Chapter 547 Defense Specialization and the Demon King 2

Darkness gushed forth, spreading blackness throughout the area, and a fissure split open in the purple mass as the Demon King emerged.

“…!?”

At that moment, everyone sensed an anomaly had arisen in this battle.

The being that stepped forth was undoubtedly the Demon King. Typically, it was a giant humanoid monster clad in armor seemingly formed of the same darkness as the outside soldiers, wielding an enormous weapon, with a face of black flames flickering red lights reminiscent of eyes—its gender indecipherable.

That was how it was supposed to be.

However, what appeared this time was a woman with nearly translucent pale skin, dressed in a crimson gown, and sporting hair as white as snow that flowed well past her height. Her eyes, equally crimson, peered at them, exuding a pressure that warned everyone—especially those who had already bested the Demon King once—that this opponent was far more dangerous than before.

“…I see. ‘Maple Tree’s’ adventures have always been full of turmoil and the unexpected, and here I am having forgotten that,” Payne remarked.

“So it won’t be straightforward, right till the very end,” Mii added, pouring more power into her weapon.

Even through the repeated attempts led by the four top guilds—Congregation of Holy Swords, Kingdom of the Flame Emperor, thunder storm, and Rapid Fire—the Demon King’s appearance had never changed. Each time, it had been the dark, towering figure. This sudden transformation was definitely abnormal, and the carefully devised plans they’d prepared teetered on the brink of collapsing. Still, they all stayed focused on victory.

“Whoever shows up, we’ll just win!” someone shouted from the group.

“Haha, I feel the same. We wouldn’t have been summoned otherwise,” another chimed in.

“Everyone… let’s do this! We can win!” Maple, their de facto commander, raised morale. The Demon King had crossed from something known to something unknown. The first step would be to see what it could do.

“So these are the human heroes? You seem to have quite the elite forces. Not a bad appetizer for the dawn of my new reign. Be honored—I shall accept you all as my first sacrifice.”

Her voice echoed softly in that space, carrying an absolute sense of confidence. Then, holding out one slender arm, she summoned a red magic circle. The same hue of light spread like a ripple.

“Earth, 【Awaken】! 【Rush】【Stone Guard】! Everyone, brace yourselves! I’ll check what it does!” Drag cried out.

Ordinarily, the Demon King’s opening move was always a buff cancellation, but everything was already off-pattern. They stuck to the step they had repeated countless times with Congregation of Holy Swords: let Earth, with high endurance, rush ahead and test the waters to see what kind of skill the Demon King was using. Buffed by the party, Earth dashed in.

As soon as the ripple of red light crashed into Earth, half of his HP vanished, and his 【Stone Guard】 buff was erased. Stacks of debuffs piled onto him.

“Crap, don’t get hit by that! It’ll wipe you out!” Drag cursed.

“『【Large-Scale Magic Barrier】』!”

Kanade, Frederica, Misery, and Hinata instantly deployed a massive shield to protect everyone from that ripple, while Drag used 【Slumber】 to withdraw Earth. Right then, six people charged forward, boosted by the buffs from Frederica, Misery, Lily, and Kanade:

Sally, Kasumi, Payne, Dread, Shin, and Velvet. They were the ones who truly excelled in close-range combat—no way could they stay idle at the rear.

“【Flame Bullet】!” Sally yelled.

She fired a spell as she dashed in, hoping for a quick check, but the Demon King raised one hand to summon a barrier that nullified the magic.

“So there’s a new defense trick we never heard about…!”

Sally reaffirmed that whatever they were up against, it was not the Demon King they knew. Countless red magic circles materialized in the air behind the woman, launching a hail of red bullets at Sally.

But none of them struck her. A flurry of bullets with open space to dodge would never corner someone like Sally, who was used to evading attacks even from Maple’s barrage.

However, each bullet splashed on impact, clinging to the ground like crimson blood. Rather than disappearing, they formed lumps wherever they landed, and more monstrosities crept out from those lumps. These newly spawned aberrations were roughly the size of Mai or Yui—faceless heads with gaping vertical jaws and thin, elongated limbs.

“【Divine Thunder’s Return】【Lightning Rain】【Field of Thunderbolts】【Eye of the Storm】!”

“【Crumble Sword】!”

Velvet conjured a storm of brutal lightning that roasted the aberrations one after another, while Shin’s skill added further punishing strikes. Even then, these things were not small fries. They were sturdy enough not to drop easily.

“Leave these to us!” Velvet declared.

“We’re used to fighting large hordes!” Shin added.

“Thanks!” Sally replied.

Velvet and Shin excelled at continued area damage, so they would handle that swarm. Sally’s mission was single combat. With her eyes fixed on the Demon King, who now loomed close, she pressed the attack.

“Let me cut you down quickly,” the Demon King said coldly.

“…!”

Sally’s rush was answered by the Demon King materializing twin longswords. Similar to Kasumi’s “Blood Blade,” each weapon looked like solidified, vivid-red blood. But the Demon King wasn’t a player and thus had no “unique series” gimmicks that could be exploited by mind games or illusions.

“【Dragon Flame Spear】!” Sally called.

She formed twin spears of flame, matching the Demon King’s extended reach. The Demon King danced, slashing with her paired blades, while Sally parried and thrust back.

“Ugh, it’s heavier than I thought…!” Sally gasped.

Though the Demon King’s arms appeared slender, each blow carried monstrous strength. Sally let it fling her backward, flipping in midair to knock aside the subsequent red bullets with a quick spell before landing.

“Dread, cover me!” she shouted.

“Got it…!”

If even Sally couldn’t stay up in the Demon King’s face, this enemy truly wasn’t the same as the Demon King she had fought before. Payne and Dread took turns darting in.

“Shadow, 【Awaken】【Shadow Pack】!” Dread commanded.

He sent hordes of shadowy wolves barreling at the Demon King. Though many were gunned down by red bullets, enough survived to leap in—only for the Demon King to compress her two swords into one and spin, slicing horizontally in a sweep. A sharp, crimson slash effect trailed the blade, exploding a moment later and wiping out every wolf.

“‘Wide open!’” Kasumi and Payne shouted in unison.

They capitalized on that large move. Approaching from both sides, they aimed to sandwich the Demon King in a pincer attack.

“【One Sword・Mirage】!”

“【Blade of Conviction】!”

Smashing through the red defensive barrier, they landed a clean hit on the Demon King for the first time since the battle started. Buffed to the maximum, they had unleashed their full power. Yet it barely dented the Demon King’s HP—so little, in fact, that one might have mistaken it for an outright nullification. Her defense and total HP were immense, and every time she acted, her terrifying nature became clearer.

Whether it was an HP threshold, a time trigger, or the number of minions destroyed, something made the Demon King flare with a glowing red aura.

“…! Shadow, 【Shadow Realm】!” Dread snarled.

He had a bad feeling, so he instantly moved. Before the others could rationalize it, he used Shadow to pull everyone into the darkness. Right after they vanished, a crimson explosion radiated from the Demon King’s center. Thick, bloodlike smoke billowed, obscuring her from view. Dread, emerging some distance away, exhaled as he confirmed everyone had survived.

“Well done, Dread. You saved us,” Kasumi said.

“That was brutal… Doesn’t look like we can just overwhelm her by pressing nonstop,” Payne muttered.

Relentless aggression wasn’t going to work here.

“Then let’s hold out against everything she has. ‘Maple Tree’ has something Congregation of Holy Swords doesn’t,” Sally said, pointing to Maple.

“Indeed. Neither we in ‘Congregation of Holy Swords’ nor ‘Kingdom of the Flame Emperor’ possess that,” Payne agreed.

“Exactly. In that case, we’ll watch all the Demon King’s attacks first, then plan to win!” someone chimed in.

“Haha… guess this is where the real fight begins. Looks like the Demon King is rather angry now,” another laughed.

Lily narrowed her eyes at the scene. The crimson smoke from the explosion started to fade, revealing a sticky red fluid spread across the ground in the blast zone. From that liquid, a new wave of aberrations began to form, all bearing weapons. They radiated a far more daunting presence than the spawn from the red bullets earlier. Some even matched the scale of Maple’s 【Rampage】 form, each armed with diverse tools.

“You thought the Demon King fought alone? That I possessed no servants? It astonishes me how naive you heroes can be,” the Demon King said in a strangely resonant voice. She split her single blade back into two, directing the new aberrations forward to kill Maple’s group.

“But we didn’t just sit around doing nothing, either… ‘【Activate All Traps】.’”

“’【Area Expansion】【Blessed Sanctuary】【Healing Fountain】’!”

Marx triggered his traps, causing the “One-Night Castle” fortress to fully emerge, erecting multiple defensive pillars in the area. At the same time, Misery used skills that bestowed continuous damage reduction and healing in the area covered by the fortress. This fortified outpost guarded the slower back-liners from assault, letting them fight the Demon King from a distance.

“We have enough front-liners. As many as possible should be out there. Maple, I’m trusting you with our defense!”

“Yeah! Leave it to me!”

These new foes couldn’t simply be vaporized by wide-area attacks. Each one was practically mini-boss tier. They couldn’t be allowed to charge the rear lines and crush them.

“Let me handle support! You won’t have to worry about the rear at all!” Iz shouted.

“I’ll add more barricades too,” Frederica added.

“If it comes to it, Lily still has ‘【Formation Shift】.’ For now, let’s reinforce our base,” Kanade said.

Staying at the fortress were Iz, Kanade, Frederica, Misery, Marx, and Wilbert. The rest rushed out in small squads to handle the monstrous minions. Reaching the Demon King, who stood guarded by two hulking creatures with giant shields, would be impossible unless they broke through.

As the chaotic clash began, Maple glanced at Hinata, hovering just behind her.

“Hinata! Let’s do it!”

“Yes! I’m on it—please do your best, Maple! ‘【Gravity Control】【Gravity Boost】’!”

Neither Maple nor Hinata normally fought like this, but it was the plan they’d prepared, one that could be activated no matter the Demon King’s moves. Before the situation could spiral out of control, they leapt into action, determined to annihilate the Demon King’s newly spawned army.