1159: The Nethergate Blade, Hell

「Manifest yourself and defile this land, Hell! Divine Sword Release!」

A roaring torrent of mana rushed across the battlefield.

The source being a massive pillar of mana rising up out of our camp. That said, the sheer fury contained within made it hard to determine if this was coming from a friend or a foe.

Everyone on the battlefield stopped in their tracks.

We watched in awe as the stone sword in Maleficent’s hand drastically changed its appearance.

Only a few moments later, it had turned into a stone shield. No, is that truly a shield?

Though the size of a tower shield, it was perfectly square, with a slit down the middle as if it was a set of double doors or a gate. Now that I look more closely, there were some door handle-like things attached to it.

Just as the “Nethergate Blade” name suggested, the divine sword was a miniaturized gate.

This unweaponlike form surprised me, but even more surprising was the fact that Maleficent had it in the first place.

『Maleficent… has a divine sword…?』

And Hell in particular…?

Hell was supposedly the divine sword owned by a master of poisons who led a slave trafficking ring. Not to mention he’s the guy Seliadot wants revenge on.

Did the sword switch owners since then? Or perhaps…?

「Summon Genocide Servants!」

With everyone in the battlefield still stunned in confusion and surprise, Maleficent made his move.

He invoked a spell, and the doors of his square shield slid open horizontally, unleashing the contents.

Like I thought, it really was a gate.

He had summoned a swarm of green colored wasps, golem-like beings devoid of life, only created of poison instead of rock. Maleficent summoned 1000 of these wasps with a single spell.

「Go!」

Maleficent gave a single word command, and the green wasps got shot into the sky with the speed of bullets.

In no time at all, they had caught up to the dragon. The cloud of wasps swarming around it was sufficient to interfere with the dragon’s escape.

Poison has no effect on undead, yet their stings managed to deal the undead dragon damage. I had been wondering what such tiny insects could do, but this spell must be more deadly than I thought.

As a result, the dragon slowed down.

In the meantime, Maleficent continued building up his mana for the next step. He thrust Hell forward and shouted again.

「Consume your offering! Gate connection!」

The gates of Hell opened for a second time. Unlike before though, nothing came out. Rather, it had turned into a vacuum.

Hell began sucking in space itself, distorting the nearby region. Before we knew it, the heavenly dragon had returned to the battlefield as if it had been teleported back.

It seems Maleficent has an ability for grabbing a target and drawing it in.

Without understanding the situation, Nameless and the others could only remain frozen in place. Everything was over at that moment.

「Devour!」

「GROOOOOOH!」

Maleficent shouted a murderous roar, and the dragon’s body became stained in black.

「Disappear from my sight, you lowly snake!」

「Groh…」

The dragon’s body melted as if rotting in fast forward, before finally crumbling away. Rather than turning to ash, it left behind a pile of black shreds.

Not even we understand what just happened, which means we have no way to protect ourselves if that power is ever turned on us.

Wasn’t Hell’s power supposed to be poison and demon summoning…? I suppose the divine swords always show us things beyond our wildest imaginations.

「Accursed undead… I’ll make you regret having an undying body!」

「Spread out!」

Nameless shouted in a panic. However, a jet-black dome enveloped all of them before they could react.

Persona, Hideman, and the others were all swallowed up by the dome, and hidden from our view. I attempted to scan what was going on inside, but I couldn’t see anything past the wall of immense mana.

A silence fell over the battlefield. Both sides stood in awe after seeing the pure tyrannical power that literally came out of nowhere.

However, the more capable ones soon regained their composure.

「Fall back!」

「Hmm. Everyone, retreat!」

Roza and Rob ordered the Red Knights to retreat. They realized they could not win after one look at Maleficent’s divine sword.

Retreating was the only option they could take to minimize casualties.

We should fall back to our fort too. Well, that’s what I was thinking, but Fran still looked determined to fight.

（Master, let’s get serious.）

『What’s your plan?』

（I’ll take down one of the Red Knight captains!）

『Hold on! They’ve yet to reveal their trump cards! It’s too dangerous!』

（We destroy the relic before they get the chance. It’s possible, right Master?）

『Well, I guess so…』

Just as we cannibalized Carmine Flame, Fran intended to devour the other relics.

To tell the truth, I was considering that too, but I have a few concerns.

First, we can’t say for sure if Cannibalize will work in the first place. Even if Raydoss classifies all of these weapons as “relics”, it’s possible they don’t share the same properties.

We managed to cannibalize Carmine Flame on pure luck, but the same may not apply to Cardinal Flag and Blood Maiden.

Second, we have no clue what kind of last resort they might bring out. Even if we successfully cannibalize or destroy one of the relics, the remaining one still poses a significant risk.

Third, we would be revealing Fran’s abilities to Raydoss.

Fran is already rising in fame with aliases like Fleet Crusher and such, but what if it’s found out she can erase Raydoss’s relics? There’s no way they can ignore that.

Raydoss will mark Fran as a priority target #1, stopping at nothing to take her down. And there’s nothing scarier than getting hunted by a entire nation that doesn’t care about human rights or morality.

Maybe it’s already too late to avoid notice, but we can’t be too careful.

Fran, however, did not back down.

（Taking one of them down will save a lot of our friends!）

『…Yeah, that’s true.』

Our enemies must be panicking after witnessing the power of a divine sword. Like Fran says, this is the perfect opportunity. Missing this chance would endanger our allies in the future, and Fran refused to allow that.

『…I’m on board! Which one do we go for?』

（The flag one!）

『Roger that!』

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