That machine angel Haniel, she had the same red eyes as Myne, and was similar to when I was in starving state.

I dont want to think like this, but I felt like there was something that connected us.

[Myne, that child at the core.]

At the same time I said that, Haniels core stared at me.

I was immediately attacked by immense pressure, that its hard for me to breathe.

This is this is the same as me. When both of my eyes turned red, Im able to frighten anyone I stare at as long as they have lower stats than me.

Of course, Haniel does have much higher stats than I do.

Greed then said through theMind Reading

Move your eyes away. If you keep looking at her eyes, youll be frightened and rendered unable to even fight.

Damn, I never thought the day will come when I had to look away from my opponent.

So what should I do? I cant fight properly if I stare at the cores eyes.

This is really bad.its embarrassing to let Myne see me in this condition.

[Dont fall over just from such thing. Man up.]

[Even if you say that]

I tried looking at Haniels core once more. Yeah, I immediately felt my body stiffened.

Really, what should I do?

The enemy didnt feel like waiting though. It immediately started attacking with its six limbs.

[It cant be helped. Fate attack its leg until you can get used to the pressure. Ill handle the more troublesome core. However, the deciding blow has to be done by the Gluttony skill owner.]

[Could it be, that deciding blow.as I thought.]

[Yes, youll have to attack the core.]

Of course. We need to destroy its core to properly defeat it.

However, there was that girl in the core. Itll be hard for me to cut her down,

[That thing is no longer human. Its a monster disguised as human. Dont get fooled by its appearance.]

[..But]

[Youll die if you keep thinking that way. Fate, incoming attack!]

[Whaat!]

Haniels core moved its hands and created bluish fire balls. Circling itself with it.

Them it pounded the ring of flame into the ground. The devastating heat caused the ground who came in contact with it to turn into lava.

An indirect magical attack. This is bad, even if I switched to scythe form, I wont be able to dispel it.

I could only looked at the red wall heading toward me like tsunami, waiting for Myne to solve this.

Because the core had human form, I couldnt get myself to feel worked up. It was trying to kill us. But even so, I didnt know if I could muster up enough courage to face it.

There was no choice. I switched to black bow form, and ready myself to sacrifice some stats.

While I was thinking about that, Myne moved forward and swung her black axe.

[Get behind me. Fate cover with magic arrow. When youre ready, well attack together. Alright?]

[O-okay, roger that. But, how will you stop that?]

[Ill do this, ei!]

The shout sounded pretty, but the swinging of the black axe was intense.

The impact blew back the approaching wall of lava back. So strong that it was enough to reach Haniel and make it fall on its knees.

[Now then, lets get started. Fate keep Haniel restricted.]

[Ill do my best so as not to hold you back.]

[Thats the spirit.]

Myne approached Haniel, and swung at its right arm.

The core cried in pain. Blood trickled out of its red eyes.

[Kuu.damn it.]

Again, I accidentally looked into the cores eyes. I quickly turned away and get moving.

Im tasked with duty of restricting Haniels movement. So that Myne can attack effectively.

Since thats the case, the magic I needed to imbue into the magic arrow is obvious.

I drew the black bow, and knocked the magic arrow. Then imbued it with Dust magic. Producing a petrifying magic arrow.

Even the crown tier monster like Lich Lord was turned to stone by it. Now that my stats are higher than before, I should be able to petrify some parts of the machine angel.

I aimed at tone of Haniels feet, and release the magic arrow.

The core was writhing in pain. Even if it tried to forcefully stand up, its body was like attached to the ground.

[Alright, thats a success.]

Too early to celebrate, Fate

Greed drew my attention via Mind Reading.

Oioi, is that even possible? Ill just shoot it again with more petrification arrows.

The petrified leg was returning to its original state at a visible rate. What is that? Some kind of recovery ability? The level was way too high compared to my Auto Recovery.

Not just the foot. The arm that Myne had cut off is also growing back at visible pace.

[What the hell with this recovery ability]

Its a military biological weapon. Its designed to fight alone on unspecified duration. That level of damage will only get recovered immediately. Youll have to continue restricting it until Myne is able to strike a fatal blow. After that, youll have to deliver the finishing attack.

This was a huge responsibility. If Im late even a little bit, the Haniel would just recover and wed have to start all over again.

No matter how strong Myne was, I cant simply rely on her alone, itll just hinder her.

I had to do this properly.

But before that, I needed to create an opening for her. I shot another petrification arrow.

This should stop the troublesome creature a little.

[Myne! Are you ready?]

[No problem]

As long as its movement was restricted, its good for Myne to go. She cut away at the growing arm again and also the other arm. Her axe seemed to grow stronger with each blow.

I asked for Greeds thought while supporting Myne with petrification arrows.

[Is Mynes black axe power goes up every time she attacks with it?]

Well, you can say it that way. The attack power rises as you attack. But the weight also increases. In other words, although it doesnt have upper ceiling in term of attack power, it also gets harder to wield it overtime.

[oh, so thats why..thats why the ground collapsed when Myne put the axe down.]

If the attack power increment from fighting the orcs was maintained, then the black axe will have a tremendous weight right now. Its evident from how each of Mynes step created a deep cavity on the ground.

That weaponSloth has great destructive power, but it greatly hampered its wielders agility in return due to its progressively increasing weight.

[But the way I see it now, Mynes speed isnt slowing down yet.]

No, shes gradually slowing down. Why do you think she asked you to restrict Haniel in the first place?

Unn, its only a little, but she does get slowed down now.

Meanwhile, Myne managed to blow away Haniels head with the black axe.

The cores cries became even louder. Its face was drenched in blood.

I couldnt look directly into its eyes since it frightens me, as if those eyes naturally shoot out fear out of it.

Suddenly the air around us changed. What the!? Whats with this unpleasant pressure!?

Greed immediately warned me.

Chi, this is bad. Well have to defeat it as soon as possible, it has reached its adulthood. Fate, be careful!

[Adulthood!? What!?]

Myne who had been fighting Haniel jumped away in retreat.

She landed next to me. The weight of the axe caused the ground to unexpectedly dented. Making me to lose balance in the aftermath.

[Fate, behind me. An attack stronger than before is incoming.]

Apparently, the adult Haniel thought that it had gained enough power to wipe us out.

Myne knew this, to the point she retreated from the fight to cover for me.

To be honest, I feel both thankful and miserable at the the same time. This way, can it still be called working together anymore?

I cant say that for sure.

Then, what if I have the power to fight it head on? Hmm~. I can only try.

[Greed, do you think it will be enough if I do that?]

I knew youll say that. However, never forget to not push yourself too hard. Its quite a different matter going over there by yourself. Youll get swallowed if you went too far. Never forget that.

[Yeah, I understand. Ill show you that I wont get swallowed by the Gluttony skill since Ive come this far.]

Come! I called upon the Gluttony skill.

Usually, I devoted myself to suppress the hunger of Gluttony skill at bay. But this time, its the other way around.

In order to fight Haniel on an even ground, I had to unleash the gluttony skill starving state. In order to gain that physical abilities boost, I dared myself to invoke the hungry beast within me.

I felt and unknown thing wandered inside my body. Then, I started to feel the hunger for souls in a blink of an eye.

..this gradual sharpening of body sensation.

Do not step past this limit. Suppress the gluttony skill to not cross that line.yosh, its done.

Myne was surprised upon seeing what I did.

[That reddened right eye. To control half of the Gluttony skill through sheer will alone.that much after such a short period.]

[Even I have to step up sometimes. I dont want Myne to treat me like a child forever.]

[Ooh, how reliable. Fine, Ill consider you as an adult if we won this battle.]

[Even if you dont, I will still win this. Lets go!]

At this point, I can only control the Gluttony skills hunger for a limited time. Well have to defeat Haniel before my mind broke down, and I had to consume its soul since Ill definitely get swallowed by the skill otherwise. This was something I shouldnt do unless Im very sure that I can defeat the enemy with it.

The risk was high, but its necessary to even out the match. Regardless, since Im the owner of the Gluttony skill, Ill eventually have to make use of it anyways.

This is a power you cant trust. Ill keep looking for the best way to coexist with it. One of the answer is to learn how to draw out its power when needed.

I stared at the adult Haniels red eyes. There was no fear or pressure this time around.

Thanks to semi-starving state, I was able to negate Haniels pressure. This way I could fight at the front line along side Myne.

I drew out the black sword, and brandished it toward the four winged Haniel. Even now, the core was still shedding tears of blood.