Chapter 72 - Volume 8 (1/2)

Versus Demon Race II

“Limit Break,” a skill that temporarily triples ones basic stats using magic power, however, it is literally breaking one’s limit; so, it cannot be used for a long period and the user will be weakened proportionally to the time it was use afterwards. That is because of the severe fatigue and results in the inability to use even half of one’s original power. Therefore, the time and place to use this last-resort skill should be thought out carefully.

Because of the demonic beast’s strength and recovery, Kouki judged that the morale of his companions would plummet if this kept up, so he used “Limit Break” to immediately defeat the White Crow and the Demon race woman.

With Kouki’s declaration of “Limit Break,” pure white light wrapped around his body. At the same time, the Brutal-look-alike, whose mace attack was counter attacked again, didn’t notice the change in Kouki.

“O’ blade-like will, bear the light and tear my enemy, “Light Sword”!”

Kouki bent his body forward to dodge the Brutal-look-alike’s mace. He then immediately slashed from below using the Holy Sword which was extended by the blade of light.

He had slashed the enemy before by using “Light Sword,” and although it received a severe wound, it wasn’t life-threatening. However, this time he was using “Limit Break,” which tripled his stats, and with the effect of “Light Sword,” the Brutal-look-alike was diagonally cut in two, as though it was made of butter.

One beat later, the Brutal-look-alike’s body shifted diagonally and boom!, it crumbled with a raw sound. Kouki put strength into his legs and immediately accelerated fiercely towards the Demon race woman.

Nothing obstructed the space between Kouki and the Demon race woman. Although it was said that the Demon race was a superior race in terms of magic, but it was too late for her to do anything. With this, she would be slashed along with the white crow, the end. Everyone thought so.

At that moment,

“””””GUUURAAAAAARRRRRWW!!!”””””

“Wha—!?”

There were six blurred spaces, and they attacked Kouki while roaring loudly. Because the Chimeras were attacking simultaneously from all sides, Kouki instinctively raised an astonished voice and his eyes opened wide.

He immediately slammed the brake, dodging the attack from the front, and used Holy Sword to slash the Chimera attacking from his right. Next, he believed in the performance of the Holy Armor and endured the deadly attack he received on his back.

However, those were the only things he could do. The claws of the Chimera on his left hit his shoulder. He flew outside of the encirclement when the last Chimera suddenly jumped, dug its foreleg claws on Kouki’s shoulders, and pinned him.

“Ack!!” A cry slipped through his grit his teeth.

He was barely able to stop the Chimera that was about to pierce its fangs in the scruff of his neck with Holy Sword. With claws digging into his shoulders, the power to block the jaws was reduced. Kouki who had already broken his limit was gradually cornered, and he could not bring forth enough power.

“O’ light of grace, bring your healing and warning to this place, “Heavenly Burn”! “Binding Seal”!”

Seeing Kouki in such a pinch, Kaori promptly activated recovery magic spells. “Heavenly Burn” was a mid-ranked healing magic with a single target. Its effect was higher than the recovery magic, “Heavenly Time,” she used earlier to heal several people. However, the Chimera’s claws were digging in Kouki’s shoulders, so it wouldn’t be healed the way things were going.

Therefore, she activated mid-ranked restraining magic of the light element, “Binding Seal,” at the same time she activated the healing magic. “Binding Seal” was a magic that produced a cage of light centering on the confined object — Kaori used that magic on Kouki. The cage of light instantaneously expanded around Kouki and pushed the Chimera away.

With the claws coming out of his shoulders, “Heavenly Burn” demonstrated its effect and Kouki’s wounds were instantly healed.

At the same time, some people from the rear, such as Suzu and the rear guard group who were fighting against the Chimera and the six-legged turtle, released attack magics towards the Chimeras attacking Kouki. However the distance was too far and they could not get a good aim, even when they had had the effects of Kaori’s “Heavenly Perimeter,” they were still unable to deal great damages to the Chimeras.

Even so, they were able to buy time for Kouki to regain his balance. Next, he readied his Holy Sword, chanted, and charged to counter attack when he was fully healed.

“”Soaring Four Wing Blades””

He swung the Holy Sword which drew a curve in the air, and four slashes of light appeared from the space where he swung at. The targeted Chimeras sensed the crisis beheld by Kouki’s action strengthened by “Limit Break,” and immediately jumped away to evade.

However,

“Capture them, “Restrain”!”

With a chantless-like short chant, Kaori activated mid-ranked restraining magic of the light element, “Restrain.” Numerous chains of light jumped out from the evading Chimeras’ feet and twined around their neck and feet. Though it was not difficult to get out of it with the strength the Chimeras possessed, they were stopped for a moment and could not evade.

As a result, the four Chimeras were directly hit by Kouki’s “Soaring Blade”s and died as their blood splattered around.

Kouki glared and pointed his Holy Sword towards the Demon race woman.

“How regrettable; your last resort was ineffective against us. Now there’s nothing else to protect you!”

Upon hearing Kouki’s words, the Demon race woman looked dubiously, no, looked at Kouki with amazement. In her mind, she thought, “Why was it necessary for him to declare that now? Wouldn’t it be better for him to immediately slash me?”

Even though the Demon race woman should have been cornered, her composed attitude irritated Kouki. First she let out Chimeras, next Brutal-look-alikes, and now Chimeras again. Those surprise attacks were also the source of his irritation. “You only used surprise attacks and didn’t fight fairly. Moreover, you’re just spectating. What a coward!” Kouki shouted.

“… Well, that’s not my last resort.”

“What a bluff!”

“Anyway, forget about whether or not it’s a bluff, but what will you do after you repel those? I have confirmed your power as the “Heretic Apostles,” so I have no more business with you.”

“What ar—” “KYAAA!”

“— Kh!?”

The Demon race woman said while going through the trouble of flipping her hair, when a scream rang out from behind him the same time Kouki was questioning her.

Kouki reflexively looked back, and what greeted his eyes were five Brutal-look-alikes and Chimeras. Furthermore, there was a black, four-eyed wolf he had never seen before who was ridden by a 60 centimeter black cat with four tentacles. They simultaneously attacked his comrades and Kouki could see the spectacle where the black cat’s tentacle pierced through the flank of one of his best friends in Nagayama’s party, Nomura Kentarou. The one who screamed was Yoshino Mao, also from Nagayama’s party.

“Kentarou! Damn you, don’t you get carried away!”

“Mao, calm down! I will heal him!”

A member from their party, Endou Kousuke, slashed the tentacle that pierced Nomura and he glared at the black cat with eyes blazing in anger.

Nomura fell and raised an anguished voice, which made Yoshino dumbfounded, but only to be scolded by Tsuji Ayako who immediately activated healing magic. It was a blessing that she completed her chant completed before the tentacle cut by Endou healed up.

“Wh—, there are still more—!”

As he looked back, Kouki made a surprised sound because there were new reinforcements that appeared unbeknownst to him.

“The effect of Chimera’s peculiar magic, “Camouflage,” activates on whoever it touched. Or have you not thought of such a thing? Looks, there’s more of them.”

“Kh!?”

The large amount of demonic beasts that suddenly appeared had reversed the situation, and Kouki and his comrades were now the ones who were inferior in terms of numbers. Seeing that, Kouki hurriedly turned back. To Kouki, the Demon race woman gave away the secret of the Chimera’s “Camouflage” effect and further revealed more demonic beasts. Ten four-eyed wolves and black cats appeared from behind her and rushed towards Kouki.

“Kuh— oOO!”

The black cats’ tentacles extended at extraordinary speed and attacked Kouki from all directions. Kouki made a pinwheel rotation to cut the incoming tentacles using the Holy Sword, but one of the black cats had gotten close to his side and tried to hit him. It was aiming at Kouki’s face, so the jumping black cat shouldn’t have been able avoid his attack mid-air. Kouki said, “One down!,” when he was convinced of the demonic beast’s death.

However, his conviction was easily overturned in the next moment. Somehow, the black cat did a somersault in mid-air and avoided Kouki’s attack. Next, sharp claws that didn’t suit the cat’s physique targeted Kouki’s neck.

Kouki was barely able to move his head and avoided the attack, but he was unable to respond to a four-eyed wolf’s attack that came from behind him, due to the collapse of his balance. It didn’t result in a serious injury thanks to his defense of his armor and the strength from exceeding his limit. He then mightily jumped away and returned to his comrades.

With that, the obviously abnormally strong demonic beasts surrounded Kouki’s party. Everyone tried to fight back desperately, but what was even more troublesome was that the enemies had suddenly increased in numbers and were cooperating. In addition, the white crow would immediately heal the demonic beasts if they didn’t die in one hit.

Although the frontline somehow managed to avoid collapsing, thanks to the continuous healing of Kaori and the other “Healer,” Tsuji Ayako, they still could not do anything to break the situation.

Kouki dealt damage to the enemies using the power he gained from “Limit Break,” but it had become impossible for him to attack the demonic beasts with “hit and run” tactic while cooperating with the others.

With high-speed movement comparable to Shizuku’s “No Beat,” the black cat and the four-eyed wolf that possessed a skill called “Prediction,” had excellent teamwork which resulted in the evasion of what should have been a mortal wound.

They desperately fought back, but shadows of despair gradually began to loom over the expression of the classmates. That feeling grew larger thanks to the participation of the Demon race woman in the battle.

“The golden eyed lizard sleeping in the depth of the ground, the magic-eyed king born in this world, the one who brought the curse of darkness within his view. What I seek is the eternal and everlasting prison of darkness. Neither terror, nor despair, nor sorrow, to lock out my enemies with those eyes, and what remains would be demise, only cold sanction sculptures. Crush everything and return them to the ground! “Final Prison”!”

Immediately after the chant was finished, a gray orb appeared from the woman of the Demon race’s outstretched hand and flew towards Kouki’s party drawing a parabola. Although it could not be called fast, there’s no one currently in Kouki’s party who could not evade it. At a glance, it was truly not a marvelous magic, but the one whose abdomen pierced by the tentacle, Nomura Kentarou, was already pale faced because of the blood loss, and became paler. He shouted,

“Kh!? Fuck! Taniguchi—!! Stop that thing! Use your barrier!”

“Eh!? R-Roger! Bring a sanctuary that won’t let the God’s enemy pass here! “Holy Interruption”!”

Nomura, who was at his wit’s end ordered, and Suzu used shortened chants to invoke high-ranked defense magic of the light element. The shining barrier created a dome-like state and surrounded Kouki’s party. Because “Holy Interruption” didn’t have a function to detect friend or foe, there were lots of demonic beasts wrapped inside the dome-like barrier. Not only was it a strong magic, it also had high magic power consumption rate. It was the reason why it was often not used in meaningless fights. However, Nomura’s shout told her the danger of the magic activated by the Demon race woman, so at the very least, she wanted to use a strong barrier magic and immediately chose “Holy Interruption.”

The gray-colored swirling orb immediately collided with the barrier right after Suzu expanded the “Holy Interruption.” The gray orb had tremendous pressure and strength belied by its appearance to break through the barrier. To not let it break through, Suzu gritted her teeth and desperately endured the feeling of her magic power being consumed.

Then, as if they received an order from the Demon race woman, the demonic beasts’ movements changed. Several all of them began to aim at Suzu simultaneously.

“Suzu!”

“Protect Taniguchi!”

Eri fired her magic to obstruct the approaching Brutal-look-alike as she called Suzu’s name. With Suzu in the center, there was Eri with Saitou Yoshiki and Kondou Reiichi fighting against a Chimera, and a four-eyed wolf in opposite of her. Nomura came to Suzu’s side.

However, a black cat suddenly appeared from the crack of their defense towards the unmoving Suzu who could not move while maintaining “Holy Interruption.” Nomura immediately activated “Stone Spear” and skew it to the ground. However, the black cat was zigzagging mid-air, bent its body to avoid the stone spear, and thrust out all of its tentacles.

“Taniguchii!”

“Agh!?”

Nomura called Suzu’s name to warn her, but it was too late. The tentacles had instantly pierced the Suzu’s stomach, thigh, and right arm while she tried to dodge. Her small body was caught and was thrown to the side with a strong force.

With splattered blood, Suzu’s back struck the ground and her breath hung. Then, she screamed due to the incapability to endure the severe pain the same time she regained her breath.

“AaAaAUGH!!”

“Suzu-chan!”

“Suzu!”