What do you plan on doing now?

Seregia and I were hiding on the mountainside, watching the summoning process proceed at the top of the mountain.

I had departed from the fort only five days ago and had arrived here six days after entering the stage.

And right before my very eyes, I saw the scene of a demon killing other demons.

What exactly are they doing over there?

It seems to be a living sacrifice for the summoning ceremony.

I didnt know that this Demon King summoning thing involved living sacrifices.

It was entirely reasonable, cause of the Demons having a quick reproduction rate.

But it was pretty uncomfortable to watch.

I had killed around the same amount of demons that theyre using as living sacrifices, so its not something that I of all people should say.

It was ironic.

I dont believe that its usually this kind of ceremony. However

However?

They may be rushing the ceremony because of you, Warrior.

There is some truth in that.

The condition for clearing the 26th floor stage was to defeat the Demon King.

When you start the stage, the Demon King wouldnt have been completely summoned yet, so the clear conditions would usually be to defeat the Demon King or to interfere with the summoning ritual.

However, the fact that the clear conditions showed up as defeating the Demon King may mean that no matter when I got here, the Demon King would be summoned without fail.

However such a haphazard method will certainly have side effects.

What kind of side effects?

For example, the summoned object may be unable to fully cross over, or it may restrict the Demon King. Those kind of side effects.

It may be a modification for someone like me who discarded the holy sword and rushed here as fast as I could.

You didnt have to.

You seem to know quite a bit.

I hadnt expected Seregia to know about something like a summoning ceremony.

Its on the level of common sense.

After the brief explanation, Seregia called me again.

Warrior, I asked you this before. No, I had already asked you this several times on the way here, but what do you plan on doing now? Seregia asked, sounding slightly annoyed.

I was really surprised about her annoyance.

An ominous mana surged wildly at the site of the living sacrifices.

Furthermore, the Demon King will be summoned here soon.

Yet, Seregia didnt feel fear or dread. Instead, she was concerned about the fact that I was ignoring her.

Does she have a few extra lives or something?

I wonder. Shall we wait a little? It looks like the ceremony will wrap up soon. Now that its already like this, lets wait a little longer, and then take down the Demon King.

Seregia responded with rapidly changing expressions.

Her expressions changed constantly from this to that; Seregia looked to be pondering something and after sighing, said, Fine. Do you as wish.

Rather than say ok, I understand, she seemed to have resigned herself.

I took out some beef jerky from my inventory.

Would you like some?

Of course.

Seregia took the beef jerky as if it were the obvious thing to do.

How could she be so calm?

It was strange.

It is strange, Seregia said, chewing on the beef jerky.

I was shocked for a moment; Seregias sudden response made it seem like she could hear what I was thinking..

I cant believe you thought of eating beef jerky in a place like this. The enemy will swarm us if they notice us. Arent you worried at all?

Youre the one whos eating the beef jerky.

Honestly, our enemies have already noticed us, I said.

Im sorry?

A few of them have already noticed that were hiding here, I said.

Hearing this, Seregia furrowed her eyebrows.

Should we run away? Or should we prepare for battle?

You just need to eat the beef jerky. It seems like they wont move an inch because of the summoning ceremony. As long as we dont provoke them, nothing should happen.

If I fight, itll definitely cause enough of a disturbance to disrupt the summoning ceremony.

Our enemies knew that fact well.

They also knew that they wouldnt be able to stop me, nor would they be able to catch me.

If I decide to act, enemies from all sides will probably attack me. But if they dont, the battle will end as they watch.

Probably.

I was bored since I was sitting still, just chewing on beef jerky.

It would be nice if I could swing my sword.

For the past few days, Seregia had taught me swordplay.

Seregia had said that she couldnt reveal to me her own style of swordsmanship. However, she said that there wasnt much of a problem if she observed my swordsmanship and gave me tips or pointed out flaws.

Therefore, on the way here, I would demonstrate my style of swordsmanship in order to get some advice.

When she inspected my swordsmanship, she didnt actually teach me but discussed it with me.

She would grasp the intent behind each of my movements, one by one, and told me to figure out how to better accomplish the goal behind the action.

Seregia was definitely the most knowledgeable person on the subject of swordsmanship that I had ever met.

She was especially talented in the theoretical side of things.

Seregia scrutinized and interpreted my sword techniques one by one, as if she were solving a math problem.

She dissected my strokes breath by breath and pondered on whether there was anything I could improve on.

This had been a helpful experience for me, since it had been the first time I had ever a.n.a.lyzed my formless swordsmanship.

Thats why I didnt feel like coming here together with her was a waste of my time.

Lady Seregia.

The words came out before my mind had even processed them, probably because I was bored.

I didnt really have anything to say, so I just started off by calling her.

Yes, Warrior?

What should I say?

What will you do, Lady Seregia, when I defeat the Demon King?

Im curious as to why you ask, Warrior. Are you asking me what Ill do after you defeat the Demon King and I barely survive?

No. Im talking about when you return to the capital.

Ill disappear or Ill prepare for my exile.

Im sorry?

Itd definitely be a great ending if you defeat the Demon King and safely return. Theyll probably ignore the minor mistakes Ive committed because of it. Even so

Even so?

Itll really become troublesome. Youre an outsider Warrior, while Im affiliated with the royal family. When the news spreads that we defeated the Demon King by ourselves, itll become a great story. Rather than be a spectacle, itd be better to get the reward and disappear.

I watched as the expressionless Seregia spoke, but as per usual, I couldnt tell whether she was being serious or if she was joking.

I briefly displayed a vacant expression, but then I felt mana starting to run amok from the top of the mountain.

Just as you wanted, it seems like the Demon King is being summoned, Warrior. Hm this is a little serious. I had expected it, but

Just as Seregia said, it was indeed quite severe.

On the mountaintop, the s.p.a.ce above the altar ripped apart, and out came an ent.i.ty with a seriously nonsensical amount of mana.

Rather than a single ent.i.ty, it felt like nature itself was moving.

It was like if you compressed a huge mountain of mana into a walking three-meter-tall person.

The Demon King was slightly shorter than three meters.

He had giant bat wings behind his back, and an ominous energy lingered within the glare of his red eyes.

There was one other thing that was peculiar. That guy had already noticed me.

When the summoning ceremony was completed, and the Demon King had fully crossed over to this world, he looked like he would immediately dash over to me.

His fighting spirit and his killing intent plainly revealed his desire.

I stood up.

I transformed one of my Thousand Arms into a long sword and grasped it in my right hand. I transformed my other Thousand Arms into a dagger and strapped it onto my belt.

As I stretched my body, I asked Seregia, What are my chances against the Demon King?

It looks like you have around a 2% chance.

Youre too stingy.

I wanted to fly over to the Demon King, who was yet to be fully summoned, but Seregia spoke from behind me.

Warrior. If at all possible, please dont die.

If at all possible.

As always, she chose some new words.

Yes. Please dont move and wait here, Lady Seregia. Ill put on a good show for you.

* * * * * *

I could accurately measure my enemys strength.

Indomitable was a skill that would increase my strength based on how strong my opponent is. With this skills effect, I could easily tell gauge my opponents strength.

Right now, my Indomitable skill was enhancing my strength more than ever before.

Whats worse, that buff was constantly getting stronger.

I felt an empowering feeling surge within my body, and at the same time, I felt a feeling of satisfaction.

After the G.o.dmother from the 19th floor, this is my strongest foe yet.

After the 20th floor, most of the enemies that appeared fought while relying on their overwhelming numbers.

This was probably because they were stages that required 5 or 10 people parties, rather than solo play.

However, the 26th floor required a party of 25.

They call it party play, but with 25 party members its more like a raid.

Also, there was an adversary that the group of 25 challengers had to defeat in order to clear the stage. That single ent.i.ty was right in front of me.

There was no way I wouldnt be excited.

I activated my Talarias Wings and soared into the sky, watching the Demon Kings summoning.

I smirked.

As soon as the Demon Kings summoning was complete, and he had fully crossed over to this world, he roared at the sky.

[!!]

I didnt hear it.

A loud noise had definitely rung in my ears, but I couldnt hear the exact sound.

Thats strange.

Next, the Demon King, who had screamed into the sky, watched me.

Then, he yelled again.

[..!]

Simultaneously, the Demon King discharged a black energy at me.

Is it a type of magic attack?

I enveloped my long sword in mana and hurled it forward.

It instantly flew onward.

The Demon Kings magic and my mana clashed right before my eyes and exploded.

I used the flight ability of Talarias Wings and fluttered the wings.

Talaras Wings doesnt fly by physically fluttering the wings.

They just work.

Although there had been an explosion, I ignored it and maintained my speed, flying forward.

Due to the explosion, I was. .h.i.t by a sizable wave of fire, and was shaken because of the swirling mana.

As soon as I made it out of the explosion radius, I used my magic.

Wind Arrow.

When compared to the Demon Kings magic, it was a weak, trifling magic.

The Demon King didnt even need to evade it and raised his hand, negligently defending against it.

The Wind Arrow was deflected with the back of his hand and was helplessly destroyed.

That was all it needed to do.

I targeted the Demon Kings chest right under his raised arm.

[Blink]

I had continuously used this skill in the past, and I had never found its strength lacking: Blink Slash.

I slashed downwards with the added speed of my blink, and the Demon Kings body spurted blood.

However, that was it.

I had precisely cut through the left side of his chest, but my attack had ended with only a little bit of blood flowing from his st.u.r.dy body.

I had already attacked, so now it was the Demon Kings turn.

The Demon Kings eyes shined red.

I urgently turned, and escaped to the periphery of the Demon Kings sight.

The Demon King immediately shot a beam where I had been standing.

After I dodged the beam, I had closed the distance in order to counterattack, but the Demon Kings attack wasnt finished.

I had narrowly dodged the Demon Kings fist that was enveloped with black energy.

As soon as I dodged his fist, magic flew at me.

If I dodged his magic, he would attack with his arms or his legs next.

Without any warning, he would either shoot beams out of his eyes or use his magic, so it was extremely difficult to take back the initiative to attack.

The Demon King just kept on attacking me continuously.

He definitely had greater mana and stamina than me, and I would lose the fight if it kept going on like this.

I dodged the unexpected spear-like objects that shot out from behind me.

Behind the Demon Kings back, a tail unexpectedly shot out like a spear. I dodged the Demon Kings tail attack and the Demon King used magic again.

A black magic flew right toward my face.

If I dodge this, I give up my opportunity to attack to the Demon King.

I transformed the Thousand Arms in my right hand and altered my long sword into an explosion sword.

[PR Note: This explosion sword thing is more like a flaming sword that causes explosions when the blade comes into contact with the enemy/other blades. It is further explained later in the text.

And rather than unreasonably trying to dodge the magic, I quickly shielded myself with Talarias Wings and let the magic collide.

Before I could even see the strength of his magic, I blinked from my position.

I prevented myself from flying backwards from the magic by using Blinks effect to erase the kinetic energy.

The force of the magic wouldve certainly crushed my body.

However, in exchange, I took advantage of the opening between the Demon Kings attacks.

I pierced the Demon Kings chest with the explosion sword that I had transformed the Thousands Arms into.

It was like I was cutting through metal rather than flesh; the sword couldnt pierce deeply into the Demon Kings chest.

It could pierce a depth as deep as the length of a single finger.

However, that much was enough.

I had figured out more of the Thousand Arms transformations through Park Jung Ahs help. One of them was the explosion sword.

The explosion sword, as the name might imply, explodes.

The blade of the explosion sword lodged in the Demon Kings chest, exploded.

The force of the explosion swords explosion wasnt that great.

The fire probably wouldnt do any damage to the Demon Kings heart.

However, the only thing that I had wanted from the explosion sword was to deepen the already-open wound in the Demon Kings chest.

And the explosion sword had delivered on my expectations.

Next, the Demon Kings attack flew towards me.

His right hand, enclosed with a blackish-red energy, flew towards me.

His forearm, and even his nails were covered in that heinous energy.

I cant evade this.

I had stabbed the Demon King with my explosion sword and detonated the blade, but I had used up more time than the gap allocated.

I went for that unreasonable attack even though it hadnt been my turn to attack. Rather, it had been the Demon Kings turn.

From the start, the time that I had to attack was too short.

Along with that, I had sustained a lot of injuries from his magic attacks in order to create that opportunity.

I have to make a decision.

Right now, the Demon Kings attacks are flying towards me by the moment.

From the start, it was an unfavorable fight.

The difference is huge in our fundamental stats.

Even though I had attacked the Demon King in the same spot several times, he wasnt really damaged much.

But the single attack that I had endured was a severe wound.

Theres also a difference between the range of our attacks.

I had to continuously close in on him in order to attack, even if it was risky.

However, there was something even more fatal than that: the order of our attacks. The Demon King could attack whenever.

If the Demon King started to attack, he wouldnt give me an opportunity to counterattack.

Through his magic, his beam, his wings, his tail, or other methods of attack that he hasnt shown yet, he dictates the flow of battle by ceaselessly attacking me.

However, when I attack, he would have several opportunities to counterattack.

I have to make a decision.

Amongst the things that I had gained from discussing swordsmanship with Seregia, the most valuable had definitely been this.

A new idea.

Seregias swordsmanship was based on theory.

It was delicate and systematic, but it also had its fair share of weaknesses.

Amongst those, there was a fatal weakness.

Since it focused so much on theory, it would underperform in a real fight.

For example, sacrificing an arm in order to secure temporary dominance or in order to secure an advantageous s.p.a.ce or position.

Its a method that someone would come up with from a desk.

It sounded like c.r.a.p, but Seregia had insisted that this could theoretically work.

[TL and PR Note: The next part is kind of like a list. There wasnt really a good way to rephrase these in complete sentences without heavily adjusting the style, so there are only minor edits in the following section.]

Even if you give up an arm, if you maintain your mobility, and occupy a superior position.

And you can perfectly ignore the enemys attack and the pain. And if you have the mental capacity to continue the battle.

And if you have the ability to judge when its right to give up an arm for the sake of getting an upper hand in the battle.

Lastly, if you have the skills to apply all this so that the chance that youve painstakingly made doesnt go to waste.

I made my decision.

Scarlet blood spurted out and my right shoulder flew up into the air.

In exchange, I got another chance to attack.