"I have to go there right now...!"

The Inquisitor reflexively turned her steps.

Stagger.

However, her body swayed helplessly. It was like that even though she had deactivated the sanctuary since it was no longer needed. The aftermath of exerting too much power at once was etched into her body.

She swept a hand over her hot face and grabbed the battlement.

BOOM!

"Ah, we're screwed."

It was the exact same timing as the Meister muttering monotonously along with the ringing sound.

With a chilling sensation on the back of her neck, the Inquisitor turned her gaze back to the sea.

SCREEEECH!

The monster, its neck punctured by the small projectile and the inside of its shell churned up, was howling.

SLITHER.

However, if there was a new addition, it was that something pure white crawled out from inside its wound.

"... Head division?"

A head resembling a turtle's, but with thinner, slenderer, and smoother lines, popped out of the hole.

Bursting through the small wound, it looked exactly like a new head was growing. The pale, gleaming scales piercing through the darkness of the night felt nothing but ominous.

"No, that's closer to a snake."

However, if it were truly a turtle's head, there was no way the two heads would look different. Furthermore, there was no reason for the turtle's head and neck to shrivel up like they had lost their insides.

The pure white head coiled spirally around the turtle's drooping neck and head. The turtle's head, leaning against the pure white head, looked like well-dried leather. Not a single movement.

"... Let's run away for now. Since there's no way to attack that thing anymore."

"Go. I am staying here."

"Suit yourself. Are you going to do that too, Hero?"

However, from all those sights, there was one thing that could be known for sure.

"... I."

The battle here was not over yet.

"... If I."

Moreover, behind her were soldiers who were just now leaving the castle wall.

"If I retreat from here, what will happen to this place?"

The soldiers who would be crushed to death if they couldn't stop that monster's advance.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the exact moment when the beings on the castle wall hadn't even fired their first shot yet.

I ran forward to retrieve the Zweihander left lying on the ground. Since my longsword was ruined, the only weapon I could use was the Zweihander, so I had no choice.

SIZZLE.

The sword, which had just been swallowed by lightning, was incredibly hot, but I roughly ignored that too.

Whether my palms cooked from grabbing a weapon heated by lightning and fighting, or from catching the lava that demon spewed out with my bare hands, it was the same either way.

The faceless demon brought only one of its three pairs of arms together, pressing its fingers against each other, and let out a laughing sound.

RUMBLE!

Oh, naturally, just because it was that Zweihander didn't mean I could swing it around recklessly.

It simply wouldn't break; the True Zweihander was also an iron sword, and metal attracted lightning. Damn it.

So I quickly snatched up the Zweihander, threw it into my inventory, and ran as if rolling. SWISH. The hem of my coat curved along my body.

CRASH!

A lightning bolt struck behind me by a hair's breadth, and my body—standing while slightly stepping on the coat? Or sitting?—kicked the ground hard.

My bent knees gained momentum, shooting me forward. Now, it was the lava zone again.

CRUMBLE-RUMBLE!

In the middle of that, rock spears rushed at me from the front. As if welcoming me to the lava zone, spikes erupted half a beat late wherever I stepped, as an added bonus.

The sheer malice of forcing me to move at top speed, making it hard to dodge the rock spears flying from the front, was absolutely genius.

However, if it thought I couldn't handle that just because I was barehanded, it was gravely mistaken.

With a feeling like my brain was being squeezed, I manipulated my mana with extreme precision.

The goal was to protect my hands by using mana very thinly, to the absolute minimum.

SMACK.

Then, I grabbed the first rock spear that approached me. It felt similar to catching an arrow.

I added strength to grip the spear trying to slide past with friction against my palm, and swung it just like that.

The rock spear, spinning rapidly like a pinwheel, deflected all the others.

Was it because their durability was similar? Rather than unilaterally breaking them, they chipped away at each other and quickly became tattered.

Well, I never hoped to use it for long anyway, so I guess it didn't matter.

After jamming the rock spear, which was right on the verge of breaking, into a flying volcanic bomb, I pulled the volcanic bomb down and simultaneously launched my body up using the recoil.

A spike missed piercing my heel by a hair's breadth, and my airborne body kicked another volcanic bomb.

Floundering once in midair using only my core strength, I landed in a spot without lava and took out the dagger I had kept in my inventory to throw it.

RUMBLE. The clouds cried.

BOOM!

Just as I expected.

When I threw it at some building debris on the highest ground possible, lightning struck down on it shortly after.

The electricity that spread across the floor was tingly, but this much was bearable.

I kept an eye out for locations to stick my dagger into next, while dodging the heaving earth and the lava giant's fists.

SPLASH!

Then, for a moment, the canal began to fill with water. The magma that touched the water created hazy steam before cooling off entirely.

Considering the experience of almost sinking slowly after mistakenly stepping in the lava pooled in the canal, it wasn't a bad thing.

If the volume of water wasn't enough to cover all the magma, it was better to have it hardened so I wouldn't fall into the canal.

In addition, this would also reduce the radius of the lava spreading through the canal. The lava that touched the water would harden on its own and act as a wall.

Thinking about the future, this was definitely better.

I ignored the question of why water was filling up and dragged my feet. My military boots, scraping the stone floor, soon flew through the air.

CRASH!

A couple of volcanic bombs smashed into the spot where I had just been.

["You've only been dodging since a while ago; you look like a guinea pig, it's cute. Ah, do you know what a guinea pig is? It's a rat about this big..."]

Guinea pigs aren't part of the rat family, they're part of the cavy family, so calling it a rat is incorrect, you ignorant demon fuck.

I swallowed my breath as I remembered the guinea pig one of my friends used to raise.

If that guy had heard that, he would have blabbered at it to stop reeking of stupidity and piss off, saying it was making him feel ignorant just listening. What a shame.

SMACK!

Meanwhile, my body, wading through the lava, executed a flying kick on a lava mob.

I wanted to hit it with a dropkick, but since I wasn't confident in executing a proper breakfall—and most importantly, because the floor was lava—I gave up on that.

Of course, as a replacement, I stepped over the body of the mob that had collapsed from being hit by the flying kick. BOOM! The volcanic bombs and rock spears that had smashed in right behind me exploded, splashing lava.

Magma that turned into spikes in midair aimed for me, missing by a hair.

ROOOAAR!

That wasn't all. The lava giant, perhaps deciding that constantly swinging its fists wasn't working, changed its strategy to vomiting.

Blargh, the poured-out lava rained down like a shower, aiming for my unprotected upper body.

["If you give up even now, I could make an exception and keep you as a pet instead of killing you, Gretchen!"]

"Piss off."

However, I had already gone through too many shitty moments to yield to something like this. Just today alone, the moment I got hit by lightning felt way more fucked up, so that said it all.

My body shot forward, dodging the pouring magma. A few drops I couldn't completely avoid melted my clothes and left a deep burn on my shoulder, but it was somewhat bearable. Getting struck by lightning was worse than this.

["Haha, yeah. Honestly, I didn't even expect you to accept."]

Around that point, the demon in the middle of the lava made a move.

Was it coming to me personally? A sliver of expectation bloomed in my chest, which was about to go crazy from its pesky long-range attacks.

["What expectation? Wouldn't you be suspicious instead?"]

Instead of itself, a volcanic bomb flew over.

This fucker...

CRASH!

What was even more annoying was that it was considerably different from a normal volcanic bomb.

I twitched my lips as I watched the volcanic bomb rolling over, having not only blown up its body massively but also clad itself in spiked armor—was it a spiked ball?

A few curses that would have been censored to ♡♡ in a game with a chat filter hovered on my tongue. It made my vow to curse less seem like a joke.

But honestly speaking, wouldn't even Buddha give me a pass for this?

Because of the field's characteristics, I had to steadily consume mana just to move, meaning I couldn't use mana-consuming attacks carelessly, and the enemy's attacks were raining down non-stop, so there was zero window for DPS! The boss was far away too, so there were many times I had to throw away even the rare DPS window I did get!!

How could even Buddha endure this without getting pissed off!!

SPIT!

On top of that, just because the lava giant spat a bit, the mobs were doing the exact same thing.

Since I was on top of lava, I couldn't even roll around, so I twisted my entire body to dodge somehow. When it felt critical, I would momentarily summon the Zweihander I had stored in my inventory.

RUMBLE!

["To think a moment would come where I overwhelm you; you really never know what the world has in store."]

'Put it away, you stupid fuck!'

"...!"

Though after nearly getting struck by lightning while doing that, I felt like I really couldn't bring myself to take it out again.

SMACK!

However, while trying so hard to dodge the lightning, I discovered one new fact.

Those mobs made of lava exploded when hit by lightning. Since they were in a hot liquid state, they didn't melt more or shatter, but unable to withstand the injected energy, they would naturally burst with a pop.

["It's a shame if you look away!"]

Then was it possible for that lava giant too? Could I blow up that damn giant as well?

RUMBLE!

Right on cue, the clouds roared.

A lightning bolt would strike in about 3 seconds.

"Hup!"

Showing a tailored response to the attacks that had slowly settled into a pattern, I glanced at the demon's hand. The handful of pearls it was holding was truly pissing me off.

THWACK!

Anyway, the dagger I threw half-in-doubt ended up lodging itself into the lava giant's forearm with its sharp edge pointing up.

It was the very next moment that the lightning directly struck the giant's arm. The overcurrent burrowing into the lava through the dagger acting as a lightning rod caused the giant's arm to explode with a bang.

[...!]

"...!"

The giant's hand and forearm were separated.

I had thought "no way," but it actually worked.

["Hah. Dealing with it like this?"]

Alright. From now on, the giant was locked in as the lightning rod.

I took advantage of the opening created by the giant losing its arm to shoot my body forward. If I dodged the spiked balls and stepped on the volcanic bombs to jump, the demon would soon be right in front of my nose.

Taking advantage of the absence of rolling sounds, the temporarily drawn Zweihander received a full load of strength as it was gripped tightly in both hands.

"...!"

Brace yourself, you dog-like demon fuck.

Using the mana I had painstakingly saved up, I even coated it in sword aura. Since there weren't many opportunities to get this close, I had to deal the maximum amount of DPS right now.

["I'll praise you for that, Gretchen—!"]

Suddenly, a tearing laugh echoed through the air.

["I didn't expect this!"]

'No! If you get closer—!'

Even while feeling anxious at that laughter, I closed the remaining distance in a single breath. The illusion of the faceless demon grinning appeared right after.

SPLASH! The demon submerged into the lava, dodging my sword trajectory. This fucker? Naturally, I was utterly dumbfounded.

'Coming from behind!'

SPLASH!

But was my enemy the kind of opponent who would be considerate just because I was dumbfounded? Absolutely not.

I heard the unnatural splashing sound of magma and responded immediately. The sound came from right behind me, down by my feet.

CLAAAAAAAAASH!

I twisted my body as fast as I could and swung the Zweihander as if scraping the floor.

CLANG!

A hand that looked like it was trying to slice off my calf muscle was blocked by the Zweihander. Of course, since that bastard had—damn it all—six hands, I immediately took a backstep.

Sure enough, my judgment wasn't wrong, as the demon's hands sliced through the empty air where I had just been.

["Fufufu, hahahaha!"]

With an unpleasant laugh slicing fluidly through the air, the demon melted back into the magma.

My body, having jumped back as if flying, stepped on a collapsed building fragment and heightened its senses to the maximum.

'You merchant fuck, if only I could step up directly...!'

Damn it. Beneath my sharply focused reason was a brimming, boiling emotion.

["But... but, Gretchen. It seems I, who prepared, was stronger than you without the flame."]

Fuck, could an unreasonable fight like this even exist?

This is a raid?

["Ahahahaha!"]

This, something like this.

Rumble.

The distance was too far to throw a dagger at the giant. As soon as the dark clouds cried out, I threw the Zweihander as far away as possible.

A ground strike of lightning hit by a hair's breadth. BOOM! The Zweihander began to fall, struck by lightning.

"Damn it...!"

In this situation, the ground I was standing on heaved, preparing for a lava eruption. I spotted the demon's form appearing far away and clenched my fists tightly as I watched the spiked ball rolling toward me.

CRASH!

Before the lava exploded from beneath me, my body floated up as if taking flight.

In doing so, the Zweihander, which was glowing red-hot, was grabbed by my hand before it could stick into the magma. The leather, distorted by the heat, stuck to my hand.

["Really now, I quite like your angry face. If you were truly Wrath, I wouldn't have even been able to see an expression like this."]

Holding onto the sword in midair, I twisted my body to slice a mob and ran, dodging the giant that was vomiting magma with a missing arm.

BOOM!

A spiked ball blocked my path once more, but now I was holding a sword. Though it felt like a waste, I extended the sword aura long on the Zweihander, split it apart, and moved past it.

The spread lava shone in circular patches here and there, and then spikes began to shoot up. Above that, lightning struck randomly and uproariously.

["But playtime is slowly coming to an end."]

Could anyone dodge that by seeing it?

The answer was 'no.'

["Blowing a chance due to carelessness isn't something a merchant does, you see."]

'Dammit, dod—!'

Dodging by seeing the flash was realistically impossible. Yeah, beating the speed of light without even knowing the impact point made no sense at all.

Until now, I had only avoided it by listening to the sound and baiting it, or just running outright. When it was rumbling and crashing everywhere like it was now, even that was impossible.

CRACK-A-BOOOM!

"Keuhuk!"

'Fuck!'

And so I finally got struck by the lightning, and subsequently allowed a hit from a mob that popped up right after.

Unable to even react due to the numbness, my body flew through the air and tumbled away into the distance.

Even in that moment, lightning lashed my body two more times. My vision blinked black, then flashed white, and then turned red.

It was unreasonable.

Along with a hollow laugh, a sense of unfairness stealthily reared its head.

SQUELCH!

What was even funnier was that, even amidst all this, my landing location luck was scraping the bottom of the barrel. Whether my shoulder was perfectly impaled on a piece of collapsed building debris or not, blood splattered with a stinging shock.

"Keuh."

Something flowed out from my mouth, from my nose. The dancing flames all around told me that it was, apparently, blood.

My entire body was hot, so very hot.

"..."

Really, only a hollow laugh came out.

["Just asking, but do you feel like you're going to die?"]

... What meaning was there in a fight like this? If it was going to end up like this anyway, what value was there in me running until my feet sweat all this time?

It was hard to even attack, the distance I painstakingly closed went to waste, and if it was destined to end with me getting hit by a random attack and collapsing in a situation like this anyway, then I...

Cough.

I didn't bother trying to hold back the blood welling up. My vision, which kept blurring and sharpening as it lost focus, somehow had a strange field of view.

It felt as if it had shrunk to two-thirds of its size.

["Tell me if you feel like dying. I have to preserve you, after all."]

Hm, ah. Did one of my eyes get cooked?

Thinking that I was even experiencing the sensation of my eyeball cooking, I put strength into my legs and shoulders.

If asked why I was doing this when it was so painful, well...

I thought it was too late to look for a reason. Fighting demons had become closer to momentum than resolve or determination now.

A momentum no different from taking a single step to approach the illusion called the ending.

SHLUCK.

Thus, I raised my body even in this laughable situation, and accordingly, my impaled shoulder was pulled free. Blood streamed down from the spot where the sharp splinter of wood had pierced me.

["But it's quite surprising in its own right that you still have the strength left to stand."]

Fuuuuuck. I'm going to kill the guy who designed it so that one of the few Great Demon raids has to be cleared on the first blind try. I'm definitely going to kill the GM who tells you to just ram your head into a brand new raid with no guide and clear it.

After somehow covering up my despondency with a joke, I took out my dagger to stop the bleeding.

The dagger, glowing red hot after being dipped into and pulled out of the magma once, was pressed right onto the wound.

SIZZLE.

Cauterizing a wound with fire. It was an age-old method of treating bleeding passed down since ancient times. Or not.

["Weren't you human? Could humans possess such a tenacious life?"]

Even though my pain stat had regulated the agony, did it still feel this shitty?

Gaining a newfound wave of anger from that fact, I let out a hot breath. Stagger. Even if I didn't feel the pain, damage was steadily accumulating on my body, making me sway for a moment.

["Well... I suppose you have to be at least that much to suppress Wrath despite merely being a vessel."]

But I couldn't stop. I couldn't afford to stop.

'If it's unfair, get angry.'

Like I said earlier, I had come too far to stop now.

'Then I will kill that thing for you.'

CREEEEAK.

A metallic scraping sound came from somewhere, and my hand twitched into a fist.

BOOM, BANG. The sounds of a fierce battle reached me from the castle wall far away.

'I'll tear that bastard to death somehow...! '

That was another reason I couldn't stop.

'Fuck, so get angry already! Stop holding onto the initiative so much!!'

My body, which felt completely cooked after taking two lightning strikes, fully stood up.

"I'll kill it."

Where was my Zweihander? Ah, did I put it away? Yeah. I think it's in my inventory.

"Demon."

My body took a step forward again.

["There's no way I'd just sit back and watch that."]

'Fuck!'

SMASH!

Suddenly, an immense pressure slammed into my entire body. I couldn't tell what had attacked me.

It might have been lightning, or it might have been something else.

Not even a scream came out, and my thoughts were cut and pieced back together repeatedly. It felt like I had skipped through time.

Even the pain faded away so distantly that it didn't provide any sensation. The world was white.

"...!"

["—but the entrance to the Pantheon is complete."]

Thud. A few seconds like that. Or maybe a few minutes. My barely returning consciousness groped at the world. Above the distant senses, I vaguely realized that something was crushing my body.

My closed vision blinked, and I saw what was compressing me.

["Now, even the Hero can't stop this."]

What was crushing me was a giant arm made of rock.

... Hah.

A laugh escaped me before I knew it.

["Let's go, demons."]

So it was a fight I couldn't win from the start.

It was an unwinnable battle in the first place.

["Starting today, the destruction of the East will begin!"]

I vacantly stared behind the faceless demon. A black temple proudly revealing its form, and the swarms of countless demons pouring out from it.

It seemed what that bastard had been preparing was something similar to an infinite summoning circle. If I had known it would be like this, I would have destroyed the ritual altar first, even at the cost of sacrificing my whole body.

'Damn it. Hey, are you still dragging your feet?!'

... No, even if I had known, could I have destroyed it? I lowered my rustling eyelids as I recalled all the calculated moves that had amounted to nothing every time I tried them.

'Even if that guy is like that because he doesn't know the mechanics, you're not!'

As if. I wouldn't have been able to stop it even if I knew.

I was certain of that, basing it on my entire body that had no strength and didn't even feel like it had limbs attached anymore.

No matter how much I wanted to stop that, I couldn't stop it.

["It starts with this city. Kill every human in the city."]

Right, I can't stop that.

Because I'm weak,

Because that's too strong.

Because that thing completely broke the balance to an absurd degree, I can't win.

'We're all going to die at this rate! Not just you and me, but everyone in this entire area!'

Fuuuuck. Is this what you call a game? This, something like this...

Sorrow over my lacking combat power, and furthermore, resentment over the unfairness and absurdity welled up.

Why did I have to suffer this kind of dog-shit situation? An incredibly clear indignation flowed over my melted and distorted skin. Why did I have to fight such an unreasonable battle? The emotion, having taken physical form, flowed past the damp hollow of my eyes, past my ears, and trickled down to the back of my head.

Of my body that wouldn't listen as if my nerves had been cut off, it was the only organ that reflected my will.

'Are you saying you don't even care!?'

However, even that felt like it was slowly slipping out of control. Along with the feeling that my extremities had been lost, even moving my head was difficult now. In fact, even forming these thoughts was. My head kept trying to turn white, like I had stayed up for three days and nights straight.

Thoughts weren't thoughts, and thinking wasn't thinking. I was hazy. I wanted to sleep.

'Dammit, dammit, dammit!'

... It would be so comfortable if I just slept like this.

'Damn it. Get up, I said get up!'

... If I just died like this, no more.

'Get up!'

... Ah.

["Um, Master of the Pantheon. What should we do with that?"]

["Just get ready to fight. Wrath will wake up soon."]

I barely lifted my eyelids at the words of the Lord that barely surfaced in my mind. ["Because the lives of the evacuating people are all resting on you."] I still had a job left to do.

["Yep."]

Therefore, therefore, I squeezed out my final bit of strength. Just then, the rock hand stopped crushing me and was being brushed aside. The sky opened up.

SWISH.

A flare appeared in my empty hand.

["Huh?"]

CLICK.

I forcefully moved my arm, making the bottom of the flare strike the ground. As the trigger was activated, the flare began to operate.

FWOOOOOOSH!!

["Whoa! Master of the Pantheon, that guy just moved!"]

["What, he's still not done?"]

Briefly, such a thought crossed my mind. Was there anyone left capable of coming here? Did the Hero's party have enough leeway left to come here?

But... even if there wasn't anyone, it didn't matter.

Even if they couldn't help me... they would at least learn of the danger here through the flare.

BANG!