Ch.134The End (5)

Clearly, the opponent was nothing more than a monster without self-awareness. But unfortunately, the enemy had developed a sense of self.

I wish this was just a baseless assumption or misunderstanding, but it’s impossible for something that uses human language to lack self-awareness.

Anyway, a monster without self-awareness was already nearly impossible to deal with. So would it even be possible to defeat a monster with self-awareness?

Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t have any decisive attacks that could take it down, and even if I did manage to defeat it, it would obviously regenerate.

Still, I don’t know for sure. Maybe, miraculously, a saving light might descend from heaven.

But strangely, such luck has never existed in my life. It’s always been that way, and this time will probably be no different.

As my despair deepened, Taeyang spoke in a tone that seemed devoid of emotion.

“Has it developed self-awareness now?”

“Yes. But that…”

We actually started getting lucky for once. While it’s tragic that the monster developed self-awareness, there’s an advantage we gained from it.

It means we can use supernatural powers that interfere with the mind. So if Taeyang does well, he might be able to completely neutralize it.

Everyone seemed to have similar thoughts as they started dividing roles among themselves.

“I’ll try to slow down time a bit.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to just stop time?”

“The enemy is too strong, so slowing it down is the best I can do.”

“Alright. Then I’ll try to freeze it or something to make it difficult to move.”

“Then I’ll sacrifice my lifespan to create a hole in that thing…”

“It’s okay. We don’t need to go that far.”

Everyone was finding their place, but I was denied even a position because the risk was too great.

But if I’m planning to wish for better health anyway, is there really a need to spare my body? Wouldn’t it be better to land at least one critical hit?

Setting that aside, there’s a much bigger problem right now. That’s Taeyang’s personality.

Taeyang would obviously be terrified and extremely tense. So the possibility of him making mistakes would be incredibly high.

While I was worrying about this, surprisingly, a voice without fear came from Taeyang’s mouth.

“Then I’ll just charge in.”

With that, Taeyang fearlessly began preparing to rush at the enemy.

“…Is that really Taeyang?”

“He’s put himself under hypnosis so he can’t feel fear toward himself, that’s why he’s like that.”

“What, did he look in a mirror to hypnotize himself?”

“You know exactly.”

So that’s why Taeyang was holding up so well without fainting. I thought he seemed too calm for Taeyang.

Anyway, Ju-an rushed ahead of everyone toward the Demon King, Haeun hurriedly tried to cast magic following Ju-an, and Taeyang charged in before the magic was even ready.

It seemed too clumsy, but since this was the first time we were cooperating like this, such awkwardness was natural.

However, the ability to slow down time, let alone stop it, was powerful enough to cover such clumsy disadvantages.

Taeyang made contact with the Demon King with surprising ease. Is this really the end?

Just as I had that thought, Taeyang removed his hand from the Demon King and spoke in a rushed manner, probably from too much tension.

“I-I failed.”

“…Why?”

“There are countless minds in there.”

“Roughly how many are we talking about?”

“At least tens of thousands.”

If there had been around a dozen minds, I would have told him to just destroy them all, but the sheer quantity on the other side was overwhelmingly nauseating.

So now Taeyang had become even more useless than me. At least I have an ability that can help someone.

“Shouldn’t we just run away? There’s no way we can win against a monster like that. Let’s escape right now and live in hiding.”

Taeyang’s terrified words came out like machine gun fire. Has the effect of the hypnosis worn off?

“Taeyang, just hypnotize yourself again…”

“No, doing that to me would just lead to suicidal behavior like before. And if we keep fighting like this, we’re going to die, so we should escape right now…”

“If you want to run, go ahead.”

Whether he stays here spouting such words or goes back to rest first, it won’t make much difference in terms of help. So it might be better to let him go.

However, surprisingly, Taeyang didn’t run away and was trying to hold out here somehow.

“You’re not running?”

“If I run, I think I’ll be killed by the others, not the Demon King.”

“I’ll somehow stop them, so you can just go.”

“But if I’m not here, doesn’t that increase my chances of dying?”

“You’re not much help whether you’re here or not.”

“…That’s harsh.”

Taeyang spoke while still trembling with a terrified expression. Can someone like him really help us?

“So do you have any way to help?”

“I’m thinking of hypnotizing it to make it difficult to attack.”

“You said it has multiple minds earlier.”

“Still, if I hypnotize it to dodge when it’s about to attack, or to charge when it’s about to dodge, wouldn’t that confuse it a little?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Taeyang began staring at where the enemy was. I should also check the situation and transfer life force or something.

With that thought, I turned my head, but Ju-an and the Demon King were already moving too fast for the eye to follow.

I could only tell they were fighting over there because of the loud clanging of metal, but I couldn’t really see if a fight was actually happening.

“…Can you see them?”

“I need to concentrate, so please don’t talk to me.”

Unlike me, Taeyang seems to be able to see them. Maybe I’m the most useless one here?

Just as I had that thought, suddenly someone stood in front of me.

Wondering what was happening, I looked closely and saw Taeyang firmly gripping the Demon King’s arm in front of me.

“Run… Cough!”

The Demon King clearly hadn’t done anything, but for some reason, Taeyang coughed up blood.

“T-Taeyang?”

“While I’m… somehow holding onto this thing’s mind… hurry…”

I can’t grasp the situation well. The Demon King has come here, but Ju-an didn’t stop it, which means…

…No, that can’t be.

Ju-an surely isn’t dead or anything. He must still be alive. Or maybe the Demon King came here without Ju-an noticing.

With such positive thoughts, I turned my head, only to see Ju-an and Haeun once again on the brink of death.

I immediately took out my gun to heal them, sacrificing my lifespan again to fire bullets.

While saving them, a thought suddenly occurred to me.

In less than a minute, two people had been taken down, and now Taeyang was in danger too. Yet the opponent maintained a relaxed appearance.

So even if I save these two, would it really make any difference? Can we even defeat that monster in the first place?

Before these thoughts could grow darker, Taeyang collapsed to the ground. Thanks to that, only I remained.

However, for some reason, the Demon King just stood there looking at me. Has it run out of energy?

“Who… are you?”

The Demon King looked at me as if confused about something. But the most confused person right now is probably me.

After a series of chaotic events, everyone suddenly collapsed, leaving only me. In such a situation, how am I supposed to understand what’s happening when it says something like that?

As I tried to make sense of this terrible situation, it seemed unwilling to give me time as it raised its sword.

“Well, it doesn’t matter.”

We came all this way, but the opponent was too strong, and we were annihilated. What a pathetically empty ending.

I wanted to resist somehow, but knowing it would just regenerate no matter what I did, I had no will to fight.

So when I finally gave up, suddenly it was hit by something and slammed into the wall.

It seems reinforcements have arrived, albeit a bit late. Probably Agath and Rebecca. With that thought, I turned my head, only to see an unexpected figure.

“…Mr. Leo?”

The person who had quit fighting because he was tired had come here on his own to fight. But if he was going to help like this, wouldn’t it have been better to help from the beginning?

As I was about to ask Leo with that question in mind, he suddenly asked me.

“By the way, do you remember I was researching ancient magic before?”

“Yes. But why bring that up suddenly?”

“I thought that if I studied magic in reverse, I would naturally reach ancient magic. But ancient magic is actually a realm that can only be reached when magic is developed to its extreme. Then why was it called ancient magic?”

Leo continued with an excited voice.

“Anyway, when I studied magic in reverse, instead of ancient magic, things that were embarrassing to even call magic emerged.

A terrifying smile began to form on Leo’s lips.

“But the casting speed was disgustingly fast. Of course, since it’s pure mana, that’s natural. So what would happen if there was enough mana?”

Now an eerie laugh that felt somewhat bizarre began to sound.

“To put it bluntly, if one could extract as much mana as possible while injecting all sorts of drugs and potions, couldn’t one create a technique more powerful than anything else?”

Suddenly, Leo slowly raised both arms toward the sky. As he did so, his sleeves were rolled up, revealing several injection marks on his arms.

Could he have come up with a way to overcome this situation? With that thought, I looked up at the sky and saw an excessively large meteor.

“W-what is that?”

“A mass of mana.”

“If that falls to the ground, won’t the world end…?”

“I’ve put in safety measures so that nothing except living beings will be affected by magic, so don’t worry. But all living beings in this area will die.”

“…”

“It’s okay, there are no civilians here anyway. And if they want to live, they’ll run away on their own.”

A cheerful laugh flowed from Leo’s throat.

By the way, it’s uncertain whether that meteor can defeat the Demon King even if it falls. Maybe it will regenerate again as if nothing happened.

Still, it’s much better than enduring without reason. With such thoughts, I began to save everyone by sacrificing my lifespan.