I Picked up the Demon King - Chapter 58

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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 58

 

The Divine Tree’s attack, containing as much mana as its massive size, split the ground. Quite a few elves who couldn’t dodge in time were caught up in it.

 

Cold sweat dripped down. If I had been even a little slower, I would have been caught up in it. If I had been hit by that attack, recovery through life force or anything else would have been useless.

 

The consecutive Explosions I used right after recognizing the attack. Thanks to being blown away by the explosions, I was able to escape the attack range, but my body’s condition is a complete mess.

 

My right arm has already fallen off and is probably rolling around somewhere on the floor, and a burning sensation won’t stop in my side. My eardrums must be damaged as my ears feel stuffy and I’m hearing ringing.

 

Perhaps the cold sweat flowing now isn’t just from tension.

 

“Are you alive…? How could you dodge… that’s impossible…”

 

Jude stopped trying to guess the missing parts of the voice he could barely hear.

 

‘It’s okay. I can still handle injuries like this two or three more times…’

 

When I poured life force that hadn’t been converted to mana into the wounded areas, the wounds healed at a rapid pace. My unfocused vision became clear, and the ringing subsided.

 

“Healing magic… No, it’s not. Rapid recovery by pouring out life force? It must be the World Tree’s power. But…”

 

The Elf King analyzed the situation with sunken eyes.

 

As Jude got up from the floor, he saw his right arm that had somehow regrown. Along with the six fingers attached to it.

 

“…Huh?”

“Not a very pleasant sight to behold.”

 

When Jude unconsciously felt his face, his hand sensed a hard and rough texture. Something that couldn’t possibly be considered human…

 

“It seems you failed at direction control. Healing magic isn’t difficult for nothing. If you use it without proper knowledge, you often deviate from your original form.”

 

The King spoke as if pitying him.

 

“Must you cling to such a miserable life even after becoming like that? Surrender obediently now. I’ll forget your earlier insolent words and promise to finish this with as little pain as possible.”

“Shut up…!”

“Tsk.”

 

Jude ordered the Ice Spirit to keep watch while forcibly turning his thoughts elsewhere.

 

What’s important now is the battle with the Elf King. As long as it functions properly, having one or two extra fingers shouldn’t be a big problem…

 

‘Don’t think about it…!’

 

Fortunately, the Elf King was overflowing with leisure. He was already confident of victory. Because he knew how critically that previous attack had affected Jude.

 

‘His combat experience and magical cultivation are probably deeper than I thought. Simple attacks will be countered.’

 

I had to attack at an unexpected moment, in an unexpected way.

 

That meant I had to defeat a monster who had lived dozens of times longer through psychological warfare. The disadvantage was the same as other conditions. The Elf King might already be anticipating even these thoughts I’m having now.

 

-Tsk. I was going to watch a little longer, but this won’t do. You’ll die if you stay like that.

 

The Demon Lord, who had been laughing frantically, clicked his tongue.

 

But my reaction was too slow. Tree branches that shot up from the floor bound my body, and Explosions that alternately activated from both sides shook Jude’s body.

 

Because I took the impact directly, pain arose as if my body would crumble, but there seemed to be deliberate power control as there were no life-threatening injuries.

 

The omnipotent feeling I had right after using Spirit Summoning evaporated like a lie. The Elf King was clearly toying with Jude.

 

-First, recover your body. You can’t win in that state.

 

At the Demon Lord’s words, Jude hesitated as he was about to inject life force into his wounds.

 

If I tried to regenerate wounds without proper knowledge, my body would gradually deviate from its original form. Even the changes that occur while completing trials might make that worse.

 

-You can do it. If it’s you.

 

The Demon Lord spoke with conviction. It was conviction to a degree that even confused Jude.

 

-You didn’t absorb the World Tree’s branch, but used Spirit Summoning instead. It may not be a good choice long-term, but for now it was an excellent choice. You’ll remember whose soul was contained in the World Tree’s branch.

 

Jude recalled his master with a complicated expression. The strange flow of thoughts that had been occurring since fully awakening the World Tree’s power seemed to have been influenced by Sevian.

 

Master Sevian was an excellent Dark Mage who conducted countless human experiments to perfect his secret arts. An excellent Dark Mage’s medical knowledge would never fall behind that of someone who specialized in healing magic.

 

I concentrated on the foreign memories. I brought forth memories I never had. I recalled Master Sevian’s memories.

 

“Ice Spirit.”

 

The ice blade created by the Ice Spirit attacked my body. In the intense pain, I could only hope that it possessed enough precision to cut away only the foreign parts.

 

The Elf King stopped as if finding the unexpected self-harm interesting.

 

‘As expected…’

 

Even with victory right before his eyes, he continued to act leisurely. He didn’t proceed with the ritual until I woke up, and continued the conversation even knowing his subordinates were defecting.

 

Jude consciously recovered his body slowly. Life force was wasted, but he didn’t care.

 

In fact, he had no choice. Groping for the desired knowledge in memories that weren’t his own was absolutely not easy.

 

“Artificial body recovery isn’t something that can be mastered in just one or two attempts, is it?”

 

The Elf King’s behavioral principles weren’t much different from the Demon Lord’s. He was bored. He needed stimulation.

 

It might be a side that shows when he’s certain of victory, but if there’s something that can pique his interest, he can’t ignore it.

 

“I told you, didn’t I. It’s a growth phase.”

-Let me tell you one thing. Deception is not simply magic that hides appearances.

 

The Demon Lord said.

 

The two types of magic he taught. Soul Magic and Deception were certainly tremendous magic.

 

After that, he had no intention of teaching new magic. He said it would only interfere with passing the trial.

 

But let’s think differently.

 

‘What if there was no need to teach it?’

 

It’s not simply magic that hides appearances. If it’s magic that deceives others as befits the name Deception, if it’s magic that can do more than just hide appearances and traces…

 

Jude manipulated the branches on his back to draw a Deception Magic Circle.

 

“What about supplementing the insufficient life force?”

-Isn’t it scattered all around you.

 

He could see the elves who had been swept up in the Divine Tree’s attack and turned into pieces of flesh. Life force would be scattering in real time.

 

‘Absorption…’

 

The method wasn’t difficult. It was an application of Six Arms. The way Sevian handled the World Tree branches was similar to how Jude was handling them now.

 

He might have been unconsciously influenced from the beginning.

 

-Run. Literally, deliver divine punishment.

 

The Demon Lord spoke in a light, teasing tone.

 

Jude frowned and moved, annoyed by the laughter contained within those words. To the Elf King’s eyes, it would look like he was recklessly charging toward him.

 

“Have you given up?”

 

Not only would it look simple, but the sound of kicking off the floor and the mana being drawn up would feel as vivid as reality.

 

-Focus. You’re getting scattered.

 

It was Jude’s mind that had to calculate all of that. The Elf King must not feel any sense of incongruity. He had to directly see and feel the results and make corrections.

 

Therefore, he couldn’t react.

 

The Elf King moved with amazing speed he hadn’t shown until now and slashed Jude’s body.

 

“…?”

 

The Elf King who had stopped looked at his own hand. A beat later, Jude’s body was torn apart, but he had already noticed.

 

Jude’s corpse created by Deception disappeared. The Elf King’s senses caught Jude’s presence, now quite far away.

 

The King’s face brightened. It brightened even more when he saw Jude stabbing branches extending from his back into dead elves.

 

“Is that Life Force Absorption right now? So that was the method you used to heal your body.”

 

The Elf King’s voice came from behind Jude.

 

“What was that magic just now? It can’t be simple Illusion Magic. My blood has immunity to Mental Magic.”

“Go to hell.”

 

When Jude turned his head and spoke with a crooked smile, the Elf King bound Jude’s body with sprouting tree roots.

 

“You must speak. My patience isn’t very long.”

“Is it because you’re going to die soon?”

“…Let’s see if you can still say that after having your limbs torn off.”

 

The tree roots pulled taut. Jude’s face contorted in pain. Screams burst out. His grotesquely twisted limbs were pulled out, and blood gushed forth.

 

But the Elf King’s expression didn’t relax.

 

“That one just now seemed quite real, didn’t it?”

“….”

 

It was because of Jude’s voice heard from behind him. When he irritably swung his hand, Jude spurted blood from his neck, but he couldn’t be certain that was real either.

 

The face of Jude watching that scene from quite far away was equally contorted.

 

-You’ve become quite skilled.

 

The amount of mana being consumed was considerable. Even though most of the absorbed elves’ life force was being converted to mana, it was burdensome.

 

What was worse was the burden on his brain.

 

He was quickly becoming accustomed to utilizing Deception. The Elf King would be confused by the increasingly realistic illusions.

 

Jude was equally confused. What Jude was doing now wasn’t something that could be done with a sound mind.

 

The fake spirits created by the elves seemed to move on their own when given commands, but what was attached to Jude’s back was an organ that had to be directly controlled throughout. The feeling of his brain heating up while deploying Deception at full power and moving was probably not an illusion.

 

Jude staggered as he walked toward the Elf King. A dizzying sensation that he might collapse if he made even the slightest mistake overwhelmed Jude.

 

Meanwhile, the Elf King was killing his dozens of Judes. At some point, the corpses stopped disappearing and lay scattered on the floor. Dozens of corpses with identical faces stared at the Elf King with eerie expressions.

 

“I don’t need any more!”

 

In the confusion of not knowing what was real, the Elf King shouted in anger, and the Divine Tree swung its massive body indiscriminately. From the floor, over thousands of roots sprouted sharp like spears.

 

The elves caught in the disaster screamed as they died.

 

Jude, who had safely reached the Elf King’s side with the help of the Ice Spirit, said.

 

“I told you. It’s divine punishment.”

“There you are!”

 

Dozens of attacks pierced through Jude’s body, but Jude smiled. The Elf King gritted his teeth and gathered mana.

 

Immediately after, a wide-range dispel covering a radius of several hundred meters unfolded.

 

The Great Forest’s barrier wavered and shattered from the powerful mana waves generated within. Now anyone could discover the Great Forest and freely enter and exit it.

 

Though the Elf King had tried to avoid this very situation, he had no choice if he wanted to survive.

 

“Too late.”

 

Jude, who had grown a World Tree branch into the shape of a scythe, pierced the Elf King’s heart.

 

“How… could…!”

-Even if it’s just a fragment, it’s divine. Would magic activated using a World Tree branch as a catalyst be affected by something like an indiscriminate dispel?

 

The Demon Lord’s words didn’t reach the Elf King.

 

The life gradually faded from the Elf King’s eyes. The Elf King staggered and leaned his body against the Divine Tree.

 

Watching this scene, Jude let out a sigh once the Elf King stopped moving.

 

“Is it over?”

-Oh my.

 

The Demon Lord sighed.

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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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