Chapter 206

Chapter 204 – Hell – 7

“How dare you put your disgusting body in our safe space?”

With Kaiquilia’s chilling murmur, the golden sword energy that flew through the air split the massive demon’s head in half just as it was about to strike down with its fist.

The contents inside spilled out of the cut surface, and the arm that had been raised high drooped helplessly. The gigantic body toppled over, crashing into the castle wall.

The castle wall trembled. The flesh, swaying like a marionette with its strings cut, slowly crumbled down, leaving behind bloody streaks and pieces of flesh on the wall. The earth beneath its body was stained a dark red with blood.

Even as the enormous demon fell, other demons nearby were becoming the victims of the holy sword.

The holy sword never let its light shine on the same foe twice. In one movement, heads were split, necks severed, and bodies sliced in half. The significant difference in specs between Kaiquilia and the demons became painfully clear.

Dozens of demons lost their lives due to the golden blade, with hundreds following behind them.

And I was busy cleaning up the demons charging at us, standing in for Margarita, who had no means to fight them off.

The demons that had underestimated me perished in the falling divine pillar of light. Margarita was timidly cheering from behind, but as the area seemed to be clearing up, she slowly stepped out.

“Was there anything else aside from what happened last night? It seriously looks like you’re taking out your frustration on the demons.”

Seeing the indiscriminate massacre unfolding in a space resembling the training ground inside the castle, Margarita whispered with a tense expression. She seemed worried that Kaiquilia might overhear her.

“Who knows? I didn’t really feel anything.”

Something did happen, but it was far from being anything worth sharing. And if I were venting, it would likely be due to last night’s events.

After finishing up the nearby cleanup, I watched Kaiquilia fight from atop the castle wall. Initially, I considered helping out, but knowing Kaiquilia, she probably preferred to slice them herself.

As the holy sword swung from below to above, a sacred barrier spread across the ground. The demons stepping on it jumped as if they had stepped on Legos. Soon after, the barrier exploded, burning the demons in golden flames.

Kaiquilia plunged the holy sword into the ground vertically. From that spot, a golden curtain began to spread wide, nearly encompassing the castle.

After deploying the curtain, Kaiquilia pulled out the holy sword again and sliced a writhing demon in half from head to groin.

‘Ugh.’

I cringed at the sight. It reminded me of the time I had to capture the emperor barehanded.

That was one of the patterns from the emperor boss fight. It was a self-buff of sorts, increasing the emperor’s movement speed by 10% and completely negating combat fatigue in the vanilla context.

In Darkest Light Mod, this was cranked up a few notches—movement speed increased by 30%, gaining permanent super armor while not only negating but also reducing combat fatigue.

On top of that, the duration doubled and the range widened substantially, representative of the absurdity that is Darkest Light Mod changes.

The absurdity remained evident, as Margarita stared in white-faced shock at Kaiquilia who was swiftly butchering the demons with noticeably increased speed.

“…That level is what can be called an emperor of the empire.”

“In terms of sheer strength, wouldn’t Your Holiness be among the top in the Holy Kingdom too? Surely much stronger than the Inquisitor or the Heretic?”

“That’s true, but the Pope and the Emperor are fundamentally different. When Your Holiness is selected, regardless of previous abilities, the sun and moon grant you their strength. So, we should credit it partly to the deities. The Emperor’s power is entirely their own, right?”

I actually didn’t know much about the empire’s emperor either.

What I do know is that the first emperor in the empire’s lore was an incredibly strong being, and the current emperor, Kaiquilia, is just as formidable.

It’s unclear if the emperors in between were similarly impressive or simply rose to power due to bloodline. There were no documents related to that.

—Kkkkyyyiiiiiiiii!

A shrill scream echoed. Kaiquilia was mercilessly slaughtering the remaining demons. The area was filled with bodies, all dead.

Half of the demons seemed to have lost their sanity, recklessly charging in only to die, while the other half tried to flee by climbing the walls, but met the same fate. And what had just moved was the last one.

‘At this rate, who’s really the trapped one here…?’

Suddenly, the protagonist in a green suit appearing in a demon-slaying game flickered in my mind. It was portrayed that the protagonist wasn’t trapped in hell by the demons, but rather the demons were trapped with the protagonist.

Though I didn’t have a wonderful means of communication like a chainsaw or a glorious double-barreled shotgun granting light, the current scenario felt oddly reminiscent of that game.

Humans weren’t avoiding demons; demons were avoiding humans instead.

—Kughhhh…!

“Ah, it’s finally coming out.”

As the last demon was split in half, the largest door inside the castle began to open.

What was about to emerge from inside was the second boss from the DLC after the four-winged demon. After defeating that monster, we could use the magic circle to move to the location of the remaining items.

I considered hunting the final boss but decided against it, thinking it would be better to bring the Pope later. Getting back quickly was priority number one.

“……”

Kaiquilia stood with the holy sword plunged into the ground, arms crossed beneath her chest, gazing intently at the new demon emerging from the door. The tips of her leather boots anxiously tapped the floor.

The door opened fully. A massive demon, twice my height, strode in with regal confidence.

It had a pair of horns protruding from its head, which was a symbol of demons, and its entire body was covered in scales similar to armor. And on top of those scales, it was immensely muscular.

The demon briefly glanced at us atop the castle wall with its blazing red eyes before losing interest and turning its gaze to Kaiquilia. Its focus was solely on Kaiquilia.

‘Even the game had this setup.’

By design, this demon enjoyed the fight itself. Submitting to the dominator of these demons was likely a result of it being crushed in a previous encounter.

The conditions for its appearance were that “you must eliminate all demons in this fortress.” With the protagonist having wiped out all its underlings, it seemed to become intrigued and decided to show itself.

Fortunately for the players, once summoned, even if the boss dies during the boss fight, it doesn’t disappear. So, there’s no need to clean the castle every time for a boss fight.

“Is this the one you were talking about?”

“Indeed.”

As I answered Kaiquilia, the demon formed a shield from its left arm.

It was just as stated. From its wrist to the elbow, scales surged to form a massive shield. It was so large it could cover its entire body.

On the top part, a carving of a demon head with its mouth agape glared directly ahead. It thumped its shield against the ground with its other hand, causing a loud thud.

Shortly after, a colossal roar erupted. I merely frowned at the sound, but Margarita beside me covered her ears and shrank back in fright.

Kaiquilia stood stoic, without a hint of change in expression, and calmly pointed the holy sword at it.

“If you have something to say, then do so, Delta. I will personally listen.”

“Attack when the eyes of the demon carving on the shield glow. That way, you’ll easily shatter that shield.”

The second boss of the DLC, commonly referred to as the ‘Gladiator Demon,’ was a boss that could block almost all attacks with its shield, making it quite a tricky fight.

Unless using an attack with super armor, any weapon would result in a 100% bounce off the shield, causing the player to be stunned and thus allowing the demon to counterattack.

As a result, many players deemed it a cheap tactic, remarking that a being enjoying combat should not fight in such a way.

Of course, there was a counter-strategy. Attacking when the eyes on the demon’s shield glowed would cause the shield to break gradually until it shattered completely.

Once the shield was destroyed, the demon would enter a groggy state for a brief time, providing a thrilling free-hit opportunity before transitioning to the 2nd Phase. From there on, its aggressiveness spiked considerably, living up to its name as the Gladiator Demon.

While it was possible to defeat it without destroying the shield, that wasn’t particularly recommended as it often dragged out the initial phase.

“Understood. Now do your part.”

With Kaiquilia’s straightforward reply, she kicked off the ground and jumped high into the air. Holding the sword upside down so that the tip pointed towards the ground, she plunged down with all her strength towards the demon.

The demon raised its shield to block the attack. The holy sword collided with the shield first, followed by its leather boot stepping onto it. With a loud clang, a circular shockwave radiated outward.

The shield clearly didn’t absorb all the shock, as the demon wobbled, bending one knee.

‘…So that’s possible.’

To be honest, I was quite surprised.

Following that, I turned my back and moved towards the inner part of the castle as Kaiquilia began to relentlessly press the attack against the demon. The demon’s appearance confirmed that there were no demons left in the castle.

Kaiquilia cast a glance at me as I entered, but resumed pounding the shield. Margarita had been following closely behind me. Her chest, wrapped in a yellow bikini, bounced in tune with her steps.

“Why the castle?”

“I figured since your majesty is bound to win, I might as well get the magic circle operational in the meantime.”

Margarita nodded in agreement. Neither of us was considering the possibility of Kaiquilia losing.

“How far down do we need to go?”

Instead of answering, I kicked the ladder in front of me. Margarita flinched as she looked down.

“…I’m surprised. It’s really deep.”

“This barely makes the cut for what’s considered large. If you saw the castle of their king, you’d be shocked.”

Since that was the residence of the demon king, it was nearly as vast as the imperial palace. Although there were many places that had utterly collapsed or were blocked off, meaning only a few spaces were truly accessible.

If true imperial palace scale was intact, just clearing out the entrance statue would have been a significant blood pressure raiser.

“You’re not seriously planning to show me, are you?”

“Of course not. We need to get out of here as fast as we can.”

—GRAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!

Suddenly, a towering roar reverberated from outside. It was vastly different from before, a prolonged and powerful bellow.

‘What is it? Already the 2nd Phase?’

It was also the roar the Gladiator Demon let out upon entering its 2nd Phase. I was baffled by how quickly it had entered that phase after coming into the castle.

“It seems we’ve taken down half of its health. Let’s hurry.”

“Huh, already?”

“Yes, already.”

We descended the ladder into the underground. I merely grabbed the side of the ladder and slid down while Margarita took her time, gently stepping down each rung.

The sight of her butt bouncing with each step and her hips swaying left and right was an added bonus. I forced my gaze away and stood before the door with the altar.

‘…Kaiquilia is going to create a scene if she sees this.’

As expected, there should be a statue depicting the demon king in place of where the dragon’s head sculpture now stood.

The sculpture of the Creature that Devours the World was present instead.