Chapter 25
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: Demon Hunt (5)
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A massive vortex that naturally drew the eyes. Since the demonkin had conjured it artificially, traces of demonic energy faintly seeped into view.
I targeted the center of the training ground.
Luberic teetered precariously in the middle. Above him loomed a demonkin, clawing at its own face while unleashing guttural roars.
"The demonkin hasn't fully descended into Luberic's body yet. Our job is to keep it from focusing on the descent."
"How do we do that?"
Erina asked in response to Professor Ardin's explanation. I answered for him.
"Just harass it relentlessly. Magic, swords—whatever attacks you can muster. It'll be too busy defending to concentrate on linking up."
The other students turned to Professor Ardin, as if seeking confirmation.
And he nodded. Of course. It was straight from the original story's intel.
It was possible to take the thing down. Difficult, but doable.
Still, there was no need to gamble like that. If we kept interrupting the connection in shifts, the other professors would arrive soon enough.
Compared to the original, where failure to capture it meant escalating damage and forced a must-win scenario, this was a walk in the park.
I let out a wry chuckle as I drew my sword. A heavy demonic energy pressed down on my body. It felt strangely off-putting.
I wasn't the only one sensing it.
Everyone grimaced while gripping their weapons—even Professor Ardin and Adel.
"Don't push yourselves. Our goal is disruption. Not elimination."
With Professor Ardin reinforcing the party's objective one last time...
...we advanced toward the center of the training ground.
The demonic energy grew sharper the closer we got.
Clear proof of the descent.
Gulps echoed from all around, but they paled against the scene before us.
The roaring demonkin whipped its head toward us at the sound of our approach.
Its red eyes gleamed as it plunged into Luberic's body. At that instant, the surrounding vortex vanished.
Like the start of phase one.
A chill raced up my spine. The demonkin fused into Luberic's form, forcibly bloating the body.
Soon, it took on the shape of a bull-headed humanoid and bellowed.
────────!
Everyone's faces hardened as they stared at Luberic—or whatever the demonkin had turned him into.
Morax's curse tattoos etched across his body appeared as iron chains in our eyes.
Aware of this, the demonkin twisted Luberic's lips into a smile and murmured softly.
"Come on in, you vermin!"
No time for chit-chat or tactics now, with our window so narrow.
I surged with power.
Purple lightning coursed through my body. My muscles swelled rapidly, and my mind sharpened.
Genius.
This heaven-sent talent granted overwhelming dominance in battle.
The others' eyes widened at the color of my aura, but Agnes positioned herself at my side.
She was already primed to charge alongside me, mid-chant on her spell.
"Don't lay any fields below me."
"As if I'd need reminding, Young Master."
The next moment, I kicked off the ground and charged. Aura empowered my lightweight enchanted sword.
Beside me, an ice spear hurled by Agnes flew toward Morax's shoulder.
Crack.
It melted in an instant, undone by the demonic energy around it. But I hadn't counted on the spear anyway. I knew magic got ignored.
I slashed diagonally, aura blazing along the blade.
Clang!
Morax tracked my sword with its gaze before raising its right arm to block. That tough shell of its.
But it had overlooked something.
Kagak!
My aura managed to pierce the shell, if only slightly.
Mid-tier edging into high. Enough to threaten high-tier foes.
It seemed mildly rattled, swinging its arm to bat my sword away before stomping the ground hard.
Demonic energy welled up from the floor, shaping into spears that hurtled toward me.
Whoosh.
I twisted to dodge, but a wall of fire neutralized the demonic surge.
A barrier conjured without chants or circles.
The future Archmage.
"Warn me before you charge so I can actually cover you!"
Sophia.
Irritated as she was, she extended her hand to command her mana. Wind blades formed in the air and sliced toward Morax.
"Think your puny magic can touch me?!"
But magic didn't faze Morax. Blame its unique physiology.
She faltered for a split second before regaining her composure. A mage's foundation—no panic. And that was Sophia's forte.
Using chantless magic, she summoned leaves that rode the wind to obscure Morax's vision.
Probably her best play.
"Taaat!"
Kak.
A sound like scraping iron. Red aura stood out amid the swirling demonic energy.
Faint still, but unmistakably colored. And I knew only one swordswoman with aura like that.
"What the—!? Why's it so damn tough!? Can't even nick it with aura!"
Erina Philstein. The future Sword Saint.
She struck Morax's abdomen but inflicted no real damage before pulling back.
Yet the scratches on its shell betrayed her growth.
In the original, her faint aura couldn't harm it at all.
Now, it was distinctly red. Nearing mid-tier.
"Erina! Don't charge in blind! I can't heal serious wounds even with holy power!"
And there was the Saintess Rebecca—or Adel, as she went by.
The saintess posing as a commoner stuck to her healer role, staying back from the front lines.
She could've clashed with the demonkin herself, but focusing on recovery was smarter.
We had a professor here, after all.
Kwang!
"Kraaak!"
A resounding impact unlike our strikes. Morax, which hadn't budged before, screamed and staggered back.
Beyond mid-tier—true high-tier.
If low-tier was about mana flow, mid-tier fixed the color, high-tier was another beast entirely.
The pinnacle only the elite reached. The stepping stone to Swordmaster.
Mid-tier felt like forcing surging aura onto the blade. High-tier refined it, made it flow.
The power, potency, practicality—leagues beyond mid-tier.
That's why people reverently called this realm...
Sword Aura that Wounds.
Professor Ardin had attained it.
"I'll join you."
Agnes flanked him.
Like Sophia, she'd confirmed magic's ineffectiveness.
She could at least parry the demonic blasts aimed at the professor.
Summoning knights with her mana, Agnes nailed the support role.
Letting Professor Ardin focus solely on Morax.
Thus, everyone threw themselves into the fray.
No disruptions, no desperation.
Holding strong against an upper demonkin, no less.
In truth, Morax had no breather, scrambling to block Professor Ardin's and my assaults.
My aura couldn't deliver the professor's devastating blows, but the steady hits kept it from ignoring me.
And then...
"Heavy."
Boom!
A hammer-like strike. A downward smash honed through countless repetitions crashed into Morax's head.
Shell or no shell, it hurt. Lee Han's blade.
Even without fully unleashing his hero's might, a hero was a hero.
Demons' worst nightmare.
Pain was inevitable.
'This rhythm should keep things smooth.'
With it weakened and our aim disruption over kill, efficiency soared.
We could take down Morax without a scratch.
Barring Luberic.
Luberic Keias's final expression flickered in my mind, but I shook it off violently.
Forget what must be forgotten.
I couldn't save everyone just because I was a character in a novel—a transmigrator.
Villains stayed villains. Heroes stayed heroes.
Some fates were unavoidable if I wanted to survive.
All I could do was follow the original plot while saving as many key figures as possible.
Toward the ultimate goal: slaying the Demon King.
I couldn't afford pity for villains.
Kugugu...
A sudden rumble snapped my head around. Morax was behind it. It stood motionless, shrouded head to toe in demonic energy.
Professor Ardin's aura strikes bounced harmlessly off.
"You filthy vermin... daring to toy with me and kill me?!"
Lines not in the original. I'd thought it safe, but this phase?
No such thing happened!
I slashed down hard, but my sword nearly flew from my grip.
"I'll die for sure using this, but I'll drag you humans down with me!"
A red orb gleamed in the pitch-black darkness. My eyes bulged. Morax had that?
Blood Gem.
Mid-story treasure. When the protagonist's party could challenge upper demonkin—or kill them—it appeared.
Consume it for superhuman power and full healing.
For 10 minutes.
Made from Demon King's blood mixed with demonic energy—upper demonkin exclusive, as I recalled.
Why did Morax have one?
It never used it.
Didn't even recover half its strength before the protagonist awakened and...
Died.
No chance to pull it out.
That's why it didn't have one?
"Fuck!"
The curse burst out loud. The situation left no choice. Everyone stared at me as attention zeroed in.
"Get away from it!"
I shouted.
"Too late!"
Morax bellowed.
At the same moment, the demonic energy enveloping it blasted outward toward us all.
In the blackened field of vision, I could only squeeze my eyes shut.