Chapter 202: It Was You
Flas overflowed.
The Dragon Slayer Sword reacted. It revealed its greedy blade and devoured voraciously.
It did not hide its greed, openly displaying hostility toward the dragon’s aura.
That killing intent, that hostile presence, poked at Berje’s nerves.
The discomfort combined with the humiliation from before. Thus, the battle began from start to finish with full power laid bare.
Crimson-black flas and ashen aura intertwined.
Scales wrapped around his body, claws were revealed. Sharp killing intent drew long arcs.
─!
The red sword blocked the trajectory. With a shockwave, aura, and flas burst upward.
The aura of dragon slaying weakened the dragon’s power, and dinsional interference weakened power from another dinsion.
The flas grew smaller, and the hero’s power grew greater.
Balraf’s sword spun once, knocking away the claws. Toward the further-weakened enemy, it spewed ferocity.
─!
Berje crossed both arms. Flas and demonic energy pierced through the scales. The aura of dragon slaying struggled to tear through the interior.
But that power was forcibly extinguished before a far greater force.
“Is this all you’ve got?”
If so, this was disappointing.
The sa amount of ti had been given.
The hero had killed a Demon King who endured nearly a hundred years and absorbed that power.
The Demon King had taken other Demon Kings as vassals and absorbed towers, increasing the efficiency of excluding interference.
And in absolute quantity, the Demon King was one step above.
As the entire continent trembled, mourned, and raged while calling for the downfall of the Demon King of Dark Fla, all of it beca wholly his power.
The gap between their once-similar powers widened drastically in that brief mont.
A few exchanges made Balraf keenly realize that fact.
So he resolved to truly fight at full strength.
‘Was this that bastard Jason’s objective?’
Even knowing it, he had no choice but to fall for it.
To not die.
To kill the Demon King.
To take revenge.
He resolved to truly reveal everything he had.
Crack—
He released his aura at once. Enormous recoil pushed everything away—air, sea, the Demon King, and even a single shell that had wrapped around his own body.
It was a disguise.
One that changed his outward appearance and concealed his identity.
It was a seal.
One that constrained part of his power as its price.
The shackle that had made him Balraf Dislode while suppressing his power was broken.
“...Guildmaster?”
“Guildmaster?”
Despite the distance, several heroes recognized his face.
‘As expected....’
There were no what-ifs. But for now, it was ti to focus on facing the Demon King before his eyes rather than the repercussions to co.
Savoring the power that had returned in greater asure, he finished preparing to butcher the Demon King.
And then.
...What was this?
He faced an intense killing intent.
The Demon King was different.
More intense.
More grotesque.
More seething.
Their eyes t.
His heart sank. Goosebumps rose.
The madness and ferocity, the rage and elation dwelling within were so deep that their end could not be seen.
“...It was you.”
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
“It was you.”
It was you, you bastard.
Black hair and black eyes. Familiar eyes, a familiar mouth.
A face etched into Berje’s mind that he could never forget.
The one who killed his vassals.
The one who mocked him.
The one who pierced his heart.
The one who made him realize the foolishness of The Demon King’s Standard.
That damn bastard.
“It was you!”
It was you!
──────!
At the Demon Dragon’s roar, everyone clutched their ears and staggered.
Kwaang, Berje shot upward. Ice that could not endure shattered. Heaving waves swallowed so heroes and monsters.
A crimson-black trajectory stretched out in a straight line.
“What the hell are you talking about!”
Kiiing—
Aura compressed. The Red Dragon Sword let out a sword cry.
“When would a Demon King like you have ever seen !”
Both feet plunged into the ice. Yet his posture did not falter. A trendous strength incomparable to before dwelled within him. He went to et the enemy charging straight at him.
──────!
But the compressed aura lted into the flas. An explosion erupted as if hundreds of mana cannons had been fired at once.
All the ice the Frost Demon King had frozen lted away. A rough hand forced its way through and seized Balraf’s throat.
Kwaaaaa—
Unprecedented force guided him into the deep abyss of the sea.
With seawater pouring into his mouth, no scream ca out. The Demon King, like a calamity incarnate, was clearly visible even underwater.
Shaking off resistance, he swung his sword again.
─!
The Demon King’s scales pushed back the aura of dragon slaying. He slashed twice, three tis.
Minor wounds diluted into the seawater. How deep had they gone? The seabed of the deep welcod him. Even in the abyssal darkness, the flas did not go out. Rather, they grew clearer.
Balraf touched his neck. He had no leeway to feel the burning pain.
『Fool.』
He sent a ssage spell to mock him.
『A so-called Demon King of Dark Fla cos into the sea himself?』
Even underwater, it was rely inconvenient; he could endure for days.
But the Demon King? Special flas did not extinguish easily in water, but they were affected. The slightly diminished dark flas compared to land were proof.
『As expected, Demon Kings are stupid. To invite disadvantage upon yourself.』
『Yes, that voice. That mockery.』
It was deliberate taunting ant to irritate him. But the Demon King’s reaction was different.
『I wanted to tear apart that mouth that mocked . I wanted to rip out that snake-like tongue. I wanted to crush those insolent eyes that looked down on !』
『What?』
『Now that you’re right in front of , you have no idea how happy I am.』
─!
The Demon King stomped. A crimson-black column of fla shot straight up. For a very brief mont, it evaporated seawater and let air flow in.
“Ernyaaaaaaan!”
The Demon King called one of the Four Heavenly Kings.
“Clear the seawater.”
He commanded. And a response ca.
Kwakwakwakwa—
The sea split. As if invisible walls existed, a circular space was ford.
“Wh—what is th—!”
Balraf hastily raised his sword.
Swiiiiish, with a twisted shock, he took a step back. The Demon King pressed in.
Claws drew trajectories. The sword defended.
Fast, fierce, and hot. Every single strike aid for a lethal vital point.
But to simply take it would disgrace his na. The long years he had built would be aningless.
He honed his senses further. Desperately knocked aside the claws. And toward the gradually visible openings, he thrust his sword.
Kagagak—
The blade scraped past the scales. The sturdy dragon armor lost its strength before the aura of dragon slaying. Wounds opened as if it were ordinary cloth.
The Dragon Slayer Sword reacted to the dragon’s blood. Devouring greedily, it made that power explode even further.
“You eat well. Yes, just like back then.”
The enraged dragon stomped. Heat erupting through the ground split into dozens of streams and flew toward the hero.
But the hero regained his composure. Looking at the heat blooming underwater, he smiled.
“I don’t know what nonsense you’re spouting.”
What did it matter.
Kirrrrr—
The Dragon Slayer Sword craved blood even more. Aura compressed, splitting space.
─!
The flas parted. At that mont, a massive explosion engulfed the surroundings and covered the hero.
He wrapped himself in aura and took it head-on. The Dragon Slayer Sword greedily worked its maw, weakening it to that extent.
Beyond the gradually dying flas, the Demon King ca into view. The instant he thought he wanted to reach him, his body leapt across space.
─!
The blade barely grazed the horn. With violent recoil, his hand went numb.
“Keuhk...!”
Severe pain surged from his chest. It was because the Demon King, who had intentionally offered his horn, had his claws brush past his chest.
Armor crafted by an outstanding blacksmith crumpled like paper.
Enduring the pain, he reversed his grip on the sword and brought it down. A suddenly risen wall of fire obstructed him.
They collided and split.
Aura extinguished the remaining embers.
The Red Dragon Sword grew even more ferocious.
The blade aid for vital points.
Kwajik—
The Demon King sprayed blood.
“A sha.”
The hero sneered. The blood on the blade vanished in an instant.
“If it had been just a little more to the side, it would’ve been the heart.”
At that sneer, the Demon King raged.
“Who are you?”
“Do I have to answer? Where did that confidence from earlier go?”
The hero’s wounds were, if anything, deeper than the Demon King’s. Thus, he acted calm and dragged out ti. Healing magic wrapped around his body.
“You killed the Demon King of Blood Sea and the Gold-Steel Demon King? Nonsense. The Demon Kings you killed were never just two.”
“Right, not two. As Guildmaster, I’ve only killed two Demon Kings. That makes four already. Of course, that’s not all.”
“Guildmaster, yes.”
Berje had heard it as well.
The reactions of the surrounding heroes the mont the bastard revealed his true face.
“There couldn’t be more than one like you.”
“Did Hillan Cargill tell you? That I look different from Balraf Dislode?”
“Then?”
Berje did not hide it. He already knew Balraf was guessing. There was no need to give certainty, and besides, one of the two would die here today anyway.
“When I get back, I’ll have to kill Hillan Cargill.”
“You think you can get back?”
“Since you’re curious about my identity, shall I tell you a little old story?”
Balraf changed the subject. Berje did not bother stopping him.
“Long ago, there was an exceptionally outstanding hero. That hero was so superior that he accomplished things other heroes could not.”
Yes, for example.
“Killing Demon Kings again and again. It was when he killed two Demon Kings.”
Humans revere those who do what they cannot. Or they fear them.
“Followers who worshiped appeared. At the sa ti, those who envied, resented, and tried to kill also appeared.”
“Daniel Deyrus?”
That bastard who, hundreds of years ago, disappeared along with a tower while hunting a third Demon King?
“...You know my na?”
This ti, the hero had sothing he was curious about. But it no longer mattered.
He gripped his sword. Preparations were complete.
“Stupid Demon King. You listened obediently just because I said I’d tell a story. Thanks to that, I’ve fully recovered my wounds.”
The hero laughed. The Demon King laughed back.
“You’re not the only one who did that, you stupid hero bastard.”
Rather, Berje was not only healing his wounds but also gathering power.
“What?”
A wave of flas answered instead.
“Again, that?”
The hero snorted.
“I acknowledge that you’re strong. I can’t understand how a Demon King who’s only been incarnated for two years could possess this level of power.”
But.
“As long as you are the Demon King of Dark Fla, as long as you are a Demon Dragon, you cannot defeat .”
The Red Dragon Sword was such a blade. A sword that devoured fire and slew dragons.
A hero was such an existence. One that devoured and annihilated beings from other dinsions.
Balraf Dislode—no, Daniel Deyrus—was a natural enemy standing in perfect opposition to Berje.
Throughout the battle, the Demon Dragon spewed a massive aura nearly twenty ters tall, having fully devoured the flas.
It split the sea like waves. And the hero, who had lived for hundreds of years, witnessed an ominous sign between them.
“Fine, then try blocking this as well.”
The Demon King took a deep breath.
Drawing in air and mana.
He pulled out every bit of the fusion of mana and demonic energy divided between his two hearts.
He released it all at once.
───────!
The air was deleted. The dragon’s authority reached right before the hero’s nose in the blink of an eye.
The hero judged.
It was too late to dodge.
If there was anything fortunate, it was that he, too, had been storing power, and as long as that thing was fundantally a dragon, a demon, and fla, there was no way he would lose.
Even so, he did not let his guard down.
Squeezing his aura hole dry, he maximized the sword’s energy even further. He opened its maw toward the flas.
Chomp, chomp—
An illusion as if such sounds were heard.
The dragon’s authority that burned everything could not advance, blocked by a re sword.
Heat that leaked out, uneaten, was erased by aura. Thus, the hero advanced.
One step.
Two steps.
The breath of authority, that heat, dared not encroach upon the great hero.
He sensed victory.
He would split the flas, pierce the authority, and run it through the head just like this.
Kirrr—
The sword shook. Overflowing power made even the Dragon Slayer Sword rejoice and thrash.
‘If I catch him.’
He painted a good future.
Such a strong Demon King was unprecedented; he would give more power than any Demon King he had killed so far.
If that happened.
‘That monstrous bastard....’
The scumbag wearing the skin of a partner.
Wouldn’t he finally be able to kill him? No, he would kill him. And escape from his clutches.
Thus, another step.
Kirrrrr—
It was at that mont that the hero sensed the anomaly.
The sword vibrated. No, it scread.
The heat thickened. Aura lted.
‘What...?’
That was.
Not a cheer of joy.
Kirrrrrrrrr—
After eating.
And eating.
And eating again.
Unable to eat any more, unable to endure any more, it was the final scream of a sword that could no longer bear it.
Pajijik—
A discordant note of fine cracks struck the hero’s ears.
The hero clenched his teeth. The mont he realized that the imperial treasure forged from Red Dragon bones could not endure, he made a quick decision.
The distance to the Demon King was roughly 30 ters. The sword was screaming, but it could still hold on for now.
‘Run.’
Before the sword broke, he would pierce the Demon King’s throat.
He put strength into his toes. The muscles of his lower body swelled. The ground that could not endure the force shattered.
────!
The breath split. The sword’s scream grew louder. The distance between the two rapidly closed.
‘It’ll reach.’
The recoil grew fiercer.
The amount of heat the sword could handle gradually decreased. The flas covered the aura with even greater heat.
Feeling the rapidly consud aura, he ran another step.
Aura lted.
Armor heated up.
Hair burned, skin peeled away.
And the sword’s scream turned close to a shriek.
‘Just a little.’
Just a little more.
The hero prayed desperately. He wished desperately.
15 ters, 13 ters, 10, 8 ters.
They could see each other’s faces and expressions. A distance where one breath could sever the neck. Yet now it felt unbearably far.
Just a few more steps.
If only the tip of this sword pierced that bastard’s mouth. If only he could cut off the head.
Then...!
───────!
Ah.
The hero let out a hollow laugh.
Until the sword shattered, just 0.0001 seconds.
But to the hero’s eyes, everything unfolded slowly.
Cracks spread across the entire blade as it exploded and scattered. Indiscriminately destroying everything, friend and foe alike.
The shattered fragnts broke aura and armor. They dug into skin and battered flesh. The dragon’s authority that still did not cease covered everything afterward.
The world was dyed crimson-black.
* * *
His entire body throbbed.
‘Did I lose...? Truly?’
Daniel Deyrus barely restrained his eyes from closing.
Above him, he saw the sky. He saw the sea that still had not found its place. Mist ford by the eting of sea and fire wrapped around the surroundings.
And through it, the victor revealed himself.
“As expected, your body alone is sturdy.”
He mocked him.
“...Just how.”
“You heroes are always like that.”
“What...did you say?”
“Even when faced with sothing so obvious, why do you make faces as if you can’t believe it?”
“What nonsense...are you saying...!”
“Demons are superior to humans. Demon Kings are among the strongest, even among them. Following The Demon King’s Standard that you idiots mock is because we have confidence.”
Confidence to still win.
“That’s why you bastards never face a Demon King alone, even while doing sothing as grand as a hero’s march. But you were overflowing with pride in yourself.”
No, it wasn’t just your problem.
“All heroes, when they enter towers and face death, make that sa unbelieving face. You must have thought you’d never die. Because Demon Kings are that much of a joke.”
“That’s....”
For over a hundred years, that had beco natural. Humans had stood above Demon Kings.
“Khehehehe.”
The Demon King laughed.
“I really wanted to give it back just once. So this is how it feels.”
“...What did you say?”
“Don’t worry. I won’t kill you right away.”
Kwajik—
A heavy foot stomped down on his chest. Balraf spat blood.
“My rage is far too great to let you die comfortably.”
And.
“I have so, so many things I want to ask you.”
The Demon King laughed.
A peal of mad laughter, filled with the ecstasy of finally achieving revenge.
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