Chapter 52
“Franz, cover me.”
That was all Yuna said.
*KWAANG-!* Yuna lowered her stance, then kicked off the ground and charged forward. A thunderous roar accompanied her immense power, and dust exploded behind her.
Anyway, “cover me”... If Yuna needed cover, it would mean the opponent was at least as strong as one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon Lord's Army, but that Belphegor fellow doesn't seem to have that kind of power. So, in reality, she probably doesn't need cover.
Just as Franz was about to dismiss it. Something began to stir and writhe deep inside the Cave, where the interior was clearly visible.
They were Monsters. Tentacles stretched out from the bodies of the Monsters that had been cut in half, reattaching themselves. It was just as that Cultist’s body and head had reconnected.
*I can somewhat understand a Cultist being immortal, but for the Monsters to be immortal too, isn't that cheating?*
If you really think about it, it's no different from all the trash mobs in a boss fight being unkillable.
“There must be a way to counter it...”
No matter what, absolute immortality makes no sense. There must be some kind of gimmick that grants this immortality.
So, Franz carefully observed the Monsters and soon discovered something.
It was magic. He could feel the flow of demonic energy from them, and faint Magic Circles, almost too indistinct to recognize, were etched onto their bodies.
While Franz was discovering this crucial fact, Yuna was already engaged in battle with Belphegor.
In truth, it was hardly a battle. Yuna was unilaterally overwhelming the creature.
“Hmph-!”
As Yuna swung her sword, a thin line sliced vertically across the creature's body. Immediately, its body split into two halves along that line.
But it was truly strange. Normally, when a living creature is cut, blood would flow, but no blood came from its body. Instead, tentacles simply writhed out and reattached the severed parts.
“Ugh, you ignorant brute. No learning capab—”
Before Belphegor could finish speaking, Yuna swung her sword again. This time, she didn't stop at one strike, but cut the creature's body several times.
*THUD-THUD-THUD-.* The creature's body, now transformed into large chunks of flesh, lay scattered on the ground.
But this time, the result was the same.The chunks of flesh writhed, tentacles emerged, and it soon returned to its original form.
It was truly a sight that seemed to embody the word 'grotesque'. If the World Tree incident felt like infinite rebirth, this felt like a truly immortal being that simply couldn't die.
“Learn a little, why don't you? It's not dying. Why bother wasting your strength?”
“Shut up!”
Yuna snapped irritably, striking the creature with the flat of her sword instead of the blade. If it had been an ordinary person, the strike would have only caused a minor bruise, but with Yuna's strength, the creature's body simply exploded. Belphegor's lower half remained intact, but its upper body was scattered everywhere as chunks of flesh.
But.
“Ah, I told you it's useless.”
The scattered chunks of flesh gathered back together as if by agreement.
“More importantly, I really like your body. How wonderful it would be to use you as material to create my children. Just thinking about it makes me happy.”
Belphegor chuckled, *fufufu*, and smiled genuinely.
Even though Yuna had destroyed its body countless times, there was no fear whatsoever.
It was probably because it was confident it couldn't die.
However, there was one thing the creature was overlooking...
...Yuna was even more unhinged than she thought.
*CRUNCH-!* Yuna's fist turned the creature into a pulp. After that, she repeatedly sliced, exploded, and crushed it every time it regenerated.
While Yuna was doing that, Franz dealt with the Monsters.
*CLICK-.* As he snapped his fingers, hundreds of Magic Circles simultaneously appeared and struck the Monsters. As an Archmage talented in all elements, his magic was diverse. From some Magic Circles, fire erupted, and from others, lightning struck. Besides those, there were water, wind, more lightning, and so on...
But the Monsters, just like the Cultist, quickly returned to their original forms.
He wanted to decipher the Magic Circles etched onto their bodies, but unfortunately, it wasn't that easy.
*“What in the world is that...?”*
The Magic Structure, the incantations, the characters, and the symbols that formed it were all completely new to him.
Such cases occasionally happened. After all, there existed Unique Magic in this world, spells devised by a Mage solely for himself or herself.
Of course, developing Unique Magic was not easy. To prevent others from using it, one had to employ a unique Magic Structure, which was quite difficult.
So, even if it was the dream of Mages, ninety out of a hundred would give up midway. The remaining ten would never complete it before they died.
Why would a Mage talented enough to complete such Unique Magic join hands with Cultists?
No, perhaps it was natural. Honestly, a Mage obsessed with Unique Magic and a Cultist obsessed with a demon god didn't seem all that different.
In any case, deciphering the magic cast on the Monsters was extremely difficult. It was, after all, a Unique Magic used only by that creature.
But it was only difficult, not impossible.
The title of unprecedented Archmage wasn't won by playing dice.
Franz approached a Monster and carefully placed his hand on it. The Monster, with a human torso, spider legs, and a lizard head, was quite unsettling, but it was unavoidable for the sake of deciphering the magic.
The mana circulating within Franz's body flowed through his hand and into the Monster.
The mana that entered the Monster's body explored the Magic Circles etched onto it very slowly.
Franz began to convert the information received through mana into existing magical formulas. He compared the Mana Amplification Rate embedded in each character and the attributes created by connected symbols with the information in his memory, changing them one by one.
While Franz was struggling, Yuna was still killing the Cultist.
*THWACK-!* It was a merciless slaughter, devoid of any pity. Since Yuna utterly detested Cultists to begin with, she held nothing back.
Then, at one moment,
The Cultist, who should have been struck by the sword, was not.
Belphegor was a little distance away, out of reach of Yuna's sword. It hadn't regenerated in its previous spot but had shifted its point of reference to another chunk of flesh.
“Ah, I waited to see how long you'd keep this up, but you don't seem to tire, do you? I was going to kill you painlessly if you just gave up, but it seems you two won't do that.”
Belphegor shook its head. Its attitude was still full of composure.
Yuna swiftly swung her sword at the creature, and its body was once again split in two.
But the magic had already been activated. A gigantic Magic Circle was drawn on the ground, centered where Belphegor had stood. It was an ominous, purple Magic Circle.
Yuna quickly put distance between them.
She didn't know much about magic, but it certainly looked dangerous.
Soon after the magic activated, the surrounding monsters began to gather towards Belphegor.
Naturally, the Monster Franz was using for his investigation also moved.
*“Huh?”*
Franz was flustered. He had clearly shattered the Monster's body to prevent it from moving, but it suddenly writhed and headed somewhere. The grotesque sight sent shivers down his spine.
At the same time, feeling a strong surge of demonic energy, Franz naturally turned his gaze towards its source. It seemed something unusual was happening.
*CLICK-.* Franz used Teleport to arrive by Yuna's side.
“Yuna, are you alright?”
“Yeah, no particular problem, but...”
Yuna trailed off, shifting her gaze somewhere.
Franz followed her gaze. There was a gigantic Magic Circle, and Monsters gathered around its center. It seemed that was the source of the intense demonic energy he had felt.
Under the influence of the Magic Circle, the Monsters transformed into sticky masses of flesh. Flesh, blood, fur, and other such things intertwined, forming a truly grotesque shape.
“I was so close.”
If he'd had just a little more time, he could have fully deciphered its Unique Magic.
Then he could have dealt with that disgusting mass of flesh in one go.
Just then.
“I'll make good use of both of you as materials. Both of you are excellent. A masterpiece will be born.”
The mass of flesh coalesced into a gigantic human form, and Belphegor's voice was heard from within it.
Franz, his brow furrowed at the repulsive sight, let out a long sigh.
He had a feeling this would happen, which is why he tried to decipher it quickly...
Since it's too late, what can he do? He'll just have to charge at that thing himself.
“Yuna, cover me.”
“Ah, okay!”
Yuna nodded.
Franz immediately charged towards the creature.
An Archmage, after all, doesn't distinguish between vanguard and rearguard.