For the Corrupted Spirit, discovering a "deity" was a purely accidental delight.
This was in a history that had already been altered by Isagi.
The original subjugation battle of the [Artificial Labyrinth] had been completed years ago—yet even so, Dionysus, the god of wine whose scheme had been uncovered ahead of time, still entered into a certain "cooperation" with the remnants of the Dark Familia and with Thanatos, the god of death.
In the deep levels of the Dungeon, they had used a Jewel Fetus to parasitize a deity, in a desperate bid to make one final, all-out gamble.
And the result was this.
Two deities were devoured by the Jewel Fetus at the same time, and became the Monster that now stood before them—
["God of Death and Wine"].
It was not a deity, but neither was it a Monster. And so, the only title that could be conferred upon it was that of a "Monster."
This gave rise to the first extremely troublesome problem.
And it was this.
No matter how powerful a Monster might be, so long as you destroyed the Magic Stone within its body, you could always kill it. In this respect, not even a Corrupted Spirit was an exception.
Beneath its twisted, hideous exterior, existing as its "core," there was a Magic Stone glowing with an eerie, deep-violet light.
But this "Monster deity" before them had none.
It seemed to have no weakness whatsoever—no matter how many times its body was shattered, it could simply revive again.
And what was more.
It wasn't even magic!
Hedin couldn't sense the slightest surge of magic power at all.
So then—what on earth was the source of its power? It surely couldn't be Divine Power, could it? If it were, then how were they supposed to fight against it? Could this truly be deicide?
He shook his head.
Hedin flung these absurd thoughts out of his mind.
Accompanied by the overflowing aroma of wine, the frenzied Monsters that came crawling out of that deep-crimson wine roared and lunged at everyone.
"Immortal Thunder Soldier—"
Thunder crackled and boomed.
The interwoven serpents of lightning, like countless blades and sword-edges, tore these Monsters summoned by the "deity" to shreds in an instant.
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Ottar swung the pitch-black greatsword in his hand with a cold snort, grinding the swarming Monsters into dust—all the while his gaze remained fixed, unwavering, upon the "deity" before him.
On the whole, the thing was still "humanoid."
Its entire body seemed shrouded within a pitch-black robe, and hung all over it were masks—weeping or laughing, wrathful or blissful.
At the same time.
That deep-crimson wine flowed ceaselessly out from between its limbs, carrying with it a certain indescribable "aura of death."
One could feel it directly, profoundly—that was "death" itself.
Cold. Void. Nothing existed there.
It sapped the strength from you, and at the same time gave rise to a very strange sensation—
[What exactly is this thing's ability?]
Judging from the few minutes of fighting just now.
It was strong.
An estimated Level 8? No—it should be Level 9? Or was it truly impossible to judge it by anything like "Level" at all?
But what Ottar was certain of, at present, was this.
The "deity" before them truly was undying.
Whether it was Allen Fromel's spear, swift to the utmost extreme; or the cursed magic sword in Hogni's hand; or Hedin's lightning magic; or the greatsword in his own hands—
every attack was "ineffective."
No matter whether they cut this thing apart, blasted it to pieces, or ground it into minced flesh, it could always restore itself afterward.
[Could the god of death truly be immortal?]
Impossible.
Perhaps deities truly could not be killed—but the Monster before them was absolutely not a true deity.
When the gods descended to the Lower World, the bodies they used were no different from those of mortals. Even parasitized by a Jewel Fetus, it should still be nothing more than "an ordinary human body."
And it was precisely for this reason.
That the enemy's body was so fragile, almost shattering at the slightest touch—it merely possessed some kind of extraordinary power…
In that case.
Was it enough simply to keep attacking?
No matter what kind of power it was, there would always come a moment when it ran dry. So long as they kept killing, and killing, and killing, there would eventually come a time when they killed it completely.
Even if this thing were a truly immortal being, then they would just kill it over and over, until it hurt so much it couldn't take it anymore!!
In that case… their battle strategy could be changed too!!
The goal was not to kill the enemy, but to inflict pain upon it!!
He swiftly shared his idea with everyone.
At that very moment.
The maidens who had only just rushed in to lend support were somewhat baffled by Ottar's decision.
[Not to kill it, but to inflict pain?]
For a moment, it was rather hard to comprehend.
But the battle left no time for distraction. Very quickly, Ryuu, acting as commander, swiftly assessed the situation and sent both Ais and Tiona to support the Freya Familia.
She also had Lefiya go and join Riveria in dealing with the main body of the Corrupted Spirit.
The ["God of Death and Wine"] would not use magic, so sending the elf maiden over to help could share some of the pressure.
It could also free up Riveria's hands, allowing her to use magic to strike back at the Corrupted Spirit to some degree.
And on the other side.
Speaking of "inflicting pain," that girl Heith suddenly had a new idea.
And that was—healing!
"Lady Airmid, release healing magic on that thing together with me!!"
"?"
The [Saint of the Battlefield], who was being protected, was baffled for a moment, but very quickly, she began chanting healing magic alongside Heith all the same.
"My name is Gold. Sworn never to decay, the arm of the goddess, scorched thrice over, forever enduring the torment of the piercing flame—"
"Droplets of healing, tears of radiance, eternal sanctuary. Summon the medicine's melody here. Three hundred and sixty-five melodies. The calendar of healing shall save all things. Now, come forth, and dispel evil—"
Golden-jade, pure-white holy light enveloped this entire region at once.
Whether it was the side of the Loki Familia, or the members of the Freya Familia, including that "deity"—everyone was drawn into it.
Stamina was rapidly recovering, and wounds were healing at breakneck speed.
The healing magic wielded by Heith and Airmid, after being leveled up by Haruhime, aside from being unable to bring the dead back to life, had likely already reached the "pinnacle" of what a healer of this world could achieve.
One could even go so far as to say.
That the body of an ordinary person could probably not withstand such an enormous quantity of "healing magic" at all.
Both Airmid and Heith were healers who frequently treated others.
Although—Heith's healing targets were basically all adventurers rather than ordinary people—she also knew that when adventurers of different levels were being healed, the "power" used was subtly different.
As a healer, it was not enough simply to stand before a sickbed and chant magic.
The amount of power required to heal wounds and pain had to be strictly controlled, for the moment one recklessly exceeded the limit that the body could bear—
The power of healing would turn into the power of destruction.
The "deity's" body began to swell up. Beneath the black robe, its flesh and blood seemed to be growing wildly.
That destroyed body and its wounds were all healing in an instant.
And the negative effect this brought about was, naturally, that the burden upon the "body" itself grew at an abnormal speed—and in the end, it would cause everything, absolutely everything, to collapse entirely!
____
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