Chapter 363: Vs Devil ①

We managed to return the bear, Tomoe, and Ema back to Asora.

Alte Barrette is in front of me.

She is the Apostle of the Goddess and apparently a user of the lightning element.

‘The lightning element itself is the ultimate element that stands above all elements, and it is the peak element’, is the dubious stuff she was saying, but there’s no doubt it is getting quite the favorable treatment in this world

It was the first time Tomoe and Ema experienced this, and they were one-sidedly getting hit.

I am grateful to Tomoe for getting a lot of information out from her.

Also, am I the only one who thinks about a cooking contest when hearing stuff like ultimate and peak?

“…”

Alte is looking my way, but isn’t looking at me.

She is in some kind of trance.

She has been a bit weird since the moment she got her arm taken away with the first attack.

I wanted to finish this by shooting her head, but it got caught in something for some strange reason and it ended up hitting the tiara instead.

It isn’t a good memory, but I remember the time when I was called the Apostle of the Goddess.

But now, there’s the real Apostle of the Goddess here, so we’ve pretty far now.

Finally.

I have finally reached the point where I can face her vanguard.

About her arm…the blood has stopped.

Emergency treatment to stop the blood?

Her elbow is sparking with electricity. What a way to treat her wound. I have never heard of it before, and I don’t know the logic behind it.

But it works, cause it is lightning.

What a cheat ability.

It is plenty possible with that Damn Bug.

“I didn’t lower my guard…” (Alte)

“?”

“I am standing here with the best of preparations and the best of equipment.” (Alte)

“…”

“Only the situation is not the best. But that’s simply a trivial prank of the moment.” (Alte)

“…”

She is mumbling.

But she is missing the mark.

“I could have dealt with the Superior Dragon incarnation and the pig. I would also finish Tsige while at it, and then find Alpine and hunt them down… The steps were already there…” (Alte)

The situation that Alte speaks out; a prank of the moment.

That’s always present in the battlefield, and it divides the winners and the lives in it.

Calling it a trivial thing is incorrect in itself.

Does she not have that much actual combat experience?

Or maybe she has been so blessed in the enemies she has fought that she hasn’t had a difficult battle before.

Even so, calling Ema a pig…

It is rare to find such an intelligent and scary girl like her as an ally, you know?

Don’t underestimate this generation’s boss of the female highland orcs.

“You…” (Alte)

“?”

Ooh, our eyes finally made contact.

She resembles her…

She has the same prideful attitude as that Goddess.

“You are Raidou, huh.” (Alte)

“Yeah, that’s right, Alte Barrette.” (Makoto)

“I see, I see… So that’s how it is. The company representative that had a boost in their name under the protection of Rembrandt, and is only blessed by good personnel.” (Alte)

“…”

“But the reality is that he doesn’t have the ability fitting his growth, and he is full of openings as a merchant; a weak point of Tsige.” (Alte)

“…Hey, isn’t that evaluation a bit too cruel?” (Makoto)

It is not wrong, but I ended up objecting.

“His real identity is that of a proficient mage and adventurer? You really got me there.” (Alte)

“Hm?” (Makoto)

“Dressing yourself as if you were a delicious target. After fooling the spies and getting Aion on your nose, you planned on trampling them down with that power of yours, right?” (Alte)

“…There seems to be a slight misunderstanding there, but it is true that I was asked to be your opponent.” (Makoto)

Kill.

The cold thoughts were telling me to kill the woman in front of me.

All this time.

She might be more dangerous of an existence than I think she is.

Finish her for certain.

My internal alarm was telling me with ever increasing potency that this was the one and only best choice.

I was already going to do that even without all the alarms though.

“I have already turned to foam the many plans you have. That’s why I won’t ask much.” (Alte)

“That’s some special head you got there.” (Makoto)

I tried shooting one Bridd on her chest at the fastest activation speed.

Sadly to say, it was the expected result.

Before it touched her body, the Bridd was stopped by the lightning that was coursing around her, and it disappeared without much fuss.

“…Bridd. An old but strong spell. It seems like you are trying to hide it, but I can certainly feel it -your outstanding magic power. It is pointless though.” (Alte)

“Gotta give it to you, that was good reaction speed. Or is that an auto guard? It doesn’t seem like it blocks everything though.” (Makoto)

I respond while looking at her arm and broken tiara that are on the ground.

“Raidou, are you the Devil that descended in Limia before? That impertinent being that was being called an Apostle of the Goddess was you?” (Alte)

“Yeah. The result of being forcefully kidnapped by that Damn Bug of a Goddess was that I got struck preemptively by a Dragon Slayer, and on top of that, got a nickname that I didn’t even want.” (Makoto)

Devil, or Apostle of the Goddess, or her Agent!

“Bloom.” (Alte)

It is that, huh!

Without even waiting for Alte to finish her words, a red lightning flower covered the sky at blinding speed.

The lightning was shot at me.

“!!” (Makoto)

I thought that maybe I could unexpectedly follow it with my eyes, but that wasn’t the case.

The next instant I thought it shone, the attack was already over.

By the time I noticed, a piercing pain in my body remained.

Not only my magic barrier, even my Magic Armor was of no use.

The feeling of my magic being one-sidedly erased the moment it touches that lightning.

This certainly is unfair.

But I got it. In terms of speed, the moment it shines, it is already dangerous.

She was crying about preparations and all that, so the lightning that seems as if it is entangled to that cloud above must have some sort of meaning.

I should investigate that too.

Even so, it doesn’t look like she will be letting me move.

It pierces my barrier and magic armor with unfair ease.

It is true that the lightning element is cheating.

Not lightning, but the lightning element.

It possesses extraordinary power.

“[Lightning Clad].” (Alte)

“Oh, you can even do that?” (Makoto)

Lightning covered the body of Alte.

Her whole body began to shine.

The arm that I pinned to the ground also floated its way back to its original position with scythe and all.

It didn’t really stick, and there was a small thunderball in between the elbow and the arm.

It does look like it can move normally though.

It is better to think that’s the case.

I guess it is a bit too optimistic to think that the only other thing it does is cover her in lightni—wa?!

Alte closes the distance between us with unexpected speed.

She stretches out her left arm.

My movements are being hindered by the continuous lightning strikes, so evading was difficult, and she got all the way to grabbing my neck.

A shock ran through my body the next instant.

“!!”

A zapping sensation that was far worse than that of those tools for punishment games.

Constant pain.

“Thanks for being of help to the Goddess, Raidou.” (Alte)

“D-Don’t m-mind it! She s-seems like the t-type that d-doesn’t have f-friends a-after a-all!” (Makoto)

It is pretty difficult to talk lightly.

I feel like I can finish her immediately, but…at the same time, I also feel like she would escape.

I have set a bit of an insurance, yet I still feel this way. This is a strange sensation.

“That was humiliating. It was the biggest of embarrassments for us. But being able to meet you here must be heaven’s blessing. Don’t think you will be having an easy death. I will thank you a whole lot, and then drag that dragon and Alpine as well! And I will also turn the whole Tsige into cinders…no, the only thing left will be pebbles!!” (Alte)

“Pe…bbles?” (Makoto)

A strange word was mixed in it.

I want to see as many of her cards as possible before finishing her. There’s one other Apostle, and she is someone connected to the Goddess after all.

I want to have a grasp of her full strength to a degree where she doesn’t escape, but this is smelling a bit dangerous.

“Etch the power of an Apostle in that body of yours. Sky Covering Lightning…” (Alte)

“Guuh, damn…it!” (Makoto)

Aah, geez, it is so hard to move!

“That’s pointless. You’ve already been checkmated. If you know a bit about the words of Lorel, you should understand what I meant, right? Red Lightning into Stun Lightning; the king of many status effects. The first order of business will be to destroy that unpleasant wall together with the Fake Apostle Raidou… DIE!” (Alte)

“Come!” (Makoto)

“[Raging Lightning Fireworks]!” (Alte)

Both sides won’t be possible, so prioritize above!

I called my reliable arms, and imagined them crushing the lightning.

About me…well, I can endure it.

The lightning above rained down on the outer wall of Tsige and its inner area, and it spread out like fireworks…or at least that was her plan.

Geez, how is it possible that she can activate ritual level spells on her own?

Can’t really speak about others though!

The two arms that I called touched the lightning in the sky a bit before everything else.

The sparks in the sky were returning to their point of origin as if watching a firework in reverse, and the lightning was compressed to a button.

And then…it disappeared.

The result I was expecting.

On the other hand, there’s Alte grabbing me by the neck with her left hand, and the lightning flowers at her feet rose countlessly like pine needles…hitting me directly.

This was also the expected painful experience.

It really reminds me of how much I have relied on barriers and the magic armor.

It has been such a good while since I have endured pain purely with my body, which is crazy tough.

But I am far from panicking -I was still my calm self.

“You can break through most magic, but you can’t ignore all the magic resistance from a person’s body, huh.” (Makoto)

I grab the left arm of Alte from the side.

It is hot and it hurts.

Lightning isn’t something you touch, so I don’t know what to compare it to.

“Don’t touch me! I will be dirtied!!” (Alte)

She shakes me off with all her strength.

Thanks to that, I am now free.

The weak continuous lightning attacks still continued, but I can move somewhat, and I think I can speak too.

Now then, continuing here would be bad.

If sparks were to fall on Tsige due to our battle, I would be putting the cart before the horse.

“[Lightning Clad]!” (Alte)

“You can stack it?!” (Makoto)

The whole body of Alte shone in an even redder hue.

But this is truly lucky.

She isn’t the close combat type.

And yet, for some reason, she is strangely wary about close combat, and is using this spell that seems like she isn’t that used to.

…Did Alpine instill something in her?

She must have had some sort of trauma.

She certainly does get faster and stronger, but her movements are simple.

If I had to compare it to something, it would be me when I just came to this world.

……

…

Here!

“[Lightning Palm—?!” (Alte)

“It is the rule that a battle between monsters must be done in the outskirts.” (Makoto)

I timed the rush of Alte and wrapped my arm around the arm she was using to attack me.

I activated the mist gate that I set up beforehand, and teleported us to a far away location from the outer walls and into someplace of Aion.

The flashy battle that had been unfolding at a part of the battlefield between the Aion army and Tsige, had all sounds stop at that instant, and it turned silent as if nothing had happened.

Sorry for the disturbance.

Now, let’s continue.