Chapter 161: Solo. The Right Way to Deal with a Demon King
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 161: Solo. The Right Way to Deal with a Demon King
“The rate at which the player count is dropping has suddenly accelerated.”
Krajen. He was the Prince of Cresen and the younger brother of the Madman of the Battlefield, Senrurk. Since King Senrurk had no heirs yet, Krajen was the only royal capable of ascending the throne should anything happen to the King.
Despite his status, his nickname was "The Half-Prince."
He was the son of a concubine, always frail and lacking the overwhelming charisma of the Madman. While his physical appearance strongly reflected the royal bloodline, the Kings of Cresen were traditionally defined by a powerful charisma that captivated their subjects.
By Senrurk’s generation, that trait had intensified into a violent obsession, earning him the moniker "Madman of the Battlefield."
In contrast, Krajen was a mild-mannered man of good character—so much so that lords and nobles whispered behind his back that he was a "half-measure," lacking the defining traits of the Cresen line. Occasionally, a bold lord would utter such insults to his face, but Krajen would always brush it off with a gentle, good-natured smile.
However, his expression now was entirely different.
“It’s not Jin Seo-un’s kill. Even the buff mobs have moved out of the force field. Why would players suddenly clash?”
At Krajen’s cold, expressionless words, a white-haired knight stepped up beside him.
“Perhaps enemies of similar strength encountered each other and decided it was worth the fight?”
“I wonder. The number of players lost over the last few days is too high for that to be the only reason. It’s also bothersome that an Epic Monster is tearing through the map like a maniac.”
“The Demon King Krosino has not lifted his dimensional restrictions. If he had fully resurrected, this game would already be over.”
“Even so, I’d rather not run into him. What do you think?”
As Krajen cast a glance to his left, a gloomy mage, whose face and body were entirely concealed by a black robe, replied.
“If you are asking about your Demonic Spirits, I believe they will work even against Krosino. After all, the Demon King you serve is Viburanik, not Krosino.”
“True, but they are both Demon Kings. I wonder how effective Viburanik’s borrowed power will be against Krosino. It’s still best to avoid a confrontation…”
Krajen’s voice trailed off as he came to a halt.
“Hm?”
He turned his gaze toward a dense patch of the forest. The bushes rustled, and soon, a figure burst out.
“Enemy!!!”
The figure shouted and then ducked back into the brush in an unnaturally clumsy manner. The moment Krajen drew his rapier, about twenty players appeared in their line of sight.
“That’s—!”
One of the knights recognized Krajen, and his expression hardened.
“Oh! You recognize me? You must be a knight of Cresen,” Krajen said, flashing a friendly smile.
The knight nodded and scanned Krajen’s surroundings. Every single person with the Prince had their visors lowered, completely concealing their faces. The white-haired knight who had been standing right next to Krajen had also donned his helmet at some point, hiding his features entirely.
“Is he strong?” Wi-rong glared at Krajen’s group and asked in a hushed voice.
“He’s a Prince of Cresen, but he’s just a concubine’s son known as the Half-Prince. Still, he’s a Crown. Among the knights who know Cloyd, the rumor is that he only reached that rank thanks to the few elite escort knights guarding him.”
As the knight whispered while lowering his own visor, Seo-un clicked his tongue inwardly.
‘Does that even make sense? To think a guy who’s survived countless solo games like this one could reach Crown rank just by riding his team’s coattails. These guys are hopeless…’
Seo-un shook his head slightly, looking at his pathetic teammates. The power Krajen had displayed back on Earth was by no means inferior to Senrurk’s. Furthermore, he possessed the decisiveness to kill his own guild members without hesitation and the sociability to easily lower a stranger’s guard.
In Seo-un’s eyes, he was a formidable opponent.
‘He definitely has a hidden trump card.’
He couldn’t be sure what it was, but his intuition told him so.
“Is there any need for people of the same Empire to fight already? There are still quite a few players left. Why don’t we clean them up before we face each other?”
To Wi-rong, it was a very tempting proposal. There were fewer than fifty players remaining. In this situation, if the guilds that made up 90% of the remaining population fought each other, it would only benefit the other 10%.
Seeing the look of conflict on Wi-rong’s face, Seo-un furrowed his brows.
‘Not on my watch.’
Just as he thought that, Lian spoke up.
“What a devious bastard. You say that, yet you haven’t withdrawn the men you have lying in ambush around us.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Lian threw a flying dagger to one side.
Clang!
With the sound of metal, three players who had been hiding revealed themselves.
Seo-un had put a considerable amount of effort into bringing the guild members and Krajen’s group together at this exact spot. Using his Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils, he had constantly monitored Krajen’s movements while leading his guild members in circles without them noticing, ensuring they would encounter the enemy right here.
Because of that, he had to endure a pain in his left eye that felt like it was being gouged out.
‘Do you have any idea how hard it was to make our paths cross in a place full of campers? I can’t just let you walk away.’
The moment the three players in black cloaks looked on in shock at being discovered, the expressions of both Wi-rong and Krajen hardened as well. It was obvious those three had been using Cloaks of Stealth to hide in the sunless, dense undergrowth. In fact, without Carmen’s Eye, detecting them should have been nearly impossible.
The dissonance of a player who seemed to be a mere martial artist accurately finding them struck both leaders simultaneously. At that moment, Billy raised his voice and charged forward.
“It’s an ambush! Attack before they get us!”
Simultaneously, Lian followed beside Billy. The mages cast barriers, and the knights held their positions as they rushed the enemy.
“W-Wait…”
Boom!
The enemy mages unleashed spells toward the charging Billy and Lian. Caught in the aftermath, Wi-rong, who had been trying to stop his teammates, grimaced, drew his sword, and leaped forward.
In Cloyd, where the ultimate goal was to kill or be killed to survive, trying to resolve a situation through dialogue once a fight had started was madness. Since it had come to this, he pushed aside his unexplained unease and focused on the crisis at hand: killing the enemy to survive.
Skreeee!
Billy blocked an Ice Screw that came spinning fiercely toward him with his shield, sliding backward from the impact. As the Ice Screw continued to spin, threatening to freeze and pierce through the shield even as it pushed him back, Wi-rong shattered it with a single strike.
Whoosh.
Cold air scattered in all directions from the impact, but Wi-rong ignored it and checked on Billy.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes!”
Billy tossed aside his rapidly freezing shield and pulled out a new one. Seeing him charge forward again, Wi-rong leaped into the fray with him.
Clang!
Lian, who had been at the front with Billy, vanished into the chaos of the melee. He soon claimed the first victim, piercing the throat of a knight just as Billy created an opening.
After killing one player, Seo-un slunk back toward the line protecting the mages. He scanned the map while dealing with knights targeting his mages.
‘Here it comes!’
An Epic Monster was approaching rapidly in a straight line across the map. Stepping back for a moment to observe the flow of battle, Seo-un gauged the skills of Krajen and those guarding him.
‘This ragtag bunch is definitely no match for them.’
Krajen, along with the mage and knight flanking him, hadn’t even joined the battle yet. They were calmly observing the overall flow while keeping their eyes on Wi-rong. They clearly knew exactly how to decisively end a fight.
‘It’ll be a problem if he dies just yet.’
Wi-rong was the only player among this rabble with any decent combat power. Billy moved forward again, continuing the fight near Wi-rong.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
He parried the sword of a knight who was mindlessly bashing his shield. As he watched Krajen, he saw the Prince’s lips move, and the knight who had been standing idly by suddenly blurred into motion.
Thud!
Seo-un shoved the knight he was fighting with his shoulder, knocking him down, and dashed toward Wi-rong.
Clang! Screech!
The enemy knight had lunged low, aiming to bisect Wi-rong’s waist in a single stroke, but his blade was caught by Billy’s shield. The wrinkled eyes of the knight narrowed in the slit of his helmet. He had deliberately refrained from using Aura and attacked from a blind spot to deliver a killing blow, so he was quite surprised that an unknown knight had blocked it.
As the price for blocking the strike, Billy’s shield cracked entirely, forcing him to discard yet another one.
“Ugh!”
Seeing Billy drop his shield and retreat while clutching his arm, Wi-rong belatedly realized the threat and stepped in front of him.
“Are you okay?”
“I can still fight.”
Wi-rong felt cold sweat trickling down his back. He had almost lost his life to the knight’s strike, which had come like a ghost just as he was fending off other enemies. Having exchanged blows, he realized that while they might have the advantage in numbers, they were no match for these people.
Just as Wi-rong and the knight were about to lunge at each other again, Billy shouted.
“Krosino is coming!!!”
The voice rang out so loudly that even the three campers who were trying to sneak away from the pointless fight were frozen in their tracks. In an instant, that single shout brought the battlefield to a miraculous standstill.
The players, who had been retreating while keeping an eye on each other, activated their maps and grimaced. The monster was already too close to escape.
Crash!
The creature burst through the dense canopy, blotting out the sky, and landed in the middle of the battlefield. It looked around and scowled.
“Another wild goose chase? You’re like a bunch of rats.”
The players stared at the speaker, and Krosino looked back at them with dry eyes devoid of any emotion.
“Is… is that the Demon King Krosino?”
One player spoke up, seeing a figure that looked ordinary enough to be human if not for the wings and skin color. In that moment, an intense presence exploded outward, enough to freeze the very air.
‘This energy is almost on par with the Heavenly Demon.’
The creature’s aura was far darker than the Heavenly Demon’s mana, which merely bound people; it was a foul energy that triggered primal human fear. The players’ faces turned deathly pale at the sight of an energy that truly felt like it didn't belong to this world.
The only player who seemed to maintain his composure despite the aura was Krajen.
‘I’m not sure about those guys in the helmets or the one in the robe, though.’
“It seems we’ll have to join forces for a moment. What do you think?”
At Krajen’s question, delivered in his usual calm and gentle voice, Wi-rong nodded with a deep scowl. Up to this point, everything was going according to Seo-un’s calculations. He had judged that no matter how much they needed to kill each other as competitors, they would have no choice but to cooperate once a powerful monster arrived.
‘The problem starts now.’
“What’s with that tone? You sound as if a bunch of insects joining forces could actually stop me.”
The moment Krosino said that, his wings twitched, and one of them swept forward.
Fwoosh!
“Get down!”
Shouting, Billy shoved Wi-rong by the waist and rolled across the ground. The energy carried by the wind brushed past them, instantly sweeping away seven mages and leaving a massive scar through the forest before vanishing.
Seeing the trail that looked as if a path had been bored through the jungle, several players began to tremble.
“Your instincts… are good.”
It was beyond Krosino’s expectations that a lowly human he had dismissed as insignificant had not only dodged his attack but also saved a comrade’s life. Just as a smiling Krosino was about to turn toward Billy, an anomaly occurred that no one expected.
Squelch!
“Gah!”
Krajen had reached out and plunged his hand into the back of the fellow knight guarding him, ripping out his heart. Even Seo-un, disguised as Billy, widened his eyes in shock.
However, the players around Krajen remained perfectly calm, standing their ground as if it were nothing unusual.
“O Master of Darkness. Conqueror of Galicia.”
As he chanted a short incantation, he squeezed the knight’s heart, which was still throbbing in his hand. The heart burst, and a black, ink-like energy began to surge over his hand.
Krosino scowled at the familiar energy and turned fully to face Krajen.
“Viburanik’s energy? Were you a black mage?”
“Something like that.”
As Krajen spoke, he pressed the black energy surging from his hand against his own heart. The darkness instantly enveloped him. Starting from the color of his ornate armor, every part of his body and equipment—except for his silver hair—began to turn pitch black.
When Krajen finally opened his eyes, his face looked remarkably similar to Krosino’s, who stood facing him.
“This isn’t simple black magic. To think there are still those who make contracts with Demon Kings. Heh. Human stupidity always exceeds my imagination.”
Long ago, it was thanks to a human who had contracted with him for power that he was able to cross dimensions and be summoned to the human world. After driving humanity to the brink of extinction and failing to complete the massacre, Krosino never imagined another human would ever make a contract with a Demon King again.
Krosino reached out, and a sword made of pure darkness manifested in his hand.
“Viburanik’s energy, huh? That brings back memories.”
With those words, he began to walk toward Krajen.