Heya, everyone!
I"ve dedicated most of this week to reworking the website. I still have a couple things to change, but by the end of next week, you should get a much better reading experience. I"ve gotten rid of the ads for Patreons, finally found a way to do that. The comments should work better, and should also be able to change the size of the text to your liking.
Anyway, here is chapter 85, hope you"ll enjoy it!
Chapter 85
While Frigga and Crushiadra were fighting to the death, Lunaria was also determined to fend off the enemy.
Crushiada had let go of the reins to fight Frigga, leaving her army with no commander, condemned to keep attacking while relying only on their numbers.
Meanwhile, Bernard made the best use of the mercenaries" long experience to easily defend the rampart.
All he had to do now was to separate the monsters and crush their advantage in numbers along with their fighting spirits.
From there, without Crushiadra"s lead, the monster army"s fate would be sealed.
【"I must show my strong points, too!"】
Lunaria being Lunaria, she could already see herself boasting to Kurats later.
【"Princess, please do not charge in alone!"】
Bruno was able to keep up with Lunaria and protect her back, but he was already exhausted.
That was only natural.
Though he was a skilled mercenary, he did not have an out-of-norm magic sword like Lunaria did.
【"Drill him up, Bismarck!"】
Lunaria held Bismarck high above her head and fired a targeted blast of wind.
Though she did not have enough magic power left to do anything grand, she had more than enough of it to make the troll standing in front of her full of holes.
【"Gyaaaaaaa!"】
On top of pulverizing the target, the attack generated a shockwave that teared appart the other trolls standing around the first, condemning them to the fate of being collateral damage.
Those tragic deaths left the many lower-cla.s.s monsters of the monster army quite shaken.
Of course, Lunaria noticed their state, but she was not the only one.
Bruno also had a grasp on the situation.
He had enough experience to feel the atmosphere of a battlefield through his skin, and he could tell the flow of this battle was changing.
From defense to attack, from hunter to hunted.
【"Listen up, you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds! We"re ending this now! Follow the princess!"】
【"Ooooooooooh!"】
The mercenaries" powerful battle-cry was the last straw, the monsters to take to their heels.
As the monsters ran without any attempt to defend their now exposed backs, Bernard and the mercenaries started pursuing them.
【"Kill them! Take as many of them as you can!"】
It was imperative the reduce the monsters" numbers.
Fortunately, Lunaria, at the vanguard, had taken more than a hundred of them all by herself thanks to Bismarck"s abilities.
【"…But I"m still not at Rosberg"s level."】
If Lunaria"s mentor, Rosberg, stood in her place, he would have already wiped out all these monsters by now.
Lunaria sighed as she pictured that distant threshold she had yet to cross.
Still, the monsters kept being hunted with almost no resistance.
The only one who could somewhat rearrange the troops was currently grinding her teeth as she dealt with the Snow White Valkyrie"s fierce attacks.
【"Sorry to say, it"s our win."】
At this point, there was nothing Crushiadra could do to turn the tide.
Her army"s troops had lost their morale and started to retreat.
No commander, great or otherwise, would be able to put such an army back on its feet on the spot.
The best that could be done was to keep the damage to a minimum, retreat, and reorganize the troops afterwards.
【"How dare you! HOW DARE YOU!"】
Despite witnessing her subordinates" failure and being violently angry, Curshiadra was blaming herself and herself only for being pushed back by numerically inferior forces.
Frigga was not weak enough for Crushiadra to defeat her with only one arm.
Crushiadra had been careless only once, thinking that she could heal herself, but that one failure was ultimately what had brought this irreparable situation.
Without option of blocking Murasame, her only choice was to keep dodging.
For Crushiadra, who had never had to worry about her injuries in battle until today thanks to her ability to regenerate, fighting against Frigga was an excruciating experience.
She to dodge much more than usual and she couldn"t afford to let herself get hurt in order to hurt the enemy.
She had to play it safe.
This was an unfamiliar way of fighting for her, far too unfamiliar to leave her with any room to hurt Frigga, especially considering her injuries.
Her only hope of winning was to let Frigga tire herself out and then overwhelm her with pure strength.
However, taking the time to do so would mean spelling out her subordinates" demise and allowing the enemies to follow after Triestella.
Crushiadra had received a direct order from Triestella, and now she was going to fail to fulfill her duties?
She could not let that happen, no matter what.
Crushiadra took some distance away, and then aggressively leaned forward.
This did not escape Frigga"s notice.
【"Oh… Trying to find a way out, is she?"】
Seeing as Crushiadra was showing signs of being ready to die, Frigga became more vigilant.
Even with the handicap of fighting with a single hand, Crushiadra had not once shown any fatal opening.
This meant that Crushiadra was superior when it came to physical strength.
If that same opponent was taking one last bet and throwing all caution to the wind, then Frigga could very well be one mistake away from losing her life.
【"DIE!"】
Crushiadra lowered her upper body to the ground like a feline, and then shot forward like an arrow from a tightened bow.
This was the greatest display of speed she had shown today.
However, Frigga stood upright, not reacting at all.
Crushiadra knew exactly what that meant.
【"Another illusion! Do not think you will fool me with the same trick again!"】
The senses of smell and hearing of a demon were far above that of a human like Frigga.
When Crushiadra felt the hostile presence coming to attack her from behind, she sneered ferociously.
(―― I suppose i should not have expected more from a human than this pathetic trickery.)
In a battle between top-notch fighters, using the same technique twice was akin to admitting defeat.
Crushiadra acknowledged Frigga as a strong enemy, but that was her evaluation of her as Murasame"s wielder, and nothing else. This had not changed her mind about Frigga"s inferiority as a human.
Perhaps that was why she failed to see through the malice hidden behind Frigga"s action.
【"GOT YOU!"】
Once Frigga was so close that she could no longer dodge, Crushiadra rotated her body and sent a kick that carried all her power.
As she twisted her lower body and raised her well-trained leg, Crushiadra"s eyes were a.s.saulted by a powerful, blinding light.
【"Ugh!""】
The flash of light was reflected through multiple water lenses that Frigga had manifested in the air.
The superiority of Curshiadra"s eyesight had only made things much worse; she was temporarily blind now.
Even so, Crushaidra immediately covered her eyes, and let her kick runs its course, guiding it with her intuition alone.
However, all that was waiting for her leg at the end of its path were Murasame and a Frigga who was fully ready to attack.
―― Chin.
Frigga put Murasame back in its scabbard.
At the same moment, Curshiadra"s left foot was sent flying away from her knee, dancing high in the air as if by its own will.
Having lost an arm and a leg, Crushiadra could no longer hold her balance.
She fell down like a puppet without strings.
【"―― Any regrets about making light of humans now?"】
【"Cowards…!"】
(In a fair, upfront battle, I would never have lost!)
Crushiada was crying tears of frustration and humiliation.
【"Good grief…"】
Frigga shrugged her shoulders, then with a twist of her wrist, raised up Murasame over her head.
(Aaah, please forgive me, mistress Triestella…)
And so, Crushiadra"s consciousness faded to the deepest darkness.
―― Meanwhile.
Bam.
Bam.
Babam.
Kurats threw away a ma.s.sive rock like it was a mere pebble.
【"Is it really around here?"】
『How could the all-powerful magic king be wrong!』
As he looked through the rubble to find the source of the strong magic power he was feeling, Kurats did not pay any attention to the monsters running away as fast as they could.
―― Shhhhhhhhhhh.
【"Aaaaaaaaah!"】
【"Where? Where did that come from?"】
When ma.s.sives rocks came from the sky and brutally crushed the heads of some monsters, Meryl and Berta, who had gone ahead of Triestella, were bewildered.
They were equally confused by the disappearance of the Bolivia mine.
But seeing these rocks land, they started wondering if maybe that thunderous sound had not come from an enemy attack but rather from a volcanic eruption inside the Bolivia mine.
However, they could not see any signs of smoke around there, and the Bolivia mine was not even a volcano in the first place.
Having said that, they were honestly unable to imagine what else could be the cause of this.
What could have sent such a rock flying here?
It was far too big to have actually been blown away by an eruption.
【"Just what in the world is happening?!"】
Until the rocks would stop coming down from the sky, Meryl and Berta had to call the whole army to a halt.
【"Oh?"】
When Kurats found a big sparkly black ore, he couldn"t help but smile.
Even with his untrained eyes, he could tell the magic power coming from this ore was special.
A magic light covered it, making it shine like obsidian.
【"Is this Scarlet Adamant?"】
『Indeed, there is no mistaking it. However, I must admit it is my first time seeing such a big chunk of it…』
Bernst did not hide his surprise from finding this unexpectedly pure and big chunk of Scarlet Adamant.
.In the world of Dulmond, Scarlet Adamant was something that could be found only once in a century, and even on such occasions, there would barely be enough of it to build one sword or staff.
Bernst naturally started to think that perhaps it was simply not all that rare in this world.
Either way, rare or not, this particular chunk was compacted to the limit, it was impossibly pure.
So pure, in fact, that Bernst, with his talents, would be able to skip the smelting step and go right into refining it.
『How much of your magic power have you recovered so far?』
【"Well, I"d say about 30%."】
Having an abnormally large supply of magic power also meant having to wait a long time for it to recover when it ran out.
But this was still dozens of times faster than it would be for the average mage.
『…Very well, I shall make a sword that fits your meatheaded ways.』