The Elite Ghost made its move!
It let out a shrill, miserable screech, and the surrounding air seemed to freeze solid in an instant. Then a visible wave of pitch-black malice erupted from its body and came crashing toward everyone like a tsunami!
"Waaaaah! Help! This ghost bastard can't take a fair fight. It's pulling out its ultimate move!"
Kazuma screamed as the shockwave sent him flying, and even in midair he still clutched his money pouch for dear life.
Kōichi felt as if a sledgehammer had slammed into his chest, and his body slid backward uncontrollably.
Since he was not wearing any underwear, the fabric of his pants rubbed harshly against his inner thighs, and that burning sensation snapped his mind into perfect clarity on the spot.
Kōichi stumbled, then caught himself. Even so, he still reacted fast enough to tighten Megumin on his back like a backpack so she would not get blown away.
"Ungh... this crushing pressure! This humiliation of being forcibly shoved back by that icy magic... ah! More! Hit me harder!"
Even though Darkness had been blasted back several meters, not only did she refuse to defend herself, she actually spread her arms wide to welcome the impact, sinking into a state of ecstasy so intense she was practically broken. Her armor screeched against the ground as it scraped along.
And yet the heaviest atmosphere at the scene came from Aqua, who had fallen onto the floor.
In the chaos just now, Aqua had instinctively let go of the treasure in her arms to avoid the blast. The expensive bottle of fine wine, Dew of Longing, the very thing Kōichi had used to lure her in.
With a sharp crack, dark green shards of glass scattered across the floor, and the rich aroma of wine instantly spread through the gloomy hall. The crystal-clear liquid ran off through the cracks in the floor, as if mocking Aqua for her helplessness.
A silence like death fell over the room.
Aqua stared blankly at the shattered glass on the floor. The rosy color drained from her face in an instant, turning deathly pale, then darkened into a furious purple at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Tears burst from the corners of her eyes like a fountain, but this time it was not her usual spoiled sulking. It was the prelude to the true wrath of a goddess.
"The wine... my... my Dew of Longing..."
Aqua's voice trembled as she slowly rose to her feet. The drunken haze that had clouded her was completely burned away by the fury now raging through her.
The blue divine light pouring from her body had never shone so brightly before. It even forced the surrounding darkness back.
"You... you filthy little Undead! Do you have any idea how much that bottle cost?! Do you know how much effort Kōichi put into getting it?! And you actually... you actually smashed it!!!"
Aqua suddenly lifted her head, her whole body radiating the untouchable majesty of a goddess. Then in the very next second, she roared while sniffling and wiping her nose,
"Pay me back! Pay with your life! You lowly Ghost that's never even tasted wine! I'll purify you into clean water so completely there won't even be ashes left, then use you to water the flowers! Waaaaaaaah!!!"
The Elite Ghost was clearly intimidated by Aqua's sudden burst of pressure, and a flicker of something called regret passed through its blood-red eyes.
It was probably regretting why, instead of going after the man clutching up his pants, it had to provoke this lunatic woman who valued alcohol more than her life.
"Kōichi! Now's your chance!" Kazuma scrambled to his feet and shouted, pointing at Aqua as she frantically charged up power. "Aqua's gone into berserk mode! Her IQ hasn't changed, but her damage output is absolutely off the charts right now! We cover her and take this Ghost out in one shot!"
Feeling the faintly heated air currents around his lower half from the surge of Aqua's divine power, Kōichi curled his lips into a twisted grin.
"No problem! Since Aqua's spoken, I'll do her the favor of sending it on its way. Darkness, stop getting horny over there and go tie it down! Kazuma, get ready to finish it off! I'm about to give this mansion's owner a shocking surprise!"
The air in the mansion hall was nearly sucked dry by the violent surge of magic.
The blue divine radiance bursting from Aqua not only lit up every dark corner, it even instantly vaporized the low-level Ghosts lurking in the shadows.
"Disappear! You, your wretched soul, and this poverty-stinking house can all go down with my Dew of Longing!!!"
Aqua's roar was thick with grief-stricken sobs as she shoved both hands forward, sending a tidal wave of purifying magic crashing toward the Elite Ghost.
Kōichi took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes.
At that moment, he felt an unprecedented sense of clarity.
Without the restraint of underwear, it felt to Kōichi as if the charged particles in the air were passing straight through his pants and resonating directly with his skin.
He thrust his right hand high, magic gathering wildly at his fingertips, and in an instant blue-white lightning coiled itself around Aqua's purifying light.
"If we're going to make a scene, let's make it a big one! Feel this thunder brought by the Wind of Freedom! Combo Skill. [Sacred Thunderstorm. Dance of Freedom]!!"
Kōichi forcibly poured nearly half his magic into the spell.
With the obstruction of his underwear gone, or at least so he believed, the lightning conducted at an astonishing speed.
Blue waves of purification and golden bolts of raging thunder intertwined, forming a huge spinning vortex of lightning that locked the fleeing Elite Ghost firmly in its center.
At that critical moment of the final clash, Megumin, who had been lying by Kōichi's feet the whole time, suddenly struggled to lift her head.
She could not even move a finger, but her crimson eyes still burned with a fire that refused to be left out.
Taking a deep breath, she launched her own mental attack in a voice loud enough to cut through the entire battlefield.
"O crimson of the abyss, I am Megumin, the greatest genius of the Crimson Demon Clan and wielder of Explosion Magic! Though my magic has already turned to dust, my will shall become the fuse of destruction! Blacker than black, darker than darkness, let my ultimate curse be entrusted here... be destroyed! In that symphony of holiness and raging thunder, be reduced to nothingness! This is... the prelude to the ultimate Explosion—!!!"
"Hey! Megumin, knock it off! Don't start adding extra drama at a time like this. I almost lost control of my magic from sheer secondhand embarrassment listening to that!"
Kazuma frantically complained while dodging the sparks of lightning flying everywhere.
"Ah... aahhh! This ultimate destruction, gathering divine power, raging thunder, and the forbidden chant of the Crimson Demon Clan... ngh! This is the most gorgeous execution scaffold in the world! Please... please let me be swallowed by that light too—!!!"
Darkness had completely abandoned all resistance. Her shapely body trembled in the lightning, and in her overwhelming excitement, she even tried to crawl toward the center of the blast.
Boom.!!
Under the catalyst of the lightning, the sacred purifying water underwent a violent energy collapse.
The Elite Ghost did not even have time to scream before it was completely purified into nothingness by that utterly ridiculous combo attack.
Immediately after, the violent aftermath swept across the entire hall. The mansion's beams, already on the verge of collapse, let out a heavy groan before beginning to break apart inch by inch.
"We did it... hic! My wine... uuuugh..."
After releasing the last of her divine power, Aqua plopped back onto the floor and burst into tears at the sight of her empty hands.
Kōichi felt his lower body tingling numbly from the aftershocks of the thunderstorm, yet that strange sense of clarity only grew stronger.
Scooping up Megumin, who was still chanting embarrassing lines, Kōichi shouted at Kazuma, who was still standing there in a daze,
"Quit spacing out! The house is coming down! Grab that goddess bawling like a five-hundred-pound toddler and that horny knight, and move!!"