Chapter 58
Chapter 58 - The Demon King Appears!(2)
"... Resistance is futile. Insect."
"You've lost your mind."
The demon lady and I exchanged words as we crossed paths.
Clang! This time there was a definite reaction. The vibration in my sword hand was proof.
I immediately gained space, but before I knew it, she had already closed the distance, right in front of me. I swallowed hard at the sight.
'She's faster than I thought!'
I barely managed to deflect the crimson greatsword that rushed toward my heart.
Keeeng! With a piercing metallic sound, Bestak flies away. I'm instantly defenseless. A smile of satisfaction flashes across the demon lady's face.
Shwaaak! With a chilling sound, the greatsword flies toward my brow like a guillotine.
"Not there!"
Kaaang!
But once again, the demon lady's greatsword was beautifully deflected.
My second sword strike. Espada drew a white arc as it knocked away the greatsword.
'Now!'
After crisis comes opportunity.
Before the demon lady could recover her stance, I stuck close to her. A flash of confusion crosses her face.
"Die!"
Slash! I felt the hit connect.
Pale blood spurts from where her armor splits near her chest. But I immediately clicked my tongue and stepped back.
'Too shallow!'
My decisive strike failed to deliver a fatal wound.
The demon lady stared at the shallow cut on her chest, then immediately charged at me again. I too rushed straight at her.
"Ahhhh!"
"Hmm!"
Kakakakang! For a moment, there was an exchange of strikes so fast we could barely breathe.
It was truly instantaneous. The moment I thought I saw an opening in the demon lady's defense, I thrust in.
It was an attack guided more by instinct than thought.
"Kuuk!"
Swoosh. Her body flickered and disappeared. My sword cut through empty air.
Soon the demon lady's form reappeared at a distance. She had suffered a deep sword wound to her side.
I clenched my fist.
'Good. I have the advantage!'
Finally feeling reassured, I let out a long sigh of relief.
But the reprieve was brief. As the demon lady glared at me and tensed her hand, black energy surged from her entire body.
"You're being annoying."
The demon lady raised her sword horizontally with a clank.
Black energy blazes around her body like a shroud. Her eyes flicker with an increasingly red glow.
It's clearly not normal - it seems she's about to undergo her second transformation.
'F*ck, you think I'll wait quietly?!'
This isn't a manga.
To hell with transformation manners. Now is the time to attack!
I raised Espada straight up and shouted.
"Seolbaek, support me with the Spirit Dragon!"
"Yes!"
Seolbaek darted in front of me and moved her hands gracefully.
Following her gestures, the Spirit Dragon glided through the sky, then drew an unfamiliar string of characters.
"Aran! Snow Flower Dance!"
Bang! With a tearing sound, the surroundings suddenly brighten.
I immediately opened my eyes despite the intense light stabbing at my eyelids. And I witnessed it.
"To target Jeong-Yong nim in this moment of confusion... I won't forgive you!"
Seolbaek approaches my side.
Around her slow approach, I notice formless white energies scattering brilliantly.
It looks like snowflakes dancing in the air.
"A-are you alright, Jeong-Yong nim?"
Whoosh! A fierce wind swept in, creating a white curtain that surrounded our party.
The curtain flickers like a vicious wind, swish swish. It looks dangerous to even touch.
"Tch."
The purple-skinned demon lady clicked her tongue low as she saw this sight. I didn't miss how her gaze briefly flickered away.
A bad feeling strikes me instantly.
'Don't tell me...!'
Sure enough. The demon lady immediately whipped her head around, turned her back on me, and sprinted away.
Reading the demon lady's intentions, I quickly opened my mouth.
"Hey everyone! Run...!"
But it was already too late. The demon lady had arrived in front of the other heroes who were in chaos.
There were plenty of incapacitated heroes anyway. The demon lady had realized that facing me now would be inefficient.
Crack, rip, slash!
Her greatsword began spilling purple blood once again. Screams ring out endlessly.
"Kuaaah!"
"Aaagh!"
"Save meee!"
It's a completely one-sided massacre.
Damn it. I thought I'd been through quite a lot since being dragged to this world, but watching the one-sided slaughter of living humans feels different.
It's hard to watch. I covered Seolbaek's eyes as she trembled slightly, and kept watching the demon lady.
"J-Jeong-yong nim...!"
"... Let's wait for the right timing. Going in now is too dangerous."
"Y-yes...."
Meanwhile, the massacre was only intensifying.
The heroes could only tremble in fear. As they tried to flee, the demon lady would appear before them and they would die.
"Primula... where are you... my servant...."
Meanwhile, Demon Lord Polluxius kept muttering like a madman.
"Protect me... protect me... it's dark... no... don't leave me alone... where are you! Where are you Primula!!"
He looks around with uncontrollably shaking eyes. He keeps waving his hands in the air. As if trying to find the demon lady.
He seems unable to see the demon lady massacring heroes right in front of him.
"...... Haah."
Perhaps unable to ignore his desperate searching voice, the demon lady lets out a small sigh.
Then her form instantly vanishes and reappears beside the Demon Lord.
"N-now's our chance!"
"Run! Run away!!"
As the purple reaper disappeared, the surviving heroes began frantically fleeing the battlefield again.
Meanwhile, the demon lady who appeared before Polluxius, gently placing her hand on the Demon King's chest, murmurs.
"I am here, Your Majesty. I am your shield alone. I will not run away anywhere."
The demon lady's grating voice leaked out particularly warmly.
Only then did Polluxius cling tightly to the demon lady's hand with a relieved expression.
"Ah... yes... come here... Primula... my knight...."
The demon lady... Primula quietly stroked the Demon King's head.
The Demon King began to mutter while staring blankly into space.
"Now I have only you left... That cursed witch... that annoying hero... and that damned saint... that cursed Luna... they're all gone...."
"... Yes, Your Majesty. But I alone am here."
It's truly the appearance of a mad person.
I don't know what he's muttering about. They don't seem to be communicating properly.
However, the demon lady responded to the Demon King's words, and the Demon King continued to mutter.
"I have nothing left... This is my demon realm alone... Cold... yet burning hot like fire... hell. Yes. The world is hell."
"Your Majesty...."
"Primula... my last knight... the last sword of Valkyrea...."
The demon lady looked at Demon King Polluxius with a sad face for a moment, then turned her gaze toward the surrounding crowd.
An ice-cold sharpened gaze poured onto the heroes.
"Please reject the demon, Your Holiness the Pope. As you always have."
Clank. The demon lady raises her sword vertically.
In a posture that even appears sacred at first glance, she said.
"I will purify everything. As I always have."
At those words, Polluxius nodded while shedding tears continuously.
"Yes... let's go to a place where no one exists... to the real demon realm... now just you and me. To a world of just the two of us...."
Polluxius mutters like a madman. The usual translucent energy gathered thoroughly around him.
I was amazed at the overwhelming speed of expansion.
Before I could warn my companions, the precariously flickering magical wave radiated in all directions.
Crack! Hit by the wave, I swallowed my breath at the stinging sensation in my chest.
"Kuhuk!"
I gasped for breath. My heart is pounding.
Like many heroes before, I collapsed clutching my chest. Coughing came involuntarily.
"Cough! Kehek!"
This time there were more people collapsing than before. Of course there were people spitting blood, and some people even burst like balloons on the spot.
Seolbaek and the Demon King saw me collapse and opened their eyes wide.
"Kyaak! Jeong-yong nim! A-are you okay? Y-you can't die!!"
"... Ah yeah. I won't die so stop screaming. It hurts more because it's echoing."
"W-wait! Right now I'll have Aran heal...!"
Next to me, Seolbaek made a fuss and attached the spirit dragon to me. A comfortable energy surrounded my body and breathing became much easier.
Whether that happened or not, I was busy figuring out the anomaly that occurred in my body.
It wasn't like this earlier, why did the shock come this time? At the moment I felt doubt.
[Status Ailment: Magic Depletion]
[Magic has been reduced beyond the limit. Life force will gradually decrease unless magic is restored immediately.]
Once again, without fail, the notification window appeared and resolved my doubt.
Simply put, it seems to mean that because there's no more magic power to be reduced, health is being reduced instead.
When this status ailment builds up to the limit, you become like those burst tomatoes. I understand.
'Let's change strategies.'
From the beginning, one-on-one fair fights were not my specialty.
Schemes and fraud. Ambush and surprise attacks. Cowardly hit and run.
As a person, one should know how to use their head even when fighting.
"Now let's fight properly!"
I shouted boldly and ran toward the demon lady.