Demon King of the Royal Class

Chapter 321

Humans needed to understand that the Great War was not completely over. Eleris understood what I meant, Loyar didn’t question it, and though Sarkegar seemed unsure as to why it was necessary, he didn’t argue.

I did not allow Radia Schmidt to become involved in the fight. It was possible that she might do something foolish, so I left her under Eleris’s watch once the situation escalated.

After confirming that Sarkegar had retrieved Olivia and Adriana, I initiated the plan. Once they were dropped off in a safe place, they would have questions about why demons had rescued them, but their first order of action would be to flee.

The mysterious massacre that was about to occur would be reported as the work of demons. I had instructed Sarkegar to fly around in his demonic form to ensure there were witnesses, which would allow the rumors to spread. Of course, those present at the actual scene couldn’t serve as witnesses since they would all be dead.

The monastery had been completely destroyed by Eleris’s magic, and all the small fry within had perished in the hellish chain of destructive spells. However, these destructive spells did not harm Loyar or me. The fact that Eleris could exclude certain targets even within such large-scale destructive magic demonstrated what an incredibly powerful mage she was.

Wrapped in the searing heat that should have turned our skin to charcoal, only Loyar and I remained unharmed. There were not even corpses left of the small fry, and the survivors had to fight amidst the extreme conditions of lightning storms and firestorms.

During the incident involving the demon prisoners, Eleris had created a firestorm as well, but had no intention of killing anyone back then. This time, however, she had used her magic with the intent to annihilate all enemies.

The holy knights struggled just to use their Divine Power to protect themselves from the extreme heat.

Those that remained were the elite holy knights, including Leverier Lanche.

Roaaaaaar!

Loyar, in her lycanthrope form, fought to kill this time as well.

Bang! Crash! Clang!

Instead of pushing the holy knights away with her mana-infused claws, she lifted them, threw them to the ground, and tore them apart.

Crunch!

Aaaaargh!

Loyar bit into the head of a holy knight, pulling the body downward and viciously jerking her head upward.

Rip!

‘Ugh...’

Loyar chewed on the head of the decapitated holy knight. Blood dripped from the mouth of the silver beast, and a red gleam flickered in her eyes.

While I knew this was a side of her, seeing her true nature was still chilling.

But in this circumstance, strength was all that mattered.

The moon wasn’t yet full, but it was close enough, and both Eleris and Loyar were at their peak.

“Huff!”

Clang!

I parried Leverier Lanche’s greatsword, taking a few steps back. Of all the elite holy knights, he was central to this entire plot, and the one enemy that had to be killed.

Leverier Lanche... He was my opponent.

“How can the Demon King wield Tiamata?”

“Because it is the will of the gods.”

It probably wasn’t a good choice for me to be facing him, but I stood before Leverier Lanche nonetheless. My comment about the will of the gods caused his expression to twist.

“How dare a creature of the Demon Realm speak of divinity?”

“Are you, in turn, denying the power of the gods?”

“Silence, young Demon King! I don’t know how you found that nor how you are able to wield it, but I cannot tolerate any more insults to the gods!”

Leverier Lanche charged at me with his greatsword. He was the leader of the Order of the Holy Knights and a veteran among veterans.

“Huff!”

Bang!

Even with Mana Reinforcement, it was impossible for me to face such a seasoned warrior. Just one clash of swords sent me rolling backward. A wave of shock ran through me, and it felt like my entire body was shattering.

“Pathetic! Are you really the Demon King?”

Leverier Lanche had to fight while enduring the full brunt of the firestorm and the lightning strikes. Most of his energy was spent protecting himself.

Despite this, he was overwhelmingly superior, which was no surprise.

Even so, I stood my ground against Leverier Lanche. I had to face him.

This bastard was the one who had kidnapped Adriana, and couldn’t let go of his obsession with Olivia.

Only by squaring up to him could I draw out true anger.

Wooong...

“If this isn’t the power of the gods, then what is it?”

“A mere demon using Divine Power...”

I saw the shock and disgust in Leverier Lanche’s eyes over the fact that I could draw out the true power of Tiamata.

Flash!

An explosion of holy light enveloped my body.

On top of my Mana Reinforcement, my body was further strengthened by Divine Power. Olivia Lanche’s power infused my body.

Crash!

Leverier Lanche’s greatsword clashed with Tiamata, sending out a fierce shockwave.

Leverier Lanche’s sword was imbued with white light. He wasn’t a Swordmaster, but he wasn’t that far off. At my current level, I would be overwhelmingly defeated a hundred times out of a hundred.

However, Leverier Lanche could not focus solely on defeating me.

He was fighting within a furnace that could turn steel into molten metal.

I had Mana Reinforcement, Self-Deception, Tiamata’s Divine Power, and even Incantation.

“Die!”

Clang!

“Ugh!”

Leverier Lanche, who was pushed back by my strike, looked incredulous.

Even though I was the successor to the Demon King, he probably believed that I was just a novice. He couldn’t understand why he was being pushed back.

Despite this small success, I was struggling as well.

My Incantation power was weak, so I couldn’t fully draw on it.

“Do not speak of the gods any longer, young Demon King.”

Cold fury filled Leverier Lanche’s eyes.

He couldn’t understand what was going on, but he seemed to be focusing more and more on the fight. Leverier Lanche’s Divine Power was overwhelming.

“Whatever you are, I must kill you before you become an even more dangerous seed of evil,” he said.

Rumble!

The white light enveloping Leverier Lanche’s body surged explosively.

The Divine Power of Ouen was most potent against unholy beings. In other words, it was an exorcising force.

But I was not undead. Thus, the exorcising power imbued in Ouen’s Divine Power had no effect on me.

Boom!

“Ugh!”

However, this was the same for my opponent. And the output of my Mana Reinforcement and the Divine Power I wielded through Tiamata were both inferior to Leverier Lanche’s.

If not for the environmental conditions around us, I wouldn’t have been able to exchange even a few blows with him. Leverier Lanche approached me as if he were a giant.

He looked at me the way one might observe a naive youngster. “Since you survived, you should have quietly lived out your days in the remote corners of the Dark Land. Chasing after past glories only hastens your demise.”

Despite having a powerful mage and a lycanthrope under my command, he had already assessed that I did not possess any formidable strength on my own.

This was a duel between leaders. But while Leverier Lanche was the strongest among his forces, I was weaker than my subordinates.

My participation in this duel was nothing but folly.

Even though I could draw out Tiamata’s power, I was gradually being pushed back.

With a stern expression, Leverier Lanche struck blow after blow.

“Indeed, all this plotting is unnecessary. I’m glad you revealed yourself. By killing you, the root of the next Great War, and reclaiming Ouen’s relic, I can avoid such tedious tasks.”

Clang!

“Ugh!”

Just one clash of swords sent me tumbling backward.

I could see a hint of exhilaration within Leverier Lanche’s stern expression.

“Is this a revelation Ouen has given me?”

He was interpreting the Demon King wielding a sacred sword to his own benefit.

He believed he could claim the honor of having defeated the next Demon King and reclaiming Ouen’s relic simultaneously, regardless of the events leading up to it.

He seemed to believe that my sudden appearance, while wielding Ouen’s holy relic, was akin to a pig bringing home gold.

Now that I had appeared, Olivia was no longer necessary.

Did he believe Ouen had brought him both the relic and the young Demon King’s head at the same time?

Crunch!

I parried his thrust, but could not push him back.

Leverier Lanche’s misconception was understandable. After all, I wasn’t qualified to face him.

Crash!

“Ugh!”

Even parrying his sword was a struggle, which left me open multiple times. Although his sword didn’t not directly wound my body thanks to my Mana Reinforcement and the power flowing from my own sword, I still felt the blunt force of each blow.

It felt like I was being struck in the solar plexus with a hammer. The pain made it hard to stay conscious.

Leverier Lanche continued with his ferocious onslaught, and maintaining my Mana Reinforcement was becoming increasingly difficult.

My opponent was incomparably stronger than me. That was an unchanging fact.

Bang! Bang! Clang!

“Ugh!”

I knew this was reckless. Even if I were to join up with Loyar, who was currently massacring the holy knights, the outcome would be uncertain.

But I wasn’t fighting alone.

Crash! Flash!

“Ugh!”

Four consecutive thunderbolts from the Thunderstorm struck Leverier Lanche. He furrowed his brow and took a few steps back.

I wasn’t alone. Eleris was controlling the whirlwind of destructive magic around us, buying me time so that Leverier Lanche couldn’t land a decisive blow on me.

However, even the lightning strikes that would have turned an ordinary person to ash with a single hit only managed to slow him down a bit.

Crash! Boom!

“You might be insignificant, but your subordinates seem to be quite capable!” Leverier Lanche exclaimed.

I had no intention of denying that.

Leverier Lanche, steadily approaching me through the storm of fire and lightning, no longer looked human to me.

Was this the true power of the holy knights?

Could he even be called human? He seemed more monstrous than I, the Demon King.

‘It should be happening by now. Even if I go back now, it would be too late.’

Gripping the fiercely vibrating Tiamata, I swung upward to counter my opponent’s descending blade.

“Get lost!”

Clang!

With a deafening noise, Leverier Lanche’s chest was left exposed, and I thrust Tiamata towards his chest.

Flash!

Boom!

A huge explosion of force was released as my blow landed, and both Leverier Lanche and I were flung in opposite directions.

“You... What are you?”

Leverier Lanche’s expression hardened. It was as if he sensed I was using an unusual power.

“I told you, I’m the Demon King.”

Tiamata cried out. It was responding to my anger.

There was only one reason for my anger.

I pointed the tip of Tiamata toward him. “Because of you... I couldn’t go to Miss Temple...”

“... What?”

Acquiring a new talent wasn’t the issue. I wasn’t angry because of that.

She’d told me she just needed one vote. And because of him, I couldn’t be there to give her that one vote.

I had been worried about who to vote for in the contest before, but that worry had disappeared entirely.

Leverier Lanche couldn’t understand what I was talking about.

Boom!

Within the whirlwind of fire and lightning, a stray thought rose up, overwhelming me.

‘What’s Ellen thinking right now? Does she resent me for not being there?’

She had asked me to go, even though she wasn’t the type to make such requests.

Telling her it couldn’t be helped meant nothing. Telling her it couldn’t be helped solved nothing. It only piled up into resentment and sorrow.

But I couldn’t go. I couldn’t leave those I had put in danger because of me.

I had created another unavoidable situation, and made someone else sad because of it.

This vile injustice infuriated me, my anger rising toward the one who had created this situation.

“So just die,” I said.

I was angry. So angry that my anger was sufficient.

Wooooong!

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but there’s no need to converse with the likes of you any longer.”

Rumble!

With powerful strides, Leverier Lanche charged at me, swinging his greatsword enveloped in Divine Power.

I was in danger. The intense warning from my Qi Sense told me that if I took that hit, I would die, so I threw myself to the side.

Crash!

The blow did not catch me, but the ground that Leverier Lanche struck was blown apart, as if a giant beast had taken a bite out of it.

He was both an unbreakable shield and a force that could unleash powerful physical attacks.

Leverier Lanche was truly a master of his field.

Without magical assistance, I would have been reduced to a bloody pulp in just one exchange.

“Is running all you can do?”

“Yeah. If I drag it out long enough, even your zombie-like vitality will run out.”

“How dare you compare this sacred power to such a vile and disgusting being!”

Treating him like an undead was the greatest insult to a holy knight who served Ouen.

Roaaaaar!

From afar, I could hear Loyar’s battle cry piercing through the explosions.

Once again, Leverier Lanche, wreathed in lightning, charged at me.

He pointed his greatsword, enveloped in a torrent of Divine Power, at me.

I took a deep breath.

Leverier Lanche was a holy knight, and could channel his overwhelming defensive power to be used as a weapon. His style of fighting was to imbue each strike with incredible physical force, to kill his opponent in one blow.

He could certainly afford to do so. In this battlefield, charged with high-level destructive magic, minor attacks would be nothing more than a tickle to him.

The term “human tank” couldn’t be more fitting for him, the pinnacle of holy knights.

Leverier Lanche approached once more, ready to strike. From about twenty paces away, he focused Divine Power into his sword and pointed its tip at me.

He’d stopped his approach, as if he didn’t even feel the need to.

He swung his sword at me from where he was.

If I didn’t dodge, I would surely die.

Whoosh!

My vision turned white as the torrent of Divine Power, projected forward with physical force, engulfed the spot where I had just been.

“Ugh!”

I dodged, but just a little too late. Part of my left shoulder was literally torn off, and a searing pain surged through me, as if I had been burned.

The Divine Power emanating from Tiamata was sealing the wound, but nearly half of my shoulder was gone.

I could endure the pain, but my left arm was useless.

‘Damn it.’

This had already surpassed the realm of swordsmanship.

Just as Sabioleen Tana could overlay mana on her sword and send out mana shockwaves, Leverier Lanche could strike beyond the reach of his sword with his ability to project Divine Power.

At the pinnacle of swordsmanship, swordsmen could perform feats indistinguishable from magic, and the worst part was that my opponent was one of those individuals.

“Has your fighting spirit been broken, Demon King?”

Leverier Lanche’s power was incomparable to mine. Eleris was providing magical support from a distance, but Leverier Lanche’s defenses were still intact.

Loyar was also being overwhelmed by more than five holy knights, and unable to spare me any attention.

I felt like I was facing a wall.

It was different from the wall that Ellen represented. It wasn’t the feeling of being unable to catch up.

It felt as if the wall of death was slowly approaching.

‘What should I have done? Should I have waited for Adriana to die, for Olivia to fall into this bastard’s hands? Should I have watched as the empire’s division loomed closer?’

I knew it was reckless to go up against an enemy I couldn’t possibly defeat at my current level.

But was I supposed to just watch as someone died, as sacrifices were made?

I knew that not everyone could be happy.

However, understanding that and accepting it were different matters, and so I stood before Leverier Lanche in my true form.

In my mind, that was what I had to do.

The pain in my shoulder gradually faded, but Leverier Lanche once again rested his sword on his shoulder, imbuing it with Divine Power.

At my level, I could not block his projection of Divine Power.

A ranged attack that could be projected forward with just a single thrust of his sword. I wasn’t sure if I could dodge it a second time.

I’d survived a blow to the shoulder, but if this strike struck my head, or heart, or severed a limb, I would die instantly.

And that wasn’t all.

Loyar couldn’t handle all the holy knights.

—Commander! I’ll assist you!

One of the holy knights had wriggled free of Loyar’s assault and was rushing to join Leverier Lanche.

Leverier Lanche looked over at the holy knight rushing over to us and shouted, “Just hold him down for a moment! Go, Rondel!”

“Yes, sir!”

Leverier Lanche on his own was already enough to overwhelm me, but if it became a two-on-one fight, it would truly be the end of me. Even if that holy knight held me down for just a moment, I wouldn’t be able to block Leverier Lanche’s attack.

As the holy knight who had come to join the fight brushed past Leverier Lanche and charged at me...

Thud!

“Ugh...!”

I watched in horror as the blackened claws of the holy knight pierced through Leverier Lanche’s back and emerged through his chest.

“Your Highness! I have arrived!” the holy knight cried out.

It wasn’t a holy knight; it was Sarkegar.

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