443

The Black Demon King

Chapter 23: Holy Maiden of Helvetia

Episode 443: Dream’s End

“N-No way… What… How…”

Jack was dead.

He used to be a bit of a fool, but Jack always laughed vigorously, and always protected me with all his might. And now he had died such a sudden and cruel death.

A large hole was made in his chest, a black magic attack was fired onto his abdomen, and after all that, his head had been cut off and kicked away.

That wasn’t something a human would do. That was definitely the work of a devil.

Then, without even having time to be shocked about it, I had to watch Conrad die right after him.

That big, jagged-edged sword broke so easily through Conrad’s “Holy Crystal Geyser”, which boasted an incredible defense that was only second to my own “Sanctuary”. Then, he thrust a ferocious fang against his slender body, and pulled him right out of it with his dark chains, and right into the clutches of that devil, who had the same black hair and eyes as me.

Then, he was killed there by the devil and the vampire. Before such a tragedy, I couldn’t even pray for his soul to peacefully find its way to heaven. All I could do was tremble.

“Pull yourself together, Lin!”

“Ah, Sebas…”

With an earnest expression that I had never seen before, Sebas looked up at me, who was on horseback. Seemingly serious from the bottom of his heart, his face looked cool, instead of his usual hypocritically courteous wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing attitude.

Thinking about his face, who could never show anything other than his carefree nature, made it really hard for me to keep my composure.

However, I think I was able to get out of my state of shock. My understanding caught up with the current situation, in this nightmare of a reality that I just didn’t want to admit.

Jack was dead, Conrad was dead, and next was…

“He’s going to go for Erio! We have to help him, quick!”

That’s right, he had gone into battle on his own as well. With that strength the gods gave him, he had easily crushed the enemy’s golem.

That dummy Erio, he was so absorbed in hitting the fallen golem’s body that he didn’t realize that the devil was approaching him. Perhaps he didn’t even know that Jack and Conrad were dead.

We probably had time to get there if we moved immediately.

I impulsively jumped off the back of the horse and started to run towards Erio–

“No, Lin, you can’t go there!”

Sebas stopped me. He stood in front of me with his back turned against me, as if guarding me from what could come next.

“Move away!”

“You need to think of the situation! If you die here, our operation will fail!”

“But, that’s exactly why…!”

“…Please, stay behind me. Let me protect you.”

Sebas’ words, which he grumbled so heavily, made me feel his determination even though I couldn’t see his face.

He had always been an ill-tempered steward who carried himself out perfectly with everything to the point of driving me mad, yet he was so eager to nitpick me… But he was still desperately trying to protect me now. Realizing that fact caused my legs to stop at once.

“But, but… Erio…”

“Erio also came here because he wanted to protect you. You know better than anyone that he’s not just some helpless little boy.”

I did. I was fully aware of Erio’s strength.

That child boasted a power so enormous that he could beat a salamander to death by himself if he felt like it. Even when I was fighting against the joined forces of monsters, bandits and heathens, he would always sneak in and rampage on the battlefield.

It would always make me feel nervous to see him charging down his enemies without any kind of protection, but Erio always came back to us with a carefree smile, while proudly talking about the number of enemies he had defeated. He wanted to protect me because he wanted to be praised by me.

So he’d definitely come back this time as well–

“Huh? Is that… Erio!?”

The darkness of despair brought about by that black devil was deeply ill-boding, as if making fun of both my fleeting expectations and my faint hope.

Unbelievable. To think that Erio was overpowered by pure strength and brought to the ground…

“No, stop! Stooooooooooop!!”

Erio had been killed in such a way that it seemed to embody the idea that children will always lose against adults.

The devil’s fist deeply pierced his little body.

By the time I started to think “Ah…”, Erio’s lovely shape had already disappeared from this world. Burned in a horrifying flame, a mixture of crimson and deep jet-black, all that remained was a corpse that was too miserable to look at.

“A-Ah… Ahhh… No, no way… So cruel…”

Why? How? How did this happen? Such an impossible but cruel ending.

Say, God, didn’t you say this was my destiny? This is too much. What did I do? In what way have I wronged You?

I’ve always done nothing but strive to do my best before the mountains of trouble that lay before me, and to face adversity in my best spirits. This time wasn’t different. I really wasn’t eager to make war, but I’m not just doing it effortlessly, just because I have to.

I didn’t have the desire to steal valuables, expand my territory, or to make huge profits from managing colonies.

All I ever wanted was to enjoy a peaceful life.

“And yet… Why…”

“Calm down, Lin. The fight isn’t over yet.”

I could only hear Sebas’s voice, calm but powerful.

“That devil is coming for you.”

Right. This wasn’t the time to be sad. This wasn’t the time to mourn.

Because the nightmare wasn’t over yet. No, that black nightmare that invaded my happy reality was still drawing near.

“Eeek!?”

Our eyes met. One of his eyes was black, and the other one was red.

His right eye seemed to be black as mine, but its color was actually pitch black, like the depths of an abyss. And yet, its darkness seemed impure and somehow glaring, as if it were a chaotic state of this world before God had created Heaven and Earth.

His left eye was crimson, and shone more vividly than fresh blood. That eerily shining glint on his eye was the same as that heathen who went berserk using “Faust Berserk” on himself– no, it looked even more wicked than that.

That dreadful pair of eyes was looking straight at me.

“S-Sebas… I…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll definitely protect you. Our defensive formation is flawless.”

Sebas’ calm voice urged me to look around me.

There were still many Armor Knights solidifying the defense around me. Not only that, but the entire sorcerer unit remains unscathed, so if we wanted to devote ourselves to defense, we could create as many barriers as we’d like.

In the first place, the reason why the devil was able to single-handedly slash his way through so far was not only because of his terrifying ability, but also greatly because the formation was considerably disturbed by the Spada soldiers who charged before him.

Moreover, the fact that Jack, Conrad, and Erio started fighting against different opponents soon after that also contributed to our delay in rebuilding the formation.

However, we haven’t allowed anyone to invade the area around me, so we were still maintaining an undisturbed formation here. The wall of Armor Knights, the archers supporting the sorcerers, and the spearhead of countless pawns. All of them enabled saturation attacks that took advantage of our superiority in numbers.

Attacking that devil one-on-one won’t even put a dent on him. However, with these many soldiers on our side, if we charge at him head-on, we could definitely crush him.

Yes, if worst comes to worst, even if I die, the Crusaders would surely crush that devil without letting it escape.

Well, if I die, then it wouldn’t make much sense… But, if that devil were to come rushing here, his fate will be sealed.

“Listen, Lin, just keep that Sanctuary up and focus on keeping yourself safe.”

“I was going to do that even if you hadn’t told me.”

Though protecting myself was certainly the safest course of action, the basis of our current strategy was to sustain my “Sanctuary” that covered the castle walls, so the best I could do was to create a small barrier around myself.

It was shaped like a cube with each side measuring about 3 meters. I couldn’t make it any bigger than this, and if I made it any smaller, my body itself wouldn’t fit. This size was just enough to accommodate me while riding the unicorn.

Of course, even if it was about the same size as such a regular defensive spell, the absolute defense power that was hidden in my “Sanctuary” wouldn’t change. This barrier, which is classified as a “World Dimension Spell”, not only works as a wall of light, but also separates acts as a dimensional breach between this world and the world of the gods. No matter how strong the attack, there would be no interference.

At least, as long as I could keep focusing on my magic, it wouldn’t be cancelled or broken through. In fact, I was able to prevent that exploding spear attack from that elf-like old man without any problems.

“That’ll do. As long as you’re fine, we’ll take care of the rest somehow.”

It was better to show a strange sense of justice and duty rather than trying to show off. Not to mention that it would be much worse to lose our composure and desert in the face of the enemy. Though a bit reluctant, thanks to his abundant experience in combat, he knew exactly how dangerous and bothersome it is to try to escape at the last minute.

Without running away, without being afraid, I just had to believe in the power of my companions and watch over the battle.

“Please, Sebas… Defeat that devil.”

“I swear it on my sword, I’ll definitely avenge them all.”

Sebas’ sword was based on the Mithril Rapier and had various enhancements applied to it. It was a high-grade weapon whose blade had been Enchanted with a blessing.

I prayed that his holy sword would brilliantly slay that fiendish and wicked Devil of Alsace.

“–Here he comes!”

Sebas’ voice resounded sharply.

That devil really started to make a reckless assault on me against this large army.

I already knew that he would make a terrifying black magic ranged attack. I prepared another “Sanctuary”, just in case. Judging by our distance in a straight line, I had to do it, otherwise such an attack would surely reach me before I knew it.

There were less than 50 meters between the Devil of Alsace and I.

“Get him!”

“Devil of Alsace, I’ll strike you down right here!!”

Powerful orders to intercept him flew around, and the Armor Knights in the front row began to move bravely with their swords aloft. The opponent was only one person, but the steel wall rushed toward that extremely violent individual with the intention of crushing it.

“So he was using explosive magic spells, huh?”

I agreed with Sebas’ calm words.

As he went to kill Conrad and Erio, he paved his way with a magical attack that unleashed a terrifying red and black detonation. Even underestimating it, it should have been as powerful as an intermediate-level attack spell.

Well, there were some witches who could use lower-level spells to create the power of higher-level spells… But that’s beside the point.

Either way, yet another great explosion went off.

The burst of black smoke made it so what was happening where that magic exploded wasn’t immediately visible.

However, it should have been impossible to get rid of the shield-bearing Armor Knights who approached him from the front with such an explosion. Moreover, now, for the sake of completeness, the entire avant-garde Armor Knight unit had already been buffed by the support magic from our sorcerers.

In reality, their safety was immediately confirmed. What echoed from the other side of the black smoke weren’t screams of pain, but the same heroic battle cries of our army.

All they had to do now was use their momentum and crush that devil once and for all!

“–What? He jumped!?”

A black shadow jumped out into the air, breaking through the curtain of smoke. Needless to say, it was that devil.

Perhaps he was more proficient in enhancing-type martial arts than we expected. With a single jump, he easily jumped over the head of a large Armor Knight and landed on the group itself. Yes, the devil hadn’t landed on the ground, but on top of an Armor Knight’s head, right over his tin-bucket-like helmet.

“This must be some kind of joke…”

“He’s absurdly nimble. So the reason he’s not wearing any armor is to take advantage of his natural mobility?”

This wasn’t the time to be impressed, Sebas.

That devil had taken advantage of the Armor Knight’s close formation, and with their helmets as a foothold, began to move as if they were stepping stones floating on the surface of a river.

The flustered soldiers tried to hit the devil standing overhead with their halberds, but by the time they would swing, he would have already jumped onto the next head. Didn’t I see something like this when we went to get rid of some monkey monsters last year?

“Shoot him down!”

The archer troops quickly responded to my outcry.

If we were to shoot in such a place, we would surely hit our allies, but the target is our Armor Knights, who were proud of their toughness. Getting hit with one or two arrows wouldn’t even make them bat an eye.

“Fire!”

Rather than giving the order to shoot, I left that responsibility to the leader of the archer troops. I didn’t know his face or his name, but either way, he quickly launched the offensive.

The arrows released from the hands of hundreds of archers became a barrage with no gaps that could be used to avoid them, and approached the devil that was jumping over our knights’ heads.

I didn’t think this alone would kill him, but… At the very least, I wanted him to get hit with one arrow, just to get him injured.

“Ah, don’t dodge them, you bastard!”

As soon as he saw the rain of arrows in front of him, the devil jumped down from the helmet he was standing on, and disappeared among the crowd of Crusader soldiers.

Of course, the arrows that we had shot upwards only went through the air in vain. A complete waste of arrows.

“This is bad, he has already charged into the infantry line!”

That devil had already brilliantly gone past the Armor Knights in the front row leaping from one of their heads to the next, and was now descending into a group of infantry with spears.

“Wait a minute, can our infantry actually deal with him!?”

He hadn’t been injured and didn’t seem to be tired so far. In such a healthy state, how much could our infantry do to stop him?

If he had faced our Armor Knights directly, they could have probably tire him out if only a little, and if he was tired enough, then our infantry would have no problem in taking him down.

However, our strategy to whittle away at him with our numbers failed catastrophically the moment he started jumping over our Armor Knights.

Well, even if they were just infantry soldiers who couldn’t use magic or martial arts, with enough of them even an apostle can be defeated. However, it would be a war of attrition, where they would have to launch intermittent attacks while making sacrifices. It would take time to strike him down.

And now, I’m this devil’s only target. In other words, he didn’t have to deal with all the infantry, all he needed to do was to get this far and kill me.

Perhaps he was also preparing himself to die as well. He wasn’t planning to go back home alive. If he can take me down with him, then the devil’s mission would be complete all the same.

“Oh no, at this rate he’s going to get here without as much as a scratch on him!”

I had no choice but to agree with Sebas.

The devil who jumped into the flock of infantry had blended in with the group, but the place where he was fighting was obvious.

There, screams and violent blood droplets constantly spurt out, with occasional black explosions.

The infantry was slashed down by a dangerous looking cursed naginata-like weapon, and then blown away by the explosions of his black magical attacks.

It was no use. Just as Sebas said, even if we threw our entire infantry at him, he would reach us without a scratch on him.

But I didn’t know what he would do if he were to reach my “Sanctuary”. Perhaps he had a secret plan to break through it…?

“There’s no other way around it, have our sorcerers shoot at him.”

“Wait a second, if we do that, we’ll kill our units as well–”

“If we don’t kill him right here, we’re bound to lose so much more. Besides, we have to spare no resources when it comes to protecting you.”

Right. We had no time to worry about that.

That devil was steadily approaching me, carving out a path of blood with his cursed blade and his flames of destruction.

The infantry unit was blocking his path, and even then, he was still coming at me with this speed, but… If it were to break through them and charge into the archer unit behind them, they wouldn’t be able to hold him at all.

“…Fire! We need to take this devil down, whatever it takes!”

I readied myself, and gave the order to attack.

Ah, if only at times like these, while still keeping my “Sanctuary” on, I could attack the enemy while protecting my allies…

When this battle is over, I have to do my best and train a little more.

The more I thought about that, the more I felt my own powerlessness.

“「ثلاثاء اللهب الرمح يخترق―― Ignis Kris Sagitta.”

The talented Helvetian sorcerer unit immediately responded to my command by launching a mass of intermediate attack magic. Thanks to their “Short Spell” ability, their attack’s activation speed was very quick. The attack’s power was rather weak, but that could be made up for by casting it quickly in succession. Of course, its attack range is also considerably wide, which guarantees that no one can evade it.

A large fireball fired in a loose parabola flew unabashedly toward the midst of the battleground, where our infantry was ready to die as they tried to stop that devil.

Then dozens of fireballs jumped over the soldier’s head and tried to land on the target.

“Shield d’Earth.”

The devil was so close that I could hear his voice.

Even in the midst of shrieks and screams, I was terrified to notice that my ears had caught the name of his spell so easily.

As the chills ran through my spine, the devil’s defensive magic was activated.

At first glance, it seemed as if a skilled Earth Mage had cast “Terra Defan Wall”. However, its color wasn’t the brown of earth and sand, or the gray of rock, but black. The color and texture seemed to be as if it was made of iron sand.

It was about 3 meters tall, stretching about as tall as my own “Sanctuary”, and its thickness was about the same as that of a single brick. Its appearance and size were still like those of regular defensive magic.

And with mediocre defensive magic, there was no way he could prevent so many magical attacks –Ah, but he was going to prove me wrong, right?

Immediately after that, it became clear that my intuition was right.

The fire magical attack magic that exploded, spreading a thunderous roar and a hot wind. And after the sound and light had subsided, a black wall that remained standing proudly appeared from the other side of the explosion.

It wasn’t intact, and although it was covered with splinters and large cracks here and there, it remained almost unscathed. Far from becoming brittle and collapsing, the devil’s barrier remained powerfully rising from the ground.

“–!? Oh no! Prepare for the second attack! Quickly!”

I hadn’t almost screamed those attack orders because I had intuitively sensed the impending danger. No, it was simply because the danger itself was visible.

Before I knew it, the devil was standing on top of the wall without a shadow of a doubt. Right on top of the defensive barrier that he himself had created.

Although it would be impossible for an ordinary sorcerer to be standing on a place like that, this devil we were dealing with was at such a level that an actual berserker would be seen as a mere child next to him. The reason why he had shown himself in such a prominent position must have been nothing  but so that he could further reduce the distance between us.

Yes, he seemed to have such a superhuman strength that it allowed him to jump on top of his 3-meter tall barrier in a single leap.

That had put him considerably closer to me, with a single jump. He could even reach the place I’m standing in another one of those jumps.

“Fireee!!”

At the same time as the second attack instruction was given, without betraying my expectations, the devil made another big jump.

Dozens of fireballs flew once again, this time exceeding the limit of defensive power of that black wall, causing it to make a loud noise as it collapsed.

However, by that time, the devil was already in the air. It seemed as if he had used the blast that happened immediately behind him as a tailwind, and soared magnificently in the air in a stable posture.

The third shot…

“Now! Fireee!!”

Before I could give the order, the captain of the sorcerer unit was ordering the  attack. Outstanding!

There was no way to avoid the attack while in mid-air. And considering that his black wall defensive spell also protruded from the ground, he shouldn’t be able to make another one appear just like that. Even if he could use some kind of defensive spell, it would be the lower-rank Shield at best.

At this moment, the devil was in a position in which he was both able to get dangerously but quickly close, and at the same time, he could end up taking the full force of our attacks.

Come on. Fall down. Get shot down like a bird.

I watched the big explosion of the fireballs that had surely hit the devil this time while praying from the bottom of my heart.

“Yes… We got him!”

“–No, not yet.”

I didn’t have time to reply anything to Sebas’s heavy denial.

“…”

The unscathed devil has finally landed on the ground.

I couldn’t find any burn marks on his face, hair, or the black coat on his large body.

No way, why, how… And that scary face he was making… Dangerous, scary, super scary. His eyes were dangerous. I’m sure he had killed several, no, dozens more.

That devil was standing so close that such disordered thoughts ran wild in my brain. I could see his face clearly. He was at point-blank range. I couldn’t think about how many meters away he was.

Ah, he’s close, too close… No, stay back, don’t come any closer–

“That bastard, he must have used martial arts or something to protect himself from that explosion… What an unthinkable skill.”

Well, I was turning my back so that no one would notice that I was so horrified that I thought I would go crazy, so I really couldn’t say for sure, but even under these circumstances, I could clearly hear the calm in Sebas’ voice as he analyzed the situation.

Speaking of which, sure enough, the devil was wearing an aura that looked as if he was at the peak of his enhanced martial arts.

It was a dark-grey aura, much like the luster of steel. It seemed to be heavy and hard at a glance. If he could emanate such a thing from his entire body, I had the feeling that it wouldn’t be strange that he could use it to block intermediate-level magical attacks.

“But he can’t possibly keep that much power going for long, though.”

You’re really something else, Sebas. If I had been a knight, I’m sure I would run away with all my might if I saw such a dangerous man in front of me.

And yet, there was no horror to his voice. There were feelings of impatience and surprise. But Sebas wasn’t afraid.

He was planning on fighting that devil in order to protect me.

“It’s okay, Lin. Your Sanctuary is absolute. I… I believe in your power.”

“Thanks.”

That was the best answer I could give him at the moment.

For just a second, a mysterious silence dominated the place.

I held my breath after the devil landed right in front of our noses. Not just me, I’m sure it was the same for Sebas and the soldiers defending this position.

This was our last line of defense. Honestly, why was this happening? We were the ones who were attacking, but before we knew it,  we were having trouble with just one man.

To be honest, I could now understand the feelings of the commander who attacked the rural village called Alsace.

But this had to be some kind of joke.

Please, die already. Die now. Please get killed by Sebas and just die. And quickly wake me up from this nightmare–

“Here he comes! Everyone, it’s time to risk your lives for Lady Linfelt!!”

Under Sebas’ command, the Armor Knights that were standing at the final walls started moving all at once.

The devil, on the other hand, was finally running towards his goal.

The dark-grey aura had already disappeared from his body. As Sebas said, it certainly didn’t seem to last long. Now, as long as our attacks hit, he should sustain damage properly.

“Grenade Burst.”

I heard the devil’s voice even clearer than before.

I was convinced that that was the name of the black magical explosive attack that had taken the life of many of our Crusader soldiers.

He had some kind of mechanical wand in his left hand…  It must have been one of those minor magic wands they called “guns”. I remember being shown one of those once before by a merchant who came to sell a rare weapon to the Count.

I was wondering who would use a vulnerable weapon that couldn’t normally withstand a battle of this magnitude because of its complicated mechanism, but here he was.

It seemed to have certain features that set it apart from the guns I knew. What I saw was his black bullets turning red hot with magical power as they were fired from those two iron pipes side by side at an unbelievable speed.

“Guard!”

Once fired, they became these devilish bullets that flew faster than an arrow, but if you see him pointing that wand at you, you’ll know when the attack is coming. All of the Armor Knights held their shields true with perfect coordination, and activated their defensive martial arts to brace themselves for the upcoming explosion.

That devil probably already knew that such an attack wouldn’t work against the Armor Knights.

And yet, he was purposely using it anyways… Was it some kind of trick, some attempt at misdirection?

As soon as those black and red flames I saw many times erupted, I saw the devil rushing into the turmoil without hesitation.

At this rate, he must have intended to rely entirely on the power of the cursed weapon he was holding on his other hand.

“Overdrive.”

What betrayed my prediction was the devil’s voice, which resounded horribly as if coming from the bottom of the earth.

At that moment, the Armor Knights were blown away. It was like when Erio would swing his hammer with all his might and send even his own allies flying… No, with even more momentum than that.

The heavy Armor Knights’ bodies were thrown into the air, just as one would throw a ragdoll. Not just one of them, but several.

He had kept on rushing and sent those Armor Knights flying without stopping. I had caught up with that fact as soon as I saw the devil breaking through the line of Armor Knights knights who screamed miserably as they were scattered about.

It was hard to believe that he could blow away those many Armor Knights by just hitting them with his raw strength. I couldn’t help but compare it with them being run over by a dragon freight car at full speed.

But yes, I had seen this man kill Erio with his strength. It shouldn’t come as surprising to see him sending our knights flying with his strength alone. Yes, with the power of that devil, which exceeds the power given by God.

“Sebas!?”

“Tsk, it looks like I’ll have to stop him…”

The reason for such a reaction was probably that not even Sebas could keep his composure at this point.

That was because now that the devil had gotten rid of our Armor Knights, the only one standing between him and me was none other than Sebas.

He was my final guard. The absolute last one. And in the end, the one I trusted the most.

“Please, Sebas… Don’t die.”

“You ought to ask me to protect you even if I die.”

It was a bit displeasing, but for some reason I clearly knew that there would be a bitter smile on his face.

Then Sebas confronted the incarnation of the encroaching black nightmare.

“Ah, God, please, I beg you–”

“Force Elboost!”

“Speed Elboost!”

“Protect Elboost!”

“Focus Elboost!”

As opposed to me, who could only pray, the sorcerer unit fired a barrage of spells at Sebas as a last effort to empower him on my behalf.

His abilities, which were already high-end, were momentarily raised to the limit. Sebas had the makings of someone who was able to receive such splendid support that could only be realized by focusing it on a single person.

“أقتل الشيطان مثل الري (Swift like the wind, tear this evil down) — Sonic Execution!”

Such an extreme situation called for Sebas’ deadly strike. It was his own original martial art, one that only he could use because he had both magical aptitude for wind and light, and he had mastered both magic and martial arts as an elite knight.

A shining hollow edge was generated on his blade, making it so that any opponent can be slashed in one strike. I had only seen this technique twice. The first time was when he cut the salamander’s head off<, and the second time was when he slashed a large iron golem operated by a heathen in half.

Sebas truly was a versatile man, but whenever I saw him fight, I realized that his greatest talent must have been his fighting ability. If that were the case, then he wouldn’t just be a true, he wouldn’t be just an uninteresting war amulet of a steward, but the most elite guardian of the Holy City Elysion. He would be strong enough to join the Temple Knights.

The fact that he always stood by my side, even though he was always complaining, has been one of the few happy things in my unfortunate life.

That’s why I was convinced that Sebas would always protect me without fail–

“Black Calm.”

The flash of light and wind that would immediately cut off evil, was instead thwarted by a sword of incommensurable evil.

The devil’s sword, which was covered in a horrifying yet glaring black-and-red aura, greeted Sebas’ “Sonic Execution” head-on.

When the swords of light and darkness collided, a shining wind blew fiercely, and a gloomy darkness gushed out. It was filled with a tremendous amount of magical light that drowned out even the sparks that burst out of the swords’ collision.

“–Sebas!”

I called out to him, but received no answer.

When the light subsided, I could see that the two were still locking sword to sword and pushing against one another. It seemed that the power of their martial arts was roughly equal. Sparks flew as the holy rapier and the evil naginata struggled fiercely for supremacy.

Even if I kept calling out to him, Sebas couldn’t afford to reply.

However, that devil should be at the limit against Sebas, whose abilities had been enhanced to the max.

When swords are locked against one another, the battle isn’t decided only by physical strength. There is a technique called pulling that draws out from this stalemate situation. There are even martial arts that match it.

When it came to just strength, that devil had actually overwhelmed Erio, but Sebas was definitely better skill-wise. His weapon of choice, the rapier, was suitable for performing elegant martial arts, while the devil’s naginata, which cuts using its own weight, should not be able to compete with the speed of his technique.

The devil has made an unbelievable advance so far, but at last his progress had finally been somewhat halted for the first time before an opponent with the same strength as him.

And by making him stop even once, it created an advantage. Now, Sebas didn’t have to keep fighting alone until one of them dropped to the ground.

Now, our entire infantry could attack the devil from behind.

With his, he had finally been cornered. It was time for us to bring that devil down–

“Uh, ah…”

We were the ones cornering him. Victory was at hand.

And yet, the devil laughed.

With that horrifying red and black gaze, he looked straight at me, and only me.

That guy… he was no longer paying any attention to Sebas, even though he was right in front of him.

“Sea-through Ground.”

I could hear the devil’s weak muttering as a smile began to form on the edge of his mouth.

What kind of spell was that? What was this guy trying to do from this situation?

I was assailed by a deep feeling of anxiety, as if the “Sanctuary” that had been protecting me had disappeared all of a sudden.

But that was simply impossible. I know it better than anyone. Even if it was so transparent that it seemed like there was nothing there, the barrier of absolute defense that breaks every dimension was still there. It followed my will, and my will alone.

That’s why it was impossible for this devil to kill me. He wouldn’t even lay a single finger on me. No matter how many times he used those black explosions of his, or you try to hit me with that terrible cursed blade.

There’s no way that my “Sanctuary”, which was a gift from the gods, would be torn–

“Take this– Evil Eater.”

At that time, something black popped out. Right in front of me. It was black, pitch black, and jagged, like the mouth of a dragon.

It came from below. Ah, it came from under the ground.

“Ah… No way… What’s this… It hurts…”