episode_0161

The fight began with slicing through the tentacle arms reaching out towards me.

“Help me, Gangel! We must leave this place before the prince arrives!”

“Elia’nel’s witches…! They shall be made to bear as many children as they have killed and be sacrificed to the depths!”

As Gangel writhed against the tentacles, letting out a fierce roar, the other thirty-seven cultists also prepared for battle.

Spears and swords, axes and staves were pointed aggressively, and the seven cultists of bishop rank murmured prayers in a strange dialect.

“Fhe’whgn ltulri’haglclu’ph….”

A list of dialects with unknown meanings.

But there was no need to struggle to understand.

Just as an old saying goes, forgiveness is easier than permission, magic, like murder, is much easier and quicker than understanding.

And the ‘shadows’ who joined this event were well aware of that fact.

“Ymunh―”

As the bishop of the Abyssal Sect, clad in a somber robe, extended his fingers towards me to unleash abyssal magic,

– Thwoosh!

A crossbow bolt flew like a beam of light, piercing through the neck of one bishop, and ghostly assassins appeared, swiftly stabbing the cultists with daggers and short swords.

“Kkuk…!”

“Aaah!”

“What are these creatures! Where did they come from all of a sudden…!”

Cultists in confusion as blades stabbed from the sides and behind.

Poisoned daggers digging into their sides, blackened swords severing spines, blackened wires tearing throats apart.

Swift and stealthy, mechanical ambush devoid of any emotion. Cultists, taken by surprise by the unexpected attack, were drenched in blood and bewildered.

“Assassins! Illuminate, illuminate!”

“Sphaera Lucis!”

Perhaps there was someone among the cultists who had learned magic through the proper channels.

A hastily cast spell turned into a sphere of pure white light, illuminating a radius of ten meters as bright as daylight.

Assassins, who had planned to retreat into the darkness after the ambush, frowned at the light.

With the surroundings brightly lit, hiding again was impossible. Assassins who gave up on the second ambush charged head-on.

“We found you, you filthy rats!”

“Repay the grace bestowed upon you by Him!”

Cultists also charged, shouting with fervor, towards the assassins.

Clashing of spears and swords, spewing of flames, daggers and axes digging into flesh. Fire arrows cutting through the air, tentacles whipping like whips.

Assassins’ blood mixing with cultists’ blood, staining the ground red.

◆◆

“Seriously, there’s no end to them. It’s like a Planaeria…!”

“Heal…oh, no. Creamhilt! Should we pull ‘that’ out?”

“No, wait! Until they’re reduced to the point where they can’t escape!”

“Yes!”

Thick clusters of tentacles lashed out at the ground like whips, and a longsword shimmering in the moonlight and magical light pierced through the air.

Twisting his body flexibly to dodge the longsword, Gehan used his tentacles to push away my armor, and seizing the opportunity, the girl’s greatsword cut through the tentacles, soaring upwards.

The fierce battle unfolded.

Thanks to the assassins of Argantir taking care of the cultists of the Abyssal Sect, the enemies we had to face had been reduced to just one.

“Oh, it’s not working―!”

…Well, that one individual was certainly more dangerous and powerful than all the others combined.

Gangel Feitan, the high priest of the Abyssal Sect.

The guy, like a crazed elephant, only had eyes for me and Freideman, completely ignoring the assassins fighting my subordinates, as if they were not even worth a glance.

It must have been instinctual, rather than a calculated decision, to determine that the rest of us posed no threat… or perhaps it was just a gut feeling.

Despite his diminished intelligence due to the Abyssal Blessing, his primal instincts remained intact. Is that what allowed him to eliminate the competition and seize the position of cult leader even in a half-crazed state?

Well, it worked out better for us, at least. It was much more reassuring to have him focused solely on us rather than losing his mind and attacking indiscriminately.

Judging by the level of the assassins fighting the cultists, if Gagnagle’s attack were to target them, about half of them would likely be wiped out in an instant.

– Shyaah!

Lost in thought for just a moment, I turned back to find myself faced with a mass of slimy, pointed tentacles.

It wasn’t my arm reaching out. The source of the tentacles bursting forth like a fountain was not the guy’s shoulder, but a large and grotesque mouth that suddenly appeared in the air next to me.

『 Kin of the Abyss. 』

Summoning a large mouth in the air, the Abyssal Sect’s main magic unleashed sharp tentacles from within it.

“Tsk…!”

It was too late to dodge. But trying to block with armor was not an option, as the original description mentioned a restraining effect attached to that magic.

So, instead of dodging or resisting, I lit up my eyes and swung my sword. Not metaphorically, but literally, casting a blue glare from beneath my helmet.

“Haaaah!”

Mother’s sword, Edelmut, turned into a gray storm and swept through. A relentless onslaught as if avenging my parents, tearing through the approaching mass of tentacles.

Green fluids and torn flesh scattered messily, and the monster’s tongue, now missing, closed shut and disappeared like an illusion.

“Hyaaaah!”

While I was dealing with Gagnagle’s magic, Freideman was engaged in a fierce battle right next to the guy.

“Argh! Annoying brat!”

The guy’s arms, now transformed into dozens of whips and nets, flailed around like a dust storm.

It seemed like it would take at least twenty hands to fend off the attack. However, Freideman managed to cut through, push back, and withstand all those tentacles with just a black iron greatsword.

“This…!”

Whether it was because the sword was not a holy sword or simply because it was reaching its limit, instead of a proper counterattack, Freideman was struggling to block, with his cloak being torn to shreds.

– Kwaang!

I leaped forward, thrusting Edelmut towards Gagnagle’s side. The memories etched into Brunhilde’s body perfectly reproduced the charging attack of the Volt Swordsmanship.

As the sword tip extended towards the guy’s side, ready to pierce through―

– Tuhwaaah!

Black tentacles burst forth from the ground in front of me, thrashing wildly around.

I reflexively stopped my step and twisted my sword to slash at the tentacle mass sprouting from the ground.

As the tentacles were cut off and the black fluid sprayed out, I deflected it with my cloak, causing the ground where the liquid landed to sizzle and melt with a hissing sound.

『 Flesh Seed. 』

Like shooting a bullet with a small flesh-like seed, it was a magic that summoned tentacles with venomous poison in the spot where the flesh was embedded.

“Ah…!”

As I stopped to pull it out and block the poison, Gannagel turned his head towards me as if waiting.

In the midst of his repulsive face that made me nauseous just by looking at it, the tentacles of his chinless jaw spread wide open, revealing a black hole like an abyss.

“Something’s coming! Front! Dodge it!”

Freide urgently shouted. She must have sensed the imminent danger one step ahead with her innate instinct, .

“Don’t worry!”

…Well, maybe the advice to dodge was a mistake due to lack of experience. After all, the type of magic about to strike was the kind that couldn’t be avoided even if I tried to dodge it.

At least, not from this awkward distance.

“I hear it. He’s going to take you to the abyss…!”

Gannagel’s jaw stretched all the way to his chest, and a massive magical power surged from the black darkness inside.

There was no escape. No matter how fast I flew my body, it wouldn’t be faster than the speed at which he turned his head towards me.

That’s why, following Freide’s advice, instead of dodging to the side, I reversed Edelmut’s sword handle and thrust the tip towards the ground.

Yes. Mother clearly said that this is how it should be activated.

“Take it-!”

“Eliael!”

At the moment our shouts crossed, an intangible force exploded from Gannagel’s jaw like a tank shell.

A magic that opened a gateway connected to the being called a god by the Abyssal priests, and shot out a massive magical power from there in the form of a shockwave.

『 Call of the Abyss. 』

Not only did it crush the enemy’s flesh, but it also shattered their soul with a destructive shell of doom.

Just as the overwhelming power of destruction was about to engulf me.

– Aaah!

A pure white radiance burst forth from Edelmut’s sword, forming a translucent barrier in front of me.

The miraculous defense of the Goddess Sect, the Sacred Barrier.

The translucent barrier, unfolded through the sword, became a shield protecting me, directly facing and deflecting the shockwave from the Abyss.

The thunderous roar and flash, like lightning striking down. The pure white barrier undulated like waves, distorted and restored repeatedly.

For a few seconds like that.

As Gannagel’s shockwave dispersed, shaking the ground, the Sacred Barrier, having fulfilled its role, shattered into pieces like snowflakes.

Not a defense, not a penetration, but a neutralization. The remaining force of the shattered barrier turned into a storm of debris mixed with remnants and swept through.

In the midst of that, I…

“Aaah!”

Piercing through the rushing force with my body, I leaped out and swung the sword I gripped towards the monster with a shocked face in a diagonal motion.

A deep gash was carved into Gannagel’s upper body.

It wasn’t a fatal wound, but it was a wound that would have been fatal for an ordinary human.