Chapter 1020

The giant spherical antidemon began rolling toward us with tremendous speed.

Apparently, this shape would allow it to chase after us quickly while avoiding reliance on fragile limbs. We fought something similar on the way to the castle, so maybe it wasn’t so rare for antidemons to take this shape.

「RUUOOOOOOOOOH!」

「Haaah! Burn!」

Mea shot flames at the giant antidemon charging toward us. However, this simply bounced off the huge body and did nothing to stop its advance. That armor might be tougher than we thought.

We managed to deal some damage with our attacks during the metamorphosis, though it was regenerated instantly. Well, it still had the effect of slowing it down a bit.

But now we’re doing practically no damage. In addition to the thicker barrier and armor, the creature’s rotational momentum was enough to disperse anything we could send in.

Mea probably realized the futility of random attacks and took a different strategy. Instead of aiming directly at the main body, she launched her spell at the ground right next to the antidemon.

This caused a huge explosion. She intended to knock the antidemon off balance with the shockwave rather than deal damage.

However, the giant antidemon barely budged despite the huge explosion right under it. The immense weight and momentum meant we would need even greater power to do anything.

「Then how about from the side!」

Realizing that a frontal assault was out of the question, Hilt struck the antidemon’s flank. At such an angle, her blow would be unaffected by rotational momentum.

Despite Hilt getting sent flying back in the recoil, the antidemon’s course curved only slightly.

We continued looking for any way to solve the situation, then finally, the giant antidemon caught up with and overtook Fran and her friends. Apparently, it intended to target Orfalve and our retreating members.

At this rate, they will be overtaken and slaughtered before Jayne’s army cloaking ability can take effect.

Fran chased after the giant antidemon with all her might and unleashed Heavenly Judgment.

「Raaaaah!」

「UOORHHHHH!」

『Such power!』

With a high-pitched clang, my blade left a deep gash on the giant sphere’s surface. This slowed its movements down slightly, but at the cost of cracking my blade and losing a ton of durability.

While we were busy regenerating my blade. the antidemon rolled off again. Its movements were slow now, so Mea and Lind managed to charge down from the skies. Along with a flash of Sophie’s mana, the two gained an intense glow.

This magic song seemed to have the effect of boosting the power of all weapons.

With the up-tempo dance music playing in the background, Mea cleaved downward. This triggered a huge explosion of flames incomparable to her former attacks. The giant antidemon’s movements paused completely.

As expected of a divine sword’s power. I have to admit, her blade exceeds me in terms of sheer offensive power. However, the antidemon wasn’t content to sit there and take it.

The sphere emitted some sort of shockwave from its entire body, blasting Mea away. No wait, it may also have been trying to accelerate its massive body with the recoil from that shockwave.

Even so, Mea took huge damage and got sent flying. Considering this had enough force to move this massive antidemon, getting hit must be no joke.

Quina went to the rescue, so we can leave Mea to her.

More importantly, we need to do something about the antidemon before it takes everyone out. Hilt, Urushi, and Fran launched another assault, but like I thought, we didn’t have enough to stop it. The demonkin also launched several spells of their own, all of which were completely ignored.

If things continue like this, we’re…

「Be crushed.」

「UUUUUUUUUUUUURH!」

Suddenly, the antidemon’s spherical body started twisting and turning, disfiguring unnaturally. As if it had been squeezed by the invisible hand of a giant.

『This land magic is……!』

「Over there!」

「Woof!」

Fran pointed to an army of about 1,000, with a large man at their front. He held a rough-looking greatsword in his hands as he gave the antidemon a sharp gaze.

「Pretty damn durable.」

「Ashwrath!」

「Yo, Fran. Hope you don’t mind me joining in.」

The ogrekin radiated an intimidating aura capable of making anyone tremble. Ashwrath, Rank S adventurer and one of the strongest men on the continent.

「Never seen an antidemon this tough before.」

Ashwrath glided silently across the ground and landed beside Fran, observing the antidemon with a stern look on his face. It seems he was very surprised to see the antidemon already regenerating after such a beating.

As I had worried, this thing was a mystery even to the Rank S adventurers.

「Why are you with Ajisai?」

「I guess you could say we met up along the way.」

The army Ashwrath seemed at the head of was actually Hagane’s forces. They had been trapped inside the purple barrier, and tagged along with Ashwrath to find the source of the anomaly.

「This is gonna be one tough nut to crack. Where’s Izario and Adol?」

「Not sure about Izario. Probably under the castle……」

「Seriously?」

「Adol’s over there.」

「I can barely sense his presence anymore. The Divine Sword Knight’s gotten his ass whooped?」

Ashwrath made an irritated face, probably because he could no longer rely on the two he expected to be here.

「Better pray I can beat this thing myself……」

「It’s okay. We’re here for you too.」

「True. I’ll be counting on you guys then.」

「Nn!」

If Adol had cooperated with everyone else earlier, we probably would have defeated the antidemon back then. And now we have Ashwrath, someone similar in power. Considering that Mea and Sophie are also backing us up, we can win this.

「First things first, let’s regroup with everyone.」

「Okay.」

Finally, a real chance at victory.

『Time for the counterattack!』

「Nn!」