Where to run away
I aimed for CocoNenne.
To do that, I need to condense a lot of mana and release it at once.
‘I don't think Tsar Bomba will be enough.’
Tsar Bomba could hurt me too.
My abdomen is already hurt, making it difficult to even use magic. If I use Tsar Bomba and it affects me too, it seems like it would be difficult to hold on.
With that in mind, I started to hold on for now.
‘..It's fortunate that I have the wand.’
It would have been a bit impossible without the wand.
Clang-! Clang-!
Fortunately, I wasn't being careless like before, so the barrier didn't break through at once.
I also made the barrier a little stronger.
Just like that, I was gathering mana while dealing with the thing made from the corpse of the corps commander.
“So just come quietly… Why do you have to fight?”
CocoNenne said so, removing the traps in front of her using the ogre and approaching me.
While fighting the chimera in front of me, I also kept CocoNenne in check so she couldn't approach.
It was no easy task.
Perhaps because I was gathering mana while doing that, I felt my mana gradually depleting.
While fighting like that, my robe came off.
“...If you surrender now, I'll let you live.”
CocoNenne said so and started to approach me.
It was like a devil's whisper.
If I surrender here, she'll just remodel me and make me into whatever she wants.
That kind of future wasn't the future I wanted.
Therefore, without answering, I started to slowly break down the chimera in front of me.
It was difficult to deal with at first, but as I fought it, I started to see some weaknesses.
‘..It's unstable.’
Perhaps because it was made by patching things up, the structure of its body was very unstable.
It seemed to be linking it with the heart of the corps commander as a medium.
[Lightning]
While fighting, I use lightning to grasp the structure of the chimera once more.
And then, a clearly visible weakness.
“Found you.”
As soon as I said those words-
[Inferno Spear]
I held the [Inferno Spear] in my hand and thrust it straight into the weak point.
Pook.
The chimera's movements began to slow.
“Huff…”
Finding its weakness had been incredibly difficult.
It seemed CocoNenne knew her chimera had a weakness, so she had hidden it meticulously.
An average mage wouldn't even have found it.
“...What?”
CocoNenne stared at her fallen chimera in bewilderment.
First, denial.
“This… This can't be happening..”
Then, rage.
“You crazy bastard…!”
With a roar, CocoNenne started pulling out anything valuable from the chimera's corpse, absorbing it to create a new one and resuming her attack.
Bang-! Bang-!
But it was no use.
Her previous attack only worked because I had let my guard down. If I was paying attention, it wouldn't have connected.
CocoNenne, still relentlessly attacking, finally…
“...How about we just forget this ever happened?”
She attempted to negotiate.
Rambling on, CocoNenne halted her advance towards me and slowly began to back away.
Seeing that, I knew.
‘She must have brought out everything she had.’
There was no way she could bring all the corpses in her possession.
It seemed she brought only his elite… and they were all slaughtered by me.
CocoNenne wore a gloomy expression as she spoke.
“To think it would end so pathetically…”
She then started to backpedal away at a faster pace.
It almost looked like she was moonwalking.
But I couldn't let her escape.
CocoNenne had a lot to answer for.
Woooong-
I poured all the mana I had gathered into a single strike.
A simple, yet devastating cleaving attack.
The spell unfolded, magic surged.
[ Cleave ]
Slice-!
Moments later.
“Hieeeek…”
CocoNenne came into view, having barely blocked the cleave using all the remaining corpses she had.
But she couldn't completely deflect it. Blood was flowing from a gash on her abdomen.
A similar state to mine.
“...I told you to just leave.”
I said, slowly approaching CocoNenne.
It was clear that she wouldn't get far with such a deep wound.
It seemed like she would die if she didn't get treated here.
It was a fatal wound.
And at that moment.
Thud!
I collapsed on the floor, hit by a rock that flew in from somewhere.
And when I closed my eyes and opened them again, CocoNenne, who had been in front of me, was gone.
Instead, what stood before me was-
"You're well seasoned."
It was the Dark magician.
And she had a lot of sacrifices with her.
I was currently out of mana.
So, it was difficult to resist.
"By the way..."
The Dark magician approached me with a strange smile.
'...My mana isn't regenerating?'
I tried to regenerate my mana, but it wouldn't regenerate at all.
It seemed like there was some kind of magic on the rock that had flown in earlier.
The Dark magician approached me and slowly began to caress me.
"So, where did the thing that was here go?"
"..."
I didn't say anything.
If I were to take out the Legion Commander's body here, my life would be over in an instant.
And then.
The Dark magician continued to stroke and caress me.
"...Let go of this."
It seemed like she was trying to cast a spell.
It was probably a confession-type spell.
I used all the mana in my body to resist and cast a spell.
[Fireball]
Whoosh!
A fireball flew from the Dark magician's blind spot.
But-
"Oh, who would get hit by something like this?"
The Dark magician easily dodged the fireball and started treating me like a baby.
And then.
Thud!
With a dull thud, the Dark magician in front of me was slammed against the wall.
Wondering what had happened, I looked around-
"What are you doing to a minor, you crazy bitch?"
Cthulhu, showing off the muscles in his entire body, had blown the Dark magician away with a single blow.
By the way, Cthulhu seemed to have misunderstood me.
'...I'm not a minor.'
It seemed like I would have to clear up the misunderstanding later.
"Ugh... Crazy little pebble bastard."
The Dark magician, with no intention of hiding the fact that she was enjoying the situation, started cracking her neck as she spoke.
Crack!
Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that she was twisting her spine, which had been grotesquely contorted by Cthulhu's punch, back to its original position.
However, Cthulhu wasn't the type to just let this go.
Whoosh-!
In an instant, the martial artist leaped forward, landing a direct hit on the dark magician's abdomen.
Originally, it was difficult for magicians to defeat martial artists in close combat.
Especially a martial artist as strong as Cthulhu.
The dark magician tried to counter Cthulhu's attack by using the sacrifices he had prepared—
Thud-! Crack-!
But Cthulhu was relentlessly pummeling the dark magician to the beat of a jaunty tune.
“You crazy pedo bastard!”
Wham-! Crack-!
Cthulhu continued to strike the dark magician, but the dark magician was using some kind of magic to continuously regenerate.
He even kept talking.
“It's not pedophilia, I like them because they look like young boys, you muscle-brained idiot.”
“That's like adding bacon to a vegan burger, you crazy bastard.”
Wham-!
Crack-!
Wham-!
The scene of horrific violence unfolded before my eyes.
Cthulhu didn't seem to get tired of hitting others, as he continued to break the bones of the dark magician.
Gradually, the dark magician's regenerative abilities began to wane.
She must have used up almost all of her sacrifices.
In that case, my job is simple.
To find CocoNenne.
I don't know where she ran off to...
But it couldn't be far from here.
It seemed important to find her quickly.
‘…When I find her.’
Deciding to think about what to do after finding her, I quickly left the cave.
*
Cough-!
Unaccustomed to the sight of her own blood, the blood that flowed from her body was unfamiliar.
And so much of it.
Fortunately, the dark magician had arrived and saved her life, but…
“..Where am I?”
She had nothing.
No corpses.
Even her mana was depleted.
Her abdomen was deeply cut, and blood was dripping down.
At this rate, she wouldn't last long and would die from blood loss.
But… she wanted to live.
Even though she worked as a necromancer, it didn't mean that her own life wasn't precious.
So she gathered nearby branches and fashioned a staff, using it as support as she began to walk endlessly forward.
But at that moment.
Growl-!
A horde of goblins appeared from all directions.
Their grins as they saw a good meal were highly displeasing.
“...What are you looking at?”
With those words, I squeezed out the remaining mana and instantly killed a goblin.
I may be a necromancer, but I could still use simple magic like this.
With that thought, I immediately summoned the goblin I had just killed and began to take care of the other goblins.
But at that moment.
Slash-!
“Argh…!!!”
A blade was lodged in my arm.
Thud-!
The goblin that had attacked me quickly died to the reanimated goblin and became my servant...
But at this rate, it seemed like I wouldn't be able to use my arm.
“...This sucks.”
I was reminded of the time when I first came to this world and struggled to survive.
Every single day was truly difficult back then.
Blood flowed from my abdomen.
My arm was numb.
Fortunately, I had managed to take care of the immediate threats, but the sounds of monsters could be heard all around.
Anyone could see that this was the end for me.
“Damn it…”
To think this would be how it all ends.
I should have listened to those old geezers a little more.
Should have known better than to act so recklessly.
I thought I had done a lot of good deeds, though.
As I was about to close my eyes.
“There you are.”
A familiar face came into view.
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