The World's Ego

The Intense Battles

Third Person POV

Before their arrival, some struggled in the few hours that went by, and some were victorious. One of the former was Esprit, who had gone into the battlefield to face off against Peliod. It was a hopeless battle and she wanted nothing to do but complain

"In all honesty, it's not in my character to fight so seriously..."

Peliod, who can nullify magic, was the worst match for Esprit. The <Nuclear Cannon> that she shot at close range was reflected like it was natural. Peliod could reflect all kinds of magic with the prism barrier around her. It was not limited to magic but also a certain amount of emission-type techniques, she was a natural enemy to demons who wielded magic as their weapon. Esprit would not be able to buy time and she was feeling bitter at her own helplessness, but that was when an unexpected helper arrived.

"Let me help you."

Phobio, who had given up the command of his unit to Suphia, joined Esprit with those words.

"You know, you can tell this guy is serious trouble, right?" Esprit asked

"Well, yeah. But I'm still a better match than you, right?" Phobio said

He made a good point. Esprit specialized in magic but Phobio's strength lay in hand-to-hand combat, so even against an opponent who couldn't use magic, there was a high possibility for Phobio to find a way.

"Well, I suppose that's right. In that case, I'll fight with this, too." Esprit said, deciding to use her magic sword

Esprit with her sword was at the ready and Phobio in his half-beast form were now facing the beautiful and bewitching Peliod. It was now two against one. Even then, they were overwhelmingly disadvantaged in terms of combat strength. Esprit stepped in and swung her sword masterfully, it was hard to believe that she was an amateur until just recently. While it was true that she only started learning it as a hobby, Esprit had an obsessive personality. In her free time, she practiced over and over again, repeating the styles that Agera had shown her. The result was the brilliance of her technique, learned in a very short time, but Peliod was still one step ahead. The moment she was sure she had cut Peliod, she disappeared, scattering into particles of light and splitting into multiple bodies. Esprit's <Ultra Intuition> couldn't see them, and they were not distinguishable from the real thing.

"Tch, it's a fake. It's so elaborate that you can hardly distinguish it from the real thing." Esprit stated, "Well, honestly speaking, isn't this still better than nothing? I guess I could still be revived even if I did die, but that would mean disobeying Rimuru-sama's orders. Carrera-sama would be furious, and I could never forgive myself either."

Leaving the frontline was not an option, so it was a dead end. Due to such contradictory thinking, Esprit's movements slowed down and Peliod did not miss the opportunity to aim her poisonous fangs at her.

"Don't just stand there!" Phobio shouted and kicked her away from the attack's trajectory

The place Esprit was standing on before was now covered with poisonous scales that could even kill demons. Its toxicity could corrode the body and destroy the spirit. It was so fierce that even Esprit, a Demon Peer Count, would be unable to withstand it.

"Ow, that hurts... Thank you."

Phobio nodded to her words and resumed his attack on Peliod, repeatedly swinging a series of seemingly futile claw attacks and scattering the countless clones. It was hard to tell the difference and it was pointless to keep going if they couldn't find the real one. Despite that, Phobio continued his brute-force approach.