Ankoku Kishi Monogatari - Chapter 58.5

Chapter 58.5 : Goddess Of Spider

「Humph! Do you think that pipsqueak is enough to stop me? Then, let me show you how I’ll kill him! COME!」

Two giant shadows appeared behind Atlankua when she stretched out her hands.

And another two behind us.

「Golems?」

What appeared were metal golems. They were a four-armed two-metres tall golem with a weapon in each hand.

「Correct! This is a combat golem. It’s a duplicate of the guardian golem made by Heibos to protect the entrance to the 5th floor of the labyrinth. They’re as powerful as the original since they are made of the same materials. With these 4 golems and me, you have no chance of winning even with Goddess of Battle beside you!」

Atlankua was laughing.

「Atlankua, is this all you brought?」

Rena didn’t even lose her composure.

「WHY?! WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?! WHY ARE YOU NOT TREMBLING IN FEAR?! EVEN THOUGH YOU DON”T HAVE ANY BODYGUARDS AND IS ONLY ESCORTED BY THAT SLIGHTLY HANDSOME-LOOKING DUDE! EVEN THOUGH YOU’RE TRAPPED INSIDE MY BARRIER WITHOUT ANYONE WHO CAN HELP YOU! WHY CAN YOU MAKE THAT FACE IN THIS KIND OF SITUATION?! GOLEM! KILL THEM ALL!」

With her command, the four golems were now rushing towards us.

「…It can’t be helped.」

I summoned my sword and armor. The Demon Sword and the Dark Knight’s armor crossed through space to heed my call.

I could summon them anytime I wanted.

「D-DARK KNIGHT?!」

Atlankua let out a dumbfounded yell when she saw me transform into a Dark Knight.

However, I ignored her reaction and made a beeline towards the enemy in front of me.

I parried the golem’s sword with my own and destroyed its balance, this caused it to collide against another golem.

The deciding factor of a golem’s prowess was its maker’s ability and its material. Speaking of Heibos’ golems aside, these ones didn’t feel that strong at all.

In addition to being unable to perform small movements, it was also quite easy to read. I could easily win against these guys with my eyes closed.

After confirming that the two golems in the front were unable to move for a while, I turned around to the other two that were attacking from behind.

I cleaved the torso of the golem on the left right after dodging the attack that came from its four arms.

It might be made of special alloy, but the Demon Sword that I received from Modes could easily slice through it like a tofu.

After I took care of the golem on the left, the golem on the right was already attacking Rena.

I quickly parried its four arms and decapitated its head with my Demon Sword.

With these two out of the picture, I leaped toward the tangled golems from before.

It was quite simple, really, I parried the two golems’ monotonous attacks with my sword, and while circling around them, I sliced their torsos.

When I was done with them, they were nothing but scrap metals now.

While I was doing all this, Rena didn’t even move an inch from her original spot. What would you have done if my movement was restrained by Atlankua?

I’m happy that you put so much trust in my abilities but I’m not omnipotent… I wish you at least made things easier for me.

「No way… Those four golems… in just a moment…」

Atlankua’s voice trembled.

I felt sorry for her… she might’ve been the creator of those golems, but they were just too weak to be my opponents.

「My bad, Atlankua. My knight is too strong for your metal scraps.」

Rena laughed at Atlankua, she was clearly enjoying this landslide victory.

「DAMN IT! DIE WITH THESE STEEL THREADS OF MINE!」

Atlankua ripped the building around us along with the movement of her arms.

However, I caught her threads with my left hand.

「IMPOSSIBLE!? HOW CAN YOU CATCH MY THREADS?!」

「Sorry. These things are a hindrance after all…」

I caught the threads to prevent it from injuring Rena.

Atlankua moved her hands but her threads didn’t budge at all.

「No way…. To think that this WEAK-looking man… is a terrifying Dark Knight.」

Though I wanted to retort, I held back since she lowered her guard toward me thanks to that.

Atlankua didn’t even consider me a threat. However, the result might be unpredictable if she started raising her guard against me.

But it was too late for her. I invoked my black flames.

My flames easily burned her threads.

Atlankua tried to run as soon as she knew that she had no chance in winning against me.

「I can’t let you go! Venous Blood Rose’s Bind!」

After I chanted the magic’s aria, black rose briars appeared, binding Atlankua’s body.

「That’s impossible! This is supposed to be Zarxis’s magic!!!」

Exactly, this was the magic Zarxis used back in Rox kingdom to bind Chiyuki and Rino.

I mastered this magic after studying it.

This added another reason for me to not let Atlankua off since she seemed to know the latest news about Zarxis.

「I won, Atlankua.」

Rena walked until she arrived right before Atlankua, looking down on her.

「GUGUGUGU…. I never expected that you, out of all the gods, would be joining hands with the Demon King…」

Despite her screams, Atlankua couldn’t free herself from the black rose bind.

Her guess was just half-correct though, we weren’t joining hands. But I was just too lazy to explain that to her.

「You really are unlucky, huh? Atlankua. Currently, I’m far safer compared to when I was under the protection of thousands of angels.」

Rena’s sonorous laugh resounded in the vicinity.

===

Sword’s Maiden Shirone

We heard about what happened at Republic Ariadya after we regrouped with Kuroki and Rena in the inn.

「So that’s what happened…. I failed to notice that she wasn’t a human.」

「Yes, we danced on her palm all along, milady.」

「Yes… if things continued as it is, our plan is doomed to fail… 」

All of us agreed with Kyouka-san

Atlankua’s disguise was perfect. Even I didn’t realize that she wasn’t a human being.

We were basically doomed if she kept hiding until the end. Thank god she made that last minute blunder.

「But you realized right away that Atlan was Atlankua right, Rena? Could it be that you left Teseshia along with Kuroki to lure her out?」

She was truly different from the rest of us, it seems that Rena was the only one who saw through Atlan’s disguise. This was why she took Kuroki along with her.

As expected of the Goddess of War, she turned herself into bait to lure Atlankua out.

She even went as far as concealing her plan from the rest of us so as not to alert Atlankua.

I mean, Atlankua might have chosen to escape if she realized that we were acting strange.

Though I understand that she used the “To fool your enemy, you must start with your ally” tactic, but if possible, I wished that she told us about this plan beforehand.

「…EH?!」

However, Rena seemed to be surprised in hearing me praise her like this.

「…EH?!」

Could it be… was it really just a coincidence? In that case, why did she only take Kuroki along with her to Republic Ariadya?

「Y-Yes, it’s exactly as you say! As expected of you, Shirone!!

「As I thought, that’s a truly brilliant plan, Rena.」

I nodded, completely agreeing with her.

I mean, that was the only reasonable explanation as to why Kuroki and Rena went to Ariadya together.

I mean, it’s basically impossible for a transcendent beauty like Rena to go on a date with Kuroki.

I felt stupid for even considering the possibilities of them going on date.

「We are also done with our part. what do you think?」

「From what I heard from Regena, she and Kuroki should be meeting with the Lizardmen right now.」

Regena was currently reporting her and the lizardmen’s findings to Kuroki in a different room.

The lizardmen didn’t want to report to anyone but Kuroki and Regena.

That’s why they might not choose to report anything if we were around.

I haven’t heard the specific details yet, but it seems they finally understand something. We could finally dive into the labyrinth.

There were so many people working together to save Reiji-kun and company. Even Goddess Rena was doing her best to save Reiji-kun1.

We even got the help from Kuroki. This is why I was sure that Reiji-kun and everyone else would be alright.

「Please wait for me, everyone. I’ll save you soon.」

Dark Knight Kuroki

「Thank you very much for your report, Regena, and you guys too, lizardmen.」

「Don’t worry about it, I will even cross a sea of fire if it’s for you, master.」

「W-we are undeserving of such praise.」

Regena and the lizardmen bowed to me as they responded.

It was thanks to them that I gained understanding about the geography of the area surrounding the labyrinth.

The 5th floor in Reiji and company were trapped in wasn’t perfect since it wasn’t meant to be a prison to begin with.

Combined with the information extracted from Atlankua and blueprint from Heibos, I finally completed the method to capture this labyrinth.

「Wait a minute, Dark Knight! You say that you’re going to release me once I spit out all the information that I know!」

The still-bound Atlankua yelled at me.

Atlankua really did tell me everything she knew.

It seemed that from the very beginning, she didn’t pledge alliance with the evil god Labrys, their partnership was purely because they had the same goal, to capture Rena.

「My deepest gratitude for the new information, but I can’t release you for the time being. I will have to send you to Nargol instead.」

Atlankua seemed to be dissatisfied when I told her that.

I wish she would just be grateful since I didn’t hand her over to Rena. I could only imagine what kind of ending she would have if I let Rena deal with her.

Another reason why I’m sending her to Nargol was that Modes wouldn’t treat his sister too harshly.

Now that we have enough info in our hands, tomorrow was the day we were going to infiltrate the labyrinth.

To be honest, I was reluctant to go since the others see it as me going in to save Reiji.

That was what I truly felt.