Kumo desu ga, Nani ka? Final Battle ⑭

Combat begins, with Ariel’s perspective.

Final Battle ⑭

Now then, despite my casual verbal barbs earlier, the situation is bad. Our main forces are two Queens. Normally, Queens would surpass ancient dragons. However, as a result of Shiro-chan eating a part of their souls, they’ve weakened. Most likely the Queens are currently only about equal with the ancient dragons.

Facing us are 5 ancient dragons. Darkness Dragon Reise. Fire Dragon Guen. Wind Dragon Hyuvan. Ice Dragon Nier. Light Dragon Byaku. All of them are a troublesome lot.

Guen simply has all abilities at a high standard. Although his instantaneous power isn’t comparable to the others, he’s much more consistent. Hyuvan’s speciality is in aerial combat, so in high-speed combat there is no one superior. Fortunately the Elro Great Labyrinth is an enclosed space which means that he can’t freely fly through the sky, so his power could be said to be cut by half. Even so, his ability to manipulate air can’t be disregarded. Nier is an annoying opponent. With ice and curses, her speciality is to use those two abilities to steadily whittle away her enemy’s stamina. Even so, she possesses a defensive ability second only to Gakia, the deceased leader of the Earth Dragons. She’s a nasty opponent since a war of attrition would be to our disadvantage, yet her defensive ability would force us into a war of attrition. Byaku is a support specialist. In exchange for being nothing special in terms of fighting strength, she is able to drastically enhance the abilities of one other person. Since Byaku is wrapped around the arms of Yamada-kun’s imouto-chan, it seems that she’s the one being strengthened. A human strengthened to the same level as an ancient dragon. In addition, Byaku herself is a master of healing magic, so can perform the healer role. Finally, Reise is…… perhaps the most troublesome when considering the consequences.

Alright. What should I do…? Well, the first move is obvious enough right?

Using my skill I give instructions to the Queens. They move in response. All the spider type monsters in this place simultaneously rushed down. On Yamada-kun.

「Wha!? Protect the Hero kid!」

Guen shouts. He looks desperate. Well, naturally. The weakest one here is Yamada-kun. The reason why Yamada-kun is here is simply because he is the owner of the Ruler skill of Kindness. That, combined with the effect of the Kindness skill being revival of the dead. Because that revival of the dead was repeatedly used to resurrect the ancient dragons, Wrath-kun exhausted all his strength. It’s a matter of course to target Yamada-kun who is the weakest in this place, yet owns that annoying ability to revive the dead.

「No hard feelings, okay. But I have decided that I wouldn’t care about appearances anymore.」

Whether or not you’re a reincarnator, if you are hostile then I will kill you. Wrath-kun offered himself up while being a reincarnator. If we made him go that far, then we cannot do any less. The other side should be the same. In the battle with Wrath-kun, Lightning Dragon Gouka exhausted all his strength and offered himself up. If neither of us will back down, then the only option is to make every effort possible. In addition, in that dialogue between us earlier, Yamada-kun gave his answer. Thus, holding back is unnecessary. I shall kill you without the slightest mercy.

The flood of spiders have run into a barrier and stopped moving forwards. Ooshima-kun’s Chastity skill huh. The Chastity skill has the ability to create a powerful barrier. There’s not much difference between Ooshima-kun and Yamada-kun, in fact she’s weak enough that she’s even less suited to being in this place than Yamada-kun, but that barrier alone is strong enough that she has the right to take part in this battle. However, it’s not like it can’t be broken.

「Surely not!?」

The two Queens fire their breath attack at the same time. Even if it’s a barrier created by a Ruler skill, that’s not strong enough to withstand a simultaneous breath attack from two Queens. In addition, as she is the one putting up the barrier, she cannot escape from inside the barrier. It was the moment when the barrier she put up to protect those inside, became a prison.

Still, the enemy is not so naive as to allow such an obvious attack. Guen and Hyuvan change into dragon form, then use their own breath attacks to launch a counterattack against the breath attacks from the two Queens. The fire and wind breath attacks merge together, with the synergy between them amplifying the force as it collides with the breath attacks from the two Queens. The result… is that they cancel each other out.

「Hm?」
「Oh?」

Guen and Hyuvan tilt their heads to the side in confusion. Damn… Did they sense that the Queens are weakened from that? I’m sure it wouldn’t be considered proof, but it probably made them suspicious. Also, since we have no reason to be going easy on them, it’s only a matter of time until the weakened state of the Queens is revealed. If this is dragged out, our weaknesses will be exposed. Well, that’s so only so long as it is dragged out though.

Ten shadows approach Yamada-kun and co, having hid behind the eye-catching breath attacks from the Queens. The Puppet Taratekts. Their form is not particularly different from humans. If you ignore them having six arms that is. The true form of the Puppet Taratekts is a spider shaped monster about the size of a fist, but they fight inside a puppet created by their own thread by manipulating it. Their form as a six armed human, is simply a puppet.

The ten Puppet Taratekts simultaneously rush down on Yamada-kun and co. The status values of the Puppet Taratekts are about 10,000. While they cannot take on an ancient dragon, Yamada-kun and Ooshima-kun are no match for them. In addition, although they cannot take on an ancient dragon, they’re not so weak as to allow those ancient dragons to mow them down with a single blow each. They’re strong enough that if two of them took on one ancient dragon, it’s the dragon that would be in danger.

At any rate, only the Queens and Puppet Taratekts will be effective against the ancient dragons. Even an Arch Taratekt probably wouldn’t be of much use. In short, most of the spider shaped monsters in this place aren’t particularly useful. In terms of fighting strength, we’re the ones at a disadvantage. That being the case, we have only one option. A swift attack.

Standing before the looming Puppet Taratekts are Guen, Hyuvan, Nier and Reise still in humanoid form, and Yamada-kun’s imouto-chan with Byaku wrapped around her arm. In terms of numbers we have the advantage, but in terms of simple combat strength we are at a disadvantage. The Puppet Taratekts and ancient dragons clash with each other, contending with the other. The Puppet Taratekts aim for a gap between the ancient dragons to attack Yamada-kun and Ooshima-kun, with the ancient dragons trying to prevent them. During the violent exchanges, they both await for the chance to strike. However… my dear ancient dragons, have you forgotten something? The Queens are still here you know?

「Seriously!? Are they going to take out their own allies!?」

Once again the light of the breath attack builds in the mouths of the Queens. The Puppet Taratekts are also in the line of fire, but that’s fine. If we can bring down Yamada-kun and Ooshima-kun with their Ruler skills here, we’ll be able to thwart their plans. The victory condition for the black god supporters is not to beat us, but to take those holding Ruler Authority to the System nexus which is located beyond the door behind me, to stop the collapse of the System. For that reason, those with Ruler Authority must live. Therefore, if we can bring down the three valid holders in Yamada-kun, Ooshima-kun and imouto-chan, then it’ll be our victory even if we die.

「This is bad!」
「It can’t be stopped!?」

The ancient dragons attempt to stop the Queens from firing their breath. However, the Puppet Taratekts prevent that. Despite the fact that if the Queens fire their breath, then they would get caught up in it as well. The Puppet Taratekts too are prepared to lose their lives in this battle. In order to repay their devotion, I won’t hesitate either.

「Fire!」

At my signal, the breath attack from the two Queens is released. The attacks smashed through the barrier that Ooshima-kun had put up, directly hitting Yamada-kun and co.

Just before that occurred.

「Harmony!」

I heard the voice of a man who shouldn’t have been here. In addition, the breath attack from the two Queens that should have been a direct hit on both the Puppet Taratekts and the enemies, disappeared without causing any effect.

Huh?

I can’t keep up with the changing situation. As if to express that momentary blank in my thoughts, the ancient dragons strike the Puppet Taratekts. The Puppet Taratekts had also stopped moving for an instant. They’re not weak enough to be done in by a single strike, but in an instant the situation has suddenly become unfavourable.

While grimacing about that, I glare in annoyance at the man who caused this situation.

「Dustin……!」

Over there, was the pope of the Divine Word Religion, Dustin.

Author’s notes:

Within the Demon King’s camp, the main differences between the web novel and the published novels are:
・In the web novel, the Parallel Wills were dispatched to the Queens via the Demon King, eating away their souls. Because of that all the Queens are weakened.
・Because the combat involving those on the Demon King’s side was much more intensive, the number of Puppet Taratekts remaining was reduced to four. However, because those remaining four experienced all sorts of battles they became considerably stronger than those in the web novel.

Translation notes:

“Harmony” was seen in Dustin’s skill list in S34 – Turning Point.

“black god supporters” – this particular term hasn’t been used before but is how Kuro’s (Gyurie’s) side is being referred to now it seems. Shiro’s side could then be referred to as the “white god supporters” perhaps.