The Spearmaster and the Black Cat
chapter-292

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Inside the fort, within a dark place with a wide pathway bordered by old-fashioned, wooden pillars, the sound of swords clashing fills the air. A black-haired human and an elf are facing off against each other.

The black-haired man lifts one cheek into a smirk, “You aren’t half bad, are you elf?”

The elf frowns at his comment, sending a glare at his opponent’s sneer. Then the elf sharpens his look, trying to spot a gap in the other man’s swordplay.

While staring at the blades of the two magic swords in the black-haired man’s hands, he inclines his own, broad magic sword with its silver blade. He changes his grip of the hilt while turning over the blade, and looks beyond his opponent.

“…The women behind you aren’t going to join in?”

Knowing that they are his comrades, the elf asks about the women. Those words prove his wariness of the women suddenly entering the fray.

The black-haired man spits out, “You got it――”, and immediately charges in a forward-bent posture.

He closes the distance to the elf within the blink of an eye, targeting the elf’s left flank with one of his swords, clad in darkness. Support this series by reading it on the translator’s site at infinite novel translation

The elf reacts swiftly, warding off the black blade approaching from the side by tilting his sword to make his opponent’s sword slide off with the upper blade part. A shrill, dissonant screech of metal reverberates from the black blade scratching along the silver blade, and at the same time silver sparks illuminate the vicinity.

“――Tsk.”

“This much of a skill, and yet you don’t seem to be in a dark guild. A Flying Sword Style honed in competitions?”

“I’d say you’re about half correct there――”

For an instant it looks like they might maintain their distance, but then both slash at each other with a speed giving one the illusion of afterimages appearing in the air.

The silver and black swords of both dual-wielders clash while crossing in midair. The four swords whirl around at a combat distance where any hit could prove fatal. Furious clashing that seems to make the atmosphere tremble and mana particles spread throughout the fort.

The two, black-haired women are indifferently watching the fight unfold. They wouldn’t ever think of butting into a fight between fellow swordsmen.

Then, one of the women disappears as if melting into the darkness behind her. The remaining woman has a Demonic Eye dwelling in her left eye. A cloudy vortex of mana is winding within.

While using that Demonic Eye…she carefully watches the battle with a cold expression. A face clearly telling that it would be impossible for her comrade to be killed by the elf he’s fighting. This certainty doesn’t only stem from her trust in his swordsmanship, but also from her Demonic Eye being able to somewhat grasp the abilities of the elf.

The black-haired man and elf are battling under her watchful eyes. The black-haired man dons an expression betraying his boredom of the ongoing rally.

While feinting with his eyes, in the middle of chanting, “Black Willow――”, as the name of a skill, he alters the trajectory of his sword from vertical to diagonal, and once the elf skilfully dodges the blade by shifting his body sideways, the pillar next to the elf is cut apart by the magic sword’s blade.

Alongside a grinding as the pillar slides diagonally downwards, a sharp cut becomes visible on the stone paving. The elf hears the pillar collapse, but without getting perturbed, he thrusts his right sword at the chest of his opponent while still in his previous stance.

However, while flashing his peculiar sneer, the black-haired man parries the sword thrust by tilting the black sword in his other hand to the side. Immediately following, he retreats.

Adopting a unique dual-wield stance while keeping his distance, black mana gushes out of his whole body, engulfing him like an aura.

“…Elf, you’re certainly strong, but I’m still leagues above you. I possess Cuezel’s divine protection. You’ve just been unlucky to have me as your opponent.” The black-haired man is emanating a deep calmness from his words and gestures.

Immediately following, he gathers mana in both arms as he charges at the elf. Accompanying this, his two swords accelerate. While leaving pitch black trails in their wake, they clash against the elf’s silver swords swung to defend.

One rally, then another…in the middle of the exchange of blows between these two exceptional swordsmen, the black-haired man sees to holding true of his previous words, speeding up his body movements by one level, and thus exceeding the quickness of a human, while leaving afterimages in midair. At the same time, an explosive flash is created from the mana accumulated in both his arms.

He has activated one of . The black wave released from his arms, which causes the air to quiver, assails the elf. Once the elf is enveloped by it, he starts to wildly swing his two swords, hacking away at empty space and naturally being far from hitting anything, obviously confused.

That instantaneous chink in his defenses is fatal.

“――Guuaaahh.”

One of his arms whirls through the air once the elf recovers his bearing. While displaying its clean cut, the arm revolves around, scattering fresh blood all around in a shower.

The elf perceives something similar to wind pressure being applied against his whole body, and then gets blown to the back. Moreover, the black-haired man chops up the elf’s airborne arm into small chunks, causing a bloody rain.

The hilt of the silver sword, which the arm had grasped, rotates around its own axis in the air. The black-haired man drives a roundhouse kick against that sword, causing it to pierce through the fort’s ceiling as it flies off towards the sky.

“――Fuhahaha! So, what do you think about the power of my wave? Well, you probably can’t answer anymore, can you? This will be the end for you――”

With a sneer and a face distorted in unsightly joy, the black-haired man thrusts the sword in his right towards the elf.

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Fierce sword clashes can be heard from the direction Fran and I are heading to. A dual-wielding, black-haired man has blown away an elf and is right about to finish the job.

In a hurry, I activate 《Frozen Arrow》. Countless arm-sized ice arrows manifest in front of me. The arrowheads glitter whiteley. I make the arrows, which actually feel more like spears, weave their way in-between the pillars, having them fly straight for the black-haired man.

He quickly reacts to the approaching spells. So he’s even got a perception-based skill?

With a sharp glare, he turns the point of his black sword away from the elf beneath him, and uses it to cut down the incoming arrows while retreating. Using the pillars behind him, he defends against my magic attack.

While paying attention to the man, Fran and I jump out into the wide, open space.

“――Kirie, watch out, it’s reinforcements.”

“Are they members of the same special unit as the elf?”

“Who knows. However, if they are from the same unit, they’ll likely be formidable opponents.”

“One is black-haired. Oh, isn’t that also the redhead who allowed them to get away earlier? The opponents are no elves, but will that be okay?”

“Hah! That ain’t nothing you got to tell me!”

“I know, but still…”

“Damn it, even though you’ve got a nice face, don’t gimme the same depressin’ bullsh*t like Tamaki.”

While listening to the foul language of the man, I head over to the elf who’s groaning over his lost arm on the floor. I sprinkle one of the healing potions, which I had previously put into my bandolier, on the elf.

“You okay?”

“Thanks…but, another black-hair?”

“Don’t make any mistakes. A redhead is over there as well, right?”

“Fran’s friend, huh…?” Relief shows on the elf’s face.

He’s Bloody Long Ears’ Curél the Rebellious Sword, huh…? Even after having lost an arm, a sharp gleam dwells in his eyes.

“Someone with black hair just like me is the opponent?” As I turn around, I fix my eyes on the black-haired man who has been peeking at us from the shadows of the pillars.

Behind him is a woman with hair as black as his…

Before taking them on for real, I focus on Catiza first. My sixth finger drops to the olive-brown ground, and transforms into Catiza.

Next, I take out the two cat dolls of Alray and Hueremy out of my pocket. Once I pour my mana into them, Alray and Hueremy take their big tiger forms in an instant.

“Nyaa.”

“Nyao.”

The tigers sit down at my feet while meowing and purring at me adorably.

“You guys get ready together with Catiza. The black-hairs over there are enemies.”

“Nyaa――”

“Nyao――”

The magic creations immediately acknowledge my order. The smart tigers don’t wait for Catiza to finish transforming, and start running while taking a detour towards the black-haired woman, exhibiting their wildness as carnivores.

“Hey, hey, the new arrivals are in fact a circus troupe or something?”

“Take, we should stick together.”

The woman joins up with the man, who’s stepped in front, seemingly having sensed the intent of the tigers.

“Oh? How unusual of you, Kirie…Don’t tell me, an opponent repelling your superior appraisal eye?”

“…Yeah.”

That left eye is a Demonic Eye? Well it sure looks somewhat cloudy.

“Hoh, such an opponent…I think, the last time been Florseil…”

While summoning Baldok into my right hand, “Fran, pick up Curél, and join up with my friends who’re fighting outside the building.”

“…Roger.”

Fran is well aware of my abilities. However, I could tell from her face that she’s got something she wants to say about this.

“…” I silently look at her, and jerk my chin, telling her to hurry up and get out of here.

“I know.”

With a very womanly face Fran lightly lets her hair sway, lends Curél her shoulder, and walks outside together with him.

“Emissary-sama, the enemies are those black-haired people~?” Catiza asks with a tone that doesn’t fit the situation at all.

She has finally finished transforming. Blue eyes and eyebrows that look like they’ve been painted on her face with a brush. The figure of a woman with a choco-milky skin. Her belly button is visible as always.

“…Correct.” Even as I’m talking with Catiza while looking at her, I don’t lower my guard.

…My Grasping Perception picks up a faint magic source response from the pillars further down. Someone is concealed over there, but has a low skill at mana manipulation?

I guess I will make sure whether someone else is hiding there…and activate .

――It’s completely obvious from the scent. There’s a woman hiding in the shadow of the pillars.

“There’s one woman hidden deeper inside. Be careful. I suppose she’s a ranged type.”

“Understood.”

“…Come on, what’s up with his sensing skills? The fucker spotted Tamaki while she’s hidin’. She shoulda be quite far away…” The man kicks up a fuss, but I ignore him.

Catiza immediately deploys her silver hair in a fan form, creating a big shield and placing it in front of her. She throws her chest out after whirling around once, and once she draws small magic crests in midair with a wave of her hands, several swim out of the crests.

Moreover, after bending the elbows of both arms in a 45° angle, she starts moving them around as if swinging a conductor’s stick. She draws another pair of small, round magic crests with her fingers, which are clad in mana, and spins them with her fingers. The crests and the floating bonefish are linked with each other.

A light gleams up in the eye sockets of the bonefish, proof that they gained life, and they speed up their swim through the air.

“…The silver-haired woman enslaved by him has created some bonefish, too. Those things are the same as spirit world beasts, according to my appraisal.”

“You can see as much from them bein’ bonefish…where’re the tigers?”

“You know that I can’t look at them if they aren’t in sight, right? I’m sure they went towards Tamaki.”

They’re talking amongst each other, but without caring about that, I walk over to them.

“They’re comin’, eh…? Kirie, get ready.”

“Sure.”

I guess the man is the leader. He’s pointing his two magic swords my way while having taken a peculiar stance. Those two swords have irregular blades, but since they’re containing mana, they gotta be sharp enough.

On the other hand, stuff similar to soap bubbles rises from the left eye of the woman called Kirie.

At that moment, Catiza’s bonefish swoop down on the pair.

“…Tsk.” The man clicks his tongue and dashes to the left, trying to evade the bonefish.

“Leave them to me.” Kirie says, and has countless bubbles head for the fish.

The bubbles seem to be sticky. The fish are wrapped up by them without getting broken, ending up trapped inside the bubbles.

…Each time I see those fish I feel like giving them a ride, but whenever the fights are over, I’ve completely forgotten about it.

Now then, rather than pondering about this, I’ll leave Kirie to Catiza. My opponent is going to be the man who has dodged to the left.

I charge in a forward-bent posture, aiming at his belly which is protected by an armor that looks like it’s made out of copper. Using Magic Combat Step, I swiftly close the distance to him. Firmly stepping my left foot on the planked floor, I thrust Baldok to the front after transmitting the momentum of twisting my waist, by capitalizing on my torso muscles, into my right hand. It’s a with the red spear and ax blade spiraling.

The black-haired man deals with my attack by drawing a trajectory of a 二 in the air with one of his swords. His sword clashes with my spiraling red spear, blocking the .

Immediately after he’s managed to block it with one sword, he distorts his expression and falls back by sliding across the floor. It’s a way of walking I’ve seen somewhere before.

“For real? That’s friggin’ heavy…”

It looks like the man blocked my with ease, but it seems like his hand has become numb. However, his eyes are laughing.

At that moment, I get a bad feeling at the same time as I sense a faint fluctuation of mana from further down the room. In an instant, I clad my whole body in Magic Combat Style, and invoke the blood acceleration of my Blood Mana’s .

The fluctuation I could perceive only thanks to the sudden acceleration of my body arrives in front of me. Bending back my body in a hurry, I avoid a black arrowhead.

However I feel how it has grazed and gouged out a part of my nose’s tip.

――Ouch, it hurts.

My forehead has also suffered a big gash. And just then, within my bloodstained visual field, I see the pitch-black light created by the black-haired man’s sword thrust as it approaches my torso. He’s abnormally fast. But, Crazy-Eye Togma was faster.

I pull back one leg while bearing the pain, switching over to standing sideways, and thus managing to calmly dodge the man’s thrust. As the black blade grazes Hal’Konk, green and black sparks fly off into emptiness.

“What reaction speed. Moreover, it’s my first time meetin’ someone who’s avoided Tamaki’s annihilation bullet…” The man mutters after distancing himself and fixing his dual-wield stance.

However, I must admit, the previous arrow sure was amazing. If this wasn’t a battlefield, but a normal street in a city with me being careless, my head would have definitely been blown off by the arrow just now. I suppose the woman called Tamaki is an archery master…

“For the annihilation bullet, which she’s received as blessin’ from God Melado, to get dodged…that girl might start cryin’ ’bout it for real. Rather than that, since I’ve sealed all the annoying bonefish away, Take, just as usu――”

“It’s not just the bonefish, you know~??” Catiza comments while pulling off a slow cartwheel.

She turns an arm towards Kirie while standing up in a manner that can be called anything but graceful. Her black nails are clearly targeting Kirie. And once she makes the five nails grow out, they draw an arc in the air with a wheezing, heading straight for Kirie to riddle her body with holes.

Kirie enters one of her own bubbles to avoid the approaching nails. With her body being completely inside a bubble, she looks like a fairy as she floats in the air while continuing to evade the nails.

At that moment…I don’t think that she’s read Kirie’s evasion pattern, but…Catiza, who had changed her hair into a huge fan, advances herself.

“――I’m going to squash you flat, globe and all!”

Catiza swings her big hair hammer like a fly swatter. It crashes against the bubble with Kirie in it, causing the bubble to get drastically deformed and blown backwards. The bubble smashes through one and then a second pillar, rebounds, and then comes to a halt. It’s become extremely distorted, but it’s barely keeping a spherical shape.

It appears to have quite a high defense, and of course Kirie inside the bubble is safe as well. However, apparently having been unable to kill the impact, she’s holding her head after having bumped it.

In the meanwhile, the man called Take walks sideways with his peculiar sliding style while putting his breathing in order. I deal with his movements by slightly shifting the soles of my feet. Then I circle Baldok to my back, and turn my left hand at the man, adopting a Wind Spear Style stance.

“――Kyaaa.”

The scream of a woman is audible from deeper down the room. Is it Tamaki who has shot an arrow at me? I’m pretty sure she’s now made acquaintance with Alray and Hueremy.

“Tamaki!” The dual-wielder drops his caution, screaming her name, and turning his face in her direction.

Nice! I unleash a towards Take’s flank with the spear part of Baldok. However, Take increases his speed even further, evading my thrust by rotating his body. And then, within milliseconds, he fires a spell at me from both his arms in the instant enough mana had accumulated in them while looking all self-satisfied for having tricked me.

I receive the unavoidable shock wave with my whole body. It’s for an instant, but my sight blurs.

Using that chance, Take closes the distance between us with a speed equal to that of Togma, obviously going for the kill here, while brandishing his magic swords. In a hurry I extend Baldok diagonally below as a replacement for a shield.

At the moment I fully block the sweeps by his two swords, I stab Baldok into the floor, jump while focusing on holding onto the violet staff, and twist my body around while tilting it sideways as I prop it up with Baldok, trying to drive a kick against Take’s neck.

However, after blocking Arzen’s Boots with one of the sword blades, he uses the kick’s force to instead leap left. As he has jumped towards a pillar, he lands with both legs on it, and immediately pulls off a triangle jump.

The point of his sword, which is vividly reminding me of a black lightning as it uses the momentum of the jump, is approaching my face.

While rotating clockwise with my speed boosted by Blood Acceleration and Magic Combat Style, I dodge the thrust by a hair’s breadth. However, alongside perceiving a burned stench from Hal’Konk’s collar, I feel pain at my neck. Once I check the blade of the sword pulled back by Take, I see that many side-blades have grown out of it. My flesh is sticking to those blades.

So it’s because of those, eh? Looks like the swords are hiding some gimmicks. In addition, Take’s right eye is flashing while clad in mana. Only one eye just like Kirie? But does he possess a Demonic Eye boosting his body’s speed?

Take weighs the distance between us while readying his two swords in his very own, peculiar way.

While twisting around as I scoop out Baldok from the floor with both hands, I concentrate on my muscles, and activate . I let the red ax blade sally forth, aimed at Take’s flank.

However, Take fully repels the ax blade with the sword in his left by holding it vertically in the air. It looks like the muscles in his arm have bulged. Does he possess a special body or something?

Going with the flow, Take continues to quickly swing both swords sideways after slashing them diagonally down from his shoulders while advancing towards me at the same time.

I block the black slashes dished out at me with the lower and upper parts of Baldok. Each time I block a slash, sparks scatter, and the floorboards of the fort are turned over whenever one of the repelled magic swords hits against them. Take’s dual-wield movements exceed those of Oze whom I fought in the past. He only has two swords, but his swordplay reminds me of the quad-wielding used by Togma and Rulizeze. It’s not at a level that I could imitate.

His two swords shift from a trajectory blended with feints to being struck down at a steep angle as if to sever everything in their path alongside space.

I quickly summon Ganghis into my left hand, and cross Baldok and Ganghis in front of me. This defends against the heavy attack by the magic swords.

A huge swarm of violet and black fire butterflies, which can’t be described as sparks at this level anymore, dances through the air. It’s turned into a locking of weapons, but if it comes to strength, I’m superior. Pushing the two spears to the front, I repel my opponent with sheer power.

“Nuoo――” Take withdraws while shouting out in surprise.

Using that opportunity, I thrust the moon-shaped spearhead of Ganghis at Take’s chest. Next, I unleash a with Baldok’s red spear at his belly.

Take keeps a cool expression, and deals with my attacks by crossing his swords in front of his chest. While safely blocking my spear thrusts, he continues withdrawing.

I’m not Rulizeze, but retreat is a folly ―― I’m going to pursue.

After vigorously lifting my left thigh in a forward-bent posture, I dash with Magic Combat Step. Entering the range of my spears, I powerfully step onto the floor as if trying to drill a hole through it, and then activate , trying to gouge out my opponent’s chest with Baldok――

“He’s even got darkness skills, eh――?” Take mumbles while broadening the blade of one magic sword by pouring mana into it.

Using that broad blade like a shield, he defends against by taking it on from the front. And then, rotating the broadened sword, he pins down Baldok which I’ve extended straight ahead. It looks like he’s trying to seal off the power of Baldok by capitalizing on the strength of his bulging arm.

“――You’re quite the spear user, aren’t you?” Seemingly feeling superior now that he’s pinning down Baldok, Take chats me up.

I don’t reply. While shifting the hand holding Ganghis, which I had rested on my left shoulder, towards the back, I perform a big, wide side-swing. Leaving a fan-shaped trail in midair, Ganghis’ spearhead homes in on Take’s flank.

Take deals with it by couching the sword in his right. Even though he’s hit by the shock wave of Ganghis’ sweep, he easily repels its spearhead, and starts to run away towards the pillars on the left. He’s managed to maintain the distance once more.

“…What an amazin’ martial artist…a dual-spear style is mesmerizin’, man! You sure are a popular guy, aren’t you?” Take asks something weird while laughing.

Once he stares into my eyes…his smug face distorts again.

“I do like women.”

“…Me too. But, even on the harsh battlefields of the warring states of Florseil, there wasn’t anyone who survived my chain attacks that use an Extra skill. Moreover, I only grazed you, and you’ve already regenerated…I’ve got no clue how much your recovery skill can handle, but it’s my first time to meet such a strong fighter after coming to this world.”

“Florseil is an area of warring states?”

Take reacts by a twitch of his eyebrows.

“This much strength with you havin’ been born on this planet, going by the fact of your black hair and that you don’t know much about the situation over at Florseil… The world’s definitely a big place. Are you possible a Divine King ranker, possessing a divine protection just like me?”

“I haven’t been born here, you know?”

“In that case, you aren’t a transferee who went through a summoning related to Forest’s Reincarnation God Godeath or the Reincarnation Seed of the Dimensional Tear, are you…?”

Dimensional Tear, he says? Isn’t that the lost item Kazane is looking for?

“What happened to the transferees who were born with that Reincarnation Seed of the Dimensional Tear?”

“They dispersed. In all directions. There’s some who remained in Florseil to keep fighting, others like us have joined the Empire.”

“Us means that the others are black-haired as well, huh? I guess that means the Empire is employing transferees, eh?”

“Correct. The Radford Empire is neighbored by seven kingdoms, well, six now. Because of that, they keep recruiting excellent personnel. That’s how intense the war with Florseil has become.”

“I can fully understand that notion.”

“By the way, I don’t think I’ve caught your name yet. My name is Yoshiyuki Takebayashi. Please tell me yours.”

“Shuuya Kagari.”

“Shuuya, eh? A possessor of unique skills…and a former Japanese, right?”

“Indeed, though it might not be the same Japan you guys know.”

“――I see.”

Probably having intended to take me by surprise, he unleashes a shock wave from both arms once more.

While perceiving the range of the mana wave with my Magic Observation, I jump into the air, using , fully dodging it. At a place where I would almost bump my head against the ceiling, I silently cast 《Frozen Dragoness》 as payback.

The temperature in the vicinity drops as the multi-headed ice dragon rips through the air. While spiraling its body with its multitude of pointed, glassy fragments, it heads for Takebayashi.

“Magic!?”

Even while screaming hysterically in surprise, he holds the hilt of one of his swords with his mouth while slipping his now free hand into a pocket. He swiftly retrieves an item, and holds it up overhead. The thing in his hand has the shape of a vortex with dark flames coiling within so brightly that it’s actually abnormal. Many Gigaku-men masks appear from within the shady vortex, surrounding Takebayashi like a wall.

The multi-headed ice dragon crashes into those masks. However, the dragon vanishes as if having been absorbed by the masks. Not even a shock wave is left behind…?

The Gigaku-men masks, who have absorbed the Extreme-class spell designated as King class by Sazihali, laugh and scream while being sucked back into the vortex.

When I land on the ground, a faint pain assails me. Once I touch my neck, I sense how blood is flowing there. has reacted. Meaning…that vortex is related to the Goddess of Nightmares Vaamina.

“It managed to absorb it, huh…?” With a sigh, Takebayashi puts away the vortex.

At that moment, “I’m going to melt you alongside that silver hair with ――”

Kirie, who’s fighting against Catiza at the right edge of my sight, looks like she’s firing white pebbles from her left, cloudy demonic eye. The pebbles drum against Catiza’s hair which has transformed into a shield, and the hair strands hit by the stones really dissolve. Even Catiza’s body is hit by pebbles, resulting in a part of her body melting.

“Uuuhhh, it hurtsss.” Catiza dons a pained expression, extends nails from both her hands towards the ground, using them to carry her body backwards to get some distance from Kirie.

“I think I’ll devour your soul after melting you a bit more――” Kirie chases after Catiza while laughing.

I’m slightly worried, but I think Catiza will be okay. That’s a lure. If she was truly in danger, she would ask for my help.

I have to finish off Takebayashi first.

I hurl a dagger with at his head to keep him in check. Then I invoke three instances of . Next, I fire a huge swarm of 《Ice Spheres》.

“Multi-spell!? What kind of magic lancer are you supposed to be!?”

After repelling the dagger with a magic sword, Takebayashi holds up the vortex, deploying the Gigaku-men masks once more.

My light spears hit the mask barrier, and easily destroy it. One stabs into Takebayashi’s right arm.

“Gueeehh.”

Following that, the other two light spears stab his torso and leg. I kick off a , closing the distance.

Despite having been hit by the light spears, Takebayashi heals his body with a potion. And then he parries the approaching ice bullets with several swings of his swords, but as expected, he’s too late. The ice spheres that pierce through his armor, and those that pass through the gaps in his armor keep hitting his body. At several places all over his body, thin streams of blood gush out.

At that moment, I aim the red ax blade from an overhead position at Takebayashi’s head. The swing is coming down at him at a timing making it impossible for him to dodge. However, Takebayashi reacts――

He holds up his swords while his body has blood spurting out from the wounds all over. He manages to block the ax blade with a simple net created from him crossing the blades of his swords.

“Gotcha! !” Once Takebayashi screams some name that might describe a spell or skill, the simple net of the swords expands.

The upper part of Baldok, including its red ax blade, is enveloped by a net of darkness. I had aimed to bisect him at the same time as my spells landed, but I guess I was too naive.

However, during all this time, the rear parts of the light spears stabbed into his body have squirmed, split apart, and turned into light nets. While the light nets create mesh-patterned wounds by covering the surface of Takebayashi’s arm, belly, and leg, they continue penetrating into his body.

At that moment, Takebayashi apparently uses a skill by filling his whole body with mana, stopping the light net’s advance.

“Guuh, it fuckin’ hurts. Even though this should be a body grown with I received from the goddess.” Takebayashi mutters with a dumbfounded look, but I ignore it.

I erase Baldok, which is wrapped up by a net of darkness, from my right hand.

“I-It vanished!?”

Without much of a motion, I unleash Ganghis in my left hand at the chest of Takebayashi, while at the same time activating . The of the spiraling spearhead clashes against Takebayashi’s sword. The black blade is being whittled down by the vibrating spearhead ―― but, is splendidly fended off by his defensive swordsmanship. Just, there’s no way for his magic swords to be able to stop Destruction Spear Gladopalus which manifests a few milliseconds later.

While dragging the magic swords into its drill, destroying them at the root, Gladopalus also drills through Takebayashi’s chest. With a sound similar to flesh being churned in a mixer, his upper body turns into bloody pulp as it’s penetrated instantly.

All that’s left from Takebayashi is his lower body, a pathetic lump of meat.

――Gladopalus keeps going straight ahead, pierces through several pillars, and vanishes into thin air after penetrating through the fort’s wall.

The light net, which has covered a part of Takebayashi’s leg, remains. He babbled something about having received it from a goddess or some such, but…I doubt he’s going to revive from such a state. There’s no unnatural mana fluctuation either.

At that moment, the two tigers run over to me. Alray who reminds me of a Bengal tiger with her yellow and black fur, and Hueremy who reminds me of a white tiger with her white and black fur. Both of them are chewing on parts of a woman’s body.

As if bragging about having brought down their prey, they spit out what’s in their muzzles, and meow with triumphant expressions.

“Well done, you two.”

Since a big magic tool is still in the hand of a bitten arm, I pick it up. It’s a loop with a big pointed part. Does it shoot projectiles from this end here? No clue. Anyway, I’ll store it away in my item box.

“Alright, let’s head over to Catiza.”

“Nyaa.”

“Nyao.”

I’m about to run, but the two tigers crouch down. Are they telling me to get on? But, whose back should I choose here…?

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