Chapter 153

The scythe, which is far beyond my height, is wielded at an unbelievable speed.

Clute, the vice-captain of the <Shirayuri>, immediately blocked the blade with a large shield but was knocked back nearly two meters at the same time as a metal sound.

The expression on the girl’s face as she grasped the scythe was cool, even as she unleashed such a powerful flash.

Lachesis, the vice-captain of the <Shirayuri>, and Clute worked well together to overcome the two or three additional blows that came in soon after. But if you look at the way she is forced to retreat every time she catches a blow, even a layman can see that she is clearly being overpowered by the girl with the scythe.

―――In addition, there are two girls with scythes in their hands.

The other girl, no less than the other, wielded a scythe, demonstrating without reserve an incredible amount of physical strength that did not match her petite frame at all.

The second-in-command of the <Himeyuri>, Praline, blocked the blow with her shield, but she couldn’t stop it.

In addition to being flung nearly a dozen meters, Praline’s body flew through the air and suffered considerable damage from the impact.

There is a big gap in performance between the <Shirayuri>, which specializes only in defense and sacred magic, and the <Himeyuri>, which pursues versatility in offense and defense as well as all kinds of magic and sorcery.

It was impossible for the child of <Himeyuri> to adequately prevent attacks at the level where <Shirayuri> could barely catch.

“―――Seize the enemy and devour its power!【Spiritual Binding】!”

(TN: 【Spiritual Binding】=【精霊の葛縛】.)

“Let the curse of corruption fill the earth!【Murderland】!”

(TN: 【Murderland】=【呪業泥地】.)

However, the children of the Yuri Empire were not just beaten one-sidedly.

While his companions are being attacked by the sickle girls, Denebora, vice-captain of <Blue Rose>, performs the spirit magic of restraint, and Rio, a vice-captain of <Kuroyuri>, performs the magic of the dead.

【Spiritual Binding】is a level 140 earth-attribute spirit magic, with countless vines that rapidly grow out of the earth to bind all enemies within a narrow area and seal their movements. In addition, it is a powerful magic that absorbs life force, magic power, and part of the physical ability value from the bound enemy.

The two scythe girls were standing close to each other, and Denebora’s use of【Spiritual Binding】successfully bound them together.

The scythe girls seem to have a high value of [Strength] and [Agility], but if you can successfully absorb their abilities, you can slow them down and reduce their threat.

【Murderland】is a level 185 necromancy that fills the earth in a 20-meter radius around you with『Curse Mud』so that undead monsters are automatically created every 30 seconds to fight on your side.

Although the undead monsters generated are random, they are guaranteed to be at least level 100, and if you are lucky, you can get up to level 185.

As long as the sorcerer maintains the『Curse Mud』, the number of undead monsters will continue to increase, just by using this spell.

The endurance of【Spiritual Binding】is 4000.

The enemy is completely defenseless while in captivity, but if you attack the enemy in captivity and deal damage, the durability of【Spiritual Binding】will decrease by that amount, and if the durability reaches zero, the captivity will be released.

Therefore, it would be wise to stop attacking and wait for the undead monster to be born by the【Murderland】while letting the【Spiritual Binding】absorb the enemy’s ability value.

“Foolishness in front of me, the founder of the land gods―――”

However, the third enemy would not allow the scheming of the children of the Yuri Empire.

The woman, who had so far left the vanguard to the two girls with the scythe and was just watching the scene as the rear guard, suddenly made a loud noise with both hands as if she was about to make an oak hand.

In the blink of an eye, the magic and sorcery of both the【Spiritual Binding】and【Murderland】were canceled, and the clouds dissipated as if they had never existed in the first place.

““Wha!?””

They probably didn’t expect them to be able to cancel out high-level magic and sorcery without even a single spell chant. Denebora’s and Rio’s expressions were tinged with surprise.

But in contrast to the surprise of the children of the Yuri Empire, the two girls with the scythe seemed to believe without a doubt that their friends would disarm it. The two girls immediately resumed their attack, and the children of the Yuri Empire have pushed back again.

“She is the most honorable『Goddess of Earth Creation』, so she has no problem canceling “earth magic” and “magic that coats the earth with special effects”.

“I see…”

Amaterasu, who had been watching the battle from the sidelines, explained the situation to me.

After listening to her explanation, Yuri was also impressed. If you think about it calmly, you’re right.

―――What was going on in front of Yuri and Amaterasu was a mock battle.

One is a two-party raid made up of twelve deputy captains of the Yuri Empire, and the other is a three-person party consisting of the goddess Kamimusuhi, whom Amaterasu called the『Goddess of Earth Creation』plus her subordinates『Kisagaihime』and『Umugihime』.

In the game『Atros Online』, Kisagaihime and Umugihime were treated as subordinate deities summoned by Kamimusuhi. In fact, it seems to be more like “creation” than “summoning,” and Kamimusuhi was able to manifest the two subordinate deities without any problems in this other world.

As with Amaterasu, Kamimusuhi used the『Yata no Kagami +10』as its divine body, and her level has been enhanced to 2546.

The two subordinate gods, Kisagaihime and Umugihime, also have a level of 1782, which is quite high. I’m not going to lie, it’s not even close to being as strong as the High Dragon Radragulf.

Perhaps it is a type of summoning skill similar to that used by Yuri and the others, in which the level of the summoned individual increases per the level of the executor.

“It looks like it’s about to be settled.”

“It seems that twelve girls are not enough to break down an opponent who even has a good healer.”

The two vanguards, Kisagaihime and Umugihime, only take the obvious action of slashing the nearest enemy with their scythes, but their attacks always push the shield tanks back or send them flying, so they can’t close the distance.

That’s why Kamimusuhi, the rearguard, can keep safe. Kamimusuhi is not only the Goddess of Earth Creation but also an excellent healer, so even if Kisagaihime and Umugihime, who are all about attacking, inflict a wound on her, she will immediately recover completely. The same would be true if he were to inflict some damage on Kamimusuhi with arrows or offensive magic.

The only way the Yuri Empire can win in this one-sided situation is to attack the healer Kamimusuhi in one fell swoop and take her down first.

This is why the children of the Yuri Empire seem to have taken the gamble of spreading out widely and going after Kamimusuhi with all of them.

But that would be a bad move. As the Goddess of Earth Creation, Kamimusuhi can manipulate the earth at will. When Kamimusuhi clapped her hands again, the ground rose and formed a simple omnidirectional barrier around her in an instant.

While trying to break down the barrier, if the attackers, who are separated from the shields by their dispersal, were to be hit by the blades of Kisagaihime and Umugihime, it would not take long for them to lose their lives.

“―――That’s enough!”

After confirming that the life-saving ward deployed in the field has been activated twice, Yuri declares the end of the mock battle.

The two who were dropped were Rio, the second-in-command of the <Kuroyuri>, and Renge, the second-in-command of the <Sakuraka>. If the two key attackers were defeated, there would be no chance for a comeback.

All the children of the “Yuri Empire” collapsed on the spot after Yuri’s pronouncement.

It was not because they were discouraged by the defeat, but purely from exhaustion. That’s how tense they were, and they had been forced to fight beyond their limits.

“Thank you for your company, Kamimusuhi. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a chance to fight a strong opponent, and I’m sure our girls have been slack, so this mock battle was a good stimulus.”

“Thank you as well. It was a very good opportunity for them to assess their current abilities.”

“The three of you are very strong. I wonder if my children would have been any match for you.”

“… As for that, in all likelihood, it’s thanks to Your Majesty Yuri’s use of the best goods to make my divine body. It seems that my current power has been strengthened to almost ten times what it was before. If I had only been as strong as I was before, it would have been our side that would have been toothless.”

At Kamimusuhi’s words, Kisagaihime and Umugihime immediately nodded their heads in agreement.

“I’m not sure what to say, but the ability of everyone in the Yuri Empire is immeasurable. This time there were 12 of them, so we were able to win, but if there were 24, that’s twice as many, even the current us would have no chance of winning at all.”

“There’s also the difference in equipment.”

In addition to their own level 200, the children of the Yuri Empire have a significant advantage in that their equipment is extremely powerful.

If you load them up with expensive equipment, you can boost their abilities to an extreme degree.

“Whether it is me or Kamimusuhi. Both powers are for Your Majesty Yuri now.”

“Yes, Amaterasu is right. If Your Majesty wishes it, we will gladly be your dead soldiers. Please feel free to command us in any way you see fit.”

“Loyalty is a heavy thing…”

Yuri’s face twitched involuntarily at Amaterasu and Kamimusuhi’s words.

Kamimusuhi, like Amaterasu, had been possessing Hotaru body, the captain of the <Red Plum>, for many years, and had been infected with Hotaru’s loyalty.

Thanks to this, she was also in a state of “maximum loyalty” from the start. When she said that she would gladly become a dead soldier if Yuri wanted her to, she was probably not exaggerating at all.

(I have to be very careful when I ask them to do something…)

Both of them are over 2500 levels, which is extraordinary.

How can gods who can easily bring a country to its knees be moved by a single will? Of course, it was a blessing, but… more frightening than that, it seemed to Yuri.