Ch.27Fury (2)

The light of judgment faded, revealing the ground that had turned purple. Everything on the ground transformed to gray, covering the earth, and the surrounding trees were similarly stained gray.

And there, on that gray earth, stood a monstrous creature.

Four horns. And a height reminiscent of a skyscraper, making one wonder if this was truly a living being.

Despite its overwhelming intensity, the light of judgment had apparently targeted only living beings, as the green flames still burned fiercely on the monster’s body without extinguishing.

A massive creature with four horns, wrapped in green flames, standing on the gray earth. Its appearance inevitably brought to mind a certain being.

“Demon Lord…”

At that moment, I heard Dopl’s words. Demon Lord. Yes. Such a being would be a Demon Lord. Who wouldn’t think of a Demon Lord when seeing that appearance?

While the two of them were overwhelmed by the creature’s transformed appearance, the Minotaur moved its foot.

KUUUUNG———!!!

Its enormous body lived up to its size; just taking a single step caused the ground to sink in, scattering a thunderous noise.

“Kuk—!! Dopl, snap out of it! What are we doing staring at the enemy right in front of us!”

At those words, Dopl seemed to regain her senses, her mind returning from being lost in the Minotaur’s overwhelming presence.

“Cleric! How are we supposed to deal with that?!”

“It’s impossible! Even after taking my strongest technique, Extinction Ray, it only grew bigger and remains perfectly fine like that. How are we supposed to defeat it!”

“Kuk—!! First, we need to retreat…!”

Kurung…!

Thunder sounds from somewhere. The skull with the halo had disappeared, returning the sky to clear blue, yet suddenly there was thunder…

That’s when Dopl pushed me away with her hand, which had copied the Minotaur’s form.

“Kuk—! What are you—”

The first thing I saw when looking at Dopl who had pushed me was the Minotaur, which had instantly moved to where I had been standing.

That thunder sound must have been made by the Minotaur, as black lightning was swirling around its feet.

With crackling sounds, the black lightning wrapped around its feet showed angry movements as if about to engulf us.

And in its hand was Dopl’s arm. Dopl’s left arm, dripping with blood, was soon devoured in one bite by the Minotaur.

“KUUUUUGH———!!!”

Black lightning circled around Dopl’s shoulder, and having taken the form of the Minotaur, she was spilling blood worthy of that form onto the ground.

Dopl tried to stop the bleeding by moving her mana, but the black lightning circling her shoulder seemed to interfere with her mana, preventing the bleeding from stopping.

“Charge forth, my army!”

To buy time, I unleashed all the undead army I had gathered while living here upon the creature.

The thousands of skeletons burning with green fire were incredibly powerful against living beings as the fire spread upon contact, but…

They had no effect against such overwhelming violence.

The enormous monster shattered dozens of skeletons with just one swing of its tail, and the black lightning generated from that tail caused secondary damage.

And the fire shot by the carriage wheels flying with my magic power couldn’t inflict any damage on it either. The flames that burned whatever I wanted had made me invincible until now, but…

None of my abilities worked against this monster.

The green fire, the army of green flames, even the Extinction Ray that annihilated living beings.

All of these powers inflicted tremendous pain on living beings, making even Adamantium-class adventurers unable to resist me without proper preparation…

This monster made me feel powerless for the first time.

The thousands of green-flamed skeletons were being shattered just by the movement of its tail and legs, and the carriage wheels were being shot down one by one by the lightning emitted from its body.

I had spent 3 out of my 5 years here building that army, yet this being was destroying my entire army in just a few minutes.

Faced with this overwhelming sight, I found myself unconsciously kneeling and praying…

“What are you doing, you idiot!”

When Dopl saw me unconsciously kneeling and praying before the Demon Lord, she scolded me.

Having returned from the Minotaur form to her original red-haired female appearance, she grabbed my collar with her remaining hand and shook me vigorously.

“It’s not over yet, you idiot! While your army is buying us time, we need to retreat and plan for later, not give up and pray!”

She’s right. This is our only chance to escape while it’s distracted by my army. Though it’s a shame to lose the army I gathered over three years, it’s not worth more than my life.

“You’re right. Thank you. I was praying without realizing it… Let’s get out of here.”

While my army was still holding the creature’s feet, the Dopl and I began to leave.

The Minotaur was so focused on the army that it didn’t notice us escaping.

I could still hear the sound of it crushing my army with a BANG—, but I didn’t know how long my army would last.

We left as quickly as possible. In all my years, both in my previous life and the five years here, I had never run this fast…

As the forest whizzed by, giving me the feeling of riding a high-speed train.

MUUUUUUU———!!!!

Having defeated all those skeletons, the creature’s roar reached my ears. I hoped it would be satisfied with that…

Worried that it might be following us, I looked back, but there was no sound of its footsteps. If that massive body were running, there would surely be a tremendous noise, so I kept my ears open as we continued through the forest.

Finally, the end of this long forest came into view. I don’t know how many hours we’ve been running. Or was it just tens of minutes?

Overwhelmed by that creature, we had been running mindlessly, and my sense of time was distorted; I couldn’t tell how many hours we had been moving.

“Whew— Don’t you think we’re safe now that we’ve come this far?”

“Whew— Whew— Yeah. Ha— Shit. I never expected such a monster. That bastard must be a participant, right? Shit, why would a Demon Lord suddenly appear in what was practically a beginner’s village?”

After losing so much blood and running such a long distance, her face was extremely pale. Seeing her expression, I handed her a medium recovery potion to help, which she gulped down.

Soon, as some color returned to her face, she threw away the empty bottle.

“So. A guy who’s only been here for 5 years is that powerful, how can we deal with him? He seemed to get bigger and stronger the more we hit him.”

“Hmm. He seemed to grow while my flames were touching him. It seems like he grows even with the smallest damage… With such a powerful trait, there must be a drawback. We should target that…”

“I don’t know. We’ll probably die before that? Even the cleric’s fire didn’t work, and dozens of corpses were destroyed in a single blow. My transformation can only be used once every three days, but that guy just keeps getting bigger and eventually overpowers me.”

As we sighed, finding no solution in our discussion.

Mmmoooooo…

From within the forest, the Minotaur’s cry was heard.

“Damn… It followed us all the way here? Shit… Huh—, hey, Cleric.”

Dopl handed me a scroll and took off her shoes.

“That’s a Teleport Scroll. And these are Blink Boots. You know how to charge them and all that, right? Kill me now, use the scroll, and run.”

“What are you saying! You should kill me and escape instead! You have a better chance of killing that creature than me who was terrified of it!”

Though I objected to Dopl’s words, she just pointed to her shoulder.

“See this? I’m not showing you to make you feel guilty because my arm got torn off saving you. Do you see this?”

Following Dopl’s words, I focused on her shoulder…

Crackle…

Small lightning still sparked from her shoulder, appearing at regular intervals as if sending a signal.

“It seems that bull bastard is finding our location through the lightning it planted in me. Or maybe it’s tracking us by smell since it’s a beast. But from what I can tell, it’s following this lightning.”

“Still! Won’t it disappear with time? And if you use the Teleport Scroll and disappear, it won’t be able to find me!”

Cough— Cough—

Suddenly, Dopl started coughing. She quickly covered her mouth with her hand, but the blood from her mouth was flowing down her hand.

MUUUUUU———

“See? My body is already dying. That creature’s lightning, whether it has some toxicity or not, my body isn’t normal. So I’m betting everything on you.”

“Thanks to you I’m alive, and you’re telling me to survive because of you…”

At that moment, seemingly frustrated, Dopl placed the Teleport Scroll in my hand and cut it with her mana-infused hand. The bright light of teleportation enveloped me and sent me somewhere.

“Ha- you bastard. So sentimental. Always saying you’d kill me when I was about to die, and now… Tsk. Still, it feels good to feel human connection after so long.”

As she was enjoying the good feeling of human connection after a long time.

KUNG— KUNG— KUNG—

The Minotaur’s footsteps grew louder, indicating it was getting closer to where she was.

Thump!

Then, the Minotaur appeared, grabbing a tree. It was clear that its trait or skill had side effects; pieces of flesh were falling off its entire body.

One arm was dangling from the shoulder as if about to break off, and its tail was bleeding profusely, seemingly broken in the middle.

The horns, pride of the Minotaur, were full of holes, and one of its eyes was missing, apparently already fallen out.

“Ha- so it was a skill that costs your life… The cleric should have seen this…”

MUOOOOO…

“What’s the point of shouting when we’re both about to die… But… I won’t give you anything.”

With those words, she surrounded her remaining arm with mana and took out her heart.

With a squelching sound, the red heart was removed from her chest, beating strongly. While the Minotaur stared blankly at it.

PUUUUNG——!!!!

She crushed it with her mana-infused hand.

“Toma nu cu, Porra… (Eat shit, bastard…)”

After showing the middle finger with the hand that crushed her heart, she died.

MUOOOOO———!!!!!

Only the Minotaur’s roar echoed through the forest.

* * * * *

“Dopl! Damn, did the Teleport Scroll activate!?”

When the cleric regained consciousness, what came into view was their secret hideout. Though it was definitely where they had lived a month ago, it felt strangely unfamiliar.

That chair was where Dopl used to sit during meals. Those tools scattered on the desk were what Dopl used when tinkering with her toy saw. The bed in front of me was the bed she used.

Despite being a place they shared equally, there were so many unfamiliar things. As he reminisced about each memory, he sat down and shed tears.

Dopl, who had taken the blow he couldn’t avoid and ultimately met her death at the hands of the Minotaur. Though she had always said she would cut her own throat when it was time to die, she had sacrificed herself and died for him.

He too had always said he would kill Dopl if she was about to die… But in the end, he couldn’t kill Dopl and had to let the Minotaur take her legacy, which filled him with anger.

Anger at his own weakness, and jealousy that her possessions were taken by a mere bull. This complex whirlwind of emotions eventually led to one conclusion.

She was mine, and I was hers. Therefore… I will do everything to reclaim what was hers.

With that determination, the system responded to him.

-Ding!

-Human ‘Leopold Vladimir’ has met the conditions. Acquiring the trait ‘Envy’.