Volume 5, Chapter 58 – The Holy Son’s Desperate Situation

…It was unknown how long the battle had lasted.

Although she had guessed Chazo might be troublesome, she hadn’t expected him to be this difficult.

Forcefully swinging her Flame Greatsword to push him back, the tattered-cloaked Nola felt secretly unwilling.

A full quarter of an hour had passed since she had challenged him. Yet, despite having made thorough preparations before setting out, she had only managed to fight him to a standstill. Not only was she wielding a divine weapon imbued with [Miracle Force] and [Blessing of Revival], but before departing, she had the Wandering Knight apply numerous enhancement spells like [Blessing of Courage], [Blessing of Vigor], [Elemental Affinity], and even [Perception Enhancement]. It could be said that she was currently at her absolute peak.

Yet even so, she could only manage a draw. Her sword strike would inflict a superficial wound on him, which his self-healing magic would quickly mend. Similarly, when his spear grazed her skin, the [Blessing of Revival] in her divine weapon would swiftly restore her injury. It was essentially a competition of patience and who had more mana.

As for using a decisive, powerful attack to settle the match, as long as he didn’t give her the chance, it was difficult for her to use one.

Just as using high-tier magic required a lengthy preparation process, high-tier warrior skills were not much better. Moreover, this was not a one-on-one dueling arena, but a chaotic battlefield. Consuming too much mana at once, what if he had a hidden move—just as she had the Wandering Knight as a backup, waiting for an opportunity to strike him hard—victory or defeat would be decided in an instant.

That being said, a prolonged fight was truly frustrating.

Clicking her tongue forcefully, the sweating Nola wiped the corner of her mouth, which was bleeding slightly. As a member of the hot-tempered Fire Cat Tribe, she did not like battles of attrition at all.

She looked at Chazo, who had used [Ancestral Spirit’s Possession], a dozen meters away, carefully searching for an opening.

“Is this why you’ve been hiding your strength? To be able to fight me, a Holy Son, to this extent, your purpose has been achieved.”

If she had known earlier that he could fight her at her peak to a standstill, she would have worked harder to improve her strength. The surge in power had made her overly confident, thinking that reaching the Seventh Tier meant she could rest easy.

“You’re not bad either.”

To Nola’s surprise, Chazo, muscular and burly like a bear-man, did not hold back his praise. The possession had even turned his head into that of a male lion, and his clothes had burst, leaving only his pants.

“You actually praise me, your enemy.”

“I only recognize those with strength. If I hadn’t been fully prepared, I might have already lost to your fluctuating attacks.”

The “fluctuating attacks” referred to the [Miracle Force] inherent in her greatsword, which had a chance to double the power of an attack. But she couldn’t actively control this power, so in his eyes, it was a strange attack that was sometimes light and sometimes heavy.

At this, Chazo glanced down at the battlefield flashing with magic light. After a quarter of an hour, it had already become a terrifying meat grinder, filled with screams, shouts, and the explosions of magic. Flesh and blood mixed with the creaking of crossbows, making one’s hair stand on end.

He suddenly put on a sincere expression.

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“Holy Son, I have no intention of taking your life. The Cold Night is already poor and weak. For the two of us, who have finally reached the Seventh Tier, to kill each other will only benefit others. If you are willing to submit to me with your people, I can call off the siege right now and swear by the Ancestral Spirit to preserve your autonomy. Wouldn’t it be better for us to shake hands and deal with the humans to the west together?”

“No way!”

Nola rejected his suggestion without a second thought.

Who knew what he was planning? This was a decisive duel. If she showed weakness, it would be a huge blow to the morale of the soldiers below. Moreover, he was suspicious and ruthless. To put her head in the hands of such a person, she would rather die fighting.

Having rested briefly, she once again poured magic power into her greatsword. As if cheering for her resolve, the sword let out a high-pitched hum, and the flames on its blade grew even more intense. The soaring battle intent instantly swept away the heaviness in her heart.

She was the Holy Son, granted a divine weapon and destined to change the fate of the Cold Night. She could not lose to an insidious villain who only knew how to ravage the common people.

[Phoenix]

With a ‘poof’ sound of ignition, flame wings spanning three or four meters abruptly unfolded behind her. The brilliant firelight instantly illuminated the night sky, causing even the shouts of killing on the battlefield to subside somewhat, as people subconsciously became wary of this flame angel who seemed to bring death.

“This is the power of a Holy Son! Chazo, this will be your burial place!”

At a speed faster than ever before, Nola, with her burning wings, arrived before Chazo in an instant. Chazo, controlled by the Demon General, immediately held his spear horizontally to block. But her [Miracle Force] happened to trigger. Under the immense force that seemed about to crush all his bones, he was shot diagonally downwards like a baseball into the battlefield below. The strong impact created a terrifying crater, followed by the rumbling and cracking of the earth. Those siege soldiers who happened to be nearby were instantly turned into meat paste.

Looking down from Nola’s perspective, a blank area dozens of meters in diameter slowly appeared in the center of the battlefield.

However, the Demon General of Absolute Death was not so easy to deal with. He had survived under the hands of Helian at her peak; his own strength would not be weak. Chazo, submerged in the dust, was only slightly disheveled. Controlled by the Demon General, he bounced back at a speed even faster than when he had fallen.

Then, the two, swift as meteors, once again illuminated the night sky.

Boom!

The spreading shockwave could be clearly felt even on the ground hundreds of meters below. The soldiers on the city wall were blown about by the wind pressure, and those on the ground could only cover their ears and advance half-crouched.

“Ugh.”

The pain from her arms made Nola let out a muffled groan. [Phoenix] was a spell with limited uses that could enhance her physical abilities in all aspects. If she hadn’t wanted to end the battle quickly, she wouldn’t have been willing to use this trump card. However, to her surprise, the battle that had been evenly matched before was still evenly matched now. It seemed that in just that short time, Chazo’s strength had risen another level.

Could it be that he has been holding back his strength all this time?

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The thought had just appeared in her mind when she dispelled it. She was unwilling to believe that even when she used her full strength, she was still no match for him. He was not a long-lived race like the elves, unable to rely on lifespan to accumulate advantages. To possess strength comparable to a Holy Son at less than forty years old was too frightening to contemplate.

Finding her own wavering laughable, Nola forcefully flapped her wings. A rain of fireballs immediately shot towards him. She poured several times more power than before into her greatsword, as if wanting to ignite the entire sky. An even vaster flame carrying high temperature appeared in the air. She raised her sword high with both hands, towering over everyone like a divine punishment. She needed this blow to boost her confidence.

“Repent in the flames!”

“Finally couldn’t hold back?”

Reflected in his eyes was the image of Nola holding the hundred-meter-long Flame Greatsword high. Chazo showed no fear. On the contrary, his withered face showed a fanaticism.

“Then let me show you what the power of the ruler of the Cold Night truly is!”

Chazo did not use his spear, and even dispelled [Ancestral Spirit’s Possession]. He raised his right hand, as if intending to catch the descending greatsword with one hand, his palm forming a grasping gesture.

In an instant, the scorching air rapidly cooled, replaced by a pitch-black cold wind that swept across the plains. These invisible air currents seemed to have substance. They rapidly condensed in front of him, finally forming a pitch-black hand that seemed to grasp the sky, its size no less than the hundred-meter-long greatsword. The fire rain Nola used didn’t even create a ripple and was completely swallowed by the black hand.

A terrifying pressure spread across the plains. The soldiers stopped attacking and defending, instead shouting and moving away from the center of the impending explosion, as if they had seen some invincible behemoth. But before they could run a few steps, the sky-illuminating greatsword had already cut fiercely into the black hand.

If the previous aftershocks had only made people stagger, then now, the power was terrifying, comparable to a Sixth-Tier wide-area annihilation spell.

Centered on the point of collision, an uninhabited zone three hundred meters in diameter abruptly appeared in the field. Anyone close by was, without exception, blown away by the storm created by the explosion. As for those heavy siege engines, they were directly torn apart by the shockwave. The ground even caved in by a few centimeters. If these two had been fighting on the ground, a terrifying crater would surely have appeared in the battlefield.

“Huff… huff…”

The storm gradually dissipated. Nola, dragging her Flame Greatsword, panted heavily from the instantaneous drain of a large amount of magic power.

Only she knew that she had been at a disadvantage in that exchange. Not only had her sword failed to cut through the black hand he had summoned, but she had also been hit by a backlash from it. A bone-chilling cold was rampaging inside her. She guessed that the hand was probably the Sixth-Tier necromancy spell [Grasp of the Undead]. The coldness she felt was actually the negative life force unique to undead creatures. The loss of life force manifested as feeling cold.

At this point, she finally understood why he was stronger than her. Although her greatsword did not give her the feeling of a Darkborn, she still narrowed her eyes, her gaze filled with contempt.

“You’ve sided with the Darkborn!”

There was only one type of creature that could use negative life force: undead. And undead were considered part of the Darkborn. For him to use necromancy now meant that he was involved with the main camp of the undead, the Netherworld. He might no longer be a living being.

With only arrogance in his expression, the unharmed Chazo raised his head.

“Since you’ve already guessed, then I won’t hide it anymore. That’s right, I have borrowed the power of the Darkborn. But as long as it’s used properly, what’s wrong with using their power? You, who are manipulated by the goddess, are no different from me!”

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“Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell the people below what you’ve said?”

“As long as I kill you, no one will know the truth. Let me tell you mercifully, the one helping me is the Demon General of Absolute Death. You cannot defeat me!”

Although slightly panicked, Chazo still chose to hand over control of his body to the Demon General. After the two communicated briefly, the expression on his face became even more ferocious. He raised both hands, making a gesture of holding something. Then, a profound magic circle outlined by blue magic power appeared between his hands, followed by a chilling, high-pitched chant.

Although she didn’t know what he was doing, the beastman’s sense of crisis was desperately warning her to move quickly. The danger level of this blue magic circle even exceeded the pressure he had given her.

I absolutely cannot let him use it.

Not caring that it was a duel, Nola immediately sent a signal for the Wandering Knight to act. Then, she forcefully flapped her flame wings and slashed straight at Chazo’s head.

However, when she was less than ten meters away, her entire body encountered immense resistance, as if stepping into mud. Her speed instantly slowed down. No matter how much magic power she poured into her wings, she couldn’t increase her speed. Not only that, but the closer she got, the slower she became. When she was less than three meters away, the sluggish feeling, which had been like moving through a swamp, had already turned into the heavy resistance of pushing a mountain with both hands, unable to advance even an inch.

Even though it was just a hasty attack, it actually made me unable to move?!

An even stronger sense of wavering appeared in her heart. At this moment, the magic circle was already giving her a bone-chilling coldness as if she had fallen into an ice cellar. She could be sure that this was definitely not something she could easily deal with.

This is no time to hold back!

『 Holy Son’s Advent 』 !

She tensed her entire body and unhesitatingly used the magic bestowed upon her by the goddess. A monstrous white flame burst out with a ‘poof’, engulfing her entire body. The barrier that had made her unable to move an inch just a moment ago was now like it didn’t exist. She took one step and arrived in front of Chazo, who looked as if he had aged ten years. She swung her Flame Greatsword with all her might, slashing horizontally at the wide-eyed Chazo.

However, she was still a step too late.

“ ——『 Sacrifice · Demon General Summoning 』! “

“To call me over just as I woke up. It wouldn’t be right if you didn’t pay me extra, Absolute Death.”

With a slender male voice, a bony arm stretched out from the magic circle Chazo held high. Then, this arm, which looked as if it could be crushed with a little force, grabbed the Flame Greatsword, forcefully stopping the divine weapon that contained terrifying power.

The flames made the arm sizzle, but its owner seemed unfazed and continued to speak in a leisurely voice.

“Oh? Interesting.”

A strong sense of crisis enveloped Nola’s entire body. Her survival instinct made her subconsciously withdraw her sword and retreat violently, quickly distancing herself from Chazo.

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After only a second, Nola finally saw clearly what the Demon General of Absolute Death had summoned—a monster made entirely of hands. Not a giant like a Hecatoncheir, but a human-sized, spherical meatball composed entirely of green arms. A human mouth grew on the palm of the meatball demon’s hand, and the way it swam by moving its arms was exceptionally disgusting.

As a Holy Son, Nola had heard of this Demon General.

The Demon General of Gluttony, born a hundred years ago, also at the Seventh Tier.

Cold sweat began to pour down her back, to the point where the white flames surrounding her diminished somewhat.

One Demon General of Absolute Death had already put her at a disadvantage. To face two at the same time, it was impossible to win. Finding a chance to escape was the right choice. No, being able to escape was a blessing in disguise.

And she couldn’t abandon her clan and friends and run away.

Right, I can ask Claire…

“Haha, Absolute Death, you called me for nothing.”

Just as hope arose in Nola’s heart, the Demon General of Gluttony suddenly pointed with all his arms towards the city behind her. Above the most conspicuous Hunting Ground in the city, a huge black demon was slowly brewing, like a large spider crouching on the building.

As if seeing something incomprehensible, the Demon General of Absolute Death’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“That is… I can feel the master’s aura. But how could the master come here?”

“Who cares? Just finish what you need to do first. I’ve never tasted a delicate cat-person before.”

As he spoke, the Demon General of Gluttony made a slurping sound with the mouth on his palm.

Master? Absolute Evil?

In an instant, Nola’s heart sank to the bottom.

Claire, please don’t come over.

Because this would be her burial place.

Holding nothing back anymore, Nola erupted with a sun-like brilliance and, with the determination to perish together, charged straight at the two Demon Generals.