Author: Fire Head (炎頭)

Translator: Hand of Vecna

Editor: TpstT

? Branch of the Wood Ouroboros. As its name implied, it was the smallest branch that was cut from the Wood Ouroboros, appropriately sized for humans to hold.

Basically, it was just a tree branch. It was something that hadn’t been properly processed, so it was not something that could be called a weapon. However, since it was part of the Wood Ouroboros, it functioned as a powerful equipment, such that just swinging it around was enough to make legendary weapons cry and lose confidence in themselves.

Parthenos was one of the few people who loved and used it. Artificial processing was considered heretical. She believed that using it in its natural form was the best.

Even though it was just a branch, it was still a part of the Wood Ouroboros. If the part which was buried beneath the ground was included, its length was thought to be able to cover one lap around Midgard itself. It was the tallest tree and one of the largest living things. It was a tree of a ridiculous size, reaching more than fifty thousand kilometers.

Even the tip of its thinnest branch was longer and thicker than the tallest building on Earth. A tiny piece was cut from this branch to become Parthenos’ log. The raw material used to build the ship, Argo, also came from this.

Of course, cutting the branch off didn’t wake the ouroboros. In human terms, it was like having the tip of a strain of hair being cut off.

“Take this!”

Parthenos swung a log that was bigger than herself, sending Sol flying. She flew to pursue him further, holding out her palms to fire a barrage of light magic. The sky was instantly lit up and Sol was engulfed by a chain explosion.

However, the opponent was the avatar of the Heavenly Ouroboros. He wasn’t dividing his abilities up like Castor and Pollux and he wasn’t asleep. Although he didn’t have a cheat-like special ability as Pollux did, all of his special abilities had been manifested as his combat strength, resulting in tremendous speed and power.

As Sol calmly flew out of the smoking explosion, Terra flipped his mantle and slashed at him. Sol’s knife-hand strike and Terra’s sword collided in mid-air, creating sparks.

“Demonic Slash!”

Terra’s blade shone blue and the acc.u.mulated mana along the blade slashed out. The sword master’s skill, Demonic Slash, was one of the few long-ranged attacks available to sword users.

The attack struck Sol’s arm and blood gushed out. However, Sol continued to exert his strength in his arm without losing his smile. The wound on his arm closed instantly and he threw punches at Terra as if nothing had happened.

“!”

After blowing Terra away, Sol descended in pursuit. However, Terra made a turn in mid-air and landed on the ground. In the next moment, he had already moved behind Sol, who reacted quickly and turned around to fight.

In Virgo’s eyes, they seemed to have attacked each other only once, but they had actually attacked and defended against each other at a speed that was too fast for the eye to follow. They had traded more than a hundred slashes and punches. The sounds were heard later, creating a storm around them.

This was a battle between the strong at a level that Virgo could not reach, but there were five people present who could step into this battlefield—Castor of the Tyrannical Twelve Stars, the Three Winged Knights who had recovered, and Parthenos who had been fighting like a vanguard.

Castor jumped and swung his anchor down, causing damage that exceeded Sol’s defense. When Sol fell to the ground, Parthenos, who had been waiting, bashed him with her log. Then, the Three Winged Knights slashed at him with their swords, but Sol quickly vanished and evaded the attacks.

“Wh—What’s going on? I can’t tell at all…Ah, Terra-san is slashing…Eh? He’s already over there?”

“You can see Terra? That’s amazing. I can only see shadows flying around at an incredible speed.”

Virgo moved her eyes desperately to follow the high-speed battle, but she could only follow the afterimages despite her best efforts. However, being able to keep up with the afterimages was already a big deal.

At least, Pollux wasn’t able to do so. This was one of the reasons why Pollux couldn’t command the heroic spirits the way Castor could. Her thought processes and motion perception simply weren’t able to keep up with the speed of battle.

I can’t give any directions because I can’t even figure out what is going on.

This was the sad reality that resulted from the extreme specialization of her special abilities. The roaring sounds of battle reverberated as if they were trying to drown out Pollux’s self-ridicule.

The six of them improvised a team battle with Terra at its core. The battle with Sol, who was fighting on par with them all by himself, was becoming more intense. Terra activated Quick Raid skill and attacked with a storm of blue sword strikes.

However, Sol wasn’t losing. He evaded the wild lightning-fast strikes, twisted his arm, and unleashed a tornado-like series of punches. It was a direct hit that penetrated—This misperception lasted only an instant. In the next moment, Terra’s afterimage vanished and Sol’s shoulder was sliced apart.

This was Phantom Sword, which attacked and left behind afterimages that lasted for a certain period of time. This was another sword master skill.

If Ruphas was here, she would have criticized, “It’s a strong skill against other players, but it’s a suicidal skill when it’s used against the computer since the latter won’t be confused at all. Would anyone really use this? The administrators should at least provide an attack adjustment.”

“Storm Harpoon!”

Castor swung his anchor down, creating a wind blade. It landed a direct hit on Sol’s head, but it only resulted in a slight bleeding. However, the Three Winged Knights slashed at him while Sol lost his posture, resulting in an intense series of attacks and defenses.

Even when facing the three swords which operated as one, Sol wasn’t losing ground.

Sword versus barehanded attacks. Three versus one. Normally, the former should be considered more advantageous. But the result was an evenly matched battle. They had been unable to deal a fatal blow to Sol.

No, they weren’t evenly matched. Little by little, the Three Winged Knights were being pushed back.

Parthenos’ support was certainly working. It had overturned the situation instead of merely compensating for the difference in power. But now, the difference was back again. The reason was…Sol himself had been using divine magic.

This is bad! This guy is buffing himself as he fights! He’s the same type as Ruphas-sama, huh?

Sol laughed as if he was responding to Parthenos’ inner anxiety. If one’s opponent was becoming stronger by using divine magic, then one should just do the same. Sol couldn’t match Parthenos’ speed of activating skills, but he could still activate them one by one while he fought.

Each time he did this, the difference in combat power narrowed and was soon returning to how it was originally. If that were to happen, it would be overwhelmingly disadvantageous! The most effective way to deal with this situation was to disable or cancel the divine magic. However, this was the specialty of Moon attribute.

The Sun attribute was rich in support skills, but it barely had any dispel skills. Pollux could summon a heroic spirit with that attribute, but if she unsealed her skills now, the G.o.ddess might seize the opportunity to possess her.

Taurus’ Aldebaran skill and Ruphas’ weapon Lifthrasir would also be effective, but neither of them were here. But support came from an unexpected person.

“Luna Dispel!”

The black glow of Moon-attribute arcane magic surged forth and canceled one of Sol’s divine magic. It came from Luna, who was pointing her fingers to the sky. The difference in power did not matter when it involved dispelling. As long as it hit, the effect would be cancelled.

This probably happened because Luna wasn’t even considered to be a combatant in Sol’s eyes. As a result, Sol was struck by Luna’s unexpected attack and lost a buff. However, it was just one skill. Sol easily evaded Luna’s subsequent skills and landed in front of her in an instant.

Without saying anything, he swung a knife-hand strike, but it was intercepted by Parthenos. However, Sol’s aim was Parthenos from the start. He changed the trajectory of his knife-hand strike the moment the prey jumped in on her own.

“——!”

The log and the hand missed each other. An arm flew off into the sky.

At the same time, the log smashed into Sol’s face, blowing him away. But soon after, Parthenos lost her balance and fell to her knees. Her body was missing her right arm. As the severed arm vanished into faint light particles, Virgo’s face turned pale.

“Granny!”

“Don’t panic. This body is just an illusion…I’m already dead. There’s no need for concern about losing an arm from my temporary body.”

Despite speaking so strongly, Parthenos calmly a.n.a.lyzed her own disadvantages. If the battle continued like this, the situation would become difficult for her side. There was a difference in the speed of support, but as the battle continued, it would eventually catch up…and even overturned the situation.

If Luna’s dispelling could successfully hit, they could have continued, but it would be difficult considering the level difference. In the first place, it probably wouldn’t hit from now on.

As a result of her own carelessness, the loss of her arm really hurt. The arms were the outlets for arcane magic and divine magic. The loss of one arm was equivalent to a gunner’s gun muzzle being crushed.

Pollux was already staring at the sky with a determined look.

They could take a risk…If she got Castor to remove her ring, she could unseal the skill and then overwhelm Sol with numbers using Argonautai. Certainly, if it worked, Sol would be eliminated. But if the G.o.ddess possessed her in that instant, it would be over.

…Is this it, then?

Level 800 versus Level 1000. The difference was too large. Even though she was already dead, she was still a member of the Tyrannical Twelve Stars which were captured by Ruphas. Even if she became an Argonaut, the restriction was still in place, limiting her to Level 800.

This weakness was not something limited to just her, but also shared by Phoenix and Hydrus. In that case, what they needed was a rearguard who hadn’t been captured by Ruphas, a Level 1000 star that would be the Maiden of the next generation. The time had come for the pa.s.sing of the torch to the next generation as she should have done before she died.

“Virgo, come to me.”

If it was like this, she would lose her ability to fight. Even though she was an Argonaut, she couldn’t do anything. Even Aeneas was like this, so there was no reason for her not to follow suit. 

But there was no need to worry. Her granddaughter was different from her and was born with innate talent. Her granddaughter was unlike her who knew nothing before she met Ruphas.

She must have gained some insights after seeing the world. Then, I can just entrust it to her. My beloved adopted granddaughter, officially take on the name of the Twelve Stars.

The Guardian of the Sanctuary pa.s.sed down the power only to one individual for each generation. When the role was pa.s.sed on to the next generation, all levels and skills were transferred as well.

To be precise, it was more like transferring all the skills related to being the Guardian of the Sanctuary. Therefore, she would only retain the skills that she had acquired before taking on the role and after pa.s.sing on the role. This was a safety feature to prevent becoming too strong with repeated inheritance.

However, this was proof that all the guardians of the past were not exceptional individuals without the power they had inherited along with the role. It was the Guardian of the Sanctuary who was truly strong. Aeneas and Parthenos themselves weren’t particularly strong.

It could be likened to an equipment. The role of the Guardian of the Sanctuary itself was a kind of power. Pa.s.sing the role on would mean Parthenos would lose her combat power. But she thought that it would be fine.

The role given by the G.o.ddess was no longer needed. And surely, this would be the last inheritance in history. If her master were to destroy the G.o.ddess’ scenario, the sanctuary would no longer need guardians to protect it.

Parthenos gathered her power at her fingertip and focused everything she could on it. Then, she released all the power into the chest of Virgo, who still couldn’t understand what was happening. The emitted light was absorbed into Virgo’s chest and her body began to glow.

“Eh? Wai—eh? Granny, what’s this!?”

“I just entrusted the power of the guardian to you. Don’t make a scene.”

“Eh—!?”

This completed the inheritance. It was just a one-sided transference without the other party’s consent, but that was how it was. It was regrettable that there wasn’t time to explain.

Originally, when pa.s.sing on the role, it was necessary to explain how to use the power and what was the guardian’s mission. However, since Ruphas’ faction was ditching the guardian’s mission in the first place, there was nothing to talk about.

Besides, she now thought that guardian’s mission was pointless anyway, so there was no need to leave it to her grandchild. She pa.s.sed on only the power to resist absurdity and entrusted her with the freedom to make her own future. She even gave her grandchild the skills and experience she gained afterwards. It was up to Virgo how the power was to be used.

“I’ve entrusted all my power to you. You can do whatever you want with it.”

“Do…whatever I want…?”

“Ah, my combat experience, power, skills, arcane magic, divine magic—they are all with you now. And you can inherit this log too!”

“This…Sorry, I don’t need it.”

“……”

“It’s heavy and hard to hold. Besides, I already have the sword given by Ruphas-sama…Anyway, I don’t think an unprocessed log is really a weapon…”

And so Parthenos pa.s.sed everything on to her granddaughter.

But it seemed only the log was not received.

align="center" cellpadding="0" cells.p.a.cing="0" cla.s.s="tr-caption-container">Image from Light Novel Volume 7.

Author’s Notes

G.o.ddess: ( ノД`)

After “A Wild Last Boss” is over, let’s do a spinoff with Alovenus as the protagonist and call it “The Useless G.o.ddess Wants To Be Popular And Charismatic”.

You refuse the log…!? Take the log, d.a.m.n it! Haha.

Q: She’s so strong, yet she left the battlefield so soon…

A: It’s precisely because it’s a guest partic.i.p.ation that meant to leave soon. That’s why she had such a ridiculous performance. If it’s always like this, I’ll be troubled as the author. If she forms a team with Ruphas and Benet, the Demon King will die. For now, she’ll be Virgo’s exclusive coach.

Fugo (フーゴ) and (重ちー) are characters from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure series.  (ノヴ) is a character from Hunter × Hunter series. (キャンチョメ) is a character from Zatch Bell! series.: “Isn’t that fellow the one who was ridiculously powerful and was removed from the scene by the author?”

Shigechi: “Simply staying in the story would be super disadvantageous to the antagonist, so of course it would be removed from the scene.”

Knov: “It’s really stupid to be removed from the scene for such a stupid reason despite having a powerful ability.”

Kanchomé: “If it’s removed from the scene because it’s too troubling for the author, then it shouldn’t have made it such a cheat to begin with.”

Yu-Gi-Oh! Banned Cards: “Being banned right after making my debut makes me question the meaning of my existence.”

Translator"s Notes

A WILD LAST BOSS APPEARED!