Chapter 304: Sc.r.a.pper

"Is there something you want to tell me?"

Olivier Duraland, who is reading a book in his room as usual, asks Chinzia without looking away from his book. Chinzia looks as calm as usual, but it seems to Olivier that Chinzia has complained about something.

"I didn"t say anything"

Olivier gave a small sigh and closed his book――『Kanmurida Kingdom: The Great Alchemist and Great Summoner, Volume 4』.

"He is excellent"

"No matter how good he is, he"s a character flaw"

"Ahahaa. I can"t deny that, but there"s one thing that"s certain"

Chinzia listens to Olivier"s words while brewing tea in a cup.

"Doll Foddo is strong"

The sound of Chinzia placing a cup on the table echoes in the room. Silence rules between the two for a while.

"If you don"t say something, I"m a fool"

Olivier, who spoke with a decisive face, clears his throat.

"I was stupid when I heard it seriously"

Diagonally behind Olivier――Chinzia, who is in the usual position, answers with a smirk.

"It"s a fact"

"The Zinba Kingdom is a va.s.sal state of the Udon Kingdom. No matter how Jardalk is blocking information, it is not perfect. And Udon´s King Clemens is also distorted in a different way than Doll. Then there is a possibility that he might intervene just for the fun of it"

"There is a great possibility"

Despite Chinzia"s worries, Olivier affirms. He opened the closed book again and began to read more.

"What if the great sage comes?"

"If I were Udon King, I would definitely send the great sage"

"If you knew that much, why didn"t you send Gravos or Ariyo?"

The names of the first and second death come out of Chinzia´s mouth. And perhaps because she was so excited, her fox ears were popping out of her head.

"The change is about to unravel"

Olivier pointed out and Chinzia, in a panic, pressed her head with both hands.

"If either of them partic.i.p.ates in the war, Zinba Kingdom will disappear in the aftermath of the battle with the great sage――ah......is it the same with Doll? I"ve been thinking about that a lot"

"I don"t really see it that way"

Chinzia mutters like revenge for her fox ears being pointed out.

"I"m prepared. In Sakura style, it"s insurance"

"Insurance......?"

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

"Koho ... but huh ... ahhh ........."

When Barash makes a small cough, soot is exhaled from his lungs with air. The surroundings were literally scorched by 『Scorched Earth』 released by the great sage. He looked around, but he couldn"t see any of the brave and courageous Jardalk Holy Knights. The only survivor was Barash, whose entire body was black with soot. The armor he wore had melted and become so integrated with his skin that it was hard to tell the difference and most of his body not covered by the armor was charred. In such a situation, the unblemished Aegis shield stands out.

"E............Emm......m. Ah, ghost......rearguard......no............De......Demon King, sc.r.a.p......cough......if............"

Looking up at the great sage and Doll floating in the sky, Barash spins words like a curse. A breeze winds up the scorched earth and the remains of the Holy Knights. When the carbonized left thigh of Barash collapses due to the wind, the unbalanced Barash collapses. The fallen Barash never stood up again.

"Should I thank you or should I protest that you tried to slaughter me and the others?"

Tens of thousands of souls were sucked into the Holy Grail, held by Doll.

"I wish you could have just died"

While activating such large-scale magic, the great sage doesn"t run out of breath and looks at Doll in a boring manner.

"Nou, I"m not sure what to think of this. It looks good on me, doesn"t it?"

With that said, the great sage shows the saint"s bracelet and ring on the wrist and index finger of his right arm and the saint"s robe to Doll.

"By the way, your partner......oh, what"s his name? Ooh, that"s right! What happened to Gilivam Foddo?"

"How dare you say that after you killed him"

While storing the Holy Grail, which has collected the souls, in the item pouch of his bosom, Doll looks at the great sage with his cold eyes without feelings. The great sage spins on the spot, boringly, because the expected reaction didn"t come.

"Hyohohoo. Isn"t there a new Gilivam out there...? But then again, your partners are always so boring. Stella would be much more interesting"

"Stella......? Was there such a person in my acquaintance?"

The great sage shakes his head slightly to Doll´s appearance that tilts his head slightly.

"I believe she is your daughter"

"Is that so"

The great sage doesn"t think Doll really has any idea. Even if he receives the gaze from the great sage who is merciful somewhere, he is wondering.

"I don"t like it when people look at me like that. You have no idea how many children I"ve provided for the Holy Country Jardalk"

"What a pitiful man! It seems that you have patriotism, but no love for your children"

"I don"t want to be told that by you who is only interested in the survival of the Udon Kingdom"

"Uhyohyo. I"ll tell you. Like you now, there were those who I secretly gathered their souls even in the Third Holy Devil War. Collecting the mysteries of human souls, you......what are you planning?"

"You don"t need to know"

Particles of light gather around Doll.

The mystery remains unanswered. Well fine. I can slaughter you here"

A huge amount of glowing magic power overflowed from the Great Sage"s body and converged on the staff in his right hand. Just as they were about to attack each other――

"What?"

A part of the scorched earth rises and Namari appears from there.

"Hou....... The Great Sage"s 『Scorched Earth』is endured――"

Namari began to twist her giant body toward the two floating in the air. A strange noise is heard from Namari. The source of the sound is the creaking of the joints of the exoskeleton as they rub against each other. The next moment, Namari"s upper body, which had been twisted as much as possible, released a fist with such swiftness that it seemed to have disappeared. It was a much faster fist strike than the one she had given to the Holy Knights of Jardalk. The series of actions cannot be completely grasped even by the eyes of the great sage. There is no sound and the barrier between the great sage and Doll is curved and immediately after that, the explosion sound that seems to break the eardrum comes late.

"It"s quite a nasty demon"

"Ki......Kill!!! Gaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!"

The great sage was impressed by Namari"s fighting power and endurance, but Namari got down on all fours and rolled on her back like a beast. Then she grows bat-like wings from her back, roaring in a way that doesn"t seem to be a thing of the world.

"Hyohoo!? You can"t possibly be flying with that huge body――"

Faster than the great sage finishes speaking, Namari decides to slam with her giant body. The great sage launches at a speed high in the sky, which makes him think that it will reach the moon shining in the night sky.

"This is interesting. I never thought I"d see such an awkward figure of the great sage"

Contrary to the words, Doll remained expressionless and looked up at Namari floating above and the great sage blowing away.

"It"s a terrifying monster. It just crushed two of my barriers――no, I don"t think it"ll break three of them"

The great sage who seemed to fly forever stops suddenly in the air.

"I"m not going to leave it behind for the sake of the world"

The great sage swings his cane toward Namari, who roars and tries to chase after him. The cane technique LV12 『Dome Amaterasu - Tengaitensho』 is released from the tip of the cane. A huge flame lid swallows Namari and attacks Doll as it is.

"You"re a terrible person"

Doll murmured and pushed his cane up into the sky. What was released from the tip of the cane was the cane technique LV12 『Tengen Amaterasu』. A star of fire created from the intersection of magic and magic power collided with the flame lid created by the great sage and Namari, who was sandwiched between them, screamed unvoiced. A sea of ​​fire is formed over the Zinba Kingdom by a collision of forces beyond human knowledge. They saw Namari crashing from the sea of ​​flames. When Namari collides with the ground while raising black smoke from her whole body, she winds up earth and sand and forms a crater.

"It"s stunned robustness"

As Namari crawls out of the crater, Doll says so with a plain expression on his face.

"I guess we"re wasting our time trying to kill each other"

The particles of light drifting around Doll turn into a sphere about five meters in diameter. The power of one of Doll"s special jobs, 『Spirit Prison Amba.s.sador』, summons a creature from a different world deep within the sphere of light. No, he doesn"t know if he can call it a creature. The creature is about four or five meters long and at first glance it looks like a soft-bodied creature like slime, but it has no eyes, nose or even a mouth. Its surface was reminiscent of cold, hard metal. The summoned liquid metal-like creature fell to the ground, transforming its body into various shapes.

"Can I help you?"

The great sage, who had been watching Doll"s movements, took a ring from his item pouch and placed it on his left middle finger.The great sage releases his magic power and summons one of the 72 powerful monsters enclosed in the ring. What emerged from the ring was a giant lotus-like plant about six meters long. The lotus has no flowers and the large tentacles stand out. The great sage hits the lotus, which falls naturally at the same time as summoning, with a magic bullet so that it can move away from himself as soon as possible. As soon as the lotus lands with a soft noise, it begins to take root in the ground. Then, things like the face of a baby are pushed out one after another from the innumerable holes in the tentacles――from the holes where lotus seeds should have been grown.

"O............O......Ogyaaaaaaaaaa!!"

All at once, the baby-faced things started to cry. When Namari heard the cries, blood and melted flesh poured out of her ears and holes and she collapsed on her back, dead. The true nature of the cries was a curse that contained an enormous amount of magic power. Its atrocity can be inferred from the fact that it cannot be prevented even with Namari"s magic resistance.

"Go......yo............ouuu..........."

Namari"s unique skill 『Seven Deaths and Eight Life』 that can revive her even if she die seven times a day is activated. Behind the rising Namari, a liquid metal monster was rolling around the ground like a slap. The curse was having an effect not only on Namari, but also on the liquid metal demon. And it seems that the liquid metal monster recognized Namari and the lotus monster as enemies and the whole body began to undulate and dozens of tentacle-like spines popped out.

"Such a thing......gu, gaaa!?"

When the metal spines come into contact with the exoskeleton of Namari, they scatter large sparks and spread like water. However, the hardened spines become fluid again and cling to Namari"s whole body. Then, when they invade through the gap of the exoskeleton that covers the whole body of Namari and sneaks into the inner skeleton as it is, it rampages freely in the body. The sound of metal colliding with each other echoes from Namari"s body. It is a sound in which the endoskeleton of the body collides with the metallized spines and reverberates. Again, Namari spewed blood from her whole body and fell on her back. This is Namari"s second death.

"Gyaaaa"

A loud cry echoes around. The thorns released by the liquid metal monster pierced the hundreds of barriers worn by the lotus monster. Some seeds with a baby face are pierced by metal spines and fall to the ground and roll.

"Is it a unique skill that revives even if you die?"

Doll muttered to himself as he retreated far into the sky to avoid being caught up in the battle between the two summoned monsters. The great sage had also fled into the sky to avoid the curse of the lotus monster he had summoned.

"It"s a powerful skill, but it"s only a matter of time――that"s......"

A boy――Yuu stood beside Namari.

"O......dono, zama?"

"Whats zama!"

Yuu looks down at Namari, who is lying on the ground on her back.

"Hachi, don"t use Namari for your revenge. Don"t get carried away"

Namari"s whole body pulses loudly and the black slime that separated from it flees back to Namari"s winding horn. And in its place, another black slime oozed out.

"Ma, Master......apology, please"

"Nana, you"re the one in control, so you"ve got to do better than that. And Namari, master your powers. Then you will be invincible"

"Odono-sama, I"m......sorry"

"Why are you apologizing to me?"

"Because......it"s dangerous!"

Namari who stood up wraps around in front of Yuu and shelters. This is because she felt the activation of enormous magic power from the lotus monster. When she saw it, the baby"s mouth opened wide and all at once a crying curse was heading toward Yuu and Namari.

"It"s a first-time kill, but if you know the species, you can deal with it"

The curse never reached Yuu´s side. Yuu used wind magic to block the sound. Perhaps not intelligent enough to understand that the curse was blocked, the lotus monster put more magic into the curse. No matter how many times it was repeated, the result was the same: the curse never reached Yuu and Namari.

"Nevertheless"

Yuu looked at the lotus monster. Frighteningly, the lotus monster had a rank of 10. In addition, it seems that it is still in the process of growing, and the roots stretching deep into the earth are encroaching on the earth"s sustenance and spreading curses. It was easy to imagine that if it continues to grow as it is, not only the Zinba Kingdom but also neighboring countries will be devastated. Then Yuu sees the liquid metal monster. Regarding the liquid metal monster, the status notation is different from normal and there is no rank. Even Yuu doesn"t know how much power it has.

"Odono-sama!"

It seems that the liquid metal monster aimed at Yuu and shot metal thorns toward Yuu. Not going to let that happen, Namari will grab a metal thorn, but if you transform it further into a slender shape to gain distance, it will easily penetrate Yuu"s barrier.

"d.a.m.n"

Yuu cut off the metal thorn with his sword, but he was still shocked that it could easily pierce his barrier. When the metal spines that have been cut off return to the fluid, they escape toward the main body.

"Namari, a little help please"

"All right!"

Yuu prepares his s.p.a.ce-time magic. Is that time a few seconds? Even so, in a battle where the chance of a moment is fatal, it may be necessary to follow Namari and Russ. When Yuu stretches his hands toward the lotus monster and the liquid metal monster, the s.p.a.ce splits from there. It was the rank 1 s.p.a.ce-time magic, 『Judgement Sky』 that was activated. The lotus monster tears vertically along with the barrier. In addition, there were two large magic b.a.l.l.s, which are the source of the power of monsters. Yuu, who was watching it, said, 「Ah......」. Yuu didn"t think he could defeat a rank 10 monster with this kind of attack, but unfortunately he broke the monster ball and the lotus monster dried up. All that remained was a terrifying trace of pink that spread over the earth.

"I wanted a magic ball"

The liquid metal monster seems to have been damaged, but when the torn body snuggles up, it returns to the original colony again.

"This one doesn"t seem to have a magic ball"

Behind Namari, who hits the metal thorns with her fist, Yuu murmured that he couldn"t expect a magic ball. And he looks up at the sky.

"You look down on me like I"m a big deal"

He begins to deploy the next s.p.a.ce-time magic.

"Mu? Wait. It"s me! I´m the great sage!"

"I can"t let that happen"

Six invisible squares surround the great sage, Doll and the liquid metal monster. The great sage and Doll sensed and avoided magic power, but does the liquid metal monster has no ability to detect magic power? It is trapped in the cube as it is. It fired metal thorns at the invisible wall many times, but even Yuu´s barrier and the lotus monster couldn"t break them. As Yuu clasped his hands together, the cube closed. The liquid metal monster desperately repeatedly attacks the shrinking cube, but the resistance is also empty and there is no wreckage left as if nothing had happened from the beginning.

"This! Why did you attack me!! You knew it was me in the sky!!"

The great sage floating about a meter above the ground protests against Yuu, but ignoring all the words, Yuu stares at Doll in front of him.

"Doll Foddo....... Are you the father of Grandma Stella?"

At this point, Yuu finally realizes that the 『Evil eye』 that had been applied to him has been released. And the feeling similar to hunger that he felt fiercely from earlier turns out to be the cause of the desire to take away skills that he usually manages to suppress.

"That name again. Stella, when you say Stella――ah, I remember. It"s a name that came to me while I was gazing at the stars in the night sky. But the only resemblance was in the shape of a child who was a total waste of a star"

――Anger coated his hunger. In a fit of rage, Yuu swung the black dragon sword, Wet Crow, in his right hand. In addition, he shoots the sword technique 『Flash』 with the black dragon sword Light in his left hand, which he holds in the opposite hand without killing the momentum. Yuu"s murder intent is transmitted to the atmosphere of the area and the rumbling occurs as if the mountains, which are more than ten kilometers away from the Bueruko basin, trembled.

"It"s a messy, heavy-handed attack, a far cry from your earlier mastery"

Doll mutters about 20 meters away from Yuu.

"But I still praise you for damaging my barrier"

Doll was running on the outermost barrier of dozens of barriers. When the barrier begins to disperse as if peeling off the thin skin, the magic power melts into the atmosphere and disperses.

"Ohyohyoo. I have some spare time, but are you going to beat this face?"

As if it were natural, the great sage behaves like he is part of Yuu´s faction. Namari was also wondering if it would be okay to launch an attack on the att.i.tude of the great sage who was so dignified.

"I see"

Doll seemed to have understood something and looked at Yuu and the great sage alternately.

"What did the demon king and the great sage communicate with?"

"What would you do?"

When the great sage smiles fearlessly, he spins while floating to provoke Doll.

"The situation seems to be slightly against me"

"Slightly?"

"Anyway, if I"m able to defeat the demon king or the monster there. It will be hard to beat you"

"Let"s see how long you can keep up your insults"

"Don"t do extra things"

Yuu tries to attack Doll, saying, 「Don"t be silly!」, to the great sage who talks about himself. As Namari follows, the great sage also begins to deploy his high-level magic. However, the heavens and the earth broke so as to divide Doll and Yuu´s side.

"This is 3 to 2, no, is this advantageous if it is a simple force?"

Doll mutters through the wall that divides the s.p.a.ce. On the other side of the wall, there was a figure of Yuu and the great sage who couldn"t hide their surprise.

"Umm. Little boy, isn"t this s.p.a.ce-time magic......? But it"s just that you can"t sense the magic power....... This is just like a gaz――"

As the great sage says, the wall that divides Yuu and Doll into s.p.a.ces was very similar to the phenomenon caused by s.p.a.ce-time magic. Of course, Yuu is also aware of that. He said it was similar to the rank 1 s.p.a.ce-time magic 『Judgement Sky』 that he used earlier, but the scale, power and duration were orders of magnitude.

"Shut up, bald old man"

"――What, that remark!!!"

As soon as Yuu and the others try to dig into the wall, a new attack restrains them.

(Someone knows perfectly the range and power of s.p.a.ce interference. Who is it? I can"t believe there"s someone who can do this)

Yuu glares at a mountain far away and is frustrated by himself who cannot reach out to Doll.

"Now, what"s the matter? Here――"

A vermilion line runs on Doll"s cheek. Incredibly, someone had slashed through Doll"s wardrobe and scarred his cheek.

"――Not sure what to say. Don"t waste your time talking, just get out of here"

When Doll strokes the vermilion line on his cheek with his hand, the scar disappears as if nothing had happened. Without glancing at Yuu and the rest, Doll left the place.

"Odono-sama"

Namari, who has returned to her original form, drags Barash"s Aegis shield.

"Oh, well done"

Namari smiles, 「Ehehe」, as Yuu strokes her head. After all, Yuu didn"t chase after Doll. That ma.s.sive attack gives Nina and others an idea of ​​where Yuu is. It was easy to imagine what would happen if Nina and the others partic.i.p.ated in the battles of Doll, the great sage and his own battles. Besides, the great sage disappeared before he knew it. Perhaps he returned to Tenca.s.si, the royal capital of the Udon Kingdom.

"Then, do you want to go back to Nina and the others?"

"Yes!"

When the gate was created by s.p.a.ce-time magic, Yuu returned with Namari.