Chapter 60
Chapter 60
Chapter 60
Rigos (2)
Flinch!
"Wh, what do you mean by that?"
At Rudian's confident words about teaming up with gods, Rigos' eyes wavered back and forth.
He was trying to regain his composure... But it's too late, you bastard.
"The fact that Diablo's seal will be released in 20 years is something only the parties involved in the sealing would know."
At that time, Diablo was sealed in the middle realm before the Seven Seats were driven out by rebellion at the end of the Heaven-Demon Great War.
Naturally, not only the other Seven Seats but the entire demon realm didn't know Diablo's detailed whereabouts, and as long as Diablo kept his mouth shut, only the Archangel Uriel knew the location and duration of that seal.
"The archangels who are Uriel's colleagues and the gods interested in that matter might know about Diablo."
Flinch!
"But what's the reason you guys know so much about Diablo's seal? Obviously, you must know because you made 'deals' with those bastards, right?"
Rudian specified the suspects more toward the gods rather than the archangels.
"Besides, more than ten of you have crossed over and are devouring several nations in the lower realm, yet there's no response from the heavenly realm, which is also strange."
The prophecy he heard from Raphael?
Prophecy my ass, if they could make prophecies in the first place, they could have easily prevented the Demon Kings from crossing over with prophecy, couldn't they?
Unless there was prior agreement, this would be impossible.
"Kuk...!"
Rigos' expression was visibly flustered.
Probably his head is spinning round and round.
Either run away or fight back.
Having shown a confident appearance and even drawn his authority, he should choose to fight back, but Rudian had also drawn his trump card, Diablo.
Rudian was certain.
That authority probably couldn't be reused for quite a long time once withdrawn.
That's why he's showing such a troubled appearance.
'You don't know there's only one path you must choose.'
If you don't know, I should teach you.
"You probably crawled all the way here thinking you could escape in any situation."
"...What?"
"Try running away once. I won't attack or chase until then."
"......?"
Even if he could use authority, he wouldn't have come this far relying only on that.
He must have at least one more trump card.
"If you withdraw this authority, I won't be able to draw this much power either. Who knows, if you gather all your subordinates waiting outside and have a decisive battle outside... Your chances of winning might be much higher than now."
"...What bullshit!"
Rigos's expression wavered noticeably.
No matter how he thought about it, that side would seem to have much higher possibility.
'Because it's actually right.'
If this guy runs away now, Rudian would be the one left 'like a dog chasing chickens.'
If he really gangs up with his subordinates outside, forget about a fair fight, he'd have to run away.
Hehe!
'If he can run away, that is.'
Rudian continued to provoke Rigos.
"Go ahead. I swear I'll stay still."
Rather, encouraging him to run away was such a sweet temptation that it felt like a trap.
"...Are, are you really going to stay still?"
"I'll stay still for 20 seconds. That should be enough time for you to chant the spell to open a gate, right? I swear on my existence. Is this enough?"
20 seconds would be enough to open a gate, run away, close the door, and still have over 10 seconds left.
Only after Rudian said this much did Rigos make up his mind.
'If the opponent is really the Seven Seats Diablo, there's absolutely no chance of winning.'
Especially since he received benefits from his own authority, he must avoid this place at all costs.
After retreating, he should gather his subordinates or unite with other Demon Kings to kill him.
As soon as Rigos reached this conclusion, he quickly raised his hand and chanted an incantation.
"I, in the name of Demon King Rigos, command! Open, gate of the black heaven!"
"……."
"...Huh?"
Normally, a giant dimensional gate should appear before his eyes, but for some reason, nothing happened at all.
"Op, open, gate of the black heaven!"
"……."
"Open, gate of the black heaven!"
"……."
"Uh, uaaah! Open! Open up! Gate of the black heaven!"
"……."
No matter how loudly Rigos shouted and cried out, the dimensional gate named the gate of the black heaven showed no sign of appearing.
Rudian, who knew the cause, nodded contentedly and watched Rigos's futile efforts.
'Yev seems to have done well.'
Rudian's request to Yev.
The content was exactly this: if Rigos left his subordinates behind and entered the Tower of Trials, kill all of Rigos's waiting subordinates and then block all dimensional and spatial movement between the Tower of Trials and the present world.
No matter what escape method Rigos knew, he calculated that there was no way he could surpass the power of Yev, who was recognized by that Diablo.
In exchange, he had to spit out all the magic and power that Adi and Diablo had consumed so far, but looking at that appearance now, he could see that he had sufficiently recovered his principal.
"You bastaaaard! What the hell did you do?"
"What did I do?"
"If you don't tell me the truth right now...! Kuk!"
"If I don't tell the truth, what?"
Rigos looked at the dark navy aura blade stuck in his chest and contorted his expression in pain.
The perpetrator who stuck that aura blade smiled wickedly and maximized Rigos's anger with one sentence.
"20 seconds are up, aren't they?"
"You, you damn bastard!"
Rigos lost his reason at that one sentence.
Watching Rigos explode with anger, Rudian suddenly saw the image of Baphomet Dugo, whom he had eliminated in the catacombs, overlap.
'Surely, it was this bastard who stuck that Baphomet in the catacombs, right?'
What do you call this?
Reaping what you sow? Divine justice? Karmic retribution?
If Dugo and Rigos had heard Rudian's thoughts, they would have immediately sworn brotherhood to kill Rudian first.
Well, actually Rigos is charging like an angry dog, determined to kill him anyway.
SLASH!
Rudian swung the embedded aura blade as it was, creating a large laceration on Rigos's body.
"Ugh!"
This aura blade isn't just a simple sword.
It's a special strike imbued with Diablo's power.
Even if it were Quihiller's ultimate technique, the current Rigos would laugh and deflect it, but this would hurt quite a lot.
"I will definitely kill you!"
With Rigos's roar, thousands upon thousands of dark spears appeared in the sky.
Truly fearsome power that could sweep away even army-level forces in one strike!
The thought of that power being concentrated on just one person was nothing short of terrifying.
-Kahaha, you've become quite useful after all!
'Shut up a bit! Adi, can you block it?'
-Leave it to me!
As all restrictions binding Diablo were released, a strange situation was created where Adi could draw upon not only Rudian's power but also Diablo's power.
Of course, since it wasn't pure magic but dark magic called magi, the magic Adi was about to deploy followed a different trajectory from ordinary magic.
-Diabolic Gluttony!
In an instant, a blood-red barrier surrounded Rudian.
And that barrier gradually expanded in size and influence, beginning to devour the dark spears rushing toward Rudian.
-A somewhat unpleasant but interesting power!
A composite power combining wrath and gluttony.
Rigos, who recognized the essence of that power, turned pale and created distance.
"Gasp? This is Lord Baal's authority!"
"Where are you running!"
Rudian quickly approached Rigos and unleashed a massive slash.
His whole body overflowed with power.
Rigos's authority of 'equality' brought the effect of being able to draw upon all of Diablo's power without any risk.
The infinite magic shared with Diablo welled up endlessly like an inexhaustible spring, and Rudian used that power to pressure Rigos.
"Do you think you can take the victory just because you gained momentum!"
But as expected, Rigos had numerous battle experiences and wouldn't be easily defeated.
Rigos deflected Rudian's attack while simultaneously summoning a giant black horse and flying up to the sky.
Then he summoned a giant spear and adjusted his stance and momentum.
'That guy is one of the top hand-to-hand fighters among Demon Kings.'
He had just launched a ranged attack uncharacteristically, but actually he's the type who settles matches with close combat and melee fighting.
Moreover, the durability of his body transcended imagination to the extent that even an aura blade imbued with dark magic couldn't inflict major wounds.
"I will definitely kill you!"
"If you can."
That black horse of Rigos is a demon beast corresponding to the divine beasts of the heavenly realm.
It was a supreme spirit capable of crossing space over short distances.
-Bloody Barrier.
Rudian felt Adi suddenly chanting defensive magic and instinctively twisted his body.
Before he knew it, Rigos had cast a blink to get behind him and thrust his giant spear.
"You rat bastard!"
"Is that something someone ambushing should say?"
Rudian deflected the spear as it was and slashed the guy's body greatly.
Even while being slashed, Rigos counter-thrust his spear toward Rudian, and Rudian's shoulder was pierced straight through, taking damage.
But that wound was immediately restored by Diablo's magic and returned to its original state.
What followed was truly a dogfight.
Attacks were exchanged at close range without either landing a fatal blow.
After such a tedious offensive and defensive battle continued for a while, Rigos frowned and glared at Rudian.
"You... What are you doing?"
Rigos glared at Rudian while healing the laceration on his chest.
"Why aren't you properly using the authority of wrath? If you drew upon Diablo's authority, the fight wouldn't flow so tediously."
At those words, Rudian's lips twisted slightly.
"Ridiculous. You're the one hiding your killing blow while saying that...."
Actually, the reason Rudian wasn't using Diablo's authority was simple.
Because he wasn't confident he could handle that authority.
Even now, while borrowing infinite magic, he was constantly pressuring his mind to avoid being invaded by dark magic.
In such a situation, if he used the authority called 'wrath,' he really wasn't confident he could maintain his reason.
'I already tried it against Kimaris, but I couldn't use it twice.'
Whether Rigos knew that fact or not wasn't Rudian's concern, but the guy also recognized that this offensive and defensive battle was going wrong.
Rudian pointed his sword tip and provoked Rigos.
"Are you going to waste time like this just poking with your sword? Your authority's maintenance time doesn't have much left, does it?"
"……."
"Don't you have the confidence to land one big blow? For someone who calls himself Demon King Rigos?"
Grind!
"You're truly world-class at provocation."
The reason Rigos had delayed the decisive battle until now was simple.
The authority's maintenance time had less than 30 minutes left, and his escape route was blocked.
Especially, whatever method was used to completely seal dimensional movement itself was a major blow.
Even if he could somehow kill his opponent here, there was a high possibility of being defeated by Leviathan outside the moment his authority was released, so there was much to think about.
"Fine."
Rigos's spear began to emit a different radiance than before.
"I'll kill you with full power."
At this moment, Rigos gave up thinking about what comes after.
He realized while fighting.
'That thing' isn't Diablo.
It's merely Diablo's contractor.
Just a human who was lucky enough to get his hands on the sealed Diablo.
The information about them was probably obtained from Diablo.
Of course, there were quite a few possibilities he excluded to reach this conclusion, but at least to Rigos, no other assumptions caught his eye anymore.
"This is the spear that killed a Cherubim in one strike during the Heaven-Demon Great War! Consider it an honor to die by this spear!"
The aura wrapped around the spear formed a spiral, creating a drill shape.
The Slayer's Spear, Areadbhar.
Seeing the menacing momentum of the spear, Diablo issued a warning.
-It's a spear of certain hit. It's a type of divine weapon, so you should be prepared.
'You're saying I'll die if I can't block it.'
-If you transfer to this body, can I block it sufficiently?
'Be quiet, there's something I want to test.'
The destructive power felt from that spear itself wasn't that great.
Of course, if deployed in reality, a giant hole would immediately be drilled beyond the mountain range, but the true value of that spear was the power of 'certain hit, certain kill' refined by authority rather than destructive power.
-It would be good to use my authority.
Diablo rarely added a postscript.
That meant the power of that spear was that threatening.
"Die!"
Rigos on the black horse began charging with the spear tucked under his side.
In response, Adi deployed defensive magic.
-Dimension Blockade, triple deployment.
Great magic that offset authority was deployed with triple overlap.
Moreover, Adi's magic didn't end here.
-Absolute Shield, Sacred Divine Armor, Aegis of Athena.
Even though he was drawing infinite magic from Diablo, his body staggered momentarily as massive chunks of magic were carved away.
Probably each one was ultimate spells of 9th class or higher.
Here, Rudian's trump card prepared over the past 10 years added the finishing touch.
Rigos' spear and Rudian's shield.
KWAAAAAA!
The moment they collided, the giant dome-shaped authority spear that Rigos had created began to shatter like glass.