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While the Hero Party was making their moves.

“Woohoo!”

The hero, Lucius, was making a big impact in his own way.

“Golden Storm!”

The Power of the Holy Sword.

With Lucius’s shout, his will drew out the power of the Holy Sword, creating an enormous golden storm.

Goooo!

The golden storm, swirling around Ascalon, shimmered with the force to grind everything approaching to dust, pushing the surrounding seawater away to keep the sea creatures from coming too close.

Grrr.

The other sea creatures, already aware of how strong the power of the Holy Sword was, dared not approach carelessly.

Every time the Holy Sword stirred up a storm, monsters were cut down, so which monster would foolishly charge at that Holy Sword to attack?

If there was one, it would likely be the one devoid of the fear of death.

Kishaaa!!

One head of the Kraken unleashed a breath attack.

Before Lucius could strike, the breath hit, sweeping over him.

However.

Fwa-bat!!

The breath was deflected in all directions by a wind shield created by Lucius.

The dark blue mana bounced off the shield, sweeping away the hapless sea creatures nearby, which then collapsed, spewing blood.

Grrr.

Not only did he counter the attack, but he also utilized the enemy’s attack to kill the enemy.

It was an exceedingly efficient battle, and he wasn’t even getting hurt.

Goooo.

As the wind calmed, Lucius proudly revealed himself.

The sea dragon he was riding sat there as if it had become the Holy Sword itself.

Since Lucius’s wind was protecting the entire body of the sea dragon, the sea dragon learned through this battle that it would never get hurt.

So.

“Let’s go!”

Kyaaa!!

Bolstered by confidence, the sea dragon swam forward at a speed it would usually not be able to manage, while Lucius pointed the Holy Sword ahead, unleashing mana.

Whoosh—!!

The gigantic sea creature that blocked the way was pierced by the sword’s mana like a drill.

Blood splattered everywhere as Lucius dashed to the Kraken’s head, which had just prepared to unleash a breath, causing the Kraken to pause in order to deal with Lucius.

Dududududu.

The seawater that the Kraken held in its mouth transformed into dark blue orbs, firing them off in quick succession.

The mana seawater beads threatened Lucius with their immense mass, like cannonballs.

“To the side!”

However, it was merely a threat.

Lucius pulled on the reins of the sea dragon to change its direction, and the Kraken’s attack only sliced through the empty air.

“Now! Full power!”

Lucius envisioned in his mind.

The Holy Sword moved forward, and wind was shot from behind the sword’s grip.

Surrounding the front was a golden storm resembling a cavalry spear, signaling the sea dragon before—

“Charging—!!”

The charge.

The sea dragon moved its legs as if to leap forward, while Lucius dashed ahead at the speed of light.

Boom!

With an explosive sound, one of the sea dragon’s heads exploded.

In Lucius’s charge, the sea dragon couldn’t block or dodge the attack and directly lost its head, while the remaining neck slowly drooped, the color of its dark blue mana fading away.

Sizzle, sizzle.

Normally, the sea dragon would use its incredible regenerative power to restore its severed head, but there remained a golden light at the cut surface.

As if the part that touched the Holy Sword would not regenerate.

“Now one more…!!”

Lucius held the reins tightly, creating distance from the attack of another Kraken head while taking a deep breath.

Just one more.

There were still seven heads left—

“…six?”

“Woohooo!!”

The Belsalphia navy rushed towards the Kraken’s head, attaching something.

The red light began to flicker rapidly, and the Belsalphia sailors quickly retreated from the sea dragon’s head.

“It’s going to explode!!”

KABOOM!!

A powerful explosion shook the entire battlefield.

Lucius quickly swung the Holy Sword, forming a wind barrier before him to deflect the incoming seawater from the explosion up and down.

“…Indeed.”

The Belsalphia navy was part of the Demon King’s Army from 500 years ago.

Of course, there might be descendants left, but some monsters have survived for 500 years.

“It’s indeed formidable.”

“Lucius!!”

The entire Hero Party gathered behind Lucius.

Except for Sage Bel, the other three had not sustained a single special wound and were healthy enough to continue fighting.

“We’ll take that head at 2 o’clock!”

“…Are you sure?”

“Of course! We can totally handle that much!”

Rosmas held up her bow with strong confidence.

Although there wouldn’t be support from the Holy Sword or others, that giant Kraken’s head was surely difficult but not impossible to take down.

So.

“If it looks dangerous, just let me know!”

“It’s fine! If it’s dangerous, I can just take off my suit!”

Droniel confidently pointed at Saint Yan, who was floating.

“The blessing reached this far! As long as I protect my helmet—my head—thanks to the blessing of the Goddess of the Moon, I should actually be safe!”

“…….”

Lucius clenched his teeth as he looked at the Saintess, who had nearly 90% of her skin exposed, except for her underwear.

“……Huh. If only the blessing of the Goddess of the Moon didn’t only cling to those who are alive.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind.”

Lucius raised the Holy Sword high again.

“Then, I’ll leave the rest to you!”

What he should do now was to do his best in the role assigned to him.

He needed to clear away the Kraken heads outside quickly to move inside.

To buy time for his master, who was facing the Demon King one-on-one.

“Wind!”

Lucius dashed forward once again.

*

Flare.

The entire space was filled with butterflies of flames dancing and dispersing.

Leaving no space to twist and dodge, their wings flapped in all directions.

“A butterfly can replicate?”

One becomes four.

Four become sixteen.

Sixteen become sixty-four.

The mana contained in one butterfly is consistent, but what if that mana is halved to 1/4?

“It’ll be hard to dodge, right?”

The entire space was filled with butterflies of flames.

The fractal-like expanding butterflies kept filling the space, while the Leviathan tried to squeeze through the gaps, desperately attempting to attack me.

“Haaap!”

Running along the walls, it leaped high, throwing a spear towards me.

The powerful mana made spear surged towards me in an instant, but having read the trajectory—

“Slow.”

I merely moved my wings to evade in mid-air.

While I’d allowed a few attacks on the ground, standing airborne made it impossible for attacks to reach me now.

“Just avoiding should drive me insane, right?”

“H-Hey…!!”

“If you’re angry, you can always try piercing through the flames of the Holy Sword.”

These butterflies were nothing ordinary.

With Beelzebub’s ‘Pheromone’ trait, the mana formed a swarm, flapping their wings, but all thanks to the firepower of Flamberge’s Holy Sword.

No matter how much of a Leviathan it claimed to be, it would hurt to touch the flames of the Holy Sword.

Especially now that it had shrunk to a human form, it wouldn’t be easy to extinguish the fire once its body caught flame.

“What will you do? I’ll give you points for deciding to fight in this human form. But if you just sit still, you’ll become ash.”

“Hah! If I grow, I can attack wildly…!”

“Of course.”

No enemy was easier to hit than a giant target.

“It doesn’t seem like you’ve noticed the Holy Wind Sword, but you probably thought of sneaking in as a human form. It’s easier for me to deal with a big creature like your true form. But what now? You’re about to get killed.”

“Shut up…!!”

The Leviathan stomped down heavily on the ground.

“!!”

It felt like a huge creature was teetering and about to fall.

It seemed as if it was trying to rev up for action, and I had to adjust my movements accordingly.

“Gah…?!”

“No matter Beelzebub’s power, controlling everything is hardly feasible!”

The Leviathan dodged the nearby butterflies with its spear, crawling upside down on the ceiling.

“This is ultimately thousands of magic missiles! You can’t control them all!”

“That much is true.”

Kacha—!

The Leviathan flipped off the ceiling and lunged at me, and I folded my wings to use them as a shield against Leviathan’s spear.

“There’s always a blind spot, so aim for the true form!”

“If it’s a blind spot I created?”

The Leviathan’s spear was positioned right in front of my forehead.

Her spear pierced into my wing with a mere finger’s width of distance.

“Gotcha.”

The butterflies surged towards the Leviathan like hornets.

“Graaahh…!!”

The Leviathan hurriedly formed a circular shield around itself, exposing itself to the onslaught of thousands of butterflies of flames.

The sound of burning struck my ears.

I took a moment to tuck away my punctured wing and stepped back, then continued to attach the butterflies of flames to the Leviathan’s barrier.

“Your mana against the flames of the Holy Sword. Shall we find out which is stronger?”

“Hah…!!!”

The barrier began to shrink little by little.

The flames consumed the Leviathan’s mana, steadily burning through her shield, while the Leviathan layered her barrier anew to protect herself.

“I guess I won’t even need to call the hero.”

“You…you…!!”

“Don’t get angry like that. If you’re mad, bring your main body and fight.”

I lightly raised a finger towards the Leviathan.

“As a monster fighting in a beast-like form, you might be the strongest in the sea, but in a direct fight, the strongest is me.”

Human form against human form.

I wasn’t sure what the Leviathan was thinking, trying to fight me in human form, but there was no element here that would lead to my defeat.

“The power of Flamberge can never be borrowed again, but defeating the Demon King should suffice, right?”

“…Heh heh.”

The Leviathan laughed at me through the flames.

“You’re the one who’s imprisoned, not me.”

“…?”

“Have you forgotten where this is?”

“Well, it’s inside Kkae…”

Whoosh.

I heard something pierce through.

Looking up at the ceiling, the spear thrown upwards by the Leviathan nested itself in there.

“No matter how much it’s fire, will it burn in seawater?”

“Curse it—!”

KABOOM!!

From the ceiling, seawater began to rush into the shared space in an instant.

 

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