Chapter 31. Subjugation
Yael conjured fireballs in both hands and hurled them at the oncoming horde of ghouls. A barrage of spells exploded among them, ripping them apart in bursts of flame and force. But the undead corpses, little more than animated meat, charged the subjugation force relentlessly, heedless of their exploding comrades.
“Fuck, there’s so goddamn many—!” With her favorite boss nowhere in sight, the half-witch spat a stream of filthy curses while unleashing a frenzy of magic.
Finally fed up, Yael began chanting a high-level spell.
—! The sheer intensity drew Ludvine’s eyes toward her. Yael, glaring at the ghoul swarm with piercing eyes as she intoned her incantation, cut an almost admirable figure.
A fireball materialized in the air, swelling rapidly to enormous size.
Hot damn—. Jepopo clawed at his scalp, feeling it sizzle like overcooked meat.
Yael launched the colossal fireball straight into the ghoul pack.
———!!! It hurtled forward with crushing momentum, slamming into the ground in a cataclysmic blast. The shockwave alone knocked nearly two or three hundred ghouls out of commission.
…But the enemy numbers were simply too vast. And the foes weren’t the only ones with mages.
“Incoming—!!”
Fireballs streaked from the enemy lines—a volley from the crow army’s casters. Low-level spells, sure, but direct hits would still hurt like hell. The hero team’s mages snapped up protective barriers in response.
That left only double-casting mages free to counterattack.
“Fuck these bastards—!!” Ludvine cursed with every boom as enemy fire hammered the shield. Mana drained away in massive gulps.
Then a high-level caster from Ganesha’s team finished her protracted chant. Her comrades parted like clockwork, clearing her line of fire, and a thick mana beam lanced forward. It carved a furrow through the earth, shredded the ghoul horde, and punched clean through the demon lurking behind—right into its torso.
——!! A gaping hole erupted in the demon’s body. Chunks of its demonic energy evaporated, though it didn’t banish back to its realm. Still, the blow landed hard.
On that cue, the knight order hoisted their blades high.
“Kill them all—!!!”
Uwaaaaa—!!
Knights and soldiers surged ahead. Heroes wove through their ranks and charged. Ganesha and Ji-hyuk stormed at the forefront, carving through foes like wheat.
The battlefield devolved into pandemonium in seconds.
Mages lacked the bandwidth to attack while sustaining light orbs and barriers. They funneled every drop of mana into those glowing spheres, desperately illuminating the subjugation force’s path.
Soon the demon vaulted into the melee. A hulking brute topped with a lion’s head. Its groin swung an equally monstrous cock, dangling like a battering ram. Black eyes fixed on Ji-hyuk with lethal intent.
Ji-hyuk sidestepped the whistling double-headed axe aimed at his skull. Ghouls paid the price instead—over a dozen torsos sheared clean.
The demon then went berserk, pounding its axe into the dirt. But Ji-hyuk danced around the strikes like a slippery rat.
No time-wasting here. He lunged the instant the axe cratered the ground, his cursed holy sword cleaving the demon’s midsection.
——!! A flash of steel too quick for the eye—the demon registered only blinding light. Its flank split wide, arm tumbling free.
Ji-hyuk gave no quarter, charging again mid-swing. But the subtle glow cloaking him began to dim.
…Damn curse—! He slashed the demon’s torso a dozen more times in a blur, then scanned for the source. Had to be a curse caster skulking in the crow army.
Ji-hyuk barreled toward the human traitors in their grotesque crow masks. They stacked barricades of bodies and steel, but he butchered over a dozen in heartbeats, plowing ahead.
“Block him—block him—!!”
Thick shields parted like rotten logs before his holy sword.
As the buff faded, the curse tightened its grip.
Huff huff. Ji-hyuk gasped hot breaths, hacking wildly. Swords sundered, spears snapped, shields shattered, flesh rent. He diced everything in reach. A sea of blood pooled around him in moments.
“Block him some—!”
Ji-hyuk snatched a dropped spear and speared the yeller’s skull.
He swept his gaze over the encircling crows, panting raggedly. His lips split in a jagged grin. Human blood—not demon filth or monster gore—in such quantities? Rare treat. The bandit cull last time left him hungry; this sated him.
And these? Humanity’s must-purge traitors—!
Ji-hyuk cracked his neck and dove back into the frenzy.
Mushin—. The word fit his trance perfectly.
As the buff sputtered out, demonic energy clawed at his flesh. He countered with mana, swinging faster, fiercer.
The crow army hemorrhaged over a hundred dead. Fifty more too mangled to fight.
“Just one guy—! A goddamn B-rank nobody—!!”
They’d profiled Ji-hyuk, dismissed him. Contain S-rank Ganesha, mop up the B-rank easy.
…But reality derailed hard. Ghoul swarm to drain mana, then overwhelm? Dead on arrival. Now their entire force reeled from one B-rank. Catastrophic.
Desperate, the crow leader groveled before the Demon King, pleading for aid.
Demon King Kigant dispatched three Death Knights—each flirting with low A-rank might. Victory seemed assured. B-rank tough? Sure. But three Knights? Unthinkable. S-rank territory.
Another mana beam whined from afar, zeroing the Demon King. He swatted it aside with a palm, demonic energy parting it like child’s play.
Ji-hyuk clocked the giants lumbering his way—each head-and-a-half taller than a man.
…One, two, three. Three total.
…Coming to seal the deal, eh.
Fresh off decapitating the curse caster, he had breathing room. Getting pinned by mere Knights en route to the King? Laughable. Child’s play.
“Widen the net—!”
The crow leader bellowed. Ji-hyuk’s perimeter expanded. Some peeled toward the subjugation force.
Ji-hyuk flicked glances for Ganesha, but the press blocked his view.
…Break through it is.
Good—.
Ji-hyuk widened his stance, sword drawn to his left hip.
Mana erupted around him in a vortex.
—! The Demon King’s eyes snapped over.
Before it could bark orders, Ji-hyuk unleashed a horizontal sweep.
————!!!! Everything in arc severed. Crow soldiers bisected. Even Death Knights cleaved end-to-end.
Only the Knights ringed the hero now.
Demon King Kigant’s gaze locked with hero Kang Ji-hyuk’s. Murderous demonic energy detonated between them.
Left flank: hero Kang Ji-hyuk rampaging. Right: hero Ganesha on a tear. She’d banished two demons already. With the earlier one, just two remained—tangled far off with the subjugation force amid ghouls.
…Underestimated them.
Kigant loosed a long laugh. Monkey torso atop horse haunches, eagle head. He yanked his spear from the dirt. He’d come light to probe human realms, but too lax. Retreat empty-handed? Couldn’t face His Majesty.
In his brief assessment, the three Knights lay butchered—reduced to ash wisps.
Terror-stricken crows hung back, shuffling retreats.
Never counted on these pawns anyway.
The crow leader scurried to the Demon King, slamming forehead to dirt.
“Your Highness! He’s beyond us—we can’t handle him!”
—Yeah.
A grating rasp scraped from the beak. Foreleg rose, stomped the leader’s skull flat. Crunch—extinguished.
Spear impaled the corpse, hoisted it. Heart ripped free, gulp.
Chomp chomp.
Kigant flung the husk aside; monsters pounced, gorging.
Ah, aaa—.
As the Demon King stirred, cultists flattened en masse.
“Grant eternal death and eternal life—.”
They droned in trance.
The Demon King grinned wickedly, amusing himself by pulping heads underfoot.
“Now, feast—.”
Monsters scattered like starved wolves—black-furred, lion-sized. They slaughtered cultists too, allies or not.
Screams rent the air.
The two heroes methodically shredded charging beasts, inching toward the Demon King.
Ji-hyuk stole a glance at Ganesha. Eyes met fleetingly. The musclebound woman flashed a sly smirk.
Still raring to go.
“Iris, buff—!!”
Ganesha’s roar pierced the din, lancing straight to the buff shaman’s ears.
Iris shot up a hand like an eager pupil.
Massive mana pooled in her palm; fist clenched—transmuting into a long, arrow-shaped shaft.
“Incoming—!!”
She flung it forward with a shrill cry.
Ganesha hurled herself into its path. Contact shattered like glass—clang—her frame igniting in brilliance.
Max-output buff. Now a casual punch pulverized monsters to dust.
The heroes drew close.
Ji-hyuk let out a faint whine.
“…Solo buff’s cheating, no?”
“Then beg for yours, punk.”
“Our levels ain’t even close.”
“Your problem, slave boy.”
The princess grinned teasingly before snapping a razor glare at the Demon King.
…Fucking strong, goddamn it—.
The aura defied comprehension. Demonic energy coiled visibly, smoky tendrils rising.
Strongest mark in her twenty-plus years heroing. Demons were small fry by comparison.
…Explained the cultists’ trek to the empire, yapping submission.
No backing down, though.
…Especially not solo. Two of them now.
Two—.
Ganesha felt ironclad with Ji-hyuk at her side.
The duo closed on the Demon King, unhurried.
Kigant gouged the earth menacingly with his talons.
The three collided.
