𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟓: 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐥 𝐏𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧 (2)
Oswald, who was single-handedly overwhelming the chaos demon, had managed to weaken the demon to the point of breathlessness due to his physical level of 65.
His proficiency in martial arts shone through, allowing him to effortlessly counter the chaos demon’s attacks and continue to pummel it. With each blow, the Plague Grimoire absorbed the demon’s plague factor, further weakening it.
The chaos demon, now a mere husk of its former self, oozing green blood, was met with an explosion bullet from Oswald.
BOOM! BANG!
【GRAAAA! 】
The weakened chaos demon, having its plague factor depleted, took significant damage from the magical attack. Oswald relentlessly fired explosion bullets at the creature.
BANG! BANG! CLATTER! BANG! BANG! CLATTER! BANG! BANG! CLATTER!
The demon’s body was torn apart by the explosions. . . its form slowly disintegrating into dust.
【I will remember you. 】
【That’s what the last one said. 】
【Heh heh heh heh. . . . . . HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! 】
As the plague chaos demon disappeared, a single black orb remained. . . . . .
Oswald quickly retrieved it and placed it in his magic pouch.
Afterward, Oswald released his power to escape this place. A series of notifications immediately flooded his vision, but. . . . . .
“Whew. . . . . .”
He was too exhausted to care. He wanted nothing more than to collapse from sheer fatigue, but doing so here would spell his doom.
Still, he had to do what needed to be done. Oswald collected various research materials belonging to Earl Penicillin. These were books that remained unharmed in the fire, protected by magic.
A preservation spell had been cast on the research materials to prevent their loss in the event of a fire or similar disaster.
“Cough. . . cough! Hack!”
With a series of coughs, he spat out dark, clotted blood. It seemed the cells destroyed by the pestilence were being expelled.
After some time had passed since expelling the dead cells, his strength gradually began to return. However. . . Oswald continued to feign exhaustion. This was all an act for Gilgamesh, who was hiding in the shadows at his feet.
As he was about to leave, he heard a SWOOSH! and quickly twisted his body, blocking it with his Winchester imbued with holy power.
CLANG!
Sparks flew as a pink, thorn-like projectile bounced off into the air.
“Who are you?”
“We meet again. Perhaps I should have dealt with you back then?”
‘𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘰𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯.’
He even seemed to be of a high rank, having fired a part of his body through partial demonization. The demonic power he exuded was also considerable.
‘𝘐𝘧 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘢 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩-𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. . . 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴?’
A high-ranking demon that parasitizes the second princess. . . . . . He was originally the one who Gilgamesh at his feet was supposed to deal with. The thousand-faced creature took on a different appearance each time they met, but they always had an otherworldly beauty.
“. . . . . .”
Either way, the situation was not good. It would be great if Gilgamesh would appear and help him right about now. . . but there was no movement, which only made things worse. . . . . .
Having used up his explosion bullets, Oswald was unable to fire any more with his current magic stones.
With no other choice, Oswald loaded his Winchester with armor-piercing enchanted bullets that could be used without magic power.
Slowly sizing up the demon, he waited for an opening, and when the demon’s gaze shifted away for a moment, Oswald quickly attacked.
BANG!
SWOOSH!
“KEH!”
As if it had been waiting for this moment, the seduction chaos demon vanished in an instant. Despite his agility level of 40, Oswald could only barely make out an afterimage. It was so fast, he could hardly track it with his senses. . . . . .
BAM!
“GAH. . . . . .”
In the end, the price for missing his target was great. A thorn-like protrusion from the demon’s exoskeleton had pierced his right flank and torn through his abdomen. Fortunately, the drake skin prevented any major damage.
‘𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺.’
Moreover, the pain he felt was less severe than when absorbing the plague factor. Oswald continued to pull the trigger, his gun trained on the demon despite the hole in his side.
BANG! SWOOSH. CLATTER!
“GRR. . . . . .”
The chaos demon recoiled, moaning as it was struck by holy power-imbued bullets.
“Hey. . . . . . You’re tough. What kind of skin do you have?”
The pierced skin quickly regenerated and healed. Even the magic circle that was etched on it like a tattoo was being restored.
Although a considerable amount of holy power was consumed in the process. . . Oswald didn’t care. After all, the only way he used holy power was to imbue his bullets and bayonet with it.
“You have quite the healing factor too. I wonder. . . who’s the monster here.”
Oswald raised his gun again, keeping an eye on the demon. But once more, the demon vanished.
This time too, Oswald missed the demon’s new form, and he gritted his teeth and re-equipped the Plague Grimoire.
SWISH!
Soon, the plague factor enveloped his body. . . . . .
【WHOOSH, HISS! WHOOSH, HISS! 】
After taking a few breaths to absorb the strengthened plague factor, he was overcome by intense pain.
【GRAAAA! 】
The pain was amplified as the level of ‘Plague Enhancement’ increased.
However, with his strength, endurance, and agility levels all reaching 65, he was finally able to keep up with the demon’s movements. The demon lunged at his right flank once more. . . but Oswald’s foot was faster, striking the demon before it could reach him.
BAM! THUD!
“You damn plague user!”
The plague factors that were eating away at his body. . . their energy quickly spread throughout his body, granting Oswald immense strength.
Soon, the Phoenix’s Bracelet activated, expelling the pestilence, and the troll king’s blood circulated, pushing out the dead cells and regenerating new ones.
【I’ll kill you!! 】
Oswald flew towards the seduction chaos demon at incredible speed.
Engaging in close-quarters combat, Oswald clicked his tongue as he narrowly dodged the demon’s attacks.
‘𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 65, 𝘐 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘵. . . . . .’
Then again, even when playing as Gilgamesh, he hadn’t been able to finish it off until the latter half of the game. The problem was that he was being pushed back even in his current state.
‘𝘐𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. . . 𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳.’
Oswald quickly took out two blessed silver smoke bombs, pulled the pins, and rolled them on the floor. The smoke bombs immediately burst with a BANG!, releasing a cloud of gray smoke and silver dust that spread in all directions.
Thanks to the blessing, the silver dust carried holy power and attacked the chaos demon, which was trapped in the enclosed space of the laboratory.
“You son of a bitch!! Cough! Cough! Cough!”
Oswald fired armor-piercing bullets in rapid succession at the demon, which had noticeably slowed down after inhaling the blessed silver dust.
Since they were imbued with holy power, the bullets dealt significant damage to the chaos demon, causing it to writhe in agony as it bled pink blood.
‘𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘵.’
He was only able to push it this far because the creature was still wearing a human shell. If it had faced him in its demonized state, he would have been the one torn apart.
Oswald immediately ran towards the stairs. As much as he would have liked to finish the demon off here. . . it was simply not possible.
As Oswald escaped through the secret passage, the battle mercenaries waiting outside greeted him with enthusiastic cheers.
“Fire!”
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
A hail of bullets rained down on him.
However, that alone was not enough to damage the Plague Grimoire. The problem was not the mercenaries, but the demon that had emerged from behind them.
BOOM!
The fireplace, which was the entrance to the secret passage, exploded, revealing the seduction chaos demon. . . . . .
It had apparently fully demonized, and now took the form of an alluring incubus.
It wore black leather pants held together by a chastity lock, and its face was covered by a grotesque cat-skin mask. Its upper body was covered in an X-shaped harness made of leather straps. . . a typical male SM outfit.
In its right hand was an exoskeleton-like thorn, and in its left hand were two snakes with their mouths open and their tongues flickering.
The battle mercenaries fled in terror at the sight of the demon. . . . . . Oswald quickly turned to face them.
BANG! CLATTER. BANG! CLATTER. BANG! CLATTER.
Oswald fired three consecutive shots at the demonized creature, but. . . it used its wings to block the armor-piercing bullets. The bullets were stopped by the pink demonic power surrounding its two wings, and fell to the ground. . . . . .
【Damn it! 】
The demon then spread its wings and moved at high speed. Oswald barely managed to track its movements with his eyes as he fired his gun.
He aimed ahead of the demon, and the bullets flew quickly, hitting the demon and either bouncing off or grazing it.
Once he had used up all the loaded bullets, he tossed a smoke bomb, reloaded, and rolled forward.
SWOOSH!
The demon’s exoskeleton thorn whizzed past his head. Oswald crouched down, using his left hand to brace himself on the ground, and turned his body, thrusting the Winchester in his right hand forward.
SWISH!
The bayonet narrowly grazed the demon’s flank.
However, there was no time to regret it. He had to roll away again to avoid the snake whip that was descending towards his head.
He rolled to the side to avoid the attack, but the pursuing demon kicked him like a soccer ball, sending him flying.
CRASH!
He crashed through the window and landed in the garden outside. Despite the significant impact, he got up immediately and pulled the trigger without missing a beat.
BANG! CLATTER!
He then twisted the gun to the left, turning the muzzle to the right, and thrust out his exoskeleton thorn.
SWOOSH!
The Winchester V10’s barrel had been bent by the previous attack, and Oswald dropped the gun and stepped back to avoid the exoskeleton thorn.
The chaos demon quickly pursued him, flapping its wings.
In the end, the demon’s exoskeleton thorn pierced his left chest.
CLATTER!
The Plague Grimoire provided the first layer of defense, and the drake skin provided the second, but. . . it wasn’t enough. The pink demonic power tore through all resistance.
The chaos demon even cauterized the wound with demonic power, preventing it from regenerating.
【GRRAAAAA! 】
If it pierced any further, the drake heart that replaced Oswald’s human heart would be destroyed. Oswald used both hands to hold back the exoskeleton thorn that was trying to pierce deeper.
In that state, he was pushed back until. . . he was finally blocked by the mansion’s wall.
【It’s over. 】
The two snakes that were supposed to be in place of his left hand opened their maws and lunged at Oswald.
At that critical moment, Gilgamesh, who had been hiding in the shadows at Oswald’s feet, leapt up and slashed at the seduction chaos demon.
SWISH!
【GRAAAA! 】
With a single stroke of his blue aura-coated sword, he severed the exoskeleton thorn and then swung it again, severing the heads of the two snakes.
‘𝘏𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵, 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭.’
The aura created by magic, and the aura blade created from that aura. It was bound to have an even more devastating effect, and even a high-ranking chaos demon could not ignore its power.
‘𝘋𝘢𝘮𝘯. . . . . . 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨. . . . . .’
The wound was not healing because the demonic power was cauterizing it. As a result, he was bleeding profusely.
In the end, he released the Plague Grimoire and used holy power to expel the demonic power that was lingering in the wound.
‘𝘜𝘨𝘩. . . . . . ‘
The holy power had difficulty expelling the demonic power of a high-ranking demon. The holy power and demonic power fought fiercely, but. . . it seemed to be lacking.
‘𝘋𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵. . . . . .’
Oswald’s consciousness gradually faded as he lost more and more blood. . . he took a potion from his magic pouch and poured it on the wound, but. . . it had no effect.
It meant that healing was impossible unless he expelled the demonic power. With no other choice, he took the potion to minimize the energy loss caused by the bleeding.
‘𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵. 𝘈𝘮 𝘐 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴?’
Just before his consciousness completely faded, Oswald thought he heard someone calling his name, but. . . that was the end.
“Oswald!!”
Leave a Reply