Chapter 451 – Fighting the Undead Demon Hero
The room is large, so the magic I can use is limited.
If I cast a huge fireball, then Cruz will be hurt, but weak magic will do nothing at all.
So I got a sharp magic bullet and shot it at him.
It pierced his hard belly and left through his back, but the scratch regenerates without any scars.
「He does have fast regeneration.」
『Al, want to get closer?』
Femm thought it might be dangerous to hurt him from long range.
「No, I’m fine, I can do this.」
『What are you going to do?』
The moment Femm asked, the stomach of the hero exploded.
My arrow left a magical bomb in his body, pretending to just penetrate him.
「I guess his skin is hard, but not his insides.」
His abdomen was blown away and he stopped.
All three girls jumped on him again.
They slashed him up.
「Go for his guts!」
Cruz shouted and the front guard lunged in on him.
「Guroooooooo!」
The former hero howled at all the countless cuts he was taking.
He suddenly grew and wings stretched from his back as his limbs stretched out.
His claws and fangs grew long.
He was clearly a demon now.
「Ah…master….」
Moko seemed to moan when he saw this.
The former hero continued to change…his skin took on a metallic luster, shining dully.
「Here!」
Cruz slashed at him again and the sword hit his neck directly. There was a violent metallic sound as it only cut halfway through.
「It’s too hard! I cut with all my strength!」
Cruz said, surprised her holy sword couldn’t cut him.
「If Cruz can’t cut him, I can’t!」
Luka said, backing up.
Not that Luka didn’t have the ability, just that her sword was useless. And her sword was a first class magic item, but not a holy sword wielded by a hero.
If so, Luka could probably cut him, but the hero’s regeneration was just too fast. So Luka took a step back so she wasn’t exhausted.
Ecces dashes in and slashes the hero demon herself.
「Whooaaaa!」
She roared as she slashed down on one of the demon’s arms.
But it was there her sword broke.
She jumped backwards without being panicked, just getting distance.
The demon let loose a magical attack, just your ordinary magical arrow.
But the speed and power was tremendous, so they did their best to dodge.
Even with its skin still metal, it still could regenerate quickly.
In fact, so quickly all the hero’s wounds were healed.
Ecces pulled out a new sword that was a size shorter than the one’s she used already.
「Better get ready for some scratches…」
And as soon as she was about to rush forward, Chel said from her shoulder,
『Immortal Killer Arrow!』
I knocked down the arrow that was about to strike Ecces.
It was an arrow the demons used.
「Don’t let it hit you…it’s an immortal killer arrow!」
I told everyone again.
When we subdued the previous demon lord, he hit me in the knee with one, and it was tough.
It has curses that affect your soul and hinder healing.
「Immortal killer. That’s dangerous! Stay away from it, Ecces.」
「O…okay.」
「I can feels something really terrifying from those arrows too.」
Not only Chel but Cruz felt the danger as well.
「He could hide the danger of it better than the previous demon lord.」
I said, and Cruz nodded.
He was so adept that even Cruz didn’t notice.
So the demon continued shooting them and the girls kept their distance to avoid it.
Timi and I stayed in the rearguard knocking the arrows down as they were shot.
「It’s hard to go on offense, Al! What now?」
「Yeah, well my magic…」
Ecces then said after I responded to Luka’s question,
「When I hit it with the sword, I could feel its core. The barrier that covers the core can’t be touched by swords or magic, but by the power of the god of destruction!」
She must have been able to read it with that power.
「Good, so where is it?」
「Right below his heart!」
Seems that it was between his heart and diaphragm.
「That’s deep inside the body! Can you break into it?」
「No! I can’t break it unless it’s exposed!」
「So I have to open him up?」
What a strange phrase.
You have to attack through immortality arrows into a guy that constantly regenerates, and who is now partially metal.
Even with a sword or magic, he’s not easily hurt.
『If I can touch him, I know, PiggI!』
Chel says, apparently using the power of the death god, which makes sense because the demon is immortal, but almost impossible to get a slime that close in.
I guess I had no choice but to take him.
Everyone else seemed to understand.
「Just support me! Defend Moko and Belda!」
Timi started attacking fiercely and knocked down all the arrows shot at Moko and Belda.
「Thanks Femm!」
『Sure!』
Femm charged towards the demon, avoiding his arrows easily.
I cast magic from her back.
I could knock them down myself with simple magical bullets.
And it was not hard, but I treated it seriously.
As the demon was hit by our magic, it was hurt, but then quickly recovered.
「Damn, his regeneration is so fast!」
When Femm and I approached, a third eye opened from the demon’s forehead and he shot more arrows from his hands.
The iris was white and the pupil silver. His mouth opened wide revealing a bright red tongue and long, sharp fangs.
KEEEEEIIIIEIEEEEEEE
There was an inorganic sound that was so high pitched, it seemed impossible to be made.
It had a very strong magical power.
Femm and I took the cry at a close distance.
My head hurt like crazy as Femm tumbled and fell.
The demon followed with immortal killer arrows while I desperately shot them down.
『Sorry, I’m okay.』
「Don’t overdo it, Femm.」
Femm tried to get up, but the cry didn’t stop.
My legs were wobbly and I couldn’t get up.
I got off of Femm and stood in front of her.
Even with the headache, I could shoot down the arrows myself.
Chel almost fainted off my shoulder and Shiggy was quiet as well…probably fainted too.
「W…what they hell?」
「A mixture of curse and magic.」
Luka said, kneeling and Yureena staggering.
Ecces fell hard as she lost her balance and couldn’t get back up.
「This sucks….」
Cruz was resistant to this but even so, held her head.
「Everyone calm down. Leave the arrows to me.」
I shot all of them down that I could and with some time, I could get Cruz to attack and gain the offensive, but I needed time.
「Moo moo!」
Moofy backed up with Vi-Vi and Belda as well, because it hurt and she was working hard to protect Vi-Vi and Belda.
Timi ran along with Moofy but was holding her head as well.
「This is tough, Arla, even for me as an ancient dragon!」
Even so, she was attacking the demon and shooting down the arrows.
Timi seemed to have just a headache, but wasn’t just stumbling like the others.
It made it much more simple to maintain a front line.
On the other hand Vi-Vi shouted,
「Didn’t think it would go this far!」
She was pale and sweating, but she held on to Belda so she wouldn’t fall from Moofy.
And while doing so, she cast her magic power from her right hand to the circles she carved.
The countless magic circles began to glow blue and my headache subsided quickly.
「I have a magic circle defense system, but I didn’t think he was so powerful. There’s no way to eliminate the effect of the cry totally.」
「Well, it helps!」
But the girls still seemed to be having trouble returning to the fight.
Cruz starts running towards the demon, though.
「Thanks, Vi-Vi!」
And Cruz goes on the offensive.
She knocks down an arrow and slashes at the demon again.
Her slashes finally begin to catch up with the regeneration.
But Vi-Vi’s circles also begin to break, one by one.
「They don’t last much longer!」
Hey, even a little while is enough.
「Okay!」
And so Cruz went on the offensive even more.
She wants to go all out while the circles are up.
I also helped by knocking the arrows down and shooting the demon as well.
The arrows pierced it and exploded like the first one and the demon gradually began to collapse due to our attacks.
「A little more!」
But the final circle of Vi-Vi had shattered.
We were immediately struck by the howl of the demon again.
It was like your head cracked open. You couldn’t control your magic and even movement was hard.
「Sorry! I’m…」
Vi-Vi said, almost passed out on Moofy’s back.
「This is really bad, Alra! We need to care for Sighisoara!」
Timi shouted.
「Ryaaa?」
Shiggy’s head popped out, probably because she was called, and she looked in good shape.
Almost as if she didn’t even hear the demon’s cry.
She just looked around and took in what was going on, her eyes opened wide and she inhaled through her nose…and she seemed angry.
Maybe she’s angry at this race of demons that killed her mother.
Or the devil’s howl itself?
Or both? She was angry.
「Timi, take Shiggy.」
「Okay.」
From now on, I would have to concentrate to handle this situation. Timi could care for the little dragon.
And if necessary, escape with her.
「Shiggy, go to Timi.」
「Ryyyaaa!」
「Come with your aunt, Shiggy!」
「Ryaa! Ryaa!」
「Don’t be selfish, I’ll be right there!」
「Ryaa!」
I was shooting down the arrows during this conversation and the devil’s howl was splitting my head open…it seemed stronger than before.
I tried to prevent my body from being disoriented, but I had to keep knocking the arrows down because if I failed, they would hit my friends. I had no time to spare anything, and there was no time to go on the offense.
「Ryaaa! Ryaa!」
I could tell that Shiggy was resisting going to Timi.
「Shiggy, come with auntie…huh?」
All of us were suffering from the cry…but Shiggy wasn’t at all.
「Shiggy?」
Shiggy then opened her mouth wide.
「RYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」
She screamed loudly at the demon.
There was magic in her scream, and it wasn’t normal…it was one I had never seen, strong.
I could feel the scream spread throughout the room. The two sounds collided and a strange new sound reverberated….it almost sounded like REEEEEEEEE….
The painful cry of the demon is drowned out and the cute sound of Shiggy’s ryaaaa replaced it. The demon was still screaming, but his voice was drowned out. My headache was gone and I could move easily.
「Shiggy, you save us!」
Shiggy shook her tail as she continued to cry out.
It was probably the will of the dragon god, and Ecces, the lord of the destruction god stood, knowing what to do as well…probably as soon as she saw Shiggy.
The devil’s howl disappeared and the front group moved in again…I shot down everything I could while attacking.
「Leave defense to me! I’ll drop the arrows!」
「Good!」
They all lunged in and attacked while Ecces howled and punched into the demon with her destruction punch. A fist-sized hole popped open in the demon’s body.
Then Cruz and Luka followed up with their swords, trying to cut through the hard metal skin.
『Get on!』
「Thanks!」
So I got back on Femm, as she began running at once.
The demon tried to slash us with his arms but it bounced off my magical barrier and momentarily got tied with a magical rope.
「PIGGIIIIIII!」
And with perfect timing, the death lord Chelnobok touched the demon’s arm.
There was a strong light as if Chel had become a little sun…it was Chel’s turn undead spell.
In that moment there was a rainbow-colored haze that emanated from the demon…Chel had stripped it of its immortality.
I could see that the regeneration had slowed down considerably.
「We can beat him now, maybe!」
So the girls went back to slashing at the demon.
But even so, the demon’s body was so hard, the swords had a hard time penetrating him.
And since his regeneration slowed, he began to defend himself.
He stopped just taking the attacks and began to block them with magical barriers.
So the three girls feinted and attacked his limbs instead.
The limbs were softer and harder to cover with a barrier.
And the demon was intent on covering his torso.
「It’s defense is too strong!」
「Not only that, but he’s actively defending!」
「Aim at the limbs! You can damage them!」
The girls were getting desperate.
The swords couldn’t hack the torso, so they had to do something else.
I kept shooting the arrows down while shooting the magic arrows at his abdomen…the magic barrier became thicker because of how dangerous my arrows were, and they were repelled quickly.
「No good? Try this!」
So I upped their power. I poured everything into them so the demon would have to as well. He shot all his arrows in my direction to stop me.
「Let’s see how strong you are!」
A comparison of effort and power…I can’t lose this.
If I do, then my friends will be struck.
Hundreds of arrows collide. The demon’s power is enormous, and it’s a hard battle.
「Come onnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!」
But I finally could push him back.
My magical arrows struck him and crushes the barrier he threw up.
It hit his skin, exploded inside, and the wound stayed open…healing, but much slower.
「I see it!」
Ecces points to the demon, seeing the center of the demon’s torso exposed.
The core of the demon was blown open by one destruction punch by Ecces.
「Now me!」
Then Cruz jumped at the demon and plunged her holy sword into the core as well…when she pulled it out, a transparent blob was stuck on the sword’s tip.
And the demon moaned「Giiigiigiiiii」as the sword was pulled back, and fell to the floor.
The metallic skin suddenly returned to human color and his body shrunk to human size. He had lost his demon form and returned to human size.
But he didn’t look like the young man we saw when entering – 10 seconds later, there was a wrinkled old man lying there on the ground.