episode_0137

Swish─!

“Kieeeek!”

A monster guarding the entrance of the city where the Demon Lord’s army was stationed let out a tremendous scream as it fell with a single blow.

And that scream was like a signal announcing Milaia’s arrival in the city of Bloodstain.

Driven by the orders of Demon Lord Vercella and the stubbornness of Bloodstain, the Demon Lord’s army, who had been resting without any certainty, quickly entered into battle formation.

Comprised only of elites handpicked by Bloodstain himself, the Demon Lord’s army, even if they were the same monsters, were much stronger than ordinary individuals.

Even the common and weak goblins within the Demon Lord’s army were capable of defeating six ordinary wild goblins in a fight alone.

Including various mutants empowered by demon magic, as well as powerful undead creatures.

And the one commanding all these monsters with overwhelming power was none other than Bloodstain.

As Milaia set foot in the city, the monsters stationed there all rushed towards her.

However, Milaia, as usual, created a blade barrier using delayed attacks around her to block the monsters’ assaults.

She could have easily taken down the rushing monsters one by one, but she refrained from doing so.

Milaia did not come to fight the entire Demon Lord’s army.

She came to duel Bloodstain one-on-one.

Therefore, it was necessary for her to conserve her strength as much as possible.

“….”

As Milaia searched for Bloodstain, dozens of monsters were shredded to pieces by her blade barrier.

Her technique, which required high concentration of magic and control, consumed a lot of stamina once it turned into a battle.

That’s why she needed to find Bloodstain quickly.

Walking through the city filled with rubble and monsters, Milaia thought of her homeland.

Even then, Bloodstain had destroyed her homeland so thoroughly and cruelly.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

As one monster was sliced through Milaia’s blade barrier, the ground trembled with heavy footsteps.

Milaia stopped in her tracks and turned her body towards the direction of the sound.

Bloodstain, a demon with the head of a horse and a muscular giant body, was approaching with an enormous axe in hand.

His fierce eyes were fixed on Milaia’s body like a predator chasing its prey.

Milaia immediately pointed her sword at Bloodstain and spoke.

“Bloodstain, I have a proposal for you.”

Attempting to converse with demons on the battlefield was a rare occurrence.

That’s why Bloodstain found Milaia’s actions strange.

“You… have nothing to say to a mere human.”

“You should remember me. We’ve clashed weapons several times already.”

Milaia spoke without flinching, even in the face of Bloodstain’s overwhelming presence.

According to the information she had gathered, his kind never refused a duel.

If he tried to refuse the duel proposal, Milaia planned to gently scratch his pride.

If he still didn’t accept the duel and simply chose to fight the entire Demon Lord’s army, then there was nothing she could do.

But Milaia believed that there was a greater chance of Bloodstain accepting her proposal.

“…Hmph, that woman.”

With a snort, Bloodstain looked down at Milaia.

Before she knew it, monsters had gathered around him, surrounding Milaia.

With Bloodstain watching closely, it became difficult to break through the encirclement and escape using brute force.

“I challenge you to a duel, Bloodstain. Let’s fight one-on-one, representing all the victims of the city you destroyed.”

Stepping into the enemy’s camp and challenging the leader to a duel, Milaia.

If anyone were to witness this, they would surely think she was insane.

By common sense, there was no reason to accept such a reckless challenge.

But Bloodstain was not a demon who lived by common sense.

“Growl… Growl… Hahaha!”

Bloodstain let out his characteristic growling sound, suddenly bursting into laughter.

Honestly, he was baffled.

Having lived for centuries, he had never seen a human like this woman, who boldly challenged him to a duel and threw herself into danger.

But the absurdity of the situation amused Bloodstain.

He had stopped advancing towards the kingdom’s capital and returned to wait here, ignoring the demon king’s order to come back.

But the moment he heard Milaia’s reckless proposal, he couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

“Growl… What if… I refuse?”

Bloodstain asked Milaia.

But there was a strange sense of excitement in his tone.

Milaia looked at Bloodstain expressionlessly and said, “Am I scaring you?”

“…!”

At her words, thick veins bulged on Bloodstain’s body, and he let out a breath filled with anger.

Who was this woman? Did she know what situation she was in?

But she was so intriguing.

Bloodstain’s desire was ignited.

Milaia’s provocation about his race was clearly having an effect.

“Fine. It’ll be a warm-up before conquering the kingdom.”

“….”

“Growl… Retreat. Anyone who interferes in the fight will be killed.”

In the end, Bloodstain accepted Milaia’s duel request.

Having been waiting here indefinitely due to the demon king’s order, he was getting a bit bored.

The demons surrounding Bloodstain slowly retreated at his command.

And so, in the burning city, Milaia and Bloodstain faced each other one on one.

* * *

Milaia felt her hand holding the sword trembling slightly.

Was it because the environment was finally set for her to fight her lifelong enemy one on one?

She had faced Bloodstain several times before, but this time, she felt a different kind of tension.

Swish- Swish-

Milaia’s greatsword sliced through the air before the duel began.

An invisible blade barrier that had always protected her from demons appeared.

Bloodstain held a massive axe, waiting for Milaia to attack.

Thud!

In the next moment, Milaia charged fiercely towards Bloodstain.

With a swift movement, she struck horizontally like a flash.

But Bloodstain’s axe blocked her, and their powers clashed.

A thunderous sound, as if metal clashed against metal, echoed with the shockwave.

Bloodstain’s axe emitted the unique power of a higher demon, shattering most of the invisible blade barrier around Milaia.

With just one swing, Milaia’s main defense was almost nullified.

But Milaia had anticipated that Bloodstain possessed that kind of strength.

Crack!

Their weapons, which had been stuck together without either side giving way, separated with a loud noise.

With agility that didn’t match his massive frame, Bloodstain swiftly swung his axe towards Milaia as she retrieved her sword.

Mireia laid her sword horizontally to block the axe coming straight at her.

“Ugh….”

She could feel the ground giving way under the immense force, causing it to slowly sink.

Although it wasn’t crumbling like a cliff, the ground itself was cracking.

No matter how skilled Mireia was, it was not a strength that a human could withstand for long.

She had no choice but to block the axe and suddenly lowered her body, creating a slight opening before swiftly retreating backwards.

“….!”

However, Bloodstain’s attacks did not cease.

He pursued Mireia as she retreated like a bull.

With eyes shining like burning with magic, he swung the axe with the momentum to slice across Mireia’s abdomen.

Bloodstain’s axe narrowly grazed Mireia’s abdomen.

Whether it was due to Mireia’s blade shield lingering in the air or not, sparks flew as the axe passed, scraping against the metal.

Bloodstain continued relentlessly swinging his axe without giving any openings.

Mireia gradually stepped back, barely evading and blocking his attacks.

“Hmph, so this is all a human can do in the end.”

Watching Mireia focus solely on defense against his storm-like attacks, Bloodstain spoke with a boiling voice.

In terms of magic, strength, and physical abilities, Bloodstain was overwhelming Mireia.

Mireia’s magical skills shattered easily against Bloodstain’s overwhelming magic power.

In the next moment, as Mireia continued to retreat, her steps faltered slightly.

Without missing the opportunity, Bloodstain closed the distance and swung the axe at an angle that made evasion almost impossible.

“Ugh….!”

After continuously slashing through the air or being blocked by the greatsword, the axe finally struck Mireia’s lower abdomen.

Her armor tore apart like paper, leaving a clear wound on her lower abdomen.

Mireia felt a sensation of something hot rising through her insides.

But the next moment, Bloodstain’s fierce attacks came to a sudden halt.

The one who was wounded was not just Mireia.

Bloodstain’s side split open as if torn by something, blood flowing out.

“What trickery is this….”

Bloodstain couldn’t understand when he had been injured.

While Bloodstain hesitated, Mireia widened the distance again and took a defensive stance.

She wasn’t just passively receiving attacks.

As she continued to evade Bloodstain’s attacks, she engraved delayed strikes in the air each time she defended against the axe with her greatsword.

The blade shield she usually wore on her body like a protective shield easily shattered as she had to control numerous delayed strikes simultaneously, but focusing on a much smaller number of delayed strikes allowed it to remain intact against Bloodstain’s powerful magic.

Creating one powerful strike by carving out a hundred strikes of strength and concentrating it there.

Pretending to counterattack with her greatsword for defense, she engraved a powerful delayed strike in the air to focus on defense without Bloodstain noticing.

Of course, it was quite difficult to land an effective blow with that.

His attacks were truly fierce, so Mireia faced significant difficulties in executing her plan.

However, after several attempts, she succeeded in inflicting a small wound on her abdomen and carving a deep wound on his side.

The problem was that this counterattack did not inflict a fatal blow on Bloodstain.

His body was much sturdier than Milaia had anticipated.

Moreover, despite his massive physique, there was a high possibility that the same tactics would not work on a guy who had experienced numerous battles.

“Growl……”

Bloodstain began emitting a dark aura from his body, making beastly sounds.

Having been injured by Milaia, he was determined to settle the fight quickly without wasting any more time.

“……”

Milaia took a defensive stance with a blank expression, glaring at him.

Her specialty, Delayed Strike, was not powerful enough to defeat him.

If she could find a gap and directly thrust her greatsword into him, even he wouldn’t be able to avoid a fatal blow.

However, no matter how hard she concentrated to find a gap, she couldn’t see any openings.

In the next moment, Bloodstain’s figure leaped high into the sky after pounding the ground.

The ground trembled just from his leap.

A red aura oozed ominously from the axe he raised high into the air.

Milaia instinctively felt a sense of danger.

This was not an attack she could withstand as she had done before.

But she wasn’t sure if she could dodge it by avoiding it.

Swish-!

Bloodstain was flying towards Milaia in the air at a terrifying speed.

It was as if he would tear the ground apart along with her when he landed.

It was already too late to dodge, and defense was meaningless.

She reluctantly switched to a counterattack stance with her greatsword, preparing to defend against his attack coming at her like a meteor.