Chapter 81 - Please Don't Do This (6)

Right after hearing Lukkwan's clear explanation, the Inquisitor reached the central garden in one breath.

All the civilians she encountered along the way were left to the Thieves. They would find safe rooms for the people. So that they wouldn't wander outside the castle for no reason and become demon food.

Anyway, the entrance to the central garden.

She stepped into the blood-scented garden, climbing over piles of corpses and shattered doors. The first thing she saw was a pit dug where the garden trees had been uprooted. Blood drawn from an unknown number of people formed a lake.

"Demon Knight?"

Barely tearing her eyes away from it, she inspected the surroundings further. In the darkness that the prepared braziers couldn't fully illuminate, she saw a faintly moving silhouette.

The tall height and the silhouette of the sword on his back clearly belonged to the Demon Knight.

"Are you alright?"

But why was her intuition screaming so anxiously? Why was the demonic energy from the Demon Knight's right arm extending across his entire body?

The Inquisitor slowly took half a step forward with her shield raised. That was a truly wise move.

"Huuu."

CRASH!

"……!"

In the blink of an eye, a blade struck down. It was an attack so fast that it would have been quite tricky to react if she had lowered her shield.

"Demon Knight……!"

At the same time, the person who had entered the bonfire's range finally revealed himself.

The Demon Knight was wielding his two-hander with one hand, his entire body wrapped in red and black energy.

His eyes, dyed in the unique reddish hue of the flames, were indistinguishable as to whether they were gray or red.

The splatters of blood beneath his ashen cheekbones ran down his cheeks like tears.

"Annoying……."

"Demon Knight, get a grip on yourself!"

"So annoying I could die……."

He's coming again. She raised her shield. CRASH! A heavy blow pounded the shield. Even though she had spread her divine power over it, her wrist tingled.

"Demon Knight!"

The Inquisitor called out to the Demon Knight once more. This time, there was a slight reaction. The Demon Knight's left hand clutched his own forehead as he bent his waist. He looked like someone complaining of a headache.

However, the decisive difference between a headache patient and him was the sword he kept raised toward the Inquisitor without retracting it.

"H-ugh."

With a sound like crying, the Demon Knight staggered. The demonic energy swirling around his body like a haze repeatedly expanded and shrank.

"Let's get a grip…… but it's annoying. It's annoying."

The blade of the two-hander began to be dyed in a blood-red color.

"Can't I just kill her……?"

Hearing that single phrase, the Inquisitor reached the conclusion she had been withholding.

The Demon Knight was not in his right mind right now. It was clear that the wicked demon was trying to take over his body!

"Demon Knight, do not worry! I can hold out!"

Then, what she had to do was simple.

Trust the Demon Knight, and buy time.

"So do not lose!"

Until he suppresses the demon inside his body and fully awakens.

SWOOSH!

As soon as her shout ended, the Demon Knight's head lifted once more.

The shrinking demonic energy finally expanded explosively, surging through his hair like a crown, or perhaps like horns.

"I told you, it's annoying."

His red eye corners, drawn out long by the splattered blood drops, curved like someone crying.

"Why, why are you pissing me off?"

The man, devoid of his gray hues—which didn't look white even under sunlight, but seemed so pale in the darkness—looked somewhat awkward at first.

But when his pale cheeks were dyed vermilion by the brazier's fire, and when his lips—which had always formed only straight lines—twisted upward like a broken glass window.

That awkwardness completely transformed into something unfamiliar.

"It's because of you, it's because of you."

The Inquisitor gathered her divine power. She ignored the fact that she had previously squeezed it out to its limits.

The pain caused by divine power only accumulated as mental fatigue; it did not actually build up physical fatigue. She could still fight.

No, she had to fight.

"So, just die."

If not, who else would bring the Demon Knight back?

THUMP!

She raised her shield to block the sword. Then, if she tried to swing her mace for even a single attack, the knight immediately pulled back and lunged with a thrust. The blood-red blade naturally harbored a terrifying demonic energy.

"Oh, God!"

Would she fall to that? No, she could not.

"Be with me!"

Through the creeping pain, the Inquisitor expelled the power granted by God. She forcefully twisted the direction of her mace and shield to block the attack, and furthermore, unleashed a wave of divine power forward.

The Demon Knight's eyes furrowed slightly as he retrieved his sword and drove it straight into the ground. The magic power pouring out in all directions clashed with her divine power.

GRRRR.

For a moment, the demonic energy and divine power engaged in a fierce test of strength, like iron clashing against iron. It happened because the amounts of divine power and demonic energy were similar.

The bodies of the two ultimately skidded back in opposite directions.

But she couldn't be relieved by that. The Demon Knight launched his next offensive without affording her even a moment.

The blood-red blade cleaved through the air, and the mighty demonic energy gathered on it stretched out, bisecting the world from the bottom up.

CRASH!

She had no energy left to dodge. The Inquisitor blocked the attack with her shield positioned at the front.

The demonic energy concentrated in a single line was endlessly sharp, carving a slight scratch into the shield.

The attack didn't even stop there. The knight's sword, which had been raised upward, was now slashed down diagonally.

The Inquisitor rolled on the ground to dodge the diagonally slashed world.

If it were her usual equipment, she would have blocked it once more, but guarding with cloth clothes and a cheap medium shield was actually a detriment.

Her red hair fluttered along with the dirt and dust.

Seizing that opening, the Demon Knight charged in as if rushing her. While halfway through regaining her balance from the roll, she raised her shield. It was a posture of supporting herself on the ground with one hand and lifting the shield with the other to cover her body.

Soon, a massive blow slammed down onto the shield. The face visible beyond the shield was humiliating.

The Demon Knight was not the kind of person to make a face like that.

"Do you think I'll lose!!"

She shouted sonorously and prayed. A white light erupted centering on her, pushing the Demon Knight back.

At the same time, the mace held in the Inquisitor's right hand smashed the ground ahead.

BOOM.

The ground, spanning 3 meters wide and 15 meters long, undulated as pure white light surged up from the earth one after another.

It was a technique the Inquisitor had personally devised after watching the Demon Knight fight.

"Keugh!"

Because it wasn't completely finished and she hadn't mastered it, its efficiency was bad, but she could at least attack an enemy from a distance.

This was evident just by seeing how the range of the surging light swept over the Demon Knight who had been pushed back.

Even the pit in the back, made of iron pieces and driven into the ground, tilted to one side.

"Annoying……!"

However, the Demon Knight was not an easy opponent who would just succumb to a single technique like this.

Resisting the divine power by manifesting his demonic energy, he immediately pushed off the ground and dashed forward. CLANG! The shield and sword clashed once more.

Amidst the struggle of strength, the Inquisitor's shield subtly shifted its angle and began to advance.

CLANG!

She tossed the Demon Knight over while keeping his sword pressed against her shield. Although the Demon Knight landed flexibly, her mace had already struck the ground directly.

FWOOSH!

Like a fountain erupting in sequence, the light surging consecutively from the Inquisitor's direction struck the Demon Knight once again.

TSSS.

The impurity contacting the divine power burned away, emitting smoke.

"Ugh."

Stopping mid-action, the Demon Knight clutched his forehead.

"No…… if this happens……."

The sight of him staggering and muttering something was exactly the image of someone trying hard to snap back to their senses.

Now was the time. The Inquisitor sprinted forward to subdue the Demon Knight. At the cost of significantly lowered defense, her body, lightened without armor, moved forward easily.

CLANG!

"Keugh!"

She had intended to break a rib or an arm, but the battle-hardened man did not allow it so easily.

His sword, seemingly raised reflexively, fought against the mace.

However, there was bound to be a difference between an attack prepared from the start and strength pulled up after a belated realization. Especially in a clash between a blunt weapon and a blade.

The Demon Knight's body ultimately went flying. Even amidst that, he apparently had enough strength left to break his fall, doing a flip to regain his balance and land like an agile beast.

"Uuuugh."

Then his body staggered again. An agonized voice scratched his vocal cords, while his large hand gripped his forehead tightly as if trying to crush his own skull.

The black haze seeping out from his body grew darker.

"Hmph!"

The Inquisitor aimed for the opening while the Demon Knight struggled to regain his senses, attempting to continue her assault. If she broke his arms or legs, it would be easier to subdue him even if he ran wild, so it was a natural judgment.

But this approach was a mistake.

"Aaaargh!"

As the Demon Knight roared, demonic energy erupted out in a spherical shape. The demonic energy shooting out in all directions tore the air and the earth to shreds.

Bloody lines were slashed across the Inquisitor's cheeks as well. This happened even though she had hastily pulled up her divine power to resist.

She skidded backward, scraping the hard dirt with a screech.

"Kill, die, die, kill?"

Meanwhile, the man who was clutching most of his face with his left hand curled his fingers.

SCRAPE.

His fingernails finally clawed at the skin of his own forehead. RIIIP! The eyepatch covering his right eye was ultimately torn away.

"Ah."

However, in the spot where one would think was empty or contained an artificial eye, there existed a perfectly fine eye.

An eye with a color that was neither red nor the gray of the left side. It was a color like a petal crushed by raindrops, its moisture blown away.

"I want to go home."

Like a vortex, demonic energy fiercely wrapped around the man's body. It was no longer a haze, but a fog.

CRACK.

"……!"

It was an instant. In a single instant, the sword blasted demonic energy and cleaved a 20-meter radius. It was a power that even the shield the Inquisitor had barely managed to raise couldn't withstand the slash and was cut away.

"Keugh!"

Although cut in half, the shield at least did its minimum job. The Inquisitor touched the wound carved into her stomach.

If she hadn't blocked it with the shield, the depth of this wound would have been much deeper.

"Has he gotten stronger……!"

She stopped healing the wound midway and urgently rolled on the floor.

SWISH. There was no longer even the sound of something being cut away. There was only a black trajectory momentarily etched in the empty air.

Even that was a slash that would only look like a solid line when viewed straight on, requiring one to look from above or below to see the crescent moon area.

The Inquisitor removed the shield that had been precariously cut off right down to her lower forearm. With so much cut away, there was no reason to wear the shield.

SWISH.

Without a moment's pause, a sword strike was launched. She dodged it with her eyes wide open. Her evasion was slightly late, and a few strands of hair were chopped off.

But there was no time to catch her breath. The sword strikes were flying in consecutively.

This couldn't be dodged. Making a quick judgment, the Inquisitor hurriedly threw up a barrier of divine power. CRASH! The defensive barrier shook from a single attack.

SLASH!

When the Demon Knight, running half a beat slower than the launched sword strike, swung his sword, her proud, sturdy defensive barrier was sliced apart like a piece of paper.

It was a good thing she had slammed in her divine power to create several layers of barriers; otherwise, her head would have been split open right along with the barrier.

"Haap!"

The disappearance of the cover known as a shield brought many disadvantages. However, it wasn't as if it only had disadvantages.

In exchange for losing the shield, the Inquisitor countered by swinging her mace without difficulty.

CLANG!

The blades of the Flanged Mace and the blood-red sword collided. It was a collision similar to the ones before.

However, if there was a difference between then and now, it was an additional attack. The Demon Knight's left hand, left empty as he swung the sword with one hand, clawed up through the air from the bottom up.

SQUELCH!

Drops of blood splattered on the Inquisitor's shoulder. CLANG! Her strength finally pushed the Demon Knight away as she kicked the man in the solar plexus with her foot.

"Keut."

Did he wrap his fingernails in demonic energy to attack? Considering the corpses she had encountered in the hallway, it was something she should have anticipated beforehand. This was her mistake.

But she wasn't given any leeway to dwell on her mistake and correct it.

The Demon Knight, swinging his sword from the bottom up, shot out demonic energy like a tidal wave. If she was even a little late, her body would be mercilessly split into two.

The Inquisitor gritted her teeth and drove her mace into the ground. Originating from it, an eruption of divine power clashed with the demonic energy.

A massive explosion arose along with a cloud of dust.

SLASH!

One second, two seconds. The dirt and dust blocking her vision suddenly shifted apart like a fragmented cube.

"……!"

Just how many times had the Demon Knight swung his sword in that split second?

Despite defending herself, her left ear and hair were lopped off, and her right shoulder was slashed down to her upper chest, exposing a gap. A glancing cut on her thigh was also etched deep enough to show bone.

"I─! Promised! That I would hold out until he returns!!"

But the injuries could not stop her. The burning pain that came as the price for drawing out her divine power ultimately made her nose bleed for no reason.

As if in compensation, the wounds beneath the torn fabric fully healed while she charged forward. A brief realization flashed through the Inquisitor's mind.

"Oh, God, watch over your lamb!"

If she couldn't block those demonic sword strikes no matter how much she gathered and condensed her divine power, what if she rather let herself be cut and healed it?

"Therefore, save this pitiful soul!"

Golden waves poured out in all directions. SWISH. The heavily compressed demonic sword strikes sliced the world as if opposing them.

It didn't matter. She protected only her vital organs and let her body be cut.

After all, the Demon Knight's sword cut so cleanly that it was easy to reattach or recover the severed parts.

"Haaaaap!!!"

And finally, the moment her body reached right in front of the Demon Knight.

The Demon Knight's hand lifted his sword as if to block it.

But his arm didn't move all the way. His unnaturally stiff hand and sword stopped in midair.

CRASH!

The mace struck true, folding the Demon Knight's waist as he went flying backward.

* * *

Deathbringer soothed the people who were anxious over the earth pounding like an earthquake.

Of course, coaxing people wasn't his specialty, so he felt disillusioned while doing it.

Especially when dealing with those whose speech showed signs of being educated—or more accurately, signs of previously living well off.

"L-Lead me to a safer place! I'm worth more protection than them!"

If his second most hated thing was demons and his third most hated thing was the Temple, his number one hated thing was upper-class trash like this.

"I'll pay you as much money as you want!"

Deathbringer coldly stared at the man who had revealed himself as a merchant guild leader. Worth protecting? Bullshit. The colder inner thoughts were a bonus.

"Fucking hell. You better shut that mouth right now before I throw you outside."

"W-What did you say!"

"Can't you grasp the situation? We're the ones holding your lifeline right now."

'I feel like killing someone for the first time in a while.'

He newly realized that he hadn't done his job as a 'Deathbringer' even once since joining this journey.

Well, it was a given if you thought about it. If he tried to fulfill his mission as a Deathbringer, the Inquisitor would grab him by the collar first.

Because what a Deathbringer did was assassinate wicked people—especially the powerful and the rich—that the law failed to judge.

"Shut the fuck up if you don't want to get thrown out as demon food."

He mimicked the Demon Knight's overbearing tone and irritably stood up. He was already annoyed, and with his most hated type of people causing trouble, his insides were boiling.

"Is the evacuation all done?"

"For now. We're looking to see if there are any additional captured people."

They looked around the place they had found after wandering the castle for a safe spot and beating up or coercing a few wardens.

It was the underground prison set up inside the castle.

It was perfect because it was hard for flying demon species to enter, there weren't many wardens inside, and there were no dead corpses to look at.

"The children are alright, yes?"

"For now, they're okay. They're terrified, probably from too much shock, though."

It was lucky that the children had been locked in the prison.

It wouldn't be very good for the children's psychology, but if they had to lead those little kids to another location to move them to a safe place, their heads would have burst.

"Hey, trash. Are you sure there are no other captured people?"

"At least in the castle, there are no more. That's for sure."

The pirate, having experienced the demons rampaging indiscriminately after Bipurit supposedly turned into a monster, the Demon Knight becoming a butcher, and the Demon Contractors all dying off, answered as if grumbling.

Once all their reliable backing vanished, these were the guys who clung to this side begging to spare only their lives.

Of course, even if they hadn't contracted with demons, the fact remained that they had cooperated with the demon worshipers, so he couldn't exactly look kindly upon them... but right now, they were in a situation where they needed any hands they could get.

Deathbringer, who had reluctantly accepted them, narrowed his eyes.

"More importantly, are you sure? That you'll spare us from execution at least?"

"Yeah."

Yeah right, as if he had that kind of authority. He just lied and sweet-talked them a bit because he was in a hurry. For the promise to mean anything, he at least needed the approval of the stubborn Hero.

Also, he guessed that the guy would never tolerate them. Neither would the surviving power figures of Ayu Hin.

"Alright, then……."

CRASH!

Cutting off Deathbringer's words, a massive explosion echoed out.

"What was that sound!"

"O-Out there!"

The pirate and Thief, who had been keeping watch outside, burst into the hallway they were in and shouted.

"The main force is here!"

Deathbringer's face lit up broadly.

* * *

The feeling of my hair being faintly sliced off seemed to bring me back to my senses for a moment.

「Madness Gauge 95%」

So I did not dodge the approaching attack. If I couldn't stop myself, I had to at least allow someone else to stop me.

「Madness Gauge 96%」

But.

But.

「Madness Gauge 97%」

It hurts so much.

「Madness Gauge 98%」

I said it hurts so much.

「Madness Gauge 99%」

…Why do I have to hurt?

'This is unreasonable.'

「Madness Gauge 100%」