’t her full power… she really lives up to her name!

“Vanish like a shadow!”

“Evanesceta Sicut Umbra!”

A pure torrent of dark mana without even complex crafting.

Black meteors rained down like a calamity.

“Lacy! Ophelia! Hold out and recover as much as you can! I’ll handle the interception!”

The witch had three powers remaining.

Netherworld Escort was broken, and Writhing Nest was being used at full power.

She would save “Fable” until the end, but she wouldn’t hesitate to use the other two powers.

“Embracing Nightmare” and “Black Repose” were both powers that interfered with the mind.

While I could resist with my mana resistance, the other two needed to conserve their strength.

Without waiting for a response, I ran like an arrow toward the pouring dark mana.

“As you wish!”

“Don’t just dodge like before!”

Before?

Ah, I did dodge when that unpleasant fluid came flying earlier.

Even in this urgent moment, I couldn’t help but smile remembering Ophelia covered in that fluid.

[Focus!]

‘I know without you telling me!’

A torrent of black meteor shower.

Each sphere, the size of my head, flew toward us carrying intense dark mana, with enough force to overturn the entire area.

But still…

It’s not something I can’t block.

Releasing all my accumulated karma, I swung my sword toward the torrent of magic.

“Kyaaaah!”

The blue light of true silver split and scattered the dark mana, and Frosting’s claws met and crushed the black meteors.

Six streams of karma fire, undulating like tentacles, wrapped around and burned the remaining threats.

A chain of deafening explosions.

With each continuous impact, my arms screamed in pain.

The number of wounds increased with each meteor I deflected.

Blade fragments of broken dark mana grazed my skin, leaving clear bloody marks.

Magic I couldn’t deflect struck the ground, and broken stone fragments hit and embedded in my body.

My strength was rapidly depleting.

The thick dark mana made it hard to breathe, and my sword tip trembled, disrupting the curtain of slashes.

However, as long as the Sword of Endurance shines, its master will not collapse from exhaustion.

Through the sword hilt in my grip, endless vitality flowed like pulsing blood vessels.

The power of murder karma that had devoured thousands of lives burned like an unquenchable volcano.

Slowly taking one step forward… then another.

Beyond just deflecting, moving forward.

My slow, walking pace transformed into a sprint.

My sword swings became faster and faster, breaking magic apart with just a graze.

Black fragments scattered like a rain of glass shards.

“Is that all you’ve got?!”

“Don’t get cocky!”

More magic fired at me.

Perhaps sensing the danger of my approach, unlike before, all kinds of magical formulas were mixed in.

I kicked away shadows trying to wrap around my ankles, crushing them.

I grabbed and crushed whips of darkness, and evaporated spears of water spray with karma fire.

– Boom!

The walls and ceiling distorted, and black spikes shot out like stakes.

“This is nothing!”

I struck down spikes flying from both sides with my arms.

The shattered stakes scattered rock fragments.

[One left!]

Like finding a gap in my slashes, one remaining black stake flew toward my face.

Too late to deflect with my arms.

I slightly bent my waist, then sprung up to meet it head-on.

– Crash!

The rock that collided with my forehead turned to dust and scattered.

Though protected by the power of murder karma, my skin must have torn slightly, as warm heat flowed down my forehead.

Five steps forward.

“Bow down!”

“Procumbe!”

Isabella drew her right hand down vertically.

“Kuh…!”

A sensation like a massive boulder crushing my entire body.

My knees buckled and my body lurched forward.

My gaze turned to the ground.

The sword in my hand felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.

Since my mana resistance didn’t activate, it wasn’t a curse…!

Then, it must be pressure.

My sense for detecting mana perceived the flow above my head.

The point where the magic manifested felt as clear as if I could see it.

“You think this will work on me…!”

Tentacles of murder karma unraveled like threads and wrapped around my arm.

Only my right arm shot up toward the sky, as if pulling a puppet on strings.

Hersella’s technique, Falling Collapse.

Durandal, forcibly raised, split the center of the dark mana in half.

As the cut formula was disrupted, the force pressing down on my body vanished completely.

And Isabella was right in front of me.

“You broke through all those spells…?!”

“Did you think I couldn’t?!”

Isabella hastily raised her insect arms.

Ten blackened blades swung like claws—

And once again, the sword of Defying Fate struck first, cutting the witch’s neck.

Her distorted neck flew through the air.

…or so it seemed.

[What are you aiming at! She’s to the side!]

Hersella’s urgent cry.

As I snapped back to my senses, all that lay before me was a rock with its end cut off!

Oh no, could this be…!

– Wham!

Before I could turn my head, a powerful impact struck my side.

“Kuhuk…!”

A sensation like my waist exploding.

My vision flipped, and something rose up through my throat.

– Crash!

I flew like I’d been hit by a truck, smashing into and breaking through the wall.