The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits

EP8. The Coming Doom

He had no idea what was happening before his eyes.

I thought I was going to die. It was natural. But why,

Why.

Was he seeing Grandis’ blood spraying into the air right before his eyes?

Ainzel gritted his teeth. Then, he summoned all his desperate strength and teleported.

The Demon King could have pursued him, but he did not bother to pursue him. Grandis was already in a state where his body was being eroded by his own black magic, so no matter how much divine power he poured into him, he could not save him.

And he knew that there was no point in the warrior being left alone.

Ainzel teleported and barely managed to put Grandis down on the floor, who was bleeding. Grandis was smiling faintly.

“Why on earth is that?”

Those were the first words Ainzel spoke.

“It was useless. You won’t gain anything by doing that. Wasn’t it my intention to die and go back to the past in the first place?”

He shouldn’t have said that. There must have been a better way to say it. But even as he thought that, he couldn’t help but say it out loud.

Grandis smiled as if she understood him completely, stroked his cheek, and said.

“I know. I know.”

“Then why on earth…!”

“I knew you had to die, but you know…”

Ainzel’s face distorted.

“You knew? Are you saying that you did it on purpose even though you knew? Why? For what…?”

In stark contrast to that, Grandis was smiling.

“I just couldn’t see it.”

“what?”

“I knew in my head that you had to die, that you had to go back to the past, but I just couldn’t bear to see you die. I felt like if you died like this, I would really be saying goodbye to you forever. So… So, I decided to die in your place.”

“What does that mean? It doesn’t change anything.”

“I know, something like that.”

Grandis whispered softly and clasped her hands together.

“But at least I can die in your arms like this. Isn’t that not so bad?”

“…Have you ever thought about the pain I would feel seeing you dying?”

“It’s not that I didn’t think about it… Sorry, I’m always selfish, so I couldn’t prioritize something like that.”

Ainzel heard that and laughed in vain.

“…You are truly selfish to the end.”

Grandis said with a smile.

“I’m sorry for being a selfish country.”

It was clearly selfish of her to feel that it would be nice if he remembered her as he watched her die, if it would leave an unforgettable scar in his heart.

So Grandis said that, smiled, and then stopped breathing.

Ainzel continued to hold her hand for a while. He could feel her body temperature gradually cooling down.

Only when there was not even a shred of warmth left was Ainzel able to let go of her hand. His hand was trembling.

He clenched his trembling hands into fists and opened his mouth.

“…Yeah, you really are a really selfish woman. You.”

She was so selfish until the very end that she couldn’t even express a single complaint.

Ainzel stood up and teleported beside her.

And then, right before his eyes, the Demon King appeared.

The Demon King smiled and said.

“Yes, you’re here, warrior? That old Grandis is already dead, isn’t she? Her expression is quite interesting.”

Ainzel looked at the Demon King with cold eyes and drew his holy sword.

“You will die by my hands.”

“Ha, how about you?”

Ainzel swung his sword at the Demon King. The Demon King struck Ainzel in the side and knocked him down.

“Your body has aged greatly. It seems that you have tried to overcome the aging of your body through technology, but unfortunately it is impossible. How fleeting the human body is, it has become a pity.”

Ainzel crumpled his face.

Then he took out his bow and started shooting arrows. But the Demon King didn’t move a finger, just blocked them with a shield, and then made a motion to press something with his palm.

Ainzel felt tremendous pressure at that moment.

“Then, just let me die.”

“Ugh!”

Ainzel gritted his teeth and held on, but the pressure gradually began to grow stronger.

Eventually, Ainzel lost his balance and fell, and was pinned to the ground, unable to move.

But the pressure only grew stronger, and at the moment when the pressure finally exceeded the critical point, Ainzel’s body began to crumble.

Ainzel felt his body turn into a handful of blood and he knew his soul was leaving his body.

…

Ainzel opened his eyes. And then, as soon as he did, he closed his eyes and grimaced.

I thought that maybe, just maybe, I wouldn’t have to go back to this point.

I wanted to believe that the time I spent with her wasn’t in vain.

But now he was here.

It seems to have been a lodging facility used by the empire several decades ago.

Ainzel got up from his bed and looked in the mirror.

The wrinkles were gone, his jaw was smooth, and his hair was the same black it had been before it turned white.

Ainzel felt strangely unfamiliar with himself, having returned to his appearance from decades ago.

Not only that, but every time I moved my body, it felt like it was brimming with energy. It was a complete contrast to my old body.

Only then was he able to accept that he had regressed decades ago.

Ainzel crumpled his face. The image of Grandis dying was vivid, but now there was no trace of it.

He frowned, but there was nothing he could do.

There was only one thing he could do.

“Can you please contact my colleagues?”

Ainzel spoke to the maid who was in charge of his quarters. The maid nodded yes, but sensed that something had changed in his mood.

After a few days, Ainzel and his companions began to move towards the production facility of the Ashen Soldiers.

Ainzel hesitated for a moment as Grandis’ territory came into view.

She was the woman he had lived with for decades. The fact that she would suddenly lose her memory felt like a kind of irresistible absurdity to him.

Ainzel hesitated for a moment, then blocked the barrier’s influence so that Grandis wouldn’t notice him.

That way, they were able to infiltrate the production facility without Grandis noticing.

Ainzel was unfazed by the sight of the facility producing the ash-gray soldiers.

He no longer ran towards the demons in hatred.

He just kept reducing the demons one by one with a somewhat indifferent and slightly sad look in his eyes.

His colleagues found this sight strange. Normally, Ainzel would have been the first to kill the demons with a wicked look in his eyes, and he would have found joy in that.

But Ainzel no longer did that. He didn’t even feel like doing that. He just kept moving forward with only his mission as a warrior and his hatred for the Demon King in his heart.

After so long, they were finally left with only a giant door.

I had used black magic to hide myself from the Demon King as I entered the facility, so now all I had to do was defeat Malekidus.

Finally, the giant door opened and Malecidus came out.

“Come.”

Ainzel looked at Malekidus, facing the strong wind blowing directly at him.

Malecidus began to swing his whip, and the soldiers also began to attack them.

However, what Malekidus overlooked was that Ainzel’s abilities were beyond imagination.

The black magic used by Malekidus’ direct subordinates, which no one could easily defeat before, was broken by a single Ainzel.

“It’s so… obvious.”

While Ainzel was saying that and drawing the enemy’s attention, Lena’s arrows instantly struck the necks of Malekidus’ direct subordinates who had shown an opening.

Malekidus began to panic. This was not right. At least his subordinates should have bought him some time, but he still looked like he had been taken too quickly.

“Hero… How dare you…!”

Malecidus began to rampage, his face distorted and he began to swing his whip wildly.

But even though he was clearly an opponent several levels above him, for some reason, Ainzel’s expression seemed to read him, and Malekidus felt a chill run down his spine.

Moreover, the situation was becoming increasingly unfavorable for him. Perhaps it seemed that he had no way of dealing with the four people who had reached the realm of transcendence attacking him.

Ainzel knew what Malecidus would choose. His loyalty to the Demon King was also a product of his inferiority complex, so he would eventually run away when he was put in a dangerous situation.

Ainzel had no intention of leaving it that way.

After Malecidus’ teleportation spell was broken, Malecidus finally met his death.