𝐀𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝
“I’ve found it.”
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Far away from the Celestial Mountains, the battleground for the decisive fight between the Four Heavenly Kings and the Hero’s Party, a lone demon muttered to herself.
She was a tall, golden-haired woman with grotesque wings sprouting from her back.
She sensed the wind and turned her attention to a distant land, her face contorted in displeasure.
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“Besides Vampneel and Asgard, I feel the presence of numerous humans with divine protection. Judging by the strength of their divine protection, it must be the Hero and her companions. I was prepared for this, but it seems the battle has already begun.”
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The woman clutched her forehead as if enduring a headache.
Her expression eloquently spoke of her utmost dissatisfaction with the situation.
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“Moreover, Vampneel’s presence has disappeared. Was he defeated? This is the worst.”
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Following Dragburn, two of the Four Heavenly Kings had left the Demon King’s Castle without permission.
She had been given the task of bringing one back, and she had just sensed that one of them had died.
Vampneel was clearly inferior compared to the other three Four Heavenly Kings, so it wasn’t surprising that he was defeated by the Hero’s Party. But she had assumed that the cunning demon would only show himself in situations where he could surely win, or at the very least, use Asgard as a decoy to escape before dying.
However, it seemed that her assumptions were off.
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Did he simply get discovered and couldn’t escape, or did he miscalculate the situation, get carried away, and miss his chance to flee?
He had a bad habit of getting cocky and careless when he thought he had the upper hand or was up against a significantly weaker opponent.
In fact, when they had first made him a member of their group in the Demon Realm, she had acted like she was struggling against his minions to lure out the overconfident Vampneel and then soundly beat him into submission.
It wasn’t out of the question that he messed up again in a similar manner.
Regardless, she had a headache.
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“After Dragburn, this is a significant loss in terms of military strength.”
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“Even though it was the Demon King’s orders to prevent something like this from happening,” she lamented, letting out a deep, deep sigh.
Even if Vampneel was the weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings, losing him was significant.
The Demon King had valued him not for his combat abilities, but for his ability to infinitely increase his minions through his blood.
In the Demon King’s Army, which, despite its individual members being strong, was outnumbered by humans, this ability was incredibly appealing.
That’s why he was included among the Four Heavenly Kings despite his mediocre abilities.
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“Sigh. There’s no point in dwelling on the dead. Fortunately, Asgard is still alive. However, whether I’ll make it there in time is touch and go. I must hurry.”
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Saying so, she spread her bizarre wings and took flight.
She kicked the ground with tremendous force and accelerated with her wings, soaring at a speed that left sound behind.
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“All for the sake of the Demon King.”
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◆◆◆
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“Oraaaaaaaaaaa!!!”
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While unleashing a battle cry filled with fervor, 『Sword Saint』 Blade・Valkyrias swings his greatsword against a mountainous giant that pierces the sky.
His aim is the waist.
The junction between the giant and the mountain.
He delivers a full-power, all-out swing at that spot.
ㅤ
A thunderous noise resounds, and a massive crack appears in the giant’s waist.
His trained monstrous strength has gouged out even the mountain.
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However, it naturally does not reach the point of destruction.
The resultant crack may boast tens of meters in length, but to the giant made of an entire mountain, it’s a mere scratch.
Moreover, unlike normal living beings that have vital organs within their torso, fighting against a mass of rock means that it’s not even a scratch in the true sense.
Additionally, the rock reshapes itself, and the so-called scratch vanishes immediately.
A profound sense of futility.
That’s what struck Blade.
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“Damn it . . . . . .?!’
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The moment he unwittingly cursed, the area surrounding Blade exploded.
An attack resembling the Earth Magic 『Earth Burst』, it violently detonates rocks and the ground.
In ordinary circumstances, it would be inferior to fire-attribute explosions, but this time the scale is too different.
While it is just a fraction of the whole giant, a part of the mountain itself has become a full-fledged bomb.
The power exceeds that of a pricey Magic item 『Explosive Sphere』, and despite Blade hastily using his greatsword as a shield, he is blown away hundreds of meters, suffering severe injuries.
Then, without any mercy, the giant’s fist rains down.
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“『Holy Shield Barrier』!”
“『Holy Sword』!”
“『Gust』!”
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But, his comrades came to Blade’s rescue.
Rin’s barrier barely holds off the giant’s fist for a moment, Stella’s torrent of light diverts the trajectory of the arm, and Ernesta’s wind magic rescues Blade from the attack range, delivering him to Rin.
Immediately following that, the super-massive fist, whose path was altered, strikes the ground, shaking the mountain and blowing away everything in the vicinity with just the wind pressure.
Had even one of the three’s support been missing, Blade would have either been crushed by the fist or killed by the follow-up wind pressure.
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“『Advanced Healing』!”
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Moreover, the Healing Magic that Rin subsequently casts heals Blade’s wounds.
He has been saved once again.
However,
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“It’s not over yet!!”
“Blade-sama?!”
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Without even the leisure to thank his comrades, he recklessly heads towards the giant again.
The giant, effortlessly repairing the arm Stella had damaged, swings its other arm.
However, the target isn’t the approaching Blade.
The fist is aimed at Stella, who has dealt more damage to the giant than Blade.
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“『Judgment of all Attributes』!”
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Yet, Ernesta’s magic deflects the fist aimed at Stella.
Because it’s without incantation, the power isn’t comparable to when she wiped out a horde of dragons in Elf Village, but it would still easily pierce through an average mature being if it landed a direct hit.
Still, it can’t even shatter the titan’s arm.
Creating large cracks and repelling it is the best she can do.
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After all, most of this giant’s body is made up of Celestial Mountains, a labyrinth.
A labyrinth is a singularity that arises when the flow of magical power in the world goes awry, accumulating unnaturally in one place.
The special magical power within it can mutate items or minerals exposed to it for a long time, spawn mutated monsters like zombies or golems, and attract wild monsters, but one of its characteristics is its extreme durability.
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Even an average hero or demon can’t lay a scratch on it; only attacks from high-ranking monsters with superior offensive power manage to get through.
Even if it’s a small object, a Holy Warrior with extreme firepower like a Sage would have to spend days to completely destroy it.
The defensive strength alone is already dire, but the current situation makes it even more tragic.
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“O Light Spirit, guardian of a corner of the magic’s reason! Divine power of the sacred light! Combine light with light and become a dazzling crescent blade within my sword! ━━『Moonlight Blade』!”
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Using the time bought by Ernesta’s defense, Stella activated her fully-chanted magic.
A dazzling crescent-shaped slash of light is unleashed from the hero’s sword with overwhelming strength.
The light slash, formed using immense magical power, has an exceptionally large size, enough to sever a giant.
It slices through the giant diagonally across its body.
But,
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“Oh come on! Isn’t this a bit too tough?!”
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Although the light slash significantly gouged the giant’s body, it was stopped by a mysterious, lustrous chunk of metal located deep in its chest.
The strength of this mysterious metal is overwhelmingly alarming, even compared to the rest of the labyrinth itself.
It’s likely a super-alloy formed by compressing and blending various magical metals like Mithril and Orichalcum at high density.
Each of the original magical metals is already extraordinarily strong, but the strength of this super-alloy exceeds all bounds.
What’s even worse is,
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“Asgard’s inside that mysterious metal, right?!”
“Absolutely! The magic that moves and repairs this giant golem all comes from within there!”
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Exactly.
The enemy that needs to be defeated, Asgard, is holed up inside that world’s strongest metal.
To defeat Asgard, at the very least, one needs extreme firepower capable of breaking through both the labyrinth walls and this strongest metal.
To give you an idea of how impossible that is, even the Blue Flame Dragon state of Dragburn is softer than this strongest metal.
Even Stella’s ultimate attack, unleashed after long concentration and chanting in the fight against Dragburn, would probably not work.
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Right now, Asgard is unquestionably stronger than Dragburn.
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“Look at meeeeee━━!”
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There is one man who recklessly charges at the giant controlled by such an Asgard.
Blade goes in angrily charging at the giant, who seems to be only targeting Stella as if he doesn’t matter, and swings his sword with all his might once more.
The result is the same as before.
He leaves a scratch on the giant’s body and that’s it.
And just like before, an explosion occurs around Blade.
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“Don’t underestimate me! I’ll show you how it’s done!”
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Blade grips his greatsword tightly, putting power into it, and forcefully swings it once again from the position he had swung it before.
By doing so, he forcibly slices through the explosion.
It’s a technique, if you could even call it that, where he loses the skill of Allan’s Slashing Sweep and instead compensates with raw power and speed.
Still, it certainly had an effect.
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“How’s that! Huh?!”
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However, Blade, who had lost his focus just by dealing with a single attack, was caught by a massive rock spear extending from the explosion and was sent flying again.
He managed to guard in the nick of time by using his greatsword as a shield, but he couldn’t prevent the impact from piercing through his body.
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『Weak. You are weak. Hopelessly weak. Beyond any salvation, you are weak.』
(Shut up. . . . . .!)
“Aaaaaaaaaa!!”
“Wait, Blade-sama! You haven’t recovered yet. . . . . .”
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Rin’s voice doesn’t reach him. Fueled only by the voice echoing in his head, Blade once again charges in.
Of course, his reckless opponent is not so easily swayed.
The giant is unfazed by Blade’s attacks; each charge repelled, only his own damage accumulates.
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『Powerless. Foolish. Pitiful. You can’t do anything. You’ll never accomplish anything.』
“Blade! Charging in mindlessly won’t do any good! We need to coordinate our strength. . . . . .”
“I said shut up!!”
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By now, he can no longer distinguish between the voice in his head and the voices of his comrades.
Blade attacks. He keeps attacking.
Frantically, recklessly, he continues his assault, avoiding the reality that he can’t do anything.
Yet, it’s futile. Ineffective. None of it makes any difference.
Beaten down miserably, he is sent flying like trash.
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“Damn it. . . . . .!”
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Finally, he falls to his knees, unable to move.
A ruthless attack rains down from the giant.
A slap, as if to squash an annoying fly.
Stella is incapacitated immediately after her attack.
Ernesta, too, right after using her magic.
Rin tries desperately to use a barrier spell, but she alone can’t handle this onslaught.
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A desperate situation.
And yet, this is the result of his own doing.
The price for his emotional, unilateral actions. A deserved retribution.
This time, his comrades won’t make it in time.
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The one who saves him in this dire situation is a swordsman, supposedly less gifted than Blade, who rushes in, cloak billowing.
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“Sixth Strike Deformation━『Sky Rebellion・Flame』!”
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Using the power of his leg armor to generate wind, and the black flame from his new sword as propulsion, he accelerates to the limit and concentrates all that kinetic energy into one point.
With a deafening crack, the giant’s wrist shatters and bends.
The force of the blow slightly repels the arm, enabling Blade’s rescue.
A narrow escape from death.
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“This one seems to be quite strong.”
“Allan-kun!”
“Ah, you made it!”
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The arriving Allan receives admiring glances from his comrades.
A fitting reaction.
After all, Allan has proven himself reliable in crunch situations.
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But those were eyes that nobody had directed at Blade lately.
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“. . . . . .Allan, how did things go on your end?”
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Stella asks Allan in a tense voice.
The Hero of No Talent responds with the outcome everyone had hoped for.
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“My bad feeling came true. The mastermind controlling the monsters here showed up, so I took him down. ━━I’ve avenged Rest.”
“! So you have. Thank you!”
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Stella thanks Allan with a relieved expression.
Her brother’s murderer is dead.
It’s a joyful occasion.
Blade had witnessed every moment of Rest’s tragic fate.
He could assert that his hatred for the murderer was stronger than anyone else’s.
So, taking down that murderer should be cause for celebration.
Yet, at this moment, the thought that crossed Blade’s mind was,
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(Ah, so I couldn’t even avenge my own brother’s murderer with my own hands.)
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Such were his thoughts.
And while Blade is mired in self-loathing, the situation continues to evolve.
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“Most of the monsters over there died after we took out their leader, and the remaining ones lost all coordination, turning into a disorganized mob. Imina-san and the others can handle them now. All that’s left is this big one. Let’s finish it quickly and win without losing anyone this time!”
“Yes!”
“Well done, Al-boy! We’re not losing either!”
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Allan’s good news boosted the morale of his allies.
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“Rin! Please take care of the Blade!”
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Upon Stella’s words, the battle with Asgard shifts to the next stage.
They haven’t found a way to breach their absolute defense yet.
Still, the tide of battle has certainly turned in their favor.
Even though Allan has joined, Blade is down and Rin is attending to him, so they’re actually fewer in number than before.
『Look. They don’t even need you. They don’t see any value in you.』
(. . . . . .Maybe so. Why can’t I do anything. . . . . .)
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Memories of Blade’s past journey flood back into his mind.
The time he challenged Dragburn with high spirits and was nearly killed.
The time he couldn’t do anything but get beaten up trying to stop Rest, who was controlled by demons.
When he sought advice from Allan and Stella to become stronger, it became clear just how inferior he was compared to them.
He was scorned as being not just inexperienced but fundamentally flawed by the God of War.
And now, yet again, he can’t do anything against the enemy and is holding his teammates back.
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“Damn it. . . . . .”
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His body hurts and he can’t move.
More than that, his heart hurts and he can’t bring himself to move.
Overcome with unbearable agony and sorrow, Blade couldn’t even continue the self-destructive act of fighting.
His mind is consumed by guilt that not even Rin’s desperately cast Healing Magic can mend.
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『Give up. Break down and give in. As long as you are you, you’re just a failure who can’t accomplish anything.』
(A failure. . . . . .Yes, that’s right.)
“Haha. . . . . .”
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A bitter laugh escapes Blade’s mouth.
Ah, it’s all over.
He fully accepts the voice’s words in his mind, and at this moment, Blade’s spirit completely shatters.
He has given up on everything.
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Then, the tone of the voice in his head changes.
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『Then reach out for this power. If you do, you can change. You can become different.』
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This voice is different from the one that broke his spirit.
It’s a voice tinged with unrestrained joy.
At the same time, an image emerges in Blade’s mind.
Before his eyes is a vision of a thick, dark blue liquid flowing.
Normally, he would feel instinctual revulsion, but now, drained of all willpower, Blade doesn’t even have the energy to react.
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『Go on, accept my blood. Accept this supreme blood. Then the ultimate power will be yours.』
(Ultimate power. . . . . .)
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Blade thinks.
He doesn’t care about becoming the strongest.
However, if it frees him from this pain.
If it frees him from this sorrow.
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(I don’t care. I don’t care, just. . . . . .save me.)
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With lifeless eyes, Blade reaches out to the dark blue liquid.
The owner of the voice shows unbridled glee, and thus Blade starts down the same tragic path as his brother. . . . . .
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“Enough already!!!”
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. . . . . .Just before he plummeted, the pain racing across his cheeks and the anguished scream yanked him back to reality.
He had no idea what had happened. As he blinked my eyes and looked ahead, there was Rin, desperately tending to Blade’s injuries.
Her hand had been raised.
That hand had struck Blade’s cheek.
And then, Rin. . . . . .
The girl Blade had once rescued was.
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Crying.
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With eyes filled with tears yet a strong resolve, she was looking at Blade.
Not at Allan and the others, who were fighting a deadly battle with Asgard, but only at Blade.
Translator’s Blog
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