Chapter 154
Chapter 154
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 154
Chapter Title: Growth Verification (1)
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Rewind time a little.
Yuri and Teresa were sprinting through the fork in the road.
The news that the quest starting point was just a bit further ahead allowed Yuri to finally catch her breath.
It was because they hadn't run into their biggest worry—the Demon King.
If things kept going like this, they could wrap up the day safely.
But that was a hasty judgment.
“…Huh?”
Yuri’s eyes went wide as she ran.
“Huh?”
Far down the path she was charging along.
The moment she spotted the red-haired, red-eyed man standing there stock-still, as if waiting for someone, Yuri frantically skidded to a halt.
Skrrrt-.
‘That guy?!”
She recognized him instantly from his outline alone.
Especially that blazing red hair—anyone could see it was unmistakably the Demon King.
‘Damn it!’
She’d thought she’d shaken him off completely, with no sign of pursuit.
‘But he got here before me?’
The implication was simple.
‘Guess there really was a shortcut.’
She’d looped around because she didn’t even know where the quest started or the lay of the land, but that Black Sword soldier had clearly taken the direct route without a hitch.
This was the absolute worst scenario Yuri had envisioned.
“Yuri?!”
Startled by Yuri’s sudden stop, Teresa yanked her own body to a halt.
Skrrrt-.
The skid marks she left behind stayed etched in the dirt.
At that moment, just as Yuri was about to spin around and bolt, she made a face like *Whoops, almost left her behind!* and grabbed Teresa’s wrist, yanking her into a run.
Back the way they’d come, no less.
Teresa yelled in bewilderment at the absurd turn of events.
“W-What’s going on?!”
“The Demon King!”
“What?”
“The Demon King!”
Only then did Teresa glance back.
In that instant, she caught sight of the red-haired man far off, now charging after them.
‘That’s… the Demon King?’
He exuded an intensity that perfectly suited the role.
But why was the Demon King here, of all places?
The thought flashed through her mind, but the answer came all too easily.
‘It’s because of Yuri!’
More precisely, because of that power crystal Yuri was clutching so preciously.
She bellowed.
“If you were gonna steal it, you should’ve done it without getting caught!”
“I didn’t get caught stealing it—I got caught after stealing it.”
“Same difference!”
Just like that, she perfectly understood why Yuri had been fleeing in such a panic.
‘It was the Demon King all along.’
There was no way Yuri of the 49th Cohort would run like this from just anyone.
It had to be the Demon King.
With a sigh, Teresa slipped her wrist free from Yuri’s grip and resumed a proper running stance.
‘If that guy chasing us is the real Demon King…’
Getting caught would complicate everything.
They needed some way to shake him off.
So she said in a measured tone.
“Let’s go to the others.”
“Huh?”
“We’ll use the 49th Cohort as a shield. We exploit them to buy time and slip away when there’s an opening.”
Yuri looked surprised at her words.
‘Teresa suggesting this?’
Throwing her own cohort mates to the wolves—and her saying it first, no less.
That was exactly the kind of idea Yuri herself would come up with.
And since Yuri had already been planning the exact same thing when she turned tail, Teresa’s proposal was more than welcome.
“Perfect!”
A huge grin spread across his face.
* * *
And so, the Demon King that Yuri and Teresa had led straight to them.
Ruuuumble-.
He stared silently at Yuri, radiating a terrifying aura.
He neither advanced nor attacked.
It was the gaze of a hunter eyeing prey already cornered, as if to say, *Done thrashing around?*
Meanwhile, with two of their own already down, the 49th Cohort’s attention—previously fixed on Yuri—now shifted to him. It was only natural.
Unfortunately, they lacked Yulia’s insight to grasp the situation at a glance.
“W-What’s going on?”
“Who’s that Black Sword soldier, and why’s he suddenly attacking?”
As the flustered 49th Cohort began backing away from the red-haired, red-eyed man, Yuri finally lost her patience and shouted.
“Hey, heroes! When you see the Demon King, you charge at him with everything you’ve got—why are you cowering and stepping back? You call yourselves heroes?!”
The princess had gone from cheering them on to hurling sharp barbs.
But rather than rally them, her words only deepened the confusion.
‘That guy’s the Demon King?’
‘Not Yuri Holland?’
But why would the Demon King show up here?
He should be in the Demon King’s castle.
They scoffed.
“Bullshit!”
“Don’t mess with us!”
Faced with their distrustful retorts pouring in, Yuri clicked her tongue.
“Tch, why is the whole 49th Cohort so damn skeptical?”
“…You saying that loud enough for me to hear?”
“Come on, do something already. You said you’d help to your fullest, right? Time to earn your cut.”
“…….”
Watching Yuri gloss over it, Teresa regretted her words.
‘Shouldn’t have offered to help…’
She’d only said it to boost her own share, but now it was biting her in the ass.
In the end, she let out a deep sigh and stepped forward.
“That guy…”
The moment Teresa started to explain about the Demon King.
A voice rang out before hers.
“That’s the Demon King!”
The owner of that voice was none other than Yulia.
Her eyes sparkled brightly.
‘Up until now, I had no idea what was going on.’
But from here on, things would be different.
Yulia changed her mind.
She’d seize control of this uncontrollable situation.
‘Then it’ll look like this chaos was just another variable I prepared.’
She’d bluffed to Fritz out of not wanting to lose, acting like this was all her plan.
If Fritz believed the current mess was her doing, then she just had to make it true.
‘Yeah, this works out even better. We’ll take down the Demon King right here!’
Catching the Demon King was the goal anyway.
No need to drag everyone to the Demon King’s castle—they could end the quest here.
That’s why she’d vouched for the Demon King’s presence before Teresa could.
And Yulia’s shout carried far more credibility than Yuri’s.
The 49th Cohort’s mood flipped in an instant.
“The real Demon King?”
“But shouldn’t he be in the Demon King’s castle?”
“So Yuri Holland really isn’t the Demon King?”
“Jerry, that bastard!”
As the murmurs spread, Yulia pressed on with a resolute voice.
“This is actually perfect! Let’s take him down here!”
“Take down the Demon King?”
“Yeah! Why go all the way to the castle? Everyone, follow my lead!”
With that, Yulia scanned the remaining group.
‘Forty-six left. We’ve thinned out a lot… but we still have a shot!’
To turn that shot into real victory, though, they couldn’t waste a single soldier from here on.
Yulia spoke with firm resolve.
“Teresa, take the Central Plains!”
At Yulia’s request, Teresa glanced at Yuri.
Yuri gave a small nod.
‘Either way, if we want an opening to escape, the 49th Cohort can’t collapse right away.’
They needed the 49th Cohort to at least grab the Demon King’s ankle.
And to maximize those odds, Teresa was essential for them.
‘I’ll tell her to slip out midway.’
With Yuri’s approval, Teresa lowered her spear and walked forward slowly.
Yuri, meanwhile, edged back a little.
At that, the Demon King—who’d ignored even the 49th Cohort chattering in front of him—finally moved.
Reacting solely to Yuri’s motion.
And in that instant.
“Everyone, spread out and surround the Demon King!”
Yulia’s booming command echoed.
At the same time, a silver ring in her red eyes glinted.
Twitch-.
The moment Yuri heard Yulia’s shout, she felt her leg muscles tense involuntarily.
‘…What the?’
She hadn’t planned to obey, but weirdly, hearing Yulia’s voice made her want to follow it.
A clear abnormal reaction.
Even the Demon King, who’d only watched Yuri, showed interest in something else for the first time.
“The Hyun family’s demon soldier arts, huh.”
The Hyun family of Silver Rings excelled in many fields, but their mercenary arts were hailed as the best.
At the core of that fame lay the Hyun family’s demon soldier arts.
A special hypnosis that distinguished foe from friend—disrupting enemies mentally while issuing instant orders to allies.
Depending on mastery, it could even turn bodies into puppets like dolls.
Of course, Yulia hadn’t reached that level; she could only plant suggestions.
But in this situation, that was plenty.
As if to prove it, the entire 49th Cohort scattered at her suggestion, encircling the Demon King.
Yulia’s next order followed.
“Jerry, Marlon, Michael—front line, advance!”
The three surged forward, charging at the Demon King.
He swung his sword with a scornful look.
Then Yulia’s command continued.
“Teresa, dive in!”
Seizing the opening as he focused ahead, Teresa stabbed in like a dagger.
But the Demon King didn’t go down easy.
No—he kicked her away far too effortlessly.
Whooosh-!
Teresa dodged his sword and retreated.
In a flash, others under Yulia’s orders filled the gap, lunging at him.
Hit-and-run combos kept coming like that.
With each one, the Demon King’s brow furrowed deeper.
“…Annoying.”
Irritation and displeasure twisted his face.
The well-timed linked attacks were bad enough, but the voice burrowing into his mind with every command was worse.
He couldn’t say how it sounded to his allied 49th Cohort, but to him, Yulia’s suggestions grated like nails on steel—a chilling screech.
And that screech was disrupting his attack flow.
‘These damn brats!’
Unable to endure it, the Demon King’s aura swelled massively, crashing out like a tidal wave.
“U-Uwahk!”
“Urk!”
The 49th Cohort scrambled back.
But Yulia stayed cool.
“The five from just now, fall back! You three next to them, fill in! Jerry, cover behind them! No matter what, don’t take hits! He’s a swordsman specializing in power strikes!”
She judged the situation coldly, firing off suggestions like a machine gun.
As the 49th Cohort moved to her orders and felt their attacks land, they gradually shed their resistance to her suggestions.
That made their shifts in formation even quicker.
The Demon King’s assaults, which had seemed poised to overwhelm, kept slicing empty air.
A gleam lit Yuri’s eyes as she watched.
‘This is… going way better than expected?’
The situation surpassed her wildest predictions.
Wasn’t the 49th Cohort putting up way too good a fight?
It wasn’t that the Demon King was weak, either.
His speed, power, and aura marked him as a certified Rank 5 expert at least.
Creating this standoff against him was purely Yulia’s skill.
Reading several moves ahead and placing the right people in the right spots—Yulia’s judgment.
You couldn’t pull that off without fully grasping every member of the 49th Cohort’s skills and strengths.
‘The 49th Cohort, who’ve barely trained together, moving without tangles or clashes—it’s all thanks to Yulia.’
Without her, it would’ve ended ages ago.
Conversely, the Demon King looking this pushed back meant Yulia was pulling off the impossible.
This wasn’t really 49th Cohort vs. Demon King—it was Yulia vs. Demon King.
‘Their links are getting tighter as time passes.’
Resistance to suggestions fading, combos meshing perfectly.
The Demon King’s movements seemed increasingly constrained.
‘Hang on… are they actually gonna beat the Demon King?’
Yuri’s eyes widened in admiration.
But only for a moment.
‘Wait… beat the Demon King?’
The faint awe vanished, replaced by bewilderment.
Yuri muttered softly.
“…Huh? That won’t do.”