Episode 170
A fierce battle, reminiscent of a full-scale war, broke out.
The Empire’s most prominent forces united with one heart and mind to catch the snake.
However, the snake, having swallowed the Source of God, was too strong.
No matter how fierce the attacks poured in, they only caused minor scratches. Even these were quickly healed by divine power before long.
Rune, who was fighting alongside Ikart—who had joined the battle late—muttered.
“Kyang….” (At this rate, there will be no end….)
They had thought that since the four Divine Beasts were united, they could fight on equal footing.
The problem was that the snake had accepted divine power into its body, just like them.
Just as hitting water with water deals no damage, the Divine Beasts’ attacks had no great effect on the snake.
In fact, the knights’ attacks were proving to be more damaging.
However, while the snake’s stamina was infinite, their stamina had its limits.
Thanks to the black dragon that appeared out of nowhere, the battle was somehow proceeding, but if it continued like this, defeat was certain.
Fear, who had given up on using ineffective abilities and was simply diving from the sky to body-slam the snake, shouted.
“Hou, hou-ook!” (Hey, fox over there! Your feet have stopped! Move faster!)
“Kyang.” (My feet haven’t stopped; I’m thinking about what to do.)
“Hou-hou! Hook!” (What is there to think about! Just keep ramming it until it collapses!)
“….” (As expected, a firebird who carries its head around as a mere decoration.)
“Hook!!!” (What?! You ground-crawling flat worm!!!)
Fear huffed and puffed, momentarily stopping his body-slams.
Naturally, Eter didn’t even pretend to listen.
At the very least, the Divine Beasts—especially Fear—were keeping the mood up, so the Empire’s morale was not bad.
However, there was nothing they could do about their rapidly depleting stamina.
The shadow of defeat was slowly casting over them.
“Ugh, I can’t do it. I really can’t!”
Selena, who had been healing diligently, collapsed.
Even though she said that, she had lasted the longest.
The other priests had long since collapsed from exhaustion, foaming at the mouth.
Even while lying sprawled out and whining, Selena immediately used healing
whenever a patient came in.
Then, she asked Asil, who had just appeared with more wounded, in a tone of clutching at straws.
“Lady Asil, I only read the summary of the ending so I don’t know well, but do you happen to know a specific way to catch that snake?”
…Ending? Summary?
Asil only blinked, not understanding what she meant.
Mistaking Asil’s reaction for testing her, Selena continued to chatter.
“That… actually, I am someone who knows the original story—well, the future. Ah, but I have no intention of coming between Lady Asil and the Duke of Monlepe, so please don’t misunderstand.”
“You know the future?”
“Pardon? Yes.”
“Then what happens to me in the future?”
Can I become a huge dragon like Dad over there?
Asil’s eyes sparkled with hopeful thoughts.
On the other hand, Selena became incredibly nervous.
Why are you asking when you know everything… In the original, you died seven years ago.
‘Is this that high-level indirect sarcasm?’
Thinking so, Asil’s hopeful eyes looked to her as if they were glaring, as if thinking,
‘What should I do with this one who finally revealed the truth?’
Selena hurriedly changed the subject.
“What do you mean ‘what happens’? You become a wonderful person.”
“So, how wonderful….”
“I—I think I remember hearing that in the original, the snake’s weakness was found and it was defeated! Come to think of it, I think I saw in the holy relic encyclopedia that it takes time before the Source of God is completely absorbed!”
“A wonderful beastman—no, person….”
“It hasn’t been long enough for it to be completely absorbed yet, so how about hitting its belly? You know. That thing where if you get hit in the stomach, you throw up everything you ate—”
A desperate Selena let out a parade of random words while her brain spun rapidly.
And at Selena’s remark, Asil whipped her head around to look at the snake.
It was because something had come to mind.
‘I think I saw the snake flinch its body when its belly was hit earlier.’
To the people fighting up close, it might have looked like the snake was twisting its body to attack, but Asil, who was moving the wounded from a distance without participating in the battle, saw it clearly.
Every time the snake was attacked in a specific area, it twisted its body to avoid it.
And that specific area was the belly.
“If we hit the belly, he might really spit out the Source of God.”
“Pardon? I just said that randomly….”
Asil stared intently at Selena. Really?
A flustered Selena broke out in a cold sweat again.
“Haha, how could it be just random talk! I racked my brains to find the snake’s weakness!”
“I should tell Edenber.”
Asil left the sweating Selena behind and ran to Edenber.
Before long, at Edenber’s summons, the Divine Beasts, the representatives of each house, the black dragon Arcian, and the parrot Brianna gathered in one place.
The knights were holding off the snake.
Asil explained what she had heard from Selena.
“Since it seems the Source of God isn’t fully absorbed yet, he might spit it out if we hit his belly.”
“Hook ho-ou? …Hou.” (Would it really come out that easily? …Ma’am.)
Fear, who was about to sneer, tactfully switched to polite speech.
Sol, who had been thinking for a moment, spoke.
“Grrrr.” (But it is also true that there is no other way.)
“Kyang kyang.” (I think it wouldn’t be bad to give it a try.)
As Eter also nodded silently, the opinions of the Divine Beasts were unified.
From the side, Fear fluttered his wings, saying, “I didn’t say I agreed?!” but nobody paid him any mind.
Edenber spoke to Arcian on behalf of everyone present.
“We need the Dragon’s help.”
The Divine Beasts’ attacks were not of great help, and they could not group the knights together for a melee attack, so Arcian’s power was absolutely necessary for this operation to succeed.
Duke Starafit, who was quietly observing the situation, muttered with an uneasy expression.
“Is he truly a trustworthy being….”
It was understandable not to trust him, as Arcian had suddenly appeared in his true form.
Right then, Leon, who had been unconscious until now, sat bolt upright.
As soon as he opened his eyes, he gaped at the black dragon filling his vision.
“T-the Messenger of God….”
Then he collapsed again and fainted.
While a startled Sol hurriedly looked after Leon, those who realized that the black dragon before them was the Messenger of God who appeared during the Divine Beast Thanksgiving Festival began to murmur.
“I couldn’t see well then because he was so high up….”
“Certainly, it seems it might be him…?”
“Is he really the Messenger of God? He must have descended because a disaster occurred in the Empire….”
The looks aimed at Arcian changed from suspicion to trust.
Duke Starafit, who had raised an objection, also nodded with a relieved face.
“If it is a dragon that appeared in a moment of crisis, it can be trusted.”
“Will you help us?”
Edenber politely asked Arcian.
Although Brianna, who was sitting on his head, grumbled about whether she was invisible, Arcian slowly agreed.
— I shall.
“Thank you. Then, we will assist the
Dragon so he can strike the snake’s center!”
Thus, the meeting reached a dramatic agreement.
At some point, strength was no longer being put into the swords of the humans who were attacking diligently.
Has their energy been completely exhausted? The snake smirked.
No matter how much he thought about it, making the bet with the Source of God was a very good choice.
To think that those called the Empire’s greatest powers were only at this level.
“Houuuuu-ook!”
Then, the firebird cried sharply and tried to snatch him with its claws.
The snake avoided the attack by simply twisting its body.
Then the firebird poured out consecutive attacks that dealt no damage. Occasionally, the fox, tortoise, or white tiger would join in annoyingly.
The snake evaded all those attacks with ease.
He sneered at them, not even realizing that his body was being moved in one direction according to the Imperial side’s intention.
‘It doesn’t even itch.’
Were these truly the beings worshipped as Divine Beasts?
If I had known it would be like this, I wouldn’t have bothered worrying about the Covenant and would have searched for the Source of God from the start.
Then I would have destroyed the beastmen’s forest and the Empire long ago.
“Kyaaaaaang!”
The snake snapped out of its thoughts at the fierce cry of the fox.
While avoiding the attacks of the four Divine Beasts and the humans, he had reached a dead end before he knew it.
If the attacks had been full-powered like in the beginning, there would have been some fun in dealing with them, but since they weren’t even worth countering, he had ended up here.
It’s time to wrap this up.
The bored snake flicked its tongue.
“Shaaaaak.” (Die, all of you, now.)
It was at that moment.
“Hook!!!” (You die!!!)
As Fear spat flames in front of him along with a thunderous cry, his vision momentarily blinked.
Subsequently, the ground shook violently. While he was stumbling, unable to find his balance, the air suddenly disappeared and he was suffocated.
“Shaaa—!” (How dare you use petty tricks—!)
The snake, having broken the Divine Beasts’ abilities with a single tail whip, was enraged.
Just as he was about to pounce on his opponent, he was suddenly buried in a dark blue wave.
After struggling and finally escaping, there was no one around.
What is this? It was the moment he looked straight ahead at the incomprehensible strangeness.
“…!”
In the distance, the black dragon was preparing its breath.
And the moment he recognized it, the dragon exhaled its breath.
“…!!!”
Unlike the Divine Beasts, the dragon’s attack was not something that could be ignored.
Since it was too late to deploy defensive magic, the snake hurriedly tried to dodge.
However, there was an obstruction.
Reflexively looking down, he saw the four Divine Beasts stepping on his tail.
He tried to shake them off and leave the spot in a hurry, but it was already too late.
Bang!
The snake was directly hit by the breath just like that.
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