Chapter 151 – The Mountain of Corpses and the River of Blood

“What happened!?”

Virginia, caught off guard by the sudden loss of footing and the sensation of falling, instinctively sprouted bat wings from her back and flapped them to remain airborne.

The other half-demons also frantically manipulated miasma to float in the air, but unable to keep up with the sudden change in situation, some crashed into the ground—no, some plummeted into a swamp of poisonous colors.

“Wha—!? What is this!? Uwaaaah!? Hiiiiii!?”

Screams erupted from the half-demons who had fallen into the swamp. Virginia’s eyes widened at the sight.

—In the muddy bog… something indescribable was squirming. She could see it pinning down her comrades who tried to take flight, attempting to drag them into the toxic swamp. Were their frantic, completely deranged struggles calling monsters with their screams? Disgusting insects flew in from the darkness, swarming over them in an instant.

What had happened? Forced teleportation? What about those monsters? The labyrinth’s depths? Then what was that girl?

Question marks kept arising, but she knew exactly who was responsible. That golden-eyed girl. Searching for her opponent, Virginia spotted her—disappearing into the darkness alongside the demon slayer boy.

“You think I’ll let you escape…!”

Baring her fangs with a ferocious smile, Virginia tried to pursue Claudia, but it was impossible. A thick axe flew up from below, passing right before her eyes.

“I am your opponent.”

“You…!”

The one who had thrown the axe at her was Grace.

Seeing her appearance, Virginia frowned.

She was staying airborne without wings, using Magic Shields as footholds. The crude axe in her hand seemed mismatched. Golden hair with crimson glowing eyes. The aura of night and scent of blood clinging to her.

“…So you wag your tail for humans and stand before me?”

“I chose to be by that person’s side as myself. Therefore—I have not a shred of hesitation about cutting you down.”

Saying this, Grace raised her axe.

Virginia’s chest swirled with violent emotions at those words. She fully understood this was an incompatible opponent because of her mixed nature. A half-breed woman serving a demon slayer. Therefore, she couldn’t show her back to this woman and face her master with dignity.

“Lady Virginia! What is this!?”

“You lot deal with that rabble over there! Crush them and pursue those brats who escaped earlier! Don’t trouble the Master! I’ll kill this half-breed myself!”

Staring at Grace with fanatically heated eyes, Virginia showed a belligerent smile and bit into her own wrist. Tearing off the flesh, the spilled fresh blood coagulated into the shape of a sword.

Grace kicked off her Shield, Virginia flapped her wings. Their eyes trailed red streaks through the darkness of the Great Corruption Lake as they clashed.

Meanwhile, Ashley and the others had landed on a small island and were preparing defensive positions against both monsters and half-demons. They cast resistance magic against poison and regeneration magic on their comrades.

Fundamentally, Ashley’s group—who had recently completed their equipment preparations and adapted to the Great Corruption Lake’s environment—were different from the half-demons who had been suddenly thrown in without any preparation. Both terrain advantage and mental readiness completely favored Ashley’s side.

While Ashley applied various Enchantments, Marlene appeared to be offering prayers at the center of the small island. The glow of the Moon Goddess’s Blessing enveloped their bodies.

For them, who had known both the destination of the teleportation and what Claudia would do from the beginning, there was no reason for confusion.

Their current location—was quite close to the Sealed Door.

But it was right in the middle of the swamp, with no footholds other than where Ashley’s group had positioned themselves. And Theodore and Claudia hadn’t headed toward the Sealed Door. The plan was to detour once before aiming for the door’s direction. Therefore, even if the enemy split between combat and pursuit, it would be pointless.

“I’m going.”

Sheila and Dullahan stood shoulder to shoulder. The two kicked off the void and flew toward the half-demons.

Trying to block their approach, the half-demons collectively fired Miasma Bullets at Sheila and Dullahan. The two split left and right to disperse the targets. Dullahan ran in a wide arc, building momentum as he went. The flickering green flames in the darkness stood out conspicuously. Imagining the power of his accelerating charge was enough to make one shudder.

As for Sheila, she kicked freely through the air left and right, weaving straight through the barrage.

“Tch!”

The moment she clicked her tongue and raised her miasma-wreathed shotel, Sheila’s figure became hazy and disappeared. At the edge of her vision. The moment her attention was diverted by some shadow flying by her side, an arrow flew in from directly ahead and pierced her shoulder.

The pain was reduced. The half-demon irritably pulled out the arrow and tossed it aside. As miasma clung to the wound, it was repaired in an instant.

“High resistance and regeneration ability against normal wounds. Either dulled pain senses or none at all.”

The voice came from right beside her right ear. She instantly swung her shotel toward it. No impact. Yet the slash attack came from the lower left. Her reaction was completely delayed.

A flash of Fighting Spirit raced through, vertically slicing open the tattooed area. She tried to pursue, but a disc-like object flew straight toward her face, blocking her. She blocked it with her shotel. The disc spun while pushing forward as if grinding away, scattering sparks before being deflected.

“Slash Attacks with Fighting Spirit are effective. Regeneration also slows. Are attacks on tattoos already ineffective against half-demons? Or is the degree of destruction simply insufficient? Either way, their weakness has been reinforced.”

Sheila’s matter-of-fact voice came from the right and left. It made no sense. Feeling something ominous in her observational words while trying to track her visually, the next moment—

She was kicked down by the hooves of Dullahan’s horse charging from behind. Falling into the toxic swamp, the half-demon stared wide-eyed in disbelief.

Until just now—no, even now, wasn’t that loud whinnying and hoofbeats coming from so far away?

But in reality, there was complete silence around Dullahan. The hoof sounds and horse’s whinny. The sound source and actual location were completely misaligned.

Trying to leap out of the toxic swamp, her leg was grabbed by something. Looking down, the comrade who fell first was floating powerless in the mud, motionless. That was her future form.

In semi-frenzy, she showered miasma at whatever was grabbing her. Showered it.

But it remained unfazed. Sludge Men possessed extremely high resistance to status abnormalities. Miasma-induced Erosion was no exception. And in the muddy bog, the effectiveness of bladed weapons was halved. While struggling to break free, she was swarmed by Fly Heads.

“…Though resistant to pain, Fly Head’s paralysis poison seems effective. In that case, the reverse of healing techniques should also work.”

Ashley said quietly. Their job was to prevent Theodore and Grace from being interfered with by their followers, and to send information about the half-demons to the ground team.

Theodore was watching the battle situation through Caduceus’s eyes. They were exchanging information with the ground team using communication devices made for familiars.

“The sound! The sound is wrong! Don’t rely on information from your ears! Kill those magicians on that island!”

“Y-yes, Lord Ios!”

At the command of Ios, the second-in-command after Virginia, Miasma Bullets closed in on Ashley’s group.

But magic from those with Blessings was effective even against miasma. Only Ashley’s created Ice Walls and Marlene’s Saucers precisely blocked those on direct hit trajectories.

Seeing that projectiles wouldn’t settle things, the half-demons charged in. As if waiting for this, Ashley raised a necklace embedded with a large Magic Stone.

A magic tool made from a Dead Shark’s Magic Stone. A Defense Field expanded centered on Ashley. The man who charged headfirst and had his movement blocked was skewered by Lavigne’s ice.

But it wasn’t a fatal wound. The more regeneration progressed, the more the amount of miasma throughout her body decreased. The regeneration ability seemed quite fuel-inefficient. When ice nets shot from Ashley’s group riding on Lavigne’s back, the half-demon was instantly frozen solid. Lavigne charged in, and Ashley swung her Long Mace. At the moment of impact, a large mass of ice had formed around the mace’s tip, multiplying the destructive power of the strike several times over. Scattering ice fragments, she was sent flying into the toxic swamp.

Irmhild nocked an arrow and flew through the air. Using multiple Air Blasts for high-speed flight, she fired arrows in rapid succession, literally one after another.

Miasma Walls were ineffective against these arrows. Arrows imbued with Blessing and Cursed Melody disrupted and penetrated through miasma walls. Therefore, they had to carefully avoid the arrows.

Into the opening created, Marlene’s controlled multiple Saucers and Dullahan charged in. Undaunted by the numbers, the Saucers deflected attacks from all directions, and Dullahan’s Greatsword roared.

She barely avoided the greatsword, but was pushed down by Saucers charging from directly above, and another one sank into the toxic swamp.

As for Sheila… she seemed to have identified the man who gave the command, Ios, as the leader, completely targeting him for attack.

But—Ios also understood Sheila’s aim. She was determining how much destruction of their tattoos was needed to disable them as half-demons.

Ios smiled, then advanced toward Sheila using the miasma-emitting tattoo on his left shoulder as a shield. No need to rush. The others would handle his comrades.

In that case, he just needed to isolate this troublesome beastman and cut her down himself. If she thought the tattoo was a weakness, that was naive. Now that they had become half-demons, that weakness no longer existed.

“Hmm.”

Sensing that Ios intended to trade flesh wounds, Sheila preemptively threw a Dagger. Ios sliced away the dagger flying toward his face, clicked his tongue, then charged at Sheila.

The Pearl Sword wreathed in Fighting Spirit and the shotel wreathed in miasma clashed mid-air, scattering sparks.

They crossed two, three times. While dodging Sheila’s lethal strike—which she hadn’t revealed the trajectory of until the last moment under her cloak—by turning his face away, he grabbed an arrow from Irmhild that flew in from the side.

Ios’s behavior. His reaction speed felt to Sheila like it surpassed that of a human. Was it Ios’s own skill? Or Enhancement from becoming a half-demon?

Even so, the fact she could cross blades with him—was probably thanks to her training with Theodore, Sheila smiled faintly.

A giant pillar of light rose at the north gate. Regardless of details, the situation seemed to be moving.

The cult follower, Radek, while satisfied with his transformed appearance and the overwhelming power filling his body, moved through the night city from alley to alley.

The main force had gathered at the north gate. To lure the demon slayer and delay him. Even if that failed, to rampage while indiscriminately burning the city from the north gate. While drawing the enemy’s attention and combat forces with that, those of them who had blended into the city would destroy important facilities within Termwills or quietly kill nobles’ disciples, technicians, and others. That was the plan.

Radek’s assignment was the Eastern District—Peresford Academy. The dormitory where noble children lived and slept. To kill as many as possible in the shortest time and leave.

That was the intention. —But.

“You came. Just as he predicted.”

“If they’re targeting the Eastern District, this would be first. Academy facility destruction and dormitory lives… I wondered which they’d choose. Given those two options, obviously this one.”

Appearing on the dormitory roof, looking down at him were a man and woman—a red-haired woman clad in the Moon Goddess’s Blessing and a young magician holding a staff.

“But couldn’t something be done about those gauntlets and greaves?”

The magician frowned.

“These were made by an important friend of mine. Appearance aside, their performance is good.”

The red-haired woman—Rosetta—smiled wryly. Rosetta wore Mithril Silver gauntlets and greaves, adorned with a design resembling horned skeletons on the fist parts.

“Now then. Shall we begin? Talcott-kun, covering fire please.”

Rosetta descended before Radek.

Radek hesitated for a moment. Following the strategy of sabotage operations, he should probably fight while retreating… but the sense of omnipotence from the power filling his body, and his pride rejected that.

There also seemed to be no sign of reinforcements arriving for them. To retreat against just two humans. For what purpose had he abandoned being human?

“You… do you think you can handle me, who has reached the noble seat, with just two people?”

“My. I heard it was Virginia who said you couldn’t reach demon status.”

“Even if you defeat a defective product, you couldn’t call yourself a demon slayer.”

Radek was speechless. What exactly did this mean? His thoughts wandered for a moment.

Then—Rosetta charged in with a faint smile. He instinctively chose to intercept with his shotel, but a fireball flew across from an unexpected direction, grazing the tip of his nose.

“Wha—”

“Take this!”

Slipping past the shotel, Rosetta closed into his guard, stomped the ground, and unleashed a gouging strike. Her gauntlets were covered in the gleam of Fighting Spirit.

“Tch!”

Clicking his tongue, he leaped back. Thought he completely avoided it, but had received a shallow laceration on his flank. Because of the gauntlets with sharp protrusions. A direct hit would likely impart both impact from the strike and even slashing properties after punching through.

He barely felt any pain, but that very fact made attacks with Fighting Spirit troublesome. If destroyed by that, his movements would definitely slow.

As he tried to create distance, fireball shots from Magic Slaves blocked his path. It was like a cage formed by magic shooting. He could feel the individual power was intentionally suppressed. Even if hit, it probably wouldn’t be fatal, but a direct hit would blind him with the blast. If that happened, he’d be overwhelmed by the redhead’s wave of striking attacks.

To him, magicians were always the type who tried to force their way through miasma with brute strength. This magician—had a different approach to combat. Judging from his magic control ability, he could probably cause considerable damage if focused solely on that, but he was thoroughly playing a supporting role for the redhead. Couldn’t be more difficult to deal with.

As for the redhead herself, she was quite skilled. Even though his reaction speed should be significantly enhanced from becoming a half-demon, she possessed technical skill that more than compensated for the physical ability gap. He felt the illusion of fighting a phantom. Both fists, elbows, knees. Kicks. All attacks, mixing feints and real ones, flowed like water. Forcing Radek into a purely defensive position.

“Annoying!”

Radek deliberately took a hit to the face. Shouting irritably, he scattered miasma widely as if showering it, and launched it at Rosetta. Since it was a shallow attack, Rosetta twisted her body to avoid it. Not missing that moment, he leaped into the air.

That’s right. He had this. Since he could fly, he could do as he pleased from above. At this point, it wasn’t the time for stealth operations and sabotage.

Thinking this as he scanned his surroundings, Radek froze.

In the distant sky, I could see our companions fighting knights mounted on wyverns. Good. The Termwills have a Wyvern Corps. Just as I expected.

But—how could knights who’d been knocked from their wyverns remain suspended in midair with nothing but their bodies and continue coordinating with the wyverns?

And where is the main force? They should be engaging the Wyvern Corps too, but our allies are far too few. Could it be that those fighting companions, like me, have been deliberately drawn out?

“—We’ve received communication. The poison is effective, apparently. Attacks against the tattoos have developed resistance, so don’t rely on them too much. But their sense of pain is dulled, and they have regenerative abilities.”

“Oh really? We’ll have to be more careful about suicidal attacks like the one we just saw then.”

A chill ran down my spine as I returned my gaze. Rosetta was standing at Radeku’s eye level. This wasn’t Levitation.

“We’ve been fighting demons. I’d like to say we’ve been preparing countermeasures… but well, it’s mostly thanks to her. We should be grateful.”

Rosetta clashed her gauntlets together.

“—Now then. We know poison is effective, but I wonder how well it would work if we blasted through human vital points with Fighting Spirit.”

Radeku’s expression twisted at her cold eyes and dangerous words.

Something very bad was happening. I understood that much, but I couldn’t see what cards our opponent held.

In the air, an axe and blood blades clashed. A Fly Head that tried to enter the range of both weapons was instantly bisected.

Virginia opened her eyes wide and laughed. Blood blades extending from both her wrists engaged in a blade lock with Grace’s axe.

The moment their weapons were repelled, Slash Attacks were immediately unleashed. Their weapons collided like a storm, creating countless shockwaves.

“Kukku! To surpass me in raw strength! Remarkable talent for a half-breed!”

Virginia’s hair writhed unnaturally. Grace, catching it in her peripheral vision, deployed a Shield while leaping backward. A moment later, massive beast jaws crushed the space where Grace had been. Bundles of hair had transformed into the upper bodies of wolves midway.

“Transformation—”

“Something you half-breeds can only dream of!”

Grace furrowed her brows.

This dense smell of blood. Grace shook her head slightly and took a deep breath.

“You seem to have had a hard time in human society. Why not just free yourself?”

Virginia, observing Grace’s reaction, opened one eye and laughed at whatever conclusion she’d drawn.

“I know about half-breeds. If you lean too far to our side, you can’t even distinguish friend from foe anymore. You chose to stay near a Demon Slayer? Ridiculous. You have no place anywhere!”

Virginia fired blood bullets from her wrists and charged. In response, Grace threw her axe to scatter the blood bullets, clearing a path for her Charge.

Virginia completely ignored the incoming axe. She met Grace’s attack head-on, unfazed by the axe that gouged through her shoulder and flew past. By the time they clashed, the regeneration was complete.

In terms of regenerative ability alone, there was a clear gap between Grace the half-breed and Virginia the pure vampire.

Wielding blood swords in both hands vertically and horizontally, she abandoned Defense against attacks anywhere but the head and heart, instead launching counterattacks. The movements and fighting style unique to vampires. Blood blades resembling mantis arms shot from the slashed wounds. Hair. Hands. Feet. All took beastly forms to crush Grace.

Grace shattered the countless masses of killing intent with her axe, blocked with her Shield, swept aside with her chain-wrapped arms, and activated Protection to slide backward and evade.

She slammed her axe down. Into the abdomen. Virginia didn’t dodge. Taking the hit, she used an upward scooping motion to make her blood sword bounce up. It barely grazed past. The shallow wound on Grace’s arm closed immediately, but while there was a difference between light and serious injuries, Virginia laughed as if nothing had happened.

Grace was aware she was being pushed back too. Virginia had said Grace surpassed her in raw strength, but in terms of number of attacks and regenerative ability, Virginia had the advantage.

She laughed. But Grace laughed too. Laughing, she charged in. Clashing her axe against Virginia’s blood swords, she punched away a wolf’s head.

She could fight. She could fight. Blood swords, wolf fangs, blood bullets—they carved countless wounds but couldn’t reach Grace’s life. Couldn’t reach.

Protecting this body were the Magic Tools Theodore had given her. Filling her being was the joy of battle. And the delight of being protected. That’s why. She couldn’t lose. She couldn’t allow herself to be killed. Burning with destructive impulses that scorched her body, thirsting from love that consumed her, she placed herself within Virginia’s blade winds in a mind turning pure white.

The axes in both hands wrapped in Fighting Spirit. Kicking off her Shield, she stepped in. Virginia met her head-on.

Blocking the axe swung down in a High Stance aimed at her head with blood swords, Virginia thrust a blood sword toward Grace’s heart.

Grace twisted her body to dodge. Then, the axe in her left hand, still wrapped in Fighting Spirit, fell downward.

She’d discarded the axe? No. The chain wrapped in Fighting Spirit drew a large arc like a willful snake approaching from behind. A trajectory meant to entangle Virginia. Spotting it in her peripheral vision, Virginia transformed into countless bats and escaped. They gathered in one place, reforming her human shape.

Grace pursued. The Magic Stone embedded in her right-hand axe glowed, and Grace’s right-hand axe split into three. The Spell Formula carved into the Magic Stone was Mirage Body. Everything from the elbow down blurred, making it impossible for Virginia to tell which was real.

By limiting control to just beyond the right arm and adding adjustments, it allowed even Grace to perform delicate control.

Grace’s axe was a One Hit Kill. Add deception to that, and it became a fearsome weapon.

Virginia clicked her tongue at the axes approaching with a whistling sound and leaped far back to evade. They came at her with trajectories that would simultaneously sweep through head, heart, and abdomen.

Even with vastly different regenerative abilities, she couldn’t ignore a one-hit kill to a vital point. Grace had discerned this during their earlier exchange.

The tilted scales were pushed back. Taking Grace’s attacks unprotected was a thing of the past. Without knowing which was the real threat, Virginia had to choose Defense or Dodge against all of Grace’s attacks.

That was the moment. A change came over the Great Corruption Lake. As if the entire Labyrinth was roaring, countless rainbow-colored crystal-like pillars rose from the swamp’s depths.

It was the moment of the Sealed Door’s opening. Centered on the pillars, the murky swamp began to glow, the corrupted water and filthy mud rapidly undergoing Purification.

Grace and the others had heard about this from Claudia. So it wasn’t worth being surprised. But Virginia was different. Distracted for just a moment—that’s why Grace closed in.

Axes closed in from both sides as if to trap her. The left axe aimed at the right arm, the right axe following trajectories to sweep through neck and abdomen. Simultaneous attacks from left and right at high, middle, and low levels.

She only blocked the right-hand axe, swung as if to behead her, with her blood sword. What actually struck were Virginia’s abdomen and right arm. Despite the deeply embedded axes, Virginia was still laughing.

If it wasn’t a vital point, she could take the hit. Her severed right arm and the wings on her back transformed dramatically. Deploying above and behind Grace like a Scythe, completely blocking her retreat, while the wound on her abdomen transformed directly into wolf jaws.

“Bite down!”

The jaws opened wide as if to swallow Grace’s right arm. She’d bite down like this, seal her movements, then use her remaining sword to behead her—!

But Grace had no intention of retreating. Using her Shield to anchor herself in midair, unbelievably, she thrust her own right arm into the wolf’s oral cavity.

“Wh-what!?”

Contrary to Virginia’s astonishment, Grace bared her teeth in a smile. She’d hunted wolves and wild dogs many times as a child. If you shoved your arm deep into their throats like this, they couldn’t bite through. Even if transformed, if the structure was the same, the countermeasure was the same.

Wrapping her entire body with all the Fighting Spirit she could muster, she pushed Virginia in bodily.

Grace’s target was the vampire’s weakness. The heart. Virginia felt a shudder and tried to transform into bats to escape. But that wouldn’t work. Because Grace already had her hand on Virginia’s heart. That very spot was the source of Virginia’s blood power. With its pulsation sealed, she couldn’t move or use her abilities.

But even if crushed and her power temporarily killed, it wouldn’t destroy her. Virginia laughed.

Grace, being a half-breed of the same kind, couldn’t possibly have attack methods imbued with Purification power—.

But—Grace was laughing too. A chill ran down Virginia’s spine. If she knew it was pointless, why was this one laughing?

Virginia’s entire body was lifted with brute force. Seeing where she was about to be slammed down, Virginia’s eyes widened in shock.

It was. The sharp tip of a massive rainbow-colored crystal that had emerged from the Great Corruption Lake. Still continuing to purify the vast lake—.

“A, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!?”

A scream escaped Virginia’s lips. Grace didn’t hesitate. She slammed her down as if to impale her own hand along with Virginia’s body onto the sharp tip. The impact of being pierced through. Something catastrophic spread from Virginia’s heart throughout her entire body, racing through her.

“Unfortunately… no matter how far I lean to your side, Theo and Lady Lisa will pull me back. That’s why I can fight with peace of mind.”

Looking up at Virginia scattering into ash, Grace said quietly.

“Lady Virginia!”

And. Shocked by that sight, Ios’s movements stopped.

That—Sheila wouldn’t miss it in the midst of battle. Sword Flash. Sheila’s Pearl Sword swept through Ios’s left eye. Once the stalemate broke, it was over in an instant. Pierced through the tattoo by a giant arrow solidified by Seraphina using the power of the Cursed Melody, Ios fell into the lake below.

Even for a Half-Demon, it wouldn’t end without consequence.

Panic spread through the Half-Demons who’d lost Virginia and Ios. Then Dullahan charged in, and it became a total rout—.

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