Chapter 177
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Compared to when I lost both arms─── I have to encourage myself this way. There’s no time for hesitation.
Without missing a beat, I activate 「Autostrada del Sole」 and use my right-hand Gram to slice up the smug-faced Ainika into pieces, then finish him off with the Condenser I’ve been saving.
Before the enemy in front of me can resurrect, I quickly use my one remaining right hand to down Sena’s painkillers and chug a potion.
Though the bleeding stops, my left arm remains lost.
「What am I supposed to do…」
Even with the painkillers, my left arm still throbs with pain. I press against it while trying to force my scattered thoughts into order.
Before I can get my bearings, Ainika resurrects.
「’What are you supposed to do,’ you say? Holy Knight! Let me tell you something different───」
The king of the Living Dead before me has the appearance of a manga muscle character, packed to the physical limit with bulging muscles both vertically and horizontally. His roundabout way of speaking is particularly irritating.
「───All you need to do is die, and nothing else matters!!」
With an exaggerated gesture, Ainika raises his voice─── and simultaneously kicks off the ground, charging at me with bullet-like speed. Thanks to the thought acceleration of Autobahn, I can perceive even this in slow motion─── I dodge his kick with a sway─── deflect his following great sword attack with Gram─── but it doesn’t end there as ten arms of darkness shoot toward me like predators─── I slice through one, two, three, four─── but my lacking balance from losing my left arm creates an opening─── I won’t make it─── the ninth arm tears into my side, and the tenth clamps onto my neck─── that’s when I finally activate Autostrada del Sole─── completely shred the dark arms, and repeatedly slash Ainika’s main body to pieces from different angles.
「Ugh, guh, uh」
The wound in my side is deep. Not only that, but Ainika has placed something like a curse on me.
It brings both abnormal, intense pain and delays my healing. Moreover, it’s the type that takes time to purify.
You could say I got off this light only because I’m a Holy Knight with dark magic resistance, but in the heat of battle, that’s the least of my concerns.
I take a swig of potion and think.
Despite acknowledging human fragility, Ainika deliberately provoked me while demonstrating and declaring things like 「grow your arms」─── that’s when something clicks.
「Holy Knight, why are you smiling? Have you lost your mind?」
The fully recovered Ainika asks me.
「You’re the one who said it───」
「What are you talking about?」
「You told me to grow arms!!」
Using the technique I’ve cultivated with abilities like Condenser to manipulate light particles created through Light Magic, I manifest an artificial left arm made of light.
「Not bad」
I open and close the light arm, making fists and testing the sensation.
「Holy Knight, such grand words… But isn’t that just one fake arm back?」
In response to Ainika’s mockery, I activate more Light Magic, and
「What───」
「Finally got you to look surprised. That’s the face I wanted to see.」
In addition to the artificial left arm made of Light Magic, I manifest a somewhat unsightly third and fourth arm growing from my back─arms that shouldn’t exist.
I take out another Gram, grip it with my light left hand for dual wielding, and as for the third and fourth arms───
「This is where the real fight begins, right?」
With those words, I kick off the ground.
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