"Heiii, do you really think what you're doing right now is going to be some kind of major threat to the demons, huh?"
Right after that, I burst into loud laughter, the kind you would expect from a textbook villain.
And then I said,
"All of you are fools. Even when you try to wield a holy weapon, it's still not particularly impressive in my eyes…"
They truly had not worked as hard as I once did, dying in ridiculous ways over and over again. And yet, in the end, I still managed to win through cheap tricks.
People like them could never use a holy weapon properly.
Lol.
"That is precisely why. You will never be worthy of receiving my official recognition as the ruler of eternal darkness!!"
The moment those overly cool words left my mouth, all of the revolutionary soldiers and the four heroes among them felt something snap inside their minds.
Annoyance, suffering, confidence, even the desire to kill, all of it mixed together and thickened within the empty air.
Even while they were desperately holding back my weak Undead forces, their gazes kept forcing themselves toward me again and again, despair clearly carved into their faces.
It was so intense that I grew tired of describing each of their expressions one by one.
I regretted even glancing at them.
"…..!!!!"
That noisy woman bit down on her lip until fresh blood began to drip. Her hands trembled as she gripped the hilt of her sword, just as I began to summon the strongest weapon in this game world.
At its core, this was merely a form of defense. Nothing more.
[Sword Abyss]
A cool-sounding name straight out of the standard templates known among true gamers. No matter how cliché it sounded, the fact remained that this sword was a rare item possessed only by the final boss.
According to the game's own rules, defeating every boss granted you a new item as a reward.
"That's impossible..."
In the very next moment, the woman shot forward before I could fully manifest the Abyss Sword in my grasp.
No matter how I looked at her, her face was clearly twisted with frustration.
For example:
"This can't be happening!!"
A horizontal slash.
"This can't be happening!!"
A vertical slash.
"This can't be happening!!!!!"
A much stronger strike, cutting in a zigzag pattern.
"This will never happen!!!"
Even after countless swings, she stubbornly continued trying to defeat me, tears salty as the sea streaming down her face.
Her eyes were wide open, her breathing ragged, and she kept unleashing fatal attacks with all her strength. Veins bulged from her skin, as if she were on the verge of completely losing her sanity.
She attacked me without pause, nonstop, while hurling insults clearly meant to trample the dignity of the Demon King, and perhaps even that of the remaining demon race itself.
Tch. Just another boring, classic speech. Those slogans of holiness were no different.
In the end, all I felt was disgust.
In a situation like this, I did not simply stand still or keep dodging like some genuine coward.
I immediately activated a transparent, pitch-black shield that enveloped my entire body. That shield was formed from the very existence of human fear itself. And in fact, one of my horns had been cleanly severed by her blade, sharper than it had ever been before.
Truly careless of me.
Right now, I only had one horn left.
This woman was ruining the game's aesthetics.
Holy shit.
It was as if some cosmic being itself was supporting her, forcefully trying to erase the narrative of darkness that had existed until now.
"….Huh!? Running away!?" She let out a bitter laugh. "Tch. Disgusting…"
She spoke while slowly stepping forward, her hand dragging her sword along the ground. That sword weighed roughly two hundred thousand tons.
"Even what people call the worst of the worst… you truly surpass that level of evil itself."
She then displayed absolute arrogance right in front of me.
Her hysterical laughter was strangely beautiful, sharp like a bird's song, and overflowing with emotions unique to true humans.
But calm down. Don't worry. This was all part of development. Trust me. I had no intention of losing, nor of claiming victory.
"Haaaa….."
I looked at her and let out a long sigh.
The more people feared the darkness, the stronger this shield became at repelling every brutal slash thrown at me. This was a unique passive skill possessed by that damn final boss.
It was practically the embodiment of cheating.
"I see. That's funny. You're making my stomach tickle."
And now, all I could do was laugh loudly like a madman, my eyes almost completely hidden beneath dark silhouettes. I desperately tried to appear even more condescending, emphasizing just how incompetent this so-called main hero truly was.
"Yes, yes, yes. You're right, stubborn hero!!! I am the embodiment of the most detestable creature in the universe!!! Why!? Don't you like it!? Or are you trying to hate me!? That's foolishness."
Laughing even harder, I muttered in a low voice,
"How about this, my sweet lady?"
In essence, at that moment, I finally succeeded in summoning the Abyss Sword, just as the woman was forced to swallow my arrogant words.
Without thinking about anything else, I immediately kicked that stubborn woman when she tried to shatter my shield with her holy sword.
No one could tell how many meters she was sent flying. Counting it with fingers would be pointless. What mattered was that she was launched so far that she crashed into the training facility outside my tower castle.
Her once beautiful body was now left only with the aftermath of a brutal impact, its former elegance completely crushed.
More than that, tomato sauce from her fresh wound was scattered everywhere
Her body felt far too heavy to stand again.
She collapsed weakly before the mortal world.
"..."
Was it like lead? No, that kind of narration was unnecessary for this situation. She simply felt as if her body had been replaced by concrete weighing one trillion kilograms. That description suited her pitiful state far better.
Then, in the very next moment, the other three heroes finally began to move, no longer remaining passive like before.
"…Rosse!!! Don't worry!! I'll fight until the very last drop of blood!"
The glamorous sword knight from the Lucifer family suddenly drew the second sword resting at his other waist.
Now, he held two blades, both pointed straight at me.
On the other side, the nun finally began to reveal her true strength.
Apparently, she specialized in blessings.
She deployed a beautifully engraved magic circle beneath the rubble of the ruined buildings. With a blinding white light that pierced the darkness, she immediately channeled energy and healing toward those on the brink of death.
From another direction, a crimson magic circle formed in midair. That one belonged to the analytical-type mage.
So that's how it is. They were launching a multi-directional combo assault now? Interesting.
Very interesting, and worthy of praise as a standard reaction to a Demon King.
"Fantastic! Fantastic…!"
My voice echoed throughout the entire space.
The fear it generated was so intense that even the demon troops were affected by it.
"All right. At least give me a truly magnificent performance, oh holy heroes!!!"
I was enjoying this immensely.
It wasn't that I was looking down on them from a personal perspective. They genuinely deserved recognition for their uniqueness.
To begin with, I should say that every detail of this scene was something entirely new. I was entertained. Truly so. At the same time, I felt a faint sense of joy.
"…Sacred flames that I borrow, please, please… grant us the power to defeat evil!!!"
The mage floating in the air quickly formed magic circles in the sky. Each circle was small, but there were countless of them, drifting through the air as they aimed directly at me.
He whispered as if reciting a sacred chant under his breath. The other heroes immediately took their positions, ready to strike, once they felt fully prepared.
Each hero strangely shone like a lantern within the eternal darkness.
For some reason, it felt visually cool.
I was certain that it was nothing more than an intensely burning power born from their faith in themselves, hoping to defeat me through a foolish method.