The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits - Chapter 207



EP9. The Warrior

The Demon King opened his eyes. His body was finally able to move properly. He sneered at his own appearance.

‘Even with this power, I lost my best subordinate because I couldn’t predict the enemy’s actions. What is this?’

The death of Kaledar brought great shock to the Arrogant faction. It was a huge shock that a mere human had surpassed the power given by the gods, destroyed the predicted future, and defeated Kaledar, the most powerful man except for the Demon King.

The Demon King clenched his fists, barely able to move his body.

I was wrong. I only saw the result of the enemy attacking and thought it was the most likely future, but I didn’t think about the possibility of another possibility. No, it could be because I didn’t think about how likely it was, even if it was the most likely future.

The Demon King of Arrogance felt resentful of the arrogance of his clan. How could this happen when it was something that absolutely had to succeed? How could he take responsibility for the death of his most beloved subordinate because of something he had carelessly overlooked?

The Demon King called his followers together. Then, the Demon King shouted.

“O vassals of arrogance! The time of war has come!”

Although he had not fully recovered yet, there was nothing he could do. Even considering that, the Demon King thought that now was the right time to attack. He would recover soon anyway, and dealing with the enemy before he could fully recover was the best way to minimize the damage he suffered this time.

‘The core powers suffered significant damage.’

It was a slightly different situation from when the Archangel’s power was cut in half in the past. At that time, most of the damage was done to lower-level demons. In other words, it means that there was considerable damage in terms of quantity, but in terms of quality, it was almost as if there was no damage.

However, in the current situation, the ones who suffered the most damage were the mid- and high-level demons, and there was a significant decline in quality as well. If they did not have an advantage in numbers, they should have an overwhelming advantage in quality, but even if the low-level demons could stand up to ten humans, they would not have an overwhelming advantage in terms of attack.

That was why the Demon King felt anxious. But more than that, this was an opportunity. The enemy had probably planned a strategy and gathered their troops to prepare for defense. So attacking now could result in striking the enemy’s weak point.

‘I will no longer rely solely on authority.’

The Demon King thought so. Since relying solely on authority had led to irreversible results, the Demon King was determined to mobilize all of his abilities.

“Waaa!”

The demons screamed. Coming to Middle-earth meant that they had to deal with enemies who would strike first, and they didn’t want that anymore. They were hungrier than anyone else to attack their enemies first.

The Demon King of Arrogance began to read the future. This time, he had to make the Demon God happy with his victory.

…

“…Oh, shit.”

Ainzel said that absentmindedly because he was completely caught off guard.

I had no idea that the enemy would attack at this point. Since they had lost a significant portion of their core forces, I thought they would probably use the time to recover.

But what was overlooked was that the enemy was already a surprisingly strong army with a lot of experience. A strong army was not just a strong army, but it also had an advantage in the time it took to command and discipline it.

This was the result. The enemies ran wild with the power of the Demon King, and as a result, the empire collapsed in an instant before it could receive any support.

If I had known this would happen, I should have prepared my defenses more thoroughly in advance, he thought.

Yes, maybe it would have been better if I had received the support of the fairies a little earlier. I regret it. But that doesn’t mean I can change the past.

All he could do was struggle. He continued to swing his sword.

And then, the Demon King appeared before his eyes.

He began to use all his means, but the Demon King simply destroyed them all with his power. The feeling of helplessness that he could do nothing began to eat away at him.

“…I feel really dirty.”

He couldn’t help but say so. The Demon King looked at Ainzel with cold eyes, separate from such sentiments.

“This time it’s my victory. I will eliminate you and your comrades without leaving any traces.”

At the same time, a huge black magic began to fly towards Ainzel. Ainzel gritted his teeth.

Soon, his body was penetrated by black magic.

He is dead.

…

The Demon King looked at the scene before his eyes. He had seen such a future in his power. That was why he could be sure that what he was about to do was not wrong, and as a result, the human empire was destroyed in a miserable state.

“…Yes. This is the correct result.”

In the first place, it was absurd for a human being to create such a result against his own power. He thought so and looked at the human before his eyes.

“Yes, you are a warrior. … You have brought me a level of awe that I have never felt before. You can be proud. Neither greed nor laziness has ever brought me this level of anger.”

Even as he said that, the Demon King felt something strange.

The human eyes in front of me were not eyes that had given up yet.

“…Why do you still have those eyes?”

The Demon King said that without thinking. Ainzel laughed when he heard the Demon King’s words.

“Well, there is still a way, I guess.”

The Demon King’s face crumpled. No matter how much he thought about it, it was just nonsense.

“Hmm, that’s it. Maybe he just lost his mind or something because of the unfavorable situation. That’s the end of it.”

The Demon King used black magic, and Ainzel was hit directly by the black magic and flew into the air.

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“What kind of method is there? Our formation has already won an overwhelming victory, so unless there is a way to turn back time, it is already…”

Ainzel looked at the Demon King until the end. And then, he grinned.

At that moment, the Demon King vaguely realized the meaning of that laughter. It felt more like a revelation than a premonition.

“Wait a minute. No way-”

The Demon King desperately approached him. However, Ainzel died in that state.

“Fuck…”

Before the Demon King could finish speaking, time had returned to the past.

…

I opened my eyes. Then, I checked the date.

“…Why are you checking the date?”

Grandis asked me, but I didn’t answer. Grandis looked at me.

“…Is that so?”

She didn’t say anything to me. Instead, she looked at me, came closer, and hugged my body.

“…”

I didn’t open my mouth. I felt like I would burst into tears if I said even one word here, so I couldn’t open my mouth.

“are you okay.”

She hugged me and said that.

“are you okay….”

Grandis, who had been patting me on the back like that, told me the date.

About three weeks ago. That was the amount of time that Seonggeom had judged to be sufficient for preparation.

So what is the best course of action I can take?

Needless to say, I had to gather all the troops I could right away. I immediately asked the fairies for help.

Not only that, I went to Beatrice and the Pope to ask for ways to operate the Paladins and Crusader respectively. They were the most important forces in the leadership of each religious order, so I calculated that if I received their help, I would be able to strengthen my defenses.

Of course, even so, it was difficult to expect that anything could be done in front of the Demon King. If the Demon King himself came forward, I didn’t think it would be of much significance, no matter how impregnable the castle was.

So the walls were no longer of much significance. Instead, I thought I should rely more on the soldiers stationed near the castle.

If we couldn’t rely on the walls, we had to gather enough troops to suppress the enemy soldiers on their own, and after suppressing the enemy’s regular troops, the Demon King would have to be taken care of by me and my colleagues.

… How many times must I die? That thought suddenly struck me.

No matter how much I prepared, it was meaningless if I couldn’t defeat the Demon King in the end. In terms of power alone, my comrades and Grandis combined would be stronger than the Demon King, but the problem was that the Demon King had the means to easily deal with them because of his power, and the problem was that I had to force myself to adapt to such a situation.

Maybe I could have used all the time given to me and not won. But I had to keep struggling until the end.

I grabbed the holy sword and braced myself.

EP9. The End of the Warrior.