Chapter 34: A Counterattack That Should Have Been Awesome

"You…?!"

Grant became furious when he saw that the Milu Rabbit had destroyed one of the magic crystals. Immediately, he started walking toward the Milu Rabbit. However, as soon as he took his first step, he seemingly realized something and stopped. Then, he turned to look at Alice.

Meanwhile, just like Alice had expected, the black crystal facing her right hand was responsible for casting the gravity magic suppressing her right hand. Meanwhile, as soon as the Milu Rabbit shattered the crystal, Alice could feel the restraints on her hand disappearing. When Alice found that she could lift her right hand again, she revealed a satisfied smile.

"You seem to be very happy?" Grant narrowed his eyes as he intently stared at Alice's face, a dangerous expression on his face. He looked like a great white shark that was going to tear its prey to shreds in the next moment. "You merely regained movement in your right hand. Do you honestly think you can defeat me with just one hand?"

After saying so, Grant lifted his right hand and turned it into the shape of a claw. Immediately afterward, black mist slowly seeped out of his hand, the mist giving off an evil feeling.

Upon seeing this black mist, Alice finally understood why Grant would immediately assume her to be the new Demon King when he previously saw the black mist oozing out of her right hand. Grant had not been merely making a blind guess. Instead, it was because he could exhibit a similar effect when casting magic as a Demon King.

"Although I haven't fully absorbed the mana in the crystal, no matter. Without the Demon King's Power's support, you feel no different from that Milu Rabbit over there. I can easily turn you into meat paste."

Grant's gaze sharpened as he leisurely explained his thoughts. Despite having already decided to take action, he still chose to run his mouth for a moment.

Seeing this, Alice couldn't help but pity the former Demon King. The centuries of solitary confinement had truly taken a toll on his mind. However, this situation suited Alice perfectly. The greater Grant's desire to talk to others, the more chances Alice would have to take action. Then, looking at the black mist surrounding Grant's right hand, Alice said, "Although I can only move my right hand...it is more than enough!"

After saying so, Alice extended her right hand to her back and grabbed her panties. This situation couldn't be helped. The pouch holding her stockpile of black panties had been sent flying to a distance. Meanwhile, apart from her right hand, Alice still couldn't move the rest of her limbs. So, the only "weapon" she could put her hopes on was the panties she wore.

However, Alice quickly faced an awkward problem—she couldn't take off her panties. Currently, gravity magic pinned down her entire body against the floor. She also couldn't move either of her legs. Unless she could extend the length of her arm to the point where she could reach her feet without bending her body, there was no way she could remove her panties.

Moreover, without the enhancement of a weapon, Alice's strength was even weaker than the average adult. So, she couldn't just rip the panties off of her body, either.

At this point, Alice was feeling a little regretful. After this incident, she swore to buy low-quality panties that she could rip apart even with her meager strength. That way, she could avoid facing such an awkward situation again in the future.

"...What are you doing?"

Grant couldn't help but be puzzled by the situation in front of him. Faced with his gravity magic that could crush her into a human pancake, the action Alice chose to take was to extend her hand under her skirt. This situation was strange no matter how Grant looked at it, and he couldn't help but freeze for a moment.

"Cough, cough. Sorry, sorry. A little accident occurred."

Alice was frustrated by this situation as well. After all, she had just ruined what should've originally been an awesome counterattack. While counterattacking with a pair of panties was anything but awesome, if one could ignore the fact that her weapon was a pair of panties, the scene should still be a sight to behold.

Nevertheless, now that Alice couldn't place her hopes on her panties, she had no choice but to set her sights on the unconscious Heris. Taking advantage of Grant's astonishment, Alice extended her hand to Heris and grabbed the demoness's leg. Immediately afterward, the system evaluation for Heris appeared in Alice's mind.

[Weapon: Half-dead Heris]

[Quality: Garbage]

[Effect: Speed +1]

[Additional Effect: None]

Heris's effects were even worse than the Mana Depleted Zauna's effects and the Poplar Branch That Can Be Found Anywhere's effects. However, Alice had more or less expected this outcome. After all, Grant had already drained most of Heris's mana.

However, Alice's aim wasn't to utilize the unconscious Heris as a weapon. Immediately, Alice held onto Heris's leg and dragged the demoness toward herself, making it so that her hand could reach the panties under Heris's skirt.

"Thank goodness you're wearing a skirt, Heris."

"Enough! I don't know what shenanigans you're trying to pull, but I've already grown tired of your strange behavior!" Grant bellowed. He finally lost his temper when he saw Alice reaching into Heris's skirt.

Following this, Grant raised his right hand, and his mana started radiating outwards. Even though he currently couldn't exhibit the power he had when he was at his peak, the foundation he had built for himself as a Demon King remained. Hence, the magic he cast this time would no longer be limited to just restricting Alice's movements.

"Perish under the power of gra—"

However, before Grant could release his magic, an intense white light suddenly appeared from Alice and Heris's direction, the light interrupting Grant's spellcasting. Following this, Alice's frustrated voice rang out from the blinding white light:

"You're a sexy demoness, for heaven's sake. Why the hell are you wearing such plain white underwear... Whatever. Purification Blade."

The next moment, Grant's complexion quickly changed when he saw a torrent of light flooding toward him as if the heavens had just doled out divine punishment on him. What horrified Grant even more was that he could sense that this magic wasn't solely aimed toward physical objects. Instead, it was also capable of causing tremendous damage to souls. When bathed in this holy light, Grant could feel his soul being burnt. His soul that had escaped the hands of the previous generation's Hero was currently disintegrating bit by bit.

"What...is this ability?! This isn't something a Demon King should possess!"

At this moment, Grant finally realized a problem, and that was the fact that he had unilaterally deemed Alice to be the new Demon King. He had also ignorantly assumed that Alice was incapable of activating the Demon King's Power. Hence, she was of no threat toward himself. 

However, Grant now realized that the blonde girl before him wasn't the Demon King at all. After all, he had never heard of any Demon King being able to use holy magic. Moreover, the magic Alice had cast wasn't just any ordinary holy magic. Instead, its power was already on the level of taboos.

Typically, there were only two ways for the average magician to cast a taboo. The first method was to detonate a taboo bomb, while the second method was to gather many magicians and make plenty of preparations beforehand. Only after carrying out preparations for ten to fifteen days would these magicians be able to cast a taboo.

Yet, now, Alice had effortlessly cast a taboo without any preparations whatsoever. This was something Grant did not expect.

However, while Grant was indeed surprised by Alice's ability to cast a taboo on demand, this wasn't the first time Grant had seen someone carrying out such a feat. After all, when he was at his peak, he could similarly cast taboos in such an effortless manner.

Indeed. If a person could cast a taboo so quickly and effortlessly, then this person must be a Demon King or Hero at their peak.

"You're the Hero?!"

While bathed in the torrent of light, Grant desperately tried to release the mana he had previously absorbed to counteract the holy magic. It was no exaggeration to say that the predicament he currently faced was even more perilous than the final battle he had fought against the previous generation's Hero. After all, the previous generation's Hero could only destroy his physical body and not his soul. However, if he lost this battle, there would be no coming back for him anymore.

"Impossible. Even if you're the Hero, there is no way you managed to grow so quickly… So long as I survive this move…"

Grant was certain that Alice couldn't cast taboos consecutively. Even if Alice was this generation's Hero, she should've only become the Hero recently. Hence, she shouldn't be able to cast more than one taboo. So long as he could survive this move, he would have a chance to make a comeback.