Chapter 236: Asura

「Therese-san…!」

A small scream escaped from Weerel, who’s in the rear providing support. From her point of view, she could clearly see that Therese was pierced by Hund’s blade. Red blood drips onto the white bone, staining it with the color of Therese’s life. The bone pierced through the shield and armor and lifted Therese’s that her legs can’t reach the ground.

「… Don’t worry! I’m still alive and well!」

Therese took a deep breath and shouted with all her might. It was her right shoulder that was pierced. It’s a serious wound, but not a lethal one. She also hasn’t let go of Coalesce and is holding it tightly with her aching right hand. Her left hand grabbed Hund’s bone, and what looked like vines and branches grew out of the armor of Sculpture, twining themselves around Therese’s arm. It was the same with the shield of Coalesce. They extended to Hund’s arm to not let him go.

「I’ve sealed his right arm desuwa!」

「Therese-san…. Please don’t make us worried…!」

「Nuh!」

Weerel didn’t miss even the slightest opportunity and sent the waiting jellyfish of Kuvalere toward Hund all at once. The electric poison jellyfish clung to Hund as if to cover him, and they inflicted paralysis and poison. They were soon pierced by the bones protruding from his body, but they did their job properly.

(Even though I missed the vital part, she still has the guts…! Nevertheless, I’m in a trouble, huh!)

There’s no time to regret the failure. After all, Haruna is still attacking Hund’s leg.

「Hah!」

「!?」

Haruna finally broke the bones that were defending the legs and she cut through the legs with that momentum. Hund, who has lost his legs below the shin, lost his balance. Then, his center of gravity tilted toward his right arm, which Therese has sealed, and he fell forward――

「Hmph!」

――or not! Even though he was about to fall, his ability reconstructed the new bones and flesh of both legs, and he stopped with one leg kneeling on the ground.

「Haruna, match me!」

「Okay!」

Chinatsu, who kicked the air from the sky, and Haruna directed their weapons at Hund. When Haruna slashed his legs with her Doggan Staff a while ago, she shrewdly applied All Break to reduce his ability and Gravi to increase his weight. Even if he didn’t fall, the fact that his balance is collapsed now is an opportunity.

However, Hund’s physical change was not limited to the regeneration of his legs. The bases of his arms bulged and something appeared at once. He created new arms, some directed at the sky where Chinatsu is, and some directed at the ground where Haruna is. His appearance is like Asura. Hund now has six arms in total, so even if Therese has sealed one of them, he still has five. With this, Therese’s sacrifice became meaningless. On the contrary, Hund tries to direct that fist toward the two along with Therese.

「Therese-san, retreat!」

「Labyris Orca…!」

「Kuh, thank you!」

Fortunately, the paralyzed Hund’s movement is much slower than he was at the beginning. Weerel sent a water orca toward Therese and evacuated her. At the same time, a series of attacks by Haruna and Chinatsu began. They attack from the front, back, top, and below! Against their fast attacks, Hund is responding with his six arms and bone blades. In the eyes of Weerel, who’s treating Therese with the recovery potion, the fight seems equal.

If the flesh is hit, the current Doggan Staff and Pluto would be able to cut it off. However, they can’t hit because everything is blocked by the bones. It would be possible to break the bones if they keep pushing without fear, but the increased arms do not allow it. So, Haruna interweaves a counter with aiki in the series of attacks.

「!?」

The impact was certainly transmitted. But this time, he wasn’t blown away. That was because Hund fixed his body by sticking out his bones that act as stakes from his soles.

「Don’t think that the same technique will work twice on me!」

「Whoa!」

Haruna kicked the ground and barely avoided the huge fists. Hund’s three fits smashed the ground where Haruna was standing, making a huge crater. If Haruna were to be hit by such things, she would be knocked out with just a single attack. With the ground gone, the three of them descended according to gravity and the battle shifted to an aerial battle. Haruna is using the Skill 『Air Kick』, and Chinatsu is creating footholds with barriers from time to time. They are struggling to gain predominance.

「Fuu, I’m okay now. It’s a very good medicine desuwa.」

「It’s the secret medicine of The World Tree…. Grandpa gave it to me before we left…. There was only one, though….」

In the meantime, Therese’s treatment was completed. The hole in her right shoulder was completely closed up, leaving no scar. The hole in the shield was repaired with the soil in the surroundings, and the hole in the armor with the generated plants. Therese, fully restored.

「Maa, you used such an expensive thing!? I will definitely return this favor, Wee!」

「Rather than that, please be careful not to hurt yourself more than this…. Chinatsu-san doesn’t seem to have the leeway to use healing magic after all….」

「Ah, that’s right! I need to get back to the front line!」

「I’ll send you with Labyris Orca―― No, wait…. Something is wrong….」

「Wrong? Huh?」

Therese got up triumphantly, but she staggered. Did her injury haven’t been completely healed yet? No. The ground is shaking. It’s shaking so much that they think it’s an earthquake. When Weerel and Therese were being on guard, Haruna and Chinatsu jumped out of the crater. They seem to be somewhat in panic.

「Chinatsu-chan, let’s retreat now!」

「Sorry, Haruna…!」

Haruna is running backward while shooting Gravas to the crater. She seems to be chanting the heaviest gravity web that she can use now. Meanwhile, Chinatsu returned to Therese and Weerel.

「Both of you, w-what happened!?」

「Haa, haa…! Y-You see, it was going well, but I couldn’t finish him off… haa…!」

「Please dink this first… it’s delicious water….」

「T-Thank you.」

Chinatsu drank the water she got from Weerel and regained her breath. In the meantime, Haruna returned. As for Haruna, she seems to still have a lot of stamina and she doesn’t seem to be tired at all.

「I guess it’s useless. I tried it as a last effort, but that degree of gravity doesn’t seem to work on him.」

「I see, this is bad….」

「Um, what happened? What about Hund-san?」

「Well――」

The ground is shaking again, blocking Chinatsu’s words. The shaking is even bigger than before.

「――I never expected that I would show this figure. I was saving it to defeat the 『Degenerate Demon』, but it seems that it’s not the time for that. You can be happy, you can be proud. I’m praising you for making me go all out…!」

Something huge crawled up from the bottom of the crater.