CH 49

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An excerpt from chapter 27 [Demon King Yuri Is Born!]:

[Many screams sounded from the places where the lasers landed on. Furthermore, Gigataro rotated his body in place, leaving nothing around us unburned!

You have defeated Player: Yario! You have defeated Player: Seele! You have defeated Player: Korin! You have defeated Player: Zansword! You have defeated Player: Crutteruo! You have defeated—]

Zansword…! (´;ω;｀)

[With the Seat of the Strongest on the Line!]

Zansword. If I wasn’t mistaken, he was one of the winners of the last battle royale event and he was the player chosen to lead the sixty-four guilds alliance according to the baldhead.

I didn’t see him in the first round of the battle royale I’d participated in, but well, he must have had something to do in real life and could only join in the middle.

“Self-proclaiming you’re the strongest—you’re pissing me off, but aren’t you a gutsy one? Alright, I’ll take you on!”

I manifested a jet-black arrow in my hand and nocked it to my bow. With that as the signal, he instantly broke into a run!

“Here I come!” Zansword ran towards me at super high speed as his hakama fluttered. In response, I activated the ‘Arms Barrier’ skill.

A total of 16 magic swords and magic spears manifested around me before shooting off toward Zansword!

However…

“Activate arts, ‘Iai Slash’, ‘Crescent Moon Slash’, ‘Skyward Rend’!”

He’d got the ability to back up his claim. Every time the katana in his hand swung at super high speed, my weapons were sent flying with resounding clanging sounds!

Moreover, his legs didn’t slow down at all. Even as he unleashed one powerful slash after another, Zansword closed the distance between us and he finally arrived before me!

“You may not remember, however, I owe you something. Allow me to pay for the disgrace you subjected me to that day!”

What the hell are you talking about?!

Before I could ask, his super high-speed katana slashed me diagonally from the shoulder to the waist!

An instant later—psssssh—blood jetted out of the wound.

“Gragh?!”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

‘Tenacity’ activates! You survive with 1 HP from a fatal wound!

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Even though I was vomiting blood, I managed to hold on thanks to my Tenacity skill.

But it seemed Zansword had already predicted that. He drew a smile on his pointlessly dignified face and kept his guard up as he followed up with another attack—!

“I am aware that your skill can only activate once every five seconds! This is the eeeeeeeend!”

Activate special art, ‘Heaven Severing Slash’! The moment he shouted, a ‘slash of light’ was released from the katana he swung.

That’s no sword technique; that’s a freaking laser! Slashed by it, I was sent flying and slammed into the wall…!

It’s over—was most likely what Zansword thought as he put his katana back into its scabbard and turned his back on my corpse.

“I will tell you before you disappear. I… was among those massacred by the exterminating lasers fired by your familiar during the first round of the battle royale.

“Ahh, that was my first time ever suffering such humiliation. I could have never imagined that I, who had always been the strongest player since the open beta, would be pathetically slaughtered along with so many extras…!”

His period drama-like tone broke at the end. He must have been really pissed off, as his voice was trembling with anger.

“Yuri. Ever since that day, you’ve been occupying the space in my mind.

“To defeat you, I never stopped collecting information about you. I replayed videos of you over and over and even visited every site recommended on the message board, where there might be rumors about you no matter how trivial…!

“I also bought your photobook to see if it contained a direct interview with you, but unfortunately it didn’t…”

Who the fuck cares about all that! I never asked! Or rather, you bought that damn photobook?!

Zansword slightly relaxed his shoulders. As he walked away, he said as though to leave his parting words, “However, now I have cleansed myself of the humiliation of that day. I can wait for the ‘guild war’ with a serene heart.

“Farewell Demon King. Next time we meet, do try to defeat me with everything you have. Fufufufufufu…”

—As he was saying such bullshit, I shot a jet-black arrow at his back!

“Nh, what?!”

Picking up the twang of the bowstring, Zansword promptly swung his katana behind him and deflected the arrow.

Good reaction speed, but it’s too late. There’s already enough distance between us. You should have checked if I was still alive.

Seeing me standing up, the samurai-wannabe bastard stared at me in shock, “You are not dead?! But according to the information, the skill that made you almost immortal should have been restricted… No, don’t tell me, is it due to that remodeled obscene dress?!”

“Oi, leave my dress alone. …If you’ve been collecting information about me, you should’ve understood me to some extent, right? I’m not the kind of person who’ll take those shitty devs’ unjust treatment lying down!”

Now, it’s my turn to attack!

I reactivated ‘Arms Barrier’ and shot out all the 21 magic swords and magic swords in my item box.

Furthermore, I held multiple arrows between my fingers and shot them at Zansword!

“Nuooooooooo, I will not be defeated by your cheap tricks! Activate arts, ‘Swift Sword Barrage’, ‘Crescent Moon Slash’, ‘Whirlwind Slash’!”

Zansword came at me again as he deflected my attacks with arts.

Receiving motion assist from the system, he unleashed powerful slashes as he got closer, but his face gradually clouded over with impatience.

Well, it was only natural.

“Regardless if it’s magic or sword technique, activating arts consumes ‘MP’. You can’t continuously use them forever.”

My ‘Arms Barrier’, on the other hand, was a skill. I could keep using it without a care in the world as long as I met its activation condition: ‘HP is less than 10%’. My HP was 1 at all times, so I could practically use it as many times as I wanted.

Moreover, it wasn’t my only no-cost means of attack!

“Forbidden Summon! Come forth, “Chimeratic Lightning Wolf’!”

“Awoooooooooooooo!”

In response to my call, a lightning-clad wolf appeared from the pitch-black magic formation.

This was a High Summoner’s ‘Job Skill’, Forbidden Summon. It allowed you to summon a chimera that resulted from the fusion of a monster part and an item. It didn’t take up the 12-summon slots, too.

The lightning wolf kicked off the ground and sprinted toward Zansword!

“Kh, that was the monster that paralyzed the baldhead?!”

“Correct. He’s my lovely pet dog. Touch it, and you’ll get paralyzed! Try your best to dodge him, Zansword!”

That said, this was a cave. It was almost impossible to dodge such a big wolf here.

Once he got paralyzed, it’d be the end for him and I’d be taking the W. At that moment…

“Tch…! Activate art, ‘Fire Enchantment’!”

Whoa, he used magic-based art!

His katana emitted furiously burning flames. The instant Zansword swung it, the Lightning Wolf was immediately sliced into two.

Maybe because the katana was covered with magic? He didn’t seem to be paralyzed. But his expression turned bitter.

“I never imagined that I would end up being forced to reveal my second job before the event…”

“Second job?”

“Did you not know? Players who have reached level 50 will be able to choose an additional new job.

“I chose ‘Enchanter’. It is a job that allows one to imbue their weapon with various magical effects.”

I see, so that was why he was able to use magic even though he was a samurai. In a sense, he was like a ‘Magic Swordsman’.

But how the hell did he reach level 50 while collecting information about me? Just how many hours in a day did he spend playing this game… ah.

“I-I see, don’t you worry… I understand…”

“What’s with that subtly gentle expression?! Quit it! You’re reminding me of my mother, so quit it!” Zansword screamed as he held up his katana.

His face was filled with embarrassment and anguish from having accidentally exposed his secret. He might have been better off dying on purpose if he would only end up being so embarrassed by it.

But I wouldn’t make fun of him. In fact, I was happy that he had zealously put in so much effort to defeat me.

I smiled at him. “Don’t be embarrassed, Zansword. I ended up revealing the fact that my ‘Tenacity’ skill has regained its original power, too.

“I could have pretended to be dead and taken the L, but that’s something that only cowards do, isn’t it?

“In terms of fighting spirit, you and I both are the ‘strongest’, that’s simply it. So, don’t mind it.”

“Yuri… you…”

“Now, let’s get this show back on the road, Zansword. We’ve laid bare our secrets to each other, let’s fight with everything we’ve got!”

I clenched my bow as Pontaro and countless Arms Barrier’s summoning formations appeared around me.

Seeing it, Zansword restored his dignified expression.

Then just like mine, a smile appeared on his face as he took a stance with his katana.

“Phew… very well! Let us settle this!”

“Yeah, this is the guild war pre-celebration! As fellow leaders, let’s grandly kill each other!”

Grinning at each other, we moved into action at the same time.

The manly clash between me, who specialized in long-range attacks, and him, who specialized in close-range attacks unfolded.

I shot swords, spears, axes, and arrows, whereas he charged toward me with a single burning sword.

“Roaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—————!”

Zansword roared as he was deflecting my attacks. It seemed he could no longer use arts because his MP ran out, but he didn’t falter at all.

Even as his body was battered by the rain of weapons, Zansword continued to rush forward with ferocious momentum!

Then when he finally came right in front of me…

“—Guh… How regretful…!”

His sword arm dropped limply and he fell down like a broken puppet. Bleeding all over his body, he finally ran out of HP.

I caught his body in my arms and patted him on the back, commending him for fighting so bravely.

“That was fun, Zansword. Let’s decide who’s the ‘strongest’ in the event three days later.”

“Yes… next time I will win, Demon King Yuri…!” Zansword slowly disappeared into particles.

And so, I defeated Zansword and, at the same time, reached level 50.