Текст книги "Overlord - The Lizardmen Heroes"

Автор книги: Maruyama Kugane

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Текущая страница: 16 (всего у книги 18 страниц)

I also worry whether you all will betray, abandon or give up on me. Nonetheless, I will act the part of Ainz Ooal Gown that meets your expectations and is worthy of your trust.

And so, Ainz made a relaxed expression he practised before the mirror and said in a pose filled with the confidence of an Overlord.

“No problem, I understand why you feel uneasy.”

Ainz then looked around him.

“Albedo… Do share your worries with the other Guardians.”

“Ah, yes! If the enemy possess multiple crystals like Ainz-sama… Someone who knows about crystals, they would be able to tell this information is false. They will be sure that Shalltear was not defeated by the crystal– although they couldn’t know if Shalltear was at full strength, users of World class item will assume that Momon is as strong as Shalltear. They will then conclude the mysterious warrior Momon who suddenly appeared in E-Rantel is someone dangerous right? They might also suspect that Shalltear might be related to Momon…”

“... Albedo, and Guardians, what do you think the enemies’ next step would be?”

“Pardon me. I think that if our foes plan to oppose Ainz-sama, they will spread rumours of Momon working together with the vampire even if there is no proof. They would not want Momon to gain further fame.”

Urghhh– Ainz moaned in his heart.

Part of the goal of going to E-Rantel was to gather intelligence, but the main target was to raise the fame of the Momon persona– and a tiny part of wanting to run away. The original plan was to wait for the great hero to be born and then reveal Momon’s true identity, turning all his fame to that of Ainz Ooal Gown, spreading this name throughout the world.

He also wanted to show his PK guild will change in this world, so he did good deeds using the name of Momon. But these plans were probably done for.

“Hmm? Demiurge, let me ask you, would it be more effective if such rumours were spread after Momon became famous?”

“Aura, that would be a bad move. If Ainz-sama has garnered enough fame, the masses will just think of such news as malicious rumours. They should cut off the roots before his fame grows.”

“A wonderful insight, Demiurge.”

Ainz nodded in response to Demiurge who was bowing his head, acting as if he had the same idea.

“I will ask another question. If that is so, why hasn’t the enemy started spreading rumours yet?”

After hearing Ainz’ query, Demiurge raised a finger.

“Number one, they have not completed their investigation on Momon-sama yet. If Momon-sama did defeat Shalltear in a straight fight, they wouldn’t want to incur his wrath. They might want to pull him into their camp. Number two—”

He raised another finger.

“What if their encounter with Shalltear was just a coincidence? They might have been passing by with some other purpose in mind, just some unrelated third party.”

“That is impossible, Demiurge, the possibility is very low…”

Ainz said that, he just realized this scenario wasn’t impossible.

He was totally convinced that the attack had been targeted at Shalltear– or targeted at the denizens of Nazarick. But Shalltear was attacked shortly after teleporting. If the attack really had been targeted at Shalltear, they had been eerily precise.

Was he blinded by the fear of the unseen enemy?

Ainz narrowed his eyes– or rather, the red glow in his eye sockets.

In the end, the problem was insufficient intelligence and being shorthanded. They needed more power.

Anyway, the biggest problem is that our intelligence network is too small.

Sebas had been tasked with that too, but the intelligence gathered by a handful of agents were limited. In the beginning, he thought it would be enough to gain basic information about this world, but that wasn’t enough in the current situation.

The intelligence gathered by an adventurer and the butler of a merchant had less importance and quality than that of a high government official.

Ainz couldn’t think of anyone who could analyze the gathered intel from different angles and judge whether the intel was important.

“Ara ara, the main problem is the lack of intel. We have to be wary of an enemy we couldn’t see, which made it hard for us to make our move...”

After listening to Ainz’ complain, Demiurge smiled as if he had a great idea.

“If that is the case, how about joining forces with a country?”

After a short silence, Albedo said “Oh.” to express that she had understood. Ainz made the same sound moments later.

“I see Demiurge, that’s what you mean.”

But the other three Guardians were still tilting their head in confusion. Aura admitted her doubts honestly.

“Ainz-sama, what does this mean?”

Facing Aura’s question, Ainz felt relieved that he couldn’t show any facial expression.

“Ara ara… Mare, Shalltear, do you understand what Demiurge is talking about?”

The two of them shook their heads.

”I see, it couldn’t be helped. Demiurge, please explain.”

“Yes, by your will. Everyone, Ainz-sama is worried about this unknown enemy. I think that if we encounter this strong enemy and both sides are openly hostile to each other, we will need a breakthrough point that could solve our issues during negotiations.”

Sensei, I don’t understand– Three students and one adult seemed to have these words carved on their faces. Teacher Demiurge seemed to realize his explanation was too vague, and continued by accommodating the standards of his students.

“What will you do if Ainz-sama is controlled by a World class item user?”

“I will cut that person into pieces.”

“... No, that’s not what I mean, Aura. Don’t you think that being controlled is a breakthrough point? In actual fact, there are people who could control their opponent with World class items, so the possibility of Ainz-sama being controlled is not zero.”

The deputy home room teacher Albedo added to teacher Demiurge’s explanation.

“He means after pretending to join under the flag of a country, Nazarick could use this as an excuse for any actions we take in the future. We can just say that we are acting under the orders of that country and didn’t have a choice. If the powerful enemy really exists, we could shift the responsibility to that country, correct? If the enemy doesn’t want a direct confrontation, they will do their best to accommodate us.”

“I see… if there are people who are unhappy with them, we can use this excuse to pull this third party to our side… That’s the idea. As expected of Ainz-sama…”

Just like the boss of an evil organization stroking a cat on his lap, Ainz patted the head of Shalltear who was acting as a chair as he said “It’s not me”.

“The one who came up with this plan wasn’t me, but Demiurge. He should be the one who deserved this praise.”

“No, you flatter me. Ainz-sama seems to have reached this conclusion before I did.”

“Ah, well yeah. My apologies for seemingly snatching your credit. And on top of that, it will be much easier for us to garner intelligence.”

A country should already have an intelligence network in place. They would be able to progress by leap and bounds just by sending a minion of Nazarick in.

After learning his advice was of use for Ainz and Ainz’s manner of speech as if he was confirming the two brilliant Guardians made Demiurge smile.

“It is just as you said.”

Ainz knew that Demiurge was implying that Ainz knew from the very beginning.

“Ah, as expected of Ainz-sama, to have thought about this so thoroughly… Hmmm… So lowly beings like humans could be of use too.”

After Albedo comment, the other Guardians – including Shalltear who was relegated to being a chair – showered Ainz with sparkling gaze of admiration.

It made Ainz feel uneasy, but he felt relief that he didn’t get it wrong when the two of them agreed with him.

“Well then… let’s target a country.”

“If we consider the nations in the vicinity, it would be the Kingdom, the Empire and the Theocracy.”

“Wha, what about countries further away? Such as the Republic and the Holy Kingdom.”

“I would advise against choosing nations that are far away, and I don’t want to come into contact with the Theocracy before I have adequate intelligence about them. That leaves the Kingdom and the Empire… And from the intelligence gathered by Sebas, the Kingdom isn't that appealing to me, but… we will need to research this further.”

Ainz extended his hand towards the mirror after saying “By the way.”

“We gave the lizardmen a bit of time, let’s see whether anything unexpected is happening.”

The bird’s eye view of the lizardmen’s village appeared on the mirror of remote viewing, with tiny spots moving around.

Ainz reached out towards the mirror and gestured, changing the scenery on the mirror.

The first time of course, was to zoom in.

The sight of the lizardmen working hard to prepare for war was shown completely.

“Futile efforts.”

Demiurge murmured at the lizardmen gently.

Let me see, where are they. It’s hard to tell the lizardmen apart.

Ainz searched for the six lizardmen he had seen in the recording with a frown on his face.

Hmmm– found the armored one. That’s the one that threw rocks, right? Next, the buster sword is here. The difference is too minute. It is easy to find those with prominent colors or equipment… Found the one with the prominent arm.

After observing that, Ainz kept shifting the image on the mirror.

“... I don’t see the white lizardman and the one holding the magic weapon.”

“Ermm… the one called Zaryusu?”

“Ah, right, that’s his name.”

Ainz recalled the lizardman who had come forth to negotiate at Aura’s prompt.

“Could he be inside the houses?”

“Probably.”

But the mirror of remote viewing wasn’t able to see inside buildings. That was the case, normally.

“Demiurge, Infinity Haversack please.”

“By your will.”

Demiurge bowed and moved to the table in the corner of the room and picked up the Infinity Haversack. He presented it to Ainz respectfully. Ainz took out one scroll from within.

He then activated the magic within the scroll.

An invisible ethereal sensory organ was conjured. The sensory organ can't penetrate magical barriers, but it can pass through normal walls regardless of their thickness. If it couldn’t get in, it meant that a powerful enemy they had to be wary of was there.

After linking the sensory organ with the mirror of remote viewing so the Guardians could also see, Ainz started maneuvering the sensory organ that looked like a floating eyeball.

“Let’s take a look inside the house.”

Ainz chose an old broken house nearby and moved the sensory organ in. Even if the interior was dark, it would show up as bright as day once the organ got in.

In that room, a white lizardman was being pressed down with its tail lifted up. A black lizardman was riding on top.

Baffling.

Ainz didn’t understand what was going on in the very beginning. The next instant, that changed to confusion as to why they are doing that thing at a time like this.

Ainz then moved the sensory organ outside silently.

“......”

“…………”

Feeling troubled, Ainz placed his palm on his face. The Guardians by his side didn’t know what to say and looked at each other.

Demiurge: “– What an unpleasant bunch. Cocytus will be attacking soon and they still have the nerve to do this?!”

Aura: “That’s right, that’s right!”

Mare: “Ah, well, ermm…”

Shalltear: “Demiurge is right. Let’s teach them a lesson!”

Albedo: “How envious…”

Ainz lift a hand to stop the chatter of the Guardians.

“... Forget it, they will be dead soon. I saw in a movie once that desperate situations like these will stimulate their instinct to reproduce.”

Ainz nodded to affirm his own opinion.

Demiurge: “You are right!”

Aura: If it's only this much, we can let them off~

Shalltear: “Right, right!”

Mare: “Ermm, ah, that…”

Albedo: “Me too, with Ainz-sama…”

Ainz: “... All of you be quiet.”

After all the Guardians shut their mouth, Ainz sighed.

“... I think I lost my drive, but never mind. There shouldn’t be anyone we need to look out for in the village. But we can’t drop our guard, someone might be heading our way. Aura…”

Ainz suddenly stopped moving and stared at the two children.

Oh no! I messed up! They are not old enough for sex ed yet… No, it’s way too soon for that!

Ainz felt he could empathize with how a father feels when an intense sex scene comes up while watching TV with the whole family.

What are parents supposed to answer when their children ask them ‘where do babies come from’? Shit! I did let Simmering Teapot’s kids saw that kind of scene– Eh, it should be fine. Ignoring Albedo, Demiurge… will probably explain it from a medical angle… That will be the back up plan. Shalltear… she seemed to be fine. Anyway, I will remember this as an issue to be resolved later.

After pushing the problem to the back of his mind, Ainz coughed and said:

“If the security net reveals anything, all the Guardians and I will move out together.”

If a player from YGGDRASIL did exist, Ainz didn’t plan to honor the agreement he made to let the lizardmen village go. If the other party won’t join them, they will be destroyed by Nazarick’s full might to prevent intel from leaking. If that was the case, Ainz will destroy the village even if he had to throw in all the forces from the eighth floor.

Ainz shook off the guilt of betraying the promise he made with Cocytus. If it was for the sake of something of the utmost importance, a white lie could smooth things over.

“... Alright then, now we wait for the show to start… and admire Cocytus’ combat prowess.”

Part 2

Four hours passed in a flash.

The lizardmen warriors were already gathering in the front gate of the village– in the wetlands where the ice was melting. After the intense battle several days ago, there wasn’t many lizardmen warriors left.

They numbered 316.

Lizardmen that were not warriors would not be taking part because Shasuryu said “The enemy is few, having too many people will only get in the way”.

It seemed reasonable at first, but it didn’t hold water.

Zaryusu stood far from the lizardmen, watching the gathering lizardmen warriors.

Everyone had warpaint representing their ancestors on them, their face showed will as tough as steel. They seemed to think they wouldn’t lose.

The lizardmen around them cheered the warriors on. In that group, expressions of unease could be seen clearly.

To keep the anxiety in his heart from showing, Zaryusu worked hard to show a poker face in front of the other lizardmen, keeping them away from the truth of this fight being a sacrificial offering to the Overlord of Death.

This was a battle where the Overlord of Death was going to display his might to the lizardmen, to completely crush the lizardmen’s will to resist. They had no chance of winning from the very start. Shasuryu’s words from earlier actually entailed the wish to keep the sacrifice to the minimum.

Zaryusu averted his eyes from the lizardmen and glared at the enemy territory with sharp eyes.

The skeleton army was rooted in the same spot, not moving an inch. The figure of a monster by the name of Cocytus could not be seen around them. It couldn’t be a skeleton, he is someone the Overlord of Death trusted, there is no way he is a minion level monster. He must be someone whose will is so obviously strong that you can even feel it to the tip of your tail with just one look.

The sound of a large creature moving in the wetlands could be heard from behind the anxious Zaryusu—

“– Hey, Zaryusu.”

– Zenberu greeted nonchalantly as usual. Even though they were heading towards death, Zenberu was his usual self.

“Our morale seems to be at its peak.”

“Yes it is, it will be great if it keeps at this level in the face of the powerful enemy, Cocytus…”

“Yeah. Oh? It’s time?”

Shasuryu appeared at the main gate, and all eyes fell on him and the two wetland fairies beside him.

Crusch was absent because she exhausted all her mana to summon the wetland fairies. After having cast several long time defensive buffs and summoned the fairies, the intense mana toll made her immobile. When the two of them left the room, Crusch already told Zaryusu she will lose consciousness from overusing mana, and that this will be the last time they see each other.

Zaryusu who didn’t have his mate besides him cast a lonesome gaze in Crusch’s direction. Her face when she bid farewell broke Zaryusu’s heart.

“Warriors, advance!”

Shasuryu’s uplifting command raised the morale of the lizardmen to new height.

He had to change his mindset to that of a warrior. Zaryusu gathered his thoughts.

Under the lead of Shasuryu and the two wetland fairies, the lizardmen marched forth slowly.

They moved away from the village to avoid collateral damage to it.

Zaryusu and Zenberu were the rear guard.

Zaryusu looked back at the village suddenly. The tattered mud walls, the worried group of lizardmen seeing them off, and—

Zaryusu sighed and shook his worries away and took large stride forward. He didn’t utter the name of the female lizardman that was right at his lips.

The lizardmen traversed the wetlands, forming up between the enemy skeleton army and the village.

There was no particular formation, the lizardmen simply gathered randomly as they waited for the upcoming battle. The only clear arrangement was that the various tribe chiefs, Zaryusu and the two wetland fairies were standing in front.

The skeleton army was probably waiting for Zaryusu and the others to come. The skeletons banged on their shields and marched forward.

If the timing was even slightly off, it would just sound like random noise from a marching army, but their movements were in sync and the sound was as one. In a different setting, this performance would be worthy of applause and praise.

While the sound drew the attention of the lizardmen, to the rear of the skeletons– several trees in the forest fell.

There was only one reason why the thick large trees fell. Someone cut them down.

This caused a commotion among the lizardmen.

As they couldn’t see how it was done, it might be possible that this was a handiwork of several beings. However, the timing between the felling of each tree was too tidy. After seeing the synchronized movement of the skeletons, it might be possible for several beings working together to achieve that, but not a single lizardmen thought this was the case here.

A strange premonition lingered in their hearts, the feeling that this was the work of just one being.

This was because there was no sound of blade cutting into the trees before they fell. Which meant that it might be improbable, but it was done by a very strong being in one stroke.

What kind of strength and weapon could cut a large tree in one strike?

The thuds of falling trees together with the banging of shields came closer to the lizardmen.

Anxious feelings welled up. This was expected, how could anyone keep calm in such a situation. Even Zenberu who had the resolve to die, or Zaryusu and Shasuryu were shaken even though they hid it well.

Moments later, the one opening a path in the forest revealed itself. At the same time, the banging of the shields stopped.

In the eerily silent space, a smooth blue circle appeared before them. If not for the thick clouds, there was no telling how bright his reflection would be.

That large body of 250cm in height looked like an insect standing on two legs. The appearance was like that of an ant or mantis, a hybrid born of a twisted devil.

Its hard exoskeleton had a frosty air about it, sparkling like diamond dust.

It had a spiked tail that was twice its height and powerful jaws that looked powerful enough to chew off a human arm in one bite.

He had four clawed arms with shiny gauntlets gracing each one. A round golden necklace was worn around its neck and silver bangles adorned its legs.

The powerful being on par with the Overlord of Death– made its appearance.

So this is Cocytus?

Zaryusu’s heart raced and his breathing became ragged.

None of the lizardmen spoke. Their eyes were drawn to the monster that showed itself, unable to shift their gaze away. Even though they were afraid, they were too scared to look away.

The group backed away unconsciously. Be it the lizardmen who came with rousing fighting spirits or Zaryusu and the others who came here with the resolve to die, all of them were stunned in the face of dominating power.

I know the Overlord of Death is holding back, but to think a powerful being that wants to fight could be so terrifying.

Even with magic that could suppress fear, the urge to run away still sprung up from within Zaryusu. It was a miracle that the other lizardmen who weren’t protected by such spell did not run away.

Cocytus drew near slowly.

He walked into the wetlands, passing the skeletons with swagger—

Cocytus stopped about thirty metres before the lizardmen, on top of a small knoll. Cocytus then moved his insect like face on his long neck. He seemed to be searching for someone.

Zaryusu felt Cocytus’ gaze rested on him for a brief moment.

“—Alright, Ainz-sama is watching, so show your might. Before that, 「Ice Pillar」.”

With the activation of the spell, two pillars of ice sprouted between the lizardmen and Cocytus, about twenty meters away.

“This might be rude for the warriors who came with the resolve to die, but know this, only death awaits all who cross beyond these ice pillars.”

Cocytus crossed two of his arms, his body language seemed to a signal of him leaving the decision up to the lizardmen.

“Hey hey, he is an unexpectedly a nice guy…”

Zaryusu nodded in agreement when he heard Zenberu’s comment.

He then took a step forth. Zenberu, Shasuryu and the two other tribe chiefs followed.

Shasuryu turned back and told the warriors following them:

“You lot stay here… no, go back to the village. If not… you will die because of us.”

“What?! We want to fight too! It is scary… but even so, we want to fight!”

“There is no cowardice in retreat, living on takes more courage.”

“But—”

“Not all the lizardmen can go back, that’s how it is. As the tribe leaders, we can’t allow others to conquer us without a fight, right?”

“But chief, we also want to fight.”

“Hold it young ones! Scram, get out of here, leave the rest to us old timers!”

The lizardmen pushing their way to the front were old, but not elderly enough to be called an old man. They numbered 57, and the other lizardmen couldn’t say anything after seeing their faces.

If they showed resolved or resignation, the others would had insisted in going with them. But their expressions were pleading them, begging the younger ones to live on.

The speechless warriors reluctantly fell back.

Shasuryu turned to Cocytus once again.

“... Apologies for the wait, Cocytus.”

Cocytus extended one of his arm, bending a thin finger, gesturing at them to come at him. Facing the taunt of the enemy, Shasuryu yelled at the top of his voice:

“Charge—!”

“Warrghhhh!”

The lizardmen who steeled themselves mentally roared from the bottom of their heart and rushed at Cocytus.

Cocytus looked coldly at the warriors charging him.

“... I am sorry to do this to you, warriors, but let me cut down your numbers.”

Cocytus wouldn’t lose even if all the warriors reached him, but he still needed to pick his opponents.

Personally, Cocytus wanted to show his respect as a warrior and fight in a distance where the enemy could strike at him. But he owed a deep debt to his master, so it would be rude to show Ainz a disgraceful fight between a Nazarick's Guardian and unruly mobs.

Cocytus released his sealed spirit.

The ability of the class ‘Knight of Niflheim’– ‘Frost Aura’. This special ability used extreme cold to deal damage and slightly lowered the speed of adversaries. At full power, it would even affect the lizardmen watching from the sidelines. Cocytus didn’t wish for that.

Suppress his power.

Limit the range, lower the damage.

“About this much…”

With Cocytus as the center, the extreme cold covered a radius of 25m.

Affected by the extreme cold, the temperature dropped drastically, making the air shriek.

“... Hmmm, that should do.”

Cocytus sealed his spirit.

It happened in a flash, the incredible cold was already gone as if it was an illusion. But that was definitely not a dream or an illusion. The bodies of the 57 lizardmen on the wetlands was the best proof.

Only five lizardmen could still move, and they were the five strongest people among the lizardmen. They weren’t intimidated by their comrades’ deaths or Cocytus’ ability, moving as one.

A rock flew through the air. A lizardman in full body armor led the charge with two lizardmen following behind. The wetland fairies moved slowly behind the two lizardmen with their bodies that had cracked in the cold. The last lizardman at the back kept chanting spells.

The first strike was the rock aimed at Cocytus’ throat. However, that attack was meaningless because—

“—The equipment on all Guardians could defend against projectiles.”

—An invisible barrier seemed to deflected the rock.

The leading lizardman followed next, wearing one of the four treasures passed down from generation to generation– White Dragon Bone. It was tough enough to block Frost Pain which was also one of the four treasures, the hardest armor known to lizardmen.

Cocytus who was facing him drew a sword out of thin air– as if the blade was already there.

The taichi Cocytus drew– with the length exceeding 180cm, was known as Royal Blade God Slayer. It was the sharpest of among the twenty one weapon Cocytus possessed.

He then slashed at the lizardman before him.

The blade that sliced through the air made the air howl– a calm sound. In a different situation, one might want to listen carefully to this clean sound.

After that sound, the body of the tribal chief split in half together with the armor, falling to the left and right into the wetlands.

Royal Blade God Slayer was not damaged after cleaving the hardest armor of the lizardmen.

The two lizardmen behind weren’t fazed by the gruesome death of their comrade, attacking from either side with their weapons raised.

“Shyaa!”

On the right side was Zenberu’s chop, powered by ‘Iron Natural Weapon’ and ‘Iron Skin’. It was directed at full power towards Cocytus’ face.

“Warrgghh!”

On the left side was Frost Pain, aimed at his abdomen.

This melee attack took advantage of the logic of long weapons being hard to use in close quarters.

And of course, that only applied to normal people.

Cocytus slightly turned and used his blade to block Zenberu’s arm from the right. His movement was smooth and elegant, as if the weapon in his hand was a part of his body.

With the ability of ‘Iron Skin’, Zenberu was on par with steel in term of hardness. But the clash with the armor earlier showed how sharp Royal Blade God Slayer was.

The blade slid into his arm smoothly as if it was slicing through water.

“Ugghhhh!”

As blood spurted from Zenberu’s right stump, Cocytus’ other hand was already pinching Frost Pain that was aimed at his abdomen.

“– Oh, I see. This is a nice sword…”

“Tch!”

Zaryusu gave up on the Frost Pain that couldn’t be moved and kicked Cocytus in the knee cap. Cocytus did not dodge and took the blow. In the end, it was Zaryusu who landed the blow that suffered intense pain.

It was the same sensation of kicking an iron wall with all your might.

“「Over Magic: Mass Cure Light Wounds」!”

After exhausting a large amount of mana, it enabled the use of higher tier magic that was not usually accessible– Shasuryu cast a mass healing spell boosted by magical enhancement.

“Fumu…”

Cocytus seemed intrigued as he stared at Shasuryu who used a spell modifier he did not know, but the two wetland fairies blocked his view. The wetland fairies moved in front of Zenberu, whose arm was regenerating from magic, and attacked Cocytus with their tentacles. Before their attacks even landed, Cocytus slashed at them impatiently.

As the wetland fairies crumbled into dust, Zaryusu’s fist landed on Cocytus’ solar plexus, abdomen and chest. And of course, the one injured was Zaryusu. The skin on his fist was torn and bleeding.

“Annoying.”

Cocytus swung his spiked tail hard at Zaryusu’s chest.

“Guuahhh!”

Zaryusu flew like a ball hit by a bat with a cracking sound, flying high and far before rolling onto the wetlands. He finally stopped after rolling on the wetlands, but the pain in his chest and the blood spilling from his throat made it hard to breathe.

The broken bones probably pierced his lungs, he couldn’t breathe in even if he wanted to, feeling like he was under water. The warm liquid spilling from his throat made him want to throw up. Zaryusu looked at his chest and saw blood bleeding from his wounds that was gored by sharp spikes.

– Just one hit turned Zaryusu to this pitiful state.

Zaryusu tried to breath with all his might glared with spirited eyes at Cocytus who might move in for the finishing blow.

“Since you still have the will to fight, I will return this to you.”

Cocytus tossed Frost Pain to Zaryusu’s side and ignored him, turning to face the remaining lizardmen.

Shasuryu cast healing magic on Zenberu who had regenerated his arm but lost a lot of stamina.

Right before Cocytus reached them, another rock came flying at him to divert his attention– But it was in vain as it was deflected easily.

“– Irritating.”

Cocytus mumbled and extended his arm at the ‘Small Fang’ chief.

“「Piercing Icicle」.”

Dozens of icicles as thick as a human arm rained down in a wide area attack.

The lizardman who was within range was pierced by the icicles instantly.

One hit his chest, two hit his abdomen, one in his right thigh, all the icicles penetrated the lizardman’s body easily.

The chief of ‘Small Fang’– the lizardman with the best guerilla abilities fell dead into the wetlands like a puppet without strings.

“Waarrghhh!”

“「Over Magic: Mass Cure Light Wounds」!”

Zenberu rushed forth as Shasuryu once again cast healing magic. Zenberu was buying time for Zaryusu to recover.

He knew that this was rash and how insignificant he was before the might of Cocytus. Even so, Zenberu did not hesitate charging ahead.

When Zenberu got within range, Cocytus slashed with Royal Blade God Slayer casually.

That slash was faster than Zenberu’s dynamic vision—

The speed was way faster than Zenberu’s agility—