Chapter 184: Amaranth Monastery (8)

Without any resistance, the sharp blade split and penetrated the anus. When it was thrust deeply enough for the hilt to touch the buttock area, the giant demon shuddered and let out a faint groan.

“Kkuo-ooooo…!”

It was feeling pain and trying to wake up. Before it could properly wake up and assume a defensive stance, I had to deliver a more decisive blow. I readjusted my grip on the hilt and twisted my body forcefully. The blade spun inside the buttock, and blood spurted out. I flipped my body in the opposite direction, gripped the sword as if slinging the hilt over my shoulder, and pulled the sword forward with all my might.

“Kkuwaaaaaak! Kkeuwaaaaaak!”

Along with a scream of agony, there was the sound of flesh tearing wide open. Sticky fluid and muscle stuck to my blade and peeled off, and the buttock split open sideways like a halved fig.

And pomegranate seed-like droplets of blood were bursting forth in all directions. As the buttock was perfectly split in two, it became unable to properly move its lower body. It widened its eyes and shook its head to find me.

Perhaps due to the harsh pain and past trauma, it couldn’t find me, flailing its hands and only screaming.

“W-what is this! Uwaaaaaak! Kkuwaaaak! D-defend me! Aaaaaak!”

Every time it moved, its fur, soaked in blood, painted streaks like an ink-stained mop. It became a crimson landscape painting, then a depiction of waves in a red sea, and finally, becoming a pool of blood itself, it swallowed its body.

“Uwaaaaaa!”

I swung my sword with all my might and cut the chains. Hearing the chains break, it startled and turned its body. Its bloodshot eyes and frothing mouth represented hatred and pain. I waved at it, and it stared back at me with an incomprehensible expression.

“Y-you…! You…! Right…! I’ve seen you…! Just as I thought, you’re one of Milia’s subordinates! I should have just killed you back then…!”

I recalled the time we first met. When Andre chanted a spell towards the sky, a magic circle with two intersecting snakes appeared, and Andre, looking flustered, let me go. Back then, Ahhtila seemed to have thought I was Milia’s subordinate.

Since I was an incubus and Milia had placed her mark on me.

Not wanting to fight Milia right then, he apparently let me go. However, that clumsy escape ultimately resulted in him carving up his own flesh. The body of Ahhtila, scored as if for roasting, whenever it moved, flapped loosely in different directions, colliding with itself and amplifying the pain.

“Kkuo-ooo! You punk…! Do you really think you can win?! Even though I’ve weakened, I am the Demon King’s right-hand man! And a veteran warrior! A low-class demon like you is no match for me!”

Ahhtila opened his mouth wide and began gathering demonic energy. Kelly, freed from the chains, lay collapsed on the floor, struggling to somehow get up. It would take a while for her, drained of magic, to return to normal condition.

“Die!”

Ahhtila’s fist narrowly grazed my head. Due to his injuries and magic depletion, its movements were terribly slow. I stepped back and rummaged through my pocket.

“Who said I was going to fight you?”

I scoffed at his valiant declaration. Manipulating humans like puppets while hiding behind them, the sight of him calling himself a veteran warrior was utterly ridiculous. I took out a teleportation scroll from my inner pocket and threw it towards him.

At the same time, I threw an axe towards his genitals. Like toad eggs, his limp, wrinkled genitals flashed with the axe blade, and he reflexively recoiled to block the axe instead of the incoming scroll.

“An…!”

Then, a flash of light occurred, and the scroll attached itself to his body. His entire body turned purple, and with a bright flash, he vanished from the basement. The magic power filling the place, and the stench, dissipated like a mirage.

“W-what…? Did you take care of him?”

Kelly looked at me with a dumbfounded expression, and I ignored her question as I pulled the chains. The powerless Kelly was dragged along wherever I moved, frowning.

“Y-you…! Pick me up…! Quickly!”

“Okay. Okay.”

I scooped her up into my arms. As I lifted her into a bridal carry, she swung her fists, lightly hitting my chest, and shouted.

“H-how indecent! How could you be in this pose…! P-put me down right now!”

“Are you sure I shouldn’t just leave you?”

“Ngh…”

When I replied with a stern look, Kelly avoided my gaze and became quiet again. Confined spaces are said to make people strange, and it seemed demons were no exception. I resisted the urge to pat her head and massage her buttock, and leisurely walked outside.

“So, what happened to that demon?”

“Uh, he’ll be dead when you get there.”

“Dead?”

Kelly looked at me with a puzzled look.

And with a bewildered face, Ahhtila fell beneath a tree. His massive body, large enough to make a large tree feel like a convenience store pillar, looked around bewilderedly, trying to figure out his situation. The bright light and fresh air he encountered for the first time in a long while made him, who had been hiding all this time, shrink back.

Nearby, about 10 meters from Ahhtila, there was Rat Trap. She checked the rope-bound booby trap and the demon alternately, and then cut the rope. Trees, rocks, and grass were cleverly woven and hidden to conceal the booby trap, which was connected to a large water bucket hanging from the treetop.

As the rope was pulled, it pulled the bucket from both sides, causing the bucket, split open like a watermelon, to pour out water with a subtle floral scent.

No.

This was not ordinary water.

It was holy water that Lumia had mass-ordered through the temple.

Enough holy water to drench an elephant was poured through a sturdy and precise mechanism directly onto the teleportation marker.

Ahhtila could only endure the beating from the suddenly pouring rain from above his head, without understanding why. He understood a beat too late why it was raining from a clear sky, and why the rain smelled floral. The steam rising from his body and his skin burning hot were the basis for his understanding.

“Kkwaaaaaaaa! Aaaaaaaak! Uwaaaaaaak!”

As soon as it confirmed steam was rising from the demon’s body, Rat Trap hid herself in the forest and began to flee. Ahhtila knew someone was fleeing, but he couldn’t chase them. His entire body was melting, and his lower body was in tatters.

“Uwaaaaaa! Aaaaaaa!”

He swung his arms wildly, spewing demonic energy. Like a meticulously crafted garden, the densely packed trees were swept away with a single gesture. Storms raged around the trees, and everywhere its eyes landed, waves of red heat flared and burned.

“I’ll kill you all! Humans! Ungrateful humans! Die! You killed the Demon King! And now you’re trying to kill me too! You will regret this! You will regret what you’ve done!”

From the horizon, black wings were approaching. The enraged Ahhtila had no idea that immense demonic power was coming to end his life.

“Humans deserve to die! Hero! What did the Demon King do to you? Creating a hell worse than the Demon Realm! Why did you kill the Demon King? The Demon King died at the hands of a mere fool obsessed with wealth and women, and you call yourself a hero?!”

Slowly, death approached him. Even as he blew away the forest, overturned valleys, and animals in distant farmhouses panicked sensing his violent movements and cruel demonic energy, the wingbeats were leisurely and elegant as they flew towards Ahhtila.

Gathering demonic energy, a black pillar shot up into the air, aimed for his lower back.

Only then did Ahhtila face the strike aimed at him.

In Ahhtila’s eyes, past memories flashed for a moment.

Back then, Ahhtila lay fallen, deeply wounded, and the hero was preparing the finishing blow on him. Ahhtila asked the hero then.

“[Why, why are you doing this? The Demon King wants to live peacefully with humans now. Why are you doing this?]”

Back then, the hero Wolf raised his sword high above his head and said, “

“[Because I am a hero. Have you ever seen the goddess, radiant in five colors?]”

“[A goddess?]”

“[I still can’t forget that sight. She was surrounded by brilliant light and hugged me tightly. Her hair was soft and shone like jewels, and she told me, ‘Defeat the Demon King. I will give you strength.’]”

Ahhtila couldn’t answer then. As the sword, containing power as immense as that black pillar, struck down upon him, he merely shut his eyes tight.

But now, he could finally answer Wolf’s words. The fact that he realized it so late felt hollow. Why the Demon King had laughed at Wolf, he could now understand clearly. Hidden within the words he’d dismissed, the truth lay concealed.

“Right, you were a hero…! Haha…! Hahahahahaha!”

Wolf couldn’t hear him, but he laughed loudly and nodded.

“You were a hero! Yes! You were a hero! Hahahahahaha!”

Other than that, there was nothing else he could do.

With a massive explosion, smoke billowed up.

The world, silenced even of laughter, was quiet, as if nothing had happened.