Chapter 220 - Decisive Battle

His heart responds to the demonic energy spreading throughout his body. The resisting lightning energy is devoured by his heat.

CRACK

Parts of his body begin to change. This is the evolution of a demonic dragon, growing stronger by devouring its own kind.

"Good."

"Haaah..."

Having brought the remaining energy more or less under control, Berge exhaled an excited breath. Dense demonic energy poured out.

"Are you finished?"

"More or less."

"You startled me, doing that so suddenly."

"Demons naturally grow stronger by killing their own kind."

"I understand."

"Did you make this barrier?"

"It's not something you can let outsiders see, is it? Your demonic energy was so dense."

"Thank you."

"You're very welcome."

The moment Berge devoured Dorche's heart, Ernyan had surrounded them with a dome of water to hide them from others' eyes.

- Such devotion.

- Berge, was it? How did a Demon King like you come by such good fortune? Honestly.

"I don't want to hear that from a spirit king."

"What should we do with those demons?"

Berge and Ernyan were not alone inside the dome. The demons who had served as Dorche's closest aides still stood blankly, unable to recover from the shock of their liege's death.

"Their Demon King is dead, but they don't seem any weaker."

Since Dorche had become Jason's servant, it seemed his own servants had automatically passed to Jason.

That meant Berge could not take them as servants until he killed Jason. Keeping high-ranking demons quietly restrained in a situation like this was impossible, leaving only one conclusion.

"Remove the barrier."

"Yes."

The water vanished, opening up their obstructed view.

"Are you all right?"

The heroes, who had waited quietly knowing it was Ernyan's power, asked.

"Of course I am."

Berge snorted.

"Hillen Cargill."

"Yes."

"Devour them."

Every last one.

Permission had been granted.

Even if their servant contracts had been transferred, their original master was dead. Stunned in mind and soul, the demons stood like statues, making them the easiest possible prey.

"That one's mine!"

"Get out of the way!"

The heroes went wild.

* * *

Masters and servants were connected through their souls. Thus, a master could sense a servant's death, and a servant could sense a master's.

"... Lord Dorche is dead."

Jason, just opening the tower doors to step outside, tilted his head.

"Lord Dorche, you say?"

"How strange."

Dorche might have been a foolish demonic dragon, but his power could not be dismissed. Was he not a seasoned demonic dragon who had conquered no fewer than five dimensions?

"Of course, I never expected him to succeed."

A spirit king's contractor, Lavinia Akan, and how many Stars?

But Dorche was powerful too. His subordinates were also exceptionally capable. Jason had therefore thought they could at least force Ernyan Hilderan to expend everything she had.

"If it ended this quickly, he cannot even have put up a proper fight. Hillen Cargill and the other heroes seem stronger than I thought."

And that was probably Berge's doing.

The one who most desired Jason's defeat now was not a human. It was a fellow Demon King, Berge Deias.

The tower doors opened. Jason and the hundreds of high-ranking demons following him finally appeared on the battlefield.

"As I thought, seeing it in person is quite different from watching inside the tower."

He could see the white path he had made for Dorche. Now it was a red path, stained with the blood and bodies of monsters and demonic creatures.

At its far end, he sensed the spirit king's presence. He detected those loathsome beings who carried the dimension's power.

"This is not good."

Human cheers rang out from where the heroes stood. The demons who had advanced while slaughtering humans had been cut down, and were still being cut down. Dorche was dead.

The mood was turning. The heroes were raising morale.

"That foolish demonic dragon could not carry out even one task properly."

On reflection, expecting anything at all from a demonic dragon had been his mistake.

"Then I shall have to change the mood."

Jason chanted a spell. Demonic energy surged. The sky split open. A black meteor fell.

"... Holy shit."

"What is that?!"

Some of the mana cannons turned toward the sky. Their simultaneous bombardment shaved away some of the meteor's power.

Mana churned. The mages layered barrier after barrier.

BOOOOM!

Impact.

An explosion erupted. The meteor broke through every barrier, but exhausted its power in the process and vanished.

"W-we stopped it!"

"Yeaah!"

The cheers only grew louder.

Expressionless, Jason lowered his hand again. More demonic energy seeped into the air.

The sky darkened. Meteors identical to the first began to fall.

Only this time, there was more than one.

The cheers vanished. All sound ceased.

"Now this is a little more to my liking."

What a Demon King's entrance required was not hope and courage.

It was despair and screams.

* * *

"... My God."

As dozens of horrifying black spheres began falling at once, terror gripped the soldiers.

"We were all mistaken."

Duke Olten gave a hollow laugh.

"We thought we had the upper hand over the Demon Kings. That we were winning against them."

They were wrong. The Demon King had simply been hiding his strength. Whatever the humans said, he had merely ignored them.

"But that is precisely why you die here today, Lies."

He could never be allowed to live.

Olten looked toward the distant island, at the many demons who had emerged from the tower doors and the figure at their head.

That was Lies.

"Fire the mana cannons to counter them! Mages, prepare defensive magic..."

At that moment, a dark shadow covered them.

It was the lake's water. A vast wall of water covered the sky, blocking the black spheres.

"... Adjust the mana cannons' elevation. Target the Demon King of Lies. Relay this to every ship."

"Yes, sir!"

The wall of water collided with the black spheres. Heaven and earth shook with a deafening roar. The water wall vanished, but the spheres were gone as well.

The moment the clear sky lit the world again, thousands of mana cannons spat fire in unison.

BOOOM!

BOOOOM!

An explosion erupted. It did not stop at one.

Magical power set off a chain reaction with magical power, spewing flames and shattering space. The aftermath was great enough to engulf the entire island and most of the lake. Ships pitched with the spreading waves.

But...

"D-did we get him?"

Putting one soldier's premature cry to shame, the Demon King remained unharmed.

It was not that the bombardment had done no damage. Thousands of shells had laid waste to most of the island. Demons and demonic creatures had been obliterated without even leaving corpses. Yet they had failed to leave so much as a scratch on the Demon King himself.

"... If the dwarves saw this, they would doubt their own abilities."

"The mana cannons are not weak. Apart from a small area around the Demon King, everything has been devastated."

Yes, that was what mattered. The mana cannons were not useless.

"Keep firing. We have an advantage; there is no need to put ourselves at a disadvantage."

Even if they could not seriously harm the Demon King, the same was not true of the other demons and demonic creatures. Besides, blocking the attacks alone would steadily consume his strength. If they could wear him down, they had to do so as much as possible.

"And tell the heroes to prepare to act."

Now that the Demon King had stepped forward, his adversaries naturally had to do the same.

* * *

- That is a Demon King?

- No, that is no mere Demon King.

Naias was appalled.

The spirit king's eyes pierced the bizarre Demon King's essence.

It was an utterly hideous, revolting, fathomless abyss. Something that transcended a Demon King.

- Ernyan Hilderan.

"Yes."

- Run away, child.

- That is beyond what you can handle.

Perhaps she could manage for a time. But once she had burned through all her life force, what awaited her would be not a glorious victory, but a wretched death.

"Don't dampen our spirits, spirit king. He dies today."

But the heroes understood the spirit king's words all too well.

That was the nature of their power, dimensional interference. It restricted the archenemies invading their dimension, gave them an advantage in fighting them, and allowed them to perceive those enemies more closely.

Having glimpsed the depths of the Demon King—of Lies, who transcended a Demon King—the heroes shuddered.

They trembled in fear.

Then a flag rose, and a signal arrived.

"So it is time for the heroes to act. Hillen Cargill, are you confident?"

"... A hero must succeed even without confidence. However..."

His gaze turned to the sword in Berge's hand.

"You're quite transparent."

Berge tossed the sword back to him.

"Aren't you going to fight?"

"The situation has changed. Roselle."

"What?"

"Can you fight?"

"Of course. I'm very curious to see whether that bastard can withstand my magic."

"Ralph. How many hits can your shield withstand?"

"I cannot guarantee it, but if his attacks are at the level of that last one, I can block them until my final breath."

"Anyone can say that."

"..."

Berge turned his gaze to someone else.

"... I don't think I'm capable enough..."

"Pablo Barkat, you have no choice."

"..."

"Lord Pale, aren't you going to—"

"Who said I wasn't?"

Berge cut Aina off.

"Hillen Cargill, Roselle Charnt, Aina Diaphrin, Ralph Schmitz, Pablo Barkat, Watton Collo, and Lavinia Akan."

Berge called the six Stars and one princess.

"Your job is to stall him."

"Buy time for what?"

"For me to absorb Dorche's power completely."

Dorche had died relatively easily, but he had been a great demonic dragon. The demonic energy in the heart of a conqueror of five dimensions was not something Berge could absorb in an instant.

For now, he had merely calmed it. It was not fully his yet.

Had Jason been at the level he expected, that would have been enough. But the situation had changed.

"Understood. But you won't need to go to such lengths, my lord."

"Because you lot will kill him?"

"Of course! There are six Stars! Six Stars!"

Roselle exuded confidence.

"It would be nice if it worked out that way."

"I am Hillen Cargill."

Hillen gripped his sword and began to run.

"Wait for me!"

"You can't do it alone. We need to attack together!"

Roselle and Aina flew through the sky, chanting spells. Ralph followed with his shield in hand, along with a resolute Watton.

"Why are you still here?"

"... Ahem."

After lingering hesitantly, Pablo reluctantly set off.

"Me?"

"Yes, you go too."

"That one's mine?"

"If you can manage it."

"Mine!"

"Be careful."

"Okay!"

Lavinia disappeared astride Cher.

"Um, Lord Pale, what about us..."

"Just prepare to retreat quietly. You would only get in the way."

"... Yes."

The heroes' expressions were half resentment, half relief.

"What should I do?"

"I'd like you to put up that barrier again."

Absorbing the power would inevitably expose his demonic energy. Revealing it here, surrounded by humans, would be foolish.

"All right."

Opaque streams of water enveloped Berge.

At the same moment, the battle between the heroes and the Demon King began.