Chapter 17. Demon Genevy.

Buung-, the axe grazed over his lowered head. At the same time, Ji-hyuk twisted his body to avoid the two spears aimed at his side. Finally, he deflected the spiked mace of the figure presumed to be the warrior Leig with his sword.

The demon bastard’s offensive continued. Since all four of them, from their bodies to their weapons, were made of slime, even a single hit could lead to paralysis.

They swung their weapons relentlessly. Ji-hyuk dodged the attacks, looking for an opportunity to counterattack. Then, he quickly slashed the relatively slow axe bastard’s torso with his holy sword.

ㅡㅡ!!

A chunk of mana disappeared. But it wasn’t annihilated. Thanks to the enormous amount of mana it had accumulated, it seemed to have somehow maintained its form. But when Ji-hyuk swung his holy sword once more, the situation changed.

The axe bastard’s body, split in half, crumbled and melted away. Of course, they weren’t just taking hits. A spear flew towards Ji-hyuk’s back, which seemed like an opening, but the warrior anticipated the attack and spun halfway around, deflecting the spear sideways with his sword.

The demon Genevy was genuinely flustered by that. He was no ordinary strongman. The demon, thinking he might actually be defeated, reassembled the slime into a single mass. Then, he suddenly stretched out tentacles in all directions, dragging in all the monsters and swallowing them whole.

ㅡㅡㅡㅡ!!!!

The monsters screamed. They were chewed up in the demon bastard’s mouth and crushed into chunks of meat. And that made the demon even bigger.

He changed his form again. …This time, it was just one being.

Ah-.

Ji-hyuk never imagined that this demon bastard would shape himself into that.

It had the arms of a monkey, the wings of a bat, the head of a lizard, and the torso of a lion.

Ji-hyuk immediately recognized its identity.

Demon King Kilke-roid-.

How dare a mere demon imitate the appearance of the Demon King.

If the Demon King found out, he’d be immediately sentenced to annihilation, but since he’s going to die one way or another, he’s probably just making a last-ditch effort.

– Keuhahahahaha

It laughed like a third-rate villain. It even imitated the laughter exactly.

Of course, it couldn’t unleash the same power as the real Demon King. If it could, it wouldn’t be stuck in this backwater; it would have already taken over a district of the Demon Realm and become a real Demon King.

Still, he was honestly a bit nervous. No matter how strong he was, it was impossible to face the Demon King one-on-one in his current state. That was something that would only be possible in two or three years at the earliest.

The demon bastard created a giant axe in each hand. It was the form of a berserker. Ji-hyuk guessed that this bastard’s master might be Demon King Kilke-roid. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to imitate the form, laughter, and weapons so perfectly.

As soon as he picked up the axes, he started hacking at Ji-hyuk like crazy. He was indeed worthy of being called a berserker.

But with that attack, Ji-hyuk grasped the demon’s limitations. As he had guessed, it seemed that even if he copied the form, he couldn’t copy the power. It was too pathetic to be the Demon King’s attack. If he were the real Demon King, Ji-hyuk would have already suffered a major, fatal wound somewhere.

Of course, that didn’t mean he could just ignore it. It was weaker than the Demon King, but he was still a demon. And getting hit by that axe would still result in a fatal wound.

Kwang, kwang, kwang, kwang, kwang, kwang, kwang-.

It was an incredible attack. Even the monsters were surprised and backed away.

The team members were also shocked. No matter how great their leader was, they couldn’t guarantee that he could survive such an attack.

In desperation, Ya-el focused all her strength and increased the brightness of the orb.

ㅡㅡㅡ!!!

Annoyed by that, the demon bastard strongly threw one of the axes he was holding at the magician. Gid quickly blocked it with his shield. However, the impact of the flying axe shattered the shield in an instant, and his arm was severed. He also suffered a large gash on his face.

“Aaaaaaaargh-!!!”

Blood spurted out like a fountain. The monsters seized the opportunity and attacked again. Grendal swung his iron club, blocking them.

“Gid, Giddeueueue-!!”

Ya-el shouted, shocked, at the fallen Gid. Seeing that, Kayak yelled at the top of his lungs.

“Healer, heal him quickly, heeeal-!!!”

Gid, who was screaming, soon began to slump over due to the paralysis poison. At least his mouth was still working.

“Shit, fuck, what the fuck, my body won’t move, my body won’t move, you shiiiiit-!!”

“Heal him first, hurry-!”

Grace, panting heavily, ran to Gid and healed him. Mahu-shu quickly picked up the severed arm and placed it against the joint. Fortunately, the arm reattached. But the paralysis poison didn’t recover quickly.

With Gid incapacitated, a hole had been created in their combat power. The burden on the front line increased accordingly.

Grace trembled as she looked at the blood on her hands. She was reminded of the nightmare from that time. She felt like she was about to have a seizure. But she decided to no longer run away and fight back. After all, there was nowhere left to run.

…Yeah, if I die fighting, I die.

Strangely, after thinking that, she felt a bit relieved. The seizure subsided. The fear that had been consuming her disappeared.

Her beloved lover had died. Her comrades had died. It wouldn’t be strange if she died too. …Yeah, she could die at any time. She had to be prepared to die.

Grace suddenly became calm. It was truly amazing. It was as if she had reached a state of detachment. The team members even worried that she might have gone crazy because she had suddenly become so quiet.

Fortunately, contrary to their worries, she began to heal the team members again. The minor wounds that had appeared in the meantime were healed again.

Gid, lying flat on his back, screamed that he was going to die. Mahu-shu, unable to bear it any longer, kicked him.

“Hey, shut the fuck up, you’re being annoying-!”

“I can’t move my body, you fucker-!”

“That’s why we’re going through all this trouble now-!”

While the team members were in chaos over one axe strike, Ji-hyuk repeatedly slashed the demon’s body with his holy sword.

He struggled desperately. Kwang, kwang, kwang, kwang-. The axe struck the ground like crazy.

– You rat-like bastard, die, die, just die already-!!!

He even extended tentacles from his body to attack, but he didn’t get hit even once. The demon bastard was now on the verge of going insane. How could he be so helplessly toyed with by a mere human-!

It was impossible.

It was an impossible thing to happen.

He couldn’t believe it.

I am the demon Genevy. I am Genevy, who can devour everything in this world-!!

The demon bastard swung his axe down with all his might. And at the perfect moment, he even swung his tentacles. No matter how skilled he was, there was no way to escape this.

…However,

A flash of light drew a long trajectory. It severed the tentacles and the demon’s torso.

– Ah

Mana poured out like water from a punctured jug.

– Aaaaaaaargh

The countless things he had devoured until now were instantly blown away.

The sword slashed down again.

– Aaaaaaaargh

And it slashed again.

– Stop, stop, stooooop

The demon lost his will to fight there. He was just a being with nothing but gluttony. There was no way he would have pride or tenacity.

He turned around and started to run away. But Ji-hyuk relentlessly followed him, slashing and slashing again.

As the demon lost mana, the barrier began to disappear. The pitch-black sky gradually turned blue. As light began to appear, the monsters began to writhe in agony.

Ji-hyuk briefly sheathed his sword and looked up at the sky. The barrier was soon completely gone.

…Ah….

The monsters began to run away from the light. The team members, who had been fighting mindlessly, were finally able to catch their breath.

Heo-heok, heo-heok, heo-heok.

Their bodies were covered in blood and sweat. They collapsed to the ground, panting heavily. Mahu-shu lay flat on her back on the ground. She didn’t even feel ashamed that her bulging breasts were popping out from between her torn clothes.

Grace also lost strength in her legs and collapsed to the ground. Tears streamed down her face without stopping.

Ah, aah-.

She sobbed. Grendal also sighed deeply and looked into the distance.

Of course, it wasn’t completely over yet. Ji-hyuk slowly moved towards where the demon had run away. Ironically, he had fled to a ruined temple.

– Stop, stop…!

He cowered in a corner where no light entered, trembling.

Ji-hyuk didn’t feel sorry for him; instead, he felt extremely disgusted.

He began to slash the demon bastard with his holy sword.

ㅡㅡㅡㅡ!!!

The slime gradually shrank. Soon, the sound disappeared as well. The demon bastard soon vanished completely.

Hoo-woo-woo.

Ji-hyuk took a long breath and immediately turned around, left the building, and went straight back to his team members.

He first checked on Gid’s condition, who was lying flat on his back. He was crying pathetically, saying that he couldn’t move his body.

“Le, leader, do I have to live like this for the rest of my life? Shee-bal, don’t tell me I can’t even get it up? Huh? Me, me, do I have to live as a eunuch for the rest of my life?”

“You little punk.”

Ji-hyuk chuckled. Gid insisted that he was serious.

“Ah, Leader, I’m serious. What do I do, huh? What do I do now-!”

“Don’t worry. It’s just paralysis poison. You’ll be able to move in about half a day.”

The crying bastard’s expression brightened again. But there was more to come.

“But I don’t know if I’ll be able to get an erection in the future.”

The bastard’s face turned blue.

“Le, Leader-nim. You, you’re scaring me, right? Right? Huh? I, is it really not going to work? Hey, hey, no way. Hehe, no, right? Please tell me it’s not true-!!”

“Cut off your dick and live as a woman.”

“Leader-niiiiim-!!”

“I’m just kidding, you brat. …It’s okay. You’ll be fine.”

That’s right-! The bastard burst into cheers. Ya-el thanked Gid for blocking the attack with his body earlier.

“Hehe, Leader-nim. Give me a generous bonus. Ah, I saved Ya-el, you know-!”

“Yeah, you did well. I’ll make sure you get a good reward.”

The bastard grinned lewdly, not even knowing what he looked like.

Ji-hyuk then approached Grace. She was sitting on the ground, her head bowed deeply. Her expression was like that of a doll who had lost her soul. Tears streamed down her face. It was a silent cry.

Ji-hyuk hugged Grace without a word. That was all he could do for her right now.

That’s how revenge was. It wasn’t as satisfying as you might think.

At that moment, Grendal slowly approached and bowed deeply to Ji-hyuk.

“Thank you. Leader-nim, you have fulfilled my lifelong wish. You are my benefactor.”

Ji-hyuk just smiled and nodded lightly.

Aah, aah-. Grace’s crying suddenly grew louder. She gripped the Leader’s clothes tightly and sobbed against his chest.

“Leig, Leig…!”

She cried out the name of her dead former lover. As if she was trying to let him go from her heart now.

The team members approached them one by one. They were all a mess. Ya-el was shocked to see Mahu-shu walking around with her breasts dangling shamelessly and quickly pulled up her top for her.

Soon, Grace stopped crying and apologized for showing such an unsightly display.

Ji-hyuk stood up. And he looked over the exhausted team members, nodding lightly.

“Everyone, you’ve worked really hard. I was able to kill the demon because you were all supporting me firmly from behind. …This is all your achievement.”

The Lizardman Kayak simply bowed his head deeply, as if he felt sorry.

“Let’s clean up and leave now. There’s no need to stay here any longer.”

The team members packed their belongings. Gid, who still couldn’t move, was carried on Grendal’s back.

“Shee-bal, this feels kind of strange.”

“Why? Is your dick trembling?”

Everyone laughed at Mahu-shu’s words.

They slowly left the city. Grace kept turning her head back to look behind her. The city walls were getting farther and farther away.

…I guess I’ll never come here again.

She took one last look at the place, filling her eyes with it, then turned her head and didn’t look back anymore.

As the group crossed the ridge, the city disappeared from view forever.