Chapter 71 - The assassin waits for an opportunity
Translator: VALIANT
The beetle demon was going into a frenzy and rampaging.
He said something about his work almost bearing fruit.
What he meant by ‘fruit’ was his objective, and he had an entire city’s worth of people devoured to reach it.
…I could easily guess that this ‘fruit’ wouldn’t do any good for the humans.
Spoiling it for that guy probably made for a good yield.
And there was one more intel to harvest.
There wasn’t a single scratch on that guy’s body.
Since he was inside the city, there was no way he hadn’t been burned by the flames.
Even if he could withstand them, it was impossible for him to be unharmed.
There was a possibility that he was just a monster with powerful regenerative abilities, but it was unlikely that him being unscathed was only due to regeneration, so it should be regarded as resurrection instead, meaning that in all likelihood, he was a demon.
[Tarte, Dia, use this opportunity to make sure we kill him.] (Lugh)
[Yes, sir!] (Tarte)
[Yeah, I know.] (Dia)
He was at least aware that there was an intruder in the city.
Nonetheless, he still didn’t make any flashy moves, which meant that he was supposedly cautious by nature, and I managed to push the buttons of this same cautious fiend.
If I was gonna kill him, it was now or never.
Tarte and Dia attacked him from the front.
I flanked him while erasing my presence.
I had selected several sniper points beforehand, and I was aiming for one of them.
Once I got there, I would destroy him with one of my strongest attacks.
The spell I had prepared this time took a long time to chant. It took so long that even with the help of the superior version of【Multiple Chanting】, 【High-Speed Chanting】, I couldn’t use it during a fight.
Therefore, I could only resort to stealth assassination.
…I prayed for Tarte and Dia’s success.
I was trying to fulfill my job while believing in their strengths.
(Note : The author is narrating apparently)
Tarte and Dia ran.
There was fear in their hearts.
Because they could visualize mana with their Tuatha Dé eyes, which were given to them by Lugh through surgery, they understood what tremendous power the beetle demon possessed.
Challenging such a monster was a suicidal act.
Not to mention, the enemy had snapped and revealed his maniacal nature.
[Tarte, you know what to do, right? Even if we manage to hurt him, he’ll just regenerate. What we need to do is stall him and buy time.] (Dia)
[Yes, I must stop him from moving and create an opening to ensure that your flying【Demon Slayer】spell will hit him.] (Tarte)
[Yeah, please take care of that. I can only fire two shots. Not sure I’ll have that much leeway, though.] (Dia)
Thanks to【My Loyal Knights】boosting her powers, Dia became able to activate【Demon Slayer】.
And she had also completed the flying【Demon Slayer】spell she talked about in the carriage.
However, even though she could activate it, the mana consumption for this magic was ridiculously high.
Although her mana pool was gradually increasing thanks to【Rapid Recovery】and【Limitless Growth】, she could only fire two shots at most.
The fact that she was only allowed to miss one shot was a lot of pressure.
As for the beetle demon, he spotted Tarte and Dia.
[So you vermins did thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisssss…!!!] (Beetle Demon)
It was just a shout, but it generated a shockwave, sending Tarte and Dia flying away.
The two of them landed, Tarte stepped forward, and Dia began chanting on the spot.
The latter used【Multiple Chanting】to combine spells.
With this, she managed to cast【Cannon Strike】, something she was formerly unable to perform.
A huge cannon was created and fired tungsten bullets.
This was the spell with the greatest penetration power in her arsenal.
She was targeting his right thigh. If the point had been to kill him, then that wasn’t the right target.
However, if the point was to stop his movement, then she was right to aim for his legs.
As intended, the bullet pierced his right thigh.
It was a precision shot made possible by Dia’s precise magic control.
The blow, which could pierce even a thick steel plate, cracked his shell and sent the bullet halfway through it.
…Which meant that his shell was even harder than a steel plate.
Tarte and Dia’s faces twitched a little.
[That fucking huuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrtttttt…!! You little biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitch…!!] (Beetle Demon)
Without holding anything, he swung his arm and stroke a throwing pose.
A piece of his shell flew away.
That projectile, which seemed to reach the speed of sound, was flying towards Dia.
Tarte pierced its edge with her wind-clad spear and deflected it. The projectile landed behind her with a detonating sound.
If she had taken the attack head-on, her wrists would certainly have been destroyed, and an ordinary human would have not even been able to react in the first place.
However, Tarte was strengthening her eyesight by pouring mana into her Tuatha Dé eyes.
[Dia-sama, once you find an opening, please go for it as soon as possible. I might not be able to buy any more time.] (Tarte)
[Yeah, I don’t plan to keep you waiting too long.] (Dia)
They both nodded at each other.
Tarte injected something into her neck.
It was a drug that temporarily removed the brain’s natural limits, which Lugh had also used on himself.
It temporarily sharpened the senses and increased the amount of mana released, but it would turn useless in less than ten minutes.
Even so, Tarte concluded that if she didn’t use it, they would be crushed right on the spot. …And this was the right decision.
The amount of mana released instantaneously skyrocketed, and she used【Beastification】in that state.
Her fox ears and tail popped out.
As a result, her senses were further sharpened, and her physical abilities were significantly improved.
[I will crunch Lugh-sama’s enemies.] (Tarte)
A vicious smile appeared on her face.
When she used【Beastification】, Tarte became more savage.
During her training, she had learned how to abandon herself to that skill without trying to suppress it.
Without daring to suppress her inner impulses, Tarte rushed forward, letting her instincts take over.
As if to intercept her, the beetle demon extended his arm, and a stinger popped out of it.
It was a complete surprise attack, but because her senses had been sharpened to the limit, she twisted her neck just in time to duck and thrust her spear straight at him.
However, this was easily thwarted by his shell.
[I’m sorry, did you do something just now?] (Beetle Demon)
[…You fucking bug.] (Tarte)
Tarte didn’t stop there, she went straight behind him and hit his unguarded back with all her might, yet this proved to be useless as well.
On the other hand, she safely dodged a random blow from the beetle demon, and pulled away from him.
After that, she tried various creative ways to attack him, but they all ended in vain.
He was too tough, and the joints of his shell were covered with a special coating that prevented blades from passing through.
In the first place, his shell was so hard it took a【Cannon Strike】to actually penetrate his flesh, and no matter how much she strengthened her physical abilities, there was no way for Tarte to achieve that with a spear.
Nevertheless, she continued to jab at him with her spear and overwhelming speed.
[You’re so slow I’m yawning over here, stupid bug!] (Tarte)
The difference in speed was so large that the beetle demon couldn’t catch up at all.
The bullet lodged in his right thigh was also a factor in reducing his movement. Regarding the results, it was better to have it embedded in his flesh than through it.
Consequently, the beetle demon was unable to catch hold of her head-on and was being one-sidedly tormented.
Still, Tarte didn’t have the upper hand by any means because no matter how many times she attacked him, nothing she did was effective.
On the contrary, Tarte was running out of breath.
She was too fast for her enemy to catch her, but she couldn’t keep this speed up.
If nothing was done, she would tire out and receive a fatal blow.
Even if that didn’t happen, her【Beastification】was about to wear off.
…Indeed, if the status quo was maintained without anyone doing anything, the beetle demon would win.
But then, he snapped.
[All your prickling is getting on my nerves!] (Beetle Demon)
He slammed the ground with his fist.
Countless stone gravels scattered around him.
Tarte dodged most of them, but she was hit by a few she couldn’t dodge.
To make matters worse, she took one in the stomach, and she fell to her knees.
She couldn’t even breathe after taking the full brunt of it.
The beetle demon, who couldn’t repress a grim smile, raised his fists and walked over to Tarte while she was vulnerable.
[I’ll squash yoooooooouuuuuuuuuu…!] (Beetle Demon)
He swung down his fist.
Even though she was in a desperate situation, Tarte smirked.
As a matter of fact, the blow she took in the stomach didn’t do much damage thanks to both the shock-absorbing innerwear made by Lugh and her magical defense.
She was faking.
She had one reason to do that. To buy time for chanting while resting her body.
Tarte couldn’t chant magic and strengthen her physical abilities at the same time.
Therefore, she needed to make him think that she couldn’t move and buy some time.
Tarte activated her spell and was covered in lightning.
She and the beetle demon passed each other.
The latter was most likely dumbfounded. After all, Tarte was even faster than earlier, lightning-fast actually.
And then…
[AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!] (Beetle Demon)
The beetle demon fainted in agony from a single attack that didn’t do any damage at all earlier.
As before, the spear didn’t penetrate his shell.
However, lightning flowed through the shell and eroded the inside.
The high-voltage current caused the beetle demon to be forced out of action.
But Tarte had also reached her limit. Her fox ears and tail vanished, and she fell to her knees.
Due to the drug that forced her to draw her full strength, the stress of a real-life battle and all sorts of factors, she reached her limit earlier than during practice.
[Dia-sama!] (Tarte)
Tarte shouted as if she were imploring.
This was the first and last chance that Tarte could give to Dia. She couldn’t use the same tactics, she had no energy to spare, and she couldn’t pull another stunt to give a second opening, so she was desperate.
[【Demon Slayer】!] (Dia)
Dia mimicked a gun with her hands and shot a ball of mana.
This spell was completed too quickly. It was supposed to be a spell that would have taken quite a while to complete, even for Dia.
Indeed, Dia kept calmly watching Tarte’s movements. Then she started chanting in advance, believing that her friend would definitely manage to create an opening during their clash.
That was how she finished chanting “now”.
She was able to do it because she knew and trusted Tarte.
If she had only started chanting after the demon stopped moving, or if she had tried to help Tarte with other spells thinking that she was at a disadvantage, the beetle demon’s durability would’ve saved him before【Demon Slayer】was completed, and the opportunity Tarte had created would’ve gone to waste.
Because Dia believed in her, she focused only on her own job and seized the opportunity.
The ball of mana that Dia shot landed on the ground.
A spherical field formed around that point, enveloping the beetle demon.
【Demon Slayer】.
A magic spell that could put demons, who possessed the outrageous ability to resurrect themselves, into a state where they could be killed.
She felt uneasy as it was her first time putting it into action.
However, one look at the beetle demon’s shocked expression was enough to see how effective it was.
Dia refrained from trying to look in Lugh’s direction.
She didn’t want to increase the risk of the beetle demon noticing Lugh, even by one percent.
Even Tarte was holding back from doing so, so there was no way she could indulge herself.
The three of them were a team, and a team was born not when everyone got along with each other, but when everyone did what needed to be done perfectly.
This was Lugh’s favorite phrase, and a lesson that Tarte and Dia both believed in.
Dia decided to just wait.
Tarte played the role of protecting Dia and creating an opening.
Dia played the role of hitting the demon with her flying【Demon-Slayer】.
Therefore, Lugh absolutely had to play the final role of assassinating the demon.
They believed in him so much they could say with certainty that he would succeed.
That was probably why despite being in a situation where the beetle demon would kill both her and Tarte if Lugh didn’t kill him within the next few seconds… Dia smiled.