Ch.190Demon Lord (3)

*

As I chanted the spell, I was seized by a dizzying sensation.

The incantation I had just uttered was an advanced magic spell that I had never successfully cast even once in my life.

In this moment, when a single mistake could clearly lead to death, deciding to use an advanced spell I’d never successfully cast before was foolish gambling with terrible odds.

Of course, there were reasons—my mind had become hasty thanks to Sylvia suddenly counting numbers, and in such a desperate situation, the binding spell that flashed through my mind was the only one I could think of—but regardless of any excuse, it was an unforgivable mistake.

It was the most shocking moment of my life.

Sylvia had already kicked off the ground and taken flight, and the mana gathered at my fingertips had already begun forming the spell.

Thump.

A single heartbeat sounded, as if striking my eardrums.

Thump.

No, perhaps due to my extreme shock, time seemed to flow more slowly.

I could see Sylvia’s movements, which normally would have been impossible to track with the naked eye.

Her body had already reached right in front of the Demon King.

I wanted to warn her.

My spell is going to fail, run away now.

I wanted to shout that to Sylvia.

But cruelly, my lips and tongue were far too slow to keep up with my thoughts.

No, perhaps my current state was simply abnormal.

After all, less than a second had probably passed since Sylvia had leaped.

I wanted to squeeze my eyes shut, but even my eyelids moved terribly slowly.

It was as if this single moment had been divided into eternity and preserved.

That eternal second flowed slowly, like a curse forcing me to witness the mistake I had made and its conclusion for an excruciatingly long time.

“…!”

The marble floor beneath the Demon King’s feet momentarily turned into a squishy texture, then quickly transformed into a swampy mire that swallowed the Demon King’s bony ankles whole.

That squishy floor instantly shot upward, enveloping the Demon King’s entire lower body, then hardened immediately, returning to its original pristine white marble state.

The Demon King was completely immobilized, fixed in place by the marble that had encased his lower body.

“…Ah.”

The numerous life-threatening crises that had found me.

All the misfortunes that had rained down as if trying to force me to my knees in despair.

And even Sylvia’s incredibly grueling training.

All those past experiences that had tormented me so terribly had certainly inflicted pain comparable to hell itself.

But perhaps it was thanks to those times of burning pain, hotter than hell itself.

I had successfully cast an advanced spell that I would never have managed in the past.

Time accelerated again.

My vision once more lost track of Sylvia.

But unlike me, I had not the slightest doubt that her skills were perfect, without even the thinnest margin for error.

She would cut off the Demon King’s head at a speed invisible to my eyes.

Sure enough, Sylvia was already standing far behind the Demon King in a posture suggesting she had swung her sword.

She reflexively shouted:

“Well done, Maria!”

Sylvia immediately made an “oops” expression, then smiled faintly, looking embarrassed.

I didn’t reproach her.

Instead, with a blank expression, I quietly gazed at Sylvia’s smile and then…

“Haha,”

I laughed lightly.

If my magic had seemed even slightly similar to Sister Maria’s to Sylvia, who knew Sister Maria’s magic better than anyone, there could be nothing more prideful for me.

A vision flashed before my eyes—my younger self, bitterly smiling while watching Sister Maria’s back, someone who was simultaneously so close yet so far away, wrapped in feelings of inferiority and defeat.

The gap between my sister and me that kept widening no matter how hard I tried.

Because she was both such a wonderful sister and such an incredible genius, I had desperately thrown myself into studying magic, suffering because I could never close that gap no matter how much I struggled. To that younger me, Sylvia’s small mistake was sufficient reward.

If I had narrowed that gap even by a single step, I could guarantee that all that time had meaning.

“I really did it…”

Perhaps that’s why.

Was it because I was too happy to properly see my surroundings?

Or was it because of my infinite trust in Sylvia’s abilities?

I failed to notice in that moment.

The fact that the Demon King was still standing perfectly fine.

“Ash! Not yet! The Demon King!”

At Pia’s urgent cry, I turned to look at the Demon King in confusion.

The Demon King was still caught in my spell, but he was standing there perfectly intact, without a single cut anywhere.

Sylvia too seemed to have belatedly realized that the Demon King hadn’t fallen.

She alternately looked at her sword and the Demon King.

There was clearly a sticky, yellowish residue on her sword.

The liquid looked the same as what had been dripping from the cocoon.

It seemed she had indeed cut the Demon King, but it apparently hadn’t inflicted any significant damage.

It was an uncharacteristically careless mistake for her.

To be so distracted by accidentally calling out Maria’s name that she failed to confirm whether her enemy had fallen.

But Sylvia was a strong person who acted first rather than dwelling on regrets and self-blame.

She immediately rushed toward the Demon King once more.

“…”

Each time Sylvia’s sword flashed, the Demon King’s body was helplessly cut and torn.

But not a single piece of flesh fell from the Demon King’s body.

“…”

I carefully observed the Demon King’s appearance.

Though Sylvia’s sword repeatedly sliced through the Demon King’s flesh, his body reattached itself the moment the sword passed through.

Even to me, who had witnessed invincible abilities and powers while living with Sylvia and Sister Alice, the Demon King’s current state was extraordinarily bizarre.

Sylvia gave the impression that any attack capable of killing her would vanish before it could even touch her, while Sister Alice seemed to heal injuries the moment they occurred through her overwhelming divine power.

The Demon King’s condition was somewhat different from those.

It was closer to the image of a clay figure rejoining after being split in half.

Sylvia, who had been continuously swinging her sword, seemed to tire as she leaped high and retreated far away from the Demon King.

I hurled a massive fireball at the Demon King.

Pia used wind magic to concentrate the rising flames on the Demon King.

But the Demon King’s figure, briefly visible through the blazing flames, still appeared completely unharmed.

“…Damn it. What the hell is that thing?”

I cursed while thinking of my next spell.

As the flames died down, I unleashed a frost spell to completely freeze the Demon King’s body.

When the Demon King’s body froze, Sylvia immediately rushed forward and tried to shatter his frozen form.

But the Demon King still stood there intact.

“…Fine then. Let’s see you endure everything.”

I circulated and gathered the mana flowing through my blood vessels.

And I began to pull out every spell I knew from my memory.

“I can do this now.”

“Yes, I’ll help you, Ash.”

“Let’s go, Pia. Let’s try everything.”

A thick bolt of lightning struck the Demon King directly.

The Demon King remained unharmed.

Wind sharpened like a blade cut the Demon King in two.

Still, the Demon King stood.

I tried illuminating the Demon King with intense divine light.

The Demon King didn’t care.

Void scythes pierced through the Demon King’s body.

The Demon King let them pass through as if he were a ghost.

“Damn it all!”

All offensive magic was useless.

It felt almost as if he existed outside the same physical laws as us.

Witnessing this incomprehensible phenomenon, as bizarre as his grotesque appearance, I could once again feel a chill of terror running down my spine.

And what fueled that feeling of terror even more was the sight of the Demon King standing still without any reaction while being attacked like this.

“Just fall already!”

I tightened the marble holding the Demon King’s lower body, crushing his legs.

The Demon King’s upper body broke off at the waist and rolled onto the floor.

“Ah! Now!”

Sylvia shouted.

I immediately shot magic at the ceiling, causing massive debris to fall toward the fallen Demon King’s head.

Large fragments crashed down onto the Demon King’s head with a thunderous sound.

The cocoon floating in the air was also crushed under the debris, smashed against the floor.

As a huge cloud of dust rose, I turned my head and squeezed my eyes shut.

“No, not yet.”

Sylvia spoke before the dust had even settled.

Indeed, as the dust slowly cleared, the Demon King stood there, freed from my magic that had been holding his legs.

Yet that monstrosity still didn’t move at all.

“Spirit magic?”

I looked at Pia and asked.

Pia shook her head and said:

“I don’t sense any spirit power.”

“…Then what is that thing… and why is it just standing there?”

Neither I nor Sylvia continued our attacks as we glared at the Demon King.

The Demon King still had no intention of moving.

Only the unpleasant eyeballs at the end of his long face continued to wriggle incessantly, observing in all directions.

“No attack works.”

Sylvia muttered slowly.

She seemed to be trying to assess the situation.

“Swords don’t work, magic doesn’t work, crushing it with debris is useless.”

“…Are you saying there’s no way?”

“I don’t know.”

“Before…”

“It was cut then. I think we shouldn’t use that time as a reference anymore.”

At Sylvia’s quietly uttered words, I closed my eyes, exhaling a trembling breath.

The elation of successfully casting an advanced spell had long since subsided.

Despair began to envelop my entire body.

Failure.

Those two syllables gradually filled my mind and heart.

Perhaps it was because I had been continuously casting spells in this thick demonic energy.

My lungs and throat stung terribly.

It felt as if bile carrying the scent of death was rising past my uvula.

I forcibly swallowed and clenched my fists.

No,

I can’t give up.

There must be a way.

I forcibly repeated these hopeful words to myself, trying to raise my increasingly sinking will.

At that moment, Sylvia smirked.

“Ah, damn it.”

“Sylvia?”

“Ash, wait here without moving an inch.”

Sylvia said this while slowly gripping her sword and taking a deep breath.

The blade, which had been gleaming black from absorbing the blood of countless monsters and humans, began to glow with a pure white light starting from the ridge.

It was a light all too familiar to me.

“Ah…”

Sylvia bent her body deeply, then rushed forward like an arrow being fired.

A white flash of light darted toward the Demon King’s neck.

“…!”

The Demon King, or rather that bizarre monstrosity, showed a reaction for the first time.

A sound like the combined screams of dozens of different beasts.

Emitting a truly indescribable, terrible howl, the monstrosity twisted its revolting body in an unnatural direction to avoid Sylvia’s sword.

Sylvia, who had spun in the air and landed elegantly on the ground, rose to her feet and let out a bitter laugh.

“Goddamn Alice.”

“…Ah,”

“That useless woman is always absent exactly when we need her.”

Divine power.

It seems divine power is the only weakness of that monstrosity.

.