Byune gazed at Pri Masterche, who lay sprawled like a tattered rag... or perhaps a pile of refuse. She found herself bewildered by emotions more intense than she had expected.
This was the woman who had personally murdered Byune's parents and then turned their very lives into gemstones for sacrifices. Even now, her hatred for the woman remained as inextinguishable as ever. However, seeing Pri in a state where she could not even die—witnessing all the dolls she had created being destroyed before her eyes, having her limbs severed, her torso kicked with brutal force—a sense of helpless pity began to surface in spite of everything.
Hatred and pity: two emotions that were, by all accounts, contradictory. Yet, strangely, both coexisted within Byune at this moment.
Regardless, there was no time to worry about Pri now. The Man-Demon Oricule standing before them was a foe that demanded every bit of her focus.
Byune’s physical strength was already depleted, and she had used up all of her favorite needles. As for weapons, she only had the two daggers she held in her hands.
Even so... now that she knew there were gemstones created from the sacrifice of her own parents, she wanted to destroy such abominable things and set their souls free. To do that, she absolutely had to defeat the Oricule standing before her eyes.
She had to do it to survive... and to leave this residence alive together with Vihera and the others.
"Hmm? It appears your resolve is firm, I seE. Fortuitously, I have just finished adjusting to this form through our previous bout. Shall we enjoy the thrill of battle to the fullesT?"
"Enjoy the struggle? I thought your purpose here was to buy time... When did that change?"
Rei stepped forward in front of Byune, leveling the Death Scythe as he questioned his opponent.
"That is... hmm? Come to think of it, I suppose that was the case, was it noT?"
Oricule gave a slight tilt of the head.
(The catalyst for the fight with Pri was the same. If it were the Oricule from when he was fighting me earlier, he wouldn't have gone out of his way to increase his enemies; he should have cooperated with her to fight us. Seeking battle meaninglessly... is this also an effect of the Man-Demonification?)
Rei pondered this internally while holding the Death Scythe in both hands. He shifted his gaze toward Ecethesus and Nakt, who were positioned a short distance away. Nakt was still unconscious on the floor, not twitching at all, perhaps still suffering from the aftereffects of the lightning Pri had unleashed.
Maintaining his stance, Rei flicked his gaze toward the door they had used to enter.
Fortunately, Ecethesus understood what Rei intended with just that look. Judging that his presence here would only hinder the combatants, he began dragging the unconscious Nakt toward the door.
Once Rei confirmed they had moved outside the room, he leveled his Death Scythe... but before he could act, Oricule spoke.
"It is well that you evacuated the members who are not combat-capable, but perhaps it would have been better to evacuate that girl as welL?"
Oricule glanced at Byune with three eyes—the Third Eye on his forehead included.
"...So you noticed."
"IndeeD."
"In that case, you're letting them go quite easily. Don't you worry that Ecethesus and the other will head to the surface, inform Bosk, and then escape House Marstchel's residence just like that?"
Rei deliberately voiced those words to provoke Oricule and sense his urgency.
In response, Oricule gave a small shrug as if it weren't a concern at all.
"If that happens, I'll simply have to destroy all of Exil along with theM, wouldn't I?"
"You think you can actually do that?"
"Well now, I wondeR. ...More importantly, now that the nuisances are gone, shall we begiN?"
The Second Arm extending from his shoulder blades swung at a speed that seemed to slice through the air itself.
While watching Oricule's movements, Rei glanced back toward the door for confirmation. It was already closed, and Ecethesus and Nakt were nowhere to be seen.
(I'm a bit worried about Tibia in the center of the Magic Circle... but in that sense, the fact that Pri can't die and is being forced to stay alive might be a stroke of luck for us.)
Speculating that there was some kind of connection between Pri's life and the Magic Circle, Rei faced Oricule with his Death Scythe ready and reassessed their combat strength once more.
(I've been fighting Oricule for a while, but I still have plenty of leeway. The same goes for Elena and Seto, who just arrived. Vihera restored her health with a potion, but she's still not in perfect condition. As for Byune, even her weapons are near their limit.)
Overall, Rei's estimate was that the party was operating at about 70 to 80 percent capacity compared to when they were a dedicated group clearing the dungeon.
"Seto, Vihera, and I are the Vanguard. Elena is the Midguard. Byune is the Skirmisher. Magic has almost no effect on him. Keep that in mind when you attack."
Elena nodded at Rei's instructions.
In the first place, Rei and Elena were the only two among the group who could use magic. Though Vihera possessed immense Magic Power, as someone who preferred Close Combat, she was incompatible with traditional spells. Her Magic Power was almost exclusively used to sprout claws or blades from her gauntlets and greaves.
Of course, she had very little of that Magic Power left now.
"Now, come at mE."
It wasn't that they were following Oricule's provocation as he beckoned them with his fingers, but Rei and the others used the gesture as the signal to launch their coordinated assault.
"Flying Slash!"
The first thing unleashed was a flying slash from Rei's Death Scythe.
Naturally, Oricule was well aware of Rei's Flying Slash. Since he could deal with it in the battle before his Man-Demonification, there was no reason he couldn't handle it now. He swung his Second Arm to intercept the blade of vacuum flying toward him.
However, Rei had already anticipated this. Taking advantage of the opening in Oricule's movements, Vihera's gauntlets and Seto's forepaw strike closed in, while from behind them, the whip-sword Elena unleashed transformed into its whip-like form, its tip lunging toward Oricule.
"Hah-hah-hah-hah-hah-hah-HA!"
Arms and Second Arms swung in a blur.
Oricule caught Vihera's punch with a palm and blocked the following kick with another arm. Not feeling inclined to catch the strike from Seto's forepaw, he evaded it by arching his upper body back significantly. Simultaneously, he used his Second Arm to parry Elena's whip-sword.
"Nn!"
Slipping into the gaps of that sequence, Byune sprinted close to the ground in an extremely low posture, attempting to plunge her dagger into Oricule's foot. He moved his leg as if he had seen it coming and evaded the dagger strike, immediately unleashing a kick toward Byune's face.
Byune instantly jumped and caught the kick with her feet, and without resisting the force... no, rather, utilizing that momentum, she leaped back to put distance between herself and Oricule.
"Magic Shield!"
A voice echoed in the ears of Oricule, who had knit his brows slightly at his own power being utilized against him.
When he turned his gaze, Rei was approaching, swinging his Death Scythe wide while floating a shield of light in the air.
"What is thiS!?"
Though surprised by the existence of a spell he was seeing for the first time, Oricule unleashed thrusts from both sides with the tips of his Second Arm to impale Rei. He figured that since it was a shield of light, it would block an attack, but it wouldn't be able to handle simultaneous thrusts from both the left and right.
However...
"Wind Hand!"
The right Second Arm collided with the shield of light and was blocked, while the left Second Arm was momentarily stopped by something just before hitting Rei.
Wind Hand. The tip of what could be described as a wind tentacle, extended from the Death Scythe's butt end, had caught the left Second Arm for a brief instant.
"!?"
Being blocked by a shield of light was one thing, but having his attack stopped by a force he didn't understand was clearly unexpected. Oricule's eyes widened, and his movements stopped for a split second.
And Rei was not so soft as to miss a decisive moment when facing an opponent like the Man-Demon Oricule.
"Power Slash!"
Activating a skill of the Death Scythe, the great scythe swung. The skill, which emphasized destructive power over sharpness, was aimed toward the Second Arm that had been caught by the Wind Hand.
Dunn! A sound more like a meat cleaver crushing bone than a clean cut echoed through the hall. The tip of the Second Arm—the sharp, pointed part—was sent flying in an unintended direction.
Watching that, Rei deftly twirled the Death Scythe and pointed the butt end toward Oricule, thrusting it with speed and power.
"Penetrate!"
The butt end of the Death Scythe, clad in wind, was unleashed with a sharp thrust. It pierced through Oricule's flank and the leather armor protecting it, penetrating clean through his body.
"Guoh!?"
Holding his bleeding side, Oricule stumbled back several steps. To that, another follow-up strike was delivered.
"Pain Burst!"
Rei swung the Death Scythe again, twirling it back into his grip as he activated a skill that increased the pain inflicted on the target.
Slash!
A genuine slash, different from the Power Slash he had unleashed earlier, severed Oricule's right arm and sent it flying away.
"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!?"
Having an arm severed naturally caused immense pain, but the activated Pain Burst skill stimulated his pain receptors even further. Though Rei himself didn't know it, the pain amplified by a Level 1 Pain Burst was doubled. That staggering agony assaulted Oricule.
Rei himself stopped moving momentarily as an effect of unleashing three consecutive skills. However, Oricule was not just facing Rei. Oricule realized this when a whip-like blade flew at him at a speed that seemed to slice through the air.
The blade swung by Elena coiled around Oricule, who had lost his right arm, sealing his movements.
"Now, do it!"
At Elena's shout, Vihera and Seto moved in unison. Unleashed were Vihera's fist, packed with all her strength, and Seto's forepaw strike.
"Haaaaaaaaah!"
"Guruuuuuuuuuuuu!"
Vihera's fist slammed into the torso of the restrained Oricule. Simultaneously, Seto's forepaw strike swung down upon his head.
Vihera's strike aside, the fact that his head wasn't blown off his torso after taking a blow accompanied by the triple effects of a Gryphon’s physical strength, the Bracelet of Herculean Strength, and the Power Crush skill spoke to the abnormality of the Man-Demon Oricule.
Still, he couldn't take such an attack and remain unscathed. Oricule's body went flying, his head bent at an angle it should never have been able to reach. The whip-sword stretched to its limit with that momentum, but Elena channeled her Magic Power into it, utilizing even the force of Seto's strike to carve further into Oricule's body.
Oricule, his entire body tattered, was blown away, bouncing off the floor several times and rolling for about ten meters before finally stopping.
"...Did we get him?"
Rei muttered while looking at Oricule, who lay motionless on the floor.
"He took that many consecutive attacks. Normally, it should be enough, but..."
"Kyu!"
As Elena spoke while returning her whip-sword to its longsword state, Iero, who had been hiding by the ceiling, landed on Seto's back and chirped in agreement.
"Certainly, if it were a normal enemy... even a monster, there's no way it wouldn't be finished off by that," Vihera added while checking the condition of her gauntlets.
"Nn," Byune muttered in a worried tone.
And in the next moment...
Detecting a grinding sound, everyone present instantly turned toward the source with their weapons ready.
However, the person in their sight was not the Man-Demon Oricule. The newcomer was about the same height as Oricule, but he was undeniably human. The man reflexively brandished a claymore that was as tall as he was. After all, as soon as he entered the room, every combatant there had leveled their weapons at him, so it was only natural for him to take a defensive stance.
"...Bosk."
Rei lowered his Death Scythe slightly and muttered the name of the man who had appeared. At that, the others followed suit, lowering their weapons or breaking their attack stances.
"What are you doing here alone? What about the others?"
"Cleaning up House Marstchel's residence. Some doll-like enemies attacked us. While searching the mansion, I found stairs leading underground, so I decided to come down... But then I heard from Ecethesus that you were in danger, so I barged in."
Bosk glanced at the blue-skinned opponent lying some distance away, who looked nothing like a human.
"From the looks of it, it seems there was no need to worry."
"No, nO. That is not the case at alL."
The voice that returned in response to Bosk's words, spoken with a sigh of relief, was that distorted, cynical rasp.