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High School Hack and Slash Chapter 145 Part 1

Sacred Ballad

―― the peripheral world 『BIBLIOTHECA』, the glazed myth 『Sacred Ballad (Oratorio)』――

――『The Arena of the Abyss (Tartarus Colosseum)』, 『Mad God of War of the Abyss (Tartarus Ares)』 domain ――

The place evokes the image of the bottom of a deep sea.

The bottom of sinking, piling up, torrential accumulating stagnation.

Pushing my way through the sticky, swirling miasma coiling around me, I walk through the darkness.

I guess it’s either the 『Mad God of War of the Abyss (Tartarus Ares)』 or the 『Evil God Tartarus (Ares of Tartarus) 』, huh.

The message of the Interface is rather fuzzy.

Well, I don’t care which one it is.

There’s no difference in the sense of oppression that feels as if you’re being crushed.

Come now, it’s time to fight.

Come now, it’s the appointed time for conflict.

Ring the bells and blow the horns!

Without the slightest shreds of mercy, without the faintest bits of benevolence, knock down and destroy everything!

Destruction is my true calling.

The ferocious sense of omnipotence that surges up like a torrent from the bottom of my vessel.

As abhorrent as it may be, the fetters that hold me down are far away right now.

Needing to hold back with something, needing to be careful with someone.

All is tactless.

Aah–… what a chuunibyou-ish mood it is.

I can’t laugh at Seiichi.

In fact, if the usual members were here, I’m sure I’d be subjected to retorts to calm down.

Well then, now that I’ve calmed down a bit after throwing in a self-retort, I take another look at the surrounding area.

It’s one dreary place, with nothing in it.

It’s just that, it’s surrounded by huge walls that seem to pierce the heavens.

Looking straight up, I feel like I can or cannot see a light in the faraway horizon.

It feels like the POV of a canned tuna.

Rather than at the bottom of an abyss, it feels more as if I’m at the bottom of a pot.

When such a thought crosses my mind, the huge walls around me come to look cheap.

According to the Interface, it seems that they’re made of bronze.

「Phew….」

Rather than bothering about such a thing, right now, I have to face reality.

Yes, it’s exactly reality that’s my enemy.

In the center of the domain sits the ruler of this area.

He’s sitting on the throne of the abyss, not moving even an inch, and radiating a mighty presence.

The gigantic, lavishly decorated chair is probably about 10 meters high.

The figure seated on the out-of-scale chair is a similarly gigantic man.

 

Name, 『Areus (Ares)』

Race, Lore (Legend)

Attribute, Divine (Greece)

Rank, ※※※

Abilities, 『Divine Right』, 『Conflict』, 『Frenzy』, 『Immortal ※Lost』, 『Divine Groom (Demigod)』

Existence Level, ★★★☆★

「Mad God of War」, 「Destroyer of Ramparts」, 「Prince of Ruin」, 「Paramour of Beauty」, 「Imprisoned One」, 「Stripped One」

 

The bronze chains, coiled around him layer upon layer, are shattering before my eyes.

The war god Ares, the God of War in Greek mythology, is about to be unleashed.

 

―― Please tell us of the end of the irregular one, O Muse. He exactly is the mad God of War, freed of the seal …. ――

 

I can hear a narration I don’t quite understand, but I don’t give a shit.

The gigantic god, freed from the chains, is slumped in his chair as it is.

To put it bluntly, he’s bleeding to death from the head.

He’s bleeding to death from the head.

I repeat, he’s bleeding to death from the head.

Damn it, I still can’t accept reality.

Ares, the mad God of War who seems to have been sealed in the abyss, is bleeding to death from the head.

Just what’s the deal with this guy?

For him to die at the same he appears, just how low he was looking down on humans, I wonder.

Or perhaps, he died of shock due to the stress of appearing on the stage.

What are you, a mola mola?

No, blood is flowing from the top of his head, so he must have been murdered by someone, huh.

It’s as if he has been stabbed with a sword or something like that from the top of his head.

 

―― … No way, impossible. The seal with the divine sword that the Hero had put in exchange for his life should have been broken … ――

 

「Hell if I care.」

I don’t know in what manner I should express this outlet-less feeling.

I can tell that the narrator is also dumbfounded, but improvise.

And then, give me an enemy.

To begin with, it’s the height of joke for his 『Immortal』 authority to be pin-pointedly Lost.

It seems to be a cheat ability that consumes GP to heal all damage, and even restore the SP.

As the name 『Immortal』 suggests, it must have allowed one to exhibit an immortality spectacle.

At least, if it had been 『Frenzy』 or 『Divine Groom (Demigod)』 that had been Lost, there would have been no problem.

They seem to be the ability to forcibly interfere with one’s unconscious realm and the ability to transform into any living creature, including human beings, and to interbreed with them.

According to the Interface, it seems that male deities of the Greek mythology system have 『Divine Groom (Demigod)』 while female deities have 『Divine Wife (Nymphē)』, which is of the same effect, but from the bottom of my heart, I couldn’t care less about it.

 

―― … Impossible. It must not be allowed to be! A story in which a man murders a god, the Muse (I) shall never approve of such a thing ――

 

「I’ve gotten tired of hearing your pretentious talks. Get out of here already.」

Be it the amazonesses or Ares, who is bleeding to death from the head, I felt neither malice nor killing intent from them.

Queen Hippolyte once told me.

To discern the enemy.

The imprisoned and stripped remains (Ares) no longer matter.

The mastermind that’s disguising themselves as a bystander, as if watching the stage from the audience.

The unsightly scenario writer who rants and raves and thrust their finger into the board when things don’t go their way.

 

―― O foolish irregular one. The Muse (I) is the other world (raid) itself, my words are omnipotent …. ――

 

「Got it.」

I get that you’re not someone I can have a talk with.

Let’s keep it simple.

You die.

Slowly, a blazing murderous desire swells in my chest.

I will kill you.

I’ve finally found the one I’ve been longing for.

I will destroy your other world (raid).

Yeah, as if having found the foe I’ve been looking for, this feeling is just the best.

As a distant rumbling roars, the stagnant miasma swirls and gets sucked into 『The Ripper (Bhaudhara)』.

The crackling and trembling Bhaudhara swallows the power of the primeval origin.

It’s sucking up the saved up 『power』, which has been released by the imprisoned Ares, without limit.

 

―― … Ooh, oooh. Stop. Stop it, O irregular one. You are… what in the world are you … ――

 

Hell if I care.

The hand holding the incandescent Bhaudhara burns and several fingers snap.

I clench even tighter on my roaring, raging partner.

Yeah, I’m sure you feel the same way.

In that case, to hell with holding back, go devour and swallow everything!

I hold up Bhaudhara, which is giving rise to swirling air and discharging arrows like thunderbolts.

Spatial coordinates forcibly read through the Interface.

A concept not yet defined in language.

It’s only logical that the trigger word for destroying a target that doesn’t exist doesn’t yet exist.

Thus, following the direction of the impulse of destruction, I shout 『something』 and swing Bhaudhara down.

「…　_　　　__ (Vajaya), aaa!!」

I rip apart the void, the space of the bronze cage itself, with a white lightning that dyes the field of vision pure white.

As the distorting noise is torn to pieces, I peer into the hole that has been created.

There sits a beautiful goddess who is pathetically trembling with a look of fright on her face.

Fresh blood is spat out from the back of my throat, which is crushed due to the backlash (penalty) from shouting trigger words I could not pronounce.

「— F o U N d y O u.」

 

Name, 『Melpomene』

Race, Lore

Attributes, Divine (Greece)

Rank, ※※※

Abilities, 『Divine Right』, 『Mantra (Akashic)』, 『Creation (Genesis)』, 『Usurpation』, 『Divine Wife (Nymphē)』

Existence Level, ★★★★★

「The New Muse」, 「The Singer of Tragedy」, 「The Priestess of the Oracles」, 「The Goddess of Art」, 「The Creator of Miniature Garden」

▼ Usurped

『Immortal』

▼ In Deployment

Program, 『The Poem of Champion Reaching the Realm of God (Hercules Quest)』

Program, 『The Water-Serpent of Ceaselessness (Lernaea)』

Program, 『The Man-Eating Horse (Diomedes)』

Program, 『The Belt of the Queen (Amazons)』

Irregular Program, 『The Battle of Gods (Gigantomachia) 』

▼ Restoration in Progress

Program, 『The Great Lion of Gold (Nemea)』

Program, 『The Hind of the Goddess (Ceryneia)』

Program, 『The Boar of Retribution (Erymanthos)』

Program, 『The Livestock Stable of the Foolish King (Augeas)』

Program, 『The Mechanical Bird of Bronze (Stymphalides)』

Program, 『The Bull of the Sea God (Crete)』

Program, 『The Three Princes (Geryon)』

Program, 『The Daughters of the Evening (Hesperides)』

Program, 『The Gatekeeper of the Underworld (Cerberus)』

Program, 『The Champion and The Queen (Penthesilea)』

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