It was a bit late to mention this, but the Demon King had reached level 403. Â Even if the Demon King had lived for a very long time, it was hard to believe that he had reached that level. Â Moreover, he possessed Demonic energy and skills befitting his high level.
[Fragment of the Demonic God]
[Level : 408]
This monster had appeared out of the summoning circle. Â Only its arm had escaped, yet it was at level 408
âIts Demonic energy is swelling! Â Back off!â
âNyaa-ah. Â I canât eat it all!â
Was it because it had been summoned through the Demonic Kingâs Demonic energy? Â The Demonic energy of the arm possessed similar toxicity to the Demon King. Â However, it was much more dense and foul. Â Roaâs Greed ability and the Reclamation magic was getting rid of it whenever they could, yet it was still this bad.
âSienna, donât overextend yourself fighting it! Â If we buy some time, we will win eventually!â
âYes, unni!â
Fortunately, the Demon King had possessed much more intelligence than the arm. Â (Although, the arm was as crazy as the the Demon King.) Â In comparison to the Demon King, the arm was basically a being without consciousness. Â It was provoked by the two strongest females in the party. Â It instinctually attacked Sienna and Maetel.
The black hand was bumpy and rugged. Â Each large finger possessed seven additional long demonic fingers. Â These demonic fingers clawed at the empty air as if it was a mouth. Â It was as if it was craving for its prey. Â If one was caught between those fingers, the result would be unimaginable.
âI understand it now. Â This is what the Demon King wanted us to experience.â
The magic tome with the Reclamation magic was given to Pipi. Â He regained use of both his hands, and he was able to freely manipulate his Mana. Â After a thorough examination of the Demonic godâs arm, he came to a conclusion.
âIf such a monster descends into this world, itâll be the end of everything. Â If we donât want the world to end, we have to defeat our opposition before they summon the Demonic god. Â Basically, that is what the Demon King wanted to point out.â
âIt would have better if he had just told us thatâŚ..â
Etna sounded sad as she mumbled to herself. Â She lightly swung her arm. Â A blade of fire arose from the arc drawn by her arm. Â The fire blade hit the monsterâs pinky finger. Â Instead of cutting off the finger, the attack left behind a very small flesh wound.
[Koo-ohhhhhhhhhh!]
However, it was enough to make the arm turn towards Etna. Â It was also what Etna had been aiming for. Â In the fight against Sienna and Maetel, the arm had been slowly inching closer to the party.
âMaetel said weâll win if we hold out for long enough.  However, ArtpeâŚ.â
As the arm approached her, Etna sent shot a cannon ball made out of fire towards it. Â She put all her power into the attack as she asked a question.
âWill we be able to do it?â
âItâll be possible if the Reclamation magic is maintained until the end.  Roaâs Greed ability has no limit.  âŚ..the problem lies with Maetel.â
Record Master was a cheat ability that gathered the Record of many into one, and she was able to distribute it as she liked. Â Of course, such an ability would have a time limit. Â Even if Mana was provided for her use, no one could help her with her mental strength. Â She had lasted this long through sheer willpower.
âHoo-ahhhhhhhhhhp!â
[Koo-gah-ahhhhhhhk!?]
Artpe and Etna continued to send spells towards the arm as they spoke to each other in a worried tone. At that moment, Sienna brought down her hammer. Â She had been been given the strength of her entire party, and she was able to crush one finger with her fierce attack. Â As if she had been waiting for this, Maetel quickly snatched Sienna, and she retreated backwards with Sienna in tow.
Afterwards, the enraged Demonic godâs arm grasped the space around it. Â While Artpe manifested his spells, he had been monitoring the armâs movement, form and energy. Â The arm kept repeating the same grasping gesture, and Artpe realized that nothing was left behind in the space grasped by the hand.
Everything within the space was gone.  Air, dust, Mana and even Demonic energyâŚ..
âMy god¡¡¡¡¡¡.â
[Koo-goo-rooooooo-goo-ahhhhhhk!]
The power didnât differentiate between Mana and Demonic energy. Â It destroyed everything, and Artpe was sure that this was part of the armâs Innate ability. Â It was the most simple and destructive Innate ability that Artpe had run across up until now!
Even as Artpe saw it with his two eyes, he was having a hard time believing it. Â How could so much power be given to such a creature! Â Its finger was crushed by Sienna when its Demonic energy was consumed, but it recovered from the damage. Â In front of its Innate ability, the regenerative ability of the arm looked like childsplay.
At that moment, dust settle atop Artpeâs head. Â He had been monitoring the ceiling with sharp eyes. Â At long last, Artpe let out a shout.
âThe cave is collapsing. Â Regina!â
âUnderstood.â
The arm was letting out too much Demonic energy. Â Even though the Demon King had put his heart and soul into creating this Dungeon, it had reached its limit. Â Regina used her cold air to temporarily stop the collapse of the cave. Â Then she directed the large pieces of the ceiling to fall on top of the arm of the Demonic god. Â She tried to damage it a little bit more.
[Kee-haaaaaaaah!]
A surprising fact was revealed thanks to her actions.
âThe rocks disappeared before they could get near the arm. Â It didnât have to make that grasping motion!â
âIt was a feint.  Its Innate ability can be activated without the hand making that grasping motion.  If it wasnât for ReginaâŚ.  Shit.  Sienna!  Maetel!  Donât approach it until I can suppress its ability!â
Artpe busily moved his hands. Â Several thousand strands of Mana Strings appeared from the tip of his fingers. Â The Mana Strings kept changing direction as they expanded to fill the cave. Â The Mana Strings stopped the charge of the arm.
âKoohk!â
The arm had charged forward as if it was going to swallow up the party alongside the cave. Â However, the arm was stopped for now. Â Artpe frowned.
âThis son of a bitch is sending its negative energy through my ManaâŚ..!â
When the armâs Demonic energy made contact with Artpeâs Mana, a connection was formed. Â A frightening image appeared within Artpeâs mind, and a curse flowed into his mind. Â It was intended to mess with Artpeâs mind. Â It was trying to negate Artpeâs spell.
The arm possessed overwhelming Record, so Artpe had guessed that it had possessed more than one Innate ability. Â He had been right. Â As expected of a being called the Demonic god, it had splendid abilities!
[Koo-goo-roo-rooooooooooo!]
âHa!â
However, the Mana Strings didnât melt under the assault of its Innate ability. Â Artpe also wasnât lacking in terms of mental strength. Â At the very least, it wouldnât work when Artpeâs eyes were letting out the bright purple light. Â It was truly an amazing attack that contaminated the mind of oneâs opponent. Â Unfortunately, the arm had used it against the wrong opponent.
âIâm immune to attacks on my mind, bitch!â
Artpe didnât buckle under its mental attack. Â He poured more Mana into his Mana Strings! Â Dozen layers turned into hundreds of layers. Â The layers of Mana Strings stacked upon each other as it continued to stop the charge of the arm.
When Etna took Artpeâs hand, a bright fire ran along the strings, and the flame lit up the Demonic godâs arm. Â She had the blood of an Elemental, so she was weak against mental attacks. Â However, she was just adding her power to Artpeâs Mana. Â She could accomplish this without succumbing to the mental attack.
âIf we canât melee it¡¡¡¡¡¡!â
At this point, Maetel had correctly assessed the situation. Â She moved on to her next attack. Â She held her long sword instead of her bastard sword.
The sword had the ability to compress and shoot out Mana. Â Maetel preferred the bastard sword, so the long sword rarely got used now. Â Despite this fact, the long sword had a top tier ability that allowed her to condense her Mana. Â It was also possible to stop the sword from shooting out the condensed energy. Â The condensed Mana became fixed to the sword!
The Demonic godâs arm was trapped by Artpeâs Mana Strings, so it was barely moving. Â She aimed for the weakest point on the arm. Â She used Accelerate as she threw it towards the wrist joint. Â She put all the power of her Innate ability, and the power granted to her by the Record Master into this deadly throw!
The weapon was invaluable, yet she had basically used it as a one-off throwing weapon. Â The party was close to being wiped out. Â It was a desperate situation, so no one stopped her.
[Koo-goo-goo-goo-gahhhhhhhh!]
The arm of the Demonic god sensed the weapon flying towards it. Â It tried to destroy the sword, but Artpeâs Mana Strings desperately held back its ability. Â It resisted against the Mana Strings as it let out a massive amount of Demonic energy. Â The nearby region was destroyed as Demonic energy filled the cave!
The Reclamation magic and Roaâs Greed ability stopped the Demonic energy from reaching the party. Â However, it couldnât stop the Demonic energy from changing the course of the sword. Â When Maetel saw this, she tried to rush forward despite the risk of her mind becoming corrupted. Â Artpe stepped forward before she could do so.
âMaterialization!â
In a flash, the long sword grew several dozen times larger. Â The massive sword extinguished the Demonic energy in its vicinity, and it stabbed into the wrist joint. Â The hand was severed at the wrist!
âWe did it!â
âWe arenât out of the woods yet!  GâŚget rid of the arm!â
The severed arm and hand was in shock. Â However, it started moving again in short order. Â The handless arm was much larger than the hand, but Artpe didnât hesitate to attack it first. Â He determined the Demonic energy of the Demonic god was nested within the arm. Â The Demonic godâs abilities was concentrated in the hand.
âWe canât get rid of that easily. Â First, we have to get rid of its arm since it supplies the hand with Demonic energy.!â
As he spoke, Artpe blocked the hand with his Mana Strings. Â A more dense Demonic energy assaulted the ground and the ceiling. Â The ceiling continued to decay as it threatened to fall atop the whole party. Â Artpeâs Mana String deflected the debris with his Mana Strings!
It wasnât just that. Â The giant long sword was still under the influence of the Materialization magic. Â It slowly floated into the air then it shot towards the hand again.
The Materialization had a special characteristic. Â It took a lot of Mana to use it, but it barely used any Mana when trying to change and maintain the spell! Â The Demonic godâs hand became preoccupied by the enormous sword infused with powerful Mana.
Maetel and Sienna had been waiting for that exact moment. Â They charged forward. Â Maetel gripped her bastard sword as she climbed atop the flailing arm. Â She started degloving the arm with her sword. Â Sienna ruthlessly pounded on the severed wrist with her hammer. Â It was as Artpe had said. Â The Demonic godâs abilities were focused within its hand. Â The arm was being directly attacked, yet the two girls didnât suffer from any mental attacks.
âHoo, hoo-ooh¡¡¡¡¡¡.â
âMaetel, just hold out a little longer!â
âLittle longer?  I can do this all day¡¡¡¡¡¡!â
âUnni, get out of there! Â Hoo-ahhhhhhp!â
[Koo-goo-goo-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga!]
Everyone realized that Maetel was lying. Â She couldnât keep this up.
Despite Reginaâs intervention, the underground cave was slowly collapsing.
In the end, the Demonic godâs hand broke free from Artpeâs Mana strings, and it crumpled the enormous sword. Â Artpe bit his lips.
At this point, it really looked like the Demon King had planned on killing them with the summoning.
âI thought it wouldnât be worse than the Demon King.â
He wanted to punch himself for having such thoughts. Â The mere existence of a creature with such massive energy and abilities was a calamity in itself. Â It was a terror, and it possessed the absolute power of the gods. Â It didnât need intelligence or consciousness to be a dangerous.
âBack off! Â The hand is coming!â
âTsk¡¡¡¡¡¡!â
âRegina, over there!â
âDenied. Â It is impossible to use this spell multiple times all at once.â
âEh-eet¡¡¡¡¡¡!â
The party members were doing their best to resist against the Fragment of the Demonic god. Â At that moment, Artpe suddenly remembered the Demon Kingâs last words.
âHe told me to rise above the gods. Â He really was laughable until the end.â
Even a portion of the Demonic god overwhelmed the heroâs party, yet the Demon King expected Artpe to overcome all of it by himself. Â He knew the Demon King was a psycho, but he had a renewed appreciation of this fact.
Artpe grumbled as he raised one hand. Â Several hundred thousand Mana Strings appeared from his hand. Â He once again restricted the movement of the hand. Â Despite the Reclamation magic and Roaâs Greed ability, the handâs power couldnât be weakened. Â It started to suppress and break apart Artpeâs Mana.
Artpe furrowed his brows as he sensed the handâs innate ability.  How could such an Innate ability exist?  It was pure destruction.  It truly was somethingâŚ.
âSsssp. Â I have no choice.â
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Artpe cleared his palate as he desperately gathered the Mana that was being suppressed by the hand. Â Fortunately, there was a portion of the Mana leftover after it suffered under the Demonic godâs Innate ability. Â It really showcased how much control Artpe had over his Mana. Â He had reached the peak In terms of controlling Mana.
âRecord of DestructionâŚ.  Please work.â
âArtpe¡¡¡¡¡¡?â
When Etna heard the words mumbled by Artpe, she looked at him in disbelief. Â Artpe didnât answer her questioning gaze. Â He put all his will and dearest wish into the spell he spoke.