"Come, be swallowed by the power of the gods!"
"!"
A large number of god soldiers rushed in like a wave.
As we were about to intercept them, a white shadow jumped in front of us.
"Nya!"
"Stella!"
Immediately after jumping out, Stella charged straight into the crowd of god soldiers, weaving between them and destroying everything in her path.
"Wha…?"
Whips were surprised, but Stella reached below her and jumped at Whips.
"Fushaaaaaah!"
"W-wait? What is this beast…?"
Whips swung her whip at Stella as if to drive her away, but Stella dodged it all as smoothly as if she were liquid and swung her claws at Whips.
"Kyaaaah!"
The attack grazed Whips' body, but she quickly twisted her body and moved out of the way.
However, the attack left a single scar on Whips' face, and blood poured down.
Then Whips touched the blood, trembling.
"Blood? This is my face, a scar…! …Screw you, you beast!"
Whips brandished her whip angrily.
However, as if to take advantage of Whips' weakness, Meiko's Spiritual Chain bound Whips' body.
"I got her!"
"W-what the hell is this?"
Whips tried desperately to escape, but Meiko's chains were so strong that she seemed unable to break free.
"Hey, what are you doing? Hurry up and stop that bitch!"
Whips yelled at the god soldiers around her, and they came at Meiko.
"Haaah!"
"Nya!"
However, Stella and Iris-san stopped them all.
"Haaaaah!"
I felt that now was my chance, so I seized the opportunity and approached Whips.
But as if they had anticipated my move, the god soldiers surrounded me.
"Wha…?"
"Ahahahahaha! You must be an idiot to isolate yourself in this situation!"
Whips scoffed at my impatience.
"Nya!"
Stella quickly moved to save me, but a new god soldier was spawned next to her, and she could not get close to me.
"Kuh!"
I wanted to use my Heavenly Whip if possible, but I didn't have time to switch weapons, so I fought back with my Omni-Sword.
The Absolute Spear also returned to my hand, but I didn't have time to use it either.
"Master!"
"Yuuya-kun!"
Seeing me like this, Iris-san and the others immediately started to move.
Then, Whips' smile deepened as if she had been waiting for them.
"You fool! My target is you!"
"Wha…?"
The moment Iris-san's attention turned to the god soldiers swarming around me, Whips broke Meiko's chain.
Then she immediately swung her whip, and it tried to wrap around Iris-san's body.
"Kuh!"
She quickly dodged, but the whip moved as if it had a mind of its own, relentlessly chasing after Iris-san.
"Hahahaha! You let your guard down, didn't you? Your so-called Divine Authority is so unpleasant that I'm going to make you disappear right here!"
"Iris-sama!"
"Nya, nya!"
"You two watch over there!"
Seeing the situation, Meiko and Stella immediately tried to move, but the god soldiers stood in their way and could not help Iris-san.
Then the whip finally reached Iris-san, who ran away while dealing with the god soldiers.
"It's ba──"
"Ahahahahahahahaha! I've got you!"
If this continued, Iris-san's body would be in danger.
I thought so and unconsciously moved my body.
"Ooooooooh!"
I swung my sword with all my might and wiped out the swarm of god soldiers.
However, this was only a temporary solution, as new god soldiers will be created as soon as they are defeated.
However, I didn't miss this momentary opening and immediately switched to the Absolute Spear, targeting Whips.
And then…
"Haaaaaaaaah!"
I threw the Absolute Spear at Whips again with all my might.
"Wha…?"
Whips rolled her eyes at me.
"Troublesome──"
"I won't let you get away this time!"
She moved to defend herself from my attack, but just as Whips' attention was drawn to me, Meiko tightened the chains around Whips' body again.
The chains were even tighter than before, and Whips were unable to break free.
"Huh? Hey, you've got to be kidding me! S-stop it, stop it right now!"
Whips shouted as she struggled in her restrained state, and the god soldiers stood in the way as if they were shields protecting Whips.
The god soldiers also held up their shields, and a translucent membrane-like shield appeared on them, taking an intercepting stance.
However… in front of Sage-san's weapon, such a thing was completely meaningless.
The Absolute Spear not only destroyed the shields of the god soldiers easily but also pierced through the shields along with the god soldiers.
"Wha… H-hey, no, stop… don't come, don't comeeeeeeee!"
Whips fought desperately to avoid the attack.
But in the end, she could not dodge it, and… the Absolute Spear pierced her chest.
At that moment, Iris-san, who was being held by her, was also released, and the Absolute Spear returned to my hand.
I frowned as I retrieved the spear.
For the first time, I had killed a human being.
You might be wondering what I'm talking about now after defeating many monsters in this other world and Dragonia aliens in space, but it was the first time I killed… a human, someone of my own kind.
But what shocked me even more was that… Even though I had killed someone, I wasn't that upset about it.
When I first met Lexia-san, there were human corpses lying around.
Even when I saw them, I remained calm.
I wondered if my mentality had changed after rising to a higher level in this world.
Seeing my frowning face, Iris-san noticed something and approached me.
"Could it be, Yuuya-kun? That was…"
"….."
"Yes. But don't worry too much. She really wanted to kill people going about their normal lives. And no matter how hard we tried, she would never change her mind. So there was no choice but to kill her."
"Yes."
In my mind, I understood.
If we had not defeated her here, many people would have been unhappy.
I take a deep breath to focus my mind.
"…It's all right now."
Iris-san, sensing that my mind had calmed down, smiled softly.
"That's good. More importantly, the fact that the pursuers have come this far means that we have to move quickly──"
"──Fufufu… Hahaha…. Hahahahahahahahaha!"
"!?"
We were all suddenly struck dead by the sound of laughter that echoed through the air.
How──.
"Really, congratulations, okay?"
"Why… why are you still alive…!"
Whips, who should have been killed, began to move as if nothing had happened.
She was still restrained by the Spiritual Chain, and there was a large hole in her chest where the Absolute Spear had pierced her.
Even though it was a fatal wound, no matter how you look at it, there was no blood running out of Whips' mouth or from the wound; instead, nothing seemed to have changed, and she was laughing.
And then…
"This chain is in the way."
"N-no way…?"
She easily tore off Meiko's Spiritual Chain, which had become even stronger than the first.
Whips laughed condescendingly at our astonishment.
"That was funny. You small fry, do you really think you can beat God?"
As she said this, Whips turned her shoulders as if to tone her body, and to my surprise… the hole in her chest that had been open closed naturally.
"W-what…?"
"Ah, Iris's expression, it's really great! I just wanted to see that look!"
Whips smiled lecherously at the stunned Iris-san, but her face immediately contorted in disgust.
"…I've always hated you. You're not even prettier than me, but you stand out more than me, and you're more admired than me!"
As Whips shouted and spread her hands, countless god soldiers suddenly appeared out of the void.
"Look at this! This is the difference between you and me… between a god and a mortal!"
"Kuh…!"
In the next instant, a rainbow-colored aura similar to Divine Authority erupted from Whips' body.
But what makes it different from ours is that the rainbow-colored aura has a shimmering gold and silver phosphorescence.
That is… the Divine Power!
"Then, once again…!"
Meiko again uses the Spiritual Chain to try to bind Whips' body.
In addition, she also released Spirit Balls to match the attack there.
The chains and the masses of spiritual energy all rushed towards Whips at the same time.
However, Whips did not even try to dodge these attacks.
"Useless, useless, useless!"
"N-no way…"
As soon as they touched Whips, both the chains and the orbs disappeared.
"There's no way a mortal can harm a god's body! It's all useless! I have become a god! You mortals can't stop me now!"
"Such a thing… You'll never know until you try…!"
Iris-san shouted as she jumped at her.
Then, the god soldiers attacked all at once.
"Hahahahaha! There is no need for me to do anything! Let the god soldiers kill you like this!"
"Haaaaah!"
I immediately took out my Omni-Sword as well and slashed at the god soldiers to cover Iris-san.
"Hmph!"
The god soldiers immediately raised their shields to defend against my attack, but ordinary defenses are meaningless in the face of the Omni-Sword.
I slashed them along with their shields.
"Huh? What in the world is that guy… with the barrier and the sword!"
Whips, who had been watching me fight, twisted her face in disapproval.
"Defeating the god soldiers is beyond disrespectful!"
"You're not a god; you're just a human…!"
Iris-san waded through the attacks of the god soldiers and reached Whips, then slashed at her.
But just as she did not dodge Meiko's attack, Whips smiled again and did not move.
"You fools! I can't believe you attacked──"
"Haaaaah!"
"Wha… gyaaaaahh!"
Whipps had a victorious smile on her face, but Iris-san's sword sliced right through her body.
Perhaps not expecting to take damage herself, Whips screamed as she sent a new god-soldier at Iris-san and left the scene.
"W-w-why? Why did Iris attack…!"
"Ara, it looks like I can do some damage if I use my Divine Authority, huh?"
"Huh! Divine Authority?"
Upon closer inspection, a rainbow-colored aura similar to Divine Power emanated from Iris-san's sword in her hand.
I see; if the attack is imbued with Divine Authority, it will be able to damage Whips…
If that's the case, then Iris-san and I were the only ones who could use Divine Authority in this place right now.
"Meiko, Stella! Cover me and Iris-san!"
"Understood!"
"Nya!"
Both of them seemed to understand my thoughts immediately, and they changed their actions to help me as I ran under Whips and Iris-san, who is attacking again.
The god soldier approaching Iris-san was destroyed by Meiko and Stella.
And apparently, the god soldier could be easily defeated even without Divine Authority.
However… Whips had been wounded, but the wounds were gradually fading.
…Normal attacks either didn't work or heal instantly, but if it's imbued with Divine Authority, will it slow down the healing of the wounds?
"Shit… shit, shit, shit! Don't get cocky with me, you fucking impostor!"
"Kuh!"
Whips yelled, swinging her whip around.
"Die already, Whip Rebellion!"
The whip moved faster than the speed of sound, coming at us from all directions.
"I won't let you!"
"Fushaaaah!"
But Meiko and Stella blocked these attacks.
I followed suit, cutting down the god soldiers as I approached Whips.
"Ah!"
But before I could get close to Whips, she instantly moved away from us with her Divine Power, just like the instant movement we used with the Divine Authority.
"Don't come any closer, you small fry!"
And as soon as the distance was taken, she produced new god soldiers one by one.
"How many in the world are you going to summon…!"
The number of them would have exceeded a hundred by now.
No matter how many were defeated, more and more god soldiers were created.
Don't tell me that she could summon an infinite number of these god soldiers?
Besides, even if Iris-san inflicted damage with an attack using Divine Authority, she would recover after some time.
The more time passes, the more disadvantageous it would be for us…