CH 226

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I have made preparations to a degree that could be called excessive.

First of all, the special abilities of Ultihate are powerful.

The easy to understand ones are the long range attack nullification and the buff. I am in a state where I always have an increase of 9.9 times in my stats.

The base stats that the Divine Sword buffs are the 6 stats that change with level ups: HP, MP, Strength, Magic Power, Vitality, and Resistance.

Leaving aside Agility which makes it harder to control when it increases, the Stamina which directly affects the activation of skills not increasing is a shame, but even with that, this is an outstanding effect.

Thanks to this, my chances of survival should have shot up even in the off-chance I get hit.

Not only that.

The Wakizashi on my left hand could become my trump card.

This True Wakizashi—no, uhm…this Wakizashi End which was reborn from synthesization! That’s right, the use of this Wakizashi End might save my life.

Because it is a Shinobi Sword, it can heal others with a bug exploit, but if I use its special ability, it is also possible to heal myself in an instant with no cost.

Other things would be the combination of Immortal Oath and Ring of the Gargoyle to have complete resistance to status ailments.

There’s a whole ton of healing items in my poach, and I can’t think of any more regarding defense.

When it comes to the offensive, I have made more than perfect preparations.

The True Shiranui on my right hand, its performance goes without saying, but it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the Strength stat that’s supporting its power is broken to an unbelievable extent.

These few days, Mitsuki has been bringing me a large amount of Power Seeds like a bird mother, so my Strength stat is already over 20,000.

In Nekomimi Neko where your stats wouldn’t go over the thousands with a normal playthrough, this is more than impressive.

You could say this is the best result created from the Butcher and the Seed Death Bug.

Ah, there was actually a lunatic that managed to get all the way to more than 10,000 by just hunting Butchers, and thanks to that person, we learned that 9,999 is not the cap in stats.

Anyways…

“If we can’t defeat it with this, how are we going to?” (Souma)

That’s how perfect the preparations are.

Best preparations and a whole lot of people cheering me on. There’s already no grievances.

That should be the case, and yet…what is this?

These chills that are shaking my spine.

What in the world are these chills that were telling me it won’t end with just that?

“…Souma.” (Sazan)

But the quiet voice of Sazan, like that of someone who had given up on something, had brought me back to reality.

“Right… Please do.” (Souma)

Even so, I can’t stop here.

I sent the signal to begin.

“I actually wanted to…together with you… Damn it!” (Sazan)

Sazan swallowed the words she was about to say, stood in front of me, and held up a hand towards the marshland.

At the same time as she did, a black magic circle covering the whole marshland…no, an even wider range than that appeared.

“This is the seal of the Evil God…” (Souma)

These giant yet detailed patterns were slowly being undone by the hands of Sazan.

“—?!”

It was sudden.

At a place in the circle that was clearly not being controlled by Sazan, a cracking sound was made as if warped and got severed.

“W-Why…? I still haven’t…” (Sazan)

Sazan muttered this with a dumbfounded face, but I already had a feeling by that moment.

This is not by the hand of Sazan or Sazan failing in something.

The Evil God found a crack in the seal and is trying to break the seal from the inside.

“Sazan, it is alright now! Fall back!” (Souma)

When I shouted this, Sazan hesitated for a moment, but…

“You DEFINITELY must return safely or I won’t forgive you, okay? …You idiot!” (Sazan)

She spit that out and ran off.

After I saw that back of hers disappear within the crowd, I faced the front.

The black magic circle was being torn apart from the inside.

The intricate patterns holding the Evil God, the net of mana, was being snapped…one after the other.

And then, the center of the visibly whittled down magic circle finally couldn’t endure the pressure from the inside and bursted open!

“—It is coming!” (Souma)

The first thing that flew out from the marshland was a thick, thick arm.

It grabbed onto the gap of the magic circle and forcefully wrenched it open. And then, a swarm of tentacles welled out from that opening as if born from it.

The massive amount of tentacles that would be foolish to even try to count pushed away the magic circle that barely continued to fight back, ate away at it, and crushed it.

After a few seconds of that ear-piercing event, the magic circle that was so tough was blown away without any trace left.

“This is…” (Souma)

And then, finally…

From deep within the marshland, that head that was like the accumulation of every atrocity in this world had reared its ugly face out…

And then, the bright red core at the center of the Evil God releasing a fiendish light showed up.

“…Evil God, Dis Aster…” (Souma)

It is different from the videos. I was overwhelmed by the outrageous scale.

The size, pressure, and eeriness was all completely different from the Evil God I saw in the recording.

Defeating the fragments probably served to fulfill the condition of growing as well.

The Evil God standing in front of me is bigger than the one I saw in the video and 2 times…or even more than the one I fought at the capital.

This god of calamity that has been resurrected into the present looked around, and then fixed its gaze to the front and opened its mouth.

The air trembled from the voice that only brought displeasure and grated the world.

“…I remember…you. I…already know about you…”

“What…?” (Souma)

I was on the verge of taking a step back at the overwhelming presence I have never faced before.

“Fool…ish. You think…you have…changed your appea…rance…?

…Ultihate.

The aura of the loathsome sword…that divided my soul…and sealed it…I won’t forget it!”

I didn’t expect it to see through the synthesized Ultihate immediately.

Ultihate and the Evil God really must have some kind of invisible connection.

But…

“I don’t like it. Your opponent is not Ultihate, but ME.” (Souma)

Those arrogant words of mine made the eyes of the Evil God move at me.

“You are…the new hero…this time, huh.

That’s a…commendable spirit… But…”

It was in an instant.

“—Know…your place…!”

From the hundreds of tentacles stretching out from the Evil God, one of them approached me at fearsome speed.

A speed that wouldn’t be possible to intercept with normal means.

But…

—Swish!!

The tentacle approaching me made that sound and flew in the air.

“…[True Instant Samidare Slash].” (Souma)

I chanted the name of that technique quietly and landed on the ground.

“Wh…at…?”

Hundreds of slashes were unleashed in an instant.

That tentacle was way too big…and feeble to get through the curtain of slashes.

The Evil God showed surprise for the first time.

“What…was that? That power…of yours…”

This time, two tentacles flew at me with those words.

“[True Instant Samidare Slash]!” (Souma)

I shoot them down with Instant Samidare Slash without any hesitation.

—Come at me as much as you want.

I won’t even falter one bit at an attack of this degree.

And then, no matter how many the Evil God regenerates, the amount of tentacles is finite.

The more tentacles it wastes pointlessly, the more of an advantage I have.

“Why…? Even…if you are….the owner of the…Divine Sword…

There’s no way….you would be…able to deal with my attacks…with such ease…”

Think your brains out for all I care.

You won’t be able to get it anyways.

“You wouldn’t even be able to imagine it as someone who doesn’t have a human heart.

You would have no idea of the source of my strength.” (Souma)

…That’s right.

I am fighting alone, but I am not alone.

This True Shiranui is the amalgamation of the people’s emotions, their culture, their history…

—There’s no way a monstrosity like the Evil God would be able to get it.

It must have understood something from my words.

“Hmm…”

The gaze of the Evil God moved away from me for an instant.

—Is this bad?

I swing the Wakizashi on my left hand and shout.

“What are you looking away for?! I am your enemy!” (Souma)

Right after that.

“—Souma, don’t lose!!!”

I heard that loud voice from behind me

“Wa?! Leila?!” (Souma)

Surprise leaked out from my mouth.

The one who shouted was Leila.

She had taken a step forward from the crowd and shouted words of encouragement with everything her throat could bring out.

And at that moment…

“—I…got it…”

The Evil God moved.

There’s still a lot of distance to Leila.

The tentacles and the AoE Genocide Wave shouldn’t be able to reach.

However…

Seeing the face of the Evil God focus on Leila and move, I shouted with everything I had.

“Idiot! Leila, don’t come out!” (Souma)

“Eh?” (Leila)

But that warning served no point…

“[Kill Beam]!!”

The slaughterer flash was shot from the core of the Evil God and stretched in one straight line.

The target being of course Leila who was one step in front of the crowd.

Seeing that, I…

…Warped into a grin.

At the same time as this happened, a gale rushed in front of Leila.

“—Just as planned, huh. The Evil God is unexpectedly shallow.”

The girl that was lying in wait inside the crowd of people with a shining gauntlet on her dominant hand reflected the beam that pierced through everything.

That light was reflected straight to the Evil God’s face as if that future was predetermined.

“Guooooooooooooh!!”

Letting out a scream that made the earth shake, the Evil God held its face and writhed.

“You…bastard! You…bastard…!”

The Evil God cursed and I raised the corners of my mouth.

“You have quite the bountiful emotions compared to before.

Did you go out of your way to grow just to have your ass beaten by me?” (Souma)

I intentionally provoked it, and the Evil God stopped writhing in agony.

“You…set me…up?!!”

It threw curses at me with a jarring voice.

That voice instilled primeval fear, but I smiled boldly despite that.

“Sorry, but I have been fighting against an even more crafty, ill-natured, more almighty, and more evil entity than you this whole time.

Dealing with nasty characters is my trade.” (Souma)

That’s right.

The hostility of this guy…compared to them…

—Compared to how nasty the Nekomimi Neko developers are…yours are like childish pranks!!

That provocation…

“…Unfor…givable…”

I could clearly tell that the eyes of the Evil God focused on me despite having lost its face.

“…Fuuh, with this, we should have gotten through the first hurdle.” (Souma)

I mumbled this quietly in a way that the Evil God doesn’t hear me, and wiped off the sweat in my palms.

Now, let’s have fun, Evil God Dis Aster.

—The real battle starts from here on!