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Evan D. Sherden, Into the Final Chapter (3)
“The barrier is broken!”
“Fool…foolish…the magic set up by the Demon King should have suppressed the enemies!”
The pure white world crumbled instantly, and the ground where the hideous Demons were swarming made its appearance. It looked like a fortress since giant ice walls surrounded the Demons. The glaciers were cut into points that created a large passage that led downward, and there stood an ice door that gave off a dreary atmosphere. This was the last boss dungeon that Evan remembered, and it finally appeared.
“The Demon King told us not to let them in!”
“Stop them even if it costs your lives!”
Maybe Demons from all over the continent were all hiding at this place. As he realized that the size of the Demon army exceeded thousands, Evan immediately concentrated his magic and was lost in thought while facing the Demons that stared at him. And Shine, who stood next to him, grabbed his dual daggers and mumbled.
“It seems like the Demon King is orchestrating a novel-like scene where the hero and his team face an impossible number of enemies at once. The Demon King is quite a genius.”
It always was the small group of the strongest Demons that blocked the hero’s party. There never was an instance where the Demon King gathered up every demon from the Demon Realm. Evan also nodded in agreement with Shine. The Demon King wasn’t the type to waste his army with a stupid strategy. He wanted to conquer the world with an army once he was resurrected, so he needed them for that. However, it was an utter loss to waste the Demons. Such actions would be regarded as foolish because they didn’t consider the aftermath.
“As things come to this, these Demons are gathered to be used as meat shields. Then what’s the meaning to that…?”
“Master, there is a magic cast on the field aside from the barrier. It can’t be easily destroyed since it’s chanted in the language of the Demons.”
That moment, Belois’s clear voice echoed in Evan’s ears. Magic on the field? As Evan thought for a while, something suddenly occurred to him.
“Isn’t this similar to the magic cast on the dungeon?”
“Ah. Yes, it has similarities with the one on the dungeon.”
“The magic on the dungeon…Ah!”
A normal adventurer wouldn’t understand what Evan meant. Still, the members who heard about the truth of the dungeon understood it right away. The dungeon was a place specialized in drawing out negative feelings from humans. An intense emotion from battles of life and death between humans and monsters, and their spirits along with their mana were absorbed by the dungeon, which resulted in strengthening the power of the soon-to-be-summoned Demon King and the influences of the Devil.
Then, what about this space? What if the Demon King knew in advance of Evan’s abilities and the fact that all his Demons would die in this place?
“So, uh…now, the Demon King is trying to strengthen himself through the sacrifices of all the Demons in this place; is that what you are getting at?”
“The Demons won’t believe me even if I tell them that.”
Evan looked at the Demons he was facing while saying those words. Of course, they had eyes to see with, so they seemed to be alerted and scared by Evan’s members, but they wouldn’t even consider the possibility of all of them perishing. Evan also agreed that the Demon King wouldn’t act on such a ridiculous plan if it didn’t know about Evan’s abilities.
‘However, if that bastard really is alerted by me, this has to be the reason. I can’t think of any other reason why he would cluster the Demons into one place, which makes it easier for me to slaughter them all.’
Even now, the immense magic fire was bombarding them, blocked by the magic wall conjured forth by Belois and Mirole. Although it was a joint attack by the vast numbers of Demons, the attacks aimed at them were limited, so such a situation as possible.
“Then attacking them right now would strengthen the Demon King after all!”
“Sacrificing the lives of allies to become stronger, who would come up with such a vicious idea…Oh, it’s the Demon King, well.”
Even though there were members who seemed viler than the Demon King, the opponent was the wicked King of all Demons, the Demon King who aimed to bring destruction to the continent!
“…What’s that? Shine, I saw you staring at me just now.”
“No, you are wrong, I guess?”
Shine floundered and turned his head away. Evan regarded him for a long moment before turning away with a sigh.
“Anyways, we know the reason, so there’s no need for hesitation.”
“Shall we force a breakthrough? If we clear a straight path and set up a barrier at the arrival point with Lin and Lan’s abilities, we can lessen the Demon casualties.”
“No.”
Evan shook his head as he looked at Louise’s party, who prepared for battle with tensed faces. If it was similar to the structure of magic in the dungeon, there was a high possibility that the Demon King would get stronger just with the first few kills. Then it would be best not to engage in a battle at all.
“All is good. Louise is to fight with the Demon King. I am not going to engage at all.”
“Master, what are you…?”
Louise sounded uneasy as she looked at Evan, who released his mana by touching his boots. The Devil Rune’s ability didn’t fully activate since he used it a bit ago, but this would suffice.
“Louise, I’ll hold them off, so go ahead with your members. Have Raihan Hyeong and Lua as your rear-guards, just in case.”
“Master, are you trying to do it all by yourself…?”
Louise asked doubtfully. Why did she sound worried as she had witnessed it before? Evan stretched his arms and smiled. That moment, the countless magic spells that were flying towards them stopped in mid-air. Unable to maintain form, they vanished.
“He started taking action!”
“Analyze what method he has used right…”
As the Demons who were most alerted against Evan started to cast magic once again, everyone stopped moving.
“Run!”
“It’s an unknown magic…”
A time barrier that can’t be stopped by the power of the mortals covered the entire area. All Demons from the front line to the rear froze. It looked as if everything on the Eternal Glacier froze. Even the members who knew Evan’s abilities were astonished once again by his time-stopping ability that affected the vast area.
“Such a ridiculous miracle is possible after all…”
“This won’t last long, so hurry up and defeat the Demon King.”
“Understood. Ma-Master. But before that, uhm…”
Despite the urgent task in hand, Louise approached Evan and pursed her lips. As expected, this was necessary from the protagonist of a hero tale. Evan smiled and gave her what she wanted.
“You can win now, right?”
“Ha…Yes!”
Louise strongly nodded with her face reddened and turned away while shouting with her short sword raised high.
“We will rush inside while the Master stalls the Demons!”
“Understood!”
Her party members replied bravely even though they were dumbfounded. Evan ignored Save, who looked at him with his cheeks blushed.
“Hiiii, I wanted to get that too, but I got none!”
There were others who were complaining innocently as they saw the two kissing. Of course, the culprit was Lan, who didn’t care about the mood of her surroundings. Evan decided not to question her about the meaning behind her words.
“We can do that after defeating the Demon King. That’s the standard procedure.”
“I see!”
The gloomy Lan immediately became happy when Evan told her that. Perhaps something big would happen to Jhin after defeating the Demon King; Evan paid a silent tribute.
“Then let’s advance!”
“Huuuuuurah!”
“Let’s swiftly end them and return!”
The determined Louise party headed out first. Even though the whole area stopped, the passage to the Demon King was simply too long, so much that it would take minutes to get there.
“Master, are you really all right? We are talking about defeating the Demon King. It won’t be as short as one or two hours…”
“I’m fine, so Lua, go with them.”
Evan smiled and displayed the muscles on his arm as a reply to Belois’s worries.
“Haven’t I told you that my skills became stronger? I can do this all day long, so protect those kids. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the Demon King prepared other plans.”
“But…I will be separated from you in such a place.”
She surely knew that she was the best person against the Demon King since, as a witch and a sorceress, she could block any spells or tricks that the Demon King prepared.
“Leave this to us and go, Belois.”
“We’ll protect the commander…sorry.”
Arisha snuck up to Evan and clung to his arms while teasing Belois, and Mirole spoke to her in a serious tone. Belois pouted her lips, which was a rare sight, and made a humph sound.
“I won’t forgive you two if there’s even a scratch on master’s body.”
“Just hurry up and go. They might open the gate before you arrive.”
Belois’ concerns towards Evan were peculiar since before. While those who knew Evan’s strength ended up thinking that they just need to stop petty misfortunes that came for Evan, Belois still thought that there were times when Evan’s life would be in danger.
“Belois, don’t worry and go ahead. I’ll protect the Master.”
“Shine, you idiot…alright. I’ll trust you.”
Meanwhile, there was another person who shared Belois’ anxiety, and it was Shine. They were the only members that understood Evan’s intentions from the moment he took them into his care. Others thought that they were making a big deal over defeating the Demon King, but everyone remained silent out of fear of punishment for disturbing Belois and Shine’s deep emotions.
“Master, all blessings were received. I’m ready to block even the Devil’s spells.”
Right on time, Raihan finished his preparations. Covering himself with all kinds of magic that increased defense from other members and equipping potions, Raihan was the definition of a rock fortress.
“You don’t need to protect me, Hyeong. Just step in when it’s really dangerous. Better if such a thing doesn’t happen.”
“Of course. Then.”
“Master…I’ll come back.”
Raihan showed his confidence and went after Louise’s party while going through the frozen Demons. Belois looked uncomfortable but went along with Raihan.
“Whew…they’ve left now.”
“The Demon King, can they defeat it?”
“They should since I’m helping them to this extent. Moreover, Mirole, is there a way to completely destroy the magic barrier over this field? I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave it after defeating the Demon King.”
“Yes, I’ll start analyzing now…perhaps it won’t be of much help, though.”
“Woah, they look like frozen statues. Can I play with it? Can we give one to Gnar as his new toy?”
“Yup, no way.”
Evan firmly replied and looked at Louise’s party, who headed straight to the last boss dungeon with Raihan and Belois, who were following and guarding them. Sure, Evan could assure that there was no way they could be hurt even if his calculations were wrong. And as long as Save was among them, he could fix the miscalculations.
“Whew…it’s finally over.”
“The Demon King didn’t even appear, and yet you are impetuous.”
“If I say it’s over, then it’s over, brat.”
Evan checked his Time Stop skill once again and sat down.
“Then, let’s have our meal in the meantime.”
Evan willingly sent the warriors to the boss, stopped the army of Demons, and bought time for his members. It was now the time to wait for the scenario to be completed as planned and fill up his empty stomach.
[Chapters tomorrow!]