Nanarai Bodra (4)
Chapter 166 – Nanarai Bodra (4)
The party had learned the shocking truth. While they were thrown for a loop, a man had appeared within the ruin. This was obvious, but the man was a Demon. He possessed a massive amount of Demonic energy.
[Hero, I’ll say this beforehand. Every plan you carried out was perfect. However, we are superior to you. We predicted what you will do. That is all I’ll say.]
"Oh oh. What an arrogant statement. I am an arrogant asshole, but you are right there with me."
Everything about the man was black. His face was completely covered by a mask, and his neck was covered by a scarf. His entire body was covered with leather clothes. It seemed he was trying to hide his identity, but his attire made him more conspicuous.
When Artpe checked with his Read All Creation ability, he found out that the Demon was at level 393. He was the strongest opponent they had faced up to this point. It was clear that the enemy was openly hostile towards them. Despite this fact, Artpe had an odd smile on his face as he asked the Demon a question.
"You must have searched all the nearby region near the Demon King’s Castle, right?"
[That right. You guys were able to completely hide yourselves in a short amount time. That is why we thought you couldn’t have run away too far. We searched with that premise in mind. Even if the ruin was well hidden, it was inevitable that we would find this place. Moreover······.]
The Demon wore a mask, but Artpe could tell that the Demon was laughing.
[This holds especially true for us. We’ve been desperately trying to find what had been left behind by Nanarai Bodra.]
"You weren’t able to find this place for several hundred years. You were barely able to find it, because of us. You have a talent for coming up with a bullshit story."
[······.]
Artpe had used one of the requisite skills of a Four Heavenly King. It was called, ‘Using a Casual Sarcastic Remark to Make the Other’s Body Flinch.’ In an instant, it made the Demon shut his mouth.
Artpe’s words were true. If his party hadn’t entered the ruin, it would have taken the Demons several hundred more years to find this place.
It was clear that the Demon race found something that would be very beneficial to them. It was all thanks to the action of the hero’s party. The hero should be agonizing over his mistake, yet the hero continued to flap his mouth. Where was his arrogance coming from? Moreover, why did the Demon suffer psychological damage from the hero’s words? Why was he being tormented by the hero’s words?! The Demon grinded his teeth as he opened his mouth again.
[That is originally the property of the Demon race. It isn’t something that a human should be coveting. I’ll be taking it.]
An unprecedented amount of Demonic energy poured out from the male Demon. He was level 393, and he was at the peak of his power. His power started to be emitted as battle magic.
This was the first time the hero’s party would be fighting an opponent this strong. They nervously raised their weapons. Even if they were to meet this Demon in the human realm, they would have a hard time facing him. However, they were having this fight at a ruin where the Demonic energy was at the highest. The difficulty of the fight would be much higher.
"Roa."
However, there was one person that was free from all worries. Of course, it was Artpe.
"Nyaa?"
"Are you able to eat it?"
"Artpe!?"
Everyone within this space thought he had misspoken. Roa was the only one, who understood his words. Her three tails swayed back and forth in a busy manner as she nodded her head.
"I can eat it, nyaa! However, it’ll take me a very long time to digest it! Nyaa-ah! Moreover, master has to help me. Nyaa?"
"All right. I’ll help you as much as you want. Go eat it!"
"Nyaaaaaaaaaa!"
"Artpehhhhhhhhhh!?"
What was she going to eat? The Demon had no idea, so he tilted his head in confusion. He opened his eyes wide as he swiveled his head back and forth. He continued to scan his surrounding.
On the other hand, Roa was a brave cat that didn’t allow anyone to get in the way of her eating food. She let out a joyous meow. She immediately ran towards the altar as she opened her mouth.
[What the hell······!?]
The Demon finally realized what Roa was trying to do, so he desperately shot out his Demonic energy. By instinct, Sienna got in his way! There was over 10 level difference between the two, but Sienna possessed the power of an Evil Reflector. It allowed her to withstand the power of the Demon.
Sienna raised her hammer, and it rapidly grew in size. She quickly smashed the feelers created by Demonic energy. The tip of the tentacles weren’t able to withstand the holy power of Sienna. They shriveled up. When the Demon saw this, his eyes narrowed.
[Your power······ What the hell is it!?]
"Koohk, koo-hoohk······!"
However, she couldn’t hold out for too long. It was too much of a strain. Until now, the hero’s party had been able to shrug off the level difference, but they couldn’t do that with this opponent. His power was the real deal. An oppressive amount of Demonic energy poured out from him. It
"Vadinet······ Unni!"
"Oh my lord! Please bless your bright daughter! Help us resist against this twisted and evil being!"
Vadinet immediately chanted her blessing. The Mana within Sienna’s body was activated to the extreme.
It was the Mana of an Evil Reflector, which opposed all evil! Her hammer was strengthened, and she completely blocked the Demon’s Demonic energy. As if that wasn’t enough, she was purifying the Demonic energy into pure Mana. It was as if the Demon’s existence was being rejected. The Demon yelled out in rage at what he was witnessing.
[Twisted? We were made to be twisted by humans!]
Did he eavesdrop as Artpe read the words written on the altar? No, that wasn’t the case. The Demon had said that he had been looking for Nanarai Bodra’s tracks for the past couple hundred years. Basically, he was part of the faction that was separate from the current Demon King. He was probably related to the previous generation’s Demon King. Basically, he knew about Nanarai Bodra’s identity, and he knew about the Demon race’s origin story.
[Despite knowing the full story, you want to deny our existence and destroy us… You guys are truly foolish and arrogant!]
"It happened several hundred years ago. Why should I care, you son of a bitch!"
"Nyaa-ahhhhhhhhhh!"
As Artpe browbeat the Demon, Roa finally reached the altar. She started to swallow the Evil Heart. It was much bigger than the ones from before.
The Demon knew his time was about run about, so he stopped emitting his Demonic energy. He moved forward using teleportation, yet the hero’s party wouldn’t let the Demon do as he pleased!
"Not a chance!"
"Koohk, hero······!"
Maetel shared Records with Artpe, so she was able to use the spell called Hero’s Flash! A brilliant wing made out of light sprouted from her back. It noticeably reduced the Demonic energy. On top of that, Vadinet power was being used to restrict the Demon. It was a double whammy!
[Even if you guys are able to do that….. You guys are mere brats that lived several years in a sheltered environment!]
Despite all that was happening against him, the Demon didn’t retreat. The Demonic energy boiled up from within his body. His black Demonic energy seeped into the surrounding. He created a domain for himself.
[You guys don’t even have a sense of what is right. You guys are playing at being heroes….. Do you really you can obstruct me!]
"Koohk!?"
"I can hold out!"
A massive amount of Demonic energy exited the Demon’s body. It was in the shape of a front paw of a monster, and it struck out against Sienna and Maetel! However, Elrick used the full might of his armor to stop the charge of the monster. The claws of the Demonic energy created small cracks in Elrick’s axe. However, he didn’t retreat.
"It is the warrior’s job to protect the rear!"
[Foolish brat! Get out of my way! I just want to recover the item that is rightfully ours!]
The Demon’s fist embedded itself within the blade of Elrick’s axe. However, it didn’t end there. Refined blades of magical energy sprouted from the Demon’s body. They attacked Elrick!
"Koo-hoohk······!"
"Eh-eeeet!"
At that moment, Maetel’s foot impacted on the Demon’s body. She didn’t care about the blades that were sprouting from his body. It couldn’t pierce her body. Her quick kick sent the Demon flying. The Demon became embedded in the wall of the ruin.
[Ha!]
This was the moment he had been waiting for! As soon as he escaped the encircling net of the hero’s party, the Demon used Blink. In an instant, he teleported in front of the altar!
"Nyaa?"
[Stop. Wait a moment. You bitch······!]
When he finally reached the Altar, the Evil Heart was in Roa’s mouth. She really planned on eating it? The Demon was taken aback as he tried to grab Roa by the scruff.
"Nyaa-ah······ Gulp."
[Oh no······.]
He never expected her to swallow it without hesitation. The Demon froze in place from despair as the Evil Heart disappeared in front of him.
Of course, he could split open Roa’s stomach. He could extract it, but the quality of the Evil Heart would have degraded significantly by then!
[What the hell did you guys do!]
"What did we do?"
Artpe burst out laughing at the Demon’s words. The situation had unfolded this far, yet the Demon had no idea what was going on. He could only laugh at the Demon’s foolishness.
The Evil Heart had been extracted, yet the altar continued to let out a light. The Dungeon was also trying very hard to purify the Demonic energy, which had filled up the ruin. The only difference was that it wasn’t purifying the Demonic energy of the Evil Heart. It was purifying the Demonic energy of the Demon, who had invaded the ruin.
"This is what we did."
When Artpe wagged his finger, all 33 Golems turned in place as they glared at the Demon. Even Artpe’s party needed a good amount of time before they were able to defeat all the Golems. Even if the Demon was high in level, the Golems were formidable foes!
However, the important part wasn’t the martial prowess of the Golems. Magic circuits were engraved within their body, so they started sucking in the Demonic energy of the Demon. Just this feature of the Golem restricted the power of the Demon!
[You bastard······ My Demonic energy! How are you using the ruin’s power!?]
The Demon had known that this was Nanarai Bodra’s ruin, and that the Evil Heart was placed within this place. He hadn’t paid attention to anything else. Even if the Evil Heart was gone, the ruin still possessed massive amount of power.
The Demon finally realized the dangers of the ruin. However, it was way too late for him. Once the Demon rashly followed the party into the ruin, the game had ended for him.
"No. You should have thought this out. You guys were too big of a blockhead to find this ruin for several hundred years, right? Can’t you see what that implies? Did you really charge in here without any plan? You can’t be that foolish, right?"
[Koohk, koo-oooooooohk!]
"Artpe is so full of himself."
"That is his best quality!"
While the Demon was struggling to break free from the fetters placed on him, the Golems had surrounded him. Vadinet used this time to heal the injured party members. Their vitality was restored.
"I hoped someone would crawl in here. I never expected someone to actually come here. As expected, it is more fun for me when there is one or two Demons that are stupid enough to run straight into a trap."
Artpe was speaking from a perspective of a human. He grinned as he took out and opened his magic tome. His staff rose into the air, and it let out Mana, which shone with purple light.
"This is my domain. You did as you please by intruding into this place…. It is time for you to die."
[Geeeeeeeeeeeeeee!]
All the Golems attacked at the same time when Artpe gave the signal! When the Golems had been fighting against the party, they had been slow. However, it was as if they were sharing Maetel’s Acceleration ability. They swiftly attacked the Demon!
"Master, please help me, nyaa! This is too big!"
"I’m already in the process of helping you. You should just throw up the part that you can’t digest right now."
"Nyaa-ah-ah."
The item was bigger than anything she had eaten up until now. It seemed she was in pain. There wwere tears forming in Roa’s eyes. Of course, Artpe had expected this. This was why he had opened his magic tome.
[That magic tome… Did you take it from Tiana!?]
"As expected, you are in the same faction as Tiana."
[Koohk······! As expected, you guys killed Tiana!]
The Demon detonated his Demonic energy to face off against the group of Golems, who were trying to rush him. He yelled out with a voice full of rage. Three Golems couldn’t purify the Demonic energy, so they blew up. However, Artpe didn’t care about that.
"I won’t ask if you want this or not. Well…. Let’s start my last experiment."
The magic tome vibrated as it floated up halfway into the air. It started to sync with the entire ruin. The Demon finally realized that the magic tome had been rewritten. It happened when his eyes opened wide.
"Everything return to what it used to be."
When the secret to the Demonic energy and the Demon race was revealed to him, Artpe had finished the ‘Reclaim’ spell. The spell flowed out of Artpe’s mouth.