Chapter 109: The Sage Sees the Power of the Previous Demon Lord

The Demon Lord lunged at me.

I carefully observed her movements, and tried to parry it with the keepsake sword.

Just before our weapons could collide, her spear’s trajectory changed.

If I were to parry as is, she would immediately pierce through me.

Did she read my move…?

I instantly understood what had happened.

The Demon Lord was a master in the art of spearmanship.

She was the only person who could match that person's swordmanship skills in combat.

If she still had the experience of that time, I was convinced why I failed to parry her attack.

I stepped forward while turning my face.

The spear’s thrust beside my head with a gust of wind.

The sounds of bones being scrapped and cracked echoed.

I experienced numbing pain, but that was a negligible injury.

I was immortal.

Unlike a living person, most things wouldn’t be fatal to me.

Even if this body was reduced to fine dust, I could just revive myself in a spare body.

I swung my sword as she entered my range.

“Nu.”

The Demon Lord tilted her spear to block.

A heavy sound echoed, and pieces of her scales and carapace scattered.

The slash had smashed the spear apart.

“How about this?”

The Demon Lord was unfazed even as her weapon broke.

She did a backhanded swing with the broken spear, and struck on a stone tip.

I blocked it with a tiny barrier.

She jumped away during the small gap and created a distance.

The Demon Lord smiled as she looked at me while playing with her spear.

She called out to me as if she was impressed.

“That’s a nice move. Did you change your occupation into that of a swordsman?”

“You should’ve known it already. This is but a borrowed skill.”

I resolutely replied to her emotionlessly.

I could never reach this level of skill purely through my own hard work.

Perhaps even with a practically ageless immortal lifespan, I would still be unable to recreate it.

It was only because I absorbed the skills and experience in the Valley of the Dead that I was capable of imitating it.

The Demon Lord let out a long sigh.

She had a faraway look beneath her helmet.

She spoke with various emotion imbued in her words

“…Aah, there’s no way I would forget. That was the swordsmanship of the hero who slew me. I see that you managed to use it. Looking at how familiar you moved, you must have reaped countless lives using it, right?”

“I deem it necessary to achieve my purpose.”

I answered her question.

What I repeated so far was a series of unforgivable slaughter.

I turned even innocent people into undead and arrogantly made use of their lives.

My goal wasn’t the only thing I carry.

I stood here at the cost of countless lives.

I couldn’t afford to stop.

I had to make sure their deaths were meaningful.

That was the duty imposed upon me.

On the other hand, the Demon Lord looked at me as she stroked her chin.

“Fumu. By the way, I have forgotten to ask your goal of declaring yourself as a Demon Lord?”

“To become the indestructible evil of the world which would deter human’s conflicts. That way, permanent peace would be achieved.”

The Demon Lord froze when she heard my answer.

It seemed she was pondering something.

I could hear a small growl.

Eventually, she muttered.

“—Interesting. That’s a good goal to have. However, that path is endlessly steep. Do you have the resolve to keep going?”

“…”

I pointed the end of the keepsake sword toward the Demon Lord.

There was no need for words.

That was the portrayal of my intention.

It no longer needed to be said.

I already prepared myself the moment I became the Demon Lord.

Otherwise, I wouldn’t have come this far.

My spirit would have long since collapsed.

The Demon Lord chuckled as she saw my reaction.

I could sense a certain kindness in her tone.

“That's a good attitude. Not bad.”

A spear was created from the Demon Lord’s hand once again.

There was a strong holy attribute enhanced on it.

I was familiar with that one.

That was the ability that the current generation of the Hero had used.

He used a holy sword at the time, but there was no doubt about it.

Did she gain that ability by taking in their ashes?

That was the only reason I could think of.

The ashes that supposedly had no effect whatsoever, unleashed their power once incorporated by resurrection spell.

I wouldn’t be surprised if it had such an effect.

Above all, since the Demon Lord in front of me used holy power, there was no way to deny it.

“This is the end of our idle chat — let us continue.”

The Demon Lord put a rushing stance.

It would be bad if I were to take damage from that spear.

It could be fatal against an immortal like me.

The damage could directly reach my soul.

I unleashed the flame of miasma before she moved.

The flame burned everything around us.

However, when the Demon Lord rotated her spear to entwine the black flame, they were erased.

“Too bad. Is that all?”

I used magic instead of replying, unleashing lightning strikes and wind blades with one hand.

The Demon Lord created a shield out of her scales and carapace with her free hand.

She ran straight at me while blocking the magic.

Then I fired a stake made of miasma at her.

Even as the stake sank into the shield, it failed to hurt the Demon Lord.

The result was the same even as I added even more stakes.

The Demon Lord approached without losing momentum.

I have increased its penetrative power though. That’s an amazing defensive power.

This time, she deflected the stake I fired towards her.

The Demon Lord lost her stance slightly.

I took advantage of that moment and ran my sword against her spear.

It cut off her shield, and I slashed further toward her.

The slash struck the Demon Lord’s torso.

“…gh.”

The Demon Lord retaliated with a series of thrusts, so I avoided it by transferring away.

I would be at a disadvantage if that hit me.

I should definitely avoid that.

As I transferred a little further away, and checked the damage she received. 

There was a diagonal slash mark on Demon Lord’s torso.

Blood started to flow out.

I'd intended to cut her in half, but it seemed it was too shallow.

The scales and carapace of the Demon Lord wriggled, blocked the wound and it was no longer visible.

It seemed that it started healing beneath that armor.

She gently stroked her blood-soaked torso.

“Pain… nothing else makes you feel more alive than that, wouldn’t you agree?”

“It would be best to win without taking any wounds.”

“Kuhahah, you are still as stiff as usual. Even if your appearance has changed, your fundamental personality didn't. You’re still the Sage who supported the Hero.”

Something appeared from the feet of the laughing Demon Lord.

The thing that produced a clear metallic sound and orbited in the air, was the chain made out of holy light.

Dozens of chains swell around the Demon Lord as if trying to protect her.

Even just by looking at it, my non-existing eyes felt pain.

That was the divine magic used by Saint Makia.

There was no way I could forget about it.

I was put in a lot of pain because of that chain of light.

I already expected it the moment she used the current generation Hero’s power, but it seemed she could also use the Saint’s ability.

Both of them were deadly to me.

It was the peak of Anti-Demon Lord power.

Even though I thought it was unfair, there was no meaning in protesting about it.

The Demon Lord laughed wryly as she saw her spear and the chain of light.

“Seeing how much holy power has bathed me, I would surmise that I couldn’t declare myself as Demon Lord anymore.”

With that said, she gazed at me and took a low stance, like crawling, while holding her spear.

Her killing intent sharpened even further.

The atmosphere seethed once more.

“I’m still growing even now. Do the same if you don’t wish to die.”