Chapter 382 - Country of Sakura, Cherin and the Seven Holy Swords [153] (1/2)

382. Country of Sakura, Cherin and the Seven Holy Swords [153]

「Unfortunately, perseverance is my only strong suit.」

I have confidence in the mental strength that I had cultivated through my billion years of training.

(But, practically speaking, Deal’s poison is incredibly potent.)

My side was still hurting like hell, ravaged by the poison.

(I can barely continue the battle by stifling my body’s senses and becoming mindless for a little while.)

To be honest, I have no idea how much longer my body can carry on.

「Fuu… haa…」

I took a deep breath and cleared my thoughts, quickly assessing the battle situation.

Ria, still unharmed, was diagonally behind me.

She was guarding Rose and the others who were unable to move, making it difficult for her to participate in the front lines.

And Rose, president, Lilim-senpai, and Ferris-senpai were lying on the ground.

They were suffering from Deadly Venom’s poison and were not in a state where they could fight.

Bacchus-san was engaged in a fierce fight with Von at a fair distance away. He was still unharmed and had the upper hand… but the earlier momentum had visibly diminished.

A stream of fresh blood dripped from the corners of his mouth. His sword hand was quivering slightly, and he held his chest with a pained expression. Perhaps because of the “incurable illness”, his body does not move as ordered.

On the other hand, Von never goes on the offensive, and just devoted himself to defense.

Apparently, he is aiming to draw out the fight until Bacchus-san strains his body too much.

(It’s not something I want to consider, but…)

If the battle continues as is, Bacchus-san will be killed in the not too distant future.

And we are currently on an uninhabited island in the sea.

Unfortunately, we cannot expect external reinforcements.

In other words, I need to defeat Deal, a true soul dress-user, all on my own before the poison consumes my body.

In addition, I have to go to Bacchus-san’s support right after that and beat one of the Seven Holy Swords, Von Mustang.

(…Bluntly, this is the “worst” situation.)

It would be difficult to think of a worse situation.

However, worrying about it will not improve this situation.

I put strength into the hand holding the black sword and placed weight on my toes.

「Let’s go, Deal!」

「Kuku, come then. I shall care for you at your last moment.」

Then I threw myself into a cruel battle.

■

The battle after that was terribly one-sided.

「Oh my, are you reaching your limit? It looks like you’ve gotten slower!」

Deal gripped a purple sword spit out from Hydra’s mouth, and attacked incessantly.

「I can do this… all day…」I said.

With each of his innumerable quick slashes, highly poisonous droplets scattered from Deal’s body.

I was trying my best to dodge them and couldn’t even unleash a slight counterattack.

「Dance for me – Hydra Whorl!」

Hydra’s heads grew larger from on top of Deal’s shoulder, and simultaneously attacked me.

A total of nine heads.

There were many, but their individual speeds were not that fast.

「Eighth Sword – Consecutive Yatagarasu!」

I shot 16 slashes and cut off all nine heads.

However, his attacks did not stop.

「Wha!?」