episode_0065

The sword, entwined in dozens of layers, fell from the air. Iris stepped back, biting her lips until they bled.

“He’s not an opponent.”

The disparity in skill was clear. But I couldn’t give up.

“Ugh!”

Iris spat out a battle cry and swung her sword. The rough swing cut through the empty air, making the man’s figure vanish like an illusion.

“Clang…!”

At the same time as she sensed something piercing her back, Iris found herself rolling on the ground.

“Guh…”

Suddenly, a man was on top of Iris, pressing his knee into her back. She gritted her teeth, trying to rise.

***

“…Should it end like this?”

I sighed softly as I looked down at the struggling Iris. At the same time, a voice came from a round camera-like object flying around me.

“The match doesn’t end until the opponent dies!”

“If you want to end it, stab the heart or slit the throat!”

The excited voice was familiar. It was the announcer’s voice.

“If you don’t take the opponent’s life, a powerful demon will be released every 5 minutes!”

“We recommend ending the match quickly!”

As I pondered whether the annoying voice urging me to kill Iris would drive me to the edge, the voice of the cursed sword echoed.

“Tsk tsk, so that’s their objective.”

“Huh?”

“They want you to use the Rediahol Hand to make your own sister kill herself with your own hands. That’s what they want.”

“How do you know that?”

“It’s obvious when it comes to perverts like them.”

Listening to the mocking voice of the cursed sword, I suddenly recalled the blood-stained history of the cursed sword.

“A pervert recognizes another pervert, huh.”

Thanks to blocking out my thoughts, the cursed sword didn’t go wild.

“What are you going to do, partner? Are you going to kill him?”

“No, I have no intention of killing him.”

Hmm… It seems like they won’t stop the match until they kill each other. How about we destroy the arena and run away? If we go outside, stronger enemies will overflow… Hehe.

“That’s difficult. Can you see this collar around my neck? It’ll explode if I go too far.”

“But that should recover, right?”

“Iris doesn’t recover.”

“Ah… I didn’t think about that.”

At that peaceful moment of conversation.

Whoosh!

Iris, who had fallen to the ground, staggered and swung the knife in reverse. My body recoiled backward, and Iris sprang up from her place.

“What is that guy’s identity? I can’t understand how divine power can flow from a human body. Because of the divine power, my strength disperses when it comes near his body.”

“As expected…”

It was no wonder, as Iris was the only hope of humanity, the last warrior, and the only descendant of the warrior’s bloodline.

“Is it possible to subdue him?”

“It’s possible, but…”

Clank, shrrrrrk.

About five minutes passed while the sword and the monster conversed, and the sound of one of the doors of the arena opening was heard.

Creeeak.

The sound of a beast growling lowly was heard, but due to the thick poisonous fog, it was impossible to tell where it was coming from. We could only perceive it through the sound.

Iris also turned her head towards the direction where the unfamiliar sound was coming from, surprised by the sudden strange sound.

“This is getting annoying.”

“What do you see?”

“From the footsteps… it’s Kreada, one of the most dangerous beasts in the demon realm.”

“Kreada?”

As I asked the question, a large silhouette appeared through the mist.

“Oh? That…!”

At the same time as a short exclamation.

“Kieeeek!”

No matter how you looked at it, the dinosaur-like monster let out a roar. Could it be that there are monsters in the demon realm that look like dinosaurs?

“What is that?!”

It seemed so.

Kwoong! Thud!

The monster began to run violently enough to make the ground tremble. I tried to take a stance and swing the sword, but the monster swiftly turned its body and started running towards Iris.

“Uh? Shouldn’t we go that way? Kill the Gargando quickly!”

[ Yeah! ]

The sword was swung without shouting any special lines, as if the Magic Sword was also surprised. As the mist swirled, the crimson sword strike flew and slashed through the air without cutting the body of the giant monster.

The monster lowered its body to avoid being cut by the leg-slicing attack.

“What’s that?!”

[ What’s that?! ]

Gargandoa’s voice overlapped with mine.

“Kieeeek!”

The monster raised its voice again and began to open its mouth wide to strike at Iris. Its focus solely on Iris made even its madness apparent.

Kwaaang!

The monster’s huge mouth viciously passed by Iris. Since Iris was not one to stand still, she stepped back and swung her sword.

Blood burst from the wound, but it soon stopped flowing.

“It seems like this is all because of me…”

The appearance of the monster, the flow of blood stopping, and its resemblance to the monsters that appeared in the comedic world, all seemed connected to me.

“Why all of a sudden?”

Although the comedic filter had been applied in various ways, no one around me had ever threatened me before.

“Is Iris attacking me because of that?”

Not knowing the exact mechanism was frustrating. I couldn’t just stand still, so I swung the Magic Sword vertically.

A long vertical line appeared on the monster’s body.

“K…ieeek…”

The monster let out a short scream.

Kwak!

It exploded and disappeared. I looked at the motionless mist and was certain. It was clearly due to the comedic filter.

Normally, when such an explosion occurred, the surrounding mist would disappear in the rough wind. However, the fact that it did not disappear meant that the explosion was the monster’s exit impact.

Clank, shrrrrrk!

Clank, shrrrrrk!

As time passed while killing the monster, the sound of iron bars opening was heard. This time, the sound came from two places.

“Kieeeek!”

“Kkieeek?!”

The creatures that appeared this time were yellow and pink monsters. They started running towards Iris just like the monsters that appeared first.

“What on earth is happening?!”

Makgeum screamed like a scream in an unattainable situation. I said, biting my lips.

“Let’s kill those two as quickly as possible, Gargandoa.”

“That’s what I was thinking anyway!”

I looked at Iris while handing over the initiative to Gargandoa. Iris was holding a sword and was far away from the monsters. It seemed she was backing off, worried that the monsters might explode.

“This won’t do. We have to end the match as quickly as possible. To do that…”

One of us has to die.

Usually, with this kind of description, a cruel and sad development should follow. But here, there was a comedic resident who could regenerate infinitely even if stabbed with a knife!

“Okay, let’s quickly get stabbed by Iris and pretend to die.”

If we did that, both Iris and I would be able to safely escape the arena.

“To do that, first…”

Shwaaack-.

“Ke…huk?”

“Kkiit?”

The huge monsters split in half again.

Kwaaaang

Kwaang!

They disappeared with a huge explosion.

“Two minutes left.”

I have to pretend to be stabbed and die within 2 minutes.

I ran busily and said to Makgeum.

“Gargandoa, it seems we need to end this fight quickly.”

“…! You should have given me such a cool line for myself! Even my partner wanted a good line! I’ll end this fight quickly… I came to end this fight….”

I heard Makgeum muttering something and continued speaking.

“Since I’m not going to die anyway, I’m going to pretend to die after getting stabbed by Iris. Can you cooperate?”

“Well, since I didn’t like this stage… no, this match, I’ll do that… Instead, can I drink the blood that comes out?”

“You can, but don’t make it too obvious.”

“Got it!”

The demon sword answered as if it were a god, and at the same time, my body began to rush toward Iris. Iris, who had been looking at where the monster disappeared, sensed my presence and quickly turned her head with a flash in her eyes.

“Hoo, huu… Die!”

I couldn’t help but nod involuntarily as I thought, ‘If that’s what she sees, it’s understandable for her to be angry.’

‘If it really looks like that, it’s reasonable to say so.’

Clang! Cling..!

The sound of swords clashing spread out like a scream. The demon sword and Iris’s sword clashed several times.

“It seems like we need to finish this quickly. That guy’s sword is going to break soon.”

“What? Really?”

“Because it keeps clashing with a great sword like mine. It’s unavoidable!”

Then the demon sword spoke in a serious tone.

“I’ll start making openings to stab her… Where should I stab her? The stomach?”

“No, make it the heart. If you just stab the stomach and she doesn’t die, what will we do?”

“…Even if you stab the partner’s heart, they won’t die, usually.”

“….”

The demon sword fell silent for a moment.

“Then let’s believe that.”

With those words, the demon sword, which had been forcefully pushing away Iris’s sword, seemed to lose some strength.

Clang!

The sword bounced upward from below, exposing a gap in the upper body. Iris, with her eyes shining brightly, thrust the sword into my heart.

“Aaah!”

At the same time as the voice, which had always been cute, turned rough, the tip of the sword pierced my heart.

“Cough…!”

At the moment my heart was pierced, I had a premonition.

“Huh? Am I going to die from this?”

My vision was dyed black.