Chapter 334: translated
I Killed the Demon King. It was a Mistake.
Chapter 334
Nel escaped backward just before being caught in the explosion.
Nel's expression crumpled.
"What a worthless woman...!"
Nel immediately took a charging stance.
"I'll behead you in one strike."
Nel rushed straight at Gloria.
The plan wasn't to charge head-on but to move sideways once and slip into Gloria's blind spot to swiftly cut her neck. By the time Nel had moved to the side, Gloria's gaze was fixed on empty space.
Nel was certain he would take Gloria's head. When Nel's sword headed toward the nape of Gloria's neck......
Clang!
A green barrier appeared and blocked Nel's sword.
"What is this...!"
Whoosh!
As Lefty approached Nel's neck, Nel immediately retreated backward to avoid it. Though it was a brief exchange, Nel learned many things.
First, that Gloria blocking Nel's initial attack was almost by chance. Second, that Caesar's axe was slow enough to be visible to Nel's eyes. And finally, that Raven was hiding somewhere nearby.
In that case, the first thing Nel should do was to find and kill Raven who must be hiding and watching somewhere, but......
"Everyone, tear Caesar apart and kill him!"
Even as a human, Nel wasn't a rational person but one easily swayed by desires.
Having become a devil, he was even more faithful to instinct than reason, so there was no way he would make a rational and reasonable judgment.
At Nel's command, the holy knights and the baptized ones all charged. Though Gloria had fought many battles, seeing hundreds of devilized holy knights and the baptized ones charging at once instinctively made her shoulders shrink.
But Gloria quickly drove away her fear. This situation was all planned after all. Just before Luca's greatsword split Caesar's head, a magic circle appeared under Caesar and Gloria's feet and they teleported.
Swoosh!
Kwaaaang!
The power flowing from Luca's Balsan spread in a cone shape, engulfing innocent holy knights. The closest holy knights disappeared into a mist of blood, while others were thrown in all directions.
The same happened to other holy knights and baptized ones. They had rushed in almost simultaneously to capture Caesar, so they became entangled and collided, clustering together.
At that moment, Raven appeared in the sky, illuminated by moonlight.
『Flame That Annihilates devils』
With the utterance, a white flame as pale as moonlight formed at the tip of Raven's wand.
『Magnification』
The flame engulfed the moon in a circular form. The half-moon was filled by the white flame, becoming a full moon.
Raven threw the flame toward the holy knights who were tangled and unable to move. The massive flame fell rapidly like a meteorite.
Baaaaaaang!
For a moment, the world changed to just two colors: white and black.
"...Good heavens."
Giggs had heard that a single proper wizard could determine the outcome of a battle, but he thought that was an exaggeration.
However, seeing the devastation Raven created, Giggs had to admit that his thinking had been narrow-minded.
"...What? Are all the holy knights dead?"
"What about the baptized ones...?"
Pieces of what appeared to be devil corpses were visible here and there. But those pieces were burning up like dry firewood.
Nel stared blankly at the empty battlefield.
"...Is it real?"
Could it be true that 300 devilized holy knights and the baptized ones were dead? Yo-heum, Nivia, Mila, and even Luca?
Could they vanish so futilely with just one spell?
Nel looked up at Raven, who was looking down from the sky, with fearful eyes.
Raven was also looking at Nel. When Nel met Raven's green eyes, he felt as if his legs would give way.
Only two thoughts filled Nel's mind. I want to live. To do that, I must flee. Nel's legs moved before he could finish his thoughts.
At that moment, Nel's body stopped like a broken clock spring.
"What are you afraid of, Nel."
Alexander came walking, tearing through the deep moon shadow.
"Your, Your Majesty."
Hundreds of devils followed behind Alexander.
"Your faith is lacking, Nel."
Nel immediately knelt and bowed his head.
"Your Majesty! Now is the time to retreat."
"Retreat?"
Alexander touched his neck. There was a strange burn mark on Alexander's neck. It was as painful as if hundreds of maggots were eating his flesh inside the burn mark.
Alexander's eyes were filled with anger.
"You say I should leave alone those who have left such terrible pain on my royal body? And you still call yourself my servant!"
At Alexander's shout, Nel's head touched the ground automatically.
However, Nel's eyeballs trembled ceaselessly, conflicted between the survival instinct to live and Alexander's orders.
"Fine. I now see that your faith is lacking. It seems you must see to believe."
Alexander's staff moved.
Then the baptized swords scattered around began to gather in front of Nel. The four swords gathered in front of Nel soon disassembled.
The chaff from the disassembled baptized swords was removed, leaving only the main parts. Only the blade remained from Balsan that Luca had carried.
The guard remained from Unyielding that Yo-heum had carried. The red ruby remained from Infinite that Nivia had carried. The sapphire remained from Recovery that Mila had carried. Even Swift in Nel's hand was split, leaving only the emerald.
The five fragments of the baptized swords merged into one, and together with a powerful magic wave, sacred power poured out and flowed.
"This is......"
Although it lacked a handle and pommel, this was clearly the Baptism Sword that the first Emperor supposedly used when facing the Storm Dragon Smaurne.
"Grasp the sword."
How could one grasp a sword without a handle?
Nel reached out with faith toward where the handle of the incomplete Baptism Sword should be.
A translucent but solid aura flowed from the base of the guard, forming a handle.
As soon as Nel grasped the handle made of aura, a shiver ran through his entire body.
The true monstrous strength that only Luca could feel.
The infinite stamina that only Yo-heum could feel.
The complete tranquility that only Nivia could feel.
Even the servant's superiority that only Mila could feel.
And on top of that, the freedom that only Nel could feel hit him all at once, making it feel as if his brain would melt.
As satisfaction like standing at the pinnacle of this world passed from the crown of his head to the tips of his toes, Nel's eyes changed.
"Do you finally believe? My servant?"
Nel paid respect to the true supreme being.
"Yes. My God."
"Then annihilate my enemies."
Nel's gaze turned toward the stockade.
There, he could see Raven, Caesar, and Gloria.
Those who had only been frightening now looked like insignificant insects.
Nel walked to the front of the stockade.
"Caesar, come out before me."
Nel swung the incomplete Baptism Sword in the air. Raven screamed.
"Get away!"
BAAAANG!
When Nel swung the sword, a section of the steel-reinforced stockade was completely blown away.
"......Good heavens."
People were even more shocked when they looked back than at the flying stockade.
All the buildings and trees in Shalibi in the direction Nel had swung had disappeared, leaving devastation.
If one were to look at Shalibi from the sky, a huge scar would be seen running across from the beginning to the end of Shalibi.
"If you don't come out now, I'll remove Shalibi entirely from the map."
Nel's words were not an exaggeration.
It was clear that if he just swung the Baptism Sword in the air a few times, Shalibi, boasting over 200 years of history, would disappear into a handful of rubble.
"I see. So you powered up with some item buff, is that it?"
Caesar received the Spear of Penetration from Gloria.
"Then I'll use some item buff too."
Caesar threw the Spear of Penetration with all his might.
The speed at which the Spear of Penetration flew was so slow from Nel's perspective that it made him yawn. He could easily avoid it if he wanted to, but Nel decided not to.
This boiling power and confidence, and the arrogance that surpassed it, were dominating Nel's body.
Nel swung the Baptism Sword with the intention of deflecting the Spear of penetration.
BAAAAAAANG-!
"......!"
Nel tried with all his might to push back the Spear of penetration, but it wouldn't budge no matter what.
Rather, Nel's body couldn't withstand the forward momentum of the Spear of penetration and was pushed straight back. Nel couldn't believe it. This was a sword with no less than five fragments of the Baptism Sword combined, though incomplete.
That even with this sword, he couldn't push back the spear thrown by Caesar. He could have dodged it somehow, but his pride wouldn't allow it.
Nel put all his strength intensely into his legs and arms. Then each fragment of the Baptism Sword poured their abilities into Nel.
The blade of the incomplete Baptism Sword poured strength into Nel's body. When his legs, arms, and waist were about to break, Ruby's power took effect and fixed them instantly.
He was pouring out every ounce of strength at once, so his stamina was rapidly depleting, but the Guard's power boosted his stamina.
"AAAAAHHHH!"
Just as Nel was trying with all his might to push back the Spear of penetration... Lefty with white flames on its neck and Thunder discharging blue current flew toward him.
Nel had no choice but to dodge the Spear of penetration and duck his head. Thanks to that, he was able to avoid Thunder and Lefty, but the Spear of penetration bit into his side.
PUCK!
Purple blood and flesh splattered.
A burning pain struck his mind, but he wasn't afraid at all.
It was clear that the wound would heal due to the effect of the Baptism Sword.
At that moment, Caesar arrived in front of Nel.
Steam was billowing from Caesar's body like a hot spring in midwinter, and in his right hand was a sword.
"...What?"
Caesar brought down Flawless aimed at Nel's neck.
BANG!
Nel blocked Caesar's Flawless.
"You use a sword?"
"Why? Am I not allowed to?"
"Are you underestimating me!"
The emerald embedded in the guard flashed.
At that moment, Nel's form disappeared, and the Baptism Sword aimed for the back of Caesar's neck.
Nel thought Caesar would absolutely not be able to react. This was thanks to the fact that although incomplete, with five fragments of the Baptism Sword combined, the speed ability had been further enhanced.
The biggest drawback of using speed was that it put too much strain on the body, potentially causing irreparable damage if not careful, but with the combination of immortality and monstrous strength, Nel was controlling a speed he had never experienced before.
He thought he had reached the realm of gods, at least in terms of speed.
"Die, Caesar."
Ding!
The sound of steel clashing came from Caesar's neck.
Not because Caesar's neck was sturdy, but because the silver-white sword in Caesar's left hand had blocked Nel's sword.
"...What?"
In Nel's eyes, filled with bewilderment, he saw the moonlight-brilliant silver-white blade.
Happy Ending.
Hot energy surged from Caesar's body.
***
Raven was startled when Caesar took out Flawless and Happy Ending from his spatial pocket and grabbed Caesar's wrist.
"What are you trying to do?"
"What else? I have to kill that guy."
Raven looked at Happy Ending and said.
"You know what happens when you use that sword."
"Ah, losing everything I've built up until now?"
"Yes! You have a lot to do in the future. Are you going to use Happy Ending just to catch that guy?"
"Then how are we going to catch him?"
Raven was at a loss for words.
Raven actually knew it too.
The magic wave that flowed out when five fragments of the Baptism Sword merged together was definitely not ordinary.
A power comparable to that of a Demon King had flowed out.
"To catch that guy, we need at least Yan and Mitchell. But right now there's only me."
Caesar knew the scenario of the Baptism Sword becoming one.
It's the scenario where the corrupted Yan occupies Dre, kills all the baptized ones, and makes the Baptism Sword into one.
The end of that scenario always has only one bad ending. No matter how much they struggled, they couldn't stop Yan's advance, and eventually Yan even kills the King of Niflheim who controlled him and ascends to the throne himself.
Although it was different in that the Baptism Sword hadn't completely merged and was incomplete, and the user was Nel, Caesar already knew the power of that Baptism Sword numerically, so no matter how he thought about it, this was the only answer.
Giggs also came running.
"Caesar, what are you trying to do?!"
Caesar threw Thunder and Lefty. And he put his foot on the stockade.
"Sometimes there comes a time when you have to risk everything to win, and that time is now."
Gloria grabbed Caesar's arm.
"Master...!"
Caesar poured aura into Happy Ending. Then Happy Ending gave Caesar immense power along with an endless feeling of elation.
At that moment, Caesar could feel it.
"Don't worry. I will win no matter what. It's been determined that way."
Caesar ran toward Nel.