Chapter 323 - Episode Twenty-Three - The Immortal Monk Rathboutt (4)(Side: Rathboutt)
“U-Uhhh ……”
Altamir grunted as she was lifted up by Rathboutt’s cursed monkey staff in her abdomen’s fulcrum.
Even though it’s a spirit body, a quintet of water piercing bullets with high killing power, fired at zero distance, efficiently destroyed Altamir’s body.
The five painful holes in her back still remained unclosed.
“What’s wrong, Orange Witch! Is that it! You’re in my way. I have to retrieve that little girl at all costs!”
Rathboutt yelled.
“No, Please stop! If it’s Mea you want, then Mea will go with you! Please don’t do anything terrible to Altamir-san!”
Mea screams.
Rathboutt bent his head, snapping it, and turned to look at Mea.
“Hmm, why should I listen to you? Kill the witch, obviously. If you leave them behind, they may become troublesome later on. I was able to win this time, but alchemists are originally meant to do research, you know. We can’t afford to have them create something that will be detrimental to the Riveras Kingdom. Rather, we don’t like the fact that this territory along the border is gaining strength. After we take care of this guy, it’s up to us to slowly fulfill our objective!”
Rathboutt swung his cursed monkey staff, knocking Altamir backwards to the ground and squeezing her abdomen with her skull again.
The strength of Rathboute’s arms, enhanced by the “Cursed Body”, cracked the floor through Altamir and shattered it.
“Fufu, I’m getting excited! I’m not sure how you’re still alive, though. How can you die?”
In order to strike again with the cursed monkey staff, Rathboute raised his wand — his hand was fixed in the air.
“Hm?”
Before he knew it, his hand was covered in a magical metal mass.
Rathboutt felt a strange sensation in his leg and lowered his eyes.
Before he knew it, metal shackles had been placed on his feet as well.
“W-What’s this?”
“…… Don’t underestimate me too much. You are a little too defenseless to fight me at close range.”
It is a handcuff and a shackle of Hydeem Magimetal, an improvised magic metal.
The spirit, Altamir, can unleash with almost no motion, and can create magic metal in a targeted shape at a designated location around her.
If you are a sorcerer of Rathboutt’s caliber, you should have been able to avoid it if you were cautious.
However, the conceit of having the upper hand and the impatience to get this over with had narrowed down Rathboutt’s vision.
“It’s funny how when I show you a bit of an opening, you’re all over it. I didn’t expect you to beat me up so badly. Now then, how does it feel to be beaten by an alchemist whose main occupation is research? “
“This is ……!”
The blackness all over Rathboutt’s body darkened, and his muscles expanded.
The golden glow of the magic formula increases.
The handcuff and shackles of Hydeem Magimetal of Altamir cracked.
But in that gap, Altamir’s cube of phantom copper Orechalcos floated behind Rathboutt.
“You have great physical strength, but that’s it!”
The needle that extended from the cube precisely pierced Rathbought’s heart from the back side.
The pupils of Rathboutt’s eyes dilated and he bled from his mouth.
The physical strength that had been expanded by the “Cursed Body” returned to its original size.
“…… A-Ahhhhh …… Levi-, sama.”
Rathboute squeezed out a mosquito-like voice and sagged down.
Altamir observes Rathboutt intently.
As a mass of spirit, Altamir can sense the movement of magic if she wants to.
(The life force and magic power is rapidly weakening …… He was sturdy, but Rathboutt is indeed human. When the heart is pierced, it seems there is no choice but to die ……)
But that thought was short-lived.
The magic power of Rathboutt, which had been on the decline, suddenly began to recover.
The white eyes of Rathboutt widened, and he showed his gums to make an ugly smile.
The black of the spell body, which had been pulled out, once again covered his face in bruise-like spots.
“Ehhh ……? No way! I’m pretty sure, just now ……!”
Altamir looked at the heart of the Rathboutt.
He was still pierced by the needle, but his skin had regenerated and the blood loss had almost stopped.
There was a strange movement of magic power in his body.
It is likely that the heart has been moved to a position that avoids the needles, forcing it to regenerate its functions.
“I’m sorry, but I’m pretending to be dead!”
Altamir flies through the air and takes a moment to get away from Rathboutt.
Rathboutt swung his cursed monkey staff wildly, and it hit Altamir right on the nose.
(This should be impossible! It is true that the body had lost its heart and was rapidly weakening. And then, suddenly, ……! I can only think that someone from the outside interfered with the dying Rathboutt!)
Altamir thinks as he stares at Rathboutt.
Even for Altamir, Rathboutt was a distorted being that could not be easily understood.
(I should have noticed that when I felt him crushed once! That man is made almost like a doll! Either someone is sending magic to restore him and assist him, or …… he’s controlling that body in the first place.)
Altamir mobilized all of her knowledge as an alchemist to find out what Rathboutt really was.
She’s been using her senses to look for any suspicious magical activity around Rathboutt.
Then, she realizes something.
Ever since Rathboutt’s return from the brink of death, there have been strange magical power transmissions originating from the strange staff that Rathboutt is holding.
“You didn’t really …… seal a part of your soul into the wand, did you!? How can you treat people like atheists? If you ask me, you’re much more fearless than I am!”
“Oh, you’ve noticed. You are indeed the orange witch, but you can’t do anything about it! This wand is stronger than I am! If you can destroy it, then try destroying it!”
Altamir observed Rathboutt’s staff.
Indeed, I can feel the unusual density of magic power.
But if we don’t destroy it, the soul of Rathboutt that lies in the wand will regenerate the body endlessly.
(Without the colossus, the only way I can destroy that thing now is to use …… that magic.)
Altamir thought of the last guardian of the tower, the phantom copper Orechalcos giant that he had spent so many years building.
That blow could have possibly gone through the Rathboutt’s staff.
In reality, however, it was crushed by Abel, and due to budget and time constraints, there is no prospect of its revival.
(…… I thought it was unnecessary, but I’m glad I asked out of curiosity. The only problem is that, can I really handle it. …… I have to simplify it somehow and make it compact. I didn’t want to do that at the last minute, but if there’s nothing else I can do, I guess I’ll just have to do it.)
Altamir glanced at Rathboutt and made up her mind.
(I’m going to slam the Abelian ball, which holds the scale, into that odious staff!)