Le Petit Prince (4)

The <Mocking Slaughterer>, Nidhogg was staring blankly into the void. A bewildering situation.

It took him some time to accept what was happening.

“What… is this?”

A pale, floating form in front of him. A small ghost that he hadn’t detected because there was no wind.

-Hoeeeeng, I’ve been spotted!

Hecate wailed.

That ghostly wail, like always, was tinged with mischief.

And as if to prove it wasn’t a lie, Hecate, who had been crying “hoeng” as if in agony, suddenly grinned and pulled out a dollhouse from thin air.

-Hmm, hmm!

Click.

Hecate opened the dollhouse’s lid, revealing its interior.

Smaller ghosts that had been inside the tiny house spread out into the air as if through an unclogged chimney, quickly engulfing the space.

-This is a good spot! From now on, this is Necropolis Branch #4562!

Boom!

A gray world completely consumed Nidhogg’s territory.

Despite the intense heat, a thick fog rolled in, and beyond it, the form of a massive city emerged.

“What kind of trick is…”

-By the way.

While Nidhogg was belatedly shocked by this sequence of events.

-When you see your senior, shouldn’t you greet them properly?

BANG!

A massive spectral form stomped on Nidhogg’s head from the sky.

Semi-transparent flesh. Bones visible inside and a cold, burning heart.

The monstrous creature with enormous spread wings pinned down Nidhogg while growling.

-Grrrrrrrr where! Dooooo you think! I never expected you’d hold your head so stiffly before your senior! Heng! Heheng! Hoheheheheheng!

While it was a true dragon subduing and pinning down Nidhogg, all the boasting was Hecate’s.

The true dragon frowned at Hecate’s behavior and said.

-Yongsik, teach that punk a lesson!

-My name is not Yongsik but the Binding Nightmare, Vritra!

-Right! Yongsik!

-When our contract ends, I will surely tear you to shreds.

-Yeah! Can you do that? Our contract won’t end, right? It automatically extends, right? Hohenghengheng!

Grit!

At Hecate’s bizarre laughter, the sound of the dragon grinding its teeth was heard.

Strangely, that sound came from both dragons.

*     *      *

While Nidhogg was struggling with the sudden ambush,

<Wind Witherer> Vedrfolnir was watching an entity that had boldly stepped into his territory.

Click! Click!

The sound of turning gears was cluttering his ears.

“La la la la la la~”

“……”

A boy approached with light steps, humming as if on a picnic.

Vedrfolnir didn’t underestimate him.

No, he couldn’t possibly do so.

Vedrfolnir could tell that this boy wasn’t human.

His domain was already windless. By blocking the flow of air itself, not only was movement impossible, but even breathing was out of the question.

Yet this small boy was forcibly tearing open the space.

He wasn’t even breathing.

“Hello!”

“You little… what are you?”

“I’m Pinocchio!”

“What a strange name.”

“It’s not strange! My dad gave it to me!”

“Is that so?”

Pinocchio huffed angrily like a boy his age would.

Vedrfolnir couldn’t understand him at all.

It was an eerie feeling. The clicking sound that was still confusing his ears.

Thousands, tens of thousands of consistent sounds all coming from this one small boy.

It was chilling.

“Apologize! Say you’re sorry! You bad bird! I’ll turn you into fried chicken!”

“What an impudent brat. Well, I don’t need to listen to this.”

Vedrfolnir’s power, the windless state zone, began to create a vacuum.

As a result, even Pinocchio’s angry voice couldn’t escape.

The astonishing thing was that Pinocchio was still moving.

It wouldn’t be strange if his body burst from the inside due to the pressure difference.

Yet Pinocchio remained exactly as before, yelling angrily and stomping his feet.

“Bad bird.”

“……”

“I was right. You are a bad bird.”

Pinocchio, who had been raging like a child, suddenly spoke with a calm demeanor.

His expression was like the smile of a mischievous prankster.

‘Wait, how can he speak…?’

Cliiiiiiiiiiink───!!

At that moment, the sound of turning gears that had been cluttering Vedrfolnir’s ears began to amplify fiercely.

A distinct rotation loud enough to be heard even by those who weren’t wind manipulators like him.

More surprising was that it had a presence clear enough to transcend even the vacuum state.

“Deus Ex Machina deployment.”

Click!

Pinocchio’s back opened up.

Countless mechanical devices and wires sprung out from it.

They intertwined, combined, and interlocked.

A massive mechanical device, impossibly large to have emerged from such a small body, was completed.

Was it because of the heart made from a piece of the World Tree? The mechanical device Pinocchio created looked like a giant tree, and Pinocchio hung from it like a marionette.

“Response Type C excluding explosion systems, switching to optical equipment.”

Snicker.

Along with Pinocchio’s mischievous smile, bright luminous fruits began to grow on the mechanical tree.

“Fire all rounds!”

*     *      *

On the left, eerie ghostly wails could be heard; on the right, the sound of interlocking gears.

One side felt like a ghost city, the other like a city from the future.

Yes, both trials were grand enough in scale and majesty to each resemble a city unto themselves.

Then what about this side?

Now that spring had just begun,

The opponent was the master of biting wind, the most powerful among the <Wind’s Tomb>.

One who takes lives with biting wind and devours corpses with cold wind.

“Why the expression?”

<Corpse Devourer>, Hraesvelgr.

“You said we’d meet again, didn’t you?”

So I came directly.

Had he said I couldn’t escape like before? Of course not.

“You bastard.”

Because we came to hunt birds.

A massive form visible through the blizzard. Menacing eyes looking this way.

A threatening murderous intent to match.

It’s frightening, certainly. But even so, there’s no hesitation. I’ve crossed these lines between life and death dozens of times before.

I carry too heavy a burden to be blown away by mere winds of death.

“I warned you clearly.”

“Was that a warning? More like a threat.”

“You’re hastening your death.”

“The way you talk, one might think you were going to spare me. Línea.”

At my call, purple light surged toward Hraesvelgr, who kept spouting nonsense.

“How dare you!”

With Claire’s position changed, the weapon she used as backup now belonged to Línea.

Instead of removing the effect that converts holy power into bullets, I filled that empty space with mana. Originally, guns aren’t particularly effective weapons.

After all, the amount of mana that can be loaded into a single bullet is limited.

But weapons made by Geppetto are of a different quality.

“Kuaaack!”

A weapon that refines Línea’s aura and utilizes it as a weapon in itself.

Aura blade transformed into bullets.

While the efficiency is terrible, its power is correspondingly tremendous.

Well, just being able to use aura alone makes it a weapon with aura blade-level power.

It’s not unreasonable that it can pierce through Hraesvelgr’s biting wind.

“Well done, Línea. You’re a hundred times better than Claire.”

“Why is this recoil so strong? I thought my shoulder was going to dislocate!”

“That’s probably because of all the modifications.”

It was originally Claire’s weapon that we converted for Línea’s use.

A gun with strong recoil to begin with. Didn’t Claire’s shoulder get shattered just from firing one shot? And that was after reducing the recoil as much as possible for her sake.

But now, there’s no need for that.

Claire no longer needs a self-defense weapon, and Línea no longer tries to hide her power.

It has finally found its true owner.

“Now fall back. The provocation seems to have worked sufficiently.”

“Yes. Be careful, Lost.”

Línea scattered something into the air and disappeared.

The <Wind’s Tomb> entities are monsters that locate their targets through air currents.

In other words, no matter how skilled an assassin might be, they can’t escape the monster’s sensory network through conventional methods.

That’s why we prepared a second item. Geppetto’s special product #2.

“How could mere humans manipulate the flow…”

“They called it WCM, Wind Counter Measures… or something like that? I don’t quite remember the exact term. Well, how would I understand the words used by professionals? But I think I know this much.”

The fragments Línea scattered neither get swept away by the wind nor fall, but swim through the air while constantly rotating.

They spread over a wide area, artificially jumbling the airflow in all directions.

Even that alone is enough to deceive part of Hraesvelgr’s senses.

“Your expression tells me it’s working.”

Hraesvelgr was glaring at me with blood flowing from one eye.

He probably wants to find and tear apart the one who did this to his eye, but he can’t.

His extensive detection area has been disturbed, if only slightly.

The problem, however, is that he’s more composed than expected.

“You’ll regret this.”

I had hoped he would frantically search the undetectable areas.

That would create more openings, significantly increasing our chances of victory.

But it seems he’s calmly decided to focus on me, who’s right in front of him.

“I’ve already piled up too many regrets for that to matter anymore.”

Then we move to the next plan.

I ignited my holy power.

Using Vesta’s spark not to light tobacco, but to consume the opponent.

The spark, expanding as if bursting instantly, pushes away Hraesvelgr’s biting wind and illuminates the surroundings.

What I learned through my exchange with Nina was that I had been controlling the output of my holy magic.

Even without utilizing Canopus’s Jar, I was capable of drawing out this much power.

I had been regulating the output of holy magic through my habits until now.

I already knew that the holy power I possessed had far surpassed what I had at my prime before regression.

But the way I manifested it was just about numbers.

I threw dozens, hundreds of Jupiter’s lightning bolts, but never thought about making just one more powerful.

Even though the quality of my holy power had changed, allowing me to weave a greater amount of power at once.

“Hoo……”

One massive conflagration.

And following that, a second.

Crackle!

I summon Jupiter’s lightning, which used to be my signature move.

But this time, not in the form of a spear, but as lightning striking from the sky.

Even with the same cost, I changed the method.

“If the opponent is extra-large, I should give something fitting in return!”

With Vesta’s spark, I push back the biting wind and deceive part of the monster’s territory.

The intense heat from the conflagration pushes away the biting wind surrounding Hraesvelgr, and lightning strikes through that gap from the sky.

“Such attacks cannot harm me!”

And another aspect I discovered. Something only I can do.

Vesta’s spark, extinguished with just one flap of Hraesvelgr’s wings.

Lightning dispersed by the biting wind.

The opponent is truly a monster. I never planned to win through firepower against such a being.

“What?!”

I transform all the lightning being dispersed by the biting wind into chains.

Something only I can do: taking back what was offered as sacrifice.

I can’t retrieve all the holy power, but even a portion is enough.

After all, the lightning bolt just now was an extra-large size with massive holy power poured into it.

“How could you possibly…!”

“Arrogant monster bastards like you always let your guard down.”

There are plenty who don’t realize until they’re hit. That’s why demons are frightening.

They’re meticulous enough to not even give you a chance to counterattack.

Anyway, if he’s let his guard down and won’t abandon that arrogant mindset until he’s hit, then there’s only one way.

I bet everything on that first strike.

I stake all means at my disposal on what appears to be an insignificant blow.

“Claire!!”

I transformed both the lightning that fell on Hraesvelgr’s body and the currents that had been dispersed far away through the biting wind into chains.

The massive trunk ensnared his body, and the chains that had been dispersed and fallen far away pierced the earth and bound him.

The restraint will last only a moment. But right now, that moment is enough.

From the sky, Claire, who had been waiting among the WCM from the beginning, falls down.

“Transform!”

“Geez, adolescence is really…”

Claire mutters nonsense with a somehow serious expression.

But the result shows the effectiveness worthy of her adolescent, overblown ego.

From the air, so high that even Hraesvelgr’s gaze couldn’t reach, the falling Claire equips Vitege’s Armor, increasing her weight even more.

“Huaaaaaaaaaah!”

The weapon given to Claire is a massive double-bladed axe.

Since we lost it when entering Alfheim, we made a new one this time.

And its ability is the same storage function as Vitege’s Armor.

Weight and weight used for a single strike.

At that level, pure violence is achieved, without any need for technique.

“Kuk?!”

Crack!

While I sealed his movements, Claire’s double-bladed axe strikes Hraesvelgr’s nape.

A force that would have instantly killed most monsters.

But this accursed trial is still managing to stay aloft even after taking that hit.

“Hup!”

Honestly, I didn’t expect him to endure.

No, I thought we couldn’t kill him, but I didn’t anticipate he would still be able to float in the air.

But plans always involve variables.

In such situations, I have the improvisation skills to adapt.

Crackle!

A second lightning bolt falls toward Hraesvelgr, whose altitude has significantly decreased.

Not as massive as the previous one, but this time I increased the number to two. Lightning fell as if pressing down on both wings, and once again transformed into chains.

“The season that signifies your wrath has come, Ceres.”

And the transformed chains change again into a new holy magic.

Nina said this was impossible. My unique ability to freely move between holy magic and chains.

Holy power with the strength of lightning transforms directly into a giant stone hammer that strikes down on Hraesvelgr’s body.

“Finally, you’ve fallen, you cursed monster bastard.”

Boom!

At last, Hraesvelgr, who had been looking down on us haughtily, crashed to the ground.