Chapter 15
Chapter 15
Chapter 15
Battle of Baran Village (3)
This was truly an absurd situation, but it wasn't incomprehensible.
SWOOSH!
Rudian glanced briefly at Diablo's blade held in his right hand.
The trace amount of demonic energy obtained as evidence of his contract with Diablo.
Alec seemed to have detected Diablo's unique energy implanted inside Rudian's heart.
-Hehehe, for a mere human, he has quite good intuition.
Originally, he would have just hidden his name and entered the battle, but since things had turned out this way, Rudian decided to buy more time for the village chief and vigilante group to escape.
"I'm Rudian."
"...You don't have a family name? Whom do you serve?"
Alec Hyuma asked with a slightly suspicious expression, probing him.
Demons infiltrating human forces from behind the scenes of history tended to value social status over ability when creating minions.
Though it required more effort, this approach made their work proceed more smoothly and was perfect for concealing their identities.
In such a situation, it was natural for Alec to be suspicious when Rudian only mentioned his first name without a surname.
However, Rudian had a way to immediately dispel Alec's suspicion.
"I serve Lady Asmodeus."
"Oh, you serve the goddess of lust and indulgence?"
Immediately, the fellow's expression softened.
If a clergyman had witnessed a demon king being called a goddess, it would have been cause for pounding the ground and wailing.
-Goddess? God-ddd-dess?
But there was someone pounding the ground and wailing despite not being a clergyman.
-For a low-grade youngster like Asmodeus to be called a goddess! Merely Lilith's concubine! Where has the hierarchy and order of the demon realm disappeared to?
Unfortunately, Diablo's wailing didn't reach Alec's ears.
"Indeed, only fellow comrades would know that name."
Rudian, an avid reader of , simply knew all the information about high-ranking demons and demon kings hiding in the Morian Empire.
At this point in time, there were almost no humans who knew about high-ranking demon kings or superior demons, so it was natural for Alec to drop his guarded attitude.
"Your appearance is certainly suitable for receiving the goddess's favor. I understand that even without a family name, appearance itself can be considered a talent."
'Seriously, this bastard?'
Rudian's expression seriously crumpled upon hearing those words.
demon king Asmodeus, one of the characters in , was among the few in the demon race who didn't consider social status when selecting minions.
Her criteria for choosing minions was only one thing:
'They must be young and pretty.'
In other words, she was a lolicon and shotacon.
Rudian, the original template for Seong-jun, was relatively good-looking.
Due to his harsh surroundings, he rarely became aware of it, but to become a Calline's subordinate, one's appearance had to be somewhat decent.
But that didn't make the fellow's comment normal at all.
Suppressing his boiling insides, Rudian said to him:
"I have received no particular favor from her. In the first place, you are the one who invaded my territory."
Suddenly, Baran Village had become Rudian's territory.
In response to Rudian's bluff, Alec stroked his chin and showed a slightly troubled expression.
"Hmm, this is troublesome. It seems the information hasn't been properly conveyed to your side... Is it because your side hasn't established roots yet, unlike our Erebos?"
In his words coexisted pride in his own organization and mockery of the organization Rudian (supposedly) belonged to.
Rather than increasing his anger, Rudian felt his rage slightly subsiding at the fellow's behavior.
"Where did you send it, that I haven't received the message yet?"
Falling for Rudian's masterful leading question, Alec took the bait without any suspicion.
"Proper letters were sent to Viscount Belstad, weren't they? Since Nevan, the capital of Morian, is quite distant from here, I suppose it's possible."
"Oh, Viscount Belstad..."
Even as an avid reader who had gone through the author's published settings, he didn't know every detail of the content before the original work.
But he definitely knew the name Viscount Belstad.
"Ah, I see now, I remember. Good von Belstad Baron... No, Viscount now. So that fellow was in charge of communications? He was such a minor extra in the original work that I forgot about him."
"...Hmm?"
Alec Hyuma finally noticed that something was off about Rudian's speech pattern.
Unfortunately, by the time he noticed, Rudian had already extracted enough information, so he had no further business with Alec.
"So it was the chaos caused by Caslay Lichmond's death. To send a force of your caliber..."
The neighboring Kingdom of Rohans had already had its higher society infiltrated by demon forces before the original work, and since their forces were covered in significant detail in the original work, Rudian was already well-informed about their military strength.
In other words, Alec Hyuma, now useless to Rudian, was merely an invader.
"...What is that killing intent?"
"Nothing special. What's strange about building a fighting spirit before an enemy?"
"......"
At that moment, Alec Hyuma realized he had been deceived.
Though he didn't know exactly how he had been deceived, he realized that the being before him had now turned into an enemy.
But.
"You intend to face me with that level of power? You fall short of me in every aspect—neither blessed power nor human-built strength."
Alec's words were true.
Rudian originally had no blessed power, and his knightly capabilities were worlds apart from Alec's… Though this was only when comparing pure capabilities.
BOOM!
In an instant, demonic energy exploded from Rudian's entire body.
"...Huh!"
Seeing this, Alec's pupils, which had been confidently fixed, dilated greatly.
Being a powerful entity, Alec clearly recognized the potential hidden in that demonic energy.
It was power that transcended humanity.
Pure power that mere minions or subordinates could never possess.
The power of demons themselves.
Diablo, who had lent this power, sternly warned Rudian:
-Youngster, you can only withstand this power for 1 minute at most. Even that false god won't be able to fully protect you if you exceed the critical point, so be careful.
'I understand.'
-Hehehe, let's see how useful Iblis's minion is.
As the demonic energy exploding from Diablo took the form of a blade, Rudian charged at Alec.
***
Among the artifacts appearing in the latter part of are balance breakers like spaceships or orbital bombardments that can destroy continents in one strike and turn planetary surfaces into seas of fire.
But the simple reason why the demon sword Diablo, merely a sword among these absurd artifacts, is classified as top-tier among the artifacts appearing in was simple.
Simply put, it was because the rank of demon king Diablo sealed within the sword was immeasurably high.
In terms of simple destructive power, it couldn't compare, but Diablo was one of the weapons capable of god-slaying (神殺), a keyword that becomes critically important in the latter part of .
The power to inflict fatal wounds on immortal beings in the true sense, not simply lowering regenerative abilities.
That was Diablo's true value.
SLASH!
The surprise attack successfully sliced through Alec's body.
"Argh!"
Alec immediately swung his fist to counterattack, but Rudian, whose dynamic vision had reached its extreme, twisted his body and cut off that arm as well.
'This guy was a hand-to-hand fighter!'
The reason Rudian hadn't seen any weapons on Alec was because he was a rare hand-to-hand fighter on the battlefield.
Originally, hand-to-hand fighters weren't highly regarded on the battlefield.
Even with lethal gauntlets, their efficiency was far too low compared to other weapons, and since they couldn't participate in cavalry combat, the flower of the battlefield, hand-to-hand fighters naturally became one of the obsolete professions on the battlefield.
But Alec Hyuma was different.
Since he had distinguished himself in various battles with just his fists, the disadvantages of being a hand-to-hand fighter weren't disadvantages for him.
"ARGGGHHHH!"
Infinite stamina. Overflowing magic. Overwhelming regenerative power.
He didn't have the special abilities that other minions commonly possessed, but with the overwhelming physical abilities granted by Iblis, Alec Hyuma earned the nickname 'Berserker' on the battlefield and rose to the position of special forces captain.
Yes, certainly, this fight should have normally led to overwhelming dominance according to his expectations.
Until he realized that his severed left arm wasn't regenerating.
"What, what is this?"
Alec looked at his severed left arm with cold sweat.
Originally, the physical regenerative abilities possessed by a demon king's minions exceeded imagination.
Even without being a high-ranking minion granted immortality, Alec's regenerative ability was enough to restore him to normal within 30 seconds even if all his limbs were torn off.
But today, that regenerative ability wasn't working.
"W-why isn't it healing!"
Alec let out a discordant scream at the completely different development.
Unfortunately for him, Diablo's black blade didn't just possess simple cutting power.
"It must feel like your soul is being sliced away."
Rudian said calmly, glaring at Alec.
"Well, you were probably planning to withstand attacks with your enhanced body and counter, but..."
Diablo's power didn't simply cut the body but directly attacked the soul and divine nature.
It was the natural enemy of all super-regenerative abilities, including healing factors.
Rudian smiled slightly and provoked Alec.
"Originally I was planning to engage in a life-or-death hand-to-hand combat, but fortunately you let your guard down."
"You think you've won with just this!"
Alec was furious.
Though he had lost one arm, he hadn't yet been defeated in battle.
Although he was caught off guard, Alec's trained senses told him that Rudian's capability was merely that of a mid-tier knight.
His battle-hardened senses told him the correct answer, but the problem was that Alec's pride was treating Diablo's power as mere luck.
BANG!
Alec's remaining right arm shot out like a cannonball, aiming for Rudian's head.
It was a strike that had sent countless strong warriors to the afterlife on the battlefield, but his fist couldn't penetrate the surging demonic energy around Rudian.
"W-why..."
Alec finally felt that things were going wrong.
The sonic boom created when his fist flew was certainly threatening, but there was no sound from the blocked fist.
It was as if all the impact had been absorbed into the black demonic energy's barrier.
Alec shouted in bewilderment:
"T-that power is not one that the goddess of lust could bestow!"
-Of course not, how dare you compare me to such a woman?
Diablo muttered in an indignant tone at Alec's shout.
Well, considering their respective ranks, Diablo's anger was natural, but… Rudian sighed weakly at Diablo's comment that disrupted the flow of battle.
'Please be quiet for a moment.'
In any case, the 1-minute time limit was almost up.
If Alec had known this fact, he would have desperately tried to struggle, but unfortunately, Alec had completely lost his fighting spirit.
THRUST!
After several exchanges of offense and defense, the black blade was thrust directly into Alec's heart.
"Ugh! Ughhh!"
Another useful feature of Diablo was his ability to cleanly absorb the demonic energy of other demons.
Originally, battles using demonic energy had the side effect of contaminating the surrounding land and air, creating demonization, but by absorbing demonic energy this way, there was no worry about pollution or being discovered.
With the sword thrust into Alec's heart, Rudian spoke:
"Someday I'll cut the heads off all demon bastards in the Kingdom of Rohans."
Because that would make things proceed more smoothly.
"You... Yraitor!"
"Still under that misconception?"
If he wanted to die believing a misconception, that was fine.
Considering the crimes this guy had committed as a demon's minion for over 100 years, even this death was too lenient.
"Now die."
Rudian sentenced Alec Hyuma to death with a cold gaze.