“What are you talking about?”
Kurt spoke, looking confused.
So, I repeated myself.
“I’ll fight that giant centipede.”
“……”
They were still frozen in place, but—suddenly coming back to themselves, their eyes widened.
“Y-you’re talking nonsense! It’s reckless!”
“You won’t know until you try.”
“Certainly, you have the incredible talent of the Seventh Demon Horn level. But, as I said before, actual combat isn’t just about magical rankings. And that thing has intelligence. It’s different from the others.”
Intelligence?
Is he talking about that thing that speaks in broken sentences?
“Gishishi… You guys… What… tasty? Am I… tasty? Huh? Who’s tasty? Gigigi…”
The giant centipede was just muttering to itself, confused.
It didn’t look intelligent at all! In fact, now when it’s stopped moving, it’s a perfect opportunity.
“For now, I’ll give it a try.”
“But—”
“If it looks hopeless, I’ll use that teleportation item you mentioned. It’s not too late to do that, right?”
“That’s… Wait, hey!”
I ignored Kurt’s attempts to stop me and stepped in front of the giant centipede.
It’s not like I’m doing this without a plan. I have a good chance of winning.
Earlier, when Kurt attacked with the flame sword, it didn’t leave a scratch on the centipede’s body. Despite being that tough, during the second attack, it managed to strike Kurt and the others down first.
It’s not impossible that it was just acting reflexively, out of annoyance, but I think there was more to it than that.
In my past life, centipedes existed too. Not at this absurd size, of course. But generally, when dealing with centipedes, boiling water was considered more effective and cheaper than insecticides.
I remember when I was young, visiting my grandparents’ house in the countryside, and my grandpa used a kettle of hot water to deal with a large centipede trying to get inside.
The flame sword might not hurt it, but perhaps it instinctively avoided the heat. If so, heat might be effective.
However, casting a fire spell here would probably be ineffective against its tough outer shell, just like Kurt’s attempt.
So, what if I use the steam explosion I used against the black ant swarm? But no, as long as it has that armor-like shell, the heat may not penetrate deeply enough.
I’d need to directly transfer heat inside for it to be effective.
If fire is out, all I have left is water.
Water, huh…
Hmm… It might just work.
With an idea in mind, I immediately activated my demon horn. I infused the magic power with water properties, shaped it, and curved it into an arc.
What I created was a Water Blade, a Water Cutter.
For now, I’ll try using this simple approach.
I unleashed the water blade at the giant centipede. It flew at high speed and struck its abdomen—only to be deflected, turning into a spray of droplets.
As expected, its tough outer shell didn’t seem to take any damage… or so it seemed. I could see that a faint scratch, like a coin scraped against a car’s body, had formed.
This much, huh.
As I considered that, Kurt and the others behind me gave me a look that clearly said, “See, it’s useless, run away now.”
But this was all part of the plan.
I just wanted to see how effective it would be.
If my magic could cause this kind of scratch, then my planned approach should work.
“You… annoying… I will… eat you…”
The giant centipede seemed furious after the attack, focusing entirely on me as its target.
I had to act before it went on a rampage.
Just as I thought that, the giant centipede lunged at me with its jaws.
I quickly enhanced my body with magic and dodged. While avoiding its attack, I began constructing a spell.
I formed a donut-shaped ring with water magic, and in its center, I created a water sphere using another water spell.
“Double-layered magic!? How can that be…”
I heard Kurt’s surprised voice, but I felt like saying something back.
After all, it was Kurt who taught me that I could structure demon horns in three dimensions when detecting magic.
If I can structure demon horns in multiple layers, I should be able to construct more than one spell at a time.
With that in mind, I simply tried it out.
I aimed a water stream through the donut’s hole and directed it at the giant centipede. But just like this, it was no different from a fire hose.
“Ubobo… This is just… cold water… You… fool.”
“I’m not trying to give you a bath. I’m doing this.”
As I focused on the donut-shaped ring, its hole began to tighten. In response, the water stream that passed through it also became thinner.
Eventually, it became so thin that it was no longer a stream—more like a line.
And then, in that instant—
With a soft hiss, the giant centipede’s tough outer shell was sliced through as if it were tofu.
“Gyyaaaah!”
A piercing shriek echoed through the air.
The giant centipede thrashed violently, slamming itself into the ground. Pieces of its shattered armor clattered to the ground like bits of metal.
The ultra-fine water stream had sliced through its tough shell.
How did this happen?
It was thanks to the inspiration I got from a machine in my previous life.
The name is a water jet cutter.
A blade of water that can cut even metal with high water pressure. By increasing the water flow and narrowing the nozzle to its limit, I successfully recreated the water pressure of a water jet cutter.
“The same shell that Kurt’s flame sword couldn’t even scratch… it’s been sliced off…”
“Y-yeah…”
Ayra and Kurt still looked incredulous.
But it wasn’t over yet.
Peeling off a layer of its shell wasn’t enough to finish off the giant centipede.
I had to finish it.
I changed the magic power in my hands to fire properties.
Stretching out my hands, the flames gathered into a spear under my demon horn—
The Flame Spear.
I hurled it at the giant centipede’s exposed muscle.
“Gyofoh!?”
The flame spear pierced it, and the giant centipede let out a brief scream.
Immediately, the orange glow spread throughout its body as if the flames were tearing through capillaries.
The next moment, the centipede’s body shone brightly and then erupted in an explosion, scattering flames everywhere.
Small pieces of flesh rolled around.
The giant centipede had perished without even a final scream.
“Phew…”
I breathed a sigh of relief.
That went better than I thought.
Just like I initially sensed, it wasn’t as strong as it seemed. It was simply tough on the outside.
If you stay calm and handle things, you’ll always find a way.
And we didn’t even have to use the teleportation item. That thing seemed pretty valuable, after all.
I’m glad I didn’t have to use it.
With that thought, I turned back towards Kurt and the others, expecting some shared relief—
“Papa…?”
“He… he really defeated it…”
“Y-yeah…”
Kurt and Ayra stood there, mouths agape, too stunned to even celebrate the victory.
