I Picked up the Demon King - Chapter 148

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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 148

 

I push with a storm and launch spears of ice. A massive wooden pillar shoots up to strike the body.

 

However, Johnny endured. He cut through the wind, dodged the spears, and sliced through the pillar.

 

“This is maddening.”

 

The Hero is the Demon Lord’s nemesis.

 

A cheat-like existence where the laws and fate of the Middle Realm force victory upon them. The moment he faced me as an enemy, all the power in the world gathered to him. Since he possesses faint divinity, even deception doesn’t work well on him.

 

From him, who had felt endlessly immature, now emanates an aura similar to that of the previous Hero, Ruin Epeldor.

 

Of course, that doesn’t mean I was helplessly offering my neck.

 

“Explosion.”

 

I was the first to begin handling divinity. Even though his opponent’s skill level is rapidly rising, I’m still ahead.

 

For now.

 

Right now we’re maintaining a tense balance, but that won’t last much longer. No, this confrontational situation itself is ridiculous to begin with.

 

“This brings back memories.”

 

Johnny, who had been swinging his sword, suddenly muttered.

 

“When I first saw you in the Guard Unit, you were just a kid. How much have you grown since then?”

 

“Ha…”

 

Perhaps Johnny is feeling the same absurd emotions that I am.

 

I was truly pathetic back then.

 

I had no talent whatsoever for handling my body, and I was distracted trying to concentrate so my mana wouldn’t be discovered. Naturally, there was no way my spear technique could improve.

 

The seniors who helped with training would smile and accept me despite my lack of improvement.

 

“The Squad Leader would be so happy to see you. Or maybe he’d be sad.”

 

Crack.

 

They all died by my hand. It was a memory I didn’t want to recall. Very few people survived, and Johnny was one of them.

 

“Johnny. Our cowardly Johnny.”

 

The Guard Members massacred the territory’s poor people. In the process, they pursued various personal interests. They rationalized it as just following orders, and when their secret was discovered, they attacked me. Even that was following orders.

 

The reason Johnny survived was simple.

 

One, the prison he was guarding was quite far from the battlefield, and two, he got scared during the ensuing battle and ran away.

 

Of course, that doesn’t mean Johnny should have died back then. I didn’t want to kill anyone. I wished no one would die. Perhaps it was fortunate that at least Johnny lived.

 

Coincidence upon coincidence brought about this situation. We who should have fought then now aim for each other’s lives.

 

“Let’s finish what we couldn’t do back then.”

 

However, Johnny rather calmly looked at me and stepped back.

 

Is he trying to buy time?

 

Buying time would benefit me in no way. Even at this very moment, the power Johnny possessed was growing stronger, and the two captured assassins were also trying to break free. Shtidy would soon regain consciousness too.

 

Having to simultaneously face a Hero who would almost certainly overwhelm me soon, along with companions of similar level, would be impossible.

 

I closed my eyes.

 

The moment I opened them again, light began disappearing from beneath my feet.

 

“This is…!”

 

This is the darkness that Kaella and Shtidy had crudely imitated.

 

The Great Demon’s divinity I possessed created a much deeper darkness than what they had arbitrarily interpreted. This isn’t just some defensive barrier that merely blocks attacks. It’s something much deeper, more high-dimensional…

 

Divine Authority.

 

Pitch-black darkness spreads out like fog. All the noise and heat filling the battlefield gets devoured by the darkness.

 

“…Are you forgetting? That when we defeated that thing, I was also there.”

 

Of course, this alone cannot defeat Johnny. What defeats this darkness isn’t just the repulsion effect between holy power and mana. Johnny, who possesses the holy sword, won’t be devoured by this darkness.

 

Right. Johnny won’t be devoured by the darkness, but the others besides him are different.

 

Shtidy becomes submerged in darkness.

 

The two assassins’ forms disappear. Albeng and the woman beside him become blurred, and the soldiers gathered on the battlefield are obscured.

 

“Your senses must be distorted.”

 

I know for certain since I experienced it myself.

 

What Johnny can perceive is only himself and me. Since his five senses are corrupted, he’ll lose his sense of direction too. The moment he swings his holy sword to dispel the darkness, who knows who might die.

 

In other words, I’ve taken everyone on this battlefield hostage.

 

It might be cowardly, but I had no choice.

 

I must survive.

 

I must survive and…

 

“Tell me the method.”

 

Johnny, gritting his teeth, asked the Demon Lord while dodging the carefully swung sword.

 

I couldn’t completely trust the Demon Lord’s words. But in a situation like this, I couldn’t completely ignore them either.

 

Since there was absolutely no answer on my own.

 

This was the bastard who had told me to defeat the Goddess from our first meeting. Defeating the Hero was a condition that absolutely had to be fulfilled first for his sake.

 

I didn’t think he had intended everything that had happened so far. However, I was certain he would have prepared for even this kind of situation.

 

-The easiest way is… for you to die to that bastard.

 

“….”

 

The Demon Lord burst into laughter.

 

Just as I expected. There was no way that bastard hadn’t thought of the method I had initially considered.

 

If my soul, which bore the greatest similarity to him, were to be destroyed by the Hero’s holy sword, the Hero would be treated as having fulfilled his mission. The support of fate that drew upon the entire world would be cut off, and the Demon Lord would gain his freedom.

 

I wondered if it would be as easy as it sounded. But if it was the Demon Lord who toyed with the laws, he would certainly have the ability to make it reality.

 

However, he hadn’t done so despite having countless opportunities. I didn’t know why he was taking the long way around when there was an easier path, but it was certain there was another method.

 

“What’s the slightly less easy method?”

 

The Demon Lord stalled for time before speaking.

 

-As you know, that thing is a monster that becomes endlessly stronger as long as it’s facing you.

 

Of course I knew that. I was feeling it painfully right now.

 

It was clearly visible to my eyes that had spread darkness. Johnny’s feet avoided the fallen soldiers. There was nothing where his sword strikes passed. He was already adapting to this darkness. I couldn’t understand how such a thing was possible with his senses paralyzed.

 

Just a little more time and this darkness would pose no obstacle to Johnny at all.

 

-The longer you hold out, the more all the resources of the Middle Realm will gather to him. Even the most fundamental things that compose the world.

 

I realized from the Demon Lord’s words.

 

From the ground, from the fallen soldiers and corpses, from the weapons they had dropped, from the water droplets in the air, from everything that made up the world, mana was flowing out bit by bit. That mana was gathering toward Johnny.

 

Johnny was perceiving the world based on those things. It could be seen as the completed version of the system Shtidy had created.

 

“How the hell…”

 

How the hell was I supposed to deal with something like that.

 

-Wouldn’t it work if you changed that thing’s enemy from you to something else.

 

“…!”

 

As long as Johnny was facing me, he would display absolute power. He was made to display it.

 

However, in the trials he would have experienced getting here, it wouldn’t have been like this. Since I was someone who had directly experienced trials, I could know for certain. He would have somehow overcome the trials, but in the process, he would have had to face many difficulties.

 

That was because his opponent wasn’t the Demon Lord.

 

I increased the density of darkness to focus on Johnny, then turned and ran. Shtidy and the assassins, along with the other people, were freed from the darkness, but it didn’t matter.

 

The battle between the Emperor and the spirit seemed to be racing toward its end. The hellfire that Ruin had obtained was evaporating all the endless seawater.

 

The water vapor that rose to the sky became clouds that poured rainwater across the entire continent, and if the Ice Spirit’s ice hadn’t maintained balance, the world would have become a space where no living creature could survive.

 

The Emperor already seemed as if he didn’t care what happened to this world. If he defeated the spirit and even obtained its divinity, the speed at which the world collapsed would accelerate even more.

 

I unleashed attacks toward the Emperor. The World Tree’s roots burned up before even reaching him, and the ice melted away, but dozens of explosions did burst in front of him.

 

There wasn’t much effect.

 

Explosion, a mid-tier magic. Even if I had reinforced the magic formula and increased its power, it was still just that kind of magic. It was ridiculously insufficient to defeat a man who was facing a god.

 

However, there was a very small effect. His shocked body staggered for a moment. And the king of gods who had awakened from a long sleep didn’t miss that brief instant.

 

The Emperor coughed up blood.

 

-Did he control the water inside his body. It seems his dominion didn’t reach completely, but even that shows sufficient power.

 

Along with the Demon Lord’s admiration, an overwhelmingly pressurized water stream struck the Emperor’s body.

 

Could that even be called a water stream.

 

It was a sight that broke conventional wisdom. Just considering the range that the previous attack had extended, it seemed like it would be wider than a dragon’s breath.

 

“…Is he dead?”

 

-As if.

 

From somewhere in the middle of the endlessly gushing water stream that seemed to sweep away the world. Hot heat burst forth.

 

When the water stream stopped, the Emperor, who had driven his holy sword into the ground, rose from his position. This wasn’t even surprising anymore.

 

“I told you to wait.”

 

Just as the frowning Emperor was about to charge toward the spirit again, I blocked his path. The spirit also assisted me. Had he forgotten about being hit by the dragon’s breath initially.

 

Just as I was thinking that, a powerful stream of water struck my body.

 

“I guess not.”

 

My side was half pierced through and disappeared. It was such a fatal attack that I would have died on the spot if the World Tree hadn’t urgently replenished my life force.

 

It was a dangerous situation.

 

The insane Emperor, the enraged Spirit King, and the Hero who had grasped the situation were all targeting me.

 

“You’d hurt my feelings if you forgot about me.”

 

Just as the Assassin said this and tried to thrust his sword in, a stream of water aimed at him.

 

To be precise, it tried to attack me by going through him. The man hastily dodged, but he wasn’t completely unharmed.

 

His ear was cut off. His face contorted. Immediately after, magic poured down. Shtidy seemed to have lost her mind and was firing magic indiscriminately.

 

It’s hard to endure.

 

But there’s no choice. What I needed was a chaotic battle.

 

Each of them possessed excellent abilities. They would have coordinated with each other as the Hero’s companions at some point.

 

Not all of them.

 

Ruin Epeldor’s group and Johnny’s group had never fought together. The Spirit King who had just awakened was the same.

 

They don’t think about each other’s safety at all, focusing solely on killing me. Or they might even try to kill each other.

 

In this situation, if it were Johnny…

 

The Holy Sword blocked the water streams that were being fired indiscriminately. The enraged spirit continued with even fiercer attacks, but Johnny, who already possessed skills approaching Ruin’s level, could block those attacks.

 

“This one is mine too.”

 

However, he couldn’t block the Emperor’s attack after having his prey stolen.

 

Johnny, attacked from behind, collapsed. Just as Shtidy tried to extract him using magic, the Assassin targeted her. The Woman who had seemed to be on the same side blocked the man’s sword.

 

-Haha! This is quite a spectacle.

 

It was a chaotic battle.

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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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