Chapter 8 — I’m Going to Attack You with This Wand! If I Die, Then I Win!
In a fight like this, Rick didn’t stand a chance. Though he had become the Swordmaster, it wasn’t due to any skill on his part. With no other candidates, he had been given the title as a last resort. Of course, Swordmaster was a proper class recognized by the System of this world, so he had gained numerous powers just by inheriting the title. He had gained countless abilities that could be used against enemies there.
However, that’s all it was. Before becoming the Swordmaster, Rick had only been at the rank of Royal Blade. His skill with a sword was still at that level. Compared to the other Knights who could split the earth, cut through space and time, and move faster than the speed of sound, he had no chance of keeping up. Rick was forced to watch the fight from a distance.
Though it was frustrating, trying to force his way into the battle would only slow the others down. He could only watch as the Knights under him rushed forward and were mowed down, regardless of their skill. As the Swordmaster, they couldn’t afford to risk him dying. Normally, if the Swordmaster died, the title would automatically be passed to someone who was qualified. But what did that accomplish in this situation? The Knights of the Divine King were being slaughtered. Before long, all of those who were qualified to inherit the title would be dead, and the power of the Swordmaster would disappear from this world.
“Oh, you are rather impressive. This is much more fun than dealing with that self-important woman!” At some point, the UEG had split into four people. Facing her were four Knights. They were the only ones who had managed to actually put up some sort of fight. The rest had been mercilessly cut down. Though it wasn’t clear whether they were dead or alive, they were on the ground, unmoving.
“Hiyaah!” Bram of the Heavenly Blade threw his enormous ringblade. As the blade howled towards her, the UEG deflected it with a backhand swing. But that wasn’t the end of the attack. The deflected blade split in two, both halves arcing back towards her. Every time the UEG knocked them away, they split apart and came back around. Before long there were more blades than could be counted, and the UEG was on the back foot.
At the same time, the other Knights were fighting the other UEGs. Marton of the Resonating Blade stood at a distance from the woman, swinging around a blade with strange holes in it. As it moved, the sword wailed, causing the earth to surge, the wind to howl, and thunder to resound.
Marino of the Demolishing Blade had a weapon like fog. The blade of her sword was hazy and unclear. When she swung it, the UEG’s own weapon was sliced cleanly in half. Anything Marino’s blade touched dissolved and vanished. Recognizing that defending against it was impossible, the UEG hurriedly began dodging out of the way.
Orba of the Absolute Blade held no weapon at all. He fought using kicks and punches, but his barehanded strikes had no trouble deflecting the UEG’s sword and pushing her back.
I am not Miss Dannoura, but he hardly seems like a swordsman, does he?
Rick recalled a girl he had traveled with in the past. She had complained about Teresa of the Thunderous Blade fighting in a way that didn’t seem to match the name “swordswoman.” As one climbed the ranks of swordsmanship, they grew more and more distant from humanity. At some point they even overcame the need for a weapon, but Rick didn’t know much about that. He could understand swinging a weapon to strike an opponent outside of one’s reach, but throwing away the sword entirely and fighting with one’s bare hands was beyond his understanding.
That said, the monstrous skill of the swordsmen before him was encouraging. Rick glanced behind him. The Divine King was in the process of performing some sort of ritual. In response to the complicated motions of her hands, light drew lines in the air, creating a sphere covered in complex geometrical shapes. He had no idea how far along the ritual was, but he could tell that magical energy was gathering in the center of that sphere. It would only be a little longer. If they could stall awhile, the Divine King should be able to break the stalemate.
Rick was essentially powerless here, so as much as it irked him, he could only stand and watch the fight. But before long, he noticed something was amiss. The fight was far too even. This was an opponent the Divine King was going to great lengths to defeat. There should have been no way for the Knights to defeat her, no matter how powerful they were. And yet the fierce battle continued.
The UEG was likely holding back. Gauging each of her opponents’ abilities, she was fighting at a level to match them. Though that was perfect for their purpose of buying time, it left him feeling uneasy.
“Rick! How long is this going to continue?!”
Lynel called out to him. He couldn’t help but feel ashamed, being unable to participate in the fight even after telling Lynel to go hide. In the end, Rick had ended up being just as useless.
“She has already begun condensing the magical energy, so it should only be a little while longer,” Frederica said from Lynel’s side. She had once recklessly attempted to slay a Dark God on her own but had apparently become more careful since then. She wasn’t attacking with no regard for the strength of her opponent anymore.
The sphere of light had begun to shrink. The amount of magical energy pouring in was increasing, so things seemed to be going well.
“I have no idea what’s going on, but if the Divine King pulls this off, we’ll win, right?” Lynel asked.
“This is a ritual to seal away a Dark God. It can seal the target away in a prison of time.”
“But the last time she had to sacrifice herself to do it, right?”
“No, normally the Dark God would be sealed away alone, so if things go well, there should be no problem.” But Rick had no confidence it would actually go that well. He still wasn’t sure what exactly was happening in this situation.
“Hmm. This has been quite interesting, but time is up. Restrain yourselves,” the UEG instructed.
That simple command dropped the Knights to the ground. They were each on their stomachs, their faces pressed into the dirt, like something from up above was pushing them down. Though they struggled desperately to resist, any progress they made resulted in them immediately being pushed back down.
Three of the UEGs disappeared, leaving one. In the end, they had failed to so much as scratch her as she toyed with them, but their objective of buying time for the Divine King had been achieved.
“Is there a way to beat someone who can make clones of themselves so easily?!”
“I would like to believe there is no such thing as an invincible foe. Also...my Holy Sword Orz is telling me it is not an opponent that cannot be defeated.”
The weapon in Rick’s hand was a legendary Holy Sword, passed down through the royal family. Though the authenticity of the legend was in doubt, it was true it had slain the goddess Vahanato at the sealing tower. The sword was now letting off a dull heat, trembling faintly. It felt to Rick like it was demanding to be used, demanding he slay another god.
“Now then, it appears your preparations are more or less complete, but simply standing still and taking it does not sound interesting to me. I shall fight you for a time, so see if you can accomplish something.”
The UEG had underestimated the remaining Knights. If she fought at full strength, all her enemies would be wiped out instantly. Feeling that would be boring, she had held back, enjoying watching others fight desperately against her. But if she refused to go all out against a weaker opponent, that might be the opening Rick needed to make a difference.
Either way, he didn’t have time to calmly think things through. The UEG was walking towards the Divine King. He had to do something to stop her. His skills as a swordsman fell far short of that of the other Knights, but he still had the powers of the Swordmaster. He could only hope they would provide him some chance at victory.
“Umm, excuse me!”
As Rick accepted his almost inevitable death and made to block the UEG, Lynel raised a hand. He was standing right in front of her.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Oh? While I was going to take your life eventually, I figured I would spare you for now if you did not interfere.”
Lynel immediately regretted calling out. If he had said nothing, he might have survived a little longer. But no matter how weak he was, he was still a Knight of the Divine King. He needed to do anything he could to support the Divine King in her attack. If he couldn’t fight, he could at least try to buy her some time.
“Uhh, I was hoping I could ask you something...”
“I guess we have yet to have a proper conversation.”
“Well, uhh, you seem like a god of some renown, so could I ask you what your name is?” Lynel had once managed to successfully buy some time by just making a goddess talk with him. He felt like he might be able to pull off the same thing here.
Compared to a god, a human was a pathetic, meaningless being. In that case, she would likely view him as harmless and would have no reason to kill him immediately. So if he tried talking to her, there was a chance she would respond.
“Hmm. I suppose I never introduced myself to you. My apologies. I completely forgot that I demanded you all know exactly who it was that killed you. Allow me to introduce myself again. I am the Ultimate Extermination God. You may call me UEG for short.”
“I see. What a bloodthirsty...err, fantastic name! So what are you doing here, Miss UEG? We were summoned here and told to fight right away, so I have no idea what’s going on.”
“I am the Ultimate Extermination God, and I am here to exterminate you. That said, there is no need for me to personally see to the deaths of all you rabble, so I have left much of the task to my subordinates. As such, I only take the lives of those I find worthy. I noticed the beginning of a great ritual in this area, so I came here, thinking it was started as a countermeasure against me.”
Well, if her objective is to exterminate everyone, there’s not much I can say...
If she had some sort of wish, he thought he might be able to buy some time by granting it for her, but if her only goal was to kill people, there was nothing he could do.
“I have no need to take the lives of the likes of you, but if you are going to stand in my path, then I have no other choice. Consider it an honor.”
“W-Wait, please wait! Umm, from what it looked like earlier, it seemed like you weren’t going all out back there. Does that mean you were just playing with them?!”
“Of course. If I were to exert myself fully, the lot of you would already be dead. I am taking the utmost caution to restrain myself.”
“Uhh, in that case. If you just want to play, I think you can do that without fighting. Why don’t we have a contest?”
“Oh? I suppose in the end it matters little what you do. But I am not that obsessed with combat. I do not particularly enjoy fighting all that much. What kind of contest did you have in mind?”
Lynel could tell from the UEG’s eyes that if he said something stupid here, he would die instantly.
“Well, how about this? I have a wand here.” Lynel pulled a small wand out from his chest pocket. A red stone the size of his fist sat on the tip of it.
“Hmm. It appears to have some latent magical energy. Is that a type of weapon?”
“Yes. It shoots balls of fire from its tip. I can’t use magic or anything, so I had Frederica power it for me.” Lynel pointed the wand at the UEG.
“I believe you already understand, but you realize magic of that level has no chance of harming me, correct?”
“Yes. But it has more than enough to kill me a hundred times over!”
“Hm?” A puzzled expression rose to her face at his strange proclamation. It seemed he had managed to pique her curiosity.
“This is the contest I have in mind. I’m going to attack you with this wand! If I die, then I win!”
“Hmmm? I do not follow.”
“Look at the wand. Can you use your powers as a god to tell if there is anything strange about it?”
“Hmm...it appears to be filled to the limit with magical energy, but there is nothing strange...”
“So normally, if I use it, it should just shoot a fireball. Right?”
“That appears to be the case.”
“But actually, I have terrible luck. So! If I use this wand, there’s a good chance it’ll just explode and kill me! I’m betting on that! What do you think?! You said you didn’t see anything wrong with it. So it should work perfectly fine. That should be enough for us to gamble on what happens, right?”
“If your luck is horrendous, and you wish for it to explode, does it not make more sense that it would fail to do as you wished? And what meaning is there in winning if the condition is your own death? If I win, I will simply kill you myself.”
“Oh!”
“You are quite the fool, aren’t you?” The UEG sighed, but she didn’t end the conversation. He was buying time, just like he had hoped. “That said, I have never once had someone propose such a foolish endeavor. Very well. I shall take your bet.”
“Huh? Really?”
“What is wrong? Are you getting cold feet already?”
“Umm...you’re not going to use your godly powers to stop the wand from exploding, right?!”
“Correct. I will not interfere with your wand. The rule of the contest is that if the wand explodes, you win. If it does not, then I win. I suppose if you win, I need to grant you some sort of reward. Very well. You seem to be in a relationship, so I will promise to kill that girl last,” she said, looking at Frederica in the distance.
“Umm...how about just giving up on the extermination?”
“That is impossible. Your life alone is hardly sufficient compensation. If you are going to keep stalling, shall we call off the contest altogether?”
“Okay, here I go, then.” Lynel had died plenty of times. He had lost most of his fear of death, but he wasn’t looking forward to the wand exploding right in front of him. He pointed the wand at the UEG, closed his eyes, and flicked the switch.
With a loud boom, his hand holding the wand was thrown back. The force of the explosion threw him onto the ground. Lynel tentatively opened his eyes. The fact he was feeling pain at all indicated that he was still alive. The wand in his hands was in perfect condition. It had launched a powerful fireball but hadn’t exploded.
So what about the result of the attack? Lynel looked at the UEG. She was lying face up on the ground. Her right leg had been blown off, making it impossible for her to stand.
“Huh? What the—”
“It is just as you see. It failed to explode, so I have won!”
“Really? It just fired like normal?” Lynel was shocked by the result. He had said he would win if he died, but he hadn’t expected that to change his luck. He had been sure his bad luck would have caused the wand to explode.
“But...you said a wand like this wouldn’t be able to hurt you...” That was also bizarre. Even the high-ranking Knights had been unable to harm her, so there was no way the wand Frederica had given him would be strong enough.
“It was what is called a critical hit. Though it is rare, due to the interactions between various types of magical energy, the power of the attack can be boosted to an incredible degree. This enhancement was beyond my expectations, so my body was blown away.”
The UEG modified the sturdiness of her body to match her opponents. In other words, an attack that far exceeded her expectations had a chance of hurting her.
“But why...” It was strange enough that the wand had successfully fired at all, but not only that, it had done so with extraordinary power. For Lynel, who was used to his own atrocious luck, such a thing was unimaginable.
“It is quite simple. I altered your luck. The rule was that I could not interfere with the wand, so that much was allowed, yes?”
“You can do that?!”
“I am a god. Something like that is child’s—”
Then she froze.
“Well done.”
The next thing Lynel knew, Rick and the Divine King were standing at his side. Though he had forgotten his own objective halfway through, it seemed like his plan had been a success.
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