274translated
I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake.
Chapter 274
The dragon language used by the dragon knight, Pyrodontia, was [Afterimage] and [Stealth].
For humans who cannot properly hear or even pronounce dragon language, it's impossible to avoid falling victim to this combination of dragon language.
'Although it's humiliating to ambush someone who isn't even a dragon knight...'
Hadn't he already let his guard down once and damaged the armor personally gifted by Lord Sturungarden?
Pyrodontia couldn't bear not to thrust his spear into the heart of this unknown being who had brought him such terrible shame.
Pyrodontia approached him in just two steps, and when he was about to thrust his spear toward his heart...!
Swoosh!
Surprisingly, he swung an axe filled with lightning toward Pyrodontia's head.
'It's surprising... But futile.'
Pyrodontia caught the man's Thunder with one hand. Although the scales on his palm were torn off and a thrilling lightning made his right arm numb, it was fine.
Because his spear was already flying straight toward the man's heart.
Stab!
The man's blood splattered on Pyrodontia's face. However, the spear was lodged in his side, not in the heart that Pyrodontia wanted.
'It's lodged?'
Pyrodontia was surprised that the man had twisted his body to minimize the damage. But more than that, he was surprised by the man's tougher and more solid body than expected.
'How on earth did he receive Grezawa's blessing?'
When Pyrodontia swore to live as a guard in this prison for life according to Sturungarden's orders, all contact with the outside was completely cut off. Therefore, the last world news Pyrodontia remembered was that Grezawa's surviving servants had gone into seclusion with Grezawa.
'Could it be that Grezawa has challenged Lord Sturungarden again?'
Sending a human with Grezawa's scent to this prison must be to rescue the 'sinners' imprisoned here and use them as his soldiers.
'That shouldn't happen.'
Screech!
The sticky flame on the tip of the spear burned the creature's flesh.
An ordinary human would have writhed in pain so terrible they would faint, but the creature chose to swing its axe.
As the axe in its left hand came aiming precisely for the eyes, the dragon knight pulled out his spear and stepped back.
Pyrodontia checked the creature's condition. Despite its fatal wound, the creature's muscles remained tightly tensed, and its eyes were dripping with red bloodlust.
Though communication was impossible, the creature expressed with its entire body an obsession that went beyond the competitive spirit to fight and win.
"It seems Grezawa and that lizard easily forget the promises they made. Didn't Grezawa and that creature swear by the dragon tongue when creating this prison? That they would not attempt to rescue the 'sinners' here."
Pyrodontia spoke, but the creature didn't respond at all. It seemed it couldn't even understand what was being said.
Pyrodontia lowered his body and positioned his tail parallel to the ground. Tendons tightened and his gaze fixed on the creature.
"I don't know what you were thinking coming here, but the only order I received from the great Sturungarden is to annihilate intruders."
Pyrodontia uttered the dragon tongue.
[I will pierce through without fail.]
The dragon tongue is absolute. It interferes with magic and causality to unconditionally achieve the result the caster desires.
As such, the choice of modifiers like 'without fail' or specific words that precisely execute certain actions places an immense burden on the caster.
Pyrodontia's muscles swelled like balloons and his vision went white.
"I will kill you. You dog of Grezawa."
His muscles pressed against his ribs and lungs, making it impossible to breathe. However, Pyrodontia's mind was clearer and more focused than ever before.
Like an arrow released from a bow. With the single-minded intention to fly and hit the target, he charged forward along the path prepared by the dragon tongue.
"Wuaaaaaaaaah!"
At the same time, the creature screamed. Steam leaked from its entire body and it swelled up. The pain was so intense that red blood leaked from the creature's eyes.
Cough!
Pyrodontia instantly vomited blood.
The dragon tongue only grants the result desired by the caster. The dragon tongue Pyrodontia spoke was 'I will pierce through without fail'. If the creature's condition changed making it difficult to pierce through, then the caster must also change accordingly.
Craaaaaack!
Pyrodontia felt as if time had slowed down.
A sensation as if 0.1 seconds had become 1 hour. In that eon of time that felt slow only to Pyrodontia, with the pain of his muscles being torn apart and bones being crushed, one of his eyeballs burst.
'Stop......!'
This is the terrifying aspect of the dragon tongue.
If the caster carelessly utters a dragon tongue they cannot handle, their body and soul suffer to fulfill that word. Pyrodontia's body and soul were completely focused on unconditionally piercing through Caesar's body, and in that 0.1 second of charging forward, he underwent a transformation.
The clash between Caesar's Thunder and Pyrodontia's spear reverberated with a deafening sound.
The spear advanced straight forward, empowered by the dragon tongue.
However, piercing through Caesar's enhanced body and Thunder made of pure terra was an extremely difficult task.
Lightning and the sticky magma at the spear's tip splattered everywhere, shaking the cavity. But Pyrodontia could no longer hear anything. His eardrums had burst, and blood was flowing from his ears.
'I want to stop...!'
Excruciating pain gnaws away even at the soul and mind of a powerful warrior. Nevertheless, Pyrodontia pushed forward. Captive to the dragon tongue he had uttered, his two legs were already driving him forward. However...
Crack!
Pyrodontia's spear could not fully channel the power of the dragon tongue.
'My spear...!'
The spear tip was split in half by Thunder, like bamboo being cleaved. Pyrodontia watched slowly as his spear was cut apart.
There is only one case when the dragon language fails. Only when the caster's body or equipment cannot withstand the dragon language.
Pyrodontia had been asleep for a very long time. A dragon knight's body doesn't age due to the dragon's blessing.
But the spear is different.
Even a spear made from dragon scales would naturally weaken in durability if left neglected for hundreds of years without maintenance. Pyrodontia had not considered the fatigue of his spear at all, and that was his fatal mistake.
Pyrodontia locked eyes with Caesar. Those red eyes shedding tears of blood resembled those of an evil spirit.
Thunder split through the spear and finally reached Pyrodontia's grip... And instantly blew away Pyrodontia's right hand.
"Kuaaaaaaaah!"
***
Caesar anticipated that the creature would prepare a major attack as soon as it muttered the dragon language. So Caesar used Storm's Eve, his version of Berserker.
Clear Field Form 9
Storm's Eve.
The advantage of Berserker is that it literally pours aura into the body, extremely enhancing strength and agility.
However, the disadvantage is that it comes with pain, and the muscles swell tightly, making the smooth and precise movements characteristic of technique-type fighters impossible.
That's why Yan couldn't use more than one stack when fighting Elijah.
For Caesar too, it became impossible to stack Berserker while using Clear Field techniques that required precise movements.
However, unwilling to lose the powerful rush of Berserker, Caesar developed a new technique, which was 'Storm's Eve.'
If Berserker is like forcefully pushing air into a balloon with a fixed maximum capacity until it's about to burst, Storm's Eve is like creating a balloon of the desired size from the beginning and then pushing air into it.
Specifically, since Storm's Eve involves modifying the body itself to push in more aura purely to enhance the physical form, the aftereffects were no joke…
But now was not the time to be cautious. Caesar poured aura into his body modified by Storm's Eve.
It felt like pouring aura into a jar that could never be filled. Caesar squeezed out all the aura from his dantian and pushed it recklessly into his body…
And swung Thunder toward the charging dragon knight.
Clear Field Form 8
Headwind.
The best defensive technique Caesar had developed. Created to eliminate all aggressiveness and defend against all attacks, it was the best defensive art a battle axe could display.
Clang!
Terrible pain flowed through Caesar's right shoulder. The creature's attack was more powerful than imagined.
It was a force impossible to block, but Caesar gritted his teeth.
Dodging was impossible.
If blocking was the only option, then he needed strength.
Caesar squeezed and drained all the aura from his dantian and filled Thunder with aura to cut through the creature's spear tip itself. The powerful aura contained in Thunder became hard, sharp lightning that cut through the creature's spear tip like splitting bamboo.
Slash!
"Kuaaaaaaaah!"
The creature's scales, which had never been cut despite sincere strikes, were cleaved for the first time, slicing through to its right shoulder.
Caesar's stomach felt empty for a moment, and his knees almost buckled.
Having used about 90% of his aura in one breath, his entire body was drained of strength.
Every cell in his body was going on strike, but Caesar gritted his teeth. Whoever moved slower here would die.
Caesar gave up on his right hand. He already had no feeling in his right shoulder. The impact from earlier seemed to have ruined his right shoulder.
Caesar rushed toward the creature and swung his left axe. Caesar's gaze fixed on the creature's neck.
Clear Field Form 2
Wind Blade.
Scraping together the last of his aura, he swung lefty. The red aura wrapped around lefty solidified and struck the dragon knight's neck with a sharp gust of wind.
Clang!
It felt like hitting chain mail. The sensation transmitted to his fingertips was like cutting through a vast lake. As befitting a creature made from dragon's teeth, its scales were unbelievably powerful. But Caesar pushed in more aura.
"Uaaaaaaah!"
If he didn't cut through now, Caesar would die. Caesar forgot what he was fighting for. With the sole determination to cut through, he focused on the edge of his axe blade...
Slash!
And finally beheaded the dragon knight.
"I've wooooooon!"
With rising euphoria, Caesar passed out.
***
Dremia found it hard to believe she had opened her eyes.
After being defeated by Sturungarden, the punishment imposed on Dremia was 'eternal pain'. She thought she would have stakes embedded in her hands, feet, and heart, containing the dragon languages of 'restraint' and 'freezing', making her yearn for peaceful death forever…
But at some point, Dremia could see that the stakes pierced through both her arms had been loosened.
Only the stake pierced through her heart couldn't be removed.
Nevertheless, Dremia was grateful. The moment this stake was removed, Dremia could face the 'death' she had so desperately longed for.
Dremia used all her strength to break the chains hanging on her back with her fingernails.
Thud!
Dremia staggered to her feet. And looked around.
On the walls, she could see her comrades who had already embraced death. Her comrades had one or two stakes in their limbs loosened or completely broken, having fallen into the underground depths that seemed bottomless.
Dremia wanted to make graves for them, but couldn't. Dremia too was now waiting for death.
In this situation, all Dremia could do was pull out the stake pierced through her heart. But no matter how much strength she used, it wouldn't come out.
This was because the dragon language of 'restraint' placed on this stake remained intact.
Dremia didn't have the strength to break the dragon language. What could she do about this?
Would she die if she just threw herself into that bottomless underground?
Then, Dremia heard breathing near her ear. The source of the faint breathing came from outside the prison.
Dremia walked slowly, supporting herself against the wall. And she could see an astonishing sight.
There was a dragon knight whose neck had been cut off just now, and a human who seemed to be sleeping like the dead.
'Is this... Pyrodontia?'
Who was Pyrodontia?
Wasn't he the elite knight of the flame dragon Sturungarden who had cornered Dremia and her comrades and captured them alive?
Dremia remembered how Pyrodontia would come day after day to spit on her and taunt her. Of course, he seemed to have grown bored of it after a while and stopped coming to this 'guard room'.
To think a human had cut down this monster. Dremia was certain that this human could pull out the stake pierced through her heart.
'Wait, this is...'
Dremia detected a familiar scent from him. It was the fragrance of 'Grezawa'.
To be precise, she felt Grezawa's 'dragon language’ on his body. Dremia examined the human's condition up close.
'He's not in good condition.'
This human's body was like a candle flame about to be extinguished. No, she wasn't even sure if he was human in the first place.
Something seemed very strange for him to be human. It felt like only his outer appearance was human.
'Whatever he is, he must be related to Lord Grezawa.'
To save this human, she would need to infuse him with the dragon language of regeneration, but Dremia didn't have the strength to utter dragon language.
Dremia looked around to see if there was anything special in the guard room. The weapons and armor that Dremia and her subordinate soldiers had used in the past were piled up beyond the guard room.
But they seemed poorly maintained, all rusted. Dremia continued to search the armory and discovered a small box.
'This is...'
A liquid shining with golden light. The perfect recovery potion 'Elixir' that only dragons could create with dragon language.
Using this, Dremia could also fully recover.
But... Instead of using it on herself, Dremia immediately approached the human and carefully fed it to him.
The human's body shone with golden light and recovered instantly.
Dremia had done all she could. All that remained was to wait for this human to wake up. Dremia leaned against the wall and smiled grimly as she looked at the dead Pyrodontia.
'I never thought you would die before me.'
Judging by his distorted face, he seemed to have met a terrible death.
It felt refreshing, as if a load had been taken off her.
Dremia closed her eyes with a faint smile.