Chapter 85
Chapter 85
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 85
Chapter Title: Dark Lord (3)
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I had crossed swords with Damian countless times up until now, but not once had I ever drawn out his full strength.
The moment he went all out, a spar with me simply wouldn't be possible.
And right now.
Through the sword strikes Damian was unleashing before my eyes, I could fully grasp just how much he had been holding back during all our previous spars.
Damian Viet had reached a realm far beyond human perception.
He was called the Sword God, and even after hundreds of years, I doubted there was any swordsman who could surpass him.
……Unbelievable.
Yet Rugal was nonchalantly blocking those very sword strikes from Damian.
As expected of the first of the Continental Seven Heroes—a monster with no shortcomings in that title.
"That human is seriously impressive."
I glanced at Logan Deolic, who was slumped unconscious against the wall.
What kind of guts did it take for him to jump into that fray?
Kwa-kwa-kwang!
A burst of white sword light tore through the air, slashing at Rugal's position.
Hundreds of sword energies curved like boomerangs, flying toward Rugal.
‘The third ultimate technique of the Single Moon Divine Sword: Hundred Cherry Blossom Glory.’
It was on a completely different level from the demonstration he'd shown me.
The most flashy and beautiful ultimate technique among the Single Moon Divine Sword's moves.
Each of those pure white petals was a sword energy.
Hundreds of sword energies bloomed like flowers, covering the entire area.
Sasa-sasak!
It was an attack that seemed impossible to dodge, but Rugal blocked some with barriers, deflected others by spinning black chains conjured in midair, and counterattacked Damian in turn.
I struggled to even perform one such ultimate technique, yet they were unfolding endlessly, and Rugal met them without a hint of strain.
[Are you just going to watch?]
As I stayed silent, Gransesia quietly asked.
It wasn't an accusing tone at all.
If anything, it felt like she was comforting me, saying this was the normal response.
"No, I was just watching for an opening."
Of course, fear was winning out. Who wouldn't be afraid facing monsters beyond common sense right in front of them?
But I had already steeled my resolve and stepped forward. I had no intention of backing down now.
I just needed to move carefully.
"There won't be many chances for me to jump in."
At best, once or twice.
That was the limit of opportunities for someone like me to intervene in a fight between those monsters.
So I focused all my nerves, staring at the battle before me.
To not miss the chance that would come.
「Damian, this time I'll kill you and escape this place!」
With a sharp cry, countless spells made of black magic rained down like a bombardment.
Damian blocked them all while pressing Rugal back in return.
"That won't happen."
Damian recited calmly, exuding leisure.
In contrast, I could sense tension from Rugal—no trace of leisure there.
‘I've grown a lot too.’
Before, I wouldn't have sensed anything from their fight.
But now that I'd grasped the basics of Flow Form, I could vaguely read the flow even in a clash between overwhelming powerhouses.
It looked evenly matched, but Damian clearly had the edge right now.
「Your leisure ends here, Damian!」
But Rugal seemed to deny that fact, roaring passionately as he surged with power.
In that instant, the death energy spread wide around them was sucked into Rugal all at once, dyeing his once-pale bones pitch black.
"……You really don't know when to give up."
Damian gave Rugal a pitying look before gripping his sword even tighter.
And just as he swung it again.
"This is……."
Damian froze, sensing something.
Even he could feel an energy gathering that was hard to gauge.
"……Rugal, are you planning to wipe out this entire area?"
For the first time, Damian lost his composure as he posed the question.
‘What?’
I couldn't help but be startled by his words.
This place was fortified with mithril. Was it even possible to destroy it?
「Kukuku. Realizing it now is too late.」
But Rugal let out an unpleasant laugh, acknowledging it casually.
「I couldn't surpass you in the end, but with this, I can at least stand on equal ground. By dying together.」
Both Damian and I thought Rugal was finally going for the kill.
But that was a mistake.
The reason Rugal had delayed his resurrection to gather power wasn't to defeat Damian—it was for mutual destruction.
In other words, he had never intended to win against Damian from the start.
‘No, more precisely, he belatedly accepted that he could never win, no matter what he tried.’
Rugal had become a lich solely to surpass the wall that was Damian.
But after hundreds of years, he had realized the truth: he could never surpass the Sword God.
‘So that's why Damian went for mutual destruction with Rugal.’
Thinking back now, even if there was no room to intervene, Fabian wouldn't have abandoned Damian and fled.
But in this situation, there would have been nothing he could do.
The massive death energy still gathering couldn't be blocked even with Solaris.
‘If Damian had been alone, he might have dodged somehow…….’
Damian would have resolved to die and dismantled Rugal's spell. He was not the type to let Fabian die.
I stared intently at Rugal.
‘Is that it?’
The core containing Rugal's life force, hidden for hundreds of years.
Vicious death energy was continuously pouring into it.
Rugal planned to release it all at once, obliterating this space and everything in it.
Exposing the core that had allowed his repeated resurrections meant he was going all-in.
‘Perfect.’
I grinned.
Things were looking much easier now.
「Farewell to this cursed bond, Damian!」
Kurrung!
The death energy gathered around the core erupted, forming a massive purple magic circle.
Kagagak!
Damian's sword strikes charged toward the magic circle but bounced off, unable to pierce the storm of death energy raging around it.
Seeing that, Rugal's jawbone twisted crookedly.
He was clearly trying to sneer.
「Farewell.」
His hand pointed at the ground, and just as power surged into Damian's legs.
Ku-uuuung!
「……Huh?」
The magic circle shook violently.
Rugal's glowing red eyes shook along with it.
The wide-area bombardment spell rocked greatly and halted its activation.
"Shake, and shake, until you shatter."
Even amid the roaring storm of death energy, a voice imprinted in my ears.
It wasn't just any voice.
The voice that interfered with the world's principles and laws—Dragon Word—bound the gathering magic from all directions, gnawing away at the magic circle bit by bit.
「W-What the hell is that?!」
Only then did Rugal belatedly turn his gaze to Riya.
She had stayed so quiet and unassuming that he hadn't even noticed her presence.
「How can a human use Dragon Word……?」
Rugal was the most infamous and powerful mage in history.
According to records, he had reached the 8th Circle.
Even the pinnacle mages humans could achieve couldn't escape the power of Dragon Word.
"Rugal, didn't I always tell you?"
「Damian, you bastard! Where did you even find a wench like that……!」
"To broaden your horizons."
Seizing the opening from the halted spell, Damian unleashed an ultimate technique of the Single Moon Divine Sword, thrusting at Rugal's neck.
Rugal blocked it desperately with his remaining power, but his composure was clearly gone.
「Damn it! Even Dragon Word can't fully stop this spell's activation! It just buys a little time…….」
Grinding his teeth, Rugal shouted at Damian, now right in front of him—then suddenly shut his mouth.
He'd sensed a faint presence from directly behind.
「No?!」
Rugal's shocked cry rang out.
It was only natural.
Someone had reached the core, which permitted no approaches.
And who was it? None other than me.
「When did you……!」
It was obvious he hadn't noticed. I'd split space with Solaris and slipped through the gap.
Even high demons in Aintban had been thrown off by Solaris's ability and struggled.
「You worm! Don't move from there!」
Rugal tried to shove Damian aside and reach for me, but it wasn't easy.
How could he approach me with the Sword God right in his face?
Kwaduk, kwaduduk!
Rugal somehow activated spells around me, conjuring countless black tentacles near the core to attack.
The black tentacles exuded death energy so vicious it would melt skin just by approaching.
Of course, it was useless against me.
「How……!」
Divine Blood and Agatram perfectly blocked the death energy.
Thanks to that, I advanced toward Rugal's core without a worry.
I slashed and cut forward.
The black tentacles shattered and scattered at the slightest touch from Genova wrapped in Divine Blood.
「You bastard!」
As I reached right before the core, Rugal charged at me, heedless of his own body.
Even as Damian's attacks sliced him everywhere, he didn't stop. His body could recover given time, but not the core.
"Too late."
Puk!
I said that as I pierced straight through the center of the purple magic circle. More precisely, the pulsing purple gem at its heart, like a heartbeat.
「You filthy worm……!」
Even now, Rugal burned with obsession as he closed in—an astonishing sight.
But that was it.
He couldn't reach me.
Damian's sword severed his limbs right before me, piercing his skull.
「……!」
His mouth gaped, trying to say something, but now only the rattling of his shattered skull echoed.
"I don't know what you're saying, but die."
Genova's blade, having pierced the core, regained its original color.
More precisely, the Divine Blood coating the blade flowed into Rugal's core.
"Blood Explosion."
Blood Explosion.
One of the blood magics, with a simple effect.
It made blood explode like a bomb.
For me, short on mana, it was just infusing an enemy's body with blood and detonating it.
──But right now, that would be enough.
Kwaaaaang!
The explosion burst from the sword tip, and at the same moment, a silver pillar descended from the sky.