Final Battle ⑰

Just barely safe!

Defeated the Black, returned, and just in time to see the Demon King being assassinated.

One hundredth of a second later, and it would have been fatal.

It was seriously dangerous!

The heart was pounding so hard it felt like it might burst!

Hah... okay, yeah, let's calm down for a moment.

Yes, situation check.

Behind: Demon King.

Unharmed.

Yes.

Ahead: Dragonkin.

Humanoid in structure, but with a dragon-like appearance.

That should be one of the units from the Ninth Army led by the Black.

This one was the perpetrator who just attempted to kill the Demon King.

Others.

A group of Yamada-kun and several dragons, separated at a distance.

VS: Puppet Talatect, etc.

It appears the Talatects are engaging the dragons, while other Talatect-type creatures are attacking Yamada-kun's group.

The Puppet Talatects are being pushed back, but not to the point of immediate collapse.

The distance is sufficient—暂且忽略.

Conclusion.

For now, eliminate the dragon-human in front of us.

Do not think of this as a simplistic approach—simply targeting the nearest enemy within sight.

On the battlefield, eliminating nearby threats is generally the correct action.

What, expect to be selective about targets in the middle of combat?

Eliminate whatever is first detected.

Search and Destroy. That is the rule.

Tension unnecessarily high?

Of course. The rendezvous with the Black One has accumulated significant frustration.

A battle between deities is extremely taxing on the nerves.

Each side continuously erodes the other's domain. Each side calculates the energy reduction caused by every attack.

Attack patterns must be precisely calibrated to maximize energy depletion.

Calculating how much energy is lost from one's own domain due to the opponent's attack, then recalculating how much energy to allocate to defense in order to minimize damage—this must be done continuously while engaging in combat.

You have to perform these calculations instantly, mid-battle.

Mental fatigue. Physical exhaustion.

If you just unleash full force without calculation, the attacker ends up consuming more energy than the damage inflicted—net loss.

It’s like a zero-delay chess match where you must foresee moves a thousand steps ahead or lose instantly.

All while fighting in a boxing match.

It was unbearable.

You had to maintain full mental focus under constant tension, because a single mistake ends everything.

And yet—no actual mistakes were made, and still, this was the state I was in.

Entire body torn apart.

One eye crushed.

This damage—irreparable.

That’s the kind of thing you’d expect from a proper deity—there’s a ritual that prevents the regeneration of physical form. They’re using it to limit the damage sustained.

It’s not impossible to heal. But forcing recovery consumes a significant amount of energy. Healing is on hold until the battle concludes.

Now that the greatest obstacle—Black—has been defeated, the remainder is merely a formality.

Well then, first things first—take down this drake.

“Shiro.”

Mid-enthused, I’m addressed from behind by the Demon King.

I turn, keeping vigil on the drake.

The Demon King stares at me with a complex expression.

Relief. Joy. Then sorrow?

...Ah. It’s about Black.

To the Demon King, Black has been a long, long companion. Even if they were adversaries, the defeat of such a figure would provoke complicated feelings.

“Wait—alive?”

"Wait—really? So that's how it is?"

I reported Black's survival, just to be safe.

Black clearly looked dead, yet was still alive.

A god partially freed from its physical form doesn't necessarily die when the body is destroyed.

The body still retains its original form, to some extent.

Currently, it's suffering severe damage and energy reserves are depleted.

The body's regeneration is unstable, which is why it appears dead—but it is still alive.

Of course, it's been deliberately prevented from reviving quickly. It will take considerable time before it regains mobility.

"Ah. Then I can fight with peace of mind."

Hearing is difficult!

The voice is strange—unusually hard to understand. Is this dragon-man really under the impression that he’ll be fighting me?

"Approaching."

The dragon-man charges forward.

Hmm?

Speed isn't particularly fast.

This is easy to dodge—!

A disquieting aura lingers around the dragon-man’s fist.

Instinctively, I understand: that one must not be struck.

This sensation—heretical attack!

The heretical attack skill inflicts direct damage to the soul.

Effective even against gods—indeed, the skill appears designed specifically for confronting deities.

I attempted to replicate this heretical attack myself, but abandoned the effort due to its extreme difficulty.

That is precisely D’s cunning—embedding such a complex technique into the system as a skill.

Who was the intended target for this ability, I wonder?

There was only one god in this world, after all!

And yet, it was used against that dead-fish-eyed black fellow who perished there!

I evade the dragon-man’s strike.

Even I cannot afford to take a heretical attack.

Though physical regeneration occurs instantly, soul damage cannot be healed swiftly.

Wait a minute.

I thought this was a practice match—didn’t expect to face such a hidden ace.