Chapter 151: The Hero and the Demon King’s Army – 4

Chapter 151: The Hero and the Demon King’s Army – 4

The King, having lost all his clan, trembled.

With rage, and with shock, and finally…… with a hint of fear.

After transforming his body to the optimal size for fighting humans, the King of the clan drew his spear.

The Hero… no, the girl, who had watched him for a moment, also gripped her Holy Sword again.

Clang!

With the clear sound ringing out once more, a flash shot forth, and the divine power surrounding the Holy Sword turned crimson.

The King of the clan, seeing this, took a breath and cried out in a low voice.

With rage at the disappearance of his entire clan.

“Freeze.”

It was a disjointed declaration, a command.

However… at those words, the girl’s body, which had been shooting forth like a flash, stopped dead.

The King, confirming the girl’s momentarily flustered expression at the unexpected situation, quickly moved behind her and thrust his spear.

“Receive the price for killing my clan…… gracefully.”

The King’s voice was cold.

But within it, anyone could discern a burning rage.

A command uttered out of rage at losing his entire clan, and an obsession to crush this being, whatever she was, before his eyes.

Even for a strong clan, a command that directly controlled another’s actions in this manner was impossible under normal circumstances.

However, how could losing his entire clan be a normal situation for the King?

And so, the King, having lost his entire clan, bid farewell to the girl before him.

While thinking that killing her instantly with a spear was too peaceful a death, he also judged that if the girl survived due to his unnecessary greed, that would be an even bigger problem.

Thanks to this, the King’s spear pierced straight through the girl… and the girl let out a small death rattle, slumping down.

The King, having confirmed that the girl’s breath had indeed ceased, retrieved his spear and discovered something.

“This is… that glass bottle?”

A glass bottle with just a tiny bit of dazzlingly holy and noble-shining potion remaining.

By its shape and material, it appeared to be the glass bottle the girl had been using during combat.

But, strangely, it was virtually all empty.

“Then, where did the potion inside go……!!!”

As he examined the glass bottle, thinking it had a strange aspect, something pierced the King’s heart.

…It was his own spear, which had pierced the girl’s heart just moments ago.

At the impossible sight, the King slowly turned his head, and saw the girl standing up again.

It was a scene that reminded him of the Great War, when he had killed the Hero, only for the Saintess beside him to perform a miracle and revive him immediately, causing them to lose many clan members.

He saw a girl who displayed a miracle that overcame even death, wielding the Holy Sword to subjugate monsters, but who was absolutely not the Hero.

The clan’s bodies were robust.

So much so that some other races would say they could claim the title of strongest race with just their ridiculously strong bodies, despite having no other special abilities.

Therefore, with ordinary physical strength, even the Holy Sword would not be able to pierce the King’s heart……

Unfortunately, the girl’s physical strength also seemed to be far from ordinary.

“Ha, haha…. What in the world are you? What kind of monster are you?”

“……For now, yes. Shall we say ‘Hero’?”

“Hero, Hero…… If you say so, then so be it.”

Saying that, the King of the clan took another breath.

The clan’s body was not so weak as to immediately collapse from a pierced heart, so he could still make one more declaration.

Therefore, the King thought.

At least…… his clan and that Hero would be buried together in this very spot, their tomb.

“Fall, together.”

The King knew. That a command like this, which was virtually no different from instantly killing a target with a single word, usually didn’t work well.

But… the opponent was a being who had just been at the brink of death and recovered by a miracle.

Then… wouldn’t it be possible to at least revoke that miracle? Wouldn’t it be possible to at least greatly diminish that Hero’s power?

As if all those thoughts were correct, the girl reacted clearly to those words.

However, the only puzzling thing was that her reaction…… was to smile, as if she had expected it, and pull out a glass bottle to drink its liquid.

“I refuse.”

And, at the declaration, the command, that soon followed. The King of the clan closed his eyes.

He lost. Completely.

With nothing left, neither clan nor anything else.

***

*’……Do you know how surprised I was when you were stabbed by that spear just now?! If you’re going to do something so reckless, tell me!’*

“……It was urgent during the battle, you see.”

It was dangerous.

If I hadn’t had the ‘Miracle Potion’ I made beforehand, I would have certainly died right there.

I didn’t have enough mana to use the ‘Sanctuary Potion’ I got from killing the vampires, and my body froze at the words of that guy who seemed to be the Dragon Lord, making it impossible to resist.

Of course… thanks to that, I was able to stop that crazy lizard who clung on like a vengeful ghost at the end, but still, the sensation of dying was unpleasant.

*’More importantly… you, you become quite terrifying when you fight.’*

*Oh, that’s right. I’m even wondering if I should give her a trait like ‘Fear Inducement’.*

“……These two, ganging up on me.”

For a moment, I wondered if it was that bad, but then I thought about what the image of a Hero originally was, and I understood that it probably was.

Both the Holy Sword and the original Hero were always with companions.

While it was true that she herself was strong, she was also a kind of totem, always moving with humans and spreading hope and will.

But me? Some girl wielding a Holy Sword, single-handedly using magic and sword strikes, causing chaos, is quite far from the original records and image of a Hero.

*But that makes sense. You have a completely opposite goal to a Hero.*

*’That’s right. A Hero’s purpose is to protect humanity by upholding God’s command and will… but you are dealing with monsters to protect your loved ones, against God.

Of course, ultimately, you could also be said to be protecting the world, but at this moment, your direction is completely different from a Hero’s. And your appearance doesn’t really suit this either.’*

“…So, are you just going to say that’s wrong?”

*’Of course not. I just wanted to say that your will and obsession to protect your loved ones, even defying God, are absolutely not ordinary.’*

*Your obsession is certainly strong. …Sometimes, even I find it a little scary, you know?*

Ignoring Ria and the Holy Sword’s words about being scary and whatnot, I decided to think about the rewards the system would give.

No, it’s not that I dislike being scary or anything… but it’s a bit, you know.

In a battlefield, being generally described as scary usually implies a sense of madness, or blood splattering brutally, but if that’s me.

And no matter how much it’s called obsession or will, isn’t it just saying that I’m mercilessly slaughtering monsters with sheer obsession?

*Notification

-> You have successfully annihilated the Dragonkin and their King! Rewards are given!

=> ‘Opposing Divine Power – Robustness’ has been added. When this divine power is used, all of the user’s abilities are greatly increased, and healing and blessings can be bestowed.

-> You have successfully converted one of the Dragon Lord’s skills into a potion!

=> ‘Declaration Potion’ is given. When the potion is drunk, the next words spoken are treated as a ‘Declaration’. Mana is consumed in proportion to the degree of the ‘Declaration’.

+> Warning: There are limits to ‘Declarations’. Excessive ‘Declarations’ are impossible. Also, creating ‘Declaration Potion’ incurs a cooldown proportional to the degree of the ‘Declaration’.

*

Fortunately, at the system’s notification, which quickly delivered the rewards with good timing, I ignored the two chattering joyfully out of place and decided to read the rewards.

“Hmm… so the divine power is primarily a raw stat increase? Well, Dragonkin are the type to fight with raw stats without much else.”

If vampires are the type to endure with regeneration despite not having great physical stats, Dragonkin are just strong.

They have no particular distinguishing features, but their sheer physical strength has become their defining characteristic.

Perhaps that’s why, when I was impaled by the spear earlier, he seemed to be sending me off peacefully or something, but it hurt like hell.

A unique point is that the healing and blessings, which were characteristics of divine power itself and had disappeared when it transformed into Opposing Divine Power, have returned?

More importantly, the potion side was what deserved attention.

I remember it as a cheat ability of the Dragonkin, vaguely described as Dragon Speech or something in the original, which could only be used restrictively when their rage reached an extreme.

…Unfortunately, it was mentioned so fleetingly during actual combat that I forgot about it and got hit, but anyway.

Perhaps because of that, there seemed to be many restrictions among the potions that could be used from the ‘Alchemist’s Treasury’, but the fact that I didn’t have to make it myself, like the ‘Miracle Potion’, was unexpected.

“The cooldown and the fact that I have to drink it are a bit annoying…”

*Then, do you want to make it every time you go out?*

“……That’s a bit much.”

Like the ‘Miracle Potion’, drinking a potion is a bit more cumbersome compared to potions that activate just by breaking a glass bottle.

Firstly, taking out and drinking a potion during combat is harder than one might think.

Especially for me, who frequently increases my body speed with ‘Flash Potion’ to engage in fierce sword fights.

Of course, it’s still a cheat, that’s true.

*’More importantly, no enemies are coming this time, are they?’*

“They wouldn’t give up after coming this far… either the Demon King’s Army refused to come, or they intend to defend their stronghold.”

*’Either way, shouldn’t we go and see?’*

“That’s true. It feels less like I’m going to persuade the Demon King and more like I’m going to subjugate her.”

*’Personally, I think subjugation sounds better. Perhaps because it was something I only dreamed of when I was the Hero.’*

After a brief regrouping, I gripped the Holy Sword again and looked up at the Demon King’s castle.

Many thoughts came to mind, but I pushed away the negative ones and deliberately focused only on light thoughts. I felt like it would give me more strength.

Anyway, why is it so hard to just go to the audience chamber on the upper floor of that Demon King’s castle?

Indeed, doing anything related to the protagonist is difficult.