The Failure Marquis Is A Genius [EN]: Chapter 194

Chapter 22: The Conclusion – The Finished Scoundrel

Fighting Merlin, the leader of the Twilight Church, made me realize that Druids are the best class for suppressing a large number of enemies.

The skills you acquire upon promotion are all area-of-effect skills.

While their effectiveness is debatable when facing a small number of powerful foes, wielding the power of nature in a large-scale war was ridiculously overpowered.

When confronting the Demon King Baal, I was confident that my influence on the battlefield surpassed his, even if a one-on-one fight might be a different story.

And when this confidence of mine materialized, a disaster no less than the giant meteorite Baal summoned began.

쾅! 콰앙! 쾅!!

There were thousands of golems.

The size of each golem rivaled a troll, and the hardness of their bodies was comparable to an ogre.

These golems relentlessly churned through the monster army.

Each time a large fist swung, an orc’s head exploded, and goblins and ratmen loitering in the path were trampled or sent flying.

“Waaaaaaa!!!!”

The human allied forces, who had witnessed this miracle rising from the ground, screamed at the top of their lungs.

It was a roar mixed with every emotion: longing for victory, the joy of a favorable turn in the war, and the sheer joy of survival.

[You’re quite a troublesome fellow.]

Baal frowned and waved his hand again.

What was he trying to do this time?

In a situation where the allied forces, monsters, and golems were mixed together, dropping a meteorite seemed like a poor choice.

Because allies and enemies alike would be swept away.

Of course, a demon king wouldn’t care about his subordinates, but it didn’t seem like someone who wanted to savor the war would make such a decision.

Crackle! Crackle!

An ominous cracking sound echoed.

Is it a space-based skill?

The air shimmered, and beyond it, black energy rippled like tentacles.

I narrowed my eyes and stared at it.

“!!”

I recognized what was emerging from the tear.

A creature so bizarre that it was impossible to forget once seen.

It was an abyss maw.

I had encountered an abyss maw before.

In the battle against Arrogance, a top executive of the Twilight Church, he summoned a small, unidentified abyss maw.

The abyss maw, which resembled a black sphere, sucked everything in like a black hole, and I had a difficult time dealing with it back then.

At that time, I solved the problem by seizing the artifact that Arrogance was using to control it, but it didn’t seem like the same method would work now.

The Demon King had no artifacts.

He was controlling the abyss maw with incantations alone.

From its appearance to its size, it was completely different from the abyss maw I saw before.

As if what I saw was a miniature version, the world’s largest fish head peeked out from beyond the crack.

The black sphere formed inside its mouth once again generated a powerful suction force.

[Eat all the golems.]

That’s… impressive.

I thought the abyss maw would indiscriminately devour everything.

It roughly understood the Demon King’s orders and only consumed the golems I summoned.

In many ways, his control skills were far superior to Arrogance’s.

Kukwakwakwa!!!

The golems were cleared away in an instant.

That was acceptable.

After all, I could summon golems again once the cooldown was over.

But would that abyss maw stop at just eating golems?

That was the real problem.

[Next are the humans. Eat all the humans.]

Kwaaaaa!!!

The abyss maw’s suction turned towards the allied forces.

The feet of a soldier who was fiercely exchanging sword blows lifted off the ground.

“Huh??”

The soldier, panicking, screamed as the ground receded further and further away, before being pulled into the abyss maw’s mouth and torn apart alive.

“Kkeuaaaack!!”

That was the beginning.

Humans, elves, and merfolk alike floated into the air.

To those who had been teetering between life and death while fighting monsters, the powerful vacuum cleaner floating in the sky was a requiem announcing despair.

“Ugh!”

The giant Adam planted his fists into the ground and held on. Being large, he was relatively resistant to the suction.

But that didn’t apply to the elves clinging to his shoulders. Some elves were sucked towards the abyss maw’s mouth.

Among them was Sasha, the elf chieftain and shaman.

“Kyaaaaack!!”

“Sasha-nim!”

Amelia hurriedly tried to grab her, but she was too late. Her hand, reaching for Sasha’s neck, grasped only air.

“Noooo!!!”

Amelia’s scream echoed.

Fortunately, Adam used his remaining hand to grab Sasha.

It was a desperate moment when the leader of the elf tribe almost perished.

Similar scenes played out everywhere.

The paladin Johann hugged the saintess Merian tightly around the waist, and Marquis Lloyd planted his prosthetic leg into the ground to keep from being dragged away.

The sage Orneore manipulated the water to freeze the ground and people’s feet with ice.

They were more resistant than before because they were stuck to the ground, but they were still unable to move freely and remained prey for the monsters.

With a single gesture from the Demon King, the war situation was severely reversed.

He was a terrifyingly powerful foe.

He deliberately stared at me and raised one corner of his mouth.

It was a sneer and mockery that anyone could see.

That expression conveyed, ‘Let’s see how you solve this.’

What would it have been like in the old days?

I probably would have been helpless.

Even when I was a Sword Master, I struggled with the abyss maw that Arrogance summoned.

But now is very different from then.

I have perfectly defined myself, my soul has risen to a higher level, and my understanding of space-time is on a completely different level than before.

Even the greatest master in the world, the Heavenly Demon, has been teaching me all day for several months, so I can now cut through anything.

Even if the target is the abyss maw, a being from the abyss.

Swish.

I drew my sword from its sheath.

The tip of the sword pointed at the Demon King.

“Are you going to stop the abyss maw by killing me? That’s a foolish decision. It’s impossible to defeat me, and even if it were possible, it would take too long. In the meantime, all your comrades and subordinates will die.”

The Demon King didn’t stop smiling, thinking I was making a futile gesture.

He probably sees me as a chicken in a bag [an easy target].

But he doesn’t know.

Even people die if they swallow a chicken bone the wrong way.

I gently took my hand off the sword hilt.

Perhaps because of the suction, the sword spun around and flew into the abyss maw’s mouth.

I watched the sword until the end.

Eventually, the sword disappeared into the abyss maw’s mouth.

Baal said, intoxicated with victory.

“In the end, all you do is abandon your weapon in a meaningless act. I wanted a slightly more ingenious move, but I’m a little disappointed. I guess the only one worth fighting in this continent was the dragon…”

Ignoring the Demon King’s muttering, I focused intently.

I didn’t just throw the sword.

The sword was doubly and triply reinforced with the aura blade, the symbol of a swordsman, and the spatial power to disrupt space itself.

The abyss maw I identified draws in prey with a powerful suction force, then distorts and compresses space to consume it.

Since it uses a spatial method in the first place, once you’re dragged in, you can’t even resist and you have to endure the terrible pain of your whole body being crushed.

But my sword contains spatial power. In other words, it can resist the power that the abyss maw uses to devour.

What happens to food that floats around undigested?

It constantly irritates the area around the mouth, like a fish bone or a chicken bone.

What if you could remotely control that thorn?

You might be able to force it out through the throat.

[Heavenly Demon Swordsmanship]

[Using Qi to Control the Sword]

Using Qi to control the sword, which allows you to freely move the sword in the air, was a skill I obtained after rising to Grand Sword Master.

As my understanding of space and territory increased, I realized that simply expanding the territory was not always the answer, and I began to favor methods of concentrating the territory on long-range and local areas.

In addition to this, it was only natural that my main weapon, the sword, was used as the central axis to fix the territory.

Kwajijijik!!

The abyss maw doesn’t have vocal cords, so it can’t scream.

However, its startled and wriggling form proved that the attack had worked.

It closed its mouth, but it was already too late.

Because the angry sword strike had completely torn its mouth apart.

Kukwakwakwa!!!

The abyss maw, which had been enjoying the existence of light for a long time, hurriedly retreated to the abyss from which it originated.

The Demon King ordered it to return, but it seemed that the master-servant relationship was not perfect, so the abyss maw disappeared without listening.

Eventually, the crack closed, and the Inter-dimensional Allied Forces took a breather and were able to fully focus on the monsters again.

“You…”

The Demon King’s voice gradually became angry.

It’s a positive sign.

I blocked his meteor, and the Demon King blocked my golem army with the abyss maw.

A situation where attacks and defenses continued.

“Why are you so angry? Are you out of tricks? But what should I do? I still have plenty left.”

That’s right.

I still have my most powerful move left. A skill that every Druid must have.

I can discard all other skills, but I can’t discard this one. Because it’s a skill that defines the Druid itself.

[Life Control]

[Summon World Tree]

[The World Tree Yggdrasil is with you.]

[The aura of nature dwells in the area.]

[All stats of allies increase by 300%.]

[Recovery, vampirism, and regeneration reach max.]

Yggdrasil, which soared from the ground, displayed its magnificent majesty.

At the same time, the mysterious aura emanating from the sacred tree spread widely and enveloped the battlefield.

“Uwaaaaaaa!!!”

Energy surged through my whole body.

Shouts erupted from everywhere.

Those who were injured throughout the battle were healed in real time.

Now they could fight with tremendous recovery power unless their heads were cut off.

Paradoxically, they had become living undead.

And that wasn’t all.

Yggdrasil had the ability to command the surrounding flora and fauna.

Tigers, bears, eagles, and other beasts hiding in the snowfield seized this opportunity to jump out.

They joined the allied forces, biting the monsters’ necks and pecking at their eyes with their beaks.

The demons and monsters were already struggling to fight the human army, and they became even more confused when animals came out and harassed them, their movements becoming tangled.

The confused enemies were easy prey for our allies.

Slash! Stab!!

The tide had completely turned.

Now 2/3 of the Great Snowfield was controlled by the allied forces.

The number of demons who threw monsters as bait and turned their backs to flee increased.

They threw themselves into the portal that Baal had first summoned and ran away to the Demon Realm.

Baal and I stood facing each other in the sky, taking in the scene.

The smile from earlier was nowhere to be found on the Demon King’s face.

The furrowed eyebrows, the glistening eyes, and the veins rising on his forehead betrayed his discomfort.

“Yes. That tree is definitely dangerous. I have to get rid of it.”

The Demon King’s figure became blurred.

The guy who had been playing the audience game since the beginning of the war finally stepped onto the stage.

I also welcomed him with enthusiastic cheers.

[Wind Control]

[Haste]

[Instant Step]

My figure also blurred like the Demon King’s.

The first clash occurred in front of the World Tree.

Kwaaaaaang!!!!!!!

The Demon King’s blow, aimed at the World Tree, was blocked by my hand. Spatial power was contained in his fist and my fist.

Jijijijik!!!!

Friction occurred between the two fists, shaking the space.

The shockwave generated by the collision spread, causing the demon army and the Inter-dimensional army fighting with weapons to fall over and then get up again.

I pushed the evolved five-colored mana to the limit as I became a Grand Sword Master and fought a battle of strength.

If it had been three-source mana, I would have been pushed back long ago, but five-colored mana maintained a somewhat equal balance even against the Demon King.

“How can a human be so strong? Are you a dragon pretending to be a human?”

“Unfortunately, I’m human.”

“I can’t understand.”

“Before you think about that, isn’t there something you’ve forgotten?”

I kindly refreshed his memory.

“Forget what…!!”

The Demon King’s gaze was fixed on my fist.

I’m not a martial artist; I’m a swordsman.

But I’m fighting a battle of strength with my fists.

A question arises here.

Where did my main weapon, the sword, go?

Baal hurriedly turned his head, feeling uneasy, but it was already too late.

[Heavenly Demon Swordsmanship]

[Using Qi to Control the Sword]

The sword, which had been waiting for an opportunity in the sky, struck the Demon King’s right side like an arrow.

The power, infused with spatial energy, sent the Demon King flying, and he, who had been distracted by fighting me, was completely exposed to this attack.

Crack!!

The Demon King, properly hit in the side, flew away at Mach speed.

Baal, flying horizontally, repeatedly pierced through the snow mountains that surrounded the snowfield.

쾅! 쾅! 쾅! 쾅! 쾅!

One, two, three, four, five.

Baal stopped only after piercing through five snow mountains.

The impact caused a large landslide, and the cloudy snow clouds that rose up obscured the view.

Fortunately, the Demon King flew far away and did not affect the battlefield.

‘I have to fight as far away as possible.’

At the level of me and the Demon King, the surroundings are devastated just by fighting.

The Demon King doesn’t care if his subordinates die, but I can’t allow it, so I sent him far away with the attack just now.

I waited for the Demon King to emerge from the snowy field covered in snow fog.

It was a luxury to hope that Baal would die from this level of attack, and above all, my senses beyond the five senses were warning me that he was fine.

Puhwak!!

The Demon King, who emerged through the collapsed mountain, shook his head from side to side and shook off the accumulated snow.

Now Baal’s eyeballs were completely dyed with darkness without any white, and an incomprehensible madness rippled in his pupils.

“I’m going to kill you!! Human!!!”

The Demon King shot forward like light.

I calmly swung my sword and blocked it.

[Heavenly Demon Swordsmanship]

[Space Slash]

The diagonally drawn sword strike and the Demon King’s fist collided again.

Starting with this, Baal and I exchanged blows so quickly that our hands and feet could not be seen.

I was hit by the kick he threw and fell while piercing through three snow mountains, and the Demon King was plunged hundreds of meters underground by the sword strike I swung again.

Nevertheless, neither of us suffered any particular damage.

[Passive Skill]

[Tenacious Life Force]

Thanks to the Druid skills reinforced with acorns on the body hardened with the Merfolk Transformation Pill, I was able to fight semi-permanently.

The Demon King also seemed to have no physical burden due to his strange body.

In the end, we only engaged in meaningless attrition and devastated the surroundings.

The high mountains became plains, and large craters that looked like they had been hit directly by meteorites were created everywhere.

Even a huge crevasse of unknown depth was created on the ground due to a missed sword strike.

“There’s no end to this as it is. Let’s end it with a battle of strength. Someone will collapse first.”

“That’s what I wanted.”

The Demon King and I agreed for the first time.

We put all our strength into each other and collided again.

Kwaaaang!!

In the collision zone between the Demon King and me, all kinds of natural laws were violated.

Pieces of stone, snow, and wood floated in the air and slowly began to rotate around us.

The scene was like watching planets and satellites orbiting around a star.

A small universe unfolded on the Arnia continent.

Drdddd!!!

Blood spurted from my clenched lips.

The Demon King and my energy were evenly matched.

The tug-of-war didn’t lean to one side at all.

But the Demon King smiled and was optimistic about victory.

“Hehehe… No matter how strong you are, you are still human. Won’t you get tired someday? Let’s go all the way.”

The Demon King chose a war of attrition.

It’s a different choice from mine.

In the first place, I had no intention of engaging in such indiscriminate attrition.

War is decided by who has prepared more meticulously and thoroughly.

And I was definitely ahead of Baal, who had just been resurrected, in this regard.

“If someone intervenes in this tight situation, the game will be decided.”

“Are you asking for help because you think you’re going to lose? Put away your vain hopes. You and I have moved far away from the battlefield while fighting. Until the game is decided, it’s just the two of us.”

“Well… is that really the case?”

A brief moment of embarrassment flashed across the Demon King’s face at my meaningful question.

“Let me introduce you. A being who has been waiting for this moment.”

Rattle Rattle

The subspace gourd hanging from my waist shook.

At the same time, the cork popped out with a pong! and a huge sacred dragon emerged from inside.

The silver scales reflected in the sunlight sparkled, and the breath it exhaled became hot steam and scattered in the air.

Coco’s gaze, growling and revealing sharp teeth, was fixed on the Demon King.

The Demon King’s pupils, who witnessed this, shook the most since the war began.

“You are… by any chance… a lizard?”

“You figured it out.”

Lightning and wind formed in Coco’s wide-open mouth.

The breath, the aggregate of power, slowly finished preparing to be fired.

“Wa, wait a minute!!”

The Demon King hurriedly tried to turn his power around, but it was impossible.

I pushed even harder.

I demanded a choice from him.

Was he going to take the breath head-on, or was he going to be pushed back by the power struggle with me and allow a fatal blow?

“You cheating bastard!!!! You fight so dirty!”

“Thanks for the compliment.”

“Kkyuuuuuuuu!!!!!”

Kukwakwakwakwakwakwak!!!

The lightning breath spewed out right in front of him, engulfing the Demon King.

The Demon King, who had hurriedly put up a barrier, seemed to block the breath for a moment at first, but the breath that Coco shot with all her might quickly broke through the hastily created barrier.

In the end, the Demon King got a breath shower.

Baal, whose whole body was engulfed in a lightning storm while fighting me, writhed in pain.

“Kkeuaaaack!!!”

“Give up. It’s easier if you give up.”

“Don’t talk nonsense!!!”

Profanity was rampant, but what could I do?

That’s how the situation is.

In the end, the Demon King could not withstand the breath and turned his power to the side.

He intended to allow my attack rather than take the breath. If so, I had to show him that Coco’s attack was a joke compared to my attack.

[Heavenly Demon Swordsmanship]

[Union of Sword and Spirit]

I put all my strength into both hands holding the hilt.

I superimposed the five-colored energy and spatial power on the sword blade to the limit.

I even targeted the Demon King’s solar plexus with a heinous drill that was spinning at high speed.

Then, the Demon King’s body, which had been abnormally hard, shook violently.

“Kkeuaaaack!!! No way!!”

Baal screamed.

He had already been penetrated by the sword.

The hole in his abdomen gradually grew larger.

“PikaKkyuuuuuu!!!”

Here, Coco further increased the breath output.

Baal’s complexion turned pale.

“It’s over. Farewell.”

Twokwang!!

[Passive Skill]

[Power of Subduing Demons]

The essence of a Druid who subjugates demons.

The hole in his abdomen gradually went up and headed towards his heart.

Baal, whose face had been half melted by the breath, resisted fiercely, but the victory had already tilted.

And finally, the sword reached his heart.

Crack!!

A crack formed in the black heart, which could be said to be everything of the Demon King.

This was just the beginning.

The crack spread throughout the heart like ink dropped on white paper.

The Demon King desperately tried to mend the wound with threads made of magic in order to somehow fix the situation, but my sword, which had reached his heart, was more ruthless and merciless than ever.

Slash!!

Cutting in half with one stroke.

At the same time, the Demon King’s pupils became empty.

The magic power that had been spewing out infinitely also weakened rapidly.

Baal’s body slowly began to decompose from the ends.

“How can a mere human break through my body that even a dragon could not… I can’t believe it.”

“Are you still looking down on humans even while dying? The reason for your defeat is your complacency until the end. May even your soul be annihilated, source of evil.”

There was no answer.

Because he had already crumbled into dust and returned to nothing.

It was the end of a long fight.