I ran after the Hero.

It seems that everyone in the city has already evacuated, since there were practically no humans in sight.
Although there are a few cautious knights who were watching us at a distance.

Nina and Adofu’s relatives are gone too.
Only the ropes remain from where they were before.
I wonder where they went.
They shouldn’t have been able to move well yet……

“Gra~a!”

Partner roars.
I look at where Partner was looking.

Under the shade of a building, I saw Adofu and Ball Rabbit hiding with Nina.
Adofu’s relatives and a few of the knights were there too.

They seem to be fine.
Were those knights formerly under Adofu before?
It won’t be easy for them to regain their trust on the church nor the Hero after they’ve witnessed their suspicious actions.

I sigh in relief.

“Gra~a!”

…… Right, this isn’t the time to let my guard down.

Upon hearing Partner’s growl, I steeled myself again.
I can relax later once I do something about the Hero who’s escaping.
I know I shouldn’t say he’s the kind of guy who’s gonna lay low if I let him escape here.

I look forward, and follow the Hero.
That guy should be at wits end by now.
One of his swords was bitten away from him, and the other one got eaten by Partner.
His Pegasus is also removed from the battle.
And, his remaining MP is……

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
〖Irushia〗
Species: Earth Huma
Status: Physical Resistance (Large)
Lv: 78/100
HP: 471/602
MP: 144/552
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

…… Only 144 left, huh.
Even though he used up a lot of support magic, he still had that much left?
He’s not using Quick even though he’s trying to run away, is he preserving his MP?
His remaining MP is more than one-fourth, if your enemies know this, that’s the worse situation.
Until just a while ago, he was able to move however he wanted, he should be able to change how he moves.

When it comes to speed, I’m better.
During chase, I can easily catch up.
It’ll be hard to fight if you escape to areas with people in them.
I need to do something before that happens……

“〖Summon〗!〖Summon〗!〖Summon〗!”

Three pillars of light appear between me and the Hero.
He’s able to summon things other than the Pegasus?

The light on the ground lifts up the sand one by one.
And from under the ground, something red and black is coming out of the hole.
It is slithery and is human-sized, but the height is close to three meters.

“Ku~washa~a~aa!”

Its mouth occupies its whole face.
One of them extended into the building and crushed the walls.
That’s definitely not something a Hero should summon.

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
Species: Grand Worm
Status: Normal
Lv: 21/55
HP: 244/244
MP: 52/52
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
Species: Grand Worm
Status: Normal
Lv: 24/55
HP: 255/255
MP: 54/54
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
Species: Grand Worm
Status: Normal
Lv: 21/55
HP: 244/244
MP: 52/52
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

…… What a stench. It’s just an overgrown worm.
Their statuses are slightly lower than the Red Ants.
They’re clearly just to buy time.
If it can be summoned as long as the MP recovers, that’s certainly convenient.

When I kicked off the ground, Partner withdrew her neck.
It seems she understood what I was about to do.

I round my body while in the air and used〖Roll〗to charge straight at the Grand Worms.
I caught all three of their tails and dragged them along with me.

“Guwasha~a?!”

Two were hurled away and one got its body ripped apart.
Bodies of flesh and blood stick on my body.

【Obtained 456 Experience Points.】
【〖The Walking Egg〗skill gives you an additional 456 Experience Points.】
【The Lv. of〖Ouroboros Dragon〗went up from Lv. 57→58.】

Sorry, but something like this isn’t gonna be enough to buy you time.
It’s sad that he used his few remaining MP to summon these.

“What?!”

The Hero looks back at us.
I’ll keep using〖Roll〗to close the distance and hit the Hero’s back.
The Hero turns around and faces me, while unsheathing his third sword.

Shining a bright light, the crimson blade becomes dew.
It’s the same ominous sword that finished Adofu off in the desert. That sword is his last.

“Y-You’re starting to annoy me!”

Do I release Roll and avoid it? Or, do I just stick with it and charge straight in?
It’s definitely going to hurt a lot if I just go ahead and take the hit even with〖Roll〗.
But, if this chase gets any longer, damage in Haranae will increase.

I’m going to speed it up.
Choosing the half-baked decision will only risk lives. If I’m gonna attack head on, I’m going all out!

“I’ll kill you! I’m going to kill you!”

The sword pierces through my scales.
I felt like I got struck hard in my body. But, that’s all it was.

“Guwo ~o!”

I can hear the Hero’s shriek.

There was a reaction.
I saw the Hero fly into the air with blood everywhere.
He falls a few meters away, and made a loud sound when his body crashed.

【Acquired〖Confusion Resistance: Lv1〗skill.】

When I thought that I finally won, my mind started to go haywire.
Since I got a resistance skill, if I look at my back, that means I got struck by an abnormal condition. Is that the sword’s effect?
〖Roll〗got disrupted and I crashed through a wall. Rubble falls on top of me.

I crawled out of the pile of rubble, shook my head, and wiped off the sand on my head.
…… I got poisoned and confused…… and even got slightly paralyzed.
But, none of them were large. Even the confusion can be ignored since I crashed myself after all.
Though, the paralysis is still making me feel numb.

The Hero is under a ton of debris under the walls of a building.
No, there’s a crack behind the building. The proper thing to say is that my〖Roll〗just got repelled, he got flipped sideways, and he slammed down the walls.

There’s a ton of blood on his head and waist.
One eye is covered by the dripping blood.
Breathing on his shoulders, his left hand grips the sword tighter.
It was clear that he was holding his grip, even from a distance.

It seems that we ended up in a residential area.
The evacuees and the knights who guided them are now visible.

The Hero tries to stand up…… But, he fell down immediately soon after.
If I were in your situation, I should be able to hear the bones crack in my hips.
I’m pretty sure that even if I used〖High Rest〗, I still wouldn’t be able to run properly.

“Heh, he he, hehehe…… You’ve really angered me this time. Fine then. I will kill all the curse of this country. No one shall be saved other than me who has been bequested as Holy. You, Adofu, that foolish priest, and that beastwoman too… all of you should just die! Especially you, who keeps on chasing and chasing me around. Regret your folly in the afterlife!”

The Hero blurted out all his frustration at me and raised his hand towards me.
I instantly fired two〖Wind Slash〗at him.

“〖Summon〗!”

A purple light rose from the ground in between me and the Hero.
The light expanded then compressed immediately, becoming the shape of a human and losing its brightness.
W-What is that thing?

The purple mass got struck by〖Wind Slash〗.
It then leaked green fluid out of its body. It didn’t even react.
Is that even alive?

【Because the rank difference is too wide, experience points could not be obtained.】

The message of God’s Voice echoed in my head.
S-So is it dead now?
No, it doesn’t look like it. Even now, the arm-like part is moving slowly.

Its hollow-like eyes glanced at me.
It looks like its drawn towards blood. My disgust for it just piqued.
Calm down, me.
If it’s a monster, I can find out its information with God’s Voice.

【〖Muscas Demilich〗: Rank F Monster】
【A small fly that has gained an enormous amount of magic power through curse. It is a bundle of curses joined together.】
【A sorcerer who once tried to obtain eternal life wanted to maintain his soul by having his own body become the catalyst of the cursed flies. It is the result of that.】
【There is nothing left of the sorcerer’s consciousness, it is just a collection of cursed flies.】
【When the number of flies reduces, they all fly away and give birth to many more children, and after making up the number of defects, they return to human form once again.】

…… That’s just a cluster of tiny flies.
U-ge ~e, I’m grossed out.
No, I shouldn’t be thinking of stuff like that. If those tiny things spread out, it’ll be a disaster.
I need to think of a way to deal with that thing.

Up to the very end, you had this hidden bomb the whole time, huh, Hero.

I stopped moving, and stared closely at the flies’ movements.
I don’t know what’s making them bundle up and move in unity like that.

Where’s its weak point, its weak point…… This is all or nothing, but should I burn them all with〖Scorching Breath〗?
No. If the Hero interferes, then there’s going to be a lot of flies that I’ll miss.

The Hero walks towards the Muscas Demilich using his sword as a cane.

“He, he he, hehehe……”

Oh no, he’s going to scatter the flies with his sword.
I haven’t thought up of a plan yet, but for now I jump towards the Muscas Demilich.

Each one of the flies is an F-rank monster.
I should be able have something against them.
Oh, that’s right!

“Gru~o!”

I growl at Partner.

“Gra, gra~a?”

Partner looks at me confused.

“Gru~o~o!”

Use〖Death〗! Use〖Death〗, for crying out loud!
Use〖Death〗on that thing.
You should be able to hunt down an inferior monster like that without any problems.
We’ll use all our remaining MP on that thing.

If you don’t get what I’m saying soon, time’ll run out and it’ll be too late.
I’m counting on you, Partner.

If you think about it, there were plenty of times when Partner understood my intentions.
Even Ball Rabbit had a good sense of danger, and in the end, he learned〖Telepathy〗.
Maybe there might be something in Partner’s side which has already become a skill.

Partner was wild when I first met her after evolution, but that might’ve been because she felt my nervousness for having a second head.
The truth is… when I finally accepted that she was in fact a part of my body, and a part of me, she became less wild and more understanding now.
If there is indeed a small chance that you really are able to tell what I’m thinking, then we should be able to pull this off.

【Acquired Special Skill〖Communication: Lv1〗.】

Partner nodded at me.

“Gra~a!”

Partner roared at the Muscas Demilich.
A black light engulfs all around it.
That literally consumed all the MP that was left in me.
The lifelessness and the exhaustion from the enemy Queen Red Ant that I used this on before isn’t the same as these flies right now.

It’s like something got cut off from the unpleasant sound that I couldn’t quite understand.

【Due to the wide gap in rank, experience points could not be obtained.】
【Regular Skill〖Death〗has risen from Lv1→4.】

The body of the Muscas Demilich started to distort, and it raised its arm-like part to the sky.

“O~, o~, o~, o~……”

The mouth of the Muscas Demilich wriggles and makes a voice-like sound.

Immediately afterwards, a crimson sword slashes the upper body of the Muscas Demilich.
The mountain of corpses collapsed and fell on the ground.

“He, he heh, and with this………… a, ah~?”

The Hero glimpsed at the corpse of the insect and uttered a lost voice.

【Title Skill〖Tiny Hero〗has risen from Lv7→9.】

This means that the Muscas Demilich is really dead.
Still, the level went up by 2 just like that. I guess that thing was pretty bad.

“This… this can’t be…… T-This can’t possibly be……”

The Hero swings his sword at the mountain of corpses twice, trice, and then fell on his knees exhausted.
When he stared at the remains of the flies with his bare hands, his face became pale.
He put his hands on his waist and he looks at his hands. Seeing the blood on his hands, he removed the expression on his face.

“Ha-〖High Rest〗! 〖High Rest〗! 〖High Rest〗!”

The Hero desperately yells out, but no light comes out.
His MP is finally empty.
He can’t do anything anymore.

I jumped at the Hero and hit him with my claw with all I got.

“Gah, ha~a!”

The Hero got hurled and crashed to a nearby building.
He picked up and clung onto the sword that he let go before.

“Eek! Get away! Get away from me, you monster!”

He shakes his sword while shouting, and knocks himself against the wall, hitting his body.
The walls were already broken, and there was a hole. And, just like that, the Hero fell and his body rolled down inside.

This guy does not know when to give up.