Chapter 390: 368 as the Enemy’s Future
"————!"
The sudden attack almost revealed Antilene, who was hiding in the shadows, and she yelled to Reiger to be careful.
But even by the time she cried out, it was already too late.
The demon, who launched the attack on Reiger, was undoubtedly a powerful entity. His attacking force might be slightly inferior to Shalltear’s, but his speed was very fast. The claws that extended from his arm, transformed into talons, were about eighty centimeters long, sharp enough to slice through the air easily, making a sonic boom that couldn’t catch up to its speed, and in an instant, they were thrust into Reiger’s back.
There was no time to warn or rescue him.
At this critical moment, Reiger managed to move in time.
A transparent luster flickered in his eyes, and a voice like a warning echoed in his mind, enabling him to sense the approaching attack before it happened.
This was because Reiger had cast the magic "Extraordinary Intuition" before engaging in battle with Shalltear.
With "Extraordinary Intuition" activated, the caster would gain an intuition capability that literally exceeded the ordinary—an enhanced sixth sense, so to speak.
Thanks to this magic, Reiger was alerted and opened his perception to the world, successfully detecting the attack from the approaching demon—Demiurge.
"Radiant Sea Blue Body."
In that instant, Reiger activated a defense magic of the same system as "Radiant Green Body," which was the tenth tier.
"Radiant Green Body" was magic against blunt force attacks, and "Radiant Sea Blue Body" was for piercing attacks. Using it at that time was just perfect.
Hence, a sea blue magical radiance flickered on Reiger.
"Puh!"
Demiurge’s sharp claws suddenly pierced Reiger’s back, going right through his body.
However, as the sea blue radiance burst forth, Reiger’s body seemed to shift through space-time, moving backward a certain distance and causing Demiurge’s talons to miss his back and hit nothing but air.
Naturally, Reiger’s back remained unscathed, showing no signs of penetration.
"Maximum Enhance·Radiant Light."
Reiger cast magic once more, not even turning around, as a brilliant column of holy light descended from the sky and struck Demiurge.
"Ugh... Aaahhhhhh...!"
Demiurge, transformed into a frog-faced demon with membranous wings, let out a low, agonized scream upon being hit by the holy attribute magic, appearing as though he were being scorched, emitting smoke.
Only then did Reiger prepare to turn around, laying a hand on the hilt of his sword at his waist, as if ready to draw it and slash at Demiurge.
But, then a shocking scene took place, stunning Antilene who was hidden in the shadows.
"Aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Suddenly, Shalltear, who had been sliced in half, let out a scream—either of pain or hysteria—which halted the two halves of her body from falling apart, and then they rapidly returned to their original state at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Not only her body but even her blood was flowing backward, streaming back into Shalltear and burrowing into her body.
It was as if everything happening to Shalltear was being rewound backward.
This was another ace in the hole that Shalltear possessed, a special ability that could reverse her own time to restore her to a completely unharmed state—[Time Reversal].
In this life-and-death struggle, Shalltear finally could no longer hide her power, activating her special ability to reverse her own time, returning to an unscathed state.
Thus, not only did Shalltear’s equipment return to its original state, but there was also not a single drop of blood on it, as though she had never been involved in any battle.
Of course, everything that had just happened certainly wasn’t nonexistent.
So, having struggled on the brink of life and death, Shalltear’s eyes turned blood-red as she turned towards Reiger, her beautiful face transforming into an ugly monstrous visage out of anger.
"[Holy Light Spear]!"
In the next moment, Shalltear raised one hand and, under the command of her fury, threw a spear of light at Reiger that came together with astonishing speed.
The spear was a giant lance over three meters long, made entirely of pure and clear radiance, with a particularly large spearhead reflecting a blindingly bright silver glow in the deepening moonlight, dazzling to behold.
This was one of Shalltear’s ace attacks, imbued with holy attributes that could inflict devastating damage on her opponent—[Holy Light Spear].
The brilliantly glowing spear of light ripped through the sky, hurtling towards Reiger as if to purify him, not vicious, but with a sense of divinity.
"So, you’re finally getting serious?"
Reiger had to halt the action of drawing his sword, with the light of [Flight] magic wrapped around his body, he rapidly retreated backward, seeking to dodge the [Holy Light Spear].
However, Shalltear’s [Holy Light Spear] was a special ability that could be given an effect of absolute accuracy by paying extra magic power at the time of launch; it simply couldn’t be avoided by dodging.
The more Reiger tried to evade, the more fiercely the spear of light pursued him, no matter how Reiger changed directions, it could swiftly follow, like a meteor chasing thunder.
"[Un-chanting Magic·Arc-shaped Beam]."
Realizing he couldn’t dodge the attack, Reiger immediately went on the offensive, raising his hand to fire a beam of light like an arrow.
This wasn’t a tier magic learned in this world but rather Rephia’s magic.
This magic originally required incantations to cast, but Reiger, through the magic-enhancing effect of "Un-Chanting Magic", made this magic instantaneously castable without the need for incantations, movements, or preparation.
Coincidentally, this magic also had an effect similar to the [Holy Light Spear], which is the tracking ability, making it virtually guaranteed to hit.
And the target of Reiger’s attack was naturally the [Holy Light Spear] chasing after him.
"Boom—!"
In an instant, the arrow of light collided head-on with the spear of light; neither could avoid the other, and they both exploded in mid-air, canceling each other out.
The remnants of the explosion burst open like fireworks, blowing Reiger, who was relatively close by, backward quite a distance.
"Swoosh!"
"Swoosh!"
Suddenly, two more sounds of cleaving air assaulted his ears.
It was Shalltear and Demiurge.
Together, they spread their wings, bursting out of the gales, and launched their assault on Reiger.
"[Pure Spear Throw]!"
Shalltear once again employed her special skill, holding in her hand a light spear emanating a pure aura and a silver radiance, imbuing it with a sure-hit effect. Propelled by the light spear, she surged forward at a speed that broke the sound barrier, closing in on Reiger
"[Demon Forms·Demon Giant Arm]!"
Demiurge, on the other hand, raised an arm that suddenly expanded several times its original size, morphing into a gigantic demonic hand. Resembling the robust limb of a giant, it thundered towards Reiger with a whistling gust of wind.
Two Guardians from the Nasalik Underground Tomb launched a full-on attack against Reiger simultaneously; their combined might was truly formidable.
"Thunder Breathing·Sixth Form·Thunder Bomb!"
Reiger, seeing Shalltear and Demiurge converge from different directions, leaving him no space to retreat, drew his sword as swiftly as possible.
"Boom!"
A flurry of lightning-shaped strikes radiated outwards from Reiger with his draw and slash, spreading in all directions from the center.
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
Shalltear and Demiurge, unable to halt their attacks, collided their spear of light and giant demonic arm with the incoming lightning-shaped strikes, sparking thunderous booms.
The shockwave from the fierce collision sent all three combatants recoiling from each other, retreating with the storm.
"It’s not over yet!"
Shalltear’s eyes reddened even more. Failing in her strike, she readied herself to charge at Reiger again, seeming to lose all sense of reason.
"Stop! Shalltear!"
Demiurge laid a hand on Shalltear’s shoulder, halting her in her tracks.
"Let me go!"
Yet Shalltear wouldn’t listen to Demiurge, visibly raging to her core.
"Don’t be reckless!" Demiurge reproached Shalltear sharply, declaring, "The plan has already started, we need to retreat first!"
"But...!"
Shalltear turned her bloodshot eyes to Demiurge.
Demiurge withstood Shalltear’s murderous gaze and said coldly.
"It’s an order from Lord Ainz."
That single sentence tempered the fury in Shalltear’s heart.
"Let’s go," Demiurge whispered, "Take the information you’ve gathered and return first."
Hearing this, though still angry and unwilling, Shalltear had no other choice.
"You think you can leave?"
Reiger naturally witnessed this scene and narrowed his eyes.
"Shalltear!"
Seeing Reiger about to take action, Demiurge’s voice surged with urgency.
"Ahhhh! I got it already!"
Shalltear shouted in an irritated tone, following up by using a special skill.
"[Minion Summoning]!"
Countless vampire bats and vampire wolves emerged from Shalltear’s shadow, swarming towards Reiger.
"[High-Tier Dispelling]."
Observing this, Reiger used the same magic that he had previously used to repel the high-tier undead summoned by Shalltear.
This ninth-tier spell could forcibly banish summoned beings, even capable of dismissing creatures summoned by tenth-tier magic. Against an opponent who favored summoning, this spell was immensely effective.
With this spell, Reiger unleashed waves of magic power that effortlessly wiped out the myriad of vampire bats and vampire wolves.
But as the vampire bats and wolves vanished, so did Shalltear and Demiurge.
"...They’ve run away?"
Furrowing his brows, Reiger’s eyes shone with a transparent glow as he scanned his surroundings but was unable to locate the two of them.
The [Dimension Lock] in the vicinity seemed to have been breached as well, so those two must have used transport magic to escape, right?
"...This is really annoying."
Reiger sheathed his sword, his face full of displeasure.
"I knew it, I just can’t get along with these guys."
He reaffirmed this thought to himself, also confirming the inevitable future of becoming an enemy to the Nasalik Underground Tomb.