38. Who Threatens Someone with a Knife to Do That?
38. Who Threatens Someone with a Knife to Do That?
A Master was one who shattered the wall.
One who attained enlightenment on the principles of this world and redefined themselves.
The number of those who reached the realm of Master was so small that, it was said, they never exceeded ten in a single era, and they all shared one common trait.
Every single one of them had a personality that was......
<The Birth of the Chosen / Written by Fernar>
--------------------------------
A flash of light filled the darkness of the cave.
The light of the Aura Blade, blazing around a massive greatsword, brightly illuminated the dark cave.
The flash erasing the dense demonic energy looked like holy power at first glance, but it was a substance of a completely different nature.
Holy power was a force from another world, just like demonic energy.
Holy power, a miracle bestowed by the remnants of heaven, and the demonic energy of hell possessed opposing properties and repelled each other into mutual destruction, but a Master's Aura Blade was different.
A Master's Aura Blade was constituted by the harmony of three elements—Heart, Body, and Technique—founded on mana, the same as the Aura Blades created by other Experts.
The Aura Blade, dense enough to look like a single ray of light, was the manifestation of a powerful 'Heart',
a manifestation of a strong 'Will' that nothing could encroach upon, and it erased the powers of other dimensions outright.
[Kuaaaak...!!!!]
Demonic energy burst from the chest of the Great Demon.
It wasn't an emission from using a technique; it burst out because he had been cut by the Aura Blade.
The formless demonic energy was being severed.
The dense demonic stakes Belphegor had created, the storm—all of it was being cut away.
The Great Demon Belphegor was the Demon of Sloth.
He was skilled at ruling over his domain of hell and commanding his armies, but his direct combat ability was lacking.
And on top of that, he hadn't even descended through a proper Descent Ritual, so that said it all.
From the looks of it, he had forcibly descended by borrowing the body of the dungeon boss.
"You went on and on about being a Great Demon and a ruler of hell, and that's all you amounted to?"
[You... you bastard!!!]
Black demonic energy coalesced in Belphegor's hand as his wound healed.
At a glance, it looked like a half-hearted attack, but it was a 'basic attack' with the power of at least an 8th-circle offensive spell.
I had a Great Demon right in front of me, casually firing off attacks equivalent to high-level magic with just a gesture, but I felt no tension at all.
"You think I'd let you?"
The Aura Blade sliced Belphegor's hand vertically, demonic energy and all.
Even if it was an attack with the power of an 8th-circle, in front of a Master's Aura Blade, it was no different from a regular Fireball.
The moment they touched the Aura Blade, everything vanished as though erased.
The Great Demon's mighty power was completely shredded by the Aura Blade before it could even manifest.
A dark demonic energy gushed out from the refreshingly clean cross-section.
A human Master was toying with Belphegor, the ruler of the Hell Swamp, who had descended incompletely.
[Kuaaak!!]
Belphegor screamed and swung his severed hand, but I was no longer there.
As if I had vanished from the spot, I descended from the air back to the floor and swung my sword at Belphegor's exposed knee.
"Your legs are wide open."
-Seogeok!
I sliced through the knee of Belphegor, who looked to be about 4 meters tall, and the giant demon collapsed.
I planned to cut off the Great Demon's legs one by one.
[Th...this... I've been knocked down..?!]
Looking at it like this, without the horns, it was hard to tell if it was a Black Troll or a Great Demon.
It had a hole in its side leaking demonic energy, one hand was missing, and a leg was gone too.
Belphegor, who had likely never suffered such humiliation since being born a ruler, spewed words like a machine gun, utterly unlike the Demon of Sloth he was supposed to be.
As I approached Belphegor with my sword raised, he looked at me, his eyes widening, and threatened me.
[Do not... think this is my full power!! If I... if I come in my true body, I could kill an insect like you with one hand..!!]
"Yeah, so what."
I cut off Belphegor's other leg as well.
Belphegor's appearance, collapsed on the ground and flailing his arms at me, was incredibly pathetic.
Ordinarily, no matter how strong I was, it wouldn't make sense to overwhelm a Great Demon like this.
If both fought at full strength in a neutral location, the Great Demon should normally have the upper hand.
But Belphegor, who had descended incompletely through a flawed Descent Ritual using the dungeon boss's body, possessed less than a fifth of his true power.
I was really, really, really uneasy about it, so I even borrowed a holy relic from the Church on the sly, but all I did was racked up a debt for nothing.
Who could have imagined that a Great Demon would be that weak?
'...Well, I haven't even used it yet, so I'll hold onto it.'
They definitely didn't specify a return date when I signed the contract.
It would come in handy again later.
Since this wasn't what was important right now, I could think about the holy relic later, but first.....
"So... you have something to say to me, don't you?"
I had a serious conversation to have with Emy, who lay collapsed over there.
-----------------------------------
"Ugh, look at your body—there isn't an inch left unharmed."
Emy was a mess.
Bruises all over were the least of it—her right arm was broken, and her forehead was split and dripping blood.
The most severe was her leg, which had a demonic energy stake embedded in it, turning the wound black.
This needed proper treatment.
"Get on my back."
We couldn't stay here long.
I could feel the dungeon beginning to collapse in earnest now that the boss was dead.
Even if I had things to say, I'd have to say them on the move.
Since Emy had injured her leg like that, there was no way she could walk properly, so I crouched down and motioned for her to get on my back.
"What are you doing? You want to be buried alive and die?"
But Emy didn't climb on easily.
I wondered why, and she looked at me cautiously before speaking.
"Um... is it really... okay?"
That subtly shifting gaze—I immediately understood what she was thinking.
She was having presumptuous thoughts, wondering if it was alright for her to be carried since she was physically bigger.
-Tak!!
"Ow!!"
I flicked her on the head again.
"Your mouth seems to be working just fine. Get on my back before I drag you along by force."
"...Okay.."