Chapter 301: I cant go home

"d.a.m.n it! I can"t see anything, I can"t see anything! Who did this to me? Hurry up and fix my eyes!"

"Get Captain Dross to safety!"

"We"re going to have to retreat"

The soldiers dragged Dross, who was rolling around on the ground away. At the same time, the soldiers surrounding Yuu began to distance themselves. To their horror, the blow that Joseph had delivered had wiped out hundreds of soldiers that had been between Yuu and Joseph. In addition, it pierced the upper part of the crucifixion of the rank 11 holy magic 『Criminal Crucifixion Gol Go Davis』 that restrained Yuu and also pierced the barrier that 『Three Saintess』 Theodora had stretched around to prevent Yuu from escaping. That"s right.

"Kuu......"

When the restraint of 『Criminal Crucifixion』 is loosened, all of Yuu"s skills can be used. Yuu forcibly pulls his limbs out of the stake that sewed his hands and feet. Yuu realizes that his sealed abilities have been released, but at the same time, he also realizes that the s.p.a.ce-time magic that he had placed on himself as a fetter has been lifted. Prioritizing the healing of his own wounds, Yuu recasts the s.p.a.ce-time magic, but his level has already risen to 69. One of 『Udon Five Knights』, who had been called a child prodigy since childhood and had earned the name of genius, b.a.l.l.s von Balling, was at level 71. Surely you"ll be able to understand how unusual this is when you consider that b.a.l.l.s, who is over sixty years old, and Yuu, who is fourteen, are almost at the same level.

"Master"

Russ"s voice reached Yuu"s ears as he landed on the ground. His wounds are being repaired at a tremendous speed by 『High Speed Regeneration』, but Yuu turns his back on Russ and others so that they cant see his miserable appearance even if they still see it――

"Don"t look"

――But Nina was standing in front of him. The image of Yuu being crucified, that horrible sight, was burned into her mind and wouldn"t go away. It was like a curse, overlapping with the memories that clung to Nina.

"Ah............"

She tried to say something clever, but Nina"s lips just quivered and no words came out. She tried to smile as usual, but she didn"t even know what expression she had on her face right now. In fact, Nina couldn"t even hear Yuu"s voice. The only thing she could hear was the sound of something cracking repeatedly in her head. It was a thing that had been hurt, cracked, and broken so many times that she had thought it was okay to leave it as it was. But as she met and spent time with a boy who was somewhat like her, she realized that the thing that was supposed to be broken had been healed. There were a lot of splices, but Nina was still happy.

"Haaa, haaa, huuu, haa――"

As if hyperventilating, Nina repeated short, shallow breaths. The two daggers that she holds in both hands still have Dross´s eyeb.a.l.l.s that she just hollowed out stuck in the ends of them. She is not sure what to do, but she is going to do it.

"Nina Levar! Female scout, be on your guard!"

"Fools, I"m going to shoot you back――"

Nine knights from the front row to the third row of heavy cavalry who were forming a line like a wall suddenly collapsed forward.

"What"s wrong? Quickly stand up――they´re dead!?"

They died instantly. The heavy cavalry men, who had excellent resistance to various physics and other things, were dead without leaking a single moan.

What, What was the cause!?"

"Is this the cause of death......"

The armor of a heavy cavalry man in the third row, a blade was slightly visible from the back side.

"Throwing knife, throwing!"

"I"m not sure how that"s possible. It could be a different attack"

"You"re right. There is no way a throwing knife can penetrate our defenses"

The others agreed with the man who raised the objection. The paladin"s shield and armor used by heavy cavalry cannot be easily broken even with the attack of large monsters. Moreover, heavy cavalry are wearing 『Combat』. It was no wonder that no one couldn"t understand it, such as piercing them with a throwing knife.

"How do you explain instant death, even if it"s caused by a throwing knife?"

"There was no――poison applied. Something magical――"

As they pulled out the throwing knife and investigated the cause with their 『Appraisal』 skill, they saw Nina twisting her body. She is in the process of throwing. It was a big, slow movement. The heavy cavalry men held up their shields, wondering why they hadn"t noticed it earlier.

"d.a.m.n. It"s coming!"

"If you knew it was coming, you could have prevented――bupee!?"

Nina threw three throwing knives, each of which pierced three heavy cavalry members.

"Gahuu............wh, what happened......?"

"You can still breathe. Hurry up with the potion!"

Even though the cerebral spinal cord drips from the wound on the head, he hurries to potion the wound of the person who barely breathes.

"What"s going on!? T, The wounds are still――ragee......"

Nina"s throwing knife penetrates the head of the heavy cavalry who was applying the potion.

"Shield and armor are of no use!? How many? What is the level of Nina Levar"s 『Throwing』skill !!"

"――I"

"What did you say? I can"t hear you!"

"I said, Nina Levar doesn"t have the 『Throwing』 skill"

"Ho......How is that possible――gohe?"

In front of the blade of death, the Heavy Cavalry sank without the art of doing so, known for their power over the nations.

"Good time! She"s running out of knives!!"

"I"ll close the distance!!"

Heavy cavalry closes the distance to Nina at a speed that makes it hard to believe that they are wearing heavy equipment.

"Haaaaaaa!!!"

One of the heavy cavalry men who was running ahead of the others turned Nina"s hostility toward himself with the shield technique 『Provocation』 and further activated his shield technique LV5 『Heavyfication Gravi - Ton』. This is a shield technique that momentarily raises one"s own weight by several dozen. It is a difficult technique to master, but if you succeed in timing it right, you can even catch the attacks of huge monsters. It"s easy to imagine how powerful it would be if used in an attack.

"Take that～!!"

The shield that was thrust out didn"t have the impact that it should have. Nina stood behind the heavy cavalry, who had his shield sticking out into an empty s.p.a.ce, without even a sign of sound. Gently, Nina puts her right hand on the back of the heavy cavalryman.

"Gahaaa......"

Nina"s a.s.sa.s.sination technique LV4 『Short-handed heart strike』 causes the heavy cavalry man´s heart to stop. However, the face of the man who fell toward the ground was laughing. Immediately after, heavy cavalry members from all sides hold down Nina with their shields.

"I don"t think you can defeat the Demon King"s subordinates without sacrifice"

One of the heavy cavalrymen said that and another heavy cavalryman put pressure on Nina with his companions. They have no intention of holding Nina down, but to crush her to death.

"Nuuu....... Hu, Huhahaa. You die together with us――"

The pressure made it painful to even breathe through the armor and even so, he hoped he could take out one of the Demon King"s subordinates. In the end, one of the heavy cavalrymen who was closely following Nina looked at her to see what kind of face she had――he saw it. What kind of life does one have to live to have eyes like this? Her eyes were hollow to suck even the light.

"W, What......what are those eyes............it"s not a person――"

The heavy cavalry, who were putting pressure on Nina, had disappeared, sprinkling blood, flesh, and bones, leaving no trace of their original form. The ground around Nina is dyed bright red and pieces of armor and flesh that are believed to have been heavy cavalry soldiers are scattered around.

"Wh......What happened......"

One of the heavy cavalrymen gasped at what had happened. In the center of the deadly smell, Nina"s hands were holding two daggers, one with black dragon fang and the other with black dragon claw. Nina used the dagger technique LV6 『Rotating extreme slashing』, which is a technique of spinning one´s body at high speed and shooting a series of shots with two daggers held in both hands. It was fast work that no one could even see.

"Lena Forma uses powerful magic, but she"s a typical rearguard!"

Apart from Nina, Lena was also engaged in a battle with Jardalk´s Holy Knights.

"Don"t be afraid! We have the blessings of Irigamit, G.o.ddess of Light!"

The second sword saint corps charged at Lena. Lena"s rank 1 black magic 『Stonebread』 fills her field of vision, as if to crush the beginning.

(As per the information. She has never killed a person. Therefore, hesitate to use magic with high killing power)

The swordsmen rushes forward, regardless of whether the stone gravel is flipped with a sword or received by the body.

"If you bring it into close quarters, you won"t be afraid of a rearguard――muu!"

Lena casts new magic while releasing 『Stonebread』. Countless iron arrows are created and float around Lena.

"I"m moving up the magic rank!"

"Do you think you can stop us with iron arrows!"

As Lena swung her cane sideways, the iron arrows struck the Sword Saints like a horizontal rain. But the fearless soldiers, instead of stopping, accelerated further.

"Tsk"

A single iron arrow pierces a soldier"s shoulder.

"Does it go through my 『Combat』? It seems to be quite a powerful magic――

The moment he tries to pull out the arrow stuck in his right shoulder, an explosion occurs. A soldier who had more than a third of his upper body blown off died without understanding what had happened. As the arrowhead touches the ground, the armor and the body, explosions occur one after another.

"E, Evacuate! Immediately evacuate, cough......su, rren............der"

Rank 5 black magic 『Explosive Arrow Abo - Aron』, an original magic created by Lena only to kill people. If it was just simple killing power, it was a magic that far exceeded Yuu"s 『Steel Bullet』.

"Dieeeeeeeeeeeee!!"

A soldier who has survived the explosion swings his sword down at Lena――but his blade never reaches Lena. It is parried by the barrier that covers Lena.

"What is this barrier!? It"s spinning at high speed――guhaa"

"……Noisy"

The rank 5 black magic 『Splitting Wind Blade』, is a wind blade that splits the soldiers vertically into two.

"Haaaa!!"

The captain of the sword saint corps cuts through Lena"s barrier with the dark sword technique LV5 『Depriving Demon』. It is a high-ranking technique of 『Sucking』 that steals a large amount of MP from the target magic at the same time as slashing.

"Good! The captain slashed the barrier!!"

"If it"s a close battle, this is it!"

The captain of the sword saint corps, who slashed Lena"s barrier, goes one step further and shoots his thrust. It"s not a blow that a rearguard avoids. Everyone thought so, even the captain. However, the thrust was. .h.i.t by Lena"s staff. Not only that, the movement of flipping the thrust changes to a piercing as it is.

"Jo, it"s a cane technique!?"

Cane technique LV1 『Drain Thrust』 is a technique that most rearguards don"t use now. It was the Sword Saint corps´s captain, who saw Lena with astonishment, but it is true that he would not let go of the sword that was flipped. In addition, Lena"s stab is avoided by a hair"s breadth even though his posture is greatly disrupted.

"......The bugs that cling to Yuu need to be annihilated"

"Wait――"

The sword saint corps captain, who received Lena"s rank 4 black magic 『Explosion』 from a close distance, will die as it is. Lena, who parries the blast with her barrier, unfolds her new magic to kill the remaining sword saints, without looking at the corpses rolling in front of her.

"When did I tell you to come?"

Russ, Kuro and Marifa kneel in front of Yuu and line up side by side. Momo is anxiously sitting on Yuu"s shoulder and watching.

"I think there are things to prioritize later in the scolding

Russ advises Yuu with his head down. Kuro seems to agree with Russ and is waiting for Yuu"s instructions. Marifa shook her body and she was presenting the item pouch that Yuu had entrusted to her. She is not out of fear of being offended by Yuu. She couldn"t forgive herself for not stopping Yuu at that time. When Yuu receives the item pouch from Marifa, he wears his armor.

"I have a lot to say to you guys, but now there are more eyesores"

Master, I"m at your service

"Your will"

"Marifa, what happened to Koro and Ran?"

"Not here"

"Gee"

Marifa responds with tears and a runny nose. Koro and Ran were thrown out in search of Yuu, so they couldn"t make it in time for Nina"s 『Shadow Movement』.

"Momo, work together with Marifa"

Like a salute, Momo puts her hand on her forehead and jumps on Marifa"s shoulder.

"Russ, Nina――she looks alright, so go to Lena´s side. She won"t be able to hold her MP like that"

"Right away"

Then Russ bows to Yuu and heads for Lena.

"Kuro――what, did you come here to get yourself killed?"

With a new spear, 『Perforation』Stephan appears in front of Yuu.

"Demon King, I want to fight you one-on-one"

Without confirming Yuu"s reply, Stephan shifts to his piercing stance. As you can see at a glance, he specialized in attacks and did not consider defense at all.

"Now, common――"

Severe pain runs in Stephan"s leg. He didn"t speak, but it was still an intolerable pain. He glanced slightly down at his feet and an unfamiliar plant entered through the gaps in the greaves that covered his feet. Marifa"s rank 3 tree spirit magic 『Poisonous Thorn Cage Ginpira』. Fine hairs grow on the leaves and branches, and the poison causes unbearable pain even for adult men.

"Cowardly"

"What"s cowardly. A guy who beat the h.e.l.l out of me with tens of thousands of people looks great"

The leaves and branches are already entwined around Stephan"s waist. To the pain, Stephan tried to pierce Yuu――Kuro, who was leaping in secret, swung his hammer down faster.

"Haaa!!"

With fighting spirit, Stephan thrusts toward the heavens. Stephan, who responded to Kuro"s attack, is brilliant. However, Kuro"s hammer smashes the thrust head-on. First the spear broke, then Stephan"s head broke at the same time as his helmet, his armor shook into distortion, yet Kuro"s wielding hammer didn"t stop, running a huge crack in the ground.

"Kuro"

"Haa"

Kuro proudly replies somewhere.

"Didn"t I tell you that your equipment would break if you use it again?"

"As you can see, there is no scratch"

Kuro presents his Tenma Andromarius great hammer toward Yuu.

"No. He"s wearing a set of equipment, so I told you to break it. Ah, what"s that dissatisfied face?"

"No, I´m undead, there are no emotions"

"There are, I know. Really, everyone is always cheeky"

As Yuu confirmed the useless equipment of Stephan, he saw a light bullet launching into the sky. After a while, big explosions occur in different places.

"What the h.e.l.l was that? Those light bullets are......red! What is Vice Commander Barash thinking! We"re one step closer to capturing the Demon King!"

『Three Swords』 Galahad looks up at the sky and glares unbelievably. The light bullet launched into the night sky was a flare gun. The meaning of each color is different, but the meaning of the red flare was the withdrawal of the entire army.

"Hurry up, Galahad-sama! Barash-sama has already retreated from the Bueruko basin. The spear cavalry, led by captain Stefan, who has become a dead soldier, is stalling the Demon King!"

One of the knights advised Galahad.

"Nuuuu. What happened to Lamorak and Percival?"

"The two explosions just now were caused by Muss"s freeloaders, 『Sword Dancer』Claudia Barling and 『Cursed Sword Princess』Lara Tombler. Lamorak-sama is engaged with Claudia and Percival-sama is engaged with Lara"

Another knight reports and Galahad looks in the direction of his two comrades fighting.

"Lamorak-sama!"

"I will deal with this elf. You guys should leave this place as soon as possible!"

Lamorak orders his men to withdraw, holding the spirit sword Liama ​​Core in the upper row. On the other hand, the confronting Claudia wields the spirit sword Fifth Element with graceful movements as if dancing.

"Arara. Did you do something that offended the spirits?"

"Shut up! You are a demi-human who belongs to the Demon King!"

The power of the fire spirit was more strongly expressed in the spirit sword Fifth Element held by Claudia than in the spirit sword Liama ​​Core, which houses the higher fire spirits.

"I think I"m getting tired of crossing swords with you and Joseph will be jealous if I go any further"

Claudia said lightly as she suffered a not insignificant hand wound.

"I can"t believe we haven"t figured out who"s the better fighter by now"

"I"m sorry, but it looks like you"re a little better with a sword than I am. But I"m not a swordsman"

"You"re sore loser"

"I"m not a sore loser. Didn"t you know? My nickname is 『Sword Dancer』"

A myriad of swords created by the fire spirits, including groundwater fire breeze and light, float around Claudia.

"Don"t you make the spirits angry after all? I"m feeling better than usual"

"Nonsense!

"Come on, dance with me until you die"

In a different place than Claudia, Lara was also engaged in a battle with Percival.

"Nuu!? Our sword skills are almost equal"

Percival, who slashes at Lara and her sword, takes a distance. Percival learns that Lara, a similar magic swordsman, is as good as he is with his sword.

"You fight Gram hate"

The magic sword in Lara"s hand, Gram, roared in protest to Lara, its master. Even with the magic sword Gram, if you meet with Percival"s magic sword Aroundight, you will not be able to escape the blade.

"You understand what you"re doing, don"t you?"

"You are Joseph"s enemy. That"s enough reason for me to fight"

"The enemy of mankind. After all, should I have killed him at that time...!"

"I want you to die"

With a light expression, Lara activates the dark sword technique LV9 『Cursed Sword Liberation』. The true power hidden in the cursed sword Gram is released.

"Who is it? Hey! Is there anyone out there? Quick, heal my eyes! Can"t you hear me! Somebody answer me!!"

The surroundings that had been so noisy were now quiet. Dross, whose eyes were cut by Nina, couldn"t hide his anxiety that he couldn"t hear the voices of the soldiers who were carrying him in the darkness where he couldn"t see anything.

"Someone――o, oo......"

Dross felt a soft light in his eye sockets. He was immersed in the benevolent light for a while. He finds out that his eyesight has returned. Even for those who can use high level recovery magic, it takes time to heal depending on the damaged area. It is not an ordinary skill to repair a lost eyeball and restore sight at the same time in a very short time. Dross"s eyes lit up at the person who had restored his own eyes.

"Theo!! As expected, I――"

It was Theodora who healed Dross"s eyes. Dross has always said that Theodora is his companion and when he tried to hug Theodora, saying that this was nothing but fate, Theodora slipped through his arms easily and moved to Joseph.

"This is done, quietly receive my healing magic"

Theodora, seemingly unconcerned about Dross, spoke to Joseph.

"Move"

Without even a glance, Joseph steps in front of Theodora. From Dross"s point of view, the woman he loves so much is worried about another man. The euphoria he had felt just a few moments earlier was instantly overshadowed by a black rage.

"He............hehee. What the h.e.l.l? Even if you try to defeat this 『Holy Fist』Dross-sama after making it in perfect condition?"

Dross, who stood up slowly, savvyly confirmed Joseph"s condition. His right eye is lost, his left arm is missing and his abdomen is dyed red with a spear-pierced wound. Besides that, Joseph"s whole body is full of scratches. It was as if he had been called 『Holy Fist』 at a young age. But did he notice that the corpses lying around Joseph were the ones who a.s.saulted Yuu, who couldn"t resist?

"I heard that the spear can no longer be used after the kid died"

Theodora"s face turned pale at Dross"s words. She terrifiedly looked at Joseph, but his back didn"t tell her what he was feeling.

"Ah, that"s right. Are you angry with me for gouging out the Demon King"s eyeb.a.l.l.s? It"s the same as your eye, you know. I"m sure you"ll be happy to hear that. Isn"t it just a s.h.i.tty brat?"

Arranging words that disturb Joseph"s emotions, Dross recasts 『Combat』. A tremendous fighting spirit becomes a whirlpool and runs around the whole body of Dross.

(Idiot! It was a long time ago when you were considered the strongest. I"ll make you understand that you"re nothing but an old fart now!!)

With the toe of his right foot, Dross kicked up a pebble lying on the ground, aiming for Joseph"s left eye. The next time he steps on his left foot, he activates his martial arts LV3 『Shukuchi』.

(If I close the distance, a spear is useless!!)

A long spear or other long length is advantageous in battle because of its length, but once it is sneaked in, it is disadvantageous because of its length.

"You such a blow――haaa............aaa!?"

By activating the martial art 『Shukuchi』, the distance with Joseph should have been shortened in an instant, but Dross stayed there. Why? The natural question is repeated in his head. But when he notices a hole in his chest, he understands everything.

"Wh, What......Shu, Shukuchi......beat, ha, cough, faster......thrusting, ha, how, cough......?"

If Dross looks up and sees Joseph, his stance remains natural. In the martial arts, there is a technique called "Beatless" technique, in which the opponent doesn"t have time to feel the movement and before he knows it, he is ready to attack. However, if you are still attacked, you will realize that your opponent has attacked you. No, the movement that finished the attack in the first place is what remains. However, Joseph doesnt have that. This is why even a soldier as strong as Dross couldn"t notice Joseph"s attack.

"This guy――bu......"

Also, a hole is made in Dross´s chest. The number of holes increases to one or two. Dross"s body is no longer left. In addition, Joseph continues to attack.

"Garbage. Shut up and die"

Everything that used to be Dross was gone from this world.

-------------------------------------------------

"Barash-sama, many troops aren"t following! It seems that the army in charge of the outer circ.u.mference is also lagging behind!"

Under Barash"s direction, a signal shot was launched to retreat, but Jardalk´s Holy Knights ignored the formation and retreated. So many troops were unable to grasp the situation well and were fleeing as if they were scattering spiders towards Jardalk.

"No need to wait! A war of retreat is fraught with death. The longer we wait, the more of us will die!"

"I, I understand"

The leading soldiers stop.

"What are you stopping! Do you want to die!!"

Cesar yells at the soldiers who have stopped.

"Child"s cry"

"A child?"

Cesar listened carefully, and sure enough, he heard a child crying. In a place like this, in the dark of night, the sound of a child crying. Cesar stared at his surroundings, wondering if a demon had come out to scare him. Then he saw a child sitting and crying in front of him.

"A child......of the demon tribe?"

"Ignore! It has no fighting power at all......then!"

"Barash-sama. I understand"

In response to Barash"s voice heard from behind, Cesar resumes the escape. Demon child――the head approaches to a distance where you can clearly see Namari. There are ten black slimes around Namari, one of which opens its mouth.

"Puru Puru~. I"m a bad slime, you know?Ju~st saying! Gyahahahaha~!!!"

Curiously, the black slime spoke fluently. You saw beast-like fangs in its mouth. But there was no time to worry about that and just as they were about to walk past Namari――

"Gu......hooooo............"

『Great Shield Cesar』 was stopping. Barash and other soldiers quickly knew what had happened to Cesar. There was a large hole in Cesar"s armor, a masterpiece forged by one of the three great master craftsmen, Gonbugur Kecht. It was the first time they had ever seen a demon peeking out from a hole in the armor.

"N......Now............you guys............I"ll kill you!!"