CH 98

98 – The assassin challenges the King of Beasts



I blew away the demon Riogel far in the distance.



The only creatures left were the lionesses.



Even if they were powerful monsters, now that their eyes, ears, and noses were destroyed, and considering they hadn’t even recovered from the damage they sustained when it happened, they were as harmless as babies.



We killed them all without a hitch.



The wind blew the strong stench that enshrouded my surroundings up to the heavens at once, and I was finally able to take off my mask.



The three weapons we used this time were a flashbang, an acoustic bomb, and a stink bomb.



The advantage of these weapons was that they were effective regardless of the stamina of the opponent, as no matter how abnormally tough they were, light, sound, and smell would bypass their defense.



Against strong adversaries, these were much more reliable than some weapon with half-baked firepower.



It was a tactic I had originally thought of using against the Hero.



[Well then, I’ll burn them all together.] (Dia)



Incinerating them one by one to prevent their resurrection would’ve taken too long, so we grouped all the corpses together.



A storm of flames engulfed the pile of bodies, burning them to the ground and scattering their ashes.



[I think this’ll do. I know I created it myself, but【Stun Flare】was even more amazing than I thought it would be.] (Dia)



[I was taken aback as well. I never knew there was such an efficient way of using light magic. Though my magic is useful, I was always dissatisfied with its lack of firepower. But I suppose that was one way to use it. And more than anything, the fact that it can disable without killing is fantastic! It opens up so many possibilities!] (Nevan)



If we were talking about the conceptual aspect of light, the peculiarity of light magic was its healing power. And if we were talking about the physical aspect, it was the fastest of all affinities due to its light speed. However, its weakness was, as she mentioned, the lack of firepower.



In order for light to have the power to kill, a tremendous amount of light and mana were required.



Also, it wasn’t well-suited for long-ranged attacks. At any rate, compensating for the lack of efficiency by consolidating to the limit was the fundamental idea.



Stun Flare was a spell designed to compensate for both power and range.



[We don’t have time for idle talk. We’ve only got about 5 minutes before he falls back down.] (Lugh)



I could feel it when I sent him flying.



He weighed over 400 kg.



My【Gungnir】spell was a technique based on the premise that I would send a mass of 100 kg into the air, as there was a limit to the amount of mana I could release instantaneously.



My mana output had improved since the first【Gungnir】I created, allowing me to focus even more mana into it than I originally could, but doing so reduced the altitude I could move it up to.



Moreover, since I calculated his weight on the fly by estimating it when I lifted him, the accuracy of my calculations was much worse than usual.



Although it was a relief that no matter how much he struggled in midair, his trajectory wouldn’t change due to the lack of air resistance caused by my【Windbreak】spell, it was impossible to calculate his landing point with pinpoint accuracy.



Therefore, to be on the safe side, I aimed for the middle of the vast northeastern wilderness, about 30 km away from here.



Even if my calculations were slightly off, there shouldn’t be any major damage to the surrounding cities.



…Although, even a single degree of deviation would have resulted in an outrageous calculation error in my spell, which is why my first plan was to use【Cannon Strike】on him.



[We need to hurry!] (Dia)



[Yes, we do…! Otherwise, he might run away!] (Tarte)



[I don’t think so. I can’t say for sure since I’ve only caught a glimpse of him, but that demon isn’t the type to fear for his life just because his subordinates got killed, he’s the kind of guy who despises his enemies and wants to make them pay with their blood.] (Lugh)



I could see it in his eyes during our brief encounter.



That creature truly was the King of Beasts.



[Either way, let’s hurry. We need to get the drop on him.] (Nevan)



[Agreed.] (Lugh)



We were running… not. As we wouldn’t have gotten there in time that way, I used wind magic.



Because I sent him into the wilderness to minimize collateral damage as much as possible, his point of impact was 30 km away.



[Everyone, hang on to me. …Hang on tighter. Okay, this should be enough.] (Lugh)



[This feels… pretty embarrassing.] (Dia)



[Hauu… I can’t believe I’m sticking this close to Lugh-sama.] (Tarte)



[What will you surprise me with next?] (Nevan)



Dia was hugging my right arm, Tarte was holding my left arm, and Nevan was on my back.



The three beautiful girls were sticking firmly to me, and as I almost lost myself in the different sensations they provided respectively, I focused on my incantation.



Which I managed to complete, somehow.



[【Wind Ride】] (Lugh)



A gust of wind sent our bodies soaring, then we glided through the air, wrapped in a cowl of wind, and I further boosted our speed by manipulating the wind.



I was slower than I should’ve been because I was carrying three people as luggage, but we were still flying at about 120 m/s, or 432 km/h.



This way, I could cover 30 km in a little more than 4 mins.



No matter how much I could strengthen my physical abilities, I could never maintain such a pace on foot.



[What is this spell!? Lugh, you secretive little fox! When did you create this?] (Dia)



[In my spare time. Great, isn’t it?] (Lugh)



[So great it makes me mad! I wish I could’ve researched it too!] (Dia)



[Whoa…! It’s amazing! We’re flying!] (Tarte)



[What a pleasant sensation.] (Nevan)



A long time ago, I used earth magic to create a hang glider and manipulated the wind to accelerate when flying, but then I figured that I could ride the wind itself without doing all that.



For long-distance flights, building an actual aircraft was the better option, but for a five-minute flight, this was much easier.



I thought the girls would freak out, but they enjoyed the air travel instead, which took some real nerves of steel.



Or perhaps it was because they had faith in me.



[This demon eradication is going pretty smoothly. I think we can easily beat this one. I mean, the strength of that demon lied in his pack, right? Since his subordinates were so easy to defeat, their leader won’t be much different.] (Dia)



[…I wonder about that.] (Lugh)



There was one thing I couldn’t get out of my mind.



Meena, the snake demon, stated that Riogel was strong, and that no matter what I would attempt, I couldn’t beat him.



Which is why she had prepared a helper for us.



So far, there was no sign of that helper.



But I was convinced she wasn’t lying about it.



Riogel possessed some sort of hidden power.



I couldn’t help but think that way.



We arrived at a location about 5 km away from the estimated landing point. 



We were now in the southwest of the northeast wilderness.



I was trying to aim for the center of it when I blasted him away, but my aim was off this time, so I maintained a distance from him.



That being the case, I got myself ready to break into a run at a moment’s notice, and I poured my mana into my Tuatha Dé eyes to keep an eye on our surroundings.



…Only about 20 seconds left until the estimated landing.



I was tempted to look up, but【Gungnir】was too fast even for the Tuatha Dé eyes to follow, and we could only react after the impact.



I kept counting down, and when the time came, there was no fall, but 3 seconds later, he crashed somewhere about 4 km south of the expected landing point. In other words, about 1 km ahead of us.



Good thing we had enough time.



Along with the sound of a detonation, earth and sand arose, a huge crater was formed, and a tsunami of earthen walls occurred.



Although the altitude was lower than usual, it was almost as powerful as usual due to his large mass.



I completed the incantation I had started in advance and built a steel wall in front of us.



I casted the same【Steel Wall】spell Dia had used as an obstacle.



By the time the tsunami reached us, it was much less powerful, but it still had a certain impact.



[Let’s go, he’ll resurrect soon!] (Lugh)



With this level of devastation, he had surely died, but demons were creatures that kept resurrecting so long as they weren’t killed with【Demonkiller】.



[This time, you’ll be on the frontlines too, Lugh?] (Dia)



[Because something’s been on my mind.] (Lugh)



If that part about him being stronger than me was true, then Tarte wouldn’t be able to stop him in his tracks, and she would be killed.



I entrusted Nevan with the role of destroying the demon’s core, his【Crimson Heart】, while I would fight on the frontlines.



I had given her the necessary cards to do so.



[Well then, I wish you good luck.] (Nevan)



Nevan walked away from us and put on a cloak.



It was my handiwork, I painted it in advance so that it would blend in with the wilderness, and I designed it to cover human scent. It also had exceedingly high defensive properties.



It was a parting gift for the girl I entrusted with the role of the sniper.



Since she said she wanted to watch us fight, I gave her a special seat.



The three of us, minus Nevan, arrived at the landing point of the【Gungnir】I used on the demon.



Inside a huge crater, there was a male lion… Riogel the demon.



He sat there and howled.



[GYAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNN!!!] (Riogel)



I detected a hint of sadness in his voice.



I guess he was grieving the loss of his females.



Nonetheless, I had no sympathy for him. Since he was full of openings, I didn’t hesitate to make the first move.



When my eyes met Dia’s, she started chanting.【Demonkiller】had a short range, so if she got any closer, he would notice before she even hit him with it.



Therefore, she was going to use a【Stun Flare】to blind him.



That spell could fly up to 50 meters ahead.



At the same time, I chanted【Demonkiller】. 



The plan was to blind and confuse him before hitting him with【Demonkiller】.



[【Stun Flare】!] (Dia)



Dia completed her chant.



It was even closer to perfection than when Nevan casted it.



The ball of light flew in his direction following a parabolic trajectory, and swelled up.



However…



[GRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!] (Riogel)



Just before it exploded, Riogel roared.



As unbelievable as it sounds, his roar distorted the air layers of the area, causing the light to be refracted.



I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had merely warded it off.



But he had a complete understanding of how Stun Flare worked, and he reacted to it perfectly. His intelligence exceeded my assumptions.



Then he looked my way.



[I can’t hear them… My women… They’re not responding… So it was you… You’re the ones… WHO KILLED THEM…!!!] (Riogel)



His voice was filled with murderous intent.



My natural instincts were tingling like crazy, and I unconsciously backed off.



I, an assassin trained in the art of reasoning and who had mastered the art of controlling his own instincts, was moved by fear?



[My power… is coming back… Everyone… is now… gone…] (Riogel)



Riogel’s body kept swelling further and further.



His muscles were bulging, his miasma and mana were overflowing, and his mane grew even longer.



What the hell is going on?



Sensing that things were getting dangerous, I reflexively pulled out my pistol and fired it repeatedly.



I knew he would regenerate from that. Still, I felt that if I let his transformation happen, he would commit the irreparable.



However, the bullets couldn’t proceed because of his bulging muscles.



And finally, Riogel stood up. His hind legs, of which the log-like muscles were swollen, grew longer, while his torso shrank instead, the fingers on his front legs grew longer and more human-like, and his claws not only grew longer, but also thicker and sharper, as if each one of the were black swords.



In this form, he looked like a half-beast.



He leapt.



What speed…! Even greater than mine. He’s as fast as Epona.



He was going for a knee kick with his right leg, and he was too fast for me to evade it in time.



So with a quick draw, I unloaded all the bullets left in my magazine and evaded his kick at the same time.



His muscles stopped the bullets, but their impact slowed him down, allowing me to barely dodge it.



Because his momentum was too great, he landed far away from me.



[I won’t forgive you. I’m gonna kill you once and for all. I will tear you limb from limb, and eat each and every one of your women as I fuck them right in front of you.] (Riogel)



Even though he was speaking in a broken fashion earlier, he was now speaking fluently.



…I see, so that’s how it is.



The assumption that “While they were a menace as a pack, the leader wasn’t particularly strong” wasn’t wrong, but it wasn’t correct either.



It’s just that he was sharing his power with each and every one of his females.



And apparently, when the females died, the power he was sharing with them returned to him, and Riogel’s current appearance was his true form.



Did the snake demon Meena know about it and hide it from me?



[Well, this screws up our plan.] (Lugh)



In that case, let’s change it.



I was capable of coping with this predicament.



Also, I had a hunch that an irregularity that would work in our favor was going to happen.



Considering Meena’s personality, the reason she didn’t tell me about the true power Riogel possessed was probably to set a stage, one where she could send that guy to us at a time that would make her most proud of her toy.