Chapter 344. The Advent of the Demon King and the Fallen Warrior (1)
The wolf with green mane shed tears and grieved.
"Do you resent me?"
When asked by the person called the benevolent saintess of the world, the wolf bowed his head.
"I don"t resent you. You did your best. It was just beyond your ability to treat Hyung-nim."
"But..."
The wolf firmly cut off the saintess. "My brother was a great warrior, braver and prouder than anyone else. Hyung-nim’s death was more glorious than anyone else. That"s why I don"t resent anyone. You don"t have to be the object of hatred for me. I"m also a great warrior."
Although those were his words, he couldn"t hide his tears.
An old man praised as the current king patted his dragon"s neck and told a gray-haired young man. "It"s a day that makes you hungry for alcohol. Kid, bring out the alcohol.”
The gray-haired genius, who normally would have gotten angry and said not to call him a kid, took out hard liquor from his pocket s.p.a.ce without a word.
It was unknown whether he was distracted by the pain from the terrible healing potion treating his penetrating abdominal wound or sad about losing his comrade, the old man drank hard liquor with his single arm.
The Guardian Knight of the Great Khan, who was usually playful and energetic, spoke exhaustedly, "Let"s go back... home."
The remaining people became emotional. A lot of people died. Some were lovers, some family, and others friends. Nevertheless, they had a place to go back to. There were people who survived. It was an honor full of wounds, but they won and kept the peace of the world. They could be proud.
"Yeah, you guys go back." The man, praised by the public as an almighty warrior, grasped a bracelet, a relic, and said, "I can"t let it end like this.”
The young genius madosa frowned. "What do you mean you can"t end it like this?" he asked as if shouting with his red eyes.
But the warrior looked determined and didn’t answer. Then he reached out to the witch, who now became the head of the witches. "Give me the books."
"Happy to." The witch handed over four books from the church they destroyed to the warrior.
"What are you trying to do?!" cried the genius madosa.
The warrior smiled distortedly. "I"m going to summon the Demon King again."
"He’s crazy!"
The warrior nodded at their dumbfounded astonishment. "Yeah. It"s crazy. How can I not go crazy? This world has turned into h.e.l.l for me." He spoke as if it was reasonable. Then, he handed three of the four books to the old man. "So hide these books where I can"t find them, Old Man."
"Oh, my. You selfish idiot." The old man could have burned them with dragon"s flames right away but put them in his pocket instead.
The genius madosa cried out at the sight, "What are you doing not burning it immediately!?”
The old man chuckled and smiled. "That"s why you"re a kid. You don’t have anything precious to you, right?”
The genius madosa closed his mouth, then grumbled, "What does having nothing precious to me and being called a kid have anything to do with each other?"
"You’re a kid because you don’t know that, Kid. For example... Yeah, you"ll find out when you have your own family," the old man said.
The genius madosa grumbled again, "Hmph, are you on this campaign because you have a family? What"s so precious about family?"
"Kuhahahaha! Just wait and see. The moment you have a family, you"ll become a sucker for your family more than anyone else, Kid."
"Hmph! That won"t happen!" The genius madosa shouted, but the old man was looking at the warrior with interest.
The warrior handed over one side of the horn of the Demon King and the Holy Spear, which were used to summon the Demon King, to the saintess. "I"ll leave these to you. Please fulfill your duty as a saintess.”
The saintess shed tears. "A cruel and selfish person. You know me better than anyone else and yet you still leave these to me.”
"I’m selfish, and as you have always said, I’m narrow-minded. I can"t embrace everything like you." The warrior spoke with a smile as if he might cry immediately. "So put them where I can"t find them."
The saintess cried unceasingly and nodded. "Yes. I will seal not only the Holy Spear but also the Holy Grail and the Holy Sword forever.” She hugged the Holy Grail, the Holy Sword, and the Holy Spear.
"The Holy Grail and the Holy Sword will be lost here, and only the Holy Spear will be enshrined in the holy palace. Even if it’s His Holiness the Pope, he won"t notice it if I decide to make a replica." The warrior wiped away the saintess"s tears and whispered, "Don"t cry. I"m sorry I put a burden on you."
"Don"t worry. Unfortunately, there is only one miracle left from the fight against the Demon King. If any were to enter your hand, it would be the most dangerous Holy Sword, but you’ll never touch the horns of the Demon King."
The saintess lost the power to make miracles and a huge amount of lifespan from overexertion but promised to do her best to block the warrior for the rest of her life.
The warrior acknowledged with a nod. Then he held up the Demon King summons and the horn of the Demon King and said, "With this, I’ve completed my fidelity to all of you who"ve risked your lives. The Demon King has fallen, and at worst, I won"t be able to summon the Demon King for the next 100 years."
Everyone was silent those words.
"From now on, I will collect the scattered things again and summon the Demon King. Whether you block me or not, do as you please. I"ll do my best with an excited heart."
At the words of the fallen warrior, the others spoke one by one.
-o-
Galak was lost in memory as he watched a storm of black mana constantly cras.h.i.+ng on the altar.
What did his comrades say back then?
Perhaps because he was old, he couldn"t remember clearly. Well, it wouldn"t have been very important words if it was fading from memory.
"No, maybe it’s no longer important now?"
It must have been precious words to him. However, it had no meaning for him who was about to summon the Demon King. Those were words that could not explain as the moment he had longed for was just around the corner.
"Ah, it’s been hard.”
Arpen, who had interfered with Galak the most since breaking up on the spot, stopped interfering after he had a son. He said that he understood how he felt now that he had something precious.
He, who was called the Glacial Demon King for being so cold, had become calmer than anyone else in the world.
Looking at Arpen, who turned into a sucker for his kids, Drachen laughed, saying, "See, I told you so." And Arpen accepted that he had changed despite being angry.
It was an unexpected surprise for Galak that his son turned into his biggest interference after Arpen.
"You"re here." Galak smiled and slowly left the altar and came out of the church.
The Dragon That Lived Ten Thousand Year’s Dragon Breath shot towards him.
The breath directly hit the church"s barrier and smashed it.
Zendia jumped in before the smashed barrier was restored.
"I"m here to challenge again, Father!" He took out the Spirit Sword.
The determination to not lose again and the determination to prevent him even if he needed to kill were conveyed through his martial aura.
"You’re not going to ask me why I want to summon the Demon King anymore?" Galak asked playfully.
Zendia answered seriously, "I decided to stop caring about such small things now. So please shut up and die by my hands."
In response to the brutal answer, Galak burst into laughter and activated martial arts throughout his whole body.
"Kuahahahaha! I’ll take you on, Son!"
Zendia was about to cross over, facing the limits. Although the limit had been faced by numerous ancestors, only a few had exceeded that limit.
Galak thought it would be nice for an irresponsible father to give a present to his good son at least for the last time.
The two pulled up martial arts with all their power.
"Final Enlightenment! Dance of the Fireflies!"
"Final Enlightenment! Dance of the Fireflies!”
Golden grains of mana erupted from their entire bodies and clashed.
-o-
The sight I could see in the distance was not much different from the sight I caused at the Demon King wors.h.i.+pping church.
"You"re late, Youngest."
My father came before me and was watching the battle between my grandfather and great-grandfather in the distance.
"Yes, I had something to do. Anyway, you ended it really quick. You didn"t even have the magic to seal them, right?"
Honestly, I thought my father would suffer the most. It was natural that the family members of the Demon King wouldn’t be able to even scratch my father’s body, but regeneration was very annoying.
My father smirked at my question. "It"s simple. If they keep regenerating, you just have to kill them until they can’t."
It was a very ignorant and very father-like answer.
"No, is that even possible?”
When I was surprised, my father nodded as if it were natural.
"There is nothing infinite in the first place. After killing them hundreds of times instantly, the regeneration slowed down and at some point, they couldn"t regenerate. Well, I didn"t completely block the regeneration... How should I say this?"
Unable to think of the words to explain, my father frowned and grabbed his temples. So I smiled and sat next to my father.
"The regeneration becomes extremely slow as if a bottleneck occurs due to overload?"
Indeed, it was not impossible in theory. The family members of the Demon King were a kind of chimera created by the Demon King. Even if they seemed to regenerate indefinitely with the mana of the Demon King, there was a limit.
However, it was a theoretical concept. In order to make it a reality, they had to be forced to regenerate a thousand times in a second. To be able to make it a reality against three monsters who were stronger than great demons...
He was my father, but he was extremely beyond common sense.
"Oh… Yeah! That"s it."
My father didn"t seem to understand me, but he nodded as if he felt that it was what he was trying to say.
"As expected, you"re as smart as your mother, so you explain it in difficult words."
Was bottleneck such a difficult word?
"By the way, when did the lady holding the gla.s.s next to you come? I"m sure we split up because she was going to Warrant."
At the father"s words, Hillis greeted with a smile.
"It"s an honor to meet you. I couldn"t say h.e.l.lo properly because of my escorts, but I"m Hillis, Den"s friend."
My father looked back and forth between Hillis and me with an interested gaze.
"Hmm~"
For some reason, my father flashed a bright, wicked smile.
"Yeah, nice to meet you. I’m Den"s father, Doomstone. So you"re the friend who’s the saintess. I heard about you often from Leisha in letters."
"I have also heard a lot of you, too. Den doesn"t talk about his family much, but Leisha often talks about it.”
"Ahahaha! Is that so? Well, he"s strangely cold about some things."
My father tousled my hair roughly and messed it up. Somehow, I felt an unknown sense of alienation, stuck in the center.
"But is it ok to not join that fight?”
"That"s my father"s fight. Don"t try to sneak attack the altar or anything."
I felt a p.r.i.c.k at my father"s point. If I tried to attack the altar, my great-grandfather would immediately aim for me. Then it would interfere with my grandfather"s fight.
"Then I have no choice but to wait."
My father was hundreds, thousands of times scarier than the Demon King. And even if I don"t destroy the altar, I can still easily sneak attack the Demon King wors.h.i.+pers.