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“You lot are…”

At that moment, I (yo+ore) was feeling surprised and nostalgic.

The four men that stood in front of me were a human, a beastkin, a hobbit and a dwarf respectively.

Even though I should not have known the appearances of the people who were pointing their weapons at me, the “Ruphas” inside of me registered that she knew of them.

At the same time, I felt a wave of burning anger.

I quickly regained my composure and held back my anger… however, just by seeing their appearances, I ended up clenching my fist tightly.

I was not particularly angry about the fact that I was defeated by them. I was also not feeling resentful towards them.

But, why was it? Why? Just by seeing their miserable appearances, I was overflowing with fury.

Why was it that, just by seeing their appearances of being controlled along with their empty eyes, I was feeling this disheartened?

“Tsk!”

After kicking the ground away, the swordsman – Alioth – stepped in front of me in a flash.

Ruphas received the sword he swung down with her bare hand using [Knife-hand Strike]. However, the blade ate into her hand causing blood to start overflowing from the cut.

Tsk…! I guess it’s to be expected of someone who is called the Sword King by others. It cut quite nicely.

I moved my arm away to deflect the sword, plucked a single feather out of my black wings then threw it as if to stab at Alioth’s eyes.

Subsequently, I back-stepped once to create some distance between us then treated the wound on my hand.

Meanwhile, Alioth also pulled out the feather from his eye as if nothing serious had happened and regenerated the wound in his eye.

“I was wondering who it was going to be, but it’s just a bunch of despicable traitors…..! I see, you’re going to oppose Ruphas-sama again? Not just once, but for the second time….! I’ll kill you… kill, kill, kill kill killkill!”

After screaming in a fit of anger, the one who slid past me to charge at the heroes was Scorpius.

No, it was not just her.

With rage-filled expressions, Aries and Aigokeros also charged towards Phecda, Dubhe and Mizar respectively.

Not good… their coordination has collapsed!

“Calm down, you lot! You’re moving exactly how they want you to!”

“Fufu, it is a reversal of the situation.”

Pollux smiled as if to ridicule my agitation whilst Alioth jumped in to attack me.

Although I managed to dodge his attack, this time, one of the Dragon King’s heads opened its mouth to try and swallow me whole.

I somehow managed to avoid that attack in the last second as well, but the Dragon King had more than one head. The other nine remaining heads simultaneously breathed out breath attacks which engulfed me.

Needless to say, I had no obligation to take that attack like a sitting duck.

I folded my wings like I was covering myself, then opened them quickly in one go. From that action, a strong wind pressure blew the breath attack away, during which I charged in to slash at the Dragon King.

However, the immediate moment before my attack hit the Dragon King, Alioth stepped in between us, managing to stop my attack.

I suppose this situation is really not in my favour. Even in my current state with [Alkaid] activated, to fight against the Dragon King and Alioth who are both being backed by the Goddess is quite tough.

“Ruphas-sama!”

“Now, now. I need to have you guys continue to fight against them.”

Libra and the rest… are not available, as expected. They have their hands full against the Argonautai.

If anything, they should be the ones who really need the help since they’re up against that many enemies.

Then there’s only one hand that I can play. I have no option but to quickly take care of the Dragon King and Alioth.

I strongly flapped my wings and positioned myself to Alioth’s flank before trying to aim at his neck with a claw attack.

However, in that instant, I saw an old memory where “Ruphas” and Alioth were enjoying their time together and telling each other their dreams.

“….Tsk!”

After missing the best opportunity that I had, I could only cease the attack and create some distance between us.

****… what was that just now…?

For a moment, it was as if my body hesitated to kill Alioth.

No, perhaps it was exactly just that.

I (yo+ore) can say this exactly because we’ve already merged quite a lot, but… “Ruphas” seems to be someone who’s extremely nice and easy-going to those who are close to her. You could say that she’s deeply compassionate or sentimental.

In all likelihood, it’s due to her not being able to ever receive love from her father when she was still young. Once she registers someone as close to her, she pampers them to no end and lets slides most of their mischievous deeds.

That’s why she can’t help but subconsciously hesitate for an instant when I’m about to attack.

And in a battle at this level, that moment of hesitation is fatal. It becomes a massive opportunity.

In our battles, slipping the opponent the slightest moment of hesitation equates to unequivocally giving the enemy player one free turn in gaming terms.

This might be… quite bad?

“It is just like that time. Even though you can win if you fight seriously, you are unable to give it your all. It can even be called the one and only weakness that you have.”

“….. Apparently so.”

In response to Pollux’s words, I unconsciously showed a self-ridiculing smile.

Ahh, really, I didn’t think that I would have such a dumb weakness.

To not know myself is quite a big handicap, isn’t it? Thanks to that, one of my shortcomings had to surface at a critical time like this.

I didn’t know… that I was weak against someone that I had become attached to.

If there was a significant difference in our abilities, there wouldn’t really be an issue, but Alioth is not a random small-fry.

“Ruphaaassssss!”

This time, the Dragon King came charging at me whilst calling me with a deeply resentful voice.

You still feel resentment towards me even though you no longer retain your own psyche, eh? What a troublesome guy you are.

It was definitely something when a 170m-long body charged at me. However, it was not at the level where I could not stop it.

I was forced backwards as I pushed against the Dragon King’s head. Although the ground below me was shaved away by this, the Dragon King’s charge itself was halted.
Ruphas punch dragon

Image from Light Novel Volume 4

“Gu….. o ooo!”

Subsequently, I strengthened the grip on one of my hands and took hold of the Dragon King’s horn. Then, using nothing but pure physical force, I spun him around in a circle and launched him into the air.

However, the Dragon King stopped himself in mid-air and countered by firing breath attacks at me from all ten of his mouths.

The breath attacks mixed with each other to form a single ray which then came pouring towards my direction.

Dodge – no, I can’t. If something like that hits the ground directly, Midgard will be destroyed!

Even assuming it doesn’t get destroyed, it’ll no doubt erase the whole of the humanoids’ domain!

“Guuoooooooo!”

I clenched my fist tightly and directly punched the breath attack from the front.

The Dragon King dodged the reflected breath attack, whilst the chunk of energy that combined seven different attributes disappeared into the horizon far away.

Although the calamity was somehow avoided, it was as impactful as I had expected.

The skin on my hands was burnt away and blood was gushing out of it.

I would be able to fully recover if I were to use a recovery skill. Furthermore, it was not the time to be worrying about the pain.

Nevertheless, even assuming that it was a makeshift one, to think that this fist that had managed to shatter a meteorite and was still left unscathed would be hurt… It hurts my self-confidence a little bit, you know?

“Haaaaaaaaaa!”

In any event, there was no time to be daydreaming.

That was because, this time, Alioth closed the distance and swung his sword down from above.

I avoided his sword and opened an X-Gate, taking out the whip sword that I regularly used.

Using my beloved sword, I stopped Alioth’s slash attack, then proceeded to counterattack with the blade.

– Consecutive Attack Skill, [Quick Raid]!

I unleashed a storm of slashes at Alioth using a skill which prioritised speed at its foremost. It was a skill where in exchange for a lowered attack power in its individuals strikes, the gaps in its motions were reduced. If utilised well, the skill allowed the user to continuously hit the enemy.

But strangely, the skill that Alioth activated was also exactly the same.

The many sword slashes that we both unleashed clashed with each other’s, generating a gravitational field between us due to their power and the sheer number of slashes.

But mine are superior in both power and speed. So I can force my way through.

Exactly… I should be able to force it through… so… don’t think about the olden times.

Even though I know that things like the smiles from bygone days only make the sword that I’m holding dull… it’s just stuck in my head and won’t go away!

“Guu!?”

The one who was forced back, in the end, was me.

I was pushed back by Alioth’s sword slashes and my sword and my whole body were blown away.

And to that scene, as if to deal a follow-up finishing blow, the Dragon King’s foot closed in on me from the top.

I quickly crossed my arms in front of me in the last second to receive the attack. However, in the face of its great impact, the ground below me caved in.

My arms… were fine. They did not end up breaking.

But the position and the posture that I was in was bad. If one were to ask me what was so bad about it, it was that my movements were completely restricted, so the fact that I would not be able to prevent Alioth’s next attack was what was bad above all else.

“Owhhhhhh!”

Alioth pulled his sword up and closed in on me.

If I were to receive this upcoming attack, even I would not be able to get away without receiving a severe wound.

As that was the case, I could only switch to prioritise preventing his attack whilst allowing myself to take damage from the Dragon King’s stomping attack.

I still had some leeway with how much HP I had left. Although it would be quite detrimental, it would not be fatal.

Okay… I’ll match the timing and somehow….

– At that precise moment, something blew the Dragon King away, then, without losing any momentum, stepped in between me and Alioth and stopped his sword slash with their bare hands.

“…. Huh?”

That was exactly what you would call the flash of a moment.

The instant I registered that I saw a silvery shiny thing pass before me, it was there in front of me.

The hair which was fluttering was silver in colour.

The robe that it wore was jet-black.

Its skin was as white as fresh snow, yet its height could by no means be called tall.

However, the appearance of it stopping Alioth’s sword by pinching them using two fingertips and without any effort made it seem extremely big in my eyes.

“…. Mafahl, what exactly are you doing? After winning against me, how could you be having a hard time against some spirits of the past…..?”

“You’re…..”

The colour of the eyes that turned back to look towards me was crimson.

Fangs protruded from the openings of her mouth and her face overflowed with absolute confidence in respect to her own abilities.

She sent Alioth flying away with a kick just as if she was kicking away a small pebble on the side of the road then stared daggers at me.

“I believe I’ve already told you! That if there ever comes a time you’re to be defeated by someone else, I’ll come punching you even if I have to come back from the land of the dead. The one who will kill you is me, the Vampire Princess Benetnash. Don’t ever forget that!”

She was the high-strung Vampire Princess who even swatted away the Goddess’s invitation. And right now, she was standing right in front of me looking the same as ever.

Image from Light Novel – Benetmash

*

Aries was locked in the middle of a struggling battle.

From the very beginning, his status was not high.

After all, even if he had been pulled up to level 1000, his enemy was the Beast King Dubhe, who was one of the Seven Heroes that were said to rival even Ruphas if they were to be of the same level.

The beast without an ego of its own was showing the whites of its eyes and whilst drooling, was going berserk with its wild animalistic nature in full effect.

“B E A A A A A A A A A r!!”

It was a series of attacks which relied heavily on his beastly strength.

Notwithstanding that, they were not attacks that relied entirely on raw power. As he was half-man half-beast, his attacks were accompanied by a proper form.

Nevertheless, Aries also did not have the intention to run away. Even if he could forgive everyone else, the Seven Heroes alone were people that he could not forgive.

He could not forget about the fact that even though they had his master’s trust, they ended up betraying her.

“Haaaaaa!”

Aries and Dubhe’s arms and legs repeatedly clashed with each other at a high speed, creating small fireworks upon impact which spilled over into the surroundings.

Fist strike, back-hand strike, elbow strike, knee kick, spinning kick… a high-speed melee battle occurred between the two of them, both being inflicted with damage.

Needless to say, Mesarthim was being used.

Just by being in close proximity to each other like how they currently were, Dubhe was no doubt taking continuous damage and suffering burns all over his body.

But Dubhe swung his claws around as if he did not even notice that fact, managing to carve a wound on Aries’s body.

“B E A A A A!”

Aries crouched down to avoid Dubhe’s strong arms and swept at Dubhe’s legs.

When Dubhe lost his footing and became unstable, Aries kicked him upwards then flew into the air himself to give chase.

Aries flew past the flying Dubhe then spun around. Using his fire-enveloped leg like a whip, he executed an axe kick onto Dubhe.

However, a moment before the attack landed, Dubhe disappeared from the spot then instantly appeared behind Aries, launching Aries away with a kick of his own.

“Gha!?”

Aries crashed into the ground, yet he did not stop there. The momentum continued to push him further, drilling a deep hole into the earth.

Nevertheless, Aries quickly pulled himself together and as if he had swum through the ground, popped up behind Dubhe who had landed back down on the ground.

Aries then grabbed the back of Dubhe’s head who had failed to react to Aries’s sudden appearance and slammed it down.

However, using his fearsome strength, Dubhe forcibly stood back up before flipping his body backwards to sandwich Aries between himself and the ground.

The ground below them shattered and blood dripped down from Aries’s mouth.

But this time, it was Aries’s turn to commence a counterattack.

In retaliation to Dubhe, Aries landed multiple kicks on his back.

So this time, it was Dubhe’s turn to leak blood out from his mouth. Despite the circumstances, he immediately threw Aries away with a shoulder throw.

Although Aries tried to quickly get back up, Dubhe’s foot stomped on Aries, causing a dull sound.

Then a second time, a third time, a fourth time.

With an impact strength high enough to cave the ground below them with each stomp, Aries’s resistance gradually got weaker and weaker.

Then in came the fifth stomp as a finishing blow.

In a dazed state, Aries could only watch/look on as Dubhe’s foot came down on him. However, in the next moment, Dubhe was sent flying out of his field of vision.

Correction, he was punched away.

“…. Eh?”

The back of the person who came into Aries’s view belonged to a bulky and muscular large man.

His hair was a deep dark red and his body was enveloped in a black bodysuit.

His massive log-like arms were bulging with veins, whilst he himself was emitting, without any attempt to hide it, an animalistic nature that was even greater than Duhbe’s.

“Yo, aren’t cha having a sad and pitiful fight…. Aries?”

The name of the one who stood in front of Aries and mocked him… The Tyrannical Twelve Stars, Leon of the [Lion].