… This chapter was a bit late because I was waiting for the author to edit this chapter before translating it, and I definitely was not using that as an excuse to procrastinate! Well anyways, heaven"s feel movie is out in the cinemas but I spent all my money on steam games ughhh. Thanks for reading~
Demon king Hakuou transformed into his second form.
Even though we were struggling with his first form… my head is hurting.
Demon king Hakuou"s ability,【Corrosion】, is extremely troublesome.
If he touches us, we"ll be affected by it and melt. Even trying to defend against it isn"t allowed, since evasion is difficult against his overwhelming speed.
And, his defense is extremely annoying as well. His bristle even repels Kureha"s blade, and even if we break through that bristle and damage him, he"ll just regenerate.
My【Deterioration Heal】doesn"t work either.
"Freya, I"m counting on you for support!" (Kearuga)
"Certainly, Kearuga-sama." (Freya)
Demon king Hakuou transformed from a human beast to a beast, and the power of【Corrosion】that only covered his claws now covers his whole body.
If he"s covered in【Corrosion】like that, close combat is completely ineffective.
After all, due to the black aura that covers his body, our fists or swords will decay from【Corrosion】before it reaches him.
I activate divine arms Georgios. With Georgios, I can fire【Deterioration Heal】.
"Rank 7 magic,【Ice Prison】!" (Freya)
Freya activates supreme ice magic. From the ground, gigantic ice pillars grow towards the sky, forming a prison.
Demon king Hakuou is imprisoned in the ice cage, and was frozen in ice.
It isn"t just normal ice; it"s absolute zero magic ice of the highest hardness.
If it"s an opponent we can"t kill, we can seal his movements by freezing him in ice. The basis of the counter-plan is the same against the knights afflicted by the black power.
However…
"Of course this happens." (Kearuga)
The absolute zero magic ice that possesses the highest hardness is cracking.
【Corrosion】is happening.
Even if the body itself gets frozen in ice, it seems【Corrosion】continues being active. … And, I found out one important thing. 【Corrosion】takes time if there"s enough mana as Freya put in her magic.
It was within expectations for the ice prison to break.
In front of demon king Hakuou, Kureha had lowered her back deeply with her sword resting in its scabbard.
"【Moonlight】" (Kureha)
At the same time the ice completely broke, Kureha releases an iai slash with all her power.
Demon king Hakuou is using the power of【Corrosion】to break the ice, so the moment he breaks the ice, the power of【Corrosion】and the ice cancel each other out, making a moment of defencelessness.
A sword would reach in that moment, and the【Sword Saint】would be able to drive her sword into him in an instant. A crack appears in the beast"s face, and blood spouts out.
Unshameful to the name【Sword Saint】, the fastest and strongest blow.
It would have been an instant death for a normal creature.
However…
"So even this doesn"t kill you." (Kureha)
Demon king Hakuou’s face that was split right in half immediately joins together, and he swings his strong arm.
Kureha just barely evades it with her extremely fast way of running.
Taking advantage of that chance, I get near him.
"【Deterioration Heal】" (Kearuga)
With Georgios"s ability, I fire【Deterioration Heal】.
It doesn"t keep the same accuracy as when I touch him directly, so I make a rough image of all his blood vessels blocking up.
Because it came into contact with【Corrosion】, I feel my mana damping.
It somehow reached him.
Although I can"t block up all of his blood vessels, I blocked multiple important arteries.
Blood vessels exploded in succession due to the dammed up blood.
"Guaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa." (Hakuou)
Demon king Hakuou writhes in pain.
If blood doesn"t go around the body, living things can"t maintain their life activity.
"… As expected, he recovered from this as well." (Kearuga)
Demon king Hakuou regenerated again. It seems like we are repeating pointless actions, but there is a meaning behind these acts.
It"s something I understand because I"m a user of【Recovery Heal】as well.
Compared to accelerating your own resilience, the amount of mana used to rewrite is in a different league.
Furthermore, in proportion to the distance, the amount of mana used for【Recovery Heal】springs up.
The size of the target you heal is also important.
Kureha and I have been giving him injuries that simply accelerating his own resilience could do nothing about, and whoever is healing demon king Hakuou should be in a place quite far away. Furthermore, demon king Hakuou, the target of healing, has a large build.
All the conditions connect to a vast consumption of mana. Everytime he is healed, an unbelievable amount of mana should be consumed.
So, they shouldn"t be able to heal him that many times.
Our aim is simple; we"re going to continue breaking him until he can"t be healed anymore.
… Is what I was thinking, but it seems one prerequisite was mistaken. There"s something I understood from staring at him with【Jade Eye】the moment he recovered. The person that is healing demon king Hakuou is in an extremely close position to him.
"What"s wrong. I thought you were going to kill me. Show me some more schemes!" (Hakuou)
As a beast, demon king Hakuou shouts and springs at us.
I thought he lost his reason when he became a beast, but it seems that didn"t happen.
I see the future with the eye I received from the G.o.d bird.
I tut. I"ve been checkmated.
Even if I can see several seconds in the future, I can"t defend against it no matter what with my power. That"s how different demon king Hakuou"s speed is after becoming a beast.
A close up of his face spreads in front of my eyes. His mouth widens, trying to crunch me.
Protecting my right arm with all my power, I bash his fangs. Breaking through my defenses of mana, the power of【Corrosion】melts my right arm. Blood spouts out. However, my fist reached him before it melted off, sending him backwards from the reaction of the hit, preventing him from crunching me.
He smiles, and chases after me to follow up.
Then, an extra large ice spear pierces his flank.
It"s Freya. A simple magic that sends a shot of ice flying with a wind explosion. Because of its overwhelming speed, it hits before the ice melts from【Corrosion】, blowing him away.
My melted right arm comes back from divine arms Georgios"s automatic【Recovery Heal】.
"Freya, protect yourself!" (Kearuga)
Seeing Freya be crunched with my future vision, I shout.
Freya immediately produces a spiked mud wall with magic. She just barely made it in time. Demon king Hakuou that leaped towards Freya struck the wall, getting skewered by the countless spikes on the wall.
The mud wall that had the same, vast amount of mana as the ice from before endured【Corrosion】to a certain extent as well.
While smiling, demon king Hakuou continued breaking the wall that protects Freya as he extracted the spikes.
To protect herself, Freya added a magic formula to make the mud wall thicker.
"Kearuga, it seems to be more problematic than we thought." (Kureha)
"True. However, I finally saw a chance of winning. It"s his flank. Whatever is healing him is in there." (Kearuga)
We"ll continue breaking him until he can"t be healed anymore.
There doesn’t seem to be enough resources to do that, and if we continue like this, our side will be annihilated.
Since I thought it might turn out like this, I continued exploring for a different solution.
I stare at him with【Jade Eye】at the exact timing when he regenerates. I thought of trying to find a path of mana that connects to the outside to destroy whatever is healing demon king Hakuou.
However, no paths of mana from the outside could be found, and I didn"t notice the trick at the start, but I finally found the truth when he was healed after I used【Deterioration Heal】before. There is something inside of demon king Hakuou.
The moment he regenerated, I saw mana that didn"t belong to demon king Hakuou spring up inside his body.
If I kill that one, the situation will change.
The problem is how I can cut open demon king Hakuou"s stomach.
"If you leave it to me… I can do something about it." (Eve)
It"s Eve.
Eve, who was resting her body while being guarded by Guren, gets her staggering body up.
"You would probably be able to do it, but do you even understand your own state of health?" (Kearuga)
"Yeah, my light magic can do it. It will surely go through him." (Eve)
Freya"s ice spear already proved that using overwhelming speed that pierces before being afflicted by【Corruption】is effective.
I"m certain that light magic would be even more effective than that.
However, Eve is already worn out from using the G.o.d bird. Exercising her power any more would affect her life.
"Kearuga, don"t make that kind of face. This is my battle. I"m the one that needs to risk my life." (Eve)
Eve starts gathering mana.
If she tries firing strong enough light magic that will pierce demon king Hakuou, there is a high possibility she will die. Even though I know that, I can"t throw cold water over Eve"s resolution.
On her head, Guren in her kitsune cub appearance gets on her.
"If you"re a divine beast contracter, it"s easy for Guren to match wavelengths. Eve gives me food, so I"ll giver her special mana." (Guren)
Guren shakes her body.
Guren"s mana flows into Eve.
"Thanks. I feel a bit more energetic now." (Eve)
"Show your good faith in meat, not words." (Guren)
"Yeah, I"ll give you a reward later." (Eve)
"Contract established. I"ll pour in a lot more mana!" (Guren)
Matching wavelengths and giving mana without burdening the other party is extremely difficult, and is close to impossible for even the best magicians. For her to easily do that… as expected of a divine beast I guess.
In the case of my【Looting Heal】, I make use of it by healing myself when I receive damage from the rejection of taking in mana that doesn"t match me.
Freya"s mud wall stops growing. She"s probably out of mana, and she doesn"t seem to be able to reinforce the wall anymore. At this rate, Freya will be killed.
One part of the mud wall breaks, and I see Freya"s scared face.
At that timing, Eve finishes loading her mana.
"Kearuga, where should I shoot?" (Eve)
"Leave it to me." (Kearuga)
I hold Eve tightly from behind, and fine tune the direction of her hand towards demon king Hakuou.
His flank that is close to his hind-legs.
Something is in there. It has been camouflaged well, and it doesn"t emit any mana apart from when he regenerates. However, I"ve already seen through it.
The mud wall protecting Freya completely collapses, and Freya gets teary eyed, trying to protect her face with her arms.
"Fire it just like this. Straight ahead." (Kearuga)
"Yeah, here I go. …【Holy Light Explosion】." (Eve)
It"s not the light magic Eve always uses. It"s a more high ranking one.
A technique that she had been secretly practicing by herself.
A torrent of explosive light fires from Eve"s hand. That light pierces straight through demon king Hakuou"s【Corruption】and flank, piercing the wall behind him and illuminating the night sky.
"Well done, Eve." (Kearuga)
Eve didn"t reply. She fainted.
Although she received mana from Guren, releasing magic with her current physical condition itself is reckless. However, I can see that her life isn"t in a serious condition. It"s because Eve"s magic formula was perfect; there weren"t any backlashes from poorly using magic.
"My injury isn"t healing. I see, so I was finally released from this abominable fetus. Kokuyoku tribe girl. Were you the one that did it?" (Hakuou)
Ignoring the cornered Freya, demon king Hakuou turns his face towards my direction.
From the large hole in his stomach, a disgusting, grey, fetus-like something that is around the size of a head fell, making a loud noise. That thing didn"t have a lower half, and was dead.
That"s the something that was healing the demon king.
"I thank you. Now I can die. My pain, suffering, hunger, irritation and anger will all be gone. I am free." (Hakuou)
He is delightfully laughing loudly.
That blow right now didn"t only kill the fetus inside the demon king, but also seriously damaged several important organs, and blood keeps pouring out.
With every second, demon king Hakuou is nearing death.
"Demon king Hakuou, what is that? Why was something like that living inside your body?" (Kearuga)
For some reason, I couldn"t see demon king Hakuou"s memories and experiences when I used【Deterioration Heal】on him.
That was my first time experiencing something like that. Therefore, I asked him.
"If that girl becomes the next demon king, she will know. In the end, a demon king is just one p.a.w.n. I wanted to become a demon king that much, but once I became one, I learnt the truth and regretted it. I wasn"t supposed to become the demon king. … However, I am the demon king. Doing something demon king like at the very end was just for a brief entertainment. O heroes. Let"s fight." (Hakuou)
While spilling blood, demon king Hakuou charges with an expression of joy.
Demon king Hakuou can"t even maintain【Corrosion】anymore.
I also go towards him.
It"s unlike me to do this, but he called me a hero. In that case, I have to fulfill that role as well.
Our bodies cross.
"Demon king Hakuou, it seems that I was stronger." (Kearuga)
Just before he pierced my throat with his fangs, I twisted off all of his muscles with【Deterioration Heal】.
I purposely didn"t give him an instant death. Leaving several seconds of room for him before he dies, I put him in a condition where he can"t move a single bit.
For Eve from now on, I wanted his memories and experiences.
I use【Imitation Heal】, that is the easiest to read through his memories. I concentrate completely, and try to read through all his hidden memories.
As I thought, there"s a lock on them. I forcibly break through them.
The more demon king Hakuou gets closer to dying, the defences loosen, but I won"t be able to read them if he dies.
Demon king Hakuou died.
… In the short time of one second before he died, the defences loosened. In that time, I was able to gain small, disconnected parts of information.
"So that"s what a demon king is." (Kearuga)
It came out in words, and I almost feel like laughing. That"s quite the clown act.
I turn around from sensing tremendous mana and light behind me, and the back of Eve"s hand was s.h.i.+ning.
The demon king candidate crest changed.
It seems that Eve was chosen as the next demon king.
Our aim has been completed.
All that"s left is to collect the philosopher"s stone from demon king Hakuou"s body and leave this place.
To protect Eve who has become the demon king, there"s something I need to do.
Eve is my lover. I can"t just let her go through misfortune before my eyes.
Author"s Note: Thank you for always supporting me.
And now, volume 2 will be released on the first of December! I worked hard to writing newly written text like s.e.x and rape that I can"t write on Narou. By all means, please read it.
TL Note: Hotcha, the link to other pictures in my ToC got updated and there are some nice new ill.u.s.trations if you scroll down.
Anyways, I want to get something off my chest right now so just ignore it if you want. So a few weeks ago I noticed this guy comment about how I "censored a word in the novel and that"s it"s a pretty big taboo as a translator". Despite the fact that there was actually a censor in the original text, which I showed to him in a reply, although there wasn’t a reply back. Then, a few days ago I read a review on novelupdates from probably the same guy considering the date and content. The review says how I "censored/changed" the Author"s original work to make it more PC… Like, first, I haven"t censored anything of my own accord, and I"ve never said that I"m trying to make my translation more PC. I tried to stay as loyal as I could to the raws as I could, and sure, my translations are bad, so my translations might not "live up to the raws" but even then… Of course, unless the author changed parts of the story from when I translated it, it should basically be the same. Oh, I do take out bits from the author"s note sometimes, such as when the author says "click the b.u.t.ton on this page" or whatever, because you guys can"t click it so there"s no point translating it, but that probably has nothing to do with this because it isn’t part of the story. Anyways, he says "The ego and arrogance of the translators made me fairly upset" which is already d.a.m.n annoying, but he even says "I have a huge/high respect for translators and almost always am very openly thankful for their work, but I absolutely can not stand people that don’t like something about the story so they change it as if it is their story to change." So basically, this guy either hates me or my translations and pretends to have read the web novel to try insult me, or he"s actually stupid and can"t see the big a.s.s censors in the middle of the words. Another possibility is that this guy thinks I’m translating the light novel (even though it clearly says ‘Web Novel’ on novel updates) since there probably wouldn’t be a censor on the word ‘r.e.t.a.r.d’ in the light novel, and there are s.e.x scenes that weren’t shown on the web novel, but that also means that this guy is just stupid. *sigh* Well, that review p.i.s.sed me off, and for some reason there are 6 likes on it…