novelraw Chapter 211 : Darkness Splits Under the Light (1)
Chapter 211 : Darkness Splits Under the Light (1)
Chapter 211: Darkness Splits Under the Light (1)
From earlier on, I kept checking the map that I had opened intermittently through Perception.
On that map, countless red dots were displayed, swarming in from the southwest and the southeast.
“Either way, we’ll have to fight while risking our lives. Patrick! Jade! Calsios!”
At my call, the three of them jumped down from atop the wall.
“You called for us.”
“Soon, the Imperial allied forces that were planning to march into the southern part of the continent will arrive here.”
“…….”
Despite how shocking it was, there were no questions.
They simply waited for my words to continue.
“Of course, their target is us. They’ll probably try to completely wipe us out and then attack the entire continent. So…… stop them. If they’re regarded as enemies, you may kill anyone without exception.”
“We shall obey your command!”
“We obey!”
As their expressions hardened even further, a smile formed on my face.
“Thank you. I’m counting on you.”
I created stairs along the inner wall of the ‘Concrete Wall’ that towered like a fortress, then sealed off every entrance through which one could enter.
Kwaang! Kwaang! Kwaang!
It had become a perfect fortress.
Of course, I left behind a thin door so it could be opened at the very end.
So that it could be broken through with Jade’s Aura or Caldein Flavan’s high-tier magic.
Even as that happened, the surrounding red dots continued to draw closer.
Due to their tremendous sprinting, thick clouds of dust rose like smoke.
The enemies revealed themselves as they crossed over a ridge that looked like the horizon.
Waaaaaaa—!
“Everyone, prepare yourselves!”
In response to the wave-like roar of the enemies, the battle cries of those inside the fortress resounded.
Standing atop the highest wall, I began drawing formulas with both hands.
“Something big, two or three shots should be enough. Magma Storm Break.”
Along with the incantation, magma whirlwinds burst through the ground to the left and right of the enemies charging straight toward the front of the wall.
A 6th Circle, highest-tier blazing-heat magic that I had created through fusion.
Faced with that overwhelming might, the enemies’ explosive momentum began to falter.
It was only natural, given the heat felt as though even the slightest contact would instantly melt their armor.
“This should be enough.”
From the start, I had no intention of killing the enemies with magic.
Unlike before, all of the enemies now were human.
Since they weren’t Demon Race, I couldn’t indiscriminately kill them. In this war, human casualties had to be minimized.
If only humans kept dying, it would be no different from doing the Demon Race’s work for them.
Pahak—!
I immediately leapt into the sky.
Now, the battlefield was something I could leave to the others.
“I don’t know what’s waiting there, but going alone will be faster.”
Floating in the air, I increased my speed by adding ‘Wind’ to ‘Fly’.
The direction I headed toward was the capital where the Imperial Palace stood.
Decarsen escaped the battlefield with all his strength.
“I have to inform the Demon King! Quickly!”
Driven by that single thought, he pushed his speed higher and higher. As he sliced rapidly through the sky, the distance to the Imperial Palace grew shorter.
“……Has he finally recovered all of his true power?”
Decarsen abruptly stopped in midair and looked down.
The Imperial capital, said to be the most beautiful on the continent, had completely changed.
The plaza, gates, and mansions that once shone in brilliant colors were nowhere to be seen.
Instead, everything was filled with an unidentified, pitch-black, sticky substance. Its constantly writhing surface had spread across the entire capital.
“O Demon King! Can you hear my voice!”
Decarsen descended and shouted, then waited for a response.
But he heard nothing at all.
“Gremory and Malphas have been defeated. He is the Representative of the Goddess! We were no match for him with our strength!”
Despite his continued shouts, only the pitch-black liquid kept surging and sloshing.
At that, Decarsen didn’t know what to do.
At that moment, he sensed a presence from another direction.
“Marbas!”
It was Duke Marbas, who had remained by the side of Demon King Luseo Dicanderon until the very end.
“So you ran away and came here in the end?”
“There was nothing I could do. I had to come and inform you about him no matter what!”
“In the end, that’s just an excuse…… Do you think the Demon King would be unaware of the Representative of the Goddess?”
“That is…….”
“If you failed to uphold the honor of the Demon Race, then only death awaits!”
Marbas tore open a rift in the air and pulled out a greatsword twice his own size.
The thick, long blade pointed toward Decarsen.
“You saw him with your own eyes, didn’t you!”
“No matter that he is the Representative of the Goddess, do you think he can compare to the Demon King?”
“I know that as well. But…, but……!”
There was something he couldn’t properly explain with words.
Decarsen clenched his teeth, unable to speak any further.
“What a truly cowardly excuse. Can you claim you upheld the honor of the Demon Race in any way?”
“He will be coming here soon! If you grant me another chance—!”
In that instant, Marbas swung the massive sword faster than the eye could see and brought it down upon him.
Puk—!
It happened before Decarsen could even finish speaking. Unable to withstand the tremendous pressure, Decarsen fell, grasping at empty air.
Puak!
His body sank into the pitch-black liquid.
It was a space where up and down could not be distinguished.
‘D, Demon King!’
Unable to even open his mouth, Decarsen tried to call out to the Demon King in his thoughts.
Yet, no response came.
‘Why are you doing this to me! I can devote everything to you, Demon King!’
Even within his thoughts, the pitch-black darkness continued to encroach.
No thoughts could easily form anymore. It felt as though the very elements needed for thought were being rapidly devoured one by one.
Meanwhile, Marbas, floating in the air, muttered while holding his sword.
“Even if you tarnished your honor…… everything you possess will become important nourishment for the Demon King.”
It had been a planned action from the very beginning.
Marbas continued to watch the pitch-black surface that surged like the sea.
The pitch-black liquid itself was the Demon King.
Preparation to assume the true form.
Originally, it should have been carried out over a longer period of time.
However, since the ‘Representative of the Goddess’ had begun to appear in earnest, there was no room to delay.
“Awaken as the primordial existence.”
After saying that, Marbas approached the central region of the empire where the Imperial Palace had once stood.
That place was filled with pitch-black liquid rising so high that it looked like a mountain.
“So, you’ve arrived just in time?”
As if he had been waiting for something, he soon discovered a long procession approaching from the north and the west.
They were all dressed in the attire of priests.
Apostates of the Goddess, High Priests of Chaos.
They were those who had chosen to serve the Demon God and, over long years, had painstakingly spread the doctrine of chaos across the entire continent.
Originally, they had been one of the tools in a plan meant to weaken the Goddess’s power in order to completely dominate the continent.
Yet not only had the ‘Representative of the Goddess’ appeared, even the Bachenan Holy Kingdom—which should have already fallen—remained perfectly intact.
“With them, it should be enough for the Demon King to recover his true power.”
The procession of priests drew closer and closer.
All of them, with lifeless and exhausted eyes, trudged forward and calmly entered the pitch-black liquid as if sinking into it.
The number of priests stretched long, exceeding ten thousand.
Each time one of them entered, the surface of the pitch-black liquid trembled as if rejoicing.
Where else could one find a scene so grotesque and terrifying as this.
Watching that sight, Marbas felt a thrill of ecstasy.
“Kukukuku—!”
“…Hm?”
Marbas, whose entire body had been trembling with exhilaration, turned his head.
A strange presence was being felt from the east.
Given the situation, it wasn’t hard to guess what it was.
“Has he finally arrived?”
Changing direction in midair, Marbas flew swiftly toward the source of that presence.
.
.
.
After leaving the battlefield, I moved rapidly toward the Imperial Palace.
The speed was so fast that the air split at the tips of my hair, even sound lagging behind.
“Is that it? But the Imperial Palace’s appearance…….”
With my enhanced vision, I could confirm things even at a great distance.
But the Imperial Palace was nothing like what I had heard about before.
It looked as though it was completely engulfed by something pitch-black.
“Why is it like that—.”
As I muttered, a massive presence surged in from one side.
Kwa-kwaang—!
“Keuk!”
It was a pitch-black Slashing Strike.
I hastily blocked it with my sword, then dropped all the way down and landed.
Kuuung!
It was a heavy blow, powerful enough to split the surrounding ground like tree roots.
“So, what kind of bastard is it this time?”
I checked the direction from which the Slashing Strike had come.
From there, a knight clad in full-body armor mixed with pitch-black and flames descended to the ground, his red cloak fluttering.
“As expected of the Representative of the Goddess, an unpleasant aura is leaking from your entire body.”
The knight’s identity was Marbas, a duke of the Demon Realm.
Of course, the moment he appeared, I checked his information.
“Compared to the other side, you seem a bit less unpleasant.”
“I can see why the others were completely helpless.”
The conversation continued as he ignored my words.
I didn’t bother paying it any mind either.
“Blocking my path means you’re trying to buy time, right? Looks like the Demon King’s preparations aren’t finished yet.”
“I’ll sever light that dares to defile darkness with my own hands.”
“If you’re going to fight and then run away, how about doing it in advance? Ah, by the way, didn’t you see the guy who came here earlier? I think his name was Decarsen.”
“If you mean that one, I bestowed upon him a punishment far greater than what he deserved.”
For the first time, the circling exchange of words collided head-on.
“Far greater, huh…… was it like when Zelphinia swallowed Kamio? For the Demon King, that is.”
The moment I arrived, I used Specific Analysis together with Perception.
The distance to the Imperial Palace wasn’t far.
Yet the presences detected around it numbered only two.
[Luseo Dicanderon]
[Marbas]
It was obvious who the owner of the name floating at the very center of the Imperial Palace was.
‘Did he swallow the entire empire whole?’
If it was the imperial capital, at least hundreds of thousands of humans should have been living there.
But now, not even the slightest trace of life could be felt.
Srrrng.
In the meantime, Marbas pulled a gigantic sword out from a rift.
“I heard you use a sword as well. I’d like to learn a thing or two.”
“So you’re openly trying to stall for time?”
“Think whatever you like. Either way, I have no intention of letting you pass beyond me.”
Chwaaaak! Kwakwakwaang!
The trajectory of the greatsword lightly drawn across the ground exploded, flipping the earth over.
The land that surged up from that tremendous power felt like an entire mountain range.
“It’s brutally strong. But it’s not like you’re the only one who can do that.”
I swung the sword I was holding down toward the ground.
Chwaaaaaaak! Kwaang!
The Slashing Strike that spread out like a wave passed by Marbas’s side and split apart the artificially created mountain range.
A clash of pure power against pure power.
Seeing that sight, a smile formed on Marbas’s face.