*BOOM!*
It had been a battle with few spectators, yet it was one that could shake the soul of anyone who witnessed it.
At this moment, the Beast of Cherishment, Koyanskaya, hidden within the pitch-black storm, swung her blade-like tail again and again at the surging flames in midair, which had turned into a blazing sun. Yet each time, a black sword within the flames deflected her attacks, sending them back without success.
*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*
Every collision between the sword and the massive tail sent thunderous roars through the black storm.
Flames and storm clashed repeatedly, setting off explosive waves with every impact, while the blazing sun, bright enough to illuminate the world and scatter the black storm, hung high above, radiating heat without pause.
Meanwhile, the pitch-black storm, fierce enough to ravage both sky and earth and destroy everything, continued its rampage, swallowing all in its path.
Such was this battle—a battle as if a myth had come alive before their eyes.
*BOOM!*
Riezel, his body ablaze in the flames of the sun, suddenly dove downward and delivered a wide, sun-shaped slash at the Beast of Cherishment hidden in the darkness.
"Clear Blue Sky!"
*BOOM!*
In an instant, the blazing sun-shaped slash struck the Beast’s face, releasing an explosion of flames that seemed to burn the Beast, making it let out a furious, pained howl.
Riezel did not relent after gaining the upper hand, as right after his attack, he once again became a streak of fire, closing the distance to the giant Beast and unleashing a flame-wreathed slash.
"Dance!"
A perfect circular slash swept across.
"Clear Blue Sky!"
A downward strike crashed from above.
"Raging Sun!"
A clash left a burning trail in the air.
"Fake Rainbow!"
Riezel’s figure flickered like a mirage.
"Fire Wheel!"
An arcing vertical slash spiraled past.
"Burning Bones, Summer Sun!"
A vortex of fire exploded with a thunderous roar.
"Sunflower Thrust!"
A ring-shaped thrust of flames burst out at incredible speed.
"Solar Heat Haze!"
Riezel’s sword tip shimmered with fire as it slashed forward.
"Setting Sun Transformation!"
Blazing flames, as intense as the sun, hung inverted in the air.
"Beneficent Radiance!"
A spiral slash exploded like blossoming fireworks.
"Sun Halo Dragon Head Dance!"
A dancing fire dragon crashed into the black storm.
"Flame Dance!"
Two perfect circular slashes linked together, forming a new wave of attacks.
In the blink of an eye, Riezel had unleashed all twelve sword forms of Sun Breathing—one strike after another, blow after blow—raining down on the pitch-black Beast.
Each slash set the flames roaring, tore apart the storm, and made the Beast howl in pain and rage, again and again.
*BOOM!*
Furious, the Beast swung her sharp claws, whipped her tail, and even bared her massive, fanged jaws, lunging at Riezel. Like a wounded beast gone mad, she threw the dark world into violent tremors.
It went without saying that the Beast of Cherishment’s attacks were truly terrifying.
Even though she had not fully matured and was still a juvenile, each strike was powerful enough to shake the earth and sky. If such an attack landed, it was clear what fate would await any ordinary mortal body.
At the very least, Riezel felt pain all over his body whenever Koyanskaya’s attacks brushed past him. Even with some distance between them, the sheer force in those blows was enough to make him feel as if his flesh had been torn open, to the point that he often wondered if his body had actually been ripped apart.
For someone like Riezel, whose level had reached Level 7 and whose END was maxed out at SSS-rank for every level, to feel such pain just from the aftershocks showed just how overwhelming the Beast of Cherishment’s attacks were.
In the past, Riezel would have done everything possible to layer himself in defensive magic, just in case he accidentally took a hit and was killed on the spot by the Beast of Cherishment, but now, he no longer needed to.
*BANG!*
Amidst the explosions of fire, Riezel’s figure kept turning into a fleeting streak of light, weaving through the Beast of Cherishment’s earth-shaking attacks like a meteor.
Using the burst-speed technique of Thunder Breathing, Riezel’s speed was now far beyond what he could manage with Sun Breathing alone, allowing him to dodge Koyanskaya’s relentless strikes narrowly.
*Zing!*
In the next second, the Origin Ring on Riezel’s hand activated, boosting his strength.
A red light flickered in Riezel’s eyes, and wild energy surged around him, signaling to everyone that he had invoked Hell Finegas, pushing his power to the limit once more.
Clearly, even when facing a Juvenile Beast, Riezel dared not lower his guard and went all out from the very start, unleashing his full power.
"Time Stop!"
Riezel even tried using time magic, aiming to freeze time and halt the Beast of Cherishment’s attacks, but as expected, he failed.
At this moment, the time magic that could be considered overpowered in the world of Overlord or the Akasha Continent did not even cause a ripple when cast on the Beast of Cherishment.
’Do people in this world all have counters for my magic or something?’
Riezel could only dodge the storm-like onslaught while sighing inwardly.
It was not just that fairies generally possessed high magic resistance—even beings like Servants typically had resistance to magic and magecraft. For someone like Riezel, who had mastered many debuff and hindering magic spells, this situation was truly vexing.
Not to mention, many Servants possessed ’Magic Resistance’ as a skill.
Yes, Servants had skills as well.
Just like the players and NPCs in the world of Overlord, Servants recorded in the Throne of Heroes each had various skills capable of producing special effects.
’Magic Resistance’ was a rather common Servant skill, allowing them to be immune to or resist magecraft or magic. At a high rank, it could even grant perfect resistance, rendering all magecraft and even magic completely ineffective.
Because of that, in this world, both fairies and Servants posed a challenge for magi, which was also why magi were not highly regarded in Faerie Britain or certain other regions. So long as one had a skill like magic resistance or the special divine protections that fairies enjoyed, most magecraft would simply be nullified.
Among all the beings capable of ignoring magecraft or magic, the resistance possessed by the Beasts, incarnations of the Evils of Humanity, was among the strongest.
In such circumstances, almost all of Riezel’s debuff and hindering magic that targeted enemies would be rendered ineffective. Even low-, mid-, and high-rank offensive magic would struggle to do any damage.
If one hoped to hurt such an enemy with magic, it would be impossible without pulling out Super-Tier Magic, Tactical-Class Magic, or even Strategic-Class Magic as a trump card.
Even though Riezel’s magical strength had skyrocketed since he received Morgan’s ring, and the magic he used had become much stronger than before, ordinary magic could still only tickle Koyanskaya.
’Since that’s the case...’
Riezel, surrounded by blazing flames, soared into the sky once more to evade an attack powerful enough to stir up a raging storm.
In that instant, a flash of hesitation appeared in Riezel’s eyes.
’Should I use that?’
What he meant by ’that’ in his mind was none other than the trump card acquired after fulfilling Morgan’s ’condition.’
If that grand magecraft was used, even the Beast of Cherishment would not be able to ignore its effects.
However, the problem was that Riezel was unsure if he could actually use it successfully.
One should know that even Morgan herself could only turn it into a mystic code and install it in Camelot’s royal castle, using it as a weapon, not using it directly.
In other words, without external support, even Morgan could barely unleash it.
Even though Riezel had obtained this trump card, he also had no confidence he could pull it off.
Just as Riezel was hesitating, the Beast hidden within the storm seemed to lose all patience.
She whipped up an even fiercer storm, then charged forward madly, her tail raining down like a tempest and slamming into his body.
"Body of Effulgent Beryl!"
*BOOM!*
Riezel, with his pupils contracted, only had enough time to activate a defensive magic capable of nullifying blunt attacks before he was sent flying.
In an instant, an incredible force struck his body, making him feel as if he had been hit by a mountain, his form becoming a blurred bullet as he hurtled backward until he crashed straight into the castle of white walls.
*Cough!*
Riezel could not help but let out all the air in his lungs.
"Mr. Riezel!"
"Riezel!"
The cries of Mash, Artoria, and the others rang out, reaching Riezel’s ears.
However, even faster than their cries was the Beast’s assault.
"Die, human."
Koyanskaya’s icy voice echoed through the pitch-black world before several thick tails, as massive as heavenly pillars, struck out through the storm.
*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*
With terrifying power, the tails landed strike after strike where Riezel was, unleashing deafening booms that shook the earth.
Anyone could see that as the Beast of Cherishment relentlessly ravaged a tiny human, it was as if she intended to toy with him until death, giving no chance for a comeback, launching a horrifying assault.
"Riezel!"
"Mr. Riezel!"
Artoria and Mash could no longer bear it and tried to rush forward, but Tristan stopped them.
"Don’t!"
At this moment, this renowned Knight of the Round Table appeared even more grave than anyone present, cold sweat trickling down his forehead.
"This is already a battle we cannot interfere in. As soon as we step out of this Noble Phantasm, we will die."
Needless to say, the gap in combat power was so overwhelming that it gave rise to a sense of despair.
"Tamamo Vitch Koyanskaya..." Da Vinci bit her lip and whispered. "She’s not in her final form yet, but she should be about to enter her pupal stage, right?"
She stared hard at the Beast in the black storm, focusing on those thick tails swinging relentlessly. By her estimation, there were six in total.
According to Chaldea’s analysis, Beast IV, the Beast of Cherishment, was based on the legendary pale-faced, golden-haired nine-tailed fox, so Koyanskaya’s completed form should have nine tails.
In the past, Chaldea had seen Koyanskaya reveal her true nature.
At that time, she had four tails, but now she had grown two more, becoming a six-tailed fox. If she grew three more tails, she would become a complete, matured Beast, an apocalyptic threat capable of destroying all human history.
Even now, as a six-tailed Beast of Cherishment, she was almost ready to mature, so once she broke out of her pupal stage, she would become a true nine-tailed fox.
Faced with such an enemy, Da Vinci had to admit that a human like Riezel had already performed far beyond her expectations by being able to fight like this.
Facing a foe of that level, even a Grand Servant summoned by the Counter Force specifically to hunt down Beasts might not be able to stand against her alone.
As for ordinary Servants, it would take at least six or seven working together to stand a chance, but among them, at least half needed to be top-tier Servants, with the rest possessing powerful support abilities.
Unfortunately, such combat power was impossible to gather at this moment.
Tristan, as one of the most prominent Knights of the Round Table, could barely be considered a top-tier Servant.
Mash, although possessing the power of Galahad, had never truly been a top-tier Servant except for her defense, though for some reason, she seemed to have suddenly grown stronger and could now be counted as a top-tier Servant.
As for Da Vinci, she knew her own limits.
Even though her support abilities were decent, she could not possibly be considered a top-tier Servant, and she was nowhere near strong enough to face a Beast.
As for Artoria, her Reinforcement was formidable, but not enough to turn the tide.
If the group tried to act, they might be able to help Riezel hold back the Beast of Cherishment for a while, but they could not mount an effective offense.
In other words, there was no hope of victory.
’If only that side could mobilize...’
Da Vinci thought of Chaldea headquarters, currently on standby and waiting for news from them, and bit her lip even harder.
If they could move, there would be a hope of victory.
’We have no other way. We have to retreat.’
After countless calculations, Da Vinci could only draw this conclusion.
Only by doing so could they minimize casualties.
However, just as Da Vinci reached this decision, a voice sounded.
"Triplet Maximize Magic - Meteor Fall."
As this icy voice echoed out, everyone hiding within Mash’s Noble Phantasm could not help but look up in astonishment.
"What?"
Koyanskaya was just as shocked.
Because, in the pitch-black sky, not just one, but three enormous meteors were falling toward her.
Three massive meteors, each hundreds of meters in diameter, suddenly descended from the sky, igniting flames as they pierced the atmosphere.
*BOOOM!*
In the next instant, a meteor struck the Beast within the black storm.
*BOOOM!*
*BOOOM!*
Soon after, the other two meteors landed in quick succession, causing the Beast to howl in pain.
However, this was not the end, because in the next moment—
"Holy Lance, remove anchor..."
An icy voice rang out once again, and in the next second, a burst of golden-white holy light appeared.