Chapter 371: The Demon King of Fury (5)

“They’re on a different level,” Ivic muttered unconsciously as he stood atop the Formeri’s mast.

He had already said this same thing a few times now, and he thought it even more often than he had voiced it.

The main ship of the Slad Mercenary Company, the Formeri, was sticking close to the Laversia’s rear. Currently, the priests were standing in a circle on the ship’s deck, focusing their divine power on Kristina, while the paladins, including Paladin Adol, were protecting the priests. But their numbers alone weren’t enough to guarantee the priests’ protection.

Even a child would know how important the role of a priest was in a battle against a Demon King and the demonfolk who served them. Dozens of elite Slad mercenaries had remained on the Formeri to aid in protecting the priests while all the other troops had gathered on the Laversia.

The Head of the Mercenary Company, Ivic, was staying on the Formeri. While he, as someone who was called the Mercenary King, might have the corresponding confidence in his close combat abilities, he had even more confidence when it came to using his bow to snipe from a distance.

Because he had taken such a high position, Ivic could watch the entire battle unfolding in front of him. What lay ahead — taking place over and below the sea — the battle being fought in the true center of the devildom was truly on a different level.

Ivic was someone who had also possessed overflowing confidence in his own skills. He had felt that only because he wasn’t actually a knight, the name Ivic Slad was not mentioned when discussing who the greatest knight on the continent was.

After all, wasn’t that how things usually went? Most people saw mercenaries as being weaker than knights.

However, the battle taking place within the devildom up ahead was causing all of the confidence that Ivic had once possessed to disappear.

Ivic had come here because he wanted his career to be recorded as a legend worthy of his title as the Mercenary King. Even now, he didn’t have any intention of fleeing. However, Ivic did feel a slight regret.

‘To think that I would feel jealousy at this age… but it’s only natural to feel so reluctant after being shown what your place truly is,’ Ivic sighed.

This applied even more so when the one who had shown Ivic how inferior he truly was was much younger than him.

With a wry smile, Ivic nocked an arrow onto his bowstring.

Eugene Lionheart and the Demon King were the ones fighting in the devildom up ahead. Even though he should be focused on protecting the Saint and the Priests, Ivic kept thinking of how that young man was successfully facing a Demon King in head-on combat.

If it were him, would Ivic have been able to do so? There was no way. He would have already died and been buried at sea.

Ivic was able to calmly accept this conclusion.

Even the combined power of the Wise Sienna, Eugene Lionheart, and Kristina Rogeris wasn’t enough to overwhelm the Demon King. However, they were still able to maintain enough of a balance in the fight that they could be said to be on equal footing with the Demon King, and that alone was already a surprise.

‘However, the Demon King just refuses to die,’ Ivic thought bitterly.

The Demon King had already been killed more than ten times now. Having died so many times, she should at least have been weakened, but instead… with each death, the Demon King actually seemed to be growing stronger.

‘No,’ Ivic realized. ‘She’s not getting stronger. She’s getting more familiar with her powers.’

As a Demon King who hadn’t been born all that long ago, Iris still wasn’t familiar with the strength she now possessed.

Because Ivic could now see this for himself, he realized why Eugene had been so stubborn in insisting that they needed to attack her now. At this moment, the Demon King was at her weakest. Although she might be getting more used to her new strength as they fought, she still wasn’t at her strongest state. That was why they had to kill her today.

“Tsk,” Ivic clicked his tongue as he loosed the bowstring.

The arrow flew out soundlessly and split into dozens of pieces before it reached its targets.

Bababam!

These dozens of arrow shards poured down onto the deck of the Laversia like raindrops.

The battle wasn’t just taking place within the center of Iris’ devildom. Ahead of the Formeri, on board the Laversia, a battle had also broken out. The dark elves who served the Demon King were pushing back against the Laversia’s forces with their bodies that had been infused with dark power.

Ortus had remained with the reserve fleet in order to deal with the pirates. So, the one currently controlling the flow of the battle aboard the Laversia was Carmen Lionheart. More than ten dark elves had already been killed by her two fists. Apart from Carmen, several other elite members of the subjugation force were also dealing with the dark elves. Ivic had also been sniping at them whenever he saw an opening.

The battle was tense. Although the dark elves possessed exceptional individual strength, they all attacked as if they didn’t even know what pain was and weren’t afraid of death.

No — could these really still be called dark elves? Ivic struggled to answer this question even as he kept pulling on his bowstring.

Their pitch-black skin, their long, pointed ears, and their crimson eyes — although they had retained these traits from their appearance as dark elves, those were the only things that remained.

Elves were a race that could be described as the epitome of beauty. Those elves who were corrupted by dark power transformed into dark elves. But even though they may have been corrupted, they still retained the same beauty they had when they were elves.

But the dark elves currently rampaging aboard the Laversia retained none of that beauty.

They had sharp, protruding, and misshapen fangs and their limbs were bulging with grotesque musculature. Some severe cases had fur the same color as their hair, others had protruding snouts like beasts, and a few others had even grown as large as giants.

In Ivic’s judgment, they could no longer be called dark elves. This was because, even if their long ears, red eyes, and pitch-black skin may have remained, they had gained much more pronounced characteristics that had completely overwritten their former identities as dark elves. They might have once been elves and dark elves, but now they were just monsters.

Ivic snorted, ‘Indeed, monsters are the best way to describe them.’

However, Ivic felt that the Saint currently standing on top of Laversia’s figurehead might even be more of a monster than the dark elves. Still, she wasn’t fighting against the Demon King while flying high in the sky like Sienna or Eugene. Having begun this battle in her role as the Saint, Kristina had kept performing her duty without any changes.

On top of the figurehead, the Saint had been standing there with her wings outspread, without stepping away from it the moment the battle had started. Even when more than a hundred dark elves leaped over from the Demon King’s ship, Kristina hadn’t taken even a single step backward. As the dark elves chomped their fangs and slashed their claws at her in an attempt to hurt the Saint, Kristina hadn’t even turned her head to look at them. The eyes of the Saint were solely fixed on Eugene, Sienna, and the Demon King.

She was protected by a barrier, and at times, when one of the dark elves’ hands or feet managed to get past that barrier, the iron ball at the end of her flail swung into movement. But most dark elves were shot through by Ivic’s arrows or were blocked by Carmen and the others before that could happen.

Although Kristina might be receiving their protection, her Saintly appearance of refusing to turn her gaze or even show any sign of intimidation filled her defenders with admiration for her.

It wasn’t just the Saint either. Along with the Hero and the Archwizard, they all showed such impressive performances that those watching couldn’t help but worship them.

While in the midst of shooting hundreds of arrows, Ivic still had the freedom to consider these thoughts.

And wasn’t that quite the surprise?

The battle was still tense, but that was the case for most battles.

The battle was arduous, but that was how all battles were.

People were getting hurt and dying, as was only natural on a battlefield like this.

To a mercenary like Ivic, this sort of battlefield even appeared ordinary and routine.

For this to be a battlefield on which they were fighting against a ‘Demon King’... to be honest, something didn’t feel quite right. The reason for that might be the three heroes at the forefront were suppressing any fear of the Demon King by showing such an admirable display of heroics.

Trust that those heroes could face the Demon King head-on and defeat her made everyone who fought on this battlefield believe there was hope for victory. After all, look at them now; wasn’t their light brightening up the dark skies and red seas?

But then it all collapsed.

The hope that was slowly becoming stronger shattered before it could even be voiced out loud. The dark power erupting from the split-open sea once again dyed the world pitch-black.

Kahkahkahkahkahk!

There was a sound like thousands of crows cawing together. This massive eruption of noise transformed the battlefield. The Saint’s blessing of protection was shaken to its core, and the people fighting aboard the Laversia and the Formeri all stumbled and fell. The loud noise even managed to reach the reserve fleet.

More than ten of the ships in the rear were instantly capsized. A few ships were even torn into pieces as if they had been struck by artillery fire.

The monsters also paused in their fighting. Those terrible beings turned their soulless gazes to look up at the dark power surging into the skies.

Roooar!

At the center of the swirling dark power stood the Demon King.

As streaks of dark red, bloody tears fell from her eyes, the Demon King was wrenching on her own hair. But she wasn’t able to calm the chaos in her head, preventing her from returning to her previous state.

No, the Demon King didn’t even have any intention of calming her inner chaos in the first place. This chaos was who she was at her very essence, a fury that could never be forgotten.

“Aaaaaaaaah!” the Demon King let out a roar as she continued to clutch her head.

She spared a glance at the scenery below and caught sight of her many dead subordinates, those dark elves whom Iris had always considered her family. Most of them were dark elves with whom the Demon King had built up a bond over the past three hundred years.

“You dare, You Dare, YOU DARE!” Iris screamed.

All these family members were dead. So many family members who should have been able to celebrate her glory together with her had died here like this. This sight made the Demon King recall the memories inherited from her father.

A city soaked in blood. A mountain of corpses. A man standing on top of that mountain, giving off the stench of blood.

Her father had been routed from this land. He hadn’t been able to save his children. He couldn’t even avenge his children’s deaths.

She respected and loved her father, but that was his biggest mistake.

“It won’t happen, not to me,” Iris vowed.

Fate tends to repeat itself.

Those were the words that the Demon King of Incarceration has said in idle thought. But this Demon King refused to agree with that tendency.

Her existence was both proof of her father’s promise and also proof of his failure. Her father had been defeated in this land a long, long time ago and forced to flee while abandoning his own family. Then, when everything was over, he had returned here once more and made a promise with the Demon King of Incarceration.

If her father hadn’t been defeated….

“Not to me,” Iris repeated herself.

She was enraged by the death of her dark elves. This rage didn’t break the Demon King’s spirit, nor did it weaken her resolve. Instead, it drew out even further depths of murderous intent and raging fury from her.

Even if it was just to prove that fate wouldn’t repeat itself and also to hear the whole truth from the Demon King of Incarceration, the Demon King had to win this battle and turn this battlefield into her own territory. Only then would she be able to honor the souls of her deceased family members.

Splash!

Eugene soared out of the swirling sea. His ashen hair was soaked in blood, and his left arm appeared to have been broken. However, even with his vision dyed red, Eugene was able to glare straight at the Demon King.

He still couldn’t understand what this crazy bitch was saying. But he wondered if there was even a point in trying to understand her.

“Sir Eugene,” Kristina called out after gasping at his miserable appearance.

Eugene shone with light as Kristina attempted to perform a miracle on him, only for the light to be blocked by a strong barrier of dark power.

Clang!

Eugene’s whole body had been wrapped in enough dark power to negate any miracles performed on him.

But the Empty Sword that was still burning with black flames pushed back the dark power.

Bambambam!

The strengthened spell managed to scatter the dark power surrounding him.

Having arrived soon after he did, Sienna glanced at Eugene, her face bloodless and pale. The same was true for Eugene’s face, as well as Kristina’s, who had yet to even turn her head to look at Sienna. This look of fatigue wasn't all that unusual. That was just how battles against a Demon King were.

The black, burning wings of Prominence fluttered as Eugene showed the same extreme acceleration that he displayed earlier. The Demon King spread her arms wide as she prepared to meet the lightning bolt tearing its way through her devildom.

Eugene felt a strong sense of impending doom, but he didn’t allow himself to show any fear. He trusted Kristina, Anise, and Sienna. And they also managed to live up to Eugene’s trust wonderfully.

The inescapable sense of impending doom was broken by a spell and then thoroughly erased through a miracle.

Meanwhile, all of Eugene’s power was poured into the Holy Sword.

Cracracrack!

The Demon King’s body shattered. But the same was true for the arm that Eugene had used to swing the Holy Sword. His flesh and muscles were torn, and his bones were broken.

Then time seemed to be rewound. Eugene’s accelerated thought processes made everything appear to happen in slow motion. His broken bones were stuck back together, blood vessels, nerves, and muscles were reconnected, and finally, his flesh covered everything back up.

‘If only the Moonlight Sword…,’ Eugene thought regretfully.

The Moonlight Sword, which had always shown unsurpassable strength in his battles so far, was powerless at this moment. Its full power, which had been crippled to less than half of what it had at its height, was inferior compared to the damage output of the Holy Sword when combined with Eugene’s mana.

He couldn’t allow this to continue. Eugene intensely desired to wield the full power of the Moonlight Sword.

In order to emit its rays of moonlight, this damn sword would greedily absorb all of Eugene’s mana, but the resulting moonlight refused to combine with his own mana. This was the real reason why the Moonlight Sword was currently weaker than the Holy Sword, not just because he had yet to collect all of its fragments.

This was all because Eugene himself had grown far too strong. The reason for the Holy Sword’s strength wasn’t just from its divine power. It was also because Eugene’s increased strength had further amplified the sword’s own power. By using the Empty Sword technique, which further explosively amplified its power, the Holy Sword could even surpass the current Moonlight Sword.

‘Even though you greedily swallow up all of my strength, you still refuse to combine with me?’ Eugene complained in his head. ‘Don’t bullshit me.’

Instead of glowing gold, Eugene’s bloodshot eyes shone with a red light. The grip of his fingers, which was already so strong that it seemed like his bones were about to shatter, tightened even further around the hilt of the Moonlight Sword.

Cracracrack!

The back of his hand, which was bulging with blood vessels, began to tremble. The knuckles of his fingers clenched even tighter. Without the slightest exaggeration, Eugene’s left hand actually began to crush the hilt of the Moonlight Sword.

For a moment, the moonlight flickered away.

Then, the light of the moonlight reappeared.

The mana that Eugene was pouring into the shattered hilt was infused into each and every fragment of the Moonlight Sword. The mana pouring out from the contorted Stars of Eugene’s White Flame Formula was not white but a dark black so deep that it looked as if it could suck you in. If it were a dark night, the silvery light that was shining in the midst of the flames of mana pouring into the blade would genuinely look like rays of moonlight.

The pale, ashen moonlight intensified. Eugene’s mana and the moonlight were synchronizing. At that moment, Eugene suddenly began to lose hold of his consciousness.

Today, Eugene had proved himself to be different from his memories of Vermouth. By transforming the White Flame Formula, he had surpassed all of his previous limits, but Eugene was undergoing yet another transformation.

At a time like this, Eugene should have been feeling a great sense of elation. He should be feeling fulfilled at having finally reached his goal of surpassing Vermouth. However, strangely enough, he currently didn’t have any such thoughts.

This was because the power that Eugene held in his left hand, the moonlight that was shining out into this pitch-black world, was so ominous that everyone on the battlefield could sense it.

‘The Moonlight Sword?’ Sienna thought in puzzlement.

Sienna was also well-acquainted with the Moonlight Sword.

Even if she used both hands, Sienna wouldn’t be able to count the number of times she had been able to survive because of the Moonlight Sword.

That silvery light was familiar to her. But even though that ray of moonlight had been a terrible nightmare for their enemies, that didn’t mean it was a source of hope for their friends.

This was because it had always seemed exceptionally ominous. Whenever Vermouth had swung the Moonlight Sword, that moonlight had managed to outshine even Vermouth’s own brilliant flames. At those times, it had been difficult for any of his allies, be it Sienna, Molon, Anise, or even Hamel, to get close to Vermouth.

In the case of the Moonlight Sword that Eugene was currently holding, the moonlight that emanated from the half-shattered blade… in terms of ominousness, was even worse than when Vermouth had wielded the Moonlight Sword.

The spells responsible for defending Eugene and opening up a path for him were destroyed the moment that the moonlight touched them. The miracles cast by Kristina and Anise to protect Eugene were also swept away by the moonlight and dissipated.

Even the Holy Sword that Eugene was holding in his right hand wasn’t an exception to this. The moonlight emitted by the Moonlight Sword was even more egotistical than the Light of the God of Light. However, this silvery light was strong enough to justify doing so. As the wavering moonlight grew to engulf Eugene’s hand, the Demon King’s dark power in his vicinity was easily erased.

The light grew so bright that Eugene couldn't clearly see what was in front of him.

Then, this moonlight exploded.