The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits

EP6. Cataclysm

I took a deep breath.

The demons that appeared before my eyes were more powerful than I had expected.

“Wow, you’re amazing, a human from the Middle-Earth can stop me, a high-level demon. You don’t even look that old.”

I glared at the demon in front of me. I never thought that there would be such a strong demon among the demons, yet their names were unknown. Perhaps they were one of the demons who decided not to follow the Demon King and were living in hiding.

The problem is, why on earth is that demon attacking me? Why did I have something to deserve a grudge from a demon who wasn’t even the Demon King’s subordinate?

…there are so many that I don’t know what’s what.

I spoke to the demon that I saw in front of me.

“…Why on earth are you attacking me? Is it revenge?”

Then the demon stroked his beard and said.

“No, that’s not it. I’m just doing this because it’s something I have to do. I was asked to do it.”

Please? It’s not like we have a grudge, but if there’s someone who would have a connection with such a powerful demon and order them to attack me, I think it would be a black magician. It’s not that it’s impossible to say it’s Grandis, but I don’t think Grandis would come out and fight himself and order another demon to do this.

“…Were the warlocks the ones who ordered you to attack me?”

Let’s say that, the demon smiled and said.

“Yes, that’s right. How clever. They called me. And then they asked me a favor. ‘Bring me a human named Ainzel to use as a sacrifice.’

To be honest, I was a little disappointed that the first thing you asked me to do was to capture a human, but now I understand. Yes, that’s right, since you’re this kind of person, you must have ordered me to capture you. You’re definitely strong. Even if you only look at your abilities as a warlock, you’re on par with me. But even so, since this is your first request, you can’t fail, right?”

The demon took out several tools.

“Those guys gave it to me. They said it contained the essences they had studied. Let’s go and see how useful they are.”

I frowned. The opponent was definitely strong. He was at the end of the typical Master level. He was at a similar level to the legion commanders I had faced in the past… Yes, probably (it was too long ago to be sure) the legion commander known as the Black Knight.

There was no way to know what would happen if such an opponent took out such tools.

And, the most surprising thing of all was the fact that the warlocks had given the items they had researched and created to that tribe. In the past, the warlocks had not cooperated well with the Demon King’s army, but the fact that they had given the fruits of their research to that tribe was enough to make me feel ominous.

Why on earth did that demon listen to the ‘requests’ of the warlocks, and why did the warlocks trust that demon and give them what was theirs?

My mind was in disarray, but I couldn’t just let myself be captured. I breathed black magic into the amethyst embedded in my sword.

Finally, the demon began to move. He pulled out a staff that looked like a human spine with a human skull at the end.

“This staff is quite good for something made by humans. It seems to be of the same quality as the craftsmen of my hometown. Well, let me give it a try.”

The skull of the staff flashed. At the same time, I felt the vitality drain from my body.

“…Is it a curse?”

“Yes, it is a curse. It is a curse that sucks the vitality out of your body. If you continue like this, you won’t be able to move a single finger. Is that okay?”

I purified the curse with my divine power. The demon’s eyes showed interest.

“…Is that the divine power that those damn angels use? That’s amazing. How can they use black magic and divine power at the same time? The two powers should be completely incompatible.”

“I don’t know either.”

I spoke to the demon with a mocking tone. I don’t know how to use black magic, divine power, and magical power together, but I didn’t think the demon would be able to figure it out no matter how hard he racked his brain.

At those words, the demon nodded and this time took out a book with a strangely shaped bone fragment attached to it.

“Then I will try this out. It is a uniquely styled black magic book. I am not sure if you will like it.”

Before the demon could do anything, I moved my black magic to prevent him from using the spell contained in the black magic book.

“Wow! That’s amazing. Your control over black magic is really high. Considering that your control over black magic is the evil in your heart, it’s even more unusual to be able to handle divine power at the same time. Do you have a split personality or something? I don’t think that’s possible otherwise.”

Split personality? That was funny. I laughed at that demon.

“You’re talking nonsense. Let me see if you have a split personality.”

I simultaneously raised my divine power and dark magic power and then shot it at the demon.

The demon tried to stop it, but right before it could directly reach the demon, the black magic and divine power met and exploded.

“Ugh!”

The demon groaned. It was difficult to protect one’s body with black magic to begin with, and there was no way it could withstand the explosive force caused by the reaction of divine power and black magic.

I took out my bow and shot at the demon. It was a means to keep striking the enemy from a distance and not give them the upper hand.

As expected, the demons frowned, unable to find an opening to easily counterattack.

“…I don’t like it.”

The demon said with a frown on his face. I continued shooting arrows.

The moment the demon dodged the arrows here and there, I saw an opening.

I loaded several arrows onto the bow at once and fired them.

Multi-shot. A technique where you get hit by another arrow the moment you think you’ve dodged one. This technique is difficult to master, so it’s several times harder to dodge than normal archery, and the Demons are no exception.

An arrow loaded with energy pierced the demon’s body.

“Cough!”

The demon vomited blood. As the black blood soaked the ground, the demon glared at me with bloodshot eyes.

“This… this… this… this damn thing…”

The demon breathed his last after saying those words. It was a vain end considering his strength.

I approached the corpse of the demon. I was cautious just in case, but there was no danger.

As I approached the corpse carefully, a purple glowing pattern appeared on the demon’s corpse.

“… What is this?”

When I detected black magic, it seemed to be black magic that gave some kind of signal when life ended.

I couldn’t figure out why he had this dark magic engraved on his body. I tilted my head and looked at the corpse again.

The clothes the demon was wearing were extremely unique. The clothes were of a style I had never seen before in my life, which made me feel even more suspicious.

I have been to many places so far. The deserts of the southern part of the empire, the snowy fields of the north, the west, the east, there are few places on the continent that I have not been to. However, the clothes of this tribe were quite different from what I had seen before. Even from the clothes worn by the tribes that I had met.

I also looked at the numerous black magic items that the demons had brought. I felt something strange. Each of those items contained the ultimate power of a black magic group, but I felt something strange about the spells engraved on them.

The forms were all different.

Originally, magic, black magic, or even miracles, the magic that was created through research always had a style that was unique to a certain person or group. Usually, there was a grammar that the group preferred for any magic, and that style or grammar was never changed unless absolutely necessary.

However, even though each of these items contained the essence of the black magic comparable to that of the demons, the grammar of the magic that constituted the items was all different.

“This is….”

This meant that it wasn’t just one large group of warlocks running wild, but rather several warlock groups had joined forces to form a confederation.

Even the fact that they provided items that could be called their essence to one demon tribe showed that the alliance was all working toward the same goal. It meant that it was not a loose alliance that only sought mutual gain.

I quickly gathered all the black magic items and destroyed them. It wouldn’t do any good if they were left intact anyway, and this one sword was enough for me to use black magic.

And then, it was the moment when I finally turned my gaze to burn the demon’s corpse as well.

A warlock wearing black robes suddenly appeared.

I grabbed my sword and took a stand, but the warlock just disappeared, carrying the corpse of the demon.

I bit my lip. Incomprehensible things were happening.