Rest slammed an attack into Sabnock's back, bounced off the hard fur, and landed on the ground as if repelled.
"It wasn't deep enough...!"
Rest had caught up to Sabnock using Super Acceleration, mounted its back, and driven Star Eater into it.
Star Eater was a Dark Star that could swallow everything and annihilate it entirely, but... unfortunately, it was not a fatal blow against Sabnock's massive body.
Sabnock was bleeding from its back, but it stood before Rest without falling.
"GyaoOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!?"
Even so, it had clearly felt the pain.
Sabnock stopped in its tracks and turned to face Rest.
Its eerily twisted compound eyes looked down at Rest, unleashing fury and killing intent.
"You're finally looking my way...!"
Rest swallowed hard from the tension, but... putting on his bravest facade, he glared back at Sabnock.
Meeting its eyes like this, he was struck once again by just what a monstrous thing it was.
Its size was one matter, but the amount of mana it contained was on an entirely different level.
Even Rest, who possessed a spring that endlessly generated mana, could not hold that much power within his body at once.
(That's exactly what makes it the Master of the Demon Realm... No wonder it's never once been defeated since the kingdom's founding.)
Rest felt the sweat streaming down his back as he devised a plan to defeat the enemy before him.
The most powerful weapon in Rest's arsenal was the Dark Star that devoured all—Star Eater.
However, as that last attack had made clear... no matter how powerful Star Eater was, a blow or two would not be enough to pierce Sabnock's life.
(If I could land it directly on its brain or heart, that would be a different story... but that's going to be tough.)
That last attack—he had actually intended to drive the Dark Star straight into its head.
But Sabnock, racing across the plains, moved too fast. Even after he'd leapt onto its back, he couldn't hold his position.
He managed to slam it into the creature's back, but... a precision strike at the head was practically impossible.
(Star Eater is an incredibly powerful spell. That's precisely why it can't be used in tandem with any other magic...)
That was Star Eater's fatal flaw.
Because the spell constantly devoured a staggering amount of mana, layering it with any other magic was out of the question.
While the Dark Star was active, body reinforcement magic was forcibly canceled as well, leaving him in his base, unenhanced state.
(Ten shots, twenty shots, and it would probably drop... but give me a break.)
Until then, could Rest even keep this behemoth under control?
"GYAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"
"—!"
From its maw, wrenched open to the breaking point, a shriek erupted that surpassed the one before.
A missile of sound. Without magical protection, it wouldn't just rupture his eardrums—it could have hurled him dozens of meters away.
"GYAO!"
"........!"
The instant the shriek ended, Sabnock slammed its foreleg down.
For a split second, he thought about countering with Star Eater to rip the foreleg clean off... but he immediately crushed that reckless impulse.
There was no way he could swallow Sabnock's massive limb in a single instant.
Even if he could gouge out a part of its body, Rest's frame would be crushed flat.
"[Super Acceleration]"
He boosted his speed dramatically, evading Sabnock's foreleg.
The instant after, an explosion-like roar thundered through the air as a massive cloud of sand and dust erupted.
Where the foreleg had slammed down, a small crater had formed, with savage claw marks gouged deep into the ground.
"[Fireball][Amplification][Compression][Acceleration]"
Having dodged the foreleg's attack… he activated his quadruple-cast magic.
He compressed a giant fireball, accelerated it, and launched it forward.
The fireball streaked through the air and struck Sabnock square in the face, producing a brilliant crimson explosion.
"GYAO!"
"Mm—!"
But the damage was thin. It merely singed the fur on its face.
As expected, even with a quadruple cast, ordinary magic couldn't inflict serious harm on Sabnock.
Sabnock spat a volley of corrosive saliva like a water cannon.
It was the same type of attack the other Corrosion Beasts had used, but Sabnock's was on an entirely different level of power.
A torrent of saliva poured forth, as if a dam had opened its floodgates.
"[Wind Wall][Water Wall][Earth Wall][Fire Wall]"
He erected four elemental walls, blocking the deluge of saliva from raining down on him.
Sabnock's saliva splattered across the surroundings.
"GishaAAAAAAAAA…"
A nearby monster happened to get splashed by the saliva.
The monster's body dissolved where the corrosive saliva struck, rotting away until nothing but bones remained.
"…What a terrifying trick, you abomination."
Thinking about it once more, he simply could not allow such a monstrosity to be unleashed upon the plains.
If it were to head for the royal capital… Rest felt a chill crawl up his spine, his face twisting at the thought.
Visions of a town melted by saliva and its residents reduced to bones flickered through his mind.
"…I have to stop this, no matter what. This is where the real death battle begins."
Rest steeled himself with the resolve of a man prepared to die, wracking his brain for every possible means to slay the monstrosity before him.
(Its fur has incredible magic resistance. Fire, water, wind, earth, ice, lightning… none of them would work. Poison is… I haven't tried it, but if it can spit corrosive saliva, I doubt it would have any effect.)
That said, landing a Star Eater from close range would be difficult.
A surprise attack might still be feasible, but hitting it when the enemy was fully on guard would be nearly impossible.
(Using Star Eater also deactivates body reinforcement, so even a glancing blow from its attack would kill me. I should probably think of another approach.)
"Then…"
An idea came to him.
A troublesome method. One that would be impossible without infinite mana — impossible for anyone other than Rest.
"All right, let's do this."
"GYAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
With Sabnock's roar thundering around him, Rest sprang into action.
The plains of the demon realm.
The battle to decide the new ruler hurtled straight toward its climax.