Chapter 258 – Hero Invasion (5)

Crossing dimensions means dealing with variables.

If there’s an Order System that acts as the main server, the framework for everything, then below it exist dimensional systems that act as clients.

Connecting and converting data between different systems can cause fatal errors, so debugging is necessary.

Debugging. A programmer checks their own creation for errors, but the system isn’t like that.

It’s all self-diagnosis and self-repair.

As a result, errors always come with dimensional travel.

Those Demon Kings have the power to travel between dimensions. Thanks to my Inventory ability, I have a crystal-clear sense of my surroundings.

To the point where I don’t even need Olivier’s navigation ability anymore.

I can know everything, and I can feel everything.

*Swoosh!*

Even a surprise attack like this, I already know it’s coming.

I snatched the incoming spear out of the air and threw it back at its owner.

“Kuaaak!”

Having received their cry of thanks, I continued moving through the castle.

It felt like the number of demon soldiers rushing to capture me was growing.

It doesn’t matter. Since we’re indoors, they’ll all be swept away before they can even surround me.

I headed straight for the basement.

All the bad stuff is always in the basement.

This is an absolute truth, a law of nature.

“A Hero?”

Just then, I saw someone blocking my path.

A crushed face on a pretty well-built frame.

At a glance, he was no ordinary soldier.

“Well, this is my lucky day. To be the first to find the Hero…”

*Slice.*

He kept trying to talk when I was short on time, so I went ahead and lopped off his head.

It’s not like I was curious about what he had to say anyway.

I could feel Siegfried and the Company Man struggling outside.

It was good that the Company Man’s shadows had diverted the enemy’s attention. But I told them to run whenever they needed to, and the situation looked a little grim.

A very powerful foe had attacked them directly.

Judging by the amount of magic, it was definitely a Demon King, but the quality was different from the ones I’d fought so far.

The immortal Gamigin. This one possessed far greater magic than her.

‘Those idiots. I told them to retreat if things went south.’

All the two of them had to do was buy time and draw aggro.

I have to achieve my goal as quickly as possible and get back.

I killed the soldiers guarding the basement without listening to a word they said.

Soon, I came face to face with what I was looking for.

A giant egg, clad in black to suit the tastes of the Demon Kings, lay there.

Needless to say, I immediately drew my two-handed sword.

*Woooo.*

As if it knew my purpose, it let out a low cry and opened its eye.

A single, massive, oval eye. Bloodshot, it watched me with caution.

Thick tentacles extended from its body. Even the tentacles with small hands had eyeballs on them.

In an instant, hundreds of eyes were staring at me. Having a lot of eyeballs doesn’t make you strong.

The tentacles shot toward me like a downpour.

I used Phantom Step, moving to evade their attack range.

*Woooo.*

It cried out. I poured a ton of magic into my two-handed sword and struck down.

*Kwaaaa!*

My two-handed sword and its HP shield collided, sending sparks flying.

*Crack-!*

A crack formed in its HP shield.

It extended its tentacles again, trying to snatch me.

With my two-handed sword still embedded, I took out my new number 4 sword, Rapid Wire.

*Tink, tink!*

I spread wire-like threads around me. Then, I poured magic into them.

*Vzzzt! Shlick!*

*Kieeeek!*

The egg-thing screamed. Seeing how much it liked it, I felt very satisfied.

Someone once said it. String-user characters look cool, but they’re weak. Nothing more than a power level measuring stick.

This is what happens when I use it.

The tentacles that touched the wire flopped on the ground like fresh fish, spraying bodily fluids.

I reached through the gap in the HP shield where my two-handed sword was lodged.

“Lightning.”

*Bzzzt!*

A sphere of pure magic gathered in my hand and exploded, shooting straight forward.

Used at point-blank range, it had no time to dodge. No, without feet, it couldn’t dodge anyway.

In any case, the egg-thing was exploding from the lightning energy.

*Kwaaaaaang!*

Egg fragments scattered in all directions. Seeing that it wasn’t dead yet, I prepared to gather the energy for another lightning attack.

Just then, I felt something flying toward me, tearing through the air.

I immediately rolled to dodge.

*Kwaaaang!*

A massive pillar, aimed at me, had smashed the egg instead.

Sorry, egg-thing.

“What’s this? You were hiding in a place like this?”

A raspy voice. A real son of a bitch. Looked like a Demon King at first glance.

“You’re the one who broke that.”

I immediately placed the blame.

“It doesn’t matter. Since no one saw, it’ll be your fault anyway.”

This guy’s a real piece of work.

Shifting his own blame onto someone else. Ah, so that’s what makes him a Demon King?

I readjusted my grip on the two-handed sword. Since a Demon King showed up, I might as well kill him.

“It is an honor, Hero. My name is the 44th-ranked Demon King, Shax—”

I didn’t have time for leisurely self-introductions, so I attacked first.

I charged and swung my two-handed sword, but his pillar blocked the attack.

*Clink.*

Looks like the pillars this guy creates are pretty sturdy. Seeing as they weren’t cut by my magic-coated two-handed sword. No, my sword was actually damaged.

“You’re impatient. You won’t be getting out of here anyway. Let me introduce myself again. My name is Shax—”

I swung a horizontal slash at his jaw.

Startled, he dodged backward.

*Tch.*

Unfortunately, it only grazed him. Blood started dripping from his jaw.

He glared at me, seemingly enraged.

“How vulgar, how reckless. To fight during a duel without exchanging names. My name is Shax—”

His own name sounded more vulgar, yet here he was, getting picky about everything.

I mercilessly swung my sword at the guy who was so desperate to say his own name.

Pillars materialized around his body.

One, two, three, four, five.

How many of these things can he make? Their durability is so high my two-handed sword can’t cut through them.

Does this guy have some kind of defensive specialty?

He covered his entire body with the pillars, forming a perfect shield.

“My Iron Fangs will not be cut by such a blade.”

The Demon King, finally feeling safe, grinned from ear to ear and sneered.

“My title is the Steel Demon King, Shax—!”

*Slice!*

I pulled out my number 3 sword, Dragon Slayer, and cut him down.

His eyes widened in fury.

A vertical line of blood appeared on his face, and then blood gushed out.

“Be born with a better name in your next life.”

I said I didn’t want to hear his obscene name, but he was dying to tell me until the very end.

After consoling Shax like that, I was about to leave the basement when I let out a sigh.

“Then what about my name?”

Damned foresight.

A normal weapon wouldn’t work on this one.

I took out the Holy Sword and poured a ton of magic into it.

“I’m the type to respect my elders, so I’d rather you didn’t step forward.”

“I’m afraid that’s not possible.”

An old man covered in liver spots and wrinkles stood guarding the entrance, leaning on a staff.

He offered a benevolent smile.

“There are plenty more of the Hydra’s young that you destroyed. As long as you don’t kill me, nothing will change.”

I try to respect my elders, but this one was forcing me to attack him.

I accepted his provocation.

So the egg-thing’s name was Hydra.

Coating my two-handed sword with a thick layer of magic, I shot up the stairs.

*Swoosh!*

The blade of my two-handed sword sliced cleanly across.

But I couldn’t cut his neck.

“Yes, I see now that I’m up close.”

The old man was deceptively strong.

He blocked my sword with his staff, not giving an inch in strength.

“You were the Hero.”

I slid my sword along the old man’s staff, rotating the blade to cut in.

In that moment, I saw a flash before my eyes.

*Flash!*

A beam of light grazed past my forehead.

It was a good thing I dodged reflexively; any later and I’d have a hole in my head.

“It’s been a while. Should I call this an ill-fated encounter, or destiny?”

The old man laughed sinisterly.

The old man. So this was the immortal Agares.

I could feel it instinctively.

The living history book of the Demon Kings, excluding the virtually non-existent Rank 1, Baal.

The immortal Agares.

“Do you know who has killed the most people in this world?”

“Talking about your aspirations? Isn’t it about time for you to kick the bucket?”

Agares laughed.

He raised a withered index finger and pointed at me.

“If there is a most hideous demon in this world, it would be you. A murderer of the ages, a butcher of the ages.”

Hearing this from the leader of the cannibalistic Demon Kings was doubly unpleasant.

Yes, many have died for my ideals.

That is why I moved alone.

And I have seized the power to accomplish everything, even by myself.

“Old man, kids these days are scary. You should be careful.”

As I said that, I put my two-handed sword back into my Inventory.

*Woooong-!*

If I held back against this guy, I could be defeated.

I unleashed the magic of the Holy Sword.

The Holy Sword greedily devoured my magic, its blade glowing with a brilliant golden light.

Agares is the ruler of the East.

And as it happens, he has no guards with him.

There are no hidden soldiers nearby, either. In other words, this is a golden opportunity.

If I kill him, I might be able to end the war easily.

“You will not be able to change the future.”

What’s with this guy? He’s spouting a line I’ve heard many times before.

“Is that, like, a popular line in the demon world or something?”

At my words, Agares slammed his staff on the ground.

*Crack! Ruumble!*

The floor began to crack. I avoided the collapsing sections.

The ground began to crumble everywhere I had just been.

“I have waited a long time.”

A red afterimage flared in Agares’s eyes.

From behind him, a chaotic torrent of red beams began to pour toward me.

“For the day I would meet you again.”

*Kwaaa, kwaaang!*

The red beams began to slice through everything in the basement.

They rained down on me in a range impossible to evade, so I decided to face them head-on.

Rephilia Ressode, Sword Formation.

I immediately performed the magic swordsmanship with the Holy Sword.

The chaotic storm of red beams and my sword dance clashed as if they were dancing.

A collision so loud it made my ears ring.

I used the best swordsmanship I possessed.

“Old man, you’ve got some stamina.”

I remarked.

Agares had an HP shield that was visibly tough.

This was the first time I’d seen an HP shield that didn’t get a single scratch from my Sword Formation.

*Drip.*

I wiped the blood trickling from my forehead with the back of my hand.

I felt a strange sense of dissonance in the basement.

The basement walls and doors were a collapsed mess. Through the debris, I could see a large capsule.

“What, were you angry because I killed your pet?”

Inside the large capsule were creatures that looked similar to Quasars.

Agares slowly descended the stairs.

“Get serious, Hero. Can’t you feel it with that great power of yours?”

The old geezer was muttering to himself like he had dementia, so I charged.

*Bzzzt!*

The old man blocked my Holy Sword with his staff again.

Sparks from the abrasion of magic flew in all directions.

“I told you to get serious. Do you want to play with me until everyone who came to save you is dead?”

Did the old man put his dentures in wrong? Who came to save me?

In that moment, I began to sense foreign presences within my domain.

What is this?

What in the world is happening?

“Right now, the Demon King’s army has gone to greet our guests.”

There was a reason Agares had no guards.

-Set to Phase 2.

-Entering Phase 2.

-All stats will increase.

-Magic Limit has been released.

As the phase increased, the quality of the Holy Sword’s magic changed.

A searing golden light cut into the opponent’s staff.

*Pshuk!*

Agares’s staff and his long white beard were sliced off.

He dodges well for such a decrepit body, huh?

“Yes. It’s been a long time, so don’t make this boring.”

I don’t know this guy. But he’s talking as if he knows me.

Agares took a glaive out of his inventory.

“Come.”

The immortal Agares.

The reason he’s immortal isn’t just because he’s lived a long time.

To this day, no one has been able to kill him, no, to even defeat him.

“I’ve always been interested in the senior market.”

I will kill him, here and now.

If I don’t, people will be in danger.

‘That bastard, Im Jae-joon.’

I should have known when the Company Man and Siegfried were here.

Right now, the members of Hanul Guild are in the demon world.

The Holy Sword drew chaotic golden arcs in the air.

Agares’s glaive clashed against the Holy Sword, not losing any ground.