I Picked up the Demon King - Chapter 96

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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 96

 

The humans consumed by madness kept charging relentlessly.

 

Of course, most of those inside were untrained civilians. Wealthy merchants and nobles. There were quite a few guards as well, but they couldn’t match Remal, who could be considered elite even among elves.

 

With light movements, she dodged the blade. The blade Remal avoided struck a merchant who had been trying to attack her from behind.

 

Blood splattered everywhere.

 

Even though she wasn’t using direct force to delay the situation from escalating further.

 

Of course, that wouldn’t last much longer either.

 

She could see the entrance that the priests had been blocking starting to open slightly.

 

Soon, Holy Knights would surely come pouring through there. Of course, there would be quite a few people trying to escape through the gap as well, so it would become complete chaos.

 

Remal briefly considered whether she could escape by mixing in with the confusion, but shook her head.

 

‘Understanding my benefactor’s situation comes first.’

 

She couldn’t know what situation Jude, who had entered the inner area, was in. It would be fortunate if he had escaped safely, but if she thought too optimistically and something went wrong, it would be a great sin.

 

She had to prevent the Holy Knights from entering where Jude had gone, while simultaneously assessing Jude’s situation.

 

Neither task was easy.

 

Stopping the Holy Knights, known as one of the continent’s strongest knight orders, single-handedly was something that would require Remal to risk her life.

 

However, Remal had no other choice.

 

Any other elf in this position would have made the same choice. An individual’s life had no value whatsoever before the safety and glory of the World Tree.

 

Click.

 

The door opened.

 

A faint light appeared in the dark crater.

 

Part of the gazes that had been directed at Remal turned toward that light.

 

In that gap, Remal hid herself once more. It wasn’t particularly meaningful, but she could create a moment to catch her breath.

 

“Ugh, uaaaah!”

“Over there, that way!”

“Get out, get out!”

 

Remal, hidden in the shadows, watched the situation unfold.

 

Dozens of Holy Knights in pure white plate armor entered. Several people rushed toward the open door trying to escape, but the Holy Knights didn’t give them even the slightest opening.

 

“For the Goddess.”

 

Instead, they ignored them. As if there was nothing there, they simply charged forward.

 

With tremendous force and heavy weight, people were trampled. Dozens died instantly. But they didn’t stop.

 

“For the Goddess!”

 

The priests who had been watching the situation illuminated the crater with Divine Magic.

 

Along with various spells, the Holy Knights’ gazes turned toward Remal. The people nearby were startled and backed away.

 

Remal muttered a small curse and loosened her body.

 

Well, of course. It wasn’t just one or two – there were hundreds of priests in this place alone. It would be absurd for them to be helplessly toyed with by just one Remal.

 

‘Until now, they were just observing reactions and thinking of response methods.’

 

It was a thoroughly Holy Nation-like way of handling things.

 

Divine Magic striking from all directions tore Remal’s robe to shreds. Those who had been blindly pressing forward calling her a demon without even seeing Remal’s face gasped.

 

“Those ears…?”

 

Remal drew the dagger she had been hiding in her bosom and pierced through the head of the noble who had spoken.

 

If an elf caused trouble within the Holy Nation, it was obvious that the Great Forest would also suffer damage.

 

There was only one choice.

 

‘I have no choice but to become the demon they want.’

 

Though the Great Forest had been destroyed and the elves had lost Spirit Magic, they became beneficiaries who experienced the waves of life force that spread across the entire continent from the closest position.

 

Even if versatility had decreased, in terms of pure combat power alone, they couldn’t be said to have become weaker than before.

 

The mana Remal released burned fiercely.

 

* * *

 

What would it be like to wake up and find someone holding a scythe in front of you?

 

“Uh…”

 

It was quite an awkward situation.

 

The fact that she didn’t scream proved just how brave the girl in front of me was. If courage could be measured numerically, she would score at least five times higher than Johnny.

 

“So, what this situation is…”

 

Of course, that was when the girl was in her right mind.

 

The girl stared at me quietly with snow-white eyes that contrasted with her hair. Even though her eyes were open, I couldn’t tell if she was mentally sound. It would be better to assume she was and act accordingly.

 

I scratched my head and thought.

 

How should I explain to make her understand the current situation? Of course, even if she understood, it didn’t seem like the situation would improve. It was true that I had tried to kill this woman.

 

At times like this, I couldn’t help but seriously think that choosing the elven method of resolution might be better.

 

Immediately after.

 

I stepped back instinctively, sensing danger.

 

The girl’s head tilted slightly.

 

-Your senses seem to have returned quite a bit.

‘What just happened?’

 

I had dodged because something felt strange, but everything around was complete darkness. Except for the girl and me, nothing was visible, so I couldn’t even tell what had occurred.

 

-Why are you asking something so obvious? You were attacked.

 

The Demon Lord clicked his tongue.

 

-An attack that kills before you can even perceive it. It’s the Divine Authority of one who was called a Great Demon in the Mythical Age.

 

Not being able to perceive an opponent’s attack was common enough when there was a large difference in skill.

 

But this was different.

 

There had been no warning signs, no traces. If not for the Demon Lord’s words, I surely wouldn’t have known what had happened.

 

-Obviously, it’s not complete though.

 

The Demon Lord clicked his tongue again. It was a sign of dissatisfaction.

 

Even while sharpening my senses, I couldn’t stop the questions from rising.

 

At first, I thought the Demon Lord was dissatisfied because he found me pathetic. But looking at the current situation…

 

“That’s not complete?”

-If it were complete, do you think you could have dodged it no matter how excellent your senses?

 

Doesn’t it feel like the problem is that the Greater Demon’s Horn isn’t complete?

 

I hid my true thoughts and asked, so the Demon Lord wouldn’t guess what I was thinking. I don’t know if it worked. At least on the surface, it seemed to work somewhat.

 

-The fact that you can perceive yourself and that thing already tells the whole story.

 

I forcibly stopped the thought of running in all directions.

 

‘That was a frightening story.’

 

I tried to accept the Demon Lord’s words at face value only.

 

I don’t know what the Demon Lord is thinking or what he intends. However, my trying to guess his true intentions is completely unhelpful in the current situation.

 

‘Summarizing the Demon Lord’s words, the darkness of the Mythical Age is Absolute Darkness where the moment you enter its sphere of influence, you can’t even perceive yourself. People would have slowly died within it without knowing what was happening. If anyone barely survived, they surely would have thought it was the work of demons.’

 

After the first attack, there was no sign of trying to attack me again.

 

But it had been the same initially. I couldn’t tell when or how the attack would come.

 

What would be the most natural reaction for me to show now?

 

‘I need to run away.’

 

In this state, I could never win.

 

The moment I finished my judgment, I turned around. It would have been the same even if it were in perfect condition. I had experienced enough of how powerful the force of a somewhat awakened Divine Artifact could be. However.

 

I couldn’t see the entrance. I couldn’t see the way back.

 

What I saw behind me was just darkness.

 

-It’s useless. Everywhere this darkness reaches is all that thing’s domain.

 

The Demon Lord spoke in a voice faintly mixed with laughter.

 

-What will you do now?

“…You crazy bastard.”

 

I gripped the scythe tightly and tried to draw up mana. I felt faint movement. It was the result of my efforts during the journey to the Holy Nation.

 

But it was only at the level of a single water drop splashing in a huge pond. It was less than before I met the Demon Lord.

 

Considering my Mana Manipulation ability that I thought was quite excellent, it was an amount that only made me sigh. What I could do with this was at most activate completed magic circles or minor Physical Enhancement.

 

“What do you expect me to do?”

-Well, it’s simple.

 

The Demon Lord said.

 

-The reason you can’t manipulate the mana inside you is because of the divinity mixed within it. More precisely, it should be called the will contained in the divinity. It would have been fine if you had absorbed it through normal processes, but since that’s not the case.

 

It was a story I already knew, but the reason for bringing up this topic now was simple.

 

-In the end, it’s divinity.

 

The Demon Lord’s voice reached me quietly but clearly, as if whispering directly into my ear.

 

-You’ll need help from someone with deep knowledge of divinity.

 

Divinity. The power of gods.

 

Those who can wield it are beings who possess divine status.

 

The spirits who perished and vanished long ago. The Hero who temporarily ascended to demigod status by passing trials. The Goddess revered as the continent’s sole deity.

 

And the Demon Lord.

 

-Entrust your body to me.

 

The Ice Spirit has lost its power and sleeps. Since the trees cannot grow, the World Tree is not nearby either. There’s no way the Hero would be here, and receiving help from the Goddess is out of the question.

 

In the end, the only option left to me was the Demon Lord.

 

-Just for a moment. I’ll resolve this cleanly.

 

The problem was that I absolutely couldn’t trust the Demon Lord.

 

Even knowing that necromantic arts cause great damage to the soul, the Demon Lord had continuously demanded the same thing from me.

 

This being had even escaped the control of our soul contract. I had no idea what schemes it was hiding.

 

But a demon’s whisper is always sweet, as they tend to be.

 

When the girl’s face, which had been calmly tilting her head, began to frown, and I felt it becoming difficult to dodge the consecutive attacks any longer.

 

Facing death.

 

“Ha, right. What’s the point if I die anyway.”

 

I had no choice but to grasp the hand the Demon Lord extended. The problem was that even the mana needed to use necromantic arts was difficult to move.

 

-Don’t worry.

“…!”

 

The massive amount of mana that hadn’t budged until now all flowed out of my body at once. In the blackened world, blue mana emitted light as it drew magic circles.

 

“What is this.”

 

Soul magic. Specifically, necromantic arts.

 

Somehow, the Demon Lord was moving my mana as if it were its own, even before using necromantic arts.

 

Come to think of it, yes.

 

Even when only weak fragments of its soul remained after being defeated by the Hero, the Demon Lord had displayed the miracle of drawing dozens of magic circles simultaneously.

 

Compared to then, its soul was much more stable now, so it would be stranger if it couldn’t do at least this much.

 

I felt deflated.

 

All the things I had worried about and been wary of felt useless.

 

Perhaps even my inability to move the mana in my body until now had been the Demon Lord’s doing, to create this very situation.

 

As I felt my consciousness gradually fading, I had one last question.

 

If it could do this from the beginning, why did the Demon Lord

 

seek something like my consent?

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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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