I Obtained the Final Boss' Power

Chapter 68 : Her Highness the Princess (4)

Her Highness the Princess (4)

"Huh?"

Estelle felt a sense of wonder at what was happening to her body.

The blood that had been boiling like a kettle due to the curse calmed down, and the pain that felt like her heart was being torn apart and her bones crushed also subsided in an instant.

Suddenly her body felt comfortable again. It was as if she had returned to her usual self.

Estelle understood what this meant at a glance.

"The curse... is gone."

The curse that had tormented her no longer existed.

No, it hadn't disappeared completely—it had just been transferred to someone else.

At that moment, Rio, who had accepted the curse in her place, opened her mouth.

"What happened?"

Rio wondered at the black energy being absorbed into her body.

Even after all the times he'd used the power of blood, this was the first time something like this had happened.

But it didn't take her long to realize that the energy she had sucked in was a curse.

And that curse was something she could touch with her hand.

"... Are you alright?"

Estelle cautiously asked Rio. She had taken on that dreadful curse in her stead—could she really be alright?

"Yes."

But Rio was perfectly fine. The reason was clear through Estelle's Mind's Eye.

The curse that had been absorbed into Rio was unable to adapt to her and simply vanished.

"This doesn't make sense...!"

Lapleon, who had been manipulating the curse, had a look of devastation on his face.

He realized it as the red eye that controlled the curse faded away.

"It should have been a curse left by the Great Devil...!"

The source of the curse was none other than Crown Prince Orbel.

Having contracted with the Great Devil, he had used the Great Devil's power to create the curse.

Before being dethroned, the Crown Prince had secretly implanted it in his younger sister Estelle.

Afterwards, he handed over control of it to Lapleon.

Yet now, the Great Devil's power had been so easily erased. It was unthinkable.

"You! What did you do!!"

Unable to comprehend the situation, Lapleon screamed, veins bulging in his eyes.

Rio pondered the forceful question for a moment before replying.

"I just did it...."

It wasn't a lie. She had simply told the truth. But to others, it sounded otherwise.

"What?"

Just did it?

Did she take everyone for a fool?

Enraged by Rio's idiotic answer, Lapleon clenched his fist so hard his hand began to bleed.

Then, one of the four officers spoke up.

"Could it be the Hero's power?"

"The Hero's power?"

"Yes. Being the one mentioned in the prophecy, there might be a power to purify curses."

Come to think of it, that made sense. The Hero would eventually become the 'Paladin', the greatest knight and holy swordsman.

With such sacred potential, any curse would be rejected on contact. Accepting this, Lapleon calmed down.

"So, the Hero truly is a revolting existence."

"Excuse me...."

"Hero, it seems we underestimated your power."

"That's not it...."

Estelle wanted to protest to what Lapleon was saying. The black-haired girl before her was not the Hero, she was the Demon King.

But seeing them constantly mistake her for the Hero frustrated even Estelle.

"Prepare yourself, hero! I'll kill you with all my strength!"

"...."

In the end, Estelle wore a resigned and hollow expression.

These were people who hadn't believed her even when she had told them just moments ago that she was the Demon King.

There was no guarantee they'd believe it if she said it again.

"Get back behind me!"

Just then, as the demonkin officers attacked, Rio pushed Estelle backward.

At the same time, she quickly blocked the attack of a demonkin wielding a dagger.

As the other two swung a greatsword and spear, Rio swiftly parried both with her sword.

Facing one officer alone would not have been much trouble, but the officers trusted their numbers and unleashed a relentless onslaught.

"Kh!"

Handling one would have been easy, but facing three attacking at once, Rio grunted.

Even with red aura deployed, it was a challenge to fight multiple powerful foes at once.

Her lack of experience in such situations added to her difficulties.

"Aaagh...!"

Eventually, unable to block all their fierce attacks, Rio was slashed across the chest and thigh.

Even so, she kept fighting back—but this time, she was stabbed in the side and cut on the shoulder.

"Urgh!"

The pain was enough to bring tears to her eyes, but Rio refused to kneel.

She continued standing, locking eyes with the demonkin officers with her blood-colored gaze.

The officers stuck out their tongues at the sight of someone who, no matter how wounded, would not fall.

"Is this what they call a Hero?"

"Hilarious."

"It's pointless, anyway."

Annoying as she was, she was far from an easy opponent.

Each officer was about on par with or just below the elite soldiers Rio had faced in the 7th Legion's underground training hall last time.

With three or more of them ganging up, Rio was at a disadvantage.

But she could not afford to collapse—she had at least anticipated this kind of scenario.

Her enemies were stronger, she had no help, and they outnumbered her.

Worse, there were still plenty of demonkin soldiers left beside the officers and their leader.

It was a situation she was bound to face sooner or later. As Rio steeled her resolve, the temperature around them suddenly rose.

Behind the demonkin officers, black flames flared high.

Now that she thought about it, she had forgotten there were not three, but four officers.

Chwang!-

A black-flame arrow streaked through the air.

There were even larger arrows than before; they seemed aimed at Rio, yet the trajectory was ambiguous.

It looked like a misfire and could have been avoided, but Rio blocked it with her sword.

The arrow's real target was not Rio, but Estelle.

...!

She barely managed to block it with her sword clad in red aura, but the force behind the arrow exceeded all expectations.

It felt like she was blocking a charging bull; Rio was forced backwards.

"You didn't have to... for me...."

Estelle's eyes went blank at the sight of Rio grimly enduring and coughing blood.

The black flames wrapped in the arrow now spread outward, triggering a massive explosion.

"Kyaa!"

Though swept up by the blast, Estelle was lucky to only be thrown back, screaming.

Everything else was blocked by Rio, who had willingly acted as her shield.

"Ah...."

Unable to withstand the shock, Estelle slowly closed her eyes.

The last thing she saw, as her consciousness faded, was Rio blood-soaked but still standing strong.

...

Estelle lost consciousness and collapsed. Having absorbed the force of the explosion, Rio's body was hardly intact.

Other than standing, she looked close to death.

"Now's our chance!!"

Seeing Rio in that state, the demonkin soldiers rushed toward her like piranhas having spotted weakened prey.

But Rio's eyes still blazed fiercely. Seeing the mob rushing at her, she revealed an even more murderous aura.

At that moment, a crimson wave of energy burst from Rio along with her will.

The blood-forged wave ripped through the charging demonkin.

Like gnats drawn to a swatter, the demonkin were torn limb from limb.

The four officers' eyes widened at the sight of Rio's display of Blood Sword Technique.

For a moment, they doubted their eyes.

Was this really the power of the prophesied Hero?

That red power she had just unleashed was nothing like the sacred energy associated with the Hero.

Sensing something was off, Rio took a step forward.

With each step, something strange happened—every wound Rio had suffered began to heal completely.

The officers were astounded at the impossible sight.

Kwaang!-

With a thunderous sword echo, a shockwave erupted.

In the blink of an eye, Rio, who had cut through the air, bypassed the others and was suddenly upon Lapleon.

Kaaang!-

Rio struck with her sword imbued with red aura. She swung at full force, leaving no doubt of her intent.

But the sensation at the sword's tip was odd. It wasn't the feel of striking a human neck, but a chunk of metal.

"You fool."

Amazingly, Lapleon was uninjured even after being struck at the neck. His neck had turned to sparkling gemstone.

"Did you really think you could easily cut my body transformed by 'Diamond Body (金剛)'?"

Stunned that she hadn't severed his neck, Rio froze.

In that opening, Lapleon clenched his fist, magic power swirling around it.

Puhk!!-

As his fist slammed into her abdomen, Rio's waist doubled over.

She didn't even have time to scream before her vision flipped and she slammed into the wall across the room.

"Guh!"

Blood sprayed from Rio's mouth from the unimaginably powerful punch.

Of all the damage she'd ever suffered, this was by far the most painful.

Aftershock left her legs immobile. Even if she could move, how could she possibly cut that Diamond Body?

"Now I'm really having doubts."

Lapleon withdrew his arm, reconsidering the situation.

"Is that girl really... the Hero?"

Now that he thought about it, the fainted Princess had said so herself.

That girl wasn't the Hero—she was the opposite.

The opposite?

An ominous thought flickered in his mind, but he put it aside.

"I've changed my mind. You should be captured along with the Princess."

At his command, the four remaining officers approached the fallen Rio. With not even a finger able to move, she'd be an easy catch.

Slash—

As the officer who fired the flaming arrow reached to touch Rio, he lost his head.

The others were stunned at the swift turn of events.

"What have you done to my squad member?"

A silver-haired woman suddenly stood beside Rio.

"Who are you?!"

When had she appeared?

The officer with the dagger moved with hostility, attacking with all his speed and aiming for her throat, but the woman ducked beneath the blade.

In a flash, she swung her sword and cut off his leg.

"Aaaargh...."

He didn't even have time to scream in pain before his noisy mouth was severed along with his neck.

"Squad Leader big sis...."

Barely opening her eyes, Rio saw Silia. Before she could ask how Silia had found her, Silia spoke up.

"What do you think you're doing running off without a word? If not for this, you'd be lost by now."

Silia pulled out a metal magitech device. It was a magitech device that let her locate an off-duty soldier.

"I'm sorry."

"I'll accept your apology later."

Silia looked at the two remaining officers approaching.

"Reflect on what you did until then."

Each officer armed themselves, one with a spear, one with a sword, and attacked with everything they had.

The ferocious onslaught, which even Rio had struggled to withstand, now targeted Silia.

Crash!-

Just as Silia parried their weapons, both sword and spear shattered against hers.

A stark contrast to the earlier scene where Rio barely managed to block their attacks—now, they had no chance.

Before they could say a word, Silia beheaded them.

"......."

With four officers taken out in an instant, Lapleon wore a grave expression.

The chance he'd fought so hard for to eliminate the Hero now seemed about to slip away.

"Are you the one who did this to her?"

At Silia's question, Lapleon shouted.

"Die!"

He charged at Silia, hardening his arm and swinging his fist.

As Silia spun aside, the blast from his punch crumbled a distant wall.

"So you hit my girl with those fists?"

"Shut up!!"

With blood pounding in his head, Lapleon kept punching.

Silia blocked one punch with the flat of her blade, nearly losing her balance as she was pushed back.

Seizing the moment, Lapleon thrust his diamond-hardened fist—but just as he did, Silia dodged and stepped in.

Despite nearly stumbling, Silia moved smoothly and swung her aura-filled blade.

Lapleon barely managed to react and blocked it.

"Idiot!"

Shoved back by the recoil, Lapleon tried to taunt Silia.

"Even if you are stronger than that girl, could you possibly cut through my Diamond Body?"

Confident in the invulnerability of his body, Lapleon wore a smug grin.

"I just did."

But Silia just snorted. At the same time, one of his diamond arms dropped to the ground.

"Huh?"

Looking dumbstruck, Lapleon stared at the unbelievable sight.

"How...?"

Silia answered his despair, which outweighed even the pain.

"I've dealt with even tougher opponents than you."

Compared to that foe's scales, his Diamond Body wasn't even worth mentioning.

"No way!"

Confident in his invincibility, Lapleon was now ashen-faced as his body was cut.

He stepped back, clutching a small orb in his one remaining hand. He dropped it to the floor, and as it broke, a purple mist spread out.

Taking advantage of the obscuring mist, Lapleon fled.

Having lost his subordinates and one arm, he saw no hope of victory.

His plan already in ruins, escape was his only chance.

He gritted his teeth and ran through the passage. As he rounded a corner, Lapleon suddenly tripped.

Someone had stuck out a foot and kicked him.

"A demonkin was hiding in a place like this?"

Having found the demonkin, Louis grinned brightly.