Ch.43Chapter 43. The Demon Hero Party Assembles

# Ultimate Skill

[Altar: Dark Fang Sanctuary]

A floor-type skill that had rarely appeared until now.

In the game, it’s a barrier that inflicts comprehensive condition deterioration and very slight damage over time, while conversely granting Denalua increased attack speed and movement speed.

Compared to other ultimate skills that deliver massive power in a single blow to change the tide of battle, it’s not as flashy, but when used by a dual-wielder with naturally high stats, it was sufficiently powerful.

“Gahk!”

After dodging Arsil’s fist, Denalua struck her cheek with the hand holding her sword.

As her mouth burst open, the shield knight protected her as she flew back.

“Arsil! Don’t move to the front line, focus on party recovery from the back.”

“Tch!”

Arsil spat out a blood clot and immediately summoned holy power to heal herself.

Though she had a tendency to rush forward, she was a healer whose capabilities exceeded anyone else’s.

“Please buff us too!”

“I already did! With that woman’s barrier debuff, this is the best we can get!”

In fact, all their stats were slightly lower than usual.

Even with buffs applied, they were still reduced.

The hero’s party had never faced an enemy like this before.

Even the Demon Lord had powerful raw damage, but no debuff skills.

Naidrian shot three arrows in succession.

The dual-wielder casually deflected them, sending them toward Lucie who was charging at her.

“Haah!”

Rather than blocking, Lucie lowered her stance to dodge and swung her sword, but Denalua blocked with one hand and thrust with the sword in her other hand.

The advantage of dual-wielding—being able to attack and defend simultaneously—shone through.

The hero quickly bent her waist to avoid it.

[Estel Style Secret Technique: Sky Strike]

However, wielding a sword with one hand inevitably meant less power than two-handed attacks and defense.

Lucie executed the downward strike that had pressured the shield knight earlier.

But Denalua crossed her two swords to block it and immediately delivered a kick to Lucie’s abdomen.

“Ugh!”

Even as she flew back, she gritted her teeth and endured.

As she readjusted her stance, Rainfold shouted to her.

“Luciena! We need to cooperate now! Prepare a big technique like we’ve done before! We’ll buy you time!”

However, as soon as Rainfold finished speaking, he had to block Lucie’s downward strike, fueled by anger.

Ka-ang!

“Prepare like we’ve done before so you can take my head this time?!”

“Getting angry won’t solve anything! The porter is still bleeding. He’ll die if we leave him like this!”

“I won’t let that happen!”

Lucie knew this too.

Even a glance showed that the pool of blood around Rin had grown larger than before.

She was afraid.

Afraid of losing him.

[Use me, I’ll lend you my power.]

“Shut up! Where are you even speaking from when I can’t see you?”

[Waiting outside the barrier~. Come on, just nod once. You can’t even properly damage that demon without me, right?]

“What if I end up facing the demon alone? They might take Rin away in the meantime.”

While Lucie was forced into mental conversation with the demon sword, which was rummaging through her mind with telepathy, Tigria cast the magic formula she had completed.

“Limitation.”

It wasn’t detection.

The limitation formula, which quickly captured and narrowed the range, took the first order.

“Extraction, Transfer, Removal, Copy, Cooling!”

As a magic circle manifested beneath her feet, Denalua glanced down and grinned, spreading her arms.

Crack-crack

The area of the magic circle began to freeze rapidly.

As her lower body froze instantly and the magic crept up past her navel, Denalua broke free from the frozen state with a single exertion of strength.

The dual-wielder kicked off the ground and ran.

Her movements within her own barrier, which increased attack and movement speed, were at a level that even Lucie could miss if she wasn’t careful.

“Solidification…”

“Too slow.”

And naturally, that speed was impossible for Naidrian or Arsil to match.

The vampire caught Tigria from behind and sank her fangs into her nape.

“Aagh!”

The sound of blood being sucked echoed eerily within the barrier.

After taking one large gulp, Denalua frowned and spat the blood onto the ground.

“Ptui, what have you been doing all this time? I sense nothing but empty curiosity. You’re exactly like that woman.”

“How dare you…! I’m different from her!”

“That woman also had nothing but curiosity. Then she learned about affection, and tried to verify if that affection was real, causing a calamity upon the world!”

“That’s why I… don’t make myself the subject, but observe and research…”

“Oh?”

Denalua mocked the mage with a contemptuous expression.

“I suppose a doll who’s never been loved couldn’t possibly make herself the subject.”

“That’s absolutely not true!”

The enraged mage raised her magical power, but Denalua carelessly slashed her from shoulder to abdomen.

“Ah…!”

“Tigria!”

Seeing the mage collapse, Naidrian drew his bowstring, but the dual-wielder closed the distance in an instant, stabbed a knife into the archer’s abdomen, and immediately slashed at Arsil who was nearby.

“Damn it!”

The shield knight attempted a tackle, but the fact that she had approached Naidrian and Arsil meant she had already penetrated his shield and infiltrated the rear.

“Useless.”

Slash

The shield knight, as he turned around, found his shield and upper body half-cut through with surprising gentleness.

Thus, the entire hero’s party became incapacitated.

“Only you remain, Hero.”

“Kuk!”

Though she took her stance, Lucie couldn’t focus on her enemy due to the demon sword whispering incessantly in her mind.

[We’re done for! What to do! What to do!]

“Shut up!”

[Come on~ let’s admit it. That one is the strongest among the demon heroes. You’re no match for her as you are now.]

“I could handle her if you’d just stop chattering!”

[Ahahahaha.]

This is dragging on.

Meanwhile, Denalua was checking on Rin’s condition.

Such composure, not even caring about the hero who was the last one standing.

The demon sword decided to use that composure to its advantage.

[By the way, if Rin dies like that, he’ll become a demon.]

“That’s nonsense!”

[That’s what it means to die from demonic energy corruption. You know those weak demons you’ve been fighting? Most of them were created that way.]

While the two were conversing, Denalua stroked Rin’s mask.

“Big brother and big sister sacrificed themselves for humanity. But they couldn’t protect the people close to them.”

What use is peace when you yourself aren’t happy first?

In the end, the one who survived from the family wasn’t the excellent brother or the kind sister, but herself—born twisted through experiments as a vampire.

“The illusionist said we should leave you with the hero’s side for a while for the plan, but I think differently.”

Denalua was also running out of time.

She intended to turn Rin into a demon and take him away.

“Our savior, you who rescued us from the endless hell of eons… how could I not fall for you?”

She firmly believed that Rin would fill her void.

“I may act prickly because of my bad personality, but please don’t hate me for it.”

With that, Denalua tried to remove Rin’s mask.

But as her hand touched the mask, a chilling voice came from behind.

“Hey.”

“You pathetic hero without comrades or love. I’ve spared you out of pity, so leave of your own accord.”

“I don’t care about any of that.”

Lucie raised her sword.

“Who are you to touch my Rin?”

Not the red sword, but a dull, dark one.

Denalua recognized it immediately.

“Demon Sword! You dare attach yourself to the hero!”

[Ah, sorry, sorry. I was originally a holy sword too, and more than anything…]

The playful voice of the abyss echoed in her mind.

[I’m really looking forward to seeing the regret from this side. It’ll be top-quality regret. Heheheh!]

“You damned hedonist!”

At that moment, for the first time in a very long time, the dark demon sword slowly began to emit light.

[Hey, Hero? Since you’re purifying my energy to use it, it won’t hit with holy damage like the 2nd Huno, just so you know, okay?]

“This is enough.”

[Come on, this is my comeback stage, this level isn’t enough.]

The demon sword, infused with Lucie’s magical power, now emitted a complete white color with brilliant red-gold light.

Kwaaaaa-!

The processed holy power that shook heaven and earth dissolved Denalua’s barrier with light.

With an effect like glass shattering, the crimson barrier broke apart, revealing the coastline again.

“Over there! It’s light!”

“Is that a holy sword? Is that woman the Hero?!”

All the people of the archipelago had gathered.

Gendry who had rushed at Rin, the guards, and Ganaldo who had hurried with his escorts.

Everyone was watching Lucie holding up the holy sword(temporary) surrounded by light.

“Even so, you cannot defeat me! I am Denalua! The strongest of the demon heroes!”

Yet she moved away as far as possible to avoid hurting Rin.

Thanks to that, Lucie could swing the holy sword(temporary) without restraint.

[Estel Style Secret Technique]

“Cleaving Strike!!”

A brilliant red-gold sword energy flew toward Denalua as if to devour her.

Its thickness and width made it impossible to dodge.

‘This is dangerous!’

Just as she was taking a defensive stance to inevitably take the hit with her body,

“Ye~s. I’ve come to rescue you~.”

The demon hero spearman appeared, picked up Denalua, and left the area with a jumping power rivaling Lucie’s.

Kwang!

The sword energy passed through harmlessly and hit somewhere beyond the coastline, creating a thunderous sound.

“That guy!”

Arsil, who had barely recovered with holy power, was shocked.

Similarly, the hero’s party members who had received Arsil’s treatment gradually regained consciousness.

“Well, this is our first meeting. We are the demon hero party, and this is our first party versus party encounter.”

On the large rock where the spearman and dual-wielder landed stood the illusionist, Adora.

“Adora!”

Lucie immediately recognized the illusionist and readjusted her grip on her sword, but Adora mocked her.

“Are you going to make the same mistake as last time? Your poor hero party’s porter is dying, isn’t he?”

“If that person dies, then it’s all-out war~. I’ll stab everyone to death with my spear.”

“Hmph, if we’d left him, he would have become one of us.”

When Denalua complained quietly, Adora whispered.

“You dare try to turn Rin into a mere low-level demon?”

“…The process to make him like us would be too painful.”

“He has suffered ENOUGH. Will you insist when you know very well how he got this way?”

“…Fine.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

After Denalua reluctantly agreed, Adora smiled faintly and looked back at the hero’s party.

“Unfortunately, we’re not in perfect condition either. And you all seem to be groggy, starting with your porter, so let’s end it here. Ah! And I’ll release the illusion I placed on the archipelago.”

Snap!

Adora snapped her fingers to release the hypnosis she had placed on the entire Zuramun Archipelago.

The inhabitants of the archipelago, except for Gendry, became confused as memories they had forgotten began to resurface.

“What’s going on? Why is Lord Ganaldo in a maid outfit?”

And it was the same for Ganaldo.

“Gendry, what is this…?”

“Ganaldo! Oh, finally!”

The coastline became chaotic with civilians.

The hero’s party and Lucie lost their fighting spirit.

“We’ll withdraw for now. The next time we meet, please be prepared for annihilation.”

The illusionist gestured for the demon hero party to retreat.

They transformed into black smoke and flowed away across the sea, but not one member of the demon hero party wasn’t worried about Rin.

“The demons are retreating!”

“Long live the hero party!”

“Long live the Hero!”

Lucie gritted her teeth at this hollow victory.

The sun was rising on the coastline as night passed.

By the time the hero’s party and Lucie hurriedly took Rin away and helped him overcome the crisis, the sun was already high in the sky.