Chapter 118
The G.o.d-like skill used by Pollux, Argonautai, summoned the spirits of dead heroes from the past and gave them physical bodies to materialize in. Their races did not matter. She could revive even magical beasts as long as she acknowledged them as heroes and they shared her will.
There were humans, vampires, flügels, elves, dwarves, floresiensis, and beastkin. There were also bugkin, merfolk, plantkin, snakekin, and even the long-extinct giants and dragonkin. All of them raised their weapons to protect her.
There was no limit to how many people she could summon and they lasted as long as Pollux’s SP wasn’t depleted. Furthermore, Pollux had another special ability. She could draw an unlimited amount of arcane power and divine power from the world of Midgard itself via her dormant true form.
And this was the proof that her true form that created her avatar had unlimited power, but what exactly was her true form? Only a few people could arrive at the answer.
“Please hurt him a little, so that he’d never want to come here again.”
At Pollux’s command, all of the heroes rushed forward at once. Terra drew his sword and attacked one of the leading heroes. However, the giant in the frontline easily parried Terra’s slash with the great sword in his hand and pushed him back. Then, two flügel knights cut in from the sky, leaving two shallow wounds on the shoulders of Terra, who barely evaded the attacks.
“Ugh!?”
“Heh, you have good reaction speed.”
Pollux praised him as if she was impressed by Terra’s speed at which he avoided a fatal wound. However, there was not the slightest hint of vigilance against Terra in her voice. It was merely the praise of someone who was absolutely certain of her victory as she watched the desperate efforts of her opponent.
Of course, there was no way she could lose. She would win even if she took a nap. It was like a game of chess in which the opponent had only a king, while she had so many queens and knights that it broke the rules. If the king was completely surrounded by her queens and knights, why would there be any need for vigilance?
Furthermore, there were several heroes here who were even stronger than Terra. If this situation was to be overcome, it would need an absurd king who could overturn the entire chess board. In the past, Pollux had met one such individual who was ridiculous enough to make her admit defeat—the Black-Winged Overlord. However, unfortunately, she was in a completely different league from Terra.
It was checkmate. The fight was over before it even began.
“Just give up and go home. I don’t have a hobby of bullying the weak.”
“Isn’t it too early to proclaim victory?”
“Is it? Well then, continue with your pointless resistance.”
The giant stepped forward and sent Terra flying with a club. Terra certainly raised his defense in time, but it was overpowered by the opponent’s absurd strength and level. There were various kinds of beastkin waiting where he landed and they attacked together at once. Terra barely managed to evade their attacks, but he couldn’t find an opening to counterattack. As a result, he was unilaterally increasing his own injuries.
He somehow widened the distance and swung his sword, sending forth a blue slash. However, it wasn’t able to even defeat one enemy as it was blocked by multiple shields. Moreover, magic of all attributes were fired at him in return. Even after resisting some of them, the rest still struck him.
“Ug—Ugh!”
The teamwork of the Argonauts was by no means good. Or rather, it was bad to the extent of having no leadership. Each individual just rushed in to attack Terra in a bid for a grandstand play. This was the reason why Terra had not lost yet.
If Castor had been here, it would be possible to unite the heroes as one and operate as a single army. However, Pollux couldn’t do that. Since she had no combat power, she couldn’t stand in the battlefield herself. Even if she had the cheat-like ability to produce an unlimited amount of military power, she could only summon them forth. She simply didn’t have a way to make good use of them. In other words, she couldn’t master her own skill.
In fact, this ma.s.s summoning merely resulted in the heroes dragging each other down, significantly lowering their individual combat power. Sometimes, they even got in the way of each other.
However, this did not imply that there would be a chance for victory. Even if it was a poorly coordinated group, their individual power was still unmistakably of the highest tier in Midgard. When one could not even be certain of victory in a one-versus-one fight, they became an incredible threat when they were gathered together as a group.
Even if one or two of them could be defeated, Pollux could immediately revive them by summoning them again. Thus, the number of enemies would never decrease unless Pollux was defeated, but there were too many enemies in the way to get close to her.
Furthermore, that wasn’t all of the cheats her skill was capable of.
“No, let’s push you a bit further. Heroes, sacrifice your lives to become the cornerstone of victory.”
Some of those with the hero cla.s.s responded to Pollux’s order. They were not recent heroes from the past two hundred years. They were probably heroes from thousands or tens of thousands years ago. They received Pollux’s orders and rushed to be the first to sacrifice their lives.
—Skill: Soul Succession.
This was one of the skills possessed by the hero. It was a skill that would create a permanent barrier, weakening enemies and strengthening allies. However, in proportion to its powerful effects, the price was high, requiring the life of the person who used the skill.
The heroes activated the skill without hesitation and dispersed into particles of light. At the same time, all of the Argonauts were strengthened by several tiers, while Terra’s status was reduced to about Level 200. But the nightmare was not over yet.
“Souls of the dead, return to me. Dance, my beloved children.”
Pollux used Argonautai again. Then, the heroes, who had just sacrificed their lives, returned to the battlefield as if nothing had happened. This was the most unreasonable aspect of Argonautai—infinite resurrection.
Even the major demerit of having to sacrifice one’s life was not a problem as long as the skill user was a heroic spirit (einherjar). Since they were already dead, they could be revived as many times as necessary so long as Pollux existed.
As a result of multiple uses of the powerful Soul Succession skill, the status of the heroes had far exceeded what an ordinary Level 1000 would have. In terms of ability values, everyone had risen to the tier of the Seven Heroes. On the other hand, Terra was rapidly weakened as his combat power was reduced to be even lower than that of the Seven Luminaries.
In other words, it was not an exaggeration to say that this was like hundreds of Alioth fighting against Mars on his own. It could not even be considered a proper battle.
“Now then, even a kid would understand that further combat is pointless…Are you still going to continue?”
“Of course. I’m not giving up.”
“How foolish. This is not courage. It’s just being suicidal.”
The heroes began to attack fiercely once more. At this point, it was just an execution, a scenario where the heroes were pulling back just enough to not kill him. He was beaten, kicked, and knocked down to the ground in an unsightly manner. He was stepped upon and thrown about. It was clear to anyone watching which side was winning. Seeing this situation, Pollux raised her eyebrow in annoyance.
“Stop fooling around. How long are you going to continue with this pointless struggle?”
“Who knows…? When will it be?”
Terra acted like he still had breathing room, but of course, such leeway did not exist. Even as he acted tough, he was punched in the face while someone told him to shut up. This was not a fight anymore. It was just lynching. Pollux frowned upon seeing this pitiful unilateral development.
Honestly, this was hard to do. If Terra had spoken arrogantly like most demons would have, he would have been easily seen as a villain and crushed without hesitation. If he was like Leon, she would have eliminated him with full power. On the other hand, if the opponent was like Benetnash, Pollux would be eliminated if she didn’t use her full power.
However, after talking to Terra, she understood that he was not a villain. Furthermore, he was fighting for someone he loved…This was really hard to do. Pollux was fond of wishes and beliefs that were pure and n.o.ble. She wanted to support him, instead of stepping on him.
She did not have a hobby of crushing a healthy flower that was desperately trying to bloom in this h.e.l.l-like world. If it was a poisonous flower that spread poison without consideration of its environment, she would pluck it without hesitation. However, that was impossible in this case. She really could not bring herself to do it.
I really hate this. Moreover, since he is unnecessarily resistant to abnormal statuses, I can’t just put him to sleep…
Pollux closed her eyes gloomily and sighed. She turned and left the battlefield.
“If you have the skill Blunt-Edge Strike, please continue hitting him until he loses consciousness. The rest of you are to be on standby. I don’t want the Demon King to bear a grudge against me, so be sure not to kill him.”
She moved away from the armored warrior who served as her escort and approached the shade of another tree. She couldn’t bear to watch anymore. She didn’t think it was interesting to lynch a young man who was fighting for someone he loved and had such a straightforward belief.
However, she was too careless. As if waiting for this moment, someone jumped off the tree, landed behind Pollux, and raised a knife to her neck.
“——!”
“Heroic spirits! Stop attacking!”
After a.s.saulting and holding Pollux hostage, Luna ordered the heroic spirits to stop attacking. Her voice appeared calm, but Pollux noticed that the blade at her neck was shaking. She turned to look at the young man who was restraining her…No, it was a girl?
Tears appeared in Luna’s eyes, which were mixed with fear and anger. She was full of lamentation over her inability to do anything while Terra was being beaten. Pollux understood with just a glance.
Oh, I see. She’s the one that Terra wants to protect.
“Hey…Were you waiting for the moment when I left my escort? How brave. So you managed to get behind me, but do you think you can win? Apparently, you are about Level 300, but I’m still Level 800 though, you know?”
“If you have the combat power of a regular Level 800, I can’t possibly win. But you should have little combat power in exchange for your powerful, peerless skill. Am I wrong?”
“Not a bad take at the situation. Is this your idea? Or is it the idea of that child over there? Anyway, your guess is off. You will die if I counterattack now.”
Pollux laughed, showing leisure that only the powerful would have. Although Luna’s hand trembled for a moment, there was no further agitation.
“This is Terra-sama’s idea. And I believe in him.”
“Heh, so what if I refuse to cooperate? That child’s objective cannot be achieved without me, so I know from the start that I don’t have to worry about being killed. I can just act stubbornly, you know?”
“At that time, I will kill you at my own discretion. I can’t allow Terra-sama to be killed.”
“………”
Pollux glanced at Luna and Terra and smiled at the strength of their bond. At the same time, she thought:
Such pitiful children. If they hadn’t been born as demons, they wouldn’t have to suffer so much.
Anyway, victory had been determined in this battle. Pollux raised both of her hands to express her willingness to surrender.
“Okay, I surrender. As you have guessed, my combat power is inferior even to adventurers. I will stop the Argonauts. Please apply recovery skills on him.”
The young man’s persistence and strategy has won, huh?
As she thought this, Pollux was strangely happy. If such people existed, the demons might not be hopeless after all.
That was how she felt. She could see a bit of light for the future.
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| Image from Light Novel Volume 6 |
Author’s Notes
Argonautai
This is the basic and most powerful skill of Pollux. Its effect is the ma.s.s summoning of the spirits of heroes from the past. Even the braves and heroes from recorded history could be summoned. Although each summoning has the inefficient cost of 1000 SP, Pollux can easily summon several hundreds of people without any problem.
The strength of the hero makes no difference to its SP cost. The cost would be the same whether the hero was Level 10 or Level 1000. The summoned hero will not hesitate to use sacrificial or self-destructive tactics, since they can cheat by reviving immediately. Just think of it as everyone being able to resurrect in the next moment after getting serious. The heroes’ combat powers are as if they were at the prime of their lives, therefore it is difficult to deal with.
Furthermore, Pollux can receive arcane power and divine power from Midgard via her true body, so her SP is practically infinite and she can summon and revive them indefinitely. However, this skill can only summon those whom Pollux recognized unmistakably as heroes, therefore the Seven Heroes cannot be summoned. (Pollux considers them to be traitors, not heroes.)
Its weakness is that they would disappear upon Pollux’s defeat. And the most crucial point is that Pollux is extremely weak. Pollux was aware of this weakness, therefore she thought that the best method was to simply summon them and leave the entire army to Castor, while she remained behind in Alfheimr.
Pollux of the Twins
Pollux is simultaneously the strongest and weakest of the Tyrannical Twelve Stars. She has the most common sense among them. Unlike the others, she doesn’t have any weird kinks and she isn’t a weirdo. In fact, she is actually a decent person. As a result, she has the most difficult time among the Twelve Stars, since her master, who threw her common sense away into the other side of the universe with all her might, regularly gives her headaches.
As the symbol of light in Midgard, she is the leader of the fairies and spirits, who are the opposite of the demons. As the counterpart of the Demon King, she maintains the balance between good and evil as well as light and darkness in the world. Needless to say, she was originally on the G.o.ddess’ side, so she is somewhat similar to Parthenos.
She is undoubtedly the biggest cheat among the Twelve Stars and also the biggest burden among them. Her individual combat power is even inferior to Jean’s.
Her true form is a ridiculously large tree that can encircle the entire world. Although either of the Twins can demonstrate considerable combat power individually, their true value lay in the siblings working together.
By the way, Pollux and Castor are the oldest of the Twelve Stars. Her lifetime is longer than the history of the humanoids. She is said to have lived for tens of millions of years.
Ruphas’ Party In Order of Age
Castor → Pollux → Pisces → Aquarius → Leon → Aigokeros → Taurus → Karkinos → Ruphas → Scorpius → Parthenos (deceased) → Sagittarius → Aries → Libra → Virgo → Tanaka → Astraea → Suzuki
Hmm. Someone seems to have been forgotten…Who could it be…?