Chapter 53
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 53
Chapter Title: Anxiety (5)
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The territory of a fallen noble house was inevitably a harsh place to live.
There was no helping it. With the lord himself buried under a mountain of debt, how could anyone expect prosperity?
Taxes kept rising, and jobs were vanishing one by one.
The Griffith lands were crumbling.
No, they had already crumbled.
They wanted to leave this land, but they didn't even have the means to relocate.
They lived because they couldn't die.
And in living, they survived.
Ah, but some couldn't manage even that.
Two days ago, the blacksmith Herald had taken his own life.
No hope in sight.
I could boldly claim there was nothing more despairing than this.
"......"
Let me correct myself.
That thought was wrong.
Greater despair undoubtedly existed.
"A human."
"I'll handle it."
Death itself.
"Wh-what is that?"
"Why is a demon...?"
No matter how deep the despair, humans rarely imagine their own death.
Especially if that life is to be stolen by another.
"......Ah."
Why don't humans contemplate being murdered?
When the whole village was steeped in despair, why had only one person ended their life?
Stab.
"Guhk......"
It was fear.
"No, don't! Darling!!"
Blood sprayed, flesh tore.
The lives they had clung to so desperately were severed with horrifying ease.
The massacre began.
Screams echoed through the village.
"Please, spare us."
Despair overlaid by even greater despair.
"I don't want to die......"
The demon raised its claws.
Those hands, already drenched in the blood of dozens of humans, swung again.
Its target: a woman desperately fleeing with her child.
The woman squeezed her eyes shut, clutching her child tight.
Clang.
Fortunately, no precious life was extinguished this time.
Clang clang.
"Run, hurry!"
A blonde burst onto the scene.
Come to think of it, word was the baron's eldest daughter—who had left to become a hero—had returned.
"Hurry!!"
Roel's sword blocked the demon's claws.
The woman snapped out of it and fled, child in arms.
"Oh, a strong human."
"What business do you have here?"
"No information for humans."
"......You'll answer me."
Roel's sword trembled faintly.
Not from fear or tension.
This was anger.
In the dungeons, at the Academy, and now the village.
Did these demons know no moderation?
Roel ground her teeth.
She had to stay calm.
Getting worked up would only lead to mistakes.
Only by cooling her head could she save more people.
But.
But......!
"Didn't I say? Humans like you—"
The ground cratered slightly.
From an explosive leap beyond common sense.
As her feet left the dirt, Roel vanished from the demon's sight.
Bam!
In the next instant, the demon's face was smashed to ruin.
It died without even a scream.
"Wha-what......?"
It was over so easily, her rage nearly blinding her.
"Mirel?"
"He's dead......?"
Two more demons appeared.
Their hands, too, were soaked in blood.
Roel assumed her stance.
"Careful. She's no ordinary human."
Roel had grown stronger.
Even she knew her growth was abnormal, but she didn't care.
Right now, she had power.
Power to save the living and fight for the dead.
She could do this.
The demons prepared for battle.
Roel struck first.
"Straight at us?"
The demon sneered.
To one who had spent a lifetime butchering humans, Roel's honest charge must have seemed laughably foolish.
Exchanges flew back and forth.
Roel's leg was gashed, several organs ruptured.
The demons...
"Gahk."
"Im-impossible......"
Each had their heart and throat severed, dead.
"......One left."
There were still survivors.
No time to rest, for their sake.
"......"
Her body's condition was the worst.
The remaining demon was leagues beyond the previous three.
Giving up was not an option.
'I have to do this.'
Knight reinforcements arrived late, beginning rescues.
Roel, slightly relieved, followed the demon's aura.
"Is it you?"
"You're the one."
A red-haired demon appeared.
Outwardly human-like, but her aura was unmistakably demonic.
She had to buy time.
Then escape—that was the plan.
Thinking of 'later,' she shamefully intended to preserve her life.
Let's do it.
I can.
"Cough."
Maybe not.
Drip drip.
"......?"
She hadn't let her guard down.
Yet somehow, blood was spilling from her mouth.
Agonizing pain from her abdomen.
Checking, she found three finger-sized holes punched through.
Thud.
Roel collapsed.
She struggled to rise, but couldn't.
No strength left.
'......On another level.'
Unlike the demons she'd faced before.
What trick, what power?
Nothing discernible.
Click.
Then, a strange sound echoed in her mind.
What was that?
......A lock?
"Kuhk......!"
In her daze, more holes appeared.
Roel realized.
Even though it could target heart or head, it didn't...
Meaning it was toying with her.
"......"
Infuriating.
She'd thought herself strong, yet stronger foes kept emerging.
Failed to protect again.
—Want to protect?
"......Get lost."
Damn this demon, targeting her even now.
—I'll help.
"No need......"
—Think it's up to you?
Ah, damn it.
Consciousness fading.
Lost too much blood.
......Not now.
—Heh.
Roel's eyes slowly closed.
Beyond what willpower could endure.
—Haha, haha.
I hope everyone escaped safely.
Roel closed her eyes.
When they opened again, it wouldn't be Roel.
"......Finally emerged."
Not the 'Demon' either.
The grand archmage issued an order.
"All mages, evacuate outside the Mage Tower immediately."
It was the first such announcement, causing confusion, but the mages obeyed without question.
At first, no one thought much of it.
The upper floors were a bit noisy, but they assumed it was some odd experiment.
"What... are we seeing right now?"
No.
The Mage Tower's chief sorcerer, Derril, was dumbfounded by the unprecedented sight.
At the tower's pinnacle.
Vast storm clouds and whirlwinds converged there.
Incredible magic computations raged wildly.
Rumble!!
Dozens of lightning bolts barraged a single point.
Could anything survive that?
"Insane......"
It could.
Someone dodged or deflected them all, standing atop the tower.
Reality felt unreal.
Watching the tower crumble and the terrain shift in real time.
The mages felt pure awe.
"This madman's destroying the building?"
"Says the intruder who smashed through the walls."
The grand archmage flicked a finger, halting the lightning.
But the man didn't charge.
Instead, he assumed a defensive stance, sensing something.
"Good instincts, but......"
Whoosh.
The grand archmage pointed at the man.
It was 'aiming.'
"Sloppy."
The lightning hadn't stopped.
It gathered in the clouds, building for a massive strike.
And it fell on him.
Too fast to evade.
Opting for defense, the man was blasted downward.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud,
Thud.
Thud......
Crashing through dozens of floors, the precarious tower fully collapsed.
"Damn it, disguise broken."
The man was unharmed.
Precisely, his wounds were 'regenerating.'
Misaligned bones realigned.
Gashes healed in seconds.
Impossible for a human.
"Strange body."
"I know."
Black hair.
From the East?
No idea why he was on the central continent, but dangerous for sure.
'Must kill him here.'
Odd.
Tensing over a mere knight!
The grand archmage gathered mana again.
The man charged, radiating formidable energy.
It looked even.
Magic and cleaves clashed, earth quaked, yet both endured.
A battle at the 'limit' of humanity.
But both knew.
It wasn't even.
One held a slight 'edge.'
Regrettably, not the grand archmage.
Today, his plans might all end.
"......Hm?"
But.
What?
The man stopped.
Distracted, dazed.
The grand archmage seized the chance.
A massive hammer materialized in the air, swinging down.
It crushed the man into the ground.
A huge crater formed.
The man rose again, still dazed.
Gesturing at the air, muttering.
'......Lost his mind?'
Incomprehensible, but irrelevant.
Time to end it.
Dozens, hundreds of magic circles bloomed in the sky.
Each a mid-tier or higher spell. This firepower could fell even the Demon King.
"Farewell."
As he activated them.
"......!"
The air grew heavy.
As if an invisible force crushed his body, breathing labored.
'What is this...!'
It was 'oppressive pressure.'
Even a millennium-old grand archmage struggled against it.
The man's immense 'rage' seeped through his skin.
Hairs stood on end.
Cold sweat poured.
Had he felt this in his long life?
He declared: no.
The mages computing spells behind him.
The belated Evans knights.
All felt it.
'Move, and die.'
The man stood motionless.
Staring into empty space.
What could enrage him so?
All held their breath.
.
.
.
[Roel Griffith's condition is critical.]
[Immediate return is recommended.]
[Avatar recall initiated.]
[Error occurred.]
[Cannot recall.]
[Avatar recall initiated.]
[Error occurred.]
[Cannot recall.]
[Avatar reca—......]