1019: Third Form

All of our remaining forces focused on the giant antidemon’s legs, but we failed to eliminate them completely.

Each leg alone could rise over a small apartment building. Moreover, they were protected by the same powerful barriers as before.

Our best efforts only managed to destroy two of the legs.

Fran and Urushi had spent almost their entire mana reserves. Hilt and Colbert threw out dragon ki until they started vomiting up blood. Chelsea and the other dragonkin activated Dragon Form until reaching their limits. The other soldiers kept casting spells or unleashing weapon arts.

And eventually, we got to the point where the third and final leg was almost gone. I thought we might really make it through.

However, just as a glimmer of hope began to light up in everyone’s hearts, it was soon replaced by despair.

Everyone had run out of mana, which reduced our offensive pressure. This was a fatal blunder. The goliath’s regeneration quickly began outpacing our damage dealing capability, gradually restoring its body.

Our panic wasn’t what caused this mistake. It was the goliath’s ability to absorb mana, which was still active despite only having the legs remaining. That’s what made us run out of mana much faster than we expected.

As a result, it was only a matter of time before the giant antidemon restored his body to normal. Half of the torso was already healed.

I hate to admit it, but we can’t win now that Adol is out cold. Rather, more than half of our forces are already unable to fight. We might even be in danger of complete annihilation.

Fortunately for us, the giant antidemon didn’t seem to be capable of attacking us while focusing on healing. We should escape while we still can.

I doubt we’d even be able to stall it much longer. I think our best option would be to retreat and gather everyone in Gordicia for a counterattack.

We need someone like Adol to even stand a chance. However, the man in question was currently unconscious and on the verge of death.

Izario or Ashwrath then, but I have no idea where either of them are. Well, Izario might be buried under the castle, but then how are we supposed to dig him out while dealing with the giant antidemon?

Still, there’s a non-zero chance. Either retreat, or head for the castle while betting on Izario’s survival.

If we wanted to take the second option, we would have to divide into two groups: a search squad, and a decoy squad for getting the giant antidemon’s attention. And honestly, those in the decoy squad probably aren’t coming back alive. We needed people willing to die.

Orfalve, who was essentially our undisputed commander, decided on retreat. No one voiced any objections to her words, not even Fran.

She wanted to rescue Izario, of course, but she also knew that it would require many sacrifices to do so.

Those capable of moving picked up those that weren’t, and we began our escape.

However, the giant antidemon’s regeneration rate exceeded our expectations. Perhaps this was due to the Abyss Eater supplying even more mana, since the flow seemed faster than when it first appeared.

The creature already started chasing before we got out of its field of view. Only five of its legs were healed, but I guess it didn’t find that to be a big issue. Those newly regenerated legs moved furiously, closing in on us with horrifying speed.

「Warriors of Snorabbit! Step forward!」

「「「Roger!」」」

「I guess us demonkin will have to go along for the ride too. Those that can still move need to buy the immobilized some time to escape.」

「We’re joining in too, Colbert. The rest of you, retreat alongside the adventurers.」

「Got it, Miss.」

The calmness of the dwarves was beyond impressive. They lined up neatly in the face of the approaching giant antidemon.

Fran also held me at the ready, very eager to join in. However, she noticed something before the goliath’s arrival.

（Master, there’s something over there.）

『What?』

I followed Fran’s gaze, and sure enough, there was something flying in the distant skies. Even from here, I could tell that it was reasonably large.

Immediately after we noticed it, the mysterious flying object began a rapid descent. Right at the back of the giant antidemon.

We finally got a good look at it.

A bright red dragon, who looked very familiar.

「Lind!」

『You’re right!』

It was the red dragon Lind, the incarnation of the Roaring Dragonblade, Lindwurm. In other words, riding on his back was…

Several figures jumped down from Lind.

「Mea! Quina is here too!」

『Zefmate, and even Sophie!』

Each of them unleashed an attack as they dove down from the sky. Mea’s white flames, followed by Lind’s breath. Quina and Zefmate delivered an impact to crush the antidemon’s legs. Of course, these were all enhanced by Sophie’s magic song, so they contained a surprising amount of power.

「Fuhahahaha! Here I am!」

「If you have time to act smug, we should hurry up and regroup with Fran-san.」

「I-Indeed!」

Mea and Quina were the same as usual, with Zefmate and Sophie following behind them.

「Fran! You okay?」

「Nn! But why are you guys here, Mea?」

「All because of that accursed wall!」

Much to surprise, the purple barrier appearing along with the giant antidemon covered a wider area than we thought. Even cities such as Nocta and Sendia were caught in the perimeter.

「This giant antidemon seems to be the cause, so we came to scout him out…」

「It seems we’ve arrived just in time!」

「Nn. You saved us.」

「We’ll hold him back! Fran, help us out!」

「Got it!」

And so, we started our operation to stall the giant antidemon. The main players were Mea, Quina, Zefmate, Fran, Urushi, and Hilt, all of whom were capable of high speed movement.

Orfalve took most of the troops and began retreating again. It’s a lot more difficult for a large army to escape, after all.

Sophie performed her music while riding Lind, enhancing everyone’s offensive power. This allowed us to focus on destroying the giant antidemon’s legs and further impede its movements.

（Why isn’t Sophie playing the Song of Adventurers?）

『I think she needs the cooperation of an entire town’s worth of people for that. Oratorio would be way too overpowered if she could do that all by herself.』

（I see…）

Fran probably really wanted to hear the song again, so she was a bit disappointed. Well, I’m a fan of such a cheerful song too.

『Anyway, let’s buy time for Orfalve and the others to escape!』

「Nn!」

We continued stalling the giant antidemon in coordination with Mea and the others. Despite having so many legs to maintain himself, we could still focus them down.

That’s why we concentrated on the three legs on the right side. The goliath was always off balance because of this, allowing our operation to succeed.

However, this equilibrium only lasted for a few minutes. All of the goliath’s hits could kill us instantly, so we also had to concentrate on evasion. The stress made us feel like we’ve been fighting for half an hour.

But we only needed to endure the pressure for a little bit longer. Jayne sent a familiar to inform us that her army-wide cloaking ability could be activated again in just a few more minutes.

After she escapes with the rest of the army, our work will be done. We can take advantage of our speed advantage to disengage. No matter how strong the giant antidemon might be, he still had no way of keeping up with Fran and the others.

However, such a powerful creature wouldn’t allow the battle to end so easily. Everything seemed to be going as planned, when something strange happened.

The giant antidemon suddenly stopped moving and began convulsing again. Just as he had done when he transformed into the seven-legged creature.

With the same ear-piercing screech, it mutated itself again.

All seven legs and the head receded into its body. Then, the torso began wriggling and bloating up.

The previously slender spider-like body had turned into a more rounded shape. And it just kept growing.

Half a minute later, we had a sphere in front of us. A very balanced, symmetrical sphere.

Due to the seams in its armor, it reminded me of a soccer ball.

There was a narrow groove running around the center of the sphere, a ring circling its entire body. Well, it looked narrow compared to the giant antidemon, but this groove was probably like 10 meters wide.

And a bunch of eyeball-like things were lined up inside this groove… Though the shape was very simple, it also felt intimidating.

「BWUUUUUUUUUUOOH!」

『Such speed! I-Is it rolling at us?』

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