Ch.386Conclusion

The Rampaging Steel Bull.

The final battle with the Deadly Poison Demon Lord had begun.

“Airy Curtain!”

Jessica’s support magic raised the curtain on the fight.

Why use weather protection magic at this timing?

The reason was simple.

“Contact with the petrification gas is blocked! Just be careful not to breathe it in!”

“OK, Jessica!”

It was to block the petrification gas emitted by the true form of the Deadly Poison Demon Lord—a monster called ‘Gorgon.’

According to Anastasia, that gray gas would gradually turn the body to stone if inhaled or touched by skin.

But the Airy Curtain, which wraps the body in a barrier of wind, could sufficiently block not only liquids but also gases and light powders like this.

Poison and petrification.

Being able to seal off the enemy’s two most lethal weapons was undeniably a huge advantage.

‘MOOOOOO-!!’

“Here it comes! Everyone be careful!”

The Deadly Poison Demon Lord charged forward like a literal raging bull.

A direct hit would certainly mean instant death.

Even a glancing blow would inevitably result in serious injury.

But we weren’t the kind to be unable to deal with this level of attack.

Rather than fleeing, we approached the Demon Lord while spreading out widely to the left and right to avoid the charge.

However, there was one member who couldn’t make such nimble movements.

‘CRASH!’

That was Ancestor.

In horse form, dodging the charge would have been easy, but in giant form, mobility was inevitably reduced.

Still, he had enough technique to shift aside while maintaining a defensive posture to deflect the force of the charge.

The fact that it still sounded like a large vehicle collision was terrifying, but—

‘Ratatang!’

‘Tang!’

“Flame Lance!”

‘Whirrr~ Tudadadada…’

This was no time to be intimidated by the momentum of the raging bull.

Having avoided the enemy’s attack, it was our chance to counterattack.

We immediately turned around and unleashed our firepower on the Deadly Poison Demon Lord, but—

‘Titititing!’

“Ah… so that’s how it is.”

“No no no! No matter what, deflecting everything is cheating, isn’t it!?”

The magic bullets and spells that flew at the Deadly Poison Demon Lord were deflected in all directions without causing any wounds.

Just like a scene from a movie where bulletproof glass deflects bullets.

But our attack wasn’t over yet.

‘Clang!’

Ancestor’s swung Pulverizer struck the side of the Deadly Poison Demon Lord’s face.

A clear, beautiful sound rang across the tower rooftop.

But the Deadly Poison Demon Lord merely turned its head to the opposite side momentarily, with no visible wounds at all.

‘Clang! Clang! Clang!’

Ancestor continued to unleash a series of attacks regardless, but—

‘MOOOOO!’

‘Thwack!’

The Deadly Poison Demon Lord ducked low, charged in, and used its large horns to ram and lift Ancestor, sending his body flying into the air.

‘CRASH!’

“Ancestor!”

Ancestor flew 5-6 meters before crashing to the ground.

Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any major damage as he immediately regained his posture and stood up, but everyone who witnessed the scene couldn’t help but be shocked.

Because Ancestor had never once been thrown around like that before.

‘Shrrrrr…MOOOOO-!!’

‘Pshh, Pshh, Pshh’

Having sent Ancestor flying, the Deadly Poison Demon Lord seemed to have gained momentum as it raised its front legs, roared, and then spat out unpleasant-colored mud in all directions.

The same color as what was presumed to be the floor inside the Demon Lord’s body—in other words, poison.

And if it was poison, Jessica’s Anti-Poison Field would block it.

‘Splat, Splat’

As I expected, the toxic mud lumps were blocked by the Anti-Poison Field and fell to the floor.

But what I didn’t expect was that the mud lumps that fell to the floor would start to wriggle and take the form of beasts.

‘Grrrr!’

The monster, whether dog or wolf, ran into the Anti-Poison Field’s range without any trouble.

It seems that while the mud lumps were toxic, once they started moving and living, they weren’t anymore.

But that didn’t mean we were caught off guard.

“Hyup!”

‘Slash!’

The silver blade imbued with the power of ‘Demon Lord Slaying’ bisected the monster.

Whatever its appearance, it seemed fundamentally the same as the entities that had appeared from inside the Demon Lord’s body.

Which meant—

“Leave the rest to me!”

‘Whirrr~ Tudadadadadadada…’

—that they were helplessly torn apart before the flood of magic bullets unleashed by the Annihilator.

Petrification gas blocked by Airy Curtain.

Toxic mud defended against with Anti-Poison Field.

Monsters born from the mud could be easily dispatched by Seth, Mina, and Ancestor.

“The problem is that our attacks don’t work either…”

‘MOOOOOOO~!’

The Deadly Poison Demon Lord, having witnessed its summoned minions fall helplessly, took a charging stance again.

Ancestor rushed at the Demon Lord to stop its movement, but—

‘Shrrrrrr!’

‘Thud!’

The Deadly Poison Demon Lord shook off Ancestor with a light body movement, stomped its feet two or three times, and then charged toward Seth.

“Yaaah!”

Seth gripped his spear and darted forward to meet the charge.

With his reflexes, it wouldn’t be difficult to narrowly avoid the charge while delivering a counter-attack.

The question was whether the ‘Demon Lord Slaying’ power could tear through that steel skin, even if imbued with it—

‘Clang!’

“Ugh!?”

It was impossible.

The Night Slasher, swung at the Demon Lord’s left front leg as Seth narrowly dodged, failed to achieve any results and part of its blade broke off.

“It’s no use. I can’t cut it at all.”

“We need an attack method with higher penetration power, it seems.”

“Penetration power… then!”

At Iris’s words, Phyllis readjusted her grip on Old Willow.

She aimed at the Deadly Poison Demon Lord, which was turning in a wide arc to charge at us again.

“Piercing Incinerator!”

‘Tang!’

Piercing Incinerator.

In terms of penetration power, it’s the strongest attack method our party can employ.

Moreover, it was on a trajectory that would penetrate almost vertically into the Demon Lord’s shoulder, making it difficult for the shot to ricochet.

‘Clang!’

“What!?”

Yet even that was deflected.

Or more precisely, it would be correct to say “it broke without penetrating the Demon Lord’s skin.”

Piercing Incinerator was a spell created to deal with enemies with high defense, and to deliver fire-attribute attacks without causing explosions.

The fact that it couldn’t even penetrate the enemy’s skin seemed to have given Phyllis quite a shock, but—

“Oho? That attack just now had some effect.”

“Hmm?”

At the spot Anastasia pointed to, there was a dent the size of a ping-pong ball on the Deadly Poison Demon Lord’s shoulder.

Moreover, the fact that the Deadly Poison Demon Lord, which had been charging fiercely, stopped and hesitated was the most certain evidence that the Piercing Incinerator had been effective.

And we have exactly one attack method with much higher destructive power and comparable penetration power than the Piercing Incinerator.

“…Five minutes. In five minutes, I can fire an enhanced version of Lightning Bolt in cooperation with Jessica.”

“OK, that’s a piece of cake.”

“Let’s go~!”

Having found a clue to our strategy, we readjusted our stance and focused on the Deadly Poison Demon Lord’s movements.

The Deadly Poison Demon Lord observed our movements for a moment, then stomped its feet again and began charging toward us.

‘Unlike other Demon Lords, it seems to have no intelligence whatsoever. Did its intelligence regress when it returned to its true form?’

Of course, we won’t let our guard down until the end, as it could be the enemy’s deception.

After avoiding several charges like that, a change occurred in the Deadly Poison Demon Lord’s movement.

‘MOOOOO~!!’

The Deadly Poison Demon Lord, which had been mindlessly charging, suddenly leaped high into the air.

It was an even more shocking sight than when Ancestor was sent flying after being rammed by the horns.

“It flew!?”

“It’s falling toward the center of our formation! Everyone scatter!”

‘CRASH!’

As the impact and roar shook the tower rooftop, the floor that had remained intact even when the Hydra rammed it began to crack.

Fortunately, no one was caught in the fall, but if such attacks continued, the rooftop might collapse.

But the rooftop’s durability wasn’t what we needed to worry about right now.

‘Shrrrrrr’

“!!”

Before we could recover our posture from the emergency evasion and the impact of the fall, gray gas filled the surroundings.

Everyone in the party, including myself, hastily held our breath, but—

“Hngghk…!!”

Suddenly, Jessica began to tremble, clutching her chest.

It seems she inhaled the gas because her timing for holding her breath was slightly delayed.

‘Do we have any means to cure petrification?’

I remember we brought plenty of antidotes, but I don’t recall having a petrification recovery item.

Jessica said that among the knowledge she acquired this week, there was magic to petrify enemies, but not the opposite.

If Jessica turns to stone, the only way would be to take her to the city for recovery…

‘If she breaks during the battle, it’s over… and without Jessica, we can’t fire the enhanced Lightning Bolt either.’

As I was desperately racking my brain for what to do, help came from an unexpected place.

“Remove Disturb!”

‘Flash!’

As Iris rushed to Jessica’s side and used the disturbance removal magic, not only did Jessica’s expression ease, but even the gray fog that had settled around them disappeared like melting snow.

“Lady Jessica, are you alright?”

“Yes. Thanks to you, I’m alive, Iris.”

Only then could I accurately grasp what had happened.

Remove Disturb.

This magic passed down among the Dark Elf race nullifies all elements that ‘disturb movement.’

Since petrification also stiffens the body and disturbs movement, Remove Disturb was effective.

“I should return the favor for what I suffered, right? Ancestor, hold that thing down for a moment!”

“!!”

Before I could even admire Iris’s quick thinking, Jessica’s next instruction followed.

Ancestor once again tried to embrace the Deadly Poison Demon Lord’s side to restrict its movement.

But the difference in strength between the Deadly Poison Demon Lord and Ancestor was clear, so at this rate, he would just be shaken off again.

“Stone Bullet, Break Enchant!”

Jessica’s enchantment magic compensated for this.

Break Enchant, an earth-attribute spell that multiplies the ‘weight’ applied to the opponent at the moment of attack several times.

Understanding its meaning, Ancestor—

‘Crash!’

While embracing the Deadly Poison Demon Lord, delivered a headbutt attack to the Demon Lord’s crown, and—

‘CRASH!’

In the moment when the Demon Lord’s center was disrupted, he released his hold and brought his hands together for a downward strike.

And before the Deadly Poison Demon Lord could regain its senses, he clung to its side again, this time lifting that massive body.

‘MOOOO! MOOOOOOO-!!’

‘Crack…Crackcrack…’

A test of strength between two massive bodies.

The Deadly Poison Demon Lord struggled desperately to shake off Ancestor, but with its hind legs in the air and unable to properly put weight on its front legs, even that was difficult.

The Deadly Poison Demon Lord, floating about 30 centimeters above the ground, struggled.

There was someone approaching the struggling Demon Lord.

“Jessica!? Approaching is dangerous!”

“I know. But it’s a necessary step to defeat the Deadly Poison Demon Lord.”

Ancestor exerted even more strength to prevent the struggling Deadly Poison Demon Lord from kicking Jessica.

Thanks to Ancestor’s efforts, Jessica was able to safely approach the Deadly Poison Demon Lord and…

“Besides… I should repay the grudge for almost dying, shouldn’t I?”

With a meaningful smile, she reached out toward the Deadly Poison Demon Lord, and—

“Disintegration!”

‘Flash!’

She blasted apart the gleaming steel skin with a red flash of light from her fingertips.

The inside of the burst area was also made of a mysterious dark red material, but at least I could instinctively tell that it wasn’t as hard as steel.

‘MOOOOOOO~~~~!?!?’

‘Crack!’

“Eek! Ancestor’s right arm!?”

As the Deadly Poison Demon Lord howled in pain from having its skin torn off and struggled violently, Ancestor’s arm, unable to withstand the fierce movement, was half torn off.

Mina’s eyes widened in shock.

Beside her, Phyllis’s emerald eyes gleamed sharply.

“Now’s our chance!”

Click, click, click.

Old Willow’s loading handle moved three times in succession.

Phyllis’s ‘Demon Lord Slaying’ – Sacred Demon Buster renders Old Willow unusable for a while, but it has the advantage of being able to forcibly activate by pouring in magical power even when regular attack magic is on cooldown.

‘MOOO! MOO! MOOOOO!!’

“—!!”

The Gorgon’s steel skin that had deflected all attacks.

Now that part of it had burst open, revealing a weakness, there was no reason to dwell on enhancing Lightning Bolt.

Ancestor, prepared to have his body destroyed, held down the Demon Lord lest that weakness move out of Phyllis’s line of fire.

And finally,

“Sacred Demon Buster—-!!”

‘BANG-!!’

The gunshot announcing the end of the battle rang out.