Antagonist Protection Service-Chapter 205 - Behemoth (2)
205: Behemoth (2)
205: Behemoth (2)
Standing atop the wall of the Sanctuary, I looked out over the flattened wasteland that used to be a city, the dark clouds above not even parting way for the moon to shine through on this night.
In my hand, I fiddled with a small, bullet-shaped item previously given to me.
“Damn it…
I can’t believe this…
It’s way too early-game, and yet…
Tch, all these resources…”
“…”
Just beside me, stood the Protagonist.
He was still evidently annoyed at the Behemoth itself, but now, he also had the thief who stole all his alchemy ingredients to worry about.
Thankfully, it seemed he was going to postpone that issue until after we dealt with the current threat.
Speaking of which, now just a short couple hundred metres away, the Behemoth continued to approach, the distance between it and this wall roughly the same as the alien’s width.
Advancing ceaselessly towards us, the monster resembling a colossal slug shot unbelievable tremors the ground with every minute movement, shockwaves powerful enough to reach us clearly despite standing so high above the ground.
“…It’s almost time.”
Letting out that mutter, I wanted to make sure the Protagonist was ready.
“Right…
Don’t worry, I got it.
I got it…
That’s why I picked Alchemist, after all.”
Into his hand, a rounded glass flask was summoned, its contents burning a vibrant orange like a bottled inferno…
Well, that’s exactly what it was.
Waiting just a moment to ensure the timing was right, I peered down at the ground carefully, and then…
“――Now.”
The instant the word left my mouth, the Protagonist whipped his arm, slinging the flask towards the ground just before the Behemoth, immediately replacing his supply with more of the same from his spatial storage and throwing them too.
Watching them head rapidly towards the ground, the flasks soon made contact, exploding into fragments on impact and releasing the intense flames trapped within.
At the same time, the black oil that was poured all over the ground before the Sanctuary was set aflame, and in a matter of moments, all of the land between the Sanctuary and the Behemoth was turned into a blazing hellscape.
Unable to turn its huge body around with such little room, the Behemoth could only push forward.
And it quickly felt the consequences for doing so.
“―――!!”
An ear-shattering noise resembling the call of a whale resounded throughout the night sky, causing both myself and the Protagonist to falter.
My own Heightened Senses in particular caused the pressure on my head to surge to the extent that I fell to one knee.
Still, gritting my teeth, I forced my eyes to remain open and stood back up, turning to the Protagonist.
He knew it was his queue, and without hesitation, summoned more flasks from his inventory.
This time, rather than fire, they contained an inky black liquid to complement.
Chucking the flasks at the Behemoth, it had gotten close enough for the projectiles to barely make it, impacting the head of the monster and dousing it in viscous oil, allowing the inferno to spread to the alien’s body and quickly engulfing its entire front-half in vibrant flames.
“―――――!!!”
The Behemoth cried again in pain, still pushing through the surging wall of fire before it.
“Gh…!
Two cries; it’s vulnerable for exactly three minutes!
Remember, target the neck if you can’t hit the middle of its head, and when time is up get away from it as soon as possible!”
Reminding me of the previously-discussed plan, the Protagonist summoned one last flask and handed it to me, this one containing a luminous blue liquid.
“I know.”
He had done his part.
Now it was my turn.
Turning my head away from him and uncorking the bottle, I dismissed the other item he previously gave me and took off the Villain’s Vizard for a moment to down the contents before putting it back on, handing him the emptied flask.
Gazing back out at the gradually-approaching Behemoth, I took a deep breath.
At that moment, I felt my body explode with power.
My heart beat powerfully in my ears, and all throughout my body, an unfamiliar strength surged.
Even with just Heightened Senses, I could feel it clearly.
‘Hah, wow…’
As far as I knew, this was a potion to replicate the effect one would receive when enhancing their body manifold with magic energy.
In short, once I was done here and obtained Mana Corruption, I should be capable of acquiring this level of strength whenever I wanted, or at least, in due time.
‘He said the effect should last more than long enough for the duration of the whole battle…
If that’s the case, this is crazy overpowered.’
Although he also mentioned a severe weakening of my physical state for a while after the effects ran out, that wasn’t something I needed to worry about now.
Putting strength into my legs, I unhesitatingly jumped off the top of the wall, summoning the Holy Sword in mid-air and flying towards the Behemoth’s head at top speed.
Reaching the colossal, hexagonal nut before I even realised it myself, I hurriedly took aim with the sword and stabbed towards black, void-like centre, piercing right through and perforating it surprisingly easily, falling through the silk-like material in the middle.
“―――――!!!”
Suddenly finding myself on the other side of its blazing head as it wailed and swayed its head, I grit my teeth and held onto the disgusting grey flesh beneath me, smothered in oil with tall, wild flames seething all around me.
Fortunately, fire and heat were no problem for me, and the Draconic Shadow was also durable enough to resist it.
‘Woah, shit…!’
Still, the Behemoth was big, and more than that, it carried enough force just by moving its penetrated head around that I could fall off at any moment, even with the physical enhancement.
Raising the Holy Sword, I stabbed it deep into the Behemoth’s neck, easily impaling it hilt-deep before withdrawing it, the two viscous liquids of oil and steaming grey blood sticking to the blade as I raised it to bring it down again.
“―――!!”
Like that, I repeatedly stabbed the Behemoth with the Holy Sword, creating innumerable holes in the flesh of its girthy neck, ignoring its endless unholy howls.
That was mainly a precaution for in case what I was about to do didn’t work, but I also wanted to check the effectiveness of just stabbing it, and like I thought, it didn’t seem to do much but cause excruciating pain.
The fire was good for weakening the outer layer of its skin, even if only temporarily, but the reason for that wasn’t just to stab it with something it might as well consider a needle.
Before I could accomplish anything with that, it would have already reached and destroyed the Sanctuary, leaving everyone hiding within to be turned to mush.
‘Looks like I have to use that after all…’
Rising to my feet, I made my way to the hole I tore through the black fabric-like substance of its head.
Standing in the middle of that vast opening, I thought it must have looked like I was exiting an alien portal, glancing at the thick hexagonal rim that gave off a faint reflection from the surrounding inferno.
According to both Iseul and the Protagonist, the Behemoth, like every other alien I’d encountered thus far, would die once this hexagonal rim of its head was destroyed.
These firebombs were enough to kill lesser aliens thanks to the sheer intensity of the heat making the rim brittle and easy to smash, but the Behemoth was different.
Unfortunately, the Behemoth’s head was far too big for me to cut through it with the Holy Sword, and it was also so big that the fire was mostly ineffective.
Together with their combined knowledge, Iseul and the Protagonist managed to cook something up, and honestly, part of me suspected this was the way it was going to be done originally in the source material.
I was only here to help carry out the plan.
‘Anyway, it should work with this…’
Turning to face the Behemoth ‘head on’, I summoned a certain mana crystal from Storage.
Roughly twice the size of a baseball, this was actually one that the Protagonist had modified using his alchemy #System.
Unlike ordinary mana crystals, this one was glowing bright with condensed magic energy.
“Here, eat up, buddy.
Got a nice little snack for ya.”
Holding the mana crystal up to the hole in the middle of the Behemoth’s head, the torn black fabric abruptly moved as if responding to my call, rapidly wrapping itself around the mana crystal and snatching it from my grasp.
In a matter of moments, the mana crystal was used as a sort of anchor to hold the broken veil together, stretching the void taut once again, now with a nice, faint blue glow emanating from the central point.
‘Perfect.’
Nodding, I raised the Holy Sword again and brought it swiftly down, stabbing the flesh on the front of the monster’s head hilt-deep before hurriedly dismissing the blade.
That’s because―
“―――――!!!”
―Before I even had a chance to resist the immobilising effects of its deafening cry, the Behemoth whipped its head back and forth, sending me flying backwards.
Spreading my limbs out, I allowed the monumental force and the accompanying wind to carry me through the air, soon landing with a crash on the slick, fiery hellscape on the ground.
The force of the blow and the ground covered in flaming oil caused me to slide backwards for a bit, but I quickly came to a stop, immediately raising my head towards the approaching giant.
Straightening my back, I wasted no time.
In my right hand the Black Wisp materialised, and at the same time, I summoned the item the Protagonist had used a lot of expensive materials to alchemise for me.
It was a single, ashen bullet.
‘Let’s see what you’ve got, then.
“Master Alchemist”, right?
Better not disappoint.’
Loading the lonesome bullet into the chamber―the first time I was ever using a physical bullet over the standard magical ammunition―I raised the barrel towards the looming Behemoth.
Aiming right at the mana crystal it had taken to be the core of its regenerated head.
‘Whoops.
You swallowed a bomb.’
Feeling the corner of my lip curl up behind the Villain’s Vizard, I pulled the trigger, watching the stone-like grey bullet soar through the night sky as if in slow motion.
With Heightened Senses, I observed the bullet make contact with the centre of the Behemoth’s head, and right at that moment…
The world that was illuminated only by flames flashed a bright white.
