I-it’s been so long since I’ve heard him say that!
Every time Seiya utters that phrase, he crushes his opponent. Nevertheless, it’s too early to relax just yet. Bunogeos is a powerful foe. Other than speed, his stats aren’t too different from Seiya’s, despite being at the max level. In addition, he has special abilities such as Dark God’s Blessing and Total Magic Nullification to compliment his weapon that can destroy our souls. Just like when Seiya fought the emperor, I’m sure it’s going to be a close match where even the smallest mistake could be the end.
…Seiya makes the first move. Raising his sword aloft, he closes the distance with his incredible speed…but to my surprise, he destroys the table right by Bunogeos’s side instead.
“What the…?!”
I watch in bewilderment as particles of glass glitter in the air like rain. Bunogeos cackles.
“Wee-hee-hee! Hate to break it to ya, but that’s not the spell stone ya broke. That was just an ordinary crystal ball. Made sure to hide the spell stone somewhere you’d neeever find.”
Acting like he was going to attack Bunogeos but striking the spell stone instead… Yep, that’s something Seiya would do. But despite being mocked that it wasn’t his target, Seiya’s expression doesn’t change.
“I was just making sure you couldn’t contact Grandleon anymore. I figured you’d be begging him for help by the end of the battle.”
“Wh-what?!”
As Bunogeos’s nose twitches in rage, Seiya scornfully glares at him, flips his sword around, and sheathes it.
“Seiya?! What are you doing?!”
“I’m only going to use my sword to deliver the final blow. Earth magic should be enough until then. By the way, I only leveled up to the maximum for caution’s sake. I actually could have defeated this thing on an even lower level.”
“Whaaat?! Then why were you spying on Bunogeos for three days straight?!”
While I may be genuinely surprised, Bunogeos’s face is burning red with rage.
“Y-y-y-you’re gonna wish ya hadn’t said thaaaaaat!”
He raises his ax in the air and charges Seiya! But out of nowhere, Bunogeos clumsily collapses with a loud thud.
“Hmmmm? Whaaaaaat?!”
I look carefully and notice something tied around the beastkin’s ankle.
I-is that earth magic?! It is! That’s a magic snake that can be controlled remotely! It’s similar to Automatic Phoenix and can only be cast by high wizards! The earth serpent twists its head and tries to sink its teeth into Bunogeos’s hip, but…
“Is this a joooke?!”
He slices clean through the elongated serpent’s body with his ax, effortlessly turning it into sand.
“Wee-hee-hee! Pathetic!”
Bunogeos grins smugly until, almost instantly, he hears a sound. Cracks spread across the entire floor, followed by dozens of earth serpents squirming out. Earth serpents are even invading from within the walls and windows!
In an unrestrained voice, Seiya says:
“The mansion is already surrounded by hundreds of earth serpents. There is nowhere for you to run, and no one is coming to save you. This place belongs to the snakes now.”
Wh-when did he summon this many earth serpents?! …Oh! Seiya wasn’t just hiding underground and stalking Bunogeos these past three days! He was taking his time creating earth serpents! He must have then sent them out to surround the mansion after that!
Countless earth serpents slither across the floor, while even more tear holes through the walls and ceiling, endlessly appearing. Each of them rushes toward Bunogeos as if they’re all trying to surround him. The eerie sight sends a chill up my spine. This is something a demon would do! I refuse to believe that a Hero, who’s trying to save the world, would do such a thing! Just as the numerous snakes lunge toward Bunogeos…
“Don’t you dare underestimate meeeeee! God Chopper!”
The orc freely swings his ax, creating a gust of wind. The earth serpents that are grazed by the blade or brushed by the wind are reduced to sand and blown away.
“Wh-what power…!”
The fact that he was able to obliterate over a dozen earth serpents in the blink of an eye leaves me gaping. Bunogeos, on the other hand, casts a glance at the piles of sand on the floor and smirks.
“Looks like yer magic snakes can’t regeneraaate.”
Bunogeos places his free hand on his steel breastplate, then tears off his armor.
“What the…?!”
I gasp at the sight of his body. From his chest to his stomach is a massive, open mouth baring an irregular set of fangs!
“I’m gonna eat these snakes with a side of humaaaaaan!”
H-he’s gonna swallow us whole?! This can’t be happening!
I direct my gaze to Seiya for help.
“What are we going to do, Seiya?! I think he’s gonna try to suck us into that mouth!”
“Yeah, I remember him having a skill like that. This is where you come in, Rista.”
“Huh?! M-me?! What do you want me to do?!”
“Sink.”
“Huh?”
Seiya promptly raises a hand into the air, then…whack! He suddenly drops his fist on the top of my head!
“…?! Hawaaaaaah?!”
Crack! Crack! Whack!
The Hero’s extraordinary power sends my lower body through the cracked floor and into the ground.
“Wh-wh-what has gotten into you?!” I yell, looking up at Seiya with half my body buried in the dirt.
That’s when…
“Dieeeeee! Vacuum Shredder!!”
…the mouth on Bunogeos’s body flies open. As expected, the sound of a powerful vacuum rattles my eardrums as the earth serpents are gradually sucked into his mouth! I can even feel my gorgeous blond hair on the verge of abandoning ship!
“Ahhhhhh!”
He’s probably going to draw us in, destroy our souls, then swallow us. Bunogeos waits with the Chain Destruction–infused ax in hand.
No, no, no! I’m gonna die!!
I panic, but I’m able to endure Bunogeos’s vacuum, since half of my body is underground. And Seiya…has his arms wrapped around my shoulders to keep himself from being sucked in as well.
“Hmm? Wait a second! Do I look like a pole to you?!”
My irritation doesn’t last for long, though. After all, in a way, it’s like Seiya is holding me in his arms from behind.
H-huh…? Hold on… This isn’t half-bad. In fact, it’s amazing. Well…it looks like I’m a pole now. I’ll stand tall and support you no matter what, Seiya. Because that’s what poles do!
I’m on cloud nine until I’m almost immediately drawn back to reality…because there isn’t a single earth serpent left!
Bunogeos stops his vacuum attack and shuts the mouth on his stomach before smugly smirking.
“Wee-hee-hee-hee! I turned every last one of yer snakes into duuust!”
H-he’s powerful! Too powerful! Seiya needs to stop messing around and unsheathe his sword! But even if Seiya did that, he wouldn’t be able to move once the orc starts using Vacuum Shredder again! How are we gonna beat this pig?!
In spite of my panicking, Seiya takes his hands off my shoulders, then faces Bunogeos while leaving himself vulnerable.
“Seiya?! You have to stay behind me! You’re gonna be eaten if he uses Vacuum Shredder again!”
“There’s no need to worry about that. The battle is already over.”
In a detached tone, Seiya continues.
“Bunogeos, you may believe you ate and destroyed all of the earth serpents, but you’re wrong. I turned a few live ones into sand to make it look like you destroyed them. I made sure to mix a few in the sand of the ones you killed.”
“Hmm? What was thaaat?”
“They’re already turning back into snakes inside your stomach as we speak.”
“Wh-what…?! N-no…!”
“Your exterior may be protected with Total Magic Nullification, but I’m willing to bet your insides are pretty fragile, hmm?”
Bunogeos’s face turns pale as the Hero stares at him with a distant, penetrating gaze.
“Devour the enemy… Transform: Automatic Naga!”
Without delay, Bunogeos’s stomach and chest expand as if being pushed by numerous slender bars from the inside, followed by the horrifying sound of flesh bursting apart.
“Gwaaaaaah!”
The earth serpents bore holes in Bunogeos’s body.
“Eeeeeek!”
I scream at the horrific sight. Automatic Nagas crawl out from every part of his body with the exception of his arms and legs. Blood spews into the air as they devour his flesh. When the last one crawls out of Bunogeos’s stomach, he coughs up black blood from both his normal mouth and the mouth on his stomach. And just like that, his massive body falls forward onto the floor… After a few moments go by, he doesn’t even twitch.
“I-is it over?”
“Yeah.”
Seiya places a hand on the top of my head—pop!—and pulls me out of the ground!
“…?! Hey!! Do I look like a radish to you?!”
I’m annoyed by his crude treatment, but he ignores me. Though after finally shifting emotional gears, I find myself impressed with how he handled Bunogeos.
“I can’t believe it. You really defeated Bunogeos without drawing your sword. It wasn’t even close. Earth magic is powerful stuff…”
“It outclasses all other magic when it comes to deception. If used efficiently, I may be able to defeat other enemies the same way, regardless of their status.”
“Yeah… Yeah! I bet we can even beat Grandleon with earth magic!”
“Don’t be rash. Earth magic alone isn’t going to cut it any longer. I need something to complement it, which is why we need to return to the spirit world. But to do that, we need to destroy the spell stone.”
“Oh yeah! I wonder where it could be. I mean, Bunogeos said he hid it somewhere we’d never find…”
As I frantically scan the room, I catch sight of something that makes me shudder. Bunogeos’s massive body is slowly getting up off the ground!
“S-Seiya! He’s alive! He’s still alive!”
The cautious Hero declared that the battle was already over, so I believed him! But despite having his innards devoured and endlessly hemorrhaging black blood, Bunogeos is still alive! What unbelievable vitality! Seiya and I got cocky… We forgot that this was the SS-ranked world of Ixphoria!
“It’s not…over yet…!”
Bunogeos then proceeds to shove a finger into his left eye!
“What the…?!”
I cover my eyes and peek through the opening between my fingers. Bunogeos is pulling his eye out with his finger!
“Wee-hee… Wee-hee-hee-hee! This is the spell stooone! The Demon Lord embedded it in my body! Th-this stone has enough mana to curse the entire town. O-once I eat this, no one will be able to stop meee…!”
Then Bunogeos promptly brings his eye—the spell stone—to his mouth.
“Ya should have killed me when ya had the chaaance! You’re gonna wet yerself when ya see this! Second Form: Beast Hazard! Ahhhhhh!”
“S-Seiya!”
Although I’m losing my mind, Seiya doesn’t seem concerned.
“Your second form, huh? I’m kind of curious, but I’m not going to watch you transform, and I’m not going to wet myself. If you wanted to defeat me, you should have gouged out your eye and transformed from the start. You would have had a slight chance of winning then. But, well, I made sure to piss you off so that wouldn’t happen.”
The instant Bunogeos starts to swallow the spell stone…
“Mmm…?!”
The orc’s throat suddenly expands until something shoots out his mouth with the stone! The creature then slithers over to Seiya with the spell stone in its mouth.
“Did I not make myself clear the first time? This battle is already over.”
Just like Bunogeos, I gasp at the sight. Holding the spell stone in its mouth…is an earth serpent! It suddenly appeared in the orc’s mouth and stole the stone!
“Wh-what?! There was still an earth serpent in his body?! Why…?!”
“Bunogeos has a lot of HP. There was still a chance that he’d survive even if the Automatic Nagas in his body delivered a fatal blow. Therefore, I made sure to sneak one more inside him to keep him in check in case he tried to launch one last attack before dying.”
Seiya snaps his fingers, signaling the earth serpent to instantly shatter the spell stone in its mouth. Trembling in fear, Bunogeos begins to shrink away.
“Wh-what are you…?! Wh-what are you?!”
“The spell stone has been destroyed. Now it’s time to deliver the final blow with my sword.”
After unsheathing his weapon, Seiya softly exhales. The platinum sword glows as if reacting to his breathing, and the air in the room begins to shake. One warrior doesn’t even have a scratch, while the other is on the verge of death. Surely, Bunogeos has already prepared to meet his fate. He screams:
“K-killing me won’t save ya! You’re done for! Lord Grandleon himself is coming to Galvano tonight, and yer little tricks aren’t gonna work on the almighty Beast Emperorrr!”
Seiya grips the platinum sword in both hands and raises it into the air. Then…
“Atomic Spirit Slash!”
The earth version of his magic sword attack from Gaeabrande is reborn in Ixphoria! The blade runs clean through Bunogeos’s skull, immediately followed by an explosive roar and a shock wave. The floors are annihilated, and Bunogeos limply falls into the crater left in the ground.
“He appears to be dead, but just in case…”
Seiya relentlessly repeats the attack. Even after eating a few Atomic Spirit Slashes, which are at the max level, Bunogeos’s body still remains in its original form. I decide not to get too comfortable this time and use Scan just in case. Despite Bunogeos being dead as a doornail, Seiya continues unleashing earth magic on him. He even uses Endless Fall on the Chain Destruction–infused ax to send it straight to the depths of the underworld.
“Seiya! Grandleon’s going to be here soon, right? Shouldn’t we run?”
But Seiya simply places a finger on his chin as if thinking, showing absolutely no signs of concern.
“He decided to scout Galvano the day before yesterday while speaking to Bunogeos through the crystal ball. He seems to be pretty cautious, seeing as he already planned to investigate two days ago. But…I expected as much.”
Seiya finally instructs me to open a gate to the spirit world. After creating the gate, I timidly open the door.
“Oh, hey! The wall inside the gate is gone! We can finally go back to the spirit world!”
“He said Grandleon would be here tonight. That gives me around another hour. Under the assumption that he gets here early, I need to learn a new move that I could use against him within thirty minutes in the spirit world.”
Thirty minutes? Since time moves more slowly in the spirit world, that gives us about two days. Is that really going to be enough? Wait… I should be rejoicing! I get to return to the spirit world! I don’t have to eat death worms anymore, and I can finally take a bath!
Passing through the gate, I smile back at Seiya.
“Seiya! Hurray! We don’t have to live underground any longer! I thought you were going to completely lose your mind down there!”
“Don’t confuse me with yourself.”
“Oh, come on! You were oinking like a pig! You were on the verge of madness!”
“I was doing that on purpose. You’ll see.”
“H-huh…? What does that even mean?”
But only after returning to the spirit world do I finally understand what Seiya meant.