Demon King

“If it’s not just a monster… is it a fallen?” I tried to pretend I was alright with saying it, but it felt like thorns stabbed into my heart just by thinking about it. Lee Chan-yu also flinched at the word.

“Yes, it’s a fallen man. It’s tricky, the number of enemies has increased.”

“The enemy?” The baldie let out a sigh at my question.

“Sometimes, there are fools who have fantasies about monsters.” I looked at the side of the man’s face. I hadn’t received the impression that he was a heinous man, but it was obvious he was still human to treat a Fallen who still had a sense of reason as a monster. It was a terrifying attitude, and it frightened me to see that the world had changed ordinary humans to this point.

It took us about twenty minutes to reach the sight of the battle. It was indeed a large ogre, bigger than any I had seen in the Black Palace. It was well over six meters, with swollen muscles stained red with blood. The earth vibrated violently every time it lashed out. While it wasn’t a higher-level entity, in terms of sheer strength, I wasn’t even close to a match. There were quite a few enemies here as well, as the man had said a massive battle with Chaos Souls had broken out. Several high-level humans were there, and I was momentarily stunned that so many people over level 150 lived in Seoul. It was probably for the safety of the citizens.

“They appear to have this under control.”

“If that were the case, I wouldn’t have gone to grab you. But look, does it look like they have it under control?” The amount of power on display wasn’t terrifying, but why did he need us?

“You idiot, stop their attack!”

“Sir, on the left!”

[Ahhhhh!]

“Shit!”

It was because the majority of the humans here were not actively confronting the ogre. It had enough power to cause a fatal wound with just one blow, and they were scared. I remembered the words of the baldie from the other day about there being no point in dying for the pursuit of strength. That was on full display here; they didn’t want to get hurt in the process of confronting the enemy.

“It’s strong.” Lee Chan-yu stepped up, remarking in a pure voice as he admired the sight of the ogre holding off dozens of humans.

“It’s definitely stronger than you.”

“I’ve decided not to put an absolute meaning on my own personal combat power.” Lee Chan-yu tapped his chest proudly, sending me a secret message.

[What do you want to do, Captain? I don’t want to see a Fallen die in front of me…]

[Don’t rush. We can figure out a way to do this without turning everyone into an enemy.]

As I stepped forward, a different sight came to my eyes. The magic that was aimed at the back of the ogre was blocked by another human being. Two crossed daggers bounced the mana away in an impressive display of technique. The woman holding the daggers shook them at the caster.

“I told you not to attack!”

“Get out of here, Erkindra!”

Erkindra. I raised my eyes, examining her. Compared to the ogre, she was undoubtedly delicate, but her magical power was unusual. It was Kang Si-yeon, my sister.

“You’re crazy! People are here!”

“Erkindra…!”

My younger sister was protecting the Fallen. I think I understood what was happening, but I didn’t know why the Chaos Souls were here.

“Explain.” I looked at the baldie and demanded answers.

“That girl…she’s strong and smart. But she created a fairly strong guild to protect the Fallen.” My eyes opened wide as I felt how stupid I had been.

“That woman was waiting until they became stronger. And now, in this battle with the Chaos Soul, they’re striking to protect the Fallen.”

“There was a movement to protect the Fallen all this time…”

“They’re terrorists. I’m sick of it, these ridiculous ideas she has.” I wanted to burn him up with the rest of his hair, but I couldn’t. I hadn’t learned everything from him yet.

“So that’s why you need our help.”

“They’re the reason why the hunt for the Fallen is delayed. If this goes on, the damage to human lives will be severe.”

“Speak correctly. You mean the damage to the humans who will hunt the Fallen.” At my words, the baldie turned to me with eyes shaking.

“Hey, you…no way…”

“Fuck.” I kicked him, using the energy of Reaper on my foot to erase some of the bones in his legs. Even with potions, it would take a month for him to recover. I applied mana to pressure him on the ground.

“Our way is different.” I walked towards the soldiers in the rear, who were frantically using artifacts and firing arrows. Moving my hands, I stretched out the black rose into the form of a long whip, using it to sweep them away. With a sudden attack from the side of their allies, their high-level abilities were swept aside.

“Move.”

“What?!”

“It’s Rebellion.” The chaos from the back affected even those close to the ogre. There was no more magic or arrows backing them up, so the ogre’s movement wasn’t limited anymore.

[Gyahhhh!]

The ogre was losing its temper, viewing even the humans helping it as an enemy. It was surrounded by enemies, and I couldn’t help but think it normal in such a situation. Either you would become helpless or grow angry at the irrational reality before you and go wild. The ogre had gone with the latter. I relied on my black lightning magic to incapacitate the front line. Some of them suffered badly from it, trying to resist, but it was a low price to pay for sparing their lives.

“What the hell are you doing?!”

“Taking out the competition.”

“How can you do it alone…? Who the hell are you?”

“It’s Rebellion. Lee Chan-yu!”

“You’re always too fast for me.” I called out his name, but he understood my intent and began to call monsters. The monsters quickly moved into position, disarming and blocking the humans.

“Monster tamer?”

“What a rare ability…!”

“How is he not the leader…?”

Once the battlefield was cleared, all that remained were the few masters of the large guilds strong enough to be close to the ogre they faced, and a few elite members of Erkindra.

“You…wait!” My sister recognized me, her eyes opening wide in recognition. She bit her lip.

“No!”

“If you’re not in a party, there’s only one rule for joint hunting, right?” There was one simple and absolute rule; the person who did the most damage took the victory. I hit the floor running; the humans with a level close to 180 took a defensive stance against me, but I wasn’t interested in them. The ogre raised a fist the size of a house at me, and my younger sister tried to block me. It was cute but ultimately pointless.

“No!”

“This won’t solve anything.” The humans accepted the Fallen as monsters and even went so far as to quarrel with others over it. I was not ready to talk with the fallen as an equal, but I also wasn’t interested in the views of the Elakatra or the perception that had swept across mankind for more than a year. Yet I had to find a way to save him while satisfying all of that. I raised my fist, filling it with the energy of Predation and jumping into the air with Ubiquitous. At that moment, just before I collided with my sister, I instead moved through space to face the ogre head-on.

[Ahhhhh!]

I slammed my fist against the ogre’s cheek, the energy of Predation exploding outward to absorb its mana and stamina. The fist the ogre had thrown at me lost its energy, and fell away.

[Kahah?!]

“No!” My younger sister rushed toward me, but I ignored her and kept punching the ogre. I could feel the power rapidly draining from its body. There was such an overwhelming difference between the systems we belonged to; he never stood a chance.

{Kuooooh! Why…why?!]

“That’s it.” I put all of my strength into my left fist, uppercutting the ogre’s body. The last of his mana flowed into me, leaving only enough left in him to sustain his life.

“To save you.”

[Oh…ah…]

It was almost funny to see the huge body fall back after being hit by my fist, but the results were less amusing. Two buildings collapsed under his weight, but everyone had already evacuated.

“Crazy…”

“With a fist…”

“He must be well over level 180…what a monster.”

Only

“What the hell is he…”

“Everyone, stop moving.” I called out in a calm voice as I saw the humans begin to lift their weapons up once more.

“This one’s mine. Anyone who tries to steal it will be killed.”

“You!” My sister, backed by her elite guild members, surrounded me.

“I thought you would be different!”

“You know what I am.” I laughed and retorted, turning around. I was no longer a goblin hiding in a dungeon; I had the confidence to go all out here. I moved through the air and approached the Fallen ogre after injuring a couple more humans who didn’t listen to my warnings. It didn’t die; my control with Predation was precise. Aside from mine, a few wounds had been inflicted on him by other humans.

“Alright, it would be nice to have a good conversation.” However, there were many times when life didn’t go as intended. I grinned at Solas and put a hand on the giant ogre’s head.

I activated my Domination skill.