CH 120

“Now, we have to open this door to see the face of the Great Demon King. …… Is it fine to touch this?”

The large door that separated us from the Demon King was a double swing door, and the handle to pull it from this side was also entangled with black ivy. Up close, it looked somewhat sticky, and to be honest, I was a bit hesitant to touch it.

“If you’re asking me if it’s fine or not, it’s not, but with a door of this shape, we can’t open it without touching it, right?”

“Umm, Shall I do it then? I have God’s Blessing, so I think it will be fine if I touch it.”

“I don’t mind you doing it, but I don’t think you can open it with your arm strength,” he said. But I don’t want you to use your strength for something like this, so I’ll just use a suitable stick for now. …..!!?”

Just as we were about to stick a stick in the handle hole to try and pull it, assuming it would break, the door slowly opened without us doing anything. The overwhelming presence leaked out from the gap as if overflowing, and the tension that should have been somewhat relaxed was suddenly brought to a state of alertness.

“Oi, Oi, this again….”

I muttered to myself, cold sweat pouring down my forehead at the sight that lay on the other side of the open door. The white polished stone floor was about the size of a dance hall. It was a little cramped for dozens of people running amok, but it was big enough for the three of us to fight on.

In contrast, there were no walls or ceilings at all. Yes, they did not exist. Outside the floor was a pitch black space, and even goblins could understand that it was not an ordinary place. What will happen if I touch that black part when I’m pushed to the side? I don’t even feel like trying it out.

And in such a peculiar space, there was only one chair that looked like a throne, framed in gold. The person sitting on the chair directly in front of us, probably about 30 meters away, was no doubt the person we came to defeat.

“…Is that the Demon King?”

“I wonder, He looks more ordinary than I thought he would.”

The Demon King was sitting on the throne, his whole body covered with a larger amount of black miasma than that of Galgados, whom we had just defeated. Thanks to this, I wasn’t sure what he looked like, but judging from his hands and feet protruding slightly from the edges of the miasma, he was probably about the same size as me, an average human male.

I had imagined a more incomprehensible creature when I heard the name [Demon King] but as long as it had the same humanoid form, there were plenty of ways to fight him――

“”””KikiKikiKakiKikiKakakakakakaka!!!””””

(T/N: It’s in raw I don’t know its alternative in english)

“Ughh!?”

“Kyaaaah!?”

“Gghh…!?”

It was probably the voice of the Demon King. We involuntarily held our ears as dozens of cacophonous sounds, like metal scraping against metal, echoed through the air.

“Riel, just now!?”

“No, it was not an attack. He simply said something.”

“I see, we can’t understand each other. Tia!”

“I know,……, I’m fine now.”

Tia’s invoked spirit magic gently enveloped our ears. Now we were no longer bothered by his voice, but the battle had not even started yet.

“Fuuu…Now that we can hear properly, just to confirm, are you willing to have a discussion or something?”

“”””KikiKikiKakiKikiKakakakakakaka!!!””””

At my words, the Demon King rose from his throne. When the black miasma rumbled and his hand went to his waist, he pulled out a long, rotting sword from it. It was a cheap, rusty, and shabby sword that looked as if it would break at any moment, but when the black miasma gathered there, a black magic sword was born in a flash.

In other words, the opponent was ready to fight.

“Well, that was expected. I’ll attack, you two cover me!”

“Leave it to me!”

“Understood!”

At a glance, even though he looked like a Swordsman, the Demon King’s means of attack were completely unknown. If that was the case, it was better to act in such a way that we can make the best use of our own position, rather than the other party’s position.

“Hahh!”

I ran normally up to the halfway point, and then activated the [Hermes Dash] in the last 10 meters. The [Dawnbreaker]’s surprise slash, enhanced by the super-acceleration, was however easily blocked by the sword in his hand.

“Huh, What the hell!? How? What’s happening!”

One was the sturdiness of the Demon King’s defense. There was definitely a rationale in the way he carried his sword, and it was not due to his natural ability to use the sword.

And other was the physical hardness of the black sword. With such a rusty, ragged sword at its core, I couldn’t cut through it with the [Dawnbreaker] that my master had forged . Then it was highly likely that the black miasma clinging to the sword completely nullifies physical force and can only be broken through by magic.

“Our attacks won’t work if we don’t remove the miasma with magic! I’ll aggro him, you two cover me!”

“”Roger!””

“So you’ll have to play with me for the time being!”

“”””KikiKikiKakiKikiKakakakakakaka!!!””””

I still didn’t know what he was saying, but it didn’t matter much. I just kept on cutting and dicing with the Demon King, while Tia and Reil’s magic kept on chipping away at his miasma. His base physical strength was quite high, so my personal battle situation was somewhat disadvantageous, however, I was able to withstand the Demon King’s attacks with my skills, and even if I was injured, I could still fight because Reil’s recovery magic would arrive instantly.

“Release, [Wind Edge]!”

“[Holy Ray]!”

“”””Kakakakikikokokokoko””””

“There!”

When the magic of the two of them had thinned the miasma out, I put all my strength into slashing with my [Dawnbreaker]. Then, for the first time, my sword felt the response of a proper cut. It was proof that my guess that a physical attack would be able to injure him if the miasma was thinned out with magic was correct, and it was a solid confirmation that we could hurt the Demon King if we worked together.

“Alright, let’s go! Keep it up!”

With confidence, I exchanged sword blows more vigorously, and Tia and the others’ magic hit the Demon King, who was focused on dealing with my attacks. After repeating this several times and when the miasma faded, I used their magic as bait and drove my sword into the Demon King.

That perfect coordination definitely continued to inflict pain on the Demon King. There was no way to know how much was left, but we were sure that we had the Demon King cornered,……, and as we continued to fight on with all our might, the miasma that the Demon King wore suddenly trembled loudly in front of us.

“All-out defense!”

Quickly jumping away from the spot, I dashed towards Tia and the others behind me.The moment I reached them and we were enveloped by the silvery-white wards that Reil had created, a black ripple surged through the battlefield accompanying a shockwave, and at the same time, a black miasma rose up from the Demon King’s back at a tremendous rate.

“Oi oi oi oi, What is that!?”

The rising miasma took the form of a man’s upper body with wings, and in his hand he carried a black sword that matches his enormous physique. In other words, the blow just now wasn’t  a last desperate attempt when he was about to lose…

“Haa~, Looks like the real battle starts here.”

“W-We’ll win…”

“””Kakakakakakakaka””””

“How convenient for you to start all over again, huh? Oi!”

I held up my sword again, swearing heartily at the winged giant that sprouted from the body of a small man.

(T/N: I’ll go with Demon King from now on instead of Demon Lord)