abcnovels
Chapter 131
Chapter 131
Chapter 131 - Benetnash’s Attack That Dug a Hole
Raw link: (2016/11/07)
Translator: twomorefreethoughts / TpstT (2019/12/08)
Editor 1: Hand of Vecna (2019/12/24)
Editor 2: Keii (2019/12/26)
Translation link:
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When Benetnash opened her eyes, she was in her own familiar room, within her coffin (bed).
However, do not be too quick to ridicule it just because it was a coffin. After all, the coffin was a first-class luxury item specifically made for her and was inlaid with a top-tier quilt stuffed with feathers that was crafted by the kingdom’s alchemists so that she would be able to pass her time in comfort. It was one of Benetnash’s favourite items.
However, that was not the issue currently. The issue was that she had just woken up as per normal.
The reason was because she had challenged Ruphas to the best of her abilities, lost, then should have died...
"Ohhh, you have awakened, Princess!?"
The one who noticed straight away and reacted to Benetnash’s awakening was a vampire who had been serving her for the past few hundred years.
That vampire was an individual who had been alive since the transformation of the first progenitor of the vampire race and had sworn eternal loyalty to the race. Right now, this living witness of the olden times had a slightly distorted face full of wrinkles and was joyful from the bottom of his heart that his master had opened her eyes.
Furthermore, after hearing him speak, ten vampires came charging into the room with just enough speed so that the doors were not smashed into pieces.
The ten of them were survivors from the battle 200 years ago and each individual possessed enough power to destroy a kingdom on their own.
They were a group named "The Ten Blood Ancestors" and it was needlessly evident that they were created and named whilst being conscious of Ruphas’s "Tyrannical Twelve Stars".[1]
Benetnash was looking at their faces which were overflowing with endless joy, but there was only confusion and a multitude of questions inside her head.
".... Why am I alive?"
The attack that she had received at the end of that battle was, without a doubt, fatal.
She had, without mistake, been impaled through her heart.
However unparalleled Benetnash’s regenerative ability was, with her heart impaled, she should not have been able to stay alive.
She had definitely sensed her life slipping away along with the blood which dripped out of her.
She could recall how she became numb, starting from her fingertips, and that lethargic feeling as if she was slowly sinking down into a deep darkness.
She had believed that if there ever came a time when she next opened her eyes, it would be in the land of the dead, and if such a world did truly exist, she was thinking that she would give Alioth and the rest who had passed away before her a good punch.
Yet why was it that she was still alive and in the place where she currently was?
"It is because of Amrita, my lady. The ultimate spirit medicine which cures the consumer regardless of their wounds or sicknesses and even resurrects the dead. Ruphas-sama had administered that medicine to you before you passed away."
"What? But I don’t remember her doing something like that...."
Whilst saying as such, Benetnash thought back to the events of that time.
Wait. Was there really nothing?
Was there not actually something that happened, that she could think of?
Yes, exactly, that happened shortly after she had asked Ruphas to hold her... she recalled that there was some kind of fluid which flowed within her mouth.
At the time, she had believed that it was her own blood...[2]
"..."
......... She got me.
While I was fragilely and uncharacteristically asking to be embraced at the time, Ruphas was nonchalantly shoving amrita into my mouth.
Waa, how embarrassing. What an incredibly stupid scene.
Not to mention, this meant that even though Ruphas knew that I was going to be saved, she was playing along with me.
Benetnash’s face was dyed red in no time and she trembled in embarrassment.
She was terribly regretful of the fact that she had run her mouth and said embarrassing things such as "hold me" and "thank you" thinking that it was the end of the line for her.
".... t out."
"Princess?"
"Everyone, get outtt-!"
It was a brilliant showcase of someone venting at a bystander.
Her subordinates were completely uninvolved and innocent. There was no reason for her to be angry towards them.
However, at that moment, Benetnash just felt like venting at anyone she could find.
She kicked all of her subordinates out of the room then closed the coffin’s lid and holed herself up inside.
Yet, even then, she could not get rid of the bashfulness, thus she rolled around inside in anguish.
The coffin which was specifically made for her was actually fairly wide.
"~~~~!!"
She rolled herself in her (Japanese) bedding and screamed voicelessly inside the coffin.
Embarrassing, sooo embarrassing!
Just then, Ruphas must have been laughing at me inside.
No, maybe she was actually laughing.
I remember that, sometimes, she actually had that kind of nasty personality.
And I was so uncool, sooo uncool!
"Thank you..." dammit!
... I want to go back to the past right now and punch myself! And while I’m at it, I want to punch Ruphas like 100 times.
No, 100 times is not good enough. I have to take a mounting position and punch her like 10 000 times.
- On this day, the history of the Vampire Princess was scarred by an unerasable black mark.
That scar would remain on her for eternity and would serve as the fuel to fire her goal of defeating Ruphas.
By the time she had finally managed to make a comeback from the "damage" that she had suffered and get out of her coffin, a whole full day’s worth of time had already passed.
*
Benetnash crossed her arms in front of Ruphas and stared at her with an angered expression due to the fact that her rival was, of all things, somehow getting cornered by someone other than herself.
It was the same as 200 years ago. Even though Ruphas had made a promise to battle with her, Ruphas made a blunder and ended up being sealed away. And this time, even after Ruphas had won against her, she was getting cornered by mere spirits.
Yeah, I know already. It’s just me getting angry on my own. I was the one who raised the bar on my own and now that things didn’t go the way I wanted them to, I became angry on my own. I realise that’s no different from a tantrum displayed by a child and that I’m just putting my own selfish and unreasonable expectations onto others.
However, emotion and reason were two different things. It just so happened that Benetnash had ended up prioritising her emotions.
That was why she could not stand it. That was why she was angry. She wanted to shout, "What the hell are you doing!?"
Therefore, she opened her mouth to try and say one or two of her complaints... but before she could do so, Ruphas spoke up first.
"You saved me there, Benet. Honestly, that was quite a dangerous situation."
The Ruphas who said this to her with a warm smile did not have a speck of surprise for the current situation where Benetnash suddenly appeared alive and well.
And it was only natural. It was Ruphas who had made Benetnash drink the amrita, as such, it must have been within her considerations that Benetnash would show up in front of her again sooner or later.
To begin with, there was no way Ruphas would kill Benetnash in the first place.
It was because Benetnash was someone who was effectively like a guardian that allowed the humanoids to continue existing. Furthermore, Ruphas was not someone who was unable to understand the consequences of what would happen if such an individual was to be killed.
Due to Ruphas’s reaction, Benetnash lost her initiative and even forgot the complaints that she was going to say, so instead, she looked away from Ruphas with a pout.
"Don’t be mistaken. It’s not like I came here with the purpose of helping you or anything. I just don’t like the idea that you might get beaten by someone other than me."
Benetnash looked away from Ruphas and directed her gaze towards Alioth and the rest once more.
And when she did, what she felt was... — Disappointment. Anger.
Mafahl is too, but beyond that, what the hell is with these guys? What exactly are you doing in this place?
Even after you kept crying and saying that you made a mistake after what happened 200 years ago, it’s come to this again. Are you planning to repeat the cycle all over again?
"But beyond that... what’s not to my liking is... you guys, dead spirits. It’s said that stupidity won’t be cured until death, but for you guys, even after death, you’re not cured of your stupidity."
Benetnash had never once regretted the road she had chosen.
Although she had just recently regretted the embarrassing words she had spoken, she would still never regret the choices she had made. It was because that would be a betrayal to herself.
Therefore, regardless of the outcome that resulted from her decision, she would accept it and move forward. Whether that was good or bad, it was the way she chose to live her life.
As such, she disdained Alioth and the rest. And she disdained the one who manipulated Alioth and the rest even more.
She was annoyed at the ones who were doing something whilst knowing they would later come to regret it, and as for the one who was making them do it, they were completely out of the question.
"I originally came with the plan of punching Mafahl... but there’s been a change of plans. I can’t bear to look at you guys right now. Before you guys can do anything more unsightly, I’ll send you guys back to hell."
"Benet."
"Move, Mafahl. You’re being postponed."
Benetnash’s crimson eyes were filled with anger.
What exactly was that anger directed towards...? Was it perhaps directed at the disappointing Alioth and the rest?
Or perhaps it was anger towards the Goddess for playing with the individuals who once stood side-by-side with her as heroes even after their deaths?
Or just maybe, it was both of those reasons, or maybe even for a completely different reason. For Benetnash, it did not matter which of those options it was.
What was important was the emotion that she was feeling at that moment. Reason and logic would follow shortly afterwards.
I will crush them to a pulp - right now, that was her form of justice as indicated by her heart.
That justice might have been derived from Benetnash simply not liking what Alioth and the rest were doing, thus she wanted to punch them. It also might have been derived from her feeling of wanting to liberate them.
But yet again, for Benetnash, even the underlying reason for why it was her justice was irrelevant. It was because regardless of whatever reason it might have been, it did not change what she had to do.
Benetnash kicked the ground.
Just from her taking a single step, the surface of the planet gouged in, changing the terrain, whilst the Vampire Princess herself became a silver shooting star which assaulted the heroes.
By dilating the time she experienced to the extreme, the time around her effectively ceased moving such that everything except for light was unable to enter the world she was in, turning it into a world where the flow of time was as close to zero as possible.
In terms of speed, she was moving at over Mach 400 000. At half the speed of light, that was a world which operated near light speed.[3] That was the domain Benetnash resided in.
And since she had matched her perception of time to that speed, if an ordinary person were to live for a duration of one second, she would have been able to manoeuvre for one year’s worth of time.
However, her opponents were the Seven Heroes. Alioth barely but somehow managed to reach the same world as her as he swung his sword.
"Different, huh."
- Clash.
Benetnash’s claws sliced off one of Alioth’s arms, and without even looking back, she moved on to attack the Beast King.
Dubhe, who had previously gotten blown away by Leon, was down on his knee, however, after sensing Benetnash’s bloodlust, he proceeded to try and receive her attack.
Dubhe howled and slammed down his strong arms filled with beastly strength.
Nevertheless, Benetnash decided to take that attack head-on. Subsequently, she used her thin arms to stop Dubhe.
Due to the strength of the two of them, the ground below them caved in, whilst the two of them stopped moving.
A short contest of strength ensued... What followed was Dubhe’s arms losing in strength against those of Benetnash’s as he was lifted up by her.
"You’re also different."
A single slash of her silvery claws.
A red flower bloomed whilst one of Dubhe’s arms danced in the air.
The next to be targeted was Mizar who was locked in a battle against Aigokeros.
Mizar immediately created multiple layers of strong walls and attempted to prevent Benetnash’s attack, however, she charged right into those steel walls from the front, shattered them and cut his feet off. Phecda quickly fled the scene, nevertheless, she easily caught up to him and gouged his torso out.
"You and you too!"
The silver shooting star rapidly flew around.
Its movement was so fast that it even left the concept of time far behind itself whilst disallowing Alioth and the others from even touching it.
Correction, even if they were able to touch it, there would not be any significant damage done to it.
It was because if one wished to defeat her, they would have to continually deal attacks which out-damaged her abnormally high regenerative abilities.
Within a decasecond, the Sword King’s blade slashed a hundred times.
The Beast King fiercely punched with a speed so fast that his fist looked like it multiplied.
The Smith King transmuted so many blades that it fully covered the sky like rain.
The Adventure King’s storm of arrows reached its intended destination before sound could do so.
All of those attacks only ever managed to hit Benetnash’s afterimage, creating a comical scene where nothing hit anything.
"Too slow, too lukewarm, too dull! What exactly are you playing at? This is so ridiculous, I can’t even say anything. This is boring. You lot, when did you... When did you guys all become this much of a wimp?!"
The Vampire Princess howled.
Alioth and the rest were not weak. If anything, now that they had the backing of the Goddess, their statuses were superior to what they previously had.
However, they were empty. Their hearts were not into it. They had no bloodlust.
With the way things were, they were no different from dolls which had copied their abilities and movements. As if such worthless toys would be able to take the Vampire Princess down.
At that moment, Benetnash used her arm to purposefully catch Alioth’s attack which he swung down with all of his might, letting the blade sink into her bones.
Looking at this scene, Benetnash felt a sense of disappointment. She even almost felt sad.
Even though you devoted your whole life to your sword and that devotion was strong enough for me to recognise you, look at you now.
To not even be able to take off my arm which I presented to you, how truly pitiful you have become.
"How pitiful, Alioth. If you were as you were before, you would have cut my arm away and probably would have sliced right down to my waist from my shoulder just then."
At this moment, Dubhe punched Benetnash.
For this as well, Benetnash decided to purposefully receive it with one of her arms.
The bones in her hand cracked and turned in an angle it should not have.
Yet, she only felt disappointment and nothing more.
"The strength of the Beast King who’s able to shatter the great land is only this much, huh. If you were the Beast King that I knew back then, you would have at least splattered my arm just now."
Benetnash sighed like she was exasperated from the bottom of her heart and moved to counterattack.
Against Alioth, she used the half amputated arm.
Against Dubhe, she used the arm which was shattered.
She punched and sent them flying, shattering Alioth’s sword and breaking his sternum, and pulverising Dubhe’s arm and caving his skull in.
Seeing what happened, Phecda quickly nocked his arrows and rapidly fired them repeatedly.
Nevertheless, Benetnash closed the distance between them directly from the front, again, without bothering to defend or dodge the attack.
The arrow dug directly into her eyeball whilst the arrow which touched her fingers shredded them.
Nonetheless, she was not perturbed. As if everything that had happened was unrelated to her, the places that were shredded instantaneously regenerated back whilst she came to stand before Phecda.
"What’s wrong? You can’t even pierce through a single body like mine? Your fame as the master of the bow, who could even pierce the Dragon King, is crying.."
One shot of a knee kick.
With just that, Phecda’s ribs were shattered. Furthermore, those shattered bones lodged themselves into his inner organs.
When Benetnash turned to look at Mizar whilst she pulled out the arrow which was sticking out of her eyeball, there were a countless number of golem warriors.
Those golems simultaneously leapt towards Benetnash, each swinging a weapon of their own.
However, it was futile. The blades that managed to hit her neck shattered in return, the swords that stabbed into her heart bent and broke whilst the golems themselves were all scattered away by a single sweep of her arm.
"Equivalent to toys. Even if you have the technique, you don’t have the mindset. Your true weapon should have been the eccentricity behind the ideas of your inventions. If you can only reuse what you’ve already used before, you won’t be able to reach the distant place that I’m in."
Benetnash disappeared suddenly, yet grabbed Mizar’s head before any time had passed.
She then slammed him into the ground, the resulting impact causing the great land to shake.
The vibrations reached even the far-away kingdom of Svalinn, causing the Wisdom King, Megrez, to be sent flying upwards from his seat and crash into the ceiling.
Whilst she continued to hold onto Mizar, Benetnash dived deep into the ground, reaching the middle parts of Midgard where the mantle was.
In terms of temperature, it was approximately 6000°C.[4] In terms of pressure, it surpassed 100 000 atmospheric pressure. Yet, in this world of death, she continued to run about easily, eventually coming out from the other side of the planet. She then continued to fly beyond Midgard without losing her speed until she reached a random small planet in her way which she shattered to pieces before she turned back. After re-entering Midgard’s atmosphere, she slammed Mizar into the ground and passed through the middle of Midgard’s mantle once again.[5]
She then popped out of the ground and, just using her physical strength, threw Mizar, who was burning up in flames, towards Dubhe and Alioth, squishing the three of them together.
"It’s unpleasant to look at the current state the four of you are in any longer... you should disappear without a trace! Moon attribute arcane magic, Catastro -"[6]
"Hold it, Benet!"
Benetnash proceeded to try and finish the four of them off by activating arcane magic whilst she herself was regenerating from the burns all over her body, however, Ruphas halted her.
".... They’re Argonautai that will resurrect back up indefinitely. You mustn’t kill them."
"Hmm, I see."
After hearing Ruphas’s warning, Benetnash changed the arcane magic that she activated.
Moon attribute arcane magic [Luna Tentacle]. She activated the arcane magic that was greatly favoured by Aigokeros, which created tentacles made out of darkness to bind the enemies. She then used the skill to immobilise the four heroes.
She then gave the four individuals one last glance - at that moment, only Ruphas, with her extraordinary kinetic vision, caught a momentary look of sorrow on her - and, as if she had lost interest in them, turned her back to them.
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(Author note)
Mizgarzud: "Stapphhhhhh!!! She’s coming inside meeee! I’m getting felt up insideee! (with a deep voice)"
Dig a hole (penetrate through the planet)
The Goddess: "?|||´?`? Can you stop using planet-destroying skills as if it’s the most normal thing in the world....?"
*By the way, in regard to the hole Benet opened up, leaving it on its own would have been bad, so Ruphas used alchemy to fix it up.
Q: Can Benet fly in the sky?
A: She cannot. However, the speed at which an object falls is fixed and Benet is able to move about before she falls that 1mm. In other words, since she’s faster than the speed at which Gravity-san can pull her down, she is able to bounce and leap about, therefore as a result, it looks like she’s able to fly.
If you can leave time behind, you should be able to fly.[7]
That certain Vampire-san from that world was also flying in the anime, so there’s no problem, there’s no problem.[8]
Although... in Benetnash’s case, she’s a monster that can already jump beyond the stratosphere using nothing but her leg strength, so there’s really not much difference from being able to fly...
Q: Catastro - what?
A: High-tier Moon attribute arcane magic [Catastrophe].[9] The skill is a total annihilation arcane magic with the effect of turning the moon’s mana into a countless number of lasers that carpet bombs Midgard. When Benet uses this arcane magic, she is able to instantly scorch 30% of Midgard.
However, because the mechanic of the arcane magic is to fire lasers from the moon, whether it be in the game or in this world, it cannot be used unless there is a moon.
Benet was originally planning to use this skill to turn the Dragon King, Pollux and Argonautai, including the Seven Heroes, into ash.
I suppose with Benet’s competence, she would be able to avoid firing at the ally’s kingdoms, however, the amount of damage Midgard would have taken would still have been pretty significant.
Benet-chan is a super problem child.
The Goddess: "S-T-OO-PPP–!?"
(Author note end)
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[1] Ten Blood Ancestors (???)
[2] Recall chapter 101 when Benet swallowed "some kind of fluid".
"Alioth and the others have already passed on. This time, it’s my turn. That is all there is to it. There’s some kind of fluid in my mouth. It’s probably blood, but I can no longer taste it.
Benetnash forcefully swallowed it. Her consciousness felt distant and she realized her end was near." - Translation by Vecna, chapter 101.
"".
Amrita was first mentioned briefly in chapter 92 when Castor used it to revive the guardian dragon.
[3] Mach 400 000 = 493 920 000 km/h OR 306 907 659 miles/h
Speed of light = Mach 874 030 = 1 079 252 244 km/h (299 792 458 m/s) OR 670 616 254 miles/h
The speed was given in chapter 127 (as Mach 100 000), but that was what "MC Ruphas thought". This time, it’s the author’s official narration of the Benetnash’s speed (as of chapter 131).
[4] 6000°c = 10 832F.
[5] The raw says mantle... but the middle of a planet is the core... so... err... I don’t even know anymore. I’ll stick with the raw and say "mantle" but note it here so that people are not misinformed.
[6] Keii: "Where is Phecda?"
He fled, but honestly, I don’t know... The author didn’t mention Phecda in the last sentence, and in the raw, he says "three" instead of "four" in this sentence. But since the following sentence says "four", and the context suggests that "four" is probably correct, I have changed it to "four" under my discretion.
[7] My translation = -10/10...
The author’s #logic = -10/10... We are a good match.... ^^;;;
[8] Honestly, I don’t know which series he’s talking about. Maybe Adel from Trinity Blood... but he has wings so...?
Originally, I thought the author was talking about Shalltear from Overlord, but this chapter came out 2 years before Overlord season 2 ("anime" as the author note said), so date-wise it doesn’t make sense.
Correct me if I’m wrong but, iirc, these can’t fly: Alucard from Hellsing; Evangeline from Negima; Vampires from Vampire Knight, Shinobu (Monogatari series). I can’t fully recall for these but I don’t think they can too: Moka (Rosario), Mina Tepes (Vampire Bund). Let me know if you know which series author is talking about. The author makes references to major series, so it should be from a popular anime series pre-2016.
Vecna: "Maybe Arcueid from Tsukihime? I can’t remember if she can fly though. But she has no wings at least. She’s described as a true ancestor as well.
"".
[9] Catastrophe (???????).
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