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Beast Tamer Who Got Kicked Out From the Hero’s Party Chapter 144

CHAPTER 144: VS THE ULTIMATE EVIL *1*

「Oh my? And you are……」

Acknowledging Arios’ appearance, Iris looked a little bit awkward for a moment out there.

She looked just like a mischievous child who’s been caught red-handed in the middle of their mischief.

Arios, on the other hand, seemed to be in an extremely bad mood for some reason.

He then turned towards Iris and addressed her in an unabashed and bullish manner.

「Have we met somewhere before? If my memory serves me correctly, you said that your name was Iris?」

「……………」

「Why are you here in the first place?　I thought you were still supposed to be holed up in River’s End, but……?」

「……………」

「Oh well, it doesn’t really matter all that much. But you’d better turn back now, right this instant. You do that, and I will let you off the hook for the time being. But if you don’t, I’m going to make you regret it. You will suffer for all that destruction that you did back at Pagos village.」

「…… Haah.」

At Arios’ words, which did not lose his strong stance and bullish tone, Iris returned a dismissive sigh.

That attitude seemed to have been completely unexpected, and Arios scowled slightly upon witnessing it.

「H-Hey! What’s that attitude of yours supposed to mean!? You think that I won’t get involved in this just because you are here? If that’s the case, then you are gravely mistaken. I will do whatever it takes to protect the villagers from harm.」

「…… Then I guess this means that you will have to fight me, too.」

「…… What was that?」

Arios showed a dumbstruck face upon hearing those words.

And seeing his genuine reaction, Iris let out a small chuckle.

「I do realize that you are the one who freed me from my prison, but in the end you are only that: a mere human. Not to mention, a Hero at that. Did you honestly think that I would keep on listening to your orders forever? Someone like you?」

「Wha…… Y-You bastard! That’s not what we agreed on!」

「In return for releasing me from my prison, I shall cooperate with you…… That was the exact promise that we have made. But now I am growing rather tired of it, to be honest. I mean, I thought it was high time for me to kill the remaining survivors of Pagos village anyway, so I guess that this also marks the end of our jolly cooperation.」

「W-What the…… You……! You mongrel! You ungrateful bastard!　How dare you!? I set you free, didn’t I!?　And now you’re going to betray me for doing that!?」

「That’s the nature of promises. They are meant to be broken.」

「GUUUOOOAAAHHH……!!!」

Arios seemed to be so angry that his face actually turned a deep shade of crimson, but……

There was no way that I would simply ignore what he just said to her.

「Hey, Arios. Is it true what Iris is saying?」

「T-This is…… W-Well, of course not! Those are just filthy lies! She’s just spouting some bullshit to try and discredit me!」

「Bullshit, huh……?」

Well, to me it sounded as if Iris was actually telling the truth here, no matter how you try to look at it.

But it looks like we don’t have time for questions and answers about that matter right now.

「Well then, how about we get this thing started, everyone!?」

Iris made a gesture as if she was embracing herself.

Then, eight wings sprouted from her back all at once.

「N-No way…… A Celestial Tribe……!?」

「Now, have at you! Let’s kill each other to our hearts’ content!」.

***

In just a single moment, the magic unleashed by Iris turned the entire entrance to the village into a scorched earth.

Flames curled up and blew away the plants and trees as if they were never there in the first place.

The villagers, who had been watching the scene from the distance, screamed and ran away.

As if to signal the start of the battle, Iris rushed in at us.

「Arios, help us out here!」

「Huh? Why the hell would I ever want to cooperate with you lot……!?」

While complaining, Arios pointed his palm at Iris.

I was going to focus my Magic Power and unleash a spell as well.

「“Fireball!”」

「“GigaVolt”!」

Oversized fireballs and purple electricity headed towards Iris and bit at her like a living creature.

Then there was a huge explosion.

And then a storm of thunder broke out.

My vision was blocked by a huge dust cloud.

I couldn’t see anything.

But………Iris’s evil presence was closing in on us without disappearing.

「Rein!」

「Huh!」

In an instant, Kanade pushed me to the side.

Immediately after that, Iris appeared from within the dust cloud and swung her hand like a sword at me.

CRACK!

A sharp crack appeared in the earth where I had been standing just a moment ago.

Perhaps it was an invisible attack, weaving magic power into her hands, turning them into deadly weapons.

「Arios!」

「What the hell is the meaning of this!?」

I then saw Aggath and Mina come running into the battlefield.

Behind them, Rin was also there.

「Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hey, hey, hey!!! Why the hell are we even fighting this bitch!? I thought that she was supposed to be our pawn or something!?」

「Please don’t tell me…… Did she choose to betray us?」

「God damn it! See, I knew it was going to come to this! That’s why I was so against that idea!」

「Complaining can wait! Come on, guys! You need to help us! We need to repel her from the village!」

Apparently, Aggath and the others also knew about Iris.

Great, all the more suspects to question later on.

However……

We can’t talk about it or question them if we don’t get through this alive.

So we need to do something about this situation, and we need to do it fast.

「…… Goodness gracious, why do I need to do this shit……?」

「Well it’s no use complaining about it now, now that it has come to this! Let’s go, Rin! Mina!」

「Yes! ”Holy Arrow”!」

Mina moved first and shot an arrow of light from her staff.

「”Red Crimson!”」

Following after her, Rin unleashed her magic.

Their magic was different from what I saw before, the power of the two of them had apparently increased by quite a lot in such a short amount of time.

The magic they were chanting was of the Advanced level, but in effect, it might have been as powerful as that of a Super Level.

Somehow, it seems that they had been training since we parted ways, and now all of them were much stronger.

「Fufufu.」

Even with their magic coming right towards her, Iris didn’t break her stance and just smiled and giggled.

She wasn’t even trying to intercept the spells.

She wasn’t even trying to avoid them.

She was just exposing her entire body defenselessly against the incoming magic spells.

…… Speaking of which, it seems that the spells that Arios and I cast earlier had no effect on her, but how did she even prevent the damage from being done to her?

While I was wondering about that……

I didn’t dare to touch her in order to find that out, and so for the time being I just stood there and watched what would happen, looking for some sort of a clue.

Rin and Mina’s magic spells finally managed to hit Iris.

At that moment the destructive force in the shape of a crimson lotus flower enveloped her whole body.

Following that effect, Iris was enveloped in a bright pillar of white light, the likes of which would purify everything they would touch.

But…… Iris was still alive and well.

「What the……!?」

「Wait a minute, what is that!?　What kind of magic trick did you use!?」

Mina and Rin were shocked and surprised to see this.

But it’s not like I can blame them for that.

Their Advanced Magic should have been a direct hit for sure……. But Iris didn’t even get a graze wound from it on her body.

「Was I actually mistaken……?」

Everyone else doesn’t seem to notice it but……

I saw it for a short moment.

The magic that Mina and Rin released seemed to explode before it could even touch Iris.

It’s a good idea to think that Iris must have had some sort of veil or barrier around her body that protects her from damage.

If that’s the case, then dealing with it will be extremely tricky.

Being able to put up barriers while fighting, that would be a hell of a thing to pull off, and the one that requires tremendous power and focus.

「If magic doesn’t seem to work, then how about this one!?」

Using the two magic blasts as cover, Aggath approached Iris.

He swung his huge greatsword down from directly above her head.

「Oh my?　Will you be the one to play with me this time?」

「What!?」

Iris managed to catch Aggath’s greatsword with one hand.

Iris was unperturbed by the fact that she had caught something so huge so easily. It was as if for her the greatsword was just a toothpick.

How is that even possible?

I’m sure Kanade could do the same trick if she tried hard enough, but……

Her body would surely be pushed back by the sheer mass and power of the greatsword.

But looking at Iris, she didn’t even have to look at it.

She didn’t move in the slightest, as if she had caught the child’s toy.

「Come on now, dance for me.」

「Guh…… OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH~~~!!!!!!!!!」

Iris pompously, put her hand on Aggath’s abdomen.

Then, gently, it looked like she just touched it ever so slightly.

With just that, Aggath’s huge body was blown away like some sort of a rag doll.

He flew more than ten meters away and ripped down the trees in his paths before finally stopping on the ground.

What did she just do……?

It looked like she just touched him and then……

「As for you…… I am going to give you a gift most gracious.」

「T-This is……」

「Kyaaahhh!!!」

The moment Iris snapped her fingers with a sharp sound, Mina and Rin were both blown away in an instant.

Since Iris did not chant or did anything else similar to that, I don’t think that it was magic at work, but maybe some sort of a strange ability……

What the hell is going on here?

I broke out in a cold sweat as I saw Iris’s inexplicable abilities…….and then the overwhelming power that was on display right before my eyes filled my entire body with dread.