NOVEL NEXT Chapter 76
Chapter 76
As Nahun was observing the situation at the point where Achilles was fighting, he slowly got up from his seat.
“Seere, get ready.”
“Yes, Teacher!”
Seere rose energetically from his seat as if she had been waiting for this. She fiddled with the hilt of the sword at her waist, looking as if she wanted to draw it immediately, which made Nahun smirk.
“Are you itching for a fight?”
“Yes, surprisingly, the human is quite skilled in combat. I want to face them.”
“Then, Seere, I have a request for you.”
“Yes?”
Seere was surprised. It was the first time Nahun had asked her for something. This ultimately meant that he was willing to rely on her.
The fact that Nahun was depending on and trusting her was something Seere had always wished for. So, overwhelmed with joy, she nodded vigorously.
It wasn’t just a nod; it was an excited bobbing of her head.
“Yes! What is it!?”
“Uh… right. Please take care of the hero.”
“The hero?”
“It seems that humans refer to those who have received divine weapons from the celestial beings as heroes.”
“Ah.”
The reason Nahun made such a request was that the only one capable of matching the hero, aside from himself, Lin, Baruna, and Celestia, was Seere.
Lin, Baruna, and Celestia had to command their legions, and while Nahun could fight, he preferred to avoid confrontation.
“If I do engage, the celestial beings might notice the involvement of the great demon.”
Because of that thought, he intended to avoid a fight with the hero as much as possible. He judged that Seere would be more than enough to handle the situation. If Seere struggled, he would step in, but…
“Do you think you can manage?”
Nahun spoke as if it was fine if she didn’t want to, but Seere’s answer was already determined.
Seere nodded as if she understood and clenched her fist, displaying her strong will.
“Leave it to me, Teacher.”
The fact that the teacher had trusted her and made a request meant everything. So…
“I will definitely succeed!”
She had to live up to his expectations.
#
At the command of the Demon King, the legions moved. The Fourth Legion appeared alongside Seere, the Fifth Legion to the north, the Sixth Legion to the west, and the Seventh Legion to the east, surrounding the human army.
However, something felt off. The legions surrounding the hunt party maintained their distance, showing movements as if they were going to engage but never closing in. They avoided direct confrontation while maintaining their encircling formation.
“Those bastards, when we try to avoid a fight, they act like they want to jump in, but when we’re ready to fight, they keep running away!?”
“What in the world is their plan?”
The humans were unaware of one additional legion that existed.
The Eighth Legion, composed solely of vampires that did not participate in the encirclement, stood far off. Unlike the other legions, they stayed back to provide long-range support. The vampires’ unique magic, blood magic, was suited for intercepting enemies.
“Prepare the Blood Spears!”
【 Bloody Spear 】
Blood-red spears materialized in the hands of the vampires as Alberon, leading them, commanded.
“Throw!”
At the signal, tens of thousands of spears were launched at once. The sight of blood-made spears filling the sky was chilling and overwhelming.
The humans were managing quite well against Achilles’ troops up until then, but problems began to arise gradually from that point.
“Establish a defensive formation and hold them off!”
“What nonsense! How can we block that!? Evacuate immediately!”
The hero’s hunt party was comprised of a multinational coalition. Their command structure was not unified, leading to frequent differing judgments among officers and knights from each country.
Particularly since the enemy was not approaching from a single point, but rather surrounding them from all sides, the chaos intensified.
“Stay still!”
Yet, there was still someone to rally and control them. Cerest raised her bow high and drew the string toward the heavens.
《 Diana 》
The moonlight arrow shot up into the sky. As the light reached its height, it spread out widely, enveloping the heads of the human troops in a dome shape. The sight of the moonlight descending awed the human soldiers.
“Beautiful….”
“Is this the power of the celestial being…!”
The barrier created by just one arrow seemed capable of protecting the human soldiers completely.
“Hmm, it looks quite sturdy.”
Until one Demon King interfered. The red hair I had among my white locks lost its color, and simultaneously, the red gemstone embedded in the sword emitted a foreboding light.
“Shatter Blade.”
『 Vástĭtas manus 』
The master of the Blood Demon’s sword, Seere von Debata, struck down with her sword that was radiating ominous light.
Clang─!
The barrier, which they thought would block everything, cracked. It was just a small fissure, but the more intricately crafted something was, the more it was affected by tiny cracks.
Crack!!!
The barrier shattered. With just one strike. Cerest could hardly believe her eyes at the absurdity of it.
“…How?”
It was a divine bow granted by the celestial beings. It was imbued with immense resistance and repulsion against anything related to ‘magic power.’ Naturally, it should have resisted and repelled the ominous power contained in that blade.
“But it still broke.”
…There was no hint of resistance whatsoever. As the barrier broke, 40,000 blood-red spears rained down from the sky.
“Blood…, run away!”
“Cough!”
“If we deflect it with our swords!… Cough…!”
The hero Cerest and the highly skilled knights were able to protect themselves. However, the majority of the soldiers suffered injuries or even lost their lives to the potent magic of the vampires.
“Hero! What happened!?”
A knight sought an explanation, but Cerest couldn’t understand it either. Why that girl’s sword had managed to dismantle her technique in an instant.
As the human lines were thrown into chaos by the blood spears, Seere raised her sword high and aimed it forward.
“I command all legions, wipe them out!!”
Creating chaos among the enemy with long-range bombardment and taking advantage of the broken formation to launch a frontal assault. It was a very standard move in battle, and the humans could easily anticipate this tactic. But the process was beyond normal bounds.
As soon as Seere’s signal dropped, the legions launched at once. Seeing the demon legions pouring in from all sides, the already panicking human army began to lose their wits completely.
“Get up! We must counter! Regroup…!”
Some experienced officers tried to calm the soldiers and reform their lines, but it was not easy to fill the large gaps that had opened up. Before they could seal the gaps, Bicon’s paw crashed into them.
“You insolent humans.”
A woman with flowing hair and striking cat ears looked coldly at the officers crushed by Bicon.
“Annihilation.”
#
Cerest was unable to hide her bewilderment as she beheld the demon army surged all around.
The demon legions had begun to slaughter the hunt party with a surrounding formation.
The Demon King who had shattered the protective barrier created by the celestial being’s bow.
And still watching the battlefield from above, that embodiment of ‘evil.’
Though Cerest was an exceptional archer, she had no experience fighting demons in the Demon World, and she couldn’t help but feel panic. While she was still recovering her senses, the enemy was finishing all preparations.
“Jae.”
『 Cĭnis 』
“Explode.”
『 Explósĭo 』
Two ancient magics manifested in Seere’s hands, and she clasped them together.
“Gray Explosion.”
『 Cĭnis Explósĭo 』
Then Seere surveyed her surroundings with a puzzled expression.
“Is that the smell of burning…?”
And Seere could see it. Gray ash powder rising around her.
Boom────!
A tremendous explosion occurred. Seere had considerably drained her external and available magical energy, merging the two ancient magics into one.
Of course, the power was immense, and all of the knights and soldiers gathered around Cerest were swept away in the explosion, either blown to bits or burnt to death.
“What on earth… are you doing?”
Surprisingly, Cerest had survived such an explosion. Even the heavily armored knight beside her was killed by the blast, yet this lightly armed girl stood unharmed. Seere was honestly amazed.
“That’s incredibly sturdy, isn’t it?”
What the celestial being granted was not just a divine weapon. It had also imbued her with a superhuman enhancement of all her abilities, along with a protective blessing.
A blessed hero possessed a body tougher than most armors. The body of a hero could be considered a kind of living armor. This is why heroes could withstand attacks that would be deadly to ordinary humans without a scratch.
Yet the explosion from the ancient magic had left scares and wounds on her body. Coughing up black blood, Cerest spoke.
“…I see, now I understand.”
Cerest’s gaze locked directly on Seere. Not the man floating above doing nothing, but the girl right in front of her….
“You are my enemy.”
“Humans are truly foolish…, the teacher constantly overrates you, though.”
Seere also faced Cerest, but unlike Cerest, who recognized her as an ‘enemy,’ Seere’s eyes bore a different expression.
“What if I trample you properly? Would the teacher’s evaluation of you change?”
There was revulsion, and contempt. A reaction one exhibits when seeing something disgusting, something unworthy of being confronted. Feeling it in her entirety, Cerest clenched her teeth.
“You’ve always hunted people with that look in your eyes!!”
Enraged, Cerest drew her bowstring back, aiming at Seere. As a skilled elven archer, her movements were quick and precise.
《 Arjuna 》
This time, lightning charged the bowstring. The lightning arrow made a loud crackling noise, ready to fly at any moment.
And it was fired. A speed so fast it couldn’t be tracked by the eye, and even Seere couldn’t react to that arrow.
“…What?”
“Uh, how…?”
Yet for some reason, Seere remained completely untouched. Not just unharmed, she seemed entirely unaffected. Instead, one might say that the bracelet on her wrist shone brightly.
It was the ancient golden bracelet Nahun had given her after conquering the 68th floor. Like the Blood Demon’s sword, it exhibited extraordinary defensive capabilities reminiscent of the insane growth efficiency seen in the game.
Seere tilted her head.
“What did you just do?”
“What nonsense… how can a being with magic power resist the power of a bow granted by the celestial beings…!”
“Since you seem to have reacted, maybe you did something….”
Seere casually glanced around. Spotting the glowing bracelet, she grinned.
“Then it’s my turn now.”
“Cough, I won’t let you do that…!”
Just as Cerest quickly pulled back her bowstring. Cerest saw it. The dark, stained blade already swung before her.
“…What.”
Empowered by the blessing, her body had been enhanced, and she, as an elven archer, was among the best at tracking movements. Yet she could not read Seere’s movement at all.
The magic flowed from Seere’s circuits and infused the Blood Demon’s sword. The blood-soaked sword, embedded with mana, emitted a sinister light from the red gemstone.
“Cut Anything.”
『 Univérsĭtas Segméntum 』
Swish──────!