I Picked up the Demon King - Chapter 160

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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 160

 

-O God, my master, my mother!

 

The sound of singing echoes throughout the entire world.

 

The countless souls that the Goddess has devoured, those that have not yet been digested, sing.

 

-Ahhh…!

 

-Punish and destroy that wicked king’s offspring. My beautiful God!

 

The Goddess smiled and rose to her feet.

 

-Child.

 

Her previously pitiful demeanor completely changed. I feel the illusion that the entire world is hostile toward me.

 

No. It’s not an illusion.

 

She is a God who controls the laws of the world. This entire world that has lost its master is as good as hers, so being hostile to her is like being hostile to the world itself.

 

-You have collected the traces of a dead God and even absorbed the Demon Lord’s soul. You have contained the power of two worlds in one body. You are sufficiently mighty.

 

Even in the midst of all this, the Goddess wore a benevolent smile.

 

I feel overwhelming emotion rising.

 

Mother God has acknowledged me. My heart feels like it will burst. With just this, my life has fulfilled its meaning, and I feel an impulse to dare build an altar and offer this body to the Goddess.

 

My mind begins to grow hazy.

 

-But foolish God.

 

A cold voice brought my mind back.

 

-The worlds I have invaded thus far are like grains of sand in that ocean, and the Gods I have absorbed thus far are like grains of sand in that sky.

 

Having examined the Demon Lord’s memories, I naturally know the worlds they invaded.

 

There are many.

 

Even the Demon Lord’s world was one of them, and that too was not the first. The saying that they are as numerous as grains of sand in the ocean and stars in the sky would not be an exaggeration at all.

 

-Do you think you can defeat me just because you dared to gather the power of two worlds?

 

Certainly.

 

No matter how much power the Goddess has consumed, no matter how excessively she has interfered with causality. At this moment when the world itself is collapsing, when it has become as good as hers, defeating her with power is impossible.

 

The Demon Lord judged so. However.

 

“The Hero is a law of the world that you yourself directly carved in.”

 

Through seven trials, one gains the qualification to wield the power of the Holy Sword. After that, through seven trials, one is completed as a Hero, and this is truly.

 

“A law and spell to defeat the Demon Lord, who spent infinite time in regret in one world.”

 

From when the Goddess took the Demon Lord’s hand and invaded worlds. No, perhaps it was an ending predetermined from when she granted the wish of a dying liar.

 

“I wonder why. Why didn’t you defeat the Demon Lord directly and instead use such a complicated method?”

 

That’s simple. The Goddess invading worlds is a process to grow her own power. Her divinity.

 

The Demon Lord was her faithful subordinate. Yet the reason she had to defeat the Demon Lord was that he was that threatening. He was a God so mighty that even the Goddess had to accept quite significant losses.

 

-Those words are correct.

 

The Goddess did not deny it.

 

-Alderion, that evil king’s power was strong enough to rival me. But young God.

 

She acknowledged her most powerful adversary, for whom she had to accept great sacrifice.

 

-What you have absorbed is merely a very small fragment of that.

 

And she mocked me.

 

-You are nothing but an insignificant creature compared to that.

 

“That’s not something to say when you were afraid of those fragments and descended directly into the world.”

 

The Goddess defeated the Demon Lord through the miracle called the Hero. Yet she didn’t feel at ease and created Heroes again.

 

The Artificial Hero Project.

 

That was a tragedy born from human greed, but who could be certain that the Goddess wasn’t behind it.

 

Moreover, when I infiltrated the Holy Kingdom, she directly descended into the Saint’s body and designated Johnny as the Hero. If it was the Demon Lord, if it was that lying king, she must have been certain that he would somehow regain his power and threaten the Goddess.

 

I already know that method.

 

The plan the Demon Lord established. That was me.

 

“I will become the Hero who destroys you.”

 

-What an interesting story.

 

The Goddess burst into laughter.

 

-Is that all you could think of?

 

The world trembles. Countless souls, all things in heaven and earth, laugh along with her.

 

-There are two great flaws in your plan.

 

After a burst of laughter, the Goddess spoke as she calmed her mirth.

 

With a warm smile as if she were a real mother watching a child’s antics.

 

-First, I am not the Demon Lord.

 

A Hero is the Goddess’s sword that strikes down the Demon Lord. The purpose is not to strike down the Goddess.

 

-Also, you have not passed the trials. You cannot become a Hero.

 

Through seven trials, one gains the qualification to wield the power of the holy sword. This was not a mere symbol, but a literal expression.

 

Johnny, who stole the Hero’s position from me, became weaker by the number of trials I had completed.

 

Of course, by gathering all the world’s power into one, he obtained strength that even I couldn’t ignore, but if he had properly completed the trials, I, who couldn’t ascend to the complete position of Demon Lord, would have been defeated instantly. However.

 

“Sorry, but I’m a Dark Mage.”

 

Some say that Dark Magic is an evil discipline that toys with souls and makes even death lose its value.

 

Some say that Dark Magic is vile sorcery that offers living humans as sacrifices to make deals with high-ranking demons.

 

But actual Dark Magic is the magic of liars, bypassing the world’s laws to bring about desired results. Evil rituals and deals with demons are all merely means to that end.

 

“Deception.”

 

Deception is a lie that deceives the world. The authority of one who ascended to the throne through falsehood.

 

-What do you intend to do with incomplete authority.

 

I absorbed the Demon Lord’s soul, but it was only a small fragment. Even if I learned Deception directly from him, creating something from nothing is impossible.

 

However, twisting is possible.

 

I deceive the world.

 

I deceive myself.

 

“I completed the trials.”

 

-That is false.

 

“In Bellieb Domain, I defeated the evil Lord and corrupt priest, and rescued the Territory Residents who were captured by them. This was surely my first trial. The world acknowledged it.”

 

What I present first is the truth.

 

I gained a strong body by completing the first trial. Even if it was the Demon Lord’s scheme, the world responded to it.

 

“In Andrill Domain, I defeated the mad Dark Mage and saved the territory from danger. This was surely my second trial.”

 

This is a lie.

 

The battle with Master Sevian was certainly difficult, dangerous, and left a strong impression on me. But it wasn’t acknowledged as a trial. So I twist it.

 

“In the Great Forest, I saw through the Elf King and his subordinates’ misguided plan and struck down the false World Tree. This was my third trial.”

 

I deceived the world with Deception. I postponed the event that was the second trial to the third.

 

It wasn’t impossible.

 

Why is Johnny known as the Hero? Wasn’t it because rumors spread that he was the one who saved people in Belive and defeated the Dark Mage in Andril?

 

Therefore, it’s possible.

 

“I defeated the Dragon and saved the Empire from destruction. This was surely my fourth trial.”

 

From then on, it’s simple.

 

“I infiltrated the Holy Nation and defeated the Great Demon that was scheming behind it. I liberated countless souls, so this is truly my fifth trial.”

 

Once I made one lie recognized as truth, the flow became unstoppable.

 

“Even while my body was stolen by a demon, I didn’t lose my mind and never gave up. I call this the sixth trial.”

 

I inscribe upon the world all things that weren’t trials as trials.

 

Of course, this was possible because all of those things were worthy of being called trials. Remnants of the Mythical Age. And matters related to the Demon Lord, the Hero’s ultimate goal—how could it be impossible?

 

“I saved the Continent even in the battle between Hellfire and the great sea, so isn’t that sufficient to say I completed seven trials?”

 

Thus, the world’s history changes.

 

A miracle possible because the world had collapsed and twisted to its limits. Because it was a world so precarious that even its history and records could be erased.

 

-Do you intend to claim you became a Hero with just that.

 

The Goddess sneers.

 

No matter how much power she has lost, the Goddess is a mighty God.

 

Her experience of invading countless worlds cannot be taken lightly. She is more seasoned, powerful, and wise than I am.

 

-A Hero is the world’s savior. How can one call someone a savior when there isn’t a single person who praises them.

 

The world I deceived with lies creaks as it tries to return to its proper place.

 

Normally, the Goddess wouldn’t have been able to intervene in the world to this extent. This is possible because I broke the World Tree, making the Heavenly Realm and Demon Realm one with the Continent.

 

She can now use power close to her full strength without needing to consume causality.

 

“Can you hear it?”

 

But that applies to me as well.

 

-Johnny is not the real Hero!

 

A single cry echoes through the changing world. A soul already dead and gone. The echo of a soul that should have long since scattered.

 

At least I can protect that much.

 

-The real Hero’s name is Jude…! He will save the world!

 

Even if not alone, I can do it.

 

The cries of the theater troupe members who spread across the world, those who were once my subordinates.

 

-Our benefactor…! Master of the Mother Tree…!

 

The prayers of the Elves remaining in the Great Forest.

 

-I see. The conditions have already been met.

 

Though their numbers are not great, they are clearly members of this world. Souls I did not absorb until the end. The souls of those who believe in me as a Hero and depend on me.

 

The Goddess twisted her expression.

 

-Until the very end, even at the moment of extinction, you interfere with me.

 

Because she felt traces of the Demon Lord, not me, in all of those things.

 

But what can be done?

 

My presence in the world grows stronger. The deeds I have done are recognized as trials, and the rewards I could not receive settle into my body.

 

My spirit and flesh become robust.

 

The basic vessel to contain the Hero’s power, to wield the Holy Sword, has been completed.

 

-However.

 

The fiercely twisted face instantly relaxes. The Goddess lets out a cheerful mad laugh.

 

-What does any of that matter?

 

Her influence, which I thought had diminished, explosively spreads out.

 

-I am Goddess Aision. Your mother and the master of this world.

 

The laws of the world begin to flow around her once again. The moment she destroyed the six Gods, she became the master of a godless world.

 

-How dare my creation try to punish me?

 

From the moment I defined myself not as the Demon Lord, but as the Hero. It was given to the only remaining God.

 

“There’s one more thing left.”

 

A Hero is originally the world’s corrective force meant to defeat the Demon Lord.

 

“Evil God. Foreign false deity.”

 

To defeat her, it was necessary to make the Goddess into the Demon Lord. All the arrangements the Demon Lord prepared are finished, so now it’s what I must do.

 

From the frozen Efeldor’s hand, I received the First Hero’s Holy Sword.

 

“We do not want your dominion.”

 

The Goddess raised one corner of her mouth and watched her prey’s rebellion.

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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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