60
Taking advantage of the fact that the demon lord hadn’t fully regained its ability to move, we launched a probing attack at the edge of its attack range.
Heavy swords and spears repeatedly struck the crimson tendrils, leaving behind scars of varying sizes. The demon lord’s structure was almost identical to that of regular demons—there was no flesh or bone, just red mist that spilled from its wounds. However, its tendrils were unusually tough. A slash that could cleave a level 70 demon in half could only sever a third of the tendril. The only good news was that the Light God’s power still provided an attack boost against it.
The bad news was that the demon lord’s tendrils didn’t disappear after being ‘killed’ like regular demons. Instead, they transformed into another form and attached themselves to nearby demons, enhancing their abilities. Even if we killed the demons, the red mist seeping from its wounds would be reabsorbed by the demon lord, unless we could continuously attack it to slow down its regeneration.
“Captain, this won’t work!” An older warrior wiped the sweat from his eyes, panting as he spoke. “We can still temporarily limit its movement now, but once it breaks free of the seal…”
We had already retreated another fifty meters. I watched as more demons emerged around the demon lord, some charging at us while others gathered around it to attack the seal that confined it. At this rate, it would fully regain its freedom in a matter of minutes, and we had no way to stop it.
The probing attack had given us enough information. Now, the most important thing was to figure out how to weaken it.
Continuous strikes, huh…
I had received the signal that the ballistae had recharged for another volley. The previous barrages had only killed the demons surrounding the demon lord and hadn’t done much damage to its main body. It seemed to be enveloped in a barrier that greatly reduced the ballistae’s effectiveness. Another volley wouldn’t make a difference. However, those tendrils… If we could sever them, we might achieve our goal.
But first, we had to lure the tendrils out of the protection of its barrier.
I ordered the warriors, “Retreat another hundred meters, then fire a signal for all the ballistae to focus their fire on my position.”
The warrior froze, his face paling. “Captain, are you planning to go down with it?!”
“…” I couldn’t help but laugh. “No, I’ll draw its attention and try to lure more tendrils into the ballistae’s attack range.” Seeing his worried expression, I added, “Don’t worry, I’ll run out before the ballistae hit.”
He looked at me skeptically. “Captain, you won’t lie to me, right? What if… what if you don’t make it out…”
“A knight never lies,” I said calmly, then urged him, “Hurry, don’t waste time.”
With my reassurance, he nodded and turned to run back.
I took a deep breath, silently counting down in my head.
—From the time the signal is given to the retreat, we only had twenty seconds.
I compressed the white flames covering my sword, keeping them close to the blade. Flexing my stiff fingers, I gripped the hilt tightly and leaped forward as the tendrils attacked, swinging my sword down.
The white flames sliced through the gel-like tendril like a hot knife through butter. Without stopping, I charged ahead, demon corpses and severed tendrils exploding outward from me in all directions, clearing a temporary space. I looked up at the demon lord. It seemed to have noticed my presence. More tendrils rose, writhing in the air like an angry swarm of serpents, studying the intruder.
Seventeen seconds.
I adopted an aggressive stance and continued my charge. With no need to hold back, demons below level 80 shattered on impact, with only the tendrils from the demon lord’s main body presenting any challenge. But even they couldn’t stop my advance. In an instant, I had surged forward twenty meters, red mist spraying like blood as demon bodies disintegrated, unable to block my path.
Thirteen seconds.
The tendrils went berserk. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw countless crimson shadows converging on me. The white flames on my sword had compressed to their limit. I bent my knees, and just as the first tendril’s tip was about to touch my armor, I twisted and spun—an eruption of white flames shot into the sky. The tendrils were torn apart, the white fire spreading across their crimson surface, and for a moment, I thought I could set the entire thing ablaze.
But the white light quickly dimmed, revealing the crimson world beneath. Controlling the tremors in my hands from the extreme exertion, I steadied my breath and prepared to continue, but then I felt something strange.
Demons, the ground, tendrils, shadows, the air… It was as if countless eyes had opened, each one fixed on me.
The demon lord’s massive body twisted slowly, the huge vines that made up its core sliding and wrapping around each other. I couldn’t tell if there were actual ‘eyes’ on that terrifying mass, but I could feel its gaze on me, like a god looking down at an ant—detached, emotionless, just quietly observing.
A voice echoed in my mind, soft like a murmur from someone who had just awoken from sleep.
[Your name is Alvin.]
My instinctive sense of danger made my heart race. Without hesitation, I retreated at full speed.
As I expected, the tendrils came crashing toward me like a tidal wave. What I hadn’t expected was that the voice continued speaking in my head. It wasn’t sharp and grating like the demons’ voices, but slow and gentle, with a hint of curiosity.
[There is a mark of light in your soul.]
Seven seconds.
I slashed at a tendril trying to wrap around me, then used my sword to block a crimson shadow, leveraging its momentum to leap over another tendril snaking along the ground.
[Did He grant you the right to wield ‘Will’?]
Three seconds.
My boots dug into the ground as I forced myself to stop, raising my now steady hands once again. The white flames on my sword formed a pure white barrier in front of me, severing three tendrils at once. The spraying red mist briefly obscured my vision.
In that momentary pause, countless tendrils seized the opportunity and shot toward me!
One second.
The thunderous roar of the magic ballistae firing was deafening. The scroll shattered, and a white barrier enveloped me. The tendrils above were torn to shreds by the rain of ballista bolts. The protective barrier lasted only half a second before shattering. I was prepared for this; half a second was enough time to dash out of the center of the ballista barrage. As the barrier broke, I raised my greatsword just in time to block, but the force of the explosion sent me, along with the ground beneath me, flying.
My ears were ringing, and my vision was blurry, as if veiled in mist. Something hit my back hard, and it took me a few seconds to realize that I had landed on the ground. My soul seemed to still be floating in the air, unable to merge with my body, leaving me unable to command my limbs to move.
A pair of hands lifted me up. A face hovered above my blurry vision. A voice repeated itself over and over.
“Captain…”
“Captain!”
“…Captain!!!”
I took a breath, regaining control of my body, and immediately looked toward the demon lord. The ground had been blasted into a massive crater, thick red mist dissipating in all directions. Around the edge of the crater were countless severed tendrils, lying lifeless on the ground. Red mist oozed from their wounds, but this time they didn’t regenerate as quickly as before.
“Captain!” A sharp voice pierced my ears again.
I quickly reached out to stop the person shaking my arm. “Let go of me…”
“No! We won’t leave you behind!” He was crying as he shouted.
I: “…”
It’s not that bad. I still have half my health left. Why is he acting like I’m about to die?
To prevent him from shaking away the rest of my health, I pushed his hand away with some force and got up on my own. My armor was shattered quite badly. As I tore off the broken pieces that hindered my movement, I pieced my thoughts back together from my dazed mind and asked, “…Didn’t I tell you all to retreat a hundred meters? What are you doing here?”
The person who had first caught me stood there with his mouth agape, staring at me like I had risen from the dead. I recognized him as the young knight who had shouted at Beken earlier. When he heard my question, he responded blankly, “We did retreat, but, Captain, you flew farther than we could retreat…”
The warriors around us, who were still fending off demons, turned their heads and nodded, all looking shaken.
I: “…”
The young knight wiped the tears from his face and cautiously asked, “Captain, is this your final burst of strength before death?”
I: “…No.”
Stepping over the shattered pieces of my armor, I bent down to pick up [Dawn], shaking off the dust from the blade. White flames once again ignited along the sword, and seeing this, the young knight finally sighed in relief. He quickly pulled out emergency bandages and began wrapping them around me.
This time, I didn’t refuse. Letting him bandage my wounds, I looked toward the demon lord.
The severed tendrils were no longer leaking red mist. Instead, they wrapped around each other and merged, forming new tendrils, though the number was nearly half of what it had been.
…Did we finally hurt it?
[You hurt me.] A gentle voice confirmed in my mind.
My hand paused as I wiped the sword clean.
It felt like an invisible force swept across the battlefield, touching everyone. At that moment, both demons and humans stopped moving simultaneously. An abrupt silence enveloped the battlefield. The only sound that remained was the faint crackling, like porcelain shattering.
The source of the sound was the seal that had bound the demon lord, crumbling away piece by piece. In my gaze, its massive form trembled slightly and began to float upward. Thick tendrils withdrew from the ground. Only then did I realize that it didn’t resemble a tree at all—most of its body had been buried beneath the earth, with only the tendrils exposed.
The demon lord’s true form resembled a dense mass of crimson mist covered in tendrils, strikingly similar to the Dark God, except it was at least a hundred times larger. As it broke free from the earth, its tendrils unfurled completely, looming over the battlefield like a canopy. Everything in the canyon was swallowed by its shadow, and an unspoken despair washed over everyone’s faces.
“Captain…” A trembling voice asked behind me, “What do we do now?”
“…”
I didn’t know.
That was no longer something humans could fight. The Light Church’s strongest attack had just slightly injured part of its tendrils.
The demon lord didn’t give me any time to think. Its massive tendrils swept across the battlefield, and countless tiny figures fell before its assault, like wheat being cut down. Several of the thickest tendrils came crashing down toward where we stood. I tried my best to block, but after a few seconds, I was overwhelmed by the sheer force.
The world spun as I heard the dull thud of bodies hitting the ground one after another. When I got back on my feet, all I saw were pools of blood spreading beneath corpses.
Just moments ago, the young man standing behind me lay several meters away in a pool of blood. He had fallen against a jagged rock, his upper body slumped over it, his blood soaking the stone. His face was a mixture of confusion and fear, an emptiness so heavy it made it hard to breathe.
His chest was still rising and falling, his head slowly lowering as he looked at the rib that had pierced through his chest plate.
Then, bit by bit, he raised his head and looked at me.
“Captain…” His lips moved weakly, “You said… the souls of the fallen… can rest in the God’s kingdom… Is that true?”
I knelt beside him, taking his cold hand in mine, and firmly answered, “Yes.”
“Then… then…” His chest rose and fell rapidly, his unfocused eyes drifting as he tried to meet my gaze, “Will I… still have the chance… to fight alongside you… again…?”
“You will.”
A faint smile appeared on his ashen face, a dim light in his eyes. “Captain… you said… we knights… can’t lie…”
“I haven’t lied. You will rest in the God’s kingdom. We will continue to fight together, defeat the demon lord, achieve victory, and return to Ke’er City. The pope will greet you at the doors of the Light Cathedral. You will be the hero who saved the world.”
He stared at me but didn’t respond.
“…”
I let go of his cold hand and calmly gripped my sword again.
The demon lord hadn’t fallen yet.
So I couldn’t either.
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