Welcome to Hell!

Chapter 139: Ardius Fortress Siege Battle – Stalling

Looking down upon me from the sky, the golden-armored soldier aimed the palms of both his hands in my direction. As spiritual power gathered there, I quickly dashed away, wary of the impending release of the light beam attack.

However, he changed his fighting style. Reducing the concentration of spiritual power in his palms, he transformed them into small, light bullets instead of thick beams of light. While these bullets were less potent than the beams, they were likely strong enough to shatter my exoskeleton, which was enhanced by my fighting spirit, with just one hit.

Taking a direct hit was out of the question. While running in a zigzag pattern across the ground, I continued to deflect only the light bullets that seemed to be on collision course with me using my twin swords. My ability to handle the descending barrage of light bullets while on the move was thanks to my compound eyes, which covered not only the front and back but also the top of my head. If not for them, I would have likely been torn apart long ago.

The bullets that missed and the ones I deflected landed on the ground, exploding with a dazzling light as they went off. The shrapnel sent flying by the explosions struck my exoskeleton, producing a clinking sound.

“Being on the receiving end without retaliating might lead this guy to ignore me. It’s about time I tried to counterattack…!”

Constantly fleeing might lead the golden-armored soldier to give up on me and target the vanguard team. So, I clumsily dashed around the ground as I prepared for a counterattack. While running, I melded my own spiritual power with the earth, ensuring that my spiritual art was ready for use whenever I needed it.

Conveniently, the surrounding terrain had been plowed by the golden-armored soldier. This saved me the effort of transforming it into sand, which I excelled at the most. Manipulating the integrated spiritual power, I swiftly converted the soil into sand.

I could have conjured the sand from nothing using my spiritual arts, but that would have consumed extra spiritual power. Since my opponent was a monstrous descendant of the gods, I aimed to conserve my energy as much as possible.

In an instant, the vast amount of sand I had generated was under my complete control. After I shaped the sand into numerous spears, I unleashed them all at once on the enemy.

[Pathetic.]

In response, the golden-armored soldier transformed the spiritual power gathered in his palms into a sword of light, then proceeded to effortlessly cut through and deflect the sand spears with an air of annoyance. His movements were far from refined, lacking the grace of someone skilled in martial arts. It was almost certain that he had never undergone any training in the martial arts.

However, his arms were clearly moving at a faster pace than mine. Moreover, I couldn’t sense any fighting spirit emanating from him. He must not be using fighting spirit to enhance his body. He could display superior physical power to me, a demon created for battle, even without fighting spirit… So, this was the power of divine lineage.

“Then let me show you a mutant’s dirty way of fighting.”

Even though I knew he would parry them, I continued to release sand spears while dashing around the ground. Every sand spear was swiftly cut apart by the sword of light. It would be nothing but a waste of spiritual power at this rate… He must have been thinking the same thing.

Without ceasing the barrage of sand spear launches, I focused on utilizing a different spiritual art. Employing more than one spiritual art while enhancing my body with fighting spirit and moving around was second nature to me. If I couldn’t manage such feats, I would have died in the past four years, considering the harsh battles I had endured until now.

“Is it ready…? stop!”

[Hm?]

I shouted and propelled myself forcefully off the ground. The golden-armored soldier promptly hurled the sword of light toward me, but his posture froze the moment he released it. , The sword’s speed was akin to a bullet, yet I disregarded the sword of light as I surged through the air once more, closing the distance.

It wasn’t a coincidence or miracle that rendered him motionless; I had orchestrated it that way. The sand spears he had been cutting with the sword of light still had a portion under my influence, even after being sliced apart and scattered. I had secretly guided the sand that was suspended in the air to infiltrate the joints and hinges of the golden armor, such as its knees and shoulders, and then solidified and turned it into a stone-like state.

Even though I knew it was futile to keep firing the sand spears, I had done so to smoothly execute this setup. By consistently creating situations where sand was dispersed, I made it difficult for the other party to detect that the sand was moving unnaturally.

The design of his armor was intricate, but I had Asumi, who used to be a Republic soldier, with me. Due to my familiarity with the inevitable gaps that arose in the armor’s structure, I could exploit them. In these four years, not a single enemy, regardless of whether they were white-armored soldiers or not, had escaped my spiritual arts aimed at immobilizing their armor.

However, I didn’t assume that the golden-armored soldier immobilized before me could be dispatched as easily. Indeed, due to his monstrous power, the sand that was anchoring his joints was on the brink of being shattered.

As expected, the time I could buy with this trick was brief. Given the power he had displayed thus far, that was only natural. However, the time was enough for me to get in striking range… and I had one more trick up my sleeve, a ploy to catch his attention.

[Hey there, you clueless oaf. Is your brain still as empty as ever?]

[What… Ugh!?]

Approaching the golden-armored soldier, I taunted him in the language of the Khan race. As expected, he momentarily halted his movement. Seizing the opportunity, I plunged my twin swords into both sides of his abdomen and drove my poisoned stinger into his neck.

Just as Asumi had diligently learned the common tongue of the Enzo continent, some of us, myself included, had been taught the language of the Khan race by Asumi. I persisted in learning with the aim of understanding the enemy without relying on Asumi’s translation.

While I was still in the midst of learning, I was capable of understanding the language to some extent. Reading and writing remained challenging, but I had been taught to comprehend simple words through listening and a handful of provocative and insulting phrases.

This very phrase was my ultimate trump card. The enemy surely hadn’t even dreamed that I could speak his language. How would he react when suddenly provoked in his own tongue by an enemy from a continent he was invading? especially when he was someone with immense power but little combat experience? The outcome wouldn’t be hard to imagine.

And as anticipated, the surprise mixed with rage left him vulnerable, freezing him in place. Seizing that opening, I succeeded in inflicting severe wounds upon him.

Vivid red blood, like ours, flowed down the blades, staining the gleaming golden armor. Amidst the ongoing battle, I found myself marveling at the trivial thought of whether even the blood of gods was red.

[You…!]

“Whoa.”

While my consciousness had briefly swayed, the golden-armored soldier retaliated toward me with a fist attack. My twin swords had carved deep into his abdomen, while my poisoned stinger delivered the most vicious toxin I could secrete. The wound in his belly would be a fatal blow even for a demon, and the venom was potent enough to kill a thousand demons.

However, I couldn’t manage to slay the descendant of the gods. In fact, he still had enough strength to shatter even the mass of sand that had been forcibly immobilizing his armor, and the speed of the fist that shot past right beside my head was quite impressive. It wasn’t the power that one on the brink of death could muster, by any means.

Well, that was to be expected. I was facing an enemy who possessed formidable physical abilities without a trace of training. It wasn’t particularly astonishing, considering he likely had a strong healing capacity fueled by his fighting spirit, which would also make him resistant to poison. Though I felt a twinge of frustration, it wasn’t something beyond belief.

Still, my efforts weren’t entirely in vain, it seemed. When I evaded the descending fist, the wound appeared to widen, eliciting a pained groan. Upon closer observation, his legs trembled as well, indicating that the poison was taking effect. Enduring a potent venom far beyond a lethal dose was undoubtedly unsettling, even for a descendant of the gods. The realization of this alone was a significant gain.

[Get away from me!]

“Guugh…!”

Immediately after I evaded his fist, the golden-armored soldier once again released a surge of spiritual power, sending me hurtling through the air. Sensing the inevitability of being propelled away, I twisted my twin blades slightly before being thrown, further widening his wound. Given that I was stabbing through gaps in the armor, my range of movement was limited, but it was better than doing nothing.

I was thrown by the raging spiritual force, but I wasn’t careless enough so that the same attack would work again. I adjusted my posture in mid-air and landed on the ground with composure, just as the golden-armored soldier began a rapid descent, his hands gripping swords of light conjured through spiritual arts and a distinct intent to kill emanating from his entire being.

[You won’t be forgiven! You ■■■■■■■!]

“Probably saying something like ‘Die,’ but… Sorry, I still don’t grasp complex phrasing in your language yet, so if you could slow down a bit, I might catch your meaning.”

The golden-armored soldier swung his deadly sword of light, ignoring his bleeding wound. After shrugging off the eerie chill coursing through my body from the intense killing intent he exuded, I threw an unconventional quip while evading the sword of light. I darted in and brushed past him, slashing with my twin blades in a passing motion. However, unlike thrusting through gaps, I couldn’t cut through the entire golden armor. It was just too strong.

If I could create another opening, I might be able to target the gaps and pierce them with my sword. However, even if my opponent was an amateur when it came to martial arts, I doubted the same tactic would work twice. It seemed almost impossible to inflict a proper wound on him.

However, my role was to stall, not to defeat. It could be said that my objective was achieved as soon as I successfully took in a large amount of his killing intent. From here on, all I had to do was buy time. I needed to keep the enemy pinned here until my comrades could make their escape.

[■■■■■■, and you’re irritating! Just surrender quietly and forfeit your life!]

[You dense idiot. Trying a new dance? Clumsy.]

[You bastaarrrd!]

I continued to evade all the swinging beams of light, relying on my physical abilities as I kept running. He seemed to have a strong sense of pride, so by continuing to provoke him, it seemed unlikely that he would ignore me. His movements were also fairly predictable, so as long as I stayed cautious, I wouldn’t be struck.

However, I couldn’t forget that each of his attacks would be deadly if they landed. I have to remain vigilant and keep taunting the descendant of the gods with vulgar words while darting around.