The Infinite Dragon God Cannot Find Silence

but……

Despite letting out an angry roar, was there actually almost no damage?

—It seems to have quite good energy resistance.

Orpheus made this judgment.

Such an enemy is also quite disadvantageous to oneself, because to severely damage them with energy would require a highly concentrated attack.

In that case, it's difficult to aim.

If she wanted to defeat her opponent solely by relying on her most proficient energy attack, just as she had just judged... perhaps it wouldn't need to be as exaggerated as tens of kilometers, but it would definitely cause an extremely huge disaster to the surrounding 'nature'.

Looking back at Enkidu, Orpheus took out two short swords from his own space, each with a different design but both exuding a sharp aura.

—If we categorize Noble Phantasms according to their rank, both of these should be rated C, right?

There's no need to kill the opponent; just stalling them is enough.

Having predicted the monster's landing point, Orpheus threw two short swords toward that location, then took out two equally C-grade longswords from his spatial storage, concentrated his magic power in his feet, and kicked off.

Accompanying this was a bright purple magic cannon that was fired after it regrouped.

However, Orpheus underestimated his opponent's combat abilities.

The first to arrive were two short swords that had been predicted to hit the monster just before it landed, but they were struck down by the monster's lion-like paw, triggering a small explosion—this disruption was Orpheus's true objective.

However, the monster ignored the explosion, remaining unharmed thanks to its highly defensive fur, and then unleashed a powerful burst of flames at the incoming magic cannon.

—This was not the fireball that seemed like a greeting before, but a flaming spear with considerable impact and penetrating power.

Halfway through, the central magic cannon collided with the Flame Spear and then exploded.

The magic cannon still had countless rounds left, but the original blockade had already been broken.

As the two attacks exploded, Humbaba had already taken a step forward, directly breaking through the encirclement of magic cannons and facing Orpheus, who had also charged forward.

Before the two met, Humbaba had already inserted its front paws into the ground, using them as a support to turn its body halfway around with inertia, and then reached for Orpheus with its vulture-like hind paws.

---The hind claws, which have strong grasping power, are more threatening than the forelegs, which only have tearing power.

Orpheus reacted just as well. Instead of taking the hit head-on, he took two steps back to avoid it, and then swung his sword to sweep away the venomous snake that was chasing after him, which was Humbaba's tail.

The reason for retreating was to be absolutely certain of defending against the snake's attack.

In Orpheus's view, she was indifferent to physical attacks, but there was a possibility that attacks that were clearly poisonous could be effective against her—although the possibility was quite low, it did not mean that Orpheus could not take any precautions.

After all, she herself, within the realm of knowledge, had been tricked once by the so-called 'poison of God'.

Although that thing is essentially a curse.

Therefore, unlike the direct suppression that Orpheus is used to in ranged attacks, in close combat Orpheus abandons the power advantage of the dragon race and prefers agile hit-and-run tactics.

By this time, Humbaba had already circled back, and its other front paw swung towards Orpheus.

Orpheus deftly ducked to dodge the attack, then swung his twin swords in a cross shape at Humbaba, only to be stopped by one of Humbaba's bull horns.

At this moment, the magic circle that was still in the original location of Orpheus had once again completed its energy accumulation.

Just as Orpheus was trying to create some distance, something completely unexpected happened.

Suddenly, Fenbaba shoved Orpheus away with a powerful thrust of his horns—which was exactly what Orpheus had planned. But suddenly, countless weapons shot out from the rainbow-colored light band that she had thought was just for decoration, piercing Orpheus's heart and exploding her head in her slightly astonished gaze.

The weapons that followed unsurprisingly pierced her body with countless holes.

Humbaba's eyes gleamed with ferocity as it raised its claws, ready to press its advantage and tear Orpheus, who was already nearly dead, to shreds.

At that moment, countless chains appeared out of thin air and bound Humbaba.

"Ophis!!!"

And then there was the call from Enkidu, punctuated by shock and anger.

Chapter 12 Enkidu's Resolve

"Ophis!!!"

Enkidu rushed to Orpheus's side and caught her as she fell.

However, she soon discovered that Orpheus was still not bleeding at all, and bright purple light spots were constantly gathering around the wound, indicating that he was slowly recovering.

Suddenly, Orpheus's left hand, which had just been blasted apart and was now recovering, pushed Enkidu to the right, and in doing so, his hand moved slightly upwards to block his view.

"!?"

Enkidu turned around in surprise, only to see the venomous snake's tail, which had not been locked by her chains, biting Orpheus's arm.

"Ophis!"

Enkidu ran up again, but Orpheus used his newly recovered right hand to pull him behind him, then drew a sword, swung it away from the snake, and threw it at Humbaba. He then grabbed Enkidu, whom he had just pulled back, and jumped backward.

— Rumble

The magic cannon, which had been prepared for a long time, launched a saturation attack on the immobilized Humbaba.

"Ophis, are you alright?"

Only then did Enkidu have the chance to anxiously ask Orpheus.

Everything happened so fast that by the time Enkidu reacted, Orpheus was already riddled with bullets.

This is also because Enkidu himself was too wavering...

Looking at the spot on the back of his hand where he had just been bitten, which was slowly turning black, Orpheus shook his head.

"It's fine."

Although the birth of dragon species is not a birth but an occurrence, and can be considered a 'phenomenon', most of them are not natural except for a few. Orpheus, born in the dimensional rift, is certainly not a creation of nature, and the poison has little effect on her.

This numbness will only slightly affect the battle...

Orpheus tilted his head and thought for a moment, then drew a sword with his right hand again and cut off his left hand. He then let the severed limb slowly regenerate as the purple light gathered.

"Uh……"

Even Enkidu was slightly taken aback by Orpheus's generous way of handling things.

—Although, since her body is made of clay, she often uses a similar method.

"But Orpheus was beaten so badly, yet he can still recover... That's amazing..."

Wiping away a cold sweat, Enkidu still spoke with lingering fear.

"Yes, because I am infinite."

Orpheus used energy to reassemble the robe, which was originally made of energy, and touched his side without Enkidu noticing.

Only the wound there has not fully healed to this day.

—Although it is minuscule, it has damaged its own infinite potential.

Orpheus knew perfectly well why.

—A Noble Phantasm that provides a bonus to dragons.

Fortunately, although the opponent was surprisingly perceptive in combat, he lacked the intellect to discern Orpheus's true nature.

Otherwise, if all the weapons used just now were dragon-slaying weapons... although he wouldn't die, Orpheus wouldn't be able to continue fighting.

At that point, perhaps dying once and then resurrecting would be a quicker option?

"I was so careless..." Orpheus thought with some annoyance.

Without sufficient intelligence, one should not presume that the opponent only possesses the capabilities they have demonstrated.

Ultimately, Orpheus has absolutely no experience in combat where life and death are at stake.

Fighting with Enkidu... it's more accurate to say it was just playing around. I doubt either she or Orpheus ever took it seriously.

However, this kind of thing always requires experience to accumulate.

Fortunately, the characteristics of the ouroboros give her a much greater margin for error than the average person.

"Roar──"

As expected of a magical beast with extremely high energy resistance, it recovered from the saturation fire in such a short time.

This time, however, the monster that was rushing towards the two of them forcibly landed on the ground and then retreated.

Almost simultaneously, three spears emerged from the soil and replaced the spot where Humbaba should have been.

Enkidu, with a gloomy face, took a few steps forward and stood in front of Orpheus.

Seeing Enkidu like this, even the beastly monster Humbaba, who was now only a wild beast, couldn't help but shrink back a little.

—No, is it precisely because only animalistic instincts remain that one can perceive that trembling from instinct?

However, the next moment, Enkidu's expression softened, and he sighed.

The fact that the person who injured Orpheus had indeed enraged her, but she managed to suppress that burning anger.

The monster before her—was also her friend…

but……

Enkidu looked at Finbaba with a rather complicated expression.

She herself had gone through a transition from simply being wild to possessing reason, and as such, she understood better than anyone the tragedy of losing reason.

She could tell that it wasn't simply 'wildness' suppressing 'reason,' but rather that absolutely no reason remained.

In this situation, it's impossible to bring the other person to their senses.

I don't know why this happened...

At least, let me help you get out of this predicament...

"Ophis, please help me."

Enkidu turned to Orpheus and said, once again displaying a gentle smile.

Looking at Enkidu's sorrowful smile, Orpheus nodded silently.

Turning his head back, Enkidu's expression had become extremely solemn.

Without her making any move, Finbaba suddenly jumped up, dodging several chains that suddenly shot out of the soil.