Boy King (3)

Once again, the club made of flesh slammed down beside me.

Its destructive power was overwhelming. The ground where the impact hit was completely destroyed and the resulting shockwave alone made nearby buildings tremble.

Compared to other special-grade demonic creatures, this one held its grade for a simple reason.

Although it did not have any special ability, it was tough and powerful. It was like this bastard completely maximized those two stats.

I wouldve been fucked if it wasnt so slow!

As tough as it was, it was incredibly slow for a special-grade. A quite noticeable weakness even when compared to high-grade demonic creatures.

Because of that

It wasnt difficult to avoid its repetitive attack patterns. But at the same time, we hadnt managed to launch any counter-attacks either.

Eleanor gave me a quick glance from the side..

She was probably wondering if it was really possible to break through this monstrosity in under a minute. Well

Ironically, this method was way faster.

System Notification

[ Using Scan. ]

[ Gathering information on the target. ]

[ A 24-hour cooldown applies before reuse is available on the same target. ]

It was true that most of Scans abilities were focused on examining the targets stats, but under special conditions, it had some additional features.

For example, if I had already observed the target for a sufficient amount of time

Thirty seconds have passed. How are you expecting to kill this thing?

Behind its left elbow. At the back of its right calf.

What?

That is the location of its core. Hitting it would deal some effective damage.

Eleanor suddenly laughed as she gazed at me.

How absurd. Sometimes, I feel a sense of inferiority when Im with you; it feels like all the common sense I have learned just breaks apart.

Huh?

Analyzing an Undeads weakness is a difficult task even for official knights. And you managed to figure it out in just 30 seconds?

Uh, well It isnt because Im great or talented or whatever The skill is just OP

Its just doing what its worth since, you know, it ate 4 Seeds of Evil. Do you even know how rare those things are?

Whatever. Anyway

However, even if we have such information, it still seems too difficult to kill.

Eleanor retreated several meters with a single backstep as she replied.

She seemed to have superior physical abilities, even after my Desperation skill activated at the EX Grade. Regardless, her follow-up was rather pessimistic.

The outer shell looks incredibly sturdy. Even if we disregard its immortality, trying to pierce it with a sword seems imposs

I never planned on killing it from the start.

All I said was that we needed to break through in under a minute. I never said we had to kill it.

To achieve that, however

Eleanor, you are the only person I can count on for this.

Although my conscience slightly stung, I opened my mouth while making a gesture.

Please block this monster and make sure it doesnt go anywhere else.

In reality, there was no one else but her who could do it at the moment.

The exorcists were too busy burning the endlessly regenerating Ruined.

Eleanors wide eyes stared at me, there was a mixture of astonishment and incredulity in her expression.

Honestly, if she were to verbally abuse me right now, Id accept it.

A one-on-one showdown with a special-grade demonic creature? Obviously, it wasnt something I should be telling an academy student to do.

However, I wasnt just saying this without any basis.

[ Skill Info ]

Name: Descent Wrath

Grade: S

Description: When the subjects Wrath reaches its limit, a portion of the power of the Devils Fragments stored in the body will be used.

As long as this skill was triggered, it wouldnt be impossible.

Rather, shed be able to do it effortlessly..

In other words.

To get through this situation smoothly

She needed to get angry.

Very, very angry.

UhBy any chance, are you angry right now?

If my absurd command made her mad, it would be an instant success.

As such, I held a little bit of hope as I asked that question.

What an honor. You trusted me to such an extent?

I will put my life on the line to achieve what you say. In response to your trust I

No

That wasnt the reaction I wanted

Man, why did it seem like she would believe me even if I said the sun would rise from the west?

No, uhWell

Eventually, I confessed honestly.

I needed you to get angry. You would probably become stronger if you do.

I wasnt even convinced by that pitiful and crude explanation, but Eleanor simply narrowed her eyes in response.

Certainly, it did seem that way.

Huh?

You met Riru Garda before, yes? I nearly cut her throat for trying to take you away.

At that time, I did feel something strange, just as you said.

No wait, that was just Rirus personality. She probably just wanted to fight me and rashly spoke without thinking.

The Riru that I knew may be a sadist, but she wouldnt go so far as to kidnap me. She wasnt that much of a barbarian, you know?

Anyway

Hmmm, so I need to get that furious

Eleanor, who was pondering deeply while moving around to avoid the incoming attacks, suddenly had a change in expression, as if she had come up with something.

You. How about you try swearing at me.

What?

If you swear at me, it might make me angry.

Really?

Alrighty then. Lets try to come up with something that would anger her Hm

Eleanor.

Mm.

I carefully chose my words.

I didnt really want to insult her, but since she asked for it

Lets start with something reallyyyy soft.

To be honest, sometimes I feel like we dont look good together, so.

System Message

[ Due to your influence, target Eleanor has fallen into despair! ]

[ Her movements has slowed! ]

Why?

What the fuck did I even say to cause that?

S-Stop it.

Eleanor was trembling as she told me to stop. Her face remained expressionless, but there were slight tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

I havent even started though.

It felt different from what I expected. When I hear something like that from you Instead of feeling angry, it just hurts my heart

Huh. Was there such a subtle difference?

Wait, no, more importantly

It seemed as if her unexpected despair was actually affecting her, since her movements had actually become slightly slower.

Even though it seemed as if we were practically performing a comedy skit, it was still an actual battle that we were currently in. I couldnt afford for her to be influenced like this.

I opened my mouth once again, as cold sweat practically drenched my clothes.

Wait. No. No, its not true. Its absolutely not true!

Really?

Eleanor spoke in a voice that was slightly more hoarse compared to usual.

Yes. Really!

Then, can I ask you something?

Huh?

Do not lie and answer me honestly. I shall forgive you if you do.

Eleanor lightly dodged the flesh club that crashed to her side.

It seemed like the answer to this question was far more important to her than the current situation.

Besides me, have you been spending time with other women recently?

Have you met other women alone without me? You havent, right?

Im anxious. After all, we havent spent much time together recently. So, I was wondering if you said that we dont look good together because you found another woman

No matter how I look at it, this was definitely not the time or place for such a question.

However

An ominous feeling washed over me.

It was telling me

If I were to lie at this moment, things would go horrendously wrong later.

Fuck it. I closed my eyes and responded.

Its not confirmed yet. But theres this girl

Yeah.

I wasnt thrilled about it, but

There was something Iliya said back during the midterms.

Something she needed to request from me.

It was most likely about

Iliya Krisanax mentioned that during the vacation, she might go to my home town with m

System Message

[ Due to your influence, target Eleanor is furious to the point of losing her sanity! ]

[ Skill: Descent Wrath activated! ]

System Message

[ Confirming a Devils Conditional Descent. ]

[ The Devils Fragment and the Vessel are fusing more closely. ]

[ Target Eleanors Stage 1 Merger Progress has changed to 99%. Something special will happen soon! ]

HeyUh, Eleanor?

I thought you wanted me to be honest.

You said youd forgive me

Cold sweat practically poured out of my pores as these thoughts ate at my mind. Meanwhile, Eleanor drew her sword with eyes many times colder than usual.

A sinister grey aura began to emanate from her. It was unmistakably the Grey Devils aura.

Just go up for now. Isnt the situation urgent?

Perhaps influenced by this aura, Eleanors voice was accompanied with an alien noise.

I will hear your explanation later.

Yes maam.

Thank you maam.

I inwardly expressed such gratitude while entering the entrance of the Clock Tower.

Well then.

Eleanor turned her body and once again faced the giant that was rushing towards her.

As she did so

-

Surprisingly, the monster flinched.

Even an undead with severely stunted intelligence knew instinctively

How powerful the target right in front of them really was.

-!!!

-!!!!

The monster let out another scream before preparing to attack once again. It was even more aggressive and ferocious now, as if trying to deny the fact that it was scared just moments ago.

Shut your mouth.

One strike.

With a casual sword strike from Eleanor

The entire landscape was cleaved apart.

!

The flesh club was sliced with one blow, and the arm that was holding it was also shredded into pieces and scattered into the air.

Even though I informed her about its weak point, that bastard was still a special-grade monster based off of JUST his stats. But that thick arm which was as hard as steel, now looked like it was put through a shredder. In just one fucking slice.

Furthermore, it didnt stop there; even the building behind it was partially sliced by her sword.

Everyone watching such a sight was dumbfounded.

Was such an attack even possible from a human body?

Fight me. My wrath will not be satiated unless I cut something.

With that, everyone watching would have a gut feeling.

Right now, even if the woman wasnt even a tenth of that giants size

She had the monstrous power to treat special-grade monsters as if they were childs play.

While silently wishing that poor bastard luck, I rushed into the Clock Tower.

The mini boss battle

Was done in one minute.

On my way up the Clock Tower stairs, I could still hear the Flesh Tearers cries of pain.

When I glanced briefly through a window on the stairs, I saw Eleanor grabbing the giant by the head and swinging it like a toy.

Even the nearby exorcists were slack-jawed in amazement as they witnessed the sight of that colossal body destroying nearby buildings while being thrown around.

Wasnt there roughly a difference of ten times size-wise?

It felt like a mouse grabbed a cats tail and was doing a Giant Swing

If others saw this, they wouldnt understand my decisions.

Others would probably treat me like a fool for leaving behind someone with that level of power, but

In the battle against Valkasus, it would be better if Eleanor wasnt involved.

If she saw the things I needed to do during my battle with Valkasus, the Grey Devil would definitely descend once again.

Since, you know I would, uhh Get injured quite a bit. No, scratch that. Quite a lot.

And, as soon as that happened

Im definitely going to hell.

Valkasus, despite being a boss, was not someone who had good compatibility with Devils.

To be more precise

As soon as Devils get involved, the difficulty of the Valkasus Boss Battle would explosively increase severalfold.

Considering his past, if a Devil were to descend, there was a high chance that he would go all out from that point on.

And if I recalled Valkasuss true combat power correctly, even if she was a Devils Vessel, a single fragment would not be enough to handle him.

Right now, the fact that hes only using half of his power

Is obviously fucking absurd.

The Ruined that have covered the entire academy? It was only a fraction of his strength. Such a feat was lightweight for someone who was capable of wielding hundreds of thousands of Forbidden Sorceries.

As I said, if he truly unleashed his power, it was impossible for a player to deal with him in the first place.

That was why it was Yuria who was the original final boss of Chapter 2, not him.

However

[ Evil Essence ]

Type: Story

Description: A material that can interact with epic items. Something special will happen when fused!

There was a method that could grant me a comeback, even against Valkasus.

I briefly rolled the black gem held in my palm.

It was an item I received after defeating the Purifier.

Nine out of ten people would choose the Hero Shard instead.

If one asked a Sera player which story item they would choose between Evil Essence and Hero Shard, they would definitely answer the latter.

After all, this item was originally only recommended for hardcore users who purposefully raised the difficulty themselves.

In a game where the majority of enemies were classified as evil, using this item would just strengthen that concept even further. No sane individual would choose to do this.

However

What about those crazy otakus who needed to go touch grass? Those sweaty fuckers who knew everything about this game from A to Z? To put it simply, what about users like me? Well, those users would all choose this item. Hands down.

After all, if, by any chance, they had to engage in battle with Valkasus, this item was practically the sole answer.

Just as I had such thoughts

Did you finally hit the gym? Youth is nice. To gain stamina that quickly in a short period How impressive.

I finally reached the top of the clock tower. And across from me

There was Valkasus.

No, I didnt really work out. Its just that my physique is a bit unique.

What kind of physique is it?

A physique that grows stronger in actual combat.

Valkasus bursted into laughter.

However, instead of reacting to it, I slowly scrutinized him.

This scene was just like when we first met.

The sun was gradually setting and the darkness was slowly spreading around. Like before, he was sitting on the railing of the Clock Tower, gazing at the sky.

And so, I recalled the words I said back then.

Do you remember our promise?

Of course.

Valkasus rose from his seat.

And with that alone

The very air completely transformed.

!

It felt like the weight of my entire body had suddenly increased dozens of times, as the pressure threatened to crush me.

In that brief instant, the violent shock shook my consciousness, making me involuntarily kneel.

My head was spinning and all the joints and bones in my body seemed to creak.

This is fucking crazy. Are you kidding me?

He hasnt even done anything yet.

All he did was stand while revealing a bit of his aura

And that was enough to reduce me to this state.

Can you do it?

A flat voice flowed from Valkasus.

The thing about me Is that I hate Devils. I also found those who worship them disgusting as well.

As he said that, Arrays of Forbidden Sorcery began to form around the Boy King.

Each of them contained Cursed Technique: Force, capable of easily tearing apart someone like me.

Those who made me and my kingdom suffer for thousands of years were the Devils after all.

And those Arrays were increasing by dozens, hundreds, thousands, until

They covered every visible space.

All of them were created in an instant by this one person. And without much effort either.

But even so, do you know why Im cooperating with that person called the Prophet?

Yeah. Of course I know.

Because she was the only existence that could liberate him and the kingdom he carried with him.

Its because there was no one else that could give you that certainty.

With a bitter laugh, I rose to my feet.

It felt like my whole body was falling apart.

But it was okay. I could still endure it.

I could still fight.

Though it was a long time ago

I

Had overcome something that was much worse than this, just to survive.

The certainty to kill you.

Valkasus smiled.

Indeed, it seems you know everything already.

The Boy King responded with a relaxed tone.

The Prophet made a pledge. If I clean this academy entirely, that person would kill me.

This was one of the contents that also appeared in the main scenario.

The reason he was committing all these problems was because his very life-long wish for death was at stake.

Since millions of Forbidden Sorceries were crammed into his one body, he was a human incapable of dying even when he wanted to.

This was the reality unless ridiculously extreme methods were used.

If you are unable to pull it off, I will proceed as planned. With sincerity.

Every human in this academy would be cleansed.

And this man was actually capable of doing such a thing.

However

I promised, didnt I?

I smirked as I inspected the clock.

That I would save you and your kingdom.

I didnt rashly make such a promise without knowing how to fulfill it.

Excluding the time it took to get up here, there were 10 minutes left.

If I didnt conclude the boss battle within that time-frame, the barrier that Atalante was reinforcing would break. Her ability to hold on was essentially a time limit.

In other words

If I couldnt win against this person within 10 minutes, I would die.

Was it possible?

I didnt even need to ask such a question.

Its hella easy.

It definitely was.

At the same time I was thinking that

Then

The Arrays around me started to emit a dazzling light.

I took a deep breath and readied myself.

Prove it to me. Prove that youre not just all talk.

Chapter 2 Boss. Boy King Raid.

The battle has begun.

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