Ch.283283. Lust (3)

After openly expressing hostility and refusal, right as the battle began.

[—Bear it!]

—Slash!

Right after I unleashed my accumulated magical power in a burst, sweeping away the succubi with a single slash.

As I watched their disappearing corpses and milky-white bodily fluids, I methodically dealt with the succubi rushing toward me.

“Everyone, come out!”

[[[Yes!]]]

More precisely, I called forth all my animal friends and received their assistance.

The endless horde of succubi pouring from the replica gates formed in all directions is certainly a significant variable in the battle between me and Drakilia.

Therefore, to prevent phenomena such as succubi suddenly intervening at critical moments during battle, perhaps overwhelming them with an initial show of force might be an excellent choice.

And during this process, I took time to carefully review the information I knew about succubi in my mind.

Succubi (夢魔), true to their name as dream demons, possess the ability to manipulate “dreams”—or more precisely, the power to control things from the dream world.

The illusion magic… or phantasm they use is essentially projecting substances or situations from the dream world into reality.

Depending on the user’s capability, it ranges from mere optical illusions to forms with physical force, though conditions apply.

Of course, besides these “special abilities,” succubi also possess direct combat capabilities.

Their charm ability is threatening—it’s practically an instant-kill against opponents with weak mental resistance, low willpower, or those of lower rank.

Additionally, as magic-specialized demons, they can skillfully use “demon magic” available to all demons, and they also possess energy drain abilities powerful enough for practical combat use.

Direct physical contact is a reliable method to enhance the power of this energy drain, but the ultimate method is, naturally, the “mucous membrane contact” and “exchange of bodily fluids” typical of succubi and incubi.

…Of course, realistically speaking, this drain ability is mostly used through physical contact in most cases.

Anyway, while I was recalling these detailed abilities of succubi…

[Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!]

[If you retreat, we’ll all be ejected! So shoot!]

The succubi, who had been mindlessly charging forward only to be slaughtered repeatedly, suddenly began gathering together and forming a somewhat threatening firing formation.

“Hellfire Arrow,” the basic attack spell of demon magic.

This simple attack magic, which merely shoots arrows made of hell’s black flames, showed its true value when dozens or hundreds of succubi formed a firing line.

Particularly, hellfire burns using magical power as fuel and cannot be extinguished.

Since it’s impossible to artificially extinguish it except by a few methods, I judged its danger level couldn’t be ignored and stepped forward myself instead of leaving it to my animal friends.

—Crack!

There was no need for elaborate incantations to clean up a mere group of low-level demons.

I used slash magic to “clean up” that group of succubi in one go, and the Succubus Queen Drakilia had no intention of leaving me alone.

—Fshshshshshsh!

‘…Oh no.’

Suddenly flying pink magical arrows with distinctive heart-shaped arrowheads—I blocked them with turtle shell magic, then immediately squeezed out magical power for a counterattack.

[Rage forth, north wind!]

I swung my staff like stirring a giant ladle to gather a gust of wind, while simultaneously using external wind to create an internal circulating airflow.

Since this flesh-filled space isn’t particularly good for casting druid magic, I artificially created this wind flow to form nature that would assist my magic, even at the cost of effort.

Of course, who would simply stand by and watch this?

[■■ ■ ■■■■ ■. ■■ ■■■ ■ ■■ ■.]

No sooner had the blasphemous incantation ended than a pillar of flesh formed.

A massive pillar of flesh, formed by combining hundreds of living beings writhing in lust, refining their desires into one.

Of course, this is merely an illusion—a fantasy created by illusion magic.

Naturally, there’s no reason to magically summon something that would only have value as a sacrifice.

Rather, if anything, the current situation should be considered quite exceptional.

The Succubus Queen, surprisingly, is using that illusory pillar as a sacrifice, attempting to use powerful magic that comes with the risk of requiring a sacrifice.

While illusions barely exist physically, they do exist from a mystical perspective. In other words, using them as a “cost” is entirely possible…

Although a reduction in power is inevitable, the merit of being able to cast magic that requires difficult sacrifices as a condition is incredibly attractive.

…That is, if she could have cast it.

Korin, wrapped in wind—the north wind—soars into the sky.

Drakilia, who initially dismissed him as just a mid-level being, belatedly tries to interfere after sensing the aura Korin emits.

However, it was already too late.

—Kugugung!!

What erupts with Korin at its center, wrapped in the north wind, is a shockwave using air vibrations (sound) as its medium, and the manifestation of lightning that bursts forth.

This merciless manifestation of power voraciously devours everything around it, consumes, and ultimately leads to destruction.

—Clang!

The shockwaves and lightning not only shatter the illusions used by the succubi but also twist the connection between reality and the dream world, which is the operating principle of illusion magic, suppressing the exchange between them.

The result of the spell “Fury of the North Wind,” cast using the mystery and body of the thunder bird as its medium, was simple but powerful.

It seals off “illusion magic”—arguably the most troublesome aspect of fighting succubi—for a certain period and completely shatters all previously formed illusions.

[—How dare you!!]

The Succubus Queen Drakilia, clearly showing her displeasure at the situation turning against her, began launching fierce attacks.

She forms dozens of car-sized spheres made of Hellfire and throws them.

She endlessly summons and shoots pink-tinged spears imbued with charm and energy drain properties, and sometimes casts spells on the surrounding flesh to launch gothic attacks.

She fires curse-tainted blood like a water cannon, attempts to wield blood vessels like whips, or tries to create body parts through flesh to strike at me.

But all these attacks were repeatedly and easily defended against by my magic.

It began with Mary, who had evolved to complete immunity to flames, absorbing the incoming hellfire masses.

The pink magical spears flying at bullet-like speeds might be threatening attacks, but they can be intercepted with slash magic, which takes extremely little time to cast.

Additionally, the body parts formed by magically transformed surrounding flesh are simply cut away by barrages of slash magic—they’re neither particularly tough nor strong.

Therefore, while the battle situation might appear to be flowing in favor of the demon side on the surface…

In reality, objectively speaking, I could never match that demon in terms of catalog specs.

I could never catch up to someone who has lived for thousands of years in terms of magical versatility or effects, and the same goes for incantation speed and magical power.

Additionally, even though she’s not a close-combat specialized demon, Drakilia still possesses the physical abilities of a high-ranking demon.

But the decisive factor that allowed the situation to flow so favorably for me was none other than the fact that illusion magic had been neutralized.

For the succubus race, illusion magic may seem trivial at first glance, but it clearly constitutes one axis of their combat power. The result of it being completely excluded and disappearing was, naturally, her disadvantage.

And perhaps this result caused some kind of impatience in Drakilia?

Eventually, this desperation and urgency from being pushed back somewhat disturbed Drakilia’s judgment, and in that state, her mind felt the need to use a powerful means to turn the situation around…

[Come, world of dreams!]

Ultimately, this led her to use dimensional formation—a measure that could be considered a trump card for magic users of high rank or above.