81. Beldia's Arrival

After Kyouya left the guild, something piqued Darkness and Megumin's interest.

"Speaking of which, that guy had been calling Aqua a goddess all of the time, what's up with that?"

Although at that time Kazuma already told them that Aqua might address herself as a goddess from time to time, now, someone mentioned goddess so many times made them curious.

Aqua showed her rare serious expression. Darkness and Megumin could only listen carefully.

"Can't be helped. I'm Aqua. The goddess of the Axis cult, goddess of water. That's right, I'm the goddess Aqua."

"So you had that dream?" Both of them said simultaneously. Even Izumi couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

"Why did you laugh at me? You should have seen the goddess too, that flat-chest Eris!"

Megumin and Darkness glanced at Izumi.

"Well, I've seen her glamour, demeanor, and gracefulness. All in all, she is the best. Not to mention that she's still beautiful even though you said flat-chested. I wonder why you're claiming to be a goddess when you seem to be a girl in a rebellious phase?" Izumi rubbed his chin while imagining what Eris looks like. Though, he lied about his encounter with the goddess.

Megumin and Darkness were surprised to hear that Izumi had met the goddess Eris. Then, both of them thought that Izumi had been blessed by goddess Eris. Because of that, he became this powerful.

Well, ever since Aqua confirmed that Izumi was a Japanese from Lia after she recovered her memories. Izumi let Aqua imagine anything about how Izumi came to this world.

At this moment.

"Emergency broadcast! Emergency broadcast! Attention all adventurers, please prepare your equipment and gather at the town's main gate to be ready for battle! Especially Satou Kazuma and his companions, please head to the scene as soon as possible!"

"Huh..????" Kazuma could only tilt his head confusedly. His expression seems to say "What the heck with "especially Satou Kazuma and his companions" means?"

"The Main Event has come!!" Izumi said excitedly. It seemed Izumi couldn't wait more to fight against Beldia.

"Main Event? Did you mean Beldia? Why did he come anyway?" Kazuma asked in surprise.

"Dunno, maybe because you haven't come, so he was upset?" Izumi shrugged his shoulders. He did know the reason but didn't tell him. Kazuma didn't have time to read his story from the novel, so it was understandable he was so clueless.

"What unreasonable person is that? I don't want to bother him, should he be grateful to me?"

"Let's go, I will call Luffy and Kuroneko first."

After that Izumi disappeared from the guild. Kazuma and his party immediately went to the gate to confront Beldia.

When Izumi arrived at the inn, Kuroneko and Luffy were already prepared. Izumi glanced at Kuroneko and said.

"Kuroneko, you have a divine sword. So you must be the one to finish off Beldia. But, I will test his strength first. Even though I know you're strong when you wield your sword, your fighting experience is still not well-honed."

"Hey, don't underestimate me. I'm the winner of the Blade Dance tournament, you know?"

"The Blade Dance Tournament is only student level. That level is different from the level of experienced fighters. In a fight between experienced fighters, the slightest mistake is fatal."

"Fine then." Kuroneko herself was aware of her shortcomings. Even though using the divine sword increased her strength, her fighting techniques were still too amateurish. She was lucky to win the Blade Dance Tournament thanks to her powerful divine sword.

— — — —

There were so many adventurers gathered already. The headless guy stood a little bit away from the gate. He is not coming alone, there is an undead army behind him.

That headless guy was usually called Dullahan. He was the Demon General, Beldia. He wore full-plate black armor and held his head in a full helmet with his left hand.

When he saw Megumin and Kazuma, he roared.

"Why didn't you come to the castle, you're inhuman!"

Kazuma didn't understand what he meant by inhuman. So he stepped in front of Megumin to protect her and asked Beldia.

"Well, why must we go? And what do you mean by 'inhuman'? Why are you so mad even though we had to stop casting explosion magic?"

Beldia was so mad that even threw the thing in his left hand to the ground, but he remembered that it was his head and then immediately grabbed it back.

"You say stopped? Stop lying to me! That crimson magic clan girl with a screw loose in her head had never stopped coming!"

"Wtf." Kazuma cursed. Well, Kazuma had never seen Megumin cast her magic since he was always relaxing due to the difficult quests left on the quest board. The probability of Megumin blasting that castle was very high. Kazuma glanced at Megumin, only to see Megumin avert her eyes immediately.

"What the heck are you thinking!!???" Kazuma pinched her cheek as he said that.

"Hurts hurts, hurts! Listen to me, Kazuma!"

"Yes, it's Kazuma."

"I was satisfied with casting an explosion on an empty plain not so long ago. But, after I knew the charm of attacking a huge castle with my magic, my body changed and I could only accept big and hard things!"

"Don't fidget around and don't say that kind of dubious thing! You couldn't move after casting, so that means."

Kazuma glanced at Aqua who averted her eyes this time. "It's you, right!!?"

When Kazuma argued with his party, Beldia said.

"Don't you all have the will to save your comrade? Even though I'm like this, I was an honorable knight. That crusader who was cursed while protecting her companions was the classic model of a knight, but you—"

Before he could finish his sentence, Darkness arrived in her clanking armor and quietly made her way to Kazuma's side. She was blushing because of the compliments. She timidly lifted a hand in greeting.

"He-Hello."

If Beldia's expression wasn't blocked by his helmet, he probably had a 'WTF' letter on his face.

"It has been a week since Darkness was cursed but she is still alive, that shocked him, right? That guy definitely thought we would head to the castle to break the curse and was waiting for us in vain, huh? He didn't even know I broke the curse in no time after he left, right? Pffttt! This is too funny! Super~~funny!"

Aqua pointed her index finger at Beldia and laughed out loud nonstop.

Beldia was trembling in anger. His patience was already at the limit.

"If I get serious, I could kill all of you adventurers and townsfolk. Don't think I will keep letting you off."

Before Beldia could do anything, Aqua extended her right hand and shouted.

"I'm the one who has no reason to let you off! I won't let you escape this time. To act so flashy for a mere undead, how arrogant! Disappear, [Turn Undead]." A bright white light illuminated by Aqua's outstretched hand.

Beldia wasn't scared and didn't plan to dodge.

"You think Demon General wouldn't be prepared to fight priest? We have very high resistance against holy spell— aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!"

After being blasted by Aqua's magic, Beldia's body that got hit by the attack emitted black smoke. He was shaking all over and couldn't even stand properly.

"Kazuma, Kazuma! This is so strange, it's not working on him!"

"It's working properly though, he was screaming 'aaahhh' so loudly."

After a while, Beldia wanted to order his army to attack. But before he did.

"Ah, that guy was definitely scared because Aqua's spell was unexpectedly effective! He is planning to attack using his minions while he escapes by himself." Kazuma pointed at Beldia.

"That, that, that's not it! This was my plan from the—" Beldia wanted to retort, but—

"[Sacred Turn Undead]"

"Hyaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh."

When Beldia just spoke halfway, he screamed due to Aqua's spell.

Beldia's armor was fuming black smog and he rolled on the ground as if he was attempting to put out the fire on it.

Aqua said in a panic.

"What should we do Kazuma? This is strange! My spell is not effective!"

"What are you saying? I'm pretty sure it was effective though. Look, he's rolling on the ground!"

At that moment, Izumi and the others arrived.

"Fortunately I'm not late."

Everyone cheered for them because Izumi's party strength was reliable after everyone found out Izumi tamed the griffon.

"Ah, you guys."

"Oh, the mighty newcomers are here."

"We count on you newcomers."

Beldia ignored Izumi's party and just ordered his minions to attack.

Izumi approached Kazuma. He whispered.

"Kazuma,—"

Hearing what Izumi whispered, Kazuma nodded.

"Got it."

Then, Izumi turned to Kuroneko.

"Kuroneko!"

"I know!"

"Good."

After knowing that everything was ready, he narrowed his eyes while looking at Beldia.

Luffy first came forward to attack Beldia.

As for Izumi, he compresses the wind on the soles of his feet while holding his sword in his arm. Then…

*Swoosh*

The compressed wind exploded to boost Izumi's speed to the limit. However, the violent gale that was created by the explosion, blasted away whoever was behind Izumi.

In an instant, Izumi was in front of Beldia with a swing of his sword.

*Clank* *Boom*

Beldia was thrown far back thanks to the powerful blast of compressed wind that increased Izumi's speed and power.

However, the same thing happened to Izumi. For some reason, he rolled to the ground as if he had been hit even though he was the one who attacked.

"Cough. Fuck!"

Izumi's entire body was shrouded in black smoke. It proved that he had just been hit by a fire attack. However, no one understood why Izumi could be hit by that attack since the one being attacked was Beldia.

Izumi tried to get up while grumbling.

"Fuck. This doesn't make sense. My Devil Fruit power is wind. Why can just a spark trigger an explosion?"

Before the explosion occurred, Izumi's sword clashed with Beldia's armor which then caused a spark. Unfortunately, Izumi didn't understand why the spark could trigger an explosion when he used his Devil Fruit power. Previously, his Devil Fruit power caused the fire to grow bigger. Now, the spark caused an explosion.

In any case, he must not use his Devil Fruit powers when in close proximity to fire. And more importantly, his obvious weakness should not be known to others.

Beldia woke up staggering after being hit by Izumi's heavy blow, though he didn't know why suddenly an explosion occurred which added to the damage. He thought it was Izumi's doing.

The color of Beldia's eyes suddenly changed. He threw his head upward. A large, lidless, wreathed-flame eye suddenly appeared behind its head which was thrown upward. Then, a magic field was created and trapped Izumi inside it. Somehow, it was similar to the domain expansion when Izumi unleashed the rage state of his sword art.

Before Izumi realized the effects of the magic field, Beldia was already in front of Izumi thrusting his sword. It was then that he realized that his movements were frozen. No, rather…

"Shit. Time was slowed by him!" Izumi shouted inwardly.

*Stab*

The blade pierced all the way to his back. At the same time, he coughed a mouthful of blood.