Chapter 14
“Did I look a little easier to deal with?”
Valender von Graus turned toward Ibrahmut as he spoke. There was no emotion in his voice, yet Ibrahmut felt a chill run down his spine.
It was a feeling he hadn’t had a moment ago, while they were still talking.
Where in the world did monsters like these come from?
That was the only thought in his head.
Valender von Graus drew his black sword. He let the blade, taller than a man, hang at a diagonal.
Ibrahmut swallowed dryly.
He had only widened his stance to shoulder width and lowered his sword, yet there was not a single opening to be seen. Even though he himself did not use a sword, the posture Valender von Graus was taking now felt so perfect that Ibrahmut could only assume it was the ideal stance every swordsman dreamed of.
As if he had no choice, Ibrahmut shook his head and released his power. His human form began to change. White flames bursting from every part of his body instantly burned away his outward appearance.
A man of fire.
No, Ibrahmut had become fire itself. And as if that weren’t enough, his body continued to swell. Only after he had grown to roughly three meters tall did the transformation finally end.
“Most Balrogs are much bigger than that.”
Zeronia, who had somehow come to stand beside Yoon Sang-hyuk, murmured in a low voice.
“I know.”
Yoon Sang-hyuk had faced Balrogs before. The one he had fought stood at least ten meters tall. Why Ibrahmut had stopped at around three meters was only speculation, but he had probably judged that size to be the most suitable for fighting Valender von Graus.
Shhhh-
As Ibrahmut shook out both hands, whips made of red flame formed in his grip.
- I am ready.
But Valender von Graus still hadn’t moved an inch from his original stance. The first part of him to stir was his mouth.
“One strike.”
As though he hadn’t understood what Valender von Graus meant, Ibrahmut gave no reply. So Valender von Graus explained himself.
“We’ll settle this with one strike. If I can’t bring you down with a single sword blow, then I will consider myself defeated.”
“How arrogant!”
Ibrahmut roared.
Yoon Sang-hyuk had just proposed a one-strike duel to him. Now Valender von Graus was saying the exact same thing. He could admit that Yoon Sang-hyuk and Valender von Graus were stronger than he was. Even so, he was the first Balrog. A power so great that even the Demon Realm’s ruler could not treat him lightly. To say such a being could be defeated with nothing more than a single sword movement was pure arrogance.
Shhhhhhh-
The two whips sliced through the air. Their movements carried a strange tremor, making it impossible to tell where they would strike. But the whip attacks were only the beginning. Before anyone knew it, the area around Valender von Graus had turned into a land of lava.
From the black-red molten earth, dozens of hands made of lava burst upward and seized at Valender von Graus’s ankles.
Yet Valender von Graus still did not move. He merely watched as Ibrahmut did his worst.
Hiss-
Where the lava hands gripped his ankles, the boots began to glow red and slowly melt. But they still could not force Valender von Graus to budge. If anything, he drove more strength into the feet planted on the lava land.
Red lines filled the air. They were the traces left by Ibrahmut’s whips. The sight was beautiful, like the careful strokes of a master painter at work.
A dense net had been woven, one impossible to escape from any direction. And that net was slowly tightening around Valender von Graus.
“Isn’t the Death Knight in danger?”
Yoon Sang-hyuk looked at Zeronia as if she’d just said something absurd.
“My friend isn’t going down to that kind of half-baked attack.”
“H-half-baked?”
If that attack had been aimed at her, she would already have given up on life and started writing her final words in her head. That was how terrifying Ibrahmut’s assault was. The storm of flame whipped up by the chains was swallowing Valender von Graus whole.
Then, in that instant...
As if to prove Yoon Sang-hyuk right, Valender von Graus moved. His sword slowly rose upward. It was an unbearably slow motion. It was nothing like Ibrahmut’s rapid whips.
“Oh-ho. Valender’s going all out. Is that his way of acknowledging his opponent? Or is he just keeping the one-strike promise he made himself?”
Spat-
The sword that had been moving endlessly slowly vanished in an instant.
And then something incredible happened.
“Ah, ah...”
Zeronia and everyone else watching the duel widened their eyes and let out stunned sounds.
The space between Valender von Graus and Ibrahmut had split in two. The space itself had been divided. It wasn’t some visual trick.
The lines of flame left behind by Ibrahmut’s whips, which had filled the air, were also split apart within the divided space.
And then came the scream.
“Kraaaah-!”
Yoon Sang-hyuk frowned at Valender von Graus.
“Hey! I healed him with the Heart of the Phoenix, and now I have to fix him again!”
* * *
“Hyung-nim. The meat is cooked nicely.”
Yoon Sang-hyuk let out a sigh as he took the meat Ibrahmut handed him. After losing their duel, Ibrahmut had started addressing Yoon Sang-hyuk as hyung-nim. Of course, Valender von Graus had become hyung-nim to Ibrahmut as well.
Yoon Sang-hyuk told him not to call him that because it was a burden, but Ibrahmut wouldn’t listen. It wasn’t exactly like some gang boss in the real world; strength alone had made him hyung-nim. It was understandable in the middle of the Demon Realm, where power was the most important value, but hearing a Balrog old enough to have lived for thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of years call him hyung-nim still felt awkward.
Across the campfire, Yoon Sang-hyuk, Valender von Graus, and Ibrahmut sat facing one another.
“Valender hyung-nim. How do you get that strong?”
Valender von Graus turned his head toward Yoon Sang-hyuk. When Yoon Sang-hyuk only shrugged, he answered as if there were no helping it.
“You were stagnant. That is why you could not grow stronger.”
“Stagnant... Ah, I see. Come to think of it, I can’t even remember the last time I went directly onto a battlefield.”
The king of the Balrogs, or rather the former king, Ibrahmut, was speaking respectfully every chance he got.
“Those who wield blades must keep fighting until the moment their hearts stop. If there is no enemy to fight, then they must fight themselves. Fight their convictions. Fight the walls they built themselves. They must boldly break the frames and rules imposed by others. Those who do not do so are destined to fall behind. I was the same...”
Valender von Graus looked at Yoon Sang-hyuk.
“And Sang-hyuk was the same. If you fail to realize that and become satisfied with your current state, you will remain where you are forever. You will become drunk on your present self. Just like you are now.”
“I understand what you mean.”
Ibrahmut brought the well-cooked meat to his mouth. He wiped out a chunk in one bite and downed wine after it.
“Sang-hyuk hyung-nim.”
“Ugh, seriously... Why now?”
“Would you spar with me?”
“I haven’t finished eating yet.”
“Would it be all right if we do it after your meal?”
Yoon Sang-hyuk looked at Ibrahmut with a tired expression. He had kept him alive because he seemed useful, but now it felt like he’d ended up taking in some strange burden.
Still, he soon let out a short laugh and said, “Well, sparring after lunch isn’t a bad idea if it helps with digestion.”
“Ah! Thank you very much.”
“But listen.”
Yoon Sang-hyuk looked at him with a peculiar glint in his eyes.
“You do know sparring should be like a real fight, right?”
* * *
“Zeronia.”
“Y-yes? Ah, yes!”
“Go pick that guy up and toss him over there.”
“Y-yes! Understood!”
Maybe it was just his imagination, but Zeronia seemed far more brisk than before. Yoon Sang-hyuk merely shrugged and stepped into his resting place, the container box.
Zeronia lifted Ibrahmut, who had collapsed unconscious, and moved him near the campfire. It was a spot where leather had been laid out in advance. Looking down at the unconscious Ibrahmut, Zeronia muttered, “How is this even possible? Nothing’s broken, and he doesn’t even look that badly injured... He really beat him up right to the brink of death.”
“That kind of beating is a skill too. No matter what, we could never beat someone that artistically.”
Zephyr, who had come up beside her, said it quietly. Zeronia nodded unconsciously. She had watched the spar between Yoon Sang-hyuk and Ibrahmut as well. Just as Zephyr said, Yoon Sang-hyuk had methodically ground Ibrahmut’s body into the dirt.
She had only known he was strong; she hadn’t known exactly how strong. But after seeing him spar with Ibrahmut, she finally understood. Yoon Sang-hyuk existed in a place so high she couldn’t even look up to it properly.
She was also certain now that his claim of fighting the ruler of the Demon Realm, Baal, to a draw had not been exaggeration at all. It was obvious from the Death Knight Valender von Graus alone, who openly admitted he was weaker than Yoon Sang-hyuk. His strength was something she and her brothers had never once witnessed before.
“Brother.”
“Yeah.”
“I think we’ve managed to grab hold of something incredible.”
“Seems that way. At first, I just thought he was some crazy human who’d come to a tavern and started acting all reckless.”
Zeronia’s eyes widened. Seeing her reaction, Zephyr quickly covered his mouth and glanced toward the container box. He was a strong enough existence that they couldn’t even begin to gauge him. Even the sound of a whisper might reach his ears like thunder.
When there was no response from inside the container box, Zephyr let out a relieved breath and glanced at Ibrahmut, who was still unconscious.
“But is he really the first Balrog?”
The way he acted was nothing like the fearsome king of the Balrogs they had imagined. He was absurdly easygoing, and always laughing like an idiot...
“He seems a little lacking somehow.”
Thump.
Zephyr nudged Ibrahmut’s side with his foot and murmured, “You really are Ibrahmut, right?”
At that moment, Ibrahmut’s body twitched.
Startled, Zephyr hurriedly vanished into the darkness. Zeronia was gone from her spot before anyone knew it too.
Left alone, Ibrahmut twisted in pain and let out a miserable groan.
“P-please... spare me...”