234. The King of Obsession (9)
And though his opponent was defeated, he refused to surrender.
*Then I won’t suggest it again.*
*It’ll be dangerous if I don’t finish this.*
“This… this… I suppose the result would be like this. Well, that’s the natural order.”
Sylvester’s sword halted.
“Who is it?”
My body moved reflexively.
But I couldn’t identify the entity.
*Could it be one of his?*
Sylvester assumed it was one of Pelen Throne’s underlings.
But for some reason, even he looked puzzled.
“Don’t be so nervous. Anyway, both this guy and that guy are suspiciously wary of people, aren’t they?”
The source of the voice became clear.
“…That’s…”
Sylvester couldn’t hide his bewildered reaction.
Before he knew it, a grotesque figure with tree branch-like features was standing behind Pelen Throne.
A familiar figure.
“Is that the monster from the Demon’s ritual? But he didn’t speak back then…”
To be exact, he had never spoken in proper language.
But this time, he was clearly revealing his intelligence.
“…Who are you?”
“Who I am? Aren’t you already guessing?”
The monster couldn’t hide his laughter, as if something was funny, and spoke to Pelen Throne.
“Shut up. I won’t listen to a coward who hides his face.”
Someone must be borrowing the monster’s face to speak from beyond.
Pelen Throne noticed that and retorted sharply.
“More than anything… to handle that, you are my enemy.”
“Hmm~ Well, that’s true. So, that enemy will make a proposal to you.”
“…Shut up.”
“Puhahaha. Only good at showing off. …Hey. Are you going to give up your goal like this?”
“Shut up!”
Pelen Throne couldn’t control his emotions and burst into anger, even while spitting blood.
“I don’t know who you are, but everything you say is mockery! Did you think I wouldn’t know that!”
“That’s too much.”
“Betrayer of all fate! Don’t move that mouth! Just listening to it makes my ears rot!”
He denounced the owner of the voice as a traitor.
“…How foolish. I could have cooperated. Are you going to throw away the opportunity?”
“Opportunity? I’m not so rotten that I’d be deceived by a traitor like you.”
“But you’re just a loser.”
The voice mocked Pelen Throne as a loser.
“Even if your spirit isn’t broken, if your body perishes, it’s already as good as defeat. Even if you cling to that mere pride, the reality is that you are just a loser who has been defeated by fate.”
Pelen Throne’s complexion changed upon hearing that claim.
He groaned deeply and clearly harbored hostility towards the entity beyond his eyes.
“I understand. That’s who you are. I knew you were…”
Pelen Throne was about to say something after realizing something, but instead of a voice, only crimson blood flowed out.
The monster looked down at him and sighed.
“It’s already at its limit anyway. Okay, I’ll stop asking for cooperation. …Instead.”
At that moment.
The monster’s dry, branch-like arm pierced Pelen Throne’s heart.
“I’ll forcibly twist your fate. …I’ll make sure you don’t go against the plan. Be grateful. I’ll help you achieve your goal.”
It pierced his chest so easily and dug into his heart, taking control of him in an instant.
“…Be thankful, Pelen Throne. You will become the object of fear that you desire to rule the world.”
“What are you doing… Ugh?!”
Sylvester sensed that the situation was unusual and tried to intervene, but he couldn’t even get close.
And he saw it clearly.
The figure of the tree branch monster is gradually disappearing.
No, to be specific, it should be said that it is being sucked into Pelen Throne’s body.
“Too late, you naive simpleton.”
The voice taunted Sylvester with a sneering laugh.
“You worked hard to defeat this man, but what are you going to do? It’s going to be very difficult from now on.”
“…”
“Tch, he doesn’t even pretend to be flustered. He’s not a fun guy to provoke. I really don’t like him. …Well, that’s why they find him easy to handle.”
The voice muttered bitterly, filled with an inexplicable malice.
Hate directed solely at Sylvester.
“Well, whatever. It would be troublesome if you caused any more trouble, just like that guy. …So, I’ll start by killing you here.”
A malicious declaration.
Sylvester asked, seemingly bewildered.
“…Who the hell are you?”
There is no answer.
With those words, the voice stopped abruptly.
Instead, Pelen Throne, into whom the monster had been absorbed, raised his body.
“…”
“Pelen Throne?”
He has changed.
For some reason, I had the illusion that his size had doubled.
It hasn’t actually increased.
The energy he emits has increased significantly.
It’s not just that his injuries have healed.
I had an ominous feeling.
“…I have realized.”
He staggered… got up as if forcibly driving his unmoving body.
And that shaking gradually subsides.
Before he knew it, his body had recovered, and an ominous aura took its place.
“I will defy fate. I will overcome all plans and subjugate everything.”
Pelen Throne’s eyes felt strangely disgusting.
“I am the only one who will be the sole emperor.”
A sense of alienation as if his existence alone would erode the world.
And there….
*Has the person changed?*
His behavior is as if he has clearly become a different human being.
“…Be prepared, boy from the same hometown.”
Even before the voice, which seemed to echo softly, disappeared.
“Keuhak!”
Sylvester instinctively raised his sword to defend himself.
A tremendous shock struck him as it was.
It was like being hit head-on by a dragon’s tail and then stepped on.
His consciousness flew away for a moment.
His consciousness flew away for only a moment, but when he opened his eyes again, he realized that he was lying on the floor.
“Keoheok. Keuk! Kuheok….”
As he struggled with his rough breathing, something black poured out from inside his throat.
A single blow.
Pelen Throne had simply jumped in with all his might and extended his fist towards Sylvester’s torso.
*This is dangerous….*
The situation has changed from before.
*I don’t even know what happened….*
Thinking about the phenomenon I saw, the fact that this man absorbed that monster must be the cause of the rapid increase in power.
But I can’t know the detailed rules.
I can’t even figure out how to respond.
Pelen Throne is approaching, closing the distance with steps so leisurely that he is defenseless.
Sylvester is unable to find a way to respond to the desperate difference in power.
“It’s over.”
Just as Pelen Throne was about to extend his arm, declaring the end.
Kwaang!
A fireball flew towards Pelen Throne’s face and exploded as it hit him.
“…Spirit magic?”
Sylvester moved his head to find the person who fired the flame.
And that person jumped in front of Sylvester.
*Has this ever happened before?*
But it was the opposite back then.
Unlike then, now that boy stepped forward as if to save Sylvester.
Eilon.
“Stop right there. Don’t go around doing whatever you want. You really don’t let people feel at ease.”
“Eilon?”
“…”
Sylvester was shocked, and Pelen Throne only stared at Eilon, who had broken in without saying anything else.
And Eilon also checked the two of them alternately and frowned as if he was annoyed.
“…First of all, I definitely knew that something was wrong. That damn final boss bastard….”
Eilon muttered incomprehensible words and beckoned his hand towards Pelen Throne as if provoking him.
“I’ve figured it out roughly, so let’s get hit a little, you old geezer.”
261. The Ending (1)
I never thought I would intervene in this way.
I was worried that this could happen from the point when the situation flowed in a way other than what I knew.
I encouraged the showdown between Sylvester and Pelen Throne.
The two collided.
But there was a possibility that the result would flow differently.
And it changed.
*The result of Sylvester defeating Pelen Throne is as expected.*
Up to that point, it is no different from the result I knew.
But then.
The situation seems to have changed with the appearance of that monster with dry tree branches.
Sylvester explained to me what had happened in that short amount of time.
I understood.
Obviously, Epheleoht, that bastard, must have done something.
*Is this what that damn final boss bastard was talking about?*
Pelen Throne seemed to have absorbed that monster with tree branches.
He directly accepted it into his heart and achieved a rapid power-up.
That is his current appearance.
Tree branches extending from the chest where the heart is located cover the whole body like armor.
As if transformed into a heterogeneous monster.
What’s even more ominous is that the transformation is not over yet.
Both the body and the personality have definitely deteriorated.
“…Did you finally come after me, Eilon?”
And that powered-up boss looked at me. *Damn it.*
*I can’t even guess how strong he has become.*
Of course, that kind of power-up was not in the original work.
In addition…….
Warning…….
Anyway, it’s not good.
I decided to ignore the messages that keep popping up for now.
Looking at it won’t help.
Meanwhile, Pelen Throne was trying to pick up his weapon, or so it seemed, and was trying to pick up the Flame Axe stuck in the floor.
However.
Whirr!
As his hand touched it, the Flame Axe caused a flame of green color and burned his hand instead.
As if rejecting its owner.
*Come to think of it, that weapon was made with the flames of the Fire Spirit King, right? Is that related?*
*You are no longer my master.*
*Is that what you want to say?*
“…Is that so? You are saying that I am not qualified. But it doesn’t matter.”
Pelen Throne gave up his favorite weapon without regret.
As if there was something to replace it, the tree branch-like thing covering his hand wriggled and suddenly grew and stretched out.
Then, it sculpted a weapon of the same size as the Flame Axe and put it in his hand.
“…Huh, what an excessive interference.”
He muttered unpleasantly and grabbed his new weapon.
He cannot emit a powerful flame like the Fire Spirit King, but instead.
Whirr.
It creates a flame of ominous color.
A brown flame…….
*This is completely Phase 2…….*
The enemy has a power-up that wasn’t in the original work and got a new weapon, and the ally has no recovery.
It’s really dirty, dirty.
*At this rate, I can’t just leave it to Sylvester…….*
But I can only feel a formidable premonition.
“Sylvester, how long will it take to recover?”
“…Just a little more. I can swing a sword with that much. Or…….”
He’s thinking of fighting even if he has to overdo it.
I reached out my hand slightly behind me and gestured to stop him as if to stop him.
*You stay out of it for a while.*