I Picked up the Demon King - Chapter 88

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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 88

 

Several months have passed since the crisis of the dragon’s sudden appearance.

 

The cold has lifted, and spring—when life begins to stir—has arrived.

 

The dragon’s roar that shook the barrier brought down the capital’s old buildings. The slums, which had been maintained due to various circumstances, met the same fate.

 

Now, a new commercial district has formed.

 

Mainly inns and restaurants. These were places for nobles from foreign countries who came to see the dragon that was hundreds of meters in size. Occasionally, there were also shops selling souvenirs and such.

 

Like a tree growing green leaves, the Empire’s capital was also enjoying an unexpected boom.

 

“Damn it. The Knight Commander again?”

 

Sculptures modeled after those who contributed to fighting the dragon were the most popular. The method of selling them randomly, so you couldn’t tell what was inside, caused quite a craze.

 

If you were lucky enough to get a Hero, you could resell it to collectors for a pretty high price.

 

“Still, that’s pretty good. Look at this. It’s the Red Tower Master.”

 

The most shunned items were sculptures of the Red Tower Master. Miserable sculptures that seemed deliberately made to insult existed in various forms.

 

A man threw the sculpture into a trash can prepared on one side without hesitation and left.

 

A man wearing a robe pulled low stopped walking when he casually saw this scene while walking down the street.

 

“….”

“What’s wrong?”

“I heard that recently, most of the buildings on this street have been put up for sale.”

“Ah, that’s right. They must think the prices have risen enough.”

“Buy them all.”

“Pardon?”

 

The man pulled back his robe and answered his attendant’s question.

 

“Do you intend to let them continue selling such tasteless items?”

 

What was revealed was the face of an elder who was sturdy but couldn’t hide the traces of time.

 

“But, even so, the expenses required for that would be…”

“Or would you prefer that I burn all of those things right now?”

“I’ll purchase them immediately.”

 

The attendant took out a crystal orb from his chest and quickly gave instructions.

 

Considering the skyrocketing real estate values, it wasn’t easy for the Red Magic Tower either, but it would be much cheaper than the compensation they’d have to pay if the Tower Master went on a rampage.

 

“It won’t be a bad thing. Even if they stop selling such items, it’ll be a decent investment.”

“Yes. People keep flocking here.”

 

And they weren’t just any people. To come all the way to the Imperial Capital for tourism from other countries, they’d have to be at least wealthy merchants or nobles with titles. This street, designed to attract them, would continue to be a steady source of income for the tower.

 

Of course, that fervor would die down once that ice melted, but hadn’t they been unable to even approach it for months now?

 

The cold that froze the dragon couldn’t be melted even by spring sunlight. It was natural, considering that even the fire magic poured out by the Red Tower mages couldn’t do anything about it. Experts predicted this situation would continue for at least several years.

 

The Tower Master resumed walking with satisfaction. While walking, a man ahead saw his face, was startled, and ran away. It was the man who had thrown the Red Tower Master sculpture into the trash.

 

“Hah.”

 

The Red Tower Master snorted and flicked his finger, causing the man’s clothes to burst into flames. It was simple, but it was mana manipulation ability so delicate that he couldn’t have imagined it a few months ago.

 

“The dragon’s remains, and Eternal Ice.”

 

The Red Tower Master muttered as he continued walking.

 

After months of studying ancient texts, he had learned that only Eternal Ice could do such things.

 

It was a relic from the Mythical Age. Some books described it as the remains of a god.

 

Since they were old books, not all of their contents could be trusted. Considering the level of knowledge back then, which was far inferior to now, they were probably full of exaggerations.

 

What the Red Tower Master believed in wasn’t the contents of those books.

 

It was the majesty of the dragon that fought the Hero, and that block of ice that froze even that. It was the power and potential he had witnessed with his own eyes.

 

If he could obtain that, this kind of humiliation would end.

 

In heavy silence, he reached the city gate. The guard keeping watch at the late-night gate saluted and asked.

 

“Are you going out again? I believe you haven’t been back in the city for very long.”

“The capital has been too noisy lately. He plans to return to the tower to rest.”

 

In place of the Tower Master who didn’t answer, the attendant quickly responded. The guard nodded.

 

This was the Red Tower Master who had shown disgrace in the battle with the dragon. No one could say anything to his face, but with an Archmage’s senses, he could surely feel what kind of gazes were directed at him.

 

“Understood.”

 

Following the door the guard opened for them, they went outside.

 

The Red Tower Master who returned to the tower pondered until dawn about how to use the purchased land and buildings so that rumors would spread about what a good purchase it was.

 

The Red Tower Master, who had spent the night with his eyes open, looked at the dragon through the window.

 

Though it was the creature that had brought him tremendous humiliation, it would return as a benefit several times greater in the future.

 

‘For now, even if it’s a bit difficult, I’ll use that to restore the Red Magic Tower’s prestige. Like the recently rising Green Magic Tower. No, even more than that.’

 

But at some point.

 

The Red Tower Master’s smiling expression suddenly froze.

 

* * *

 

It was pitch-black darkness.

 

A space of eternity where sound, light, and even sensation were frozen. It was a prison created by the Ice Spirit’s power.

 

How much time had passed?

 

There were no clues to guess. My sense of time had long since been broken.

 

Whether months had passed, or years. It could have been hundreds of years, or perhaps only a moment had gone by.

 

But there was nothing I could do.

 

In a world where even time was frozen, I could only exist.

 

There was no way to escape. The Ice Spirit had fallen asleep due to the backlash of Spirit Summoning, and my soul had also suffered considerable damage. This cold made even mana freeze.

 

At this rate, I would literally be trapped in this darkness forever, going mad without even being allowed to die.

 

I couldn’t even maintain consciousness properly. It would have been better if I had completely lost consciousness. Why was I able to continue thinking even a little?

 

Then at some moment.

 

I felt a warm energy flowing in. No, it wasn’t warm.

 

The energy rushing in like the flow of a great river was far too hot. It was as if I had fallen into lava. It completely awakened my half-sleeping consciousness.

 

‘Ah, ahhh…!’

 

In the pain, I couldn’t even scream.

 

The endlessly, endlessly rushing energy flowed back from the very place pierced by the Eternal Ice.

 

The Dragon Heart.

 

The supreme treasure containing infinite mana. A power that had been sleeping since the Mythical Age.

 

I tried to struggle but it was useless. Regardless of what was happening inside my body, my frozen body wouldn’t allow even the slightest movement. I could only helplessly watch the changes occurring within my body.

 

It was merely passing through my body.

 

My body was nothing more than a gateway for it to be released into the world. But that alone was sufficiently painful.

 

What received the greatest shock was my mana core.

 

The artificial organ of Dark Mages that processes mana to create magic power. The fragile vessel located in the heart. The infinite power would not allow corrupted energy.

 

Crack.

 

With a sound like stepping on a frozen puddle, the mana core shattered. The moment the suppressed magic power tried to run wild, a wave of mana swept it away.

 

It was so powerless.

 

My identity as a Dark Mage, the source of power I had built up over the past three years, crumbled. In the pain of my organs twisting, I could only scream and watch it happen.

 

But that wasn’t the end.

 

Normally, even my flesh would have lost its form and disappeared, but what emerged from the Dragon Heart wasn’t just infinite mana.

 

Divinity.

 

A small divinity that even the dark magic that revived the dragon couldn’t dare invade, that even the Hero couldn’t split apart, began to dwell within me.

 

My body, which had seemed ready to break at any moment, regained its strength. The flow of mana that had been roughly sweeping through my body changed.

 

It was no longer a simple torrent of destruction. The fragments of the broken mana core began to melt into the dragon’s mana and reconstruct. The traces of crude and unstable magic power were completely erased, reborn as a new power that had never existed before.

 

It could be called evolution. It was an opportunity that anyone would desperately desire.

 

But I struggled to stop it, even knowing it was meaningless.

 

-Kuhh, kuhahaha!

 

Divinity dwells in my body. So naturally, following the flow of Soul Magic. Part of it is also transmitted to the Demon Lord. It was something I wanted to avoid at all costs.

 

…I couldn’t stop it.

 

Was it because it had been repeated and ingrained hundreds of times? Perhaps the Demon Lord had directly intervened. With my mana core destroyed, I absolutely couldn’t stop it with my will. I couldn’t understand what changes occurred to the Demon Lord who accepted the divinity.

 

And at some point, the seemingly endless wave stopped.

 

Crack!

 

They say the end is the beginning of something new. I’m not sure if those words suit the current situation. But it was certainly true.

 

A small cracking sound was the beginning. Soon, with a roar, the seemingly eternal ice prison shattered. But there was no time to feel liberation.

 

As the ice broke, the dragon’s massive body also collapsed together.

 

I, who had been on its back, began falling helplessly from hundreds of meters in the air.

 

It was yet another crisis of death. My frozen body couldn’t function properly, and I didn’t know how to handle the power that had settled in my body instead of magic power. While flailing about, I saw something glinting.

 

An ice fragment? No, it wasn’t.

 

While it sparkled and was beautiful like a jewel in the same way, I could tell at a glance that it was definitely different. The ice created by the Ice Spirit didn’t contain mana like that.

 

It must be a fragment that forms the Dragon Heart.

 

I reached out and grasped the fragment. A sudden emptiness washed over me. Not dying in battle against the dragon, but dying from falling after the fight. To be unable to do anything even while holding a treasure that couldn’t be obtained for all the gold in the world.

 

The moment I thought that, I felt a presence flying toward me from somewhere. It wasn’t that I was slow to notice because I was lost in thought.

 

It was fast like the wind and stealthy like a shadow.

 

The owner of the presence gently caught my falling body. Firm yet flexible arms wrapped around my waist and instantly moved away from the spot.

 

As my tension released with the relief of being alive, my consciousness rapidly became hazy.

 

Immense fatigue washed over me. I forced my eyelids open and looked up at the being who had saved me.

 

“…El, f?”

 

Beautiful features that seemed not of this world, and pointed ears. It was unmistakably an elf.

 

An elf I knew? For some reason, I felt displeasure the moment I saw the face.

 

But that couldn’t be right.

 

At least among the elves I knew, there were none with skin that dark.

 

Looking at those eerily glowing red eyes, I lost consciousness.

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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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