The Man’s 101st Bad Ending

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He had already given much thought to what he could do. The possibility of all four demons being unleashed, the possibility of him defeating all of them.

He knew it was a slim chance. But he hadn’t expected to encounter all four of them.

Kaitel wouldn’t completely trust Cain. Or rather, it was more accurate to say that the Four Dragons wouldn’t trust Cain.

Why would Cain stick with Kaitel?

They were using each other, a relationship like that couldn’t be bound by trust.

Naturally, he realized that they would inevitably turn on each other. Would they hand over all their forces if they didn’t trust each other?

If the Four Dragons had completely taken over Kaitel, the demons wouldn’t matter much.

They would follow the Four Dragons’ control anyway. But the fact that Kaitel was keeping two demons meant that the Four Dragons hadn’t yet gained complete control.

“I knew this would happen.”

The imperial army that had been pounding on the north gate had vanished. Some of the masked figures were lying scattered around, suggesting there had been internal conflict.

“A rampage.”

Cain was more ambitious than he had thought. He had known it since Cain had revealed his face, and he had also grasped it to some extent when Cain had been clinging to Theresa.

He could roughly guess why the mana he sensed here was familiar. Because those two had the greatest fighting power. He had already fought one of them, and the other was a name he had read countless times in books.

If the Minotaur represented violence, Mephisto was a symbol of fear, a name that instilled subservience.

Violence, fear, domination, and slaughter.

Weren’t these four demons the symbols of the Four Dragons, the harbingers of the apocalypse? It was a fitting combination, but he didn’t have time for such jokes.

He didn’t see demons amidst the surging mana. Instead, he saw Cain’s lifeless body lying sprawled out. He had finally done something he couldn’t handle.

The north gate was intact, and there were even a few adjutants overlooking the area, suggesting that Cain had ultimately failed to control the demons.

He must have thought he could do it. But the Minotaur hadn’t been included in their control from the beginning, which was evident from the moment he saw Robert, broke free from his chains, and attacked. R̃𝔞𐌽ΟβĚṣ

His head throbbed. It wasn’t the first time he had seen the aftermath of a massacre, but this was closer to carnage.

Imperial soldiers trampled by the immense power of the demons, and even the suspicious masked figures.

Well, he couldn’t say they were innocent. The moment they attacked the North, they were either going to be eliminated by him or killed by the demons.

Thud-

The adjutants in the fortress turned their heads at the loud thud. He, too, slowly turned his head towards the sound.

It was rare to see mana flowing so visibly, but sometimes, the mana contained within a single body would leak out.

It was a tingling sensation.

A dizzying feeling just from looking at them. Even though he had enhanced his senses, the mana emanating from the demons was overwhelming.

Could he do it? He asked himself, then realized it was a meaningless question.

He had come to this battlefield prepared.

Rather than questioning whether he could do it, he needed to steel his resolve. He had to. He had to defeat the two demons here and march on the capital.

“Your Excellency!”

He turned his head at Lothos’s voice, and Lothos gestured to him and pulled the soldiers back. He could roughly guess what it meant.

Lothos was going to retreat the troops and was waiting for his order on whether to deploy the adjutants.

The adjutants seemed to understand why he had come here, judging by the fact that he had knocked Adele unconscious and handed her over to them.

He would be grateful if they believed he wouldn’t betray them. But it didn’t matter even if they didn’t.

He stared at the dark circles under Lothos’s eyes, which seemed to have deepened from the stress of the past few days, and chuckled, shaking his head.

This action had only one meaning.

There would be no more retreating. Lothos, understanding the meaning, pondered for a moment, then retreated, and the Minotaur, watching him, chuckled softly.

He hadn’t expected them to wait this long. Mephisto’s eyes beside him sharpened considerably.

“I think we’ve waited long enough. It’s a bit early to finish our last fight, but you don’t seem to have any intention of backing down.”

“Of course not.”

“I don’t want to hear any more nonsense, Minotaur. Don’t we have work to do?”

Mephisto’s dark red body turned even blacker, and the Minotaur snorted, glancing at him.

The white steam melted and burrowed into the ground as it touched it, and Mephisto, seeing the reddening rock, turned his gaze back to Robert.

“Are you the human who cut off the Minotaur’s arm?”

“That’s how it happened. It’s a shame I couldn’t kill him, though.”

If he had pushed himself and finished him off back then… No, forget it.

It wouldn’t have been possible anyway. Even if he had succeeded, it would have been a mutual destruction. And he hadn’t come all the way here without a plan.

As he drew his sword, a storm of mana erupted.

The time he had spent in the Moon Tower hadn’t been meaningless. Why else would he have cut off all contact and lived in seclusion?

Why else would he have spent months immersed in sword training, barely contacting Adriana or Miragen?

It was all for this moment. He had climbed the steps, and now it was time to reach the top. His sword, moving slowly, sliced through the air, and the Minotaur flinched.

They would be getting the idea now. That ‘this’ thing he held was extremely dangerous, and that if he let go, it would take their lives.

“We can’t let our guard down-!”

Slice.

Mephisto’s charge stopped, and the Minotaur’s body, about to reach out, was sliced apart.

The soldiers gasped, seeing the demons’ bodies being torn apart in an instant, the adjutants stared in shock, and the killing intent in the demons’ eyes, still fixed on him…

He looked at the tangled mess and thought about who would be standing at the end of this fight.

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Slice.

Robert still held the upper hand in the fight. Unlike before, even though the demons were regenerating at a sickeningly fast rate, they couldn’t maintain their momentum if they focused on healing.

The parts that were cut were cut again, and the regeneration of the severed parts slowed down. A relentless, unending barrage of attacks.

How many people in the world could withstand this? The Minotaur, enduring the bone-deep cuts, let out a cackling laugh.

He was on a completely different level compared to their last encounter. Even though he had almost fully recovered his true form’s power, he couldn’t even approach Robert now.

“Mephisto…! You’re still alive, right?!”

“I’m alive. That’s about it.”

Mephisto, having faced Robert’s mana head-on, replied with a groan.

There weren’t many ways to break through this situation. He wasn’t at full strength, having already used a lot of mana just by being summoned. It was too much to draw out more power here.

If he did, he wouldn’t have enough power left for regeneration and would collapse.

Naturally, this fight couldn’t continue in its current form. There was no such thing as an infinite attack.

If Robert could maintain this explosive mana indefinitely, he would have poured it all out at once and destroyed the demons’ cores.

He didn’t think the human was foolish enough not to know that.@@novelbin@@

“Is this a diversionary tactic?”

If not, perhaps Robert was hoping for the mana consumed by their regeneration to be completely depleted.

Naturally, humans didn’t know much about demons. It was an effective tactic. The mana consumed by regeneration was considerable, especially for a demon like the Minotaur, who couldn’t properly control mana.

Mephisto, realizing that the Minotaur was struggling more than he had expected, quietly looked at Robert.

And Robert had already anticipated what Mephisto was thinking.

Mephisto would probably think that this attack would eventually stop. And that was true.

His mana was slowly running out, and he probably wouldn’t be able to keep cutting like this for much longer. But there was another reason he was stalling for time.

‘Adriana told me something.’

The memory of his visit to Adriana was vivid, and he had received a lot of help from her. And among that help, there was a tactic effective against demons.

The most important thing to execute that tactic was to somehow slow down their regeneration.

Even if it looked like he was pushing himself too hard, it was a necessary step. He hadn’t reached the next level in the Moon Tower.

He had grasped a clue and improved, but he hadn’t broken through the wall and reached the next level.

He had simply become more adept at controlling mana at his current level. When this attack ended, he would be able to unleash the attack he had been planning.

Robert smiled quietly, looking at the demons whose bodies were still being torn apart.

Perhaps there was nothing more enjoyable than imagining what would happen to them soon.

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[Translator Notes]