I Saved the Demon King Who Was About to Commit Suicide – Chapter 44

Akada slowly raised his gaze.

Before him, a monster that twisted bones and flesh came back to life.

It looked far fiercer than before.

The head, once resembling a shark, now bore a shape closer to that of a dragon, and in the place where fins once were, six wings had sprouted and were flapping.

Scales covered its body, and the teeth in its mouth all took the form of sharp blades.

Thud, thud.

My heart began to race wildly.

The determination I had earlier faded before the overwhelming sense of fear that crashed over me.

[Kyahhhhhhhh!!]

Perhaps enraged by its recent death, the now fiercer monster’s roar echoed throughout all of Cordelia.

The six reptilian eyes, glistening with malice, fixed themselves on the three of us and Cordelia.

“This… doesn’t seem like it’ll end easily…”

Lucia mumbled, her expression turning serious as she saw the revived monster.

“Maybe we’ll have to wager our lives to win.”

“Right now, just betting our lives might not be enough.”

As Evan downed recovery and mana potions one after another, he drew the sword that had been sheathed at his side and continued.

“To defeat that thing… we’ll have to risk everything we have.”

“…Is that so?”

Lucia also drew her sword.

“Then I guess we’ll go all out from the start.”

“Yeah. We need to kill it, even if it means exhausting every potion we have.”

With the Power of Destruction enveloping his body, Evan charged forward.

Seeing this, the monster swelled up and spread its wings, threatening Evan.

[■■■■■■■■■■…!!]

“It’s just noisy; I can’t make out what it’s saying.”

Evan swung his sword toward the gaping maw of the creature.

With each swing, he infused most of his magical power into the strikes.

Ping-!

However, his attack merely left a tiny scratch on one of the monster’s teeth.

“What the…?”

“Get out of the way, Evan. Let me try.”

Lucia opened her magical power and took a step forward.

And in that moment, her sword vanished from Evan’s sight only to reappear.

Before he even realized, Lucia had struck the monster.

“…Huh.”

But Lucia’s attack was no different from Evan’s.

Her precise strike aimed at its neck only managed to cut through a couple of scales, failing to inflict even the slightest injury on the beast.

“I thought I gave it my all.”

Lucia had actually used almost all her magical power in that single blow.

Of course, the sword she was wielding wasn’t a good one, and it had lost some of its magical total since it had a horn broken off…

Even so, the fact that she, who could cut through a Rank 1 monster so easily, couldn’t leave even a scratch on their opponent was shocking for both her and Evan.

“It seems our journey might end here.”

Just as those words left her lips, Evan’s body flew away, crashing against a nearby rock.

He was struck by the monster’s swinging tail.

“Ugh!”

After colliding with the rock, Evan spat blood from the impact.

It was just a simple tail swipe.

Yet, with that one attack, Cordelia’s provided armor was half destroyed.

“Evan!!”

Seeing him fly away, Lucia shouted.

She attempted to rush to Evan’s aid, but the monster opened its jaws, preparing to unleash its breath attack.

Gugugugugugugu!!

A tremendous amount of magical power gathered, vibrating the air all around.

If hit directly, death was certain.

Realizing this, Lucia twisted her body to dodge the breath.

Moments later.

Kwah-!

A blue breath shot forth from the monster’s jaws, unleashing a horrendous sound.

“Cough!”

The pressure created by the breath was powerful enough to rip skin apart.

The outer walls of Cordelia vanished without a trace, as if they had never existed.

Screams rang out from beyond the walls.

They were the cries of soldiers, and of the citizens behind them.

It seemed the breath had not only pierced through the walls but continued to extend far beyond.

The dense scent of blood wafting over from the breached walls proved that countless people had just perished from that breath.

[Growl…]

The monster smiled wickedly, seemingly satisfied.

Seeing this, Lucia’s expression twisted.

“…This won’t do.”

Lucia poured a mana potion into her mouth, preparing for the next attack.

“Even if it costs me my life, I will kill you.”

The symbol on her back glowed darkly.

At the same time, her eyes ignited with a deeper shade of red.

Step.

Lucia took a step forward with her left foot.

And she halted there.

Two tails approached to attack her, but Lucia didn’t move.

This one strike was all she needed to focus on.

“…”

With her senses and magical power drawn to their extremes, the world around her began to feel like it was moving in slow motion.

Gradually, it seemed to come to a halt.

In that stillness, Lucia swung her sword.

Aimed solely at the enemy’s neck.

The sword, charged with condensed magical power, drew a graceful arc.

Swish!

A clean slicing sound resonated, and then, blood spurted into the air.

[KYAAAAAAAHHHH!!]

The monster let out a deafening scream.

One of its tails was severed, and blood dripped from its neck.

However, the power was far too weak to deal a fatal blow to the monster.

Ultimately, Lucia was sent flying by the remaining tail.

“Ugh!!”

Kwah! Bang!

Lucia crashed into the center of Cordelia after being hurled through the walls.

At that moment, horrific pain enveloped her body.

As she instinctively raised her arms to block the incoming tail, the bones had fractured into several pieces, and other parts of her body felt broken as well.

“Huh…”

Lucia attempted to rise, consuming a recovery potion, but was met with failure.

She was so badly damaged that recovering with the potion was difficult.

“Ugh…”

Still, Lucia tried to get up.

Gripping her sword with the arm that wasn’t broken, she attempted to use it as a cane.

She couldn’t afford to fall.

Evan was still fighting.

She had to help him take down that monster.

Yet, contrary to her thoughts, her body stubbornly refused to obey her.

What’s worse, her consciousness was beginning to fade.

Lucia, who had been moving toward the monster, took only a few steps before collapsing again.

‘No…’

Her vision turned to darkness.

*

At that time, back in the battlefield, Evan was quaffing a recovery potion while battling the monster.

Thanks to the Power of Destruction, he was in a state where he could still recover with potions despite his injuries.

However, the occasional breath attacks were nearly impossible to counter.

The sheer power of the attacks could obliterate anything in their wake.

Their wide range made it difficult to dodge.

All Evan could do was ensure the monster aimed its breath toward the opposite side of Cordelia.

‘If only Akada would help out…’

As he thought that, Akada had been nowhere to be seen for a while.

It might be that the trauma had resurfaced.

‘I can understand that.’

For Akada, the memories of that day could be painfully haunting.

Just like they had been for him in the past.

‘So, what I can do now is…’

To buy time for the people of Cordelia to evacuate from now on.

Evan dodged the breath and tail swings threateningly, swinging his sword.

Ping-!

Of course, the monster took no damage.

Even Lucia’s strikes, aimed with full concentration, failed to injure the beast.

‘Still, neither of us can end it for each other.’

Evan took a deep breath after dodging another incoming breath.

As long as he didn’t exhaust all his energy, he could hold out.

So he decided to endure a bit longer.

“Let’s play for days. Monster.”

[KYAAAAA!!!]

The monster roared as Evan charged back in.

After all, the beast wasn’t able to finish him off.

But then, an unexpected variable occurred.

“…?”

The Power of the Sea came to an end, and the seawater surged forward again.

As a result, Evan was prevented from advancing properly.

‘Damn it…’

In the water, the monster moved even faster, swinging its tail tipped with blades towards him.

Swoosh!

The blade attached to the tail pierced through the Power of Destruction and sunk into Evan’s body.

“Ugh…!”

Crimson blood mixed with seawater.

The blade had lodged deeply within him.

The one fortunate thing was that he had avoided a fatal injury…

But if the blood kept flowing out, he would soon lose consciousness.

Not a good situation.

“Kyahhhhhh!”

However, it didn’t stop there; perhaps having caught the scent of his blood, other monsters began to swarm.

From Rank 5 monsters to named Rank 1 beasts.

Evan sensed death rushing toward him.

With the kaiju already overwhelming enough, an entire horde of monsters advancing would surely be lethal.

He figured he was as good as dead.

Click! Click!

Then, what happened next astonished him.

All the monsters that had gathered began attacking the kaiju instead of Evan.

In utter disbelief at the unexpected turn of events, Evan scanned the surroundings.

“Evan!”

Far in the distance, he spotted a man riding a Rank 1 monster, Meropeed.

It was Akada.

He was charging forward, drawing all the sea monsters to attack the kaiju.