190
I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake.
Chapter 190
Yan felt the green magic completely absorbed into his body. While Raven's One-Man Support Magic enhanced Yan's physical abilities, it primarily focused on steadying his unstable mental state. Since very few could match Yan's physical abilities and techniques, it was crucial to maintain his mental focus so he could sustain intense tactical exchanges.
Perhaps because of this? Yan felt his field of vision expand, and all of Elijah's attacks appeared to move in slow motion. Yan's sword clashed with Elijah's greatsword.
CLASH!
Despite successfully blocking it, Yan felt as if his ordinary sword was being devoured by Elijah. His grip tingled and his joints creaked. If he hadn't braced his core while blocking, he would have lost hold of the greatsword in that instant.
CLASH!
Elijah used his greatsword as a shield to block the sword. Yan's sword was no longer defensive. Instead, his attacks became more aggressive and lethal. Elijah blocked these attacks with his aura energy.
'This talent is impossible.'
Elijah was internally astounded watching Yan's swordsmanship evolve. Yan was continuously developing specialized anti-Elijah swordsmanship by analyzing Elijah's small habits and patterns. The foundation of the Lion Slash lies in the lower body. When redirecting energy accumulated throughout the body back at an opponent, the lower body is heavily utilized. Therefore, Yan tried to disrupt Elijah's balance to prevent him from properly using his lower body.
THUD!
When Yan rolled across the ground, the earth rippled like waves, disrupting Elijah's balance.
THUD!
Elijah's internal organs trembled. This happened because the accumulated energy in his body couldn't find a direction to release and violently collided inside. Through his trembling organs, Elijah could sense Yan's impossible genius. He truly deserved the right to be arrogant about his swordsmanship.
'However...'
Elijah had met countless geniuses throughout his life. Though not quite like Yan, there were humans who could roughly imitate swordsmanship just by watching. There were vampires who, despite not living as long as Elijah, had invested more time in swordsmanship. He had also met humans who possessed both the talents of a knight and a wizard. Elijah had become both their sword instructor and their student. If they were human, he protected them under the Friedrich family and helped them grow fully.
CLANG!
When Yan and Elijah's swords collided, a sound like hitting an empty steel box crossed the battlefield. The moment Yan's sword made contact with Elijah's greatsword, he felt his strength suddenly drain and momentarily lost his rhythm. When rhythm is lost, the connection of power from toe muscles to sword tip becomes tangled, resulting in loss of speed and power. Yan instinctively pulled his sword toward his body to prepare for defense. However, Elijah wasn't targeting Yan. Elijah's greatsword sliced through the air. Then, four golden chains erupted sharply from the ground. The chains targeted only one person, Raven, who was using One-Man Support Magic while riding Whitey.
'Oh no!'
There was no way Raven could avoid those chains now. As Yan tried to strike down the chains, Whitey moved. Whitey folded its wings and fell straight down as if plummeting. Raven was startled by the sudden maneuver and stopped the supporting magic. She held onto Whitey's neck to steady herself.
SWOOSH!
Perhaps thanks to Whitey's experience? The golden chains barely grazed Whitey's body as they passed by. Yan changed his sword path to target Elijah's flank. Elijah blocked Yan's attack with his sword. He could sufficiently block Yan's attacks with just his sword when Yan wasn't receiving One-Man Support magic. Elijah's greatsword dropped suddenly. Yan pulled back his sword to deflect Elijah's greatsword before retreating. Elijah's greatsword pursued Yan. Unable to push back Elijah's greatsword, Yan could only endure.
"Raven certainly seems to be an impressive wizard."
Elijah sneered at Yan who was barely holding on.
"Without the supporting magic, you're nothing special."
"AAAAHHH!"
Yan moved his sword again after receiving Raven's supporting magic once more. However, unlike before, Yan's attacks weren't lethal. This was due to the pressure of not knowing when Elijah might target Raven again.
"You cannot protect anything here. Not the demon realm frontline, not your honor, and not even your life."
Elijah's eyes tracked Caesar. The sight of the White Knights sacrificing their bodies to break through the encirclement while protecting Caesar was marvelous. However, Elijah's encirclement wasn't so loose. The Steel Lion Knights and soldiers continued to wear down the charging power of the escaping White Knights. They would all eventually fall.
CRACK!
Yan's sword made a dangerous sound. This was because Elijah used the Lion Slash to target the sword's durability instead of Yan's internal organs. If it had been as durable as Nameless, there wouldn't have been a problem, but this ordinary sword couldn't withstand this brutish greatsword.
"Now that I've enjoyed this enough, I'll send you off."
Elijah's greatsword fell mercilessly, and Yan's sword shattered into pieces. Elijah thrust his sword toward the now defenseless Yan.
CLANG!
However, Elijah's greatsword failed to behead Yan. This was because of Mitchell's Kingfisher that appeared through Form Shift. Mitchell deflected and blocked Elijah's greatsword.
"Why did you bring such a worthless sword when you had a perfectly good one?"
Elijah's eyebrows furrowed.
"These persistent bastards."
Elijah's greatsword flew at Yan. The unarmed Yan had no means to block Elijah's greatsword, but Mitchell's Kingfisher was there. Mitchell handed the Kingfisher to Yan before disappearing through Form Shift. Though it was an unfamiliar light sword, it was enough to block Elijah's greatsword. Meanwhile, Mitchell picked up a longsword from the ground and targeted Elijah's back. Elijah blocked the longsword with chains. When the chains tried to wrap around Mitchell by traveling along the longsword, Mitchell abandoned the longsword without hesitation. Elijah's greatsword turned toward Mitchell.
"Yan!"
Yan deflected Elijah's greatsword and passed the Kingfisher to Mitchell.
Clang!
In that moment, Yan pulled out the chain-wrapped longsword and attacked Elijah. Yan and Mitchell's combined assault was as perfect as the Steel Lion Knights who used telepathy. They were so in sync that they could understand what the other wanted just by exchanging glances, making it overwhelming for Elijah to merely defend against their attacks. However, Elijah didn't feel particularly disadvantaged, as blood had started flowing from Mitchell's mouth again.
"Cough!"
When Mitchell coughed up a handful of blood, Yan's expression drastically deteriorated. Just as Yan thought he might have to handle Elijah alone again, Mitchell pulled out a potion from his back pocket. Mitchell bit off the potion's cork and drank it.
"The Lion Slash won't work on me anymore, Elijah."
Mitchell had prepared for this by bringing ten intermediate potions from the medical tent. While fighting this recklessly wasn't Mitchell's style, it was the only option available at the moment.
"That changes nothing."
"Are you sure about that?"
BOOM!
An explosion spell dropped on the Steel Lion Knights' heads. When the Steel Lions who had been pressing against the White Knights were knocked back, Elijah's expression hardened.
"A wizard...!"
Following that, an ignition nullification spell fell on Elijah's soldiers' heads. When the mortars and bullets failed to fire, the soldiers became confused, and multiple explosion spells rained down on those bewildered soldiers' heads.
"Arggghhhh!"
The tide of battle completely reversed with just one magical combination. Moreover, the White Knights were charging in from the distance.
"Protect Lord Caesar!"
Elijah gritted his teeth. He had wasted too much time. Elijah kicked away the advancing Yan. Mitchell aimed for Elijah's flank but couldn't even scratch the armor due to the steel shield.
"Damn it!"
Mitchell never dreamed he would regret his lack of training this much. When Elijah swung his greatsword, Mitchell stepped back. Elijah broke a vial of anti-magic powder from his back pocket and scattered it around. This cut off the One-Man Support magic flowing into Yan. Yan and Mitchell couldn't approach Elijah, who was glaring at them with murderous intent.
"Scatter the anti-magic stones!"
At Elijah's command, the Steel Lion Knights immediately scattered their anti-magic fragments everywhere. This caused the magical bombardment coming from all directions to disappear.
"To think one little rat could cause things to go so wrong."
Elijah's eyes turned toward Caesar, who was escaping on Messio's horse.
"Still, the flow hasn't changed. The demon realm will be isolated, the allied forces will collapse, and the Empire will split. No one will help the Hero, and after meaningless resistance, you will eventually wither and die."
Elijah whistled, and a Black lion ran through the soldiers and crouched before him and immediately Elijah mounted the black lion.
"So the next time we meet, I won't let things end so easily."
Elijah, the Steel Knights, and the soldiers retreated. Yan tried to pursue them, but Mitchell stopped him.
"We can't chase them anyway."
Mitchell looked at the battlefield gleaming in the moonlight. Corpses were everywhere. Organizing a pursuit force now was nearly impossible. Yan gritted his teeth. If they let them escape like this, in what battlefield and in what form would they meet next time? Yan couldn't even begin to imagine.
***
The first thing Caesar heard when he regained consciousness was the sound of a bonfire. The quiet sound and movement of the fire drying and burning wet firewood with its heat calmed Caesar. Caesar turned his head to check his surroundings. Gloria was sleeping, slumped over at Caesar's bedside. It seemed this kid was always there whenever he passed out. At first, he thought she was an annoying child, but seeing her shimmering golden hair now made him feel relieved. Just having someone by your side when things are tough can be strengthening. Caesar moved his hand to stroke Gloria's hair and Gloria drowsily opened her eyes at Caesar's touch.
"Huh...?"
"You're awake?"
"How are you feeling? Are you okay?"
"I'm perfectly fine. Look... Ugh."
Caesar tried to sit up but couldn't due to the sharp muscle pain.
"Guess I need a bit more time."
"Really... I'm so worried about you I can't stand it."
Gloria glared at Caesar as she spoke.
"Being missing for half a month is one thing. That happened often enough before."
Gloria covered her face with her palms to hide her eyes that seemed about to tear up.
"But coming to the demon realm, I don't understand anything anymore. Suddenly hearing Elijah staged a coup, then hearing Sir Caesar fought Elijah and collapsed..."
The confusion in Gloria's heart was palpable. This probably wasn't just Gloria's problem. It was likely an issue all the allied forces' soldiers were experiencing.
"...Gloria."
"I'm going to wash my face for a bit."
Gloria burst out of the tent. It seemed she didn't want to show her weak side to Caesar, wanting to appear strong as a knight. As soon as Gloria left, a man entered the tent, pushing aside the canvas. It was Gideon.
"Battalion Commander El Lindger! Are you alright?!"
"Don't call me Battalion Commander anymore."
Caesar's entire body was stiff and aching. It was the side effect of forcefully using Berserker up to seven stacks. But there was still a mountain of work to be done. Caesar slowly raised himself to sit on the bed.
"Because there's no allied forces or anything else anymore."
"...What exactly do you mean by that?"
"It's now an era of survival of the fittest. If I accept being Battalion Commander, I'd have to follow orders from that idiot Baker, the Allied Forces Commander."
In this mess of a situation with the allied forces, if that bastard does something cancer-inducing, Caesar might really cut off his head. Rather than that, it's better to take a completely different path. Caesar spoke while putting on his boots.
"Gather everyone in the conference room. I'll explain our future direction."
"Understood. But before that, there are people who need to meet with you."
"People to meet?"
Gideon pulled back the tent flap. Three people revealed themselves. It was Yan, Mitchell, and Raven.