Chapter 77 – Gruen Great Volcano 2
Jayr POV - Tortus, Gruen Great Volcano - 2013
Soon after making the friendly bet with Eri, another two Magma Serpents are attacking me from my sides, on the right, and on the left, but I withdraw at high speed using the thrusting power of the Tactical Arms Flight Form, then flipping in mid-air, I shoot at one and use a weak Omnipotens Dis to push away the other before shooting it with the Gatling.
Then I hear Eri yell, "I'm going to win this!" then she starts a long chant, "Chaotic sorcery of the Wise Necromancer, answer my call. Imbue your subject with your wrathful power. Lay waste of my enemy until nothing is left behind but a desolate dead world. Hellfire Armaggeddon!!", as soon as her chant ends, from under her a huge black magic circle spreads until it covers almost all the surrounding space, then to my immense surprise all the Undead Puppets under Eri's command become ablaze in dark black fire and let out a creepy silent roar, before rushing toward all the Magma Serpents in their vicinity.
I look stupified as the blazing undead, quickly start to decimate the Magma Serpents, every enemy that they touch is quickly consumed by the black flames on their bodies but the next second the dead Magma Serpents raise again this time with black flames enveloping their bodies and start to attack the other Magma Serpents, not even the magma under them is spared as I can clearly see that the black fire is slowly overpowering it turning it into a scary black magma that corrupts all the Magma Serpent hiding in it.
Seeing this I can't help but look stunned at this spectacle while thinking, 'What the...!! When did Eri come up with this kind of spell? I was already surprised that she was able to combine the Dark attribute with the Fire, one which she doesn't even have an affinity for, and create that crazy spell Hellfire, a spell that creates a truly overpowered flame, that reminds me of Rigel's one... But now she even merged the Hellfire into her Necromancy, creating something so absurd and scary! It empowers her undead puppets, causes tremendous burn damage, moreover, it converts the fallen enemies into allies...'.
But at the same time, I also notice the drawback of this spell, for one, it really cost a lot, as I can see Eri breathing heavily showing clear signs of Mana Exhaustion, two it doesn't last long as the Hellfire is truly too powerful, even now I can clearly see some of the undead burns to nothing as they fail to resist the black flames' might, this means that once you cast the spell all the puppets under its effect will become ash after some time, and third, even Eri isn't immune to the black flames she created, as I can see that she quickly distanced herself while riding the only non-burning skeleton undead.
Then I look at the crystals regularly buried on the outer circumference of the rock wall of the island and see that mostly emit light, only eight haven't, then letting out a sigh I mutter, "It seems that Eri is the clear winner of this bet, oh well it isn't so bad... Anyway, it seems that if the concept: of a prolonged battle while having one's concentration down due to a nasty environment, is right, then the expectation of the creator of this trial could be said as completely off the mark because Eri totally owned it!".
Eri's blazing undead puppets, rip apart another Magma Serpent leaving only six to kill, at the same time, even if I lost this friendly competition, I continue to shoot with my weapon and deal with two more Magma Serpens leaving only four still alive.
Next, another two Magma Serpents are trying to do a pincer attack on me, ambushing from below where the ocean of magma is hiding their presence, however, I chant another Gravity spell, "Saecularia Viverra (Worldly Pull)!!", and with it, I manipulate the attractive force to pull the hidden Magma Serpents that escaped from the corruption of Eri's spell towards me and quickly fire two other shoots, hitting them on the head and instantly killing them, then I say, "With this only two more left".
Then I notice a Magma Serpent that is rapidly charging at Eri while scattering bullet-like masses of magma, however, Eri riding her Undead Puppet is swaying like a dancing falling leaf and avoids the masses of magma.
When she is about to be devoured by the Magma Serpent, she cast another Scatterdust, the mana-disturbing spell, temporarily stopping it in place, giving time to her blazing undead to assault the Magma Serpent and turn it into another blazing undead.
Finally, the last Magma Serpent tries to surprise attack me from the ocean of magma below, but with the aerial superiority given to me by the Tactical Arms Flight Form, I'm easily able to dodge its attack and shoot one last Sagitta Magica towards the interior of the opened mouth of Magma Serpent coming from below.
At the moment of impact, a black shockwave scatters the magma and crushes the core killing the last Magma Serpent, and completing the last challenge of the Gruen Great Volcano, then with a smile on my face, I say, "This is the end", at the same time, all the blazing undead under Eri's control start to crumble into nothingness one after another, unable to withstand the Hellflame's might.
Then Eri comes closer and says, "Finally we are almost done with this...", then with a smile, she adds, "... And we return I expect a relaxing massage from my charming lover as he promised", I nod and move closer to her and whisper in her ear, "Yup, you won the bet... After we are done here, I give you a really satisfying massage~", then holding her body close, I jump on the edge of the now unprotected island, as the magma dome we saw at the beginning above the island has already disappeared, and we can see a jet-black building in exchange.
Nearby the building there is a disk floating a few centimeters above the ground, seeing that I mutter, "It might be the thing normally used to get out from the usual shortcut at the end of each labyrinth...", then we continue to approach the jet-black building.
At a glance, it only looks like a tall building without any door, but a part of the wall has the same crests of the Seven Great Labyrinth carved in, so we move toward it, standing before that part of the wall, the wall soundlessly slides allowing us to enter the building.
As we step inside, once again, the door closes soundlessly behind us, then I start to look around, but this is a quite bare place, there is nothing in this place only the four bare walls.
While I look around, I feel Eri tugging my arm to catch my attention, I look at her and see that she is pointing at a certain place, "Jayr, over there... A magic circle", and indeed the thing she is pointing at is a complex and exquisite magic formation, the magic array for Age of Gods Magic.
We look at each other and nod then we walk into the formation, and just like the last times in both Orcus and Reisen Labyrinth, it activates with a bright light and our memories flow out without permission, tracking how we conquered the dungeon.
Then, after confirming that we conquered the Labyrinth by subjugating all of the Magma Serpents, the Age of Gods magic is directly carved into our brains, and next, I hear Eri mutter, "… I see, this is Spatial Magic... The seed for teleportation, pocked dimensions, and maybe even summoning... I feel quite compatible with this one... At least more than Gravity and Creation magic...".
At the same time, the light from the magic formation dims and a part of the wall opens while shining letters begin to appear on the wall in front of us, "I sincerely wish for the free will of the people in the future – Naiz Gruen Caliente", seeing this message Eri comments, "… How simple", after saying that, she walks to the wall with fist size opening and takes out the pendant from it, it is similar to the proofs of conquering of other Labyrinths, but the circular pendant has different design engraved on it, it is a woman holding a lamp only in place of the lamp there is a hole.
Eri then quietly put it around my neck and says, "… Now that we have obtained both the magic and proof. Next is how we get out of here", I look at the pendant and say, "Probably like with Orcus Great Labyrinth, this will open the shortcut to the outside", hearing that she nods and says "Then, let's go...", and so we both walk back to the sliding door that again opens itself soundlessly, and once outside, I hold the pendant and start to point it at some random direction hoping that it does something, but nothing happens until I point the pendant towards the ceiling.
Then, a crack in the ceiling begins to open, and along with the circular hole on the ceiling, several doors above it also open, looking at it, I say, "That is clearly the way out of this place, quite straightforward...", hearing that, Eri, while fanning herself with her hand, says, "Well, let's just get out of this place... I have grown tired of the heat of this place!", then she summons her flying undead puppet, and we jump on top of it.
But just as we are about to lift off, I pick up something in the distance and say, "Hold it! Something is coming!", and focusing on it, I pick up the presence of several monsters flying down the shortcut I just opened, 'Their number are around 100 and one of them is quite big!', moreover, I sense that they also noticed our presence and that all of them are gathering their mana to release an attack.
I quickly yell "Eri, hide behind me! They are hostile!", and after my warning, at the same time, numerous flashes of light pour down.
These are all small beams of concentrated mana similar to the one released by the Hydra, each light of death has the power to surely destroy one's body, but I remain calm in front of this attack and gathering my Mana, I raise my hand and prepare to unleash my spell at the right time, meanwhile, then numerous beam quickly move toward us unleashing a huge waterfall-like pressure.
Once they are close enough I chant, "Omnipotens Dis!! (Almighty Push!!)", directing all the repulsive force of the spell toward the incoming beams above us, which easily disperse them all away at the same time, but then I feel another beam coming toward us, only this one is a lot stronger and bigger than the previous one, its power is almost ten times stronger than one of the smaller beams from before.
So I urge my Mana again and unleash my strongest gravity spell chanting, "Spēlaion Mikron Bary Melan!", and create a small black swirling sphere, basically a small black hole, that swallows the beam whole, obliterating it out of existence.
Then, a man's voice that is half-amazed and half-admiring can be heard from the sky, "… A unknown force that cannot be overlooked... Just like he said... You are all too dangerous to be left alive!", I look up towards the sky where the voice came from and see several colorful dragons and a pure white, gigantic dragon that couldn't be compared to the rest is flying, and riding on top of the gigantic white dragon back there is a red-haired, black-skinned, slightly pointed eared man with golden eyes from Demon race, at the same time, I try to remember him, 'He looks familiar... Especially with that dragon... Is he one of the bad guys, right?'.
(Image Here - Freid Bagwa)
Then I hear the Demon race man say as he glares at us with his dangerously narrowed golden eyes, "It is truly unbelievable for you to easily counter a barrage of 50 Ash Dragons. Moreover, the Breath of my white dragon is also incapable of killing you… You, just what are you? Just how many Age of Gods magics do you have?", I can clearly see that he is now cautious of us almost intimidated by my previous display.
Even so, I calmly step forward and with a smile I ask, "Before questioning, how about you introduce yourself first? Does the Demon race have no manners at all? Let me show you how it is done...", then with a grin I start my introduction "My name is Jayr Pucci. I'm 16 years old. My house is in another Universe where beings a lot stronger than you reside, and I am not married. I work as an Adventurer in this world, and I get into my Catamaran to rest every day by 8 PM at the latest. I don't smoke, but I occasionally drink. I'm in bed by 11 PM and make sure I get six hours of sleep, no matter what. After having a glass of warm milk and doing about twenty minutes of intense exercise before going to bed, I usually have no problems sleeping until morning. Just like a baby, I wake up without any fatigue or stress in the morning. I can tell you there were no issues at my last check-up. I'm trying to explain that I'm a person who wishes to live a very quiet life with my girls. I take care not to trouble myself with any enemies, like winning and losing, that would cause me to lose sleep at night. That is how I deal with society, and I know that is what brings me happiness. Although, if I were to fight I wouldn't lose to anyone... Not even against your shitty God!".
After my introduction, I hear Eri groan behind me, at the same time, I see that the demon who still didn't introduce himself seems to be a little upset about something I said, as he clenches his fist in fury even as he forces himself to be calm and say,s "… There's no need to introduce myself to those who will die soon", but then Eri walks next to me and whisper, "Jayr, stop stalling for time, I have already recovered enough Mana, so can we quickly deal with this idiot... I want to enjoy my prize...", then she turns to the Demon race man and taunts him, "And you go back and do what you do best... Bend over and let your God fuck you over while being grateful of all the shit he puts on you for his own amusement...".
With his eyebrow twitching for an instant, the Demon race man replies with a tone somewhat lower than before, "I change my mind. Bury this name of mine into your flesh and bones. My name is Freid Bagwa. A God's Apostle who will give divine punishment to the heretics", I calmly look at him and say, "God's Apostle… I see. Were you allowed to introduce yourself as that because you obtained the Age of Gods magic?".
Freid seems really proud as he declares, "That's right. For Alva-sama, who had given to me God's powers, told to me directly, "My apostle". Therefore, all of my being is devoted to realizing my god's wish for he wishes only my people's best. Thus, I will use my all to deny you, whose existence will only be an obstacle", seeing him like that I realize that trying to convince him of Ehit and Alva true nature would be useless, 'Man... I can clearly feel that his nature isn't bad... In fact, he isn't even an evil or cruel man... But he blindly trusts the God he worships... Well, not like I have any right to speak of that, I'm a Saint, a warrior of the Goddess Athena, but Athena and Ehit are totally different... At least my version of Athena, who is also my girlfriend, by the way...'.
It seems that Eri also notices something as she moves closer to me and whispers, "Ugh... I feel like dealing with Kouki all over again... He wants to do good, but he is totally delusional and will twist facts to better match his own beliefs... I have now the sudden urge of killing him and use his corpse to screw Kouki...", I pat Eri's head and say, "Now, now... Let go of your resentment... After all, you were able to meet me thanks to that...", she closes her eyes enjoying my touch and simply says, "Un...", then I look at Freid and mutter, "Now what to do with him...?".
But I do not have the time to think of a solution because Freid orders his monster to attack, so I bring out my Tactical Arms Gatling Form aim it at the dragons, and pull the trigger, shooting an almost endless torrent of bullets, however, several of the 3-4 meters long Ash Dragons move forward to intercept the attack trajectories, and immediately summon numerous piled up, triangular, reddish black barriers to receive the attack.
The barrier that received the full force of my Gatling attack, doesn't even hold on for a few seconds before it cracks, but soon more Ash Dragons come from behind and piled up another set of similar barriers, successfully blocking my assault.
When I look carefully, I notice that there are turtle-shaped monsters on the dragons' backs, their shells are shining in reddish black, so these turtle-shaped monsters are most likely the ones that activated the barriers and think, 'So that is what those monsters do...', at the same time, Freid proudly says, "Did you think I only brought along these dragon-type monsters? You wouldn't be able to easily break through their defense, you know. This is the power that God granted me!", then he starts a really long chant, to unleash his spell, while at the same time, the dragon opens its mouth and start to concentrate and compress extreme heat and magic power until the limit.
But before he could continue with his attack, Eri finishes her long chant and cast her original spell, "...Hellfire!", and next, a huge amount of black magic power appears before Eri as she thrust her staff out, it compress itself into a dark black flame, that is then shoot out taking the shape of an enormous black serpent-like flame, that quickly shoots forward melting through the barriers like they were made of snow and consuming all the monster in its path, furthermore, she swings her staff directing the black flame serpent that like a flash it annihilates the other monsters enlarging the hole in the barrier formation.
And the next moment, using the Flight Form of my weapon I take advantage of that opening to quickly rush toward Freid, and once I'm close enough to him and his mount, I activate Body Reinforcement magic and Limit Break at the same time, and before they could react, I throw a punch hitting the dragon with such force that blows the dragon away, interrupting it from focusing enough energy to release it dragon breath.
Blown away, Freid stops his chant and instinctively clings to the white dragon, then he looks at me, the one who blew away the ten meters long white dragon, and opens his eyes wide in astonishment as he yells, "What the hell are you!? How can someone have such monstrous strength!!? Are you even human?", at the same time, the white dragon recovers and retaliate by firing numerous light bullets which are similar to the one the Hydra used before, and soon the remaining ash dragon do the same and focus their fire on me.
I focus on the incoming light bullets and dodge them like a swaying fallen leaf, while at the same time, I use the Gatling Arm to assault Freid, but he has another turtle-shaped monster behind him, that quickly raises a barrier to protect him from the bullets.
Covered by the barrier of the turtle-shaped monster, Freid is grinding his teeth as he looks at me in wonder, then, he once again begins to recite the chant while the white dragon, flies at high speed to keep the distance as it again gathers and compresses the fire and magic power in its mouth to release its dragon breath, while the ash dragons buy some time for him.
Then after charging for a few seconds, the white dragon is just about to release its dragon breath at me, but they all forgot that I'm not alone, and the next moment, Eri's voice is heard, "I won't let you! Hellfire!!", and she again releases her spell that takes the shape of a black flaming serpent, before moving like a flash toward Freid and the white dragon about to swallow them whole.
But the white dragon twists its body and fires its Breath Beam toward the incoming spell, and the next moment black and white flashes collide, scattering a violent shock wave, so strong that the ocean of magma right below, on the center of the colliding point, is rampaging and generating gigantic tsunamis of magma.
At first, Eri and the white dragon's attacks are equal, but soon Eri's spell begins to gradually push the white dragon's Breath, then I hear Freid say, "Kuh, for me to meet such strong opponents here… there's no other way. Although it is risky, I will use magic to enhance Ura-", but I take advantage of this moment to quickly rush behind him then I combine the Gatling Arm with the Flight Form before transforming it all back to its Sword Form, and say, "Do you think I will let you do as you please?!", before attacking him with it with a downward slash while using some basic Gravity Magic to make it even heavier and stronger.
The turtle-shaped monster by Freid's side activates the barrier faster than Freid could react, but as my sword impacts it with such overwhelming force, that the barrier shining in reddish black is easily smashed in pieces.
Following that, I slip into the bosom of Freid who displays his irritation and panic, and using once again Gravity Magic to make my sword lighter, I quickly change the direction of my previous slash and attack him with an upward swing, "Guaah!?", by a hair's breadth, Freid escapes from being cut in two simply because I'm not aiming to kill him, however, my vertical slash completely cut off his right arm.
And taking advantage of his stunned state, I don't stop my attack, rotate my body using the momentum from slash and back kick Freid, who barely guards using his remaining left arm, "GAaAHH!!", but he could not kill the momentum behind my kick, and thus his left arm is crushed and his organs are damaged making him spit a mouthful of blood as he is horizontally blown away from the white dragon.
Noticing his master's disappearance, the white dragon lost its concentration and the black spell quickly overwhelm its breath reaching it in a dash.
Seeing this, I jump off the white dragon, and the next moment, Eri's spell grandly blows off the beam along with the white dragon who screams in pain as it is being blown away, "Roarrrr!!", but the clash against the breath weakened the power of Eri's spell by a lot, so the white dragon survives and somehow manages to regain its balance mid-air even after its belly received the attack, then it immediately flies towards the ceiling.
At the same time, Freid is saved by an ash dragon, that quickly moves toward the raising white dragon, and once close enough, Freid once again boards the white dragon with a jump, while all the remaining ash dragons gather around him.
Meanwhile, I fly back and move next to Eri, then I see Freid with both his arms gone one crushed the other cut off, while it glares at us then he says with a heavy breath, "… What a dreadful force. Two humans, a man with incredible martial might and magic powers, and that woman who is also not normal, such powerful magic that rivals that of the dragons. They are also possibly users of Age of Gods magic. And to have been able to beat me to this state even with the surprise attack and the number advantage me, huh…".
Squeezing those words, Freid stares me right in the eyes, and a frown marks his face, and looking back at him I say with a calm smile and an even breath, "So are you going to give up?", hearing my word his frown deepens as he asks, "Why are you going easy on me? I'm your enemy! You could have easily killed me before? So why spare me? I can't feel an ounce of killing intent from you!".
Seeing his state, I realize, 'He is confused... full of doubts about what is going on... Something must have happened that shook his belief, maybe it isn't impossible to make him see reason... Let's see if I can pull off the strongest, greatest, and most difficult technique of a certain yellow-haired ninja...'.
Measuring carefully my words, I shake my head and reply to his question, "You aren't my enemy. I can clearly feel that you aren't an evil man. You are clearly fighting to protect something... Only the one you believe in, your God, isn't what you truly think it is... He doesn't care about the demon race, he and the other God have been manipulating all the races for their own twisted game, everything you and your fellow demons had done and died for has been for nothing but the cruel amusement for them...", at the same time I think, 'Let's see if I can pull off a Talk no Jutsu!'.