116 – Demon King Astaroth – 1
Nikado and the other succubi’s expressions hardened, as if they had noticed that the situation was turning out of the ordinary.
“Oh, queen. What is that? What should we do? You’re not going to die, are you? Yes?”
“What should we do, master? Surely you won’t die? Yes?”
“… ….”
As I watched the succubi clinging to their queen, Nika, and Nika clinging to me, their master, I once again became curious about how Astaroth made these bastards fight on the battlefield.
No matter how you look at it, these things are far from a fight.
“Just stay here. I’ll take care of it and come back. “It would be even more inconvenient for you to step forward for no reason.”
“Yes…… I will do that, master… ….”
It was still like that. Even though I openly used the expression “Disturbance,” Instead of getting angry, he was nodding his head with ecstatic eyes. This was the case not only for Nika but also for other succubi.
There was really nothing wrong with what Elisier said.
“Hey, master. But you know what? You need more energy to do even the bare minimum of self-defense, so how can you get just a little more…? … Lol.”
When I looked at him with a puzzled look, Nika stuck out her tongue and burst into laughter. I thought he had a good personality, that he could make that expression after being beaten to the point of death just recently.
“Hey…… hehehe…… Hmm… ….”
After letting him absorb the vital energy as he wanted, he left the castle, leaving behind Nika, who was flinching as if she had taken some kind of drug, and the succubi, who were looking at her with envious eyes.
Black clouds had already covered almost the entire visible sky. The hand holding eternity gained strength.
‘No matter how I look at it, it looks like it was back then.’
That ominous cloud that appeared during the fight with Mahbat. It was also intended to strengthen Mahbat.
If so, I could roughly guess the identity of that cloud.
However, the situation was worse than then. At that time, it was possible to scatter the clouds with the holy sword because Leona was with him, but now it is not possible.
In the end, I had to hope that nothing would come out of there or that people related to demons wouldn’t come here, but honestly, I thought it was a ridiculous hope.
If it wasn’t for that purpose, why was it created?
“Master!”
While I was watching to see if anything was moving, not knowing how the situation would play out, Nika jumped out of the castle and flew away, flapping her wings attached to her waist.
It was a ridiculously cute move for a succubus queen. Of course, the exposure of the clothes she was wearing and her body were not cute at all.
“Why did you come out when you said you were hiding?”
“I kept thinking about it, but I don’t think it’s my duty as a maid to leave my master to fight alone. “I told the kids to watch the situation and evacuate on their own.”
“I told you that it wouldn’t be of much help if I came anyway. “Do you know what will come out of there?”
“Well, that’s because the master is too strong! I can also clean up quite a few demons! “Is she a succubus queen for no reason?”
“Even those decent demons will disappear if I swing my sword once, right?”
“W-wow…….”
Nika slumped her shoulders as if she had nothing more to say in response. Still, it’s a bit heartless of her to throw away a kid who came to help her.
“You can stay next to me, but don’t hold on to my ankles. Because I don’t want to use twice as much strength for no reason. If you think it won’t work, don’t be bluff and run away. Okay?”
“…… ! Yes master!”
A bright smile appeared on Nika’s face. However, unlike the innocent smile, the outfit was not the same. The exposure was reduced only after I, who couldn’t see that, ordered her to change into a maid’s uniform.
“Master, look over there!”
Shortly the clouds gathered together and began to descend to the ground. It was exactly the same symptom as when trying to strengthen Mahbat.
“I knew that would happen.”
“Yes? “What did you say?”
“I knew it would be like that. Just by looking at it, it looks like something is sticking out.”
The black clouds swirled like a tornado and landed on the ground. A sigh came out of my mouth. As expected, it was unreasonable to hope that it would just pass by. They are advertising so openly that something will happen.
“I’ll come back.”
I saw something taking shape inside the tornado and quickly jumped out. Physical enhancement has been in use since the clouds began to gather and come down.
He approached at a speed so fast that the floor could be seen as a blurry afterimage and swung the eternity. A blade covered in white flame cut diagonally across the upper part of the horse-shaped lower body.
ㅡKuaaa!
A wave of white flame erupted along the path. The flames of purification burned the body that had just appeared in the world. The cut-off area was set on fire and smoke was vomited out.
In the meantime, I pushed away the ax blade, which was only about a span away from my neck, with my hand. Even though his body was clearly not fully completed, he tried to fight back while his upper body was being chopped and burned.
If I hadn’t grabbed it with my hand, it would probably have dug into my carotid artery by now. Still, I wouldn’t have died because I had healing magic, but I would definitely have felt worse.
‘This is…’ ….’
I wondered what he was doing and looked to see if he was using an axe, so I frowned. Because what was in his hand was the ax used by Raptarukus, commander of the 6th Legion of the Demon King’s Army.
I remembered it because I had been there once before.
‘Could it be this guy too?’
Just as the witch Circe, who was said to be missing, appeared parasitized by her tentacles and turned into her half-corpse, there is a possibility that this guy did the same. Otherwise, there is no explanation for his appearance under the power of a demon god.
When I met Elisier, I thought I would have to ask him if Raptarukus was also missing.
ㅡChaaa!
Before that, make sure to deal with those who are not dead yet.
As soon as I saw that his right arm was twitching, I blew off his entire shoulder. The right arm holding the ax rolled around on the floor.
“Even if it’s like that, you’re not dead yet, right?”
Even though his entire body from his right collarbone to his left side was torn off, and his remaining right arm was cut off, leaving most of his upper body gone, he was still alive. He jumped back and gained some distance.
Suddenly, as soon as I widened the distance, bright red tentacles came out from the cut surface and tangled together.
In an instant, a few strands of tentacles emerged from the arm-shaped mass, picked up the ax that had fallen on the ground, and held it in a writhing hand. The horse-shaped lower body slowly began to move.
“Master! That guy-“
“I know! “It’s just like Circe!”
After confirming that I had guessed correctly, I tried to swing the eternity again, but this time it was faster. The distance that had been widened narrowed in the blink of an eye.
The ax was swung at an angle that only a tentacle arm could do. Even though the movement was incredibly large, the speed at which it was swung was beyond imagination.
ㅡQuaaang!
As soon as it hit the ground, the ground twisted around that spot. It was as if an earthquake had occurred, and all the ground that could not withstand the shock was completely destroyed and rose up on its own.
At least he was clearly stronger than when he fought in the cave. At that time, it was inside a cave at an outpost set up by another corps commander, so they had to limit their strength and fight anyway.
ㅡCow! Boom!
It even got faster and faster. Now his body could only be seen as a blurry afterimage. Even though it was clearly moving around in a circle, the attack was coming at the same speed as I was taking my stance.
“Ugh…… !”
Nika tried using all the magic she could, but when it was confirmed that none of them worked, she just stamped her feet in her place. It seemed like he was faithfully following what I said.
Chachari That is correct. If you try to force help, it will only end up being a nuisance. This guy doesn’t seem to be interested in Nika either.
“Nika!”
“Yes, master! “How can I help you?”
“Retreat to the castle! Right now!”
Nika didn’t ask twice. Immediately he flapped his wings and ran back to the castle as fast as he could.
Now that I no longer had to worry about my surroundings, it was time to use another method. Rather than counterattacking by matching that guy’s speed, it’s a very unique method.
“Okay. “Let’s see if you can run like that in the air.”
Mana was infused into the right leg. While drawing a magic circle, I stepped on the floor as hard as I could. Blue light bloomed around my right leg, drawing a geometric pattern.
Clatter, rattle. The world collapsed.
The ground nearby began to fall, except for the part where I stepped on it. The endless abyss swallowed up the pouring dirt and rocks indiscriminately.
When there was nowhere else to run, the guy must have thought there was no other way, so he stepped on a crumbling stone and kicked the ground.
From what I felt, it only took about one breath for it to reach me, but that was too much time to counterattack.
I struck away the ax aimed at the heart from the side, changed its trajectory, and swung the eternity while activating magic.
The binding magic grabbed each of his legs. It was clearly visible that his knee bones, unable to withstand the force of his lunge, were twisting and making a clicking sound.
The upper body that came right in front of me was exploded with a polarity twist. The blade, which cut off the flesh and even the writhing tentacles densely packed inside, continued to move downward without stopping.
Youngwon cut him down vertically and escaped down. As the middle part exploded, the split body passed by my left and right sides respectively.
He turned his body half a circle, surrounded the eternity with white flames and burned the remaining pieces. The remaining flesh and the pieces of tentacles that were trying to regain their original shape were engulfed in white flames and burned up.
The fragments of the 6th Corps commander, burning in white flames and falling down the abyss, completely disappeared before they even reached the end. While watching the figure, I tried squeezing his right hand.
‘…… ‘Has it been like this before?’
Today is not the first time we exchanged arms with the 6th Corps commander. However, something seemed to have changed since then.
In the past, every time we clashed weapons, I would lose so much strength that my body would stumble or fall into the wall, but now it wasn’t enough that I thought it was worth it, and I even felt like I had won.
I couldn’t tell if that guy had gotten weaker or if I had gotten stronger.
“Wow…… ! Great job, master! He looked really strong, but he was so easy…… !”
At some point, Nika came flying in and clung to her and flattered her. Even though he said he would help, he seemed to be doing it even more desperately out of shame because he never did anything.
I heard the flattery in one ear and out the other, and took out her necklace. She doesn’t mind being seen by Nika. After all, she saw Elisier appear in person and talk to her.
Other succubi are not within hearing distance.
From Noble mtl dot com
“Elisier, can you hear me?”
“… ….”
There was no reply. It was quiet. When I heard Circe was missing, I wondered if she was busy with that. She was going to tell me that she showed up here so she didn’t have to. Aside from that, I also have something else to say.
“Elisier. “Can you hear me?”
I tried calling again, but it was the same. The necklace was still quiet.
“You…… Now… ….”
How long had passed like that, when Elisiere’s voice was finally heard, it was very noisy.
Noise, something was strange. Was this a structure that could cause noise?
“I can’t hear well. What?”
“Asta…… Demon King…….”
“Why the Demon King?”
The voice became quiet again. Just when I was feeling nervous and was about to ask Nika if she knew where the Demon King’s Castle was, I heard someone else’s voice.
“Hello, Mira Krait? Are you enjoying this kind of secret affair with our traitor? Huh?”
“…… Astaroth?”
Nika’s body stiffened at the name that came out of my mouth. I also asked back in astonishment.
“What, you must have died…” ….”
I cut off the head with my own hands and even burned the body. And it was confirmed several times that there was no vital reaction. But how? Could it be that the Astaroth I killed was a fake?
However, Astaroth’s next words completely denied my thoughts.
“That’s right. Dead. To be exact, he was dead. Oh, that’s right. Instead of doing this, why don’t we talk face to face? “I have a lot, a lot, a lot to say to you.”
With those words, the necklace broke down helplessly. As I was looking down at the necklace falling into pieces, a dark red portal appeared right nearby.
“Wow!”
And then, Elisier jumped out from within.
After Elysier rolled on the floor several times and coughed up blood, she struggled to get her body upright. She hurriedly went to her side and helped her as she fell.
“You…… Female. I’m sorry. I lost to that b*tch, cluck, Nora…….”
“There’s no need to say that, so just focus on getting your body in order. “What on earth happened?”
Elisier is so strong that it’s almost like playing with the Sword Master, and even I can’t guarantee a head-to-head match. She couldn’t understand how Elisie could get hurt like this.
After healing her wounds with her healing magic, Elisier seemed to have regained some of her strength, took a deep breath, and opened her mouth, glaring at her portal.
“It’s a magic sword. It has fallen into the hand of that b*tch Astaroth.”
“You’re strong enough even without a sword. “It wouldn’t have ended up like this if I just skipped over that one, right?”
“If only the magic sword had been overcome, Yeo would have won. But-“
“You left out the most important point.”
As the demonic energy overflowing from the portal filled the ruptured space nearby, Astaroth slowly walked out. In his right hand, he held a magic sword that glowed dark red.
“You lost because you are no longer the Demon King. Because he is no longer the Demon Lord, all his power has been taken away from me. “That’s the most important thing, so don’t forget it, our traitor.”
“…… “You’re saying you’re no longer the Demon King?”
I blocked Elisiere’s path and asked a question. Astaroth responded obediently, as if he had no intention of attacking right now.
“Because the Demon Sword stripped that traitor of his qualifications. Just like the holy sword chooses the hero, shouldn’t the demon sword be able to choose the devil lord?”
A sound of laughter came out, as if he couldn’t stand it because he was so happy.
“I guess it means that a b*tch who clings to a human male is not qualified to become a demon lord. Is not it? Huh?”
“… ….”
“That’s funny. It wasn’t even your own power, but it was a power you borrowed from a demon god through a demon sword, and you ruled so arrogantly? What happens to the time I devoted to you? “What happens to all the time I spent serving you?”
Astaroth, who was growling, smiled again. My emotions changed so quickly that I couldn’t tell what was real.
“Ah, it’s okay though. Because I will become a much better devil than you. “I’ll prove it to you now.”
Suddenly, the demonic sword was thrust into the dark red demonic energy covering the nearby space.
“Shall we start by destroying the human world first?”