Chapter 410: All-Out

I swing my forearm in a punch aimed at Rogueheil. He changes one of his legs into a tentacle and uses it to spring up, avoiding my attack. My fist flies through the rubble wall that I had torn down to block Thermal’s escape, breaking the floor beneath, causing the rubble to fall through the new gaping hole in the floor. On the other side of the hole, Rogueheil laughs and holds an arm out towards me.

“[Holy Pillar]!”

As the three blue metal pillars soar towards me, I knock them off course with blades of wind created by [Wind Slash], forcing them into the floor. I kick off the ground and spread my wings. The walls on either side of me crumble. As I land next to Rogueheil, he holds up both his arms. The old man’s body becomes transparent changing to a faint green colour, and loses its outline.

“Hohohoho, you’re showing such an opening? Then take this! [Ooze Machine Gun]!”

Rogueheil’s body becomes uneven, and countless bullets of slime shoot from all over his body. Cheh! He’s using it with annoying timing!

But don’t underestimate me! Don’t think I’ll take it and give nothing in return!

I hurriedly suck in my breath and breathe out towards him. A wall of flames erupts between us, consuming the bullets, and then wrapping around the old man’s body. It’s the [Scorching Breath] skill.

“Guh!”

Bullets of goo that I was too late to block stick to my legs and body. Sharp pain runs through me. If I look, I can see that they have eroded through my scales and burnt into my body.

They’re bullets of strong acid. To be able to produce that many at once, it’s an incredibly versatile and dangerous skill.

“Fufufu, do you not think you were too hasty to dispense with those hindrances? If you hadn't, it would be too bor-…”

As he tries to escape from the flames, I strike his body as hard as I can with my tail. His body fluids splatter, and he slams into the opposite wall and moans.

“Y-you…!”

Eyes wide open, he glares at me. Towards that face, I then drag my vicious ouroboros claws through ceiling and wall towards him. I gouge out his body and fling him backwards.

“Now you’ve done it…”

His body regenerates before my eyes. It’s the [Autoregeneration] skill. His regeneration rate is ridiculously fast.

But it's also proof that, unless he devotes his MP to healing, he can’t keep up with the damage I’m dealing.

This is no time to rest my hands! I have to overwhelm him with my speed and power! I can’t allow him time to prepare!

I turn my attention away from the surrounding destruction and twist my body to swing my claws down at him.

“Guh… Y-you…! [Holy Pillar]!”

In front of him, a thick blue pillar thrusts out. He must be trying to put a barrier between us to give him a chance to prepare.

“Fu, fu, with this…”

“GuuOOOOOOOOOOOOh!”

[Roaring], I pull my arm back further and swing it down as hard as I can. The Holy Pillar shatters, shockwaves spreading from the fragments as they hit the floor.

I still haven’t gotten the experience points. He’s a tough one. I quickly land, and spot him crawling out of the pile of rubble. I raise my arm up again. Surely this will kill him…!

I feel a sudden sense of discomfort. Why did he reveal himself so easily? Did he intentionally let me find him?

There’s something I realise this could be. He has a skill by the name of [Doppelganger]…

【Normal skill [Doppelganger]】

【At the cost of HP, a slime body double is produced.】

【After taking a certain amount of damage, the body double disintegrates.】

【When that happens, no experience is awarded.】

Partner! Keep an eye that way! It's a body double!

I twist around, sweeping my forefoot towards the real Rogueheil, who was approaching from the shadows. He jumps back, stretching out a slimy tentacle to pull himself to the ceiling, which he then clings to, belly-up.

『Step back a bit!』

As my partner instructs, I twist my body away. Glancing backwards, I see that she’s bitten into the body double’s tentacle arm and pulled viciously. The body double’s body falls apart and dissintegrates.

“…Hmm, it didn’t go through. As I thought, your pure strength is greater than mine.”

I fire a [Wind Slash] at Rogueheil as he hangs from the ceiling. He swings down to escape further into the room, evading the attack. He then continues futher away, and flying down a flight of stairs. The area below should be the basement layer.

There’s no doubt that he’s trying to lead me further in. It brings our fight further from Aro and the others, which suits me well, but moving how the enemy wants makes me feel uneasy.

Following him down the stairs, I emerge into a area unlike any of the rest of the castle that I’ve seen. A huge hall, lined with metal stretches out.

…This is a place where he can go all out, I imagine. Though I can also move around a lot more freely here. He can bring it on, and I’ll end it right away.

“Irushia, or whoever you are, I will tell you the condition to becoming one of the Three Knights. Among monsters with a certain degree of intelligence, those that are the strongest are chosen. There are some among us who don’t manage to master a human form. In most cases, such monsters reach their evolution limit at a low rank, but… There are some for which that is not the case.”

What? What’s he trying to say?

All of a sudden, a huge door at the back of the basement collapses. For a moment, the sight is too repulsive that I forget to breathe.

What appears from deeper inside is a huge slime, about the same size as me. Inside the slime’s body float the remains of countless humans in the process of digestion. Most are just bones, but there are a few corpses that still have meat clinging them.

“BuruuwaaaaAAaAaAAAAh!”

The mass of slime produces a disgusting roar.

“This was meant to be our last insurance to defeat the Saint. We’re not able to grasp her movements, but hopefully this will force her hand. Furthermore… [Wide Summon]!”

With Rogueheil at the centre, a huge magic circle expands, shining with dazzling light. Surrounding him appear five giants, each with green skin and about three metres tall. They all have weirdly flat faces, and are gripping huge clubs. After looking around with lifeless eyes, they lock their gazes onto me.

Wh-what is this creepy group…? Just how much war potential does he plan on throwing at me?

“I wonder if I should also take this seriously. My human form is too weak.”

Rogueheil’s body loses its colour, his outline collapsing as it expands. In the blink of an eye, his face is gone. After expanding to four metres in size, colour returns to his body, becoming a grotesque deep green, reminiscent of a gutter. A huge quantity of tentacles extend from him. Eyeballs pop up all throughout his body and tentacles. It total it looks as though there could be over a hundred eyeballs in total.

『Hyoohyohyohyo! Did you perhaps think you could beat me? It is always correct to hide your claws until you’ve forced the enemy into a situation where you have a certain victory! Furthermore, [Doppelganger]!』

Rogueheil’s unsettling body splits, increasing to two, three… No, five of him have appeared suddenly. Each Rogueheil expands within the span of an instant.

『You’re not planning on runing, are you, Irushia? I’m going to suck out your memories! Just like I have to the people of this city! Hyoohhyohhyoh!』

Rogueheil’s body opens up, and a huge mouth appears. From inside the mouth, what looks like four tongues hang down.

I had thought he had a character of a composed old man, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. He was totally playing a part.