Ch.133Undead King Elder Lich – 1

“Why… How…?”

Strength drained from my hands, and my legs trembled uncontrollably regardless of my will. Tears formed at the corners of my eyes without me realizing it. Leona’s mental state was rapidly deteriorating toward the worst possible condition.

It was the Demon Lord. The symbol of terror for humanity and the being that had been etched into Leona’s mind as trauma.

The Demon Lord she had encountered in the cave still remained vividly in her memory, and the fear she felt then could be recalled as clearly as if it happened yesterday.

The only reason she had survived back then was entirely thanks to Mira and the Holy Sword. Leona hadn’t been able to do anything. She had only watched, crying, as Mira begged her to run away while dying.

“Haa, haa, haa, haa…”

Her breathing quickened as she recalled Mira’s upper body split diagonally and the vivid red blood. She tried desperately to grip the Holy Sword that kept slipping from her hands, but the tip of the blade continued to point toward the ground.

This won’t do. She couldn’t break here. She was the Hero. Leona Brunhild was the Hero. She needed to pull herself together and face the Demon Lord. She had to endure.

And yet.

The fear ingrained in her instincts reduced Leona from the Hero of Light to a mere country girl. Terrified breaths escaped through her pale lips.

“Are you trembling, Hero?”

A voice she never wanted to hear in such a moment pierced her ears. Upon hearing the Demon Lord’s voice, Leona collapsed to the ground. Her legs had finally given out. She simply couldn’t remain standing.

Leona tried to retreat, flailing her legs awkwardly, but her weakened limbs merely slipped, kicking up dust without moving her body an inch.

It was at that very moment, as the Demon Lord took his first step toward the Hero who hadn’t managed to distance herself at all.

“Hero!”

One of the Royal Guards bravely rushed forward.

But his strike, enhanced with both physical strengthening and mana, was blocked all too easily by the Demon Lord’s bare hand. Pink eyes turned toward the Royal Guard who was struggling like an insect caught in his grasp.

“Weak, worthless, useless thing. Did you truly believe you could even touch me?”

A one-sided slaughter followed. The Demon Lord’s sword effortlessly dismantled the Royal Guard’s armor, which was said to be among the finest in the Empire, without even exerting any effort. Severed arms, legs, and fresh blood splattered across the ground.

Ironically, it was after seeing the blood that Leona, who had been in a panic and only trying to escape, regained her senses.

‘What’s this?’

A strange thought occurred to her. The Demon Lord before her was certainly strong. That much was proven by the fact that he could grab a Royal Guard with one hand and slaughter him without allowing any resistance.

But she didn’t feel at all that he was the absolute, overwhelming presence she had encountered in the cave.

Back then, it had felt like a natural disaster that couldn’t be defeated no matter what she tried, but now it seemed like she could win if she just put in enough effort. It was something she couldn’t have even dared to imagine before.

Once she detected this oddity, her erratic breathing gradually began to return to normal. While Leona was processing this, the Demon Lord tossed aside the completely dismembered Royal Guard and took another step.

Horrifyingly, the Royal Guard was still alive despite having lost half his body mass. One of the Tower Masters who had been watching cautiously used healing magic. The terrible screams gradually subsided.

‘I might be able to do this.’

Leona fumbled for the Holy Sword she had dropped and gripped it again. She could do it. Or even if she couldn’t, she had to try. Whether this was the real Demon Lord or a fake, Hero Leona Brunhild had to believe it was a fake.

After all, she no longer felt the same fear as before.

“Oh? You stand again? You don’t know your place, Hero.”

The Demon Lord mockingly remarked as he watched Leona slowly rise to her feet, using the tip of her sword to support herself.

Leona thought of Mira. The person who had made her both a Hero and a woman. Mira had fought against the real one, so Leona, who was following in her footsteps, had no reason to fear such a fake.

“I won’t lose to a fake like you.”

“A fake…”

Hearing those words, the Demon Lord snorted and swung his arm. More than a dozen Royal Guards surrounding the area were instantly dismembered. The Tower Masters hurriedly cast healing spells.

“Say that again. Do you still think I am a fake after this?”

Demonic energy leaked from his feet into the ground, corrupting the surrounding earth. The air and all organic matter began to rot. The Tower Masters and Royal Guards could no longer endure and retreated, coughing.

Only Leona remained, refusing to flee.

“Yes. You’re a fake. Because I don’t feel the same sense of inevitable defeat as when I met you before.”

“Before?”

At the Demon Lord’s puzzled murmur, Leona became certain.

“You don’t know, do you?”

With newfound confidence, Leona pointed her Holy Sword at him. The real Demon Lord would have known. If he were the real one, he would never have forgotten his encounter with none other than the Hero.

The Holy Sword began to shine brilliantly again, responding to its owner’s will. Golden wings, identical to those that had appeared when she faced Mahbat, sprouted from Leona’s back.

Light shone forth. The Tower Masters who had been coughing and suffering from the demonic energy, and the injured Royal Guards, were all healed at once. Even their severed arms and legs regrew—a sight that could only be described as miraculous.

“I will never lose to a fake like you.”

And then, daylight came to the world of night.

“How many more times do you intend to surprise me before you’re satisfied?”

“What did I do?”

As I was stroking the ghost horse in front of the half-rotted building that was once the Demon Lord’s castle, Durahan spoke with an incredulous tone.

“We are ghosts, so it’s natural that we don’t tire. But you show no signs of fatigue despite being human.”

It wasn’t an unusual reaction. Anyone would wonder what I was, given that I had been using demon sword techniques from morning until evening without showing any exhaustion beyond slightly labored breathing.

For someone like me who had done certain things in my previous world, I should have been surprised in a different sense—wondering if my body was returning to how it used to be.

“Hmm, I suppose it would be difficult to explain your own strength in words. I understand.”

Though I hadn’t said anything, Durahan seemed to reach his own conclusion and dismounted from his ghost horse. The ghost cavalry lined up behind us melted like morning mist and were absorbed into Durahan’s body.

“Aren’t you going to fight with your subordinates?”

“Are you suggesting I move cavalry inside the castle?”

“What about dismounting?”

“Impossible.”

Whether it was truly impossible or he simply had no intention of dismounting, his firm response made it clear that either way, it didn’t matter. We pushed open the castle gates and entered.

Despite the undead army we had encountered on our way here, there was surprisingly little inside the castle.

“This traitor…! How dare he defile the Demon Lord’s fortress…!”

Except for Durahan’s extreme anger at seeing the Demon Lord’s castle covered in rotting flesh. He raged that he would grind the traitor’s bones and scatter them in goblin stables.

“Hurry! We cannot allow him to defile the Demon Lord’s fortress any further!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

If it were Elysier, she would probably be pleased to see this place destroyed.

Following the enraged Durahan toward the throne room, we walked for quite some time without encountering even a single undead. There were no enemies, not even the slightest sound.

“It’s irritatingly quiet.”

“Indeed.”

The tens of thousands of Death Knights, the skyscraper-sized Death Worm, and the countless undead we had encountered on the plains seemed like a lie now. Even Durahan had calmed down again.

It was an ominous sign for us. It meant there was some kind of scheme at work.

“By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask—do you know the location of the Life Vessel?”

“No.”

“…Then do you know how to kill him? Don’t tell me you came here without knowing how to kill him?”

“I merely followed the path of honor!”

“Honor my ass. We’ll be lucky if we don’t die horribly.”

I had suspected as much. When he insisted on coming straight here, I thought he might have had something in mind, but apparently not.

I wondered how we were supposed to kill an Elder Lich. He wouldn’t have left his Life Vessel in the same place after it had been discovered once. Should I just pull out the real divine spear and burn him to death?

Durahan ignored my criticism and continued forward, shouting about honor. I followed with a sigh. I should have kept him on a tighter leash instead of trying to use him however I wanted.

—CRASH!

“You scoundrel! If you have any loyalty left, accept your death with dignity!”

Durahan kicked the door to pieces and strode in, with me following right behind, drawing my dragon fang sword. In the distance, the Elder Lich sat on a throne made of bones.

“So you’ve come… First Legion Commander… and beside you, a human… How surprising… To bring a mere human into the Demon Lord’s castle…”

“Mere human?! Unlike a traitor like you, he understands honor!”

“He understands honor…? Is that so… Was it you who has been killing demons in the east… I never imagined it would be a human…”

The creature laughed, his bones rattling.

“Since you’ve come here, I assume you wish to speak with me…? You must know that as long as my Life Vessel exists, I cannot truly die…”

No. He just barged in here recklessly.

“Nonsense! I have nothing to discuss with a disloyal creature! How dare you falsely claim to be the Demon Lord!”

“Falsely claim…? How amusing… Would you believe me, First Legion Commander, if I showed you proof that the Demon Lord has perished…?”

‘Proof? What proof?’

This was nonsense out of nowhere. The Demon Lord was living quite well, just hiding in human society, so what proof of death could there be?

“Behold… the meaninglessness of your loyalty… What could be better proof than this…?”

The Elder Lich raised his skeletal right hand and pulled something out of thin air. When the object in his hand emitted a sinister aura, Durahan’s body froze stiff.

In his hand was a demon sword.

The unique energy of a demon sword seeped out. The armor-clad body began to tremble. He couldn’t steady the tip of his sword, his helmet, or anything else.

‘I knew it. I knew it would appear again someday…’

Unlike Durahan, who seemed to have lost his mind, I had been anticipating when this would appear again, but I paused mid-thought.

Somehow, it looked different from the demon sword I had seen before.

The overall impression was similar, but even a cursory examination revealed clear differences from the original. The demon sword in his hand was much fainter.

‘Well, look at that.’

Was he trying to trick us now? I inwardly laughed as I understood his intention.

‘He’s using his brain, I’ll give him that.’

If Durahan, a legion commander of the Demon Lord’s army, was reacting this way, it must be nearly impossible for ordinary demons to tell the difference. That’s why the Elder Lich was proudly displaying it.

What he hadn’t counted on was that right here stood someone who had gathered knowledge about the demon sword from both possessed individuals and the Demon Lord himself.