Maou no Hajimekata Volume 3 Chapter 2 Part 4
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Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist
Chapter 2: Let’s Get Back What Was Stolen From Us, Part 4
[Did you really thought this was going to give you any type of advantage against me?]
Suppressing the angry shaking of his limbs, Sarnak brandished his sword again.
[Did you already forgot what happened to Aur, who wielded exactly the same Skill you have now? Even if you have it, you won’t be able to defeat me. You’ll end up exactly like him!]
Despite all that transpired, it remains a fact that Sarnak has undisputedly defeated Aur. Even if Froro obtained exactly the same Skill Aur possessed, there is no way for her to be stronger or better at using it than him because she lacks the experience at using it. Therefore, Sarnak’s reasoning is the correct one here.
Or at least it would have been, if that was the only Skill Froro has received from Aur.
[Guh…!]
When he rushed towards froro to hit her with his sword and kill her instantly, Sarnak was suddenly hit by a pillar that emerged from the ground before her in a brief flash of light. Unable to dodge it in time, he took a few steps back while grunting in agony.
[Impossible! This body of mine got hurt?!]
Feeling the sensation of pain for the first time in a really long while surprised him, to say the least.
[You bitch, what did you do?!]
But Froro didn’t answer. She just continued to stare at Sarnak.
[Answer me!]
Sarnak screams and performs another slash. But this time, a horizontal pillar grew from the ground after another flash, preventing him from attacking by hitting his arm.
[Gu, uh….!]
He doesn’t know how she did it, but the power of his {Steel Shield} has been nullified somehow. But he didn’t lose it. He reached deep inside of himself and confirmed that his Skill still existed in him. But then, why did such an impossible thing happen? Without a doubt, Froro’s attack managed to inflict harm on him.
Was it due to some of Aur’s unknown Skills? Or was it Froro’s ability as a Demon Lord?
[Don’t be so cocky!]
Dodging the pillars that fly towards him like spears, Sarnak Rushes towards Froro, who tries to keep a safe distance between them that way. He cannot predict where the next pillar s going to appear, but since they weren’t super fast, he was able to dodge some, but not all of them
[Kha…! You think… this is going to stop me?!]
Thankfully the damage the pillars were doing to him was not all that high. Although the initial strike send him back a few steps due to the unfamiliar feeling of pain, it was nothing to be afraid of when he was prepared to take it.
[Eat this!!!]
Finally reaching Froro, Sarnak swung his blade towards her neck. Another pillar appeared to protect her like a shield, but it was too slow to surpass the speed of his Lv.5 swordsmanship. It will definitely reach… her neck.
But it just passed through nothing but an empty space.
[HOW?!!!!]
Froro hasn’t moved an inch. She literally did nothing to escape Sarnak’s blow. Sarnak knows that he has not gone crazy, but then how it it possible that his sword didn’t do any damage?
[… The floor!]
After a moment, Sarnak finally noticed it.
Froro could raise the floor they were standing on at will. So not only can she create pillars, but she can also manipulate the surface of the floor!
[How impudent!]
Many more pillars rise from the ground to interfere with Sarnak. As he was busy dodging them, he noticed that the ceiling also began to descend in order to crush him. In order to save himself, he trued to dive towards the place that the least amount of obstructing pillars…
… but was just a second too late.
A low sound echoed across the room, and the rising floor stopped. It meant that Sarnak was completely crushed between the ceiling and the floor. Bearing witness to that result, Froro’s eyes opened widely.
[Ha…]
Not because Sarnak was crushed to death even after he spotted a possible escape route for himself.
[Hahahahahahahah! So that’s how it is!]
But because Froro knew that he was safe.
[What a boring trick! Who would have thought that my {Steel Shield} had such an obvious weakness?]
It was neither the effect of Aur’s unknown skills nor the ability of the Demon Lord that caused the pillar to hurt him even with the {Steel Shield} active.
The {Steel Shield} cannot protect the user from its own power, and that’s because of the Skill’s limitation, and the fact that Sarnak never tried to see what would happen if he were to attack himself.
However, it should be natural if you think about it. If he were to negate all of his own power, he wouldn’t have even been able to walk, because in order to do that, you need to be strong enough to sustain your body in the upright position and have enough power to kick your feet off the ground with each and every step.
Thinking about it that way, feeling pain just because you bumped into a pillar was both incredibly basic and stupid.
That being said, there is no need for him to panic that he’s going to get crushed, because these walls and pillars cannot crush him. After all, when the ceiling touched him, it’s movements stopped then and there.
[Now then… let’s put an end to this bad luck.]
Now that he knows that Froro has no way of harming him, there is no need for him to panic. He just has to take it slow and kill her when he gets the chance.
[No way, I didn’t think it won’t work on you.]
Froro murmured.
[Ha! Did you really thought I was going to get caught in something so obvious?]
Only one place remained safe while the rest of the ceiling was coming towards him. She must have prepared a trap for him there, like some kinda blade, for example. If he were to jump at it himself, the blade would be able to hurt him. Unfortunately for Froro, in war it is a common practice to provoke the enemy to take certain actions so that you could use it against them. That is why Sarnak, who has survived many battles and used that strategy more than once, was able to spot it so easily.
[Yes. Well, I thought it was a good trap, but apparently I was mistaken.]
Froro sounded disappointed. At the same time, Sarnak thought that something was not right here, because the floor and the ceiling were not returning to their original positions.
[Also, I never wanted to catch you in that trap.]
[…..What?]
The effect of every Skill has a time limit.
Most of them disappear in an instant or a few seconds after they have been used, like {Sword Arts} or {Identify}, but there are also some that can last for a few minutes or even hours. In any case, it is a fundamental rule that their effects will eventually end, and that time is often proportional to the Skill’s potency and scale. Moreover, Skills that create something similar to a {Mother’s Wall} couldn’t possibly last long. But here in this case, Sarnak might have returned to normal after a few seconds, but the raised floors and pillars showed no signs of disappearing anytime soon.
[Sarnak. The magic I used… you might find it hard to believe, but it is not a magic that creates floors or pillars. It is a magic that can transform and move the {Mother’s Wall}.]
[Huh?]
It took a sold few seconds for Sarnak to understand what Froro was talking about.
The {Mother’s Wall} is an absolute thing for those who live here, there can be no doubt about that. You can’t destroy it, or damage it in any way. Moreover, no one ever thought about using a Skill to operate it.
[D-Don’t be absurd! Even if you could do that, you wouldn’t be able to lift me!]
Sarnak’s {Steel Shield} nullifies any and all external forces working on him, so of course he wouldn’t be lifted. But somehow, he was lifted near the ceiling.
[I did the exact opposite, actually. I have lowered everything in the room except for where you were standing.]
[T-That’s preposterous! You shouldn’t be able to do something like that! You cannot do something like that!]
Sarnak let out a pitiful cry. Over the course of his life he has commanded many slaves, robbed others of everything that was dear to them and trampled down anyone who dared to oppose him, but even he knew that he could do nothing against the {Mother’s wall}. Even if he tried, he wouldn’t be able to scratch it.
It is something that transcends good and evil. For them, the {Mother Wall} is the world itself, an absolute thing that remains unchanged from birth to death.
He didn’t want to believe that there was someone who could operate it, and even if he could, he couldn’t believe that anyone would actually dare to do it, and even if he actually did it, operating a wall of such a scale seemed entirely outside of the realm of mortal’s reach. Those were simple facts.
But it was just as she said.
[Is all of this a {Mother’s Wall}!?]
The ceiling that is barely of the same height as him and the countless pillars that surround Sarnak; if Froro’s words are to be believed, they won’t be disappearing over time and they cannot be destroyed.
[Eh? Haven’t I said that just now? Do I really have to spell it out for you? Alright, if that’s what you want…]
Froro murmured with a bit of confusion as she stared at Sarnak.
[That’s right. From the very beginning…]
With a thunderous rumbling sound, the space between the pillars has been filled with another pillar.
[You were inside my stomach.]
When Froro spoke those words, all the other sounds died out. This space has beencompletely sealed off.
Although the {Mother’s Wall} was made of ordinary pillars, there was no way for him to escape it.
[Gu, ugh….!]
Sarnak brandished his sword, trying to cut a way out for himself, desperately trying to ignore the fact that he was getting goosebumps and a cold sweat across his entire body. But despite the numerous slashes he delivered towards it, he couldn’t even put a single scratch on it.
[Hey, wait! No, impossible! Why is this happening?!]
He cannot get out, that simple fact has gradually began to soak into the depths of Sarnak’s heart. As he finally realized that, the walls began to creep on him even more.
[Wait! Don’t do this! STOP!!!!]
Understanding exactly what was going to happen to him, Sarnak turned pale in an instant.
His {Steel Shield} is invincible. No attack can ever go through it. So no matter how close the ceiling or walls will come to him, he will never be crushed by them. But at the same time, he has no means of stopping them from getting closer.
If he were to press his hands against it, its movement would most definitely stop. But when he tried that, the walls changed their shape as if they were made out of soft clay, and only the parts that he did not press continued to approach him.
[Waitwaitwaitwaitwait! This cannot be! That’s impossible! This can’t be happening!]
The wall that came crushing down on him was not destroyed, but Sarnak himself was not destroyed either. It just filled up everything around him except for the space where he was.
It was a wall that fit itself to the exact shape of his body no matter how he tried to move. It was as if it was molding itself around him. In the end, the space around him has been filled to such a degree that he wasn’t even able to move a finger.
His {Steel Shield} won’t be of any use this time. Even if he can stop any and all attacks from reaching him, it cannot protect him from the death from starvation, or from running out of the air to breathe.
[Let me out! Get me out of here!]
But no matter how much he screamed, his voice simply echoed in the narrow cavity, so he just closed his mouth in order not to run out of air too fast and to prevent the wall from getting inside of him.
That’s right. He was inside the wall. Unfortunately for him, Sarnak realized that when it was all too late for him. He was already ruined.
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