Pielot’s aura was already closer to shooting than to slashing.
Swinging a sword necessarily requires a retrieval motion, but because Pielot did not draw his sword, he omitted the retrieval.
Roughly put, it was like cutting the enemy with a sword while simultaneously throwing the sword. Only the number of those swords was immeasurably many.
“Y-You bastard......!”
Whether due to the limits of their intelligence or simply having no time, most demons were cut down before they finished even half their bluster.
Like a wave, the demons surged, and around Pielot—who cut them—that wave spread in a ring.
However, that ring would not shrink.
“Kraagh!”
“Aaaagh!!”
The demons’ screams gradually grew louder.
Ironically, the increase of their pain and screams meant Pielot’s accuracy was falling.
The ones killed at the start by Pielot’s sword died with hardly a sound. That was how cleanly he severed the demons’ lives.
But not anymore.
The demons poured in like a literal wave. Pielot had neither the leeway nor the courtesy for that.
He hacked them down indiscriminately.
But Pielot’s aura was not infinite.
And even if he did not actually move his body, with each shot fired, his body felt as if it might collapse at any moment.
He was spending little stamina but shaving off a chunk of his willpower.
The aura he had used on that idiot demon with a bow wasn’t that much, but to kill an army this large, it would be consumed enormously no matter how he conserved it.
Yet, strangely—
Shaaahhhh!!
As the rainfall sound went on, it gradually turned black.
[Pielot, how......!]
Hypnos could not understand.
No—that he did. The reason Pielot’s aura did not hit bottom.
The netherworld mana contained in the arrow was being converted into Pielot’s aura.
Even the principle was not impossible. It was not a complicated equation.
The problem was the mind.
‘A human body should not be accepting that......!’
Just because it was netherworld mana didn’t mean all demon aura or magic was fatal to humans. Most of it was the same as a human’s.
But when condensed to a high density, oxygen itself is lethal to humans; likewise, mana from another world repels human mana.
The mana within the arrow that struck Pielot was enormously condensed.
It would make up for Pielot’s lack of aura, yes, but accepting it was another matter.
“......!”
In truth, the sensations now were more horrible to Pielot than when he was struck by the arrow.
A nausea that made him feel like vomiting at any moment surged, and the body’s reaction clearly warning that this must not be accepted goaded fear in Pielot.
The body’s response is honest. When the body warns of death, humans cannot help but stop.
The only reason Pielot could maintain this state now was his strong will, and also because as he converted the netherworld mana into his own, some part of his body improved.
‘If I leave it alone, I die anyway.’
For Pielot, netherworld mana stored in his body was nothing but poison.
At the moment he changed it into his own mana, a burning pain and nausea assailed him, but if he shortened that time as much as possible, he could keep damage to a minimum.
This was literally the act of spitting out the poison inside his body by himself. Only, there was always the risk that the poison would course through the body the moment he spat it out.
Hypnos observed Pielot’s body.
A body designated under divine power. Hypnos could see Pielot’s condition far better than other humans could.
‘......He’s already grown used to converting it into his own mana. At this rate, he’ll expel all of the netherworld mana without entering a critical state.’
But the problem was what came after.
There were still many demons.
‘At this pace, Pielot’s aura will run dry before all the demons die.’
Pielot was now at a certain height.
Whether he could unfold such a miracle again, neither Hypnos nor Pielot himself knew.
But no matter how ultimate an aura art is, if there is no aura, it is naturally impossible.
There was only one way to resolve this situation: the mana conversion Frondier had performed in the past.
When the qi inside the body is all gone, a human naturally faints, but Frondier did not faint; instead, he pulled a madman’s stunt of converting his body’s components into mana.
But even Frondier could only do it after fainting multiple times. For Pielot now, it was impossible.
And even if he managed it, that too would only mean death for Pielot.
[......As I thought, we can’t go on like this. Pielot! I understand your power well! I will handle the rest!]
Hypnos spoke yet again.
By then, Pielot found it rather strange.
As said before, it was rare for a god to be this zealous for a human.
Even Elodie, who could converse with her god—did she receive this much love?
Pielot felt that, whatever Hypnos was thinking, his own god was clearly some kind of exception.
Of course, apart from that—
“Be quiet.”
Pielot would not use divine power.
[Why are you being stubborn, Pielot! There is no demerit to you!]
No demerit?
Yes, that wasn’t wrong.
There was no demerit for a human to borrow divine power. At least as far as Pielot knew.
There had been a case like Senior Edwin whom a god controlled, but that wasn’t because he borrowed divine power. It was simply because a god felt like doing it.
[Pielot! At this rate......!]
And then—
A change occurred on the battlefield.
It was just then, when Pielot’s aura was on the brink of depletion as Hypnos had said.
“......!”
Pielot’s next aura did not cut a demon.
A handful of aura still remained.
Was Pielot saving that aura? No.
The reason was simple.
“......Kh, nnngh......!”
The demons were no longer closing in.
Unlike Hypnos, the demons did not know how much more aura Pielot could use going forward.
With each black stroke that slashed, one demon lost its life like a fly.
Looking around, there were already far too many lives scattered messily.
How many more times would this have to be repeated?
If even one remained and killed that human, fine.
But if not?
It was not a single life; it was an organization close to annihilation.
A scene where anger at humans blew away and only fear ruled.
If things went by Hypnos’s calculation, all the remaining demons could kill Pielot if they all charged at once now.
However, an actual battlefield does not go that way.
“What are you doing.”
Flinch.
At Pielot’s words the demons tensed once again.
“Come finish dying.”
“Y-You......!”
Even trembling with resentment, the demons could not come closer.
Pielot would not permit demons to enter within a certain radius.
That radius was now visible to the eye.
With demon corpses and blood, the distance of roughly how many meters was too plain to see.
Who could step into this circle? Once you stopped, you could never step in again.
“.......”
The demons looked at Pielot’s face.
A face that was clearly on the verge of death—no mistake—no matter how you looked, it was only right he would die soon.
A face covered with ‘pride.’
That gaze that looked down as if he were looking up.
A contempt that, with his remaining aura, he could dispose of the remaining demons.
“Grrk!”
The demons edged back.
[What......?]
Hypnos could not believe what he was seeing.
It was not that he did not understand bluff and lies.
If you do not know the cards your opponent holds, bluffing can work enough. A strong man’s bluff works even better.
But this was not such a situation.
Wasn’t it too obvious that Pielot was at his limit now?
If Pielot had a trump card, he would have already used it. Cool-headedly, one could even confirm how much of his aura remained.
That his aura appeared black was a hint to demons. Because that mana came [N O V E L I G H T] from none other than the netherworld.
Even so—
“Retreat!”
At one demon’s command, the demons began to fly away.
Far away, as fast as possible from Pielot.
This human was insane. Enough blood had been shed. The operation had to change.
[How can this be......!]
As all the demons beat their wings and withdrew, Hypnos muttered blankly.
“Hypnos.”
Pielot spoke.
“Why are you a god, anyway.”
[What did you say?]
“You don’t understand humans, and you don’t understand demons.”
Thud.
At last Pielot’s posture broke. Both knees hit the ground, and every muscle lost strength and sank.
“Without understanding humans, why are you the god of humans.”
[.......]
Hypnos could not answer.
Because he truly did not understand this situation.
Pielot closed his eyes.
On the verge of sleep within two breaths, Pielot spoke.
“Why should I borrow power from some bastard who spouts crap at my senior,”
—Frondier abandoned you.
“Is what I mean.”
***
Orthros.
Also called Ortros, it is a monster that appears in Greek mythology.
Its external form is that of a two-headed dog; though less recognized than the Minotaur, as a class it is far superior. It is mythologically very close to the three-headed hound Cerberus.
Originally its power should be similar, but because it lacks one head and has less recognition, it is set to be somewhat weaker.
However, that is only “somewhat weaker” compared to Cerberus, the absurd monster of myth; the Minotaur is not even a target of comparison.
The Abyssal monster Frondier’s group sensed. A presence far more threatening than a Minotaur.
Minotaurs were many, but Orthros was a single beast. Considering that that one surpassed all the Minotaurs by far, one could understand its strength.
Grrrr.
Orthros growled in keeping with its outward appearance.
Proud of high-speed charges, it waited for the moment to explode.
The conditions for it to charge humans were three.
If one or more among the currently surrounded humans left the battlefield.
Likewise, if one or more became combat-incapable.
If all the humans engaged in combat. If any one of these was met, it would dash out at once.
In fact, on Frondier’s side, Vasileo was not in a state to fight, so the second condition had already been met. They had merely waited a little because Vasileo inside the carriage was not visible to their eyes.
But enough time had passed, and Orthros was convinced. One of them was in no state to fight.
Crunch.
One of its paws crushed the ground. The force prepared for a leap kneaded the earth like clay.
It tightened its whole body lightly, and took the first step into high-speed charge.
Thwump─!!
“?!”
In that instant, Orthros’s body lurched. It lost its balance.
It began with a single thought.
Orthros, with two heads—one suddenly panicked as its body’s balance failed.
The other—
“......Gck.”
Had already become a shape that could no longer be called a head, a hammer driven in.
Atop that form stood a human foot.
“Sorry, but.”
A black-haired man.
One foot on the hammer, the other planted arrogantly atop the head he had crushed.
“My junior is giving it his all right now.”
The man looked at Orthros’s one head that was still intact.
He was smiling.
Orthros confirmed that face.
It was undeniably the human who had poured out incomparable anger over there just a moment ago.
Seeing that anger, Orthros had been certain.
This man was the strongest among them. The most threatening one to eliminate first.
Then why—
“If I don’t do it right, it’s embarrassing.”
Why had this man’s anger now disappeared as if washed away?
Why was the present more terrifying than before, when he had been enraged?
What was that smile triggered by—
“So don’t do anything—just die. I do feel sorry.”
The man spoke sheepishly.
As if he truly did feel sorry.
