Chapter 238 – Battle with the Demon King (2)

Gravity magic pressed down on my body, and above it, high-temperature flames poured down.

The Demon King’s dispel magic had not yet been lifted, so I took the pouring flames all over my body without the mages’ shields.

Experiencing flame magic directly without a shield, without divine power protection, was truly a horrific experience.

In an instant, my skin burned, and if I had delayed even a little, my muscles and internal organs would have all burned away.

No, if I hadn’t become a hero and my body hadn’t changed, this flame attack would have ended me.

I desperately moved my burning body to escape the range of the gravity magic.

Sizzle, sizzle.

Hearing the sound of my skin boiling, I dodged to the side, only for lightning magic to pour down there.

It was magic casting so fast that it deserved to be called the God of Magic.

Moreover, first peeling off the skin with flames and then using lightning magic.

Indeed, this Demon King wasn’t an enemy who fought with power alone.

I tried to dodge again, putting strength into my legs.

Stagger.

But my legs wouldn’t listen.

‘Damn, my muscles are damaged too.’

If I had divine power left, the burning skin and damaged muscles would have been healed in an instant, but unfortunately, I only had the hero’s body left now.

Since my legs wouldn’t listen, I collapsed to the ground and struck the earth with my left hand.

Crack!

My left hand broke, and my body bounced to the side again.

The next moment, lightning bolts spread across the floor where I had just escaped from.

I had managed to dodge narrowly again.

But in exchange, I could no longer use my left hand.

Moreover, because I had forcibly thrown my body, I couldn’t even stand properly this time.

And the Demon King did not stop attacking.

As if determined to finish me off, he continued to launch magic at me as I moved.

This time, blades of wind came flying.

Perhaps because he couldn’t use evil energy, all the magic the Demon King used were ordinary attack spells, but their power and speed were truly unbelievable.

Rolling on the floor, I managed to avoid a few wind blades, but eventually, cornered, invisible blades descended upon me.

I couldn’t dodge anymore.

Gritting my teeth, I raised my sword.

Even so, it was impossible to block, but I couldn’t just give up like this.

At that moment, I heard Yelena’s voice from behind.

“Shield!”

Whoosh!

A barrier spread around my body.

Clang!

That barrier immediately shattered upon contact with the wind blades that arrived simultaneously, but it still succeeded in blocking that one attack.

“Shield!”

“It worked! I’ve nullified the Demon King’s dispel magic! From now on, it won’t work!”

Irene’s shield covered my body again, and at the same time, Yelena explained how she had done it.

To understand the Demon King’s magic in such a short time.

She truly was an extraordinary mage.

And seeing my wounds, Yerim shouted.

“The wounds are severe!”

“Wait!”

Princess Meliya, also alarmed, tried to cast healing on me, but I stopped them from using divine power.

Instead, I took out a potion from my bag and drank it down.

In an instant, the pain decreased, and strength began to return to my body.

Of course, this was just a stimulant effect, and it would take time for my body to actually recover, but right now, just being able to move was a blessing.

And the reason I had time to drink this potion was because the Demon King had stopped his magic.

The Demon King, who had been targeting me, turned his head to glare at Yelena.

And instead of continuing his attack, the Demon King opened his mouth, which was just bones.

[You nullified my dispel magic in such a short time? Even though I cast it with power instead of precision because I acknowledged your skill?]

Even in the midst of such an urgent battle, he couldn’t resist his curiosity—the Demon King was indeed a mage.

And Yelena properly answered the Demon King’s question.

“It was actually easier to figure out the structure because it was a simple spell. Whether it’s a complex spell or one cast with brute force, once you understand the structure, breaking it isn’t difficult.”

[That’s possible? Like stopping an avalanche with a fork?]

“If you have an incredibly long fork that doesn’t break, you just need to find the right leverage point.”

Thanks to Yelena’s earnest explanation, we were able to buy time.

Enough time to make it possible to move again.

[I see. So there really are geniuses of magic.]

The moment the Demon King’s words ended, I moved again.

My broken arm dangled, and strange sounds came from my leg where the tendons were damaged, but I could still move thanks to mana.

I could approach the Demon King in one step, and I swung my sword in front of his barrier.

As the sword moved, the skin stuck to it was torn away.

Fortunately, I couldn’t feel the pain.

[A meaningless act. Do you think I would make the same mistake twice!]

“Do you think I would make the same attack?”

As the Demon King’s message struck my mind, I pushed energy into my sword.

And perhaps because my skin was gone, the energy transferred well to the sword.

My energy, the remaining mana and divine power.

Of course, it wasn’t divine power that I possessed.

“Divine power!”

It was divine power stolen from the two saintesses.

With Meliya’s surprised voice, the sword filled with divine power penetrated the Demon King’s barrier.

Crack! Whoosh!

The barrier shattered, and the Demon King’s body burst into flames.

[You’re using divine power? How?]

The Demon King’s surprised shout was heard from within the flames.

At the same time, the Demon King quickly retreated.

This time, I didn’t stop either.

I continued to advance toward the retreating Demon King.

There was still divine power left.

And I thrust my sword with all my might again.

If I was lucky, this would be the end!

With that thought, I thrust my sword, but I saw the divine power on the sword fading.

And at the same time, I saw my hand’s skin regenerating.

The divine power was healing my body.

Thud.

As expected, I was able to plunge my sword into the burning skeleton’s body.

But this time, the sword was a mana sword without divine power.

Thanks to that, the Demon King was able to escape from my sword and retreat.

At the same time, the Demon King raised his barrier again.

Having used the last of the divine power for healing, I had no way to penetrate that barrier now.

‘I hope he didn’t notice?’

It was extremely regrettable, but more than that, I was curious whether the Demon King had noticed that there was no divine power in my second attack.

[Could it be that you’ve broken my blocking magic too? It’s unbelievable. The magic circle is still intact, yet you can use divine power? Is there magic that I, the God of Magic, don’t know about?]

Fortunately, the Demon King didn’t know.

And in that case, there was only one thing for the Demon King to do…

[This is maddening. Have I ended up being the only one at a disadvantage?]

With a dejected voice, the Demon King withdrew the magic spread throughout the underground plaza.

Whoosh.

The magic circles went out, and the divine power flames burning the Demon King subsided.

He had extinguished the holy fire with evil energy.

Now, instead of flames, black smoke filled the area around the Demon King.

Evil energy had returned to the Demon King.

The return of evil energy to the Demon King meant that divine power had also returned.

“The connection is restored!”

With Meliya’s words, divine power also poured back into my body.

My vitality recovered, and my body condition became optimal.

However, since my wounds had already been healed earlier, there was no visible change on the outside.

It was regrettable.

If I had been able to control the healing ability, I could have dealt one more blow.

Still, thanks to preventing the two saintesses from using divine power until the end, I was able to deceive the Demon King.

“Good. We’re back to where we started.”

My body condition had returned to normal, and the trap prepared by the Demon King had been resolved.

Now it was time to fight properly.

[Indeed, tricks and traps don’t work against a worthy opponent. Perhaps a Demon King cannot escape a Demon King’s battle after all…]

Meanwhile, the Demon King uttered words that seemed like complaints or regrets, then extended his skeletal hand toward the floor.

[Now, at this moment, I, the Demon King of Death, declare from this place that I will kill the hero and turn all the worlds I know into worlds of death!]

As the Demon King’s words ended, all the mana in his body began to transform into evil energy.

The Demon King had converted all his mana into evil energy.

Rumble.

Black energy, evil energy, spread out from the Demon King in all directions.

“Insane!”

I exclaimed in shock and drew up all the divine power I had.

Yerim and Meliya, the two saintesses, did the same.

“Mages, get behind us! That’s evil energy that corrupts everything it touches!”

The divine power drawn up by the two saintesses and me enveloped our party.

Thanks to that, our party could remain safe, but the evil energy emitted by the Demon King continued to spread in all directions after covering our surroundings.

Beyond the underground plaza, through the corridors, upward, downward, and to the surface…

“If such evil energy continues to spread, it will be disastrous! We must stop it!”

It was evil energy created by the Demon King sacrificing all his magic and mana.

With all that powerful mana converted to evil energy, it was impossible not to know how formidable this evil energy would be.

This was evil energy several times stronger than the existing evil energy.

Unlike the existing evil energy that gradually corrupted ordinary people, the evil energy spreading before our eyes now would corrupt not only ordinary people but also those with mana.

Even Sword Masters might not be able to withstand it without divine power.

Such evil energy was spreading.

If left alone, it would cover the ravine, spread across the plains, and engulf all areas where evil energy was present.

In the worst case, one-third of the continent.

It seemed like this evil energy would replace more than that.

But the problem wasn’t some distant future.

Right now, nearby, the allied forces were gathered on the adjacent plains.

The allied forces fighting against the undead, enduring the existing evil energy with mana and holy water.

They couldn’t withstand the evil energy spreading now.

Not just ordinary soldiers, but knights, Sword Masters, and mages alike.

“This is maddening.”

The Demon King was like an onion, endless layers no matter how much you peeled.

A Demon King should have pride, leisure, and attachment to being a mage, like before.

How could he change his strategy so completely in an instant?

“My goodness. Is this phase a time attack?”

Yerim’s grumbling joke from behind wasn’t wrong.

As she said, it was a race against time.

A battle to defeat the Demon King before the evil energy reached the allied forces.

But in the current situation, we were struggling just to block the torrential evil energy, let alone advance.

“To think we’d lack divine power…”

“We didn’t know he could convert all his mana into evil energy.”

At Yerim’s lament, Meliya bit her lip with a sickened face.

Certainly, we hadn’t anticipated this.

Was there no way?

A way to obtain enough divine power to counter this evil energy?

“Can’t we get more? Please give us more power!”

“O Goddess!”

The two saintesses prayed to the gods, and I prayed inwardly, but the divine power coming down remained unchanged.

It meant they were already sending the maximum amount.

As we helplessly watched the evil energy spreading,

Woong.

Divine power was felt from an unexpected person.

“Huh?”

The person herself was looking down at her fingers with a surprised face.

The person emitting divine power was Zahina.

The divine power was originating from her finger, from the wooden ring.