Chapter 148: The Sage Watches Over the Battle of the Loyal Vassal

“Take this…!”

Grom turned around as he swung his miasma axe.

The jet-black blade collided with the demigod’s fist.

A high-pitched metallic sound echoed.

In contrast to the intact fist, the axe had twisted at the moment of contact.

It was an attack that used space magic.

By applying space distortion, it would destroy whatever came into contact with it.

That was probably what he had used to erase evidence from the underground magic workshop.

It was virtually impossible to defend against.

The best method to counteract it would be through the use of space magic of a similar degree, but it wasn’t a very realistic option.

It seemed the most reasonable choice was to avoid it.

The fist that had twisted the axe was now thrust towards Grom as if trying to penetrate him.

Grom, who had let go of his axe, retreated while leaning back.

“GUOOOO.”

Grom used his sword and his spear at the same time.

The demigod disappeared from the trajectory.

Of course, it didn’t mean that he had managed to cut him down.

He had just transferred away before the attack landed.

The demigod was now on top of Grom’s head.

He spun in the air and unleashed a heel drop.

Grom crossed his weapons and blocked it.

As Grom saw his weapons break down, he breathed in.

Then he unleashed a flame of miasma from his mouth.

The black flame unfolded in the shape of a fan, trying to envelop the demigod with its momentum.

Grom jumped upward without a pause.

His leg was cut off though; left behind on the ground.

It was the handiwork of the demigod behind him.

He had cut off Grom’s leg with his chop.

He had probably applied space magic to his hand.

He must have torn the space and formed a blade with it, cutting through Grom’s leg.

It was natural for physical defense to not be effective against it.

In addition to that, the demigod hadn’t been injured yet.

It seemed he had evaded the flame of miasma by transferring.

Grom, who had launched himself to the sky, threw his miasma weapons down.

All of them struck the ground one after another, producing a large-scale explosion.

The demigod ran straight up in the midst of the explosion.

It seemed he was kicking up the air as he ran above.

He managed to slip through both the miasma weapons and their subsequent explosions.

The demigod approached Grom while pulling his arms back.

It seemed to be a preliminary action for piercing.

Grom saw that and took a defensive stance.

Immediately afterward, a piercing hand penetrated Grom’s back.

Grom leaned forward and growled in a low voice.

“Gu, Guguuuuhhh…”

The demigod was in front of Grom.

He wasn’t in a position to attack from behind.

However, the piercing arm of the demigod was missing from below the elbow. 

The missing part had appeared behind Grom and penetrated his body from the back.

It was a bizarre sight, but it wasn’t an illusion.

It had definitely happened as a reality.

Did he tinker with the connection through space?

I guessed that from the flow of magic power.

It was a more advanced technique compared to the transfer.

For the demigod, distance didn’t matter.

I would have to consider that he could attack immediately from anywhere.

If I were to challenge him without knowing that, I would have been fooled by it.

It was a big discovery to learn that he was capable of doing this before the battle.

Grom’s devoted effort had already paid off.

“Ga, Hah…?!”

As I watched the battle, a hole was made in Grom’s body. 

The demigod withdrew his hand.

Regardless of how robust the protection magic deployed was, it had still been penetrated, as expected.

The moment he touched, it would mean fatal damage.

Grom twisted his body and tried to grab the hand that was going away from his torso.

However, the demigod pulled his hand away and it disappeared.

When I looked, his arm had returned to its original location.

It seemed the connection between the spaces had been broken.

“Petty tricks…!”

The angry Grom conjured his eight types of weapons once again.

As he swung them wildly in all directions, he rushed towards the demigod at the speed of a gale.

However, Grom suddenly stopped in front of the demigod.

No, strictly speaking he didn’t stop.

He advanced properly, albeit only slightly.

His speed had dropped significantly.

“…”

The demigod merely looked at Grom while holding out his hand.

Even as Grom swung his weapons, they couldn’t reach him.

That’s… did he stretch the space?

There had been no apparent change in appearance.

It seemed the demigod had stretched the distance between the two to be tremendously long.

Originally, it was a distance that Grom’s weapons should have reached by now, but the demigod had forcefully stretched it.

“Isn’t it enough? As expected, it’s useless.”

The demigod muttered as he waved his hand.

The space distorted, splitting Grom’s torso horizontally.

Furthermore, it kept cutting the pieces, down to fine dust.

As there were practically no remains of Grom remaining, the demigod descended.

It’s an overwhelming ability. He isn’t known as a demigod for nothing.

In terms of pure strength, Grom was better than the demigod.

This was merely due to the disparity in ability.

His space magic was too unreasonable.

To be capable of unleashing such spells in succession was clearly impossible within human limits.

Nevertheless, the demigod had barely exhausted himself.

He showed off a perfect battle both offensively and defensively.

As expected, I have to beat him myself.

The moment I decided so, I felt something off.

My consciousness and gaze were directed to Grom's remains.

From the falling remains, miasma formed a thread from his fingertips and extended.

It was a hundred times thinner than a spider’s silk.

People wouldn’t have been able to notice it normally.

I had only managed to notice it by chance.

I had found it due to my familiarity with miasma.

Anyway, the thread was so thin to the point that it could hardly be detected.

Grom’s finger bent.

A thread of miasma stretched straight accordingly.

I followed its destination with my eyes.

The end of the thread was attached to the arm of the demigod.

It was wrapped around it manyfolds.

Of course, the demigod hadn’t noticed it.

Eventually, the thread tightened according to the pulling force.

Finally noticing it, the demigod looked down wide-eyed.

However, it was already too late.

The next moment, one of his arms was severed and it flew in the air.