Chapter 240 – Hero of Three Dimensions

The Divine Tree’s divine power.

The divine power bestowed by a god with a tree as its body was different from the divine powers of the other two dimensions.

This divine power felt sacred like the other divine powers, but it also felt more realistic.

Of course, this newly acquired divine power was unlike the previous two divine powers, as it wasn’t well-suited for combat.

It was a divine power more suited for recovery, creation, and a kind of defense that bound everything together.

Perhaps this was the divine nature possessed by the Divine Tree.

That power which created massive cities with its own body and established a network connecting all elves—that was what I felt as divine power.

And that divine power granted new strength to me and Zahina, who had just become warriors of the Divine Tree.

“Mother, please stop our enemies.”

At Zahina’s words, countless tree roots burst forth from the walls and ground.

Thud! Thwack! Crack!

Tree roots and stems that grabbed the bodies of approaching zombies and shattered the bones of skeletons.

Though Zahina had found it difficult to move the earth with magic in the Demon King’s dungeon until just now, she now ignored all such restrictions.

After clearing away the approaching undead in an instant, the path to the Demon King opened up.

“Don’t worry about what’s behind us!”

Even without Zahina’s words, I knew this wasn’t the time to worry about my companions.

I hurled myself down the path Zahina had opened.

As I launched forward, the surrounding undead also lunged to block my path.

When their lower bodies were shattered by the emerging tree trunks, they crawled with just their upper bodies, and when their chest bones were cut by my sword, they tried to block the path even with just their leg bones moving.

I rammed into these undead that were blocking my way.

They tried to cling to me and prevent me from moving, but the undead couldn’t even touch my armor or my body.

The newly acquired divine power surrounding my body, glowing green, shattered the undead that tried to block me with their bodies.

Crash!

Breaking through bones, flesh, and hardened blood, I was able to approach the Demon King again.

And I swung my sword, filled with sword energy, toward the Demon King who was surrounded by black evil energy.

This time, the sword energy included the new divine power as well.

Clang!

The brightly glowing sword energy collided with the black evil energy.

The evil energy that collided with the sword energy scattered, and the divine power in the sword burst outward in all directions.

Evil energy and divine power continued to collide, scatter, and dissipate.

Previously, I would have been pushed back by the massive evil energy, but this time I didn’t retreat.

The new divine power continued to infuse strength into my sword.

The new divine power didn’t simply add to the existing two divine powers like before.

Like the Divine Tree’s ability to unite elves, the Divine Tree’s divine power bound the two existing divine powers together with itself.

They hadn’t become one, but the divine powers connected by the Divine Tree’s divine power created a power different from when divine powers were unified.

Before one divine power could disappear completely, another divine power supported it, and before that power faded, another divine power filled it again.

This infinite cycle of power made my divine power flow continuously.

As if I possessed infinite divine power.

Even as divine power continuously dissipated against the Demon King’s powerful evil energy, the sword energy from my sword continued to push back against the Demon King’s evil energy.

Little by little, the sword energy penetrated through the powerful evil energy, approaching the Demon King.

Thanks to the endless divine power, it seemed that with enough time, I could defeat the Demon King.

And the Demon King seemed to share my thoughts.

The Demon King spread his skeletal hands.

Whoosh!

Tremendous evil energy erupted from the Demon King.

I was helplessly pushed back by the powerful pressure.

My body was pushed back even further than I had managed to advance with my sword.

Unlike the Demon King who had limits to his evil energy no matter how powerful it was, I now had no limit to my divine power, but unfortunately, the output itself was still insufficient.

In the end, though the total amount exceeded the Demon King’s, the output was still lacking.

After pushing me back, the Demon King moved his jawbone, which was all that remained.

[So the gods of three dimensions have all infused you with their power. Well, that makes sense. Since I tried to destroy all three dimensions, the gods must have felt I was dangerous.]

Though the words themselves came through message magic, the Demon King’s words weren’t wrong.

The Demon King had not only tried to merge the three dimensions with magic but had also killed two Divine Trees of the elves.

Moreover, though one Divine Tree was still young, it had been contaminated with evil energy before dying, and he had tried to taint the other Divine Tree with evil energy as well.

After corrupting and killing divine beings like that, the gods couldn’t just leave the Demon King alone.

However, there wasn’t much the Divine Trees could do.

‘In the end, they had no choice but to make me a hero.’

The Divine Trees were no different from the gods of Ea.

Of course, I wasn’t displeased with their help.

If it would help in the fight against the Demon King right now, I would have needed divine power even from an elven grandfather, not just the Divine Tree.

[But it’s too late. If I still had a human body, you might have been able to overcome my evil energy with the divine power of three dimensions, but my body now consists only of dead bones that can withstand any evil energy.]

I couldn’t respond to the Demon King’s words as he showed me his skeletal fingers.

[No matter how much of a hero you are, a living human body has limits to the divine power it can handle. As long as you have a living human body, you, the hero, cannot defeat me, the Demon King.]

The Demon King’s words were correct.

As a human, I couldn’t produce any more output than this.

If I abandoned this living human body as the Demon King had abandoned his human form, I might be able to use all the divine power bestowed by the gods of three dimensions simultaneously, but unlike the Demon King, I couldn’t abandon this body.

Abandoning this body was no different from dying.

In the current situation, my divine power output was insufficient for a prolonged battle.

While I was desperately pushing my sword to penetrate the evil energy, the Demon King could cast other magic even while his entire body was surrounded by evil energy.

Once again, undead began filling the underground plaza.

The emerged tree roots and stems were torn and cut away, and my companions were buried under the undead, no longer visible from where I stood.

“Spatial Severance!”

“Shield!”

“Trees, please stop our enemies!”

Still, I could hear the voices of my party members.

The magic cast on me remained intact as well.

The shield, spatial severance, and the divine power barriers cast by the two holy maidens.

Without those spells, I wouldn’t have been able to block the Demon King’s magic pouring down on me now… Though the Demon King had converted all his mana into evil energy, that didn’t mean he couldn’t use magic.

Like other liches, he could use magic with evil energy.

The so-called black magic.

Without my companions, this power struggle against the Demon King’s evil energy would have been impossible.

But at this rate, both I and my party members would die before the Demon King’s evil energy depleted.

Even with three divine powers, it wasn’t enough to defeat the Demon King.

Still, I couldn’t back down.

The moment I stopped, we would all be buried under that undead horde and die fighting.

I needed to find a way.

I continued thinking as I pushed my sword into the evil energy.

It couldn’t end like this.

There had to be a way to defeat the Demon King.

Just as the gods had done their best, just as my companions were now doing their best, was I truly doing my best as well?

‘But what else do I have left? What divine power can I draw upon here? Would the swordsmanship I’ve diligently honed be of any use in this simple power struggle? Even if I added mana, it wouldn’t help penetrate the evil energy. Bending sword energy with mana wouldn’t pierce through evil energy… Wait?’

As my thoughts raced, a sudden idea flashed through my mind.

There was one technique I could still use.

A technique I had succeeded with only once, and one whose workings I didn’t fully understand.

Moreover, I didn’t know if it was possible to imbue it with divine power.

But there was no other option.

[I should end this soon. It seems the energy of death has arrived, so I can show you a good scene before you die.]

Unlike my desperate state, the Demon King was composed.

While blocking my divine power sword with evil energy, the Demon King projected an image in mid-air.

Unlike before, perhaps because it was created with evil energy, a black and white screen appeared,

But I could immediately tell what was shown on the screen.

The screen showed human armies fighting against the Demon King’s forces.

But those armies were different from before.

The humans were no longer fighting the Demon King’s army.

Their formations had collapsed, and soldiers had thrown away their weapons.

The humans were fleeing from the black evil energy that was filling the battlefield.

Soldiers who couldn’t escape died the moment they touched the evil energy.

Unawakened soldiers instantly became zombies, and soldiers who could sense mana became skeletons or ghouls.

The same was true for knights.

Dozens of death knights were created in an instant, and those death knights rushed out from within the evil energy to kill the fleeing soldiers.

Neither mages nor Sword Masters could stop the evil energy.

Even when they cast spells or cut with sword energy, the evil energy remained unchanged.

The divine power of priests momentarily halted the movement of the evil energy, but unfortunately, the priests immediately coughed up blood from divine power depletion.

[How is it? Quite a sight, isn’t it? After making the three holy maidens behind you my subordinates, I plan to mount your head on a spear and march the human army, now turned into the Demon King’s army, towards the Empire and the continent.

It would be interesting to watch a hero with only his head remaining lead the Demon King’s army alongside three holy maidens to destroy humanity.]

The Demon King taunted me while bringing the screen close to my face.

I couldn’t stop the Demon King’s taunting.

No, I didn’t stop it.

This wasn’t the situation or the time to stop that.

My mind was entirely focused on one thing.

Trying to recall the technique that had succeeded only once.

Ignoring the desperate cries of my companions, disregarding my body that felt pain as the shield was pierced, and turning away from the dying humans on the surface.

I concentrated all my mental energy on performing again the technique that had succeeded by chance.

But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t feel that sensation.

Something was missing.

And I couldn’t even tell what was missing.

But I seemed to know what I needed to do now.

I withdrew the sword I had been desperately pushing forward and pulled my body back.

[Have you finally given up? Well, it’s better to be with your companions when you die.]

Ignoring the Demon King’s words, I took out all the potions I had in my bag.

It wasn’t to heal the wounds all over my body in this brief moment.

The divine power I possessed was already healing my wounds.

I crushed all the potions I held in one hand and poured them into my mouth.

Potions absorbed into my body along with broken glass.

Ugh.

These were potions that should be drunk carefully one by one, but I didn’t care.

Moreover, unlike divine power, the potions caused tremendous pain.

And within that pain, I could feel it.

How Hoffman had drawn out his power.

And how I should perform this technique as well.

Amidst the pain, I swung my sword once more.

The sword energy extended and shot toward the evil energy surrounding the Demon King again.

[Doing such a foolish thing again…]

I heard the Demon King’s mockery but didn’t stop.

Swoosh!

And as my sword energy touched the Demon King’s evil energy, it vanished from that spot.

Slash.

That sword energy passed through the Demon King’s evil energy and split the Demon King’s body.

The Demon King’s body was cut in half.