Silently, Momonga continued to observe the young man standing before him – not for any special reason like he was spotting the young man's potential or anything strange like that. No, he was just noting the strangeness of the fact that he kept on encountering teenagers as representatives of the paranormal world. Perhaps there was some meaning to this beyond a mere coincidence? Or did Momonga simply somehow get lucky, no matter how strange that might sound, to constantly run into such opponents? Youth denotes inexperience, after all.
No matter, at worst, it was just a humorous talking topic for the future – right now, Momonga had to concentrate on the situation unfolding right in front of him.
Five teenagers, where one of them seemed to be injured in some way, remained motionless as he was carried by his friends, except for small, random twitches of his muscle. Logically speaking, to any outside observer, it might look like Momonga had to only contend with four opponents at once. Momonga would of course laugh at such a rookie mistake.
Trained to spot the most innocuous of things in case they would turn out to be a trap, Momonga would not even discount an errant rock as a possible threat, never mind a combatant looking like they were incapacitated. Momonga had already been taught in Yggdrasil, many a time, not to trust even the most harmless-looking detail of the environment, not to mention a real opponent, even if he was thrice tied hand and foot.
In addition, as one would expect, Momonga's instincts, and his innate racial abilities to detect magical items and auras, hinted to him that all five teenagers in front of him possessed paranormal abilities. Which, in general, could be quite expected, he was in a city controlled by the church, people possessing paranormal abilities moving about is just normal. But the group were definitely not random passersby heading about their business, but were paranormal beings who were moving towards the church, aware of its nature.
However, in this case, Momonga was somewhat confused by the nature of these paranormal beings.
Unlike with many more specialized classes, Momonga's racial abilities did not allow him to determine the race, class, or level of Players or NPCs by sight alone. And therefore, for example, he was not able to identify Fallen Angels or demons as such until they told him themselves or showed their inhuman features, like wings. Which is why Momonga was unsure of the nature of at least four of those present, who really looked just like normal humans but felt anything but…
Why couldn't the Heteromorphs actually look like heteromorphs for once, like in Yggdrasil! But why do the demons and angels of this world look just like humans as well, very beautiful and handsome humans at that!
Without their wings, they would just look like the supermodels or the trophy wives and husbands the executives of companies of his time have!
But, still, on the other hand, low-level illusions did not work on Momonga, and therefore he was able to see that the fifth member of their group, a girl, had used an illusion to conceal her true appearance. Two cat ears were tucked on top of her head, flopping down on her head as if by doing so it could hide, plus the two black cat tails, entwined on one of her legs.
The black haired girl, wearing a yukata, or was it a kimono? She was most likely not an Angel, not even a Fallen one – probably.
Which brought even more questions to Momonga's mind, what was she doing with a group of four, presumably, Fallen Angels? And more importantly, how Momonga should fight her to inflict as little pain and risk destroying a unique specimen as possible.
If she was indeed some kind of unique variety of a Fallen… Then for Momonga it would simply be sacrilege to destroy something so unique before he even had a chance to examine everything that makes her unique.
"We would like to walk into the city… Can we?" Momonga's thoughts were interrupted by the blond-haired boy with oval glasses over blue eyes speaking. Another handsome face, the concentration of which is of note he had found. Perhaps that was simply a feature commonly shared among paranormal beings?
The Demons he had met were all also supernaturally handsome and beautiful.
"First, I would like you to introduce yourselves," Momonga responded reflexively, noticing the other male in their group, the one that is conscious, shifting slightly to cover the two girls behind him. Seeing such an action, it elicited a semblance of respect from Momonga – at least this group knew the basics of PVP, since they decided to immediately prepare for an attack, as soon as they started talking to an unknown.
Only the devs know how the number of lives of Players were taken by ambushes.
"We don't want to fight, we just need help to heal our friend," The blonde boy opposite Momonga replied loudly, not approaching Momonga himself, and Momonga almost bit his lip in annoyance when he heard that. If they were really seeking healing, then, as Momonga had already found out after reading many a confusing holy book, as a follower of the good God he had to help them with this.
At the very least, not to prevent them from reaching the church.
Moreover, such a behavior would not even be 'praiseworthy' or exceptional on the part of Momonga himself, but 'expected', such that helping the group would not allow him to win the favor of his superiors. This meant that this option was the worst possible, and therefore it was better for Momonga to check all the other options first instead.
Despite his weird luck, he could still get lucky after all.
"Ah, so you're just regular humans?" Momonga raised an eyebrow, hoping to provoke his interlocutors into any aggressive action that he could later present to his superiors as Momonga defending the church from an attack.
With that simple declaration, he noted with pleasure how his conversation partner tensed up slightly before him.
Excellent, he had already caught them in a lie – after all, why hide your appearance when you are only going to do something innocent? Ergo, they are someone dangerous. So, he could provoke them into attacking, and the attack would allow him to say not only that he defended the church and defeated dangerous aggressive criminals. And had also discerned their plan to hide behind the virtues of Christianity in order to take advantage of church doctrine.
"Not exactly, but it's stupid to discuss such things on the street. We could discuss everything inside the church…" The guy talking to Momonga, apparently the leader of this group, ostentatiously raised his hands, demonstrating the absence of anything in them, showing that he was unarmed. A gesture of pacifism in any other situation, but since he was doing so to distract Momonga from seeing his accomplices tensing up for an attack?
Well, Momonga would be an idiot to take something like that at face value.
"And it seems to me that it's better to discuss this before we head towards the Church," Momonga felt pleased from being able to turn an almost unwinnable situation in which he had to demonstrate mercy, a forced one even! Just because he was supposed to fall into a doctrine of mercy if he were to play the part of the Biblical God!
Instead, he had turned such a demerit into one where he could simply deal with his opponent. If in the future he could demonstrate his 'mercy' in exactly this same way, then perhaps he could make an excellent, merciful god out of himself!
Or, at least, play the part convincingly.
Therefore, like a magician at a performance, Momonga raised his hand and pointed it at the only girl unequivocally possessing a non-human and non-angelic features, hiding her feline features under illusions, and smiled, "Perhaps for starters you will introduce this sweet lady?"
A moment later, Momonga teleported away, escaping from under the enemy's bombardment, grinning inwardly, before still, unable to restrain himself, remarking his exuberance out loud.
"Jackpot…"
At least he hadn't started speaking German…
***
That his opponent would not be a simple human, Arthur could have guessed before he was able to make out his quite ordinary and unremarkable figure. At least by the stunned whisper of Kuroka, who met his gaze, but Arthur did not have time to assume who or what their surprise interlocutor really was. Whether he was an Angel, a Demon, though that would be quite the surprise seeing that they were in Church grounds, or a Fal– Well, perhaps not that last one.
To be more precise, he did not have time to do such a thing.
After the man pointed at Kuroka, as if reveling in the sight of her surprise at being called out – behavior that was highly unusual. While there are many more accomplished illusionists out there, Kuroka's disguise had been very much impenetrable, she couldn't survive being hunted as a 'Stray Devil' otherwise after all.
Perhaps that was it? A Devil Hunter with a bone to pick with the Nekoshou? Well, the prospect of that being the case was enough for Kuroka to start attacking, as if not paying attention to her surroundings and the comrades nearby.
Chastising Kuroka's thoughtlessness, however, would have to wait until after the battle. So a moment later, Kuroka was supported by Le Fay, delivering a huge fireball where the man was standing. One of the simplest and most cost-effective spells in Le Fay's arsenal – more than enough to test the enemy. Along with the energy projectile Kuroka had also sent under range, a weaker class of opponents would be taken out with just those alone.
However, as expected, the enemy did not stand still. Seeing him teleport was an unpleasant surprise for Arthur, after all, it was not an ordinary, nor easy spell to add in a mage's arsenal. But well, Arthur was not expecting that they would be fighting an up jumped exorcist with too much pride in their capability.
Sadly, he was never that lucky.
As the dust from Kuroka and Le Fay's attack dissipated, Arthur could see their opponent, appearing a little distance away. From this fact alone, Arthur could conclude that their current enemy was one that preferred to keep their distance… Well, he was already aware that he was fighting a mage just from the teleportation alone, this fact simply confirms his conclusion. A Close-Quarter combatant would have gotten closer after all, if only to target Le Fay – something that he was prepared to punish personally if that was the case.
So, a mage in the service of the Church, and not a full-fledged Executor armed with a holy sword.
That was good, Arthur and Bikou only needed to close the distance to him and not give him time for a counterattack to finish this fight. Of course, this would deprive Le Fay and Kuroka the opportunity to support their comrades with the help of their most destructive magic. But Le Fay was not just a young genius of the Pendragon family for nothing, and Kuroka did not initially concentrate on destructive magic.
They would find a way to support Arthur and Bikou.
With a step, Arthur found himself next to the enemy in an instant, just a little earlier than Bikou, who tried to approach from the side and take the enemy in a pincer maneuver. Of course, Arthur did not underestimate the enemy or play with him with his full capability – ideally, of course, to capture him alive, but Arthur was not going to be complacent. Let Le Fay cry later about the innocently killed soul of the enemy, rather than about her dead brother.
However, the playbook that had worked repeatedly before for the four rather strong combatants of the Khaos Brigade, one that they had done many times before – unexpectedly misfired.
Arthur's blade did not have time to reach the target, as his body froze as if instantly found itself bound by chains of inhuman strength. Through his peripheral vision, he could also see that Bikou had suffered the same fate. The movement of Arthur and Bikou just stopped.
It was a jarring and confusing feeling, for a moment he realized that this must be how Vali had felt when he was put into the binds of Le Fay's magic.
Right now, however, he could not see whatever it is that is binding him, or even how he was caught in the first place. Which is quite the alarming thing to put into perspective.
"Hmm, this is problematic…" Arthur heard the man's voice, calm, more thoughtful than alarmed, although Arthur was glad even for such an outcome. The more his opponent underestimated him, the more likely it was that Arthur could get out of the spell imposed on him, if only given a couple of seconds… However, the very fact that he was still caught in the fetters of the enemy's spell made Arthur instantly reconsider all his plans and conclusions about who or what exactly their enemy could be.
Perhaps he was just tooting his own horn, but no run-of-the-mill mage of the church would be able to stop his attack, let alone bind him in magic.
But of course, he was not fighting alone… Bikou who is currently also caught notwithstanding.
A dozen magic projectiles whistled over Arthur's head, easily noticing how her brother had suddenly frozen in place, Le Fay sharply intensified her onslaught to save him. But in response, the enemy simply teleported to the side, dodging the projectiles easily – another unpleasant detail.
Usually, magicians used teleportation either for retreat or for creating a trap slash ambush, the magic was too capricious, demanding, and complex to freely use during a heated fight. If the enemy could use it not only for a couple of times in an emergency, but instead fully use it in his fighting style…
It was not painting a pretty picture.
A moment later, several dark lines of Touki snaked their way through Arthur's body – Kuroka had used her powers, ceasing to hide her nature. Her disguise was of no use anyway. She had done so in order to throw off the paralysis from Arthur while Bikou could do it with his own Touki, dropping the shackles from himself…
At least it was supposed to happen that way.
They had gained their freedom of movement for a moment, but before they could even think of escaping, they were caught once again. Under Arthur and Bikou's feet, a vaguely shimmering large magic circle appeared, halting their attempts to get free – both fighters were frozen once again.
A lightning bolt, Le Fay's next attempt to attack the enemy to get her brother free, failed. The bolt of lighting, falling from the sky, simply crashed into an invisible barrier not ten centimeters above his head, the sparks flittering uselessly without doing anything.
It was so impotent that not even the crack of thunder could be heard.
"Rushing at an opponent in close combat simply because he seems to prefer long-range combat without scouting the situation is stupid. If you were able to determine that the opponent is weak in close combat after ten seconds of fighting with him, why do you think that he does not know about it and has not prepared for people to take advantage of it? Compensating for your weaknesses is the most basic of basics of any PvP strategy," The man raised his finger up instructively, as if he was a wise sensei explaining the simplest combat concepts to stupid youths…
However, perhaps this was exactly the case for the man. During the entire battle, the expression on the man's face did not change for a moment, he seemed relaxed and even almost bored. Not to mention how easily he was able to deal with the attack of the four in a matter of seconds. Judging by all that, Arthur and his team were unlucky enough to run into some outstanding enemy. Perhaps a famous exorcist, or maybe an archmage-hermit who had decided that the small town in a sleepy part of Germany would do for his lair.
Arthur and his group had the bad luck to meet one of the many hidden masters that decided that being away from all the large organizations was the thing to do. They had stepped on a landmine, as who knows what the eccentric mage would do.
It seems that, rather than trying to press the point and bull their way into the town, the better and smarter thing to do was to cut their losses.
"We would like to just turn around and leave. We will pretend that none of this happened," Knowing just how outmatched they were, Arthur made an offer of just leaving without any intent on hiding anything. "We will no longer appear in this place."
The man slightly shook his head at Arthur's 'offer' "You were moving towards the church with unknown intentions, meaning you planned to harm it. Why should I believe even a single word from you? For now, you will be delivered to the church, and your fate will be decided later."
Arthur could only shake his head at the man's words. He had planned on parting on, if not amicable terms, then at least without losses to either side – going all out here, would only attract attention. Especially if it turns out that the man was not alone, Kuroka and Bikou had hinted to it when they had first entered the town.to
Besides, as a Knight, Arthur was not eager to fight in the populated town with innocents in the crosshairs, if he and his group were to fight with their all, the amount of collateral damage would be too great. But Arthur also didn't plan to meekly surrender himself, and his team, especially his sister, to the, not at all, tender mercies of the Church.
[Excalibur Ruler] slipped from its scabbard, Arthur was not planning on leveling the town to the ground, so he didn't take out [Caliburn], and its presence began to twist and deform the spell that is keeping him in place. The fact that the binding spell did not burst instantly even under the influence of the strongest [Excalibur Fragment], but quite decently restrained Arthur's attempts to break it, deserved praise. Not a lot of magical spells could stand the Holy Aura of the Holy sword.
It could take Arthur ten or fifteen seconds to get out of the spell, so his opponent deserved praise… But such a powerful spell also had a downside.
The monstrous power of the spell meant that the enemy could not use this ability repeatedly and without preparation. This was also hinted at by his earlier 'teachings' that Arthur had rushed to engage in close quarter combat without being prepared for any traps.
'Traps', the spell currently holding him in place is a trap, a strong one too – and no one had the ability to use such a trap that could withstand [Excalibur Ruler]. Kuroka and Le Fay together would have trouble with it. Even if the man was Vasco Strada's personal protégé, he would not be able to use this ability several times in a row in close succession.
In other words, he had already revealed his trump card, and therefore had already lost.
Of course, there was also a possibility that this ability was not the enemy's trump card, but was just another spell that he didn't even specialize in. And in such a situation, the smart move would be for Arthur to have surrendered right now – but of course, that is very unlikely. A figure that powerful would not be hiding in the middle of nowhere, and instead stand on the grand stage of the world – hiding would actually be harder instead.
And since Arthur hadn't heard of any new God of Magic being in the area, his conclusion was the more likely to be true.
Beside with the appearance of his Holy Sword, anyone working with the Church would be able to figure out his identity and either retreat or be more careful, the name of the Pendragon means something for the Church.
However, contrary to Arthur's expectations, instead of panic or recognition, the enemy instead became thoughtful. As if he was in no hurry as he appraised the sword, rather than dealing with Arthur before he could slip from the trap.
Loudly snapping his fingers, Arthur could not understand the words that came out of his mouth.
"Okay, I think this will be an acceptable trade-off."
After these words, the man's gaze focused on Arthur's blade and Arthur suddenly involuntarily wanted to cover his blade, like a wallet stuffed with banknotes in a crowd of suspicious conmen.
"I wonder if [Perfect Warrior] will give me the opportunity to use it? It would be interesting to check…"
***
The blade that flashed in the boy's hands made Momonga both rejoice at its appearance. After all, with his victory already in hand, it meant that he was already practically the owner of another unique magical artifact, and also tense up from the fact that his opponent clearly considered this sword his trump card. Given that he had already encountered [World Class Items] in this world at least twice, Momonga was not going to underestimate the unknown magical artifact at all.
"[All Appraisal Magic Item]," Momonga cast a spell he once obtained almost by chance, since he definitely didn't pick it on purpose. For his build focused on death magic and instant-kill, acquiring the spell instead of another more useful and build appropriate spell for his spell slot, was useless, if not harmful.
But given that he was currently not in Yggdrasil but in the real world instead, with many unknown items of power that could break the balance, the ability to identify any Artifacts with just one spell was worth many more PvP-suitable spells. Of course, this particular spell wasn't specialized in discovering every minute detail of an artifact. For example, it didn't reveal the recipe on how to create the Appraised item, and could only work on an artifact that wasn't specially masked or whose parameters weren't changed by illusion or special abilities.
However, as befitting his age and how easily he had fallen for Momonga's provocation, the young man hadn't prepared the appropriate countermeasures.
And so, with each line of information flowing to his brain about the item, the wider his jaw dropped. The item in his hands was just so precious and rare that he didn't even pay attention as a flash of lighting struck him, already forgetting about his caution about any opponents' capability.
'I want this', was Momonga's only thought when information about the blade reached his mind.
The blade in the guy's hands was indeed a magnificent artifact – if Momonga needed to compare it with already familiar concepts, he would without hesitation put the sword in the [Legendary] category. In other words, even a level 100 player would absolutely not be ashamed to use it.
After all, the pinnacle of what almost any player could get at level 100, a [Divine] item, was hard to find even after completing dozens of the most difficult of quests and killing of bosses. And even after getting such a rare item, Players could easily become paranoid about losing such a treasure.
For example, Momonga, fully equipped with [Divine] level items, stood out strongly from the other level 100 Players, which was only possible thanks to intense grinding and money-spending.
So, to see someone that is most definitely not Level 100, carrying around a [Legendary] Sword? It was almost a matter of honor for him to relieve the young man off of his crutch – while level 100 players crawled through broken glass to get a sword like this, this guy just decided to flaunt it. For Momonga it was simply a matter of honor – to take such an artifact from his hands!
That and his greed of course… But there's still a bit of righteous indignation somewhere buried deep inside.? And the fact that the seized artifact would not fall into the hands of the enemy, but would end up in Momonga's treasury, was just a pleasant addition to the restoration of justice.
"[Hold Species]." It was quickly cast by Momonga, which immediately stopped the young man from doing anything. Of course, he had done the same to the other young man that had decided to attack Momonga head on. He didn't care about him at the moment, but he might as well be careful.
Only for his spells to fail a moment later, and the two combatants making some distance from him, returning to the side of the other two. The other young man, the one that had been carried to the town, remained unconscious – what a tenacious determination to see the trap through.
Looking at the two girls that had kept their distance, Momonga had pegged both of them as mages. He had thought that the two were general mages, without any specialization, though maybe one of them, the one that was not flinging lightning and fireballs at him, specialized in support? The cat woman looked like a healer, working with statuses effects?
Hmm, does he need to use a higher Tier spell? The young man's sword does passively work against binding spells, after all. His appraisal check found out that it really had those abilities, making it an even more tempting loot to get.
[Excalibur Ruler] increased all characteristics of its owner by a decent percentage, even magical ones, which especially interested Momonga. It also had the ability to manipulate the opponent's mind and body, could control its surroundings at a rudimentary level using telekinesis, strengthen and weaken spells and others' abilities, teleport, use several primitive spells and built-in abilities. And of course, it also gave a big bonus to holy abilities and various paladin skills.
In general, by all appearances it was a full-fledged artifact of a high-level player, which this guy somehow found by luck and now is using as his own weapon, wasting most of the sword's true capabilities. He not only couldn't use it, he didn't even need half the abilities that the sword possessed.
Such a blade was so exceptional that it could even threaten Momonga himself. While its wielder hadn't shown any extraordinary abilities, Momonga could confidently say that he was at most a level sixty, this artifact was far from being appropriate for his level. Though Momonga wouldn't die from it, he could get wounded.
So when the sword appeared, he didn't rush to attack hastily, even though the assault on him happened in an open area where his figure could be easily spotted from the church window. Worst case scenario, if Momonga's cover was blown, he could simply dispose of the witnesses and move on to another Church and repeat his infiltration.
The blade, [Excalibur Ruler], was far more valuable to him than the boredom he would feel infiltrating another church for several days.
But first, he needs to finish this fight.
A teleportation sideways, and rather than hitting him outright, the massive fireball instead exploded under Momonga's feet, only managing to hit his body and deal some paltry damage points. Seeing that he had taken actual damage, the spell was quite powerful… Though, then again, it was one of his major weaknesses.
Another teleportation carried him away from the attack, also evading an attempt to strike him from behind by the guy with a battle staff. A quick glance at the girl behind the two guys fighting in close combat told Momonga that she was indeed the source of the fireball spell. Moreover, judging by the fact that this attack dealt him damage, the spell was above sixth rank – given that the damage was very small, not higher than the seventh rank.
Which, in any case, made her probably the most outstanding mage Momonga had encountered during his time in this world.
Considering she likely had several aces up her sleeve that she hadn't used yet, because Momonga was only retreating from attacks without counterattacking, and gauging the approximate power level of the opponent… Her level was probably around fifty, maybe slightly higher. Generally quite sufficient for using eighth rank magic.
Then another spell tried to hit Momonga, as far as Momonga could assume of comparable power to the other girl's spell, or at least so it seemed. However, unlike the other girl's spells that at least managed to deal him some damage points, the curse helplessly slid off Momonga without causing any harm. Naturally, if Momonga had fallen for the opponent's curse – he would have greatly applauded the opponent who managed to bypass his protection against Curses.
Which would only inflame his desire to collect her more, of course. Such a capability to bypass an Undead's immunity to curses would be beyond valuable to study.
More and more attacks followed, and each time Momonga simply teleported aside, drawing out potential aces from his opponents and waiting for the right moment to counterattack, analyzing their tactics. It was a behavior Momonga had learned in Yggdrasil during his many PvP and PvE matches.
Moreover, Momonga wasn't at all ashamed to flee from battle or lose the first fight if necessary, as long as that defeat didn't lead to irreparable consequences and provided him with new information. After that, Momonga could always prepare better, return and defeat his enemy, lulled by his earlier defeat.
He might not win the first time, but he would definitely win the second match.
But like any person, even one who unexpectedly became an undead lich necromancer in another world, Momonga was quite greedy, his desires endless. He wanted not just to seize the artifact from his opponent's hands, even if it wouldn't be too difficult, he wished for more. Perhaps capturing several inhabitants of this new world, while also getting the approval from his superiors to engage in children's education.
Momonga wanted it all at once, which meant he couldn't afford to deal with opponents for too long, let alone retreat and give them victory.
After all, even if they don't flee after the fight or die from the Church's reinforcements, secretly collecting their artifacts, kidnapping the opponents themselves, and killing one or two enemies to frame them as the instigators. This could only be done before other observers arrived at the battle scene.
The mage couldn't drag this fight out any longer, their mana was not infinite after all. In any case, unless his opponents held some incredible trump card and accounting for their few hidden abilities, Momonga was confident he had created a flawless battle plan. Of course, he hadn't picked the one that he would brutalize to serve as the tribute for the Church. Of the four attackers and one unconscious non-combatant, thrown aside as the fight got serious, one had to be presented as the instigator, and consequently its only participant planning to attack the church.
But who interested Momonga the least?
Definitely not the mage, either of them, Demiurge needed to get maximum information about this world's magic from her. Not the non-human, most definitely, either. And clearly not the sword wielder, he might provide information about where he found that artifact, extremely useful intel. Obviously not the unconscious guy, apparently paralyzed or too severely injured to even appear as a worthy opponent, maybe he was just an abducted ordinary civilian… So the choice was obvious.
Judging by how his enemies moved and attacked, they definitely possessed some level of combat experience, but completely insufficient compared to Yggdrasil's all-encompassing PvP experience. So when Momonga suddenly started 'slightly missing' his dodges with the attacks coming nearer and nearer to hitting him and 'taking breaks' in teleporting, they perceived this as a sign of his exhaustion, and picked up the pace of attacks. They definitely did not notice how he slowly led his enemies aside, driving them into perfect position, picking the timing and…
When the guy with the staff got close, suddenly, an enormous fiery whirlwind rose up under him – he didn't even have time to scream in surprise or pain before the flames licked the flesh from his bones. Of course, judging by the exorcists' specialties, it would've been better for Momonga to use holy magic, but he didn't possess spells of that type at high enough level to definitively destroy such an opponent, with overkill. He after all needed to make sure that the Church could identify the body.
Meanwhile, 'fire' and 'holy fire' were similar enough that Momonga could disguise the damage, in the future, if needed.
"[Mass Hold Species]," An enormous magic circle expanded with him as the center, paralyzing all of Momonga's opponents as he had driven the close combatants close to their mage support earlier. Then Momonga moved to the black-haired cat-eared girl, apparently a status specialist, so leaving her just paralyzed hoping for its effectiveness was too foolish, as was simply piling new paralysis spells on her.
Here it was better to act roughly, approaching from a different angle.
A quick teleportation later, and Momonga's fist slammed into the girl's back. Instead of screaming, she could only whimper pitifully as Momonga's fist broke her spine. Unless she had some high-Tier healing spell, even if the paralysis would lift, she would still be unable to move. Besides, he was sure that he lacked the physical strength in his normal form to kill a mid-level mage with one hit, so this should've been enough.
The attack took barely a blink of the eye, and he didn't even have to use a Time spell to do it.
"Bikou!" Only just now, belatedly, did the young man holding the Holy Sword realize what had happened to his allies. Looking at the pile of ashes that was his ally, and then at the cat girl collapsing bonelessly on her knees, did he realize his folly fully. "Kuroka!"
Momonga teleported to the last female mage, deciding to deal with her first as someone capable of escaping his spell, rather than approaching potentially the most dangerous opponent in the field, due to his weapon alone, that is, without removing all his possible helpers.
This time, Momonga decided to act slightly differently. The girl before him seemed even smaller and weaker than the opponent he just paralyzed with his strike, he wouldn't feel all that great hitting a little girl. So, he cast a couple more paralysis spells to better control his strike force, but only managed to raise his hand before immediately stepping back, dodging an incoming attack.
A slight tingling in his hand drew Momonga's attention for a moment before he blinked in surprise – he just took damage. Very little, but still damage that overcame both his immunity to low-level damage and his defense, reducing such attacks' power. In other words, this was damage dealt by a sufficiently high-level source, and judging by the sensation, this damage was holy…
It was way above the damage that he would receive if he was to be attacked by [Excalibur Ruler].
A quick glance at where Momonga retreated from a second ago instantly revealed information and answered his unspoken earlier question. There, where he was just a second ago, a rift in the earth appeared, crawling around the ground just missing the still paralyzed mage by an inch. Looking towards the origin of the fissure, Momonga could see the other young man, wielding a different sword.
Though, once again, all without the security spells that Momonga would use for all his equipment, even the weaker, especially the weaker ones.
Looking at this blade, Momonga suddenly swallowed a glob of saliva, but not from fear at all.
No, instead, Momonga could only barely stop himself from screaming in glee.
"You'll die for what you did, creature," The young man's voice sounded harsh, filled with rage and pain simultaneously, completely unlike his previously gentlemanly nature as he pointed the blade at Momonga.
The name of the Sword, Momonga could only whisper, as his sense of greed threatened to overwhelm him entirely.
"[Caliburn]!"
Momonga's response to this cold fury from the your man was unexpectedly just a quiet muttering,
"Jackpot…"