Chapter 421 – Blow of the Wind Spear Style
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A damp gust of wind blew pushed out from deeper inside the cave. Delhart faced me with a look brimming with hostility.
“…Spearmaster and Shuhelia, huh?”
“We were led here by Divine Beast-sama. She probably wanted us to meet you,” answered Shuhelia.
“You mean the black beast with Divine Beast-sama, right? Also, you being together with the spearmaster means…”
“Right. I became his subordinate out of my own will.”
“…I see. So, black beast, does your bringing your master here mean that you came to finish me off? In that case, why did you save me in the first place? Why did you let me live…?”
Delhart attacked Rollodeen.
In response, my partner growled deeply. But it wasn’t the same sort of growl she had used on Eboue. It sounded more like she was denying Delhart’s questions.
Alray, Hueremy, and Eboue also growled.
After checking the expression of Rollodeen and hearing the repeated, angry-sounding growls, Delhart said, “…Black beasts, you saved me. Guessing from your attitude and voices, your master…the spearmaster didn’t come here to rob me of my life? Is that what you’re saying?”
“――Nn, nyao,” Rollodeen meowed cutely.
“…I see. Is that so…?” Delhart relaxed his facial muscles, appearing to be slightly relieved.
But, he remained indecisive.
To give a short description of his features: His face is big, and if you were going to summarize his looks, you could call him a grim demon. His skin color was similar to light blue steel. His wounds were still fresh. On his upper face he wore an eye mask that seemed to be fused with his forehead protector. That forehead protector had a gem embedded in its center.
The eye mask was a peculiar piece of armor. Its width at the eyes was small. Vertically and horizontally it was extremely narrow but long. Its tips, which fanned out to the sides on either sides of his eyes, were like prawn or butterfly organs. They kinda looked like antennas.
Those antennas extended beyond his ears, reaching all the way to his back.
Overall, it was hard to say whether it was a face guard, eye mask, or forehead protector.
The tips of those antennas were currently shaking. What weird armor extensions. No, wait, I guess they aren’t armor parts. Maybe they’re characteristic organs of demons?
Rollodeen’s majestic figure had been reflected in the two eyes of that odd demon, but now he shifted his look to Shuhelia.
“Are you truly Shuhelia?”
“Yes, I am, Delhart.”
Shuhelia threw her chest out in pride, answering him with the pride of a Spirit World Knight.
“For you to have survived the battle of that night…you’re not an illusion created by Darkness Spirit Bellahd, right?”
Delhart doesn’t believe in Shuhelia’s existence? His expression looks skeptical while he’s suspecting that he might be seeing a hallucination right now.
“There’s no way that I’m an illusion. In the first place, I should say those words to you. You might be tough, but even you…after fighting all sorts of forces during that night, you crashed into the Sea of Trees where anything could lurk as far as we knew. I hadn’t expected you to survive that.”
Delhart blinked repeatedly after hearing Shuhelia’s comment.
“…Certainly, I was resigned to die then and there. But, I survived…”
He looked at his palms. Then he gazed at the violet spear near the cave’S entrance.
“It looks like my life still holds some meaning for the gods of the Spirit World….”
“…You pulled through a battle so fierce that your leg’s regeneration couldn’t keep up while not losing Magic Spear Gulkinus…I can tell. There’s a significance to be found in your survival. And it’s probably related to your Golden Rule and the Golden Rule of the god you worship. The sun feels warmer the more one comes in contact with adversity means…”
Shuhelia’s knightley words sounded complicated. And even while talking to Delhart, she sent a meaningful look my way. I know the famous poem of Walt Whitman, but it seems like the Spirit World has a similar proverb.
“…That’s right. I’m sure….the embodiment of Dark God Aldin-sama’s might divine will and my usage of Magic Spear Gulkinus’s <Martial Spear Arts> regardless of me being on Sela or in Sebdola…must have kept me alive.”
“…Divine will, huh? Something you’d desire after losing your divinity, I suppose. Even Sol-sama, who gave me his divine blessing…ah, for Demonic Moth King Zebal…”
“…So far as it goes, it seems like there’s still some mana left in your Cord of Demonic Dimension, but haah…that lord… You think he’d forgive failure?” Delhart answered, lifting one corner of his mouth into a disgusting smile.
Shuhelia nodded calmly.
“Still, it’s only natural even if a Harshik like me got cut off at any moment, but for him to have abandoned even you who had reported back to him loyally all this time…”
“The divinity even Aldin-sama regarded as obsolete…in the end, the surface mission that put us on stake was no more than a “Demonic Swallow of Eaves” to Zebal-sama.”
Shuhelia made a short pause after hearing Delhart mentioning “Demonic Swallow of Eaves,” before revealing a bitter expression.
“The “Demonic Swallow of Eaves,” eh? That’s an oddly nice take on it. The result of us drinking boiling hot water while faithfully continuing the mission is…hahaha…,” she laughed sarcastically, and then she apparently noticed something partway, and said, “No, I guess it’s fine like that…it allowed me to meet His Majesty after all.”
Shuhelia placed a hand on her chest and nodded while repeatedly grunting her approval and looking at me. I could sense powerful feelings of passion from her eyes.
“…His Majesty? Is the Spearmaster related to the Spirit World in some way?”
“Hah, lo and behold…”
When Shuhelia said so with a calm tone, Delhart swallowed his spit in anticipation. And then Shuhelia suddenly genuflected in front of me.
“Your Majesty, would it be fine for me to introduce you?” She asked with her head lowered.
Thereupon, Helme appeared at the edge of my visual field and triumphantly said with her arms folded, 『Very well, you have my permission』
『Helme, she cannot hear you』
『Hehe, I know』
Helme answered with a smile while whirling around on the spot. While watching her cute antics, I told Shuhelia, who was engulfed in the aura of a noble knight, “…Keep it short, okay?”
But, as I was on the receiving side of her polite decorum, I felt some sort of pressure I hadn’t been aware of until now. A pressure telling me to get my act together.
Shuhelia raised her head and said with a happy smile, “Okay!”
Afterwards, she energetically turned her head towards Delhart.
“Delhart, His Majesty is a Light Demon Lucival. He’s a great man possessing both the light and darkness attribute. And he’s a Suzerain of Blood who rules over greater chosen bloodkin!”
Hearing her words, Delhart widened his eyes.
“Light and darkness…? Light Demon Lucival? So a variant of a vampire, huh?”
“Indeed,” agreed Shuhelia with his words.
“What this reply means is…”
Shuhelia was talking quite pompously, but somehow it felt awkward.
“…it overthrows the blood hierarchy of the vampires…”
“Indeed! His Majesty is a being surpassing the blood rule of Vampire God Lugnad!”
“Ooohh! So he’s a new, genuine vampire. He looks just like a human, but that’s yet another unusual part of his race I suppose.” Delhart shouted full of an enthusiasm similar to that of the Burning Knights.
His appearance is different from theirs, but I feel like he looks just like the archetype of a demon.
Hearing his remark, Shuhelia nodded, “He’s a great being possessing a Grand Blood Lineage. He can also create a sanctuary called Crest Tree of the Lucival. As Lucival knight directly under His Majesty, I was kindly allowed to join the greater bloodkin as the lowest rank…my combat occupation also evolved into <Twin Demonic Blood Knight>. I also obtained an exclusive sword technique called <Twin Blood Art – Falcon Counter>.”
Hee, so she acquired that sort of skill? Is that technique with the ridiculous speed that makes her arms blur? To be honest, I cannot imitate that sword handling which looks like a yellow flash.
If Yui, Viine, and Kaldo saw her sword skills… No, that’s not right either, I think. Those three have watched Eight Sword King Ranker Rave’s techniques and they’re currently accumulating experience in real battle.
“…Hoh. For him to possess a power that stimulates the evolution of his kin…that’s proof of him possessing a type of greater blood relationship skill or greater blood genealogy skill…it sounds like it’d be fun to fight a man like you. Still, I’d understand if this was the Spirit World, but it’s abnormal for a person with such a rare blood to exist on the surface…”
As soon as Delhart finished saying so, he genuflected in the same way as Shuhelia.
“Moreover, His Majesty is a modest man who doesn’t admit it readily, but he’s a spear fighter possessing ability on the same level as the great Demonoid Battle King.”
Hearing her statement, Delhart’s brown pupils dilated as he was apparently shaken by this. But he immediately recovered and grinned with the spirit of a martial artist.
“As the great Demonoid Battle King…that is very interesting.”
It looks like that piqued Delhart’s interest in me.
Meanwhile Eboue had been silently watching the former Spirit World Knight as black panther. The Rollo Squad had continuously gotten in the way by pranking everyone else, but Eboue hadn’t joined in on that. Even while having taken the form of a black panther, his mind apparently remained human.
“Did you also fight and lose against the spearmaster during the battle of that night?”
“…That night, huh? On that night…I didn’t fight against His Majesty. I lost against His Majesty’s Spirit-sama and lost to her. Moreover, it was such an utter defeat that I couldn’t do anything to her.”
“Him having a Spirit-sama is also very astonishing, but for you to even lose… Moreover, you getting done in completely…”
“That’s not quite correct. I wasn’t beaten half dead like you, Delhart. The utter defeat refers to me being incapacitated without a single injury.”
“Demonic Twin Blade Shuhelia got captured without a single injury!?” Delhart’s voice echoed throughout the cave.
“That’s how it is. But, please don’t shout so much because I don’t really want to remember it…”
Shuhelia averted her face with her blond ponytail swaying.
I shifted my attention to Rollodeen, “Rollo, did you and your squad save Delhart?”
『…Rollo-sama has taken a liking to him as a Spirit World Knight. I won’t know the details unless I check his back, but…I can guess that he must have a fairly muscular butt…butt general…』
“Pfft!”
Haha, what the hell is a butt general?
I ended up laughing out loud when Helme said something so ridiculous with a serious expression. Those around me probably thought of me as a weirdo for suddenly bursting into laughter. For this reason, not only Delhart and Shuhelia stared at me, but also Rollo and Eboue.
For an instant I considered doing a Helme pose to act like a fool, but in the end I refrained.
I warned Helme, 『……Don’t 「startle me like that」. I’m sure it’d surprise Delhart too』. 1
『I won’t pull any hair! But more importantly, I believe you should definitely welcome the butt general as your subordinate in order to expand your Sea of Tree battle lineup, Your Excellency!』
I almost laughed out once more, but suppressed it.
『…It’s rude towards him, so don’t give him some weird butt nicknames. But, he’s a man I’d like to recruit as my, or rather, Quiche’s subordinate』
『…Hehehe, that’s so like you』
Going by the fact of Helme praising his butt, I suppose she must be serious about it.
Anyway, it’s not like I’m simply obeying Helme’s words, but he’s the perfect addition to Cydale’s defense corps. If he was expelled by Demonic Moth King Zebal like Shuhelia was, I’ll try to to recruit him since he seems interested in us anyway.
With a mood of wanting to convince him, I gathered my courage, focused on smiling, and spoke up, “…Delhart, my name is Shuuya. And my bloodkin has built a village in this forest. The village has been steadily growing its military forces, but we’re still looking for outstanding defense personnel… So, would you be willing to work at Cydale, one of our bases as Lucival?”
I don’t know how much my charm and resourcefulness will work on him, but I think it got through to him…
“Are you telling me to submit to you in the same way as Shuhelia.”
“You could phrase it like that,” I nodded.
“This land is full of enemies. It’s an extremely harsh place for you to survive by yourself, now that you lost your demonic beast… Don’t you think you’ll need some reliable comrades, Delhart? I believe you should grab the opportunity and come under His Majesty’s command,” Shuhelia joined in on my persuasion.
“I suppose you’re right,” Delhart nodded.
Ooh, he readily agreed to it.
And then he continued to speak with a sharp glint in his eyes, “But, I’ve got some pride as a former Spirit World Knight. It’s not like I can simply accept a new lord just like that. Back during that fight, I was defeated without even being able to use any of my <Martial Spear Arts> techniques…”
Delhart released Demonic Eyes-like power from his eyes. His words were very befitting of a knight.
“Martial Spear Arts, huh?” I glanced at Shuhelia while answering.
“Your Majesty, please forgive Delhart for his rude attitude.”
“Shuhelia, you used to be the same, didn’t you? Don’t mind it.”
“Okay.”
“…Delhart, I also love to fight. That’s why I’ll fight you if you want. But, what are you going to do about your injuries? I can cast healing magic, so after getting back to the village――”
“――Don’t worry about it, kind Demonic Sovereign. My mana has recovered――<Asphalt’s Darkness>”
Delhart smiled while flashing his teeth. It was a smile full of joy. Then he spread his hands at shoulder width. Dense, glossy, black mana gushed out of his back.
Is he stimulating his mana and life force at the same time?
A weird sizzling sound could be heard from the part where his leg was missing. At the same time, bones and flesh were created while messily rotating. Once that rotation came to an end, a leg was formed in the blink of an eye.
What amazing regeneration…it seems to consume quite a bit of mana, but for him to regrow a leg…
Delhart placed the new foot on the ground, and jumped a few times. After confirming its stability, he nodded at me with a happy expression.
Then he moved over to the wall with the violet magic spear, and picked the weapon up.
“Now then, as it looks like we’ll fight, Eboue, is it alright for us to use this place as the battleground?”
This should be a sacred site of Eboue’s Kilmogarl clan, so I had to ask him just in case. Especially, seeing how we could end up devastating the cave.
Hearing my question, Eboue reverted back to his human form.
“Please do not worry about it, Hero-sama. I am certain the spirits of my great ancestors would love to watch two brave men fight. As soon as the battle is over, I shall guide you to the hall deeper inside the cave,” Eboue replied courteously.
“I see. Thanks.”
Then he picked up the magic ax he had dropped, and stepped back together with Rollodeen and Shuhelia. After nodding, I confronted Delhart while summoning Baldok into my right hand.
“Helme, come out.”
『Okay』
Helme rushed out of my left eye as a liquid. As soon as she landed on the floor, she transformed into a woman’s body.
“The Spirit-sama Shuhelia mentioned huh? I guess you don’t plan to fight me with her dwelling in your left eye.”
“You might know from my nickname, but I basically use the Wind Spear Style I inherited from my master.”
“…The spearmaster and the black cat, right? You’re free to use the black beast and the bone knights from before as well, you know?” Delhart joked.
Though his stern expression didn’t make it look like he was actually joking.
“Garururu,” Rollo growled angrily.
“Rollo, you saved him, didn’t you?”
In response to my words, Rollodeen folded up her ears a bit. I knew that she got angry in my stead, but I deliberately rebuked her like that.
“N, nyaa.”
“With that out of the way, I’ll take you on as spearmaster as far as possible――”
As I said so, I pointed my left palm straight at Delhart, and shifted my body sideways by moving my right foot backwards while holding Baldok in my right hand.
“…A special magic spear as it’s used by the demonic puppets, huh? You won’t use that magic sword with the steel hilt and the grimoire?”
Delhart misunderstood the Spear Study of the Demonic Night Battle Parade at my waist as a grimoire. No, wait. He might be right since I haven’t checked the contents yet.
I cast a strong glare at Delhart. He’s a former Spirit World Knight and a spear user. I’ll fight him fair and square as a martial artist.
As if to remember my master, I made the Ra Kelada sign and after bowing once, I honestly told him, “…No need to worry. I’ve got dual spear styles, triple spear styles, water abilities, and many more, but I’ll use my full power as spearmaster. My armor has short sleeves as you can see, but it’s Mythological class.”
I exposed some of my cards to him. Although I got countless more like <Chain> etc., but oh well.
“…<White Flames> too, right?”
“Oh, yeah…”
For some reason Helme declared, “That’s right! It’s the evolved version of the sage art that saved me!”, while floating in the air and scattering water sprays.
Her antics caused Delhart to visibly start sweating on his forehead. It looks like he doesn’t want to fight Helme. At least I guess that to be the case after looking at Shuhelia.
She prostrated herself, saying, “Helme-sama!”
Delhart hesitated and looked at me, “….You are an honorable spear user…forgive my rudeness.”
He took a knightly pose and lowered his head, “I’ve obtained the rank of ruler in the Demonoid Martial Arts. I do hold some pride as <Spearmaster of Dark Lightning>――”
Delhart swiped his spear through the air. It resulted in a faintly violet trace to remain in the air near his feet.
Darkness and lightning, huh?
I took a deep breath.
“My spirit is on fire as well. I shall throw everything at you! Here I come――”
Delhart shouted loudly, revealing his delight.
――And in the next moment he headed straight for me like a wounded boar.
“――<Darkness Eyes – Darkness Flash>”
He had apparently activated a Demonic Eyes-based skill. His body was clad in mana with darkness and lightnings wrestling over dominance all over. His speed got a tremendous boos while you could hear crackling from him.
I kicked off the ground while cladding myself in Magic Combat Style.
While dodging the wind-clad, accelerated, triangular blade of his spear, I scooped up the Magic Dragon Gem at the butt end of Baldok from below, aiming it at Delhart’s belly.
But, Delhart dodged my attack by moving sideways without trying to block it.
Remaining standing sideways, he unleashed a series of <Thrusts> with fluent movements. He’s fast and the changes in his distribution of the Magic Combat Style is quite masterly, too.
I kept dodging Delhart’s attack by unleashing <Super Brain – Hazy Moon Reflection on Water>, the evolved version of my toe-rotational evasion while scattering the water of <Life Magic>.
“How beautiful. The half moon is reflected on the water’s surface.”
As those words of Helme reached my ears, I switched to counter-attacking. After stepping in with my left foot, I thrust out a <Darkness Drill>.
But, the spiraling spearhead clad in darkness was repelled by Delhart’s magic spear.
Both of us did some feints with our eyes. And then, while pulling back Baldok, I rotated it vertically and swung it upwards as if scooping it up, targeting Delhart’s nether region with Baldok’s butt end.
Yet, this was also repelled by his spear.
As I switched Baldok alternately back and forth between my right and left hand, I grabbed it shortly with an underhand grip and released a <Water Drill>.
However, Delhart parried the <Water Drill>.
Without minding that, I remained standing sideways while delivering a low kick slightly after the thrust. But, Delhart fended off my kick with a kicking technique similar to a broom sweeping dust.
Delhart used the momentum of his kick to rotate sideways, before stopping to move. At the same time as he did some feints with his eyes, he faintly changed his hold of his spear.
I stopped moving, as if having been tricked by his feint. Seeing that, Delhart kicked off the ground. I put myself on guard, thinking that he might charge at me, but that proved to be a needless worry.
Delhart adopted a motion as if he was going to throw his spear. He stopped moving, but I think that’s yet another feint. It’s no <Throwing>, so what is he going to do?
Thereupon, Delheart grinned, “As expected, I can understand why Twin Demonic Blade bent her knee for you.”
While saying so, he looked at his own spear, making sure that it had no chips or cracks. Then he laughed loudly, and looked at me.
“Back at you. Your movements are similar to Galroh, the leader of the Shadow Wing Brigade.”
Afterwards, Delhart and I exchanged a few dozen rallies.
At some point, Delhart whirled his magic spear around with both hands like a pinwheel, creating countless violet, circular traces in the air.
He himself also continued to evade his attacks as if dancing, using a technique similar to my toe rotation. That was quite amazing, considering his huge frame. Are his evasive abilities at Master’s level?
And then, he unleashed a lower sweep while holding his spear with just his left arm. I avoided the spearhead by jumping, but immediately following, Delhart delightfully shouted, “Gotcha!!”
He took a posture as if preparing to shoot a cannon with his right hand, and made something square appear from a part of his right arm. Many black and violet lightning blades jutted out of his right hand.
Are those shaped like small shields?
The gem in the center of his forehead blinked, too. I tried to defend with <Chain>, but I wasn’t in time.
Ouuuuucch!! It pierced my eye! So it had an effect of numbing and blinding, huh!?
While continuing to get hit by many of those blades, I retreated through the air. Through my bloody visual field I could tell that Delhart was approaching me in midair.
“――<Demonoid Martial Arts – Heavy Hit>.”
I lifted Baldok upwards, blocking the triangular spearhead. It was heavy and you could hear a dissonant, metallic screeching. A shock as if I got hit by a hammer penetrated my body.
It was a mighty spear technique suitable for a Spirit World Knight.
A mana wave burst forth thanks to the pressure coming from above, and as soon as my feet touched the ground again, the soil sunk in.
But, without caring about the ground giving in, I stooped to dodge the roundhouse kick approaching my head, and released a <Fang Stab> as a counterattack.
Delhart dealt with the <Fang Stab> by moving to the side in a sideways posture.
He perceived the <Thrust> I let sally forth as a restraint with his sharp eyes. He easily evaded it, but that was within my expectations.
In Delhart’s eyes I might look like I’m laughing because I’ve got a blast, but I focused on showing him that sort of smile while pulling back my right hand and moving towards his flank. Just like that, I rotated Baldok vertically. Lifting the handle, I extended Baldok’s butt end towards Delhart’s abdomen.
I’ll get him to focus on defending the lower area.
Delhart held out his spear diagonally below, blowing the Magic Dragon Gem.
Following that, I switched the hand holding the upper part of Baldok while letting Baldok’s spearhead clash against Delhart’s spear. Using the power of that impact, I relaxed my hold of Baldok a bit, and lowered my grip of Baldok. After changing my hold of Baldok like that, I unleashed a normal thrust at Delhart’s belly.
Then I kept poking away at his chest while weaving quick, shallow <Thrusts> into it.
“Soft! Much too soft! And too slow!”
“No need to tell me all that.”
I smiled while admiring Delhart’s evasion and defense. At times, I also added a heavier <Darkness Drill>, making him focus on defense.
Then I manipulated a water spray while moving straight ahead to dodge a <Thrust> of Delhart, blocking his visual field. At the same time, I used <Blood Path – Open Third Gate>.
“Gunuo?”
I activated Bloody Accel, and without any delay, unleashed a kick of <Dark Water Moon of Nothingness>. I could feel how my foot dug into his flesh, lifting up his body.
“Guhhaa,” Delhart spat blood.
My follow-up slash was blocked by his spear. But, I pushed the spearhead back, or to be precise, flicked it away. His magic spear moved very softly; it was a defensive spear technique that matched the trajectory of Baldok. It also allowed me to understand the height of his spear techniques.
Delhart stepped on his own spear and jumped. After spreading arms and legs in the air, he rotated once, and yelled, “<Evil Art – Demonic Ax Kick>!”
He performed an ax kick that created a mana trace. I quickly summoned Ganghis into my left hand, and parried that kick by crossing Baldok and Ganghis in front of me.
I felt a dull, thick thud. With my eyes closed, I passed Delhart’s series of kicks by defending with the spears in my hands.
“<Evil Art – Demonic Stab>!”
Delhart grabbed his magic spear and delivered a chain of blows, combining kicks with both his legs and hits with the spearhead as well as the spear’s butt end. The kicks, or rather, each and every single blow was heavy and hard.
The skin at Delhart’s feet had changed into something similar to steel. And the instant both his feet alighted on the ground, he whispered, “<Martial Spear Art Technique>…”
He twisted his waist as if to bend down and took a pose as if to amass power in order to fire a wave motion gun. Black lightning clad his body as if he had fused with his magic spear.
I got a bad feeling from this…
Him being enveloped by crackling, black lightning…his secret <Thrust>-based finished technique, huh?
As soon as a divine illusion manifested behind Delhart, it adopted the same pose as him and overlapped with his body. A mana wave rippled forth, scattering something like a mighty shock wave into the vicinity.
I put my priority on defense.
“Eat this, <Ex-Pierce of Demonic Lightning>――” 2
I focused on <Call of the Water Goddess> in order to negate his attack with such a force that it’ll frighten Delhart. I crossed the two spears in my hand, and blocked Delharts powerful <Ex-Pierce of Demonic Lightning>. Fierce sparks scattered from the place where the weapons met. His attack had so much power that I worried about the possibility of Baldok and Ganghis suffering nicks in their blades.
Multiple, dull, discordant sounds overlapped. At the same time as the water steam was blown away by the impact, I was pushed backwards. My feet scraped across the ground, leaving behind two marks, but…I managed to fully block the attack.
On the other hand, Delhart’s magic spear, which had received an impact from Baldok and Ganghis, flew off while violently trembling, resulting in Delhart becoming unarmed.
“For the divine protection of a Water Goddess…to be able to completely block an Extreme spear technique passed down by the darkness of ancient times…”
Delhart looked vexed, and yet at the same time, somewhat refreshed.
At once, he moved into close combat. His spear was stabbed in the wall behind him, but he seemed to have some confidence in his close combat too.
I met his fist with the Spear Kumite 『Truncheon Fist』.
“<Demonoid Martial Arts – Demonic Chin Na>――”
Delhart announced the skill name and nimbly grabbed my arm, and tried to cut my neck with a lightning blade extending from his other arm. I quickly pressed my palm against his blade, and although I felt some strong pain from my palm, I managed to deal with his attack.
Saraten bickered about it, but I ignored her since I didn’t have any time to talk to her at the moment.
“What magnificent techniques…it’s my first time for my black, lightning sword to be able to reap my target’s head.”
“Is that so――”
I delivered a left punch at him, but he parried it with his palm. Without minding that, I released my Spear Kumite techniques centered around elbow strikes. A backhand chop hit his nose, causing him to bleed profusely.
“A butt slapping attack landed on the butt general!”
Hearing Helme’s comment, I actually started to feel depressed. Anyway, there was no way I’d let that opportunity go. I unleashed palm strikes against his whole body with a force reminiscent of <White Flame Sage Hands>.
At first it was two thuds. Then you could hear remarkably eerie sounds from all over his body. Cracks similar to the bones all over his body being shattered.
Delhart staggered, probably becoming unable to remain standing normally. The only reason why he didn’t fall over can probably be found in his terrifying regenerative power.
But, I didn’t go easy on him.
I pierced Delhart’s foot with Ganghis’s <Fang Stab> and unleashed a <Darkness Drill> with Baldok. And then after erasing and resummoning both spears in an instant, I activated <Water Refinement . Demonic Chain Pierce>. A barrage of thrusts hammered into him.
“Guaaah,” Delhart screamed while shedding tears due to the fierce pain.
His blood splattered all over the place, and of course, I thankfully partook in that blood. But, the holes and swaths I created in his body were reverted as if being reverse-engineered while contracting. His body was trying to restore itself. His regeneration wasn’t as fast as that of vampires, but he definitely got a regeneration skill.
When I stabbed his other foot with Baldok’s <Darkness Drill>, I focused on <Understanding of the Magic Combat Style> beneath my navel, added <Blood Mana>, and altered the limits of my thick mana manipulation. With the image of pulling out the mana sleeping deep inside my body, I engulfed myself in powerful mana once again.
At that moment, Baldok in my right hand resonated with me. Or so I thought, but its violet handle was trembling as if panicked. Cackling laughter could be heard from the skull pattern on its spearhead, but while angrily telling it to shut up, I erased Ganghis and Baldok.
Then I drove a roundhouse kick into Delhart’s abdomen. He bent over in agony. He moved his left hand as if searching the empty space for his beloved spear. But, for an instant, vitality filled his eyes.
Quite the tough guy――
With my mind full of respect, I naturally summoned Baldok into my right hand. Taking a step forward, I stabbed a <Thrust> of the One-Spear Wind Spear Style deeply into his chest. I could hear how ribs broke inside him.
At that point, his eyes finally lost their power. He swayed violently while blood was running out of his mouth.
“…A splendid blow…it reverberated in my heart,” he praised with an ever weaker-growing voice as the light in his eyes weakened.
And after a last trembling of his body, Delhart collapsed.
The Wind Spear Style blow had severed his consciousness as a martial artist, huh?
After swinging Baldok to wipe off the blood and gore, I did a Ra Kelada greeting, and bowed. Then I applied healing magic on Delhart, joined by Helme.
Shuhelia remained silent even afterwards.
…Looking closely, her body is quivering. Is she okay? Once I smiled at her, she answered in kind, though.
Now then.
“Eboue, what sort of place is the space of the netherworld’s military noble deeper down in this cave?”
“There’s a huge stone sculpture formed with a Black Ring as a model in the center. It seems to also possess a black grain pattern close to that of the black panther tattoo.”
Eh? A Zalalarp, he says?
“It’s true. It has a faintly round form that I didn’t realize before.”
For it to be related to the Zalalarp…
“There exists a big stone tube in front of the huge sculpture. Inside that tube you’ll find the warrior soul of a beast deity which is necessary in the ceremony of Beast Noble Kilmogarl.”
A stone tube, huh…? Such a thing existed in the Goldiba hamlet as well, didn’t it? Does that mean it’s a “Divine Device” connecting surface and underground? Maybe Eboue’s ancestors fought together with Rozes and hers in front of the Zalalarp just like Master’s Goldiba race?
That’s why Rollo has come here…
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Translation Notes:
- The “startle me like that” is based on a proverb that literally means “pulling someone’s butt hair.”
- Author uses 愚 here as an ateji to make a distinction for Spirit World dwellers techniques, ranks, etc. I could leave it away since it doesn’t really matter anyway with all the terms and names, but well, if I don’t forget I’ll add as Ex wherever I see it.