Inheriting the Novel

Chapter 85 : Dark King (3)

Dark King (3)

I had crossed swords with Damian countless times, yet not once had I been able to draw out his full strength.

It was simply because if he fought at his maximum, a spar between us could not even be established.

And now.

Witnessing Damian's slash unfolding before my very eyes, I could finally realize just how much he had been holding back for my sake during our training bouts.

Damian Viet—he had reached a realm that transcended common perception.

He was the Sword God, and even after centuries had passed, I doubted any swordsman would ever surpass him.

'... Ridiculous.'

And yet, Lugal was effortlessly receiving those sword strikes from Damian as if it was nothing.

Indeed, he too was every bit the monster deserving of the title as the very first of the Seven Heroes.

"That guy really is amazing."

I looked over to see Logan Deoric, who was knocked out and slumped against the wall.

How could he possibly have had the nerve to try and intervene in the middle of that?

Kwa-kwang!

A white arc of sword light burst forth, slicing to shreds the area where Lugal stood.

Hundreds of sword energies curved like boomerangs, flying toward Lugal.

'The Moon Severing Divine Sword's third technique, Hundred Cherry Blossoms Brilliance (百櫻華榮).'

It was on a completely different level from when he performed it for my demonstration.

The most dazzling, the most beautiful ultimate technique among the Moon Severing Divine Sword's forms.

Each one of those pure white petals was a sword energy.

The hundreds of sword energies spread and bloomed throughout the area like flowers blossoming.

Sasa sasak!

It looked like an attack impossible to dodge, yet Lugal blocked part of it with a barrier, and repelled the rest by spinning black chains conjured from midair, even mounting a counterattack against Damian.

An ultimate technique I found difficult even to attempt once was unleashed countless times, and Lugal faced it all without flinching.

[Are you just going to keep watching?]

As I stayed quiet, Grancesia asked softly.

She was not blaming me at all.

If anything, it was as if she was consoling me, telling me this was normal.

"No, I was just waiting for an opening."

Of course, I can't deny that fear came first.

Who wouldn't be afraid with monsters like these before their eyes?

But I had already steeled myself and stood at the front of this.

I had no intention of turning back now.

I simply had to proceed with caution.

"After all, there won't be many chances for me to intervene."

At best, once or twice.

That would be all the opportunities I'd get to join in the fight between these monsters.

That's why I watched the battle, nerves on edge, focusing all my attention.

So as not to miss the chance when it arose.

「Damian, this time I'll kill you and escape from this place!」

With a sharp shout, countless spells formed from dark magic power rained down like a bombardment.

Damian caught them all and drove Lugal back instead.

"That will not happen."

There was a calm leisure to Damian's apathetic muttering.

While on Lugal's side, not the slightest hint of leisure could be felt—only tension.

'Looks like I've grown, too.'

In the past, I wouldn't have sensed anything from their battle.

But now I had grasped the basics of Only Mind, and so I could faintly read the flow even in a clash between overwhelming powerhouses.

Though it looked as if they were evenly matched, clearly Damian was half a step ahead in this clash.

「Acting nonchalant ends here, Damian!」

But Lugal, unwilling to admit such a thing, shouted passionately and raised his momentum.

In that instant, the death energy spread around was sucked up by Lugal, staining his snow-white bones pitch black.

"... You really don't know how to give up."

Damian cast a pitying glance at Lugal and gripped his sword even tighter.

And just as he was about to swing his sword anew—

"This is..."

Sensing something, Damian paused.

He could feel a force gathering—one difficult to fathom even for him.

"... Lugal, don't tell me you plan to erase this entire area?"

For the first time, a question from Damian betrayed his lost composure.

'What?'

I couldn't help but be alarmed at his words.

This place was enclosed in solid mithril. Was it truly possible to erase it all?

「Heh heh. Even if you've noticed now, it's already too late.」

But Lugal responded with a nasty laugh and nodded as if it was nothing.

「I was never able to surpass you, but with this, I can at least reach your level. By accepting death together, that is.」

Both Damian and I thought Lugal was finally trying to settle things once and for all.

But that was a mistake.

The reason Lugal delayed his resurrection, the reason he had amassed all this strength, was not to defeat Damian, but to take him down together in mutual destruction.

In other words, he never expected to win against Damian anyway.

'Or rather, he must have finally admitted that there was no way to win, no matter what he tried.'

Lugal had become a lich solely in order to overcome the wall that was Damian.

But after centuries had passed, he realized it. No matter what, he could not surpass the Sword God.

'Was this why Damian perished together with Lugal?'

Looking back, even if there had been no room to intervene, Fabian was not the type to run and leave Damian behind.

But with such circumstances as these, there would be nothing he could have done anyway.

That vast death energy gathering—even if Solaris was used, it would be impossible to block.

'If Damian were alone, maybe he could have escaped somehow...'

Damian would have braved his own death to nullify Lugal's spell. He was not someone who would let Fabian die.

I stared intently at Lugal.

'Is that it?'

A core containing the vitality Lugal had hidden for centuries.

A relentless stream of death energy was gathering there.

Lugal would surely unleash it all at once—intending to erase everything in this space, everything that existed here.

Exposing the core that had until now allowed him countless resurrections meant Lugal, too, was staking everything.

'Perfect.'

A grin spread across my face.

It seemed things would be much easier for me than expected.

「At last, bidding farewell to this wretched fate, Damian!」

Kurrung!

Centered on the core, the gathering death energy blasted out, forming a huge violet magic circle.

Kaga-gak!

Damian's sword strike stormed toward the circle, but it bounced away, unable to pierce the death energy storm swirling around it.

Lugal's jawbone twisted crookedly at the sight.

No doubt he meant to be smirking.

「Farewell.」

He pointed his hand at the ground, and the moment strength gathered in Damian's legs—

Kuuuuung!

「... Huh?」

The magic circle shook violently.

At the same time, Lugal's red-glinting eyes quivered.

The magic circle, which should've begun a wide-area bombardment, was trembling and stopped activating.

"Stagger, falter, and shatter."

Even amid the thunderous howling of death energy, a voice pierced my ears.

That was no ordinary voice.

It was a voice entwined with the laws and principles of the world—the Dragon Tongue.

As it bound the magic power gathering from all directions, it began to slowly disintegrate the magic circle.

「Th-That is... What is that?!」

At last, Lugal belatedly turned his gaze to Riya.

Having remained quiet and unnoticed the entire time, it seemed he hadn't even registered Riya's presence until now.

「How can a human... use the Dragon Tongue...?」

Lugal was known in history as the worst, yet the strongest, mage.

According to records, the realm he reached was the 8th class.

Even the highest-level mages among humans could not escape the power of the Dragon Tongue.

"Lugal, didn't I always tell you."

「Damian, you! Where on earth did you find such a woman...?!」

"I told you to broaden your perspective."

Taking advantage of the magic's halted activation, Damian unleashed a technique of the Moon Severing Divine Sword, thrusting his sword toward Lugal's neck.

Even in his panic, Lugal squeezed out all he had to block it, but it was obvious that his composure was gone.

「Damn! Even if it's the Dragon Tongue, it can't completely block this spell! All it does is buy a little time...」

Gritting his teeth, Lugal shouted at Damian—who now stood right before him—then suddenly went silent.

He sensed a faint presence immediately behind him.

「No way?!」

Lugal's horrified shout rang out.

It was only natural.

Someone had approached close to the core, a place none had been allowed near.

There was no need to say who it was. It was me.

「When did you get there...?!」

Of course, he hadn't noticed me. I had split space using Solaris and sneaked over through the gap.

Even advanced-rank demonkin in Eintban had once been thrown into chaos by techniques like this with Solaris.

「You little worm! Don't move from there!」

Lugal tried to shake off Damian and reach for me, but he couldn't.

How could he, with the Sword God right before him?

Kwadeuk, kwadedeuk!

Lugal desperately cast spells near me, spawning countless black tendrils by the core to attack me.

The black tendrils radiated such vile death energy that even getting close would melt your skin.

Of course, that meant nothing to me.

「How can you...?!」

Divine Blood, and Agatram, shut out the death energy completely.

Thanks to that, I could advance toward Lugal's core without a single worry.

I cut, and cut again, advancing step by step.

Whenever those black tendrils, wrapped in Divine Blood, touched Genova's blade, they crumbled to dust at the slightest contact.

「You bastard!」

When I drew right up to the core, Lugal flew at me, heedless of his own body.

Even as Damian's attacks cut deep into him, he didn't stop. The body could recover with time, but not the core.

"You're too late."

Puk!

I said that as I stabbed straight into the center of the purple magic circle.

More precisely, into the heart, the purple gem that pulsed at its core.

「You little worm...!」

Even as he cursed, Lugal's persistence as he dragged himself toward me was astonishing to see.

But that was all.

He would not reach me.

Right before my eyes, Damian's sword sliced off his limbs and skewered his head.

「...!」

His mouth opened wide, saying something, but now only the rattling of shattered skull fragments remained.

"Whatever you're saying, just die."

Genova's sword, which had pierced the core, regained its original color.

More precisely, the Divine Blood that had enveloped the blade flowed into Lugal's core, which I had just stabbed through.

"Blood Explosion."

Blood Explosion.

A type of blood magic, and the effect was simple.

As the name suggested, it detonated blood like a bomb.

In my case, lacking magic power, I would inject blood into an enemy's body and then explode it.

──That should be more than enough now.

Kwaaang!

As the sword's tip erupted in an explosion, a pillar of silver light fell from the sky.