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Mercurius had only one wish. It was neither the triumph of the demons nor honor and glory. He was even willing to give up his life for it. Even just one person was fine. Just one person…If his beloved woman survived, it would be enough. Therefore, he made a deal with the Demon King.

He would present the fresh blood and body of the guardian dragon, which protected Draupnir, as a tribute to the Demon King. The guardian dragon’s fresh blood was rich in mana and could raise the total combat power of any living creature. Even to the Demon King, it was a highly valuable prize that could not be ignored. Basically, it was a doping item that Ruphas mentioned before. It was certainly among the top ranking items.

Of course, the guardian dragon was normally not an opponent that he could fight upfront and win. But it was different now. If the guardian dragon had been weakened by an incurable poison by a certain someone, it would be possible to defeat it.

That was why…That was why he could not afford to lose.

He could not fall before the hero in this place.

“I will win! Even if I have to sell my soul to the devil…No, to the Goddess!”

Mercurius’ body was sliced by Virgo’s sword. Even if he tried to fight back, the others would get in his way. Cruz fired magic from the rear, dealing slight but certain damage. On the other hand, no matter how much damage Mercurius inflicted, it would be quickly recovered.

Even if he could win against one person, it would be impossible to win against this number of people. When the weakening effect of the sanctuary was factored in, there was nothing he could do even as one of the Seven Luminaries.

Furthermore, the hero was more troublesome than he thought. Originally, the hero class was a hidden class that could be unlocked only by mastering the three warrior classes and the sword master class. Even during the Age of Heroes two hundred years ago, only Alioth alone could reach this pinnacle of swordsmanship. Yet the hero had this class right from the beginning.

How absurd!

His level and combat power were not balanced. Observing Eye revealed that his level was below 40, yet his power was already comparable to the mercenary Gants.

He could not win this. Even as one of the Seven Luminaries, he could not turn the tides.

As such, he made a prayer to someone he should not have, and when he did, a certain answer came to the prayer in his heart.

“Weak doll, do you seek power?”

A voice resounded so loud in his ears that he thought his heart was going to explode. It was the voice of someone with an enormous presence. For a moment in his mind, he saw the illusion of a beautiful woman with an otherworldly presence and ocean blue hair.

He had seen a similar appearance somewhere…It was his former colleague Venus, but her power was nothing compared to this. And then he understood.

Ah, it’s her.

This was their creator…no, caster.

“Hmph. Is my struggle just a puppet show to you? Well, fine. I’ll be the doll then. I’ll play the supporting role in your bad comedy. Therefore, Goddess! Give me power! Give me power so that I won’t lose to anyone!”

Hehehe, the Goddess laughed. He certainly felt it.

Ah, go ahead and laugh at me. And despise me.

He understood. If he did this, he would never be able to return to what he was before. This was a road from which he could not turn back. He understood it not by reason, but by his instinct alone. If he were to abandon “Mercurius the Demon” as a completed magic and forcefully raise the output, he would simply be a powerful water magic and not be Mercurius anymore.

Mercurius’ shape began to break down, melting into a form like an amoeba. He could feel he was no longer himself.

“As you wish.”

A tremendous amount of divine power surged from Mercurius’ body. The expressions of everyone stiffened when they saw the sacred radiance which should be impossible for a demon to emit. Their thought processes could not keep up with this sudden, abnormal development.

Yet the change was undeniable. Mercurius lost his human shape, melting and spreading out like goo. Furthermore, it had clearly increased in volume, engulfing the hero and his comrades like an avalanche. Virgo and Cruz deployed a shield at the last moment, but it would not endure for long.

“Tsk!”

Aries removed his black robe and jumped in front of them.

With his fist ablaze, a single blow was struck! With an arm strength that could shatter the earth despite its appearance, he sent Mercurius flying. Although he was sent flying, it was not really effective. It was evaporating, but its expansion simply covered the portion that was lost.

“Eh? That…Wh-Who!?”

Sei was puzzled by the sudden appearance of Aries, but there was no time for explanation. Aries immediately judged that this narrow battlefield was a disadvantage and shot a flaming bullet to melt the wall and create a large hole. He grabbed Virgo and jumped out of the hole without waiting for her response.

“He—hey. You’re that girl who was in Svalinn…no, boy…”

“What are you talking about, old man? Anyway, I don’t really know what’s going on, but we are going to run away! It’s bad if we stay here!”

Gants was stunned to see him. Although he had met Aries once, he knew nothing about him. All he knew was that the young girl (?) was obviously a different person from the black-robed guy who had participated in the hunting festival.

As everyone escaped through the hole opened by Aries, Sei noticed something as he ran. He picked up the small bottle that had fallen onto the ground and then jumped out of the large hole. The cave behind him was already filled with water. It was as if the entire Spiritual Peak was about to be covered.

Sliding down the mountain slope with superhuman ability, Sei and his comrades regrouped with Kaineko who hurriedly ran over.

“Ev—Everyone! What’s happening!?”

“I don’t know! Mercurius suddenly transformed…”

“Oh, is that Mercurius!?”

Cruz, who had not recovered from the confusion, answered Kaineko in a crude tone. That said, Cruz himself did not know what was happening. It was unprecedented that the Seven Luminaries could transform.

Mercurius, who no longer looked like himself, cried out as his volume increased, creating more and more water. If this continued, it wouldn’t just affect the Spiritual Peak. The entire Draupnir would be flooded.

“Hey, Cruz. What should we do about that? My axe…probably won’t be effective.”

“”It—It would be impossible to resolve this with magic. Please don’t ask me.”

Gants glanced at Cruz with unfocused eyes as he asked him, but he didn’t really think that the latter would have a solution. And as expected, Cruz replied with “impossible” and everyone sank into silence. In the end, everyone had the same opinion.

In other words, there was nothing they could do about it. Such a thing could not be defeated by mere humanoids.

♐

“Wa—Wait, Aries-san! Where are we going!?”

“Eh? For the time being, we’ll regroup with Ruphas-sama and the others.”

While carrying Virgo, Aries jumped onto trees and rocks to distance themselves from Mercurius.

At the very least, Mercurius was not an enemy that Aries would lose against. However, he was rather troublesome to deal with. Furthermore, it was bothersome to fight while protecting Virgo. It was not impossible that an accident could happen.

In that case, he would prioritize the mission given by Ruphas and ensure Virgo’s safety. He really wanted Virgo to win and be confident of herself, but it was a different story when her life was threatened. This was the scenario where he should regroup with Ruphas and ensure Virgo’s safety.

“Regroup…But what about those people over there!?”

“Hmm? Well, they’ll just have to put effort into running…No, I guess it’s impossible. The water is rising faster than they can run.”

“Then isn’t that no good!?”

Aries did not care much about those strangers. Honestly, it did not even matter to Aries if this country survived or not. He had a gentle personality and was one of the Twelve Heavenly Stars who could be negotiated with. But his actions were based on certain priorities—first was Ruphas, second was Ruphas, third and fourth were also Ruphas, and only from the fifth and beyond were there other things.

Moreover, for these “other things,” eighty percent of them were personal relationships. He honestly had little concern for impersonal things. After all, he was a sheep. The herd was always the top priority. If the herd leader made a mistake, Aries would follow and make that same mistake.

In other words, he was indifferent to things that had nothing to do with him. But once he made up his mind to follow someone, he would even follow them into hell.

“Everyone is still there. We have to help them somehow.”

“You mean help them evacuate? But it’s rather troublesome to deal with this amount of water.”

“But Aries-san can do it, right?”

“…Well, it’s possible.”

“Then, please!”

If it was for a personal relation, Aries would fight with his life on the line. But fighting for strangers was nothing but a loss to him. Moreover, the hero was an enemy of Ruphas. Why should he fight in vain to help an enemy? This was the question at the bottom of Aries’ heart.

But if he left it like this, it would leave a wound in Virgo’s heart. Aries thought for a while and decided to prioritize Virgo’s mental stability. Based on the fights he had witnessed so far, the hero could be burnt and killed at any time. If the latter openly expressed hostility, Aries could burn him to cinders when Virgo wasn’t looking.

“I understand…We’re going back!”

Aries kicked the tree and turned around, going towards the Spiritual Peak. He dropped Virgo just outside of the water’s range.

“Virgo, run away with them. In the meantime, I’ll play with that guy.”

“Hm—Hmm. I understand.”

After letting go of Virgo, Aries kicked off the ground and ran faster than before. After sufficient acceleration, his entire body was engulfed in flames. He pierced through Mercurius and the Spiritual Peak, emerging from the other side.

He then made another assault, penetrating Mercurius once again and evaporating part of the water. However, the water expanded from the side that had evaporated. If this continued, there would be no end to it. Apparently, as soon as Mercurius was hit, he converted the surrounding mana into water and added it to his body. As such, no matter how much water Aries evaporated, it would be meaningless unless the mana was dispersed.

“Well, let’s try a few things before giving up.”

Aries began another assault, this time raising his fists to the sky. The resulting shockwave created a sudden gust of wind. Like a tornado, it drew Mercurius up into the air. Aries leaped after him, delivering dozens of flaming kicks per second. Using trees and rocks as platforms, he kicked, smashed, and pierced Mercurius at a speed faster than the latter could fall.

When seen from the side, one would only see rainbow-colored, flaming bullets shooting endlessly at a giant water monster.

He evaded the attacking water tentacles and accelerated with the flames from his hands as if they were vernier thrusters. He closed the distance, followed by a kick using the full force of his body. When Mercurius was sent flying from the force of the kick, Aries spread his hands apart as wide as possible.

“Hah…!!”

The flaming bullets were continuously fired, continuously fired, and continuously fired! By evaporating the water faster than it could regenerate, it was an attack with the intention to completely eliminate Mercurius. Aries’ flaming bullets continuously shaved off parts of Mercurius. The water that had lost its form reverted back into mana.

The water, which was larger than the mountain, was visibly reduced until it shrank to about the original size of Mercurius. No matter how large the opponent was, it was simply irrelevant to Aries. This was because his attack inflicted “percent damage.” No matter who he was up against, he could deal similar percent damage.

“Mesarthim!”

Aries raised both hands and created a huge mass of fire. This flame was his specialty that could inflict percent damage. Its effect was to “continuously inflict a percent damage while contact was maintained.” Thus, Aries had the advantage in a battle of endurance.

He threw the mass of fire which engulfed Mercurius. If Ruphas saw this scene, she would have interrupted to say, “I said before, this is not that kind of skill!”

“Ugh, Ugh—Ugh—!”

Mercurius uttered his death cry as his body continued to vanish. It was hell to be engulfed in a fire that burned continuously unless it was put out. If the percent damage continued to accumulate, his HP would eventually be reduced to 1, which would be indivisible any further.

The flame that continued to burn Mercurius relentlessly inflicted percent damage continuously until it was extinguished. This was even more frightening than fixed damage.

Eventually, Mercurius was reduced to just a small droplet of water and his HP had certainly became 1 even without confirming it. Finally, Aries shot a small flaming bullet to evaporate the remaining water, completely eliminating Mercurius.

Normally, this would have been the end. There was no reason for it to exist after being completely incinerated.

“…Sigh—…I knew it was going to be like this.”

However, the current Mercurius was not normal.

Seeing the surrounding mana turn into water again, Aries scratched his cheek in annoyance.