718: She who Devours

「Taaaaah!」

「Oruaaaah!」

Fran and Sibylla’s sword clash had become even more fierce.

Fran attacked Sibylla without pause, moving at super-high speed with her Brilliant Lightning Rush. Each blow at full force, slicing through Sibylla’s skin and impacting her internal organs.

Sibylla’s movements didn’t seem to slow down at all as she wielded her sword, while regenerating countless wounds instantly. On the contrary, her speed continued to rise in response to her excitement.

The audience gasped for breath, forgetting to cheer, as they watched the overly fast slashes that were difficult to even see. They all knew that something great was going on.

But despite the intensity of the battle, neither fighter sustained any noticeable damage. Our attacks, even if they seemed to go in a little deeper, were quickly regenerated.

One time, we succeeded in cutting off a finger on her left hand with a series of slashes to the same area, but it was regenerated instantly. This must be a skill on the same level as instant regeneration.

All of Sibylla’s attacks were avoided by Fran. In the beginning, I tried to add the physical nullification skill, but it drained way too much mana which means Fran has only taken damage from her use of Brilliant Lightning Rush.

That too, is mitigated now with the life magic I learned in the Belioth Kingdom. The damage was not enough to overtake our recovery.

At first glance, it seemed to be a stalemate, but I’d have to say we were at a disadvantage. Whatever unknown ability Sibylla’s using to support her defense should also consume a lot of magic, but I can’t say that for sure.

If it was more mana-efficient than I had imagined, then the longer the fight dragged on, the worse it would be for us.

I wanted to settle this as soon as possible and we still have a shot, if we targeted Sibylla’s eyes.

With the divine attribute, our attack should be able to penetrate her eye. If the attack passes through her eye right to the inside of her skull, she’ll die no matter how tough she was.

Sibylla, perhaps knowing this, avoided only the attacks aimed at her face.

It seems like Sibylla had an animal-like instinct to detect lethal attacks.

『I have to stop her movements before we can do anything!』

（Master’s thread?）

『She’s got too much power. Steel threads may not be enough to hold her.』

When I attempted to block her attack with physical nullification, the mana consumption was just too much. It was more than when I blocked Colbert’s technique last year. It blocked a single hit out of her barrage of attacks, and that was all I could handle.

Sibylla’s magic sword is not so powerful as it is sturdy. In other words, Sibylla’s high attack power was the result of her own strength. With such power, it’s doubtful how far she can be restrained by my strings.

（Then?）

『Then it’s time for a surprise attack.』

（I see.）

Fran folded her arms to her side and pulled back in preparation for a thrust. She purposely showed off her motion.

Sibylla, who sensed that we were going to perform a big move, smirked confidently. Her attention completely focused on Fran, just as we intended.

She failed to pay attention to her footing.

『Urushi! Now!』

「Grrrrr!」

「Unh!?」

It was a surprise attack by Urushi, who we had in reserve since the start of the battle. Almost zero opponents have perfectly avoided such an attack at first sight.

It was impressive that she managed to react before getting bitten, but still she could not escape Urushi’s jaws, which appeared right under her feet.

「What the hell is this huge thing!?」

She must’ve gotten some information about Urushi beforehand, but it was just the information about Urushi when he shrunk himself.

He has never shown his maximum size in this city, and very few people have seen it in general. Like we thought, she didn’t know about it either.

After noticing Urushi’s presence, Sibylla jumped backwards but was caught in Urushi’s giant jaws much to her surprise.

Urushi’s head is more than 5 meters long, and Sibylla was caught on the corner of his mouth.

Even with Urushi’s fangs, she didn’t seem to be taking any damage. However, those powerful jaws have caught both her legs below the knees, and she was unable to move.

「Tch! Hey!」

「Black Lightning Roll!」

Sibylla tried to attack Urushi, but Fran was faster. With Black Lightning Roll, she bolted in front of Sibylla in an instant, and used that speed to launch a forceful thrust.

「Khwoooooooooooo!」

Sibylla tilted her head just in time so that my tip entered her mouth instead of her eyes. But that’s okay.

『I’ll just tear you apart from the inside!』

And don’t think that’s going to be the end of it. Have some deadly poison I pulled out of dimensional storage as a mouthwash! Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned.

「Mgr!」

「!」

Fran’s eyes widen in surprise. The same goes for me.

Sibylla bit down on the tip of my blade with her teeth, stopping the thrust. Catching a blade not with your hands, but with your teeth? Her reaction time was astonishingly fast and her jaw strength was also tremendous.

But what really surprised me was what she did after.

Crack! Crack!

『Whoa?』

What the hell? Sibylla bit the tip of my blade off! This isn’t a matter of how tough her teeth are. No matter how extraordinary SHE is, it should be absolutely impossible for her to bite off my blade when it’s been enhanced with my mana conductivity.

Reality, however, proved me wrong. My tip was chipped with Sibylla’s teeth marks imprinted on it.

Crunch! Crunch! Crack!

And she didn’t just bite it off.

「Nom, yummy. Nice sword! Nom, does it have a poison ability on it?」

She was swallowing all the poison I put in her mouth too.

She chewed up my blade and swallowed it as if she was eating a cracker and she wasn’t putting on an act or anything either.

「Ha ha ha! This magic sword certainly has a unique flavor!」

It was clear to me that Sibylla’s magic power increased slightly. Undoubtedly because of how she had eaten me And she wasn’t even bothered by the poison that could kill an average human with a single drop.

「You! Let go of me already!」

「Gya!」

Sibylla took a bite into the tip of Urushi’s nose, who was still holding her leg. Then she chewed and swallowed Urushi’s flesh.

「This one’s good too! And with great power! I can taste that concentrated darkness flavor!」

Sibylla exclaimed, her magic power increasing even more than before.

Devouring others, and expanding her own power? She seemed to have an ability for that.

「Want me to finish the meal?」

「Kyuuu…」

『Urushi! Retreat for now!』

Urushi whimpered slightly in fright. He must have been scared of Sibylla chewing his flesh right in front of his eyes.

I can understand that. The sight of a beautiful woman biting and chewing off the meat of a beast was unusually impactful. Even Fran was taken aback by how Sibylla took a bite out of me and Urushi in succession.

『This is a much more impressive opponent than I imagined…! Eating me and Urushi, what the hell!』

（Master, are you okay?）

『It’s regenerated, everything’s fine, but… Oh man, she’s insane.』

「Urushi?」

「Kuhn…」

Both Urushi and I have regeneration. The physical damage wasn’t that bad, but we still felt the psychological impact.

『What is her ability…? It can’t just be normal eating, right? Does it have anything to do with her defenses?…』

《Analysis complete on individual named Sibylla.》

『Oh! Announcer-san! Seriously?!』

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