1004: Meltritte

A continuous stream of flames gushed out of the entrance to the Core Room, as if it was the nozzle of a giant flamethrower.

It seems Izario was the one responsible for the massive explosion. The room wasn’t large enough to contain such a huge inferno, so the flames ended up reaching all the way over here.

Moments later, a figure jumped out of the fire. After seeing it fall to the ground and rolling a few times, we recognized it as Izario.

The way he moved suggested he had just finished dodging some attack.

No, he was definitely still trying to avoid something. Another shadow broke through the still violent flames chasing after Izario.

His pursuer wasn’t Meltritte, but an antidemon. But where did this guy come from?

The antidemon had the appearance of a slightly larger swordsman-type, about two meters tall. However, his entire body was bright red, with his horns and such colored gold. We’ve never seen one with a color scheme like this.

And the evil energy and mana contained within was so overwhelming that it made me literally tremble. He had even more than the titans. It would be no exaggeration to say that this antidemon was the strongest we’ve ever seen.

The antidemon’s eyes turned in our direction. Despite being dozens of meters away, we were already in his range. Realizing this, a slight shiver ran down Fran’s spine.

Making one wrong move might mean our deaths. This enemy was that powerful.

『Getting away might be difficult……』

「Nn.」

Fight head-on, or run as fast as we can? As Fran paused to consider her options, Izario shouted to her.

「Get the dragonkin out of here! I’ll hold them back!」

Izario’s face showed an unmistakable hint of panic. This red-gold antidemon was troublesome enough that even he had to worry.

Izario provoked the antidemon in order to get his attention, but the antidemon’s gaze never left us.

To be precise, those eyes continued staring at Velmeria and Frederick. Were those two the real target?

「Face me!」

「Gooorgh!」

Izario launched some flames at the antidemon, but they were dispersed by a single swing of the arm.

Even Izario would have a hard time against that monster. There’s no way he could win without unleashing his divine sword.

「Urushi! Take them and go!」

『Fran, are you planning to fight?!』

「Izario’s activated his divine sword too many times. It’s too dangerous to let him continue.」

『That’s true, but……… Oh fine! Let’s do this! Urushi, take Velmeria and Frederick upstairs!』

「Woof!」

The antidemon, perhaps sensing our plan to escape, closed the distance at once. Though incredibly fast, we could still keep up with his movements.

With a combination of Fran’s parry and my telekinesis, we barely managed to fend off his offensive. Meanwhile, there was no way he could get away with exposing such an opening in front of a Rank S adventurer.

「Don’t you ignore me!」

「Gugah!」

A slash from Ignis, and the antidemon got sent flying to the side. While it’s ridiculous how he could get up after eating a direct hit from a divine sword, the blow must have dealt a fair amount of damage.

As expected, he was forced to keep a close eye on Izario. Meanwhile, Urushi had increased his speed and already turned into a tiny spot in the distance. With that much of a lead, there’s no way they could catch up.

「Where’s Trismegistus and the girl?」

「No clue about Trismegistus. Since he didn’t do anything, I guess he’s going with the hands off approach. As for the robe girl――right here.」

Along with Izario’s words, a new figure emerged from the passage. The robed girl, Meltritte.

「……You let them get away?」

She glared spitefully in the direction Urushi had run off.

「Sucks for you, eh? The dragonkin are already far out of your reach.」

「You got me this time. However, it makes little difference. I would have preferred to see them meet their miserable ends here, but they’ll be dead soon enough.」

「Oh? And how do you plan on doing that?」

「You think I’ll tell you?」

「Well will you? Come on, my joints are already starting to ache. Throw this old guy a bone. I don’t even know your name yet.」

「Hmph, fine. I suppose I can at least introduce myself before killing you. My name is Meltritte Wisteria, a descendant of the pathetic bloodline destroyed by the foolish dragonkin and forced to flee this continent! As if that wasn’t enough, the dragonkin even slaughtered my family! I have only one goal: to avenge my ancestors and my family by eradicating the living filth known as the dragonkin, and all who are in league with them!」

Izario’s words were met with a scowl from Meltritte, who announced her name and purpose as if singing a song.

「Revenge, eh?」

「Next you’ll say that vengeance is never that answer and will only leave me empty, right?」

「I ain’t honorable enough to say anything like that. It’s just really hard to to stop people after revenge, so I was thinking about how much of a hassle this will be.」

Throughout the conversation, Izario did not take his eyes off the antidemon for a second.

「So then, Meltritte-san. You can control antidemons? Or rather, it looked to me like you made the core birth this antidemon.」

「Yes, that’s exactly right.」

Meltritte nodded, as if she had no intention of hiding anything at this point. This red-gold antidemon seems to have been specially made from the core directly.

「Wow. How’d you do that?」

「Why should I tell you?」

Izario probably didn’t notice it, but I could faintly see a thread of evil energy connecting Meltritte’s cross-sword and the red-gold antidemon.

Her cross-sword and the Wisteria bloodline’s Evil Guidance both had abilities for manipulating evil energy. Perhaps she used a combination of these abilities to influence the Abyss-Eater’s core.

「Well then, I think it’s about time for you to die.」

Right as Meltritte muttered this, the antidemon suddenly dove at Izario.

Meltritte likely wanted to finish Izario first, since he was her biggest obstacle. In other words, she thought she could easily take on Fran by herself.

How arrogant can you be?

『Fran, leave the antidemon to Izario and we’ll deal with Meltritte ourselves.』

「Nn!」

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