Chapter 342: translated
I Killed the Demon King. It was a Mistake.
Chapter 342
Caesar saw the cuckoo falling toward the river, burning white.
"Voyeuristic bastard. You were watching after all."
Marbas, the devil of Repetition.
This fellow not only has the ability to secretly observe by sending an invisible cuckoo like now, but can also trap someone in an infinitely repeating time prison.
'Could he have been planning to trap me with this ability?'
If that was his naive thinking, it's rather welcome. It means they still don't know what Storge's ability is.
Caesar arrived at the second defensive line.
No devils were visible at the second defensive line. Only regular soldiers of Niflheim could be seen. It was clear that only a tiny number of soldiers remained here because the main forces had gone to man the third defensive line.
Caesar crossed the second defensive line and headed for the border.
"What is that?"
"I don't know. But we should probably report it."
Caesar easily crossed the border.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Only then did cannons fire toward Caesar.
But unless they had the aiming skills to hit a bird flying through the air with a cannon, there was no way they could bring Caesar down. The cannons missed every time.
Caesar passed the coastal battery and entered further inside the border. Then a city full of red flesh came into view.
"As I thought, there was a devil nest nearby."
Devil nest.
It's a kind of devil factory that turns humans into devils just by putting them inside. It usually grows attached to huge buildings, and looks similar to an infected command center from a star wars story.
All devils born from that devil nest are commanded by the nest master who oversees the nest.
'How terrified I was when this was in Sanctus Lumen.'
The devil nest is the main cause of devil infestation.
The basic specs of devils born from a devil nest match those of a rookie knight wearing full plate armor. Imagine such devils being produced at the rate of one per hour from each nest.
What country could withstand that?
Moreover, the nest doesn't even catch fire easily.
To burn a nest, holy flame oil or Arch's holy flame is absolutely necessary, but with Sanctus Lumen's destruction, where blue iris flowers were cultivated, the supply of holy flame oil has been completely cut off.
Currently, the only way to deal with that nest is using Arch's holy flame. White flames rose from Caesar's Lefty.
"As with all strategy games, it's standard practice to take out the production infrastructure first."
Caesar jumped down from Whitey and struck down toward the largest nest.
Flesh and blood with Arch's holy flame attached scattered in all directions. The white holy flame voraciously devoured the devil's blood, growing larger.
"Wow, it burns well."
What's remarkable about Arch's holy flame, unlike holy flame oil, is that it quickly spreads by consuming devil blood or flesh.
There's no need to keep pouring holy flame oil until the nest is completely burned. The devils in the nest were confused and bewildered.
"What is this?! What's happening?!"
"Over there! Someone is up there!"
A devil with five horns on its head appeared before Caesar.
"Are you Caesar?!"
"Oh, a big shot right from the start?"
Vadin, the devil of Poisonous Plants.
He's one of the mid-bosses that appears in the late stages of the Valent saga.
"Die!"
Vadin swung a staff made of flowers. Yellow pollen spread everywhere.
As soon as the pollen touched the ground, it bloomed into colorful flowers and shot out thorny vines. If cut by those thorny vines, you're cursed to turn into a plant, and it's an extremely tricky curse that won't be lifted unless Vadin is killed.
Of course, with such a troublesome curse, his weakness is also clear. Caesar swung his Lefty. The thorny vines instantly burst into flames from Arc's holy flame.
"Aaaaargh! My flowers!"
His weakness is fire.
Moreover, being a plant lover, he cannot bear to see his plants die. When his plants die, he momentarily falls into a panic state, and that's the timing.
Whoosh!
Caesar struck Vadin's neck.
Arch's holy flame instantly consumed Vadin's body. At that moment, each of Vadin's finger joints turned into seeds, and Vadin scattered in all directions. Caesar didn't miss that timing and swung Thunder.
Crackle!
Lightning flowing from Thunder jumped from seed to seed like stepping stones. The last remaining seed was struck by lightning and screamed.
"Aaaaargh!"
"Where do you think you're escaping to?"
As the seed tried to grow by absorbing nutrients from the ground, Caesar put it against the blazing Arch's holy flame.
"Kyaaaaaaaa!"
The seeds all burned up and died before they could even grow. When Vadin, a five-horned devil and nest master, died without proper resistance, the devils fell into a panic.
"Im-impossible......"
"How did he......"
Caesar held up three fingers.
"Just three."
"What?"
"Since you guys destroyed three defensive lines, I'll also smash just three cities."
***
Messengers flew to the Niflheim royal palace with urgent news.
"Your Majesty! Urgent news! We have received word that Viscount Vadin has perished and the city and nest have been annihilated!"
"Your Majesty! Baron Aini has died after being attacked by Caesar, and all nest cities have burned!"
"Your Majesty! News that all devils and nests raised by Viscount Naberius have all burned!"
"Your Majesty! The nests and cities of Governor Glashalabolas......"
"Enough!"
When Denver shouted, all the messengers couldn't finish their words and spat blood from their ears and mouths.
Denver, still unable to suppress his anger, caused the surrounding magic to fluctuate ominously.
"All of you are useless! Those who received my blessing are being toyed with by just one man!"
The internal atmosphere became tense. None of the subjects dared to speak first, they were merely observing cautiously.
A devil with skeleton hands stood before the king.
"Your Majesty. I humbly report that it seems Caesar truly has received the blessing of the Baptism Sword."
"Bassago, I don't care whether Caesar has received the blessing of the Baptism Sword or not. I'm furious at the incompetence of those who are stupidly suffering while that person tramples the kingdom like an untamed colt."
"To confront Caesar, we would need at least a subject like Belial to respond. But right now, there is only one subject in the kingdom with more than 6 holy horns, isn't there?"
Bassago removed his hood himself. This revealed empty black eyes and a wrinkled old man's face, and above his head, 7 horns were intertwined like vines.
"Send me. If I am worthy to face Caesar, I will kill him, and even if I cannot handle him, I will prevent him from setting foot in the kingdom."
Denver looked at Bassago's empty eyes while tapping the armrest with his index finger. The subjects dared not look at Denver's expression, but in the silence, they felt that Denver was calculating something.
"Very well. Bassago, go and bring me Caesar's head."
"Thank you."
"However, don't go alone, take Marbas with you."
Marbas was surprised and the grandfather clock chimed.
"M-me, my lord?"
"Yes. Go with him. Go and help Bassago."
"I'm not sure if I can help Duke Bassago... No, I will go."
Bassago bowed his head and said.
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
Denver's eyes were subtle as he looked at the back of Bassago's head as he bowed.
***
Caesar was honestly very surprised by the effect of the Baptism Sword. He didn't get tired even without sleep and didn't get exhausted no matter how much he swung his axe.
So he had originally planned to destroy only 3 nest cities and return, but since they were easier to deal with than expected, he eliminated 5 nest cities.
"...Hmm. Should I stop here?"
Nevertheless, the reason Caesar stopped was because white foam was coming out of Whitey's mouth.
The beast had become exhausted.
He would have liked to destroy about 10 nest cities. But there seemed to be no more nest cities near the border, and having been away for nearly four days, he was worried about Homigraph.
Whitey was panting heavily after drinking water from the riverside illuminated by moonlight.
Caesar also ate a light meal nearby and tended to Thunder and Lefty. Burnt devil blood and flesh were stuck to them. Caesar scraped away the soot with a whetstone and also checked the condition of Arch's holy fire attached to Lefty.
"You didn't have to come find me, I was planning to come to you."
Caesar looked at the dark forest. Following that, dozens of purple eyes sparkled like amethysts.
"If you're going to come, come all at once."
Despite Caesar's provocation, the purple eyes remained still. Like hunting dogs waiting for their master's command, they suppressed their instincts while drooling. The nest master was here.
Tick-tock! Tick-tock!
Caesar heard the sound of a pendulum swinging in his ears.
There is only one devil that makes this pendulum sound.
Caesar swung Thunder in the direction the clock sound came from.
55555Clear Field
Form 7
Storm.
As the storm blew, the area was devastated as if a beast had taken a large bite out of the forest. Devils caught in Caesar's storm surge disappeared without a trace.
Tick-tock!
However, when the sound of the pendulum swinging was heard in the air, the devil corpses that had just turned into blood returned as if rewinding a videotape. They stared at Caesar again, drooling.
Caesar saw a devil with a grandfather clock instead of a head.
Normally, devils should have horns on their heads, but this one peculiarly had them on its face, not its head. Its horns each acted as hour, minute, and second hands and moved accordingly, with two additional thin horns.
"W-what kind of ambush is this! H-how rude!"
"We're not in a position to be courteous, are we? Marbas?"
"H-huh?! How do you know my name?!"
"I just know everything."
Caesar inserted aura into Lefty.
Arch's holy flame blazed on Lefty.
"I also know that your head will be crushed by my Lefty."
Marbas trembled all over when he saw the white flame attached to Lefty.
That was clearly the flame that had burned Marbas' eyes.
"S-stop!"
Marbas cast a purple curse on Caesar's body.
"Hahaha! You will never escape from that prison of time!"
Marbas' two thin horns wrapped around the minute hand.
"M-my ability is to trap you in the same time forever."
Marbas pointed to his two thin horns.
"This is the return hand that makes you start again, and this is the home hand that you return to. The moment my minute hand touches this home hand..."
"So in conclusion, no matter what havoc I wreak, I'll return to the time of the return hand, right?"
"H-how did you know?"
"I told you. I know everything."
Marbas opened his mouth with anxious eyes.
"W-what should we do? L-Lord Bassago?! This guy k-knows everything about me! What... what happens if I die!"
Caesar's eyebrow twitched.
"Bassago?"
The fallen leaves and broken tree trunks next to the grandfather clock began to rot.
The rotting, crumbling fallen leaves and tree trunks melted into a black liquid that spread widely across the ground. From that black liquid, a devil with tangled horns slowly revealed itself.
"Why are you so anxious, Marbas?"
"C-Caesar is too strong! He killed Vadin and all the others were killed by Caesar too, w-what if I die too!"
Despite his old and ugly appearance, Bassago coaxed with a very sweet voice.
"You are Caesar's adversary, personally chosen by the king. If not you, who else could win?"
"You clearly said that you would go first..."
"Don't you already know that you have a body that cannot die? Marbas, the king who rules time."
"K-king?!"
"Yes. One who rules time is a king, so who else could be king?"
"There is only one king, His Majesty King Denver! I'm n-not interested in being a king!"
"Oh, Marbas. You truly have no greed."
Bassago's voice sweetly tickled Marbas.
"That modesty is the very model of a king."
"Ah, you mean I could become a king?"
"Yes. You certainly could become a king."
Marbas' eyes became dazed.
"Me, a king..."
Ding!
As the minute hand touched the home hand, the hour, minute, and second hands moved backward and returned to the point where the return hand was.
Marbas shouted at Caesar in a terrified voice.
"W-what kind of ambush is this in the middle of talking! H-how rude!"
When Marbas heard a presence beside him, he was startled and stepped back half a step.
"Ah, wh-what?! L-Lord Bassago! H-how did you get here?"
The maddening thing about Marbas' ability is that. Not only does Caesar return to his original state, but Marbas also returns to his initial state.
Instead, Caesar retains the memory of dealing with Marbas until now, while Marbas' memory evaporates, and he doesn't even remember that he cast the curse of time on Caesar from the beginning.
In other words, in this infinitely repeating time, only the cursed person eventually goes mad and commits suicide.
Bassago clicked his tongue.
"Tsk."
Bassago became irritated as all his attempts to seduce Marbas went to waste.
"C-clearly, you said that you should go first, Bassago..."
"Enough."
Ignoring Marbas' words, Bassago approached Caesar.
"Are you Caesar, the one called the baptism King?"
"Yes."
"I have one question. How does it feel to be king?"
Caesar recalled Bassago from the Valent Saga.
Bassago, the devil of corruption. He is one of the devils who can only be killed using tricky gimmicks, like Belial, with the ability to make everything rot and fester. If you meet him after becoming a ‘monarch’ through the warring states scenario, you can have quite a unique conversation.
"How does it feel to be king?"
"Yes. How did it feel to receive the adoration of those who follow you?"
Here, the protagonist can make three choices.
Just ignore it.
Or say it's burdensome.
Or affirm it. Depending on this choice, Bassago's attitude toward the protagonist changes. And it brings about a major transformation in the future devil overflow scenario.
"The feeling of becoming a king..."
Caesar smiled grimly.
"Is more thrilling than you could dare imagine."
Bassago's empty eyes burned with blue desire.