Chapter 115 – The Hero's Return (5)

A fluid arc, as if drawn by a brush.

Even I had to admit, it was one hell of a sword strike.

An unwavering blade, as if I were the only one present in this place.

I simply swung horizontally, and my opponent failed to dodge.

“Ghk, gaaah…!”

My junior writhed on the ground, spewing bloody foam.

To think he was still moving even when his head and body were no longer connected.

The power given by the Immortal Demon King is certainly impressive.

He wouldn’t die so easily, that much was clear.

“You crazy… What is this…!”

How strange. He was speaking with his head cut off.

How was that possible?

My curiosity flared, but there was no time to ask.

I pulled Laevatein from his grasp.

The feel of the Holy Sword after so long was good.

The problem was its condition.

“Pfft, hahah. How’s the Holy Sword lookin’ to you?”

Only the hilt of the Holy Sword remained.

Where did its blade go?

“The… Immortal… Demon King… A sword that’s lost the goddess’s blessing is nothing but, *keuk*. To think the Holy Sword I finally found… would be such a piece of trash. What a shame.”

Even defeated and at death’s door, the fallen hero wore a mocking smile.

I had to admit, I was a little shocked.

Even in a world where the goddess’s blessing was fading, I never thought the Holy Sword’s blade would vanish.

‘Is that why it was calling out to me so desperately?’

Now I understood.

The Holy Sword’s energy had waned, and it was on the verge of disappearing.

Did it want to be held by me one last time before its final demise?

“Hah, haha. Without the goddess’s power, the Holy Sword is…”

My junior was laughing his head off.

“Kill him…! Kill the Hero, and I promise… *cough*, the position of Legion Commander!”

The fallen hero issued one last command to the remaining legion.

At the mention of Legion Commander, the monsters’ eyes blazed.

They knew what that title meant in this world, now ruled by the Demon King.

“From a seat with a good view, I’ll watch the legendary Hero die… *keuk*!”

I shut my junior’s mouth with my foot.

But don’t you think you’ll die before me? You’re bleeding a lot.

There was no time to worry about my fellow Korean, who had become a monster.

Around me, diligent and hardworking monsters, eager to carve out their own era of success, were already activating their skills.

A half-assed Holy Sword…

Naturally, a sword without a blade is useless.

However, that logic doesn’t apply to me.

I slowly closed my eyes. As I took a quiet breath in and out, the only things I could feel were my own existence and the Holy Sword, which was as weak as it could possibly be.

In this space occupied only by me and the sword, I could feel the presence of dozens of hostile members of the Demon King’s army.

I opened my eyes and called to the Holy Sword.

“Laevatein.”

I called its name softly.

*Vrrr-*

The Holy Sword began to tremble as if in response to my words.

Honestly, it had been whining and trying to find me even when I was in another dimension.

And even after I got here, it sensed my presence and kept pestering me to come quickly.

It couldn’t just stay asleep now.

*Crackle.*

A golden flame sparked from the hilt.

The single spark grew more intense, hammering the empty air as if in a forge.

*Fwoosh.*

A brilliant golden flame drew a spiral and then vanished.

“The… the Holy Sword!”

A minotaur that had been charging forward with gusto came to a halt. It wasn’t just him. All the creatures that had been rushing me in a circle froze, stiff with shock.

The Holy Sword was broken.

But there must have been a reason it called for me.

For a moment just like this.

I readjusted my grip on the Holy Sword.

*Thump, thump, thump.*

The minotaur at the very front was the first to start running away.

The minotaur is a monster from mythology. It naturally belongs to the highest rank of predators in the Demon King’s army.

Seeing it flee, the other members of the army quickly put two and two together.

*Kuaaaah!*

Of course, there were still those who charged, regardless of the Holy Sword.

I gripped the Holy Sword and poured a generous amount of mana into it.

*Gulp, gulp.*

The Holy Sword, having greedily devoured my mana, extended its blade to twice, no, more than five times its original length.

I raised the Holy Sword and swung it horizontally.

A dazzling golden light flashed, and the hundreds of Demon King’s soldiers charging at me were instantly annihilated.

*Crackle.*

Having drunk its fill of my mana, the sword once again began to gulp it down.

Fine, you must have been hungry. Drink as much as you want.

“No way…”

You’re still alive?

My junior, now just a head, wore a look of utter disbelief as he stared at the brilliant light emanating from the Holy Sword.

“It never once… not a single time did it ever react…”

“Ah, it probably just didn’t like you. This thing is surprisingly picky about looks.”

I saw my junior’s face contort.

I scraped the ground once with the Holy Sword.

My junior—no, what was left of him—was struck by the light and turned to ash.

-You have leveled up.

Now then, my lovely experience points.

No, let the subjugation of the Demon King’s army begin.

***

*Hah, heugh, hah!*

Having received an urgent message from the city, Diana’s royal guard rushed back.

‘Please.’

Drenched in sweat, she finally caught sight of the city where the battle raged on.

It was a tremendous relief.

The city was desperately holding its ground.

The queen and her knights had prayed over and over that the city wouldn’t fall before they arrived.

They didn’t know how the city’s protective barrier had been broken.

What mattered was that the castle was under attack right now.

“They’re still holding on!”

“They held out, they held out well!”

The knights grit their teeth as they looked down upon the city, locked in a fierce battle. Some were so overcome with emotion that their eyes welled up.

The city of survivors.

Among them, the monster extermination unit, composed of the most elite forces.

These were knights who would have been formidable even fifteen years ago when the Hero was still around, and their fighting spirit was ablaze.

They watched their comrades in crisis fighting valiantly.

They awaited their liege’s command.

From the hill, Diana surveyed the overall state of the battle.

They were holding out better than she had expected.

She knew exactly why.

‘The Hero.’

It was only possible because he was there.

In battle, the morale of the soldiers is a force powerful enough to sway the outcome.

Even in her absence as queen, there was only one person who could raise everyone’s spirits like this.

‘Where is the Hero?’

Scanning the battlefield, she couldn’t find any place where she expected him to be.

If he were at the castle gate, they wouldn’t be pushed back like this.

“They’re holding the line even though the wall is broken?”

The enemy’s numbers were overwhelming, and now the wall had crumbled.

And yet, the line at the wall wasn’t budging. No, in fact, it looked like they were wiping the enemy out.

“We strike the enemy gathered at the wall.”

They would join the knights inside to annihilate the encroaching enemy and use that position as a base for a knightly charge.

That was Diana’s decision.

She wanted to see the Hero immediately, but first, she had to put out the most urgent fire.

Besides, it wouldn’t do for the house to be a mess when such a distinguished guest had arrived.

Soon, the queen’s knights began to move to strike the rear of the Demon King’s army.

***

“Her Majesty, the Queen!”

“It’s the Queen’s Knights!”

The first to shout were the civilians who had been supplying the soldiers on the wall.

They saw the knights charging through the black tide of the Demon King’s army toward the broken section of the wall.

No matter how formidable the Immortal Demon King’s legion was, the strength of humanity’s last remaining knights was immense.

The knights, who had pushed back the monsters climbing the wall with unstoppable force, finally entered the city.

“You’ve endured much to get here, Your Majesty.”

Lord Roistan greeted Queen Diana, who was on horseback.

Her naturally beautiful face and clothes were messy, splattered with blood.

“Would you like to change your clothes?”

“No, they’ll only get dirty again. A horse and a lance.”

“They have been prepared.”

The queen used a cloth to wipe away the dried blood caked on her face.

Her royal knights did the same.

Just then, a blond-haired nobleman came into her view.

“Siegfried.”

The Hero’s first knight.

The strongest knight in the kingdom, he had been resurrected from death and was standing here now.

“Are you not surprised?”

“There’s nothing to be surprised about. The world has already gone mad.”

From a giant zombie to over a hundred skeleton warriors and more than a dozen death knights.

It wouldn’t have been strange if the wall had already been taken with such a force.

She realized why such an abnormal event had occurred.

Whatever the reason, it was a fortunate thing that a strong hero like Siegfried was here.

“It’s been a while.”

“Indeed.”

“How many did you get?”

“Too many to count.”

“I’m having a hard time counting, myself.”

The battle was still precarious. The enemy forces numbered over 50,000.

In contrast, the city’s forces were a mere 5,000.

A numerical difference of more than ten to one.

As if that weren’t enough, the enemy consisted of monsters who had already died and been reborn, creatures without self-awareness that hunted only flesh and blood.

“I’m heading out immediately.”

Diana had no intention of letting Siegfried take all the glory.

Her heart pounded at the thought of meeting the Hero after so long.

If she wanted to show him how much she had grown, she needed to achieve even greater feats, starting now.

It was then.

*KABOOOOM!*

A noise that shook the very earth erupted.

“Hah…!”

The knights gasped.

Beyond the city, where the enemy command must have been, something exploded, and a pillar of light shot up.

It didn’t stop at one; pillars of light erupted in all directions, followed by more explosions.

Grand Cross.

It was a phenomenon seen only when the Hero used the Holy Sword.

While the other knights felt awe and trembled at the sight of the pillars of light, Diana felt a deep sense of longing.

-If you put your strength into it and strike down from above like this, you’ll unleash a special move. Here, like this.

-It’s not working? Hmm… Maybe you lack desperation? Do you really want to be queen? It worked just fine back in my day.

She had once impulsively asked the Hero to be his disciple and teach her swordsmanship.

He was incredibly strong, but he was terribly clumsy when it came to teaching someone else.

Of course, that was only at the beginning.

“Waaaaah!”

A roar of cheers erupted.

While the knights were bewildered by the sudden outburst, Diana found herself smiling softly without realizing it.

“I only seem to accumulate more debt to the Hero.”

The queen’s knights could only blink in astonishment, seeing their liege smile like a young girl.

Once again, the sound of a Grand Cross explosion echoed.

Once again, the cheers of the people followed.

The defensive battle, so perilous that even the citizens had joined in, was coming to an end.

“Oh my, this is quite something.”

A sinister voice cut through the air.

Like lightning, Siegfried drew his sword and lopped off the speaker’s head.

*Swish!*

The woman’s head was severed, rolling on the ground like a ball.

For a moment, Siegfried felt a profound sense of unease. If he wasn’t mistaken, the woman whose head he had just cut off was…

“My, what a naughty child you are with that sword.”

The severed head smiled as it spoke.

It was the necromancer who had been sitting on the giant’s shoulder.

Siegfried was certain he had sliced her in half and killed her.

No, in fact, a vertical sword wound still remained on her body.

In that instant, the knights drew a sharp breath.

The severed surfaces were writhing like tentacles, trying to merge back together.

Not waiting to see what would happen, Siegfried slashed at her body again with his sword.

*Squelch!*

The disgusting sound of flesh being sliced. But as if it had never been cut, it reattached even before it could fully separate.

Siegfried quickly backpedaled, creating distance.

“Such insolence toward your master.”

With her slit pupils glinting, the woman smiled seductively.

A manifestation of the will to reject death itself.

There was only one being capable of such an ability.

“Gamigin…!”

Hearing the name Siegfried uttered, all the knights, led by Princess Diana, pointed their swords at the naked woman.

Gamigin.

The Demon King of necromancy, also known as the Immortal.

She was the one responsible for devastating this continent.

The knights, who hadn’t anticipated the Demon King’s descent, fell into a heavy silence.

Not a single one could speak.

When Siegfried had cut her down, the Demon King had possessed a colorless, odorless presence.

But not now.

A suffocating mana, sharp enough to cut the skin, radiated from her.

“Fancy seeing you here.”

Queen Diana was the first to speak.

At her words, the Immortal Demon King revealed her blackened teeth in a grin.

“Why? Do I look like an easy target because I’m alone?”

There was no way she was an easy target.

Unlike Dantalian of the Other Side, she was a monster who derived pleasure solely from slaughter.

“To show yourself where the Hero is. Have you forgotten how the previous Demon King died?”

Diana’s tone was quite provocative.

*Swish, squelch! Thwack!*

*KABOOOOM!*

As soon as she finished speaking, the sound of a ferocious barrage of sword strikes could be heard.

A single person was breaking through an army.

An army of tens of thousands of undead, no less, guarding the city.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect the Hero to suddenly appear. This is unexpected.”

The Immortal Demon King spoke of the unforeseen circumstances, yet she hadn’t lost her composure.

“Shall we make a bet? On whether I kill you all first, or the Hero breaks through my 50,000-strong army first.”

Muttering this, the Immortal Demon King snapped her fingers.

From within her shadow, warriors clad in black armor emerged.

“I’ve always wanted to add the first Hero to my collection. This works out perfectly. I’m not like that fool, Dantalian of the Other Side.”

Roistan ground his teeth.

What the Demon King had summoned were the previous heroes who had been defeated by her and turned into undead.