CH 47

—Sounds disappeared.

The noisy black forest.

The rumbling bright red fire. 

I ignored all of that and concentrated only on the Demon Lord Erinyes looking down at me. 

A crack ran through my sword mixed with holy silver.

The blade can’t endure the Demon Lord and Ifrit mana. 

(I am going to be betting everything on one hit again, huh…) (Souma)

Thinking about it, it was the same for Cerberus. 

I really am tied to extremely narrow battles.

“Inverse Magic: [Black Angel].” (Eri)

The Demon Lord chants an incantation as if she were singing a beautiful melody. 

The shadow of small children-looking Angels appeared as if dancing. 

A flock of small black Angels were laughing while surrounding me and Sumire. 

Within the jet black darkness of their body and wings, only their pure white teeth were showing creepily. 

“Kyakyakya♪.” 

One small black Angel approached us while laughing. 

Just at the moment when it was barely entering the range of the sword…

*Fwoom!!!*

And fire enveloped the small black Angel. 

“Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!” 

The small Angel raised a shrilling scream as it was swallowed by the fire and disappeared into soot. 

I think I saw the shadow of someone in the fire for a second there.

…What was that?

“Hmm, so the Great Fire Spirit, Salamander, huh. You have called a troublesome one.” (Eri)

The Demon Lord said this as if matching answers. 

“Great Fire Spirit…” (Eugene)

“Fufu, looks like Sumire-chan is protecting you. You can relax and attack me, Eugene.” (Eri)

The Demon Lord spread both of her arms as if saying ‘now, come’.

But the small black Angels were surrounding the Demon Lord, forming a wall and protecting the Demon Lord. 

They are most likely living barriers and living swords.

If I were to approach them, I would be beaten up in the blink of an eye. 

……….*Sst…Ssssstt…*

My Mana Sword was trembling as if demanding its turn. 

“Are you not coming?” (Eri)

The Demon Lord smiles as if provoking me. 

I took a deep breath and lowered my waist. 

(It should be about time…) (Eugene)

The schedule got messed up, but all 3 of us have spoken about the timing we would be dealing an all-out attack on her. 

-I will check the power of the Demon Lord.

-Sumire and Sara finish rescuing the hostages.

-I receive fresh mana from Sumire. 

-And then…

“[Rain of Lightsabers]!!!” 

The voice of Sara echoed.

Light blades rained on all the area around me. 

But the light blades created from the Sword of Mercy were not injuring me or Sumire.

Light blades that surpass the 100.

In order to achieve this, she needs to accumulate power for a long time, moreover, it will only last a few seconds with the current ability of Sara. 

That’s why we decided to use this as a surprise attack.

“Kyaaaaaaaaa!!!” 

“Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!”

“Aaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!” 

The black small Angels raise screams. 

The Demon Lord seemed to be slightly flustered by this.

This is my only opportunity to attack.

([Wind Step]) (Eugene)

I rushed into the rain of light. 

The distance between me and the Demon Lord disappeared, and she entered my range. 

What’s clad in the Mana Sword I am brandishing is jet black miasma and deep crimson mana. 

(Twin Heavenly Resonance Style: Ultimate Technique…) (Eugene)

My strongest technique that severed the head of Cerberus. 

But just when I was about to unleash it, I had a bad feeling. 

(It won’t work on the Demon Lord…) (Eugene)

I could feel it, not with logic but with instinct. 

But I won’t doubt my instinct as a swordsman.

I utilized the stance of my ultimate technique as a feint, and switched it to a normal thrust. 

But a fast one. 

Faster than anything. 

One that will definitely make the blade reach the target. 

But…

(She sees it!!) (Eugene)

The Demon Lord’s eyes were clearly following the pathing of my sword.

But I can’t stop my attack anymore.

(Barrier Magic: [Wind Armor].) (Eugene)

It will most likely hold no meaning against the Demon Lord, but it is better than nothing.

I charged onto the Demon Lord with the resolve to strike each other down.

I prepare for the attack of the Demon Lord’s demonic spear.

But there was no impact at all.

…*Swish*

I only felt the sensation of entering something soft in my blade.

“…Eh?” (Eugene)

My Mana Sword was piercing Eri’s body.

“—!” 

The Demon Lord groaned lightly and slowly fell onto the ground.

No…way.

Even though there’s no doubt she could have avoided that…

…*Kiiiiiiin*

The blade of the Mana Sword crumbled into pieces after making that sound.

I slowly approached the Demon Lord collapsed on the ground.

I was worried she died, but I can hear her breathing. 

“……Eri.” (Eugene)

“Haaah…I was…defeated, huh.” (Eri)

Eri spoke as if in pain.

“Couldn’t you have blocked my attack just now?” (Eugene)

“Yeah…” (Eri)

The Demon Lord said outright. 

“Then, why?” (Eugene)

Did I manage to get through the trial because of pity? 

Thinking about it like that, I can’t really feel happy about it.

“Hmm…” (Eri)

The Demon Lord made a thinking gesture in pain as blood flowed out from her chest.

“Sorry. You don’t have to force yourself to speak.” (Eugene)

“I thought using Clairvoyance and Time Stop in the 100th Floor Trial of Gods would be unfair.” (Eri)

“…What?” (Eugene)

Did I just hear something outrageous there?

“In the past, I fought against the subordinates of the Devil Gods at the Divine Realm and ended up having a habit of seeing the future and stopping time while fighting. But I thought the difficulty would be too high on the 100th Floor of the Zenith Tower.” (Eri)

“There’s no way I would be able to win with that.” (Eugene)

I groaned.

Don’t ask for the impossible. 

“That’s not true. If you go to the higher floors of the Zenith Tower, you have to be able to deal with those kinds of things as if it were second nature.” (Eri)

“…You are kidding, right?” (Eugene)

The Zenith Tower has monsters like that crawling all over?

“Cough!” 

At that moment, the Demon Lord coughed a whole lot of blood.

“A-Are you okay?” (Eugene)

I feel like I am the last person that should be asking her if she is okay though.

“You are the one who cut me, Eugene.” (Eri)

“Y-Yeah, but…you won’t die, right?” (Eugene)

I got worried and asked.

“If I were to die from just this…I wouldn’t be able to call myself a Demon Lord… But I lost a lot of mana. I will be sleeping for a while.” (Eri)

“I-I see…!” (Eugene)

I sighed in relief.

Of course.

There’s no way the Legendary Demon Lord would be killed by someone like me. 

“…See ya, Eugene. Congratulations on getting through the Trial of Gods.” (Eri)

*Whoom!*

A whole lot of black feathers danced in the air. 

My vision was blocked for an instant. 

By the time I could see in front of me again, the Demon Lord was gone. 

She most likely returned to the Sealed Underground Prison.

Let’s go visit her later.

I was thinking about hearing whatever selfishness she asked for. 

(Ah, right!) (Eugene)

I hurriedly returned to Sumire.

“……Zzzz.” (Sumire)

Sumire was sleeping with an innocent face.

Sara is relieving Sumire. 

“Sara! How’s Sumire?!” (Eugene)

“You did it, Eugene. Sumire-chan is simply sleeping. The wound has healed thanks to your healing magic. It seems like she bled a bit too much.” (Sara)

“I see… That’s a relief.” (Eugene)

“More importantly, are you okay, Eugene? You received the attacks of the Demon Lord from the very front, right?” (Sara)

“Aah, about that…” (Eugene)

I couldn’t say she was holding back on me. 

Just when I was wondering how to explain this…

“Victory of the challenger~☆. Congratulaations!!” 

The Angel Voice echoed.

She is speaking in quite the bright tone. 

As if she can’t hold back her happiness.

While at it, a golden magic circle appeared in midair, and the shadow of someone jumped out from it. 

Pure white wings.

Blonde hair that shines like the sun. 

Blue eyes like the sky. 

“Maan, I was worried about what would happen~☆.” 

A clear and pristine voice. 

The one who appeared with an awfully light tone was a single beautiful angel. 

■Comment’s Response: 

>Speaking of which, the afterword kind of stuff is only on the last chapter, isn’t it? It is a shame that the responses for comments disappear afterwards. 

→I tried leaving the previous one.

I end up erasing them out of habit…

I am considering whether to leave them in the future or not after seeing the reactions of the readers.

>A Cherub? 

>So the names of Angels would be: personal name + rank + Goddess they are affiliated to. 

→The rule was noticed immediately. 

I felt like Cherub was a bit too high of an Angel rank, but then just thought ‘she is a Demon Lord though’.

■Author’s Comment: 

A bit of advertisement. 

The 10th Volume of Zero Believers Goddess happening in the same world as this story is going to be on sale on October 25th, 2022. 

<Introduction of Characters>

The Holy Maiden Anna-san who is the original source of the highest authorities of the Holy Nation of Caldia, the 8 Holy Maidens.

※Have I mentioned her name in this story…?

She is one of the members of the legendary hero party that saved the world 1,000 years ago. 

The Holy Maidens of Caldia have borrowed her nickname as a name for their post. 

By the way, Sara-san is a Holy Maiden Candidate, so she has obviously been taught to a painful degree the legends of Anna-san. 

This 10th Volume will be talking about that legend.

If you are interested, please go ahead and read it. 

You can also read it on the web version.**