Ch.192Demon King (5)

My statement about wanting to approach the Demon Lord was, in any way you looked at it, utterly absurd.

Silvia had firmly instructed me to stay behind her, and judging by Pia’s displeased expression at my words, I could clearly tell that my opinion wasn’t welcome.

However, Pia didn’t try to argue with me or persuade me otherwise.

She just messed up her hair in frustration and grumbled with a disgruntled face.

“Ugh, I don’t know. If something happens to Ash, Silvia will try to kill me, so you better protect me from that.”

Pia said this while aggressively twitching her fox ears that stood up on her head.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at her ridiculous reaction.

Though I had spoken with apparent confidence, in truth, my entire body was frozen with fear. Thanks to Pia’s light joke, I felt some of the tension dissipate.

“I’m not joking.”

Pia, who seemed to have read my thoughts as usual, glared at me with half-lidded eyes.

I spoke while watching Silvia cutting down the Demon Lord even at this moment.

“What could Silvia possibly do to you anyway? You’re a spirit.”

Pia pointed at Silvia and shouted.

“No, how can you say that after seeing that? She’s nullifying the Demon Lord’s evasion with such an absurdly brute method!”

“…”

Indeed, as Pia said, the sight of Silvia attacking the Demon Lord was surreal.

Silvia’s sword is a custom-made piece several times heavier than ordinary swords.

I tried to lift it once before; though I managed to pick it up, my arms trembled just trying to extend it forward, and I dropped it.

It was something I couldn’t swing satisfactorily even with both hands.

Yet there she was, not only swinging that heavy chunk of metal as if it were light but also instantly changing its trajectory at angles greater than 90 degrees without any reduction in speed.

It was honestly hard to believe what I was seeing.

Pia clicked her tongue and said:

“What is that? I don’t know, it’s scary. I feel like that woman would find a way to harm even a spirit.”

“Come on… she wouldn’t do that.”

“…”

“…She wouldn’t.”

Avoiding Pia’s stare, I lifted each foot and tapped the front of my shoes on the ground to loosen up.

I also slowly rotated my shoulders and arms to prepare myself to move as satisfactorily as possible.

Each time the toe of my shoe touched the ground, a stinging pain shot through my entire foot, eventually traveling up my ankle to my knee.

My rattling shoulders and waist seemed to be screaming in pain as well.

My whole body was in tatters.

I could clearly feel that my stamina had already reached its limit long ago.

It wasn’t surprising.

After the day’s march, I had to endure Maria’s magic without proper rest, then I had to witness my sister becoming a puppet of the demon race, I had to kill Valder with my own hands, and I lost Alice.

Both my body and mind were completely exhausted.

Perhaps the despair that had been eating at me until just now was due to my impaired judgment caused by that fatigue.

“Huff…”

My body feels heavy.

The weight of the armor pressing down on my shoulders is burdensome.

The sticky, salty smell of Valder’s blood clinging to my armor is irritating.

My overworked soles and ankles continuously emit neurotic pain.

Meanwhile, my eyes are soaked with fatigue and pain, and with each blink, my eyelids try to hold on as if urging me to just close my eyes.

“I need to focus.”

I bit my lip hard enough to tear it.

My canine teeth pierced through my plump lower lip with a squelching sound.

The sharp pain drove away the drowsiness, and the tangy taste of blood covered the nauseating smell.

The pain in the soles of my feet seemed to subside, if only for a brief moment.

“Ugh.”

“What a crude method.”

“I guess living with Silvia has made me a bit tougher.”

“Of all things to imitate…”

“They say couples grow to resemble each other.”

“Ew.”

Pia shook her head with a disgusted expression.

I quietly stroked her head.

“What’s with you?”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For accommodating my stubbornness.”

Pia is my guardian spirit.

She says she has existed in this world as a spirit since the moment I was born.

Perhaps when I die, Pia will die too.

I slowly opened my mouth.

“Pia. I’m not doing this to die…”

“It’s fine, don’t try to persuade me. There’s no need.”

“…”

“Ash just needs to ask me. Whatever it is, I’ll make it happen for you.”

Pia follows my reckless plan without complaint.

Simply because I want it.

My parents, Layla, Silvia, and Alice—the faces of those who loved me and devoted themselves to me flashed through my mind.

But among them, the one who has been most devoted to me is undoubtedly Pia.

She has been protecting me even before I knew it.

Pia has always been by my side and will always be by my side.

“…”

I felt as if a large piece of ice that had been weighing on my heart was slowly breaking and melting away.

The immense sadness I felt when I lost all my family, and even Alice.

The loneliness of knowing that there was no one left in this world who knew my childhood, my true self, my past—it felt like it was slowly being erased.

I remained silent for a moment.

Blood from my lip slowly pooled in my mouth.

I swallowed the blood clot along with my saliva and said quietly:

“Let’s do this, Pia.”

“Yes.”

Pia extended her hand to me.

I firmly grasped her hand.

At the same time, I felt a sensation as if my body was being pulled into her.

It was a familiar sensation.

This is definitely… the same feeling I had when Pia took me to our old home.

Yes, with this method, I could certainly approach safely.

She said there were various restrictions that prevented her from using it repeatedly, but if I could succeed with just one surprise attack, it would be fine.

Realizing Pia’s intention, I immediately took out Alice’s heart from the pouch at my waist.

“…Ugh!”

Almost simultaneously with grasping the heart in my hand, I found myself behind the Demon Lord.

Silvia, who had just cut down the Demon Lord again and stepped back, cried out in surprise.

“Ash! What are you—”

Silvia didn’t even finish her sentence as she approached me.

But I had no time to answer.

The thick demonic energy felt like it was bursting my lungs.

I bit down hard on my bleeding lips and swung the heart toward the Demon Lord’s body with all my might.

“Please work!”

That’s when it happened.

The Demon Lord’s body, which had shown no movement except to avoid Silvia’s attacks, suddenly twitched violently.

“…!”

The Demon Lord’s pale face, shaped like a long cone pointing forward, slowly rotated.

No, since I was seeing this in the brief moment of swinging my arm, the Demon Lord’s head must be turning quickly.

But for some reason, the action appeared extremely slow to my eyes.

“…”

Why?

Why am I suddenly remembering the scenery of Goldfield?

Why am I suddenly recalling the vegetable soup my father made for me in my childhood?

The yard where I played with Eric, the cat’s cradle that Maria taught me,

Alice who screamed in surprise at seeing a lizard, then sat down and cried loudly,

Young Layla who couldn’t read and would make up content while flipping through books when there was no one to read stories to her,

Why are these memories suddenly coming to me now, at this moment?

“…Hee”

The moist eyeball protruding from the tip of the Demon Lord’s long, pale snout seemed to smile slightly.

In that moment, I realized.

Ah, this.

It’s a life flashing before my eyes.

“Kuk!”

With that thought, I instinctively twisted my body and rolled to the side as if falling.

Simultaneously, I felt something large and hot brush past my head.

“Tumble!”

I cast a spell while lying on the ground.

My body was forcibly rolled once more by the magic.

At the same time, a loud explosion sounded from where I had been lying just moments before.

I couldn’t determine what had happened, but I was instinctively dodging some danger by throwing my body aside.

I couldn’t see or feel it, but my body chose to evade first.

Perhaps it was thanks to Silvia’s training that taught me to dodge countless incoming strikes.

“Ash, reach out your hand!”

“Yes!”

As I reached out toward Pia’s voice, she grabbed my hand.

Once again, my body was pulled as if being sucked into Pia’s hand.

“Ugh!”

When I came to my senses, I found myself fallen in a corner of the room.

It seemed Pia had moved me to a spot as far away from the Demon Lord as possible.

Pia was breathing heavily as if she had overexerted herself.

I slowly lifted Alice’s heart in my hand to check if it was intact.

“Good, it’s fine. Now… Ah,”

As I slowly tracked the Demon Lord’s position to assess the situation, I felt my breath stop.

The Demon Lord’s head,

Those eyeballs attached to the pointed face, were staring directly at me.

Silvia shouted as she rushed toward the Demon Lord:

“Ash, run away!”

But the Demon Lord, ignoring Silvia, slowly raised one arm.

The arm was so thin it was creepy, and the spider-like fingers at the end of that skeletal arm were clearly aimed at me.

He, that monstrosity.

It began to move.