Chapter 32
Chapter 32
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: That Is, the King of Humans
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"The Demon King... who killed my friend?"
Bulki couldn't tell if the one spinning this incomprehensible tale in that bizarre voice right in front of him was truly the Demon King who commanded the demons.
"The Hero's nemesis, this world's wretched sin, the final Demon King risen from the abyss. In other words, I am undoubtedly your enemy."
He could instinctively sense that the venomous karma radiating from the man spelled absolute danger.
"Then why do you know our language?"
Bulki recalled the Red Blood Savages he'd encountered before.
Demons surely had their own tongue. Of course, he was also buying time with the question, probing the intentions of this self-proclaimed Demon King. But the Demon King answered without a flicker of emotion.
"No need for you to know."
"Then answer this, Demon King. Why do you want to kill me?"
"So you've learned the truth. The Great Sin, the inheritance of horns and sword."
Bulki signaled his companions with a hand, then dismounted his Mir and stood before the Demon King.
Iven showed no change in expression, whether he recognized Bulki or not. Bulki pressed on toward the Demon King.
"I, Hero Bulki Sonain, inherited the sword to exterminate the demons until now. But now that I know the truth, I willingly forgive the demons and have resolved to merge the Eye of Sin-your source of power-and the Holy Brazier, both into the Great Sin, annihilating it entirely. This will sever the inheritance of sword and horn, shatter the boundaries between races, and only forgiveness and resolve will bring us peace. Thus, I have no reason to kill you, nor you me."
"Forgive? You mean to forgive those who killed your family and friends?"
"What? Family? How do you-"
The courage Bulki had mustered to speak of forgiveness only fueled Iven's rage all the more.
"I am wretched, and you are arrogant. This world no longer shines like you, Hero. And even if our goals both involve creating the Great Sin, what you seek to destroy and what you seek to preserve are polar opposites."
At that moment, Elis from behind Bulki drew her sword and stepped forward, shouting.
"But aren't our goals aligned, Demon King? We don't want this war anymore! The Hero will handle it from here, so there's no reason for us to be arguing like this!"
"No reason?"
Iven grinned grotesquely, his jaw stripped of flesh, leaving only teeth.
"That's right, Demon King! My Hero has heard the truth and resolved to end this war. Our current predicaments can surely be resolved through dialogue-"
In an instant, the Demon King's aura shifted.
"Hero, since you don't grasp why we fight, I'll have to give you one more reason."
Bulki couldn't comprehend the Demon King's words. But Bulki, who had learned the grudges of all races, and Iven van Ivelhac-the Demon King, the King of Humans, forged from those very grudges-held fury born from utterly different roots.
He simply raised his right hand.
"Demon King, no!"
The Demon King's horn gleamed as he swung his right hand through empty air as if swatting something away. In the direction he swung, Elis's upper body tore apart and vanished like ripped paper.
***
Rain of fire poured down, and the demons sang their battle hymn.
「מוֹת אָוֶן כֹּהֵן
Death's Demon King
מיר בָּחַר הֶבֶל זקח
Ivelhac chosen by Mir
צופר גָּדַל
Raise the horn
בָּנָה חוּט
[Banahut]
תְּהוֹם צופר רוּם
The abyss horn has risen
כַּחַשׁ אָמַל
Goodness bows its head
פָּרָשׁ
Parash
צופר עָבַר
Follow the horn
שָׁמַר
Guard
רוֹמָם
Die
עָוֹן אֶרְאֵל
Wretched comrade
בָּחַר אל פָּתַח הֶבֶל זקח
Ivelhac chosen by the Eye
צופר לַהַב גָּדַל
Aim the horn's edge
הֶבֶל זקח
Ivelhac
שַׁחַר יָבַל אָוֶן כֹּהֵן
Dawn-bringer, Death's Demon King
מִשְׁחָת בְּעַד טָהֳרָה אוֹר יָצָא
From demons' side, karma's light emerges
אל נֶשֶׁף
El Neshef
שָׁפַט
Curse them
שָׁבַת
Protect
חָיָה
Save
יֶשַׁע יָבַל מָשִׁיחַ
Bringer of joy
מָשִׁיחַ הָלַךְ הֶבֶל זקח
Ivelhac chosen by the world
יְרֻשָּׁה צופר
Inherit the horn
חַיִל אֱיָלוּת
Chayil Eyilut
כֹּל אָוֶן שָׂרַף מָצָא
He who shatters all holy flames draws near
תָּמִים אֶרְאֵל
Arrogant Hero
פָּגַע מָרָה
Flee
פָּעַל מוֹפֵת
Suffer
יְשׁוּעָה מֶרְחָב
Perish eternally」
"Where are the other knights!"
"All knights escorting the civilians, fall back!"
"Move the wounded!"
The Empire's knights blocked the demon horde's advance, but they were hopelessly outnumbered.
Boom!
"Don't give up, don't give in! Raise your swords!"
Emperor Luiel Sonain swept away hundreds of demons in a single blow, bolstering allied morale. His colossal mount blocked the heavenly legions and crushed the earthly ones, preventing demons from breaching the walls.
Boom!
Then, far in the sky, the Demon King Kirumin Jay, who had been soaring, dropped a meteor from above.
"Night imps, follow me to strike the Emperor first!"
"For the Queen!"
The night imps, obeying their queen's command, folded their red wings and hurled themselves at the mount. Most exploded on impact, but some clung on, gnawing at the rock itself.
"Urgh! You filthy bugs..."
The Emperor's mount buckled under the assault of the bat-like night imps swarming like bats from a cave, dropping to one knee.
"Omer, flowers blooming as they push one another."
Nia, enveloped in green light, chanted her spell once more. The night imps clinging to the mount burst off with a pop, but they wheeled through the air and charged again.
"Nia! Keep it up! Protect His Majesty!"
"Saint!"
Saint Holden had somehow returned to the walls, smashing the remaining Mountain Giants. He leaped from one to another like a tiger scaling peaks, targeting their heads.
"Urgh!"
Blue moon wolfmen appeared one by one, riding the Mountain Giants to block him, pressing with claws and fangs.
"Yerutsa Rahav!"
The wolfmen, slightly larger than humans, moved with agility matching Saint's speed. Wielding elegant crescent bone blades, the blue beasts bit and tore like raging waves.
"What's that supposed to mean!"
In a flash, Saint kicked a Mountain Giant's head to smithereens, using the recoil to leap and kick at the wolfman.
"Human, die."
"What?"
But the wolfman blocked effortlessly, then whipped his arm like a lash at Saint. Saint barely parried with both arms but was hurled downward by the force.
Even as he fell, Saint punched the air, unleashing a gust that sent the wolfman flying far off, tumbling through the sky.
"How... do you speak our tongue?"
Saint rose, shaking dirt from his armor. The blue moon wolfman, standing too, pointed a claw at his own head and replied.
"Receive the horn, Demon King is born. Horn shares power. Demons grow strong. Together."
Two more similar wolfmen appeared beside him.
"Together, we kill."
The wolfmen charged as one, and Saint assumed his stance.
Boom!
Meanwhile, as knights and demons clashed in chaos atop the fallen Mountain Giant king, demons trickled inside the walls. The Emperor's mount, battered like a beehive under bees, began crumbling from one arm.
"Get out of there!"
Knights and demons below were crushed flat. If the mount fully collapsed, it would act like a bridge alongside the Mountain Giant king, opening the walls.
"The fool you felled was the Mountain Giant king, Nephil. Time for some payback. Where's the Saintess, Emperor of the Empire?"
It was the massive winged Kirumin Jay, now at the mount's core.
She rolled her eyes, blacker than her skin, searching for the princess. She looked possessed by madness.
"Where are you!"
Her claws raked the blue membrane orb at the center.
"No more..."
The Emperor knelt in sync with his mount. Another arm crumbled, and he groaned in agony on the verge of collapse. The orb's other side revealed Hyeon, the prince, and the princess.
"Your Majesty! Don't worry! I'll restore this place!"
3rd Knight Order Captain Hyeon raised his small violet sword, slowly repairing the crumbling mount.
"There you are! Think that'll do the trick, human?"
Kirumin Jay, clinging to the orb, flared her wings back and gathered crimson-black flames in one arm. The Emperor, unable to halt his manifestation, gritted his teeth, glancing between the princess and Kirumin Jay.
"Stop! No!"
"Today, I end this twisted myth with my own hands."
In this hair-trigger moment, everywhere the mount's shadow fell was staining red, the sky ablaze.
'The wall that touches the heavens and crumbles the world.'
Boom!
In that instant, Graveheim appeared on the wall wielding a two-handed axe larger than himself. Even the Emperor hadn't seen him coming, but every demon he recognized plummeted to the ground.
Night imps on or around the mount crashed down as if yanked by something heavier than the sea.
Splatters.
In a blink, countless demons were crushed, burst, and slain.
"It's Lord Graveheim!"
Saint, freed from the wolfmen, looked up at the wall. Blood tears streamed from his eyes-perhaps from his sword's recoil-his sockets empty as he howled.
"My sword Mishkal, live up to your name's weight. Crush them all!"
Before his overwhelming fury, even Kirumin Jay could barely cling on.
"You little bug!"
Kirumin Jay hurled the crimson-black flames she'd gathered at Graveheim.
Boom!
But Graveheim's wrath burned far hotter than those flames.
"I swore again, yet I failed to protect once more. You lot could never understand my pain, not even in death."
He spun his sword with a whoosh, then slammed it into the ground.
"So grovel and beg. Beg me, Graveheim, to kill you!"