The moment Ryuji sensed that immense power, he was also inevitably detected.
In the next instant, the goblins below him rapidly gathered together. Several goblins resembling mages appeared among them, raising the staves in their hands and pointing them toward Ryuji.
Ryuji immediately sensed danger. The flames around his body flared to life without any wind, converging onto the sword in his hand, forming a stream of fiery flames along the blade.
Tremendous power surged through his arm. Ryuji adjusted his stance slightly, then swung his sword downward.
In the next moment, a colossal fire dragon erupted from his blade, carrying a cutting edge formed by the vacuum slash and highly concentrated flaming projectiles, hurtling towards the spellcaster goblins below.
But just as the fiery dragon crashed downward, Ryuji clearly felt something attempting to envelop him, an unseen force trying to bind his body and make it act according to some strange set of rules.
However, the utterly baffling World Blessing on his body abruptly surged with power, instantly crushing that strange feeling. The slash he had unleashed seemed to have severed countless such 'rules' as well.
"Were they trying to bind me with the rules of that world?!"
Ryuji immediately realized this, narrowing his eyes involuntarily.
If he were bound by that world's rules, it was highly likely he would face the opposing god's uncanny cheating skills.
And that would make things very complicated.
"But if that's all they can do, doesn't it mean there's a high probability the other side can't cross over?"
He wasn't sure if his guess was correct, but the fact that he hadn't been shot down immediately suggested it was at least possible.
"The rest is testing, but it's still troublesome..."
Ryuji sighed. World Missions were never simple and this one was clearly no exception.
Meanwhile, the goblins below, seeing the fiery dragon charging towards them, immediately cast their spells.
In their understanding, such obvious dragon fire could be blocked with shields. They believed their attacks would shatter Ryuji's flames in an instant and strike him down in the sky.
But...
The moment their attacks landed on the fiery dragon Ryuji had unleashed, they knew they were wrong.
The energy output was roughly what they had estimated, yet it destroyed their spells at one-tenth the cost. Their shields were melted through in an instant, and their offensive spells failed to achieve their intended purpose.
Even as the fiery dragon struck the ground, they hadn't managed to deplete even one-tenth of its power!
"It's a divine artifact! The power of a god!"
An experienced goblin elder roared, but it was too late. In Ryuji's ears, its roar was was nothing more than a death cry.
The fiery dragon violently struck the earth, transforming into a dazzling flower of flame blooming across the land.
All its flames spread out in all directions, continuously scorching the goblins. The spellcasters had long been shredded into fragments by the fiery sword energy Ryuji had hidden within the flames!
Within a radius of over a thousand meters, the land turned into a sea of fire!
Countless goblins turned to charcoal in the inferno. The painstakingly constructed altars and portals also rapidly shattered under this single strike.
"When did I become this powerful?"
Even Ryuji was somewhat stunned by the scene.
The spread rate of the dragon fire and the intensity of the flames were clearly abnormal!
I am definitely not this strong.
Yet, at that moment, he felt that force again, the one trying to pull him into some kind of rule!
To figure out what was happening, Ryuji swiftly swung his arm, transforming the moisture in the air into ice spikes and hurling them towards that formidable power.
But it had no effect. The sharp ice spikes simply passed through empty air. He could still feel the strange rule-based power enveloping him!
At the same time, his sword began to glow with a seven-colored light, flickering incessantly as if urging him to use it.
So, it's the sword.
Ryuji didn't hesitate. He immediately swung the greatsword, unleashing countless ice lances.
This time, these ice lances collided with the intangible, formless power mid-air, successfully tearing it apart and thwarting the god's plan once more!
Not only that, but Ryuji also felt the strange World Blessing his body becoming more active. A mysterious power was continuously being enhanced within him.
This sensation was oddly pleasant, like being embraced by a woman with an exceptionally large bosom, it was extremely comfortable.
Moreover, his physical strength, reaction speed and stamina recovery rate everything was improving.
"Looks like I've stumbled upon the right strategy again."
Ryuji chuckled softly, knowing that the world itself was supporting him. So, he casually swung his sword, and flames once again spread across the blade.
He intended to set a few more fires.
Feeling his stamina recover at an astonishing rate under the world's blessing and the upper limit of power his divine sword could now handle, Ryuji couldn't help but smile.
"God from another world!"
Ryuji raised both hands above his head. The flames constantly radiating from his body allowed him to descend slowly rather than plummet straight down.
He channeled all his power into his sword. Fueled by the terrifying recovery speed granted by the World Blessing, a massive vortex of flame rapidly formed in the sky.
The instant the fire vortex took shape, Ryuji also sensed the magical elements of this world respond. He paused for a moment, then a smile spread across his face.
"Ah… I almost forgot. This world has magic too."
That was because this world was far too simple and brutal. It was so straightforward that his thinking had nearly been assimilated by it.
That realization didn't stop him in the slightest. Ryuji immediately began absorbing this world's mana, channeling the surrounding magical energy into the greatsword in his hands and forming an even more terrifying vortex of flames.
The sky began to change color. Originally blue, it gradually turned red within the ever-expanding fire vortex, dimming the light over the entire Seventh Fortress.
As a result, the fire vortex gradually exceeded Ryuji's control. Initially, he could still prevent the flames from burning him, but after absorbing this world's mana, this continuously expanding vortex began compressing itself autonomously. If Ryuji didn't guide it outward soon, he would be the first one burned to death.
Yet, even so, the power this divine sword could contain still hadn't reached its limit.
One could only say, this truly was a god-made weapon.
Ryuji looked down at the last remaining portal and a ferocious smile appeared on his face.
"God on the other side!"
He roared, his chūnibyō syndrome flaring up again. Although this move succeeded only with the triple assistance of the divine sword, the World Blessing and this world's favor towards him, it didn't diminish the overwhelming sense of satisfaction he felt wielding such terrifying power.
Staring at the fire vortex that had dyed the entire sky red, Ryuji fiercely swung his greatsword, doing his best to condense the gathered flames into the shape of a colossal dragon.
"Gaze upon the heavens!"
The dragon let out a silent roar, revealing its head and claws from the boundless vortex of fire before furiously charging towards the last remaining portal.
At this moment, the god lurking there knew the critical moment had arrived.
A goblin clad in black armor, radiating ominous dark energy, appeared before the portal. In its hand was a black greatsword that also shimmered with divine radiance.
A violent force flickered around it as it raised its arm high. The black greatsword suddenly blazed with black light, extending continuously in its grip to form a black energy blade hundreds of meters long.
This energy blade was viciously slashed towards the dragon's head, only to be caught firmly in the dragon's jaws. The two forces locked together in a stalemate.
The colossal dragon and the minuscule figure remained locked in a stalemate. The power of flames continuously clashed with this goblin that resembled a demon king, mutually consuming each other's strength.
But...
Ryuji's figure burst out from within the flames.
The goblin, who was locked in stalemate with the fire dragon didn't even have time to react. Its armor was effortlessly severed by Ryuji's strike. Divine power shredded its protection, leaving its head defenseless before Ryuji's blade. It was cleanly chopped off.
The goblin's body collapsed instantly. Its black greatsword was promptly crushed by the fire dragon's jaws, turning into scrap metal.
Then, the dragon formed of flames swiftly plummeted to the earth and began to incinerate everything around it.
Ryuji looked at the portal and almost instinctively, swung his divine sword, cleaving the portal apart!
However, the instant the portal shattered, Ryuji felt an unprecedented sense of dread. An attack that could have killed him outright shot forth from the other side of the portal. A black beam of light streaked over his head, directly hitting the body of an exceptionally tall goblin behind him that hadn't yet been burned to death by the flames.
The goblin's body began decaying the moment the black beam hit it, turning to ashes in the blink of an eye. This made Ryuji realize his earlier feeling of imminent death wasn't an illusion; it was real. He had nearly been severely injured or even killed.
Compared to his own sow goddess who let him do whatever he pleased, this god was clearly not so generous.
"But the mission isn't completed yet... which means it's not over?"
Looking at the goblins completely annihilated by his flames, gradually turning to ash, and the women whose injuries were being healed within the fire, Ryuji felt curious.
He had already destroyed all the portals he could see and killed most of the goblins. The remaining task was to send the army to sweep the area and continuously offer high bounties to encourage people in this world to hunt goblins.
These weak creatures could be completely eradicated with ease if the rulers were willing to pay the price. Ryuji truly didn't understand why the world of Goblin Slayer was unwilling to purge them.
"Whatever, it's none of my business."
He glanced at the women who were staring at him as if he were a god and waved his hand with a smile.
Although he didn't discriminate against these women... after all, being captured and violated wasn't their fault, but unfortunately, very few of them were attractive enough to interest him.
"Alright, next is deploying the army. And since portals keep appearing here, it's probably going to be a protracted battle."
Just as Ryuji was pondering this, the flames gradually died down as the goblins perished. The world's blessing on his body and the seven-colored glow on his sword also began to fade.
Letting out a light chuckle, Ryuji walked towards a woman whose eyes still held some spirit. Her clothes were mostly burned away, so she flinched when she saw him approaching.
He sought her out because she seemed relatively clear-minded and could help him organize the other women. But when she struggled to cover herself, Ryuji noticed her lower body hadn't been... used.
And she was quite attractive.
Although his flames also had the function of healing the human body, Ryuji couldn't perform such delicate operations just now. Mixed with so much of this world's mana, he could only avoid burning them, not completely heal them.
Don't think restoring a 'proof of purity' is a simple matter; Ryuji had to operate carefully to achieve it.
So, he reached out, grabbed this woman's chest, and spoke under her terrified gaze.
"You haven't been... used by goblins, right? So, it seems your mind is relatively intact. Can you understand what I'm saying?"
He didn't intend to do anything more, he just wanted to collect a small fee for saving them, a squeeze of the chest would suffice. He wouldn't do anything else.
But at that very moment, another portal opened.
Seeing the blue portal, Ryuji didn't hesitate, instantly sending a blast of fiery sword energy towards it.
But...
"Holy Barrier!"
As a pleasant voice rang out, a golden barrier abruptly appeared in front of Ryuji's flaming sword energy.
The sword energy collided violently with the barrier. Since it was only a casual swing from Ryuji, the slash was blocked by the exceptionally sturdy barrier, but cracks instantly spread across its surface. A strand of sword energy even slipped past the barrier's edge, slicing off a strand of the caster's golden hair as it passed before her face.
Ryuji paused for a moment and halted his follow-up attack, but did not lower his guard, instead looking at the voluptuous girl before him.
"Who are you people?"
He asked in this world's language. But perhaps because of his earlier attack, a man who looked like a swordsman also unleashed a wave of sword energy at him and shouted loudly at Ryuji in Japanese, apparently not even noticing that Ryuji's hand was still on the woman's chest.
"You're the mastermind behind this disaster, aren't you?! You damn goblin! Die!!"
Ryuji frowned, sidestepping to dodge the sword energy. Before he could say anything else, the man who looked very much like a Japanese samurai had already drawn his katana, assuming a stance that clearly resembled an iaijutsu draw-cut.
A sense of danger assaulted Ryuji's heart.
The iaijutsu draw-cut, a technique overly mythologized in Japanese novels and films, is actually quite useless in the real world.
Because iaijutsu is fundamentally an assassination technique meant for ambush during negotiations, its core concept being how to draw the sword quickly while kneeling. In Ryuji's view, it's a completely low-level swordsmanship.
After all, killing someone during negotiations is suicidal if the opponent is strong. If evenly matched, killing one or two people meant little unless they were key figures. And if your side is stronger, it's also useless, merely giving others a pretext.
It's a technique only useful for Japanese yakuza, hardly fitting for proper combat.
Even after refinement, it was nothing more than a full-body, all-in strike that relied on charging power through the scabbard. Charging power through a scabbard was laughable, and a technique that required prolonged focus and preparation...
Could it even hit anyone?
People aren't idiots.
So, upon seeing this person assume an iaijutsu stance, Ryuji's mind rapidly simulated the possible charging paths. The moment the swordsman drew his sword and charged, Ryuji nimbly evaded the blade.
To be fair, this guy's strike really was fast. Even Ryuji couldn't see it clearly. He had only dodged instinctively and as a result, the blade directly struck the woman whose chest Ryuji had been touching and several other women nearby.
These women's bodies were cleaved in two. Ryuji couldn't help but frown. In his estimation, that strike was merely a greeting. Yet it was genuinely aimed at killing him!
A hotheaded youngster?
Ulterior motives?
A misunderstanding?
It didn't matter.
Ryuji thrust his greatsword backward in a single motion, piercing the man's heart instantly. With a slight twist of the blade, the divine sword spontaneously generated sword energy, tearing the guy to shreds. Even Ryuji was somewhat surprised by the sword's power.
He also casually tossed out several balls of dragon fire, saving the lives of the women whose bodies had been severed.
After all, he had misjudged the opponent's determination to kill him.
However, his act of throwing flames gave the other side a different impression.
"Damned goblin!"
The priestess who had released the golden barrier saw the "goblin" she believed to be her enemy burn her companions' bodies to ash. Enraged, she swung the holy sword in her hands and charged straight at the terrifying goblin in her eyes.
She had originally been nothing more than a low-ranking priestess. After receiving a divine revelation, she had come here to deal with the anomaly and had teamed up with other adventurers. But she never imagined that her companions would be killed by goblins.
"Goblins again? So, this is another misunderstanding trope?" Ryuji muttered to himself. "Gods really do love setting things up like this. Honestly, it's such an overused cliché."
He sensed that something was off but watching the furious priestess charging at him with her sword, especially noting her breasts, which was clearly far more developed than her age would suggest, he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
"But putting all that aside...having the healer charge in front," he sighed. "That's just reckless."
Her clumsy swordsmanship was almost laughable. With a casual flick, Ryuji knocked the holy sword, radiating sacred light out of her hands. Then, with a single punch to her abdomen, he rendered the woman combat-ineffective, causing her to collapse into his arms.
And then...
Ryuji started squeezing her breasts.
~~~~~~~~~~
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