I Became a Childhood Friend With the Villainous Saintess - Chapter 177



177 – Prepare for Winter (4)

Astaroth’s spear blade split the wooden pillar in two.

As I took a step back, two poisonous snakes swooped down on me like hunting dogs, and Astaroth leapt forward and thrust his spear.

As I pushed forward using my greatsword as a shield, this time Astaroth retreated without hesitation.

The twenty-ninth demon lord, Astaroth.

Although he was a somewhat inferior Demon King compared to the Eligos and Gamigin that I had faced, the ranking does not represent all of the Demon King’s strength.

Astaroth, known as the so-called human hunter, was a demon king who displayed tactics befitting a hunter, just as his name suggests.

‘I feel like I’m being tamed like a beast.’

A fighting style that seems to have been designed from the beginning to assume an enemy stronger than oneself.

Even though he was thoroughly defensive, he kept trying to find an opening with his sharp attacks.

The spear of Astaroth was too square to simply dodge.

But the snakes were so annoying that they couldn’t be stopped all at once.

Basically, when an opponent stabs you with a spear, it is better to evade than to defend.

However, Astaroth’s attacks were specialized in thoroughly eliminating blind spots, and his breathing with the two snakes was also without any unnecessary details.

The blades are rushing in quickly. If you look for a place to avoid them, you will see the fangs of snakes waiting for you.

It is at a level where physical avoidance is completely impossible.

If I had overwhelming speed, I wouldn’t know, but with the abilities I have, I’d rather choose defense.

Fortunately, it is not an enemy with such terrible power as Eligos.

It seemed like a much cleaner way to deal with the snake, relying on the armor’s performance and magic, and then countering Astaroth’s attacks.

‘That doesn’t mean my armor can last a thousand years. In the end, I have to seize the opportunity.’

An opportunity like this right now!

I swung my greatsword fiercely.

Red sparks flew from the sword that collided with the window.

Kikkikkikkikkik. With a terrible sound, Astaroth’s magic was consumed by murderous intent.

Astaroth pulled out his spear in terror, but I would not let him go.

My sword opened its huge mouth as if it were going to swallow Astaroth.

This time, it is time for the opponent to make a decision.

The condensed magical power exploded. Using the powerful backlash as momentum, Astaroth retreated far away.

It would have been nice if I had just cut off the b*stard’s head, but it wasn’t necessarily a disappointing result.

In the meantime, I cut off one of the snake’s heads.

A decapitated viper flailed around on the ground, hanging limply.

Astaroth’s stance was clearly turned defensively.

“… … It seems that Lord Leraji made a mistake. His Highness Barbatos would have been happier if you had come to the Archduke’s direction.”

“If you had come to me, Barbatos would have died too?”

“It’s really a shame. He would have happily accepted your pride. He must have enjoyed the fight.”

Looking at that thing, it looks like it’s thinking of running away, from the way it’s suddenly acting up.

Those guys called Demons all have a petty side to them.

When it’s advantageous for him, he grits his teeth and focuses only on fighting, but when he feels he’s at a disadvantage, he suddenly tries to talk.

As expected, Astaroth changed his stance to focus on magic and slowly increased the distance between them.

I had to clear the flying spears of flame with my sword.

It wasn’t surprising that he came out like that.

Even if both snakes were alive, they wouldn’t have been able to defeat me, so I guess they figured there was no chance of winning.

The reason Astaroth is called the Hunter is because of his tiresome hit-and-run tactics.

While Barbatos ran wild, Astaroth waged a delaying war on the other side, which was the time-honored method of the hawkish demon lords.

If it weren’t for Astaroth’s existence, Barbatos wouldn’t have been able to act so openly.

But this time, I chose the wrong opponent.

Sirien and I are on a whole different level from any enemy you’ve ever faced.

From the outside in. Astaroth was startled by the sword that was flying in from the opposite direction and pulled his body out.

Ugh, avoid this.

I wrote it with the intention of cutting out one of them.

Everyone was so focused on me that they didn’t even notice.

The Demon King is the Demon King, is that it?

“Where are you going? Since you’re here, you might as well play around.”

“I admit that you are strong, but you are not yet strong enough to catch me. How many people have tried to catch me so far?”

“Then, were there only one or two demons who confidently talked in front of me and died?”

But yeah, what you said isn’t necessarily wrong.

It was difficult for me to track down and kill Astaroth alone.

The goal was to keep me from the beginning, and I don’t think they have any intention of being greedy beyond that.

It was true that if you kept casting magic like that, there wouldn’t be anything for me to do.

An opponent you will never lose to, but will also be difficult to beat.

It must have been a tedious and frustrating situation where it seemed like we would get caught but not quite there.

If this was a one-on-one fight.

It wasn’t just Astaroth’s story that had a corner of belief.

Booo─!

Astaroth’s eyes opened wide at the sound of the hornpipe’s distinctive low sound.

“Cavalry? No way. They weren’t the type of guys that could be broken through so easily.”

“If you wanted to hold us back, you should have prepared twice as many troops.”

Our cavalry surged forward like a tide.

It was a complete success. The balance of the battlefield collapsed in an instant, and Astaroth lost one of his escape routes.

I followed him persistently and pressured the Demon King.

Right now I was fighting without Sirien’s assistance.

That means the Saint of Death is active somewhere else.

He will be fully demonstrating his unique commanding power and divinity of death.

In the original work, even the so-called great male protagonists never fought the Illencia army with the same number of troops.

The battlefield was a field of flowers in full bloom with death. It was the perfect environment for the divinity of Hybras to flourish.

Besides, it wasn’t just me and Sirien on this battlefield.

“Goddess, please be pleased with my death!”

“I will prove my faith!”

Pure white flashes of light appeared all over the battlefield.

Madmen in priestly robes with blue patterns.

Those who were mumbling what appeared to be prayers threw themselves into the middle of the demon army.

Yeah, I literally threw myself into it.

They were naturally slaughtered by the demons without even a single weapon, but no one considered them a failure.

The blood they shed and the bodies they severed were like a single sacred lump.

Kwaaang!

The divine has exploded.

“Ahahahahaha. Look, your goddess is here. This goddess will never forget your death. Offer your body and flesh for me. Be a beautiful martyr.”

Saint of Faith.

Isabelle Lobelia laughed hysterically.

Every time she smiled and urged martyrdom, the divinity of faith shone through.

The fanatics of the faith were willing to give their lives.

The power to the point where you can call the suicide squad that attacked Gamigin ‘the likes of’.

The explosions of real madmen were definitely on a different level – they were beyond the reach of fake imitators like them.

A dizzying explosion of divine energy shook the demon army, enough to reach me from afar.

Since ancient times, faith has been a sect that has set itself apart from and rejected other denominations.

How did such an exclusive sect grow in power and become a proud pillar of the imperial pantheon?

The answer was very simple.

No one wanted to fight that group of fanatics.

If you fight well, it’s not an unbeatable opponent, but whoever goes into battle will inevitably suffer catastrophic damage.

The ‘prepared’ Lobelia Order was able to engage in a firefight even against the Magic Tower.

Indeed, this time even Astaroth could not hide his shock.

I smirked and swung my sword at the b*stard.

“Why? Are you surprised that the saint who went south is here?”

“This is ridiculous… … !”

“Why can’t you do that? I’m seeing it with my own two eyes right now.”

Seeing him panic so much, it seemed like Sirien’s trick had worked.

Externally, the Church of Faith has sent support to stop Barbatos.

Isabelle herself appeared and conducted the inauguration ceremony, and the Knights of Faith actually headed towards the southern garrison.

By now, he must have appeared on the battlefield a few times.

However, the saints and fanatics in charge of firepower moved secretly and headed towards the Grand Duchy of Illencia.

I was convinced during my last meeting with Gamigin that there were still many eyes and ears of the demons in the capital.

We may not be able to find them all right away, but we’re sure they’re there.

In that case, the target of the deception was not the external demons, but within the empire.

“You need to concentrate. I’m right in front of you, so why are you thinking about something else?”

Kwajik! My greatsword cut through Astaroth’s magic.

The blade and the greatsword met, but there was no clash as before.

The black blade cut through the spear, and at that moment, I aroused my divinity and unleashed my holy spell behind Astaroth.

A shield filled with divinity was erected.

The shield blocked Astaroth’s back road for a moment, and my greatsword was held high.

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Astaroth said in despair.

“I’ve come this far.”

The murderous intent has been achieved.