LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 419
Chapter 420
If I had to pick two of the most dangerous things in the world, Yeon-woo could state firmly that it would be the powerful allies who had no idea of their own strength and the crazy-strong enemies with terrible personalities.
‘What a coincidence that both are right in front of me.’
It wasn’t an easy situation. The idea of possessing an unknown, powerful strength sounds simple enough, but under normal circumstances, it should not happen at all.
Suddenly overcoming the Master’s wall during battle doesn’t mean forgetting what one’s mana is or losing the ability to control it at the very least.
In essence, the imposing presence of Noel, holding the Holy Sword and emitting immense mana and light right before my eyes, was not something one could easily stumble upon.
I was facing a truly rare kind of miracle.
I wished to think that something good might come of it, but the anxious look on Noel’s face, glancing nervously at Yeon-woo, was more than enough to make even Yeon-woo break out in a cold sweat.
Every living being present in this place was staring straight at the Holy Sword in her hand, even the Demon King himself.
“…What have you done, Choi Yeon-woo…!!”
“Calm down. You have to calm down, Noel. Don’t swing it around wildly. It could cause a huge disaster.”
I wondered if this was what it felt like to see a clueless child holding a red button with a skull drawn on it.
Fortunately, Noel wasn’t a clueless child. If she had been, she would already be swinging what she held, her mind blank, mushrooms of chaos erupting around us.
There was certainty that unleashing it would end this fight.
However, there was also the certainty that using it clumsily could not only cost the fight but also kill everyone present.
Noel took a few steps back, focusing her mind to control the Holy Sword. She was preparing to concentrate its destructive power into a single point.
“Shar, Tae-oh!!”
“I got it! Go, Tae-oh!!”
[Ho-it!]
In the middle of the battlefield, Tae-oh, who had been maintaining a shadowy space alone, leaped into that solid shadow of Shar as soon as Yeon-woo shouted.
The two kids stood firmly beside Noel. With a shout of “Achoo-“, they struck an odd pose, keeping watch around her.
“Master, here we go!!”
“Alright. Let’s dance on the blade.”
It was literally true. They had to dance on the blade.
Waiting for the flash of light to erupt from behind them, they needed to slice and carve up the Demon King’s body as much as possible before that moment.
If they were to miss the timing and get hit by the flash, they would find themselves slipping off the blade and tumbling into the dark abyss.
It felt like I always ended up in such precarious situations, but this was their specialty.
Risking their lives to dance on the rope, only to leap off at the last moment to preserve their lives.
*
So bright, so bright, so bright, so bright!!
The Demon Sword was screaming. It was excessive radiance. Poison to the eyes. The path it had given up on long ago stood right before it. So hateful, so very hateful.
It wanted to kill. It wanted to break. It wanted to eliminate that radiance from the world. Hadn’t it crossed dimensions with such a single-minded purpose?
It was radiance that it could not choose. Radiance that it was unchosen by. Beneath its stripped-down essence, only hatred and fury remained.
Annoyed, annoyed, annoyed, annoyed, annoyed, annoyed, annoyed!!
It squeezed the heads of the demon race. Mottled brain matter oozed from the cracked skulls. A fitting pain stimulated its nerves.
While it was regrettable to lose a usable brain, there were plenty of substitutes available.
With a lurch, the flesh covering the Demon Sword opened, and lips appeared. The white teeth poked through, and a scarlet tongue unveiled itself.
[─────Kyaaaaa!!]
The flesh, devoid of voice or lungs, began to scream. Taken aback by this, Yeon-woo and his companions hurriedly covered their ears.
However, the reason the Demon Sword yelled this time was not aimed at them.
Look, at all the lives filling this decrepit castle.
Look, at the foolish hearts tainted by its madness.
With substitute brains and flesh, blood and curses, and all kinds of unclean things easily within reach, what reason could there be not to use them?
Through the holes in the ceiling, allowing the sky to be seen, beyond the stacked debris of glory, the drooling foolish beings revealed themselves.
In their crimson eyes, sanity was absent, and only their own look remained.
Therefore, it wouldn’t be wrong to say those beings were identical to it.
*
Yeon-woo stared at the scene with dumbfounded eyes. Countless demons were falling from the sky, from the ceiling.
Thud, splat. Thump, splosh, slop….
‘…It’s like a tomato festival.’
Yeon-woo unconsciously thought that. If it rained tomatoes from the sky, this would be the view.
They fell down as if lacking even the will to survive, landing headfirst. No matter how much they were demons, landing headfirst from that height left no room for survival.
There was no need to save these beings. Even if they were swept up in the Demon King’s madness, it hadn’t always been that way.
Their attacking humans was purely their own choice.
Still, wasn’t it an ugly sight? It felt as though the value of life had fallen to the ground.
No matter how much Yeon-woo viewed demons as trash and actually cut them down like garbage, this was different.
At the very least, the demons dying should value their own lives. A living being, after all, should love itself.
The spectacle, where the persona comprising the demon seemed to hold no value while only the components of their bodies mattered, wasn’t welcome in Yeon-woo’s eyes.
The flesh and blood dripping down began to gather slowly towards the Demon King.
The completely crushed brain was pooling in one spot. Yeon-woo and Yuri weren’t going to just sit back and watch it.
“Master!!”
“Alright, I got it.”
Whatever it was, there was certainly some intent behind it. There must be a reason why the flesh and blood were gathering, surely they were targeting the brain separately.
With that judgment, Yeon-woo charged towards the gigantic clump of a brain that was as large as a giant’s head. The current of magical energy bursting from his heels propelled Yeon-woo forward.
As White struggled with the skull that slowly began to take shape in the air, the broken remnants of demon bones scattered into the air.
The intensity was unfathomable. Perhaps it was borrowed pieces from demons, broken down and put to use.
The pulverized remains of bones drifted through the air. Due to their immense size and sturdiness, the holes drilled weren’t as big as one might expect, but they were far from insufficient.
The man standing behind Yeon-woo was beyond comparison when it came to pure sword mastery.
Even if the hole was the size of a pinprick, with Yuri, there would be no issue at all.
Yuri didn’t perform many movements. Just as if fencing, he lightly stabbed his sword into the air.
Yet, the effect invoked by that light motion was immense.
As if transcending the very space itself, his sword intent had already reached where he wished it to be.
“Uwaaa!!”
With a splatter, blood burst forth from the hole that Yeon-woo had opened. The insides had turned into mush, spilling out the blood from the gaps of the flesh that had been taking the shape of a human head.
From the eyewitness perspective, it wasn’t exactly pleasant. The smell was overpowering.
At this point, reading the expression of the now useless Demon Sword was impossible. At this stage, the Demon King began tearing away his own flesh and throwing it at them.
Though it looked like a scene of mass hysteria, it was a horrifyingly effective attack.
With a splash, the flesh that had adhered began to merge in a bid to take over their bodies.
Dodging the flesh coming in from all directions, he glanced at Tae-oh and Shar. The kids were bravely protecting themselves in that terrible scene.
The barrier established around Noel was solidly fortifying their defenses.
Then there was no cause for concern. Aura flowed through Yeon-woo’s fingertips.
“Uryaaa!!”
The flesh rushing towards Yeon-woo was swept away by the 5-meter-long Aura Blade, bursting on contact.
Even if it would be restored due to creation, right now, it needed to be cut down. He felt his mana being drained rapidly.
“Noel, how soon!?”
“Damn it! It’s almost done!!”
Noel responded irritably to Yeon-woo’s urging. Who would’ve guessed Noel could get angry?
When pressed while she was already working hard, annoyance always bubbled up. Perhaps he was in the wrong this time.
After that, he simply danced his sword. The dance of blades entrusted to instinct paired harmoniously with Yuri’s restrained swordsmanship.
They evaded the flesh attempting to seize their bodies, cutting, and slashing through them.
Simultaneously, they sliced, exploded, and crushed the tide of flesh swarming to kill them.
For a moment, they were spellbound by the incomprehensible scene, yet the battle was gradually moving toward an end.
Everyone present felt that the conclusion of the fight wasn’t far off.
The aura melted away. The mana was thrown into disarray. Yeon-woo’s mana, and the control of Shar was eroding, giving birth to beings that shouldn’t exist.
The enormous brain, now completely turning to mush and blood, appeared to still function enough to create beings that had never existed before.
“Wh…What!!”
[Krhu, krhuhuh! Kill, kill, killkillkillkill!!]
Even Yeon-woo felt a chill for a moment. If the Demon King were to survive like this and they were to lose, the world would fall into ruin in an instant.
Humans relied heavily on mana. That being which could render mana utterly useless was the worst possible enemy.
Still, the only comfort was that it wasn’t very efficient yet, but surely it would improve in no time. Yeon-woo could only hope that before that happened, Noel would succeed in controlling the Holy Sword.
And as if to fulfill that hope of Yeon-woo’s, a painful voice erupted from behind him.
“Everyone move───!!”
With a spine-chilling sensation engulfing his entire body, Yeon-woo and Yuri dove to the sides.
The approaching wave of light, even brushing against a single photon of it, would surely shake the essence of life itself.
It was as much of a repelling force. It was a power that proved the twins were siblings of the twin gods.
Yin and yang didn’t harmonize but opposed each other as they lifted one another. It was more accurate to call it a rampage; it was an unfathomable maelstrom behind him.
[Give it to me, give it to megivetogiveit!!]
Without hesitation, the Demon Sword charged towards the wave of light. It opened its mouth wide as if it had been meant to be its own all along.
In the next moment, the space vanished without an explosion. Only a massive pit remained where the Demon King’s castle used to be.
“…That was close.”
From a spot just 10 cm away from the pit, Yeon-woo muttered while dripping with cold sweat.
(To be continued in the next chapter)