85 – The… Master? (4)
Merba looked at himself, the ruler of darkness showing joy, and Merida with an incredulous expression.
It was understandable, as he had never seen heroes show such emotions in front of him, not even once.
Therefore, Merba’s bewildered expression, which was initially filled with confusion, began to turn into anger as time passed.
Merba realized why the joy was emanating from their eyes.
“Ha… these insignificant fools…!”
That’s why, just as Merba was about to attack the half-witted demon and Merida, underestimating himself, something happened.
Kwaaang-!
Merba had no choice but to wear a dazed expression, as he released the accumulated magic power.
“This is mine!!”
“It’s mine, you worthless coward!”
The reason was that, before Merba could even launch an attack, the two heroes who had been looking at him with expressions full of joy suddenly attacked each other.
Kwaaang!
A tremendous noise erupted, obscuring Merba’s vision in an instant.
“!”
Even Merbama, who could chase after them in an instant, unknowingly tensed up and gathered his magic power.
Kwaaang!
“Hey, don’t you have any sense of kinship?! You’re from the same race as them!”
“Where do you see any resemblance between me and those scoundrels?!”
“You’re no better than those half-wits!”
“Don’t you dare treat me like those useless pieces of garbage!!”
From the beginning, neither of them had any interest in Merbama, attacking each other relentlessly as if they were insane.
Bang! Kwagagak! Bang!
As a result, the already ruined village was being completely demolished, leaving nothing behind.
“…Ha.”
Merbama let out an absurd laugh.
He had never been treated like this before.
Even when he first descended into the human realm a hundred years ago, every creature trembled in fear at the mere sight of him.
Countless heroes begged for their lives, overwhelmed by Merbama’s overwhelming power.
Even in the demon realm, besides the legion commanders, there was no existence that dared to ignore Merbama.
He, the slaughterer Merbama, was such a being.
He was supposed to be that kind of being.
But…
“…”
The scene unfolding before his eyes was enough to make Merbama’s anger rise to its peak.
Therefore, Merba spoke.
“Both of you, shall perish.”
With a mercilessly furrowed face, he began scattering his magic.
Thunk-!
Simultaneously, his body started contorting.
Thunk-! Thud-thud-thunk! Thunk!
The body, now shivering and emitting a spine-chilling sound, began transforming rapidly from Merba’s humanoid form.
Initially, it took the form of an enormous, unidentifiable egg.
Next, it morphed into a chimera-like creature, seemingly composed of various monsters.
Then, it adopted the shape of a colossal human.
Afterward, transforming into the figure of Merba, a butcher with six arms and two horns towering over 1 meter, he gathered dark magic with eight arms.
Thud-thud-thud-thunk!
Along with the gathering of magic, a powerful vortex swept everything in the vicinity.
Flying dust, rolling stone fragments on the ground, debris from buildings, and corpses of people—
All these remnants vanished rapidly upon touching the black magic.
Finally, at the moment when a massive magic sphere, collecting from all eight arms, formed.
The magic sphere, capable of erasing everything upon contact, was unleashed upon the two heroes engaged in the battle.
Kwaaah-!
The magic sphere, obliterating everything it touched, was about to reach the two heroes just as a total of eight magic spheres were about to make contact.
“!”
Merba saw it.
The disappearance of the two heroes’ avatars before his eyes.
However-
Sizzle!
Merba laughed.
Of course, this situation was something he had already anticipated.
Thanks to the brief encounter with the heroes in battle just now, Merba roughly grasped the extent of their power.
“These guys are different from the heroes I’ve seen so far.”
Merba clearly recognized that the two heroes were strong.
Even considering that they couldn’t fully manifest their powers at the moment, his eyes couldn’t catch up to the two heroes.
But the reason Merba was laughing was because he had prepared for the next move.
Thwack!
As soon as the two heroes came into his line of sight, Merba smiled and shot the two magic orbs that he hadn’t thrown earlier, as if he had been waiting for this moment.
Magic orbs fired at practically point-blank range.
Seeing that, Merba twisted his smile.
In reality, the two heroes would have been completely shattered by the magic orbs he had thrown, their bodies torn apart and dead.
But in the next moment.
Chills!
Merba, without realizing it, felt a chill.
—
It certainly seemed that this situation itself would end in Merba’s victory.
The magical energy sphere had practically reached the faces of the two heroes, and in the next moment, the two heroes, in a beaten state, spilled blood on the ground, collapsing. It was an ending that he had anticipated and practically confirmed.
However, what made him feel a distinct sense of dread was the eyes of the two heroes.
Eyes tinged with crimson red.
Eyes steeped in violet, the color of demonkind’s sky.
Those eyes were fixed on Merba without any discernible change in emotion.
And in the next moment.
Snap!
Merba, unaware, realized it.
The moment she regained consciousness, the two heroes had disappeared.
Similarly, the magical energy sphere that had been shot toward them had also vanished.
“That bastard! To block the attack at the last moment! Wasn’t my sword supposed to reach first?!!!”
“What can you do about it?”
“This damn idiot—!!!”
As Merba looked back, the two heroes, as they had done all along, exchanged words, argued, and launched attacks at each other.
And then.
“Ah.”
In that moment, Merba remembered.
The brief moment when they moved.
The coordination where, along with the anti-magical force severing her magical energy sphere, the giant deflected attacks with a mere flick of the wrist, scattering the core of the magical energy sphere and nullifying the assault.
—
At that moment, Merba realized.
“Ah.”
That she had been split in half.
Chwaahh-!
As her thoughts ended, Merba, now split in half as she was, turned into gray dust, scattering into the air while still sprinkling purple blood.
She, one of the lieutenants who would have killed countless heroes had she descended upon the continent as a high-ranking demon general, disappeared.
“Oh. It worked. It’s done! The color. The color has returned somewhat crimson now!”
“We’ll crush you like bugs on a revenge day…!!!”
However, they seemed to show no interest in Merba, expressing only bright smiles and anger, respectively.
And.
From afar, Kelba, who had been watching Merba’s battle.
“…What in the world is that?”
He looked at the two with a perplexed expression.
####
—-
First clue.
You can obtain the first clue when the first high-ranking demon to descend to the intermediate realm is dealt with.
—-
From Noble mtl dot com
Kim Hyun-woo looked at the quest window, which had changed for the first time since entering Arteil’s world, forgetting to even make a magnifying glass, wearing a vacant expression.
It was understandable. In fact, Kim Hyun-woo had never once thought that the quest window would change.
Therefore, without realizing it, Kim Hyun-woo, who was looking at the quest that came to mind, soon muttered.
“When the first high-ranking demon that descended to the intermediate realm is dealt with, you can obtain a clue…la.”
He thought for a moment and then spoke.
“Loria.”
[Yes, my lord.]
“Did you initiate this quest?”
[No, some of the notifications are not initiated by me.]
“Then?”
“It seems to be the system, as I can predict.”
Listening to Loria’s words, Kim Hyun-woo stared at the notification window.
“…Demons, demons…were there demons?”
While looking at the quest window and contemplating, he soon let out a low exclamation.
“I’m sure there were demons in the past…”
The reason Kim Hyun-woo had an ambiguous expression was because there were very few events related to demons when he played Arteil ten years ago.
When he played, he could only see demons during special events that lasted for about a week during summer or winter vacations, and even those were just events like “Defeat the minions of the demons.”
Therefore, Kim Hyun-woo, who had been wearing a puzzled expression for a while, received some clues.
[Since the first demon appearing on the quest continent has been dealt with, you have completed the ‘First Clue.’]
[First Clue: You have fallen into this world as an ‘outsider.’]
“…Huh?”
Before Kim Hyun-woo could even think about it, he had an astonished expression due to the quest that was cleared in an instant.
Second Clue.
When the territory development reaches 2000, you can obtain the second clue.
—
Before Kim Hyun-woo could properly read the clue, an alert window popped up before his eyes, leaving him momentarily stunned.
And at that moment, near the second wall of the Lartania territory, where the blacksmith guild headquarters was under construction.
“Hello?”
“Huh? Who are you?”
“Ah, I’m Elena. The first hero of the Lartania territory.”
“Ah… really?”
Nerade River and Elena.
“Nice to meet you?”
“Yes, nice to meet you.”
They greeted each other with smiles.
… Both of them had smiles on their faces.