Ch. 119: Settling after Consulting
“Lapis, could you buy me some time?”
Loren went in to attack Stoos again, not giving up even though they couldn’t find a way to defeat her.
Dia, who had moved close to Lapis as she was following up Loren, asked Lapis, watching Stoos fight back barehandedly.
“Time?”
“Yes. I something I want to talk to Loren about.”
If Dia herself went in to help, Stoos would use her True Name to stop her.
So Dia concluded that to do something, she had to form a plan with Loren or Lapis.
Although Lapis thought it was a reasonable conclusion as well, she couldn’t think that there could be anything to help them defeat Stoos, but she also thought that since Dia had gone through the trouble of asking her for help, there was a chance that her and Loren could open up some path to victory.
“I can’t do so for long though.”
“A little bit is fine. It won’t take long at all.”
When Dia said so with confidence, it was enough to make Lapis think that there was a way to get them through.
Lapis clapped her fists together.
Luckily, they were in in the ruins in the middle of a large plain, so even if she used her abilities, no one was there to see her.
She knew she couldn’t defeat an Elder, since her body wasn’t complete and in good shape, but she was confident that she could at least buy some time.
“Make it short please. I don’t want to die.”
“I know.”
Seeing Dia nod, Lapis used the self enhancement spell she taught Loren on every part of her body.
Feeling the strength surge within her, Lapis shouted to Loren, who was still battling Stoos.
“Loren! Switch!”
“Lapis!?”
Although surprised that Lapis had shouted out to him, Loren followed what she said and jumped backwards, creating a large distance between him and Stoos.
When she tried to chase after him, Lapis, who was fully enhanced, stopped Stoos in her tracks with her fist clenched, and punched Stoos one fist after another, so fast that it was a blur.
“Really, what in the world are you!?”
Lapis’ fists didn’t reach Stoos.
But the impacts still stopped her, so she faced Lapis with a look of surprise.
“I’m a model priestess of the Knowledge god, an adventurer! And Loren’s partner!”
“There’s definitely something wrong with those titles!”
Ignoring Stoos’ wailing, Lapis continued to throw punch after punch.
As Loren watched her, thinking that no one who saw this would think that Lapis was a priestess, but dismissing the thought since it was Lapis he was looking at, Dia, who had asked her to buy some time, came close to him.
“Loren, let’s talk.”
“Is it about something that could get us out of this situation?”
“Yes. But let me see your great sword first.”
Loren handed her the sword that he hadn’t let go even once this whole fight.
Dia took the giant weapon that even a normally strong man would have trouble picking up, scanned its blade, and after a moment, handed it back to Loren.
“Listen carefully. I have an idea. It’s…”
Loren leaned forward as Dia waved for him to get closer.
She started whispering in his ear in a voice that he could barely make out.
After Dia finished and moved away from Loren’s ear, Loren’s eyes widened at what he had just heard and couldn’t help staring at her.
“That’ll work?”
“It should. I’m not completely certain, but Stoos would back off.”
“If you want me to do it I will…but are you sure?”
“I don’t mind. Do it please.”
Loren could sense a strong determination in her reply, so he stopped questioning.
“Alright. If it’s fine with you, I won’t say no.”
“Please. We’ve got one chance.”
After replying, Dia’s gaze went from Loren to Lapis, who was fighting.
Although she could fight Stoos, it was obvious she was at a disadvantage.
After all, all her attacks couldn’t get through Stoos’ defense, while Stoos’ attacks were draining her health bit by bit.
But she wasn’t being pushed around in any sense and seeing that she was able to go somewhat toe to toe with an Elder, it was apparent that her abilities weren’t normal.
“It’s late to ask, but you aren’t human, are you?”
“There’s no reason for me to answer that.”
“The other one was a human swordsman…but what is something like you doing here?”
“Being an adventurer. Also, a priestess of the Knowledge god.”
“What even is a priestess of the Knowledge god…”
Lapis smiled at Stoos’ response, but the two of them stopped when they heard Dia’s voice behind them.
“Lapis! We’re done! Switch!”
Without even nodding at Dia’s words, Lapis mustered all her strength into one final blow.
The blow, which contained a enormous amount of mana as well as her strength, still wasn’t enough to get to Stoos, but it managed to push her back, and Lapis immediately jumped away from the spot.
As if threading a needle, Dia ran past Lapis, her skirt flapping in the wind.
Seeing her run straight at her, Stoos laughed.
“Don’t you know it’s no use? I know your True Name…”
“Shut up.”
Seeing Dia and her clenched fist, Stoos was about to say her True name, but her eyes narrowed as she saw Loren with his great sword raised a few steps behind her.
When Stoos laughed at another useless attempt, Dia shouted, still in an attacking stance.
“Do it Loren!”
“Got it!”
At Dia’s signal, Loren imagined all the strength he had pouring into his sword and swung it.
Of course, from his position he couldn’t his Stoos, let alone Dia.
But during the attack, he let go of his great sword.
“……!”
Although she didn’t know what they were up to, Stoos felt that she still needed to stop Dia, so she said her True Name, but in front of her, Dia’s head was cut off her body, and she came at her faster than before.
When Loren had let go of the sword mid-swing, it flew forward, spinning towards Dia from behind, but she didn’t block it, causing it to cut through her neck.
At the same time, her face went blank as her true name started to control her consciousness.
But her headless body wasn’t influenced and continued to charge, and as Stoos froze in surprise, Dia’s raised fist knocked through her defense and plunged into her chest.
The powers of the Elders collided with one another, cancelling each other out for an instant, but within that moment, Loren’s great sword, which was still flying after cutting off Dia’s head, dug itself into Stoos’ neck, with Dia’s headless body in her arms.
“Ugh…Ah!?”
With her powers and Dia’s powers cancelling each other, there was nothing to stop the blade.
Still, she tried to muster all the power she could and defend herself, but it was already too late, and the steel blade cut through her neck like it was nothing, and her head flew into the air.
“You’re kidding…”
Even though she was just a head, she somehow managed to talk, and she looked at her headless body, with a hole in its chest.
Lapis walked over and gently picked up Dia’s head, which was lying on the ground near them.
“Cutting your head off right before you heard your True Name, so your body isn’t affected…and using it to attack? You’re insane.”
“Might be. But it was a good idea, no?”
Dia’s head, which was picked up and was in Lapis’ arms, said in an amused voice.
She too, was somehow able to speak without her body, and even Lapis had no idea how that was possible.
“B-but it’s just that my head was cut off.”
“I think so too. That’s exactly why I’ll do this.”
When Dia turned her gaze towards her body, which was hugging Stoos’ body, it erupted in raging flames.
As it consumed Stoos’ headless body as well, both turned to ashes.
“Hey!?”
“Now you literally can’t even move a finger. Do you still want to do this in that state?”
As Dia smiled at her, Stoos couldn’t reply immediately.
Since they were Elders, they wouldn’t die just because they were heads.
But if their bodies were turned to ashes, it greatly limited what they could do, so she couldn’t do anything, much less fight, even if she used Dia’s True Name to stop her again.
“I won’t stop you if you want to continue. But I don’t know what will happen to you.”
“T-that’s…”
“What would happen if we bury her? Would her body regenerate?”
Lapis said something horrible with a bright smile on her face, but no one stopped her.
Loren had lost consciousness and the two Elders were just heads, so there was in fact, no one to stop her.
“It would, but it would take quite a bit of time.”
“Y-you think you’ll get away with this!? Your True Name…”
Stoos started saying with frustration, but Dia let it slide as if it was nothing.
“No reason to worry about that either. I lost most of my body as well. I can change my True Name when I reconstitute it. That’s the end of it.”
“You can change your True Name?”
“We usually don’t. But since I lost so much of my body, I’ll have to make some changes when reconstituting anyway, so it’s a good opportunity to.”
Dia looked down at Stoos’ head on the floor from Lapis’ arms, asking her what she was going to do.
Stoos tried to think of some way to get out of the situation, but couldn’t find one, and after a while, she muttered with her voice shaking.
“…I’ll retreat…so please don’t bury me.”
“I’d rather burn you than bury you though.”
Lapis said something horrible again, just like that.
Therefore, the battle against an Elder ended in the ruins, where nothing else was moving.