Chapter 448
Chapter 448
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 448
Chapter Title: Devilish Bastards
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The Swamp of Despair was deep and dark, where nothing could be seen.
This was the true power of a devil.
A power from the heavens that no earthly warrior could ever reach.
—I can't fly.
The legendary Wright brothers weren't here right now. Even they had gone through countless trials and errors to conquer the skies, so it was only natural that I—who hadn't put in that effort—couldn't fly.
—I have no wings, so I can't fly.
Yeah, right now, I was in a state of utter winglessness.
Wingless Kim Katt.
—Rustle.
The wingless Kim Katt plummeted like that, crashing into the abyss pit. The pit was filled with nothing but endless despair. I thrashed around in that dark void, trying to escape, but the sky remained impossibly high.
"Ah."
I couldn't get out.
"Fuck, I'm screwed."
All that came to mind was that my mom was royally fucked.
Blackout vision. A heart filled with nothing but rage. But no matter how pissed I got, no matter how much it burned me up, I couldn't fly. I wasn't an airplane. I had no wings. I wasn't the Wright brothers.
Those thoughts swirled endlessly, battering my brain.
Despair upon despair. Impotence breeding lethargy. No answers, and the sky so high. I had to save Elise. I had to kill that fucking succubus bitch.
"But... how?"
My hollow cry echoed through the empty void.
"How the hell do I fly?"
The succubus was in the air.
Hildegarth floated in the sky.
I had no wings, so I couldn't fly.
—Thud, thud.
The despair stretched as high as the heavens—
"—Foollll."
Right then, footsteps approached from behind, accompanied by a eerie voice. It spread like a hallucination, faint but unmistakably familiar from my memories.
"...!"
I whipped around and froze in shock.
"You, you're Mersin!!!"
"Heh heh heh, what a pathetic sight this issss."
"You fuck! Why the hell are you here!!!!"
It was Mersin who appeared.
The grotesque swordsman in bizarrely blue robes. The one I'd smashed in one hit before, who occasionally popped up in the darkest corners of my mind to flash a creepy grin.
"Truly, utterly patheticccc. You crushed me in one blow, yet here you are, face planted in a dump like thissss."
"Fuck...! No words for that!"
—Poke poke.
Mersin laughed at me.
It was only natural. I was Grounded Kim Katt right now. A fool standing in a position where mockery from everyone was fair game. I hung my head, clenched my fists, and listened to his jeering.
—Thud, thud.
Footsteps echoed again.
I looked up.
"Spirits and humans can harmonize. But... what about devils?"
"You, you're Matelis!"
Next to appear was Matelis, the spirit summoner I'd slain in one strike long ago!
"Why the fuck is this bastard showing up!"
What the hell!
What was going on here!
Was I hallucinating!!!!
—Hiss.
—Ssssh.
—Kyuuu.
Then came the Velverza, the Dryad, and the Kobold Guardian. Familiar faces surrounded me in an instant. They greeted me in their incomprehensible tongues while mocking me.
"You motherfuckers...!"
—Mocking laughter.
"Fuck! You laughing at me!!!!"
—Kieeeek!!!!
Raging, I screamed while desperately searching for a way out. Could I fly to the sky somehow? How could I reach Hildegarth?
Torment and mockery blended like ink dissolving in water.
The swirling mess turned pitch black, melting into the darkness.
The answer was.
Nothing.
Just like this black void, there was no way to fly. Tell me. If anyone knew the answer. Please, just tell me.
I had to save Elise.
—Gonna beat these fuckers and squeeze some ideas out of them.
With that resolve, I strode toward them to bash the little shits.
Our eyes met.
"What are you agonizing over something so simple forrrr? The answer's easyyy. It's already in your heartttt."
"Yeah, the answer's always there. For spirits, for humans. It's always there."
The moment I raised my fist, Mersin and Matelis spouted that nonsense and started nodding. Seeing these idiots babbling bullshit even in death made me think they deserved it.
"So where the fuck is it, you worthless cunts!!!"
Their words made no sense.
"Wanna die again!!!!"
The answer's in my heart?
The answer's always there?
Sure. Anyone can say that shit.
With words.
"Useless fucks!"
I roared.
"Not with Executioner's Step!"
Executioner's Step couldn't reach the sky.
"Not with Supremacy of the Heavenly Demon!"
The Heavenly Demon's secret movement art, Supremacy of the Heavenly Demon, was the same. With my current meager power, all it could do was sergeant jumps, short high-speed bursts, and fancy dodges. That was the limit.
Still couldn't fly.
"Can't reach the bitch! Fuck, it's not Supremacy—it's Grounded Supremacy!!"
Can't fly, so can't reach.
Can't reach, so can't drag her down.
Flying Star Bullet didn't work.
To pull her down, I'd have to fly first. But there was no way to fly. Couldn't drag her without flying.
Was there... a way?
"That's exactly it."
The last to appear was.
"That's the solution."
—The Wright brothers.
"Y-You're the legendary Wright brothers...!"
Before me stood the legendary Wright brothers from the heroes' tales I'd read as a kid! They suddenly appeared, riding mini propeller planes, looking down at me.
Did they know the answer!
"What do you mean... tell me! Wright brothers!!!"
I had no means to drag down that succubus...!
"Think backwards, Kim Katt."
"Back... wards?"
Think backwards?
She's in the air. Floating high in the sky. I need to fly up? Fly and pull her down? Think that backwards? Backwards from something I can't do?
—A fleeting question.
The conclusion.
Supremacy of the Heavenly Demon couldn't reach the succubus.
Then.
—Flash.
That spark of genius always elevated humanity to new heights. The Wright brothers before me proved it. Elevating here meant literally pulling up into the sky.
Lifting humans to the heavens.
That was their legacy.
"Ah."
And they told me to think backwards.
"So that's it."
Think "backwards."
I can't fly. Backwards: Can I fly? Regrettably, no. Think backwards again.
—Backwards.
An inverted sky.
Flip the sky, and the answer's simple.
"Make that side."
Come down.
"Isn't that it?"
—Smirk.
The beings around me dropped their sneers and finally smiled.
—That's it.
Yes. If the sky flips, whatever's up there falls to the ground. No need for me to fly. Make her fall. That's the solution.
But how? Hadn't I been agonizing over that? Couldn't make her fall because I couldn't fly. Wasn't that the torment?
"I don't need to obsess over flying."
The true truth of Fusion Confucianism. Mana operation. My potential. Physical prowess. All converged in Executioner's Severance. And Heavenly Demon Death Beam.
Fragments of it lingered in the depths of my heart.
"A warrior."
Carries the weight of every life he's taken on his shoulders.
Excluding the suddenly appeared Wright brothers, everyone here was someone I'd slain, someone I'd killed. Their grudges or resentments? I didn't care. I picked the ones who deserved death and cut them down. Killing them built my mana.
But.
That weight surely pressed down on me.
—The weight of lives taken.
"Heavy."
—Rumbleeee.
"Crushing me."
Crushing, yet I don't feel it.
So where does it exist?
"Heavily crushing."
The true truth of Fusion Confucianism awakened within me. Mana exploded aberrantly from my core. The realm built from slaying foes. I trusted in it.
"Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon."
And what awakened was.
—True Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon.
"Kuhuaaagh...!"
Light pierced through. Somehow, I was back in the forest. The black void of despair vanished, replaced by the fresh green of late summer welcoming me.
"Sa... int...! Guhuk!!!"
Elise's scream was clear, as was the succubus's mocking laugh.
"Heh heh heh! You seemed to be thinking hard—finally sorted your mind out?"
"Fuck off."
"Huh?"
Now, I had the answer.
"Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon."
—Concentrating mana.
I extended my legs and planted my feet.
"Supremacy of the Heavenly Demon."
—Kugugugugu!!!
Crushing the existence in the air.
"Kyaaaaahhh?!?!?!"
Daring to torment Elise before me.
Crushing her body—are you sane?
"M-My body...?!"
—Kwaduduk!
Heavenly Demon Supremacy.
Space Domination.
"What the hell is this...!!!"
The heavens shook, the earth quaked. Like an earthquake, the succubus mocking us from above trembled like a magnetized cicada, slowly plummeting to the ground.
Yes.
Originally, Supremacy of the Heavenly Demon was a technique to overwhelm and subjugate the world. When the Heavenly Demon, lord of all demons, descends and steps upon the earth, all beings bow their heads and kneel.
—I recognize no one above me.
"Wh-What power is this...!"
That's what Supremacy of the Heavenly Demon was.
"Can't move...! Guh! It hurts, stop. Stop...! Kyaaaaah!!!"
A warrior carries the souls of those he's slain on his blade and shoulders.
Mersin, Matelis, Velverza, Dryad, Kobold Guardian. And every other soul I'd killed. Each one light as a feather, but piled into mountains of corpses for me, heavier than anything.
"My Supremacy of the Heavenly Demon."
Is the aggregate of that weight.
—Kugugugugu!!!
That heavy step crushed the body of the succubus flying in the sky. No need to fly. Pull her down. This was the manifestation of true enlightenment.
"Didn't I tell you, little succubus? I'm Heavenly Demon Kim Katt."
"What the hell does that mean...! Heh, heh heh! But so what! Even if I come down, you can't kill me, Sir Knight!!"
The succubus was already sprawled on the ground. No, she tried to stand. Impressive. Some demonic pride, huh.
—Fsssh!
"Can't do anything now!"
At the same time, Hildegarth's wings blurred as she hunched up. The vanishing wings turned into pink mist.
The curse of pleasure and temptation.
A aura incomparable to her earlier tricks emanated.
"Our clan's secret art, honed in Pandemonium! It has a penalty, but... no choice here! Taking a man with strong essence like you boosts my power! I'll gladly invest!"
The mist touched me.
Clinging to my skin, it seeped inward, stabbing at my heart and brain. A curse striking the mind directly—
"—Bullshit!!!!!!"
Of course, it didn't work!
"No temptation, curse, or illusion can break me! I reject this evil sorcery outright!"
Not even a succubus's secret art could pierce my mind!
"The faith and conviction I seized with my own hands can't be violated by some satanic demon cunt!"
I survived years at the rock bottom of this hellish otherworld, killing to live! That savage otherworld with nothing—no foundation at all—was a deeper abyss of hell than anything!
"This curse is jack shit compared to that pain, you demon whore!!!!!"
"Th-The sorcery isn't working...!"
—Dejavooooh!!!
I bellowed Executioner's Lion Roar and called to Elise.
"Elise! Holy Enchant!!! This is our last chance, Elise!!! Supremacy ends soon!!! We're done!!!!"
I understood instinctively. Supremacy of the Heavenly Demon couldn't last long!!!
"Y-Yes!!!!"
—Putsut!!
"Hiiik?!"
Elise prayed, vomiting blood, and holy flames coated my blade. Hildegarth stood but couldn't flee.
The weight of life still pinned her!
My "friends" held her body tight, dragging her down!
"Die, succubus!!!! This is the Heavenly Demon's mightttt!!!"
I charged with my last strength!
"Kya, kyak! Stop! Don't come closer, kyaaaaahhhhh!!!!!!!!"
—Slash!
The glowing blade cleaved the succubus.
"Kuhak, kyak...! KiyaAAAAH!!!!!"
Too much power drained! My mind was about to fly away! But once wasn't enough! I slashed repeatedly, hacking Hildegarth to pieces!
—Schwick schwick!!!
Her body split apart, form collapsing bit by bit.
Could I kill her now!
If I passed out or Supremacy ended before finishing her, I'd lose this fight!!!
"Dejavooooh!!!!!"
I slashed with that desperate prayer! Between slashes, I roared ki, and she screamed! Her body vanished!
"For sure!!!!"
Then, with only her head and part of her upper body left, Hildegarth shrieked defiantly. —Bwoooong! A black hole formed behind her!
Demon Gate!!!
"I'll make you kneel beneath me someday!! Definitely!!! I remember your face! Your name! Your existence! I'll come find you!!!"
—Shishik!!!
"And drain every drop of your essence!!!!!"
In an instant, Hildegarth's remains were sucked into the Demon Gate. Like dust into a vacuum.
Soon, the gate that swallowed her form vanished completely.
—The battle...
Was it over?
"Kuh... haak!"
My knees buckled at the same time.
"Saint! Saint, are you okay!!!!"
"Eliseeee!!! I'm fucking dyingggggg!!!!"
My legs shook like a bitch, couldn't stand anymore. Vision blacking out. Mana and strength drained; felt nothing. With Hildegarth reverse-summoned, the binding spell lifted—Elise rushed over and caught me.
"Teeeeeng!!!"
Sleep was coming.