Chapter 91
A chilling sound echoed through the night sky. It was all the more grotesque because it resembled the scream of someone who belonged neither to humans nor beasts. The nape of my neck prickled.
“His face….”
At Kaiden’s murmur, I looked at Pelles’s face and saw that his skin was melting and flowing down. Soon, an ominous energy burst out from him. Kaiden and I immediately aimed our swords.
The grotesquely changed Pelles clutched his face and writhed in pain.
“No… I have to eliminate the humans… Ahh, the fusion, the fusion isn’t working….”
Then suddenly, his eyes flashed wide open. He glared at us clearly and said.
“Because of those annoying humans, my plan has been disrupted.”
I was so dumbfounded that I muttered without realizing it.
“Why do bad guys always blame others so well?”
“Marion, he’s coming.”
As soon as Kaiden’s words ended, Pelles flew toward us like a shot.
“Bled!”
[Both of you, hold on tight!]
At the same time as my shout, Bled rapidly descended. Kaiden and I ducked down and tightly grabbed the slightly raised hard scales of Bled. Above us, Pelles passed by in an instant.
Kaiden muttered.
“If we had collided head-on, we almost would have fallen.”
Thus began the race between Bled and Pelles. The two zigzagged through the air, threatening each other.
Pelles shouted at Bled.
“Dragons belong to us demons! Hand over those humans!”
[No matter what, I’m not on your side!]
“You bastard!”
Pelles fired fierce fire magic. Kaiden immediately struck it down with sword energy. I shouted and asked Bled.
“Bled, are you okay right now? By any chance, as a fellow demon, do you know any weaknesses of that guy?”
[I just became an adult and I’m in this crazy flight, so my head is about to explode?! Figure that out yourself!]
“You don’t have hair!”
[If you look closely, I have downy fur!]
Bled shouted in a voice filled with evil. Now, his appearance and voice were audible to the surroundings, causing the sky to resound.
Kaiden was busy striking down the magic attacks that Pelles was firing. I quickly racked my brain.
“I don’t know. For now, I’ll aim for the heart!”
As I said this while taking my stance, Kaiden shouted.
“The heart is correct! But it won’t be easy!”
As he said, aiming for Pelles’s heart was close to a stunt.
Even while Bled and Pelles were performing dizzying acrobatics in the air, magic attacks came in intermittently, keeping Kaiden busy blocking them.
Even with allies like Kaiden and a dragon added, facing just one Pelles was this difficult. Moreover, my stamina was already depleted. Honestly, I didn’t even have the strength to hold my sword.
Still, I could probably squeeze out the last aura to throw at Pelles’s heart. I slowly circulated aura and loaded it into my sword. Now, if I just aim well….
[Keuuk!]
“Bled!”
Bled’s large right wing was pierced. It was hit by one of the dozens of awl-like magics that Pelles had fired countless times.
[Euk, flying any more is impossible! Hold on tight!]
Bled descended to the ground. The speed was so fast that my body felt like it was floating. Kaiden shouted.
“Marion, are you okay?!”
“Yes, yes!”
I had to transfer the aura I was loading into the sword to my hands to tightly grab the dragon’s scales. At that moment, a sudden ominous presence sent chills down my spine.
My eyes met with Pelles, who was descending at the same speed beside us. He glared with bulging eyes and opened his mouth as if tearing it.
“Die die die die!”
Pelles shouted madly and indiscriminately fired ominous black magic. Kaiden was desperately striking them down, but there was no helping some hitting Bled.
[Keuuk! Euuk!]
“Bled!”
I called out to Bled with an anxious heart.
The current me could do nothing but barely hold on to Bled, who was plummeting more fiercely to the ground. Because even maintaining aura in my hands was strenuous.
“Keuk, Pelles!”
At that moment, Kaiden threw his aura-infused sword at Pelles. The sword grazed Pelles’s side and pierced through a newly sprouted wing.
“Kuaak!”
Pelles also screamed and moved away from us. I could see blood scattering from his side.
I was startled in my own way.
“Your Grace?!”
For a knight to throw their sword. We were supposed to always treat our swords as our own limbs. It meant the crisis was severe enough that he had to do something he would never do normally.
Kaiden said.
“If Bled gets hurt any more, he might die.”
Seeing my little dragon covered in wounds hurt my heart. Blood was flowing from various places on his side and scattering in the air. At that sight, my vision blurred.
[I, keuk, am fine! This is nothing!]
Bled endured the pain and tried to act strong. I bit my lips tightly at that voice.
Fortunately among the misfortune, Pelles seemed to have suffered serious injuries as well. He was descending while clutching his side with his grotesquely changed hand.
As the ground approached, Bled exerted all his strength to reduce speed. In the process, it seemed to strain his wounds, as he let out groaning sounds.
As soon as we landed on the ground, Kaiden and I quickly got off Bled’s back to reduce even a little weight. I was worried and restless.
“Bled, are you okay? What do I do….”
[This kind of thing heals if you apply saliva.]
“But….”
As I affectionately hugged the large Bled, I heard Kaiden’s murmur as he watched from the side.
“…I’m jealous.”
[Snap out of it and look at Pelles.]
As Bled said, I straightened my posture and looked at Pelles. He was also flapping his wings and landing about 5 meters away from us.
I raised my sword with a tense face. At the same time, I glanced sideways at Kaiden and asked.
“Your Grace, shall I give you my sword?”
“No. It’s fine.”
“I’m exhausted now and have no strength. It seems right for Your Grace to use mine.”
“A knight must not give their sword to another.”
“But….”
Kaiden raised the dagger he had brought as a spare.
“Look ahead, Marion.”
I looked at Pelles with an anxious heart.
Pelles was hanging his head low and staggering with a somehow strange appearance, muttering.
“It hurts…. My body feels strange. Why…?”
Looking closely, something was bulging and trying to protrude from various parts of his body. Then, from the side where Kaiden had seriously injured him, another arm sprouted. Pelles screamed.
“He has four arms now.”
Kaiden said in a tense voice. I also muttered while breaking into a cold sweat.
“That appearance is like….”
“Yes. It seems he’s turning into a demonic beast.”
As he said, Pelles was making crunching sounds as his body grew larger and larger. The front part of his face was protruding like an animal’s or demonic beast’s snout, and fur was growing rapidly.
[It’s the price for absorbing the Demon King’s origin in an abnormal way.]
As Bled muttered, Pelles suddenly raised his head sharply. His face had now completely lost its human form.
“Demon King? What is a mere Demon King….”
He suddenly shouted.
“I…! Now I am the king of demons and demonic beasts! I’ll kill all the humans and become the master of this land!”
Like a final struggle, he ranted viciously. I frowned and shouted.
“Look at yourself, Pelles! You are now turning into a beast and demonic beast, not a demon! Your choice was wrong!”
“No…. No….”
Pelles shook his head as if in pain. But he must have sensed it too.
That the end was approaching.
He was clearly not normal to anyone. He had absorbed the Demon King’s origin and become stronger, but unable to handle it properly, his body vessel was bursting.
‘That won’t last long.’
Kaiden and I exchanged glances. There was a tacit agreement to buy time. It was tough, but if we just endured, victory would surely be ours.
“…It can’t end like this.”
Pelles muttered while tilting his head. I narrowed my eyes and watched him. His pupils flashed dangerously.
“If I’m going to die, I should at least take you with me.”
What?
At that moment, pure white light began to burst from his body.
[That, that crazy bastard…!]
“Why, what’s going on?”
As I urgently asked, Bled shouted.
[It’s self-destruction!]
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
