The legend of the Crimson Demon clan started from Suqing

#226 - The Golden Scarlet Eyes That Never Go Out

While Zun Zun's side was engaged in a fierce battle, the other side was equally intense, with a thick, bloody scent wafting over.

They were clearly upwind.

This was enough to show how intense the battle was on the other side.

"You're actually looking elsewhere?"

The charming woman's resentful voice entered his ears, not missing Zun Zun's momentary pause, and the gut hunter lunged forward, brandishing her blade at him.

Like a yandere girl, she wanted to kill the person she liked for shifting their gaze elsewhere, utterly unreasonable.

Zun Zun grabbed her wrist and crushed it, and the woman moaned as if satisfied.

He had no solution for this kind of Duem.

"Pretending to shift your attention? Such brilliant acting. Or are you inviting me?"

"...Do you also want to dance?"

Although this sentence should not have been said at this time, Elsa glanced charmingly at Zun Zun, her captivating eyes seemingly accepting the invitation.

Although an alluring atmosphere permeated between the two, they had no such intention; hidden beneath the temptation was endless killing intent.

After talking, they understood one thing.

That was, the two of them simply could not understand each other. There was fundamentally no option for mutual understanding; they couldn't even tolerate each other. All they could do was fight to the death.

"—Kill you!"

"After killing you, I will begin to love you."

After expressing their 'feelings,' they clashed fiercely again.

The deadly blade transformed into light, violently cutting and shattering everything around them, and Zun Zun dodged back and forth amidst the blade feathers.

His sword intent was well-established, but the only gap that couldn't be bridged was skill. In 'Grounded,' he had fought many swordsmen, but those people were just students; their talent, potential, and abilities were strong, but their swordsmanship and combat were relatively immature.

However, under the gut hunter's constant pressure, Zun Zun's swordsmanship skills began to skyrocket, from barely parrying to now being on par with her.

He was becoming increasingly skilled.

A cheerful smile appeared on Zun Zun's lips, and Elsa also wore a bloodthirsty smile of a warrior.

Shoulders, abdomen, feet, forehead—the blade grazed him, but Zun Zun didn't care. The continuous reduction of his stamina couldn't stop his soaring fighting spirit. Completely abandoning defense, Zun Zun fought with the gut hunter, erupting with a roar from his soul.

At the cost of his right leg being stabbed by a white jade dagger, he forcibly crushed Elsa's left hand, confiscating her magic tool for restoring stamina.

Zun Zun didn't stop.

He couldn't feel any pain now.

With his modern knowledge, he knew very well that this was the effect of adrenaline, releasing the brain's protection mechanism. But this was temporary; when the hot blood cooled and the fresh blood dried up, it meant he was about to die.

His defenseless left side was also injured by countless slashes, blood covering his entire body, but even so, it couldn't hide his scarlet eyes.

Elsa was completely entranced.

She stepped on the ground, stomping hard to create a sonic boom, and rotated her body to strike Zun Zun with the fastest blow of her life, a speed so fast that it was impossible to react.

"—I'm gonna explode!"

Cherry, who had been waiting for a long time, unleashed a powerful impact at this moment, and Elsa's black curved blade also slipped out of her hand due to a momentary lapse.

Of course, Zun Zun wouldn't let go of this opportunity, grabbing the curved blade and completely crushing it.

The gut hunter wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth.

Her smile was like that of a lovesick woman, seemingly becoming more fond of Zun Zun, transforming into a black shadow and pouncing again.

"You can't think I only have two weapons, oh."

The sweet voice carried gentle care, but two curved blades glittered with terrifying cold light.

These were the gut hunter's original weapons.

Because she had appeared with black and white blades, Zun Zun simply hadn't remembered that she originally had her own weapons. In the exchange, his shoulder blade was stabbed by a short blade. Although he broke the curved blade in an instant, the wound had been made, and fresh blood splattered on the gut hunter's delicate cheeks.

The gut hunter stuck out her tongue, licking the blood on her cheeks, her cheeks flushed as if enjoying something.

"Delicious..."

Like tasting sweet wine.

X's moaning was charming, but this kind of morbidity made people avoid her even more.

While the gut hunter was enjoying herself, Zun Zun had already attacked again, the deadly blade and lightning intersecting and colliding.

A crisp sound.

Zun Zun's left hand was damaged beyond use, and Elsa's right wrist was also shattered, but the gut hunter had a crazy desire for Zun Zun's blood. She slightly opened her mouth, revealing sharp teeth, and bit towards Zun Zun's lips.

Seemingly trying to kiss, but actually trying to hurt him.

Zun Zun would never let her succeed. In the instant of approaching, he once again condensed his own magic power, and then erupted like a volcano!

"—I'm gonna explode!"

The impact was even more violent than the previous two times, and Elsa, who was blasted away, let out a cheerful laugh.

"Heh heh heh... Hahahaha...!"

She fell to the ground and rolled several times, her entire body scratched by the gravel on the ground, and even because the posture of flying out was wrong, her neck twisted in a strange direction.

However, even so, the laughter didn't stop.

An incomparably terrifying scene.

Zun Zun knelt on the ground, gasping for breath, his left hand completely ruined, his right leg almost unable to move, his stamina and magic power bottoming out, he was already exhausted and on the verge of despair.

But.

Why was it...

Zun Zun didn't feel lost or despair because of this. On the contrary, he seemed to have grasped the key to victory.

Elsa struggled to get up from the ground, her wounds constantly repairing, becoming spotless again... No, it wasn't like that. Although her neck had recovered, the wounds on her body hadn't been repaired, and a large amount of blood was still flowing, also dyeing her red.

This meant that the cursed doll had also reached its limit.

"But it's really a pity."

"Ha... ha..."

"You seem to be unable to move before I am."

Elsa looked regretfully at Zun Zun, who was kneeling on the ground, his chest constantly heaving like a bellows. Clearly she was his enemy, but she was regretting and lamenting that he couldn't continue fighting.

If there was no rescue, Zun Zun would definitely die.

At least, that's what the gut hunter thought.

However, those scarlet eyes... those eyes that made the gut hunter feel infatuated for the first time, containing not despair, nor retreat, with absolutely no intention of begging for mercy.

The bright red eyes were captivating, making Elsa's heart flutter.

"Indeed... I have no stamina or magic power now, and I'm already at the end of my rope, right? But big sister, you probably don't know that the more desperate the Crimson Demons are, the more excited they become! All the equations for victory are complete!"

The latest novels are available at Six Nine Book Bar!

"Then show it to me!"

The gut hunter stepped forward, lunging forward, her speed far less than before, but it wasn't something that Zun Zun, who was at his wit's end, could contend with.

But under her puzzled gaze, Zun Zun slowly stretched out his right hand forward.

What was that...?

Under her perception, she didn't know what was gathering in front of Zun Zun. The breeze constantly gathered, and although there was no aura of magic power, it made people feel unusually uneasy.

Was it a blessing?

Or... a power?

Elsa didn't know, but she clearly knew that if she waited any longer, the person who lost would definitely be herself.

The gut hunter, who had wandered the realm of life and death many times, squeezed out all the strength in her body at this moment, raising her right hand high, the deadly curved blade transforming into the scythe of the Grim Reaper, the bloody smell assailing her nostrils.

At this moment, Zun Zun finally condensed his strongest weapon.

He was definitely going to win this time!

...Eh?

The confident smile on Zun Zun's face vanished when he grasped the formless sword.

So heavy!

Really so heavy!

Zun Zun had overlooked the fact that the formless sword would become heavier after coming to the new world. No, to be precise, he hadn't thought that it would change from the original 2 times to 4 times!

(Grounded 1x, Konosuba 2x, Re:Zero 4x)

This was bad, bad, bad!

Zun Zun never thought that he would fail at this time. Could it be that he would really fall short?

He bit his teeth unwillingly.

He couldn't stop the gut hunter's advance, and moreover, with such a heavy formless sword, even if he could swing it, he wouldn't be able to make it in time. He would be cut open before he could swing the sword.

If he had asked Reinhard for help earlier, if he hadn't made an enemy of the gut hunter, if he hadn't been reckless and gone back earlier.

There wasn't time to think about these things at all.

Or rather, the moment these useless thoughts surfaced, they were cut off by Zun Zun without reservation.

He didn't think about how to survive, or rather, thinking about these things was disrespectful to his own life. He needed to consider how to kill the gut hunter in front of him.

Also squeezing out the last bit of stamina in his body, Zun Zun slowly swung the formless sword in his hand.

Almost!

He had to do it before she arrived!

A method!

A method to hinder her advance!

A smell different from blood, rust, trees, etc., lingered in his nose, a smell that Zun Zun had never smelled before, making people feel trembling and resistant.

It was the smell of death.

Zun Zun looked directly into the gut hunter's eyes for the first time, her dark eyes carrying doting and joy, but still unable to hide the killing intent hidden in the deepest part.

Ah, so that's it.

The gut hunter would always prioritize killing the enemy, which was why she said the declaration 'Kill you, then love you.'

The difference between the two was never martial strength.

But awareness!

After understanding this fact, Zun Zun seemed to have opened his mind. His killing intent didn't decrease, but he no longer thought about anything else, but focused wholeheartedly on the person in front of him.

—Mutual draw!

This was a move that Zun Zun had used when dueling with Toudou Touka, a special skill that used his own mental power to suppress the opponent.

Elsa's body stiffened for a moment.

Now!

Zun Zun used his originally unmovable left hand, forcibly swinging the formless sword in his hand.

"—Drink, aaaaaah! Give me, catch up, aaaaaah! Take this! Let's see who's tougher!"

Even knowing that she would be hit, Elsa didn't dodge, staring at Zun Zun until the last moment.

Flowing with blood but with eyes constantly burning, her body tattered but exuding a belief in victory, the Zun Zun in front of her made her breathing become rapid, speaking the feelings that welled up from the depths of her heart to the red-eyed, black-haired boy.

"—I'm trembling with excitement."

The formless sword slashed across the gut hunter's body, but her body didn't split in two because of this, but stopped in mid-air, as if she had been paused.

Then, like a vampire in anime and novels being exposed to the sun, Elsa's body began to collapse, turning into ash and dissipating into the air.

"I told you not to stare at the guts."

Zun Zun covered his blood-flowing stomach, murmuring like that.

— — — —

I wrote a little more, after all, if there are no accidents, this should be the only two battles of Zun Zun in "Re:Zero".