Ch.142142. Victory

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Professor Weaver momentarily froze at the noise coming from a distance. The knights, with their more sensitive hearing, naturally had tension written across their faces.

Everyone knew where this sound was coming from.

It was likely noise generated by three extremely powerful beings inflicting brutal violence upon each other somewhere in the Demon Lord’s castle.

The Demon Lord, the Hero.

And Beast King Leoneo, who was slightly below their level but whose influence on the Empire might be greater than the Demon Lord’s.

This was a 2-on-1 battle that ordinary skilled individuals weren’t even allowed to watch. These extraordinary powerhouses were clashing with their lives on the line.

‘That’s why we’re operating separately.’

Currently, the Hero’s party was divided.

After all, only a limited number of people could inflict effective damage on the Demon Lord. That’s why Professor Weaver was moving as a separate unit with a few swordsmen.

Though excluded from the battle with the Demon Lord, he didn’t feel particularly ashamed. The current Hero’s party wasn’t interested in honor anyway.

Besides, Professor Weaver and his personnel weren’t just sitting idle. They had been assigned a separate mission.

“What should we call this… psychological warfare, perhaps?”

“That’s one way to look at it.”

Professor Weaver and his team were currently scouring the Demon Lord’s castle, eliminating remaining forces.

Although the combat forces that had emerged to intercept the Hero’s party were essentially disbanded, the Hero judged that the Demon Lord’s castle wouldn’t be left empty.

Professor Weaver was searching for them.

Not simply to kill them, but for another purpose.

“There they are.”

The holy knight Holan’s voice. What he pointed to were creatures with child-sized bodies. They appeared to be imps, about twenty of them. They growled and took combat stances as if they were the Demon Lord’s army, but they weren’t much of a threat.

“Your deaths will be the Demon Lord’s fault.”

Garland stepped forward and spat these words. Several imps who were about to cast magic suddenly looked serious.

“…!?”

“The Demon Lord begged the Hero for his life, swearing never to venture outside the Demonic Land again if his safety was guaranteed. He even offered to surrender all the wealth stored in the castle. I wondered if ‘that’ was really the Demon Lord.”

“…! …!”

“The Hero didn’t tolerate such disgusting behavior. He said it made his life-risking journey to the castle feel meaningless. He ordered us to eliminate the remaining forces, saying it was right to slaughter those who defended such a Demon Lord to the end.”

With these words, Garland and the knights simultaneously launched aura slashes. Professor Weaver also fired light bullets.

“Keeek!?”

Crack!

The small creatures were cut down pathetically.

However, the attack wasn’t meant to annihilate them all. They deliberately let a few escape. A few needed to survive to spread the rumor.

The rumor that the Hero’s party, disappointed by the Demon Lord’s disgraceful behavior, was venting their anger.

Of course, the Demon Lord had never begged for his life or offered to surrender his wealth.

But there was no possibility that the truth would be revealed later. The Demon Lord, the only one who knew the truth, was about to be vanquished.

Holy Knight Holan, one of the younger ones, tilted his head and asked, “Isn’t this too hasty?” His logic was that the work of returning demons to their original pure state could be done after vanquishing the Demon Lord.

It sounded reasonable, but Professor Weaver disagreed.

“Sir Holan. We have the Hero, the Beast King, and even the Saintess. And Elder Priest with divine power comparable to the Saintess is also lending his strength.”

“I’m not worried about the Hero losing, but…”

“Right. No need to worry. If they lose with that much power, it means the Demon Lord alone could bring down the Empire anyway.”

“……”

If by some chance the Demon Lord won, though unpleasant to imagine, they might witness the Demon Lord taking direct action.

And honestly, even without the Demon Lord’s intervention, the Empire would fall apart anyway.

It wasn’t hard to imagine how disastrously the Empire would deteriorate without the Hero, Erick Wellesley.

“…Well. Perhaps even now, some people are betting on who will win between the Demon Lord and the Hero. Don’t you think?”

“I doubt it. A bet with only win or lose as options would have terrible odds… No, this isn’t the time for such talk.”

“It’s fine. We know each other well anyway.”

This was a conversation between Garland and Lord Ordellon, who were also academy seniors and juniors.

It was basically cynical banter, but it might not be just a joke. It was entirely possible in the current Empire. There might be gambling going on not just about who would win, but about how much the Hero would bring back.

‘Perhaps our students are even running that gambling operation.’

Professor Weaver felt overwhelmed at the thought of returning to the Academy. He was also curious about how much it had deteriorated by now.

But this wasn’t the time to feel drained.

The Hero, who was suffering the most, was preparing for what came after even before settling things with the Demon Lord. It was only right to try to lighten his burden a little.

“Let’s find them all.”

Afterward, screams continued to echo sporadically throughout the Demon Lord’s castle.

***

Crack!

The Demon Lord’s fist, crudely infused with magical power.

Even though it wasn’t a direct hit, my vision shook and my brain seemed to rattle. I could indirectly experience the pain of those who had been hammered by my weapon.

The Demon Lord was, naturally, strong. I had no basis for comparison, but he probably wasn’t bad enough to be recorded as the worst, most vile Demon Lord in history.

Just by casually waving his hand without incantations, he could summon jet-black spears from thin air to threaten my life, and occasionally he would use illusion magic to make me attack places where nothing existed. With my resistance, I wouldn’t even fall for a Tower Master’s tricks.

And overcoming that wasn’t the end of it.

If I dodged his magic, the Demon Lord would immediately close in and strike.

“Hero! I’ll kill you at least!”

The Demon Lord’s face, as he frantically attacked me, was contorted with rage.

‘Were my words that irritating?’

A ferocity unbelievable for a Demon Lord who had been confined to the Demonic Land for many years.

Because of this, I was focusing on defense. It wasn’t easy to find an opening to counterattack against the ruler of the Demonic Land who was unleashing violence he had bottled up for decades. He was on a different level from the countless demons I had torn apart with my bare hands.

However, it was actually the Demon Lord who was consistently taking effective hits.

The reason was simple.

I wasn’t alone.

While the Demon Lord might want to settle things one-on-one with me, I wasn’t stupid enough to waste the Beast King’s presence.

And even without my direction, Leoneo had special feelings toward the Demon Lord.

Even now, the Beast King was repaying all the humiliation he had received.

When the Demon Lord focused on me, Leoneo would attack from behind as if offended at being ignored,

And when the Demon Lord smartly directed magical power at the clergy, Leoneo would cast protective magic to defend them. Thanks to this, I could strike the Demon Lord without worry.

Gradually, the number of wounds the Demon Lord sustained increased.

Still, the Demon Lord lived up to his title; he demonstrated the ability to heal injuries on the spot. It was almost miraculous to see his tattered body restored instantly. He was probably forcing magical power into healing.

It was an impressive recovery ability, but there was no way he could continue like this indefinitely.

Evidence that the Demon Lord’s power was being depleted was already apparent.

Flash!

A slash I delivered with determination.

For an instant, light flashed, and immediately after, the Demon Lord’s forearm was in tatters.

The Demon Lord, staring blankly at his body’s wound, roared desperately and activated his recovery ability.

His spirit remained as fierce as ever, but the recovery speed had noticeably slowed.

Even the recovery ability itself seemed diminished, as wrinkles remained on his forearm.

“Not yet…!”

He said this, but unlike before, he didn’t rush in madly to attack. He just glared at me with a look of dismay.

It seemed the Demon Lord had finally reached his limit.

Of course, I was also tired and injured, but not comparable to the Demon Lord. It was thanks to the Elder Priest and the Saintess taking turns blessing me. They were pouring in divine power almost excessively.

Me with allies easing my burden on both offense and defense, versus the isolated Demon Lord.

Perhaps the outcome had been determined from the beginning. The Demon Lord must have known this, yet he charged at me in a frenzy because of his anger toward me.

But even that driving force was now nearing exhaustion.

‘He probably won’t just offer his neck and ask to be killed.’

Did he think he needed to settle this before his magical power was depleted?

The Demon Lord’s face, which had been distorted with anger, gradually began to regain its gravity.

He probably had that expression when he employed Iclit and directed absurd schemes. At that time, the Demon Lord likely thought he was easily manipulating ignorant humans.

But thinking about it, the Demon Lord was just another patient infected by the poison Gwon Heejin had spread. Like humans, he had rampaged without knowing he was infected.

‘But that’s over now.’

Having regained the dignity befitting the ruler of the Demonic Land at the last moment, he then prepared an attack that seemed to scrape not just magical power, but his very life force. It was remarkably similar to the end of the previous Demon Lord that I had heard about as a child.

“Uaaaah!”

The Demon Lord charged at me, shrouded in jet-black magical power.

I decided to respond willingly, holding the holy sword to my chest and kicking off the ground.

Clang-!

A flashing light, fading vision, pain as if my skin was being scraped off. And the holy sword I swung, overcoming all that pressure.

“…!”

The next moment.

What entered my vision was the Demon Lord, gasping with half his body blown away.

All his previous malice had vanished somewhere; the Demon Lord just stared at me vacantly.

He seemed to want to say something, opening and closing his mouth, but I could see his eyes turning black without leaving any last words. Looking for my hammer just in case, I finally felt the fatigue rushing in and collapsed on the spot.

The moment the battle with the Demon Lord finally ended.

…As I had already expected, the sense of achievement wasn’t particularly great.