Chapter 200 – Final Chapter (3)
The previous Demon King had never became fully cognizant of Artpe. Not even for a moment. She had been released from her seal after Artpe had died. After the world started anew, she spent most of the time trying to fully free herself from the nasty seal that had been placed on her. She didn’t have the time to pay attention to others.
Her power had been weakened by the seal, so she was still recovering her power. This was why she hadn’t stepped forward onto the stage. However, she could no longer delay in making an appearance. She had to act. Of course, the previous Demon King and Nanarai Bodra was the core power of her faction. The two of them made up over 90% of the power possessed by her faction.
[I am the Demon King, who inherited the blood of the Demonic god. My name is Garnet Orzodia. I know you’ve killed my poor successor. However, I’m very lenient when it comes to a cute child. Did you say your name was Artpe? You don’t have to be lost any more. You should return to the Demon race. I’ll hold you in my bosom.]
Her gaze was fixed on Artpe. She knew that Artpe was the backbone of the hero’s party. She knew that Artpe was the one that had a hand in growing his party members to this extent.
Above all else, he was manifesting a spell through his staff and magic tome! He was turning the Demon realm into the human realm, and her Demon underlings had been turned into humans. He was someone with overwhelming power! She had lost everyone that had acted as her hands and feet. Even as she surveyed her enemies, she was thinking about how to bring him under her as an underling.
[I’ll tell you this now. It is meaningless to go against me. My existence is a miracle in itself. I am this world’s first and the last! I am the proof that the Demonic god exists. I am his daughter. I do not want to kill you. That is why you should walk towards me of your own volition. You should embrace me. I do not lie.]
“Each word you speak is dripping with Demonic energy. That means….”
Artpe maintained his spell as he took in the sight of her. His Read All Creation ability did a great job in delivering her information to him.
[Garnet Orzodia]
[Demon King]
[Level : 419]
[Innate Ability : Seduction]
[The Mana of a whole race was used to complete the seal. Despite being freed from the seal, the aftereffects remains. Her full power hasn’t been recovered yet.]
Artpe’s party had acted too fast, so she had come out before she had regained her full power. Despite this fact, it was as she boasted. She was plenty strong.
It burned for Artpe to admit this, but he had to acknowledge that the current Demon King had been right once again. Artpe’s party had to go through the experience of fighting the current Demon King and the fragment of the Demonic god. If they hadn’t, they wouldn’t have stood a chance against Garnet Orzodia.
“She is level 419. However, she had been sealed. She’s been weakened significantly after she was released from the seal. We just have to do the same thing we did against the current Demon King and the fragment of the Demonic god.”
“Artpe always speaks as if it’ll be easy.”
The previous Demon King was a terrifying monster. However, he had already expected this when her existence was alluded to. The only thing his party needed right now was determination.
Maetel and Sienna moved to the front. The rest of the party slowly moved backwards as they got in formation. Regina raised her staff in order to protect all of them.
[It’ll be futile even if everyone attacks me all at once. Will it be ok sending out only the two of them? Moreover, you are maintaining the great magic.]
“Don’t listen to that woman’s words. Her Innate ability is called Seduction. It is a technique that can make a hero into an idiot. In fact, that idiot is right over there.”
[Oh my. You are quite the cold-hearted child. I haven’t told you the name of my ability, yet you spoke it out loud. It feels as if you’ve undressed me. Aren’t you progressing too fast in make a move on me?]
“I’m killing that woman for sure.”
“······since she is raising your fighting spirit, I won’t say anything.”
Nanarai Bodra was letting out a powerful Demonic energy as he hovered near Garnet Orzodia. It was as if he was trying to protect her. His nose flared as he looked at her. It was a really pathetic sight, but his behavior was in line with his past image.
[If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have been able to unravel her seal. As the level and the quality of the subject being sealed increases, it becomes harder to break the seal.]
“You are the one that had placed the seal, yet you weren’t able to unseal it. It validates my idea that you’ve lost a significant portion of your memories.”
They no longer needed to listen to Nanarai Bodra. Above all else, they had to stop Garnet Orzodia before she talked any more. Did Etna share a hive mind with Artpe? Etna immediately attacked Nanarai Bodra.
[I’m sorry, but you cannot kill this man until we achieve what we desire…. Hoohp!]
The previous Demon King immediately moved to block Etna. However, Sienna had followed up behind Etna. She brought her hammer down, and the hammer crushed the spot where Garnet Orzodia had occupied. Sienna was also a heavy weight that was over level 400!
Sienna wasn’t the hero. Garnet Orzodia never expected someone in the hero’s party other than the heroes to possess so much power, so she dodged in surprise. However, her surprise didn’t end there.
[What’s going on······ Ah, ahhhhhh.]
[You are a thorn in my side!]
When Nanarai saw Garnet’s torment, he let out a shout in anger. His gaze was planted squarely on Artpe. To be precise, he was looking at the small white bell that was swinging slowly in Artpe’s hand.
[I’ve never heard of such an Artifact!]
“Alright. He took the bait, Etna!”
“Roger!”
Artpe was successful in baiting the idiot! Flame coated Etna’s entire body, and she charged straight towards Nanarai Bodra.
She possessed a peerless Innate ability that was geared towards combat. Nanarai Bodra was being weakened by the Declaration of Demonic Extermination, so Etna was on par with him! Moreover, Nanarai was adept at dealing with magic. He was having a hard time countering attacks made through the power of a Fire Spirit. He could do nothing as he allowed Etna to damage his body.
[It can’t be helped. Since you guys are being so violent and unreasonable……. It’ll hurt a little bit, but you should endure it. Afterwards, I’ll have plenty of time to soothe your pain away.]
Garnet Orzodia gritted her teeth. The Declaration of Demonic Extermination kept ringing, and it felt as if her head would be split open. However, it was merely an Artifact. How could she be called the conqueror of the Demonic realm if she couldn’t even overcome a single Artifact!
Maetel and Sienna had raised their weapons as they glared at Garnet. Garnet raised her hand towards the two girls. Without any warning, magic missile erupted from Garnet’s hand, and the spell attacked the two girls. The magic missiles were a light attack, yet it was too powerful to be ignored!
“If we dodge, Artpe will be hurt!”
“This is gonna hurt more than a little bit······!”
The profound power of Acceleration was added to Maetel’s sword strike. She quickly cut through the magic missiles. Sienna blocked the fragments of the magic missiles with her shield. Garnet had planned up on moving in close after she had fired her magic missiles. However, Maetel’s single sword strike continued to split through the air. The strike was infused with Mana, and it flew straight towards Garnet. She quickly moved to dodge it.
“Don’t touch Artpe!”
As if it was inevitable, Garnet raised her arm to block Maetel’s sword strike.
[You aren’t just a cute child······!]
“Since you are really old, I can see why you are looking for cute things.”
[Ho-oh.]
Maetel’s provocation was successful! Garnet moved in very close to Maetel as she detonated her Demonic energy. She tried to attack Maetel, but it was too late. Sienna had gotten close, and she pushed Garnet with her shield.
Sienna had given up on directly attacking Garnet. She was just trying to protect Maetel with her shield. She was trying to create an opportunity where Maetel would be able to attack Garnet.
[You magical energy is unique······?]
“Unni, I’ll leave it to you.”
“Yes. I’ll protect Artpe.”
Maetel took the Mana of an Evil Reflector from Sienna. She infused it within her sword. In the nick of time, Vadinet’s blessing was placed over the two girls. At the same time, Vadinet’s curse hit Garnet. The tide of battle changed in an instant.
[This is an annoyingly familiar sight. In the past, Nanarai stressed the importance of his comrades in front of me….. However, he is mine now!]
As Garnet moved, countless magic missles formed in her wake. Garnet didn’t have an Innate ability like the dead current Demon King. However, she was able to mentally subjugate other using her Seduction ability. On top of that, she possessed a massive reservoir of Demonic energy.
Simple plans didn’t work against her. One couldn’t simply attack her weak point. In many aspects, she really was the prototypical Demon King.
[The magic missiles are weakening······!?]
“Hooo-ahhhhhp!”
Of course, even she was weakened in front of the Declaration of Demonic Extermination being rung by Artpe!
[We have to destroy that bell!]
[You do it, Nanarai! I’ll······ I have to entertain these brats!]
Maetel started using her Record Master ability in earnest. She gathered the power of her party into herself. Maetel’s skill had evolved in the process of fighting the Demon King and the fragment of the Demonic god.
Her ability had moved beyond gathering the abilities of her party members. The power maximized Maetel’s attack, and as soon Sienna tried to defend and counter attack, the power was transferred to her. Her skill was maximizing each other’s abilities to the extreme.
Garnet could see the Record being transferred between the two girls, so she tried to attack at the exact moment when the transfer happened. Surprisingly, Maetel was too mobile, and she was aware of Garnet’s intention. Maetel didn’t give Garnet the chance to exploit the weakness in her skill. Garnet gritted her teeth as she met Maetel’s flashing eyes.
[You bitch······!]
“I’m sorry, but there will be no stage for you beyond this. Everything will end here.”
The bastard sword contained her indomitable will. It let out a white light. It was Hero’s Flash.
“You’ll have to exit this stage.”
On the other side, Nanarai Bodra was in a worse situation than the Demon King. Etna was the only one in the party that was capable of going toe to toe with Artpe and Maetel! This was before she had gained her Spirit Transformation ability. Now she was a foe that couldn’t be pushed around by Nanarai Bodra.
[Is this perhaps the power of a Spirit? Yes, my arm was…..! You are a cute woman, yet you are quite rough!]
[Can you close your mouth, grandpa? Your breath stinks. Or else….. I’ll shut it for you!]
Enta punched the air, and tens of thousands of Fire Birds erupted from her fist. In a flash, she created an area filled with lava. Nanarai tried to manifest his Demonic energy into a spell, but it was burned away by the fire before he could do that. At that moment, Etna was as close to being the epitome of her fire attribute.
[If you think I’ll continue to suffer under your attack, you are mistaken!]
[Hoohp!]
In multiple instances, Etna had prevented Nanarai Bodra from activating his spells . He had the body of a Demon, yet he suffered from horrifying burns. He couldn’t heal from these burns. In the end, he gave up on manifesting his spells through Demonic energy.
However, this was when the true battle started. He quickly swung his one remaining hand. It was similar to what the Demon King Garnet had done. However, magic missiles of a fundamentally different nature started to pour out. The magic missiles couldn’t be compared in the quantity of power they possessed, but surprisingly, magic circles had been nested within the magic missiles. When the flames touched the magic missiles, the magic circle within was activated! It ate the flames!
[I don’t know how long you’ve been with the hero, but I’ve walked down the road of a magician before I became a Demon. I was peerless.]
[You were overtaken by Artpe in terms of magic.]
Etna snorted. She was a bit disheartened, since she couldn’t read the spell that was nested within the magic circle. However, she couldn’t outwardly display her disappointment.
‘I have to be more wary of this man than the Demon King. The one that is working on the Demonification of the human realm isn’t the previous Demon King. It should be this man….!’
Even as Nanaria Bodra fought against Etna, he kept glancing towards Artpe’s Reclamation magic. This might be a ridiculous idea, but he might be deciphering the Reclamation magic in real time.
[I got you.]
“Ooh······ What!?”
Even during a battle, Etna was focused on Artpe. Her attention was divided. Etna didn’t see the magic missile coming towards her. She only realized its presence when it hit her body. Of course, she thought the flame coating her body would block the magic missile…..
“Koo-hahk!?”
[Checkmate. Shall we end this game, my juniors?]
The flame around Etna’s body disappeared. Etna’s body shook as she fell to the ground. Artpe had been injecting his Mana into the magic tome. He looked up in shock. At that moment, he saw something that he hadn’t been able to see before.
[Innate Ability : Magic Circle Creation]
[I’m well aware of your Innate Ability.]
Nanarai Bodra was the asshole sunbae-nim, who wouldn’t let go of their ankles. Nanarai Bodra grinned as he spoke.
[I devised a magic circle that’ll hide my Record for a short amount of time. I guess it worked very well.]
“You son of a bitch······?”
Artpe grinded his teeth.
It seemed his enemy had the ability to manifest Materialization magic through his magic circles.