Ending Maker Chapter 24
Ending Maker Chapter 24
Chapter 5 - Devil's Hand #5
For a moment, Minos couldn't regain his senses.
The seven-strike barrage had poured down like a bombardment, targeting the solar plexus, philtrum, temples, and other vital points of the human body.
Demonic Human or not, Minos was still human.
Since he maintained a human body and human form, his vital points were the same as a human's.
But at the same time, he was a demon.
Even though Minos had momentarily lost his senses from Yuder's chain strikes, he did not collapse from a single Thunderclap Strike.
'The gap.'
Minos might have been a low-ranking Demonic Human who appeared early in the story, but a Demonic Human was still a Demonic Human.
Not only his physical abilities but also his body's durability surpassed that of a human.
However, this had already been anticipated.
Moreover, the current Minos was exhausted from his fight with Ronin and weakened from being bound by Bellastin's Magic Circle.
Yuder did not stop.
He unleashed Thunderclap Strike once more.
Boom!
The divine power of Solari emitted by the Sun's Necklace collided with the demonic energy radiating from Minos's body, and a thunderous roar erupted.
The combatants of the Devil's Hand were startled by the sight of Minos being beaten one-sidedly and tried to intervene, but they too were beings imbued with demonic power, whether great or small. Blocked by Bellastin's Magic Circle, they couldn't even enter at all.
"Young master!"
"Young lady!"
Furthermore, beyond them were the escort knights of the twelve families.
They were already hard-pressed just to hold off the escort knights pressing in right before their eyes.
'A matter of time.'
After unleashing Thunderclap Strike again and again, Yuder ran the numbers in his head.
The time Cordelia could maintain Bellastin's Magic Circle.
The time it would take for the escort knights to break through the Devil's Hand.
The time it would take for the Demonic Human Minos to adapt to Bellastin's Magic Circle and become able to move.
A difference of a few seconds.
At most, it was only about ten seconds, but those ten seconds could decide life or death.
THUD!
Yuder stamped his foot again and unleashed a third Thunderclap Strike.
The reckless exertion stole his breath, but he could not stop.
Boom!
Thunder struck again.
But this time, not all of the Seven Chain Strikes succeeded. The final attack was blocked. Minos desperately moved his body and stopped the attack.
"RAAAARGH!"
As the blood-soaked Minos let out a monstrous roar, lightning flared across his entire body. It was a phenomenon caused by the collision between the demonic energy and the binding force of Bellastin's Magic Circle.
And that was the moment.
"Lucas! Join in!"
Cordelia, who had been clinging to Moonlight with her stance broken, shouted.
"Holy King Cross Sword!"
At the end, it was almost like she was shrieking.
That snapped Lucas out of the daze brought on by Minos and Bellastin’s Magic Circle.
Holy King Cross Sword.
An ancient sword art said to be passed down only to the legitimate heirs of the Count Hraesvelgr Household.
As befitting the current heir, Lucas also knew how to use the Holy King Cross Sword. Of course, his level of mastery was meager, but even so, it was the Holy King Cross Sword.
It was the sword of Holy King Graham, who had slain five great demons and founded the Holy Kingdom, making it especially effective against Demonic Humans who wielded demonic power.
Lucas's breathing changed.
With the ki throughout his body activated in an instant, Lucas shot toward Minos and Yuder.
Holy King Cross Sword, First Form - Holy Sword.
Lucas's blade shone pure white.
It was a holy light possessing the power to subdue demons.
Yuder had already been preparing to disengage when Cordelia shouted Lucas’s name. He exhaled sharply and widened the distance from Minos.
And Lucas drove into the gap that had been created.
"ARGH!"
Minos, his chest slashed by the Holy Sword, let out a monstrous scream, and black blood surged up from his chest.
But it was not over yet.
At this early point in the main scenario, Yuder and Lucas were roughly equal in raw strength.
Lucas alone could not defeat Minos.
"You wretches!"
Minos roared in fury and exerted his power even while bound, and Lucas faced Minos while drenched in cold sweat.
And Yuder returned to Cordelia, supported her, and asked.
"Can you do it?"
"I can. But, ugh...... it'll break."
Cordelia answered with a groan.
It was a conversation that seemed hard to understand at first glance, but not for Yuder and Cordelia.
What Yuder had requested.
The hidden power within Moonlight.
But the moment it was used, Bellastin's Magic Circle was fated to be dispelled within just a few seconds. Cordelia's mana was still far too weak to operate Moonlight and Bellastin's Magic Circle at the same time.
Yuder calculated.
Cordelia sensed it instinctively.
And so the two reached the same conclusion.
"Let's do it," they said in unison.
Could Bellastin's Magic Circle be maintained until the escort knights broke through the Devil's Hand and arrived—no, could Cordelia hold out?
It was impossible.
By a hair's breadth, Minos would recover his strength faster.
In the first place, even Bellastin's Magic Circle was not all-powerful.
The reason Yuder had deliberately installed Bellastin's Magic Circle in the secret room was due to various practical problems.
Renting the entire banquet hall to draw the magic circle was too much, and activating a magic circle large enough to cover the entire banquet hall was also too much.
But if they drew a small magic circle, precisely luring Minos onto the magic circle was yet another problem.
So they had chosen the secret room.
Because it was literally a secret room, as long as they entered secretly, no one would disturb them while they drew the magic circle.
Since the room itself was not very large, installing a magic circle that covered the entire room eliminated the problem of having to lure Minos to a specific area.
'This is the best.'
In the first place, the current situation itself was the best possible situation created through effort upon effort.
So they would make an effort once more.
Instead of vaguely hoping for things to go well, they would struggle one more time.
Lucas and Minos clashed.
Lucas groaned from the shock generated by the collision between the Holy King Cross Sword and the demonic energy, and blood gushed from the nose of Cordelia, who was forcibly maintaining Bellastin's Magic Circle.
Yuder no longer hesitated.
He adjusted his grip on the Sun's Necklace, and Cordelia gritted her teeth and rose from her spot.
What mattered was timing.
At a precarious moment, strike precisely at the opening.
Yuder calculated once more.
Cordelia again sensed it by instinct.
One second.
Two seconds.
At the moment Lucas's sword slashed Minos's chest once more.
"Glory of moonlight! Awaken now and shine!"
Cordelia pulled Moonlight away from the magic circle. She raised it high and chanted, and the moon's mana hidden within Moonlight, accumulated over more than a hundred years, was released in a single instant.
Light.
Not light that broke the darkness, but a soft light that spread through the darkness.
Moonlight filled the secret room. It did not stop there—that power was delivered wholly to a single place.
And what shone because of it was the sun.
A holy relic containing the power of Solari.
The moon's mana accumulated over a hundred years was by no means small.
From the Sun's Necklace, light equal to that of the old days when it had accompanied Garius, Solari's champion, was emitted.
"Gah?!"
Minos, who had momentarily faltered under the moon's mana pressing down on his entire body, squeezed his eyes shut with a pained groan.
Lucas was startled once again and opened his mouth wide.
THUD!
Yuder charged. He had to finish it before the effect of Bellastin's Magic Circle, which had lost its power source, disappeared.
"Grease!"
A magic drawn on the glove worn on his left hand—so simple yet so lethal.
Minos, who had been backing away with his eyes closed, slipped and fell. And Yuder, who had climbed on top of him, pulled back his fist.
There was only one chance.
With this one strike, he would deal the most fatal blow.
Yuder held his breath.
Using the condensed power of the sun, fueled by moonlight, as raw material, he unleashed Thunderbolt Fist in a single burst.
Boom!
Thunder erupted.
The punch came down like a thunderbolt and slammed into Minos’s chest.
Moreover, this time it was not a simple physical blow.
The divine power of Solari, the Sun God, burrowed into Minos's chest.
"AAARGH!"
Minos screamed in agony.
And dozens of cracks spread across his entire body.
A magic stone.
The organ that replaced the heart, located in the chest of one who had become a Demonic Human by becoming one with a demon.
Like the Devil's Horn, it condensed demonic power and could draw it from outside—the thing that allowed a Demonic Human to exist as a Demonic Human.
It shattered.
Solari’s golden light pulverized the creature’s magic stone, which Bellastin’s Magic Circle and the repeated blows had weakened to the limit.
"No, no!"
Demonic power gushed from the cracks across his body like water through a burst dam.
Minos thrashed.
And Yuder pulled back his fist again.
"Fuck him up."
Was it an illusion that he heard Cordelia's voice?
Yuder grinned fiercely. He took the moon's mana remaining in the Sun's Necklace as his own. With a roar, he drove the final blow into Minos's chest.
FWOOM!
Light burst.
Minos's entire body, struck in the chest once again, began to break apart. The demonic energy rose like smoke and scattered in all directions.
And immediately after.
Rings of pure white light wrapping around Yuder's body appeared in succession.
It did not stop there—just like when he had first conquered the Dungeon Book, a phrase surfaced in his mind.
[You have acquired the title ‘One Who Made the Impossible Possible’.]
[All stats increase by 5%.]
A boss that originally could not be defeated.
A scenario designed on the premise of losing.
But they had overcome it.
They had seized victory.
Yuder clenched his fist.
Just like when he first reached #1 on the server, he let the sense of accomplishment surging from deep in his chest erupt in a roar.
Cordelia was the same.
Even though she had collapsed flat on her back with blood streaming from her nose, she raised both arms high and cheered.
"Young master!"
"Young lady!"
The voices of Jun and Dahlia rang out in succession.
Yuder let out a long breath.
He wore a pleasant smile.
* * *
"Haa... haa... I feel like I’m going to die. I’m about to pass—khk—out, so... take care of the rest."
Right after Minos was defeated.
Cordelia, still sprawled on her back, spoke with a face that looked like she might stop breathing at any moment, and Yuder, who had somehow half-crawled over to Cordelia's side, answered.
"Sorry, I'm gonna pass out...... first, I think."
"You, you f—er?"
"Nine Yin...... Meridian Blockage...... ugh."
As if that really was his limit, Yuder, who had lain down beside Cordelia, let out a small cough and passed out.
Both of them had leveled up a great deal, but the stamina and mana they had consumed were simply enormous.
"You, you bastard."
Cordelia barely managed to spit out a curse, clung to consciousness with the last of her strength, and spoke to Lucas, who was standing there like useless baggage.
"Cleanup, the rest. Please......."
That was Cordelia's limit too.
The peerless beauty, blood still streaming from her nose, lost consciousness just like that, and Lucas, who had suddenly been entrusted with the aftermath, shouted without realizing it.
No, he wanted to shout.
How!
Because the silence spell Cordelia had cast on him was still in effect.
Moreover, there were far too many things Lucas didn't know to handle the cleanup.
What was the magic circle installed in the secret room, and what exactly had Yuder and Cordelia done to defeat Minos at the end?
'A-and the f—er thing too.'
A peerless beauty who said f—er this and f—er that. No, a count's daughter.
In a sense, the most impactful thing that had happened today was Cordelia's true nature.
She had acted so coy and demure until just last year.
Lucas shuddered involuntarily and looked beyond the collapsed wall. The escort knights who had subdued the demon worshippers were rushing over together.
"Young lady! Young lady!"
Dahlia, the escort warrior of the Count Chase Household, burst into tears at the sight of Cordelia with blood streaming from her nose, and the escort warrior of the Count Bayel Household urgently checked Yuder's pulse.
"Young master, are you all right?"
Lucas gave the pale-faced Hraesvelgr escort a distracted nod, then looked back at Yuder and Cordelia.
Seeing the two of them lying side by side, passed out with satisfied smiles on their faces, he couldn't help but smile himself, regardless of the circumstances.
'Truly...... a fantastic couple.'
No, were they insane?
Lucas swallowed the thought that Yuder and Cordelia would have vehemently denied, turned back to the escort knight, and pointed insistently at his mouth to show that he was still under a silence spell.