CH 454

“Oh crap!”

I felt a sudden danger, freezing up on the spot. I resisted even the Devil roars, but Lyell’s voice was ironically enough to petrify me. I quickly hid myself and activated the illusion ring that Cloud returned back to me.

The form I used was that of Haumea that I remembered the most. I did it because Lyell might have seen me from his position. This way I could just make up an excuse that it was an accidental resemblance with me.

“S̲h̲i̲t̲, why did Devils appear at this timing!”

Lyell, who appeared on the plaza, charged at the Devils in my place with that yell. Apparently, he wasn’t able to see my appearance well due to the darkness. He vaguely understood that someone was fighting, but didn’t see me specifically.

The Devils showed a momentary hesitation at his sudden appearance, but they instantly recovered and resumed the battle by instinct. Lyell was no one to fall behind such Devils, however. Rather, being a pure monster unlike me, he boldly crossed blades with one Devil head-on.

However, that would’ve been fine if there was only one opponent. But the other one circled around his back. Normally, Maria would be there to block it with magic, but she wasn’t here now. If I overlooked this, it could be dangerous for him.

Left with no choice, I hid my katana in the nearby grass and sent my threads at the Devil to keep it in check. This katana was like a symbol that connected me and him, after all.

“Threads… Reid, is that you?!”

“I’ll lend you a hand.”

“That appearance—Nicole?! No, wait, your eye color…”

“I used Maria as a reference.”

I muffled my voice as best as I could and rushed to his side, standing back to back. It was actually me who was helped here, but I decided to get him to owe me one here.

Exposing my Haumea appearance posed a risk, but unlike my heterochromatic red-blue eyes, both eyes of this form were blue. It was a small difference, but the impression changed dramatically.

That small gap created a subtle sense of difference with Nicole about more than just the color. It was just perfect to deceive this oaf.

“I see, Maria huh… No, more importantly, so it was you fighting here. Thanks, I never thought we’d be fighting together again!”

Despite being in the middle of a battle, Lyell’s voice was full of joy. This guy has always been honest with his feelings. That went both for embarrassment and happiness. It hasn’t changed during these twenty-something years.

Surprisingly enough, Lyell displayed stronger physical strength compared to the Devil, pushing it back. I used my natural agility to attract the attention of the other Devil, leading it around using my speed. The problem was that I was lacking in the power to defeat it.

“Reid, aren’t you out of shape there?”

“Shut…up.”

I was about to exclaim loudly, but controlled myself. I was falsifying my appearance, but the same couldn’t be said about my voice. If I yelled loudly, he would realize that I was Nicole.

From the start, Lyell had more killing power compared to me. Rather than think about how to defeat it myself, it would be faster to dedicate myself to supporting Lyell. Now that it had come to this, sticking to defeating it on my own wouldn’t be very wise.

I twined a thread around its sword and then around its body. That managed to restrain its movements quite a lot.

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“Your support is great as always.”

“GOAAAAAAAAGHHHHH!”

Lyell wasn’t one to overlook that. Using that momentary dullness of its movements, He slashed towards its arm. His Holy Sword that could even cut through the Evil Dragon’s scales easily lopped its arm off.

“That skill to make use of such an opening is also to be praised.”

I muttered to myself so he wouldn’t hear it. The other Devil who was facing me seemed annoyed that his partner’s arm was cut, and started aggressively attacking.

However, my body was enchanted now, so I had enough power to ward off its twin blades like the wind. The other Devil with its arm gone also continued to resist tenaciously.

Though it was inferior to Lyell, considering it could use a greatsword with one hand, it had great skill. Seeing how Lyell could not find timings to attack, I felt like this would get dragged on.

“Guess…it can’t be helped.”

Even with Lyell’s support, my body wouldn’t hold out for a prolonged fight. Unlike Lyell, I was suited for short battles. Thus, I decided to settle it here and now.

“—Hah!”

I exhaled greatly and directed my thread manipulation ability inside my body. Instantly, I felt as if the time had started to stretch out. That was probably due to my muscle tissue and nerves being strengthened.

I dodged the downward sword swing, diverted the thrust with my gauntlet by a hair’s breadth, and closed the distance. My threads wouldn’t be able to land a lethal wound even at this distance, so I instead twined it around its knee.

Moreover, the strengthened fingertips of these gauntlets could serve as weapons on their own.

“Hyah!”

I jumped on the swung down sword, and then kicked off from its arm with all my strength. I closed the distance in one go and thrust my hand with all I had.

My fingertips landed where I aimed and deeply gouged out one of its eyes.

“GUOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH?!”

The sharp pain made the Devil bend backwards, making it stop paying attention to what was below.

I used that timing to pull the thread tied to its knee back with all my strength.

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Just slashing it with threads wouldn’t deal a valid blow, but the story changed if we were talking about pulling on a coiled thread. The sharp Mythril thread dug into its thick skin, and also tore through its knee tendons.

Having lost control of one of its legs, the Devil fell on its knee. I ran up its back and coiled thread around its neck, this time using all my strength to strangle it.

With my original strength, this would’ve not resulted in any damage, Mythril or not. However, I was overlapping Enchant with Thread Manipulation now. And my gauntlets were sturdy enough to handle all that strength. This had to result in damage.

“GAGAGA…GEGA…GUGEGE…”

The Devil started acting violently as its respiratory tract was constrained, unable to let out a proper voice. Still, I was also using inhuman strength now as I rode on its back. It couldn’t shake me off so easily.

Seeing me winning, Lyell also switched to attacking. He seemed to have been focusing on defense until then, and his attacks grew quite agile.

“HYAAAAAAAAAA!”

Along with his scream, he swung down his Holy Sword. And the Devil’s sword met it. Seeing Lyell suddenly give up on the defense, the Devil was taken completely by surprise.

This attack broke its posture, and it was the one to be forced back. Perhaps it missing one arm was part of the reason. Either way, taking that inhuman pressure broke its posture completely.

Lyell followed up with a body slam at its giant slanted body. The Devil over five meters tall failed to take on that ramming attack, and got knocked down on the pavement with dust clouds.

It was such a bizarre sight that it seemed to even defy the laws of physics. Then he immediately jumped on top of it and swung down the sword. What seemed to be a full-powered swing pulverized the Devil’s head as easily as cracking an egg.

And just as his battle ended, the Devil I was strangling also stopped its resistance. Or rather, could no longer do it. My Mythril thread had cut completely through its meat and had stopped as it coiled around its cervical spine.

Like this, we subjugated the twin-bladed Devils.