Chapter 164: "Angel"
TL note: Can you guys help me reach 10 contracts this month? You can read up to 40 chapters ahead of the schedule with 2 chapters per update if you're in Contract(Membership)
Abdullah sees Rikhard in front of him clutching what looks like a necklace, and a bad feeling strikes him.
When the necklace glowed, three feathers appeared from Rikhard's back and a ring appeared on his head, and the atmosphere changed.
His expression also changes to a languid one.
"You have summoned me... you understand the meaning of this, do you not?"
Rikhard - no. Something in the form of a Rikhard slowly turns its gaze towards Abdullah.
"It's an unfamiliar species. ...... Ah, the chaos dependents you know?"
It mumbles to itself.
The voice is Rikkhard's, but what comes out of his mouth are unfamiliar words.
I don't understand what he is saying, but for some reason I understand the meaning.
It's him. I am instinctively convinced.
This is the one who instigated Rikkhard.
"Are you the Grigori who drove Rikkhard mad?"
"Drove him mad? That's a strange thing to say. This man wanted to be saved. That's why we saved him."
The man says this as if it were a matter of course and looks towards the temple.
"There?"
Abdullah instantly understands the aim of the enemy in front of him and slashes at him with his curved sword.
No matter how you think about it, his aim is his master, Roe. The enemy is not going to let him go.
He steps in, crushes the gap at once and slashes...
"It's bothersome."
--Before he can even get to the ground, he is cut in two, from the left shoulder.
Abdullah's eyes widened and he saw what looked like a sword in the hand of the one who had taken over Rikhard, but there was nothing he could do about it.
He let go, unable to hold his consciousness with the feeling of his upper body being slammed to the ground.
...Shit.
"Oh come on."
I saw Abdullah crumple in front of me, cut in two.
... one blow, huh?
Rikhard is staring at me with a sword-like object made of light hanging in one hand.
It seems to be a nomination.
...I guess I'll have to take this one.
I jump down from the top of the temple.
On the way down, I suddenly realise.
The numbers don't match.
The pillars in the temple match the number of angels fighting Aquiel.
Then what is that guy down there?
Could there be another pillar? If so, we'll have to look for them.
Inwardly, I land on the ground, thinking it's a pain in the ass.
"Are thou a child of chaos?"
He walks towards me with a languid tone and a blank expression on his face.
The atmosphere is very different. Considering that you're possessing Rikkhard, are you one of the top Grigori?
"I don't know what you're talking about, are you the head of Grigori or something?"
"No way. I am Αζαζελ. Γριγορι, the leader of Grigori."
I can still barely make out Grigori, but I don't understand the name.
Why is it so hard to understand proper nouns in their language?
Oh, uh... something?
"Σεμιαζά may have said it, but I will say it again. Are you not willing to accept our blessing?"
"As I said to the previous one, I refuse. I have no intention of becoming a convenient tool for you."
Thanks to Aquiel, I understand a little more about the High Elves.
We have an idea, albeit to a certain extent, as to why the memory did not come out.
"You talk about blessings, but in essence, I'm handing over my soul to you guys, right?"
'"es. The contract with us is concluded by offering your souls to us."
...I suppose.
When I examined Manuel and the others, I couldn't eat their souls.
I would like to add that the souls of the elves in this space seemed to be able to return to their corpses without any problem, but only the High Elves remained dead.
In short, there is no soul in them.
Perhaps, the souls are held by the Grigori.
Therefore, the High Elves cannot defy Grigori.
Perhaps their memories were inscribed in their souls and managed by them.
The reason they were able to handle their own memories is that for some reason their body and soul remained connected, and it is thought that they were able to draw them from there.
That's why you can't pull them out of the brain. You can't pull out what's not there, because it's not there in the first place.
"I'm not so bloodthirsty as to put my life in the hands of people like you."
"Why do you refuse us so?"
They ask in a tone of voice that says, sincerely, I wonder.
They don't understand that part of it, that's why they're talking like this.
"I get what I want myself. I don't need people like you to give me wisdom. Look elsewhere."
"We need thee. You are the best of all my dependents."
In short, I should just give up my body?
His tone is gentle, but he has the power to make you say whether you want to or not.
I let out a small sigh and glared at the big guy in front of me.
"I'll tell you what I want you to do. Get out of my way. I'm not going to touch you unless you block my way. Wouldn't that be mutually beneficial?"
"You mean you won't come under our thumb no matter what."
"Persistent."
"Then I shall have to resort to force."
You say that like you've been trying to do it all along.
But still, the guy in front of me is very stable.
There is no noticeable trauma, even though some time has passed, albeit somewhat.
Is Rikhard's body different from others?
Sigh. Is it any use thinking about it?
What I'm going to do is the same anyway.
I'm sorry Abdullah, but it looks like I'm going to have to finish him off myself.
The person in question seems to be alive and well, although only the upper half of his body is left, and the auxiliary brain that I planted in him manipulates his body and crawls towards the lower half.
I don't think there's anything to worry about.
It's a body I rebuilt at the last minute.
Let's let them do a performance check as well.
''Can't use too much force...''
The angel muttered to himself and held the sword of light in his hand slouched down.
At the same time, I don't know how they do it, they don't run, they slide on the ground and come towards us.
I'm going to have to pull back until the very last second.
I draw back to the very edge and then evade with a backstep.
I hold out my left arm.
Numerous thin hundred pairs of legs pop out from the cuff and attack all at once.
The left arm Human Centipede was also improved while it was being healed.
The position of the growth was changed from the forearm to the upper arm near the shoulder.
Instead of reducing its size by about 20%, the number was increased to 10.
The destructive power was greatly reduced, but the number of moves was surprisingly increased by a factor of ten.
To be honest, I realised that it was faster to draw them in and hit them than to have them bite, so I settled on this form.
In the first place, it was only huge until now, and a human-sized prey can easily tear off its limbs even in its current state.
The rest of my physical capabilities have also greatly improved, and my current physical capabilities are nothing compared to what they were before my body was obliterated.
In fact, I can see a slash before I see it, and I can avoid it, whereas before I would have barely been able to avoid it.
The secret is the increased amount of roots.
Until now, it was used in a form that stretched over the entire body, and the body was manipulated via the roots.
The part of me that I call a root is the source of my own ability.
It has the drawback that it crumbles when it comes into contact with the outside air, but my overall power increases in proportion to the amount.
The more, the better, but unfortunately my body's capacity is finite.
I could play with my figure, but if I make it any bigger, I'll deviate from a human being.
So I changed my mind.
Bones, muscles, organs and even the brain have been replaced by roots.
To be precise, the surface is covered with biological tissue and the rest is completely root.
As a result, almost all of my original parts have disappeared and my insides are now a complete mass of roots.
...I've had plenty of time to play around with it.
I've been tinkering with it in between soldier production, and it seems to have worked out better than I thought it would.
In fact, I've been able to move a lot better with my physical abilities and manipulation of magic.
Thanks to that, I can see the angel's movements better.
If he's the head of Grigori, does that mean he's the strongest?
If so, there is no one better than him.
In other words, my current power is good enough for these guys.
...well, partly due to the fact that they are weakened by this space.
"My body is heavy."
The angel let go of his sword, and at the same time, a cross-shaped spear-like object with blades spread out to the left and right appeared, instantly slicing the swarm of centipedes I had turned against into a circle by rotating the spear.
With a smooth motion, he stops the rotation, slides it in his hand and thrusts it towards us.
While dropping down, I deflected my upper body backwards to avoid it.
From the feeling of the hundred legs being slashed, the shell's defences were not working at all.
...What a sharpness.
Probably, if you are cut, you will be cut in two without resistance.
It's hard not to be able to receive.
I cluck my tongue inwardly.
A series of strikes while dexterously rotating with the hand.
The main movement is not thrusting but cleaving while spinning.
The trajectory of the attack is circular, but it's hard to spot because of the slow and steady motion.
Thanks to my enhanced dynamic vision, I've managed to avoid it, but it's hard to keep on avoiding it like this.
... somehow counterattack...
"Hm..."
When the angel muttered that, its movement changed.
From cleave to thrust.
A series of strikes.
...here.
Kick up the first flying thrust from below.
The spear heads in the direction of the day after tomorrow, and at the same time I get in the pocket and slam my fist into it.
My right fist is blocked by a barrier before it can penetrate the belly.
The --.
[Activation]. [Activation].[Activation].[Activation].[Activation].
I could have used it, but there was no problem even if I didn't, so I boosted the body strengthening magic, which had never been used before, with a barrage of strikes using my magical power.
As it is, I smash down the barrier and punch through it with forceful techniques.
My fist pierced the angel's chest, and I could feel its bones and organs shattering.
My fist goes straight through the stomach and my arm enters the body.
I grabbed the pulsing feeling in my hand and pulled it out.
As soon as I pulled my arm out, I tried to move away, but a hand sword flew at my neck.
...I can't lose.
The moment the sword touched my neck, it severed and chopped it off without any resistance.
My vision spins around in the air with my neck, but it's a trivial matter.
I manoeuvred my body to kick in time, and used wind magic to manipulate the trajectory of the head's fall.
Catch it as it falls.
Place it on the wound and join it.
Move it left and right to see how it's doing.
Mm. It's stuck.
The organ that remains in my grip for the time being - the heart? The heart is a waste, so it is absorbed.
The other party is...
"After all, the odds are against me in this body."
--The other party - he seems to be in good health.
When he held his hand over the wound, it glowed and began to close, but then there was the sound of something bursting and part of the temporal region exploded.
Blood splatters.
"...this one won't hold..."
The wound on the head begins to close, but the rest is damaged.
"After all, can't the current children reach Νεπηιλιμ? If they can't finish it even after spending so much time on it, does that mean that the ελφ elves were too much for them?"
Muttering a thoughtful murmur, the angel lets out a small breath.
His gaze suddenly turns towards Aquiel.
"I must say that it is difficult to capture thee as long as the demon cannot be destroyed? But we should regard it as a reward just to have confirmed your existence."
"What? Is that all?"
"I'll leave it at this. Either way, as long as we have no dependents, we cannot interfere here."
"I see. That's good news. Just keep it that way and don't interfere with me again."
"But do not forget. The body is our Γριγο-"
He was about to say something, but Abdullah, who was sneaking up behind him, cut off his head and closed his mouth forever.
Not content with that, Abdullah stomped down on the fallen head, and in return, the remaining torso was cut in two, from the shoulders up, in an exaggerated manner.
"Get back!"
When I say so, Abdullah leaves.
At the same time, I activate the magic [Flame II] and the flames engulf the scattered corpses.
It is released when it has been burnt to a good degree.
What remains after the flames is a lump of charcoal.
I examine it with detection magic, but there are no signs of life.
Did we do it?
There were a lot of questions I wanted to ask, but I killed it, so let's call it good.
Just to be sure, the remaining charcoal is also magically erased.
Is that the end for now?