The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits

EP7. At the End of Darkness

I felt a powerful wave of black magic.

I felt it instinctively. At least in terms of black magic, there were beings similar to me. Two such beings appeared before me.

I gritted my teeth.

It was a demon tribe.

“…There are still demons of this level left?”

I blurted out those words in embarrassment.

The demons, dressed in luxurious but completely unrecognizable clothing, smiled and spoke to me.

“We are truly astonished. There is such a powerful warlock among humans. If it were a one-on-one fight, we would not have been able to guarantee victory.”

“Hmm. That’s true. And I can sense powers other than black magic. Are humans actually capable of controlling such a variety of powers? Interesting.”

Where on earth do demons of that level come from?

These are the guys who didn’t even show their noses in the war against the Demon King. If they were that strong, they should have at least been given the position of legion commander.

Are you saying that a strong person of that level was hiding from the Demon King’s eyes? Isn’t that a ridiculous story?

Or maybe they have just reached the level of master. But that is also nonsense.

The black magic felt from them is too ferocious for someone who has only recently reached the level of Master. Yes, they are at the very end of the Master level. Anyone can tell that they have just reached the level of Master.

I had a gut feeling that I might lose. Their abilities as warlocks would be on the same level as mine. If they were lower level than me, even a master would be able to easily defeat them, but if they were similar level to me, it would be difficult to win.

They started preparing their black magic, and I prepared to destroy their black magic.

And then I started to panic.

‘The system of black magic is completely different.’

It was completely different from the existing system I had learned. It felt like the techniques completely denied what I had learned. I couldn’t find a way to destroy them.

‘Crazy, the structure of the spell is completely different. This isn’t something that can be done by making a variation of the spell. It’s a form that developed independently, in a way that is completely different from the system that was commonly used among black magicians.’

Black magic was originally mostly completed through the connection of elaborate spells like magic, but what the demons before our eyes were using was a method of activation that was based on the belief in occurrence rather than magic, almost like a ‘miracle’.

I barely managed to block the demons’ black magic with my divine power.

The demons smiled and continued speaking.

“Divine power, divine power, you say. You even control the power of the damned angels? Isn’t that amazing? I’m really curious as to how you control such completely opposing powers… Right, you said you were a warrior. Could that have something to do with it?”

I gritted my teeth and took out my bow. If I couldn’t destroy the black magic, I just had to not give it time to use its black magic. I was thinking of shooting arrows to twist the spell’s composition.

The arrow fired lightly with that thought was blocked by the barrier in vain.

I frowned. It was strange that a shield was created with black magic, since black magic usually has a destructive nature rather than a protective one.

And my doubts were quickly resolved.

‘Through the nature of destruction, he created a barrier around himself that destroyed objects that approached him.’

Thinking of defending by destroying attacks was a very different way of thinking from the black magic I had learned.

And then, while one of them was defending with a barrier, another demon who had completed his spell attacked.

Boom! I heard an explosion and saw my shield break.

I felt my body cooling down.

…

Lena looked in the direction of the border.

If it were anyone else, doing so would have been meaningless, but Lena went against the grain.

The realm of Master, commonly referred to as the limit of the race. Lena, who had reached a higher level, was able to see things that others could not see.

A landscape that appears to be a very small dot. However, if you just pour magic into your eyes, that small dot will be transformed into a blurry shape.

Lena stared at the blurry figure absentmindedly.

Next, I tied the bowstring so that no arrow was caught.

Blue arrows of magical power began to appear on the bowstring.

Blow all your magic. To go further, stronger, beyond what is commonly called the limit.

Grandmaster is not simply a better version of what a master does.

A Grand Master is someone who does things that are literally ‘different’ from the normal limits of a normal species, which is why that realm is called ‘Transcendence’.

Just one step.

A single arrow flew towards where Ainzel, the demons, and the warlocks had appeared.

While Ainzel was fending off the demons’ attacks, he sensed something strange.

Something is coming.

I felt like I had a magical power that I couldn’t match even if I squeezed out all my magical power.

And I knew it instinctively.

That arrow was not flying towards him.

Ainzel chuckled and smiled.

“Hmm, what is it? I don’t know why you’re laughing. Are you losing your mind because you’re so close to death?”

Ainzel shook his head at the demon’s words.

The demon, who had been tilting his head, belatedly noticed the sign.

I finally sensed what the ‘thing’ that was flying towards me was.

A scale beyond imagination. It came with a sense of oppression that was so great that it was hard to believe it was just a single arrow.

“What the… what the…!”

The demons could tell even as they hurriedly spread out their protective shields.

Anyway, I can’t stop it.

From the tissues of the skin to every drop of blood flowing through the body, every component of the body speaks of death.

The two demons who had reached the master level sensed death. And then, they laughed.

“…I don’t know what the hell is going on, but it doesn’t matter. If we expend this much power, we can achieve our biggest goal.”

Ainzel looked at them quietly.

Soon, a meteor shower fell.

For a moment, a flash of light spread out and it seemed as if the world was plunged into silence.

When I came to my senses, the demons had been erased from existence, leaving behind not even a trace.

Ainzel looked at the sight and then collapsed.

“…What on earth are you aiming at?”

The black magicians watched the fight between Ainzel and the demons and soon disappeared. This sight confused Ainzel.

It wasn’t even a proper fight, it was just a reflection of them…

At that moment, Ainzel seemed to know what the warlocks were after.

‘We aimed for the consumption of electricity,’ said the demons.

In reality, they only gave in to two demons, and the warlocks pretended to fight and then ran away.

Besides, it would be fair to say that there were very few high-level warlocks among them.

I was mistaken because the two demons were of master level.

What if the main force wasn’t on your side from the beginning?

Ainzel quickly stood up and started heading towards the royal capital.

The method Ainzel chose was teleportation. Not coordinates, but teleportation allows him to arrive in an instant even if it is a few days away.

As soon as Ainzel arrived at the capital, he headed towards the palace. People’s gazes no longer mattered.

But as he headed towards the royal road, he felt something strange.

‘It’s too quiet.’

No matter how much you think about it, the palace doesn’t seem like the center of the conflict. To make matters worse, there were soldiers moving somewhere, so it was obvious to anyone that the palace wasn’t the center of the conflict.

‘What? You weren’t aiming for the palace? That can’t be possible.’

Lena would have used up all her energy in the one room she just had, so if the enemy is waiting for an opportunity, now would be the best time to attack…

Only then did Ainzel realize that there were other places worth targeting besides the palace.

The World Tree. The greatest tree, and the origin of all plants. Because it existed.

Ainzel turned his body and started to face the World Tree.

‘You’re aiming for the World Tree? Why?’

To be honest, it didn’t make sense to aim for the World Tree. Although the World Tree is called the guardian of the fairies, it has long since stopped its activities, except for performing rituals to strengthen recognized warriors, and has remained essentially a symbol. So, aiming for the World Tree? Why?

Ainzel thought that the black magicians were gathering sacrifices for some kind of ritual. So if they raided the palace, they could have gathered a lot of sacrifices, but he wondered what would happen if they specifically targeted the World Tree.

And Ainzel’s thoughts were shattered as soon as he saw the World Tree burning.