When the Giant Soldier slowly raised its massive fist, the spot where Deliora had stood had become a crater dozens of meters wide. At the bottom lay nothing but the demon's mangled remains.
"I-is it over?" Lucy wiped the cold sweat from her forehead. Looking at Deliora's gruesome state, she broke into a relieved smile.
"Whew! I guess Deliora wasn't all that impressive after all!"
"No! That's not right!"
Ur, who had recovered enough to struggle to her feet with Gray's support, suddenly shouted in alarm:
"Deliora is an immortal demon with incredible regenerative abilities! Damage like this isn't nearly enough to kill him!"
As if to prove Ur's words, the ruined body at the bottom of the crater began to writhe unnaturally, rebuilding itself before their eyes. Within seconds, Deliora stood completely unharmed once more and threw back his head with an enraged roar!
"H-how is that possible? He recovered instantly after taking an attack like that?!" Lucy covered her mouth in horror as despair flooded back in.
But before panic could spread through the group-
BOOM!!!
Without a flicker of expression, the Giant Soldier brought its fist down again, effortlessly crushing the newly risen Deliora into a puddle of pulp.
Everyone's emotions were on a roller coaster, swinging back and forth between terror and speechlessness. Once again, they turned their heads in a daze, all staring at Blanc.
Blanc gave a bored yawn.
"Yeah, this guy really is as hard to kill as a cockroach. Let's see how many times Deliora can recover!"
What followed was a tedious turn-based game: Deliora struggled to recover, the Giant Soldier punched him, and the cycle repeated.
If every impact hadn't caused such violent tremors and deafening booms, Natsu would have leaned against a nearby tree trunk and taken a nap. Waiting