Black Iron Magician

Chapter 456 Poison Match

「Let me concentrate on my chanting until the very last minute. But well, it’s about time.」

When Deris slammed the tip of the black staff into the magic circle, cracks appeared on the ground. The cracks reached far, especially around the area where Maria is.

「Fatally Venom…!」

With those words, a large amount of liquid overflowed from the cracks in the ground. The fluids, which appeared one after another with the force of creating a huge wave, were all dyed in a poisonous color and seemed to have stickiness closer to mud than water.

「Uwah…. I’ve received Excious from Deris to nullify the abnormal state, but I don’t feel like living. Also, there’s this funny smell from a while ago.」

「Well, I’m also releasing poisonous gas after all.」

「Deris, you stink.」

「Hey, that’s a little shocking since I’m at this age, so can you stop it? It really hurts, you know?」

「But~」

「Don’t worry. I will burn the poison in your body in case of emergency.」

「It’s gonna burn me too, ain’t it?」

「…… *Smile*」

「Say something!」

Scroll Abyss Magic level 100, 『Fatally Venom』, is the highest rank magic that produces poison in any state of gas, liquid, or solid from the cracks it created. It can be said the mass-production version of Chaos Maia, which Haruna used before, with the ability to choose the abnormal state. Like Chaos Maia, this Fatally Venom can produce poison according to the amount of MP used. While Nell and Alezel were stalling for time, Deris was injecting a large amount of magic into this spell. Naturally, the poison he created is his original blend that he’s proud of, a masterpiece designed to be used on Maria. Not only the poison that Haruna usually uses, but it also contained more vicious and wicked diseases and toxic substances, and even those that are used for vampires.

「Swallow her.」

A great wave of mud crawls out of the ground, or rather, it’s released straight up and floats in the air at the command of the user, Deris. Centered on Maria, who is tormented by Gregor’s poems, it swirls around her in a circle, increasing in density with each passing second. It’s pilling up thickly, massively, and gently so as not to blow away Gregor’s feelings―― and a dome made of mud was completed.

「It looks sturdier than Quitet’s highest grade shelter, huh.」

「It looks like it’s worth slashing. Can I slash it along with Maria?」

「No, don’t slash it…. This is where the real work begins!」

When Deris raised the black staff, the poisonous dome was lifted up at once. This sent a shock inside, and Gregor’s feelings vanished. From here on, it’s a race with time, and Deris casts his next spell at high speed.

「Elk Catastrophe!」

It was a moment. In the blink of an eye, the dome, which was so huge that it seemed like a floating giant battleship, shrank to the size of a baseball.

Abyss Magic level 90, 『Elk Catastrophe』, is a super-aggressive gravity magic that sends a wave of supergravity from all directions, crushing and killing the target without giving the room to retreat. This magic, which changes magic power into pure power and compresses everything over a wide area, is said to be the atrocious magic favored by the evil god of mythology because of its cruelty.

――――Crack crack!

The poisonous mass emits the sound of something being twisted forcibly, showing that it’s applying pressure with terrifying force. Perhaps the burden is heavy for the user, a large amount of sweat is flowing down from Deris’s forehead.

「If you think about it realistically, she should be dead by now. You wrapped Maria-han with the poison prepared for her, and you even use that cruel crushing magic to finish her off, right? How could a living thing survive in that state?」

「If she died from that, she wouldn’t have lived this far, you know? Deris, here you go. It’s a potion with a Quitet mark. It tastes bad, but just drink it now.」

「How rude~. We’re constantly improving it to make it taste better! Moreover, that’s our best product!」

「Gulp, gulp…. Phew! Good grief, it’s still hard to drink. Also, I’m not Haru, so I can’t drink more than this. I won’t be able to move.」

「Don’t worry, I’ll make you serve as a shield at that time.」

「Kuku, I’ll take you along with me at that time. Oh, it’s about time she breaks it. You two, do you need recovery magic?」

「I can do it myself, so I don’t need it.」

「I don’t need it either. In the first place, I’m gonna die instantly if I received an attack.」

「Okay, my allies are so strong that it brings me to tears. Now, the groundwork to defeat Maria is complete. Now is the second round, no, let’s make this the final round.」

When they turned toward Maria, a cracking sound rang out from inside the compressed poisonous mass. At a closer look, the poisonous mass, which was as small as the size of the palm, is swollen to the point where you have to hold it with both arms. Also, there were already several cracks running through it.

「――My nine stories 『Wonderland Nine』.」

Suddenly, there was a young voice said so. However, it was unnaturally filled with a strange intimidating air.

―――― Gashaaaan!

The poisonous mass was scattered all at once like a glass broken vigorously. The remnants of the poisonous mud fall to the ground, and nine figures fly in all directions from the inside. Naturally, Deris and the others could see this happening.

「Geh, is she splitting!? I feel like there are many of them!」

「At a glance, they all looked different. Also, there’s that one-eyed monster that Nell fought on the tower….」

「Calm down! Every one of them is about as strong as the one I defeated at that tower! The only difference is that there are now nine of them! They may look flashy at a glance, but it’s a lot better than dealing with Maria who has a lot of power!」

「Ain’t that the same as fighting against nine level 11 monsters!? Every single one of them is stronger than me, y’know!?」

「Then, I’ll take on five, Deris take on three, and Alezel take on one! You should at least show that much guts!」

「Eeh!?」

「You should raise the morale moderately. Well, they are coming.」

Thinking that bickering during the battle is the usual thing, Deris brushed it off. Rather, he sees it as a way to raise the fighting spirit.

「■■■…!」

「■■, ■■■■.」

「■!」

Looking up, they could see nine winged monsters flying around in a circle. The shapes of the monsters are basically different, and the only thing they have in common is that they have a dark red color and that they have a suspicious light on a part of their bodies. There is also the figure of the brilliant right arm 『Jabberwock』, which Nell just defeated just a dozen minutes ago. Looking at that terrible scene, Deris quietly smiled.

(Maria, hasn’t it been a long time since she suffered from poison? Looking at the mouths of those monsters, they seem to be in pain.)

(Uwaah….)

And Alezel saw that very evil smile.