Chapter 1213: Laranflura

Chapter 1213: Laranflura

Superhuman General Laranflura and the Red Knights were glaring at each other. Then, the first shot was fired without any additional words.

It started as a long-range exchange. The distance between the two sides was about 100 meters, so both were in firing range.

However, they refrained from all-out attacks, instead opting to gauge the enemy’s strength.

From our side came a rain of over three hundred spells, magical projectiles, and arrows. Meanwhile, the Superhuman General merely swung her polearm once.

That was enough to cancel out our barrage, creating a strong gust of wind. In other words, the Superhuman General’s casual wave of the spear contained enough mana to match all of those attacks combined.

But Laranflura seemed dissatisfied.

「It seems I really haven’t reached the expected power level. No matter, this godly might is enough even at 70% output! I can easily annihilate this riff-raff by myself!」

「Spread out! Anti-dragon formation!」

Laranflura shouted with joy, as Sibylla gave a stern command. At that moment, the Red Knights all moved in unison.

Sibylla stayed behind as her men withdrew to a distance. As the name suggested, this seemed to be their formation when facing dragons.

Leaving Sibylla to hold off the formidable enemy, the surrounding Red Knights would provide support and clear away any interference.

But we did the opposite, moving in closer. Fran closed the distance in an instant via teleportation, unleashing her Sheathes of Wind.

「Shah!」

Fran’s target was the handle of Laranflura’s polearm, as she intended to destroy the relic. However, her divine energy-infused strike was easily deflected.

「Quite agile, aren’t you, invader! But your blows lack power!」

「Kuh!」

Laranflura’s relic seemed sturdy to begin with, and its durability was further boosted by her mana. Perhaps it lacked any special abilities outside of being exceptionally tough.

Fran retreated back to the Red Knights after dodging Laranflura’s counterattack.

『Fran, only a full-powered strike with evil-divine energy will be enough to destroy that relic. I know it’s frustrating, but we should focus on backing up Sibylla until we get a chance.』

（Nn.）

Fran was still tired from performing Black Lightning Heavenly Judgment earlier, so she needs to slow down a bit to catch her breath. We’ll gather our strength for a decisive blow, while Sibylla takes the lead.

The battlefield had already been turned into a barren wasteland from the fierce clash earlier. In the midst of this empty plain, the captain of the Red Sword Knights faced off against the Superhuman General.

「Sibylla. I must acknowledge your strength as the first of the real superhumans. However, you are no more than a relic of a bygone era compared to a true success such as myself!」

「No one gives a shit about who you consider a success or a failure! We’re all just trying to live our lives! Isn’t that enough?!」

Sibylla and Laranflura simultaneously stepped forward and clashed their weapons together.

The red sword and polearm were slammed together, then pushed apart. Sibylla appeared to be losing in terms of strength. While Laranflura merely took a slight step back, Sibylla slid several meters.

However, the Red Knights poured a rain of magic on the Superhuman General when she attempted to follow up on this opening.

The intention was to buy enough time for Sibylla to regain her standing. This must be the logic behind their anti-dragon formation.

But unfortunately, it wasn’t enough against Laranflura.

「Weak!」

Much to our surprise, Laranflura erected a barrier around herself and charged straight through the barrage.

A split-second later, we saw an unharmed Laranflura making her way out. A testament to how durable her barrier was.

That storm of projectiles was enough to stop dragons in their tracks, yet the girl showed no signs of exhaustion. Was creating barriers of that level mere child’s play to her?

Laranflura swung her polearm again. Sibylla attempted to regain her standing, but she wouldn’t make it in time.

The blade came crashing down directly on Sibylla’s head, but…

「Not bad!」

「Ineffective I see!」

This resulted in a dull sound, like getting hit with a blunt object, and that was all. Sibylla’s head didn’t even have a scratch on it.

Laranflura was by no means holding back. Sibylla’s defense was simply unbelievably high.

「Fwahahaha! I shall make sure the next one is capable of smashing that head of yours!」

「That’s my line!」

Thus, the battle between Sibylla and Laranflura had entered somewhat of a deadlock right at the beginning. Both were far better at defense than offense.

As a result, they couldn’t deal any significant damage to each other, regardless of how much power they put into their attacks. Their clashes certainly battered the land with powerful shockwaves, but the two of them suffered little in terms of injury or exhaustion.

During this stalemate, Laranflura was the first to start getting frustrated.

「I have consumed the power of the land itself and over a hundred thousand sacrifices! Why am I unable to kill the simpleton who stands in front of me!」

「Maybe you were too weak to begin with, so getting a bit stronger didn’t help much?」

No, Laranflura was undoubtedly a monster. If it was me and Fran fighting her, we would be in big trouble. I honestly can’t say for sure if we’d win.

With our experience from the battle at Horna Village, we would have lost for certain.

More importantly, Sibylla’s defenses were enhanced over the last time we saw her. Such an enhancement should cost her additional mana, but Sibylla was not showing any signs of exhaustion either.

Apparently, the Red Knights were supplying her with mana. It seems they also serve as Sibylla’s portable mana tanks.

「Do not get ahead of yourself…! Very well, I’ll show you a taste of hell itself!」

Laranflura muttered with a hint of murderous intent, before striking the ground with the pole of her weapon. A massive magic circle was drawn on the ground surrounding her.

Several figures rose out of the shining circle. Sibylla and the Red Knights attempted to attack the figures, but they were protected by the barrier that Laranflura invoked over the magic circle.

「Go forth, undead, and exterminate the Red Knights!」

I thought the South Conquest Duke was in charge of the undead, but it seems the Superhuman General was capable of calling upon them as well. She had summoned about twenty undead, each bearing a considerable amount of mana and evil energy.

The undead took two different forms. There were ten with an obese body, the size of an orc. The other ten had a slender, male appearance. However, for whatever reason, the undead of the same type looked like copies of each other.

Did she summon multiple copies of the same entity? Is that even possible? I feel like I’ve seen that bigger undead somewhere before…

「Impossible…! The South Conquest Duke and the West Conquest Duke…?」

I remembered after hearing Sibylla’s mutter. That’s right! Those look just like the South Conquest Duke! Why are there multiple of him though? It seems that the slender ones are the West Conquest Duke, but both of the dukes had been completely annihilated. How did they come back as undead?

「Show them the might of those who once served as dukes! Annihilate the traitors who stand before you!」