Chapter 356: translated
I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake.
Chapter 356
There are exactly three reasons why Denver is scary.
He can give his abilities to other devils, he can make other devils grow, and he can absorb the abilities of other devils.
This is so unfair because the more devils of Niflheim you kill, the higher Denver's overall abilities become, and if you don't kill devils to prevent Denver from growing, the devils will flood and devastate the continent.
You might ask, can't we invade the Kingdom of Dior and kill Denver before he grows, but first, it's impossible because it's blocked by the Valent Saga game system.
Second, because Prince Denver isn't the type to take risks in the first place, if he thinks it's even slightly dangerous, he runs away or doesn't meet you.
Because we originally knew him as someone who doesn't necessarily take risks, Caesar was very surprised at the moment of their first meeting when he appeared in person.
Caesar questioned Denver as he pushed him.
"Did you really think you could convince me with just that one letter? Did you think I could easily betray humans because I'm a doppelganger and a demon race?"
Denver couldn't answer Caesar's question. He didn't even have the luxury to respond. Instead, Denver's impatience was clearly revealed.
-I underestimated Caesar too much.
-I thought he would be easy to manipulate with the debt of rejection.
-How could he know the weakness of the debt of rejection that even I don't know.
Denver used Marbas' time binding. But it was completely countered and disappeared due to Caesar's Storge ability.
"Well, fuck. I can't believe I've been living my life being conscious of such an idiot. It's ridiculous."
"Don't... Insult me!"
Two arms sprouted from Denver's back. It was the ability of Vigilante, whom Caesar had killed before.
As the jewel sword split into four, he pushed Caesar with his four arms. Each of the four arms was filled with 'resentment,' making the attacks quite fierce.
But the offensive didn't last long.
"Do you know how many times I've replayed Vigilante swordsmanship in my mind?"
Denver's swordsmanship was almost a copy and paste of Vigilante’s. Caesar immediately identified his pattern and struck his thigh with Thunder.
"Argh!"
As his thigh was cut off at once while getting electrocuted, he finally shed his skin and ran away.
Caesar chased him again.
"S-stop him!"
The devil of Calamity, Balak, shot flames intending to turn Caesar's body into a roast. The hot flames that could melt rocks in an instant and evaporate river water were fired at Caesar, but Caesar faced him head-on.
Although it felt like his skin and eyeballs were sizzling, Caesar drove Lefty into the shoulder of the devil of Calamity.
"Aaaaargh!"
The holy flame of the arch screamed as it mixed with the flames surrounding his body.
Meanwhile, Caesar's skin was quickly healing. This was due to the manifestation of the 'infinite regeneration' ability from the blessing of the Baptism Sword.
Caesar persistently chased Denver, leaving the devil of Calamity behind.
"Protect Caesar!"
"Kill those damn devils!"
The mer peoples, including Atan, began to eliminate devils following Caesar.
They threw spears and shot water cannons from sea dragons to drop devils into the river.
Caesar cut off Denver's third and fourth arms simultaneously and then headbutted him.
He rolled on the ground from the impact.
"This isn't even at the level of a dragon."
"You...!"
"Let me ask you one thing. Where did all the marquis guys go, and why are only such scraps gathered? This isn't your full strength."
He should still have about 5 devils with 6 or more horns. Each one should be as strong as Bassago or similar to Belial, but why aren't they showing themselves?
Denver didn't answer, but Caesar found the answer by reading his thoughts. Caesar's eyes turned strange.
"Oh, I see."
"You...!"
"You were more wary of Yan and Mitchell than me."
Yan is the hero who killed the Demon King, and Caesar is at best Yan's companion who has recently started to make a name for himself.
The Dre Order is practically at the level of dissolution, and the world has become more chaotic because Caesar destroyed the Holy Grail, so Denver thought he could handle someone like Caesar sufficiently.
"Were you always this confident? Weren't you a very cautious character?"
"What do you know to talk like that!"
Denver swung his sword.
Caesar stepped back slightly at Denver's surprise attack. Looking at Denver now, he's quite different from what he showed in the Valent Saga.
What exactly has changed?
"Don't you even hate humans?"
"Humans?"
"Yes. Humans destroyed and trampled the demon realm. They killed and violated your family and friends. Having seen those terrible scenes from the closest perspective, why do you help humans?"
"You're curious about that now?"
"Are you bewitched by Raven? Or have you been living as a spy for so long that you're mistaking yourself for a human?"
Denver swung his sword. It's a much more threatening and sharp attack than before. Caesar looked around. The mer people were killing the '5-HORNED' devils that came along, transferring power to Denver.
"Humans disparage and reject those who are different from them. They disparage devils for having horns on their heads, and they make them objects to conquer and destroy because they take blood and essence. Such despicable beings are humans."
Clang!
"So humans must be exterminated. Humans who cannot accept differences, who discriminate, exclude, and antagonize each other, all of them deserve to die!"
As Denver's rage-filled sword clashed, fragments of the creature's memories poured into him.
-Did you hear? The queen gave birth to a devil.
-Really? Is that why they imprisoned the queen in the tower?
-That's what they say.
Little is known about Denver's past.
The fact that Denver was a devil from birth. And that he was confined to a tower immediately after birth. And around the age of 7, Denver's horns suddenly disappeared, just these three things.
Even when Seo-han was going through the Valent Saga trying to dig up information about Denver, these three facts were literally all he could find, so he just assumed the guy was a pure evil villain born to destroy the continent.
But the memories coming through the creature's sword strikes were mixed with anger, pain, and sorrow.
"So what do you want me to do about it?"
Caesar deflected Denver's sword and then stamped his knee into the creature's face.
In that moment, the creature attacked Caesar's back with its third and fourth arms. Caesar avoided the attack with almost magical movement and then stepped back. Denver's broken nose quickly healed. An impressive regeneration speed befitting the king of devils.
He held the Fan of Rejection in his left hand. And swung the fan toward Caesar. Caesar read the direction of the Fan of Rejection and moved backward. An unknown devil behind Caesar was caught by the Fan of Rejection and became a star in the sky.
Denver caught his breath and thought.
"Why do you hate Mains so much? Do you hate Mains because you want to mix with humans? Do you think Mains chose to become Mains? Almost none of the Mains here wanted to become Mains. In fact...!"
Denver swallowed his words.
"We all just want to live. Because humans created a society that rejects Mains, I simply created a society that rejects humans."
"I'm not interested in philosophical arguments like that. The problem is that you're obsessed with war and willing to kill all innocent people."
Caesar rushed toward him. Denver used the Fan of Rejection. Caesar accelerated instantly and escaped the range of the Fan of Rejection.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Now that the distance had opened up, approaching Denver was more difficult than expected.
Caesar launched Lefty and Thunder simultaneously.
Clang!
Denver barely managed to block Lefty and Thunder, but momentarily lost sight of Caesar.
Caesar had retreated and was untying the interdimensional bag that was attached to the Sea Dragon.
Whoosh!
Denver swung the Fan of Rejection. The Sea Dragon instinctively hid in the sea, and Caesar also retreated after grabbing the bag.
BAAANG!
The ship behind Caesar took flight. It must have been quite heavy, packed full of magic stones, yet seeing such an enormously heavy ship flying through the air was truly astonishing. Caesar pulled out the Spear of Penetration from the spatial bag.
Thud!
When Caesar threw the Spear of Penetration, Denver instinctively swung the Fan of Rejection. He expected the Spear of Penetration to be blown away by the Fan of Rejection's ability, but the Spear of Penetration pierced through the repulsive force and flew toward Denver.
"What...!"
Denver instinctively raised his sword to block, but the Spear of Penetration pushed aside the jeweled sword and...
Thud!
It pierced Denver's heart.
"Kugh...!"
Denver barely managed to escape using his skin-shedding ability, but the shock was immense. That didn't mean he had time to rest, though. Caesar had already stealthily approached like a tiger, aiming for the back of Denver's head.
Ding!
Denver used all four arms to block Caesar's Thunder and Lefty.
"So just shut your mouth and die already."
"AAAARGH!"
Was it because he was getting closer to the creature?
Or because they had been crossing weapons for a long time?
Or was it because he was using deep psychometry with an understanding of the creature?
...Or perhaps because the creature was becoming desperate?
Caesar's psychometry began to dig into Denver's brain, sifting through the creature's past.
***
-Mom, the storybook says there are butterflies and flowers in the world, but why aren't there any here?
-Do you want to see butterflies and flowers?
-Yes, yes! I want to see them!
-Alright, son. I'll definitely show them to you.
Mom was someone who always kept her promises. The next day when he woke up, butterflies and flowers were drawn on the wall.
-Wow! Butterflies and flowers!
-Right? I told you mom always keeps her promises, didn't I?
Mom was enough for Denver.
She always read storybooks in a lovely voice and stroked his hair until he fell asleep. It was a life that could be happy because they were two, not one, and Denver thought that tower was nothing short of heaven.
-Mom! Mom, don't go! Mom!
-No! Let go of this! Hurry!
-Let go of my mom! Why are you taking her away?!
Around when Denver turned 7, the tightly closed tower door opened, and knights began forcibly dragging his mother away.
Outside the door stood a man Denver had never seen before, but who had the same hair color as Denver, looking at Denver and his mother with an unreadable expression.
-What are you trying to do to Denver now?!
-He cannot stay in that tower forever, Marie.
-Then kill me instead! My son has done nothing wrong!
-Marie. You need to live.
The royal knights took Denver outside.
Denver felt a sharp, cold sensation on his neck for the first time.
Denver instinctively repeated a phrase he had only seen in storybooks.
-Please, help me. Help me. Mom!
-Denver!
The man with emerald hair grabbed Marie and said.
-Marie, snap out of it! You can have another baby. It doesn't have to be that child!
-No. It has to be that child.
The priest dressed in white shook his head.
-It seems the Queen has been bewitched by a devil.
-Is that the child's ability? To enchant people?
-That is likely the case.
Mom shouted to Denver.
-Denver! Close your eyes and cover your ears!
-Mom!
-I'll be by your side soon! Keep your eyes closed and ears covered!
-But Mom!
-Hurry!
Mom was someone who always kept her promises. Even if it was butterflies and flowers drawn with crayons, she showed Denver butterflies and flowers, and if he wanted to become a knight, she made him a wooden sword.
Therefore, Denver firmly believed that Mom would keep her promise this time as well.
Denver closed his eyes and covered his ears. And he counted to the largest number he knew.
-One, two, three, four...
Denver was smart enough to count to one hundred. After counting to one hundred and slowly opening his eyes... Mom was truly by Denver's side.
However, a sword was protruding from Mom's heart, and two horns had grown on her head.
-Denver, I'm sorry…
-Mom...!
The knights thrust their swords toward the Queen.
-That devil deceived His Majesty the King!
-The Queen was a devil from the beginning!
-That's why the devil is coming out now!
Denver couldn't understand.
He was told that devils were truly evil monsters.
But Mom was an angel. The kindest person in the world. So why were they calling her a devil?
Denver cried while holding his dying mother.
-Mommm...!
-Denver.
Mom took Denver's hand and quietly placed it on her horns.
-You are a special child.
-A lovable child.
-So…
-You must be happy...
Denver burst into tears as he watched his mother close her eyes. Then the horns on his mother's head that Denver was touching gradually diminished and began to disappear.
And instead, two more horns grew on Denver's head. Purple tears flowed from Denver's eyes.
-Kill it immediately!
-Destroy the devil's spawn!
The holy knight who had killed his mother rushed toward Denver. Denver felt as if he had opened his eyes to a new world.
-They said devils are evil monsters.
Denver's hand extended toward the holy knight.
-The devil is not me but all of you.
***
The purple wave that burst from Denver's hand engulfed Caesar.
Caesar momentarily stepped back due to the pain that shook his head.
'This is...'
This concentrated sensation that could penetrate the 'Purity' ability of the Baptism Sword was clearly Denver's unique ability, 'Corruption.'
In the moment Caesar hesitated, Denver thrust his sword.
Caesar deflected it with Thunder and stepped back. Denver assessed the battle situation.
The mer people were putting up a better fight than expected, pushing back the Mains. Normally, the mer people would have no chance against the Mains, but everything had gone wrong because of Caesar alone.
"Fine. I admit it. I underestimated you."
"Why? Are you trying to run away now?"
"It's a strategic retreat."
"Strategic retreat? Who's going to allow that?"
"That's not for you to decide."
Denver snapped his fingers and said.
"Bassago, Andras."
The sound of Denver snapping his fingers echoed emptily.
"Bassago! Andras!"
Denver's voice echoed emptily again.
"What are you doing?"
"Where have these two gone?!"
The devils bowed their heads and said.
"Your Majesty. Those two servants did not come here."
"I thought only your brain was a mess, but it seems your organization is a mess too."
Denver's face turned tomato-red.
"Kimaris, Balak, Jagan!"
Three devils appeared at Denver's call, bowing their heads.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Capture the mer people and Caesar."
The three devils' eyes trembled.
"...Pardon? But..."
"I will remember your sacrifice. So."
Purple waves burst from Denver's hand. Then each of the three devils grew an additional horn on their heads.
"Aaaaaahhhh...!"
This Denver was quite different from the one remembered in the Valent Saga. In the Valent Saga, Denver didn't flee or run away like this, but exuded dignity and presence.
It seems that becoming pathetic when lacking power is an unavoidable fate. Denver's hand sprinkled energy on the other devils. All the devils began to lose their sanity as each grew an additional horn.
The three devils had already lost their sanity and were showing signs of ‘disaster.'
'It's best to avoid dealing with such beings.'
Boom!
Both Denver and Caesar lost their balance due to an unexpected earthquake. But more than that, both were captivated by a magnificent and supernatural phenomenon that had never occurred in the world before.
The city of magicians, Sapientia, was flying up into the sky