Holy, I spilled milk tea all over my keyboard while I was translating this chapter… I cleaned it all up though and used a hair dryer (lol) but now it just smells sweet. Thanks for reading~
I face the Dioral king.
What was slightly unexpected, is that he invited me to become his subordinate.
Considering he"s inviting the man who killed his two daughters, he must have not had that much love towards them.
I feel sorry for Freya and Ellen.
This might be related to why their personalities were so warped.
Of course, it"s not like I would forgive them because of that.
I don"t forgive anyone that steals from me. It doesn"t matter what kind of circ.u.mstances they have.
Just that action of stealing is everything.
This man is a revenge target too.
He"s the symbol of the Dioral Kingdom, and an arrogant king.
The original cause of why I had to live such a s.h.i.+tty life in the first world was because of him. So, I"ll steal everything from him and brutally kill him.
"How foolish. Hero of【Healing】Kearu. … Even though you refused, you would still become a puppet with my power. Just like the hero of the【Gun】." (Proum)
Hearing the Dioral king"s words as if they"re scoffing at me, the corners of my lips raise.
I knew it, this guy is dumb.
He hasn"t even realized that the hero of the【Gun】retained his self.
I should put him down already.
"Guys, let"s go. We"ll kill him and take back the harmony of the world. … If we defeat the Dioral king, this meaningless war against the demons will end!" (Kearuga)
I loudly express my public stance at the top of my voice.
However, I"m not lying.
Eve has already become the demon king, so we should be able to manipulate everyone by using Eve.
Then if we just put Freya as the head of the Dioral Kingdom, the world will become mine.
I don"t particularly have any interest in that, but to let myself live happily, making the world peaceful and beautiful is better.
"Yes, we will definitely defeat him." (Kureha)
"I"ll back you up with all my power!" (Freya)
"Nn. Setsuna will do her best." (Setsuna)
Kureha, Freya and Setsuna.
Each of them are putting in their fighting spirit.
That"s good. He"s an opponent that we"ll all lose against if we don"t brace ourselves.
Although he"s small on the inside, he"s stronger than the black nopperabou from before.
After all, since he"s the real one, the concentration of black miasma is incomparable to it.
Even with Guren"s flames, we might not be able to win if we fight normally.
However, I have a trick.
The previous demon king had been researching to conquer the parasyte-like existence in him, and I gained those memories.
In fact, I could have easily defeated the black nopperabou from before if I used that.
The reason why I didn"t do that though, is because if the enemy knew of my countermeasures, they would make a countermeasure to my countermeasure.
A trump card is worthy of being called a trump card because you don"t use it until the very end.
The Dioral king"s body swells up and black tentacles jump out in every direction.
"Good grief, that from the start, huh. Seems you quit being human since ages ago." (Kearuga)
Kureha and I draw our swords, while the other three let us go past while hiding behind the earth wall Freya made.
That was a heavy blow.
Each and every strike the tentacles make, rival a full power strike of an elite swordsman.
"Freya!" (Kearuga)
"I know!" (Freya)
I gave Freya an instruction beforehand.
That instruction was to completely stop his movements. No matter how much you hurt an opponent that has the black power, they can just regenerate.
So, freezing them in ice and stopping their movements is the best.
A rain of ice bullets pour down one after the other.
The average magician would only give this magic the effect that it looks like it has.
However, Freya is different.
Simultaneously with when they pierce the tentacles, the cold air stored inside the bullets explode open, freezing the tentacles.
Because several tentacles stopped, it became easier to get closer.
"Goshujinsama, let’s go!" (Guren)
"Don"t go out of there. If you do, I won"t be able to protect you." (Kearuga)
Guren shows her face from my chest.
She"s hiding in my clothes in her kitsune cub mode.
I can"t even damage him without her flames, but even if my sword is clad in flames, they go out with each sword stroke against him. So, without Guren at the front lines, recladding my sword with flames isn"t as smooth.
And, this is the safest place in the front lines.
As long as she"s with me, I can protect her even when I"m in front.
『Foolish, foolish, foolish』(Proum)
After becoming a black, soft and flabby lump, the Dioral king is sending his thoughts as he lost his vocal cords.
I think that it"s more foolish to want power enough to have to look like that, but our values are probably just different.
An extrlarge ice spear pierces into the black, soft and flabby lump itself.
However, it was swallowed up before the power of the ice could release itself.
It can"t freeze the Dioral king from the inside either.
"What"s going on with his insides." (Kearuga)
"I"m not sure. But, it is dangerous." (Kureha)
While dodging a tentacle that regenerated again with a sideways jump, I look at him carefully.
"Guren, clad my sword in your strongest flames." (Kearuga)
"Okay!" (Guren)
Guren"s power covers my sword, and it bursts into flames, ignoring the durability of my sword.
Then, I brandish my sword and throw it.
The sword pierced him like an arrow, and it was swallowed up.
He isn"t showing any pain.
"Kureha, don"t get close to that thing. Even with a sword clad in flames of purification, that happens. You"ll just get swallowed up." (Kearuga)
"… It seems like that, but I wonder how we should defeat it." (Kureha)
We continue to fight a defensive battle while keeping our distance.
I give occasional damage by closing the distance and letting Guren fire her flames of purification, but they aren"t decisive blows.
It seems he"s a monster that surpa.s.sed my expectations.
"Good grief, he isn"t affected him no matter how many times we hit him. Guren"s flames are unexpectedly shabby, huh." (Kearuga)
"It"s just that that thing is too amazing! We"re basically trying to evaporate the ocean with a torch!" (Guren)
That"s an interesting way of putting it.
I ward off another tentacle that comes at me.
Thankfully, the tentacles don"t have an absorption function.
"I have a good idea." (Kearuga)
"Guren can listen." (Guren)
"How about I throw you, who"s clad in your strongest flames, and let him swallow you up so that you can burn him from the inside? If your power really is appropriate for a divine beast, you should win against him." (Kearuga)
It"s a good idea if I say so myself.
After all, Guren always makes a triumphant face about being a divine beast.
She can definitely burn that monster.
"Death! Impossible! If Guren goes inside that, she will immediately die!" (Guren)
"Tch, no good huh." (Kearuga)
My great idea was rejected.
This kitsune cub is too selfish.
Then, I"ll have to use a different trick.
"Anyway, Guren. Keep looking for chances to shoot your flames." (Kearuga)
"Okay!" (Guren)
Like this, we"re whittling him down while I become the s.h.i.+eld.
To go on the attack, I need to make a chance.
It"ll take time to use "that".
Freya"s power is indispensable too.
For a while, she stops the rain of ice.
Thinking that small tricks don"t have much effect, Freya"s probably going to fire a powerful magic.
From the other side of the bulky earth wall, I can sense the swelling of an explosive magic.
It seems the Dioral king noticed that too.
One tentacles grows sharper and bigger, and is extending to the earth wall.
Even though it"s a bulky, magically strengthened earth wall, that tentacles should be able to pierce it.
I instinctively reach out to it with my hand.
It pierces my arm, but I just barely hold on.
And then….
『Kihihihihi, get ready』 (Proum)
"Are you eroding me!" (Kearuga)
Black miasma flows into my body and creeps up.
I immediately cut off my arm, and【Automatic Recovery (Auto Heal)】activates.
Looking at the arm I cut off, I see that it was dyed in black and it became just like the black knight.
If I was just a few seconds late, I would have become like that too.
『Disappointing, disappointing, you should have just become one of our comrades.』 (Proum)
"… I refuse." (Kearuga)
Quite a lot of my stamina was taken away from that regeneration of my arm.
However, thanks to that, I could protect Freya.
The swelling of magic stops and Freya"s voice resounds loudly.
It seems she finally completed her powerful magic.
"Rank Seven Magic,【Ice Prison】." (Freya)
Bulky, transparent ice walls engulf the black, soft and flabby lump from all sides.
I see, if freezing it directly doesn"t work, then surrounding it with ice from all sides would be better.
That isn"t just any ice either.
It"s magic ice, that is even harder than iron.
The fact that it"s rank seven magic isn"t just for show.
The Dioral king is trying to break the ice from the inside with his sharp tentacles.
Knowing that it"ll become a compet.i.tion of whether he"ll freeze over first or whether he"ll break the ice first, Freya fired the same magic again two more times, with more bulkiness and power.
The Dioral king, who was rampaging inside before, become clearly duller.
It"s a three-fold, absolute wall.
Only Freya could pull off this kind of feat.
Looking closely, I can see the jewel on Freya"s staff s.h.i.+ning. It probably has the ability to stock magic inside. That"s the ability Freya put on the【G.o.d Made Treasure Arms】, huh.
With this, she can fire three big spells with rapid-fire.
"Kearugsama, I sealed its movements." (Freya)
"Good job. Now I can deal the finis.h.i.+ng blow." (Kearuga)
I have the trump card I continued preserving until now.
It"s probably the only telling blow that can affect it, and it"s something only I can do.
While fighting against the freeze, the Dioral king tries to break the ice prison.
I"ll strike him hard at the same time he breaks open this threefold prison, with the culmination of my power as the hero of【Healing】.