Volume 4 Chapter 15.3
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Translator: Kureha
Editor: Weasalopes
「We’re back~」
The Octogal that dropped the bottle on the Void Resident’s head was now back at the temple’s ritual room.
「Welcome back.」
「Did it go well?」
「Head shot~ head shot~」
The Octogal reported the progress of the situation to Aeris and Artiem who were waiting for its return. The Octogal gave grinned as if to plead for their praise.
「So it went well」
「I’m glad.」
To Octogal’s response, the two shrine maidens looked very relieved. It was only a minute ago when they heard the bad news from an Octogal that secretly stayed behind at the scene. Although they were in the middle of the ritual, they quickly made the strongest holy water they could on the spot. Then, they gave the bottle to that Octogal and waited for the good news as they started the next ritual.
「And, how is the situation looking now?」
After finishing the ritual, the two asked the Octogal about the current situation. The ritual which they were performed after they made the holy water was only used to stabilise the energy flow and was barely considered to be a ritual. Each step for the ritual was elaborate but the two only had to follow the steps they were instructed to take. So, it didn’t take them more than two minutes to perform the whole routine. If it didn’t require two people taking steps that looked like a dance, it would most likely not be referred to as a ritual.
After this, they just had to observe the situation and tweak some things accordingly so there wasn’t anything that they needed to do at this moment. So, they decided to hear how Hiroshi’s team was doing from Octogal.
「So, how is the battle going now?」
「Tat-chan is doing great~」
「Brother accidental death~」
「Next year, make it to baseball league~」
「America~ America~」
「The person inside is a grey zone~」
The Octogal said random thing one phrase after another as if it was playing Chinese Whispers. But that was expected so the two didn’t make any comment on that.
「Oh, speaking of which, before I sent you out, I noticed that someone was connected to Feng Shui. Could it be…」
「Tat-chan is doing good~」
「I see…」
Octogal gave a response that didn’t really answer Aeris’s question. From Octogal’s words, she made a guess that the one who was connected to Feng Shui was Tatsuya. To take energy from Feng Shui was something very difficult for someone who wasn’t a shrine maiden. Naturally, she became worried and decided to check how the situation was going through Feng Shui.
「… Oh my ….」
Aeris lost her words as she sensed what was happening from the flow of Feng Shui. An enormous amount of magical energy from Feng Shui was being absorbed in at once, she didn’t know what to say.
「El-sama, is something wrong?」
「… It seems that Tatsuya-sama has pushed himself too far …」
「Has he? … huh, this is…」
「It is not something that is typically done with Feng Shui…」
To Aeris’s tight words, Artiem nodded, her face frozen.
As Feng Shui has immense power, it wasn’t suited for something that requires precise control. So, whenever something was done using the power of Feng Shui, it was either for a significant ritual that prioritized power and range, or it was used through dropping effect like the blast furnace Hiroshi made.
The method Tatsuya was using was definitely not meant for a spell that needs to be controlled precisely up to milliseconds and needed to be activated at a critical timing. The more acceptable way of using the energy from Feng Shui would be boosting the offense magic he is using now and focusing that energy there. Regardless of what is acceptable, activating multiple same spells with one chant, then disregarding the chant, force cancel until next cd and using a spell that is difficult to control was like picking a fight with the universe itself. No one would ever think to do something like that.
It was difficult enough to keep one’s grip on the energy that was flowing in from Feng Shui with their bare hands. Considering that their stamina and control ability would be taken away from the process, normally, a person would not be able to do something that required focus.
「… I guess, Tatsuya-san really is one of the visitors from the unknown continent …」
「I believe so, but it seems that Tatsuya-sama is close to reaching his limits. Considering the opponent is yet to be taken down, we must do everything we can to help them.」
「Of course!」
Seeing the struggle which Tatsuya was facing, Aeris and Artiem got onto the ritual. While the two were working hard, Octogals were jumping around the ritual room with care-free spirit.
==
(What is happening!?)
Tatsuya suddenly started to take in an immense amount of magic in him. The Void Resident couldn’t hide their astonishment after facing a ridiculous amount of barrage from the people in front of him.
If that was some simple barrage, it wouldn’t be this damaged by it. However, the barrage which Tatsuya just shot out only consisted of strong spells he has used in the past battles. If it was just one or two shots, the Void Resident would have been able to block it off with its barrier even if he took the attacks directly. But when it came to ten shots in one second, it couldn’t block it off block it off.
It tried to run away but there was still an impact from the damage it took from the holy water. So, it has lost its flight ability. The Void Resident couldn’t do anything but to just stand there and take all the high-level saturation magic.
「Brother!?」
Hiroshi cried, astonished by Tatsuya’s sudden move. He reluctantly stepped away from the Void Resident. There was no way he was blocking the line of that attack.
「You’ve powered up a lot but what happened?」
「Tatsu, you’re magical energy shouldn’t be able to cast that many spells at once…」
Not wasting even a second to respond to Makoto or Mio, Tatsuya just continued to shoot as many holy octo-cannon at the monster. Even when he was drenched in sweat, he didn’t stop the attacks.
Haruna who noticed something figured that their opponent is close to being knocked out and stopped the Heart Sutra Gospel. Then changed to a song which the lyrics were arranged to sound like gospel.
「How! How did the likes of you manage to connect with Feng Shui!!」
As the Void Resident noticed that Tatsuya was using the power from Feng Shui, it howled at the unfairness of the situation. The song came in flowing and the void resident used its power to resist the spell.
The song which Haruna was singing decreases the opponent’s magic defense and magic resistance. The song also affected the person singing as well as everyone else on the spot. So, it wasn’t a song which could be used by someone who couldn’t read the situation. However, there was no time for the Void Resident to use magic resistance this time. On top of that, if the individuals constitute was high, it wasn’t difficult to get past the song’s impact. Makoto and Tatsuya, as well as the impact from the sanctuary and the arranged gospel, the Void Resident was definitely the one that was taking more damage in this situation. For Mio, the impact would be fifty-fifty but there was definitely no impact towards Hiroshi.
This was a rare situation that Haruna got to use this song. She saw through the situation and figured this was the right timing, so she continued singing. After thirty seconds some of the veins started to show against Tatsuya’s skin and…
「I guess, this is my limit…」
One minute after Tatsuya started to make his barrage, he finally reached his limit. Seeing that Tatsuya has reached his limit, Haruna arranged the song more than before. While singing the gospel arranged Return Heal, she activated a spell while maintaining a sanctuary.
「Sorry guys, this is all I can do…」
He dropped on his knees on and apologized as he breathed with his shoulders. Although his body healed from Haruna’s spell, he reached his limit for his focus so he couldn’t even stand up.
「I wanted to keep going until I could stop its movement but…」
「It’s fine! It looks like the monster doesn’t even have time to re-apply its barrier!」
Makoto tried to get back into the battle as she saw Tatsuya who was worn out both physically and emotionally. Although the Void Resident repeated enough mistakes to a point it was almost nicknamed “Barold’s boss” it was still the fallen God’s subordinate. Seeing that the monster hasn’t retired even at this stage, it was obvious that it wasn’t going down without a fight.
「Perhaps, my life won’t last much longer…」
It was beaten to the point where it could barely standstill. On top of that, through Feng Shui and Stillen, the shrine maidens were slowly chipping away the monster’s lifespan. However, the Void Resident stood up with determination and will-power.
「For the sake of my brothers who have given me power, there’s no way I can just collapse here!!」
It took some energy from the splash of Feng Shui. Then, the Void Resident made its final attack with its strongest ability. Even though it would cost its life. Hiroshi saw through the traits of this attack and changed his expression.
(Complete i’nore defense physical elemental type!?)
Even from Hiroshi’s perspective, it was a God-like power. The power of the attack alone was well above ten times the power of Barold. Looking at it from a practical perspective, the cost would increase exponentially just to combine attacks like that. It was the same reason why Makoto couldn’t use Defense Penetration ability against a Tower Golem.
However, why would the Void Resident who originally had enough power to create an entire dungeon use such ability even at the cost of its life? The magic cost of the ability shouldn’t have been a problem.
「I’ll drag you all to the underworld! Soul Crasher!!」
(Dere’s nah way I can dodge dat!)
As Hiroshi saw the last attack the monster was making with its half-collapsed state, he prepared himself for many things. It had enough power to kill Hiroshi instantly. Even if he tried to return it, no, even if he tried to return the attack, it would almost certainly go towards Tatsuya and Haruna who was standing behind him. Haruna who still has some stamina left could do something about it. But Tatsuya who was completely worn out was helpless.
(Ya wan’ me ta hang one o’ us? Ya really don’ know when ta stop don’t ya … ?)
The black sickles kept flying towards him in slow motion and Hiroshi stood there with a horrible thought in his mind. If the Void Resident used this spell at the start of the battle, all of them would have been wiped out on the spot.
However, Hiroshi who has continued his journey up until now has thrown away such naivety. He wasn’t going to accept such fate on the battlefield. Hiroshi used the force field, or more precisely, Hiroshi found another way to use the fuel of the force field that has gotten him through the Void Resident’s saturation attacks. He could only gamble on how well he could use its ability.
「I ain’t goin’ down by some attack from a half-a***d boss… !」
He forcefully dragged out will-power from the bottom of his heart and re-ignite it. At this point, he felt himself change physically but he ignored it and continued to bring up more power. Then, he let that power travel through every cell in his body, directly absorbed in power externally, compressed them, collected them, took a deep breath and repeated that cycle.
「Tis nothin’ ta me!!」
He ignored the stamina that he lost from compressing the energy and attacked back with everything he had. For the Void Resident, ignoring its defense became a disadvantage. The compressed power rushed against it and cancelled each other’s ability. The special attack that possessed critical force suddenly powered down to something that was just a high-power attack. This was the moment which Hiroshi succeeded in activating an extra skill, Kongo Unbreakable.
With that, Hiroshi collapsed. The force field that maintained past the limit vanished. His body that changed its shape from the skill went back to how it was originally without a single scratch on his body.
「… So, you challenge me, even until the end…」
「Lik I, care!」
Hiroshi fought back the urge to collapse on his knee after a good chunk of his stamina was lost. As he tried to get his breathing back, he ended the life of the Void Resident with its last word. Although death was certain, this did not mean that the Void Resident was already dead. Everyone on the spot knew that. So, Hiroshi went in with one of his major abilities to finish the monster off.
「… I guess my last bet was unfulfilled as well…」
As it added in a faint voice, with eyes that still hasn’t admitted defeat, the Void Resident slowly converted the residues within him into a curse. Just like Barold, it was disappearing at a rate beyond recovery. However, the Void Resident still had enough power to make one last move. He could have used that power in the last attack. However, with defense complete ignore, it would have been in the range of error so the result would have been the same.
There was no point if they made enemies with Hiroshi and others. So, the least it could do was to leave something behind for the sanctuary. It will happily die like an animal, but it refused to give it’s opponent a chance to power up.
「Brothers, I will leave the rest up to you!!」
It howled and tried to self-destruct. Then, to what looked like the Void Resident’s core, a single arrow with a lot of energy added cut through.
「Clear shot.」
Mio, who scattered the curse using extra skill Giant Dragon Killer, mumbled with passion. She was planning to take out its core in the beginning. But she realised that only taking out its core would complete the curse, so she changed her aim.
「I can’t believe they always try to leave behind a “gift” for us.」
Following Mio’s strike, Makoto commented in a helpless tone as she fragmented whatever was left using Wind Slash. Even the Void Resident who was trying to form another curse was not able to throw in an ability before it completely vanished. As a family of corrupted God, it disappeared only leaving behind the powerless core.
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