Just Made It!
I took Black out, and the moment I returned, the Demon King was about to be killed.
If I'd been even a tenth of a second later, it would've been curtains.
Seriously curtains!
My heart was pounding so hard it was almost dangerous!
Phew—okay, yeah, let me just... take a breath for a sec.
Right. Situation assessment.
Behind me: the Demon King.
Safe. Good.
Ahead of me: a Dragon Person.
Humanoid in build but distinctly draconic in appearance.
I'm pretty sure the Ninth Army that Black commanded had guys like this in its ranks.
This is the one who was trying to stab the Demon King just now.
Elsewhere.
Yamada's group plus a handful of dragons at a distance.
VS. Puppet Taratects and whatnot.
Looks like the Puppet Taratects are handling the dragons, while the other Taratect-type Monsters are going after Yamada and company.
Over there, the Puppet Taratects are getting pushed back but it's not to the point of collapse. Plus they're a fair distance away, so I'll leave them be for now.
Conclusion.
For now, I just need to take out this Dragon Person in front of me.
You might say that's an oversimplified approach—"just hit the closest enemy you see"—but on the battlefield, knocking out nearby threats first is almost always the right call!
Besides, do you really think I can afford to pick and choose enemies on a battlefield?!
Spot one, take one out!
Search and destroy! That's search and destroy, baby!
Oh, my tension's way too high for no reason?
Well, yeah—because I've been pent up with frustration ever since that rendezvous with Black!
Fighting between gods is insanely taxing on the nerves. You're constantly carving away at each other's domains, grinding down each other's energy reserves.
When you attack, you have to calculate how much of the opponent's energy you'll actually drain with that strike.
When you defend, you have to figure out how much of your own energy the incoming attack will chip away, then recalculate how much to allocate toward defense to minimize damage.
And you have to keep running those calculations in real time while brawling!
It's exhausting for the mind and the body.
If you just swing with full power without thinking, you can actually end up spending more energy as the attacker and come out at a net loss.
It's like playing speed chess with zero thinking time, except you also have to read a thousand moves ahead or you lose instantly. And while doing that, you're also boxing.
That was rough.
The moment you make a mistake, it's over—and you still have to keep your brain firing on all cylinders under that kind of pressure.
And for the record, I didn't even make any real mistakes, yet here I am looking like this!
Totally wrecked.
One eye destroyed.
Incidentally, this is irreparable.
I suppose that's what you'd expect from a proper god—they apparently had a formula that prevents physical regeneration, and they went all out with it while wounding me.
It's not that it absolutely can't be healed, but forcing it would drain a ridiculous amount of energy, so I'm putting it off until the fight's over.
But with Black—the biggest obstacle—taken down, what's left is basically an exhibition match.
All right, let's go ahead and smash this Dragon Person.
"Whitey."
Just as I psyched myself up, the Demon King called out to me from behind.
I kept my eyes on the Dragon Person but turned my head.
The Demon King was staring at me with a complicated expression. Relief, joy—and then sadness?
...Ah, right. About Black.
From the Demon King's perspective, Black had been around for a long, long time. Even if they were enemies, learning that Black had fallen would stir up complicated feelings.
"Oh, he's alive."
"Hm? Oh, really?"
So I went ahead and reported Black's survival.
He looks dead for all the world, but he's actually still kicking.
I mean, a god who's been more than half separated from his physical body isn't necessarily going to die just because that body got destroyed.
That body is still more or less intact, too.
Right now he's taken too much damage and his energy is nearly depleted. His physical regeneration is shaky, so it only looks like he's dead—but he's very much alive.
Of course, I made sure he can't revive quickly, so it'll be quite some time before he can move again.
"...I see. Then I can fight without worry."
So hard to understand?!
That strange voice of his makes him incredibly hard to make out. Did this Dragon Person really think he was going to be the one fighting me?
"Come."
The Dragon Person charged.
Hm? The speed isn't that impressive.
Dodging this should be easy—except!
A menacing aura was emanating from the Dragon Person's fist.
Instinct screamed at me that I absolutely could not take that hit.
This aura—it's a Heretical Attack!
A Heretical Attack delivered through a Skill inflicts damage directly to the soul.
It works on gods too—in fact, the Skill practically seems designed with gods as targets.
I tried my best to reproduce this Heretical Attack myself, but it was so difficult I gave up.
The sheer deviousness of D, embedding such a complex technique into a Skill system!
Who in the world was this Skill meant to be used against?!
There was only supposed to be one god in this entire world!
And that would be Black over there, who's got dead fish eyes right now!
I dodged the Dragon Person's attack.
Even I can't afford to take a Heretical Attack head-on.
Sure, I can regenerate my physical body almost instantly, but soul damage isn't something you recover from quickly.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Here I thought this was going to be an easy clean-up match, and there turns out to be a hidden ace in the hole.