Mistress Of The Evil Forest

Case 78: The holy country of Neveah – Inside the Backrooms.

Advent of Justice - Antonio.

As a member of Wings, his specialized role is to deal with highly dangerous criminals, particularly ones that have caused serious offenses. The heavier the criminal's crimes are, the stronger Antonio becomes.

[Advent of Justice: Increase the user's abilities when faced with sinned entities] [Unique]

In [Astra Magical Academy], this is the most finicky opponent the player has to face for this scenario. In alignment with the player's wrongdoings rate and their teammate picking choices, Antonio will either be easy enough to deal with or flat-out impossible to do so.

Many 'bad' players succumb to a single ending—[Sentenced to Death]—in which Antonio judges them.

However, a player has found a loophole in Antonio's unique skill. By teaming up with a random wolf in the wilderness, they have determined that his skill does not apply to non-humanoids, more specifically, creatures without a close enough connection with the human race.

For this reason, Aurora and Chloe have decided to let the horror team take care of Antonio, or at least the husk of him.

Turning the time back to thirty minutes before Aurora defeats the mage armor.

In a seemingly never-ending series of interconnected office rooms, where only static buzzes of the light can be heard, three figures stand. One of them is a big husky with abnormal teeth, like that of a human, while the other two are a man in black and a man in a suit. Both have a higher height than usual, albeit one is significantly taller.

''Hm... Here is quite curious, isn't it?''

The masked man speaks up, hand stroking the husky, eyes on the bizarre creatures roaming the space. A floating smiley face, a humanoid creature with an extremely skinny body, a giant spider-like creature with a human body, etc.

Not interested?

The man with no facial features turns around.

''I'm afraid not.'' 049 replies. ''They might look human, yet they aren't. My mission is to eradicate the Pestilence, yet they do not possess them.''

In the eyes of the doctor, everything present is clean. He likes it. He likes this feeling, but there are still pour souls out there who suffer from the damn scrouge, so he can't be comfortable yet.

Yes, like this thing that has just appeared in his vision.

An armored figure with golden scales growing in virtually all corners of its body, with hollow eyes and a lone gavel in its hand.

''O pitiful lamb, yer body is littered, layered with the disease...!''

049 steps forward, opening his arms exaggeratedly. When the masked locks eyes with the hollowed, the fight begins.

In an instant, a blood-red aura envelops the place, and from behind 049, dark tentacles fly forward, ramming themselves at Antonio's husk. Soon, a slender man in a suit appears in the hollowed's vision.

clang—!

The golden armor gently pounces its gavel in the air, creating a ripple effect that spreads throughout the rooms. With utmost confidence, it begins to wield its wind magic.

''...?!''

The skill does not register. Whatever D-32 is looking at right now... Are not humans.

With that, it hurriedly activates a separate set of skills based on Antonio's memory. A dim green aura surrounds its body, and a symbol of an eye appears right on top of its head.

A basic ability enhancer and a tracking skill.

Right then, the first wave of attack comes in.

The tentacles plunge at the armor ferociously from all angles, forcing it to take a stance for defense. At some point, its signature gavel has been replaced by a sizable shield and a green spear.

Antonio, the Judge, is no more. For now, whoever comes out on top gets the right to judge the other.

BOOM—!! BOOM—!! BOOM—!!

Ultrasonic explosions ring in the air, reverberating through the countless rooms of the liminal space as Slen's tentacles collide with the defense layer of the golden armor. Even with the level gap being slightly larger than ten, Slen's tentacles display an unstoppable might against their opponents.

Resilience, speed, accuracy, flexibility. It is as though they are whips dancing in the air.

Nevertheless, the objective needed to achieve this fight is not to overpower the armor with brute force. In terms of pure stamina and power, it is still better.

As if proving Aurora's theory, right when Slen's tentacles lose some momentum, the armor slips out of place and propels itself toward 049, flying across the length of the wiggly, long parts. With its spear pulled back, a deadly attack is prepared.

''Hm.'' 049 calmly stands, hands behind his back.

When the distance between them is close enough, a dark shadow swoops in from the side. A large jaw slams on the armor's wrist, derailing it for a brief moment.

As the spear's direction changes, so does its final destination. With a loud thud, the head of it rams into the ground below. Instinctively feeling something amiss, D-32 quickly abandons its weapon and shakes off the husky before retreating into another corner.

BOOM—!!

A cluster of tentacles strikes right where it has just been, destroying a sizable part of the floor. 

Just like that, the two sides begin to wind up their powers once more. Round after round, Slen and Smiley clash with the eerie husk, neither side yielding one bit to the other.

Yet, even with the addition of numerous supporting attempts from the natives of this realm, squarely defeating this foe seems harder to do. A breakthrough is needed, and the man in black is ready to deliver it.

Aiming at the moment when their opponent is distracted by the spider-like creature, Slen and 049 nod at each other before plunging into the battle. At this point, Antonio's husk turns around after shaking off the other creature, wielding its second spear.

As the hollow eyes scan their enemies, a burst of wind power covers the husk, replenishing for another round of action. This seemingly never-ending source of power stems from Antonio's large MP pool and his efficient mana control.

D-32 calmly anticipates. This body can still be used for much, much longer.

''?!''

Suddenly, Slen disappears completely from its vision. Before it can even process what just happened, an irresistible force ties its whole body to the ground. The tentacles. Worse, those of this time have gotten much stronger as the armor can't move even an inch, no matter what.

With its face kissing the ground, a hand is placed on the back of its scaly head.

''Do not worry, your cure... Is here.''

An ominous black aura bursts out of 049's palm and rapidly devours the former Advent of Justice's body. As 049 wields his power, one by one, the organs inside his patient's scales cease to operate altogether. The brain is shut down, the heart stops pounding, and the eyes, nose, and ears lose their basic functionality.

Soon, it falls completely motionless, marking the end of the battle.

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