The escaping Demon King’s party and the reinforcements that were not in time

There was a Divine Message.

“The abyss will come from a land far away, aboard a ship that soars across the heavens, bringing death with him. You shall beckon the abyss. When you do, he shall rule over the lands and devour the light.”

That was why she waited, inside the sea where the pools of various poisons and strong acids floated around each other without mixing, forming a toxic-looking, marble-like pattern.

She was completely shielded from the poison and acid by her fragment of the Demon King. Still, when she opened her eyes, she saw a sea that was so brightly pink that it hurt her eyes, and regretted not waiting inside a dark green patch of ocean instead.

However, the mucus produced by the Demon King’s mucus glands, the fragment she possessed, could withstand the pink mind-affecting toxin for longer than the dark green acidic seas.

If she were to have the Demon King’s mucus glands continuously active, she would be able to withstand it for days, but… that would cause her ‘Demon King Encroachment Degree’ to shoot up in the blink of an eye, and her mind would give out first.

Thus, she had been keeping the Demon King’s mucus glands mostly dormant, activating them only to secrete enough mucus to surround herself with. Even when she stopped using them actively, the mucus they secreted lingered.

With this method, she had managed to keep the level of her ‘Demon King Encroachment Degree’ low for years.

Still, I have recently been feeling odd sensations more frequently. A strange elevation of spirits, and an impatience as if I am being kept in suspense… Is that because of this ‘Abyss’ as well?

She often felt these sensations the moment she activated the Demon King’s mucus glands, and immediately after she stopped using them. Considering that, it was likely being caused by these detestable mucus glands, but…

Yes, detestable. I must not forget. My kin and I have managed to come this far because of our faith in our god and our mission to protect the fragment. And it was the power of this fragment that allowed me to escape to this place from the Bahn Gaia continent with my surviving kin after being wounded by the cursed Five-colored Blades. But it is a part of the detestable Demon King Guduranis. I must not be misled, she told herself.

But today was a strange day. The fragment throbbed continuously, even though she wasn’t using it.

Thinking that this was a sign that the ‘Abyss’ was approaching, she looked up at the sky, but she saw no ship soaring across the heavens.

Perhaps it was floating at a very high altitude, or perhaps it was concealed by the clouds. But just as this thought occurred to her, the air trembled.

“Hmm?”

In the next moment, something fell from the sky. It seemed to have fallen into the ordinary sea, some distance away from the Devil’s Sea where she was, but… a mountain-like pillar of water rose from the water’s surface, sending waves so far that she could feel them.

In surprise, she looked at the sky once more to see more than ten Colossi and Elder Dragons floating in the sky, and hastily dove deeper into the sea.

The Abyss has come! Hurry and come to me, Abyss! But be sure not to drop any Colossi or Elder Dragons on me!

Meanwhile, in the sky above, a fierce mid-air battle was taking place.

Lightning, elemental breaths, and spells from the Colossi and Elder Dragons were being met in a furious exchange by beams of light, eggs, martial skills, and spells from Cuatro’s deck.

The battle was currently even.

Even, huh, thought the ‘Boulder Colossus’ Gorn in vexation as he took part in the battle.

Having survived the battle against the Demon King over a hundred thousand years ago, he was considered a senior member and a leader among the Colossi in the forces of the God of Law and Fate Alda.

Thus, he had been designated as commander of the forces guarding Botin, Mother of the Earth and Goddess of Craftsmanship, who was sealed away on the Demon King’s Continent. In the event that Vandalieu’s forces approached the continent, he was to take command in battle.

He was not a subordinate god of Botin, but he had been given the name of ‘Boulder Colossus’ by his father and master, Zerno. As Botin was a great god of the earth attribute, he had been on friendly terms with her.

A hundred thousand years ago, a third of Botin’s subordinate gods had foolishly sided with Vida, cutting ties with the great Alda and the champion Bellwood. Now, many of them were sealed away, having been deemed members of Vida’s forces.

Another third of Botin’s subordinate gods had been sealed away with her, and only the remaining third were among Alda’s forces.

Some new gods of the earth attribute had been born in the hundred thousand years that had passed since then, but because Botin had fewer believers than gods like Alda or Nineroad, there still weren’t as many earth-attribute gods as there had once been.

Thus, only a handful of earth-attribute gods were among the forces who protected the goddess under Gorn’s command, and none of them were present in this battle.

However, there were many demigods – Colossi, Elder Dragons, and Beast-kings.

Gorn had come up with a battle plan for repelling Vandalieu and his forces, making use of the qualities that demigods had rather than using gods as his main fighting forces.

In other words, he would crush Vandalieu’s forces with sheer numbers.

He would attack with dozens of demigods and drag Vandalieu and his companions to their watery graves.

They were not underestimating Vandalieu and his companions. Vandalieu had defeated other demigods, such as the Pure-breed Vampires who worshipped an evil god. He had also defeated the Evil God of Joyful Life Hihiryushukaka, the God of Records Curatos, and the God of Thunderclouds Fitun, who had descended upon a vessel.

There was no way Gorn would underestimate a foe who had defeated such beings.

Some of the demigods he had gathered were very skilled, but there were more of them who possessed only the minimum strength of a demigod. If Vandalieu decided to send an attack in the direction of Botin’s seal, there was no guarantee that they would be able to stop him.

The most fearsome possibility was that of Vandalieu carrying out a hit-and-run strategy, attacking and retreating repeatedly to defeat Gorn and his allies one by one.

The forces under Gorn’s command numbered few when considering the size of the Demon King’s Continent. With the gods’ senses and speed, they would be able to keep an eye on Vandalieu, but they would need to split up and leave a small group of forces in each region to protect the sealed Botin from him.

If Vandalieu were to take advantage of that to eliminate Gorn’s forces a few at a time, then they would be forced into a final battle close to Botin. If Vandalieu were to use the great spell that destroyed Alda’s ‘Dungeon of Trials,’ it was possible that Botin would be harmed.

That was why Gorn had decided not to immediately attack Vandalieu and his forces when they appeared, and instead prioritized quietly forming an encirclement. Then, before Vandalieu’s forces became aware of their presence, they would all strike together from all directions, defeating them with overwhelming force before they could respond. That had been Gorn’s plan. Even if Vandalieu himself was present, they had enough numbers to push through.

Of course, Gorn had not forgotten about Gufadgarn. He had enlisted the help of three space-attribute gods to interfere with her space-attribute magic. All of them were young gods, and Gufadgarn was far above them in skill. However, if Gufadgarn tried to teleport Vandalieu and his allies away, they would be able to stop her for several seconds or perhaps a few dozen seconds.

In that space of less than a minute, Gorn’s forces would defeat Vandalieu and his companions while they were unable to escape.

Demigods were able to wield their full strength in this world because they possessed physical bodies; they would use that ability to its greatest extent and teach the proud Demon King a lesson.

But why have things come to this?! Gorn thought.

In reality, things had not gone so well.

The Colossus and Elder Dragon keeping watch were supposed to remain hidden and report to Gorn and the others to inform them of the appearance of a suspicious ship that seemed to be Vandalieu’s. But the two of them had attacked instead, unable to suppress their hatred for the Demon King and Vida.

Immediately afterwards, Gorn and the others noticed the resulting emergency situation due to the enormous pillars of water that had acted as a signal, but… less than a third of the numbers Gorn had arranged for had been able to gather quickly enough. Thanks to that, their encirclement was full of holes, and they did not have enough fighting forces.

Because they had physical bodies, demigods such as Colossi and Elder Dragons were subject to physical restrictions. The forces Gorn had positioned on the other side of the continent would need to run across the continent or fly across it to get here, and that would take time.

“What are you crying about! Have you grown so senile that you have forgotten that it is only natural for unexpected situations to arise on the battlefield?!” said Brateo, the shaggy-haired, scraggly-bearded Colossus of Roaring Thunder, as he brought a lightning attack down on Cuatro.

But these words were not convincing to Gorn.

“One of the ones who got ahead of themselves was your own son!” Gorn shouted furiously.

The Colossus who had attacked Vandalieu was the Colossus of Lightning Radatel, one of Brateo’s sons.

“Yes, it was!” Brateo shouted back, unwavering as he continued attacking Cuatro. “My son Radatel fought bravely to take vengeance for his dead mother upon the accursed Demon King! Come, proud descendants of Zerno! Come, sons of Marduke, sons of Ganpaplio! Let us show our power to the second coming of the evil Demon King, the filthy child of the depraved goddess!”

Brateo’s shouts brought morale to his allies. Even Gorn, whose plan had been foiled, had to admit his leadership. If it weren’t for the rash behavior he showed as a result of the grief of his wife being slain by the Demon King, it would likely be him in command instead of Gorn.

“Still, it is true that this is no time to be clinging onto a failed plan,” Gorn told himself.

With a fierce roar, he conjured an enormous boulder with earth-attribute magic and threw it in Cuatro’s direction.

This was followed up by charging attacks from the Shellfish Beast-king and Starfish Beast-king.

Cuatro had held up against the attacks so far, but with an enormous boulder and two Beast-kings closing in, it looked like her fate was sealed.

However, a woman leapt into the air and smashed the tower-sized boulder into pieces, and a mysterious spell sapped the momentum from the Beast-kings, immobilizing them mid-air.

On top of that, Brateo’s lightning collided with a membrane of water that blocked it out.

“What?!” Brateo uttered in disbelief.

“They’ve started responding to our attacks! Damn it, where are our reinforcements… Where are Sirius and the others?!” Gorn shouted in frustration, looking around for the allies that he was depending on.

But those allies were nowhere to be found, and the counterattacks from Vandalieu and his companions began.

Vandalieu set up a barrier to keep out enemy attacks and kept the enemies in check with beams of light and cannon fire. Meanwhile, he and his allies were beginning their counterattack, and their plan to escape.

“If we head to that poisonous-looking sea, things will work out?” asked Privel.

“Yes,” said Vandalieu. “I can feel the presence of a fragment of the Demon King in that pink-colored place. It’s not moving, so it’s probably a signal for us.”

“Isn’t there a chance that it’s a trap?” asked Borkus.

“The choice of leaping into that water is the only one I don’t sense the presence of death in, so it’s probably not a trap… though it’s possible that there just happens to be a monster infested by a fragment over there,” said Vandalieu.

“I see. Well, if it’s a trap, then we can just teleport out!” Borkus said.

“Well, we need to defeat a few of them and make a hole in their circle first!” said Zandia. “By the way, what is that huge shellfish and that huge star-shaped thing? Do they taste good?”

“That is the Shellfish Beast-king Harinsheb and the Starfish Beast-king Repobilis… I imagine that Repobilis would not taste very pleasant,” said Gufadgarn.

Concluding their short strategy meeting, Vandalieu and his companions decided to go on the attack.

“First things first!” said Zandia. “Transform! ‘Familiar Spirit Demonfall!’”

“‘Familiar Spirit Demonfall!’” said Borkus.

“Come to think of it, why haven’t I learned ‘Familiar Spirit Demonfall?’” wondered Jeena.

“The difference between ‘Descent’ and ‘Demonfall’ is whether you’re summoning a god’s familiar spirit or a fragment of my soul; they should still functionally be the same Skill,” said Vandalieu. “You can still summon a part of me with your ‘Descent,’ can’t you, Jeena?”

“Ah, I suppose so,” said Jeena. “Well then, transform! ‘Familiar Spirit Descent!’”

Zandia and Jeena transformed as they possessed transformation equipment, and those that didn’t simply summoned Vandalieu’s spirit clones upon themselves.

The enormous boulder thrown by Gorn and the body-slam attacks of Harinsheb and Repobilis approached Cuatro.

“Alright, this is my –” Borkus began.

But the transformed Jeena ran past him first. “This is my time to shine!”

One of Vandalieu’s flight-assistant-type Demon King Familiars hastily attached itself to her back.

“Thanks!” Jeena said. “‘Transcend Limits!’ ‘Transcend Limits: Magic Shield!’ Next, ‘Strengthen All Attribute Values,’ then… ‘Shield Bash!’”

The muscles of her burly arm grew even larger, and the shield attached to it collided with the flying boulder. With a thunderous noise, the boulder crumbled to pieces.

At the same time, Gufadgarn began twisting space to make them fly past Cuatro, but Vandalieu got there first.

“This is a spell that I’ve recently come up with… ‘Impact-negating Barrier.’”

A barrier that resembled a black mist materialized around Vandalieu. But although this would protect Vandalieu, it would not protect Cuatro.

“Next, I put this barrier in my hands, condense it into a sphere, and fire it.”

The ‘Impact-negating Barrier’ surrounding Vandalieu’s whole body gathered in his palms, and then he fired it at the approaching Harinsheb.

“I’ll call this ‘Barrier Bullet’… Well, I’m just firing my barrier out, so it’s not a special spell or anything,” said Vandalieu.

He repeated this process to fire another barrier at the second Beast-king. Their bodies were over a hundred meters across and they were approaching Cuatro in a straight line, so there was no chance of missing.

Covered by the black spheres, Harinsheb and Repobilis were robbed of their kinetic energy, causing them to stop in mid-air.

Meanwhile, Zandia and Privel conjured a water barrier to block the lightning attacks pouring down from above.

“You told me that pure water doesn’t conduct electricity, Your-Majesty-kun; I’m combining that with regular water to redirect the lightning attacks, but it’s pretty tough!” said Zandia.

“Van-kun! Could you get Orbia-neesan to lend us a hand, or have her swap places with me?” asked Privel.

“I’ll send her your way,” said Vandalieu. “And here, I’ve readjusted your transformation equipment. It’s got the familiar spirit of Jugarion.”

“Really?! Thanks, I’ll try it out right away!”

The water-attribute Ghost Orbia joined Privel and Zandia, and Privel immediately activated her new transformation equipment.

“Transform! This is… really comfortable, and they fit my tentacles perfectly!” said Privel as the liquid metal formed fiber-like shapes that entwined around her upper body and the tentacles of her lower body to complete the transformation.

Jugarion was a god with eight heads; it seemed that his familiar spirit was very compatible with Privel, who had eight tentacles with Dragon heads.

“I’ll be fine with this, so leave the lightning attacks to me!” said Privel.

“If you’re happy with it, then that makes me happy as its maker,” said Vandalieu. “Now then, I’ll be gathering power for a big attack, so please buy some time.”

“As you will!” said Bone Man, separating his entire body to pieces to attack the immobile Repobilis.

At the same time, the gunports on Cuatro’s right side opened up, facing Harinsheb.

“Vengeful berserk starboard cannons! You’re up!” said one of the Four Dead Sea Captains.

“We won’t let you!” shouted a Colossus wearing golden armor.

He and an Elder Dragon that resembled the Great Vortex Dragon God Zvold but was smaller than him charged towards Cuatro to save their immobile allies.

“Wait, don’t charge in!” shouted Gorn in warning, trying to stop them while also throwing another boulder at the same time.

“To think that I’d be using this on a Colossus some day! ‘Elder Dragon killer!’” shouted Borkus, leaping off Cuatro’s deck after Jeena and unleashing a ‘Sword King Technique’ martial skill that cut deep into the torso of the golden-armor-clad Colossus.

“‘God Spear Screw Strike!’” said Mikhail, driving his spear into the torso of the Elder Dragon, sending scales, flesh, and blood spraying into the sky.

The Colossus groaned in pain. “How is it possible that my armor is being cut through so easily?!”

“Damn you!” cursed the Elder Dragon. “You are Mikhail! So, you have become an Undead and stooped to being a pawn of the Demon King!”

Despite being heavily wounded, the golden-armored Colossus and Elder Dragon engaged in close-quarters combat with Borkus and Mikhail.

The boulders thrown by Gorn were struck down by Jeena one after another, and Brateo’s roaring lightning attacks were being blocked by Privel, Zandia, and Orbia.

Fire erupted from Cuatro’s right-side gunports towards Harinsheb… along with screams.

The right-side gunports were sound-wave-cannon-type Demon King Familiars made with the Demon King’s lips, tongue, and lungs. Vandalieu’s ‘Vengeful Berserker’ Job applied a bonus to attacks using sound and screams, and he was even able to add status effects to them now, so he had installed these specialized Demon King Familiars on Cuatro.

Their firing range was shorter than cannon-type Demon King Familiars, and their immediate firepower was weaker.

But their attacks were more effective than cannonballs against physically durable objects like Harinsheb’s enormous spiral shell.

Harinsheb let out an odd scream as thin cracks appeared in his shell.

From Vandalieu’s shadow emerged the enormous black centipede Pete, who was now a Rank 12 Demon Steel Roaring Lightning King Centipede, who let out a hiss as he charged towards Harinsheb.

Chipuras, formerly a Noble-born Vampire who was now a light-attribute Ghost, gave a triumphant laugh as he sent forth a beam of light. “Without your shell, you’re an easy target!”

“I’ll cook you in your own shell!” said the fire-attribute Ghost Princess Levia as she released a stream of flames.

Pete’s horns sank into Harinsheb’s cracked shell, pouring deadly venom inside, and Harinsheb screamed once more as Chipuras’s beam of light and Levia’s flames scorched him.

Meanwhile, Bone Man was using the bone blades that made up his body as swords against Repobilis, inflicting a countless number of wounds. “‘Starving Bone Blade Storm!’ Jyuuh, I do not know where his weak points are!”

Repobilis was the Starfish Beast-king. Unlike the Colossi and Elder Dragons, it was difficult to tell where his weak points were.

On top of that, starfish were creatures with high Vitality; as the Starfish Beast-king, Repobilis was capable of regenerating his body even if he were cut into two.

But there was no way that he would feel no pain when his entire body was being cut up. He let out a strange scream and tried to spin his body around in place to repel Bone Man, but as Vandalieu’s Impact-negating Barrier remained in place, he could not move very well.

The counterattack of Vandalieu’s companions had inflicted severe wounds on several gods, but none of them had been defeated yet. It could be said that Gorn and his allies were managing to hold on with only a third of their numbers because they had forced Vandalieu to be on the defense against their attacks.

As if commending Gorn and his allies for their efforts, a majestic horn sounded and echoed in the air.

“Sirius, you’re finally here!” Gorn said in relief.

He turned towards the Demon King’s continent to see another ten or so gods, led by the God of War Horns Sirius.

Unlike demigods, Sirius and the gods led by him did not possess physical bodies, and they would normally not be able to fight on the world’s surface unless they were in the area near the sealed goddess, which had become extremely similar to a Divine Realm.

In order to make up for that, Gorn and the others had turned a part of the sky above the Demon King Continent into a partial Divine Realm. With this, Sirius and the other gods were able to fight as well.

The original plan had been to gather all their forces and attack Vandalieu and his companions when they approached the space that had become a partial Divine Realm.

“We are quite far from the Divine Realm, but the situation we originally planned for is finally drawing near! They’re still some distance away, but Madroza is coming here as well! Let’s push on for victory! Help Harinsheb and Repobilis, and support your brothers!” Gorn shouted in command.

The demigods responded with roars. Their physical strength was increased and their wounds were healed by the sounds of the war horns and war drums of Sirius and the gods with him.

At this rate, Vandalieu and his companions would be steadily driven into a corner.

At that moment, Vandalieu climbed and stood on Cuatro’s bow, pointing his arm diagonally behind him. “Everyone, stay where you are. ‘World-Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon.’”

He cast the spell that had collapsed Alda’s Dungeon and destroyed the God of Records Curatos, the most destructively powerful spell that he was currently capable of casting.

With a torrent of pure-black Mana streaming from his left arm, he swung it from behind him to in front of him, then behind him on his right side.

Sweeping this attack across the battlefield caused heavy damage to Gorn and his allies. Harinsheb screamed as his shell completely shattered to pieces simply from the shockwave produced by it, and the Colossus and Elder Dragon who had tried to approach Cuatro fell to the sea after their limbs and tail were heavily wounded.

“W-what?!”

“Don’t try to block it! DOOOODGE!”

“GAH! My war horn!”

Repobilis took a direct hit, and three of his five limbs were disintegrated. Even so, he was beginning to regenerate due to his astounding Vitality, but…

“Now is the time! ‘Great Starving Bone Wheel!’” shouted Bone Man, arranging his bones into an enormous wheel.

With this secret ‘Hollow Bone Swordsmanship’ technique, Bone Man cut even the core of Repobilis’s remaining two limbs into pieces, ending his life.

Gufadgarn retrieved the pieces of Repobilis and Harinsheb with her magic. The space-attribute gods lurking in a sub-dimension noticed her doing this, but… they could do nothing but watch, as they needed to be prepared to act when Vandalieu and his companions attempted to make their escape.

If they were to try and interfere with Gufadgarn collecting these spoils of battle and then lacked the Mana to prevent Vandalieu’s escape later, they would lose everything.

“Now,” said Vandalieu.

His left arm had turned into a useless mass of flesh from the recoil of having used ‘World-Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon’ past his limit; he cut it off and devoured it with the Demon King’s jaws.

“Everyone, back to the ship!” shouted one of the Four Dead Sea Captains.

“Cuatro, full speed ahead to the sea of our destination!” shouted another.

It seemed that the perseverance of the space-attribute gods would be for naught. In response to Vandalieu’s command, Cuatro began flying towards the venomous sea.

With ‘Familiar Spirit Demonfall’ active, Cuatro let out a creaking noise as it flew through the air, surrounded by a black aura.

“Impossible! They are escaping with a method other than teleportation?!” Gorn shouted, astounded at this unexpected development, as he desperately tried to stop Cuatro.

“That’s why I told you! You never know what will happen on the battlefield!” said Brateo as he followed.

But Gorn and Brateo had been keeping their distance during their battle; they could not catch up to Cuatro.

Radatel, the Colossus of Lightning, and Zvold, the Great Vortex Dragon God – the two demigods who had been sent sinking into the sea after being struck by egg projectiles and beams of light – let out fierce roars as they re-emerged from the sea and stood in Cuatro’s path.

“Leave it to me, old man!” Radatel shouted.

“‘Extreme iceberg!’” said Zandia, conjuring an iceberg.

“I’ve never tried this before, but ‘Conjure Ice Dragon Pack!’” said Privel, summoning a multi-headed Dragon made of ice.

Pete let out a fierce hiss as he extended the top half of his body from the ship.

The iceberg, the Dragons and Pete’s horns collided with Radatel and Zvold.

Radatel and Zvold had already been covered in wounds; they were unable to withstand this attack. Pete possessed the ‘Dragon Devourer’ Skill; Zvold was struck by his horns and poisoned by the deadly venom secreted from them, and his body was split in two before he could even let out a dying scream.

“I’m sorry, Father…” Radatel whispered.

He couldn’t withstand these attacks for long, either. With a final ballista shot from Cuatro piercing him, he fell as well.

“Curse you! How dare you kill my son!” shouted an enraged Brateo.

But Cuatro sank below the surface of the pink sea.

“‘Disinfect,’ continuous cast,” said Vandalieu, casting the death-attribute spell that neutralized poisons that were harmful to people as soon as Cuatro hit the water, turning a part of the pink sea into ordinary seawater.

By the time Vandalieu realized that there was a Merfolk enveloped in a membrane-like object, Cuatro was already completely submerged.

《The Levels of the ‘Dark King Magic,’ ‘Super Rapid Regeneration,’ ‘Self-Regeneration: Cannibalism,’ ‘Strengthened Attribute Values: Cannibalism,’ ‘Precise Mana Control,’ ‘Scream,’ and ‘Demon King Artillery Technique’ Skills have increased!》

《The ‘Alchemy’ Skill has awakened to ‘Divine Alchemy!’》

Monster explanation (Written by Luciliano):

Demon Steel Roaring Lightning King Centipede

Pete has reached Rank 12 and is on the verge of Rank 13, a Rank that possibly no centipede has ever reached. Literature does not say whether something like a Beast-king of centipedes existed. However, if one did exist, then Pete would be close to being on equal terms with it.

He is quite enormous; his body is several dozen meters long. When he emerges from Master’s shadow, even I mistakenly think for a moment that Master is showing his true form.

This must be because of the incident where Master clung to Pete’s stomach when he saved Gizania’s life, though it doesn’t seem that Master intended for that.

Now that he has consumed a true Elder Dragon, as opposed to a lesser Dragon, we can expect more growth from him in the future.

Incidentally, when he wants to travel quickly, he apparently holds his tail with his mouth to form a ring that rolls across the ground.

Race explanation (Written by Luciliano):

Scylla Origin High-druid Princess

The above Status reflects the Rank increase that took place after Cuatro successfully escaped into the sea.

She is Rank 9. Her water-attribute magic has awakened, and she has acquired the ‘Familiar Spirit Demonfall’ Skill. I am sure that she is happy that her development is proceeding smoothly.

She has no Titles now, but it is certain that she will acquire some in the future.

Well, I will not speak of Titles, race titles, or Skill names that she will acquire in the future. At least, until some time passes and she calms down – for the sake of her heart, and for the sake of my own safety.

… How is it that Master is so composed when being constricted by her lower body?