37. The Demon King returned to the human world (3)
Two days later, he passed by Joryx Castle and arrived at the last castle in the northeast room.
The place where the Horsetail Isthmus was turned into a sea when the Demon King descended.
In the meantime, sandbanks were built up, connecting the land at low tide. I didn’t know that someday the road would become overgrown with forests again.
In the land not far from the devil’s whisper, a city named Terraend was built.
In the past, it was a small village, but as exchanges with the fairies became more active, it grew significantly and became a full-fledged city.
The fairies have now formed an alliance with humans.
It was the human army that defeated the Demon King who descended on the land of the fairies 10 years ago.
To be exact, he was Zeke, but since he was part of the crusade dispatched in the name of Seonghwangcheong, the credit went to Seonghwangcheong.
Using that incident as an excuse, humans asked for an alliance from the fairies, and the fairies, who had suffered great damage due to the coming of the Demon King,
accepted the alliance.
Zeke put on his mask and pulled his hood to create a shadow on his face.
I was worried that someone might recognize me, so I was cautious about even opening my mouth.
Fortunately, Katran was quick to notice.
He drew attention by exaggerating his reputation as Holy Gum.
Thanks to that, people didn’t pay attention to the eccentric wizard wearing armor under his hood.
Zeke visited the Mugu store in the center of Terra End.
I placed several swords side by side and examined them.
” there is.”
“Did you find it?”
“huh. “This is definitely a dwarf thing.”
The clerk said, rubbing his hands next to Zeke.
“As expected, you have great insight!”
Zeke’s eye for weapons was truly high. It was thanks to working at Deus’s Arms Store.
“We signed a contract with a short charcoal craftsman a year ago to supply weapons
. It is three times more expensive than an ordinary sword, but its quality is even better. The blade will not deteriorate even after several years of use. In battle, the weapon is the best ally that guarantees my life. If you think of it as the price of a life, wouldn’t it be said that three times the price is rather cheap?”
Zeke listened to his words and looked at the sword closely.
However, I couldn’t find any sentences that could distinguish the families.
“customer?” “Ah,
can you introduce me to the charcoal maker ?
“I have something I’d like to request.”
“That’s troubling, sir. If you need anything, please request it through us.”
“Can you at least tell which family it is?”
“It’s not possible. customer. “If you don’t want to buy something, could you please leave?”
Zeke decided to step aside for now.
“All right. “Then I will buy this dagger.”
“It’s 2 gold.”
“It seems a bit expensive…
“2 gold! I can’t give you a single penny off. Do you know how valuable dwarf things are?”
The clerk deserved to shout loudly.
After the mugwort monster appeared, trade routes between humans and charcoal traders were almost cut off.
The prices of high-quality minerals and skillful craftsmanship weapons were not easy to obtain, so their prices rose significantly.
Zeke, who did not know this fact, could not help but think that the merchant was exaggerating the price.
“All right. Then buy it for that price.”
Zeke took out a gold coin from his pocket. The clerk measured the specific gravity of the gold and confirmed that it was genuine before handing over the dagger.
“You have benefited greatly. customer!”
Zeke nodded silently and left the room.
Back at the hotel, Zeke put the dagger down on the table.
“You were trying to find a dwarf, right?”
“ o ” O
Zeke
looked at the handle of the dagger for a while and then untied the end of the leather knot that was wrapped around it.
“It’s rare for a craftsman to not engrave his own emblem… I guess you could say he left it somewhere out of sight.”
He skillfully unwrapped the leather and looked at the small hole at the end of the handle.
“It must be the work of a dwarf. “I touched it a lot when I worked at the armor store.”
“Did you work at Mugusang?”
“At the store he runs.”
“ah!”
“Our main customers were dwarves. If you press here
, the blade will separate, right? “I was worried that it might be a fake imitating the dwarves, but the dagger is the real thing.”
The blade with the handle removed was turned over. I saw a pattern.
“Keter. “It’s the North Branch Clan.”
“Isn’t that an ancient language?”
“that’s right. I learned it from my magic teacher. “He is someone who has mastered ancient black magic.”
“ah!”
“What I’m looking for is the Root Tribe south of Malkut. But even if it’s to the north, I think it would be better to meet him first. “I also want to hear about the situation underground
.”
“But you don’t know where it is.”
“I’ll have to look for it now. Shall we go to the devil’s whisper first? “It’s a place where there was an old road leading underground, so if there’s a clue, I think it might be around there.”
The devil’s whisper was a volcanic cave. On the Joseon continent, where there was little volcanic activity, magma was used as a heat source for hot springs.
But now it looked completely different.
The Devil’s Whisper, which was a geyser area, turned into a lava area full of sulfur gas.
It was showing its ferocious bare face and emitting black smoke and toxic gas.
“It won’t be easy to find a passage like this.”
Zeke said one thing while covering his mouth with a towel. We couldn’t even go deep, so we approached the closest place possible along the coast.
But even that didn’t last long before he stopped.
A huge amount of lava
poured into the sea like a waterfall.
“This is hell! “It would be difficult for even angels, not just dwarves, to pass this road.”
“I agree.”
The two frowned at the acrid steam created by the huge amount of lava falling into the sea.
There was not a single trace of life felt.
“Should I start looking elsewhere?”
Zeke gave up and tried to turn around.
It was that moment.
Suddenly, Zeke pulled Katran and knocked her to the floor.
As Katran was rolling around in the mud, confused, a dark red shadow passed before his eyes.
My face was hot from the heat. After crawling on the floor to avoid it, I turned my head and saw Zeke, who had already drawn his sword and shield, confronting a red bird.
The bird’s wingspan seemed to be about 5 meters long.
The tail feathers were unusually long and spread out on the floor like a carpet.
Each feather of that large bird
was made of flame. The bird itself seemed to be the embodiment of fire.
“What is that?”
Katran also swallowed dry saliva at the sight of Zeke’s nervous profile.
He also took out his weapon.
However, it was difficult to know how helpful his skills would actually be.
“It’s the first monster I’ve ever seen. But… it’s ridiculously strong!”
Zeke slowly backed away, aiming the tip of his sword at the bird’s beak.
The Firebird tilted its head and looked at Zeke.
“I think it would be best if we could avoid fighting…
Zeke pulled back his sword hand and gestured to Katron. In a gesture that seemed to tell him to step aside and not provoke, Katran slowly put his sword into its sheath.
But it seemed too late to avoid it.
The red bird jumped up and pecked Zeke.
It was a large bird with a body length of well over 3 meters. Rather than hastily blocking, Zeke tried to avoid it.
The beak almost touched the shield.
There was a clicking sound and the surface of the shield was scratched.
Zeke looked at his shield with a puzzled expression.
The dragon’s scales are scratched!
Zeke once again realized that the firebird in front of him was not just a monster.
“Run away, Katran!”
“Ha but!”
“I too will take advantage of the opportunity to avoid it.”
Zeke hid behind his shield and pointed the tip of his sword at the bird.
I automatically broke into a cold sweat.
Meanwhile, Katran hid behind a rock about a dozen meters away.
I felt like I would cause trouble if I stayed.
Still, I couldn’t completely run away, so I decided to watch from there and help if I could.
But it was a meaningless decision.
Zeke and the Phoenix got together and started fighting.
In the first place, there was no chance for Katran to intervene in the battle between the dragons and tigers.
100 Dragons.
In the past, the unit used to measure strength created by Deus included 1 dragon.
It meant the power of one dragon.
Zeke fought the red bird and measured its power.
But even with 100 dragons, there seemed no possibility of defeating it.
It wasn’t a question of numbers in the first place.
The beak and claws tore the dragon’s scales like sheets of paper.
There was already a big hole in the shield.
If Zeke’s movements had been a little slower, he would have spent the last of his life as bird food.
Even the solid dragon body was of no advantage to this firebird. The physical ability was several times higher than that of the dragon.
Moreover, the burning feather was impervious to any physical or magical attacks.
Zeke’s dark magic did not leave even a small scratch on the feather’s flame.
Nevertheless, the reason he was able to endure it was because Zeke could use Aura.
The Firebird did not ignore the blade that radiated aura. The shield covered with Aura was also no longer torn apart.
Zeke looked straight into the Firebird’s eyes.
“I’ve never been conceited, but it’s been a while since I felt this helpless.”
Beyond the red eyes, I could see darkness like an abyss.
If I wasn’t a warrior, I would have turned away in fear the moment I met those eyes.
But Zeke
knew how to overcome his fears.
“Come fear! “It will definitely be the Lord’s army that wins in the end!”
Zeke’s sword glowed brilliantly with an aura.
He raised his shield and rushed into the arms of the Firebird.
He raised his sword high and pierced his neck.
The feather poured out strong flames to melt the sword.
The aura and flames tangled together to create a whirlwind of fire, and Zeke’s body was completely swallowed up within it.
At that moment, the eyes of the firebird spoke to me.
［Are you human?］
“Ziek van Jade. “He’s a hero!”
［A hero. Is it an idea word? Or are you just exalting yourself?]
“A hero is just a hero.”
Zeke pushed the bird’s body with his shield.
But it felt like I was fighting with a ball of cotton.
More and more the body was sucked into the body of flame.
［Interesting. Humans are so strong
! The humans of the era when I was awake also showed quite outstanding magical talent… but they are fundamentally different from you.]
Zeke stopped his sword. I took a step back and looked into the Firebird’s eyes again.
“Who are you?”
Showing courtesy to the ancient being.
[It doesn’t really matter who I am. I ask you, at whom is your sword aimed? Is it God? Or is it someone who denies God?] “The warrior’s sword
exists for all the weak .
The shield protects the weary and the sick, and the sword is turned against the oppressive spirit host.”
［How can we trust a being that claims to be just? Your strength rivals mine. How can we be certain that the enormous power that can destroy the world is necessarily directed toward evil?]
“If you were not certain of goodness, you would not have been able to become a warrior.”
[I am a being born to serve. Now I have nothing to serve in the world, so I am wandering around like Bupyeong Elementary School. That’s why I ask
. Can I become the hilt of the sword? Can you become the handle of the shield?]
“Are you saying you will serve me as your master?”
