The Demon King Blocks the Newbie Village Gate Against the Novice Hero (2nd Update)

Artoria nodded thoughtfully upon hearing this. She had already learned of this information to varying degrees, so it was not surprising. She made her decision immediately: "Then I shall strike directly. Since he has come, I will take him down at once, before he has the chance to use the Book of Falsehood!"

As for the task of gathering vital intelligence, that could wait until after he was captured alive—if he could be captured at all!

Without delay, Artoria charged forward, launching an assault toward Uryu Ryunosuke.

Her speed was such that despite the two-hundred-meter gap between them, she reached Uryu Ryunosuke within a few breaths, aiming her blade directly at his legs.

Uryu Ryunosuke, smiling, was momentarily stunned before he began to laugh even more gleefully.

In that very instant, several dark shadows suddenly appeared, lunging toward Artoria.

Seeing this, Artoria was forced to halt her attack on Uryu Ryunosuke to defend herself, unleashing a series of slashes in the process.

Crisp, cutting sounds rang out in succession as the incoming objects were sliced apart by Artoria.

Taking a closer look, she saw they were a mass of fleshy monsters, possessing squid-like tentacles and resembling giant flower buds.

Artoria recognized what these things were at a glance.

They were creations of the Church of Mysterious Words, tragic beings whose existences had been completely twisted by the power of a certain mysterious artifact that fused humans with other organisms, monsters known as Void Kin.

In the dossiers on the Church of Mysterious Words, these monsters occupied a large portion of the text, as they invariably appeared alongside members of the Church of Mysterious Words, serving as their minions.

Heh heh heh heh~

The monsters emitted low, grating hisses that assaulted the mind. This was their innate ability, known as the Sound of Madness; once heard, a person's reason would be unconsciously affected, leaving them irritable, manic, and unable to control themselves.

However, to Artoria, this sound was merely unpleasant; it could not affect her emotions or her thoughts.

The protection from her heritage manifested as a tangible attribute for Artoria: an A-rank Magic Resistance skill. When facing enemies, the effects of magic-based attacks were greatly reduced, and when facing the mysterious, effects that influenced the spirit and will were neutralized to the greatest extent possible.

Thus, to Artoria, these monsters were nothing more than disgusting creatures, akin to slimes in a traditional RPG—mere fodder that even a novice could cut down with ease.

The only issue was their sheer numbers; they emerged in an endless stream, blocking Artoria from the range where she could strike at Uryu Ryunosuke.

Uryu Ryunosuke, clutching the Book of Falsehood in his hands, wore a joyful smile and spoke in a voice that seemed to possess a demonic allure: "Ah, ah, ah~ What a beautiful figure~ King Arthur~ Power belonging to humanity, belonging to the planet's side~ Truly beautiful~ Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful~"

"Such a beautiful~ excellent~ perfect human~ Ah~ This is the greatest gift to offer my Lord~ Lord~ Great Lord~ Perfect Lord~ Supreme Lord~ You surely can..."

Amidst his words, Artoria clearly felt a mysterious will attempting to invade her consciousness, forcibly rewriting her thoughts.

However, under her A-rank Magic Resistance, this mental pollution—which ordinary people could not withstand—had no effect on her, at most leaving her feeling slightly annoyed.

Yet, the continuously emerging Void Kin obstructed Artoria, preventing her from ever getting close to Uryu Ryunosuke.

Just as this stalemate persisted, a thunderous gunshot suddenly rang out, and with a splat, the body of a Void Kin that had tried to ambush Artoria from the side was blown apart.

This scene caused Artoria to pause for a moment. She immediately looked back and saw Baal in the distance, resting a large sniper rifle on the hood of a car, using precise and sharp marksmanship to assist her.

At the same time, the Nine-Tailed Fox Squad, having secured advantageous positions, also opened fire. Bullets whistled through the air amidst the constant gunfire, accurately striking every targeted Void Kin monster.

Although these monsters, shaped by mysterious artifacts, were of the mysterious category, they did not possess the ability to ignore modern firearms. The very purpose of elite combat units like the Nine-Tailed Fox Squad was to deal with such fodder created by mysterious artifacts.

Otherwise, if modern firearms were truly completely ineffective, nations would not have established these elite combat squads specifically to deal with the mysterious.

With the addition of these reinforcements, Artoria's field of vision and path forward instantly opened up. She charged toward Uryu Ryunosuke, and the restrained Void Kin could no longer effectively block her.

Faced with this situation, Uryu Ryunosuke's expression became twisted and frantic: "Ah, ah, ah~ Useless mortals~ Trash mortals~ Worthless mortals~ Why, why, why? Why must you insects hinder me? Die, die, die~ Worthless things~ All of you, go die~"

As he spoke, the Book of Falsehood in his hands began to flip its pages automatically at high speed, turning as rapidly as a banknote counter.

It was visible that the book seemed to be made from the skin of some creature, though whether it was the "cliché" human skin, one could not tell.

As the book flipped rapidly, an intangible, formless power—mysterious energy—spread outward along with ultrasonic waves. Under this influence, Baal and the others were instantly enveloped.

In an instant, everyone showed expressions of discomfort. Although they were wearing ear protection, this mysterious sonic wave could not be defended against by purely physical means, and the suppression of the Void Kin also slowed down in that moment.

However, in that same instant, Artoria suddenly poured a burst of magical energy into her sword and, with a loud shout, thrust it forward fiercely.

Swish!

A beam of golden light erupted from the blade like a laser, striking Uryu Ryunosuke's book almost instantly. The book was pierced with a large hole, and Uryu Ryunosuke's right hand was mangled along with it.

At the same time, a large number of Void Kin blocked Artoria once more. However, because the Book of Falsehood had been broken, its influence on Baal and the Nine-Tailed Fox Squad vanished, and they immediately joined the effort to continue assisting Artoria.

Meanwhile, she felt incredibly invigorated.

"Ah-leh?" Uryu Ryunosuke looked down at his right hand in a daze, wearing an expression of disbelief. After a moment, his face twisted, and he grabbed his right arm with his left hand, letting out a shriek: "Ah, ah, ah, ah~ My book, ah, ah, ah, ah~~~"

This miserable wail was truly satisfying to hear for those who heard it.

At the very least, Artoria felt no sympathy; she felt only satisfaction.

However, just then, Uryu Ryunosuke suddenly stopped screaming and revealed a twisted smile: "Ah, I lied~ Hahahahahaha~~~~"

As he spoke, he spread his arms, his face full of fanaticism: "Yes, that's it, that is exactly it~ Everything of mine~ My destiny~ My soul~ All of it was saved for this moment~ How many years has it been~ Exactly how many years~ Ah~ Great Lord~ Now, I shall offer everything I am~ Ending the self-righteous hope of mortals~"

"Ah~ Maiden who goes by the name of King Arthur~ Look up at the sky~ The Lord~ has descended~"

As he spoke, the broken book suddenly flew up at that moment and adhered itself to Uryu Ryunosuke's body.

Simultaneously, his body began to erode rapidly, decaying at a speed visible to the naked eye, revealing flesh and even bone, until finally, it transformed into pure, filthy matter that shot into the sky, and then...

BOOM~

It exploded.

In an instant, the sky, shrouded by the mysterious domain, collapsed. A massive, writhing entity tore through the sky, broke through space, and descended.

At this moment, reality teetered on the brink of collapse. A distortion capable of rewriting reality completely enveloped this area and began to spread rapidly, with the affluent district of Chiba City as its epicenter, plunging the surroundings into shadow.

Simultaneously, every monitor tracking mysterious phenomena across all of Yingzhou erupted with the most piercing alarms, the terrifying wails echoing through every major institution.

Within the Supernatural Disaster Countermeasures Office, Murata Himeko widened her eyes, her body trembling slightly. Her face turned pale, her expression filled with utter disbelief.

On the massive screen in the operations department, the disaster level of the mystery was displayed.

Level Five Mystery!

It was the same terrifying mystery that humanity had detected only recently, the one that had just destroyed a country in Africa.

Codename: Star Corruptor!

A true, immense horror, a terrifying existence that could not be eradicated even by hydrogen bombs!

At the same time, it possessed an identity unknown to the human side.

One of the original five members of the Church of Mysterious Words, the High Priest representing 'Language,' a monster that had completely transformed into a high-level mystery.

Now, it had arrived. At the very moment Artoria had just become an extraordinary, it had flown straight into their faces.

It was the true hero just stepping out of the novice village, only for an evil villain possessing multiple Demon Lords to air-drop one directly at the gates of the novice village.