With that in mind, Rod watched for another opportunity as Fenrir continued attacking him.
As long as he did not deliberately let his guard down, Fenrir had virtually no chance of touching him while he remained in extreme acceleration.
Fenrir gradually became enraged. When its claws failed to catch Rod, it started snapping at him with its jaws instead.
Rod seized the opportunity to pull a steaming rice dumpling from his storage space.
It was shaped like a peach. The moment he took it out, not only Rod, but even Rias, Vali, and the others caught the mouthwatering aroma of freshly cooked rice.
Growl...
Stomachs began rumbling one after another.
Everyone looked confused.
Why had he suddenly pulled out food in the middle of a battle?
Then again, they had been standing guard outside for hours. Regardless of whether their earlier attacks had managed to break Fenrir's defenses, they had still consumed an enormous amount of energy.
Now that they thought about it, they really were getting hungry.
[Item: Momotaro Dumpling]
[Feed it to a wild beast to tame it. Ineffective on humans and targets whose strength exceeds the item's limits.]
It was a special item Rod had received long ago after defeating Satanael in Kyoto.
He had originally considered it useless and gradually forgotten about it.
Only after seeing how ferocious Fenrir was did he suddenly remember he owned such a thing.
The moment Rod took it out, even Fenrir stopped briefly.
Then its gaze became even more savage as its enormous jaws snapped toward him, clearly intending to swallow Rod and the dumpling together.
Rod tossed one directly into Fenrir's mouth.
The rice dumpling, which was smaller than a human palm, disappeared between its enormous jaws.
The instant Fenrir swallowed it, its entire body froze.
Everyone stared in surprise.
What kind of move was that?
However, Fenrir soon licked its lips with its foul-smelling tongue before lunging at Rod again amid a gust of putrid wind.
"Why didn't it work?"
Rod hurriedly tossed another Momotaro Dumpling into the air and entered extreme acceleration to evade Fenrir's charge.
At the same time, another system notification appeared.
[The Momotaro Dumpling cannot affect a target whose strength is too high.]
"Damn it! What a useless item!"
[Note: Reduce the target's current level of strength first. Once weakened sufficiently, the Momotaro Dumpling's effect can be applied.]
"Hm? Never mind, then."
Rod's attitude changed instantly.
As long as it was not completely useless, everything was fine.
As for weakening Fenrir, that was simple enough.
He merely had to beat it half to death first.
"Lavinia, give me a hand."
Rod called out.
Since they were communicating through magic, his voice reached Lavinia clearly despite the deafening chaos caused by Fenrir.
Lavinia silently nodded and raised both hands.
The four-armed ice maiden, her independently manifested Sacred Gear, released another torrent of frigid air.
The ground froze over once more, restricting Fenrir's movements.
Its bloodstained jaws snapped toward Rod, its razor-sharp fangs tearing through the atmosphere and causing even space itself to tremble.
But the frost quickly spread across Fenrir's entire body and froze it in place once again.
Perhaps it had begun adapting to the intense cold, because this time it remained frozen for far less time than before.
Just then, Vali charged in.
The Divine Dividing's power activated once more.
He brought both hands together, and the space surrounding Fenrir suddenly twisted and distorted.
Everything within the warped region visibly shrank, reducing to half its original size.
Fenrir's movements stopped for an instant under the spatial restriction.
Vali, however, frowned deeply.
His ability was supposed to halve everything within its range.
Yet Fenrir itself remained completely unaffected.
Sensing the spatial restraint, Fenrir bit viciously into the distortion in the air.
The warped space tore apart like a sheet of plastic.
The restriction had not lasted long, but it was enough for Rod to launch another attack.
A massive spinning wheel of light appeared in his palm.
Rod had used this technique before during the Old Maou Faction's attack, but the current Ultra Slash was vastly superior to the previous one in both size and power.
This time, however, Rod did not throw it.
Instead, he gripped the spinning blade, charged directly at Fenrir, and began sawing into its body.
Screech!
The instant the Ultra Slash struck Fenrir's hide, dazzling sparks erupted.
Rod ignored them and continued cutting into its flesh.
Sparks scattered everywhere.
Under his relentless sawing, Fenrir's hide finally split open.
Rod could clearly feel the light blade tearing through muscle and grinding against bone.
Once its skin was breached, Fenrir finally felt true agony and unleashed a pained roar.
Scalding blood erupted from the wound, nearly drenching Rod from head to toe.
Fenrir's cries became increasingly miserable, yet Rod showed no intention of stopping.
Seeing that Rod's attack was effective, everyone else hurriedly rejoined the battle.
Whether their attacks worked or not, they hurled magic and divine techniques at Fenrir as though they cost nothing.
Several girls who had never witnessed such a brutal sight turned pale.
Fenrir was certainly their enemy, but Rod's method of attacking it was far too savage.
Rod, however, paid no attention to their reactions.
So what if it was bleeding heavily?
So what if it screamed miserably?
A monster was still a monster, and monsters did not feel pain.
Its screams were obviously nothing more than an attempt to exploit the sympathy of softhearted people.
Therefore, Rod began sawing even faster.
Along with the blood pouring from its body, Fenrir's strength also began draining away.
Sensing that its life was in danger, Fenrir grew even more violent.
The others could no longer restrain it.
Its piercing roar shook the very fabric of space and sent everyone flying backward.
Fenrir turned toward Rod.
The greatest concentration of fiery energy it had produced so far erupted from its mouth and nostrils.
The devastating torrent shot directly toward Rod.
Fenrir had clearly lost itself to rage.
After all, Rod was still viciously cutting into its open wound. Even Fenrir itself would suffer tremendous damage from this attack at such close range.
Rod neither dodged nor retreated.
He calmly swallowed a Senzu Bean, instantly restoring himself to peak condition.
Rho Aias formed behind him.
Using them to withstand the terrifying torrent of energy, he forced his way through the flames and charged straight toward Fenrir.
Without the slightest hesitation, he hurled the Ultra Slash in his hand.
The spinning blade tore through the flames and, just before dissipating, ripped open Fenrir's throat.
At that moment, the raging energy inside Fenrir lost its only route of escape.
It rampaged uncontrollably through the wolf's mouth, nose, and chest.
Even through its abdomen, the scorching light could be seen blazing within.
"Rider Kick"
Rod had already assumed the proper stance.
Scorching patterns appeared beneath his foot as he descended from the sky and kicked Fenrir directly in the head.
BOOM!
With a ground-shaking explosion, Rod's full-powered strike detonated against Fenrir's skull.
Violent shock waves swept across the surroundings.
Everyone who had only just managed to stand after being blown away was sent flying once again.
Rod seized the opportunity and threw another Momotaro Dumpling into Fenrir's mouth.
Only then did the terrifying monster finally fall completely still.
At the same time, the system's notification sounded.
[Superman Glasses, Extreme Acceleration, Solar Flare, Holy Sword Excalibur, Demonic Sword Arondight, Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils, Control Immunity, Rider Kick, Ultra Slash, Flower-Petal Shield, Super Armor, Incinerate Anthem, Perfect Defense, Counter.]
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