A Betrayed Master Will Not Return

35 – Shaky Leg Effect (6)

A devil resembling a gull looking mournfully at the moon.

The Devil Hunters around him seemed indifferent,

His gaze was solely focused on the shining full moon.

He emitted an unmistakably ominous presence.

Observing this, Nelson asked me in a cold voice.

“Is that him? The leader of those devilish creatures resembling octopuses.”

“Yes, but be careful, his power is on a different level from those pests…”

Then.

-Drip, drip

“hahahaha!”

“Hmm…”

Something was flowing from his body.

Those small beads, resembling pearls, rapidly grew as if inflating balloons.

And.

“Gurgling~ Gurgling~”

Eerie sounds coming from the beads.

A strangely familiar yet slightly distorted hum.

Through this, the Devil Hunters could immediately recognize what it was without my need for explanation.

At that moment.

“!! This… What is this?”

Nelson expresses sudden confusion.

Her face, upon seeing the rolling bead beneath her feet, hardened unlike before.

The red flesh contained within the bead.

It was gradually transforming into the appearance of a squid-headed demon.

Nelson could clearly recognize what it originally was.

The bodies of imperial soldiers.

Fragments of their torn uniforms mixed with the body pieces.

Realizing belatedly what the words of those who had been devoured by demons during the battles meant,

and understanding the true identity of the demon they had endlessly killed,

Nelson and her subordinate put magical power into the hand gripping the sword, with pale expressions.

“Damn you!!!”

-Smash!”

Nelson angrily shatters the ‘beads’ with all her might.

In response, the Devil Hunters swiftly begin destroying the eggs of the creatures trying to hatch.

Dozens, even hundreds of eggs explode, causing the area to be covered in the red liquid that flowed out.

Although there were demons that attempted to attack while almost all the eggs had already hatched due to their sheer numbers,

even they were quickly vanquished by the Devil Hunters, Nelson, and her subordinate without inflicting much damage.

However, the cunning demon did not even flinch in response to their actions.

As if uninterested in the surrounding situation,

As if the only object that deserves attention is the moon in front of my eyes.

Just like in a game.

“Alright, if it goes like this, I can use tricks easily.”

-Bang!!!!

After bursting all the beads flowing out of that guy’s body,

I gave instructions to the Devil Hunters in a calm voice.

“Alright, now there’s only that guy left. First, everyone back off…”

At that moment.

“Now it’s your turn… the guy who killed my subordinates countless times, I will finish you with my own hands.”

“Prepare yourself, you filthy demon.”

“Huh?”

Nelson and her subordinates, pointing their swords at the ghastly demon with an expression of disgust.

Seeing them, who lost their composure in hatred, I urgently spoke.

“Just… calm down for a moment, don’t provoke him now…”

“Die!!!!”

Before my words could finish, Nelson swiftly drew her sword.

Amidst the tremendous magical power swirling, she struck him with hatred.

“You damn…!”

“＜Nelson’s Touch＞!!!!!”

Crackling thunderously!!!

A massive golden bolt of lightning dropped from the sky in an instant.

It exploded right above the head of the figure who had been gazing blankly at the moon.

A flash that filled the entire area,

and the thunderous roar so immense it made your skin crawl.

And even from a distance, the tingling sensation was palpable.

Undeniably, this power was of a different caliber.

The strength possessed by the empire’s mightiest warrior was made abundantly clear with that single strike, which brought a mix of shock and intense wariness to the faces of Jeanne and Gabriel.

“Did he… did he finish it?”

“Could it be… that demon, truly vanquished by a single blow?”

Their voices trembled as they spoke in unison.

However…

Unlike them,

automatically, a single phrase slipped from my lips in this moment.

“We’re in trouble…”

*

Huff… Huff… Huff…

Magic energy drained away like the ebbing tide.

In the midst of the deep exhaustion that followed, Nelson gasped for breath ruggedly.

‘Damn it… I got too excited without realizing…’

Belatedly, Nelson realized that she had been too rash.

Just moments ago, upon witnessing someone using the corpses of her dead subordinates to create a demon, she had lost her temper completely.

It was painful enough for her to think of those subordinates who had been sacrificed to that fiend.

To Nelson, the scene from just moments before had ignited the suppressed fury within her.

Ignoring even Gelard’s words, she had delivered a strike to that creature.

However, separate from the realization that she had made an emotional mistake,

she was certain that this strike marked the end of the situation.

The ultimate strike she possessed was a magic capable of erasing hundreds of troops in an instant.

＜Nelson’s Touch＞

Up until now, there had been only one who remained unscathed by it,

and naturally, any demon would have turned to cinders, as if scorched black.

Certainly…

That should have been the outcome…

“…Huh?”

As the blinding light caused by the lightning faded and her sight returned to her.

But the scene that unfolded was entirely different from what Nelson had expected.

What stood before her eyes was

the figure of a demon, blackened and charred in spots.

However,

the creature, which at a glance seemed far from dead,

Slowly, he began to shift his gaze towards this direction.

“What… What is this? Ho… How can it hit and still be unharmed?”

Nelson expresses his confusion in the incomprehensible situation.

Towards her,

The aura demon, for the first time, started flashing violet eyes that had not been seen before.

And…

-“Huk… Hukhuk… Hukhukhuk…”

Eerie sounds emanated from its body.

What resembled the sound of a person crying quickly captured Nelson’s mind, which had been held in shock.

“Oh… Oh no!”

In a moment of confusion, Nelson allowed the creature’s mental attack.

She swiftly drew her sword in an attempt to resist it in any way.

However…

“Ah!…”

Her body suddenly stiffened.

As if her entire body was trapped by something invisible,

Nelson dropped the sword she had been holding.

“General… Sir… Keuk!”

Her subordinate, kneeling on the floor with a mixture of agony in his voice.

Within Nelson’s heart, the emotion of regret slowly started to fill up due to the worst situation created by her recklessness.

The Devil Hunter had clearly seen enough to know that his advice had the power to change the situation. So why, in this critical moment, did she ignore his warning and make such a rash decision?

She felt a deep regret for that fact.

Nelson was momentarily seized by intense fear as she stared at the tentacles reaching towards her.

Then…

-Bang!

“Huh?”

The sound of a gunshot ringing in her ears.

At the same time, the mental paralysis that had been gripping Nelson’s body vanished, but she was still unable to move from her spot, her expression blank.

The tentacles that had just threatened her life were now being torn apart, spewing red fluid.

By the hand of that man…

Gerard Mura.

“What are you standing there for! Snap out of it!”

“Ah…”

“For God’s sake! Get out of the way right now! I’ll take it from here!”

“I… I’m sorry.”

Gerard shouted with genuine anger. In response, Nelson apologized in a dull voice and stepped back for the time being.

The man who saved me at that thrilling moment…

Without even blinking my eyes at Geralt, who was swinging his sword with an irritated expression.

*

Right after saving Nelson, I naturally got into the battle.

-“Huuuhhhhh!!!!!”

An existence that swung its tentacles at a terrifying speed while emitting an annoying screeching sound.

A stingray devil…

More accurately, a bastard named Atos’ abandoned offspring.

Fortunately, I had faced this guy several times in the previous game,

But honestly, at this moment, I felt really dirty facing him head-on.

“Damn it, if I had tricked him, I could have ended it comfortably, but that damn jerk had to act all useless and get in my way…”

A mid-boss that can be encountered before facing Raphais,

Atos’ abandoned offspring.

However, unlike its name as a mid-boss,

Its pure difficulty was ranked as the worst among the creatures that can be encountered in the game.

An obscene body that doesn’t even reach half when hit by the strongest magic,

Mental attacks that come flying at any moment when bored,

A grabbing pattern where even a single hit takes away 70% of the body.

On top of that, it constantly hatches eggs and increases its minions, which is an annoying and worthless behavior.

Its strength is also ridiculously strong. Unlike Dagon, facing a guy with even more complex patterns was not an easy task even for skilled users.

However, separate from these facts, it was surprisingly easier to strategize against this guy than to deal with the unbeatable Triplets, Daigon and Gaenodap.

Unlike other bosses, the method relied on exploiting the guy’s characteristic of being non-combatant until he is attacked from this side.

The strategy involved bursting all the eggs that come out of his body, collecting the flammable ones, and detonating them with explosives, effectively self-destructing the guy.

Compared to the originally set difficulty, this was an embarrassingly simple strategy.

However, this was an officially endorsed strategy by the game developers, so it was common for this guy to be treated as a pushover who would die if players voiced complaints, completely separate from the pure difficulty.

However.

At this moment, I could no longer use such a strategy.

The contents of the eggs that were evaporated by the lightning that was carelessly thrown by Nelson just now.

The blood vessels seemed to be fairly well cut, but as I looked at the guy who clearly still had more than half of his health, judging from the fact that he hadn’t entered a berserk state, I couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh internally.

‘I can’t help it, I have no choice but to somehow make it work like this…’