<The Demon Lord of the Swordsmanship Family Chapter 90>
Amid the great turmoil brought on by a violent storm, Jin Yu-ri faltered and began to descend. I gently caught her as she fell.
“…Strength… no more.”
“That’s what happens when you use it recklessly.”
“Wh…when?”
“It was fine. You passed.”
“…Heh… heh…heh… good.”
Jin Yu-ri, smiling broadly for reasons unknown, fainted.
Good work, kid.
I chuckled softly, hoisted Jin Yu-ri onto my back, and continued forward.
“Phew.”
In front of me stood the goblin castle.
It was, in a word, a mess.
All things are powerless before nature.
Is there a better phrase to describe the scene before me?
In just over ten minutes, Jin Yu-ri’s ‘Dragon Roar’ had unleashed a storm that swept through the goblin castle.
The fortress had turned into an ocean of water.
My feet were sinking so deeply I could hardly walk. It was so severe that even I am currently flying to move around.
If it’s this hard for me to move, how about the goblins whose height doesn’t even reach the waist of a human?
Their problem is much worse than simply having trouble moving. Once their waists are submerged, it becomes a matter of survival.
I’ve seen quite a few bodies already buried in the mud. The surviving goblins are in no better condition.
Within this space, the only beings standing on their own feet are me and my Skeleton. The rest are barely clinging to life.
The goblin city has been completely paralyzed.
Now, my task is simple.
To harvest their heads like crops from the incapacitated goblins.
Whirr!
The axes of the Skeleton army dropped onto the heads of the goblins. The cries of screams echoed from all directions.
The massacre had begun.
I cast a Sound Barrier behind my back and kept moving forward.
There’s no need to identify where. The flow of mana will guide me.
What Demon Lord can’t read the waves of mana? It may be difficult for me to see clear ‘lines’ like Jin Yu-ri, but I can certainly read them sufficiently.
Where I’m heading now is to the end of this particularly unpleasant, damp mana flow. At the end of that path lies the Archangel, that b*stard.
I stopped in front of the deepest room within the inner citadel.
A sharp metallic smell of bl**d hit my nose.
I’ve reached the right place. This smell of bl**d is distinctly human.
I immediately opened the door. The heavy scent of bl**d rushed towards me, and in the distant view, I could see the human corpses scattered amid a sea of red mist as if it were swirling.
There sits the Archangel on a throne.
“Human. Come. To me. I am. The king of this place.”
The Archangel looks down on me arrogantly, as if he is truly some great monarch.
“Human, I want to have a word.”
Without responding, I carefully placed Jin Yu-ri against the wall.
And then immediately—
Crack!!
I leapt.
I broke through various disruptive magic spells in a single bound, arriving right in front of the Archangel.
I swung my Demon.
“It won’t work.”
Clang-!
A clash between my Demon and the Archangel’s white shield sparks a fiery flash.
What? It won’t work?
“What…?!”
The sound of metal grinding against metal as the shield gets cleaved.
As it’s half-severed, the Archangel quickly retreats.
How absurd. This so-called “King” would abandon his throne so easily?
Sitting comfortably on the vacant throne, I looked down at the Archangel.
“Man, that’s not how you play the part of king.”
A king’s dignity comes from authority.
A king’s arrogance stems from strength.
A king is, in itself, a symbol.
“That’s what I’ll show you.”
What a true king is.
As the world turns dark and the door shuts,
Aaaaahhh!!
The time of terror has begun.
“That was a lie.”
Rosaria was now certain after seeing Jin Yu-ri’s unique magic earlier.
The unique magic was not the same as Alpha Gear.
“….Liar!!”
What a con artist!
Grrr, Rosaria bit her nails in frustration.
Trickery? He uses the Victor schematics I gave him to make an Alpha Gear?
Strictly speaking, the misunderstanding of unique magic as Alpha Gear was Rosaria’s mistake, and playing around with Victor schematics was initially her doing.
However, if Rosaria had thought this through, Henry wouldn’t have called her an “antisocial and selfish person.”
Those past events no longer exist in Rosaria’s mind.
Now, in her mind, Park Ki-hyuk is a world-class con artist, and this con artist has made an Alpha Gear with the Victor schematics she gave him.
Annoying! Maddening!
“Ughhh…”
Rosaria’s mind is entirely consumed by the unique magic.
The storm summoned by Jin Yu-ri’s hand. A ‘natural disaster’ that swallowed up all mana.
Yes, it was a perfect ‘natural disaster’.
It was the domain of ‘nature’ referred to as the pinnacle of magic.
A misunderstanding that most magicians have.
They think magic is above nature.
Because you can create water with water magic in the stifling desert, and you can ignite fire with fire magic on the icy plains of Antarctica.
But that’s wrong.
Magic can never reach nature because magic is a concept modeled after nature.
In Park Ki-huk’s words, “the power granted by the world.” The granted power extends only so far as to encompass nature.
This is why, at regular intervals, disasters like “hurricanes” and annual earthquakes leave behind tremendous human and material damages, which no magic can stop.
Even as magic continues to develop, it remains powerless before nature.
Then, how…
“How could Jin Yu-ri reach that level?”
This is exactly what excites Rosaria the most.
More precisely, how could Jin Yu-ri have reached a level that even she couldn’t?
If it were Park Ki-hyuk, it might be understandable. He’s undoubtedly strong and wise, clearly above her. But Jin Yu-ri? Surely Jin Yu-ri is beneath her in every way!
“Anything I can’t do, she shouldn’t be able to do either.”
Rosaria believed that this is how things should be.
And conversely,
“Anything she can do, I should be able to do as well.”
This feels right. The more she thinks, the more it makes sense.
“I really can’t let it go. I need to learn that unique magic.”
That unique magic is too tempting. It makes her want to possess it so badly that it drives her mad. For the advancement of global magic, it’s essential that she learns it.
Even if only for the sake of talent like hers, not knowing such cutting-edge magic would be a significant loss to the world.
“Hmm…”
Even just imagining it feels good.
Rosaria smiled at the thought of combining magical engineering with ‘unique magic’, then quickly composed herself.
It was time to devise a solid plan to learn that unique magic.
Fortunately, Rosaria had observed much of his surroundings.
For instance,
“Park Ki-hyuk is weak to women.”
Jin Yu-ri, Merhem, Kim Ha-ni, Park Bom. Hell, even Berry, an animal.
Upon reflection, most of the people around Park Ki-hyuk are women.
They all received help from Park Ki-hyuk. Merhem got rituals, Jin Yu-ri got magic, there’s no need to mention Park Bom or Berry, and even Kim Ha-ni was undergoing rigorous training.
It seemed more than reasonable to suspect that Park Ki-hyuk might be building his own “harem,” but that wasn’t the case.
“Surprisingly, his relationships are clean.”
According to the rumors Rosaria had gathered, this went beyond clean—Park Ki-hyuk was virtually impenetrable. Especially since Park Bom came into the picture.
In any case, the claim that Park Ki-hyuk is vulnerable to women has enough evidence to be credible.
“All right. Let’s go this way.”
Rosaria jumped to her feet and ran into the forest. William, who had been taking a nap, was startled by her sudden and urgent steps.
Then, after a brief rustling of the forest,
When she reappeared,
Rosaria stood there fully made-up.
“So good. Perfect.”
Preparations complete.
Now for mental fortitude.
“I won’t step back.”
Like Jin Yu-ri.
“No matter what they say, I’ll stubbornly cling to him.”
Also like Jin Yu-ri.
“If I have to, I’ll just latch onto him.”
Certainly like Jin Yu-ri.
That’s right.
Rosaria believes that Park Ki-hyuk responds to Jin Yu-ri’s ‘actions’.
Yes, it was a misconception. A major misconception.
As Rosaria went according to her original plan to ambush Park Ki-hyuk upon his return from hunting,
“Teach me. Teach me the unique magic!”
“What’s this all about?”
“Me! Teach me as well!”
“Ah! Get out of here!”
He sounded genuinely irritated. She might even get hit if she continues.
But she couldn’t back down now. Word is, he’s weak to women.
Rosaria clenched her teeth, watching Jin Yu-ri hang off Park Ki-hyuk’s shoulder, and then clung to him again.
“Pleaseeee!! I really want to learn!!”
“Is she out of her mind? Let go of me while I’m being nice.”
“I won’t. I cannot. You took the Alpha Gear from me, so teach me the unique magic Me!”
“Hey, you’re really…
Park Ki-hyuk hesitated.
It’s working! Rosaria pressed herself closer.
In reality, he wasn’t hesitating. His patience had just run out.
“Alright, cut it out. I’ll hit you.”
“Hit me! Try it!”
As Rosaria leaned her face forward thinking, “Surely he won’t hit me,”
Park Ki-hyuk’s fist was already mid-air.
Boom!
Rosaria hit the floor.
Earlier, it was noted that this was a misconception.
Rosaria believed that Park Ki-hyuk would respond to Jin Yu-ri’s behavior, but that wasn’t true. What actually worked was Jin Yu-ri herself.
“Causing trouble… Hey! Over there.”
“…”
“You’re not dead, so hurry up.”
“…”
“Hurry, or it’s your turn too.”
“I’m coming.”
“What are you looking at? Stop stalling and quickly carry her. We haven’t got all day.”
And thus, the two men carried the women and exited the Gate together.
Meanwhile, just as Park Ki-hyuk was exiting the Gate with his group, Park Min-ji was also facing an Archangel.
“…Looks like you’re playing boss here.”
She had ‘cleared’ the Gate, forcibly evacuating all life forms, but why were they here in the boss room, where the named Centaur “Boba” should be?
“Lord of salvation! Punish these wicked ones!”
“Hurry! Attack! If you consume her, you’ll grow much stronger. Hurry!”
Prompted by the two priests in robes who incited the Archangel, the Archangel grinned at Park Min-ji.
Creepy.
She looked as though smeared with bl**d and flesh, yet her smile was unnervingly kind.
It was strangely alluring and made one feel as if something divine was present…
Whoosh!
A flash darted.
It was the flash created by Park Min-ji’s sword, Baekro, severing the ‘charm’ surrounding her.
“…It seems you’ve eaten ‘Boba’ since you’re using enchantments.”
The named Centaur “Boba”, the boss of this Gate, possessed a unique mental attack using a harp.
In other words, the one casting the charm must have consumed “Boba”.
They eat humans, they eat monsters, they even eat bosses.
A species that considers life sinful.
“I’ll have to deal with you.”
Instantly,
Park Min-ji’s pupils became as sharp as a beast’s, and her long black hair began to turn white from its tip.
And,
“No… can’t be!”
“Im…possible!”
At the very moment the fanatics were about to utter the word ‘Baekho’,
Fsh-!
Their arms were already severed, falling to the ground.
A piercing scream erupted. The fanatics called out to their deity and their comrades, now begging for their pitiful lives.
An unstoppable speed.
This was her.
The Swift Swordsman, Park Min-ji of Baekho.
“Let’s end this quickly.”
Baekro trembled violently.
Geomho-ryu Swift Sword Technique
Big Dipper (北斗七星)
Seven stars descended upon this space.
In the face of overwhelming speed, all attacks become meaningless.
Park Min-ji’s sword illuminated the space like a radiant beacon.
