Chapter 45: Exploring the Demon Woods 2 (4)

Joel was already doing a superb job by shaking off the petrification and taking a stance. The miasma from the manticore would render more than half of the C-ranked adventurers incapable of fighting typically. Those who were unable to stand up against the miasma had no rights to fight against the manticore. The fate of those who were unable to fight back was to be eaten. That was how it was when fighting highly ranked monsters.

The manticore laughed at its preys' futile attempt at resistance.

In the very next moment, the large body became hazy.

“Wha!”

“Guh!”

Joel was blown away, and Mariano stumbled as he took a few steps backwards. The monster closed the distance in one breath and struck the two vanguards with both of its front legs.

But that wasn't the end of it.

“Mr. Mariano! Jump!”

“Joel?...... ugh!?”

The monster made a roar and swung its tail, which had poisonous spikes, at Mariano. A combo of two attacks. Joel was 'blown away' not because he was defeated. Whether consciously or unconsciously, he somehow sensed the follow-up attack from the tail and decided to dodge. On the contrary, Mariano, who had stopped moving, almost failed to escape the area of its attack.

Mariano followed Joel's instructions and jumped backwards. By a hair's breadth, the tail full of needles and thorns skimmed past his chest.

He managed to narrowly avoid a direct blow. However.

“M-my armour is......”

A charred hole appeared in his surcoat and the erosive poison reached the breastplate beneath it, creating poisonous fumes. It was the venom from the manticore's tail. The slightest exposure to it had made Mariano's holy marked surcoat and metal armour become like this. If this had hit his skin or was driven directly into his body, one could only imagine the result. Just imagining it was terrifying.

“Sheeran, please try to hold it back with your bow! Oh, Fire Spirits—”

“......Ugh.”

In order to fight back, Rosalie began chanting her spell while Sheeran covered her by firing arrows.

The monster's evil eyes twisted into a thin line as the two maidens put up a resistance.

“Impudence, child of humans. Foolishness, child of humans!”

The monster swung its tail. With that, the three arrows that Sheeran fired in one breath bounced off pointlessly in the air.

“Feel the despair! Oh God of darkness, father of us demons, I humbly pray—”

“Magic?”

Since it had the head of a human, voice of a human, of course it was perfectly normal for it to chant spells.

Moreover, it was as ominous as the chanting from an evil cult. The miasma in the air became denser and Joel sensed the activation of powerful magic.

If they were hit by it, they would be in grave danger.

Realising that, Joel lunged forward to attack.

“Get the anti-magic barriers ready! Sheeran, I don't care if the arrows hit me, just shoot!”

Instead of simply giving a warcry while charging, Joel gave instructions before charging in straight to slash the enemy with his sword.

“Got it! O God, the founder of all things, the Holy King, the father of mankind—”

“......Move out of the way if possible.”

Mariano chanted the scriptures after emptying his mind while Sheeran grimly fired off arrow after arrow. Rosalie also chanted her spells without pause.

(Hurry, hurry, hurry up and activate your stupid magic! Joel is in danger!)

“OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

With the firm gaze of his comrades behind him, Joel let out a yell and continued to boldly attack, despite being hit by stray arrows which he had assumed would happen.

Joel tried to hit the manticore's head with his move, bamboo strike, but it was deflected by the manticore’s claws. He then changed his attack into a horizontal slice but that was blocked by the spikes of the manticore’s tail. The manticore took a step back. To mock his prey, it then rushed forward with a headbutt.

Taking the opportunity, Joel gathered all his strength for another bamboo strike.

“......Ugh, ah!”

Before unleashing his move, he was hit in the chest by the manticore's claw and was blown away.

Joel bounced several times on the ground and slammed into a tree trunk. Even though he had performed several anaerobic attack moves previously and his lungs should have been deprived of air, the impact towards his chest made him cough out non-existent air.

“Cough...... Guh......!”

Even so, Joel couldn't let himself fall as the leader, so he stood up with his sword thrust onto the ground to act as his walking stick.

In his hazy field of vision, he could see the manticore smiling in triumph.

The manticore had fended off Joel's attack while continuing with its chants.

“-Take the souls of the living here and burn them in hellfire! Ignis Fatas!!!”

Instantly, supernatural flames spreaded from underneath the monster's feet.

At the same time, the members of the Guardian of Balance reacted.

“......Joel!”

Sheeran threw down her bow and covered her cloak over him.

“Bless us with your shield! Holy Protection!”

Mariano invoked the sacred magic of protection.

Rosalie also activated magic towards the target.

However, the manticore's Ignis Fatas swept the entire place in flames. Unlike normal fire magic, the evil flames had an unnatural brightness, brighter than several candle flames put together. Instead of burning the vegetation around it, the cylindrical flames enveloped the flesh and soul of those trapped within it. Such sadistic flames were befitting of magic casted by the offspring of demons.

“Ahhhhh!”

“Fi, ah, ......”

“----!”

The flames tormented the adventurers, completely bypassing the priest's protection.

Rosalie, Mariano, and Sheeran, who was hugging Joel tightly, writhed spasmodically in agony caused by the intense pain and suffocation.

Eventually, the four collapsed on the ground. The manticore roared triumphantly.

“Sacrifice! Sacrifice, Sacrifice, Sacrifice! Gufuhahahahahaha!”