"What's going on?"
"What's this thing?"
Tiona and Tione both leaped down in front of the fallen Riezel, standing with their backs to him as they shouted without turning around.
"Ishtar Familia…"
Gareth, seeming to have roughly guessed what was going on, had his expression turn unpleasant, yet his hands did not slow in the slightest. As he swung his great axe, the thick, vine-like tentacles were severed one after another.
"Yeah, I'd bet the Ishtar Familia teamed up with those guys again, right?"
Riezel held a sword in one hand while casting fast-attack magic with the other.
In that instant, pillar-like streams of flaming lightning blasted out in rapid succession, each strike slamming into the body of the transformed Phryne, who was about to raise her massive flesh axe. Explosions erupted across her body, causing her to howl in agony.
Yet, just as before, even when the flaming lightning pierced through her body and burned away her flesh, the green meat covering her continued to wriggle rapidly, filling in the missing parts and causing her to keep swelling.
Because of this, her attacks grew increasingly violent, and her strength became more terrifying. By now, even a casual swing was enough to make the entire Entertainment District tremble.
Faced with such overwhelming power from the flesh axe and the frenzied, writhing tentacles, even Gareth—now a Level 7—was unwilling to confront it head-on.
In the end, Gareth, Tiona, and Tione quickly spread out, leaping away from one another to avoid the axe and tentacle strikes, leaving the ground to be ravaged and torn apart.
Riezel also shot up into the air, flickering back and forth like lightning.
In the next moment, the four of them launched several successive attacks on Phryne from both the air and the ground. A sword, great axes, a double-bladed sword, and kukri knives struck its body one after another, tearing its flesh apart repeatedly as blood and meat splattered again and again.
Unfortunately, it was still a futile effort.
"Hey, how are we even supposed to take this thing down?!"
"Dammit! It's this stupid flesh again!"
Tiona and Tione cursed in succession.
"Riezel! Got any ideas?!"
Gareth shouted toward Riezel while fighting on the front line, entangled with countless tentacles.
Riezel transformed into a bolt of lightning, flickering several times in the blink of an eye as he repeatedly evaded the incoming flesh axe.
"This monster's a Demi Spirit with some insanely strong regeneration. If I'm not wrong, even if we grind her into mince, she'll still come back almost instantly!"
Ignoring the violent energy and the howling wind stirred up as the flesh axe swept past him, Riezel calmly voiced his analysis.
"The problem is, even if we don't do anything, that green flesh on her body just keeps regenerating and multiplying, making her bigger and stronger—there's no stopping her!"
"Obviously, this kind of growth must have a limit. No way she can keep expanding forever!"
"But that's exactly why things are getting worse!"
A translucent gleam flickered in Riezel's eyes as he revealed a terrifying conclusion.
"If this keeps going, she's eventually gonna collapse under the weight of her own endlessly regenerating flesh and just explode!"
"And when she explodes, that flesh is gonna scatter all over Orario, then regenerate again and keep multiplying into endless green flesh!"
"When that happens, that green flesh is gonna start devouring everything rapidly, turning all of Orario into a hell like the Man-Made Dungeon!"
"That's the whole point of this Demi Spirit showing up—the enemy's clearly trying to use her to wipe out everyone in Orario, including us!"
When these words reached the ears of Gareth and the others, all three of them shrank their pupils.
"So those bastards… not only used the Gate of Heaven—they even got another way to wipe out Orario?!"
"Isn't that bad?! No—it's seriously bad!"
"Ugh! So damn annoying! Why do these absurd monsters keep popping up?!"
Gareth, Tiona, and Tione shouted in succession.
Under such circumstances, Riezel could only explain the method to defeat the enemy amid the chaos.
"To wipe this Demi Spirit out for good, we need to hit her with something insanely strong—strong enough to blow both the host and the Jewel Fetus inside her to pieces in a single shot!"
"Because this time the host isn't a monster but an amazoness, there's no magic stone or usual weak spot, so this is pretty much the only way to take her down in one go!"
"It must be an attack big and strong enough so not even a scrap of flesh is left!"
"Otherwise, she's just gonna regenerate right away!"
Needless to say, this was the most troublesome part.
To completely destroy this Demi Spirit with super-regenerative ability without leaving even a fragment of flesh, this was the only way to truly defeat her.
It was not that Riezel could not do it, but as he had said before, this was still Orario—a populated urban area. If he used magic on that scale, it would not only eliminate the enemy but also endanger many of the city's inhabitants.
Magic with excessive range and destructive power always required careful consideration of the environment, which was why in the Akasha Continent, Tactical-Class Magic and Strategic-Class Magic were strictly regulated and restricted outside of battlefields.
Once in densely populated areas, such magic became highly impractical—usable in theory but not in practice, yet impossible to ignore.
It was an extremely frustrating dilemma.
"Tch, this is a pain to deal with..."
Gareth grasped the situation, his rugged face tightening into a deep frown, before suddenly—
"Fight eternally, immortal soldiers of lightning."
A cold, rational voice suddenly rang out.
"Caelus Hildr."
As these words fell, countless arrows of lightning materialized around Phryne and, without hesitation, bombarded her.
*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*
*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*
In an instant, the lightning arrows exploded one after another across Phryne's body, tearing into her and blasting her flesh apart in violent bursts.
Just then, the one responsible for all of this descended from the sky, dropping swiftly and landing in front of the howling Phryne.
"What an eyesore."
Uttering his disgust, the white elf holding a double-edged rhomphaia adjusted his glasses.
"Hildrsleif!"
Gareth, who had just leapt out of Phryne's attack range, cried out in shock.
At the same time, within the sea of flames engulfing Belit Babili, figures leaped down one after another, charging toward Phryne.
"Awaken, my demon blade."
A dark elf chanted words like an incantation as he raised a black sword emitting an ominous aura, sweeping toward Phryne like a storm.
He swung his blade, turning the black sword into a raging gale, and countless slashes interwove into a storm of sword light that was unleashed, cutting sharply into Phryne.
*Pu-chi!* *Pu-chi!* *Pu-chi!* *Pu-chi!*
In an instant, streaks of sword light struck Phryne's body one after another, carving grotesque wounds across her.
Even compared to Riezel, the speed of those strikes and the sharpness of the slashes were hardly inferior, and could even faintly rival that of Ais, known as Orario's strongest swordswoman.
Phryne let out a miserable scream as her massive body staggered, stepping back several times and nearly collapsing onto Belit Babili behind her.
However, four pallum warriors quickly forced her back.
"Get lost, you lump of flesh!"
"Who said you could fall this way, you lump of flesh!"
"Don't you dare get any closer to Lady Freya, you disgusting lump!"
"Die, you lump of flesh!"
Amid a barrage of unrestrained insults, the four pallums moved like four young wolves, and with agile coordination, they crossed paths and rapidly closed in on Phryne.
Greatsword, spear, battleaxe, and warhammer—four different weapons danced in their hands, tracing paths that seemed to merge seamlessly, interfering with none yet complementing each other perfectly, as they struck at the staggering, gigantic Phryne.
*Pu-chi!*
*Pu-chi!*
*Pu-chi!*
*BANG!*
In an instant, the greatsword severed Phryne's ankle, the spear pierced through her knee, the battleaxe split open her thigh, and the heavy warhammer smashed into her back. Even as she fell, she could not avoid being torn apart, her body tilting as she crashed heavily beside Belit Babili.
Even though the strength of these four pallums was not particularly overwhelming, and they should not have been able to topple such a massive creature, they achieved it through coordinated attacks—striking Phryne's points of support and balance in succession and forcibly bringing her down.
"Dainsleif!"
"Bringar!"
Tiona and Tione cried out in shock, recognizing the newcomers.
At this very moment, the most vicious executives of the Freya Familia—those who had fought alongside Freya in Belit Babili and driven Ishtar into a corner—appeared one after another.
"Don't misunderstand, Loki Familia. We're not helping you," Hedin said calmly, his tone measured and devoid of any warmth. "This thing is simply too ugly, and it has intruded upon our battlefield. As loyal followers of the Goddess of Beauty, we cannot tolerate its existence."
Right after saying this, he turned in Riezel's direction, his glasses reflecting the light.
"You said that only an attack powerful enough to erase it completely—without leaving even a fragment—can truly destroy it, correct?"
Without asking about Allen's situation, Hedin stated this in an entirely calm and rational tone.
"In that case, prepare yourself, Liberator—this strike must be carried out by you and one other. He is already in position. Now only you remain."
Hearing this, Riezel was momentarily stunned, and then, as if realizing something, he shifted his gaze toward Phryne's rear, where she was struggling to rise again.
Behind her, a figure emitting an overwhelming presence had appeared at some unknown moment.
"…Going all out in the city… that's quite a reckless decision, Hedin."
Ottar stood there like a towering mountain, his immense frame unmoving as he murmured in a low, steady voice.
"Still, you're right."
"As long as two people target this monster from opposite sides and unleash their strongest attacks at the same time, not only will it be destroyed, but the two attacks will also cancel each other out."
"When the collision occurs, the impact will be confined to the Entertainment District."
As he spoke, Ottar drew the greatsword from his back.
"In that case, let's see whose strike is stronger."
===
[A bonus chapter for every 300 Power Stones.]
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