Chapter 34

Inside the Demon Castle.

Jiera had just finished up a conversation with her brother, Jiyeru, through the magic communications crystal.

"Pheww..."

She let loose a sigh of relief and leant back in her chair.

What she was feeling right now was probably the most relieved she had ever been in her life. She really felt as if a tremendous weight, that was previously dragging her down, had been lifted off of her body.

Of course, the reason why she felt like this, was because of the news that her brother previously delivered to her.

『Rena is safe.』

―Once these words were spoken, it was like Jiera's world flipped upside down. After hearing everything from Jiyeru, she needed a while to mentally recuperate, and, when she calmed down, Jiera began to process everything she was informed of.

And first on the list was the existence known only as 'Rena's father'.

Jiyeru... Did you really confirm it? Is he really the man you proclaim him to be...? I know he said that he had no doubt about it, and it sounded like he truly did believe it, however...

She had her suspicions, of course, but since there was currently no way for her to know, she could only believe in her brother's judgement.

Most importantly, though, was something else.

Rena's father... He's on his way here.

*thump, thump, thump!*

Her heart-rate began to accelerate at the thought of meeting 'Rena's father' once and for all. She thought that, as soon as he arrived, she would give him a piece of her mind.

That selfish bastard...! No matter how much people may favour him, or however powerful he may be, he's a bloody cheat that abandoned his own daughter! There's absolutely no excuse for something so cruel! Jiyeru, too―how could you respect a man like that!? It's a farce!

Thinking about it only riled her up more, and Jiera was pissed to the point where teardrops rolled down her cheeks. Her clenched fists unfurled and her grit teeth weakened, leaving only feelings of pain and bitterness behind.

"Huuuu--fuuu..."

She took a deep breath.

"...Anyway, what was next...? Ah, that's right―the Mana Detonations... Those were his doing as well, hm..."

Being reminded of that man's strength, Jiera felt weak in the knees. Once it was definitively established that Rena's father had more power than they thought, she thought that some changes would need to be made within the castle.

If he left for the castle just a short while ago, as Jiyeru said, then there'd most likely only be about... a month and a half, two months until he arrives?

It was inevitable that more force would needed to be built up eventually thanks to the perpetual war with the humans, but Jiera never imagined it would happen this soon, and for a different purpose at that.

Jiyeru said that he had the power to easily fend off B and A-rank monsters. That in itself isn't an issue, as we have a few forces of that calibre, but the matter of him being able to artificially create a Mana Detonation...? No, in all likelihood, it was only a regular magic attack; just, the amount of mana used was as large as what is normally measured in a Mana Detonation. It's merely a coincidence.

Jiera then began to list all of the powers Jiyeru saw from Jae.

"Paralysis, chantless magic, healing, soul gazing, immunity to miasma, dimensional storage, swordsmanship..... Hah, just what kind of monster is this guy?", she laughed self-mockingly.

Of course, the things she just listed weren't even half of what Jiyeru had reported to her though. Jiera recorded down things like 'immunity to poison', 'rare enchanting' and 'gigantic mana capacity'―among others.

Jiera wanted enough power to stop someone with those sorts of abilities. Since she didn't know anything about Rena's father, including whether he was an ally or an enemy, all she could do was take precautionary measures.

And this guy is going to bring Rena here...

Whether she wanted to or not, Jiera thought that she would have to report all of this to her mother, the Queen. Then, depending on her orders, either the entire castle would be expecting the visit, or it would be a surprise.

How will she react after hearing all of this, I wonder...?

Someone who didn't appear to care in the slightest about their missing daughter. It was actually a good opportunity for Jiera, as, for once and for all, she might be able to gain some insight into her mother's goal.

But there was still more about the report that she needed to think about before that; things like how he knew that there was some kind of discord within the castle.

"Uhhh...", she groaned as she rested her head on the desk tiredly, as if pained by a headache.

Why did all of this happen...? It started... with Rena's disappearance. Who caused it? Who is going against us? Is it someone on the inside, or an external force? A third party...

Jiera lightly bit her lower lip. She was relatively strong herself, and combining that with her brother's beasts and the Queen's power, there should not be many who could stand against them, or who would want to.

She worried greatly over the situation as, for her, it was irresponsible to show such weakness to the people. Of course there were those who disagreed with Asphal's current rulers, and those who simply held a grudge, however, until recently, no moves have been made. Those people, incidentally, are not the type to move unless convinced.

The fact that they were only beginning to take action now clearly indicated that something was up.

The humans? No, there's no way. It isn't possible for a mere human to hide himself in this place, and there isn't any Demon alive who would side with trash like them in the first place, even if he did oppose Mother. It's stupid. So what--

*vwhoo~om*

―Suddenly, the communications crystal on the desk began to emit a humming noise. It glew dimly.

"...A call?"

Jiera stared blankly at the object before placing a hand on the base and injecting some mana.

Who could it be from, I wonder...?

Then, a familiar face appeared within the object as it went from dim to bright.

Wait...

As soon as Jiera's eyes met that person, she widened her eyes and exclaimed, as if remembering something important.

"Ah!"

'Monster', huh...

It was a quiet mutter that no one other than Reon Midas himself and Jae could hear. Completely flat-toned; an indifferent voice. Glancing around at his subordinates, the soldiers, Midas inwardly sighed before very briefly "introducing" himself.

"...Squad Captain."

"..."

Jae looked blankly at the man for a moment, before glancing around at the soldiers and putting on a cheeky grin.

"Name's Jae. You've probably heard of me, right? Hear I'm worth a lotta money these days..."

""""!?""""

While there were indeed disruptive murmurs coming from the soldiers, none of them were ballsy enough to utter as much as a word. They were all instead focused on the captain, whose expression had not budged the slightest, even with that surprising announcement.

Instead, he groaned with a frown, probably thinking that the whole thing was just a pain in the arse.

"...Midas."

Jae's smile looked sinister when he replied, "It's a pleasure, Mr Midas. Can you perhaps give me some gold?"

"......"

A reason to fight to each other? These two men didn't need one of those. One was a criminal who found an opportunity to enjoy himself, and the other was simply doing his job.

Both of them knew that a battle was about to take place, and because Jae doesn't get much enjoyment from fighting monsters anymore, he was excited at the thought of fighting a strong human.

Entertain me, will you?

After another short sigh, Reon Midas stepped down from the top of the gate.

*CRASH!*

Landing on the ground with a loud boom, he stood up and walked calmly towards Jae, who silently readied his greatsword in preparation.

"""........"""

The surrounding soldiers hushed in great apprehension as two monsters each took a deep breath.

Jae's eyes' attention was brought to Midas' hand, which slowly made its way to the hilt of his still-sheathed sword.

And suddenly―

"!?"

*Clang!*

―The dull sound of metal impacting bone rang out as Reon Midas' black longsword collided with Jae's.

Fucking fast--!?

The sword was still sitting in it's sheath right up until the moment of the attack, so Jae was only able to react to it in time thanks to his mana-strengthened eyes.

His opponent's Speed was almost two times higher than his, so he needed to be careful. It could also increase at any time due to the use of skills.

Although Jae could almost match up to those kinds of speeds with magic buffs, it didn't mean that he'd be able to control himself while moving that fast, as to control yourself while moving around at that speed would be simply impossible for someone not used to it, so he had to limit himself somewhat.

And anyway, Jae had another technique up his sleeve.

Sloth!

Jae disappeared from his spot, instantly reappearing just behind Reon's back.

He swung down his greatsword with extraordinary force, and immediately experienced the feeling of bones and flesh being pulverised under his weapon as a notification of stockpiled experience appeared.

Got him already?

For a second, Jae was disappointed; before he quickly realised that what he crushed was not Midas, but an ordinary soldier.

What? But he was right ther--

Jae suddenly vanished again, right as a black longsword passed through where he stood. He hastily turned around and stared at Midas, who stood, silent.

Too close... What the fuck was tha--Ah...

Jae felt a slight stinging sensation on his cheek, and once he lightly touched the area with his fingers, he found his cheek to be wet.

...A wound...

Withdrawing his hand and gazing at his bloody fingertips, Jae turned his gaze back to the opponent.

His eyes trembled once more in anticipation and in a strange sort of hunger, as he finally understood just who he was up against.

Ordinary magic is useless―he's too fast, even for instantaneous casting. Does he use stealth too? I couldn't sense him with mana detection. A wide-range attack would be most effective here, since he's definitely a melee-type, but even that probably wouldn't do much to take him down. Without an extra edge at least. Too big of an AOE would hit me, too, if I'm not careful, and it's not like I'm immune to magic myself...

Ruling out various attacks, and quickly judging which types of magic would be most effective, Jae continued to use Sloth to defend against or dodge Midas' attacks, while simultaneously trying to counter, magic or otherwise.

――About ten minutes had passed in this fashion, and Jae had yet to land an attack on his opponent.

Jae had Sloth, while Midas had both a vastly higher Speed stat, some kind of stealth ability, and an unknown technique.

Using his sword alone, it was just impossible for Jae to strike him―even with a load of enhancements, magical buffs and the use of Sloth, it was unbelievably difficult to even just locate exactly where Midas was at all times, let alone land a hit on the man.

This bastard. An assassin this good is just a bad matchup for me, who's primarily a mage. And he's only getting faster...

Checking Midas' Soul State, it indeed seemed like his stats were slowly rising.

His strange, lustrous black longsword also seemed to have some odd power behind it, but Jae didn't have the leisure to find out what exactly it was.

There was a very clear, major difference in both experience and skill here.

Hah, this fucking guy.... Every time I try and hit him, he disappears, and a nameless random appears in his place... Is it similar to that ninja technique where they swap places with a log? But it seems to not have a cooldown...

Whenever Jae would use Sloth offensively, Midas used his technique to swap places with one of his soldiers. He was mercilessly sacrificing the lot of them as if they were nothing but livestock.

Damn, and this guy calls me a monster... There're too many soldiers for me to leave it up to a battle of attrition, and these wounds keep re-opening.

Currently, Jae had already been struck by Reon's longsword seven times.

Evidently, it definitely wasn't a normal sword that sliced him, as it was able to penetrate Jae's defences with the utmost of ease, and it was as if his magic protection didn't even exist at all, as even just being grazed by the thing would damage Jae's skin.

What's even worse than that though, is that, because of the curse, the injuries couldn't be healed without Jae dying. Since Jae didn't know what would happen to him if he died here, he couldn't afford to lose this battle.

He was able to cauterise the wounds with Fire Magic, but they quickly re-opened throughout the fight. It was as if the magic had been weakened somehow.

I must get to the village... To Rena.

Thinking about how to deal with Midas' technique, Jae had come up with a few ideas.

Unfortunately, his most brilliant idea didn't work.

Skill「Envy」has activated You have temporarily stolen the skill「Rush [Lv.MAX]」from target「Reon Midas」 Time Remaining - 1h : 29m : 58s You have temporarily stolen the skill「Sneak [Lv.MAX]」from target「Reon Midas」 Time Remaining - 1h : 29m : 59s

Is it a Unique Skill? Shit, I don't think I can actually get it in that case.

Of course, as soon as the soldiers realised their pitiful fate, they ran away; most holing up inside the outpost, as they knew how futile it would be to run.

Nevertheless, it was all for naught, as nothing they could do now would save them, because they were still, somehow, being unwillingly transported onto the battlefield―or, more specifically, right into Jae's overpowering sword.

However.

A confident smirk rose on Jae's face as he looked at Reon Midas' slow approach.

Midas himself, who had flicked the blood off his sword, still wore the same, expressionless face as he sent dozens of his own subordinates to the literal chopping block. If there was one thing he was moved by, it was the terribly sinister feeling he could sense emanating from Jae, as well as the fact he had lasted this long.

...This fucking freak, giving me more work. How much was that reward? 100 Royal Whites? Can't wait. That'll last me a while, he casually remarked.

The two men―men who were both monsters in their own regard―glared each other in the eyes.

Their appearances both warped once more, as the fight continued.

*Clang...!*

*Clang...!!*

*Clang...!!!*

Black and white danced on the battlefield.

*Clang...!!*

A powerful greatsword of white, and a swift longsword of black―They clashed with each other countless times; the white sword blocking the black sword, and the black sword assaulting the white sword.

[Flashbang]!

Suddenly, the world exploded in light―

*BOOOOOM...!!!*

―and a tremendous boom sounded, like roaring thunder.

Jae used the opportunity to swing at his opponent.

*Clang...!!!*

However, the giant sword was easily parried, and Reon Midas launched a counter-attack that was then blocked by the greatsword.

*Clang...!!*

This exchange, and countless similar exchanges, happened many tens of times already, and the two fighting were almost completely adapted to fighting without two of the most important of their five senses―hearing and sight.

Jae's newly-invented [Flashbang] was completely useless now, and even when used at the most unexpected of times, it had little to no effect.

*Clang...!!*

As the two weapons blurred since the beginning, a scene of dreadful carnage naturally developed―dozens of smashed corpses littered the area, and, not to mention the crater-covered ground that closely resembled a minefield, but even the sky was beginning to dye scarlet due to intense evaporation, as rivers of blood flowed down the surrounding slopes.

*Clang...!!*

The evaporation of gallons of blood was quickened, not only by the sweltering sun that rose high into the sky, but also because of the severe heat that occurred due to the movement, techniques, magic, and passion involved in the highly intensive battle.

*Clang!*

Sloth!

*SMASH!*

Level limit reached. Excess experience points stockpiled until the limit is increased

―A notification that has appeared innumerable times already, as more and more soldiers got turned to dust under the weight of Jae's sword.

The only regret that arose from all these needless deaths, was that the one who died wasn't Reon Midas.

*Clang...!*

The whole world was long since stained with blood, and anyone who saw it would throw up their guts before fainting.

Not a war, or a horror movie―this was the type of scene unimaginable in even a nightmare.

*Ttss*

Jae jumped backwards instinctively, but it was slightly too late as yet another injury had been carved into his body and the sound of blood squirting into the air was heard.

Fuck...

It was only one of many, but since none of the wounds could be healed, the accumulated damage was immense.

"Haa... Haa..."

Jae's breathing only became rougher as the lost blood built up to an amount that was simply too much to ignore, and it only worsened thanks to how much he was moving around.

*Clang...!!*

Truthfully, Jae was only able to keep up because of two reasons: First, because of「Envy」and Sloth, and second, because of Jae's Support Magic, which he used to both enhance himself and slow Midas down.

Sloth.

Jae blinked in space, appearing right in front of his opponent who has so far gone the entire fight unscathed, Reon Midas.

With an unchanged, straight facial expression, Midas swung his sword horizontally to the right.

He vanished.

―7:30!

Immediately in response, Jae swung his greatsword behind him and to the left, impacting his opponent.

Got him!

*Clang!!*

What!?

A brief moment of satisfaction immediately ended.

As soon as Jae thought he had got his opponent, Midas had guarded against the blow with his sword.

If there was something to be won from the exchange, it was that Midas' stance and position was very disadvantageous to defend with. The blow caused him to be sent flying backwards with great force and slamming into a tree.

Even though almost no physical damage was actually dealt, Jae had gained something―It was still a hit on his opponent, and the first proper one Jae had managed to get thus far.

He had finally gained some breathing room, and time to change plans.

At present, the fight was a good number of hours underway, and Jae had sustained a total of 49 minor injuries over this duration. They were small wounds, indeed; not at all to the level that they would incapacitate a man. However, the fact stood that they wouldn't heal any earlier than Jae's death.

A battle of attrition in this state would be impracticable for Jae to compete in, and the longer it went on, the more unfavourable his situation would become.

Even with many resistances, skills, and magic to assist him, it was simply not possible for someone to fight for long while constantly bleeding the entire time. Despite that, Jae has lasted this long.

And he refuses to lose now.

Time Remaining - 0h : 0m : 0s Target「Reon Midas」has re-acquired the skill「Acceleration [Lv.MAX]」 Time Remaining - 0h : 0m : 0s Target「Reon Midas」has re-acquired the skill「Concealment [Lv.MAX]」

Even without the skills that Jae assumed were vital to Midas' winning the battle, he still held the advantage.

"Haa... Haa... Fucking hell..."

Regrettably, now that he had his skills back, that gap would only proceed to widen even further.

This bastard has barely even broken a sweat, let alone shed blood...

Jae could feel his body becoming colder and slowing down as blood ceaselessly leaked and poured out of his wounds.

He once again made use of Fire Magic to cauterise his wounds in order to stop the bleeding, as he had done a number of times throughout the battle, and for some odd reason, Jae's magic seemed to be significantly weakened on the wounded areas.

Shit......There's no more time for messing around, huh. I need to cut the crap.

It might seem like a strange thing to say in the middle of a fight that has lasted over a dozen hours, or half a day, but Jae was completely serious.

Every type of magic Jae had learnt and practised in his life didn't work against Reon Midas―It was partly because the difference in experience and skill was simply too vast, but also because Jae's condition was not at it's best. Physical force alone was also inadequate, and a mix of the two was just below the level of being able to win, even while using Debuff Magic, Buff Magic, Barrier Magic, [Flashbang],「Envy」,「Wrath」and Sloth.

His opponent seemed to have developed ways to counter every type of magic used against him with pure expertise. Not only that, but Midas' sword itself was unquestionably something crazy.

It would not only cut through any magic barriers Jae created like a hot knife through butter, but it didn't break even when colliding with Jae's heavily-enchanted greatsword so many times, as well as enduring any magic that hit it like it was nothing.

Even though many useful skills had been gained or levelled up during the fight―and they had certainly helped him―it wasn't anywhere close to enough, and it didn't seem like it'd have any effect on the outcome.

If viewed from a third-party's perspective, it really might seem like a lost cause.

―And so, Jae had to resort to other means to win.

Clicking his tongue, Jae threw the greatsword into his Inventory, as it would only slow him down from this point onwards.

"Tsk! There's only two options."

He thought carefully about his next move. As he said, there were two main options available to him right now.

*gulp*

Jae gulped in anxiousness as he thought about the Death God's Scythe, which currently sat, isolated, in the Inventory.

That was the first option.

Should I...?

It was tempting, but Jae immediately discarded the thought of using the scythe.

Although it is extremely powerful... I can't fully control it right now. If it disobeys me, there'll be an opening, and that'll be it.

Instead, he went with the second, more reliable option.

"Are you there? Haa... Pride."

Jae called out while still panting from his injuries.

[Hmph! Well, just look who came crawling back. And in that pitiful, wretched state, no less. Now, what would you plead of this great one?]

"Shut it... Haa... and do what I say."

[...You are really starting to get ahead of yourself, brat. Be warned.]

"Give... Haa... me the system."

[Hah. You think you are special just because you cleared one Dungeon?]

"Stop fucking around... Haa... I'm not gonna give you... Haa... a second fucking chance... Haa... So give me authority."

[Hm...? Hah. Kuhahahahaha! You truly are a disgusting little pest, aren't you? So greedy for power... As long as you wield it with pride. Very well. Repulsive brat, don't be too overwhelmed by this fraction of my power. Kuhahaha!!]

Skill「Pride」has activated

A satisfied smirk emerged on Jae's face.

Usage of the「Overlord」System is authorised