Chapter 55: Explosion
TL: Potato-tan
Proofreader: Asianpotato
The demons were screaming in terror, their howls reverberating off the cliff faces.
The two paladins summoned beams of light that not only burned the demons they struck, but also the dimensional gate itself.
The gate shrank with a grinding noise, but it continued to spew forth demons as if it were too stubborn to die.
Their eyes turned a fierce red in response to the holy energy, and they bared their teeth and claws, eager to tear into the nearest living thing, which happened to be Russell and his companions.
Without a word, Russell charged forward with his greatsword in both hands, cleaving a demon in two. As the creature disintegrated into smoke in the moonlight, more demons lunged from above and to the sides.
They were grotesque creatures, cobbled together from parts of beasts, men, and things that defied description. They were not pretty to look at, so Russell decided to add a few more cuts—or rather, a few dozen—to their patchwork designs.
The demons let out frustrated grunts as their limbs and torsos fell away, but only because they were dead.
Russell didn’t give a damn if his victims appreciated his work. He just wanted to give the rest of them something more to edit, or rather, dissect.
The storm of blades and lightning did not deter the demons. Their fear seemed to have turned into a kind of frenzy, and they threw themselves at Russell in droves, desperate to sink a tooth or claw into his flesh.
An insect-like creature with compound eyes and gnashing mandibles, a bipedal beast with a lion’s head, a creature that dripped a foul-smelling liquid from its body, a creature that breathed cold air from its nose, eyes, and mouth, and a demon with a burned-off face all lunged at Russell from every direction, stabbing at him with their various weapons.
Russell met the thrusts and slashes aimed at his neck, chest, back, thighs, shoulders, and groin with a deep breath and sank his left foot into the ground.
As the earth gave way beneath his boot, Russell spun around with tremendous force. His outstretched arms, as well as the great sword attached to them, traced a wide circle. He split the demons in half or decapitated them, causing them to fall to the ground with soft thuds.
It was the kind of acrobatic feat one might expect from a circus performer, but the grim presence of the great sword and the moonlight streaming down on the scene made it anything but a mere spectacle.
As the severed demons screamed and writhed in the moonlight, Russell swung his sword in a wide arc, scattering their remains like so much chaff in the biting wind and acrid smoke.
His display of prowess forced even the demons, who had been charging blindly, to pause. The cacophony of growls and roars seemed to die down for a moment. Russell spoke.
“Come on.”
The demons surged forward again, their blades and claws glinting in the dim light. Russell smirked and adjusted his grip on the greatsword. Crackle, crackle. Blue lightning began to form along the blade.
“Hah!”
Ulca, who had been holding her breath, charged forward and sliced a demon in half. The monstrous head of a lion hit the ground with a sickening thud, and a creature that looked like a cross between a crocodile and a hippopotamus lunged at her with its gaping maw.
Ulca grabbed its mouth and twisted, snapping its neck and killing it instantly.
She moved with the fluidity of a natural predator, using not only her fists and feet but also her shoulders, elbows, and knees. Like her mother, she had the blessing of the moon goddess, which was deadly to devils from the underworld or other dimensions.
“Hyaaaa!”
Ulca screamed. The five razor-sharp claws that had once hung suspended in the air now extend from her fingertips. They tore into the ground, walls, and rocks, and they did the same to the demons.
The divine power coursing through their host reduced the intruders to ash. The other paladins were doing the same.
“Haap!”
Hailyn and Jess let out fierce cries, raising their glowing golden shields high before slamming them into the ground. A massive curtain of light shot up into the air, blocking their path.
“May the sun protect us!”
The two paladins swung their longswords, cleaving the demons in their path. Their sturdy armor was both a powerful defense and a weapon in its own right. The increase in their strength and endurance, granted by the holy energy, allowed these mere mortals to stand against the fiends of hell.
With their shields, they bashed a demon in the head, and flames erupted from the creature’s skin. It staggered back in agony, its eyes burning, and a sword plunged into its skull, severing its head from its body.
Jess continued to use the same tactic as before, blocking the demons’ attacks with his shield and then striking with his sword.
Hailyn moved as if his shield were a weapon, too. He charged forward with his shield held out in front of him like a battering ram, but he never strayed too far from the others, and he used the edge of his shield to slice the demons’ legs.
As the demons fell to their knees with their thighs severed, a sword would inevitably follow, cleaving their heads or shoulders from their bodies as if by design.
But there were still too many demons. Jess shouted,
“Hailyn-nim! When is this going to end?!”
Hailyn stabbed a charging ghoul and shouted back.
“The size of a dimensional gate typically corresponds to the amount of magical energy the caster has! Upon my previous inspection, Herokeinin’s magical energy had significantly decreased. It must have been the work of Managarmar, the Apostle of the Moon. But even the amount he has left is dangerous━.”
Grrrrrr━ka-ka-ka-ka-ka-ka-ka!
The dimensional gate generated the deafening noise that filled the battlefield. A hand emerged from the swirling blue darkness that was gradually shrinking—a hand with six fingers covered in thick, blue scales.
Then came an arm, then a shoulder, and finally a head. It was the face of a giant, adorned with two translucent ice horns on its head. Fur covered its chest and legs. When the three-meter-tall demon, which had the legs and hooves of a goat, stepped fully out of the gate, it slammed shut.
The devil took a deep breath and let it out.
━Praise be. This is warm air. This is a vibrant pulse of life. This is the beautiful scenery of the mortal realm. I wonder how long it has been since I last saw it.
The devil looked forward, and his gaze fell upon the hundred or so remaining demons and the four humans. The two Paladins drew the most attention, as they were the ones shining the brightest.
━Insects.
Only Russell noticed the attack coming. He charged forward, electricity coursing through his body, and managed to deflect the blow that the devil aimed at Hailyn and Jess in the nick of time. It was a whip writhing in blue flames.
Clang!
Russell appeared before Hailyn and Jess with a thunderous crash, his right arm raised high and the blue whip deflected.
━Hoo.
The devil let out an exclamation of surprise. The devil then turned its gaze to Herokeinin, still bound by silver chains.
━You, servant of Logos. You’ve created some rather curious enemies.
“Hmph, then help me out.”
Herokeinin said it with difficulty, tugging at his chains. The devil chuckled and turned his head away again.
━Pray to your master. You’re nothing to me.”
“I opened the gate to your dimension. I helped you come here!”
“With Logos’s energy, not yours. Do not speak to me again. I will freeze you.”
Herokeinin kept his mouth shut.
In the meantime, the demons had stopped charging forward and were instead swarming around the devil. This allowed Ulca to join Russell and the Paladins.
“Is that a devil?”
“I don’t know for sure. There are many devils in Bypfelheim, and not all of their names are known. However. . . . . .”
Hailyn’s lips quivered as he felt the devil’s malevolent energy in the air.
“I cannot deny that it is a formidable foe. We have yet to deal with Herokeinin and Logos, and now there is another devil.”
“I wish we had a skilled wizard with us.”
Jess looked at Russell, but Russell didn’t look back. He was no wizard.
Russell grasped Nahilnir’s hilt, which was still humming. It was the strongest demon he’d faced since the dragon of Calisden. He thought about the dragon.
Herokeinin had called the giants and dragons guardians. He had said that they were the ones who kept the other dimensions and worlds at bay. However, the giants and dragons had vanished, and now nothing could stop them.
Dragons. His thoughts about dragons turned to a certain pouch in his coat—the pouch that had been in Ismenios’s little room.
There was something in that pouch that could turn the tide on this battle. But it wasn’t something he could use right now.
His thoughts turned to the bag on his back. It appeared to be slightly wriggling, as if it were alive.
“I think it’s about time we made our move.”
Ulca, Hailyn, and Jess stared at Russell’s sudden murmur. Ulca spoke.
“What is it?”
“Nothing.”
Russell looked up at the sky. The sky, which looked like a single strip of darkness because of the high cliffs on either side, was gradually growing darker. The clouds grew thicker.
His breath came out in white puffs, and the mist that clung to his ankles remained. He wondered, for a moment, why he was even here. Then he chuckled to himself.
‘Why? That’s because I had left home.’
Crackle, crackle. Russell felt some of the electricity that had been coursing through his body flow away. It was flowing into the bag that he still had slung over his shoulder and back. Russell narrowed his eyes as he turned and looked at it.
“Hmm.”
At that moment, the devil took a step forward.
“Insects. Have you had enough time to reflect on your lives?”
Grrrr, kwaak!
Kee-aa, kkaaa-aaaa!
Hegegegege.
The demons let out a chorus of roars from their various throats, as if in agreement with the devil’s words.
Ulca snorted and tensed her body. Her height suddenly increased to over two meters, and coarse gray fur sprouted all over her body. She developed a longer snout and bushy tail attached to her rump.
“Aooooooooo!”
Ulca howled at the sky. She did so, and a blue light appeared as a speck in the white and black sky. The moonlight was there. And from the edge of the cliff above came a chorus of answering howls. Wolves.
Shwooosh!
The wolves ran down the cliff and into the canyon. They descended with the agility of mountain goats, deftly stepping on the rocky outcroppings that jutted out from the cliff faces.
There were seven wolves in total, and they were larger than most bulls. A person could ride on one without feeling out of place.
As Hailyn and Jess braced themselves for battle, Russell spoke.
“I will deal with that devil.”
“What? No, you can’t! How can you possibly fight it alone━!”
Hailyn swallowed his words. Russell was a warrior who had already fought a dragon. Not only had he fought a dragon, but he had also successfully killed it. In a world where dragons had been extinct for centuries, the only one who had accomplished such a feat was Russell.
“I know.”
The moment Russell said those words, the demons charged forward again, pounding the ground with their feet. The three-meter-tall devil, with goat legs, did the same. The devil had a whip in his right hand and an ice broadsword in his left.
Russell and the devil disappeared at the same time. The two beings reappeared in the middle of the distance that had separated them.
Clang!
Russell’s greatsword and the devil’s ice sword clashed, sending out a deafening boom and shockwave. The circular shockwave shattered the canyon’s ground and created cracks in the walls, which also began to crumble.
━For a human, you receive my power well.
The devil exclaimed in surprise and extended its right hand to the side. The attached whip flew through the air, breaking the sound barrier. Russell didn’t have time to react before the whip wrapped around his torso and threw him away.
Thud!
The whip that the devil was pulling immediately dragged Russell back, slamming him into the opposite wall. Russell spat out a mouthful of blood.
“Tch.”
━Hahahahahaha!
The devil burst into laughter. ‘Was it funny?’ Russell clenched his teeth, encircled the whip around his torso with his left arm, and invoked lightning.
In an instant, the lightning coursed through the whip and electrocuted the devil. The devil’s face, filled with laughter, twisted in pain.
━You dare, you insect!
As the devil was about to swing the whip again, Russell cut it with his greatsword and stabbed it into the wall. The wall, unable to withstand the force applied to its legs and feet, crumbled, and Russell’s body shot forward like an arrow released from a bow.
The surprised devil raised his ice sword and put up a guard. Nahilnir’s blade pierced the guard.
Clang!
A ringing sound deflected the sword. Russell’s left fist shot out like a cannon and punched the devil in the face.
Kwa-aang!
The devil’s head violently twisted, slamming into the wall. The devil laughed from within the hole it had made in the wall.
“To think that a human would dare to challenge me! You’re worthy of hearing my name. I am Fyumeronscan!”
“I don’t care about your name.”
Russell stood still. The demons passed him by as if he were invisible. The demons, who had left Russell alone at the devil’s command, charged at the paladins, the therianthropic Ulca, and the wolves.
They were formidable priests and warriors blessed with the holy energy of the sun and moon. But the monstrous ice creatures were equally formidable. The mist that filled the canyon floor was freezing their bodies with every passing moment, and they had to accept even more holy energy in order to fight.
Of course, divine energy was not something that humans could naturally accept. Unlike magical energy, the power that came from the heavens enhanced their physical strength, endurance, and agility, aiding them in battle, but it also made them tire more quickly.
Russell made up his mind and converted half of his remaining magical energy into lightning.
Crackle, crackle!
A tremendous amount of electricity surged through Russell’s body. It was an amount of magical energy that even the devil, Fyumeronscan, who had just emerged from the wall, was shocked by the amount of magical energy.
━Incredible. . . . . . .
The devil gripped its ice broadsword and whipped tightly. It was both fortunate and unfortunate for him to have encountered such a powerful human warrior as soon as he arrived in this world. As a born warrior, the encounter was both fortunate and unfortunate, causing his icy heart to pound with excitement.
However, despite taking a stance, the human did not charge forward or unleash a torrent of lightning. Fyumeronscan scrutinized Russell’s feet, waist, shoulders, and arms, attempting to predict the direction from which the lightning would strike. But Russell just stood there, and Fyumeronscan couldn’t hide his confusion.
━What are you doing. . . . . .?
Suddenly, the electricity that had been bristling from all over Russell’s body gathered in one place. It did not head toward the devil. It headed towards the bag that Russell was wearing.
The massive amount of lightning flowed into the bag without leaving a trace and disappeared. The noise that had sounded like tens of thousands of birds chirping at once suddenly stopped. In the silence, Russell spoke.
“It’s time for you to wake up from your long nap.”
Russell’s bag exploded with a flash of light.
🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷
Ulca froze, holding a demon corpse that she had split in two. Hailyn and Jess rushed over to her, quickly dispatching the two demons that were about to attack her.
“Ulca! Why are you suddenly like this!”
Ulca dropped the demon’s corpse to the ground without a word and pointed into the air. Hailyn and Jess turned their heads in the direction that Ulca was pointing, their faces filled with questions. The faces of the two paladins turned white. Jess managed to speak.
“. . .My god.”
The demons had also stopped their mindless attacks. Their instincts held a deep-rooted primal fear. It was a fear of an enemy they had faced for a very long time.
The wolves also approached Ulca with their tails between their legs and shivered.
The ice sword fell from the devil’s hand. The sword made a clattering sound as it fell, but the devil didn’t even hear it.
━This is ridiculous.
Crackle, crackle, crackle, crackle, crackle!
There was the sound of electricity gathering. A large sphere emitted a blinding white light. It shone with an otherworldly brilliance, but it also contained enough destructive power to reduce anything it touched to dust.
The devil screamed.
━Why, why is there still a dragon left?!
The breath of lightning engulfed the devil.
Leave a Reply