NOVEL NEXT chapter 37
37. Curse
“Hey…!?” “Guh…!!”
“Vuu!”
Everyone lets out a voice of anguish.
The magical power overflowing from the Great Sage does not stop; rather, it intensifies.
“Guh! You all! Behind me!”
Gora shields Eg and Aira.
In that moment, a particularly massive surge of magical power envelops the area.
Dense, black magical energy wraps around them.
And when he opens his eyes, his entire field of vision is clouded in darkness.
“This is a barrier…”
Gora murmurs as he surveys his surroundings.
“Moreover, it seems all the magical power in this place is being released by the Great Sage…”
There are two types of barriers.
One creates a defensive wall using magical power, enclosing a space.
The other, in addition to the aforementioned, fills the enclosed space with one’s own magical power.
This is a technique known as the Demon Realm, an ultimate art that can only be used by the highest-ranking demon clans.
The benefit of this is that “only the master of the barrier can use magic.”
“This is bad…”
Gora sweats coldly as he looks at the Great Sage.
His eyes are stained black, and black magical power overflows from his body, distorting the space like a heat haze.
And he moves toward Rainel.
Rainel, standing directly in front of him, seems to have already lost his fighting spirit, retreating and plotting to escape at any moment.
“Wait, where did Eg go?”
“Is he being held back by Dad…?”
Aira looks around and sees that Eg was likely heading toward the charred humanoid figure.
—
“What!? This is bad!?”
“Ugh!? What should we do!?”
Aira and Gora beckon, but they are not seen,
Egu reaches the humanoid form and touches it.
In that moment, an overwhelming surge of dark magic bursts forth.
““What!?””
◇◇◇
I awaken in the darkness.
Our Demon Lord’s army continues to seize humanity’s living space with unstoppable momentum. I, too, have killed countless elite soldiers of the allied forces, gaining formidable power.
“No…”
I understood that channeling dark magic into a shield meant killing people. Once I realized that, it all clicked into place.
The shield transformed into a sharp blade. I named this weapon, which possessed both the nature of a blade and a shield, ＜Black Key＞, and I exterminated the enemies of the allied forces more thoroughly than ever before.
“No…”
Perhaps because of that, I was assigned to the unit known as the strongest within the Dark Knight Brigade.
Come to think of it, I must have dealt a serious blow to that trio of swordsmen who had repeatedly interfered on the battlefield, as they no longer showed their faces before me.
“No… this is a lie…”
The expressions of those despairing fools, especially the swordsman’s face, were quite the sight to behold…
“Stop it, it’s a lie, a counterfeit…”
“That’s impossible, this is reality, and I am you.”
“Such…”
◇◇◇
Aira and Gora freeze in place.
The dark armor, unlike what I had seen before,
is adorned with spikes in places, draped in a dark cloak,
the shield on my hand has a sharpened edge, and above all, the quality of the magic enveloping me is different.
Black magic billows out like smoke.
The Great Sage stops in his tracks the moment he sees Elg.
His expression turns to one of fear, and he unleashes magic with single-minded intensity.
Unlike his usual magical brilliance, he indiscriminately fires off a barrage of powerful spells infused with massive amounts of magic.
Elg cleaves through one of those strikes with his shield.
—
—
“What the…! Within the range of enhancement,
magic is so easily…!”
Gora’s eyes widen, and Ayla is left speechless by the bizarre sight.
And above all, the Great Sage is being pushed back.
The living legend, the great hero who defeated the Demon King,
is being slowly forced back.
There is no sense of mercy.
The violent magic released from the will to not approach
is overshadowed by further violence.
And facing the Great Sage, a blade is unleashed.
“〈Shield Slash〉”
That single strike cleaves through the barrier along with the Great Sage.