I Picked up the Demon King - Chapter 146

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

Chapter 146

 

An earthquake. It was an unprecedented, tremendous earthquake unlike any in the entire history of the continent.

 

The ground split apart, and buildings collapsed. Even the Grand Duke’s Castle, protected by high-level defensive magic, could not withstand it. The coastal cities had already been submerged by waves. Most people couldn’t understand what was happening, but they could feel that the world was racing toward destruction.

 

It was inevitable.

 

The mass hallucination that had occurred just a few months ago. Regarding the vision of meteors that would destroy the world, all sorts of rumors were already circulating during this time. Various nations had conscripted large-scale military forces and declared war against the Dark Mages. Everyone knew that something was going terribly wrong.

 

People naturally thought of one being.

 

The Demon Lord.

 

The resurrected Demon Lord was trying to destroy the world. To take revenge on the Hero, on the Goddess. To take revenge on the world.

 

Terror-stricken people cried out the Goddess’s name. Merciful Goddess, Aision. Please save us.

 

But the Goddess did not respond.

 

The collapsed people cried out the Hero’s name. Ruin Epeldor, who had slain the Demon Lord, and the new savior Johnny.

 

But the earthquake did not stop.

 

Just as people were about to collapse in despair and terror, a theater troupe began performing in the crumbling streets.

 

* * *

 

Waves dozens of meters high, torrents of water with tremendous pressure. Each one was an attack surpassing high-level spells, pouring down one after another.

 

The divine-infused attacks came crashing down, breaking through dozens of layers of defensive magic. The overwhelming majesty created the illusion that the world would be submerged in the ocean.

 

But that was only momentary. With an emotionless face, the Emperor swung his sword. As if he hadn’t been serious when facing the Demon Lord, the power contained in his sword strike was considerable.

 

In a single blow, the waves that covered the sky evaporated.

 

Enormous steam enveloped the surroundings, and rain fell from the sky. The humid, hot air made it difficult even to breathe. Without magical protection, their lungs might have been cooked.

 

That wasn’t an illusion.

 

Soldiers collapsed, unable to breathe. Starting with those whose mana had been completely exhausted, one by one. In an instant, their bodies were cooked and turned into chunks of meat.

 

It wasn’t just the soldiers’ fate. Knights, mages, and even Dark Mages all experienced the same thing. The aftermath of just two beings clashing was greater than any area-of-effect magic that had ever appeared on the continent.

 

At this rate, everyone gathered here, including the subjugation army numbering in the hundreds of thousands, would die. Only a few strong individuals, including the Hero and his companions at most, would be able to endure.

 

The moment they thought that, tree roots sprouted from the ground.

 

At the same time they felt a brief stinging sensation, life force began flowing through their bodies. Those who had been dying also began to regain consciousness one by one.

 

It didn’t become easier to breathe. The painful feeling remained the same.

 

However, except for the corpses being swept away by the rainwater, they could get up one by one.

 

“Ugh, what is this…?”

 

Johnny was looking around with a bewildered expression.

 

It was understandable. He had come to defeat the Demon Lord, but the one actually massacring the subjugation army was Ruin, the former Hero.

 

It was inevitable.

 

The gap was too great. In a clash between those possessing divinity, there was nothing that soldiers who had only received a bit of training could do.

 

He couldn’t understand why they had brought such a large army. Was it really just to replenish Shtidy’s mana?

 

With that kind of power, wouldn’t Shtidy be unnecessary too? While Kaella Rowan was certainly a great mage, with that level of power, it seemed like penetrating the black mist and striking the main body would be easy.

 

There was no time to worry about the confused Johnny.

 

Ruin was a powerhouse so strong that even calling him tremendous seemed laughable. There wasn’t enough leisure to look for openings while worrying about Johnny’s mental state.

 

However, even while facing divinity, he showed not the slightest gap. Even in seemingly defenseless postures, there was a burning intensity that suggested one would be incinerated if carelessly approached.

 

‘I’ll probably have to create an opening myself.’

 

The method was deception. No matter how much the Emperor radiated a sun-like aura, wouldn’t it be dangerous if his senses became confused while facing divinity?

 

He closed his eyes and deployed magic.

 

It was now more natural than breathing. He had repeatedly deployed and broken magic without rest for what felt like several months.

 

Deception was an illusion overlaid on reality. The amount of power consumed varied depending on who the target was. If it was a former Hero possessing divinity, the power consumed would be enormous.

 

He didn’t hope for anything grand. He only wanted a slight opening. If he could cause confusion in the senses, that tense standoff would collapse in an instant.

 

He drew a small water droplet.

 

An illusion of the mist covering all directions gathering to form a water droplet, shot from a blind spot.

 

Enormous mana was consumed.

 

Ruin’s senses didn’t miss the water droplet. As he quickly rotated his body with the holy sword, the intense heat evaporated the phantom. Immediately after, his eyebrows furrowed slightly.

 

Crack.

 

A sound like breaking glass echoed in his head. Rather than simply evaporating the water droplet made of illusion, the magic itself had been dispelled.

 

The backlash came swiftly.

 

“Are you joking? Don’t do anything pointless and just wait.”

 

In the midst of mind-numbing pain, the Emperor’s voice brushed past my ears.

 

‘How was I discovered?’

 

I couldn’t understand it. I had tried to appear as natural as possible, not even mixing in any flashy illusions. Small water droplets. Did it make sense to notice a few small droplets mixed in with rainwater and mist?

 

-It’s divinity.

 

The Demon Lord said so.

 

-To properly utilize divine authority, you need to use divinity, not mana.

 

It was perhaps natural that ordinary magic wouldn’t work properly against those who possessed divinity. However, the amount of divinity I could handle was far too little to deploy deception. To increase the absolute amount of divinity, I would need to absorb other divinity or…

 

-You’ll need to absorb souls.

 

Feeding souls to the divinity I possessed. It was the same principle as when the Demon Lord had gradually absorbed souls for resurrection.

 

-Fortunately, this place overflows with souls more than anywhere else on the continent.

 

I recalled the Demon Lord absorbing the souls of soldiers who had died from the dragon’s breath, during what I had thought was an illusion just moments ago.

 

Originally, it would have been a troublesome number of souls to handle, but perhaps thanks to my grown soul, I only felt a slight headache. I could digest them without much difficulty.

 

Though the World Tree was breathing life into them, there were countless soldiers who had already died and were dying. If I absorbed all those souls, dramatic growth would be possible.

 

‘Could it be…?’

 

A hypothesis occurred to me.

 

The Emperor’s attacks against the Demon Lord had been fast and strong sword strikes, but compared to what he was doing now against the Spirit King, they couldn’t be considered serious.

 

The military force gathered from various parts of the continent, including soldiers that seemed pointlessly numerous. The confrontational structure that showed no concern whatsoever for their safety.

 

I couldn’t help but think he was deliberately trying to kill them.

 

‘That can’t be.’

 

I shook my head and dismissed the thought. He wasn’t even a Dark Mage, so what help would killing them provide? It would only make the enemies stronger. Unless he was a pervert who felt thrilled by fighting strong enemies.

 

I deployed soul magic, mixing divinity with mana.

 

Over a thousand chains burst forth, piercing through the screaming souls. Johnny, sensing something amiss, moved.

 

“What are you doing…!”

 

I barely dodged the holy sword.

 

Johnny’s sword, which had seemed sluggish when the Demon Lord moved, now felt quite sharp and threatening.

 

The fact that I could dodge it was probably thanks to the Demon Lord’s movements being somewhat imprinted on my body. Moreover.

 

‘…!’

 

At the eerie feeling, I ducked my head, and a dagger grazed past my hair.

 

Even after evading, the feeling didn’t disappear. I quickly activated Explosion behind me. After being pushed far back by the shockwave, I looked back to see a man waving his hand as if disappointed.

 

“Using mid-level attack magic for evasion. This is the first time I’ve seen such a crude method.”

 

The dagger in his hand glinted. Water flowing along the blade’s edge was black. Was it poison mixed with water vapor flowing down?

 

He looked at me appraisingly and muttered.

 

“For someone who’s supposed to be a Demon Lord, do you only know a few spells?”

 

He was accurate.

 

I had absorbed various souls including my Master’s, and read many books in the Green Magic Tower. Theoretically, I had grown quite a bit, but the magic ingrained in my body was limited to just a few types.

 

Soul magic and deception, Explosion. Plus perhaps the lowest-level air manipulation I used when cleaning Master’s dungeon.

 

However, I couldn’t let the enemy discover such inexperience.

 

“Not really?”

 

“Well, true. When dealing with demons, one must never let their guard down until the very end. I’ll respond thinking even this is a trick.”

 

It felt strange to be a soliloquy. Who was he talking to?

 

“Yes.”

 

Once again, an eerie feeling swept over my entire body. This time, simply ducking my head wasn’t enough to avoid it. I activated Explosion again to evade, but one dagger grazed my shoulder.

 

The pain was slight. However, the problem was the poison on the dagger.

 

The poison that seeped into my bloodstream quickly spread throughout my body. My vision distorted, and my insides twisted into chaos.

 

If not for the World Tree’s roots that had secretly burrowed into my feet, I might have died from that last attack.

 

With my gradually recovering vision, I captured the opponent who had attacked me.

 

A woman in leather clothes stood there. Her eyes were shaking somewhat anxiously, but her appearance was remarkably similar to the man from before.

 

The man was probably Cain, Ruin’s companion and the one called the Lord of Darkness. Was the woman Cain’s subordinate? Or perhaps Johnny’s companion.

 

“….”

 

Nothing would change.

 

Those are assassins. In this darkness and thick fog, they would be harder to deal with than anyone else.

 

Watching their forms blur into the fog, I chanted a spell. To absorb the souls of the dead, I would first need to deal with their interference.

 

If the fog is bothersome, then I’ll just get rid of it.

 

Lowest-grade Air Manipulation.

 

It’s merely magic that can create wind at best, but it consumes very little mana and the principle is simple. If I reinforce the magic circle a bit and pour in mana.

 

“Wind Storm.”

 

Creating powerful winds isn’t that difficult either.

 

Wind strong enough to make it difficult to aim at bodies swept across the battlefield. Hot air filled with water vapor shot up into the sky. Even the falling raindrops reversed their course.

 

The wide-range air manipulation consumed enormous amounts of mana, but the staff sent me seemingly endless mana. The heart imbued with strange power refined it into magic power without strain.

 

The forms of the two assassins who had hidden themselves in the fog were revealed.

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