Ch.241Chapter 241. The End of the Strongest

It all began with someone’s discarded trash.

A demon had sensed this implicitly since birth.

He had seen countless beings like himself born from what poured down through the cracks in the sky.

Then where did that filth come from, and who was pouring it down here, and for what reason?

Perhaps they were discarding things that shouldn’t exist in their world.

Or maybe they were the byproducts of someone creating a world, excluding useless things, or banishing things that were later discovered to be undesirable.

The Demon Tribe was born from all these things mixed together, awakening consciousness and endlessly adapting.

Then why was he born with the strongest power among the Demon Tribe?

If the difference stemmed from what composed him, where did that source come from?

The answer to this chain of questions was always the same.

‘To escape this bottom-dwelling world.’

Only by leaving this place and crossing to another world could he satisfy the curiosity he’d had since birth.

That single desire moved him, and the desires needed to achieve that purpose began to bloom one by one.

If he needed something, he would seize it; if someone needed to be defeated, he would defeat them.

The desire to create a group centered around himself, if necessary.

‘Are you satisfied remaining in this bottom-dwelling world?’

And the moment he came to dominate everyone, he realized.

That no one remained to stand in his way.

If he had enough power to embrace even those who would oppose him, he could achieve his goal without any interference.

‘Do you want to leave this bottom with me and venture into a wider world!?’

That realization, following his curiosity about his own birth, made him develop another desire.

The craving for power—knowing that if he became stronger, he could achieve what he wanted.

Furthermore, he needed to become strong enough to embrace and protect those who supported him, to achieve anything.

‘From now on, we will venture into a wider world! Those who wish to embark on this journey, follow me!’

He liked the subordinates who shared his vision.

The more people who supported him, the more he felt his power growing toward his goal.

As he realized this, his attachment to his subordinates grew stronger, perhaps awakening possessiveness and dominance over them.

It didn’t matter.

He found joy in the growing number of followers and the time spent with them.

He felt a vague hope that their journey together would continue.

Not knowing that it was nothing more than a fleeting dream.

‘How many died this time?’

‘Quite a few. Of course, we can replenish our forces with this world’s inhabitants, but… Demon Lord, are you alright?’

His followers were dying.

This meant that the measure of power needed to realize his desire was diminishing by that much.

No, even setting aside that reason, he didn’t want them to die.

He wanted them and wished to continue being with them.

While he couldn’t abandon his ideals for them, he wished that his followers would stop dying.

‘…I need power.’

The answer to what he needed was, as always, the same.

‘More, more power…’

Power to overcome more dangers and keep his followers away from harm.

This purpose became clearer whenever his limits were tested, and this realization eventually led to a desire to fight against the strong.

By fighting the strong, defeating them, and ultimately placing everyone beneath him no matter what world he entered…

‘It’s not enough.’

Yet he remained unsatisfied.

Though it may have started as curiosity, and later became possessiveness.

As time passed, these desires transformed into a craving for power and the will to fight for it.

‘I need stronger opponents… I must find stronger opponents.’

The desire to dominate as a measure of power eventually turned into destruction for the sake of proving his strength, and when even that failed to satisfy him, it led to neglect.

He would simply open dimensional gates, and if no opponent caught his interest, he would leave everything to his subordinates and go to sleep…

Before that, he had tried to fill his endless thirst by consuming everything he could eat and violating everything he could violate, but that too was merely a temporary diversion, always bringing him back to square one.

Only those with power strong enough to overwhelm him could stimulate him.

Nothing else could stimulate him, so he couldn’t quell the emptiness, making the very act of living feel so painful.

Having spent such a long time this way, he now felt unprecedented hope for the being he had discovered on the other side.

‘I found it.’

A being so immense and unfathomable that even a demon couldn’t gauge its size or existence.

When he first encountered it, he felt an aura similar to the power he was born with.

Perhaps the source of his own existence had derived from them, to the point where such a thought crossed his mind.

‘I finally found it, a being that can stimulate me.’

It was a good thing, regardless.

What his foundation was, why he had continued his journey, and how many subordinates’ deaths he had witnessed along the way…

With all those reasons buried and lost in emptiness, it no longer mattered to him.

‘A being that can quench this thirst… is welcoming me from the other side.’

That was the fate awaiting the Demon Tribe born with immense power from birth.

In the process of creation by beings called gods, in the process of being manipulated according to their will.

And in the process of destruction, the chaotic being formed from gathered trash was destined to return to them as an unexpected retribution.

Though it might start as a small blade, it would eventually lead to bloodshed, leaving only their corpses drifting through the universe.

Having awakened infinite emptiness in chaos, even if he slaughtered all beings called gods, it wouldn’t quench his thirst.

-KWANG!!!

It was just one step away from leading to that future.

The moment when the emptiness he had long pursued would be resolved was right before him.

-KUGUNG, KWANG!!!

But why was he, who should be facing this grand moment, repeatedly staggering under the attacks targeting him?

Why was he being pushed back by someone no different from the bugs he had countless times trampled underfoot?

‘Why on earth…’

It was merely being caught off guard.

They had simply attacked during the gap created by his full exertion of power.

Of course, even so, he could easily crush and kill them, but somehow his attacks weren’t reaching them.

Moreover, the attacks they delivered carried devastating aftereffects, repeatedly driving his body back.

‘Why am I being blocked by such a lowly creature?’

He had long since stopped feeling pain. For someone whose every other emotion had withered away, the only misery was the wretched reality of being unable to quench his thirst.

The more attacks this wretched reality allowed, the more clearly it was etched in his mind.

‘To be blocked by such a lowly creature, when I shouldn’t be…!’

Despite finding it detestable that such a feeble being was blocking him.

Despite finding this reality frustratingly suffocating—being unable to crush such a feeble being and move forward.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!”

Unable to bear such frustration, he let out a scream, and immediately the debris around him began to swirl in response to that power.

It was merely the result of emotional outburst.

Although he couldn’t properly control the power that had left his body, its aftereffects alone should be enough to kill a single bug.

-KWANG!!!

But he wasn’t swept away.

The hundreds, thousands of futures where heavy debris would strike his body and push him into the storm.

They were all being thwarted simply by foreseeing the future just a few seconds ahead.

“You, bug bastard…!!”

-KUWNG!

Avoiding the hand swung right at him and following with a hammer strike to the head.

Though it shattered bones and crushed the brain, that too could be regenerated through his innate nature.

It was merely an attack that grated on his nerves.

A feeble resistance with damage approaching zero, from an empty vessel drained of power.

-PEONG!!

Yet he stubbornly continued to swing his weapon.

As if finding hope merely by witnessing the blood droplets and flesh pieces flying from those attacks, which the opponent didn’t even bother to dodge, simply taking them.

-KWANG!! KWANG!!!

Though it was proving to be a futile hope as time passed, he still didn’t despair. He didn’t give up.

Despite being caught in an endless cycle like himself, who couldn’t escape the infinite emptiness.

He was crossing the collapsing scene, continuously narrowing the distance between them.

“…I don’t understand.”

The Demon Lord, who had been receiving those attacks, spoke with a strained voice as he widened the distance between them, seemingly exasperated.

“Why do you fight so desperately?”

Though he was somehow preserving his body while charging in, it was nothing more than a desperate struggle focusing all his nerves.

Solomon couldn’t understand why he was opposing him with such desperation.

“You know well that no matter how many times we clash, the result will be the same. You could be at ease if you just stayed still… Why on earth…!!”

Such a stubborn and tenacious fellow, and at this moment of all times.

Why was he blocking his path at this time, when there was little left before his long-cherished wish would be fulfilled?

“…Because there’s something to gain.”

In response to that question, he straightened his tilting body and tried to manifest a weapon in his hand once more.

“Every time I stand up in this wrecked state, there’s something to gain.”

Though it hurt enough to die, he endured.

Still feeling his heart pounding, and repeatedly thinking only of being faithful to what drove it.

“Look even now… A mere youngster like me, by persisting on this path, has gained enough power to stop you.”

Stop him? How on earth could this fight be seen that way?

No, this wasn’t even a fight.

No matter how many attacks were made, he wouldn’t fall, and instead, the attacker was becoming a mess.

The moment that body collapsed, just once, once would be enough to squeeze and burst it like stepping on a bug—how could this situation be called a fight?

“Stop talking nonsense! You…!!”

Just as he was about to exert his power again and charge in to teach him a lesson, his knee came down with a thud.

Along with it, his vision began to spin and naturally turned downward, clearly etching the image of his kneeling body in his eyes.

“What, what is this…?”

To bend his knee.

That was something that had never happened since he left the bottom-dwelling world.

Though no one had ever overwhelmed him, to fall before a mere bug that he could easily step on, even if he had exerted his full power.

“See.”

But even if it’s just a bug, if it charges without dying.

And if it sharpens itself with a tenacity more persistent than a lethal poison, it can kill even larger beasts.

“There’s progress.”

Yes, standing here was a bug carrying poison.

A cunning and vicious being that targeted his weakest moment.

-Thump.

The moment he thought it might carve out his windpipe, his mind turned cold and his heart began to beat violently.

He didn’t know what emotion it was.

Since birth, he had never once encountered someone who made him feel such an emotion.

“How dare… someone like you…!!”

Because he couldn’t admit that what bloomed in this moment was fear—fear toward a bug he could easily step on and kill.

“Just because you made me kneel once, don’t look down on meeeee!!!”

His emotional outburst was channeled into a kick that struck the ground.

As debris shot upward in response, the Demon Lord pointed his hand toward him and began to exert his power.

A power being minimally controlled within a massive vortex of power.

But by human standards, even that was no different from a disaster.

-KWAGAGAGA!

As the swirling vortex from both sides rushed in to grind him, despite this desperate situation, he opened his eyes clearly and tried to control the weapons he had deployed around.

What he aimed for was to control the vast power.

To control the total amount of power the opponent possessed and its flow, relying on instinct, as understood through successive battles.

-PAZZZZZK!!

As if to show that he had completely achieved this, the power emitted by the vortex gathered toward the spear in his hand, amplifying its power.

-KWAAAAA!!!

At the end, the spear imbued with massive output was thrown.

The Demon Lord had no choice but to receive that attack standing in place.

There was no way he could dodge it.

Dodging a strike from a feeble bug that he could easily crush—such an act shouldn’t be possible for a strong being like himself.

“Kuhek…!!”

But the spear that struck him hit his ribs, pierced through his back, and completely penetrated his body.

Although his demon core wasn’t hit, this attack alone proved that he possessed enough destructive power to destroy the core.

“This can’t be…”

But he didn’t want to admit it.

After rushing toward this moment all this time, to think that he might meet his end at the hands of such a feeble bug.

That the end of the strongest would be death at a moment of weakness, not in the battle he so desperately craved.

“You… Why do you struggle so desperately?”

After crushing the spear in resistance to such a future, the man who had fallen to the ground tried to continue the confrontation.

He too was dying just the same.

Yet there was no wavering in his gaze as he gripped the spear and glared at him.

As if he hadn’t foreseen that an unwanted future would come at the end of this fight.

No, as if he didn’t care about such things at all, and was simply being faithful to this moment.

“Struggle? How dare you say such a thing to me…”

“What are you trying to achieve by going to such lengths?”

He tried to dismiss it as nonsense from a youngster, but the following rebuke stemmed from question, not mockery.

It was a question asked because he felt that even a being considered a disaster, like himself, had a desperate wish.

“…Do you really think you can achieve what you want by leaving this world?”

“What…”

“What remains by your side after fighting madly against the strong?”

-Snap.

The sound of something breaking in his mind.

The reason his consciousness faded at mere words was because he unconsciously understood their meaning.

“Look around you now. See what remains by your side after coming this far.”

He could ignore it and charge in.

He could focus solely on crushing that mouth, dismissing it as nonsense as he had done until now.

“There’s nothing.”

Yet his lips only trembled, his throat constricted by muscles, producing only choking breaths.

“After destroying everything that remained with your own hands… do you think you can achieve what you want by leaving this place?”

As the question continued, the breaking accelerated, and soon began to turn into cracks.

“And then what? After achieving what you want, do you really think you yourself will be able to accept the result?”

Crack, crack. The sound of something collapsing from within.

It was surely the sound of cracks forming in the veil that surrounded the foresight of the future ahead—the future he so desperately wanted to avoid.

“…Ah, aah.”

That it would only repeat itself.

Even if he fulfilled his desires, satisfaction would be temporary.

After that moment passed, he would search for stronger stimulation, and then, unable to be satisfied by anything, he would wander again.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!”

The will entwined with lamentation that burst forth upon facing that future began to make the world tremble.

It stemmed from another desire he had developed.

The power born from ‘vengeance’—cursing and hating the beings that became the source of his birth, the damned world that bestowed this fate upon him.

-KUGUGUGUGUNG!

Despite feeling the empty vessel gradually filling with power, the man did not break his will and prepared to confront him.

Even though it hurt enough to die, and his mind was a mess to the point where death would be better, he too, like the demon, was a human being who could stand firm in his will out of desperation.

“Let’s end this, this wearisome fight.”

At the center of a world heading toward catastrophe.

Only one will survive.