The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits

EP8. The Coming Doom

Grandis laughed. It had been a long time since she had felt such stimulation.

As expected, the warrior made himself happy. How on earth this was possible, that is.

So she continued to endure, endure, endure. I don’t know what the mechanism is, but every time she tried to attack, the spell was interrupted, and eventually the spell was blocked by the fairy archer, so she naturally stopped trying to attack.

Grandis continued to defend instead. Of course, her defense was not just for herself, but also for all of her allies, but the mysterious power did not stop it. In any case, it means that it doesn’t matter as long as you don’t attack.

However, contrary to Grandis’s sentiments, the imperial army led by the warrior was steadily defeating the demons. The reason was none other than Saint and Beatrice.

In Lena’s case, she was only keeping Grandis in check, and Peria’s magic was blocked by Grandis. However, Sein and Beatrice could not pay attention to Grandis.

With just one swing of his sword, dozens of demons were swept away. On the contrary, Beatrice’s miracle was literally a miracle. If someone who was dying with their entrails spilled out came back to life without even the slightest scratch, what else could you call it if not a miracle?

However, the time that Ainzel could keep Grandis sealed was gradually running out. Grandis noticed that Ainzel’s attempts to seal the attack spell were gradually slowing down.

When Ainzel could no longer stop Grandis, Ainzel said:

“Beatrice, please block Grandis’ attack. Please stop healing and focus only on defense.”

“If we do that, there will be casualties,”

“There will be a lot of people. But there’s nothing we can do about it. Didn’t we ever expect there to be no casualties in the first place?”

“That’s right.”

Beatrice had no choice but to accept his words, then stopped healing and glared at Grandis.

Finally, the most powerful black magic available to Grandis was unleashed.

Sword of Darkness. A huge sword made of pitch-black, abyssal matter fell from the sky.

Beatrice squeezed out her divine power to create a shield, but the shield shattered as a tremendous impact struck.

Ainzel analyzed the spell remaining on the Sword of Darkness. There was no way the spell could work properly since it collided with the ultimate defensive barrier made of divine power.

Where the ritual falls apart, there is bound to be a gap. He knew it.

And he found that weakness and shattered the Sword of Darkness.

Grandis opened her eyes wide at the sight. She couldn’t figure out what was happening.

Suddenly, the most powerful black magic she could use collapsed. The Dark Sword was a black magic that was quite burdensome even for her. Combined with the fact that she had stopped Peria and was restrained by Lena, her defeat seemed certain.

But even that was just a form of entertainment for her. Grandis watched the other legion commanders step forward as well.

However, even the legion commanders could not stop Sein from running wild at the front and Lena from behind, who was supporting Sein and keeping him in check.

“Tsk, useless stuff.”

Even as the odds of defeat became increasingly bleak, Grandis continued to say the same thing, her eyes still focused on the warrior.

Come to think of it, this was already the second time she had suffered what could be called a defeat.

And all those experiences came from the warrior right in front of me.

The warrior, his comrades, and the demons all had a premonition that the imperial army would be victorious.

Some legion commanders went wild, saying that this was not right. If they were to hand over this high ground to the enemy now, the only thing left would be the Demon King’s Castle, the heart of the Demon King’s army. They did not want the imperial army to aim for the heart of the Demon King’s army.

And they could do nothing.

“From now on.”

Ainzel looked at them with cold eyes.

“I can’t do anything.”

You don’t have to completely dispel them. Just twisting the spell a little will buy Lena time to restrain them, and once restraint starts, they won’t be able to do anything.

As he used all his powers to disrupt the black magic spells, the black magicians were unable to do anything, and the few commanders of the warrior class who were free from such dispels… were beheaded by the Sein who ran ahead.

But Grandis could still enjoy the sight. Even if she lost, she was certain that if she used her hidden secrets without reserve, she would be able to inflict significant damage, at least enough to wipe out most of the troops currently present.

But then a voice was heard.

[To all mankind.]

As soon as Grandis heard that voice, he looked in the direction of the Demon King’s castle.

Something, an ominous feeling, seemed to run down my spine.

And that feeling soon became reality.

[You humans who dare to trample on the territory of the Demon Tribe, no matter how hard you try, you will never be able to reach this Demon King’s castle.]

With those words, a massive torrent of black magic began to flow from the Demon King’s Castle.

“what.”

Grandis opened her mouth in embarrassment, which could be said to be unusual. However, the Demon King’s voice was no longer heard.

However, everyone felt it. The concentration of black magic in the place where the Demon King’s castle was.

If you go in, you will definitely die as an ordinary soldier. No, even if you don’t, you might go crazy.

The problem was that the concentration of the Demon King’s Castle’s black magic was so thick that it seemed to form a protective barrier.

Wrong. This is why the soldiers have nowhere to return. Grandis thought so.

The Demon King decided to sacrifice all the soldiers here in order to buy time.

When the Demon King’s soldiers realized this, they became panicked and started to run wild. They realized that their king had abandoned them.

Grandis clicked his tongue. At this rate, he could not even dream of victory. Furthermore, the justification for fighting had disappeared. No fool would be loyal to a king who had abandoned them first.

Feeling disappointed at the disappointment, Grandis prepared to retreat.

And the Imperial Army could not miss that opportunity.

However, Ainzel’s heart grew restless. It was clear that the black magic spreading out from the Demon King’s Castle would spread to the extent of covering all of the Demon King’s army’s territory. Although it was a little far from the Demon King’s Castle and the concentration was low, it was clear that if time was dragged on like this, there would be problems for the soldiers.

In this case, it was safe to say that the operation had failed. They had won the battle, but it was difficult to say that they had won the war.

It was perhaps a matter of consolation that we had at least managed to kill most of the enemy’s legion commanders, considering it a half success.

It was then that he discovered Lena’s figure aiming at Grandis.

“…Just stop it for now.”

As soon as Lena heard that, she looked dumbfounded and said.

“What? You’re going to let that b*tch live even after coming all this way? If you miss your chance now, you never know when you might be able to kill her.”

Ainzel felt breathless. He knew. He already knew that she and he were now enemies. But hearing this, he felt at a loss as to what to say.

“Yes, right here and now, the opportunity to defeat the worst warlock has come, and I cannot afford to ignore it.”

Beatrice came out to support Lena.

Ainzel shook his head at those words. For now, he wanted to avoid attacking Grandis.

“…No, think about it. If we lose time while defeating Grandis and the soldiers are affected by the black magic, do you know what will happen? Besides, the black magic that those soldiers are exposed to is the black magic of the Demon King.”

The Demon King’s black magic. The moment they heard those words, Ainzel’s companions felt a chill down their spines. They also knew. They knew what happened to the demons who had black magic injected into their bodies.

“that.”

Beatrice also began to worry when the situation became like that. Ainzel began to list reasons why he should not fight in order to avoid attacking Grandis as much as possible.

“Even if you don’t become an Ashen Soldier, it’s not good to be exposed to black magic for a long period of time. Attacking Grandis here and now is too reckless a gamble.”

After hearing Ainzel’s words, Lena’s face crumpled and she clenched her fists. It seemed as if blood was flowing out of her fists.

“…shit.”

Only when Lena bowed her head could they come to a consensus.