The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits

EP9. ■■

Suddenly I raised my head and looked at the sky.

Darkness was dyeing the sky.

After continuously chasing the dark magicians, I finally arrived here.

Near my home village, in the darkest depths, there was a stronghold of the warlocks.

He doesn’t know why he stole the essence of the World Tree. He doesn’t even know why.

However, I knew for sure that nothing good would happen if I just left it alone.

I looked at Lena, who was tuning her bow next to me, and said.

“Are you ready?”

“huh.”

I washed my face once and then held the black iron sword tightly.

There was an ominous feeling lingering around the area. This feeling, yes, was somewhat similar to what I had felt at the Demon King’s Castle, though to a different degree.

We started to enter the facility.

As if they had anticipated Lena and I’d come, a huge number of undead greeted them.

I snapped my fingers once. Then, the undead were struck by a miracle and turned into a handful of ash that scattered away.

No matter how many there were, the lower undead were an easy opponent for a priest who had reached a certain level, and I was a powerful priest in my own way. And the warlocks would know that.

Everyone knew it was just a waste of time.

But it meant that there was something so necessary that it had to be done. I found that fact puzzling.

After fighting the undead for some time, Lena and I began to advance further down the floor.

As I went down the stairs, I felt the dark magic gradually growing stronger. Lena also seemed to realize that the atmosphere was similar to what she felt at the Demon King’s Castle. Seeing Lena’s face crumple, I bit my lip slightly.

And then, I heard a voice behind me.

‘Hey, I have something to tell you.’

I looked back, but there was nothing behind me but Lena.

The voice came again. Above, no, in front, no, next to, no…

Only then did I realize where the voice was coming from.

It was a voice coming from within me.

The suppressed emotions that I had thrown away, that I had to throw away, were speaking to me.

I was shocked by that fact. How could it have had such a big influence on me?

Whether or not, the voice continued to speak.

‘Hey, you can hear my voice anyway. What are you doing? Answer me quickly.’

I crumpled my face.

‘I have nothing to say to you.’

As I said that, my inner voice sounded surprised.

‘Oh, really? I’m talking to you to give you some advice. If you don’t listen now, you might regret it.’

I ignored the voice, but the inner voice did not give up and kept talking to me.

‘Really! Hurry up and do what I ask. Otherwise-‘

‘No need. You’re going to ask me to take off your chains anyway. I told you there’s no way I’d free you.’

‘No, that’s not it. No, no, of course I was going to ask you to do that, but it wasn’t for the reason you think. Of course it would be better to let you go, but ah-‘

I shouted in a rambling voice.

‘What the hell do you want me to do? Do I look like a fool who would trust you after hearing me say such things?’

Then the voice spoke in a serious tone.

‘No, that’s not the main reason I’m asking you to let me go. If you keep locking me up like this, you’re going to be in big trouble.’

‘What’s the big deal? What’s the big deal? I’m fine right now.’

‘Don’t pretend not to know. This place is currently filled with a power similar to the Demon King’s black magic. That’s why I’m constantly being stimulated. I’m a collection of emotions that you gave up, born from the influence of the Demon King’s black magic.’

‘So what do you want me to do?’

‘It’s not too late now. Wouldn’t it be better to break my seal quickly? If you break my seal now, nothing bad might happen, but if the seal isn’t broken but completely broken, you’ll definitely regret it, right?’

Then I scrunched up my face and answered in my mind.

‘Ha, so what you’re saying is that the seal that’s imprisoning you will be released soon, so isn’t that a good thing for you?’

Then the voice answered.

‘No, if the seal is broken like this, the Demon King’s black magic will be greater than the weight of your past emotions, right? I can guarantee it. If you release the seal now, things might be a mess because you’ll do whatever you want, but if the seal is not released but broken… you’ll go berserk. You’ll be affected by the Demon King’s black magic, and only your negative emotions will be amplified, until your reason will melt away. That’s why I’m saying this.’

I decided to ignore that voice. No, not yet. I’ll deal with the warlocks here quickly, and if nothing else happens, then this will be resolved.

Then, the voice spoke one last time, as if it knew that I could not change my mind.

‘You might really regret it… Well, if that’s what you want, then there’s nothing I can do about it.’

After so much time, we finally reached the lowest floor.

The warlocks knew we were coming, as they were already prepared for battle.

If this many black magicians were using black magic at once, it would be impossible to reverse all of them. However, it was still possible.

Lena pulled the bowstring once without an arrow.

At the same time, everything in front of the bowstring’s trajectory, where there should clearly be nothing, disappeared.

Shooting an arrow made of steel was like that. It was already like the power to manipulate reality in itself.

The warlocks, whether they did or not, didn’t seem at all flustered.

They began to prepare black magic.

There was no way I could stop it all. Lena had also exhausted some of her energy, so she was in no position to use her magic recklessly any longer.

Instead, I blocked all the spells that were clearly threatening. I blocked the remaining spells with a shield. The warlocks didn’t seem shaken by the situation.

‘Why?’

I questioned that fact. How could it be that I was not shaken at all? That look was the kind that only those who were confident, or rather certain, of victory could have.

The warlocks fired an unknown curse at me.

If I had the blessing of the warriors of the past, I could have easily ignored the curse, but now, the curse could be fatal. I frowned.

But I felt nothing. I tilted my head at that fact.

Then, some of the warlocks frowned at my appearance.

“Hmm, how come it’s so normal? It’s clearly a curse that acts directly on the nervous system, causing every kind of pain a human can experience.”

As soon as I heard that, I laughed.

“That’s… too bad.”

Only then did the warlocks look a little surprised. It wasn’t that their confident attitude had completely broken, but it seemed like they felt a little happy about it.

“Because I have this body, I can’t feel pain.”

“…Hmm, so this is an unexpected situation.”

However, there was still some leeway among the warlocks. What on earth was that leeway? I was annoyed by that inexplicable leeway.

“I don’t know what the source of that leeway is, but you won’t win anyway. You can tell just by looking at the difference in power. I don’t know why you’re acting like this.”

But the warlocks began to giggle collectively.

“Yeah, we can’t win. If it’s ‘us’, then. We might even get annihilated by you. But that doesn’t matter. Yeah… Our goal has already been achieved.”

“purpose?”

“Yes, for that, I gathered the sacrifices and even used the essence of the World Tree. This world… will be embraced by the Demon God. A weak goddess like you will not be able to interfere with this world because humans are hostages. The holy sword was broken by your misguided desires. Never again will there be a means to restore balance. Yes… a new world has already opened.”

I didn’t understand what he was saying. No, maybe it was just the ravings of a madman. But his eyes were filled with madness, yet they were also surrounded by layers of surprisingly firm conviction.

“It seems like the time has come. Even if I die from this, I have no regrets. Now, look. This is… the ‘existence’ we have longed for.”

With those words, a tremendous amount of black magic began to spread out.

It felt almost like the Demon King’s. I hardened my face.

And at the same time, something inside me felt like it was snapping.