Chapter 45.1 – The Devil King’s Name (2)
One stroke.
Since I was holding a single sword,
Two extremes.
There was something that only I could cut.
-Gong-ja!
Blink.
-Now!
I looked in front of me.
No.
What was in front of me showed me.
-The head’s empty!
In front of me, there was someone with a black body.
Wastewater endlessly flowed from their body.
Even if I cut water, it was still water, so there was a lot to cut.
One sword, two extremes. [TN: korean idiom]
I cut what I had to cut.
-Keaaahhhhhh!
As they were cut, wastewater flowed from the King of Black.
It might not have been wastewater.
If it was, why was it red?
Blood.
Vibrantly red blood flowed from the Devil King’s body.
-Uk……keuk….!
The Devil wavered and stepped back. One step. Two steps. When he took his third step, wastewater didn’t flow from the Devil King’s right arm.
The footsteps of the Devil King were puddled with wastewater, but the puddle shrank with every step he took.
And eventually.
-Keuk, heuk……uekk…..
The wastewater was completely parting off from the Devil King’s body.
Drip. Drip.
Wastewater couldn’t flow anymore, so instead, blood flowed down.
The color of life was red.
[The being of the Devil King of Fall Rain is becoming even fainter.]
And the all-powerful was no more.
-No……this can’t, uek….!
The Devil King covered his left arm with his right hand. Blood was flowing from his left hand. The Devil King pressed tightly against his left arm like he forbade even a single drop of blood from dripping out.
-My child……not like this….my hate….
“Retreat.”
I spoke in a low voice.
The Devil King paused like he had been cut by my voice.
“Fall back to the 20th floor. You can’t win against me anyway. Return to your base, to the Devil King’s Castle.”
Even without looking at the ‘world map,’ it was clear what was happening.
Blue territory. The territory of humans covered the continent again. It pa.s.sed the hills. It pa.s.sed the area called the G.o.ddess’s s.h.i.+eld. The temple with the one-eyed giant, the fields where the fairies were dancing, the waterfalls where the mermaids were playing, the mountains where dragons flew…..there wasn’t a single place that wasn’t blue on the continent.
Meanwhile, the red territory was,
“Go back to where you started from.”
One point.
It was only a single point.
Just as how a fire died down afters burning everything in its path, there was only a tiny red point on the world map.
That place was,
“Your final stop. Devil King.”
The Devil King groaned.
-You….
The Devil King lifted his head. Wastewater had stopped and blood was pouring down, but half of the Devil King’s body had been burned black. So was his face. His red eyes flashed violently, but that was it. The Devil King glared at me with an ash-covered face.
“Hmm.”
The Sword Saint wordlessly gripped his sword.
“I’ll leave the last attack to the Death King.”
The Witch slowly pulled her mirrors back.
-······.
There wasn’t a chance to turn the tables. They didn’t have any weakness. Was it because I saw the Devil King’s trauma? I felt like this was the situation where they were surrounded by the soldiers in the village.
-Keuk!
There wasn’t anything else for the Devil King to do other than escape. But the reason why the Devil King couldn’t easily decide was because he knew as well. It was the same.
Like how avoiding a fire only extended your life for a minute, even if the Devil King retreated to the 20th floor, his defeat was just pushed back.
-s.h.i.+t….! s.h.i.+t!
Blood dripped from his mouth.
[The Devil King has decided to retreat.]
[The Devil King of Fall rain is falling back to the 20th floor!]
Yes.
Running away even though you knew you would burn to death was something a human would do.
The further the Devil King was running away, the closer he was to becoming a human.
[Confirming the Devil King’s retreat.]
[Historical change.]
[The 19th floor stage is being revised.]
The world was covered by raindrops of light again.
After I checked that the Devil King was gone, I turned to look behind me.
“Sword Saint.”
“Mm.”
“Black Dragon Master.”
“Yeah.”
“Sorry. I want to clear the 20th floor by myself.”
I hung my head.
“Thank you for helping me so far. But I want to finish it with the Devil King. Please let me go alone.”
“······.”
The Witch shrugged her shoulders.
“Okay. I’m fine with that. You contributed the most coming on our way here…and I promised not to move for 5 days as you said. I broke that promise and helped you, so I’ll honestly stay still this time.”
“Hmm.”
The Sword Saint put his sword back in its sheath.
“After today, it’ll already have been 5 days. Meet me after you’re done with the 20th floor. We have a lot of things to talk about.”
“Yes, sir. Understood.”
I hung my head again.
“Thank you.”
And I moved on.
“Transmit.”
To the 20th floor stage.
[Welcome, Death King.]
Devil King.
To the village that Estelle was born in.
2.
[You have entered the boss stage.]
The second time.
This was the second time that I entered the boss stage.
Compared to that time….there were a lot of similarities and a lot of differences.
[The challenger(s) is Death King. 1 person.]
[May luck be with you.]
First, the notifications.
Like on the ‘h.e.l.lfire Residence,’ there was only 1 challenger. It was solo playing. The tower, like always, wished me luck.
However.
There was something definitely different from last time.
[The clear rewards are being given.]
[The rewards from the 11th floor to the 19th floor are all being calculated.]
Now, I wasn’t a simple challenger.
I was a conqueror who had cleared the 11th floor up to here.
The tower greeted me, a conqueror, with 9 different trumpet sounds.
[Calculating the 11th floor clear rewards.]
[Calculating the 12th floor clear rewards.]
[Calculating the 13th floor clear rewards.]
[Calculating the 14th floor clear rewards.]
[Calculating the 15th floor clear rewards.]
[Calculating the 16th floor clear rewards.]
[Calculating the 17th floor clear rewards.]
[Calculating the 18th floor clear rewards.]
[Calculating the 19th floor clear rewards…]
Plod.
I took a step forward.
[Calculation complete.]
Listening to the melody that greeted my footsteps.
[The tower acknowledges your accomplishments.]
[The power to change any skill is given to you!]
[As long as it is not an EX Cla.s.s, you can strengthen any skill.]
It was like an anthem that was blessing me.
The tower had made a stage in advance. The direction of the quests was decided as well. But I didn’t walk the path that was already paved for me. I made a completely new stage and cleared the stage using my methods.
The tower had acknowledged my methods.
As if it was trying to say ‘that’s also fine.’
[The powers of the Death King are being readjusted!]
It also happened during this time.
[The limited powers of an apostle are given to you.]
[With this reward, you are given a limited authority,]
[The skill that you want to strengthen is up to you!]
A stage that wasn’t chosen in advance.
A method that wasn’t chosen in advance.
Just like that, the rewards weren’t chosen in advance either.
‘…Hm.’
I nodded my head inwardly.
‘They’re leaving the choice to me I see.’
I didn’t know why the tower was built. I didn’t know who did it either. I didn’t know if the tower was filled with life from other worlds.
There was still a lot that I didn’t know.
But I faintly knew what kind of being the tower was now.
‘A being that watches over our decisions.’
And it was a being that remembered my decision.
‘Fine.’
Kas.h.i.+ng!
I lifted my sword.
‘I’ll show you my decision this time too.’
An artifact that an ancestor of the empire had used.
[Lefanta Aegim’s Holy Protection Sword] reflected my Aura, s.h.i.+ning white.
I pointed my sword at the [Enemy] in front of me.
“Alright.”
The entrance of the 20th floor stage.
It was standing on a path that led into a small village.
“It’s time to meet your end, Devil King.”
-······.
It growled quietly.
It looked like a beast that had been irrevocably injured.
The beast that had been chased by the fire of the world was only able to have a small shelter like this. It was the path that led to the village.
-It’s my….
In the middle of the road with white flowers, the beast was standing all alone by itself.
-It’s my village!
It cried out.
-Don’t you dare destroy my paradise!
And its voice rang out.
[The boss stage is being opened.]
The curtains of the stage had opened.
The stage of defeating the world’s weakest boss.
“······.”
I looked at the sky for a moment.
It was clear. It was blue.
The sky had originally been blue territory.
Looking at the cloudless sky, I was sure.
Today.
The rain didn’t pour.