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Calm down, calm down. Don’t overdo it, me.

I said to myself as I confronted the insane Scorpius. Until a while ago, I was probably only thinking about fighting. When I was being consumed by “Ruphas”, my body felt light. No, it was more like I remembered how to move my body. Previously, Demon King-san said that I was holding back. Although I thought that I was doing my best back then, now I could somewhat understand what he meant.

Ruphas’ true power was probably much higher than I thought, but it could not be fully utilized because of me serving as a lid. It was not just the Seven Heroes who were weakened. Since I was not the real Ruphas, she was the most weakened one of all. Although the status did not change, I was clearly more powerful than before.

Was it hidden or rewritten? …Apparently, the status I saw was not very accurate.

But it was fine for now. This was fine. The goal was to recover Scorpius without killing her. In order not to overdo things, this would be fine.

“Ah—ah, ah, ah, ah, ah!”

Scorpius shouted as her body was covered in a black miasma. The volume of her body was obviously increased. Eventually, her body changed and increased in size to fill the area covered by the miasma. What was in front of me was no longer the bewitching beauty from earlier. It was a huge scorpion magical beast similar to Aries in his sheep form.

I see. So this is the main act…Is this her true form?

Scorpius stepped and crushed the nearby Karkinos and swung her pincers towards me.

“Ah!”

I flew away to avoid the attack, glancing at Virgo and the rest who were on the ground. It seemed Dina somehow blocked it with a shield, but if the attacks persisted, she would not be able to maintain the defense. Fortunately, Scorpius seemed to only have me in her sight, so if it was just some light assistance, she wouldn’t go after Dina.

I chose not to dodge her tail attack that was aimed at me. Instead, I grabbed it with both hands and pulled it with all my might.

“Wah!”

And I tossed her to keep her away from Virgo. The laws of physics? I didn’t know anything about that. I looked down on Scorpius from the sky and thought about what to do next. The current Scorpius was in the same state as the Seven Heroes two hundred years ago. In other words, she was affected by mind manipulation and power-up by the goddess. Since the power of the goddess was in effect, it would not end simply by beating her up.

However, I did not have the power to remove it…As I expected, it seemed I was going to need her to put some effort in herself. Thus, it would be necessary to disable Scorpius first.

“Syaaa—!!”

She came at me with a strange cry and I defended against her pincer with one arm. But since there was no firm footing in the sky, it was not very effective. I was literally blown away and landed on the ground. The damage was light, but the power was outrageous. Notwithstanding that I was airborne, I was still being pushed back.

Avoiding her second attack, I moved in front of Scorpius. For now, I guessed I would attack her a little while assessing the situation. First, one of the grappler’s skill, Power Break! Hitting an opponent with this would reduce her attack power. In addition, I kept my right fist at my waist and jumped. I struck Scorpius’ face with Smash skill, inflicting 100% critical damage.

The huge scorpion body was blown away. Immediately after, I went around and ahead of her—from a third person’s perspective, it probably would have seemed as if I teleported—and sent her crashing into the ground with an axe kick.

Let’s start with three strikes. Although I knew she would not die from these attacks, it would be better not to overdo it just in case. It was considerably more difficult to fight while watching the opponent’s HP and adjusting your attacks than to simply defeat the opponent.

Scorpius raised herself up and breathed out the poisonous fog that she was proud of. I did not have a skill to defend against this…However, unlike in the game, there was no need to rely solely on skills in this world.

I strongly flapped my wings which were hidden by the stealth bandage, creating a wall of wind ahead with the wind pressure. Naturally, the poisonous fog was blown back towards Scorpius…Well, she was immune to poison so it was meaningless.

I avoided the follow-up pincer attack, but another pincer attacked instantly from the flank. Of course, I guarded against it as well, but wasn’t Scorpius’ reaction becoming slightly faster? It was also slightly more powerful than before.

…I see. She would become stronger as time passed. Before one could notice it, she would go from being evenly matched to gaining the upper hand. This was such an unreasonable power-up of the protagonist. It seemed that the goddess loved such classic mainstream developments.

However, I could read it. Then, what I should do was fairly simple. I just needed to defeat her before she became even stronger.

“This will hurt a bit…Bear with it.”

I lightly cracked my joints and dashed over in an instant. I came before Scorpius and delivered the first blow. I raised my fist and Scorpius went up into the air. A second strike followed, hitting her in mid-air and sending her upwards. Three, four, five! I lashed out my fist in succession, forcibly sending Scorpius’ huge body up into the clouds—I overtook her, flying to the edge of the stratosphere! And I dived!

The dive was further accelerated by gravity, causing the atmosphere to burst into flames from the friction. And I delivered Meteor Kick, augmented by Blunt-Edge Strike, on Scorpius while she was still rising into the sky!

Attack momentum plus falling speed plus gravity plus striking the ground would amount to extraordinary damage. Scorpius would not be able to take it.

She fell in a location far from Blutgang. I did not chase after her. Instead, I returned to my original position. I had definitely stripped her of her fighting power, but it was possible that she would continue to be berserk. Therefore, we must remove the mind manipulation from Scorpius…The only one who could do it was probably her.

“Eh!?”

Dina gave a surprised gasp as I grabbed her by her scruff and ignored her cry. She had the look of someone watching a fight that was none of her business. Moreover, some time ago, she even took out dried fruits and started eating. I could not sense the will to be active at all. So I would grant the opportunity for action. Objections rejected.

“Wa—Wait, Ruphas-sama!? Fa—fast, my neck, choking!?”

“You would be fine. This isn’t enough to do any damage to you.”

“That might be true, but—! At least carry me like a princess the way heroines are carried by the protagonists on the covers of light novels!”

“What are you talking about?”

I carried Dina and flew over to where Scorpius crashed. The crash site…Yes, it was a good thing that she crashed far from Blutgang. A ridiculously big crater had formed as if the ground was struck by a meteor. Scorpius did not move except for the occasional convulsions.

“As mentioned by Karkinos, the current Scorpius was in the same state as the Seven Heroes two hundred years ago. She seems to be affected by mind manipulation. The goddess had probably done something.”

“Oh, she is certainly surging with divine power.”

“This is where you come in.”

“You want me to remove the mind manipulation?”

“Can you do it?”

“Well, yes. I can, but…I have a similar skill.”

Dina glanced around and said in a voice lacking enthusiasm.

“…If I do this, will I also become an enemy of the goddess?”

“Well, maybe.”

“Wait—!? Isn’t this a scene where you say, ‘Don’t worry, I will protect you.’ even if you have to lie—!?”

“Don’t worry, I will protect you.”

“Are you reading off a script!?”

Apparently, Dina was afraid of becoming an enemy of the goddess. But was this really true or was she just posing? Based on the information we had so far, Dina was probably not unrelated to the goddess. They had matching attributes and the ability to manipulate thought and memory. Not to mention, her suspicious words and strange behaviors.

Above all, the timing of events that happened so far was too good. The attack of Aries in Svalinn, the appearance of Aigokeros in Gjallarhorn, and the invasion of Scorpius in Blutgang. They all happened at a time when I just happened to be there.

In addition, all three of them were connected to the demons. In other words, it was also possible to control the demons to some extent. In that case, it would be simple. Someone who could grasp my movement while manipulating the actions of the Twelve Heavenly Stars from the side of the demons. Only one person was capable of doing this.

The most decisive proof was that Dina could pass through the barrier that protected Vanaheim. Dina was not one of my original subordinates. Although she called herself my adviser, she did not exist two hundred years ago. Yet she entered the forest together with us, despite the barrier of Parthenos which should have kept everyone except allies out. In other words, there was something in Dina that caused Parthenos to misidentify her as an ally. I was reminded of the original epithet of Parthenos—The Maiden Who Served the Goddess.

Parthenos was originally a servant of the goddess. Thus, it would not be strange if the goddess or someone related to her was mistaken for an ally. Or perhaps there was still faith in the goddess somewhere deep inside her…

In any case, Dina slipped through the barrier even though she was not a comrade of Parthenos. Therefore, I was almost certain that Dina had some connections to the goddess. In other words, if my speculation was right, it would be unlikely for Dina to be recognized as an enemy of the goddess. In the worst case scenario, she might even be an avatar of the goddess herself.

“Well, fine. I’m just a thin shadow of existence anyway. I would be punished for incurring the goddess-sama’s displeasure and finally die a lonely death in the end. Ah, what a pitiful me.”

“I get it, I get it. If you incur the goddess’ wrath, I will protect you with all my might. So hurry up and do something about Scorpius.”

“Is that for real? It’s a promise. Absolutely. No, please protect me properly.”

“Ah, I understand. I will give you my promise or whatever else.”

I didn’t know if she was just posing or being serious. However, even if she did not say so, I would still protect her. If Dina really incurred the wrath of the goddess…it would mean that the goddess was someone else.

“Then, please wait a while. It may take some time.”

Dina said and walked over to the fallen Scorpius, stopping in front of that huge face. She stared at Scorpius silently. I see, so it was triggered by looking into the eyes. …Oh, yes. She did this a few times before.

“Oh, hmm. Her manipulation was relatively mild. It seems her desire to monopolize Ruphas-sama was forcefully amplified. Normally, she would be sensible yandere
who would not attack the object of her affections.”

“There’s not much difference between a sensible and a not-sensible yandere.”

“What are you saying? There’s a big difference. Recently, yandere has often been portrayed as violent criminals who use words as shields while swinging knives around. Originally, yandere is merely someone whose love for another developed into mental illness. They are not crazy stalkers! Oh, I also hate those guys who say whatever they want while using tsundere
as an excuse.”

“Why do you try so hard to explain such irrelevant things? …Nobody wants to know about your preferences.”

For the time being, I understood that Dina loved light novels and manga, but it was all irrelevant to the matter at hand.