NOVEL NEXT Chapter 32
32. Regrettable
─ That voice, suddenly resounding.
“It’s fine to act all grandiose, but your openings are too big.”
Immediately, fresh blue blood splattered from Gyrasvrim’s neck.
“Ugh…!?”
The Demon General raised a cry of pain, interrupting his slash and leaping back.
“You…!”
He readied his crimson demon sword, glaring at me.
No, he wasn’t glaring at me.
At some point, a girl stood right beside me.
Flowing elegant purple hair reaching her waist.
A brown-skinned body clad in revealing dancer attire.
In her right hand, a large knife with the blue blood of the Demon General smeared on it.
“Sarome──!”
A separate unit, adventurers, knights, and what seemed to be magicians appeared from several tens of meters away.
“Even the invincible Demon General is fragile if caught off guard.”
Sarome swept back her long purple hair, mocking.
Her expression was cold and ruthless, unlike her usual self.
“…I see, so you possess stealth abilities. No wonder I didn’t notice your presence…”
Gyrasvrim glared at Sarome.
“But that’s not all. Your abilities──”
“I’ll kill you. I, myself.”
Sarome, whose tone had changed completely, coldly declared.
“I’ll show you the essence of Elze’s assassination technique.”
Her figure suddenly flickered.
As if dissolving into the air──.
I lost sight of her figure.
“She vanished…!?”
Gyrasvrim groaned.
“My ability is [Stealth].”
Immediately after, Sarome appeared behind the Demon General.
As if teleporting.
“Elze’s assassination technique stealth movement ‘Ibuki’──this is my trump card. With my presence completely concealed, even the Demon King cannot capture me.”
The knife she wielded slashed Gyrasvrim’s back.
“Don’t boast…!”
The Demon General swung his red greatsword horizontally and vertically.
But by then, her figure had already disappeared.
It was abnormal.
She should be within a few meters──yet her figure was completely invisible.
It’s not like she moved at a speed like Luca’s, too fast to be seen.
It’s a different kind of power.
Or rather, it’s not that she’s invisible but perhaps that ‘I can’t perceive’ her.
Probably a martial art that enhances the ability to ‘conceal one’s presence’ to the utmost limit──.
“Where are you looking?”
Sarome’s figure vanished,
“Over here.”
She appeared again for a moment.
“Tsk…”
“Too bad. Over here.”
Along with mockery, blood spurted from the Demon General’s body.
“…I see. You use troublesome martial arts.”
Gyrasvrim groaned while his entire armor was dyed blue with blood.
“Warriors seem to excel in fair and square battles.”
Sarome, who suddenly appeared behind the Demon General, spoke in a cold tone.
“But my specialty is assassination. There’s no need to fight head-on. I don’t intend to fight fairly. Fairness is useless and meaningless. I just exploit openings and kill.”
Again, blue blood splattered.
Sarome’s movements were invisible to the Demon General, and Sarome continued to evade his attacks.
It was a completely one-sided match.
“It seems the damage from the battle with Luca remains. Your movements are sluggish.”
“…Indeed, I have wounds, but for the Demon General to fall behind a mere human… disgraceful…”
Gyrasvrim continued to swing his greatsword.
The raging shockwaves shattered the surrounding bedrock.
The earth was gouged, and cracks ran through it.
It was a tremendous slash as if he wasn’t injured at all.
However, Sarome skillfully disappeared and moved, continuously avoiding the attack range.
“…Don’t think you can kill me with just a knife… If you tire and slow down, I can catch your presence…”
“Oh, I haven’t said anything about killing with a knife?”
Sarome’s smile echoed.
─ Right beside me.
Although I still couldn’t sense her presence, she seemed to have moved without me noticing.
She nestled closely to me.
“Hart-kun, defensive magic.”
With soft lips touching my ear, Sarome whispered with sweet breath.
Her skin touching mine was soft and lustrous.
If it weren’t for this situation, I would have been flustered.
But this is a battlefield──I straightened my focus.
“…Understood.”
I immediately embraced Sarome, putting her within the range of the protective barrier [Armor Phase].
“Then, I’ll finish it.”
Sarome took something out from her bosom and threw it into the air.
A small explosion erupted.
Perhaps a small explosive.
“What!?”
Right after Gyrasvrim questioned, a flash and roar burst out.
“Ugh…o…oh…”
Through the clearing flames stood Gyrasvrim, his armor in tatters.
“Ha…you…!”
“How does it feel to taste the magic raised to the legendary level of the spell, Magic Missile? It seems to have worked.”
Sarome’s smile was chillingly ruthless.
Previously, Lilith elevated a common spell to the super spell Rare Spell, which defeated a dragon.
So what she just used was──probably a level above that, a super spell Rare Spell from its name.
The gunpowder she threw earlier seemed to signal the timing of the launch.
“Luca hurt you, wore you down, I drew you in, and the magician behind you delivered the finishing blow with Magic Missile──everything went according to plan.”
“Regrettable… to sustain such wounds against mere humans…”
“Now I might be able to kill you with my knife. I’ll avenge all those who were massacred in Agir City and other cities.”
Sarome readied her knife.
“Regrettable… ugh…”
Gyrasvrim groaned.
Suddenly, sparks flew from the black knight armor covering his body.
Once, twice.
At the same time, his body shimmered like a heat haze and faded.
What’s──!?
Just as I wondered, the Demon General’s figure quickly returned.
“…The time limit, time’s up… I must prepare myself.”
Muttered Gyrasvrim.
“To use one hundred percent of my power against mere humans… But if I continue to disgrace myself like this… I’ll discard my reason, my will, even my life… to defeat you.”
─ In an instant.
“Huh…!?”
A shiver ran through my entire body.
As if the surrounding temperature suddenly dropped, an illusion.
Such an extraordinary pressure.
“My full power is impervious to assassination techniques. And you too──”
His blood-colored gaze turned towards me.
“Even if it’s the power of the gods, it still activates through human vessels… You can try to block my all-out sword with all you’ve got…”
With a loud bang, Gyrasvrim’s helmet and mask shattered.
Underneath was a face like that of a wolf.
“Roooooar!”
Gyrasvrim roared.
It was a roar akin to a beast’s howl.
And then, the Demon General transformed.
Into a berserker──intent on destruction and slaughter.