Chapter 56

Chapter 56 – Lunatic Wave (2)

“Kyahhhhh!”

“Humans, those items are not meant for you.  It is meant for us to wield!”

“Koohk.  You bastards……!”

“These bastards are overtaken by madness!  They were already strong, but now they are impossible to stop with the madness afflicting them…..!”

Artpe had flipped the curse, and it caused the Demons to reveal themselves to the humans.  At the same time, Artpe had prevented the Demons from running away.  He wanted to create a situation where the Demons would have to confront the humans.

His plan had worked very well.  The Demons didn’t even think about hiding their presence as they ran full tilt towards the auction house.   However, even Artpe couldn’t do anything about the strengthening effect the curse had on the Demons.

“Fortunately, the Demons aren’t casting any magic spells.”

“They aren’t of sane mind, so how can they calculate and cast complicated magic spells?”

Artpe snorted as he raised a finger.  Mana Strings started to appear from the tip of his finger. One strand, two strands, four strands….

In a flash, several dozen strands were emitted, and they started to coil around each other.  They formed into something that resembled a rope.

Of course, he didn’t end it there.

“Hyper Rubbing.”

“You really are persistent about using that magic spell.”

After several dozen strands of Mana Strings were twisted into one, Hyper Rubbing was applied.  In a flash, an immense amount of friction was caused.  The Mana Strings heated up as Mana was consumed.

Artpe swung it horizontally.  The several Demons that were trying to jump over the line created by the knights were all flung backwards.  The level of these Demons ranged from mid hundreds to early two hundreds, yet they couldn’t put up much fight against the attack.  They were sent flying.

“Kyah-hahk!”

“Kooo-ahhhhk!”

“Oh oh!  As expected of the Magician!”

“Hoohp!”

Artpe wasn’t swinging a weapon with substance.  It was a magic whip.  This was why he could swing it tirelessly as he attacked the Demons from a distance.

Hyber Rubbing was applied to the several dozen Mana Strings, so even a short contact would create a violent backlash.  It was as if the defensive gears and the skin of the Demons weren’t event there.  The Mana Strings broke through everything, and it even caused the flesh underneath to burn.

There was the damage caused directly by the friction, and the damage caused by the heat created by the friction.  It was a result that couldn’t be achieved through a simple fire spell.

“You can’t see it when I’m using a single strand, but when I use several dozen strands at the same time, the Hyper Rubbing becomes much more beneficial to use!”

“If you have the time to leisurely give such commentaries, you should swing the whip more!”

Mycenae also had a weapon.  She took out a long bow that looked familiar.  Artpe realized that it was the bow he had sold to her after acquiring it from the Slime Dungeon.

“You bought that for your own use!?”

“Temporary!  It is temporarily in my care!  If I clean and repair it, I can sell it as a new item!”

Mycenae was nonplussed as she spoke words that made her sound like a scam artist.  Then she changed the form of the bow.  It was reborn as a ballista that was normally used in siege warfare.  A large bolt made out of magical energy appeared.  It was letting out a subdued silver light.

“You have to ensure that I’m safe, customer!”

“I don’t know.  You should ask Maetel to do it.”

“You are being hateful!”

Mycenae fired the arrow through the ballista.  She followed Artpe’s example by attacking the Demons from a distance.  The damage was secondary to the fact that their attacks were restricting the movements of the Demons.  It was of big help to the humans.

“Ballista!?”

“I don’t care what it is.  The time is now!”

“Koo-ahhhhhhhk!”

“Please let me send this as business expense to the Anywhere company!”

“Just shoot your arrows, dummy.”

There was one Demon, who hadn’t suffered under the full effects of the madness.  Artpe’s whip shot out to surround the Demon’s neck, since it was about to chant a magic spell.

“Kahk.  Kuh-huhk!”

“Good bye.”

When they received his command, the Mana Strings untied itself.  It caused a powerful rotation.  The already powerful friction increased precipitously as the several dozen strands of Mana Strings started to rotate.  This was a marriage between magical energy and physical force.  It was the strongest offensive attack Artpe could use right now.

“Ggoo-ahhhhhhhhk!”

It did have the downside of rapidly consuming his Mana, but the power of the attack was peerless.  The Demon’s chant was canceled, and his life was also canceled.   Artpe naturally absorbed the record of the Demon, and he sensed a natural swell of Mana surge forth within him.  Artpe smiled.

“All right.  It seems I went up a level.  The Demons lose some of their power when they enter the human world, but their EXP remain high compared to the other monsters.”

“You are probably the only one in this world that treats the Demon race as a good source of EXP.”

The two of them swapped endless banters.  Artpe kept swinging his whip, and Mycenae kept shooting the ballista.

The other humans were desperately fighting the Demons, but all the humans combined couldn’t touch the number of Demons they had killed.  In a short amount of time, Mycenae had killed two Demons, and Artpe had killed three.

“I somewhat expected this, but it seems you are special even amongst the Dungeon Merchants.”

“If it’s you, you probably had an idea of how strong I am, right?”

“I did have some idea as to how strong you were.”

Of course, he was lying.  He had more than a vague idea of her power.  From the moment he saw her, he had a complete understanding of her fighting power.

[Mycenae]

[Dark Elf]

[Dungeon Merchant]

[Level : 199]

[Archery Lv59]

[Mana Control Lv38]

If one was strictly talking about level, she was superior compared to Artpe and Maetel.  She also lived longer than humans, and the Elven specialty skill level was extremely high.

The only problem she had encountered was the fact that she had advanced to level 199 two years ago.  It basically meant that she hadn’t been able to advance to a high rank Class.

If one wanted to become a Dungeon Merchant, it wasn’t just about one’s potential to become a merchant.  One had to possess inclination towards fighting and magic.  One had to be talented in a combination of multiple disciplines, so it was a very tricky Class to advance in.  Many merchants let out blood, sweat and tears, because they were deficient in terms of fighting ability or magic.  They were unable to advance for a very long time.

However, Mycenae was the opposite case.  Her cultivation in fighting and magic was sufficient.  She was overqualified.  However, she lacked in her talent as a merchant.  It was the only thing that was holding her back.  She probably went around touting herself as a veteran merchant, because of her inferiority complex regarding this issue.

“······customer.  I know you find me to be pretty, but could you focus on the Demons?”

“Pfft.”

“You snorted at that!?”

Artpe retracted his thoughts as he focused on the battle in front of him.  There were around 30 Demons left.  Artpe and Mycenae were in a great spot.  They were fighting from the safest location possible.  On the other hand, many humans had already died at the frontline.

It wasn’t as if there weren’t any Priests residing in this city, but they weren’t able to heal everyone and dispel the curses.  There weren’t anywhere near enough of them.

“Koohk.  Is this how the humans will fall······!”

“Lord!  Where’s the lord!  That coward ran away!”

“We have to make do with what we have.  Don’t falter and endure!”

“Kyahhhhhhhhhk!”

The humans let out a resounding shout as they resisted against the Demons.  It was a decent looking picture, but Artpe could only let out a sigh.

“These humans are really weak.”

“Shhh, customer!  They might hear you!”

There were only three humans that were over level 150.  If they were inferior in terms of level, they should have learned how to work in concert with each other.  However, they were brutes.  The only method of fighting they knew was to throw their body at their enemies.  They were basically on the same level as the grunts of the Demon king’s army!   This was why these two groups always killed off each other!

“Please support this side, magician!”

“Even if you hadn’t said anything, I was going to send an attack!”

Artpe checked his remaining Mana.  He still had 70% of his Mana left, but the real threat wasn’t the group of Demons.  It was the Luatic Wave!  While he was controlling his Mana Strings, he turned to look at Mycenae, who was throwing fire balls towards the Demons.  He was checking up on something.

“Ajumma, do you have some Mana Potion you kept back in reserve?”

“······I can’t sell it to you?”

“I’ll pay for it all later.”

“I’ve received your order!”

After unloading her ballista, she had a brief moment when the ballista was reloading.  She used that brief moment to hand over the Mana Potion.  He held it in his mouth as he increased the number of Mana Strings.

“Die, you maggots!”

One swing of the whip pierced through three Demons.  He kept rotating the Mana Strings, and the whip kept letting out heat.  It was almost preternatural as to how the whip found only the most vulnerable spots on a Demon’s body to cause damage.  The Demons suffered critical wounds.

“Kyahhhhhhhhk!”

“Koo-hahk!”

Artpe was prioritizing his attacks against Demons that were of similar or lower level than him.  This was why he was able to pierce them easily.  There wasn’t much resistance against his Mana.  The humans had no real understanding about Artpe’s ability, so it looked as if Demons were being killed every time he swung his whip.  Their morale rose as they cheered.

“The peerless magician is helping us!  The Demons are so scared that they aren’t able to attack us properly!”

“Rush them! It is time!  Don’t let this opportunity slip away!”

The knights and Dungeon Merchants shouted at the same time as they faced off against the Demons.  However, the Demons were still dying at the same rate, yet the human force was getting smaller at a faster rate.  Basically, the humans were too weak!

‘This won’t do.  How ridiculous would it be if we can’t defend against the Lunatic Wave, because of this?’

Even if it would disadvantage him later on against the Lunatic Wave, should he kill all the Demons right now by pouring out all his magical energy?  It happened when Artpe was dithering.

“Hooo-ahhhhhhp!”

“Eh-eet!”

“Koo-hahk!”

“Koo-ohhhhh!?”

Finally, Maetel and Sienna had arrived at the battlefield!

“Huhk.  Those girls were the ones that caused the big ruckus earlier…….”

“Berserker!  That girl is a Berserker!  Is she perhaps a Demon…..”

The nobles and knights, who were in the midst of fighting against the Demons, flinched in surprise.  However, the two girls didn’t pay any attention to the gazes they were receiving from the other humans.  They charged towards the Demons.

“Ha!”

“Hoo-oohp!”

Maetel gripped her long sword as she used Acceleration.  It was as if she was sliding across the surface of the ground.  Each time her sword lashed out several Demons were cut down.  Sienna threw her Sledge Hammer.  It crushed the head of a Demon that was about to break through the line of humans.

“She’s strong!”

“My god······ She wasn’t part of the Demon race!?”

Once she invoked her power, Maetel didn’t stop.  She activated Berserk to push the power of her muscles to the extreme.  She planted her foot into the ground, and she shot forth like an arrow.  She pierced through the body of a Demon.

“Koo, hahk……”

“Next.”

The Demons that were left were all over level 200.  They were strong, yet even in Artpe’s past life, the hero had easily ignored the level difference.  The Demons were cut down with a single strike.

“No one here was able to face a Demon one on one, yet she killed it with one blow!?”

“Strong······ They are too strong!”

“Hooooooo-ahhhhhhp!”

At that moment, Sienna had reached the spot where she had thrown her hammer.  As soon as she retrieved it, she filled herself with magical energy, and she stomped on the ground.  The wave of magical energy had a widespread effect as it impacted against the Demons.  At the same time, it imparted healing energy towards the humans.  It was a main skill used by the Warrior Priestess.  It was called the Divine Ground.

“Ggooh-ahhhhhhhhk!”

“What is that cursed ability!”

“Priestess!  She’s a Priestess!”

“That girl was a Warrior Priestess!”

“The girl that was having a fight of passion with the Berserker was a Warrior Priestess….  It seems the temple has gone full monty.”

It didn’t matter where she was or what point in her development she was in. Artpe knew Maetel was crazy strong.   The unexpected one was Sienna.  She hadn’t reached level 160, yet the Demons were unable to anything against her attacks.  It was a shocking sight.

No, she’ll probably move past level 160 soon.  Around half of the Demons here would be turned

Into her EXP.

‘Evil Reflector······ I knew that her race was created as an antagonistic force towards the Demon race, but I never expected it to be like this.’

Sienna’s magical energy rebuffed the Demons, and all her skills contained her magical energy.  This meant all her skills had the effect of dispersing magical energy of the Demons.  Artpe had known all of this, yet it was entirely different to see her in action.

‘Can’t I just make her the hero?’

One thing was for sure.  The decision to accept Sienna as a party member was one of the finest decisions he had made in his life.

“That weak brat became so strong in just one year.”

It seemed Sienna’s performance had also left behind a big impression on Mycenae.  He smirked when he heard her express her admiration.  He weighed in on the situation with his words.

“Humans normally change really quickly just like that.”

“That is the strength of the humans…..”

“Strength······.”

Artpe hadn’t planned on praising the human race as a whole.  The fact that humans changed rapidly was a strength, but it was also a crucial weakness.

‘Since she’s a priestess…..  Nope, that’s fine.’

His mind had wandered during battle.  It seemed he couldn’t let go of the habit he picked up as the Four Heavenly King.  Artpe clicked his tongue as he swung his Mana String.

“Let’s wrap this up quickly.  The night has just begun.”

“That is also my wish, customer.”

Mycenae laughed as she answered him.  When her Mana arrow was reloaded into the ballista, a loud sound of an explosion was heard from the port.

“It’s here.”

Artpe clicked his tongue as he mumbled to himself.  At that moment, humans and the Demons under the influence of the madness curse stopped what they were doing for a brief moment.

“Oh no.”

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“This is nuts…..  Can it be?  It’s happening right now?”

“Oh my god.”

[Zeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!]

Afterwards, an ear-splitting sound rang out through the entire city.

It was an alarm magic that warned of an impending Lunatic Wave.