CH 270

Chapter 270 – Those Who Commit Treason?(5)

Ο

* * *

Ο

Up to what point is something considered a battle and at what point does it turn into a war?

That line is actually clearer than what one might think. However, when the battle consists of rulers that all have the power to rival entire nations━this changes everything. Each clash of swords transcends and become resounding battles while duels enter the realm of war.

“Very well, then. Rulers.”

Therefore, every Demon Lord standing here was comparable to an entire nation.

“I will gladly accept this declaration of war.”

In response, a single Demon Lord stood firmly on his two feet. He was an empire that had not fallen even once in the past 5,000 years. Demon Lord Baal removed his glove and tossed it. The black glove hit the marble floor.

Forty-seven Demon Lords.

And one Demon Lord.

“My beloved comrades━let us start the war.”

The first round began.

First, five of the combatant Demon Lords rushed forward.

The Demon Lords moved to the positions they had determined beforehand as they became five separate gusts of winds approaching from five different directions. The leader of this charge was Rank 12 Sitri. She was a monster who managed to reach her rank through her power alone.

It would become messy if too many people tried to go in at the same time and sending in too little wouldn’t be enough to face Baal. Thus, 5 Demon Lords were selected. They all possessed a strength that far exceeded that of swordmasters.

Baal watched them with calm and tranquil eyes.

“Roar, Chandra.”

One of the twelve unique spells enchanted on the sword was activated.

It was a unique spell from the Scarlet Dragon tribe that was capable of making the sky and earth tremble with its simple but animalistic aura alone. It granted the user the ability to cut anything that possessed the concept of being a ‘weapon’.

Furthermore, it was an absolute effect.

The whip sword that Sitri swung around like a whip was cut apart as if it were made of paper. Long swords, spears, and scimitars were easily destroyed. A look of shock appeared on the Demon Lords’ faces. Weren’t they using the best weapons made out of adamantium?

Nonetheless, Sitri grinned and rushed forward with her bare fists.

Sitri let out a roar as she threw out a punch, but Baal just barely pushed the attack to the side with one hand. An opening had appeared. The remaining four combatant Demon Lords attacked as planned. A series of bare-fist attacks were launched from all four directions.

“Splendid. Hand-to-hand combat is the most fundamental form of battle.”

Baal swung his sword and smiled.

“However, your bodies are also nothing more than ‘weapons’.”

The Demon Lords were cut at the waist.

A large amount of blood sprayed out. The Demon Lords who were cut at the waist let out screams as they fell to the floor powerlessly. Only Sitri managed to predict the attack with her animalistic instincts and managed to move to a safe distance while only sacrificing her left arm.

There was no moment of pause as the second round started.

– Baaaaang!

The ceiling of the ballroom collapsed. The dolls that were lying in wait on the ceiling had jumped down. The number of dolls exceeded the number of combatants in the first round by ten times.

They were dolls that were created for the sole purpose of combat. They were the murder machines that Ivar Lodbrok had made personally for the past 3,000 years. These soldiers were made for the sake of getting revenge on Demon Lords. They weren’t sentient, so they couldn’t be controlled by Demon Lords.

Murder machines the girl who was betrayed by a Demon Lord had desperately designed to fight against Demon Lords.

The dolls descended with expressionless faces while all holding sharp weapons.

“I see. You have involved a puppet master.”

Baal was in awe as he stared up at the collapsing ceiling.

The fact that 50 dolls were created was already impressive, but being able to control all of them at once was also praiseworthy. Puppeteering was harder to learn than magic. It was an extremely inefficient field. Reaching this level of skill must have undeniably required blood, sweat, and tears.

More importantly, wasn’t the sequence of attacks interesting?

First, the pure combatant Demon Lords attacked. In response to this, Baal activated a unique Scarlet Dragon spell. Dolls were set in afterward.

Even if Baal could cut the dolls in half, the dolls aren’t living beings, so they could keep latching on to Baal like spiders even if their limbs or bodies are cut or crushed. This would make his powerful spell useless. The sequence of attacks had been fully thought out.

As if the other party had a full understanding of Baal’s arsenal.

━Dantalian.

There was no one other than him who could devise this sort of plan.

Baal felt a surge of excitement fill his guts.

That’s right. This wasn’t simply a war between forty-seven Demon Lords and one Demon Lord. Beyond the splendid and violent combat, Baal and Dantalian were weighing each other’s moves like two supreme commanders playing chess.

The chess pieces on top of the board were the pure and noble Demon Lords.

Wasn’t this a rather luxurious chessboard?

In that case, there was no reason for Baal to not go along with this divine and luxurious chessboard.

“━Disable anti-magic.”

Baal disabled the anti-magic spell that was on his mantle. It was a powerful enchantment that nullified almost every spell used against it, but, in return, it also prevented Baal from casting any spells. Baal was filled with an unbearable amount of enjoyment once he released his seal. He began his chant.

“Man originally carried one life.”

An explosive amount of magic started to burst out from Baal.

It was purely magic power. Baal wasn’t that skilled as a mage, but he was capable of displaying the same destructive power as an archmage simply by erupting his magic power. The 50 dolls were swept up by the wind pressure. The murder machines were torn into shreds along with the ceiling rubble.

Third round.

“O spirits, o primitive and lawless nature.”

Rank 4 Gamigin started her chant as soon as the ceiling was destroyed.

A beautiful golden aura lit up Gamigin’s body. It wasn’t only her. 20 of the mage-class Demon Lords started to chant their spells in a single voice like a choir. They had been preparing a huge spell since the start of the battle.

“Darkness to darkness━.”

“From intrinsic will to intrinsic will. Matter to matter.”

“Return ash to ash.”

Hundreds of spells poured down on Baal.

“Kuhahahaha!”

Baal burst into laughter as he watched the storm of spells approach him. Baal was laughing like a child as Niflheim Palace collapsed around him and a thunderous roar resonated all around.

As he expected, Dantalian was excellent. A rain of attacks poured down on Baal as soon as he released his anti-magic spell as if they had been waiting for this moment the entire time.

Dantalian had truly planned out the scenario perfectly. He said that this was his gift to him. A gift like this wouldn’t bore him no matter how many times he received it.

Baal raised his sword.

“Rend, Nirmanarati”

Another unique spell was activated.

It was a unique spell from the Azure Dragon tribe that befitted sly mages as the tribe was more wicked and cunning than other tribes. If the Scarlet Dragon tribe’s unique spell could break all ‘weapons’, then the Azure Dragon tribe’s unique spell could slice through every ‘spell’.

Baal swung his blade once, twice, and thrice at the spells that were quickly approaching him. The first swing nullified half of the spells with the wind power alone. The next swing nullified the remaining half of the spells and the final swing was sent at the Demon Lords who specialized in magic.

Wretched screams rang out. The seven Demon Lords grabbed their chests and collapsed after they received the direct hit. The unique spell had severed all of their magic power temporarily. Their magic power rampaged and turned the insides of the Demon Lords into mush.

It was overwhelming.

Dantalian and Baal had carried out three rounds, but while one side was quickly losing their forces, Baal hadn’t budged an inch.

If Baal had panicked or gotten excited even slightly, then he would have probably gotten swept up by everything Dantalian had prepared. However, Baal was responding while simply feeling happy and at peace.

The summons that Barbatos had set in ambush, the combined assault by the combatants, the doll swarm, and the focused attack from the mages had all been repelled.

What more did he have left up his sleeves?

And then, the fourth round.

“Mm……!”

Baal looked up.

Up in the evening sky beyond the hole in the ceiling, hundreds of large objects were falling like meteors. It was the wyvern unit with 500 wyverns. The massive dragons relied solely on gravity as they descended downwards.

“A suicide attack, is it!?”

In other words, a suicide squad.

Baal tried throwing out wind slashes that contained the unique spell, but the wyverns received no damage as they descended at a terrifying speed. Anti-magic spells had been cast on them beforehand. Baal was in awe of Dantalian’s meticulousness.

Let’s endure it here.

Baal readied himself in order to reduce the damage as much as possible. It was impossible to dodge 500 wyverns. They must’ve had slave seals on them, as they couldn’t be controlled via a Demon Lord’s commanding power. It was an unavoidable attack.

However, it wouldn’t be a critical blow.

Baal was confident that he could easily endure being hit by wyverns.

“Roar, Chandra.”

He changed the unique spell to that of the Scarlet Dragon tribe again.

He was planning to sever the bodies of the wyverns before they landed on him. It wouldn’t get rid of the impact, but it would definitely decrease the intensity by a fair amount.

Dantalian had probably expected Baal to be injured to a certain degree by this point.

He most likely thought Baal would get slightly injured by the combatant Demon Lords, more injured by the dolls, and be exhausted after the magic barrage. After that, he would finish things off with a suicide attack by the wyverns…… was this his plan?

It was a splendid plan, but he, unfortunately, chose the wrong opponent.

‘Nonetheless, this is more than enough to be my rival.’

Baal smiled as he watched the wyverns approach.

He considered Dantalian to be an unpleasant and shallow person. This hadn’t changed, but he was now an unpleasant and shallow person who could fight against him. Baal was pleased by this realization. Therefore, Baal decided not to punish Dantalian after achieving a victory here.

However, he was going to have to at least punish Barbatos, Paimon, and Gamigin.

He had heard that they were Dantalian’s lovers. He was certain that Dantalian would be filled with an endless rage and become hellbent on revenge for the rest of his life if his loved ones were to die. Playing along with his intense desire for revenge should be rather enjoyable.

His plan was complete. The wyverns reached him just as he finished making his plan.

Baal swung his large sword and the wyverns’ innards rained down as they were split into two. It was at the moment when Baal was certain of his victory and was about to smile. Something small descended on him along with the wyvern blood.

It was a beautiful girl with black, fluttering hair.

‘━A human child?’

Baal scowled as he was caught off guard. No matter how powerful of a Demon Lord you are, you cannot read the emotions of humans. Thus, Baal didn’t even notice that a human was riding on a wyvern. Was this Dantalian’s last trump card?

“Humph!”

Baal hastily blocked the girl’s strike with his sword. She was a young human, but her attack was surprisingly powerful despite her young age. She was worthy of being Dantalian’s final hidden card. That was it. Baal may have been caught off guard, but he wasn’t so weak that he would lose to this. He managed to block the blow by a razor-thin margin.

Baal asked a question benignantly.

“Human child, how reckless of you. Why has a child stepped foot on this battlefield of the strongest?”

“…….”

There was no emotion in the girl’s eyes.

Just as Baal was about to send the girl flying, it happened.

Without any warning━his armor broke, his flesh was torn, and the sound of bones breaking resonated. 

“…….”

Baal looked down at his body impassively.

Dozens of black broadswords were piercing through his body. Black blood flowed down the blades. Baal looked further down to where the blades were coming from as if he were looking at someone else’s body.

The swords were coming out from Baal’s shadow.

It was the death knights which he had thought he had incapacitated at the start of the battle.

“……Mm. How—?”

Before he could even finish asking his question, dozens of more blades came surging out from his shadow as if they weren’t going to allow him to ask questions. His right arm, left arm, thighs, abdomen, and heart. Broadswords pierced through almost every part of his body that had a name.

Footsteps could be heard coming from the dust cloud that was kicked up by the fallen wyverns.

The footsteps stopped right in front of Baal. The sound of clapping soon followed.

“Your strength is truly terrifying, Your Highness. I am in awe.”

Dantalian was still smiling as if a battle never happened.