Battle to Ship Off the Yamata no Orochi (3)
While Alicia was drying my hair, I cast a barrier using spirit magic—stretching it around the area outside where the Yamata no Orochi was.
It was a purification barrier: wind spirits repelled the poison while light spirits cleansed it.
The Yamata no Orochi thrashed violently, all eight heads twisting and writhing in agony.
“Looks like it doesn’t have any resistance to poison.”
“Even if it did, I doubt it could withstand your poison, Princess…”
“Wait—you made poison too!?”
Ah—my brother caught me. He knows I’ve been brewing poisons. My poor cheeks are at his mercy again.
“I’ve told you over and over not to make dangerous things. Why do you always do bad things, hmm?”
“Muhhh—‘m sowwy…”
I really need an international treaty to protect my cheeks. Why do my mother, Big Brother, and Madame all go straight for them? Well, Mother and Madame also go for my butt sometimes—like it’s a drum.
Anyway, that’s for later. I just need to break the chains that bind me and be free. Words like restraint don’t exist in my dictionary. A few others like compromise and peace are missing too, but that’s fine.
The Yamata no Orochi was still struggling. From time to time, it spat out its own clones, which would crawl back into its mouths and spread poison inside once more.
… Wait a minute. Do we even need to bombard it anymore?
“Isn’t the Yamata no Orochi kinda weak?”
“I wonder what kind of poison you used.”
“The poison? It’s mainly VX gas, blended with a few other things—my special mix. Even Helios would die in five minutes. Mr. Coote, though, it wouldn’t affect him.”
Helios was an ancient dragon, so his poison resistance was high, but apparently not enough for my poision. For some reason, Mr. Coote was immune—probably wouldn’t feel a thing.
“Even a venomous monster like the Yamata no Orochi is suffering in hellish agony, yet it doesn’t work on Coote…”
Oh, right. It was supposed to be venomous. I’d forgotten, since I’d never seen it actually use any.
As we watched the beast struggle, one of its heads suddenly turned toward us. Its mouth oozed iridescent, toxic smoke—my poison—and blood, but its eyes still burned with malice.
I could feel it thinking: “I’ll drag you down with me.”
It was about to do something.
The Yamata no Orochi opened its mouth. Probably going to breathe poison, I thought.
Well, even if it did, the barrier would deflect and purify it—but someone else wasn’t willing to wait.
“And who exactly do you think you’re spitting that poison at?”
Takuto, who’d been standing beside me a moment ago, was suddenly standing on top of the Yamata no Orochi’s head.
“When did he—?”
“Teleportation. His activation speed’s even faster than mine,” Alicia murmured.
As expected of a hero chosen by the Goddess. Hero-only spells barely even required chanting—they weren’t general-purpose magic, and could only be used by heroes. That made them worthless to me as research material.
Takuto drew his blade and sliced through the serpent’s neck before it could spew its poison. The severed head hit the ground. What a sharp cut… that sword—was it a holy sword? No, it didn’t feel quite strong enough.
The Goddess must’ve been too weakened to create a true holy sword anymore. With that level of power, even my brother’s sword could snap it in half. A mere sharp blade, nothing more.
Ha! How pathetic, Goddess Anastasia. You’re like a dried sardine after the stock’s been boiled out—perfect for a useless god like you.
Still, it made sense. Without barriers or magic to reinforce its body, even the Yamata no Orochi’s neck could be severed by someone of Takuto’s skill. Magic was what gave defense power—without it, you’re soft as clay.
Oh—wait. The poison!
“Takuto, get back here right now!”
“You called?”
He appeared beside me instantly, teleporting back.
“The poison I used on the Yamata no Orochi—if it so much as touches your skin, you’ll die.”
“I’m fine. I’m immune to poison—and I can use barriers too.”
He’s immune to poison too? Well, Father’s mostly immune as well…
Me? Of course it works on me. If I got close right now, I’d die. My mixed poison included several that absorbed through the skin.
Still, I’d make sure to get a blood sample from Takuto. He refused at first, but when I asked if he was confident he could endure my poison without a barrier, he handed it over easily.
Hehehe… I’ve got a sample of the Hero’s blood!
“You’re making that wicked face again,” Alicia sighed.
“I swear, one of these days she’s gonna start mass-producing my clones…”
God forbids cloning, you know. Which means if a god forbids it… it’s probably worth doing, right? Following divine rules just makes you a divine livestock.
Not that I’ll actually do it. I’m curious about creating enhanced humans using Hero DNA, but I don’t feel like making any.
The biggest reason is—I just can’t be bothered. Making clones requires a surrogate womb, after all, and that means the result wouldn’t be pure—it would carry traces of the mother’s influence. Back on Earth, I solved that by inventing an artificial womb that completely eliminated maternal interference, but building that kind of setup here would be a huge hassle. Like, enormous.
After all, I—Iris—was the only one who could make it.
And since I’d disguised and destroyed the research data before escaping, even if someone on Earth tried to reconstruct it, they’d be wasting time and money chasing corrupted data. Serves them right.
Anyway, for now I just plan to analyze the Hero’s poison resistance. Let’s see what it’s really made of.
“Well, we’ll do that later. Takuto, your barriers should protect you from the poison, but just in case, put on this protective suit.”
“… So I’m gonna look like Lord Vader now, huh?”
“It’s fine! It’s designed to withstand a meltdown inside a nuclear reactor, Level 4 biohazard labs, and even limited activity in outer space!”
“… Why is it that advanced? Are you…?”
“Oh-ho, don’t pry~.”
Why I made it is classified. All I’ll say is: tools get made because they’re needed. Simple as that.
“Anyway, Takuto, I need you to slice off all the remaining heads.”
“Easy enough.”
The Yamata no Orochi was already thrashing violently from the pain, and though its severed heads began to regenerate, the poison was slowing the process. It used to heal at terrifying speed—but now it was sluggish, prioritizing detoxification over regeneration.
Each time it spat out clones, they’d collapse, then crawl back inside through its mouths to spread more poison. Then it would convulse and spit them out again.
We had anti-toxin barriers all around, so we were perfectly safe. No way I’d die from my own poison—I’d already prepared countermeasures.
As soon as Takuto nodded, he vanished, and another head hit the ground a heartbeat later.
“When did he—?” Alicia gasped.
Yeah, his teleportation really was fast. The instant he cut one head, he was already slicing another. I could do that too… maybe… if I tried really, really hard.
Within seconds, every head was down. As expected of someone who’d inherited the Goddess’s final chosen power—an absolute balance breaker. One of the clones even peeked out of a severed neck stump before slipping back inside again. Maybe it was cozy in there.
But the creature still wasn’t dead—it had mana left. Regeneration began again.
“Can it only regenerate one head at a time?”
“Most likely. Multiple regenerations at once would slow the process dramatically,” Eibon replied.
So the Yamata no Orochi must’ve judged Takuto a serious threat and opted to heal one at a time. But that was useless—each new head was sliced off the moment it appeared.
I spun a lasso above my head, cowboy-style.
“What are you doing, Princess?”
“I just really want one of those heads.”
I flung the restraint rope—another magic tool. Originally designed for Father, but it worked on monsters too. It wrapped around a fallen head and began pulling it toward me automatically. Handy thing. Father sometimes broke it in half when resisting, though… even though it’s as strong as steel wire.
Anyway, I dragged the severed head into the treasury.
With the help of light spirits, I purified the poison and examined it.
“Don’t you think these eyes could be refined into Aion Eyes?”
“Indeed, that seems quite feasible. Most fascinating,” Eibon nodded.
What caught my interest were the Yamata no Orochi’s eyes—they could probably be turned into a powerful magic device.
Inside the captured magic warship from the Empire, we’d found a massive stockpile of ancient books. No idea why. It also contained computer-like devices that wouldn’t boot up—locked behind biological authentication. They might hold data about what destroyed the Ancient Magic Dynasty, so we’re still trying to crack them.
The computers were useless for now, but the ancient texts alone were priceless enough to drive the entire Magical Development Bureau insane. Each one was a national treasure—and if the Magic Kingdom ever learned we had them, they’d probably declare war immediately.
Most of them were grimoires or alchemy manuals from the ancient era. Thanks to those, the Arland Kingdom now had the potential to surpass the Magic Kingdom itself.
The warship itself, minus the computer and magic equipment, was being dismantled for materials to build the King Draconia-class magic battleship. The lead ship, King Draconia, already had its front half stripped down.
The mages in the Magical Development Bureau were crying, but hey—we weren’t using it, so it was just scrap anyway.
The “Aion Eyes” were weapons found aboard that warship—magitech cannons that fired concentrated thermal beams using a magically mineralized monster eye as the core. Everything except the eye component could be reproduced with current tech.
“Hehehe… once I mass-produce these, I can line them up along the border like Moai statues and play Easter Island!”
“I am unfamiliar with that island, but… that would make for a fearsome frontier indeed.”
Once this battle’s over, I’ll set them up to prepare for the Empire’s next invasion.
But first, the heads.
“Takuto, work hard and keep mass-producing those heads.”
“… You really know how to drain a guy’s spirit.”
He’ll be the head-hunter tribe for a while. It’ll be fine—it’ll be over soon.
“Alright! While Takuto’s chopping off the heads, begin the installation!”
“Ugh, such a pain.”
“Do it yourself.”
“Just die already.”
My clones were in their rebellious phase.
“Quit whining and get to work!”
““““Uuugh—fine!””””
They grabbed their supply bags and swarmed the Yamata no Orochi. Each time it regenerated a head, Takuto lopped it off again—no resistance possible.
By the time the sun began to set, guillotines were installed at the base of every one of the creature’s necks.
“Muhahaha… now the heads will collect themselves automatically!”
“SKYAAAAAAA!!!”
The moment the Yamata no Orochi screamed in rage, another head fell off with a thud.
And then the guillotines reset themselves. Perfect. Automatic decapitation system: complete.
When I looked around proudly, the Arland group wore uneasy smiles, while the Land of Tranquility delegation was completely pale.
“SKYAAAAAAAAAA!!!”
Across the battlefield, only the roars of the enraged Yamata no Orochi and the steady rhythm of severed heads hitting the ground echoed through the air.
What do you think about this chapter?
