Rising from the Evil Stone Spear in Valkyrie’s hand, the evil specter almost equaled the size and ferocity of the gigantic Master of Evil Arts, Rynford.
『Fran! Stop her before she can make her move!』 — Me
「En!」 — Fran
「Not if I can help it!」– Valkyrie
In the instant when Valkyrie, holding the Evil Stone Spear, moved to attack, Fran and Mare leapt forward. However, their swords were blocked some sort of barrier surrounding Valkyrie. The barrier seemed familiar to me and looked somewhat like Rynford’s but I wondered whether there were differences between the two, despite appearing to be the same magic.
「I had planned to release the power of my spear in Greengoat, but now it doesn’t matter! Your country would suffer an even greater loss if I kill the two of you! At least you’ll get to die together!」
While she roared, Valkyrie’s wounds started instantaneously healing in a manner quite different from when she was sharing her damage with the Evil Beings.
Roaring, Valkyrie’s wounds were healing in an instant. But it was not in the previous way that when her damage was shared with Evil Beings.
‘Squelch.’ Something was squirming, bursting out from inside Valkyrie’s open wounds and filling them with new flesh. The reborn flesh seemed to be covered in rugged, black nodules, showing that the new exterior had been regenerated into Goblin skin.
‘Bogo Bogo,’ something were squirming and bursting, then her wounds were filled with new flesh. The reborn flesh seemed to be covered by some rugged black nodules, which appeared that only that part was regenerated from Goblin skin.
After an Appraisal by Fran, we found Valkyrie’s race had become “Half Evil Being”, and “Evil God’s Slave” was newly added to her titles. In addition, every one of her statuses was improved and Evil Arts had been added to her skill column.
This was probably caused by the Evil Stone Spear, right? Due to the vague description Appraisal provided, it wasn’t possible to learn any further details about the Evil Being or the Evil Stone Spear itself.
That probably caused by the Evil Stone Spear? Due to the vague description in Appraisal, however, any details about either the Evil Being or item of Evil God System was unknowable.
「Evil Stone! Devour my soul and destroy everything!」– Valkyrie
Magic rose from Valkyrie’s body, gradually becoming contaminated by the evil specter. Eventually her magic had been completely replaced.
「Damn it. Fran! We’ve got to give it another shot!」– Mare
「OK!」– Fran
「——Inferno Burst!」– Fran
「Ha!」– Mare
This time, Mare and Fran cast their Flame and Lightning Magic from a middling distance however, once more, the attack was reflected by the barrier.
「UGaaaaaaa!」– Valkyrie
Valkyrie charged us in a flash, her eyeballs dyed pitch black and an ominous, groan-like roar leaking out of her mouth. We could no longer feel any sanity from her whatsoever, it seemed that her evolution into an Evil Being was progressing all too rapidly.
「Gaaa!」– Valkyrie
「Damn you!」– Mare
Using her sword Mare stopped the, now markedly more powerful, stab of Valkyrie’s spear and retreated a large step backwards.
With her sword, Mare stopped the spear stabbed in full swing by Valkyrie, whose power had improved a lot, and retreated a large step back.
「Mare!」– Fran
To support Mare, Fran also joined the attack. It looked like Valkyrie’s barrier didn’t have the ability to auto-guard so Fran, positioned behind her, easily broke through by slashing at Valkyrie’s back, cutting into her spine.
Fran’s slash had shattered her backbone and cut deeply into the underlying flesh, however her opponent’s recuperative abilities had drastically improved. Any wounds were rapidly filled by squirming black skin and, worse yet, Valkyrie seemed to be completely unperturbed by the damage and didn’t slow down her movements one bit.
「Gaa!」– Valkyrie
「Watch out! 」– Fran
Valkyrie’s front kick broke through the Golden Flame’s defense and Mare was blown backwards. However, as one would expect, Valkyrie’s lower leg from the knee downwards had been charred by the searing flame. Moreover, the impact had completely smashed the charred limb to pulp. However, no sooner had the damage been done, with a strident “Guju Guju” sound, new flesh began jutting out from her knee and the leg regenerated. After several instances of this healing process, Valkyrie, who had once had a beautifully feminine appearance, became covered with patches of melted, ugly Goblin flesh, the sight becoming increasingly grotesque with each passing second.
At that moment, Valkyrie quickly spun the heavy spear around in her hand and switched her grip, attempting to stab Fran who was behind her.
「UGaaaa！」– Valkyrie
「Damn!」– Fran
『Fuck!』– Me
While simultaneously attacking my opponent, I used Telekinesis to ward off the spear. At the same time, Fran used Divine Sword Techniques to counter Valkyrie, who, leaning sideways to dodge, lost her balance. Throughout the exchange, Mare’s flames continually burned Valkyrie’s body, however Mare herself had barely managed to stop Valkyrie’s front kick with her sword. The situation had quickly become alarmingly dangerous.
「She’s so tough to deal with! Our attacks don’t seem to be affecting her at all!」 — Mare
With a grave expression, Mare bemoaned their desperate situation. Even if we attacked Valkyrie, she couldn’t feel pain and any wounds we inflicted would recover straight away.
「GuRooooo!」– Valkyrie
「Shit!」– Mare
Mare, who was once again hit by Valkyrie’s fist, saw that the burnt flesh began to regenerate, just as it had done before. If we continued like this, there really was no hope of victory. There was just no end in sight.
「Fran! I want to try a more powerful technique! Could you keep her busy for a while?」– Mare
「OK!」– Fran
「Right!」– Mare
Mare retreated while Fran drew Valkyrie away. Despite not using Brilliant Lightning Rush, Fran tried her best to keep Valkyrie at bay by herself. With the improvement of Valkyrie’s status, her fighting power had spiked considerably, however this was balanced out by the absence of Dullahan and the Evil Beings’ assistance.
『Haa!』– Me
「Fu!」– Fran
Fran fought valiantly against Valkyrie and, little by little, backtracked until she circled back to Mare.
Although Valkyrie’s fighting power had definitely increased, her intellect had all but disappeared. Thanks to this, Fran and I had a very easy time baiting her in. What was most worrying, however, was that Valkyrie’s movements were getting faster and faster.
Did this mean she was previously in some form of incomplete state resulting from her forced transformation into an Evil Being? Was this why now, as her changed body and newfound strength began to align, she was so improved? If so, she has the potential to become even more dangerous. I suppose we can only hope that the technique Mare has up her sleeve is enough to put her down for good.
「Impact Slash!」– Fran
The next instant Fran blocked Valkyrie’s stab with her Divine Sword Techniques, using the force of the collision to put some distance between them.
Using this opportunity, Mare came forward. Despite it being the first time they had worked together, Fran and Mare managed to cooperate through eye contact, even their breathing seemed to be the same. Although she had appeared behind her, Mare’s presence had provoked no meaningful response from Valkyrie.
「Haaaaa! Golden Interception Flame!」– Mare
Mare now carried the Dragonblade Llinde, the sword she had previously been using, sheathed on her back. Instead in her hand was a shining sword. The iridescent sword she held seemed to be formed from the tight compression of her own Golden Flames. It was probably a technique that could only be used when the Golden Flame of Extinction was active, similar to Fran’s Black Lightning summons.
「Nuooo!」– Mare
「Ga…Ga…」– Valkyrie
Mare’s burning sword ran straight through Valkyrie’s back, charring her body from the inside. Valkyrie’s eyes and mouth began to erupt with a torrent of searing flames.
「GuGiaOOOoooo!」– Valkyrie
Valkyrie was gradually enveloped by the inferno, forming a golden pillar of fire that rose straight up into the sky. Without the dark shadow screaming and struggling at its center, it would have been quite the picturesque spectacle.
「GuGaGaaaa!」– Valkyrie
(ShiShou!) — Fran
『Finally!』– Me
Now that Valkyrie was submerged in the intense flames, Fran had the time to release a major attack. I thought that Fran would use her Sword Lord Technique, Broken Sky, but it seemed that it wouldn’t activate in her current state. Without Brilliant Lightning Rush, Broken Sky seemed unable to launch.
『UOooooo！』– Fran
Fran used Godspeed Slash and swung me at near light-speed, cleaving the air while using Transformation to explosively enlarge my blade to a gigantic size.
The moment I touched the Golden Flame, my blade began to dissolve. Fortunately, Flame Resistance prevented me from evaporating instantly. Only by combining Instant Recovery with Godspeed Slash could I bear the flames. Sure enough, the Beast Lord’s Golden Inflame could not be so casually touched. Nonetheless, before I even had time to react, I had already lost part of my body’s blade.
In spite of everything, the moment I cut into Valkyrie, I finally felt her magic stone being absorbed. Strength flowed into me; this time, we’d really done it!
『I felt it work this time!』– Me
Our relentless determination had finally paid off!
