Chapter 54
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: A Hero More Demonic Than Demons
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The Demon Realm Incursion truly begins.
The continent is steadily devoured by the Demon Realm, and demons descend upon it of their own accord.
Demons wielding immense power unleash their strength freely, indulging their every desire.
Countless lives flicker out like candles in the wind.
The only way to slow this advance is to annihilate the demons that have descended.
Reducing their numbers is the key to delaying the incursion.
Once the Demon Realm Incursion gains momentum, it is no longer the domain of black mages.
Those clinging black mages are nothing more than obstacles.
The heroes hunt the demons.
Small hero parties band together, forming massive extermination squads.
They step into the brutal Demon Realm, extinguishing demons one by one.
The heroes must not die.
As the story nears its climax, the heroes' existence becomes more vital than ever.
The more Holy Sword wielders, the better.
Of course, this all becomes meaningless on the eve of the final battle.
Due to the Holy Sword's settings, all power must be concentrated in the strongest heroes.
But that's a tale for much later.
Until then, sacrifices for the heroes continue unabated.
Kang Ajin stared blankly at the corpse of a woman.
The story had already twisted beyond recognition.
He hadn't expected it to follow the original plot, but he never imagined it would tangle up like this.
"...Uwaaaaaah! Aaaaaah!"
Hero Luke clutched the woman to his chest and wailed.
He could no longer contain his rage.
This was the result of demons kidnapping her in his stead.
He had been too weak, too inadequate to protect the woman he loved.
All that remained before her cold corpse was regret.
Kang Ajin watched Luke shed bloody tears, a sharp pang of guilt piercing his heart.
If he hadn't fallen into this world, this woman would have lived.
She would have built a happy family with Luke.
Unlike Ashy, the discarded heroine, this woman had the full support of every reader.
Her death filled him with a sense of responsibility for this journey.
The sin of an outsider to the novel.
Kang Ajin gritted his teeth.
Blood trickled from his split lips.
Luke stored the woman's body in his subspace pocket.
He vowed to cremate her alongside a proper funeral when the war ended.
At least it seemed like he had found some resolve.
That was a small mercy.
"...What are you staring at?"
Kang Ajin looked at Ashy.
Ashy jerked her head indifferently.
"Don't look at me with those fucking weird eyes. Makes me wanna puke."
Even in this situation, Ashy remained unchanged.
For some reason, it made Kang Ajin uneasy.
He vaguely knew their bond had deepened considerably, but was it strong enough to awaken her half-angel blood?
...He couldn't say for sure.
Kang Ajin wanted to solidify that relationship, so he pursued her.
Her responses were always the same.
"Even in this tragic atmosphere, it doesn't work on me, got it? Keep being a pain in the ass, and I'll rip your dick and balls off?"
"...Okay. I won't."
Ashy erected an iron wall.
Her flushed face suggested it wasn't impossible.
Yet he couldn't bridge that final step.
Ashy was pushing him away to the end.
"...Tch."
Leaving Luke behind, Kang Ajin returned to his tent.
In the midst of the active Demon Realm Incursion, they snatched uneasy rest.
They needed to conserve strength for the next demon hunt.
Kang Ajin lay down, checking his condition.
'I don't know when or where I'll die...'
He hoped his death would at least shock Ashy a little, stirring her blood.
Ashy lifted the tent flap and entered.
She'd gone to handle some business and seemed finished.
Kang Ajin deliberately turned his back to her.
He wanted to catch even a moment's sleep.
"Sulking because I said no?"
"......"
"Why the fuck would I give my body to a loser like you? Me, a hero, to a limp-dick cripple like you? You think my virginity's a joke?"
"We're both virgins, so what's the difference...! Wait, what?!"
"Totally different, no way it's the same!"
Ashy's shrill screech ruined any chance of rest.
A demon is summoned.
The surrounding air trembles, ominous energy rippling through.
This wasn't the crude mana handled by black mages—it was true demonic energy, sending chills down his spine.
A prickling sensation stabbed at his skin like needles.
A demonic arm burst through the rift in space.
With a single arm, it tore space asunder, heralding the demon's arrival.
A head emerged, peering down at Varia.
Lustrous golden hair gleamed so brightly, it was hard to believe it belonged to something born and raised in the Demon Realm.
Her radiant, beautiful form made it impossible to accept she was a demon.
Her pitch-black eyes locked onto him.
In that serene gaze, his mind reeled as if being pulled into a lake's depths.
"Ahh..."
Varia's residents began collapsing one by one.
Thuds echoed from behind as they fell unconscious.
"Puppy."
Ashy tapped his shoulder, snapping him back to reality.
Before the celestial aura, all impure energies dissipated into nothing.
The demon fully materialized.
Floating in the air, she glared at Ashy and muttered something.
The Grape, crushed under Ashy's foot, bellowed.
"Belial! Kill this bitch right now! Earn your keep!"
Belial, the demon ranked 68th in the hierarchy.
One of the demons fated to be hunted by Luke.
She served as the opening shot for the full-scale Demon Realm Incursion.
Belial extended her arm.
Black demonic energy blades surged forth.
Belial hurled the menacing blades downward with ferocious momentum.
Kwa-gwang-gwang-!
Blades rained down from every direction.
One misstep, and the villagers would be shredded to pieces.
Ashy unfurled her pristine white wings once more.
Exerting full power, she slashed through the demonic blades.
Kwa-gwang! Boom!
The blades aimed at people shattered in midair before hitting the ground.
Ashy deflected them all.
In this dire moment, she discerned only the threats, conserving her mana.
Celestials cannot interfere in mortal affairs.
That's the pact—the setting demands it.
Yet one woman bore a child with a mortal man, defying that pact.
A woman who embraced love without restraint.
She died giving birth to a half-angel destined for a pivotal role.
That was Ashy's mother.
'Ashy's descent differs from pure-blooded celestials. It bypasses the pact.'
As long as her mana holds, Ashy can descend to this realm indefinitely.
Though the efficiency is abysmal, limiting frequent use.
The light from her White Wings faded.
The glow dimmed, and Ashy seemed momentarily weakened.
Belial seized the opening.
Kwa-gwang-gwang-!
Innumerable black spikes poured down.
Like rain from the heavens.
The demon's power—witnessed directly—was on an entirely different plane from humanity.
Could humans truly stand against it?
The sheer overwhelming presence bred doubt and fear.
"Tch."
Ashy clicked her tongue and swung her Holy Sword.
She casually flicked the massive two-handed blade, larger than her body.
The dome split open.
Clouds parted, drifting lazily across the sky.
Her white wings scattered like powder.
Ashy withdrew the mana infused in her Holy Sword.
Belial's body began to crumble.
The sacred energy within celestials is the antithesis of demonic essence.
A pure force that annihilates demons outright.
Belial flailed her arms in panic.
Desperately trying to muster demonic energy and launch something.
Black fluid writhed.
It squirmed, attempting to take form.
But it shattered before solidifying.
Belial frantically scooped up her melting body.
She tried pasting ragged flesh back together, but saw no improvement.
Ashy sneered at Belial.
"Farewell, worm."
When summoned to the mortal realm, demons manifest as avatars, not their true bodies.
Summoning the true body requires an astronomical sacrifice, practically impossible.
Later, the Demon Realm Incursion event substitutes for that cost...
But that's in the future.
At this point, summoned demons can't wield their full power.
They rampage in weakened states before returning.
Even if exorcised, they don't truly perish, so demons faced no real risk.
But this?
Ashy is a half-angel.
Her celestial aura, the noble heavenly energy, can strike the true body.
Not only must demons face heroes in frail avatars, but one mistake could doom their true forms.
The worst-case scenario for demons.
She realized it too late.
As Ashy's strike crumbled her avatar and erasure loomed, she thrashed in dawning horror.
Ashy watched the spectacle leisurely.
"Should've grabbed a recording crystal. Then I could've shown this to Yuteron."
She had promised to exorcise one demon.
Forgot the crucial stuff.
"The demon's just... dying like that? For real?"
Grape, fully subdued by Ashy.
He gaped, gasping ragged breaths.
Even as the infamous Grape cowered before Ashy, who slew a demon effortlessly, muttering in fear.
"This can't happen... It can't... Where did this hero even come from...?"
"Shut up."
"Guh?!"
Ashy stomped on Grape.
Since he wouldn't die easily, she felt free to rough him up.
No worry he'd actually perish.
Belial displayed pathetic desperation before her annihilation.
Utterly undemonic, clinging to life.
Ashy, who had slain the demon, seemed utterly unfazed.
"Excluding Demon King Baal, that leaves seventy demons, right?"
She tallied the remaining foes.