Chapter 422: Frumious Sword Demon (side: Volk)

Under the influence of [Frumious Fang Bandersnatch], my vision becomes dyed red. A murderous zeal dominates my mind, and I am consumed by an urge to cut something down.

This cursed sword forcibly turns its wielder into a raging berserker. Perhaps this was the world Magic Beast King Bandersnatch saw.

I have undergone spiritual training to be able to use this sword, but still whenever I touch it, I am unable to hold back the excitement and destructive impulse it confers. From here on, I will abandon myself to my emotions, and cut only on instinct.

“What is… His atmosphere changed…”

“Haaaaaaah!”

With all my strength, I slam the cursed sword against the floor. The floor breaks, throwing up a cloud of dust, and I spring up and kick off the wall, launching myself at the ugly woman slime.

“Aha! It looks like he’s gotten even more stupid! [Water Blade]! [Water Blade]!”

“[Water Blade]!”

The two slimes fire a continuous stream of water blades at me.

“He’s in the air, so he can only block, and can’t dodge! Aim for that!” (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

“…Right, onee-chan.”

―I receive the [Water Blades] directly. Countless blades slice through my body, adding to my wounds.

I feel no pain. The fervour has cut it off. As I am now, I will no pain, suffering, or fatigue until my life is used up.

“…Eh?” “H-huuuh!?”

I tilt the cursed sword to shift the centre of gravity down, causing me to sharply fall to the floor. I land right next to the ugly slime.

“UOOOOOOO, RaaAAAh!”

I release a single massive swing. The ugly slime twists her body with a peculiar movement, avoiding me.

“Ugeeh! His movements have gotten simpler, but the speed of his swing has increased! That’s not just an attack power enhancement. That was dangerous, if that hit me directly…”

The cursed sword strikes the floor, destroying it.

“Igyaaah!”

From the shockwave produced, the ugly slime is thrown into the air. I pull my sword back to swing at her defenceless body.

“Oo, UoOOOOOOOO!”

“W-wait! St-stop! Stop!”

“I won’t let you, [Confusion]!”

The yellow light shot from the girl slime wraps around me. I scrunch up my face in irritation at the chaos that assaults my brain.

“…Made it in time.”

“I-Is he stupid? Didn't he know this would happen if he jumped straight at me…? It looks like he really didn’t know! Ahaa! He really was a stubborn man, but now it’s finally over!”

Still suspended in the air, the ugly slime extends a tentacle towards me.

“UoraAAAAAAh!”

I swing my cursed sword in a wide arc, striking the ugly woman slime.

“Ah…”

Knocked flying by the force of my blow, she slams back-first into the wall. Her outline collapses, and her slime body quivers.

“A, agu…! Y-you messed up, didn’t you! Y-you…foolish sister!”

“N-no! It didn’t have an effect! It’s probably because of the mental interference from that sword! Even if we don’t do anything he’s already in a state of near-confusion, so there’s no point!”

“Wh-what!? Haa!?”

“He’s moving just on instinct and reacting to what’s around him! He might not have any thoughts left to disturb…”

“Th-then, [Confusion] won’t work!? That sort of…! He’s essentially a monster already!”

I kick off the floor and close the distance to the ugly slime.

“I’ll hunt you down! Mephisto!”

“Y-you!”

The ugly slime peels off the wall and begins crawling away from me. Even while retreating, she shoots [Water Blades] at me. While deflecting some with the cursed sword, and receiving those I can’t block with my body, I close distance to her through the shortest possible route.

“Do something to stop him! I’ll deal enough damage to kill him for good! He’s on the verge of death for sure! There’s no way he could take so many and be okay! He can't be!”

The ugly slime runs from me in a curve. I chase her.

A little while later, once I’ve closed most of the distance, I notice something flying at me from the side. It’s the girl slime. It seems the reason for the sudden change of course part way through was to lead me into this ambush.

The girl slime’s body transforms, and she clings to me.

“…Do it now, don’t worry about me!”

My body doesn’t move as I want it to.

“Well done! Losing half my body here hurts, but defeat isn’t an option!”

The ugly slime stops fleeing and turns around. A black light gathers in her hand. I resist the pressure of the slime on me, and swing my cursed sword up.

“…No matter what you do, it’s useless. Dragon Hunter…die with me.”

I pour all of what’s left of my magic power into my cursed sword.

“[Gravidon]!”

“[Shockwave]!”

I swing my cursed sword. Like an enraged dragon, the slash released from [Frumious Fang Bandersnatch] flies towards the black sphere. The dragon’s claws scrape the floor, and the [Gravidon] is consumed by its fangs. The mass of condensed gravity swells up and explodes with a thunderous roar.

“Th-this monster of a man!”

A cloud of dust is thrown up in the area. A huge hole has opened in the wall, and rubble begins to fall from the ceiling. As the dust clears, a splatter of green liquid is revealed.

“O-onee-chan…! You…!”

Still clinging to me, the girl slime transforms her upper body, turning the tip of her arm into a sword.

“You got disturbed and tried to rush the battle!”

I twist my upper body to throw the slime off balance, then cut off her upper body. As she flies through the air, I follow up with another blow. Her scream reverberates, and green liquid sprays out. The remaining slime clinging to my body peels away.

“Haa, haa, haa…”

My reddish vision clears up. I’ve used up all my health and willpower.

…It seems this is my limit. As Bandersnatch forces me to rampage until I’m exhausted, I had already given up on following the ouroboros the moment I touched it.

“I couldn’t keep my promise, ouroboros. I did complete my duty though, so please forgive me with this.”

Still holding the cursed sword, I plant my back against the wall and slump down. My body feels terribly heavy. It’s no doubt due to the confusion magic and the sword’s mental interference,  as well as the overuse of my magic power and stamina. The inside of my head spins around nauseatingly. I can’t even stand up.

A cool thing touches my hand. It’s a piece of Mephisto’s body.

“…Sword of the Phantom Butterfly, Mephisto. You were certainly a formidable enemy.”

I murmur quietly, and close my eyes.