The next day. Afternoon.
Thick dark clouds completely obscured the sun, casting a gloomy shadow over the day.
Boom...! Boom...!
In this darkened time, the Gorgon's nest was preparing to bloom again.
The entire nest vibrated thinly, scattering sand dust in all directions. Soon, Medusa, having finished devouring her sister, would appear.
Human heroes gathered in front of the nest.
They had tried to recover their condition in less than a day, but their limits were clear. The heroes, with tired faces, loosened their bandaged, constrained bodies.
At the center of these heroes was a five-member party.
Lucas, Torkel, Zenis, the Black Magician, and the Blind Swordsman formed this hastily assembled party, naturally gathered together again today.
As they readied for the impending battle, Zenis blurted out.
"So, should we call our party 'The Uncles'?"
"What? A party name that sounds like it smells musty...?"
The Black Magician shuddered.
However, the Blind Swordsman nodded.
"Come to think of it, aren't we all uncles here? Wow, suddenly feeling a sense of kinship."
"Yesterday, Lady Lilly also called us 'The Uncles'... It's quite intuitive."
Torkel stated flatly.
But Lucas shivered in shock.
"...No, I've been called uncle since yesterday. But I'm not an uncle. I'm still in the early years of my twenties."
Already slightly hurt by Evangeline teasing him about the age difference.
Now, was he to be categorically lumped in with these actual uncles?
The Blind Swordsman clicked his tongue at Lucas.
"Listen here, handsome young man. Men in this world are either uncles or destined to become one."
"No, that can't be...! I will never become an uncle!"
Lucas declared his futile resistance, as the other four 'uncles' chuckled. They too had once thought like him.
Boom...!
Just then, the nest vibrated violently.
It was a signal that the enemy monster would soon appear. The joking stopped, and the heroes tensed up, raising their weapons.
Lucas looked around. Evangeline, commanding the other heroes, nodded at him.
"We're ready!"
"Good..."
Lucas raised his voice.
"Remember, everyone! Our goal is not to kill this monster! Scatter in the city, and just try to buy time...!"
The heroes nodded in turn.
Lucas, pressing down his helmet, shouted again.
"Alright, commence the operation! Scatter..."
But the command to scatter was never completed.
Screeeeech!
From within the collapsing nest, amidst a cloud of dust, a fearsome gaze shot out like a bullet.
Crack! Crack-crack-crack!
"What, petrifying gaze...?!"
"Too fast-"
"Agh!"
"Aaaaah?!"
The petrifying gaze, fired like a surprise attack, was incomparably faster to activate and had a much wider range than before.
Except for a few heroes who managed to raise their mirror shields in the nick of time, almost everyone was swept up in the gaze. The heroes screamed as they turned to stone.
"Damn it..."
Among his petrified allies, Lucas trembled with rage.
Roar...
Breaking through the dust cloud, Medusa appeared... the complete Gorgon.
Hovering slightly above the ground, Medusa was larger, more hideous, and more terrifying than before.
The snakes on her head intertwined to form a single massive entity, tied back. Her arms and legs, thick as logs, were covered in rock-hard armor without any gaps.
Beneath the pair of wings on its back, a pair of tails covered with beast fur wriggled like cloaks.
Below its bulging giant gray eyes, ash-gray sand swirled endlessly.
Its long, torn mouth almost reached its ears, and inside were three long, flickering tongues.
Even a mere reflection in a mirror seemed enough to corrupt the mind with its overflowing malevolence.
Lucas, with a throbbing forehead, drew his sword.
"The plan remains unchanged...! Everyone scatter! Drag out the time-"
"No."
At that moment, Medusa spoke briefly.
"The game of tag ends now."
Medusa waved her hand lightly.
Boom...!
Suddenly, a circular wall of rocks rose around the area, trapping them inside.
Lucas was at a loss for words. Their plan to scatter throughout the city and draw out the battle was blocked from the start.
"Here, you will die."
Thud...!
Taking a heavy step forward, Medusa declared mournfully.
"Your deaths, no, the demise of humanity...! I will offer it to mourn my poor sisters!"
***
The last heroes of Crossroad were annihilated.
Their ability to resist the Gorgon sisters until now was largely due to the urban warfare environment, which allowed them to easily evade the petrifying gaze.
But once Medusa confined the space, trapping them within walls, they couldn't withstand her attacks, characterized by overwhelming range and speed.
One by one, the heroes were petrified and fell... In the end, only Lucas and Evangeline remained standing.
"Haah...! Haah...!"
Evangeline exhaled heavily.
She had used her ultimate skill [Final Fortress], and throughout the battle, she had shielded other heroes, absorbing Medusa's attacks.
As a result, she had nearly exhausted all her strength. Evangeline sensed she couldn't move much longer.
"You can't run anymore, human?"
Medusa, spreading her wings, swooped down from the sky towards Evangeline.
Kyaaaaaaa-!
A fierce sonic wave erupted from the monster's gaping mouth,
Creak, crack...!
The wave shattered all the ice mirrors on Evangeline's shield.
"Ugh?!"
Having lost her means to negate the petrifying gaze, Evangeline groaned. Medusa didn't miss this opportunity.
Screeeeech!
Like a bomber, Medusa swooped in, flashing her petrifying gaze. Evangeline clenched her teeth.
Crash-!
Then, Lucas, rushing from the side, kicked Evangeline.
His urgent kick hit Evangeline's shield, and she was pushed back, narrowly escaping Medusa's petrification range.
But Lucas was placed right in front of Medusa's eyes. And Lucas's mirror shield was already shattered.
"Uncle Lucas-!"
Hearing Evangeline's scream, Lucas smirked.
"...You only get one chance, miss."
Crack-crack-crack...!
Lucas turned to stone.
Crumpled on the ground, Evangeline gritted her teeth and stood up. Medusa had soared into the sky again, circling overhead.
"Taking your place into becoming stone, such touching camaraderie."
Medusa taunted, to which Evangeline responded with a sharp, defiant grin.
"No worse than you feasting on your sisters' corpses, right?"
"...You insolent little brat..."
Shaking with fury, Medusa roared and plummeted down.
"Don't you dare speak of our sisterhood without knowing anything-!"
Evangeline, not losing her smug smile, covered her shield with ice again, thrust it forward, and planted it firmly into the ground.
"You try to destroy us without knowing anything about us...!"
"Why wouldn't I know! I know disgustingly well about you humans-!"
Kyaaaaaaa-!
Medusa used the same tactic as before, firing a powerful sonic wave.
Creak, clang...!
The ice on Evangeline's shield shattered all at once, creating a fleeting rainbow in the air as it exploded into pieces.
Screeeeech!
Medusa again activated her petrifying gaze, approaching Evangeline closely.
First turning the now-useless shield into stone, she intended to petrify the small human hiding behind it next.
But,
"...?!"
There was no one there.
Behind the instantly petrified shield, no one was to be found.
"What?"
Confused, Medusa quickly scanned the surroundings-
And found her.
Swoosh-!
The human knight was burrowing into her side.
Evangeline had planted her shield in the ground as a decoy, and when the sonic wave shattered the ice, blurring vision, she quickly moved to the side.
"This is what... I've been waiting for!"
Evangeline's green eyes shone brightly.
The giant cavalry lance in her right hand glowed dazzlingly white.
It was [Damage Payback].
Storing the damage inflicted by the enemy with [Damage Save] in the shield, then releasing it through the lance with [Damage Payback].
This was the combat style of Evangeline, the shield-lance knight, combining offense and defense.
During the past days of battle, Evangeline had absorbed enemy attacks with [Damage Save], storing the damage, but never once used [Damage Payback].
Even after awakening and maximizing her storage capacity, even after using [Final Fortress] to take on the damage meant for her allies, she had not unleashed this energy.
All for this one moment...!
'To squeeze out every last bit of stored energy in one strike!'
A truly fatal blow!
"I'll feed you this...!"
Behind the giant cavalry lance, flames erupted. The flame spirit enchanted in the lance sprayed fire, providing propulsion.
Evangeline was certain. This attack would hit!
Slip.
"What?"
At that moment.
Evangeline's stance faltered.
She hastily looked down. A piece of ice from her shattered shield lay under her foot. She had slipped on it.
Her ankle twisted. Her posture crumbled. Evangeline staggeringly...
"Did you think... I'd make such a mistake?!"
...did not fall.
Shattering the ice, Evangeline stepped forward forcefully.
Already in her late second year.
Evangeline had long outgrown her rookie days of mistakes, and her skills were at their peak.
Miraculously regaining her balance, she gritted her teeth and thrust her lance.
"Krhh?!"
Medusa, in a hurry, spread her wings to escape the attack range-
Whoosh!
Evangeline's cavalry lance, like a guided missile, followed and pierced Medusa's abdomen.
And then,
Boom...!
It exploded.
Literally burst. All the damage stored to maximum capacity during this battle with [Damage Save] erupted in one [Damage Payback].
With the explosion, Medusa's abdomen turned to dust. Her cracked upper and lower halves completely separated from each other.
Evangeline was certain with overwhelming satisfaction.
'I've taken her down!'
...If it were a normal creature, that would have been the case.
The power and wound were more than enough to be fatal. But,
"...?!"
Medusa, now a complete Gorgon composed entirely of rock, was still floating in the air.
Pouring out dirt powder like blood from her cracked upper body.
There were no spilling intestines, no shattered bones.
There was just a hole.
"What is this..."
"Quite impressive, human."
Medusa twisted her long mouth into a smile.
"If I hadn't devoured my two sisters, that attack might have killed me."
"This monstrous bastard-"
"Save your astonishment."
Screeeeech!
Medusa used her petrifying gaze. Evangeline had no means left to evade.
With a resigned smile, Evangeline too turned to stone.
"...Have I defeated them all?"
Medusa looked around. There were no more humans moving.
"So this is the end of humanity's frontline."
Medusa picked up her shattered lower body and attached it back to her upper body.
Stones and sand flew from the surroundings, adhering to the wound, reconnecting the upper and lower halves.
Her rough recovery was complete. Medusa's eyes flashed fiercely.
"I will make all of you experience the pain I have endured."
Having broken humanity's defenses, it was time to truly begin the annihilation of mankind.
"The hatred I bore for being cursed with this existence, for a sin I never committed... all of you will feel it, turned to stone..."
To the north of this frontline, to annihilate all humans...
Just as Medusa resolved to leave without looking back,
"Hey, monster."
A voice called out.
"It's too early to leave. There's still a human surviving here."
"...?!"
Startled, Medusa looked in that direction.
A human was staggering to his feet not far away.
A champion's helmet adorned with a laurel wreath, a large right-angled square shield, and a mace in hand.
The sole survivor of the Leprosy Extermination Squad.
It was Torkel.
"I am... the last stand of this frontline."
With a body half-turned to stone, forcing out a dry voice due to inhaling dust.
Torkel declared.
"Crossroad is still... opposing you!"
--TL Notes--
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