The Bastard Swordsman Of The Imperial Guard [EN]: Chapter 202

The Demon King’s Castle in Alheim.

The Demon King’s castle, soaring towards the sky, was tall enough to overlook all of Alheim.

“How curious.”

Demon King Maledrakas, sitting on an obsidian throne ornately decorated deep within his castle, rose to his feet.

The massive wings enveloping his body spread out, revealing countless eyes covering his entire form.

“A hero of this age… no, a human that defies description. Why does the human race endlessly produce such beings?”

The humans Maledrakas knew were trash.

They couldn’t even wield the chosen power, magic; instead, they died upon contact with it.

They merely ruled the continent because of their numbers.

However, the one who ended the Great War,

The Great Swordsman of the Heavenly Slaughter Sword, was different.

He possessed power strong enough to end the war single-handedly.

Of course, even if Maledrakas had ignored him and continued the Great War, he wouldn’t have died, and the demon race wouldn’t have been defeated.

However, his existence instilled an overwhelming fear of the Demon King in the demons.

That meant the Demon King wouldn’t be able to gain power.

Maledrakas had no choice but to stop the war.

Maledrakas looked down at the world outside his castle.

In the distance, at the center of the continent, lay the Kamen Empire. A massive surge of magic was rising from there.

He had seen it with the eyes of Maledrakas spread across the continent, but even seeing it in person, it was an incomprehensible phenomenon.

“M, Maledrakas-nim…!”

At that moment, a mid-tier demon rushed out from the darkness.

He hurriedly spoke, forgetting to pay his respects to Maledrakas.

“The Demon King is rampaging! We must immediately dispatch demons to the Empire…! The demons of the Abyss are also struggling….”

“It’s already too late.”

“Yes?! But the Demon’s greatest wish…”

Maledrakas interrupted the demon and looked towards the center of the continent.

Clearly, the Demon King Yacha was the demon’s greatest wish and the core of the grand plan Maledrakas was pursuing.

However, the situation had changed.

As soon as the Demon King’s magic surged, an incomprehensible, powerful force severed that magic.

That mass of magic was no longer the demon’s greatest wish.

It was merely a trace left behind by the annihilation of a great power.

“But… just because the grand plan has failed doesn’t mean we can stop fate.”

The reason why the grand plan failed.

Maledrakas knew the cause.

A new hero born in the human race.

Maledrakas recalled the face of the human who had become a Gaia Church paladin.

At first, he hadn’t paid much attention.

Even a hero of the age couldn’t stop fate.

However, that human was far more dangerous than Maledrakas had thought.

The continent was preparing for war.

Humans were as greedy and ambitious as demons.

They were creatures that couldn’t unite so quickly.

This could never happen unless someone who was sure of victory strongly led the way.

Maledrakas was certain that the human was a hero.

‘He even used the name of the Demon King to unite the humans.’

A terrifying human who was not only strong but also possessed great intellect.

“I must release all the demons of the Abyss.”

Therefore, he could no longer wait.

In the human race, there was a hero of the age who twisted fate.

Having already been defeated by humans once.

He could not repeat the same mistake again.

He had to strike the continent before the hero of the age became stronger.

“Before that… I need to take care of something.”

The eyes on Maledrakas’s body slowly began to open.

Enemies within Alheim.

He had to deal with them thoroughly.

*

“Damn it, what the hell is going on inside….”

Carlson, wearing paladin armor and fully armed, tapped his foot and gripped his sword tightly, looking uneasy.

After the Saintess entered the Special Guard Unit following Rael, a massive storm of magic erupted from within.

The massive storm of magic was a disaster.

The allied forces’ priests simultaneously cast holy magic against the immense power that would rot the body just by touching it.

Fortunately, the storm of magic didn’t move much and only lingered within the Special Guard Unit, but the paladins prayed, chanting Gaia-men [prayers to the goddess Gaia], at the sight of the cataclysmic event.

Rael hadn’t given the allied forces a detailed explanation of the Demon King.

He had simply explained that he was trying to catch the demons hiding in the Empire.

The paladins prayed for the hero and the saintess to overcome the demons and survive.

“What kind of demon has such power…?”

“S, surely another Demon King hasn’t appeared?”

“Damn it. It was true that the Great War would start soon! Are the hero and the saintess okay…?!”

Anxiety spread within the allied forces, and Carlson also swallowed nervously.

Carlson cautiously looked at Lucas, who was standing next to him.

“Lucas, should we break in?”

“No. Sir Carlson. We must protect this place. That was Sir Rael’s request. We must trust Sir Rael.”

Lucas shook his head.

He trusted Sir Rael.

Protecting his position would be the way to help him.

“I trust Rael, but…! Logically, such power shouldn’t be erupting! It was just purification!”

The story had been told to Carlson and a few other executives of Soma Association.

Because Carlson knew the truth to some extent, he was even more afraid of that power.

“…Sir Carlson! There’s Sir Rael!”

At that time.

Rael was seen walking out of the Special Guard Unit.

Lucas immediately ran towards Rael.

Unlike the massive storm, the magic inside the Special Guard Unit was weak.

Lucas approached Rael with a sense of wonder.

Gent and Reina were seen on either side of Rael.

The two members of other races looked exhausted, as if they had consumed too much magic.

“Ugh, I want to go to the World Tree.”

“…Me too. I want to see the beauty of nature. But Reina, it’s not over.”

“I don’t want to fight demons….”

Reina walked out with a tearful face.

She was trembling at the thought that there would be many demons outside.

“Thank you for your hard work! Sir Rael too…?”

Lucas, who greeted Rael and the members of other races, tilted his head as he looked at Rael.

“…Huh? Sir Rael?”

Carlson, who came late, was the same.

He blinked as he looked at Rael’s appearance.

“Why are you looking at me like that? I’m tired to death.”

Rael was carrying the unconscious saintess in his arms, supporting her thighs and back.

It was what they called a princess carry.

The saintess was someone who had to be treated with care, so there was nothing strange about that.

The problem was that there was a young girl he had never seen before on his back.

The girl on Rael’s back, supported by his magic, was fast asleep.

‘Who is that child? No, why is he moving in such an uncomfortable position in the first place?’

Wouldn’t it be better to hand one of them over to Gent rather than carrying them like that?

Carlson had such thoughts, but he didn’t bother to ask.

He had to ask about Rael’s condition first.

“Sir Rael. Are you okay? The magic exploding was visible all the way to the sky.”

“I’m fine. Tch. More than that, Lucas, Carlson, why are you guys here? I clearly told you to watch outside the castle walls? Is it okay for only you guys to be here?”

Rael asked, looking outside.

Such a large surge of magic had erupted, so he thought the outside would be noisy.

“Nothing happened.”

“What?”

“We watched outside the capital as Sir Rael said, but no one came nearby. There wasn’t even an ant.”

“…Nothing happened in the meantime?”

Even Rael felt it was an enormous explosion of magic.

He had burned the magic with the Heavenly Slaughter Divine Sword and controlled the aftermath with 회천 [Hoicheon, a technique to control aftermath], so the allied forces would not have been harmed.

But there was no way the demons wouldn’t have felt this magic.

He thought there would be a fierce battle between the allied forces and the demons.

He had come out without properly recovering to help with the battle.

“Haha. Weren’t they scared of us?! Who are we! We’re the Continental Allied Forces!”

“…That’s strange.”

The demons were a race faithful to instinct and desire.

There was no way they would miss such great power.

“If there’s no battle, that’s a good thing. Where else is it strange?”

“That’s right. Sir Rael. I think you should rest first. Everyone else looks like they’re in bad shape too.”

Lucas said, supporting Gent and Reina.

“What. I don’t have to fight? Yay!”

“Reina. Take me to the World Tree forest too.”

Certainly, Reina and Gent looked exhausted.

Rael glanced at the saintess he was holding and the Demon King on his back, then nodded.

“Okay. For now… shall we rest and think?”

Rael slowly exhaled as he looked at the clear sky beyond the gradually fading magic.

Only then did he feel relieved.

*

“I can feel the Demon King’s magic! Mistra, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Let’s move immediately!”

A hideout somewhere in the capital.

Calliope smiled sinisterly, as if excited.

The 음 [Yin] energy emanating from the succubus filled the hideout and seeped into his subordinates.

Calliope had gathered all the demons of the Empire to attack the Demon King.

The time was coming for the ruler of Alheim to change.

“Eung-? Mistra? Let’s go quickly?”

The Demon King, who the Empire had been hiding, was revealing himself.

This was an opportunity that would never come again.

Coincidentally, his troops had also infiltrated the Empire without Maledrakas’s knowledge.

If he could just go to the Demon King and accept that great magic, showing Maledrakas a nightmare would not be a delusion.

“…Calliope.”

“There’s nothing to be nervous about. With my slaves, we can handle everything. Why did you call me to a place like this in the first place? We could have been more aggressive….”

Alheim.

The vast continent beyond that.

Everything would fall into his grasp.

All the creatures of this continent would be reduced to slaves.

Calliope licked his lips, imagining that future.

Crack-

But at that moment.

With the sound of something breaking.

Calliope’s chattering mouth stopped.

“…?”

Calliope slowly lowered his eyes and looked at his heart, which had a hole in it.

Mistra’s hand had pierced through his chest.

“Mistra? What’s going on… no, what are you doing?”

Calliope sincerely could not understand Mistra’s actions.

Hadn’t she agreed with the idea of betraying Maledrakas, gaining the fear of the demons, and becoming the ruler of Alheim?

What was the point of betraying him now?

“Calliope, you were wrong from the start….”

Swish-

Mistra’s hand moved like the wind and cut off Calliope’s neck.

Calliope, who had fallen to the floor, looked at Mistra as if he couldn’t understand until the end.

“Everything is resolved. Maledrakas-nim.”

At the same time, Mistra bowed his head towards the empty air.

Sreuk-

A huge eyeball appeared from among the wriggling magic in the empty air.

Maledrakas’s eyeball looked at Mistra.

“Ha, haha… how foolish. Mistra. In the end, you decided to become a dog?”

Demon King Calliope was holding onto consciousness even after death had come.

Calliope sincerely ridiculed Mistra.

If he was going to live his whole life being loyal to Maledrakas, what was the difference from dying?

“Foolish and low-grade succubus….”

Mistra bit his lip and trampled on Calliope’s head.

Calliope met such a futile death.

“Well done, Mistra. There was a troublesome guy who recklessly wielded power under the name of Demon King.”

“…Yes. Maledrakas-nim.”

Mistra lowered his head deeply.

Just having a conversation made his shoulders tremble.

Calliope was wrong.

In fact, Mistra was just as foolish.

Until he saw Maledrakas’s eyes that appeared before him a few days ago, Mistra had also agreed with Calliope’s thoughts.

Because they were beings bound together as the same Demon King.

He thought he could win if he had the power of the Demon King.

But from the beginning, all the premises were wrong.

Maledrakas and other Demon Kings were called the same Demon King, but they were not of the same class.

He could never defeat that monster.

This continent would also be devastated by Maledrakas.

Mistra had such conviction and sacrificed Calliope’s life.

“I will start the Great War. Mistra. I leave the demons and the demons of the Abyss to you.”

“Yes, yes. I understand. Maledrakas-nim.”

“I will… begin the Advent of Alheim.”

Maledrakas’s eyeball disappeared into the empty air.