Black Demon King

540 Those who Have Overcome Trials

“…The swamp disappeared.”

To wipe out the army clones, Fiona unleashed [Al Soleil]. The sun fell to the ground and exploded right in the middle of the swamp. The dull clones that stood around aimlessly were obliterated.

Once the blast and the heat waves subsided, not a single slime remained. In fact, the swamp itself had turned into a crater. All the water inside had evaporated in an instant, not leaving a single drop.

“We’ve secured the perimeter. I leave the rest to you.”

Fiona exhaled as if her role had finished. Then, from her hat, she took out a magic recovery potion and began chugging it as if it were a sports drink.

Even though [Al Soleil] wouldn’t deplete her magic in one go,  it still required a considerable amount of magic. As a backup for the operation, recovering at checkpoints was important.

“Sariel, begin the preparation. Do you know the direction?”

“At the moment, Pride Gem doesn’t use any concealment magic. Therefore, I can easily detect its presence from ten kilometers away. At this distance, there’s no mistaking it.”

In other words, she could sense its presence as soon as we entered the forest. In terms of the keenness of the sixth sense, Sariel was unmatched.

“Fiona and I will keep an eye on our surroundings. Please hurry.”

“All right, Master. Give me 40 seconds.”

Other than Shiro, Sariel had a cross spear that’d been her comrade-in-arms since her days as an apostle. [Grand Cross], which now had been renamed as [Rebellion Cross]. While holding a thick scroll in her other hand, she dauntlessly marched towards the forest.

The destination she was headed for was definitely where the Pride Gem was lurking. My left eye caught the red light of the trial—God’s sign—from that direction.

“It’s done.”

“Wow, exactly 40 seconds.”

Thanks to the display on the helmet that was akin to a digital clock, I was able to accurately count the seconds. By the way, I didn’t do it to be petty, it was displayed on its own…

“Hitsugi can also count to 40!”

…Again, I didn’t mean to do it.

That’s enough chit-chat.

From here on, it was a one-shot game with no margin for error—a real gamble.

“Do it, Sariel.”

With a sign of approval, Sariel poised her spear.

At her feet, a scroll made of dragon skin was laid out like a straight path.

“وأتطلع للعدو”

Sariel began to chant an unfamiliar melody, while hastily scribbling an additional mantra on the scroll using the tip of her spear.

In response to her melodious voice, the parchment began to glow dimly. I recalled that the light used to be white. Now, a mysterious magic circle appeared on the ground, exuding purple afterglow.

“أبدأ حساب البالستية”

As the second verse of the chant began, Sariel finally stepped towards the scroll. Her steps were feathery and soundless.

“وسوف أقوم بتعديل عدد من البيئة”

The brilliance of the magic circle increased with each step, and purple sparks began to scatter.

When she arrived at the center of the scroll, her movement abruptly changed. She twirled the spear on her right hand, before transferring it to the other hand. Then, she rushed out at once.

“وسوف تعديله مرة أخرى الباليستية”

From there, things went by in a blink of an eye, and just like that, she’d covered about five meters of the laid-out scroll.

Finally, light gushed forth from the magic circle, and…

“إعداد الغايات النار”

At the tip of the raised spear, a heretical black lightning flashed. A lightning born of dark magic, in which the color black and red erupted.

Sariel finally reached the end of the scroll. At once, she swung the black cross spear, where a massive amount of power converged at the tip, with all her might.

At that moment, I felt that although the spear was small and delicate, it had the strength of a raging dragon. And I was right.

Ah, I see. Even if she threw that from Alsace Fortress, it’d reach Fort Galahad.

“[Gungnir]!”

Sariel’s original martial arts had an extremely long range. But this time, instead of holy light, the spear was overcharged with abominable lightning. Thus, the [Rebellion Cross] flew. It followed a straight trajectory into the deep forest, leaving behind a thunderclap that sounded like a series of thunder.

“Impact confirmed.”

“All right, now the path is open.”

The black lightning eradicated all the trees and slimes that might be lurking here and there, leaving a gaping hole in front of me. The sight was as if a huge passenger plane had decided to land in this forest and scraped the entire ground.

The fact that a single spear could cause so much damage made me realize that even if Sariel was no longer an apostle, she was still to be reckoned with. She was on my side now. Thankfully.

“Let’s go, Milia. After them.”

“[Omega Drive: Ignite. Elemental Buster: Activated. Afterburner: Set.]”

I could feel my magic being absorbed into the armor twice, or even three times faster than before. However, it still didn’t compare to Ursula’s drain attack. Therefore, even in this state, I should be able to maintain a fighting state for a certain amount of time.

…Well, my magical power had increased after my close fight against Cyprus. Besides, in a magical sense, I was still in puberty.

“I-I can’t seem to get used to this strange floating sensation…”

The armor, which originally didn’t weigh much at all, now felt light and fluffy as if it was weightless. With this, I felt confident that I could cover many meters with just a single step.

I felt like I could run at an incredible speed, and at the same time, I was also scared that if I took a wrong stop, I’d fly off in the wrong direction.

However, if I didn’t get used to this, I wouldn’t be able to navigate freely at high speed.

If I ignited the booster in this state, not only could I propel forward, but also make some cool maneuvers that ignored gravity like when I fought Milia. Unfortunately, I still hadn’t mastered that control.

Well, even without using the booster, I could still run, fly, and jump like normal, so it wouldn’t be a hindrance to the battle right now. So, it was probably better.

For now, as long as I could just walk straight, everything was fine.

“Let’s go—”

The preparations were complete. Fiona secured the starting spot, while Sariel opened the path. And now, clad in the steel of [Maximilian], I’d turned into a cannonball.

“Fly, [Oversky]!”

I activated the fifth divine protection.

For a moment, my vision blurred. Due to the speed with which I started running, the scenery around me passed like a blur. A second later, I could hear the main booster on the back roaring loudly.

As I flew away, crimson phosphorescence burst from my booster. To Fiona and the others, it might seem like a rocket taking off.

The strategy has commenced.

By using the fifth divine protection, [Oversky], which would imbue me with a transcendental speed-boosting effect, I’d close the distance in an instant and land a devastating blow against the Pride Gem. If it was defeated in one shot, we wouldn’t leave any chance for other adventurers to catch on. Ultimately, all the rewards from the emergency quest would be ours.

“Ggrr… Ugh…”

However, as if to make fun of my naivety, I was ransacked by pressure that threatened to tear my body asunder. I wasn’t attacked. It was the so-called G-force.

[Oversky], which controlled the wind element, was a blessing that enhanced speed.

When I actually put it into practice, the effect was beyond my expectations. It was unclear how many kilometers I covered, but there was no doubt that the effect exceeded that of ordinary speed-enhancing martial arts and spells. I still couldn’t imagine how fast I’d become once I mastered it.

Of course, the effect wasn’t only limited to maximum speed. Akin to when Sariel was still an apostle, the divine protection allowed her to reach top speed right away. Perhaps, even a seasoned swordsman with keen sight would struggle to keep up with me, much else an ordinary person.

Nevertheless, it was difficult to control. Even without the booster of [Maximilian], activating the divine protection made me feel as if I was carrying a rocket engine on my back. An unbelievably wild horse. Unless I somehow learned how to control it, the fifth divine protection would be rendered useless.

Still, in battle, speed was as important a factor as power. Up until now, I had many memories of struggling because I wasn’t fast enough.

But right now, I didn’t rely for speed to toy with enemies or evade devastating blows.

What I needed right now was the destructive power brought by the transcendental speed. In other words, it was a rush.

“GuuuooooooOOOOOhh—!”

It’d been two or three seconds since I started dashing. The goal would soon be in sight.

A colossal body, similar to that of Gluttony Octo. The Pride Gem looked just like a moving lake.

Overall, it had a flat, round shape that resembled a giant slime. The color was light blue, just like your average slime. Visually, it seemed to be the most normal trial monster so far.

The reason why I felt somewhat more relaxed was because the guy suffered a massive blow from Sariel’s ultimate attack.

Although Pride Gem was just a giant slime, just like its clones, it had absorbed numerous weapons into its body. Akin to a dragon hoarding its treasures. But because of its mass, it just looked like a bunch of garbage floating around.

However, it seemed that the garbage mountain also served as an armor to protect the core. The core itself was right in the middle. Well, since I couldn’t find the core anywhere else, it should be safe to assume that it was in there.

The Pride Gem’s physiology was mostly as expected. If that was the case, then I should just have a go at it.

“[Overdrive]!”

“[Afterburner: Release. Absorber: Activated]”

The towering mass of Pride Gem was right in front of me. Thanks to Sariel, there were no obstacles, and the other half of its body was blown away. All that was left was to dive in and take the core.

I switched from [Oversky] to [Overdrive] to commence the attack. But after reaching super acceleration, I couldn’t stop easily. I already gained enough momentum to break through the fragile slime body.

Perhaps registering the fact that I was flying in like a cannonball, the gouged body part suddenly began to wave and writhe.

In an instant, the Pride Gem tried to clone me, but it was already too late.

“[Wrath Impact]!”

A crimson blow hit the face of the clone, which had formed up to its upper body. I hardly felt any response. Nevertheless, the scorching destructive power hidden in the first was triggered.

A raging blast.

However, instead of a black smoke, pure white steam billowed. It was probably due to the fact that a large amount of the slime’s body, which was mostly water, evaporated in an instant. Instantly, the white darkness blinded my view.

Even if I couldn’t see, I could feel that I was propelled forward while gaining momentum.

Uh-oh.

I managed to land a blow against the Pride Gem, but the momentum didn’t go down. What should I do if I crash?

“That’s what the [Absorber] is for, right?”

In the back of my mind, Hitsugi answered my question.

She was referring to the creepy jelly-like, fleshy thing inside the armor. I heard before that by activating it further, it had the ability to greatly absorb physical shocks, but by that, did they mean…?

“Don’t worry! Even if you fall head first, you’ll be fine!”

As I began to process that, a strong impact shook my entire body. Due to the thick smoke, my visibility was zero, but I could understand that I’d just been slammed into the ground.

As expected, with this level of force, the position I was in just after performing the martial arts, and my compromised vision, my mobility alone was insufficient for me to make a spectacular landing.

“Ugh, I feel so dizzy…”

Normally, I’d be vomiting.

I was thrashing on the ground quite violently, something that I’d never experienced before. Several trees were broken during the collision, before I finally came to a stop when I slammed onto a giant tree.

For the time being, I didn’t feel any pain or numbness in my body. Should I say, ‘System All Green’?

“Ugh… Hitsugi can’t take it anymore…”

Only Hitsugi was ‘System All Red.’ But well, it wasn’t her time to appear, yet. I should just leave her be.

“What happened to the Pride Gem?”

“Hostile reaction: Disappeared. Neutralization: Confirmed.”

I stood up, feeling a little unsteady, as Milia filled me in on the conclusion of the battle.

“We did it…”

In front of my eyes, I could see the remains of Pride Gem, which had lost its core, bursting out as it began to disintegrate. The round body had a wide, gaping hole on it, as if it’d been hit from the side by a cannonball. The wall of armor protecting the core had been blown away, reduced to mere scrap metals.

The once tall, circular body shrank as it began to melt, as if returning to the mere pond that’d been here.

It was a spectacular manner of death, which was unthinkable for a slime, but right now I was more concerned about what’d happen to the core.

No way, was the force too strong? Did it get blown away into pieces?

“Searching for target—detected. Direction: 11 o’clock. Distance: about 7 meters.”

Along with a mechanical beep, a red arrow lit up at the edge of my vision. At the base of the arrow, I could see something written in ancient language. Unfortunately, I couldn’t read it at all. However, I could imagine that it translated to something like ‘target’ or ‘objective.’

Using the autofocus function, which was quite handy, I was able to quickly find a large blue crystal lying around.

“This is definitely the core of Pride Gem.”

A deep-colored jewel that was closer to indigo than blue. It was as big as a volleyball. As the slime’s body was gigantic, the core seemed to be proportionally larger as well.

The Pride Gem’s core was much stronger than that of normal slime. Even though it was dislodged out of the body, there wasn’t a single scratch on the glossy, ball-like surface.

It’s still alive—I could clearly feel the presence of magic power. In fact, it wouldn’t be strange if it suddenly regenerated and resumed its activities.

For now, Milia had reassured me that it was incapacitated. But then, I recalled what happened when I was fighting against Sloth-Gil.

…As expected, it’d be safer if I dealt the final blow before considering retrieval.

To inflict damage on this strong core, should I use [Evil Eater], or the [Machete]?

But then—

“—Did it just shake?”

Anyone who lived in Japan, a country prone to earthquakes, had probably asked this question at least once. When I felt a slight tremor on the ground, I wondered if it was a strong earthquake, or if it was just my imagination. Hence, I asked.

Often, the answers were based on the experience, such as, “Uh-huh, it did shake.” Or , “Eh, I didn’t feel anything.”

“Warning, unknown hostile reaction confirmed. Danger level: MAXIMUM.”

A voice full of tension, similar to a warning before an earthquake, resonated in my head. My body reacted before I could thank Announcer Milia for the news.

The shaking intensified. This time, not only did I feel it, it was getting so big I was having difficulty standing.

Even though the core was rolling in front of me, I decided to jump away with all my might.

It’s a shame, but I didn’t regret it.

Because if I hadn’t, I would’ve been ambushed from underground, right underneath the soles of my feet.

GaAAaaaOooOOAAaaa—!

Along with an ear-splitting roar, grains of earth and sand flew up. Through the gap in the mud, I saw a familiar figure.

“L-Laspen!?”

A sharp, ferocious wolf-like appearance, along with distinctive long ears. With its bulging muscle and fluffy fur, the creature could only be called a demonic beast. That silhouette was the one thing I’d never forget—the demonic beast of rage that was my first trial, Laspen.

A rare mutant that only appeared once every ten years. I never expected that a new one would appear so quickly, but when I saw the right arm of the monster, I realized that I was wrong.

“Is this the undead that the bastard Saphir released1?”

It was somewhat nostalgic. About half a year ago, there was a battle at the Ischia Castle. At that time, I heard from Will that [Winglord] left for the castle and launched a surprise attack to defeat Greed gore—the general of the monster army.

Of course, as someone who subjugated Greed gore, I knew very well that their strategy ended in failure. At any rate, when [Winglord] attacked Greed gore, the undead Laspen controlled by Saphir was stolen away by the parasitic ability. As a result, the [Winglord] was defeated by Laspen. I also heard that Nero somehow managed to escape and return to the castle.

After that battle, Lily and Fiona rushed in and heard that the controlled Laspen had escaped. It probably happened right around the time I defeated Sloth-Gil.

At that time, I assumed that it must’ve escaped because the boss had been defeated. His original body was already dead. Above all, now that Sloth-Gil was dead, I didn’t think his clone would be able to live for very long. In fact, afterwards, there was neither subsequent damage caused by aspen, nor reports of any sightings.

It was at that moment I realized how mistaken I was.

Laspen had reappeared. The luster of his mechanical right arm reminded me of holy silver mithril. I remembered Will telling me that in place of the right arm that I severed, he’d attached a mechanical fist. The fist itself resembled that of Saphir’s ancient golem.

When Saphir tested it, he said that it’d simply serve as a strong steel prosthetic arm, but now it had a polished silver color, akin to [The Greed]. Not only that, it also had a bright purple streak as if it was in blaster mode. Purple sparks crackled around his arm, indicating that there was a tremendous power concealed within.

For some reason, the current Laspen seemed to have unlocked the secret feature of the ancient golem arm.

Who’d have thought that he was training deep in the mountains?

Even if that were the case, why did it appear in such a pivotal place at this particular time…?

Well, of course, there’s no use asking a MONSTER that.

But I got the idea.

“Hey, Laspen. Are you trying to steal from me or something?”

In Laspen’s right hand, which was raised high towards the sky, he firmly held the [Core of Arrogance], which emitted a deep blue light.

Without hesitation, he emerged to the surface and grabbed the core that was lying around. It couldn’t have been a coincidence. After all, his action made me think that he was lurking underground from the start, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

Whether he knew the meaning of what I said or not, he reacted. He slowly turned around me, as if he were a victor with the desired treasure in his hands.

‘Gurugur, gegegegeee…’

—I felt sure that Laspen was laughing at that moment.

Laspen, who stood in front of me, seemed a little different from what I remembered. He had abnormal eyes, just like me. His right eye was purple, reminiscent of Sloth-Gil’s lightning attribute. His left eye was his original red color.

However, his face was different, and so was his physique. Since I cut off his right arm, he no longer had the crimson crystal, [Fist of Fury], which was the core that produced the powerful fire attribute.

Currently, the same fiery core could be seen on his being once again. Even though I had supposedly offered it to God. It was there, on the opposite of the mechanical right arm, behind the fleshy left hand. …The same core as last time, the [Fist of Fury]. No, actually, it was even bigger.

Laspen had grown much stronger. The sight alone was enough to convince me.

He was no longer just an undead. The huge, red body that stood before me exuded dense magical power and lingering curse.

Laspen was driven to the verge of death by my hands, and was easily subdued by [Winglord] when he ran away. Afterwards, he was revived as an undead by Saphir, before being taken over by a parasite.

Surely, the series of experiences created a complex mixture of Laspen’s original grudge and the parasite that hijacked his mortal body, and a cursed ego was born.

Therefore, it was no longer Laspen or Sloth-Gil.

The first trial was fire, the second and the third trials were lightning and earth, and now the sixth trial was water.

The incarnation of wrath committed three more deadly sins and evolved into something utterly different.

“Do you remember me?”

No reply. Not like it can answer.

However, as if to provoke me, he ate the stolen [Core of Arrogance]. The blue jewel landed on his long tongue, and was swallowed in one bite.

Is it trying to take the power of Pride Gem?

“I’m sorry, but I can’t give that up.”

After all, it was already mine. As I said that, his towering body, which seemed like a burning boulder, approached me.

One step, two steps. Every time he stepped, something akin to a black mist flickered in my field of vision. At the third step, it took on a clear shape.

“Iron sand, huh? Does it have the ability of Greed gore?”

A black armor made of iron sand that was impregnable and had an ever-changing defensive power. Greed gore’s proud armor which tormented me covered Laspen’s red body. As if to compete with me, who wore [Maximilian], he also donned a jet-black full body armor.

“Great, I’ll be your opponent. [Overdrive].”

I’ll take the challenge head-on.

I casually stepped forward and raised my left arm. At the same time, a fiery red aura gushed forth from his black iron sand armor.

I used the same technique. A straightforward punch, filled with all my heart and soul.

“[Wrath Impact]”