CH 22

It is no exaggeration to describe my situation as a disaster.

Before me, there are now more than a hundred goblins and ogres under the leadership of the “The Demon King of Dominating Herculean Strength” that are surrounding me and protecting him. It was an unexpected act on my part for them to discover me this morning, and I never dreamed that the Demon King would be running around the fort at full speed to patrol the area.

Thus the marathon of death commenced from there.

“Gaaaaaaaaaah!”

A single goblin charges at me, swinging a club.

“Buuuuuuwee!” “Kakaka!” “Hiwo!” “Hijo!”

Simultaneously, another goblin strikes from the rear, and from further behind, a goblin archer and a goblin mage are about to unleash their skills on me.

“Hmph!”

As for my actions in response, the first thing I take is to leap towards the goblins that are pressing in on me from behind. This renders the goblin behind me unable to react to my erratic move, propelling it to a momentarily halt. Following this, by taking advantage of the momentary pause, I grab the goblin’s head with my left hand and twist it in a jerking motion while slashing the throats of the waiting goblins nearby with the Fang Blade of Disarray Dragonfly in my right hand.

Whoosh! Hyuh!

At that point, both of the two goblins in the rear release their skills at me accompanied by the aeolian sound. Against them, I repel the arrows and evade the magic by leaping away.

“Gyah!” “Gah!”

And apparently, because they are too densely clustered, the attack I deflected and dodged ended up striking another goblin who happened to be nearby. And as soon as I have landed, I attempt to extricate myself from the vicinity by cutting down several goblins using my recently acquired skills, ≪Long Edge≫ and ≪Keen Edge≫.

However, undeterred by the prospect of trampling over their dead comrades, they imperturbably re-modify their formation to encircle me.

Now, a few hours have already passed since the battle kicked off. During this struggle, I have noticed the absence of fear and fright in their eyes despite me being a solitary enemy who has massacred dozens of their comrades. In fact, I can hear them groaning and bellowing, yet I could not sense their will itself. Perhaps this is attributed to the skill of their Demon King.

And their Demon King’s policy is simple and clear: he never allows me to take a break but continuously presses the offense indifferently, endeavoring to prevent me from escaping. That’s all there is to it. It is likely that he intends to take his time to repay me for all the favors I have done for him.

“Fine then. I shall struggle to escape my adverse situation. Even for the sake of Lady Ryo.”

I regulate my breathing, re-adjust my weapon, and assess my condition.

Although I have not suffered any major wounds yet, there are numerous minor wounds on my body. My garments have become ragged and heavier from soaking up too much of the blood of the goblins. Furthermore, my weapon, the Fang Blade of Disarray Dragonfly, is beginning to slightly chip, and if I am able to survive this predicament, it will most certainly have to be re-made.

And then, the Demon King, who has only been directing instruction in the background until now, delivers his speech.

“Daaaaaaaaaahhhhhh! Quit fiddling with your little tricks! You f*cking brat! You should have just gone and got yourself killed while begging for my forgiveness!”

As expected, or rather, unlike Kurokiri, who is also a Demon King, this Demon King here seems to be quite short-tempered and acerbic. To be honest, I would rather not engage in a confrontation with a Demon King at my current level, but…

“Enough! You guys stay back! I will finish her off in person!”

It seems impossible. Apparently, the only way for me to proceed is to be prepared so I am about to brace myself with my weapon. But,

Boom!

“Gah!?”

When I realized that my body was slammed against the wall of the dungeon, I could hear what sounded like an explosion in my ears. And then, an acute pain ravages my entire body. In all likelihood, I would have not only sustained fractured bones but even my internal organs would have been impacted.

Yet even more egregious than that is the fact that neither could I see nor hear anything.

It is only after a series of motions that I finally grasp the reality of what has transpired to me.

“Agghh…”

“Heh, even though I cut a few corners to leave your corpse for exhibition, you’re still breathing after taking a blow from me. Do you possess some kind of mysterious skill? Or is it thanks to all the levels you’ve raised by obliterating a bunch of my goblins?”

The Demon King approaches me as I am collapsing. And if he’s really intending to go all the way, that means I won’t even have an intact body left.

“Well, whatever.”

While saying so, the Demon King performs the pre-motion of the attack as if to demonstrate to me, differing from before. And the power concentrated in his fist is evidently greater than the previous one.

“Either way, it’s game over for you here!”

Then the Demon King’s fist is unleashed towards me, and I shut my eyes, contemplating the outcome of my own fate.