Chapter 24: Linkage

　 

TL: Scaramochi


***


""MIRIALIA!!!!!!!"" 


"AHAHA!!! I'm dead, I'm dead, mama!" 


Mirialia had been killed. 


Athena and Frey were shaken by this incomprehensible fact. 


Was she really dead? 


The robe that Mirialia was wearing was burned off, and her white skin was charred black. Even if she miraculously survived, she would surely die after some time. 


No, it wasn't just Mirialia. 


Now that she had been defeated, the next target would be ourselves. 


To be honest, when Mirialia inflicted a serious wound on the demon god's body, I thought, "What if? I didn't know that she was this strong, but if she was this powerful, I expected her to win."


However, I was wrong. 


Even Mirialia, who had unleashed her full power of advanced magic, was no match for the demon god. 


If that was the case, was there any way for us, who were weaker than Mirialia, to defeat the demon god - or even survive from him? 


The answer is no. 


Athena and Frey's abilities were no match for the demon god. 


-- They would be killed. 


Witnessing the defeat of her fellow Mirialia, Athena realized death for the first time. 


And once a human being was terrified, he or she would lose the will to fight back. 


But that didn't even make her think of running away. 


Even if she wanted to run away, her legs would tremble and she wouldn't move. 


Her body was controlled by fear. 


But she is different. 


"......f*ck you!!!!" 


Frey's brain and body were boiling hot. 


Certainly there was fear. Her wild instincts warned her to flee this place immediately. It asked us to hang our heads and flatter the strong in order to survive. 


But Frey's emotions were burning enough to overcome these instincts. 


She wasn't of a docile nature to remain silent when her friends were beaten. 


"Ooooooooooooo!!!!" 


With a beastly yell, Frey rushed forward in a straight line toward the demon god. 


The cry is a sign of anger, but it's also an inspiration to crush the fear. 


Frey caged her fists with rage and magic and unleashed a fist that blazed toward his face. 


"Heat knuckle!" 


"BUGH!" 


It hit. 


Frey's blow shot through the demon god's left cheek, distorting his face. There's a response. However, it's not as if she had inflicted any damage. 


The demon god, who had been recoiling from the impact, bounced his face like a surprise box. 


"Nbaa!" 


"Ah! Don't get carried away!" 


A rush of blows. 


With all her might, she unleashed a series of blows, but the demon god took it from her with no guard. 


Each strike made a dent in the demon god's body, but it quickly returned to normal. 


Aiming for the moment when he was out of breath, the demon god swung an upholstered hand at Frey's face. 


"Take that!" 


"Agh!" 


Frey, who had been blown away by the tension hand, roughly wiped the blood dripping from her nose with her thumb and started to run again. 


She attacked, got hit, attacked again, got hit again. 


Again and again, Frey confronted the demon god without giving up. 


"Haha...... haha......." 


"Haha, sturdy! That's great, Mom! This thing won't break even if I hit it! Amazing, awesome awesome awesome, I'm tired of it." 


"Goh!" 


The laughing demon god suddenly kicked Frey in the abdomen with a boring sounding voice. 


Frey, who had been forced to vomit up stomach juices and blood, rolled to the ground at Athena's feet. 


"Frey!" 


Athena so overcome that she reached out to help Frey up, but Frey swatted her hand away. 


"What's the matter, chicken coward, you're still standing there like a fool? If you're not going to do anything, get the hell out of here. You're a bother." 


"Frey, I'm...... me too......." 


-- I want to fight. 


That one word wasn't followed by another. 


I'm afraid. 


The horrifying magic overflowing from the demon god, the incomprehensible expressions, words and actions, and the powerful force.


The fear of being killed, the fear of having one of my friends killed. 


The chains of fear were wrapped around my body and wouldn't come off. 


Athena, pale and speechless, spat out a mouthful of blood. 


"Don't think you're the only one who's afraid. Even the damn elf fought hard to protect us. I'll fight him to the death because I don't want to lose to him. Then what are you fighting for?" 


"For what......?" 


Frey stood up and tried to move forward on unsteady legs. 


She looked at the demon god and said words that were out of character for her. 


"The Athena I knew wasn't some stuck-up, boring, bull-headed b*tch." 


Saying this, Frey ran toward the demon god again. 


"Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" 


"That thing? That's funny, I kicked it earlier with the intention of breaking it, but it didn't break?" 


"Sorry, we don't have a tough body!" 


(What's this...... fight for?)


Athena ruminated over her words as she watched Frey's back as she confronted the demon god. 


(What do I fight for?)


(What have I been fighting for?)


The answer came surprisingly quickly. 


"I will become the best adventurer in the world!" 


That's right. That's right. 


The reason I was fighting, the reason I was trying to become stronger, was to fulfill my dream of becoming the world's greatest adventurer. 


There might be other reasons, too. 


But Athena's dream of becoming the world's best adventurer now at the core of her being. 


If that's the case. 


There was no reason why she couldn't stand up here. There's no reason why she couldn't fight. 


Because in order to become the world's best adventurer, she couldn't die. 


(I will become the best adventurer in the world!)


The moment she uttered those words, the chains that bound her in fear were shattered. 


There was nothing to bind Athena anymore. 


All that remained was to flap her wings. 


"Look, look, look! Why aren't they attacking? It's so boring with just me!" 


(Damn...... that's just plain crazy.)


Frey, who was guarding against the demon god's blows, was poisoned in her heart. 


The fact that she's still able to withstand the demon god's attacks was solely due to her superior physical abilities. 


Frey's specs were particularly high among the dragon people, whose physical capabilities were higher than those of humans and other races. In addition, she had also invoked magic to strengthen her body, so her physical abilities alone were second to those of a gold-rank adventurer. 


In addition, the demon god didn't use magic. 


If he were to use fire magic, which broke through the advanced magic of Mirialia, even Frey wouldn't be able to hold back. 


I didn't know if he was holding back or playing with us, but the only thing that saved her was that he didn't use any magic at all. 


But even so, there were limits. 


Just as a solid wall would collapse if you keep hammering it with a stake, it would break someday if it kept receiving blows from a demon god. 


Frey's body was already on the verge of collapse. 


At last, her arms couldn't even raise up to guard her, and a fist swung down on her face. 


"This is the end!" 


"Damn you,......!" 


-- Before that, a gust of wind blew. 


"What?" 


A single flash of light shimmered, and the fist that was about to tote Frey was slashed away. 


It was Athena's sword that saved Frey's life. 


"My hand! Mamaaaa, my hand is gone!" 


The demon god wobbled around, screaming as he lost the ends of his hands from the wrists. 


Meanwhile, Athena lent her shoulder to Frey, who was about to fall over, and handed her a potion. 


"Hey, chicken, you finally woke up!" 


"I'm sorry, and thank you. Thanks to Frey, I was able to get back on my feet." 


"Oh, really? But what are you going to do? You can't beat him anyway." 


"I don't think I can't win. I don't think I can't beat him, but I can't handle him by myself either. So, Frey, after you get some rest, lend me a hand." 


"Ha...... our leader is a bit of a jerk." 


Putting Frey down on the spot, Athena kicked the ground as hard as she could toward the still ranting demon god. 


"Let's go." 


"You're the one who cut my hand, my hand, my hand!!!!!!!" 


"Haaaaaaaaaaah!!!!" 


The demon god's horseshit, swift attack was countered with a paper-thin dodge. 


The demon god's blow was a must-kill. If Athena, whose durability was lower than Frey's, were to take even a single blow seriously, her death would be confirmed at that point. 


Therefore, she must not receive even a single blow. 


She must be able to see through and avoid all attacks. 


However, such a thing wasn't possible for an ordinary person. 


It was impossible not to be intimidated by the fear of each fist that flew at her, which was reminiscent of death. 


But Athena was no ordinary person. 


"I can't hit you, I can't hit you, mama?!" 


(I can't shake off fear like Frey. Then you'll just have to tame the fear that nestles in you!)


I'm afraid. I'm afraid of dying. I wanted to run away right now. 


Athena never denied these feelings, and yet she overcame herself and confronted the demonic god. 


"Wow...... she can do it, can't she?" 


Frey let out a breath of admiration as she watched Athena fight. 


She dodged the demon god's attacks as if she were dancing, and swung her sword as if she were dancing. 


It was just like the figure of the "Golden Flower" that Frey had seen only once before. 


This was it, this was it!


The rival I recognized was someone great after all. 


Frey, who saw Athena fighting and whose vitality returned to her body, forcefully stood up, putting strength into her stick legs. 


Then she shook her fist to fight with her. 


"What the hell are you ding-dongs doing!　If you're so dull, I'm going to take it away from you again!" 


"Huh, I thought you'd be here a little sooner. Are you tired?" 


"Aang! I'll take it from you." 


"No fair, these guys are cheating, Mom!　That's two of them! I'm not going to let you get away with this!" 


The demon god swung a fist at Frey, but Athena blocked it by slashing his side. 


The demon god tried to kick Athena, but Frey blocked him by kicking him in the knee and breaking his posture. 


Sometimes they staggered their attacks to catch their breath, and sometimes, seeing an opportunity, they worked together. 


Oddly enough, this was something they had never been able to accomplish before. 


However, Athena and Frey were not conscious of this. They were just playing the best move they could make, and they were doing it to the death. 


They didn't understand. 


What they were doing now was what Dale had described as a "breathtaking attack." 


""Haaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!" 


"Odd, you're hurting me, mama! These guys are going to tease you, ohhhh!" 


''Yikes!!!!"


Athena and Frey felt a response. 


They had a faint hope that they could push through now. 


"That's enough, you guys can die." 


""--?""" 


The atmosphere of the demon god changed drastically, and at the same time, the magical power within swelled up. 


With a cluck of her tongue, Frey suddenly kicked Athena away. 


A moment later, a scorching heat wave surged over a wide area. 


"Fire Magic Firestorm!" 


"Gaaaahhhh!!!!" 


Athena, who was kicked away, was spared from the range, but Frey's body was scorched by the heat wave at close range. 


Frey, blowing smoke from her mouth and white eyes, fell to the ground from the back. 


As she approached Athena, who was speechless after even Frey was hit, the demon god swore while snapping his neck. 


"Damn it~~, you're getting on my nerves~~~ I was just having fun playing with you~~~ you're not at all nice to me~~, aren't you, mama~?" 


"Haaaaah!" 


"That's enough!" 


"Ugh? 


The demon god easily avoided Athena's slash, and after putting one in her stomach, he tightened her neck and lifted her body up. 


"Ugh............" 


Athena suffered from being strangled and unable to breathe. She tried to claw her way out of the demon god's hands, but she gradually lost her strength and fell into a daze. 


As her consciousness faded away, the faces of her friends suddenly came to mind. 


(Mirialia, Frey, Dale...... sorry for being an unworthy leader. Please forgive me......)


"Ahaha! Suffer, suffer! Die, die, die!!!!" 


The demon god, madness on his face, tried to put some strength into the hand gripping Athena's neck. 


But before he could do so, his arm was cut in half, cutting both of them off. 


"--Hey? Huh? It's gone? My arm is gone, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh." 


Athena's nearly lost consciousness returned, and her eyelids silently opened. 


There was the face of a companion who wasn't supposed to be here. 


"Dale......?" 


"You did your best, Athena. Leave the rest to me." 


It was Dale who saved Athena's life. 


Dale slashed the demon god's arm away before Athena's neck could be snapped, and held Athena in his arms. 


"E-Everyone is......." 


"It's okay. Mirialia and Frey are just barely alive. Well, they're in trouble if they don't get medical attention soon. I'm going to kill him right now, so let's all go home." 


"But ......" 


I was glad you rushed to help. 


I meant it. 


But I had one question. 


-- Can Dale defeat a demon god? 


She was going to ask that, but Athena stopped herself from saying it. 


Because Dale's face had the look of the most dependable man she had ever seen.



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