Chapter 250
- Ah, is that so? (6)
#4 Their circumstances: A certain hero’s circumstances
The man before my eyes was absolutely not the Demon King.
My opponent was one of Instructor’s disciples.
As a disciple of Instructor, I knew well how dangerous the existence of a disciple of the Instructor could be.
That’s why I had thoroughly gathered information on not only my opponent’s appearance but also the characteristics of his actions and personality.
But one thing was certain – that man is dangerous.
My instincts are telling me. Telling me to run away quickly, that my current self cannot win against this opponent!
“What…are you?”
I was barely able to open my mouth that had been mumuring for a while.
Just what on earth is that thing!
Even if it’s the Demon King himself, no, even if it’s the Evil god himself, I’d believe it.
“Are you talking about me?”
The man let out a snicker at my words and pointed at himself with his finger.
“Yes. You’re clearly not the Demon King but…”
What the hell is with that ridiculous power!
“What I am… Hmm… How should I explain this…?”
He nodded his head, looking troubled as he contemplated.
I grit my teeth tightly.
Not because of his actions. But because of the actions of the evil god army surrounding him.
I heard that evil god armies only had thoughts of destruction in their heads!
Yet now the evil god army was quietly keeping their distance, as if waiting for this man to finish thinking.
“Hmm… Maybe I should say another executor of evil, or to make it easier for you humans to understand, another Demon King?”
He’s calling himself the Demon King.
Usually I could just brush it off as nonsense, but seeing his overwhelming pressure and how he commands the evil god army, it was hard to say it was a lie.
“Ah…so that’s how it is.”
The man who had been pondering over how to describe himself for a while clapped his hands and spoke brightly with a smile.
“This fits the best. An evil-tainted dragon, an evil dragon. That’s me.”
“Damn…!”
I immediately drew my holy sword.
If he says he’s a dragon, it’s not strange for him to have that level of pressure.
“Oh! As expected of the hero who slayed my kin. No, should I not say kin now?”
Seeing my actions, the man laughed out loud while clapping.
“But I’m still lacking! No matter how much that Arke kid was careless, with that level of strength, you couldn’t have brought him down. Is it because you’re a hero loved by the gods? But divine blessings should have a limit too, no? I’m curious. Very curious! Just what was it that allowed you, a mere human, to defeat Arke?!”
Damn! Calling out an ancient dragon that had been sleeping for 20,000 years so easily.
That meant the ancient dragon had lived for at least 20,000 years.
“Swin…do you believe those words?”
“I don’t want to, but they seem to be true. If he was just a madman, that’d be nice, but the fact that he can command the evil god armies so well means he’s a threat to us whether he’s lying or not.”
“He could be threatening humans and making them lead the way, while the Demon King controls things from behind.”
Damn! They’re all useless.
No one else can feel the overwhelming presence suppressing the surrounding magical energy. I should just bolt…
But even if I run, I’m in the Instructor’s palm.
As long as Hil is with the Instructor, I’ll just be caught again and forced to fight this monster.
Rather than that, it’s better to fight here – if I run away and the other hero guys get annihilated, when I’m caught later I’ll have to fight this guy with newbie heroes.
That’s right. He said he’d keep me alive forever.
Feeling pain now seems better than enduring it for eternity. Dying here looks like the better option.
“Kkhahah! The others I don’t know, but you bastard can feel my power to some extent! Yet still you come to fight me! Is it ignorance? Recklessness? Or is this what they call a hero?!”
The man let out a snicker and raised his hand.
“Alright, we fight! With the fate of the world at stake! Whether we will destroy this world, or you will protect it!”
Whoosh!
The raised hand drops down.
And with it, the evil god army starts charging!
Seeing the drooling monsters running as if seeking compensation for quietly waiting until now, I raised my holy sword and created a golden sword light.
“Of course we will protect this world!”
“Uoooh!”
Golden lights start spurting out here and there.
“Prepare to fire!”
“The heroes stand before us! With the apostles of God beside us, fear not!”
“Unleash all your power! Reinforcements from nearby will arrive soon! Disregard your limits and pour out your magic beyond the norm!”
“Kill them! Annihilate these wicked seeds of evil!”
The mages from the backing allied kingdom forces started focusing their magic.
And so began the battle between the heroes and allied kingdom forces VS the evil god army!
Despite the endless attacks that showed even the evil god army were having trouble enduring, some still managed to successfully charge all the way to the vanguard.
Notable examples were races known for sturdiness like trolls and ogres, as well as quick-moving monsters with four legs.
“Protect the allies!”
I fire sword lights to strike down the evil god army trying to approach, but I only keep giving orders to defend.
While our side does outnumber the enemy, they’re an evil god army made up of non-humans.
Unless they’re heroes or others with matching skills, they’re existences difficult for humans to deal with.
For now, the best move is to hold this formation and endure.
With the communication magic, I’ve already informed others that the evil god army is attacking, so all nearby reinforcements should come running.
“That’s no fun.”
“Kkhak!”
“Hero!”
That is, if we just keep enduring.
“Pull the formation back a little and take out any heroes below Sword Master level!”
“Yes sir!”
After giving the order, I drew my sword and stepped forward.
“Hmm… As expected, is it you? The hero to judge evil in this age?”
“What hero of the age!”
What glory and wealth did I seek to act like a hero? If I saw my past self, I’d want to tell him not to bother being a hero saving people with a holy sword, just run away instead.
“You killed my kin, and stand before me crossing swords. That’s enough to be called an excellent hero. I, who have seen heroes who defeated demon kings, guarantee it. Of course you still lack a lot compared to heroes who have subjugated demon kings!”
Demon Kings only appear about once every thousand years, if even that.
While there were exceptions, on average you’d have to wait at least a thousand years.
The time it takes for a nation to form and fall.
But for dragons, it was an experience they could see several or even dozens of times in their lifetime.
That’s right. Dragons could see matters related to demon kings as they really were.
“Should have stayed put in the dragon’s cradle, why come out?!”
The dragon’s cradle where all dragons are born.
Was it to maintain the balance of the world?
They say dragons only produce one or two children in their lifetime.
Even for dragons who have strong individualistic behavior, their offspring, hatchlings, are important by law of their race.
That’s why dragons give birth to their children in the safest place, the dragon’s cradle, and raise them there for over 100 years.
And when the hatchlings reach a thousand years old and are called fledglings, the parent dragon tells them to live their own life and leaves them be.
There are only two reasons a dragon would return to the cradle.
One is to give birth to a child.
The other is when a demon king appears!
“Ah, it’d be good of you not to misunderstand. I didn’t foolishly leave the cradle and get tainted by evil, I left to become an evil dragon of my own will.”
“Damn you!”
Kwaah!
Laughing, the man, no, the strike from the evil dragon sent me flying back tens of meters.
“Damn! Is he really the Demon King?!”
Instructor said the Demon King cannot use magic power. Instead, he wields some unknown power.
But I heard the apostles of evil god could only be humans?!
And the apostle of evil god already exists!
“Why are there two Demon Kings?!”
“The one you humans call Demon King was quite capable. No, I should say he was different from previous Demon Kings? Unlike those who lost their minds and rampaged, he moved systematically. He gained most of the evil fragments that way, and passed one to me to make me another Demon King.”
“…Don’t tell me, with the number of fragments, that number of Demon Kings can be created?!”
“In theory, yes.”
In that instant, chills ran all over my body.
The races the apostle of evil god cannot make into his army are only two.
The World Tree, said to be a part of the Goddess of Charity and Devotion who sealed the demon.
One is the elves, the only race protected by the World Tree, and the other, for some unknown reason, were humans.
Considering the Demon Kings leading the evil god armies could only come from humans, even the gods don’t know why humans don’t get tainted by evil.
And excluding those two races,
“Except elves and humans, anyone could become a Demon King?”
“That’s right.”
At the grinning dragon’s appearance, cold sweat started pouring down my back like a waterfall.
“Don’t tell me other dragons might also…”
“Unfortunately, even gods can’t easily intrude on the dragon’s cradle. Unless you destroy the entire world first and mobilize all your forces, it’s impossible right now.”
Seeing his regretful tone, fortunately it seemed no more dragon Demon Kings would appear.
“If Arke was alive I’d have asked him to join me, why’d he have to go and die.”
Clicking his tongue while talking about a very familiar name.
Arke.
The dragon the Instructor led me to fight alone.
And the dragon I’d somehow easily slain despite being a 20,000 year old ancient dragon.
If I hadn’t caught that dragon back then, there might have been three Demon Kings by now.
But,
“That is…if a self-proclaimed evil dragon appears, you’re saying they can easily create a Demon King…?”
I could only hope no such insane dragon existed.
“Yes. While ordinary races might lose their minds, dragons who live eternal lives have different mental fortitude. I was a bit dangerous when I first received the evil fragment, but as time passed I grew stronger.”
He swung his sword leisurely as if to show off. Completely different from me who was slightly injured internally.
If he wanted, he could probably kill me easily.
“Were you just bored?”
“Huh?”
“The reason you became an evil dragon. You were just bored, right?”
“Sharp. Yes, I became an evil dragon because I was bored. I’d lived too long under my kin’s control, living quietly. I wanted to live the rest of my life as I wished, flashily.”
Letting out a snicker, he raised his sword.
“But even though I’m maintaining my sanity as the Demon King, there’s one thing I’m compelled to do. And that’s destroying this world.”
Something black flew out from his light sword swing.
I tried to block it with my sword light, but the difference in strength was great.
“Kkh…”
“That’s why, to protect the world, you need to be able to take me down. The real Demon King is still stronger than me right now, and will grow even stronger once he gains the last evil fragment.”
Come to think of it, this guy wasn’t the final boss. The senior who’d made him into a Demon King was the real final boss!
I’d forgotten that fact because the enemy was so powerful.
…Huh?
“Don’t tell me the Demon King is…!”
“That’s right. He was trying to find the last fragment. We’re the bait. The bait to deceive you and the gods, and lure the main force all the way here. Right about now, the real Demon King is at your main base…”
Gritting my teeth, I squeezed out all my magic into the sword light and fired it.
“Should have said that sooner, you little…!”
“Oh! Was that you rising up because the main base is in danger? Or to protect the last evil fragment?”
Seeing the snickering evil dragon, I gathered all the magic I could use to attack.
“Hahah! Yes, that’s it! Come at me like that if you want to take me down!”
“Shut up!”
#5 Their circumstances: A certain evil dragon’s circumstances
“Shut up!”
Not bad for a human.
He’s still calmly judging the situation even when psychologically shaken.
It looks like he’s trying to pour everything into this final attack, but he’s secretly preparing a spell.
That’s probably the real goal.
But what this hero doesn’t know is that those who receive an evil fragment transcend the standards of this world.
They cannot use magic power, and are also unaffected by attacks using magic power, one of the laws of this world.
Well, directly controlling matter to attack might still deal some damage.
“What a shame.”
If my opponent wasn’t an agent who had received an evil fragment, there might have been an opening I could take advantage of.
But for me…
“Huh?”
My head that had been prepared to block the hero’s attack and respond was slightly tilted.
The reason was…
“He ran?”
Because the hero ran away.
