Chapter 109
Every time Castor swung his favorite weapon, Anchor Lance, he would knock down the demihumans. He was not particularly powerful among the combatants of the Tyrannical Twelve Stars. In terms of combat power, he was even weaker than Aries. He also did not have any powerful skills.
Yet, Castor was still one of the combatants of the Tyrannical Twelve Stars. Even the non-combatants of the Twelve Stars, such as Parthenos and the Fairy Princess who was the other half of the Twins, had extraordinary strength. As a marginally qualified combatant among them, his strength was sufficient to match a thousand warriors all by himself.
There were several hundred demihumans, while Castor was alone by himself. However, the demihumans were the ones who were overwhelmingly disadvantaged. This was because Castor’s strength could truly match several thousand individuals. Therefore, regardless of whether there were several hundred or several thousand people fighting, it would just be a dead rubber match in which the victor was already decided.
Even so, he was still one of the Twelve Stars who had a decent personality, thus he had been holding back to avoid killing the demihumans. If Libra, Aigokeros, or Scorpius were here, the lives of the hostile demihumans would not be taken into consideration. With just a few dozen seconds, the entire place would be littered with corpses.
“Storm Circle!”
The winds were released in all directions with Castor at the center. That alone was enough to render the demihumans in front incapable of fighting, while the warriors behind them were visibly frightened. If Castor was serious, he could have defeated the ones who were behind as well. However, if the winds were strengthened to such an extent, some of the demihumans in the front might end up dead. The demihumans seemed to have understood this and they realized they had no chance of victory.
“Wh—What are you doing?! Hurry up and get rid of that handsome b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”
“B—But…”
“If—If you don’t go, I’ll kill you all! If you don’t want to die, go!”
“Uh…Wah!”
After being threatened by the merman commander, an arachne in the vanguard cried out and charged. The upper body of an arachne was no different from that of a female human. This young arachne would be considered adorable if one looked only at her upper body. However, her lower body was that of an ugly spider. The mismatch merely invoked more disgust.
Castor disarmed the arachne girl as she thrusted her spear at him. She was thus effectively neutralized. After getting disarmed, the arachne girl shut her eyes firmly and prepared for the killing blow. But Castor gently tapped her head as she cowered in fear. When the arachne opened her eyes in bewilderment, Castor flashed her a sparkling handsome smile.
“Please stop. A weapon doesn’t suit a pitiful child like you.”
“Ah…Y—Yes…”
She smiled in relief, showing her shiny white teeth. Then, the arachne girl’s cheeks turned red and she couldn’t move from the spot. If this was a manga, her pupils would have become heart-shaped by now.
The merman distorted his face in rage and clenched his teeth. If Ruphas was here, she would have understood his feelings and dissed Castor for the smiling and head-patting seduction. She might even become the merman’s comrade just to spite the handsome b.a.s.t.a.r.d.
Watching Castor show off his handsome power before him, the merman grew jealous and his hatred increased further. On the other hand, the arachne girl had completely fallen and she looked up to Castor, holding her hands together as if she was praying.
“It seems you don’t know how to treat a lady properly. A man should be gentle with a lady. He shouldn’t drag her into a battlefield.”
It wasn’t particularly important, but his master was actually the world’s strongest woman who would run around the battlefield at supersonic speed and defeat her enemies in a b.l.o.o.d.y festival. If this was pointed out to him, he might be speechless. But the merman wasn’t so quick in the head, so Castor continued his speech.
“You seem to have a crush on someone, but if you do things like this, it’s only natural that you’d be rejected. Listen, let me tell you the truth: What’s important about a man is not his face, it’s what’s inside him!”
“You don’t get to say that—!”
The merman was enraged. His face turned red with anger as he grabbed his harpoon and charged. He was followed by an ant-faced warrior, a mantis-faced warrior, and a mob of male warriors who were not blessed with appealing looks.
One of the tragedies involving the demihumans was their aesthetic sense. Even if they had the features of a fish, snake, or bug, they were still similar to humans as the term “demihuman” implied. So what did this mean? This was both a tragedy and a comedy.
Part of their aesthetic sense was derived from humans. Of course, each race had its own standards of beauty, but at the same time, they also had an aesthetic sense based on human standards.
For example, consider the dragonfly-faced bugkin. Although other races might see them all as having monstrous faces, they could still clearly differentiate between the beautiful and ugly individuals among themselves. Even if others could not tell them apart, a handsome individual would still be popular among other dragonfly bugkin. This was true regardless of gender.
However, at the same time, they could also discern beauty by human standards. Thus, if there was a beautiful human girl before them, they would not find her ugly because she didn’t have a dragonfly face. Like humans, they would recognize her as a beauty.
This was where the tragedy began. Even if one had the most handsome dragonfly face, humans would see him only as a monster. If he were to confess to a human girl, she would only run away.
In other words, Castor was a handsome guy whose appearance made them feel bad about themselves! Not only could he catch the eyes of human beauties who would never turn to look at them, even female demihumans would find him attractive.
How absurd! How unfair!
However, this was only natural if one were to think about it. After all, Alovenus, the G.o.ddess of love and beauty, stood at the top of this world. Since she was the G.o.ddess of beauty, she wouldn’t be considered plain even if seen from the perspective of non-humans.
In other words, Alovenus appeared beautiful to every race and every creature. Such a sense of beauty was instilled in all living things. The standards of beauty in this world were ultimately based on Alovenus. And since humans had an appearance which was the closest to Alovenus, they stood in the center of the aesthetic sense which was common to all living things. Therefore, no matter how different one’s appearance might be, a good-looking human face was regarded as beautiful by all creatures.
“Die—!”
Right at this moment, their hearts were as one. They had a sense of unity like never before. Their cries were a song of lamentation by the males who were not popular. Their tragic lives flashed before their eyes as they charged at Castor.
There was once a village girl who frequently came to the forest in order to harvest herbs. Whenever I tried to help her after she lost her way, she would scream, “Monster!” and run away. When I tried to return the things she dropped back to her, she would be scared out of her wits.
Since it couldn’t be helped, she returned to her original location and she met a bear beastkin. For some reason, they started skipping and dancing. After meeting the bear in the forest where flowers bloomed, they eventually got married. She was now the fourth royal consort of Draupnir.
Because he was a beastkin, the human found him cute, so he got greedy.
Giving in to jealousy, despair, and hatred, they pushed themselves beyond their limits.
Showing the highest level of training they could ever muster, they became one with malice and challenged Castor. Meanwhile, Castor swung his fist upwards at those men.
“Gemini Meteor Fist!”
His fist penetrated the sky, turning those men into meteors. It was actually nothing special, just an ordinary uppercut. They were simply blown away by the wind magic. There was actually no such skill as Gemini Meteor Fist. A single blow took them out. They lost the ability to fight as they crashed to the ground. As they lost consciousness, they thought:
You handsome b.a.s.t.a.r.d, just perish…
♌
battle between Virgo and the lamia became a long-distance shootout. It wasn’t intentional. It just became like this before either of them realized it. While Virgo soared in the sky, the lamia couldn’t reach her alt.i.tude. While the lamia moved between the trees, Virgo couldn’t get close enough because the trees were in the way. As a result, there was no effective way to attack besides long-ranged attacks. Both sides merely repeated the same attacks, inevitably leading to the current situation.
If Virgo had a bit more experience, it wouldn’t have become like this. Because of their level difference, she could have simply slashed her white blade at the lamia’s neck without worrying about her magic. But Virgo couldn’t do it. At the moment of the attack, she would hesitate for an instant and create an opening. It wasn’t a tactical decision to keep to a long-ranged combat. It was Virgo herself who subconsciously avoided slashing directly at her opponent and thus chose a long-ranged battle instead.
“Hah!”
“Water Spear!”
A blade of light was released from La Pucelle, colliding with the water spear fired by the lamia. It wasn’t a mutual neutralization. The blade of light unilaterally sliced through the water spear and headed towards the lamia, who evaded it with a literal snake-like movement.
The lamia’s level was definitely not higher than Virgo’s. On the contrary, the lamia was only Level 150. Virgo’s level was over twice as high in comparison. Certainly, as a support type, Virgo’s status was not suitable for direct combat. But if the level difference was doubled, there would be an absolute gap between them. In that case, Virgo should have won, but she didn’t. Instead of a straightforward victory, she was in the heat of battle.
This was the difference in their experience and motivation. Virgo’s experience was definitely insufficient. Furthermore, she didn’t have a strong hostility to eliminate the demihumans. On the other hand, the lamia was at the end of her rope. She couldn’t afford to lose. The difference in their will to fight was bridging the level gap which should have been unbridgeable.
Somehow…I need to stop her movement! I’ll use that skill!
Virgo’s eyes narrowed and a heavy pressure struck the lamia’s body. This was Coercion, the unique skill of flügels. Its effect could enforce submission from those whose levels were half that of the user. It was a kingly power that sealed the enemy’s movements without shedding blood. It could subdue the opponent without fighting before the battle even started. Considering the level difference between Virgo and the lamia, this skill should have restrained her movements.
“…Tsk, don’t look down on me!”
However, the lamia’s desperate shout shook off the coercion, allowing her to resume the battle. A water bullet struck Virgo while she was surprised, causing her to drop in alt.i.tude.
“How?!”
“You’re too soft, little girl. Sure your level is surely higher than mine. Normally, that one burst of coercion would have ended everything. But you just don’t have it in you. You don’t have the intention of forcing the opponent into submission no matter what it takes. It’s empty inside…This kind of coercion is like papier-mâché.”
Virgo had a modest and gentle personality. But actually, was it really just gentleness? She lacked self-confidence, she wasn’t independent, and she couldn’t move forward on her own. Since she frequently just went with the flow, it could be said that she was lacking on the inside. Therefore, her Coercion didn’t have the power to restrain. And so, the battle that should have ended in one skill continued on. After being seen through, Virgo was shaken.
“Those beautiful, pure white wings…You’re probably related to the royalty of the flügels. Did you think you could suppress us with that level of coercion? There is too much of a difference between what each of us is fighting for!”
The lamia shouted and her arcane magic landed a direct hit on Virgo. But as long as there was a level difference, the injury would of course not be fatal. She ended up with a minor injury instead. However, if minor injuries continued to pile up, it could lead to a severe injury. The battle was gradually shifting to the lamia’s advantage as Virgo’s situation became more desperate. Seeing this, Sei’s heart became anxious.
This is bad, Virgo is…!
Sei wanted to rush over to aid Virgo who was getting desperate, but he couldn’t do it. That was because he couldn’t take his hands off his current situation. If he turned his back on the opponent before him, he would be killed instantly.
The mobility of Sarjes the spiderkin was a threat to Sei and the others. He ran quickly on the ground and jumped dexterously from tree to tree. He would then suddenly attack anyone who showed an opening, increasing the damage he dealt. Sei and the others were barely able to deal with this by forming a circle, but it made them too pa.s.sive in the fight. Their current situation was overwhelmingly disadvantaged.
“Tsk, this is bad…That spider b.a.s.t.a.r.d is too fast.”
“I can barely follow him with my eyes. How troublesome.”
Jean and Gants stared at Sarjes’ movements while grumbling. Even when he was caught in their fields of vision, he would have started his next move, so it was difficult to determine his position.
We have the wrong matchup, Gants thought in his heart.
Among them, only Virgo was capable of high mobility combat. She was the only one who could fly and therefore follow Sarjes’ three-dimensional movements. However, Virgo was currently struggling with the lamia and was unable to provide reinforcement.
While Gants was thinking this, a metallic sound was heard from behind, followed by Kaineko’s cry of agony. Apparently, he was barely able to block Sarjes’ attack due to the unique dynamic vision of a beastkin. However, they couldn’t hold out for long.
What should we do…?
Sei brainstormed for a way to win despite their inferior combat capabilities. His own skills, his companions’ abilities…No matter how he considered them, he couldn’t find a way to give Sarjes a decisive blow. Meanwhile, Sarjes’ thread entangled Sei’s sword, worsening the situation.
This is bad…Is there anything we could do? Anything…!
But unexpectedly, when Virgo flew out of the edge of his vision, an idea came to him.
—Yes, there was one. A way to overcome this situation.
“Virgo, can you hear me?! If you can hear me, I want you to shout out what I say!”
“Eh?!”
“Shout this out…”
Sei opened his mouth to speak and then stopped. Honestly, he wondered how things would change. Perhaps, as a result of saying this, he might end up getting killed. However, there was no other option now. He just had to try hard at resolving the misunderstanding later.
“Say…‘This guy is a chikan! Somebody, save me!’…”
“…Eh?”
“It’s fine, just shout that out! You’ll find out what it means!”
The words Sei spoke was incomprehensible. No, the meaning was basically understood. Although she had never heard of the term “chikan,” she could understand that it was basically a request for help. But whom should she be seeking help from? And where would this person be?
Virgo opened her eyes wide. After hearing the request, Sarjes, the lamia, and Gants were wondering if Sei was still right in the head. But Sei was convinced that this was the incantation to reverse their situation. If Virgo were to say this, that would surely come.
“Uh, eh…Then I’m saying it? Thi—This guy is a chikan! Somebody, save me!”
Virgo shouted, despite not knowing Sei’s intention.
Nothing…changed.
No, it just appeared as if nothing changed. But that was not actually the case. After hearing Virgo’s cry, that thing approached at astonishing speed in order to eliminate the insolent target. Its creator had given strict orders. If an insolent fool appeared to touch Virgo, beat him to within an inch of his life!
“Yes, boss!”
And so, Suzuki came running. It accelerated and headed towards the demihuman village at maximum speed. While moving, its shape changed and it quickly reorganized its body with gacha-gacha sounds. Several parts were rearranged and the doors became steel arms. From the bottom, legs were extended. It abandoned the form of a car to become a steel giant.
Just like something from a robot anime, the eyes on its head were covered by a visor. In the back, twin eyes shone bright red. The giant ran in a stunning form like a marathon runner. In order to obey the highest priority command given by Ruphas, it had a.s.sumed its a.s.sault form!
Its right hand was holding a mana saber that was made using Libra’s Left Scale as a model. Its left hand was holding a mana rifle that fired compressed mana instead of live ammunition. Later on, its creator, the black-winged overlord, said, “Honestly, this is too much.”
It jumped over the bee demihumans at the village entrance and rushed in, breaking through any tree that was in the way.
And it saw her! The figure of Virgo, the target to be protected!
Seeing that appearance, Sei was stunned for a moment, but who could blame him? No, it wasn’t just him. Everyone was stunned by the sudden intruder, but Sei was more surprised than anyone else.
—Hey…Why is it a robot…?
As he thought this, his eyes had a faraway look as if he wanted to escape from reality. But he quickly shook his head to remember his purpose. Immediately, he cried out to Suzuki.
“Did you come? I’m the chikan! Come!”
It was a rather terrible thing to say about himself. If his father heard this, he would be in tears. Sei held his sword firmly as he provoked Suzuki. Sei’s sword was currently entangled by Sarjes’ thread, connecting them together. By following the thread, he could determine Sarjes’ position.
Sarjes’ current position was…sandwiched between Sei and Suzuki, who was coming straight at him! Upon recognizing the insolent target, Suzuki marked him as an enemy and charged over at a tremendous speed. Its charge broke the tree on which Sarjes was standing, knocking him down in the process. At the same time, Sei dashed forward, evading Suzuki’s body and sticking closely to Sarjes while he was on the ground.
“Wh—What…?!”
“Sorry…Let’s get hurt together.”
A steel giant charged at them with a thundering noise.
It’s fine. I’m sure it’ll be fine.
Sei kept telling himself that. Ruphas definitely said “within an inch of his life” in her command. In that case, he would surely not be killed. By the way, was this really a body smash? Considering its size, wasn’t this more like a soccer ball kick?
“Go to h.e.l.l!”
“Ugh—?!”
The pitiful Sarjes screamed and a moment later, he was kicked by Suzuki along with Sei. As expected, it wasn’t a body smash, it was a kick. In his heart, Sei made such a retort, perhaps due to a habit of being precise.
With a single blow, the golem created by the Black-Winged Overlord crushed the exoskeleton of Sarjes and caused tremendous damage. When he crashed to the ground, he was no longer able to stand up by himself. On the other hand, Sei escaped serious injuries due to the shield that Virgo deployed at the last minute. In addition, Virgo hurriedly flew in front of Suzuki to stop its charge, thereby sparing Sei’s life.
Anyway, isn’t it pointing its rifle over here? Its finger is on the trigger, right?
This is a dangerous tightrope. This tightrope is way too dangerous.
However, Sei realized that his plan worked, and thinking that he had been somewhat useful, he lost consciousness.