Death Mage 235 – The heroes and heroic spirits battling deep underground

The first battle to break out around the city of Morksi was the gra.s.sy field where the Zombie Dragons and Giants were being secretly supported by Vandalieu.

The second battle to break out was not where Miles was, the one in the forest where the monsters had pa.s.sed through… It was actually inside the Dungeon that Gufadgarn had created as a replica of Morksi.

The Trolls that had been showered in the flesh of the old woman… the body parts of Legion, had been forcibly teleported into the Dungeon by the special ability of Jack, one of Legion"s personalities.

Jack, who had been given the codename "Jack o" Lantern" in Origin, was a user of limited death-attribute magic, capable of forcibly teleporting those he touched without opening a hole in s.p.a.ce.

But Jack"s role had been to transport enemies, such as the Trolls, who intended to harm the city and Vandalieu. His role was not to fight against and dispose of them.

The two Trolls let out surprised and confused grunts as they suddenly found themselves in an unfamiliar place.

“If you are looking for your companion, then I am afraid that I have some bad news for you,” said a young, high-pitched voice.

The owner of this voice was the one in charge of disposing of these enemies.

The Trolls noticed that the brutally slaughtered corpse of their missing companion was lying on the ground, and howled in terror as they looked up at the owner of the high-pitched voice.

Standing on a roof looking down at the trolls was Juliana, the leader and commander of the forces in charge of slaughtering the enemies in here.

“All forces, raise your weapons! Those who can use martial skills, use them, and fire!” she commanded.

Juliana"s command was answered by a high-pitched, spirited shout from the female knights who had been under her command and the other women who had been there when Juliana met her terrible fate; they had now been reincarnated as half-Minotaurs.

They fired their crossbows and threw their spears, axes and boulders down at the Trolls, causing them to shout out loud in alarm.

Trolls were Rank 5 and possessed fairly low intelligence. But they were monsters that possessed great strength as well as a ravenous hunger for flesh, astounding vitality and a regenerative ability that allowed them to survive wounds that pierced their hearts if they managed to immediately remove the weapon.

Thus, they were considered to be the most difficult demi-human-type monsters to defeat.

But even that toughness wouldn"t allow them to emerge unscathed while facing the arrows and throwing weapons of Juliana and her several dozen companions.

“"Strong Throw!"”

“"Strong Bow!"”

Though they had only grown to the point where they still appeared to be less than ten years of age, all of them possessed the "Superhuman Strength" Skill, and a considerable number of them had already regained the ability to use the Skills that they were able to use in their previous lives.

And Juliana also possessed the "Command" Skill and the dancing ability that had been taught to her in lessons with Kanako and Zadiris… or rather, the "Coordination" Skill. And then there were the benefits of Vandalieu"s guidance and "Super Strengthen Subordinates."

The icing on the cake was the layout of the battlefield.

The Trolls had been transported to a courtyard-like spot surrounded by buildings on all four sides, with nowhere for them to run. Meanwhile, Juliana and her companions were positioned on the buildings" roofs, where even the towering Trolls" hands could not reach.

There were no ledges for the Trolls to attempt to climb the buildings" walls, and even if there were, it would have been impossible to do so while being showered in the rain of arrows and throwing weapons.

The Trolls, screaming in pain and realizing that there was nowhere for them to escape, decided to try and break open a hole in the buildings themselves.

But naturally, this was impossible. At first glance, these buildings appeared to be made of mere stone and wood, but they were actually made of the same material as the walls and floors of Dungeons. Vandalieu"s "Hollow Cannon" might have been able to destroy them, but the Trolls let out confused noises as their clubs broke rather than the buildings.

And within less than a minute, the Trolls breathed their last breaths, their regenerative ability unable to withstand the continuous attacks.

The half-Minotaur girls cheered in victory.

“We have done it, Princess!”

“We are victorious!”

Defeating three Rank 5 Trolls was quite an achievement for an order of knights. It wasn"t surprising that they were excited.

But Juliana raised her voice, causing them to fall silent.

“Everyone, calm yourselves! It is true that we would have struggled to defeat Rank 5 Trolls in our previous lives, and we have managed to do so after receiving various forms of help. We did not suffer even a single injury, let alone any casualties. This can certainly be considered to be a great victory,” Juliana said, acknowledging their achievement. “However, to our lord in this life, Vandalieu-sama, it is nothing more than a small victory! We are no longer knights that serve Duke Alcrem! If we are to set our sights on becoming Vandalieu-sama"s knights… magical girl knights, be sure to understand that we do not have time to be celebrating a small victory such as this!”

The half-Minotaurs were taken aback by Juliana"s remonstration and the tension that had dissolved after the victory returned once more.

“… Jack doesn"t think you have to be that uptight,” said Jack, feeling a little uncomfortable.

Fanatics are scary, he thought, failing to realize that Legion were also fanatics.

“Jack-san, please bring us the next monster!” said Juliana.

“… Ah, you"re not listening to Jack, are you,” Jack sighed. “By the way, what are magical girl knights? Do Jack and the others have to become magical girl knights too?”

“"Magical girl knights" refers to knights who are magical girls. As for whether to make that your goal, I will leave that decision up to you,” Juliana replied. “Please bring us our next prey.”

“Jack isn"t quite convinced, but alright. Hitomi-chan told me that I shouldn"t mention that topic too much, anyway,” Jack said. “Now then, I"ll bring another demi-human-type monster next, maybe an Ogre or a Minotaur.”

“A Minotaur?! Everyone, a Minotaur is coming! Slaughter it! Obliterate it!” Juliana shouted.

“SLAUGHTER! OBLITERATE!” the other half-Minotaurs shouted back in unison.

Knights are scary, Jack thought as he looked up at Juliana and the others, but he quickly focused his consciousness on another piece of flesh in order to transport their next prey.

And inside a Dungeon a little far away from Juliana and her companions, there were some who were not Leveling, but working hard to exterminate monsters.

“"Rushing Charge!"” shouted Kachia.

She pierced the heart of an Ogre General with her sword and then finished it off by decapitating it.

“I wanted to go further down, too… Well, I do understand that it"s not good to try and do more than you can handle,” she sighed to herself as she dodged the fangs and front claws of the Thunder Liger that Jack had just transported here. “"Gale Force Enchantment!" "Triple Thrust!"”

With her body"s movements accelerated by wind-attribute magic, her rapid thrusts tore into the Liger"s vital organs, ending its life.

“Still… why are only these small fries being brought here?!” she shouted in a dissatisfied tone.

Kachia, originally from the Mirg shield-nation, was once a female adventurer who had been held captive in a n.o.ble Orc settlement, but had chosen to become a Ghoul after being rescued.

“Well, that"s because the monsters we can"t defeat so easily are being sent to the newly-created floor below,” said Kasim, one of the former adventurers from a reclamation village in the Hartner Duchy.

“We have to break down the enemies" numbers for now,” said Fester.

“And since the stronger enemies have the city"s people"s attention, it would be a bad idea to teleport them,” added Zeno.

The four of them had been brought here from Talosheim to deal with the monsters that Jack brought here. A Demon King Familiar in Talosheim had called out to Kasim and his friends in the Explorers" Guild, and Gufadgarn had opened a gate in s.p.a.ce connected to this Dungeon.

Their role was to dispose of the monsters that Jack brought to them in order to adjust the size of the monster horde as needed.

Monsters that emerged from a Dungeon in a rampage would advance on human populations as a single horde. However, they would be completely disordered, with no proper leader.

In some cases, monsters such as Ogre Generals and Mountain Giant Chiefs would command the weaker individuals of their own races. But those chains of command would only apply to their own races; they did not command monsters of other races.

During a monster rampage, the horde would do nothing more than move in the same direction, obeying the simple instinct that told them to harm humans.

Thus, the monster horde would break apart over time. Monsters would pay no heed to the horde splitting apart due to differences in how fast each monster moved and some monsters changing directions in order to move past monsters that were in front of them.

Thus, the horde of monsters heading towards the city of Morksi was not a single ma.s.s; it had spread out horizontally while approaching the city. The majority of the horde would likely go straight ahead towards the front gate where Darcia and the others were waiting.

But it was possible that the few dozens of monsters that had broken away from the main flow of the horde would break through the walls and enter the city. Considering the abilities of Darcia and those who were with her, they would be able to deal with it, but… because they needed to hide their true strength, they would be one step behind.

That was why Legion and Gufadgarn were transporting the monsters that had broken away from the center of the horde to this Dungeon for Kachia, Kasim and some others to exterminate.

“Well, like I said, I do understand that we"d be in trouble if we were sent monsters that we would struggle against, but… Ah, when this is over, maybe I"ll ask to get a collar and be taken outside!” Kachia said in frustration as she cut down a Lesser Demon that had appeared in front of her. “The official story is that I"m dead, but I doubt that information regarding a D-cla.s.s adventurer from the Mirg shield-nation would have spread. I"m a Ghoul now, so it"ll be fine!”

“Ah, I want to go with you! Don"t you think it would be fun to take Varbie and Jadal to walk through the city?!” said Bilde, having just defeated a Cyclone Bull with earth-attribute magic.

“Bilde, that sounds fun, but… that would probably give Vandalieu another strange t.i.tle,” said Kachia, finding herself unable to agree with this idea as she imagined Bilde and Basdia"s daughters calling Vandalieu "Papa" as they walked through the streets.

“Ah, I"m jealous. We"ve been expelled from the Adventurers" Guild in the Hartner Duchy, so it"s hard for us to go out into the outside world!” said Fester in envy of the Ghouls.

“Fester, there isn"t anything good that would come from going out there, is there? I am interested in Vandalieu"s new apprentices, though,” said Kasim.

“I am a little interested in this city that is in a country ruled by humans, but… it"s still early for that,” said Gaol, a warrior of the Empusa race that had the unique characteristic of possessing sickle-ended limbs.

“Walking around with Ghouls might make just a little commotion, but Empusas and Undead like myself definitely wouldn"t be able to go out,” said the Zombie hero Gerda.

Indeed, Empusas were considered to be monsters by human society and thought to be extinct, existing only in ancient doc.u.ments. And in human societies, it was considered common knowledge that Undead like Gerda were impossible to tame.

If Vandalieu took them into human society, it would cause a great uproar no matter how hard he tried to insist that he had tamed them.

“And we"d need to be careful to not let anything slip from our mouths while we"re in the city. Everything inside the Boundary Mountain Range is a secret, not just Talosheim,” said Kasim. “Just thinking about Fester blurting something out makes me so scared that I don"t want to go into the city.”

“Y-you"re right!” Zeno and Gerda said in unison.

“What?! Hey, wait a second, do you all really think that my mouth is so loose?!” shouted Fester.

“Consider it to be a result of your everyday actions,” said Kasim. “Now then, I suppose we should at least take the Magic Stones before the next monsters come.”

The conversation was rather carefree, considering the b.l.o.o.d.y scene that it was taking place in.

In a separate place, Black Goblins were leaping around at incredible speed, breaking the commonly-accepted concept of a.s.sa.s.sination by a.s.sa.s.sinating the Ogres from the front. The Vampire Zombie Magisa, dressed in a maid uniform, snapped the neck of a rhinoceros while the Anubises and Orcuses pulverized Hill Giants and Rock Giants into tiny pieces.

But even with their strength, there were some monsters in the horde that they could not defeat with ease.

The plan was for such monsters, which required some time to defeat, to be sent to a new floor that Gufadgarn had added to the Dungeon. These were to be taken care of by individuals whose strength exceeded that of Kasim and the others.

However, since Kasim and the others were already beyond the level of a B-cla.s.s adventurer, this hadn"t been necessary for the monsters that had been sp.a.w.ned in Fitun"s Dungeon of Trials.

“These ones seem strong, so I"ve brought them here,” said Jack"s voice.

In the same moment, a human man and woman appeared.

The man clicked his tongue and looked around in confusion. “This is Legion… Jack!”

“Where is this place?!” the woman shouted.

The pair immediately understood what had happened to them and removed the flesh fragments attached to their shoes as they looked around at their surroundings.

But there was no light on this floor; it was enveloped in complete darkness. The two of them, who were using the bodies of human adventurers, couldn"t see anything with their eyes.

Thus, they were searching their surroundings for the presence of enemies. They were the heroic spirits who had been in the same small group as the "Rapid Wind Demon Cutter" Kizelbyne. Even with the temporary vessels they were residing in, they would be able to fight considerably well in the darkness.

What a blunder… Where is the enemy?! the woman thought to herself in frustration. From what we"ve heard from the commander, Jack"s ability shouldn"t allow him to choose his teleportation location freely!

His friends should definitely be somewhere close, the man told himself.

The heroic spirits, including these two, had been informed by Hajime Fitun about Legion… the Eighth Guidance from Origin.

Not only what abilities they possessed, but the appearances they had in their previous lives as well just in case. According to Hajime Fitun"s latest knowledge, Legion had still been a ma.s.s of flesh, but he had thought it possible that they would gain the ability to transform into the forms they had in their previous lives.

They were a mysterious life form. It wouldn"t have been strange for them to gain the ability to change their appearance.

If the head lying on the floor of the forest had been Valkyrie"s, the heroic spirits might have realized that it was Legion and avoided being teleported.

But Legion hadn"t seen through Fitun and the heroic spirits" plan. They had certainly considered the possibility that Hajime would inform the Flame Blades and Gordon about the appearance of all of their members, with the exception of Shade and Izanami.

But they hadn"t expected Fitun and his heroic spirits to create a connection with his Dungeon through s.p.a.ce-attribute magic, create a monster rampage and endanger the lives of the people in Morksi that included their own believers.

They had only antic.i.p.ated that Hajime would strike at a time where Vandalieu was outside the city.

In preparation for that antic.i.p.ated scenario, Legion had absorbed the corpses of the villagers who had been ma.s.sacred by the fanatical cultists of Tubereese, the evil G.o.d of wicked blood, and taken the form of these villagers to keep watch in the area around the city. They had disguised themselves as rookie adventurers harvesting medicinal herbs and hunting Goblins.

More than half of the unfamiliar rookies that Rock of the Iron Boulder Brigade had noticed were Legion. And when the monster rampage occurred, it was Legion who had acted in self-sacrifice to help the ones who were late to escape… As they were nothing more than clones separated from the main body, they couldn"t die, and even if a clone were to be struck by a Troll, nothing would happen other than a piece of flesh flying off and being replaced by new, rapidly-regenerating flesh.

Legion had no bones or organs; they were made entirely of flesh.

And as Valkyrie and the others were transporting the monsters that had stepped on or swallowed some of their flesh into the Dungeon, some individuals who appeared to these adventurers had arrived.

They had shown no fear or panic, nor had they shown any will to rush to defend the city from the impending threat. From their conversation, it seemed that they intended to attack the city. On top of that, their movements and equipment showed that they were considerably skilled.

That was why Jack had decided that these were powerful foes and teleported them to this floor of the Dungeon.

His decision had not been wrong.

In the pitch-black s.p.a.ce, there was a sudden flash of light. The man among the pair immediately recognized what it was.

“What?!” he shouted. “That"s Braham! If I recall, he was supposed to be on the east side of the city –”

“Yeah, that"s right. I heard that the "Moonlight Sword-flash" Braham was a veteran warrior who once slaughtered an enemy army that tried to ambush him at night, but… now, he"s nothing more than a twelve-year-old brat,” said a deep, angry voice echoing from the depths of the darkness.

The man and woman forced their minds" focus away from their feelings of shock.

“It can"t be helped that his appearance is different. After all, it seems that he"s taken over the body of someone else… one of his own believers,” said a female voice.

The pair in the darkness couldn"t help but to take a step backwards.

Although this second voice was gentler than the deep one that had spoken first, it had much more of an edge to it.

“Both of you, stay calm, especially you, Jeennee,” said a third voice, that of a girl.

This allowed the pair to figure out the ident.i.ties of the voices" owners.

The "Sword King" Borkus, the "Saint of Healing" Jeena and the "Tiny Genius" Zandia! they thought to themselves.

The heroic spirits had a different sense of time from that of mortals. It was easy for them to realize that the Undead t.i.tan swordsman who had once fought against the Mirg shield-nation"s expedition army, buried the "Green Wind Spear" Riley who had been one of the Five-colored Blades, and appeared in the former Scylla territory was an cla.s.s adventurer in Talosheim, the city that once had friendly diplomatic relations with the Hartner Duchy.

With that being the case, it was also possible for them to figure out the ident.i.ties of the woman and young girl who were with him.

And therefore, there was only one choice available to them.

“"Heroic Spirit Transformation!" "True Rapid Reaction!" "Castle-razing Evil Club Strike!"”

“"Heroic Spirit Transformation!" "Blazing Enchantment!" "Gale Armor!" "Blazing Wind Beast a.s.sault!"”

The pair… the "Fortress Wall Trampler" Woren and the "Lightning Flame Mage" Yahannah, decided to abandon their plan and devote everything they had to defeating Borkus and his companions.

Even if they were to try to run away and try to escape from this place, with their current bodies that only had the capabilities of a B-cla.s.s adventurer, they would be killed in an instant, and that would be the end of it. With that being the case, they had no choice but to fight with everything they had to chip away at Vandalieu"s forces, even at the cost of these bodies.

The moment they used "Heroic Spirit Transformation," the two of them shone brilliantly for a moment and continued to glow faintly afterwards, illuminating Borkus and Jeena. Woren and the beast created by Yahannah"s spell charged in.

Jeena gave a grunt as she blocked the "Castle-razing Evil Club Strike" of Woren, who had been strengthened by Yahannah"s enchantment and his own "Armor Technique," with her enormous shield. “I like your spirit, at least!”

But she was forced back a considerable distance; she hadn"t been able to completely absorb the impact of the martial skill that was said to be capable of razing an entire castle without leaving so much as a single piece of rubble behind.

“If it"s someone else"s body you"re using up, you won"t hesitate, huh?!” roared Borkus, meeting the flaming, lion-like beast and pushing it back with his black greatsword.

Ignoring the blazing flames, he severed its front limbs that were being brought down towards him, struck the beast"s head with the hilt of his weapon and kicked the remaining corpse to the side.

“My Mana, take form as the flames of life and lightning, take the form of horns! "Great Lightning Flame Beast a.s.sault!"” Yahannah recited, summoning different beasts before Borkus could reach her.

Borkus clicked his tongue and stopped trying to close in on her for now.

It was clear that Yahannah"s goal was to buy time until Woren defeated Jeena and returned to her side, but it was also clear that if Borkus abandoned Zandia, she would be left facing a horde of magical beasts.

But Yahannah had summoned beasts made of lightning and flames for a different purpose.

If we"re at least visible from here, that"s enough. Including us and Braham, there are over ten of us who have been teleported here and forced to fight. We can win if we manage to group together! she thought to herself.

With the illumination provided by the beasts, she now knew what kind of situation she and her allies were in.

Other heroic spirits had also used "Heroic Spirit Transformation" and were currently battling against Vandalieu"s allies. It was astounding that Vandalieu"s allies were holding their own and not being overwhelmed despite the heroic spirits fighting at their original strength. But Yahannah didn"t consider this to be a disadvantageous situation.

She believed that if she and Woren could group up with the other heroic spirits and fought together in a coordinated manner, they would be able to defeat Vandalieu"s more powerful allies and put a dent in his fighting forces.

But that thought was too optimistic.

“"Windrun!" Now, Borkus!” said Zandia.

“You got it! Here I come!” shouted Borkus, who had been fighting against the horde of beasts.

He leapt into the air in a light-footed way that one would never expect from someone of his size. With no obstacle standing in their way, the beasts obeyed the command that had been given to them when they were created by Yahannah – they charged towards Zandia.

In exchange, Borkus dashed through the air with the help of Zandia"s wind-attribute spell, closing the gap and swinging his sword at Yahannah.

“"Dragon Slayer!"” he roared.

“L-"Lightning G.o.d Wall!"” Yahannah shouted hastily.

Borkus"s signature move was deflected by her defensive magical barrier, and his mouth twisted in a frustrated expression, but also one that showed that he was enjoying himself. He shared Fitun and his servants" enjoyment of battle.

“You"re the first one to stop this attack with magic alone! Not bad for a fiend, are you!” he said with a smile.

I heard from Commander that Vandalieu is naïve, but to think that someone who is his subordinate would expose his own ally to danger in order to strike at the source of the threat. But things won"t go so well for them! Yahannah thought to herself as she continued reciting incantations.

She was confident that her magical beasts would run Zandia down and defeat her.

The "Tiny Genius" Zandia was a level below Borkus and Jeena. And Yahannah had never heard anything that suggested that she had any skill in close-quarters combat. Even if she cast multiple spells in quick succession with "Chant Revocation," it was unlikely that she would be able to defeat all of the beasts.

“Transform! "Familiar Spirit Demonfall!" Here we go, Your Majesty-kun!” Zandia shouted.

“Okay,” said Vandalieu"s voice.

Yahannah"s expectations were immediately betrayed.

In response to the word "transform," the staff Zandia had raised into the air had split apart and changed form, wrapping around her body to form something that resembled a combination of a dress and a leotard. Something that could only be described as a dark light was rising from beneath her feet, enveloping her.

“"Ice Demon King Beast a.s.sault!"” she recited, creating a horde of monstrosities made of ice.

They were grotesque creations that looked like they had come straight out of a nightmare, having countless eyes, a miscellaneous number of jointed legs and horns protruding from their body at random intervals. These monsters defeated and scattered Yahannah"s monsters across the battlefield.

“W-what repulsive horrors!” Yahannah screamed.

“Huh?! They"re cute, aren"t they?!” Zandia said incredulously.

The grotesque monstrosities had been modeled after Vandalieu"s Demon King Familiars.

“… I don"t think they"re cute,” said the voice of Vandalieu"s clone.

“Yahannah?!” Woren shouted as if cutting Vandalieu"s clone off.

For a fraction of a second, he hesitated, wondering if he should fall back or not.

At this rate, Yahannah would be defeated before he could defeat Jeena. But Jeena was completely on the defense against his attacks; she didn"t even have breathing room to swing her halberd. Reading the situation, Woren knew that he would be able to push through with just a little more time.

During that tiny instant in which Woren wavered on which he should prioritize, Jeena struck.

“"Shield Bash!"”

Standing over three meters tall, she thrust her enormous shield out, forcing Woren back the smallest of distances. He reflexively attempted to hold his ground. But in the next second –

“"Familiar Spirit Demonfall!"” shouted Jeena.

I see, so her plan is to summon a familiar spirit here and keep me busy while her allies defeat Yahannah, Woren thought, misinterpreting the situation.

But the pillar of light fell to Warren"s side, right next to him.

“"Spear Kick!"”

Bewildered, Warren hastily turned to his side to see Jeena"s shining claws, thrust out towards him. He immediately tried to stop this attack with his shield, but that shield broke down and sank into his torso.

“Hah! You fell for it!” Jeena – or rather, the upper half of Jeena"s body, shouted triumphantly.

It was her lower half that had sent Woren flying with a kick. The moment he charged with "Castle-razing Evil Club Strike," Jeena had detached her lower half from her upper half, and kept her upper half floating in the air.

She had then waited for her chance, concealing the fact that she had done this with an illusion created by Zandia"s light-attribute magic and limiting what Woren was able to see with her shield.

Woren gasped in pain. “d.a.m.n, you monsters are capable of anything, aren"t you?!”

He had undergone "Heroic Spirit Transformation." A single kick… had pierced his organs, causing him to vomit a large volume of blood, but he wouldn"t die yet.

Rather than being defeated on the spot, he had utilized the momentum from Jeena"s kick to gain some distance from her and tried to close in on Borkus, who was trying to break through Yahannah"s barrier with his sword.

Borkus clicked his tongue. “Even if they are sc.u.m, they"re still heroic spirits in ability! It can"t be helped! I"ll have to give up on joining more battles after this!”

He gave up on his original intention to defeat these two quickly and join Vandalieu in disguise as backup.

“"Familiar Spirit Demonfall!" Here we go, kid!”

Outside, Vandalieu"s group and Hajime Fitun"s group were engaged in a long-range battle to buy time – a sight that was exciting to those who understood the circ.u.mstances, and terrible to those who did not.

Hajime Fitun clicked his tongue.

“… Now seems to be about the right time,” said Vandalieu.

The two of them decided to stop the time-buying game at around the same time.

For Vandalieu, the cause of this was that the gaze he had felt from the city"s watchtower was now gone, and Darcia had used "Familiar Spirit Descent" at the front gate, causing fewer eyes to be on him and his companions.

For Hajime Fitun… he realized that all of his heroic spirit subordinates that he had positioned to surround the city had been teleported somewhere else or forced to use "Heroic Spirit Transformation" before they could reach the city.

“I suppose I"ll get a little bit serious,” said Vandalieu.

“You"re not going all-out?” asked Doug.

“Doug, if I go all out, Miles who is fighting in the forest will get caught up in it, and the entire geography of this area would change.”

“Your definition of "getting serious" isn"t simply going all-out, but fighting as if you"re about to die, I see…” said Kanako with a somewhat stiff smile.

Vandalieu takes out his Gyubarzo staff from the Demon King"s shadow.

“All of you! Each and every one of you, use your "Heroic Spirit Transformation!" We"re bringing out everything we have, right now!” shouted Hajime Fitun.

In response to this command, Bobby Gordon and the others activated "Heroic Spirit Transformation" as well.

And so, the real battle began in earnest.