Chapter 260. The Demons’ Capital (3)
More than a hundred eyes had opened across ‘Lucifer’s’ body.
Destructive beams poured from them like rain.
Alexei and I climbed onto Astolfo’s Hippogriff and took to the sky, while Kang Yujin, Heracles, and the others used their own speed to evade the attacks.
But not everyone here could dodge or block those beams.
“OOOOOH!”
In that situation, the one who rushed forward was the S-rank Constellation ‘Invincible Hero,’ Achilles.
He raised his Constellation Armament.
A shield.
Achilles’s shield was one of the greatest shields in Greek mythology.
It had supposedly been forged by Hephaestus, the god of smithing, and its surface depicted the entire cosmos and human civilization.
Later interpretations even said that the whole world was contained upon it.
WHOOOOM!
The moment Achilles raised the shield, a massive barrier formed and received the destructive light.
Thanks to that, the weaker Constellations were protected.
Even so, the situation was still terrible.
“Damn it! If we don’t do something about this, we can’t even move one step!”
“Nameless King! Do something!”
Hearing Achilles shout, I immediately raised my voice.
“Arjuna!”
“Understood!”
Arjuna had already retreated all the way to the city wall.
He raised his divine bow, Gandiva.
Then he widened his eyes and shouted.
“Brahmastra...!”
An Astra borrowing the power of the creator god Brahma activated.
An arrow of destruction, no less terrifying than Lucifer’s beams, shot forward.
The Brahmastra struck one of the eyes on Lucifer’s body with perfect accuracy.
An explosion erupted, leaving a crater around it.
“I cannot snipe every one of the hundred-plus eyes by myself!”
“So...!”
“I know!”
“Nezha! Heracles!”
While Arjuna continued firing Brahmastras, Nezha and Heracles moved.
Nezha flew through the air.
Heracles charged across the ground.
Both rushed straight toward Lucifer.
“HAAAH!”
“OOOOOH!”
Nezha had entered his Three Heads and Six Arms form.
Six weapons filled his six hands.
After climbing onto Lucifer’s body, he began swinging them wildly and destroying the eyes one after another.
Heracles also smashed them apart one at a time with the club supposedly forged by Hephaestus.
“Nameless King!”
Merlin shouted while protecting himself with magic.
“There’s no reason for us to waste time here!”
“Our real targets are Ha Mina and Bael, who should be somewhere inside!”
“There should also be something acting as Lucifer’s core!”
“You should go ahead and...”
Merlin never finished.
Christina had charged out from Lucifer’s direction and swung her sword at him.
“Ghk...!”
Merlin tried to defend with magic.
But Christina’s blade tore through his defensive spell with ease.
“As expected of Marmyadose, a sword greater than Excalibur...!”
“I should thank you for this!”
“You gave me this sword to replace Balmung!”
Brilliant sword aura shone around Christina’s blade.
Merlin used magic as he tried to evade.
But Christina refused to let him escape.
“Damn...!”
Just before Christina’s sword split Merlin’s head in two...
Atalanta shot in from the side and kicked Merlin in the ribs.
“Gah!”
Merlin screamed.
But thanks to her, he avoided being bisected by Christina.
“HAAAH!”
Atalanta moved at a speed almost impossible to see and attacked Christina.
Yet Christina blocked every strike.
She was slower than Atalanta.
But because she could predict where the attacks were coming from, she could defend against them.
“Useless.”
“Ah...!”
Atalanta narrowly dodged Christina’s sword.
But then Christina’s fist hit her and sent her rolling across the ground.
"...!"
She had landed in a position where the destructive beams could strike her directly.
But Jason threw himself forward, grabbed her, and dragged her behind Achilles’s barrier.
“Stop moving around recklessly!”
“You’re one of the weakest Constellations here!”
“You’re weaker than me!”
“Stop acting superior!”
“I saved you and this is how you talk to me?!”
“This is exactly why I never wanted a woman like you on my ship!”
“Shut up, you sexist!”
Even in a situation like this, the two kept bickering.
Orpheus sighed and began playing his lyre.
A fierce melody shook the surroundings.
The movements of our allies immediately became sharper.
“Ghk...”
Christina, however, bit her lip and faltered.
Orpheus’s music produced opposite effects on allies and enemies through a single performance.
The instant Christina’s movements slowed...
Kang Yujin rushed toward her.
“Christina...!”
Kang Yujin’s fist collided with Christina’s sword.
Sparks scattered.
“Why are you helping Ha Mina?”
“To become stronger!”
“Don’t tell me you’re actually trying to become Lucifer!”
“Why not?”
“Doesn’t sound bad to me!”
Even though Orpheus’s music should have weakened her condition, Christina fought Kang Yujin without hesitation.
“At this point, that’s the only way I can become stronger!”
“Then train!”
“Alexandros and I actually trained under Heracles!”
“Doesn’t look like it made much difference!”
At that moment, Sylvia joined the fight from the side.
She too was holding a sword wrapped in sword aura.
According to Merlin, that weapon was also one of King Arthur’s swords.
Sequence.
“OOOOH!”
Sylvia shouted and attacked Kang Yujin.
Now Kang Yujin had to fight Christina and Sylvia at the same time.
“What should we do, Your Majesty?”
“Astolfo, can you pick up Kang Yujin?”
Flying back down through the storm of destructive beams and grabbing Kang Yujin would not be easy.
“Leave it to me!”
But Astolfo answered confidently and sent the Hippogriff diving.
It narrowly avoided the beams as it approached Kang Yujin.
I pulled the trigger of my handgun, keeping Christina and Sylvia in check.
“Kang Yujin!”
"...!"
Kang Yujin immediately jumped and grabbed one of the Hippogriff’s hind legs.
Christina and Sylvia tried to pursue.
But it was already too late.
The Hippogriff climbed back into the sky.
However...
with so many people aboard, its speed had clearly dropped.
WHOOOM!
One of Lucifer’s destructive beams nearly struck us directly.
The only reason we survived was because Princess Longji layered water into a lens and refracted the beam away.
“Are you all right?”
“Thanks, Princess Longji!”
“Focus.”
“You’re carrying the Nameless King.”
Flying beside us, Princess Longji scolded Astolfo.
“Nameless King, you intend to take Kang Yujin and approach Lucifer like this, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t think we have another choice.”
“Then I’ll support you.”
Princess Longji created multiple water lenses around us.
She probably couldn’t completely block Lucifer’s destructive light.
But she could at least refract it away like before.
“Then Your Majesty, I’m going full speed!”
The Hippogriff accelerated toward Lucifer again.
Princess Longji followed.
As we got closer, the destructive beams that had mainly been attacking the ground began targeting us directly.
We’ve only destroyed about half the eyes.
Can Astolfo’s piloting and Princess Longji’s lenses really get us through this?
I was starting to worry.
Then a voice reached my ears.
“I’ll help!”
Merlin had caught up to us and was flying alongside the Hippogriff.
He swung his staff.
Countless magical barriers formed in front of us and began blocking the destructive beams.
“If I work together with Princess Longji, we can hold them off!”
“Keep moving!”
“Thanks!”
“I analyzed that tree with magic!”
“The part above ground doesn’t actually matter much!”
