Black Iron Magician

Chapter 458 The Singing Vampire Princess

――――Snap!

In the jet-black space where fierce battles were raging in various places, a sound of finger snap echoed neatly. The monster, which was talking fluently while fighting against Deris, snapped its finger.

「■■!」

「■, ■■■…!」

「Ha?」

「W-What!?」

Responding to that sound, all the other monsters changed their directions. They retreated from the battle and rushed toward the one that snapped its finger. The reason is unknown, but naturally, Nell chases after them and Deris uses his magic to try to interfere with them. However, the monsters rushed forward with no regard to appearances, and they even made full use of wind magic to move their bodies to a single location. Strangely enough, there is the throne of Clarius.

「That big chair is safe, huh? I thought it was completely burned out by Nell’s flame.」

「Maria erased it as soon as the battle started. It’s probably a magic item with a storage function or a skill. More importantly, look at that thing.」

On the said throne, the monsters gathered and melted together, forming a shape as if they were fusing together. They are originally from Maria’s blood and magic power, so it’s not strange even if they combined now. However, the pressure it’s emitting is stronger than that of the original Maria. Deris tried to crush it with Elk Catastrophe, but it didn’t even flinch as if a wind barrier has been deployed around it.

「――I was surprised, really surprised. The three of you exceeded my expectations.」

「I didn’t expect that figure of yours, though. You must be suffering from the poison, and I wanted the fight earlier to be the last. Besides, you see, that figure is not cute, right?」

「Thank you for your insincere consideration~ ♪. But, you see, this is also my thanks to you. You did as you please when I hold back, and you responded well when I split myself. If so, I will give it my all. You see, this figure omits cuteness and specializes in strength…!」

The figure of Maria, which was a sloppy and irregular shape, became a fixed form.

「My beautiful egg 『Humpty Dumpty』.」

The silhouette is the original Maria, but her whole body is dark red and hazy like the monsters. And above all, what stand out more than anything else are the nine lights that violently move back and forth over Maria’s entire body. Deris and the others immediately guessed that those lights are the same as those of the monsters. At the same time, they sensed that the wind barrier around Maria has disappeared.

「This is a deadly form when I want to hasten the settlement. This is the form that defeated even God, the former ruler, I wonder how are young going to――」

「Gravi Cannon!」

「Blaze Storm!」

Interrupting Maria’s speech, Deris unleashed invisible spears and Nell unleashed a pillar of fire. At the place where the throne was, the flames soared high into the sky. Then, many bullets of super-gravity in the form of a spear pierced through the flames, instantly creating huge holes in the flames. However, there was no sign of Maria.

「Teleportation magic, no, she’s so fast that it feels like teleportation…!」

When the three looked up at the sky at once, there was a figure of Maria moving her wings slightly. Maria is the fastest among the Great Eight Demons. Her serious speed is certainly worthy of that title, and it’s even faster than Nell’s speed.

「Yep, you didn’t care even if I was in the middle of a speech. That’s the spirit. I’m also going to deal with you seriously.」

「Disapiea ♪」

「Riway Press ♪」

「Storm Rainger ♪」

Maria sings her magic as if she’s humming. Deris and Nell momentarily recall Weerel’s chanting technique, but Maria’s is on a different level. The chanting took place almost simultaneously, and the incomprehensible vocalization of the triple singing voice was not something a human can do. If it were simply a matter of deploying magic at the same time, Deris and Haruna would be able to do so by shortening the chanting. However, just like Weerel’s magic, Maria’s magic has the property of enhancing its effect by singing. She chanted it easily, but the power of the magic was extremely fierce.

「「「――!?」」」

Since the chanting was done at the same time, the threats that fall upon Deris and the others were also at the same time. One, the air around them has been eliminated, and they can’t breathe even if they want to replenish their oxygen. Two, an invisible pressure was applied from directly above them, forcing the three of them to kneel on the ground and crawl on all fours. Three, a large number of swords are constantly raining down on them. Each one is a deadly magic with a deadly effect.

(She restricted our breathing and applied strong pressure with wind pressure, huh… It seems that Maria is really serious! I should have settled this before it came to this, but it’s too late for that, damn it! There are various problems, but first of all, I should avoid getting skewered!)

Deris reverses his gravity and pushes it upward to deal with Maria’s wind pressure. Even though Maria’s magic is superior because she uses her blood as a catalyst, she is in a state where she’s using three magic at the same time. If it’s Deris, he can counter it by concentrating on one magic.

(Ugh, I probably can barely manage, no, this a little bad. Yeah, this is bad…!)

――It’s a critical moment, but he’s probably can manage it. As proof, Deris and the others can regain their position even though they have to brace their legs to some extent.

(In case something like this happens, I’ve prepared the safe and secure oxygen masks made by Quitet! Here, I will put them on you!)

The moment her body was able to move, Alezel took the company’s products out of her modest pocket and put them on Deris and Nell just like a reverse-stealing. And now they can breathe even though it’s temporary.

(How cheeky!)

Nell intercepted the approaching storm sword. She used high-level magic, such as Purgatorio, on her sword and she slashed Maria’s attacks with all her might.

The singing voice echoing from the sky is still going on. There’s no sign of Maria stopping her magic, but they are evenly matched for now. Despite the unexpected situation, Deris and the others responded instantly as a trinity.

「「「Then, what about this?」」」

「!」

When Nell was intercepting the storm of swords, she could hear Maria’s triple voices from behind.

(She used a teleportation magic this time…!)

At the same time, Maria launched a new attack. Nell sensed Maria’s presence even before listening to her voice, and she has already turned around in that direction. However, it was a little too late to respond to Maria’s fist.

「Daaaaaaaah!」

「「「Huh?」」」

Maria raised a surprised voice. Maria’s attack was supposed to hit Nell first, but Nell’s counterattack sword hit Maria first and blew her away with the flames. It seems that even Maria in that state wasn’t unscathed when receiving the massive amount of Nell’s flames directly. Maria’s singing stopped as she was blown away, and the effects of her magic were also stopped. By the way, Deris was also released from hard labor and he sighed heavily.

「「「……? How strange. My best blow was supposed to hit Nell first. I also felt a little strange when we were exchanging blows, but Nell is sometimes faster than me, huh? What’s that? Is that some kind of ability?」」」

「Fuu…! …… Well, who knows? More importantly, what’s with you? You have three mouths, you know?」

「「「♪」」」

Maria, who smiles fearlessly, has two mouths formed by the lights around her body in addition to the normal mouth on her face.