I Picked up the Demon King - Chapter 145

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 145

 

The continent that was once whole splits apart.

 

The tremendous tremors wouldn’t stop. Even skilled Knights lost their balance and collapsed to the ground.

 

Thanks to that, I saved my life.

 

The Hero and Emperor, who had hesitated at my surrender declaration, rushed at me the moment they sensed something strange. If it hadn’t been tremors powerful enough to split the continent, I would have been helplessly overwhelmed by the two Heroes.

 

It was good that I saved my life. Good, but the problem was that I didn’t know what this situation was.

 

Water rapidly rose from below the endless cliff. As if it had always been that way. Only the cross-section in the distance showed traces of what had once been whole.

 

-Seems quite angry. Getting hit right after waking up, naturally so.

 

The Demon Lord said with a laugh.

 

‘Getting hit?’

 

I understood that this phenomenon of the continent splitting was what the Demon Lord had been waiting for all this time. But I couldn’t understand what the Demon Lord was saying.

 

Who had awakened? Was he talking about me regaining consciousness? But I hadn’t been hit by anyone yet.

 

-Tears of Spirits. The old Gods of the Middle Realm, who had their divine positions usurped by the Goddess, are now called Spirits.

 

Though my confused mind wasn’t completely sorted yet, I remembered something I’d heard briefly before.

 

-When they were called Gods, there was one who held the highest position among them.

 

Was it called a King?

 

-The Ocean.

 

The King of Spirits. The being also called the King of Gods. Was its true identity the Ocean?

 

-The master of the Ocean. It is benevolent. Unlike the Fire Giants of Hellfire and Great Demons whose very existence threatens humans. It protects against tsunamis and even permits small-scale fishing.

 

This was the central part of the continent. No matter how much empty space had formed, it was impossible for seawater from the continent’s edge to rise this quickly. But if it was related to divinity, the story would be different.

 

Watching the water rise, the Demon Lord said so. That benevolent master of the Ocean had split the continent in half.

 

‘What do you mean by getting hit?’

 

-The moment the Tears of Spirits touched the Ocean, the vast sea all became its body. Similar to how the World Tree controls all plants.

 

‘So what are you…’

 

-Dragon’s Breath.

 

I glanced back at Kaela Rowan, who had collapsed behind me and lost consciousness. Her secret technique used in the fight against Shtidy. The attack that recreated Dragon’s Breath had crossed the continent.

 

Beyond the horizon, far into the distance.

 

-It reached the Ocean.

 

The Demon Lord burst into laughter.

 

My brow naturally furrowed. When Kaella used Dragon’s Breath, though the Demon Lord had control of my body, my consciousness was also awake. So I remember.

 

The Demon Lord didn’t know she could use Dragon’s Breath. He didn’t even know that she knew how to use it. Though he knew she was hiding something, he didn’t know it was Dragon’s Breath.

 

But he was waiting for this? Something was strange.

 

The Demon Lord had said the Goddess wasn’t omnipotent and couldn’t even reach omniscience. Would the Demon Lord be any different? Even if he possessed power equal to the Goddess, wasn’t he currently in a state where he’d lost most of his strength?

 

I recalled how he only defended without attacking while facing the two Heroes.

 

If I hadn’t intervened, he might have planned to endure for three or four days. If that’s true… then even if it hadn’t been Dragon’s Breath, would this event have occurred anyway?

 

Even if that were the case, what was the Demon Lord waiting for that for?

 

I looked at the tree roots that had supported me to keep from falling. I looked at Johnny glaring at me from the front and the Emperor surveying the surroundings. I looked at the staff in my hand.

 

“Ah.”

 

The Demon Lord had said he didn’t lie to me.

 

If that was true, then his words about gathering six materials to create a holy sword would also be true.

 

The Ice Spirit that contracted with me and now became my power. The World Tree that I resurrected to help me.

 

The Dragon’s spiritual power that flowed into me, the Dragon’s heart fragment that became my staff. The Great Demon’s power absorbed along with tens of thousands of souls.

 

The hot energy I felt from the previous Hero, the Emperor. And the surging water stream.

 

Eternal Ice, World Tree branch, Dragon’s bone and heart, Great Demon’s horn, essence of Hellfire, Tears of Spirits. Though their original forms didn’t remain, all the materials the Demon Lord had hidden were gathered in this place.

 

“No way…”

 

I thought his plan would have been ruined the moment I fed Eternal Ice to the Military Spirit and it evolved into an Ice Spirit.

 

But wasn’t that the case? Was there something he had to do by somehow gathering these six fragments of divinity? As I thought this, the surging water streams gathered to form a single shape.

 

It continuously changed bit by bit, making it hard to describe what it was, but it had a bizarre yet fear-inducing appearance.

 

It slowly surveyed the surroundings.

 

Eventually, its gaze turned toward me.

 

It looked at the staff in my hand. That’s how I felt.

 

“…!”

 

A tremendous noise echoed through the air. It sounded like crashing waves, and also like an approaching storm.

 

Along with a mind-numbing roar, a water stream shot toward me. I reflexively created an ice wall, but the water stream pierced through it in one strike and rushed toward me.

 

I couldn’t dodge it. It was too fast to avoid. If I were the Demon Lord, it would have been different. That bastard who deflected even the Hero’s attacks would have dodged something like this with a laugh.

 

But I’m different. Even in this world that seemed infinitely slowed due to accelerated thinking, there was no way to avoid that rapidly approaching water stream. Tree branches were slowly rising from the floor, but they were too slow. Extending my mana wouldn’t work either.

 

Death was approaching.

 

I would be pierced by that thing and die. Just as I had that intuition.

 

I saw something faster than the water stream, smoothly cutting in front of me. Watching it swing a sword to deflect the water stream, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

 

In the intense heat, the water stream evaporated. Tremendous steam rose up, obscuring my vision.

 

Wind blew the steam away. What was revealed was the Hero. No, it was the First Hero, Ruin Epeldor.

 

“That one is mine.”

 

The Emperor stood calmly in place and spoke. He glared at the Spirit King with languid eyes and said.

 

“It’s my prey. I have no intention of yielding.”

 

Was he insane?

 

To them, I was the Demon Lord. An existence that must be killed and eliminated. If I died by anyone’s hand, wouldn’t that be perfectly fine?

 

Yet he saved me. Having no intention of yielding meant he wanted to kill me himself. For such a trivial reason?

 

“What are you saying right now…!”

 

“Shut up.”

 

Johnny, who had regained his senses, shouted, but Ruin only glared at him while responding with a short, firm voice.

 

Johnny hesitated at the intimidating aura he emanated.

 

“Monster. If you think to steal my prey, face me first.”

 

I don’t know if it understood the Emperor’s words. But immediately after, the Spirit King let out a roar and unleashed attacks at the Emperor.

 

Waves rose. Tremendous waves covered the battlefield.

 

The tremors that had been shaking the continent still hadn’t stopped. Soldiers who had lost their balance and fallen were swept away screaming.

 

The Emperor exhaled and swung his sword.

 

I remember when a dragon suddenly appeared and attacked the Imperial Capital. Kaella Rowan had tried to summon a meteor, and the dragon had tried to breathe its breath of destruction. In that desperate situation, the Hero drew his holy sword.

 

And he cut.

 

Having lost his divinity and receiving no protection from fate. He cut the dragon, cut the magic circle, and cut the sky. It was a shocking moment.

 

But how could the shock of that time be greater than now?

 

When he swung the holy sword, the waves disappeared.

 

The soldiers who had been flailing and screaming for help sat down on the ground in a daze. It seemed as if not even a bit of heat had reached those who had been swept away.

 

It was an impossible situation. An incomprehensible situation. It was something that couldn’t be reproduced with any magic.

 

-That’s what divinity is.

 

The Demon Lord, noticing my confusion, spoke.

 

-If it were simply hot, how could it be called divine?

 

The moisture dried up. Wet clothes dried, but the body’s moisture wasn’t taken away. Only the salt that stuck to the skin proved that what had just happened wasn’t a dream.

 

-Burning whatever is desired while ensuring not even a bit of heat reaches what is unwanted. Hellfire is the hottest thing in the world, yet to someone, it’s merely warm heat.

 

“…Ha.”

 

-It must have been a short time, but his control over divinity is at a considerable level. He’s on a different dimension from my foolish master.

 

I couldn’t refute the Demon Lord’s words.

 

Indeed, that must be the most successfully created test subject from the research laboratory. The only specimen that accepted fragments of the First Hero’s thoughts.

 

-Are you planning to just stand there admiring?

 

The Demon Lord asked me.

 

“Should we retreat for now?”

 

If two unpredictable beings were hostile toward each other, it couldn’t be better for me.

 

The chaos wouldn’t last long. The tremors were gradually decreasing, and the soldiers who had been swept away were getting up one by one.

 

Shtidy was glaring at me fiercely, and Johnny was looking back and forth between Ruin and me. The Hero would have other companions too, so fighting wouldn’t be a good choice…

 

-Though not as much as the First Hero, that guy’s skills are quite impressive too.

 

The Demon Lord rarely spoke praise.

 

The target must be the First Hero, Ruin Epeldor, who was earnestly swinging his sword over there. There was no way he’d praise Johnny.

 

-Even if it’s the Spirit King, he’ll quickly defeat one that hasn’t been awake for long.

 

Anyone who saw that sword strike that evaporated the waves would think the same.

 

That Emperor would find nothing impossible. Even if it meant evaporating all the seawater, he looked like he would achieve victory. Then it would be resolved.

 

-If that happens, there would be nothing good for you, would there?

 

“…?”

 

The reason that thing is hostile toward me must be because of the staff in my hand. It probably thinks I’m the one who touched it with Dragon’s Breath.

 

If it were someone I could communicate with, it might be different, but there’s no way to clear up this misunderstanding. That thing will absolutely never give up and will target my life. If someone else could defeat that thing in my place, wouldn’t that be appreciated?

 

However, the Demon Lord clicked his tongue as if pathetic and said.

 

-Just absorbing one Divinity made him that strong. It wouldn’t matter for me, but… could you defeat that guy after he gets his hands on other Divinities too? If you’re confident, I won’t stop you.

 

“…Damn it.”

 

He called me prey.

 

If that thing is defeated, I’m next. A human who’s already strong enough that I lack confidence to face him, if he becomes much stronger than now. That would be a disaster.

 

It doesn’t seem like he’d accept surrender at this point, so what I can do is defeat both of them while they’re fighting.

 

‘Is that possible?’

 

The remnant of a God that split the Continent in half and a Hero who reclaimed Divinity. Like the things I’ve faced so far, but isn’t this a different weight class?

 

-If you lack confidence… give me your body again.

 

The Demon Lord said that with a voice filled with laughter. Just like always. Thanks to that, I seemed to calm down a little.

 

Right.

 

It wasn’t so different from what I’d experienced so far. I’d faced absurd, unimaginable enemies. And I’d survived until now.

 

I’ll defeat those things somehow.

 

And I’ll survive. Just like I always have.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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