成人本色

“Stop attacking! Everyone back away!”

“It’s no use!”

Puk!

Anaxia’s chains pierced themselves. It was self-harm. However, what followed was a twist of cause and effect.

“Ghuk?!”

“Hok!”

“Cough, cluck!”

The five people who were relatively close to Anaxia, Thesilid, Ash, Ephael, Frintz, and Raywin, vomited blood.

Due to the skill Anaxia had just cast, her wounds were reflected to my friends. The battle lines of our allies collapsed due to serious injuries.

If we don’t resolve it quickly, we won’t last.

“I won’t give you any time to heal!”

Anaxia pounced on the stumbling Thesilid to take his breath away.

At that moment.

Kwuaaaang!

I pulled out my sword and trusted it with all my might, knocking Anaxia off her feet. Our gazes met as we flew through the air together.

Anaxia was smiling with a maniacal face.

“Ahahaha! You made the most foolish choice! You should have ditched the silver hair and started pouring heals for the other guys! Even at this moment, the blood of your allies is spreading all over the floor of my throne room!”

My evaluation of her stinging and unrequired lecture was short.

“Yeah, no.”

“……What?”

Kwanggg!

Anaxia’s back slammed the huge pillar supporting the ceiling.

At that moment, I fell far away from the impact and immediately grabbed Serpens while kicking the ground with both legs.

“Do you think I’ll let you!?”

Anaxia summoned dozens of chains from her mirrors to bind me, just as she had previously bound Thesilid. But not a single chain obeyed her command.

“What?!”

This brief moment decided Anaxia’s fate.

Pababababa!

My sword slashed diagonally and an explosion occurred as Demon Energy and Aura clashed.

Bang! Kwang! Kang! Bwang!

Some of the powerful destructive power was converted into momentum and Anaxia’s back broke through three pillars in a row before plunging into a wall.

This time I didn’t back down and pressed her to the end.

“I told you, Anaxia, I’m going to break your back.”

“You! Kuk……!”

This time, being slammed into the wall must have been dangerous, and all of Anaxia’s remaining demonic energy surrounded her body as if cushioning the impact.

Another roar tore the air.

Quagwang! Bang! Bang bang!

Anaxia’s body ping-ponged between the pillars and the wall as if made of rubber. And so did I, who was tangled up in a bundle with her.

The magic energy surrounding Anaxia gradually thinned as she cried out in a cracking voice filled with pain.

“Vanquisher!”

I can’t stand being called that name.

“Vanquish of Evil.”

“……!”

I unleashed my ultimate skill, along with the secondary skills I’d been diligently building up during our repeated collisions.

That’s enough for a good finish.

“Aaaahhh!”

Kwaaaaang!

Anaxia’s body slammed deeply into the ceiling with the most spectacular of screams, an agonized wail that reflected her existence being torn away echoed through the air. And then.

Kugoogung!

She plummeted back to the ground. A cloud of dust rose high throughout the throne room.

When the cloudiness in my vision subsided, I stood up in the middle of a massive crater.

I looked down and saw Anaxia, mangled and unable to even wriggle free from the floor.

This was because the advanced binding skill, ‘Crown of Thorns,’ I had cast was binding her limbs.

“Ho-how……”

This was a question that she could not help but be engulfed in, even while dying.

Anaxia managed to raise her shaky head to take a look around.

She couldn’t help but be shocked as she saw my allies unharmed and her mirror and chains shattered and broken.

“How……this happened? Why are my chains……not obeying me…?”

“Because my allies were holding them back.”

“I, I, inflicted fatal wounds. You, they,…there wouldn’t have been time to heal… … ?”

“Oh, that.”

I said, delighted that it was finally time for introductions.

“Actually, there were two healers.”

“What do you mean……?!”

“Ellet, was it not you who healed us?”

The ones who questioned it were Ash and Ephael. For some reason, our team seemed more surprised than Anaxia.

I glanced in the direction where the throne was.

“You can come out now, Hilde.”

Hilde, who had been hiding behind the curtain until now while following my orders, carefully walked out.

“Oh, hello.”

Hilde greeted the three people, excluding Frintz and Raywin, whom she had known earlier, and Hestio, whom she had met during battle.

Ash, Ephael, and Thesilid greeted each other a little dazedly.

At that moment, my necklace rang.

<That threat immunity thing is a complete scam. The Boss doesn’t recognize the healer’s existence at all, right? She is a tremendous talent.>

I completely agreed with what Agnes said and spoke kindly to Hilde.

“As expected, you must seek asylum.”

“……What?”

“Ah, well done, Hilde.”

I was smiling happily, but I felt a stinging gaze on my cheek.

When I turned around, I saw Odellit glaring at me with a crumpled face. But when we made eye contact, she averted her gaze.

<Right, she was there too……>

Agnes’ voice was so low that it seemed as if it would dig into the ground.

[‘The Eyes that Watch Over the Chaos of All Things’ keeps a close eye on Odellit Marcellion.]

[‘The Eyes that Watch Over the Chaos of All Things’ is eagerly waiting for you to do something quickly.]

[‘The Spoiler Inspector’ calms the madness of the ‘The Eyes that Watch Over the Chaos of All Things’.]

Then, at some point.

“Eli!”

Thesilid grabbed me by the arm in a hurry and pulled me back. Anaxia’s condition at my feet was unusual.

Paaaat!

The demon’s body, wrapped in a strange light, changed shape. The newly molded body belonged to a girl who must have been seven years old.

“W-what is it?”

I stared down at Anaxia, expressionless, while my companions looked on in bewilderment.

I thought she was trying to shrink herself down so she could escape the bindings of the thorns, but then.

“M-M-Me…are you going to kill?”

“……”

“Y-You w-won’t, right? You are a knight. You can’t do that to a child, right? Hm?”

“……”

She did something more cunning and sneaky than expected.

My colleagues behind me burst into laughter. Hestio and Raywin spoke while chewing their lips in anger.

“Ha, crazy demon. Do you think something like that would work?”

“A ridiculous ploy. We know for sure that she’s a demon.”

But Anaxia only looked at me, paying no heed to the sneers of my colleagues.

“Please……”

The crown of thorns tightened again to fit Anaxia’s new body frame and the devil made a painful expression of anguished sobbing.

With the face of a child.

“Aya! It hurts……It hurts so much……hic, hic… ! Don’t do this to me……”

“……”

“Hic, hic, don’t look at me like that. I’m scared. Hic, Hick. I’m so scared, sister……hm?”

I quietly watched her heart-wrenching performance.

“Are you wavering? You can’t kill me, can you? Dumb bitch.”

“……!”

Anaxia’s expression changed in an instant, causing some of my colleagues to hold their breath to stifle their angry outbursts.

A mockingly abominable performance of Anaxia ensued.

“Sniff, sniff, stupid humans. Sniff, sniff, I’ve turned into a little child and you don’t even know what to do with yourself. Hehehehe. Vanquisher of Evil, you are a truly pathetic Commander. What kind of chivalry is it that you can’t even make a decision in a situation like this…”

Right then.

<Ellet.>

Agnes’ soft call entered my ear and at the same time, there was someone who cut off the cunning devil’s prattle.

Puk!

A huge blade pierced Anaxia straight through.

“Ku-cof!”

A gasping sound came out of the mouth of a demon wearing the skin of a child.

[‘The Eyes that Watch Over the Chaos of All Things’ blink at the last-hit steal.]

[‘The World-building God’ tries to swear but then quits and laughs.]

[‘The Critic who adjusts the balance’ folds his arms and clicks his tongue.]

[‘The Scales that Judges the Soul’ smiles coldly.]

The devastated looks of my colleagues gathered together, and at the end of their gazes was the master of the greatsword that had cut off Anaxia’s breath.

“Princess Marcelion!”

“S-Sister Odellit! You can’t!”

Frintz and Hilde’s panicked voices echoed through the throne room, but the one who had done the deed had no such qualms. She was actually quite proud.

“Saint.”

A stern call, almost like a rebuke.

Odellit’s gaze flew and locked on me. She lifted her chin and seemed to look down at me.

“There is nothing wrong with what the boss said. Are you hesitating because you are deceived by the mere facade of a child? You are disqualified as a Commander.”

“……”

Odellit seemed intent on bullshitting me, all the way to the end.

Yes, to the end.

An end very befitting of her.

In her silence, Odelitt suppressed a smile that threatened to spill over her face.

As expected, The High Saint seemed to have nothing to say to her sharp criticism.

Seeing the Saint lowering her gaze with pursed lips, Odelitt thought she was quite pathetic

To think she could not finish the fight just because a demon had changed into the form of a child.

In any case, people on the religious side were extremely hypocritical.

What would she have done if she hadn’t been able to make a cool-headed judgment?

Clearly, the failure to kill Anaxia must have caused a major backlash. Therefore, it was necessary for Odellit herself to deal the final blow to the dying boss.

Odellit deserves to be recognized for her contribution and take her fair share of the spoils.

‘Yes, the dungeon is mine!’

When Odellit’s eyes sparkled with secret joy.

“You got caught.”