Chapter 173

There were three Ghost Generals. Could we defeat them if we all fought together?
If we couldn’t run away, then we had no choice but to try.

And so I held up the Deepsea Dragon Sword and looked at the Ghost General in the center.
The air of intimidation was great, but since I wasn’t able to accurately measure someone’s mana, I wasn’t sure what the discrepancy was between us.

“Oh, well. Let’s go then.”
I took a step forward and cut off the enemy’s arm.

Not only was it a move I had practiced for many years, it made use of knowledge from my past life.
The movement had been adjusted to match the body of an Ogre, and I had all the smoothness of a first-rate swordsman.

As for this Deepsea Dragon Sword that General Farneze had been keeping, it was made from the bones of a creature that could move between the deepsea and the surface.

It would have been made by a master crafter as well, and I was sure that it would be able to cut through a Ghost General.

“…Or not. Why is its arm reconnecting?”
I knew that I had cut it. I had felt it too. But reality suggested something else.

The arm had returned to normal.

“So you did it after all, Golan. You cut off my wrist, so I thought you would do it again. But the armor of a Ghost General is made of mana. So all you did was cut through mana. You didn’t hurt the main body at all.”

Nehyor offered the grim explanation.
Regardless, that was why it hadn’t been severed, even though I had cut it.

“Then I’ll just keep cutting.”

“…I thought you would say something like that. But they aren’t Ghost Knights. They are Ghost Generals. And so even if you cut them thousands of times, they will not run out of mana.”

If that was true, I would not be able to defeat the enemy in front of me no matter how many times I swung with the sword.
And if the armor was made of mana, they would always be able to replenish it.

With that considered, there was no way that I would be able to cut it down.
As Nehyor said, attacking them with a sword was meaningless.

But if I was struggling like this, how about the others?
I looked to the right and the left.

Dyle was attacking with his claws and biting into its neck.
He often fought with a sword or spear, but now he had chosen to use his own mana enveloped body instead of weapons.

“The attacks seem to be working.”
They looked to be on equal footing.

As for Saifo and the others.
“Let’s go!”
“Arrgh!”

Bekka grabbed an arm while Saifo bashed it with his rod. But they weren’t doing any damage.
Well, that left me in an awkward position.

I had been expecting to see them attacking the enemy in just as fruitless a way as me. But it was not the case.
Besides, they had a purpose.

“Penny! Do it now!”
“It’s Painy. Please remember my name.”

As the Ghost General had both of its arms clamped down, the Reapers moved in.
“So they’re going to use…One-hit Kill.”

Out of the people that came to Tralzard’s land, the Reapers were the most numerous. There were fifty of them.
And they also happened to be the best.

It was these Reapers that now swarmed around the Ghost General and started to hit it with ‘One-hit Kill.’
It was their much feared special ability. The one that could kill a Demon King.

Though, being feared had been the cause of their exile. But they didn’t look like they cared at all now.

Their training had made them familiar with acting as a group, and their mana levels had increased.
I wasn’t sure what the cool down time was for ‘One-hit Kill,’ but since there were so many of them, I was sure it would be effective if they kept hitting it.

“Alright, I better focus on my own fight then.”

A great sword was flying through the air, ready to take off my head.
If they only knew how much time I had spent practicing with a sword in my past life. There was no way that they could hit me.

“…Oomph!”
I had dodged the blade, but the wind pressure knocked me off of my feet.

“Shit, shit! There’s no time to look at the others.”
It was clear that my opponent was stronger. And so I couldn’t let my guard down even a little.
I would likely be gravely wounded if the sword even scratched me.

“And to think that I’ve become stronger too.”
There was always going to be someone above you.

Nehyor’s subordinate… Not only that, but I was looking quite desperate in front of all these people.

Neyhor must find this all very amusing.
He had said that there was no way that I could win. And so I had to prove him wrong.

The Ghost General tended to attack with feints whenever I left its range.

However, even when I thought that I didn’t have to dodge it, the shockwave would hit me. And if I got around it and charged forward, the enemy would still be out of striking distance and could easily react in time.

“I suppose I should pretend that it has me.”
I dodged the swing of the sword, but before I could reach it, it came swinging again.

That was the high-ranking species for you. Their physical abilities were incredible.
They existed in some higher plane that I could never reach, no matter how much I trained.

“This is why residents of the Demon World rarely try to raise their skills through training.”

After all, you could not expect much of a boost at all.
And since they knew that, many felt that it was better to do nothing.

“Well, perhaps it’s like how training a three year-old to do karate is not going to help it beat an adult who has never trained. In this world, the gap between races is hopeless. It might just be wasted effort… Still, what about this?”

–Two step thrust.

It was a move that the old dojo master invented for his own amusement.
You quickly thrust two times in the exact same spot.

It managed to gouge out a hole in the armor. But that was all.

“I guess not… In that case, what about a clean sweep?”
I used the entire sword, from the tip of the blade to the handle, and slashed quickly in an attempt to hurt it.

Black mist rose from the cut in the armor, and then it closed up without a trace of it ever being open.

“So it really is made of mana… Does this mean…I’m the weakest one here?”
Attacking it thousands of times would probably do decent damage. But it wasn’t physically possible. It wasn’t an option.

“…Damn. I’m starting to really feel like I won’t be able to do this.”

I wasn’t sure if the armor was heavy, or if it was because it was being controlled from something on the inside, but the Ghost General’s movements were slow enough for me to deal with it.

It wasn’t like fighting with Nehyor, who moved like lightning.
“That being said, this is still bad.”

An enemy that was enveloped in mana did not have any weak spots.
Even if you thought they did, it was also just mana. So, what could I do?

It was as I was thinking this, that a shadow creeped up from behind me.

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Makai Hongi