Chapter 286: The Decisive Battle (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 286: The Decisive Battle (2)
My head is ringing.
Is it because I’ve seen too much blood? I feel nauseous.
‘Would getting some fresh air calm it down?’
I narrowed my eyes slightly. Deep blue liquid filled every inch of the ground, leaving nowhere to step. The blood of the centaur horde—demonic blood.
I looked away from the mountains of corpses. Tilted my head back and stared at the sky. Feathery clouds drifted lazily, revealing glimpses of the sky tucked between them.
It was blue. Yet, utterly different from the color on the ground. Up there, it was clear and refreshing. Down here, sticky and muggy.
Whoosh.
A tranquil breeze brushed the back of my neck, cooling the beads of blood-mixed sweat. As I stared blankly at the sky, the surrounding commotion gradually grew clearer.
Phew. I exhaled a short breath. Time to end this brief rest.
I lowered my head again. Centaur corpses had formed a wall of flesh around me like a barricade.
It wasn't intentional, but thanks to that, the demons had a hard time approaching. After struggling, realizing it was no use, they used fire magic to cremate the horses. The stench of burning meat poked at my nostrils.
Fwoosh...
The bodies were instantly engulfed in flames. The overflowing pool of blood gave off a blue haze before sizzling away into vapor.
My skin stung with heat, and the stench turned even nastier. I covered my mouth with a fist and coughed.
Cough, cough.
It felt as though bruises were spreading through my lungs. I had managed to keep them healthy and pink in a world without cigarettes, but because of those bastards, my throat and lungs felt coated in soot.
"Dog-like bastards. Don't they know second-hand smoke is bad for you?"
I snorted, pulled back my nose, and spat on the dirt. Blue saliva splattered against the ground. Looks like I'd ingested some blood without realizing it.
"No wonder my mouth tasted fishy."
Laughing bitterly, I gave my sashimi knife a sharp flick. The blade, previously fouled with blood and fat, instantly gleamed pristine white.
Skrrrch.
Static noise mixed into the blade's hum. Unknown debris had wedged into the sparse nicks along the edge. My brow furrowed slightly.
"The blade took some damage."
Still, this was relatively good condition. After all, I had slaughtered about a hundred of them in under thirty seconds.
Because the demons' defensive magic was surprisingly sturdy, my Sword Control couldn't exert its full power. So I just chopped them all up by hand.
"Can't be helped..."
It was a battlefield rife with vile filth. I had to at least keep a positive mindset.
Separate from my intentions, however, my five senses—sight, touch, taste, smell, hearing—all clamored in disgust.
Because of that, my positive mindset instantly flipped into irritation. My body and mind were completely out of sync.
So I gave myself a little warning.
‘Hey, calm down in there.’
If you guys keep pushing me like this, hey! That's when I turn into a full-blown thug!
And fittingly, what I held firmly in my hands was a sashimi knife. The size was just right for the part.
"Have I finally gone crazy too?"
I chuckled dryly in self-deprecation. What kind of nonsense was I blabbering to myself in the middle of a war?
This world was insane. It was a world where living without going mad was difficult. I had simply adapted to the environment; I wasn't born a lunatic.
It was around then that the demons finished tearing down the wall of flesh.
They approached. Their glaring eyes were as sharp as hungry beasts. Yet, they carefully measured their distance. A balance of savagery and composure.
But it was unstable. Take the circular formation they were drawing up. It seemed intended to tighten the noose around me, but it was terribly sloppy.
Look at that. The edges weren't smooth; they were jagged and uneven. It stood in stark, real-time contrast to the heroes who formed orderly battle lines.
"Take notes, why don't you."
I rolled my wrists in a circle. I had become relatively free from the pain of [Blessing of the Sword God]. Even though it hurt like hell, it was bearable. That in itself was a blessing.
I loosened my grip on the hilt. The demons flinched, bringing their thumbs and middle fingers together to assume casting stances.
"Everyone, hold. Cast on my signal."
I was surrounded by dozens of pointy-ears. The moment they snapped their fingers, a torrent of all kinds of elemental magic would rain down.
Though their formation was sloppy, I saw no major blind spots. To break through this encirclement, I couldn't dodge—I had to slice through it.
Meanwhile, the sun hid halfway behind scattered bits of floating clouds. Half the pointy-ears were submerged in shadow, and half my body was draped in shadow as well.
The surrounding area was in absolute bedlam. The desperate roars of heroes resisting with all their might pierced high into the air.
Armament is a hero's instrument. With a nervous metallic timbre, it played out the sheer desperation of its master.
I bounced lightly on the spot. No footsteps made a sound, only puffing clouds of dust rising with each jump.
And then, moments later. Everyone froze, turning their gaze toward me. A sudden stillness settled over the battlefield. Everyone present, including the demons, experienced a bizarre phenomenon.
Right as my feet touched the ground for about the third time—or to be precise, an instant before. Bzzzzzt. A dark blue electrical current surged violently between the soles of my feet and the earth.
It happened in a flash.
My position swapped with the nearest pointy-ear, leaving us back to back. Bright yellow sparks flying from my feet stretched out into long streaks behind my heels.
"Ugh, uaghh..."
The pointy-ear standing back-to-back with me, along with his companions on either side, twitched violently around the eyes.
At the same time, they clawed at their necks with their right hands while their left hands fumbled over their bellies or crotches. From their half-open mouths came choked, pig-slaughtering groans.
"Kuh... urgh... gurgle..."
Blood pooled around the hands clutching their necks. Red bloody lines—a lattice of diagonals and straight cuts—bound them like restraining ropes across their skin.
I flicked the sashimi knife sideways. Droplets of blood flew along the blade. The instant the blood dripped onto the dirt, the three sliced-up pointy-ears slid apart in unison.
What followed was obvious. Chunks of meat rolled unsightly across the ground. Simultaneously, the surrounding air, which had seemed frozen in time, shuddered faintly.
The blood trickling down the sashimi knife was blue. At that sight, the heroes flushed with rose-red joy, while the demons' faces drained pale.
"I-Impossible..."
Dense clouds completely covered the sun. Clouds that were once pure white turned ink-black, as if diluted with dark dye.
The shadow of the clouds hid the heroes from harm, while casting a dark shroud over the demons. Then, the dark clouds tore into one another, swirling in chaotic fury.
The earth and sky shook at the rumbling sound, leaving jagged lightning scars carved across the atmosphere. It was as though a conscious will dwelt within the laws of nature itself.
BOOM!
A fierce wind swept through. With every flickering flash, the demons were snuffed out one by one like cave torches in a gale.
The demons scrambled to flee. But light is the fastest thing in creation. No matter how nimble their footwork, they could not outrun the speed of light. It was an absolute law of nature, applied equally to all creation.
There is an idiom about a bolt out of the blue sky. But that is purely metaphorical. Sparks do not rise from a bone-dry sky. A lightning strike is only completed when dark clouds cast their shadow.
Light and dark are two sides of the same coin. The two qualities seem to run parallel, but they do not. Light is darkness, and dark is light. This aligned perfectly with my life.
For me, the sword was my destination—my light. In both my previous life and my current one, it was the light that illuminated my pitch-black path.
And the reason I took up the sword in the first place was the abyss. A gutter of a home, a life of persecution, the dark clouds that were bound to arrive eventually.
Because of those darknesses, I never let go of the sword. I couldn't let go.
Whether by my own choice or forced upon me, light and dark always coexisted in my life.
A human constantly stranded in the realm of light and dark—that was me.
That is why my name is Kang Geomma [Unyielding Sword Demon].
* * *
Ruler of the Demon Realm. Your master. The absolute monarch of Gehenna.
Thunder Emperor Lycan has arrived.
Bow and tremble before true Demonic Might.
* * *
Kuarne uncrossed his legs. Slowly straightening his body, he hovered in midair in a standing posture.
"Two of the three conditions have been met."
Kuarne's eyes chilled over. He turned back. Leon and Herya were standing in midair. This was possible because Kuarne's magic had formed a barrier of air in the atmosphere. Thanks to that, they were safe from the lightning strikes.
"Herya."
"Yes, Master."
"There is still not enough blood."
Kuarne spoke with polite honorifics in a gentle voice. His speech oscillated between formal and informal depending on his mood. Speaking formally meant he was in an exceptionally good mood.
"Go down and encourage the demons. Understand? We require more 'sacrifices.'"
"Yes."
Herya nodded. She paid close attention to his final word.
'More sacrifices.'
Meaning, do not differentiate between ally and foe. To Kuarne, the demons were nothing more than mere expendable pawns for his grand scheme.
Herya suppressed her expression and immediately headed toward the ground, somehow dodging the lightning strikes raging all around.
'Ugh.'
Unable to dodge every strike, she allowed a few lightning bolts to hit her, scorching her skin. Enduring the pain, she eventually dissolved into the ranks of the demons.
"It is almost time for my nephew to step up as well."
Kuarne offered a soft, clear smile.
"Before I step in, let me ask one thing, Kuarne. Why invade the Human Realm at this time? Our agreement was clearly two years from now."
"Originally, the grand plan was scheduled for two years later. My intention was to spill some blood within the Demon Realm first. But matters got a bit tangled up."
Kuarne shrugged, bantering lightheartedly.
"Well, what choice did I have? Missing the timing would render everything entirely useless. If that happened, setting me aside, wouldn't my nephew's goal be ruined as well?"
"..."
"I'm not doing this solely for my own gain. Our goals align. Leon, you wish to avenge yourself against the false gods, yet you cannot. Because you are the Hero."
"..."
"Hate me, nephew. Blame me all you want. After all, I was the one who reported the treason of Metatron—your father and my kin. But you know as well as I do: it was only a matter of time before he was caught."
Leon bit his lip hard. The cause of Metatron's beheading was Kuarne.
"The time of their resurrection drew near, and they sought to know what their minion was up to. If they wanted to find out, they could have done so effortlessly. For instance, had they discovered Metatron themselves, it would have been an instant execution. It was only because I reported him that he retains even a breath of life. Though he may merely be alive while being tortured by them."
It was true. Knowing this, Leon had cooperated with this monster.
"My point is whether it was late or early, he was bound to be discovered eventually. Burying one's head in the sand doesn't solve the problem. One must seek out the root cause. Knowing that, Metatron pleaded with his younger brother—the very one itching to kill him—to look after his son."
To reach the origin, the help of this bastard who deserved to be ripped apart was indispensable.
"So go forth and enact your miracle, Hero. Your task is not to save humanity alone. It is to save the world. Do not view things microscopically; look at the macro scale. The universe is far too vast to view with narrow eyes."
Having endured the grandiloquent speech, Leon quietly lowered his eyes. At the end of his gaze was a black-haired boy.
"The God-Slayer..."
The Hero spat out the words, his ocean-blue eyes radiating a chilling intent to kill.
"...Demon King."
His figure charged toward the ground.