Book 8: The First: Chapter of the Final Battle: The Enemy of the Demon King—A Hero
How disappointing. How dare they call themselves heroes?
This was what I thought as I observed these people. These people turned into cowards when they caught sight of an undead army. When they realized that the undead army consisted of mostly low-leveled skeletons, they reverted back to their “heroic” selves, gleefully charging forward and slaughtering those skeletons. After vanquishing a few skeletons, their egos inflated so much it was as if they had already killed the demon king.
Whenever they discovered an abandoned house, they would rush into it to check if there were any valuable possessions left. Each one of them strived to be the first to go in, fearing they would miss out on grabbing valuable loot. If only they’re this motivated when they are fighting undead creatures!
Awaitsun and Illu are much better people than they are… No! Even Illu’s undead creature subordinates are ten times better than they are!
They even claimed to be an expeditionary force crusading against the demon king, and a few of them who liked to show off even called themselves “heroes.” I had thought that they were real heroes, so I had excitedly hurried over to check. Yet in the end, I saw this huge pile of trash!
Awaitsun and Illu are also more… Wait! I came here to see the faces of the heroes who planned to vanquish me, not to think of Awaitsun and Illu!
Hmm, nowadays even heroes aren’t heroic anymore!
I stretched out my hand and started to gather a large amount of dark element. Even though summoning an undead army to annihilate them would be more spectacular, it was a waste to use an undead army to eliminate these small fries. It would be like using the Divine Sun Sword to kill a chicken. Whatever, I should just get rid of them straight.
“Daring to disappoint me, you should all learn the outcome of doing so…” I said lazily.
A dark blade floated in the sky. From a distance, it looked like a black, waning moon. The only difference was that the moon would never fall, but this dark blade would imminently descend upon everyone present. However, as it was night, and the dark blade was even darker than the darkness of the night, one would have to look carefully before noticing it. That was why those people down there were completely oblivious to it.
If the Twelve Holy Knights were here, they would definitely have already detected such a strong saturation of dark element! It’s a pity you guys are not the Twelve Holy Knights. You aren’t even on par with a hero’s underlings. Every one of you, go to hell—
“Stop!”
I temporarily paused the flow of dark element above my hands. Someone still dares to stop me?
I did not need to turn around to “see” that person. Even though he had not yet drawn the sword by his waist, he had a good stance and emitted an aura of formidability. He seemed to be a tough opponent.
I narrowed my eyes slightly. Could this person be a real hero? It might be true. He had actually discovered that I was about to attack, so he should have some skills. Finally, I have encountered a person who is a proper hero!
Turning around, I quietly told him, “Come!”
The true hero seemed angry as he walked straight toward me. I was a bit curious about how he looked, so I deftly used “farsight.” This was the name that Scarlet had told me. In simple words, farsight was letting one separate one’s consciousness from one’s physical body. With this ability, I could escape from my physical limitations, including my loss of vision, and directly see my surroundings using psychic forces.
Scarlet had told me tons of theoretical knowledge, but I could not understand what the hell she was saying. As long as I could use it, there was no problem! In the end, Scarlet had even scorned my comprehension!
I had used wind element to throw the Eternal Tranquility to some unknown corner. Afterwards, only when I had some things to ask Scarlet did I order Awaitsun to retrieve the gem. Awaitsun even spent a whole week searching before he managed to locate it.
Still, not understanding the theory made a slight difference. Even though I now had the strong psychic ability that the demon king possessed, I still had to spend a long time practicing before I could use farsight masterfully. Nonetheless, it was much better than when I had been the Sun Knight. During that period, I could only see during the times when I was dreaming or in a few ultra-rare occasions. Even then, all the occasional things that I saw were stuff that I did not care about at all.
When the true hero was a short distance in front of me, I used farsight. The feeling was like before, when I had been in the dream, my entire person had left the bed and my own body. In an instant, I could fly to a place far away and see whatever I desired. Except that now, I was very much awake, and I was only ten centimeters apart from my body.
Then, in one glance, I saw that my opponent had golden-brown short hair, a pair of blue eyes, and sharp and distinct facial features—A f**king hottie! If I had known he was handsome, I wouldn’t have spared a glance!
“Tell me your name.” He was the first hero that I was going to kill. It was a memorable occasion, worthy of remembering his name.
However, he only gave me an odd glance, and then his attention was drawn elsewhere.
The crowd of fake heroes was currently carrying numerous pieces of furniture out from a big house. Without giving much thought to how they were going to carry such bulky objects while they moved around in the land of darkness, they were simply taking anything that could be taken.
“Stop this right now! What you are doing is committing theft!” The true hero completely ignored me and walked right past me, toward the crowd who was “moving house.”
… When this guy shouted “Stop!” earlier, could it be that he wasn’t referring to me?
The true hero spoke to the fake heroes with a serious expression, “Please stop, you cannot take things as you please from the common folks.”
Those people probably were not truly accustomed to being thieves. After being accused of theft, their faces instantly turned red. As for the few people who were their leaders, their embarrassment turned to rage. They threw down the furniture that they had been carrying, and cursed, “The residents have all fled! They have no use for these things. If we don’t move them away, are we just going to let the undead creatures benefit?”
Undead creatures have absolutely no interest in furniture. Even if these pieces of furniture stay here for another hundred years, they would only rot. They would never be carried away by undead creatures.
Evidently, the true hero understood this point. He shook his head and explained, “Undead creatures won’t be interested in these things. After the demon king has been vanquished, common folks can return to their homes and start their lives anew. Therefore, don’t touch their belongings.”
Vanquish the demon king… hmph! Royalty in every kingdom would be the first to stop you. That is, unless you have a way to completely exhaust the dark element.
“You think the demon king is such an easy target? He has unparalleled power, and also has obedient servants and an impregnable castle. In the past, the fastest record of vanquishing the demon king was twelve years!”
The fake heroes retorted. From the way they spoke, it was ambiguous which side they were on. A clueless bystander could potentially confuse them for the demon king’s subordinates!
“Even if it takes twelve years, common folks would eventually return to their homes. We can’t let them discover that their homes have completely changed!” The true hero persisted.
Upon hearing this, the fake heroes fell silent. They looked as if they might change their minds. However, from my point of view, it was probably because those pieces of furniture were too difficult to carry. Moreover, it was also hard to say whether that furniture was truly worth anything. If it were a small pouch of gems, I do not believe that they could be persuaded otherwise!
If they returned the furniture just like this, this scenario would be too boring! The situation called for a tiny bit of intervention on my part.
“Why bother to speak these useless words?” I took a step forward and put my hand on the true hero’s shoulder, saying, “These people just need to be taught a lesson.”
The true hero was stunned. He turned his head and looked at “me.” To be precise, it was at my body. I had yet to dispel farsight. That was also why I was able to see every bit of his confused expression. This was much clearer than using my sensing ability.
The group of false heroes was much quicker to react. After they heard my words, they instantly exploded with rage. They even unsheathed their weapons, looking as if they wanted to murder me.
When he saw this, the true hero’s expression changed. Before he even had the chance to shout “wait,” I already released lightning bolts in all directions. However, the power of this web of lightning was not potent. The most it could do was slightly paralyze its targets.
To kill my opponents straight away was very easy, but it was also extremely boring. That was not my intention.
As expected, they gave a few cries of pain but were unharmed. Although they were only fake heroes, they were still people who dared to run around in a land of darkness. It was not possible that they were truly incapable of displaying a bit of strength. At the very least, they definitely had no problems with swinging various weapons to hack someone.
I dispelled farsight and calmly watched the crowd of people dashing toward me. It was a lot more exciting this way. Otherwise, using farsight to stand at the side made me feel like I was watching a stage play.
Hmm, the person at the forefront of the group moves pretty fast! He chose a light, single-handed sword as his weapon, as expected of a speed type fighter. The edge of the blade slashed down above my head instantly, and then with a “clang,” it was blocked by another weapon.
As I thought, the true hero was the real deal. He could not watch someone get chopped into mincemeat in front of him, so he drew his sword to help me block the attack.
“Please calm down! Stop this!” He shouted and blocked advance after advance. However, it was utterly useless. The attack consisted of five people and six weapons, since one of them wielded dual blades, but he blocked them all. As I thought, he could fight pretty well.
While he was busy blocking all the attacks, he was still able to find a moment to turn his head and tell me, “Quick, run away!”
After I spent the effort to make them mad enough to fight, of course I would not turn and leave. “Let me help you.”
“Help me?” He was confused for a second.
I released another web of lightning. This time, the area of effect was increased. Even the people who weren’t initially involved in the fight were shocked by the lightning at the same time. The intensity of the spell was also increased, but it was still far from being fatal. The most it could do was give them some small injuries –– exactly the type of injuries that could irritate people.
The number of attackers increased from five to fifteen in a single moment. Even the true hero could not stop so many fighters. He grabbed my arm and dragged me along as he turned around to run away. Because I didn’t expect this turn of events, I stumbled a couple of steps, almost falling down. In the end, he simply carried me with both of his arms and started to run with all his might.
I thought he would choose to fight until the bitter end. I didn’t think he would turn and run away… Heh, you really are an interesting fellow!
“There is an archer among them,” I calmly warned him.
“What?” The true hero sounded surprised, “Wait, you are a mage, right?”
Asking me whether I am a mage at this point in time? I furrowed my brows. Although I was a bit reluctant to admit it, I still nodded my head for the fun that was to come.
“Why do you wear a mask?” The true hero lowered his head and looked at me suspiciously. “You’ve even covered your eyes with your mask. Can you really see?”
Is right now a good time to worry about a mask?
“Jump to your left,” I instructed.
The true hero promptly jumped to his left. Fortunately, he was very obedient; an arrow flew straight through the spot where he had been a second ago.
“Wow!” The true hero was astonished and said, “Looks like you can indeed see.”
Of course I can’t see. But with my sensing ability and farsight, I am able to see better than anyone. However, I have to wear a mask because right now almost everyone knows that the demon king has a pair of completely-black eyes.
I touched my face and ran my fingers along the edge of my mask, my fingertips cold. This mask was actually quite comfortable. If I didn’t touch it with my fingers, I felt as if the mask didn’t exist. Even if I touched it, I could only detect a thin film, even though this mask was clearly made of metal. It was amazing workmanship to be able to hammer the metal into such a thin layer. The price was probably also quite amazing.
For the purpose of fulfilling the demon king’s demands, the Cathedral of the Shadow God really spent a lot of resources.
“Why do you wear a mask?”
Curiosity can kill a cat! I shouted angrily, “A fire! Is right now really a good time to inquire about my mask?”
The true hero smiled. “Right. Now is a good time to counter-attack.”
“Counter-attack?” I questioned with a bemused tone, “Can you win against so many people?”
“If it is an all-or-nothing struggle, it is hard to say.” The true hero replied honestly, “And, if it is only a scuffle, I probably can’t win.”
“Then why do you want to counter-attack—”
“Taylen, why are you embracing that girl!” I was interrupted by a girl’s high-pitched shriek.
“Girl?” The true hero was stunned for a second. He really did get stunned easily. He probably was the type of person whose reaction time was very slow. Nevertheless, his reaction time during combat was pretty quick. He was quite similar to Roland in this aspect; he was quite slow-witted in everything aside from combat.
“Jump to the left,” I instructed lazily.
The true hero — I think he should be called Taylen — obediently jumped to the left as I instructed, evading yet another arrow.
His teammates were few in number, only two to be exact. One of them was a cleric, the girl who had just shouted at us in a high-pitched voice. The other one seemed to be an archer, but he was also equipped with two daggers at his waist, so he was probably also adept in the art of blades.
Generally, people who can wield weapons in both hands are competent. If one rashly decides to use two weapons without having undergone any prior training, one has a higher chance of cutting off one’s own hand than injuring the opponents. This was what Lesus had told me before.
Taylen put me down and immediately drew his weapon as he turned around to block several attacks from the people chasing us. If he was slower by one second, an axe would have beheaded him.
“Eh?” The cleric stared at me. She completely ignored her two comrades who were already loudly fighting with the enemy, and scrutinized me for several seconds. After which, she released a breath of air, and murmured, “Oh, you are a man!”
Do you need to spend fifteen seconds to distinguish my gender?!
The current me was not a white-haired, slim cleric. Not only did I have black hair, after eating and sleeping well, my weight was also definitely within the normal range for a guy. I was also wearing male clothing. Although I was pretending to be a mage, I had left the castle with the sole intention of secretly observing the situation, and so had not changed my clothes.
“Which part of me looks like a woman?” I questioned coldly. If she did not reply with a satisfactory answer, I would not mind ending this game right here. Even though it was a bit unfortunate, nowadays there were many teams crusading against the demon king; I could still find other heroes for my amusement after exterminating this team.
With the constant sounds of weapons clashing together in the background, and the low growls from her teammates in battle, the cleric replied with a relaxed air as if we were chatting at home. “There are a lot of characteristics! For example, your hair is black and silky, your skin is as white as milk, and your legs are very long. Even your body proportion is great!”
I was silent for a moment. These seem to be words of praise?
“But why are you wearing a mask?” The cleric tilted her head, “If you don’t wear a mask, I would immediately have identified you as a guy!”
“A fire,” I answered simply. Normally, if I said this, everyone would understand and no further questions would follow.
”A fire? What does that have to do with the mask on your face?” Obviously, there was something wrong with this girl’s comprehension.
How can there be such a stupid woman in this world! I explained in an annoyed tone, “The fire burned my face!”
“Oh… What?” The cleric exclaimed, “Did it disfigure you? How unfortunate, I feel like you would have been quite handsome!”
Well said!
She held both hands out to the sides. “But it’s all hopeless now that you’ve been disfigured.”
“…” I bellowed angrily, “A man’s value is not in his face!”
The cleric nodded as she said, “You’re not wrong! But the face is the most important component! If you’re disfigured, no matter how good the other parts are, they can’t make up for it. Moreover, your body only has a good proportion, but it doesn’t seem like you have many muscles. You also don’t look very strong. A man without a good face nor power has no value! In comparison, Taylen is handsome as well as strong. He is the best!”
This… Stinking… Woman…!
“I have power!” I roared madly. “Men without muscles can also have power!”
However, her expression was one of complete disbelief. I was so livid that I raised my hand, thinking of releasing a bolt of lightning for her to see. On second thought, she was just a woman, so I stopped my spell right before its release.
Pah!
“High five!” The cleric shouted in an energetic voice. After jumping up to smack the hand I had raised, she asked confusedly, “Why are we exchanging high fives?”
“…” Who said I wanted to high five you? I wanted to strike you!
Whatever! With this kind of stupid woman around, even the “hero,” Taylen was probably not worth putting my hopes on. That said, their strength was not bad. With just one warrior and one archer, they were able to fight more than twenty enemies, and yet not be at a disadvantage. Given time, they might even triumph. Not bad!
But whatever potential they have is wasted by their stupid teammate! I turned around and prepared to leave.
“Where are you going?” The cleric shouted behind me.
Not your f**king problem. I slowed down my steps, as I detected a bandit stealthily creeping towards the cleric. It seemed like he wanted to take her hostage in order to threaten her teammates. Even with the advantage in numbers, they still had to resort to this kind of tactic. This was rather pathetic.
This might turn into a good show. It would not be too late to leave after this show was over. I relaxed and prepared to watch the excitement. The cleric was watching me with a confused expression. At that moment, the bandit dashed forward and locked the cleric’s arms behind her back. She cried out in pain.
If his teammate is captured, how will the hero respond? Throw down his sword to surrender or disregard his comrade’s life?
The bandit’s dagger pressed against the cleric’s neck. He shouted, “Taylen, Michel, stop what you are doing!”
The two fighters turned their heads simultaneously, shouting in surprise, “Charlotte!”
I blanked out, and then I moved without thinking. In the blink of an eye, I instantly teleported to her side and used a dark blade to send the bandit flying.
The cleric gasped and looked at me with a surprised expression. She exclaimed, “Oh I see, you are a mage. No wonder you said a man can be strong without muscles.”
“You are called Charlotte?” I opened my mouth to ask, suddenly realizing that my voice had turned hoarse.
She was nothing like Charlotte. Even when I used farsight to examine her, I could not find a single similarity. She only has the same name, but…
“Yeah!” Charlotte pouted and said, “Why did you save me?”
“Saving you… is not good?” I was astonished.
“Aw, it’s not that it is not good…” Charlotte continued pouting as she grumbled, “But Charlotte wants Taylen to do it!”
… I was wrong. Not only did they have the same name, they even had the same baffling quirks! Could it be that all women named Charlotte had this kind of behavior?
“Charlotte, are you okay?”
Taylen and that archer… I think he’s called Michel? The two of them ran over in a rush. Both of them had a worried look on their faces.
“No pro—” Charlotte stopped abruptly as she was about to finish the sentence. Then, she spoke in a distressed tone, “Taylen, Charlotte’s arm is really sore. Even my neck is aching!”
Your acting is way too fake!
Bored with her affectionate act, I redirected my attention toward the battlefield where the huge fight had just taken place. Since Taylen and Michel could disengage from battle, that should mean the fight was over right? But from what I saw previously, there should have been more of a fight.
In fact, only around half of the people could not get back up anymore. But the remaining half did not seem interested in continuing. Well, after so many people ganged up on two and yet still lost the fight, it was normal that no one would want to continue fighting and taste the humiliation.
“Thank you very much for saving Charlotte.”
My attention was still directed toward the battlefield. Using farsight, I could gather many interesting expressions of anger and frustration from the loser group. At the same time, I also observed Taylen’s expression of anticipation. However, the target of his anticipation was not Charlotte, but me. To receive a look of anticipation from a man… so disgusting!
“We are currently lacking a mage. I wonder, are you in a team? If you don’t have a team already, would you care to join ours? We don’t have many members, only three. Including you, we would still only have four people, so you can earn a big share. Furthermore…”
Unexpectedly, Taylen was pretty talkative. So-called heroes should keep their cool. Silence is golden, after all! Speaking so much utterly ruined his image as a hero!
Beside us, Michel rolled his eyes, which seemed to say, “Not this again.”
I thought about it for a second. Even though I couldn’t point out the exact reason, I really did want to find a hero to amuse myself. Up until now, Taylen was the guy who fit the image of a hero the most. That, and I really did not want to continue laboring through his long-winded speech.
“Sure, I’ll join.”
“…”
Taylen immediately closed his mouth. Even Michel and Charlotte stared at me with their eyes opened wide. I was confused for a moment. What did I say wrong? Didn’t they want me to join? What is up with their reactions?
“If you don’t want me to, then forget it.” I spoke coldly and turned to leave.
“Yes! Of course we want you to!” Taylen grabbed me to stop me. He nervously asked Michel, “Right?”
“Of course, but aren’t you going to ask for more information?” Michel asked bewilderedly. “For example, our abilities, past missions, how we divide the rewards and such. You are going to join without asking anything?”
Indeed, this was a bit impulsive. There was just one thing I had to clarify at least.
“How are we going to divide the spoils?”
“The most important thing is the spoils huh…” Michel murmured beneath his breath. It was very soft, but I still heard it. He asked carefully, “What level of mage are you?”
“Master level,” I already had Awaitsun carefully prepare everything for my disguise. Naturally, that included an official certificate for a mage.
I took out the certificate and handed it over to Michel. He looked at it very carefully, scanning through it three times in total. Then, he sighed, “You are really a master mage. It is very rare to see one. Usually, only big adventurer teams can afford to hire one. So, I think you should tell us your expectations.”
Very rare? Then would fifty percent be too much?
Michel fidgeted, as if he felt things were not quite right, and quickly added, “Anything over thirty percent is not acceptable!”
Unable to accept, I said, “Thirty-five percent!”
“Deal!” He agreed at once.
… Did I just lose out on a deal?
Maybe because he saw my expression, Michel quickly added, “Master mages never go back on their words. Right?” He directed his last word toward Taylen and Charlotte. The two of them immediately nodded their heads enthusiastically.
Seeing Michel’s nervous expression, I suddenly felt a bit suspicious. Just before, he was clearly bored with Taylen’s attempt to talk me into their party, yet why is he now even more eager than Taylen… Wait, did he put on an act just for me to see?
“Hahahaha—”
I couldn’t help but laugh. The puzzled looks on their faces only added to my merriment. A verbose hero, an archer with great acting skills, and a stupid girl. This team is really interesting!
“You guys are so interesting!”
“Interesting?” Charlotte pointed at her nose, not knowing what was going on. “Which part of us is interesting? Aren’t you the interesting one? You are wearing a strange mask. You didn’t even ask a single question before joining the team. You really are a bizarre master mage!”
Of course you guys are the interesting ones. Compared to Awaitsun and those dark knights, you guys are way more interesting.