episode_0262

“So… it’s a creature from the demon world.”

Ort stroked Asha’s chin after hearing the whole story.

“I came here with the intention of catching the necromancer who was running rampant in the city, but is he a demon?…”

“It was my guess at first, but the elves who came to support also confirmed it.”

It has been too long since demons disappeared from human history. Now, I couldn’t feel much emotion at all.

However, the danger felt by Magi and Yuglan, who had not yet been completely purified, was enough to raise awareness in Ort.

“The scale has grown tremendously.”

The troops brought in to protect Harpen suddenly had to protect the continent. Although the Demon King, the enemy of the warrior, had not descended, Yuglan was also a sufficiently dangerous being.

Above all, it was fatal for modern humans to lack experience fighting demons and countermeasures. In fact, Ocher and Eleunas, who were easy opponents in the beginning, slowly began to fall behind.

Kaang!

“I wonder if it’s okay to use divine power… I shouldn’t even think about cutting myself with a sword.”

“Oh my… If I were 10 years younger, I would have just destroyed that guy.”

Ocher is a paladin of the Stella Church who is said to have been unable to dream even with a reasonable level of talent and effort, and Eleunas was praised as the strongest adventurer in the region, including Harpen.

In reality, it should have been an easy task even by the standards of the past to take down a single demon with just two people without the need for an army.

Nevertheless, the reason Yuglan struggled was because he was a doll processed by Akasha’s hands.

The body that Akasha worked hard to create was strong enough not to be broken by Eleunas’ blunt weapons, and it was also able to resist Ocher’s sacred power.

In particular, resisting divine power was the most troublesome factor that differentiated them from existing demons.

Yuglan, who had overcome the most lethal force against demons thanks to Akasha’s thoroughness in guarding against Stella, was bound to be difficult to deal with.

“Hehehe… Humans get tired easily. Too bad, too bad.”

After several exchanges of attack and defense, Yuglan realized that the initiative had returned to him and let out a bitter laugh. What changed his expression to seriousness was a priest’s shout.

“Purification is complete! It will take more time to completely erase the demonic energy, but now there is no problem in standing on that ground and fighting!”

“It’s a good thing to hear. All troops on standby. Stay in line until further orders.”

The land was purified at best, but Ort ordered his troops to stand by.

“What, you don’t charge even with that many people?”

Ort answered Yuglan’s question calmly.

“You can’t waste your troops pointlessly on dealing with a solid enemy. In the first place, they came to deal with the immortal army.”

The clash with the necromancer required the help of at least one more human, but it wasn’t a demon. Therefore, Ort had no intention of charging the soldiers.

So is the purification of priests meaningless? That wasn’t it either. It was only after the surrounding demonic energy subsided that someone was able to approach Yuglan.

It was the warhorse that Ort was riding.

“Let’s go, Eclipse.”

Purr!

Ort’s warhorse, Eclipse, let out a snort full of triumph and powerfully stepped on the purified ground. Juglan clicked his tongue as he watched Ort charging recklessly but honestly.

“Tsk, you’re stupid.”

Yuglan was planning to tear it apart as it charged. But his attempts were in vain.

“Huh?”

This is because a long spear of unknown origin suddenly appeared in Ort’s hand and pierced Yuglan’s body.

“As expected, ‘Knight of Harpen’. It’s a masterpiece….”

Elunas said with a genuine smile in a non-tense manner. Anyway, they thought the situation was over once they got stabbed with the spear.

“Um…!?”

“Ugh, what’s the big deal about having a hole in your body?”

Yuglan, who was stabbed by a spear but was unharmed, fought back. He stretched out his hand to grab Ort’s neck and rip it out, but Asha intervened late.

“Just step back.”

Asha, who easily blocked Yuglan with Arzen’s defensive magic and kicked him away, spoke to Ort when she had a moment to spare.

“You need magic to subdue this guy.”

“Magic?”

“I’m not sure, because that’s the only thing I haven’t tried yet.”

“There is no magic class in Harpen.”

“Then it’s our little ones’ turn to step forward. hey! Nabulaeng, an adventurer who can use magic, casts magic on that guy right now! Spread as much as you want, we will defend you from the front!”

“That guy is basically a tree. So I think fire magic would be the most appropriate.”

“Did you hear that!? It’s fire magic!”

Several of the adventurers who volunteered for this journey chanted fire magic in response to the shouts of Elunas, who spread Asha’s words like a loudspeaker.

Yuglan, who had been sent flying after receiving a kick, quickly stood up as he felt fire coming from afar.

‘It’s dangerous…’

Yuglan didn’t show it on the outside, but he couldn’t hide his nervousness. The means used to withstand the elves’ fire barrage can no longer be used. This is because the body is not yet ripe.

No, even if the body was ripe, there was no suitable tree to receive the seeds. The only trees around were either dead or suppressed by the elves.

‘If this body is burned, there will be no more….’

No return means death. Yuglan, who still wanted to remain by Akasha’s side and practice, did not wish for his own death.

The good news is that, unlike the elves’ arrows, the magic of human wizards can be easily avoided. It doesn’t look like a tree now, and I was fully alert.

“Hello. What are you thinking that makes you roll your eyes like that?”

The problem was that he was so focused on magic that he didn’t notice Adele approaching him. Yuglan quickly tried to widen the distance, but unfortunately, Adele was one of the few people here who could match Yuglan’s speed.

“Where are you going!”

“Let go! If this continues, you too will be caught in the flames, right?”

“Ah. Unlike you, I have some resistance to fire magic, so it’s okay.”

Adel covered herself with Yuglan’s body and displayed dragon scales, making herself invisible to others.

“This is crazy…!”

Yuglan was embarrassed. At this rate, there was no way to avoid the flames. Of course, Ort was also embarrassed.

“If magic was used in this situation, that adventurer would also get hurt…”

“It’s okay. That kid has a fire magic countermeasure. It will be safe, so you can rule it out.”

It was okay even if there was no solution. In the first place, a dragon won’t die if it gets hit with some magic.

Ort, recalling the defensive magic that had been used on Asha, nodded with relief.

“Fire magic!”

As soon as the words were out, various fire magics rushed towards Yuglan. Because they were used by unspecified adventurers, the timing and types were different, but to Yuglan, they were all equally threatening flames.

“Lee, let go of this!”

“Wow, is this the first time I’ve seen you so embarrassed today? No, it’s only natural since we met for the first time today… Have you gotten sick of it already? Enough to make you think you’ve been watching it for a long time?”

As soon as Adele finished speaking, the first fire magic struck the two. Then, without a moment to catch his breath, large and small flames began to burn Yuglan’s body.

“Quaaah!”

Yuglan is screaming in pain from the burning pain that literally burns his body, not metaphorically. Actually, Adele was only a little warm.

“Uh-huh, the man is dead…”

“Master… Master!! Wow!! Akasha!!!”

Yuglan struggles, crying out its owner’s name, and Adele desperately holds on to it. Asha watched the scene from afar and tilted her head at the unfamiliar name.

“Akasha…?”

It’s unfamiliar, but it feels like it’s not the first time I’ve heard it. Asha frowned as she tried to recall a name she had only heard in passing once or twice in her life.

‘…I don’t know.’

The owner would be a dragon, but it was an unfamiliar name for Asha, who was a dragon. It was natural. In cases where a non-adult dragon encounters a dragon other than its parent, the parent usually dies due to the dragon’s intrusion.

In fact, the sensitive reaction to that name came from humans.

“Akasha…? That dragon Akasha!?”

“That demon… Are you Akasha’s servant?”

“That crazy dragon broke through the barrier of the demon world?”

“Wait a minute… You said earlier that the elves also came… So are the demons really starting to run amok?”

Dragons are important to humans. To be precise, the name of the dragon was important. This is because even for the same dragon, the level of threat to humans is completely different.

‘Arzen’, a name that was feared by humans hundreds of years ago, has now become the most familiar name to humanity, but most other dragons were a disaster to humans.

And in the history of mankind, the name of the ‘most fearful dragon’, ‘most unknown dragon’, ‘smartest dragon’, and ‘most ferocious dragon’ that has not changed for over a thousand years was Akasha.

Cracking… crackling….

After a commotion broke out and the only sound that could be heard was the sound of a juglan burning like firewood despite its human appearance, everyone there thought of one thing in common.

‘We… touched Akasha’s minions?’