The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits - Chapter 205



EP9. The Warrior

I looked at the demon in front of me. It was called Kaledar… or something? It was a monster on par with the Grand Master. Of course, I was no match for it. There had to be three of me to be of similar level. I thought about it absentmindedly and snickered.

Suddenly, the Holy Sword’s warning came to mind.

‘You have only one year left in your power. As for me… I don’t know if it would be of much use for you to control me. It might be much better for someone else to control me.

‘Yeah, that could be possible. But… if it’s about a year, maybe a lot of things could change.’

‘…Are you in your right mind? Well, fine. Since you’re jumping into battle knowing your own weakness, I have no right to say anything. However, I don’t think you’ll be able to fight the Demon King head-on and win in about a year.’

‘There’s no guarantee that I’ll have to fight the Demon King head-on, right?’

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When I said that, he looked at me with a very unpleasant expression. I thought about the appearance of the Holy Sword.

I must save as much time as possible. I only have a year left to turn back, so for now, I must at least think about dying.

…if it had gone as planned, I wouldn’t be here.

However, even so… I was thinking of killing the demon in front of me.

“I will go.”

The demon raced towards me at incredible speed. I too fought back with my holy sword draped in my might.

Chaeng! The sound of a collision rang out. However, because the purity of the force was different, I could not help but be pushed back.

Damn, Kaledar’s energy was eroding my energy. Even though black magic has the property of erosion, it didn’t seem right that the energy wrapped around the sword would be eroding.

“It’s the end.”

Suddenly, Kaledar announced to me. Before I could question him, Kaledar kicked me in the side, and I tried to defend myself with my self-defense weapon, but Kaledar’s kick knocked me off balance.

The balance was broken in an instant. Kaledar’s sword pierced my neck, like piercing a leaping fish.

I felt time slowing down, and I felt a hole in my neck and blood flowing out.

Ah. As expected.

I wanted to say that dying felt bad, but my voice wouldn’t come out.

I am dead.

“Haa… haa… .”

I took a deep breath. Was it because I had held the holy sword again after such a long time? The sensation of death felt completely unfamiliar. The demon in front of me looked at me strangely.

“Hmm, it doesn’t look that good, does it?”

The demon in front of me said that. It seemed like it was trying to shake my spirit by letting me know that it had noticed my current state.

“No problem. I can kill you.”

When he said that, Kaledar burst into laughter.

“Kuuu, keuuu, keuhahahahaha! You sound funny. You must know that our skill gap is quite large. No matter how strong you are, you can’t overcome the wall, right? How on earth do you plan on winning against me?”

“Well, even for you, I don’t think your odds of winning are 100%.”

“Does it matter? You only get one chance.”

“well…”

I was confused. Yes. My odds of winning were not zero, and that alone meant that my victory was already decided. The demon noticed my confidence and snickered before rushing at me.

And, I couldn’t help but know that there was absolutely no way I could win by clashing head-on with a sword.

The gap in skill was so significant from the start that even if I could win, it would never be an efficient method. That’s why I chose a different method.

A miracle occurred, and I fired an arrow of divine power.

Kaledar lightly kicked the miracle away with his sword, but at that moment an explosion occurred.

“Ugh!?”

“I should have known that when divine power and black magic meet, it will explode.”

Of course, the damage from the explosion wasn’t that great, but at least I was able to gain some distance between us and I started shooting arrows at Kaledar.

Although I was not able to reach the level of making arrows with divine energy, I was able to infuse my arrows with divine energy. I continued to shoot arrows made with divine power, and each time, an explosion occurred.

“Ugh… .”

Soon, a slurring sound began to flow from the demon’s mouth. I continued to fire arrows made of divine power.

At that moment, Kaledar jumped over the arrow I shot, then struck it in midair with his sword.

There was an explosion. However, the blast rebounded and narrowed the distance between Caledar and the city.

I was so shocked that I could do nothing, and in an instant, Kaledar took my head.

I am dead.

I came to my senses again and touched my neck. The feeling of my neck flying in the sky still seemed alive. However, I couldn’t stay immersed in that feeling.

After that, I continued to fight, and Kaledar continued to take my head. Time went back again, and I continued to fight, feeling the slowing of time and the sensation of death just before I died.

I had regained the fear and pain of death, and so every time I was near death, my mind reflected fear and pain very faithfully. The sensation was… well, at least not pleasant.

But I couldn’t just sit still while feeling that pain. I had no choice but to come to my senses and fight.

And then I came to my senses again.

I blew my miracle again, and another explosion occurred, creating distance. Then I fired my magic.

“Ugh!”

Kaledar began to charge forward, ignoring the magic with his self-defense technique. I unleashed a field of divine power, which exploded the moment Kaledar swung his sword, giving me time to gain distance again.

When the arrow was shot, Kaledar deflected it with his sword. Even if magic can somehow be ignored as a defensive talisman, archery is not like that. If the talisman is the same, the talisman is concentrated at one point and the arrow that penetrates is stronger, so there is no choice but to dodge or block the arrow, not to ignore it.

I also made the energy contained in those arrows with divine power. However, unlike the ones I used before, the explosion was limited to a narrow range, making the power stronger. Yes, the range was such that it had no effect on the enemy’s main body at all. That’s why Kaledar ignored the recoil from his sword even though he knew it was coming.

And, he was targeting that let-down.

It was a chance I finally got after dying several times. I started to breathe power into the holy sword.

It was a power that was a mixture of magical and divine power. If it were a normal weapon, it would have been destroyed because it couldn’t withstand the two different powers mixing together, but this weapon was a holy sword. The fact that it could completely ignore such destruction was an advantage enough.

Kaledar and I clashed our swords. And at the same time, my strong energy, which was a mixture of divine and magical power, and Kaledar’s strong energy, which was made up of black magic, collided and caused an explosion.

And, that explosion, I was aiming for.

Kaledar looked surprised, for his blade had gone flying.

This is exactly what I was aiming for. Kaledar had previously targeted the lack of durability in my sword, and I took advantage of that as well, using the explosion of divine power and black magic meeting to reduce the durability of my sword.

And the result was that Kaledar’s sword took the final impact and the blade flew off.

“this-“

Kaledar was about to say that, but at that moment my sword cut off his head.

“Did you see? I won unless the odds were zero.”

I said that in front of a corpse whose neck had been blown off and who could not possibly hear me.

…

Peria was watching her comrades fight the enemies. She had already exhausted all her magical power, so all she could do was watch. Of course, she had some means of protecting herself, but it was difficult to fight actively.

And then, as I began to see the enemy numbers dwindle, I felt the main force of the enemy retreating… even though Kaledar was nowhere to be seen.

“If this is the case… I guess it’s time to go back.”

The number of high-level demons had already been reduced considerably. Not only she, but also her colleagues and Grandis knew this. At this point, it seemed best to just go back quietly without being stubborn.

However, she began to worry about what had happened to Ainzel. As she was thinking that, Ainzel teleported to her side.

“Are you hurt anywhere? Is there a problem…?”

As she spoke, she froze at the sight of the holy sword in Ainzel’s hand. Then, she began to cry.

“Sigh, sob… .”

“Why are you crying? I’m fine. I defeated Kaledar too.”

Feria screamed.

“He’s dead! Dying, in so much pain… Why, why… .”

Ainzel hugged her.

“…I didn’t die. Not even once.”

And then, to reassure her, he told lies that no one believed. Everyone knew it.