17 Chapter 17: Lyia’s Chosen (2/2)
”Uh, no…that's common knowledge. The forbidden fruit of knowledge is a biblical reference…” I trailed off when I caught sight of the blank expressions on the knights' faces. That was right. It was common knowledge in my world. This was Restia, another world, which had different gods and goddesses. Given how the humans here worshipped Evelyn, I seriously doubted that Christianity and the Bible existed in Restia.
Hmm…if that was the case, then what other knowledge from Earth could I use to my advantage in this foreign world?
Well, before that, I have more important things to inquire about…
”Um…why are you showing me that fruit? Are you trying to show off the fruits of your labor?”
”…”
Asura stared at me. I sighed.
”Sorry, it seems that my attempts at making a humorous joke aren't very fruitful…”
”Okay, I get it! Enough!”
Despite being driven insane from gorging on too much knowledge, it seemed that Asura wasn't immune to my lame puns. He groaned and shook his head.
”I'll tell you how to use the fruit after you defeat me.”
”That's assuming my plans to achieve victory will actually come to fruition.”
”Stop it! It's not funny!”
”Sorry.”
I apologized insincerely. The guy had no class if he couldn't appreciate my high-level puns. It took a person of similarly high intellect to understand such sophisticated humor. For now, I should put that intellect to better use.
Analyzing Asura's Blooming Buddha form, I noticed that his katana was gone. The source of his power, the single unchanging portion of him that didn't rely on regeneration…it was nowhere to be seen. Frowning, I scanned his massive bulk for another moment before my eyes stopped at the fruit that served as his heart.
The sensation it gives off…the magical energy signature…
My eyes widened when I suddenly understood. They were extremely similar. That fruit was a transmuted version of the weapon and remained as Asura's main source of power!
”I see. If I break your heart…ahem, literally, I'll be able to defeat you. Correct?”
”That is correct, young man.”
I raised an eyebrow at his reply. I mean, I didn't actually ask the question with any expectation that he would honestly reply.
”Should you really be telling me that?”
”Does it make a difference?” Asura sneered mockingly as he took a step forward. ”Even if you know, it won't change the outcome of the battle. And you would have figured it out anyway, given how intelligent you are.”
”How do you know I'm intelligent?” I countered, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. ”Because I wear glasses?”
Asura guffawed. ”You give yourself too little credit. From our earlier exchange, I can already tell what sort of person you are. The fact that you're not recklessly charging at me alone is more than enough to inform me that you're at least smarter than most of my opponents.”
The fruit disappeared as the hole in his chest closed up, and Asura returned to being an Incredible Hulk wannabe. Stomping forward, he reached out with his thick, muscular arms. The guy had the whole wrestler thing down pat.
Growling, he threw out an arm thrust – a typical sumo wrestling technique that packed immense power behind the blow. I jumped back and dodged, swallowing when I saw his fist leave a massive crater on the ground along with pulverized grass and splintered trees.
If I got hit by something like that…
Asura wasn't giving me any chance to breathe. His next attack was already coming, with a green lotus magic symbol floating around his fist. This time, it was no mere palm thrust or sumo punch. It was a magically enhanced strike – the real deal.
”You've got to be kidding me!”
I raised my staff to block the attack. Asura smirked, knowing that my puny staff wouldn't be able to completely shield me from such a devastating blow…
I smiled.
”…!
Behind Asura, my enhanced zombies lunged and bit into him, tearing him apart. With a furious growl, Asura twisted around and dislodged them. Grabbing the first zombie, he pulverized his head into the ground and reduced it into a bloody pulp. Twisting around, he smacked the second zombie and sent him flying, then stomped about to tackle the third zombie. My zombie folded in an unnatural angle, his spine snapping from the sheer force, and flew several meters away.
Crunching his leg firmly on the ground, Asura struck the remaining zombies with quick, precise swings of his meaty hands and sent them flying.
”No way…”
I felt despair and fear well up in my heart. Five of my enhanced zombies, receiving 12 different buffs from my Thousand Astral Graves, were all destroyed in an instant. Looking at how Asura was casually dusting off his hands, he clearly didn't even break a sweat.
With my strongest technique sealed, was there anything I could do against such a terrifying monster?
”If these cannon fodder are the best you can do, then you're doomed.”
Sneering triumphantly, Asura turned back to me, his fist glowing as the emerald lotus materialized about it. Stomping toward me, he threw his fist forward.
”Yeah…that's assuming they are the only ones I'm relying on.”
I didn't move from my spot. Instead, I glanced up and smiled as black circles appeared all around me.
”Why do you think I didn't take the chance to escape?”
I glanced at my zombies and cocked my head.
”I could have run away while my allies were distracting you. But nope. I didn't. Why do you think that is?”
”…it certainly is not because you're not an idiot.”
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If the Blooming Buddha thought I would take the bait, he was sorely disappointed. But not as sore as he would be later.
”It's to prepare,” I replied. I gestured toward the black circles around me. ”This is plan B.”
”…” Blooming Buddha spared them a glance. ”What the hell are those?”
”Ever since I devoured Kijima, I had always wanted to test this out. But I hadn't achieved a single success so far. I thought that his Summon special ability would be extremely useful, especially for a necromancer for me, so it was surprising when I couldn't summon a single zombie. Apparently I haven't reached a level high enough to summon monsters or familiars like Kijima. At least not yet, anyway…”
I didn't reply to his question directly.
”What are you babbling about?” Asura demanded, but he didn't pause. His fist was still traveling in slow motion. I could almost see its trajectory.
”Well, I was thinking…if I can't summon magical beasts or familiars, then what exactly could I summon?”
”…”
Asura narrowed his eyes, sensing that something was off. But as prideful as he was, he didn't abort his attack.
Just as I expected.
”Yeah…and then I remembered that monsters weren't the only thing that Kijima summoned.”
I reached out for one of the black swirling discs and began to pull something out. The handle of a sword, perhaps.
”As if I will let you!”
Roaring, Asura smashed his fist down on me. The entire area vanished in a gargantuan explosion, soil, grass and vegetation thrown haplessly into the air as the ground literally disintegrated under the sheer power of the Guardian's strike.
”That's on a completely different scale from before!”
”That kid! What is he doing?”
”There's no way that kid can fight that demon on his own!”
”Sir what do we do?!”
The knights, who managed to rally and turn the tables on the Flora, watched the entire scene in horror.
”Is that idiot trying to commit suicide!?”
”Knights!” The commander shouted, raising his sword and hacking through the last of the Flora. ”Gather around me! We'll destroy that demon once and for all!”
”Oh, that's no need to worry.”
The knights froze when they heard my voice. Even Asura stopped, staring disbelievingly at the scene of destruction that he caused.
”That was a deadly attack,” I admitted, my figure still hidden by the smoke. ”Fortunately, I managed to summon my weapon in time…or I'll be completely flattened by your fist.”
”To be able to take my attack…I've revised my opinion of you.”
Asura sounded impressed. I snorted.
”Oh, don't bullshit me. This level of exchange can't possibly impress you already.”
As the smoke cleared, I stood unscathed. Raising a single black sword in my right hand while gripping my staff in my left, a single Dark Barrier shimmered between us. Dismissing the protective layer of magic, I stepped forward and smiled.
”Is it my turn yet?”
”Don't get ahead of yourself!”
Roaring, Asura lunged at me. Clashing both hands together, he slammed them down on me with meteoric force. From Absolute Appraisal, I immediately understood that this was not an attack I could block with Dark Barrier. The power behind the blow was so immense that it would shatter even my greatest defense within a millisecond.
I could see verdant lightning crackle and wreathed both arms, giving off a sickly glow like unnatural veins. Even though it was such a powerful attack, it was also executed at a speed that I couldn't evade.
But I had neither the need to defend nor evade it.
Dropping my staff, I unsheathed my sword and held the scabbard in my left hand. The blade glowed black, reminiscent of Kijima's summoned blade technique, but corrupted. Just as well. I couldn't use Golden Forge, after all.
I didn't need that weird spell anyway.
Both Asura and I attacked each other at the same time, his arms coming down on me in a pile driver slam while I slashed upward.
”Eh…?”
Asura froze and stared stupidly at the stumps of his arms. Green blood oozed out of his hands, metamorphosing into streams of ectoplasm.
”No way…”
The knights watched as both of Asura's arms flew through the air, tumbling clumsily as they spun end over end, their fingers still tightly clasped. The disembodied hands landed several dozen meters away and rolled to a stop in the thick vegetation.
”The Blooming Buddha's arms were cut off? Amazing! What kind of sword is that? It looks incredibly sharp!”
”No.”
Even as his subordinates cheered, the knight commander alone seemed to understand the sheer impossibility of it. He solemnly stared at the gleaming sword in my hand, narrowing his eyes as he analyzed the situation.
”The Blooming Buddha's arms possess incredible power within them. They are not something you can cut through just because your sword is merely sharp.”
This guy gets it.
Yeah, well…if it was that simple, I wouldn't bother summoning a sword. I would have just borrowed one from the dead knights.
The knight commander swallowed, and then continued.
”It looks like there is a hidden ability in that boy's sword.”
Wow, the guy was pretty sharp. No wonder he was the commander of this knight battalion. I couldn't help but feel myself warm up upon hearing his analysis.
Smiling, I slashed the air, causing a huge, sudden airflow with the sword pressure, and turned to my opponent.
”Well, then…let's put an end to this, shall we?”