With the main battle no longer needing him, between the four Puppet Spider sisters, the recovered human forces, and Kanna, the heretics stood no chance.
Elliot quietly slipped away from the battlefield. His new mission was to destroy the [Crimson Rite] domain.
He knew the domain was being maintained by a group of elven mages, but he hadn't been able to pinpoint their location. To end the battle as quickly as possible, he set off to find them himself.
Following the flow of magical energy, he quickly located the area where the domain's power was most concentrated.
As he approached, he was immediately set upon by several heretic guards. They, of course, were no match for him.
With a flick of his wrist, he sent rock spikes shooting up from the ground, impaling them and leaving them dangling high in the air.
Then, Elliot strode into the clearing.
He saw a circle of elven mages, all in white robes, their faces hidden, pouring their energy into maintaining the domain's structure. There was no doubt; these were the casters.
When they saw this strange man walk into their sanctuary, they knew it was over. Without a word, each of them drew a short dagger and took their own lives.
As the mages fell, the blood-red domain above finally shattered. The sky, once again, returned to its natural color. The seal was broken!
The Divine Religion's plot had failed.
Without the domain's powerful life force and endless regeneration, the remaining elves were quickly defeated, cut down by the combined forces of the Pontiff's army and the four Puppet Spider sisters. Aside from the escaped Cardinal Otto, Pontiff Dustin made sure not a single heretic was left alive.
As the humans began to clean up the battlefield and count their casualties, Elliot hurried back to find Kumoko. He remembered something.
Back when he had unleashed Spirit Soother, he had felt a powerful gaze lock onto him.
A gaze that didn't belong to any of the elves present. Which meant someone else had been watching, someone who was after Kumoko.
Although Kumoko was incredibly strong now, Elliot had a bad feeling. Something wasn't right. He quickened his pace.
….
Besides the Abyssal Monster, Pontiff Gyazo had two other trump cards: the two "Lightbringer" production-model robots.
These were his last resort. To retrieve the Saintess, he had swallowed his pride and borrowed them from Potimas.
If he failed even with these, he would never be able to show his face in the Village of the Elves again.
He had to go all-in.
There was a reason the ancient Goddess had sealed the Abyssal Monsters away in the first place.
They were a corrupting influence, twisting the minds of all living things, turning them into soulless killing machines.
They were a plague upon the world, and so they had been locked away in darkness, never to see the light of day again.
For Pontiff Gyazo to summon one now was an act of pure desperation.
Against a mythical-level beast like Kumoko, he had no other cards left to play. It was understandable.
If Elliot were in his shoes, facing a powerhouse like Demon Lord Ariel, his only option would have been to run.
The Abyssal Monster was strong, certainly, but Gyazo didn't actually believe it could defeat Kumoko.
At best, it could stall her, keep her occupied. What Gyazo didn't know was that the tide of the main battle had already turned.
The advantage now lay with the humans. If he had known that, he wouldn't have bothered with this pointless, desperate gambit.
As the Abyssal Monster fully formed, Kumoko drew her great scythe. To her surprise, it had changed.
The weapon, which she had originally forged herself from leftover evolutionary materials, a crude, almost disposable tool, had been completely transformed.
The blade now pulsed with an aura of dark, abyssal magic, imbued with status effects like [Grievous Wounds] and [Corrosion].
Its durability had soared to a staggering 99,999, and it even had a high-speed regeneration effect of its own.
What's going on? How did my scythe turn into this? Kumoko was completely bewildered. But then, she understood. It was the work of the Evil God, D!
Yes. That sinister deity was always watching her, observing her every move. She must have known Kumoko would have to face this Abyssal Monster and decided to give her scythe a little system-based upgrade.
Staring at her new and improved weapon, Kumoko didn't know how to feel. Being watched all the time… it was unsettling. Even now, as powerful as she had become, she still couldn't escape D's influence. Just how strong was this Evil God?
But, for the moment, the upgraded scythe was a good thing. A very good thing.
This upgrade had actually come early. In the original story, Kumoko's scythe wasn't enhanced until her fight with the UFOs.
Now, this weapon had a durability higher than Kumoko's own HP, and with its self-repairing ability, it was practically an [Indestructible] artifact.
In this entire world, only the Hero Sword and the Demon Lord Sword could compare. And, of course, Elliot's Oath of Judah.
The number 99,999 was the absolute cap for any single stat in this world's System. This meant no single attack could ever deal more damage than that.
The Demon Lord's health was 99,999 base HP plus another 99,999 bonus HP, giving her a total of nearly 200,000. It was a broken mechanic.
It meant that no matter how hard you hit the Demon Lord, you could never one-shot her.
And Kumoko's scythe now possessed this same world-class, terrifyingly high stat.
The moment she drew the weapon, the Abyssal Monster, which had been regarding her with a casual, almost bored expression, instantly tensed.
It seemed to sense that the scythe in Kumoko's hands was not something to be trifled with. It hesitated, suddenly reluctant to attack.
But Kumoko didn't care about its feelings. When she wanted to beat something up, she didn't wait for an invitation.
With her D--enhanced scythe in hand, Kumoko charged. Empowered by [Godspeed LV 10], her speed was absolute.
In less than a second, she appeared directly in front of the monster, faster than even a short-range teleport. Then, she brought the scythe down in a vicious arc.
The blade sliced through the monster's dark flesh, leaving a massive, gaping wound. The Abyssal and Dark magic imbued in the scythe inflicted both Grievous Wounds and a corrosive effect.
Even though the Abyssal Monster had a terrifying LV 10 Dark Resistance, it was just like Earth Dragon Araba's [Heavenly Scale] ability: resisting 99.9% of magic damage didn't mean you were immune to getting hurt.
….
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