Chapter 262
Annihilation
Translator : PolterGlast
As I got closer to the Trolls, it became very clear that
there was a lot of waste in my 【Absolute Zero】 magic from earlier. I had completely misjudged the power;
although the Orcs and Trolls in the front row were completely encased in ice,
the freezing became weaker from the second row onwards. The negative effects of
doing it from a long distance had clearly manifested, and despite consuming a
considerable amount of magic power, the effect was weak. The drawback of
prioritizing appearances just to make Usman understand had shown itself, and
while I regretted it now, thinking that he probably would have perfectly
understood with gravity magic... there was no point dwelling on it now.
From here on, while conserving my magic power for the
monsters in the rear, let's reliably finish off the Orcs and Trolls that are
only lightly frozen. Readying the katana I had drawn, I charged into the
monster horde all by myself.
The Ogres and Trolls in the second row were frozen up to
their waists, the third row up to their knees, and so on; the freezing became
weaker the further back they were. I decided to finish off the Ogres and Trolls
in the fourth row, who looked like they could start moving at any moment,
first. As I passed through, they tried to attack me, but in addition to their
movements being sluggish from the cold, their lower halves were encased in ice,
so they couldn't launch any proper attacks. Partly because the spacing between
the Ogres and Trolls was tight, it ended up looking like they were attacking
each other, and they were inflicting heavy damage on one another even without
me doing anything.
Sidelong glancing at such Trolls, I reached the fourth row
and dispassionately slashed them away without giving them a chance to resist.
Slow-moving Trolls and Ogres are fundamentally no match for me, but this time,
because they were frozen up to around their ankles, it felt even more like
routine work than usual. Only the Trolls were slightly troublesome; because
they possess an astonishing regenerative ability, I have to properly sever
their heads, which is annoying... but that still doesn't change the fact that
they are no match for me.
I succeeded in annihilating them in just about five minutes
after charging into the infantry unit of Ogres and Trolls. Although I didn't
lay a hand on the Ogres and Trolls in the front row, they should have perished
inside the ice. Since there was more distance between the infantry unit and the
rear unit than I thought, it would be fine to return to report to Usman once...
but should I just go and finish off the rear unit as is?
I have conserved some magic power, albeit a little, and I can
hammer in a few shots of gravity magic. Although I'm slightly bothered by the
wide gap between them and the infantry unit they are likely using as a wall, I
can't feel any significant presence from the rear unit either. Judging that I
wouldn't struggle, I decided to head straight to annihilate them.
Advancing for a few minutes from the place where I
annihilated the Ogres and Trolls, I finally discovered the figures of the rear
unit advancing sluggishly. Just as I had imagined, it was an aerial unit and a
long-distance unit that seemed to excel in magic, and I could feel a decent
level of presence only from the single entity in the middle. That being said,
it was a weaker presence compared to the Curse Mystery I fought the other day.
It looks like I can crush them without breaking a sweat.
Having captured the entirety of the enemy with my own eyes,
I judged that there was no need to conserve magic power and decided to suddenly
fire off gravity magic. As a common sense of combat, one's trump card is
something to be hidden... but it's not like gravity magic is my trump card
anyway. Although I have slight anxiety about using up my magic power, my clear
strength is that I can fight as long as I have my own body. And so, without
overthinking anything, I unleashed my magic toward the monster unit I had
caught in my field of vision.
「【Gravity Impact】」
First, I fired it centering on the monster in the exact
middle where I felt the strongest presence, and next, slightly towards the rear
from the center. Finally, I fired it toward the front, where they seemed to be
sensing the anomaly in the rear.
Even from this position, I could see them looking bewildered
at their comrades who had suddenly been crushed to death. Perhaps wary of a
subsequent attack, their formation broke down, and they were on the verge of
scattering. The confusion seemed to be spreading as well; if I'm going to
strike, this is the timing. It seemed I couldn't completely defeat the monster
with the strongest presence, but since its presence had grown quite small, I
must have succeeded in inflicting heavy damage. It probably won't be able to
take command well either, so I should be able to annihilate them easily.
Closing the distance in one go, I discovered the figures of
crushed flying-type monsters that were in the front row. There seemed to be
some still breathing, but ignoring the monsters that took the gravity magic for
the time being, I took aim at the monsters that hadn't taken damage yet. Since
they had assembled monsters capable of long-distance attacks, it would be quite
troublesome if their aim was directed solely at me, after all.
While casually slashing them away, I first succeeded in
advancing to the center of the monsters' rear unit. Thanks to the massive
confusion, only a small number of monsters noticed me. They had been whittled
down by the gravity magic more than expected, and it looked like they would
retreat on their own even if left alone, but it was better to crush them just
in case. Making full use of flying slashes, I cut down those that noticed me,
commencing the annihilation of the remaining monsters. It didn't feel like a
battle; it was a state where I was unilaterally finishing off the monsters.
While I was defeating monsters like that, the figure of the
monster whose strong presence I had felt came into view. The one collapsed near
the center of the army was a mage with a human-like appearance. However, it was
clearly not human, the major factor being the horn growing from its forehead. I
believe it's some kind of demon race.
I ran up to this demon and called out while placing my
katana against its throat.
「...Are you the leader who brought
this army here?」
「...Hyuu, y-you bastard. ...Wh-Who
are you.」
「Something like a mercenary. So, are
you the leader?」
「...A-As if I would answer that.」
It seemed the gravity magic had hit directly, and its body was crushed to a pulp, but its eyes were not dead, and the demon refused to answer my questions at all. I considered interrogating it from here to extract information, but realizing I wouldn't be able to get any information out of it, I immediately cut its neck and ended its life. There is probably no mistake that this guy was the leader, and there are no longer any monsters posing a threat in this army. I cut my gaze away from the deceased demon, and moved to annihilate the remaining monsters once again.
-----
Thank you for my Patrons !!
[Platinum]
-
[Gold]
B random
Nepheos
[Silver]
Corey Hicks
Creris
Frédéric Bertrand-Hudon
Jake Seagraves
Matthew Fraser
Tbaum56
Xavier O'Donoghue
Anton Lim
Austin Lorenzo
Baelee
Bloodyemperor
Ctdela
Curious Panda
David Bankole
Enrique Miranda
nick nasca
SD Fox
Read Advanced Chapters only on my Patreon
-----
