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Chapter 35

The Battle Against The Demon Lord, My True Feeling, and Changes

 

I suddenly threw Dark Sphere from my hand as a surprise attack.

It looks like he could tell that the blast alone is powerful, and the Demon Lord moves to dodge the Dark Sphere that lands on his left side—— or the right side from his point of view.

 

「Hng!?」

 

I managed to slash the Demon Lord with my sword, which caused another bleeding on him, albeit it was still too shallow.

 

This is also one of the things that Sybilla taught me before we entered the Floor Boss room.

 

『What would you do if a Dark Sphere landed on the ground in front of you instead of hitting you directly?』

 

『……I would jump to the back, of course. Isn’t that obvious?』

 

『You would, right? ——That’s why this magic is so tricky.』

 

You can say that the blast itself is a small-power offensive magic. Moreover, it’s a Dark Attribute magic that ignores defense.

Therefore, no matter how small the power of this attack, it’s not something that the enemy can just ignore.

 

As a result, we can to some extent manipulate where the enemy is going to move to dodge the attack.

And even if they know that it’s a feint, they will still receive some damage if they get hit by the blast.

 

Dark Sphere… I know it’s weird coming from who uses this magic, but it sure is one nasty magic, huh.

Honestly, I wouldn’t want to fight someone who can use this kind of magic.

 

Now then, let’s shoot another one.

 

(《Dark Sphere》)

 

「Kuh…!」

 

This time, while trying to dodge the sphere, the Demon Lord fled away from me.

But then another Dark Sphere flew past him, further away from where he had fled, and exploded.

It’s not a direct hit, but of course, it still does damage.

A small, but one that ignores defense.

 

『Even if they know the Dark Sphere is a feint, you will still have to avoid it. I mean, if it’s not a fein and you take a direct hit, you’ll take so much damage it won’t even be funny.』

 

Because of that, the only way to get away with it is to avoid the Dark Sphere completely.

I recalled the explanation Sybilla had given me.

 

『……Well, normally, this isn’t an efficient strategy.』

 

It’s a magic that moves slowly and consumes quite a lot of magic power.

A normal person wouldn’t even consider such a wasteful strategy.

 

However, if it’s me——

 

『In short, this is a strategy that only works because you’re in it, Russell.』

 

I keep track of his movement with my sword in my right hand as I shoot the next barrage of Dark Spheres.

As expected, he doesn’t want to get too close to this Dragon Fang sword that has been enchanted with Dark Magic and instead takes the blast while fleeing backward.

 

After repeating this exchange several times, he should’ve realized it too.

Just how frightening this strategy that Sybilla had come up with was.

 

『That’s right, it’s an attack that only does very weak damage… a small bit of damage… it’s like slowly strangling your enemy with an elastic silk thread. But you see, the moment they realize that they will keep getting hit by this insignificant damage, unable to completely avoid it and it’s not going to stop until they die, it will always create impatience inside them. It’s a strategy that allows you to attack your opponent mentally, and it’s more effective the smarter your opponent is.』

 

……This girl sure could think of terrifying things as always.

Honestly, I wonder if she is really a goddess. 

 

But including that part of hers, is what I like about this girl.

In order to defeat the enemy efficiently, safely, and thoroughly. She provides me with the strongest offensive and defensive capabilities to do so in the fastest possible time.

There’s only one reason for this. Because she believes that I, Russell, can win.

 

At least… that’s what I believe.

I guess I just wanted to be recognized.

 

If it’s you, Russell, I’m sure you can make it work.

If it’s you, Russell, I’m sure I can leave it to you.

Russell is——he always helps me to find the things I lost.

 

For a moment, a nostalgic memory resurfaced in my mind.

No, now is not the time to dwell on old memories.

 

In other words, I wanted to make myself more useful using my power as 【Saint】.

So, even though I was unable to defeat monsters back when I was still in the Hero’s Party, I guess I was a little satisfied just by being able to heal Brenda’s mother.

I wonder if this true feeling of mine is part of the reason I became a 【Saint】.

It’s not like I don’t want to help by healing people, but… if I can help people, I’d figure having offensive magic would be better to serve that purpose.

Well, the Sun Goddess probably doesn’t even bother about details such as human relationships but——.

 

——If there’s one thing I can say.

It’s thanks to the pact I made with Sybilla that I was able to do both.

 

「Don’t, get, cocky! Take this and die! 《Poison Mist》!」

 

The Demon Lord waves his arm and a mist that looks exactly like the color of blood sprays out from his hand. This isn’t his blood, right? I sure do hope so.

While I was having such thoughts, the magic began to take effect on my body.

 

But still… is he seriously choosing this magic to try to turn the tables?

This is a magic that affects your throat and reduces your strength just by inhaling it.

Apparently, it’s a very strong and deadly poison.

 

The fact that he’s using such magic means——.

 

「——As I thought, you’re nothing but an idiot, huh?」

 

「You… How dare you say that again! That attitude… toward this me… UNNACCEPTABLE!!」

 

「This mist, it’s poison, right?」

 

「There’s no use playing tough! With this poison, your body will——!」

 

「No, like I said, I’m a 【Saint】, you know?」

(《Cure》)

 

「…….Ah, wha…….」

 

「Just so you know, I have a much easier time using chantless Healing Magic compared to Offensive Magic.」

(《Extra Heal》)

 

The Demon Lord who was covered in blood shook his head with a stunned look on his face. I don’t know if he’s even listening anymore.

 

It doesn’t look like he really understood though. I’ve been using healing magic for about six months longer than I’ve been with dark magic.

I have no trouble at all chanting the magic in my head.

 

「Fufu… Fufufu…」

 

The Demon Lord let out an evil laugh as I pointed my sword at him.

What’s up with this Demon Lord? Did he finally lose it and want to escape reality?

 

「So you’re just going to let that Goddess order you around as her weapon or something, huh……」

 

……Looks like this guy doesn’t like the fact that I’m being used by Sybilla.

The fact is, there weren’t that many instructions from Sybilla on how should I proceed from this on though.

 

If that’s the case.

 

「Tell me, why do you guys hate Goddesses so much? And the Heroes as well.」

 

I can feel a movement behind me.

As expected, she probably didn’t expect how things would play out from this point onwards, didn’t she?

No, actually, could it be that she thought far more ahead than I thought? Honestly, I can’t tell how far ahead Sybilla is thinking.

 

「Really, now? You’re asking me why? Why… Why, huh? Even though I’ve come this far to kill the Hero and spent a lot of time and resources to do it… I ended up in this pathetic state.」

 

「…That’s not exactly the answer I wanted to hear though.」

 

「Hey, I’m sure you also heard the voice that says “Level Up” in your head, right? A voice that we, the Demon Lords, the Living Armor you fought earlier, or any monsters in that regard, has never heard.」

 

「Yeah, I am.」

 

「Do you think that’s the voice of the Goddess you worshipped in your church?」

 

It’s not?

Still, for the Demon Lord to talk about such things in a situation like this… how should I put it, I just can’t believe him and I can’t help but think of him trying to stall for time.

 

……No, I guess this guy does look like the type to blabber about such things.

He is babbling quite a lot of information from the first time we met him after all. And from the way he said it earlier, what he said might actually be true.

 

「And you’re saying you know who it is?」

 

「No? It’s just that I’ve heard in a talk that you humans hear a voice when you level up…」

 

A talk, huh? It seems that this is also information he heard from the discussion with his colleagues.

But… I can’t help but feel that something’s off with that information just now considering how he talked about it before.

 

As I look at the Demon Lord, I suddenly remember the conversation we just had and pondered.

 

The Demon Lord in front of me is standing unsteadily on his feet.

 

「Good grief…」

 

Just when I thought he muttered something, his palm, which was holding his head, turned toward me as he looked at me with his eyes opened wide.

 

「You let your guard down, huh, you idiot!!」

 

The Demon Lord shot his magic towards me while I was deep in thought.

 

「《Flame Sto——》guaaaaaaahhhhh!?」

 

But the next moment, another purple fountain sprouted from the Demon Lord’s head.

 

It was none other than my most clever and dependable partner who did it.

She struck Stone Javelin into the Demon Lord’s head from behind without chanting.

 

I finally understood that the reason she bothered to shout out the name of the magic, “Stone Javelin”, earlier was to create this very situation.

She is truly a terrifying woman at heart to have thought this far ahead and reacted so quickly.

 

「I’m the one who taught Russell how to cast magic without the chant, so there’s no reason why I, a 【Mage】, can’t use it myself, right? So much for 『saving your trump card to the very end』, don’t you think? Really, what an idiot.」

 

「Guuuuuuuuuu!? You lowly Goddesssss!」

 

「Let me tell you something since you’re an idiot. 『People who talk too much are usually the foolish ones』. That’s a good lesson, no?」

 

「You bassstarrrddddddd!」

 

The Demon Lord becomes enraged as Sybilla raises the corner of her lips.

Then…… she turned toward me and gave me a wink.

 

Don’t tell me, has she been setting this up for me all this time?

I knew it——she’s the best partner I could ever hope for!

 

「《Abyss Nail》!」

(《Abyss Nail》!)

 

A black-colored pillar made of magic that glows purple sprouted from the ground.

The magic took a little bit of time to appear from the ground, but the Demon Lord, who was completely caught off guard, was unable to avoid the magic completely and it severely wounded him.

 

That’s right, it’s a new magic I learned after I defeated the 『Living Armor of Oblivion』.

 

「Thanks for throwing a strong lower-layer Floor Boss at me. I don’t know who the voice that announced “【Twilight Sorcerer】 level 10” in my head is, but… as long as they’re useful and help me to kill you for planning to attack the orphanage now, I don’t care if they’re a god or a demon. I see, so this is how 『saving your trump card for the last』 feels. So, what do you think of the power of this new Dark Magic that I obtained because you got carried away?」

 

「……」

 

It seems the Demon Lord can’t even reply anymore after receiving a direct hit from the overwhelming attack.