206
I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake.
Chapter 206
Caesar snickered while crossing his arms.
"Gloria looks good with any hairstyle. But are you okay with having your head cleanly shaved?"
"That won't happen."
Maru spread out his ten fingers.
"I'll give you exactly 10 steps. Originally, beast people rules require over 30 steps of distance, but I don't think we need that much."
"Really? The closer you are, the more disadvantageous it is for you?"
"Because my magic will burn your hair before that."
Maru bowed to Arang.
"Then I'll be going. Think about how you want to use your wish token, Grand Chief."
"Maru. I know you're an excellent warrior, but don't let your guard down."
"That will never happen."
As Maru headed to the clearing, Caesar smirked.
"It would be really embarrassing if I lose. What should I do?"
"At this point, I'm curious about the source of your confidence."
"You'll find out when the duel starts."
Caesar looked at Raven, who stood with a blank expression.
"Raven, would you be the referee now?"
"I also find it hard to understand your confidence. Did you secretly give her some artifact?"
"Do you think I'd use such a shallow trick? I only gave Gloria one tip."
"...Whatever. Just know I'll judge fairly."
Raven arrived at the center of the clearing with blink magic.
Raven spoke to Gloria and Maru.
"The rules are simple. Start the duel from over 10 steps apart, and victory goes to whoever subdues, cuts, or lands magic on the opponent. You can be somewhat aggressive since I'll block with shield magic, so fight your best without regrets. Understood?"
Gloria and Maru nodded.
"Any words for each other?"
Maru looked down at Gloria and said.
"Just because the master is strong doesn't mean the disciple is strong. Take care of your hair."
"Sure, doggy."
"...What?"
"Oh, maybe you'd understand better if I called you son of a bitch?"
"You...!"
"Hey, you fucking dog. You were looking down on our master just now? You got a death wish or something?"
Maru was struck speechless by Gloria's elaborate trash talk.
Gloria pointed her chainsaw sword at Maru's lower body.
Maru flinched for a moment, bending his waist and stepping back.
"I'm going to pluck all your pubes today, just so you know."
Maru growled lowly while grinding his teeth.
"I'll burn all your hair off."
"Alright, that's enough. As promised, turn around and take 5 steps forward."
Gloria and Maru took 5 steps back as Raven said, then turned around.
Gloria lowered her helmet guard to completely cover her face, while Maru felt the magic spread in the air to use magic immediately.
'You can't win no matter what you do.'
Why are beast people strong?
Because they are born hunters, warriors, and wizards.
Strong bodies that succubi don't have, aggressiveness that vampires lack, and magic that Orcs don't possess.
There were too many reasons to explain why beast people were the strongest among all races, and just as many reasons why Maru would win against that knight with the strange sword.
The only concerning thing was that doppelganger.
What could that great warrior, trusted by both Grand Chief Arang and Demon King Agatha, have taught Gloria to make her so confident?
'I won't let my guard down.'
Although the humid rainy season makes it difficult to use fire magic, it's fine.
The victory condition for this duel isn't killing Gloria but landing magic on her.
Instead of increasing firepower, he'll increase the number of shots fired at Gloria.
Then Gloria won't be able to take even one step closer to Maru, and will instead keep stepping back until she collapses from exhaustion.
Raven raised her wand upward.
"Then ready."
Gloria prepared to charge with her sword lowered diagonally to the right.
Raven swung her wand down.
"Begin!"
Maru raised both hands upward.
Visualization is extremely important for beast people magic.
Maru's mother said she imagined wildfire devouring grass in the dry season when using fire magic, and his father said he imagined trees burning after being struck by lightning.
Those intense memories were infused in his parents' magic, his mother's flames were calm but stubbornly clung to their target and wouldn't easily extinguish, while his father's flames resembled lightning, flying at high speed and exploding instantly.
Then what about Maru's flames?
Maru's flames originated from the image of shell flames exploding with a thunderous roar.
The powerful shells that took his mother's right arm and killed his father.
The terror of those shells persistently followed Maru even into his nightmares, and those memories influenced his fire magic as well.
That's why Maru's flames were extremely loud and destructive.
When the fireballs fly, they tear through the air, and when they hit their target, they detonate with a huge explosion that devastates the surroundings.
'Human...!'
Maru's golden eyes gleamed.
The human who killed his father and took his mother's right arm.
That human was right in front of Maru's eyes.
As he recalled the shell, the anger that had been calmly contained in his chest exploded like a bomb, and Maru couldn't control his firepower.
Maru pulled strongly with both hands.
Like there were powerful rubber bands attached to both hands, Maru's muscles tensed tightly.
Then 10 fireballs began to form above Maru's head.
They were all flames as big as Maru's head.
Now if he brings them down perfectly, 10 powerful fireballs will devastate Gloria.
At that moment, a sharp sound pierced the ears of all the beast people, including Maru.
Grrrrrrrrrrr!
Kakakakakakang!
As soon as the wand was brought down, Gloria activated the chainsaw sword.
The engine contained in the chainsaw sword greedily devoured the magic contained in the high-grade magic stone and strongly rotated the chain.
Naturally, a roaring sound rang out, but Gloria didn't stop there.
-As soon as you activate the chainsaw sword, grind the nearby rocks.
-What? Why?
-The beast people's strength and weakness is their sensitive five senses. Especially, the beast people race has incomparably better hearing than humans.
-How does that become a weakness?
-Having excellent hearing means they react that much more sensitively to sound. Even wizards fail their magic if they're disturbed while casting, right? How much more so for beast people? When they're in a state of extreme concentration trying to use magic, torment their ears. Then the magic will definitely fail.
The sharp sound of rocks being ground grated on Maru's ears.
It was to the extent that there was momentarily a ringing in his ears that made his head dizzy.
Naturally, Maru's magic disappeared into thin air.
"......!"
In that time, Gloria approached Maru.
The distance of 10 steps that Maru had given.
That distance was one Gloria could reach in just 4 leaps, and by the time Maru came to his senses, Gloria had raised the buzzing chainsaw sword right in front of his eyes.
With the remarkable reaction speed of a beast people, Maru drew the dagger attached to his leather belt and blocked Gloria's chainsaw sword.
But that judgment was an extremely foolish one.
Kakakakakakang!
The buzzing chainsaw sword devoured the dagger in an instant, creating an even sharper sound than when it had ground the rocks.
That sound tormented Maru's ears even more, and the dagger being devoured by the chainsaw sword suffered even more.
Snap!
Finally, Maru's dagger broke under the powerful rotational force of the chainsaw sword.
Maru helplessly stared at the chainsaw sword approaching as if it would bisect his head.
I'm going to die...!
At that moment, a green shield spread in the air.
The shield perfectly blocked the chainsaw sword that was approaching as if it would split Maru's head.
Maru stared at the shield in bewilderment, unable to believe this situation.
"Gloria wins. Maru loses."
Maru's legs gave out at that moment and he fell on his bottom.
Gloria looked down at Maru while putting away the buzzing chainsaw sword.
"What a shame. I could have shaved off all your fur."
Gloria's gaze was so fierce that Maru momentarily lost his words.
Just being quietly stared at gave off the smell of blood, making all his fur stand on end.
"Wow! As expected of my disciple! You completely turned the arena upside down. Truly the best disciple! Fighting!" [TL/N: Fighting is a korean slang for encouragement]
Caesar reacted very artificially as if winning was only natural.
In the Valent Saga, the easiest way to deal with beast people is to use sonic attacks as soon as you see them.
Then they can't come to their senses while grabbing their ears, because they're so vulnerable to such sharp noises having lived only in quiet forests.
Gloria looked at Caesar with a blank expression.
"I wish there was some soul in your praise?"
"I told you you'd win no matter what. No need to show off about something obvious."
Maru came to his senses and jumped up.
"Th-this is cheating! This isn't fair!"
Gloria snorted as if it was absurd.
"What nonsense is that. Did you not see your head almost getting cleanly split just now?"
"Let's fight again fair and square! Can you call yourself a warrior after winning with such tricks?"
"I'm not a warrior but a knight?"
"Whatever you are, aren't you someone who knows honor? How can you be so confident after winning with such dirty tricks! Aren't you ashamed?!"
"Why exactly is this dishonorable?"
"If you're a knight, you should compete with swords!"
"I used a sword. Want to hear it again?"
When Gloria brought the chainsaw sword to the fallen dagger pieces, Maru instantly backed away.
"Y-you won thanks to your sword, not your ability. Do you think you could have beaten me if you had a normal sword?"
"I think I still would have won?"
"That's nonsense!"
"What's nonsense. If I didn't have this sword, I would have quickly hidden behind a tree."
"Wh-what? Behind a tree?"
"Yes. And I would threaten you while putting my greatsword against the tree. Saying I'll cut down all the trees if you don't admit defeat right now."
Maru trembled at Gloria's viciousness.
"You coward!"
"What do you mean coward? What's wrong with targeting your weakness? You targeted mine too. It took me 3 seconds to charge at you. If I hadn't tormented your ears, fireballs would have been flying."
Gloria was right.
That's why Maru had judged that he would definitely win against Gloria.
"But......"
"Stop making excuses and just cleanly admit defeat if you lost. Don't whine so pathetically."
"I... Did not lose!"
Gloria was taken aback seeing tears flowing from Maru's eyes.
Even though he lost, to cry out of frustration like this.
What kind of unseemly behavior was this?
"Waaaaahhh!"
He ran away from the empty lot like a child.
Gloria was bewildered by this absurd situation.
"...What's with him? He's not even a kid."
"Actually, he is a kid."
Caesar had approached Gloria's side at some point.
"What? What do you mean?"
"That kid is 7 years old."
"...Pardon?"
"Oh, did I not tell you? Beast people become adults at age 7."
"Whaaaat?!"
Beast people grow extremely fast and reach full maturity at age 7.
That's why they hold coming-of-age ceremonies at 7.
Of course, since such explosive growth is possible, they also age quickly, I heard they're considered elderly by 40.
"So you just won a verbal fight against a 7-year-old boy. What was it you said? Something about plucking out all his fur? I never taught you such vulgar rhetoric..."
"Hey, you should have told me this earlier!"
"Who would have thought someone would go so hard with the trash talk."
Caesar patted Gloria's shoulder while laughing.
"Still, a win is a win, so well done! You even won the verbal battle... That's just perfect!"
So that's why he couldn't properly fight back against Gloria's harsh words, there was such a secret.
Gloria felt like dying from the stinging conscience.
Finally, Gloria threw the helmet to the ground.
"Ah, damn it!"
And ran in the direction where Maru disappeared.
"Maru!"
Even after Gloria disappeared into the forest path, Caesar didn't stop laughing.
Raven stared at Caesar with a blank expression.
"You're quite skilled at teasing. What if Gloria gets upset with you?"
"This is exactly when you should tease. It's a good experience, isn't it?"
"Don't come whining later about how to make up with Gloria."
"Don't worry about that. I have my ways."
"How will you make up?"
"Just need to buy some good food."
"...It gets resolved with just that? Is Gloria that simple?"
"Of course, even better if it's healthy too."
Caesar smiled at Arang.
"Arang, can I use my wish token now?"
***
Maru ran aimlessly until his upset feelings would subside.
He was already upset about losing, but that woman kept getting on his nerves, making his blood boil.
What made him even angrier was that he couldn't find any words to refute Gloria's statements.
How long had he run?
Maru finally stopped as he was out of breath.
"...Where is this place?"
He had run so mindlessly that he didn't know where he was.
Given that he couldn't smell any beast people, it seemed he had left their territory.
Maru sat down, leaning against a tree.
"Ugh... So annoying!"
Maru kept touching his perked-up ears while forcefully holding back his rising tears.
It was 3 years ago that he promised never to cry again after his father's funeral.
Because it made mom sad when he cried.
So while forcefully holding back tears, he underwent training after training, determined to become the greatest warrior among beast people like his father...
To lose so pointlessly like this.
Maru hated himself for being so weak.
Maru!
Then, a voice he absolutely didn't want to hear echoed in Maru's ears.
It was that woman.
Maru quickly climbed up a tree to hide.
He didn't want to exchange any words with that woman right now.
She must have followed him all the way here just to make fun of him.
Then, another sound reached Maru's ears.
Urrrrrgh...
Should it be called a phlegmy sound?
A sound clearly different from humans or demons faintly reached Maru's ears.
The problem was that the sound was getting closer.
And Gloria was getting closer too.
"Maru, where are you?!"
"Urrrrrgh..."
Both Gloria and the strange creature came into Maru's view simultaneously.
The creature was something Maru had never seen before.
It had a heart attached above its head, with blood vessels connecting it to holes in both arms, legs, and chest.
Moreover, the heart was constantly pulsating.
'...What is that thing?'
"Maru! Where are you?!"
The creature reacted to Gloria's voice.
It approached Gloria's direction while holding its breath.
The heart was barely beating, almost as if stopped.
"...Not here? No, more importantly, where is this place?"
Gloria wiped off sweat while looking around.
Due to the thick vegetation, Gloria couldn't notice the creature approaching from behind.
The distance between the creature and Gloria was now only 5 steps.
The creature slowly pulled out a knife from its clothes.
It was in a position to target Gloria's back if it charged right now.
Maru finally opened his mouth.
"Gloria, behind you on the right!"
"What?"
With Maru's warning, the creature immediately charged at Gloria.