Ch.145The Main Character (3)

# Main Character (3)

Clang!

Esmeralda blocked Eleven’s sword energy and thought.

‘As expected… I can counter it!’

One who bears an immense karma. One who fights alone carrying all of that burden.

Hero.

It was a moment when the value of that title shone brilliantly once again.

Previously, she had been defeated before she could even get accustomed to Eleven’s attacks.

But it was true that she was becoming familiar with Eleven’s attacks.

Except for the final blow, she had somehow managed to endure.

Having already overcome that trial and recalling countermeasures by reviewing past battles, Esmeralda was now displaying a completely different aspect than before.

“Hehe…”

“Are you laughing? Or are you panting?”

Clearly, Eleven was the one pressing the attack. However, Esmeralda had grown through their previous battle, and thanks to that, she could block Eleven’s attacks with relative ease.

As that happened, what became apparent was Eleven’s stamina problem.

The limitations of an aged body.

“Of course it’s because I’m enjoying this!”

But even while leading that aged body, Eleven could joyfully cross swords with Esmeralda.

A warrior’s pride. A sword dance formed by matching with a worthy opponent.

Eleven’s sword was rough, wild, and simultaneously violent.

Esmeralda’s sword was precise, orthodox, and sharp.

The swords of two different people.

Eleven felt joy in the ripples created when those swords met.

‘Ah, I see.’

And while observing himself, Eleven could realize one fact. He clearly enjoyed fighting.

Being born a warrior, he felt alive through combat.

But as he aged and the things he had to be responsible for increased, the weight he had to carry with his sword grew, and he too had to become more serious.

He had to transform from a beast into a commander leading an army, and after that, Eleven rarely felt joy through combat.

What remained was only the unsettling fact of killing someone and the sense of mission to fight for the cause engraved in his heart.

Yet here he was, feeling joy.

Eleven finally noticed what was causing this joy.

‘The end is near.’

His time was running out.

His aged body was urging him to rest now.

That was why.

Because death had come right before his eyes.

That’s why Eleven was feeling his aliveness more poignantly than ever in the midst of battle.

This fight would be his last. There probably wouldn’t be a next time.

That’s why he had set aside his report to the Demon Lord’s army and waited for Esmeralda.

“More…”

The name that would gloriously mark his end, [Hero].

If he died fighting a hero, wouldn’t that be the very proof of his life?

Couldn’t he make some excuse that he had accomplished something for the sense of mission and justice he had deeply engraved in his heart while killing countless people?

“A little more…!”

Eleven urged his body that wouldn’t move as he wished.

While resenting his body that wouldn’t align with his thoughts, he felt desperate.

This was the last fight of his life. It was the art he would leave to the world. He couldn’t leave that art as a mediocre work.

“Push me a little more!!”

“Kuk?!”

Eleven’s momentum, which had been gradually weakening, suddenly increased.

His attacks, which had been misaligned with his thoughts due to his aged body, suddenly pushed Esmeralda back with precision.

The final radiance before death.

A moment of reflecting on one’s life.

The process of lighting the last remaining candle and burning it.

Kiiiing!

Eleven’s ominous sword deflected Esmeralda’s holy sword.

Instead of picking up the holy sword she had dropped, Esmeralda grabbed the rapier closest to her among the swords she had been controlling with her sword magic.

Swaaaash!

The rapier cutting through the air.

After knocking away Esmeralda’s sword and preparing for a follow-up attack, Eleven was caught off guard by Esmeralda’s fastest possible strike.

“Kuhak!”

Eleven, who reacted too late to that attack, tried to twist his body, but avoiding it was impossible. With the intention of at least avoiding vital spots, Eleven offered his shoulder and swung his sword.

“Kuk!”

Esmeralda, who should have been focusing solely on evasion and defense in such a situation, was cut deeply across her cheek by Eleven’s counterattack and stepped back.

But she quickly regained her composure and thrust her rapier again.

“Hup!”

Chang!

But this attack lacked momentum, and Eleven responded to it.

He deflected the rapier that was rushing through the air to the side.

But as if he had swung too forcefully, Eleven couldn’t bring back his sword and was dragged along.

He couldn’t withstand his own strength.

“…”

A silence formed between the two who had been exchanging attacks and defenses without a moment to breathe.

“Huu…”

Instead of retrieving her holy sword, Esmeralda properly gripped her rapier and took a thrusting stance.

It was a recreation of the fastest and most beautiful thrust she had ever seen.

Fellheim Senova’s swordsmanship.

“Hahaha!”

Looking at that stance of a single fatal strike, Eleven sheathed his sword with a joyful heart and took his stance.

The stance of the drawing technique that had sent Lug and Esmeralda flying to the edge of the cliff before.

The hero of the fortress city.

The commander of the Demon Lord’s army.

Human and demon.

One who determined the end and one who reached the end.

And swordsman and swordswoman.

A single legacy left at the end by those who had accumulated unspeakable amounts of time in their respective camps.

“Then.”

“Die.”

The essence of their lives clashed.

***

A revenge match against Force and Twelve, the two commanders of the Demon Lord’s army.

The situation didn’t seem to have changed much from before. Garnet was still facing Commander Force alone, but Extra had been added to the lineup facing Twelve.

Twelve frowned as the meaning was clearly visible.

“So, you’re betting on who will win first?”

Having four people against him meant they wanted to deal with him quickly and go support Garnet.

In that case, the only way for Twelve to survive was to hold out until Commander Force defeated Garnet.

Although it was unfair to be suddenly targeted so intensively, Twelve frowned and snorted.

“I must look like quite a fool to you. Don’t think you can defeat me easily like last time.”

Yes, he had already lost to the hero’s party. When he attacked them at the ruins, he was repelled instead.

He had to flee shamefully, and now he was facing a hero’s party that had become much stronger than before.

Yes, they would think they could win. And they actually would.

Twelve couldn’t win.

A 1:4 fight, and against a hero’s party that had clearly become much stronger than before.

“But the hero isn’t here. Well, looking at you guys now, that might seem like a minor error…”

Swish swish swish.

The sand controlled by Twelve begins to flow like a river.

The sand he had prepared in advance. The amount is alarming.

“I’ve also made thorough preparations to face you. Strategy isn’t necessarily something the weak prepare to defeat the strong.”

Twelve doesn’t become arrogant.

There are plenty of people in the world stronger than him. And he also knows that opponents who were once weaker than him can surpass him today.

Wasn’t that what happened to him?

During his school days, the boy who was weaker than anyone and only got bullied has now risen to the position of the 13th strongest in the Demon Lord’s army.

Nothing is eternal. There’s only effort, talent, preparation, and variables.

“Come! Hero’s party.”

And the greatest strength that Commander Twelve possesses is…

“I’ll fight dirty and unfairly!”

The fact that he doesn’t obsess over things like pride or fairness.

Having already experienced the bottom of life, he’s long past the stage of worrying about his image becoming ugly.

Having instantly grasped the hero party’s purpose, Twelve immediately used most of the sand to strengthen his defenses, and the remaining sand began to move to bind the hero party’s feet.

He doesn’t think he will win. He won’t be able to win.

But even if he loses.

“Force will win for me!”

Because his comrade will surely defeat Garnet and come here.

So he just endures.

Ugly and cowardly.

That’s how he will survive.

***

Garnet knows well what Force’s strengths are. At least she has information.

How he fights, what he can do, and what he can’t do. She knows all of that.

That’s partly because she was formerly affiliated with the Demon Lord’s army, but also because she had been preparing for the ranking battle.

She had originally planned to target Commander Force.

But as the situation turned out like this, she couldn’t help but sigh.

When she was fully prepared, she couldn’t fight, but now she has to fight Force with her life in a state that’s far from ready.

Against a monster below a beast that doesn’t even communicate.

“Well, that’s right. I didn’t expect you to have a conversation.”

Whoosh!

Garnet wrapped herself in flames to avoid the hammer Force swung.

And not just by a paper-thin margin, but by retreating excessively far.

Pit!

But even so, Garnet was injured. It’s not that Force has a means to attack opponents regardless of space.

Force only has strength.

And the hammer he wields with that strength tears through the air and crushes even parts that aren’t in the impact area.

‘Thinking about it now, the Demon Lord’s naming sense wasn’t all bad.’

Force (forth) and Force (force).

A pun that’s not even funny.

But that unfunny pun couldn’t feel more credible than it does now.

Force is huge. A monster that easily exceeds 4 meters.

But his attack range is even wider than that.

He only has strength?

But what can you do if that strength is overwhelming?

It’s meaningless to pour attacks from a distance or launch wide-area attacks.

Force’s strength can destroy the surrounding area and collapse mountains with a single blow.

Force’s skin and muscles are incredibly hard and tough, perhaps because they generate such strength or because they need to withstand it.

Attack and defense. The fact that all of it stems from his strength.

Extreme strength that reaches its peak and devours all compatibility.

“But if I chip away at it, it will wear down.”

Garnet’s plan against such a Force is simple.

No matter how hard and tough the skin is, if you keep attacking, wounds will appear. And as wounds increase, the opponent gets closer to death.

Garnet’s specialty is fiery flames with powerful firepower and swordsmanship utilizing them.

And…

<Carbuncle Soul>

The technique of splitting and dividing her soul.

A meteor shower pours down from the sky.

Garnet’s clones, containing flames that blaze like the sun, all strike Force and then distance themselves.

The total number of clones she created again is seven.

“And I can chip away at you seven times over. Easy.”

Garnet began to target Force along with her clones.