Chapter 150

Chapter 150: 150

Chapter 150 – City-eating Monster

After talking with Eris, I felt wide awake . I didn’t feel like returning back to sleep anymore, so I decided to head back to the desert, leaving Roxy and Mimir at the mansion

I promised that we would go clean up the darknesses together . Sorry for breaking the promise .

But more than being wide awake, the sense of loss after fighting the sacred beast was what spurred me the most .

In short, I wanted to vent .

Eris pretty much felt the same thing . Being unable to show your mettle in battle can be frustrating .

And that’s why, right now I was standing in the middle of the desert together with Eris .

[Alright, let’s do our best!]

[So we are really going to do this…]

[Because it’ll be faster this way . ]

I hung my face back smugly . The reason was simple .

Eris’ Mortal Sin skill――Lust can be used to attract the darknesses in .

But using the skill on full power can be problematic .

She told me, at full power she’ll end up pulling all the monsters dwelling in the desert .

And not just the darknesses and regular monsters… even a crown tier might appear .

Those’re exactly what rushed toward us right about now .

[Alright then, let’s go . Devour those darknesses and monsters charging toward us . That’s the highlight of Gluttony skill after all . ]

[Let me prepare my heart first, please wait . ]

I took a deep breath to calm myself .

But before I did, my attention was directed to the wall of dust that became apparent in the horizon .

[Eris… you really did it this time, didn’t you?]

[Un! Come on now, you said it yourself that we should do our best! I will give you generous supporting fire this time . ]

Eris wanted to regain her battle sense that was rendered rusty after a long period of disuse . This large amount of monsters was meant to achieve that goal .

The monsters were surrounding us from all sides . This number, it’s already comparable to monster stampede on Gallia .

Greed who had been watching silently, seemingly became excited . Vibrating intensely in my hand .

『It has been a while since we fought this many . Don’t you disappoint me now, Fate!』

[You only get to say that because you aren’t the one who’ll fight them . ]

『Hahaha, this Me is nothing but a weapon after all . Be careful, don’t overeat』

[I know already . ]

Eris took the initiative . She shot consecutively, killing monsters while building up charges for Envy .

[I’ll buff you up with Vanishing bullet, go wild . ]

A magic bullet was expended in an instance .

I started running at the same time . Slaying darknesses and monsters one after another .

As usual, an inorganic voice in my head informed me of my stat growth and skill acquiring . The now familiar voice rang repeatedly, reporting almost endlessly .

I activated the《Wind Blade Magic》I just acquired .

Perhaps it’s because I’m already at Area E, but my magic tended to have an improved effect nowadays .

When used by the darknesses, the magic produced a small scythe-like attack . But in my case, it invoked a tornado .

Any monsters or darknesses that got swallowed by the tornado were chopped down by the swirling wind blades, dying in but a blink of an eye .

[That’s much more efficient]

『Good if you have fun, but what about the gluttony skill？』

[No need to worry, Greed . There is no Area E among them so far, I can still go on . ]

『If that so…go ahead』

Somehow, despite this being a continuous battle right after the sacred beast fight, I felt as if I’m in good shape .

And that even when I had to repress the gluttony skill influence . If worse comes to worst, I could still ask Mimir to suck my blood, offsetting the effect further…

In fact, I hadn’t felt this well in a very long time . Perhaps Luna was hard at work suppressing the Gluttony skill inside . I should thank her later tonight when I entered the dream world .

Being able to fight all I want, my tension gradually rose up .

To bystander it probably looks like an unparalleled warrior mowing down the enemy soldiers heroically, but for me this felt more like bullying the weak actually . However, they’re still monsters that endanger humans’ life .

There will be nothing good about it if we let them free .

With that thought, I plunged into the horde of darknesses and monsters . Meanwhile, another supportive magic bullet hit me at the back once more .

At first I thought it might be a phalanx bullet . But our current opponents weren’t even Area E . Their attack wouldn’t even scratch me normally .

I kept cutting the darknesses while wondering why Eris fired the magic bullet .

[Wha!? This is!!]

Not just the enemies before me, I also ended up swathing the darknesses behind them .

[Attack power and range have been improved!?]

[Fufufu, that is Raging Bullet’s effect] (TL note: feels old when I actually remember this name as a toy name from the 90s…)

Looking back, I saw Eris, standing atop a mountainous pile of darkness’ corpses with a proud face .

[Through repeated use of the support bullet, I’ve unlocked another one of Envy’s supportive bullets . ]

[Then, please keep doing that . ]

[Fine . You see, I’m a woman who can do-it-all after all . ]

Was that last part supposed to be a muttering? But to me, that’s indeed how Eris was .

She seemed to have recovered from the fight against the sacred beast as well .

This Raging Bullet was really a good support bullet . What if I combine it with Spirit Unity? And what if I added in Gluttony skill starvation… . Just imagining it already made me excited with the possibility .

But as expected, I didn’t see a lot of improvement on myself from this battle .

Having the effect of Raging Bullet was already enough to wreak havoc .

I could cut down any monsters and darknesses almost as easily as cutting butter with a hot knife .

By the time I stopped moving, all the monsters that were pulled by Lust skill were gone . This way, the area should be safe from monsters for a while . Of course, with the existence of the Door to His Land, any of them killed by Eris might have a chance to revive . But the larger portion that I killed wouldn’t be revived due to their soul being devoured by Gluttony skill .

The prison of souls that was the gluttony skill will keep all the devoured souls caged forever . Therefore, the Door to His Land’s power couldn’t reach them . It’s something that Greed taught me in the past .

The blood of darknesses and monsters had made the surrounding sand into a muddy area . Eris had become more active in fighting during the last half of the fight to regain her battle sense . She’s pretty much in the same condition as myself .

Drenched in blood and guts .

[It became quiet, didn’t it?]

Eris let out a small chuckle, somehow finding the whole thing as funny . Behind her, the sun slowly rose on the horizon .

That scene, it was hauntingly beautiful . Don’t tell me… it’s the effect of Lust skill?

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Her ragged and bloodied look may clashed with her relaxed expression, but I found it ephemeral .

Eris, like Myne, had lived for a very long time .

I’m just a kid compared to them, but there will be a time when I can finally stand side by side with them . Until then, I just have to be satisfied with being able to see another side of Eris which I previously didn’t know .

[Yosh, mission complete! Fate, let’s head back . ]

Eris then hugged me .

[Uaaa, the blood on your clothes got in my eyes!]

[Who cares, who cares . ]

And she returned to her usual self already, the troublesome self . But I suppose, compared to that side I saw for a moment just now, this one is also fun to have in a way .

While I was thinking all that inwardly, Eris suddenly looked up to me and said .

[Oya oya, Fate-kun . Your heart is beating fast, I wonder why?]

[That is, that is because I was fighting just now . ]

[Really? Is that also why your face is beet red?]

[Kuh . ]

[Aaaa, could it be?]

I tried turning my face away from her . But Eris had squeezed herself tight to me that it won’t do anything to hide my face from her .

Her grinning face annoyed me a little .

[I see, I see . Un un . ]

[What?]

In response, Eris simply smiled, looking so happy all of a sudden .

Just do as you like…

Then I realized that the sand stuck to the blood on our clothes . If this keeps up, we’ll end up like a sandman, fully covered in sand .

So we decided to quickly return to the town before that happened . Eris was awfully chipper along the way .

[This is the first time we go on a monster subjugation with only the two of us . It’s exhausting for me, and now I’m completely caked in desert sand like a sandman . But thanks to that, I got to obtain new support bullets . Feels good!]

[Ey! Are you saying you acquired another new bullet aside from the Raging Bullet? What is it?]

[That… is a secret! But I’ll consider it if you ask nicely . ]

I wish she could stop playing coy and just tell me already . But nevermind that .

Eris will eventually use it . Which bullet she uses mostly depends on the situation after all .

In both the battle against the sacred beast and the earlier horde of darknesses and monsters, Eris had firmly supported me . I can’t really complain about her fighting style, so I’ll just believe her as a party member .

[Hey, Fate . ]

[What is it?]

[I think I want to become stronger as well . At least as strong as I was in my prime . Then, I’ll settle things with him . ]

Eris wanted to settle her grudge with the Sacred Beastkin Libra .

It’s not a separate thing from me . As Dad also seems to have something to do with that Libra .

When I met Libra back at Tetra, he treated me with a friendly attitude . But, for an unknown reason, he also seemed to share our goal . Which is to prevent the Door to His Land from opening .

Even so, once that one matter is resolved, Libra may end up attacking us, the owner of the Mortal Sin skill .

[When that time comes, I’ll help you out for sure . ]

[Thank you, Fate . ]

By the time we arrived back at Lishua’s mansion, we were pretty much covered in sand .

The soldiers at the gate actually mistook us for sandmen . We could only laugh at that, but I decided to keep it as a secret from Roxy .

We returned to the mansion, took a refreshing bath, and then headed to where the magic bikes were parked .

Both me and Eris were scolded a bit for leaving out Roxy and Mimir . But since the townspeople were saved as a result, we were forgiven .

And of course, the current town lord, Lishua was overjoyed since the sacred beast has been gotten rid of from her territory . She even told me that she’ll repay this favor one day .

I politely declined . But to be honest, I wasn’t really sure whether she listened to me or not .

We rode the magic bike all the way to the south . My magic bike in particular had to be used as a three seater due to the addition of Snow .

Snow sat in front of me, with Roxy staying behind me . With my arms on her left and right, Snow was able to remain calm on her possibly first ride on the magic bike . She hadn’t been able to warm up to Roxy just yet, on which Roxy could only droop her shoulders in response .

As we proceeded with our magic bikes running in parallel side by side, with Mimir driving the other one, we eventually came upon a carriage with a lot of luggage .

[Fai, what is that?]

[Doesn’t seem normal to me too . ]

It’s because there weren’t only five or so wagons going north . It’s dozens of them .

We stopped by, and asked one of the coach drivers .

The man turned sullen right away .

[We used to live in the oasis up ahead… but a man suddenly appeared and turned the entire town and oasis into a big crater . ]

The man that the coach driver was talking about must be someone powerful, being able to dry up an entire oasis by sinking it deep into the ground . On the other hand, the desert is a harsh place where people couldn’t live without water .

That’s most likely why these people went up north, to find a new livelihood .

[Eris, what do you think about sending them to Lishua’s territory?]

[Right . It’s the closest settlement . With the monsters gotten rid of, logistics will soon recover as well . Isn’t that good?]

Eris then extracted a paper from her cleavage window, then gave that piece of paper to the coach driver .

[You can hand this over to the towns lord later on . And we’ll also escort you for a short while, to keep you all safe . ]

[Thank you very much! Holy Knights-sama . ]

[Umu, I’m not one actually, but whatever . It’s simpler that way . ]

She WAS the queen . One wrong sentence, and you might lose your head .

But as Eris said, it’s better to keep it simple . Better than making them misunderstand .

While escorting the wagons, we also planned a detour to see the oasis town .

Greed and Eris both agreed that there’s still time until the Door to His Land is opening .

As for Roxy and Mimir, they wished to help people in need . And when I heard the name of the man who dried down the oasis, I couldn’t stay put either .

Libra… a person from Eris’ past, and a sacred beastkin just like Snow .

I need to know why he did such a thing .

Suddenly, I was reminded of something about the oasis that I heard while I was travelling to Gallia . However, due to circumstances I wasn’t able to visit the place .

I heard that a city-eating monster lurked there .