Chapter 330
"Hehe. As expected of an overlord of the deep sea. That power really is something."
Esdeath climbed out of a pile of shattered rocks on the island.
Large sections of her clothes had been torn apart by the storm, while much of her exposed skin had been ripped open until flesh and blood were visible. She looked utterly miserable.
That previous blast of wind had already reached the level of a Level 8 Magic attack, carrying truly terrifying destructive power.
Esdeath had only survived because she had fused with the blood of an Ultra-Class Danger Beast and then spent the past six months relentlessly tempering her body with the body-strengthening medicine and countless brutal battles.
Without all of that, there probably would have been little left of her besides a skeleton.
Of course, surviving did not mean the pain had somehow disappeared.
The agony caused by that single attack was no exaggeration comparable to being cut apart by a thousand blades, enough to instantly crush the will of most people.
But who was Esdeath?
Her deeply ingrained sadistic nature meant that stronger opponents only made her more excited. The harder she was beaten, the more violently her fighting spirit burned.
"Hehe. Monster, try this!"
Esdeath brought both hands together as though forming a flower bud.
An unimaginably concentrated mass of freezing energy gathered between her palms.
"Secret Art: Freezing Ray."
Esdeath grinned.
The ice-blue sphere in her hands instantly transformed into a beam of light and shot toward the neck of the flood dragon’s central head.
The technique had been inspired by her discussions with Kiriya over the past six months.
Instead of simply creating large amounts of ice, she continuously compressed and refined the cold until it reached an extreme density, then released it in the form of a ray.
Not only was the attack vastly faster, but its destructive power surpassed even Absolute Freezing Air.
Crack—!
The flood dragon’s steel-like body began freezing.
But the cold did not strike the neck Esdeath had aimed for.
It hit the tail.
The three-headed flood dragon had been paying close attention to Esdeath throughout the entire battle.
After all, her freezing ability directly countered several of its powers, making her by far the most dangerous opponent present.
The instant Esdeath began preparing her secret technique, the monster noticed.
And immediately—it sensed death.
Danger.
Too dangerous.
If that hits, I die.
Its instincts screamed the warning directly into its soul.
Dodging completely was impossible.
The Freezing Ray was simply too fast.
So in that desperate instant, the flood dragon instinctively whipped its tail across its body and used it as a shield.
The good news was that it avoided an immediately fatal blow.
The bad news was that the danger had not passed.
The tail instantly died under the extreme cold.
Worse, the bone-piercing frost began spreading from the frozen flesh deeper into its body, attempting to destroy it from within.
The pain drove the monster into a frenzy.
"ROOOAAAR—!"
At the critical moment, a savage gleam flashed through its eyes.
Two of its heads moved simultaneously.
They bit down on its own tail and tore off not only the frozen section, but also a huge chunk of healthy flesh around it.
"GRAAAAAH—!"
Half the tail crashed onto the ground.
Under the combination of the extreme cold and the impact, it shattered into countless frozen fragments.
"ROAR! ROAR! ROAR—!"
After suffering such a tremendous loss, the three-headed flood dragon was naturally furious.
Its left and right heads attacked Esdeath together, combining flames and violent wind into a devastating firestorm.
"Afterglow!"
Ryuu’s support arrived at exactly the right moment.
She activated Astraea Record, drawing upon the power of her former companion Alise and using Agaris Alvesynth to reinforce herself before unleashing a domineering slash capable of scorching the heavens and earth.
Shhk—!
Blood erupted across the flood dragon’s back as a vast section of muscle was torn open.
Yet the monster endured the wound and continued directing the raging firestorm toward Esdeath.
Left with no other option, Esdeath released another enormous wave of freezing air to suppress the flames.
For a moment, thick white mist billowed across the battlefield, only to be scattered almost immediately by the violent wind.
Ryuu, however, had problems of her own.
When she used Afterglow to tear through the flood dragon’s body, she had moved too close.
Some of the monster’s blood was carried through the air and splashed onto her.
Hissssss—!
The clothing covering her arm disappeared almost instantly.
Then her skin and flesh began dissolving beneath it.
The sudden agony forced a cry from Ryuu’s throat, and her legs nearly gave way beneath her.
The flood dragon’s central head immediately recognized the opportunity.
Its jaws opened.
A huge cloud of poisonous mist surged toward the elf.
Ryuu tried to move away, only to discover that the venom already inside her body had drained most of her strength.
She could no longer escape the approaching cloud quickly enough.
Then—a figure suddenly appeared in front of her.
A white banner decorated with fleur-de-lis was raised high, standing like an indestructible wall between Ryuu and the poisonous fog.
"Be careful... its poison is... incredibly strong..."
Ryuu barely finished speaking before dropping to one knee, breathing heavily.
Jeanne placed a hand on her shoulder.
Her chant was already approaching its conclusion.
"Flames, consume my flesh. Even should this body turn to ash, my will shall never be taken. Let my bones become fuel and my blood become oil. Burn away every sin and corruption in this world. Wherever the sacred flame reaches shall become purified ground—"
"Flame of Salvation."
The enormous eye of the flood dragon’s central head filled with open mockery.
Its poison was potent enough to dissolve even Ultra-Class Danger Beasts into putrid liquid.
And these insignificant humans actually dared confront it directly?
Surely their flesh would melt away within moments.
Yet just as the dark purple poisonous mist was about to engulf Jeanne and Ryuu—a pale-white sacred flame appeared.
At first, it was no larger than a soybean.
But the moment it touched the poisonous fog, it reacted as though the venom were highly combustible fuel.
In the blink of an eye, that tiny flame became a blazing sea of holy fire.
Flame of Salvation summoned sacred white flames capable of purifying curses, poison, and other abnormal conditions over a wide area while simultaneously healing allies.
Against the central head’s poison, it was practically a natural counter.
"Amazing..."
It was Ryuu’s first time being enveloped by Jeanne’s sacred fire.
There was none of the scorching heat normally associated with flames.
Instead, it felt pleasantly warm.
The weakness and agony caused by the poison rapidly receded like a falling tide.
"ROOOOOAR—!"
Seeing its poison neutralized only made the flood dragon even angrier.
The other two heads turned toward Jeanne and Ryuu.
Flame and hurricane erupted simultaneously, combining into another massive area attack.
"Luminosité Eternelle—My God Is Here!"
Jeanne had already anticipated this.
She immediately unleashed her Noble Phantasm.
Under the reinforcement of Oathbound Holy Banner, the defensive power of the sacred standard rose even further.
The raging firestorm crashed against it—
and Jeanne actually held.
"Afterglow!"
𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖
Ryuu did not waste the opening.
She reinforced herself with Magic and used Jeanne’s protection as cover, immediately launching another attack against the flood dragon.
On the other side of the battlefield, Esdeath had just endured her own baptism by fire.
Much of her skin was blackened, and the unmistakable smell of cooked meat rose faintly from her body.
Yet her grin had only become wider.
"Not bad."
She raised both hands.
"Then try this!"
"Absolute Freezing Air!"
A roaring torrent of extreme cold surged toward the flood dragon.
The battle continued.
Nearby, Akame and Kurome watched the titanic clash without blinking.
Their blood was boiling.
Both girls looked as though they desperately wanted to charge in and fight the three-headed flood dragon for three hundred rounds themselves.
Unfortunately, Kiriya had them firmly restrained.
"Forget it."
He pressed them down.
"With your current strength, going in there would just mean delivering yourselves as appetizers."
"Aren’t you going to help?"
Kurome pointed toward the three women who were accumulating more and more injuries.
"They’re in danger."
Kiriya sighed.
"You think I don’t want to?"
He looked helpless.
"They’re the ones who won’t let me."
Before the battle began, Jeanne, Ryuu, and Esdeath had made him promise not to interfere.
They wanted to use this overwhelmingly powerful opponent to test everything they had learned and to temper their abilities and combat skills under genuine pressure.
Seeing the three women so determined, Kiriya could hardly pour cold water on their resolve.
So he could only let them have their way.
Besides—with him standing here, they were never going to encounter a truly fatal situation.