The Knight King Who Returned with Gods : Chapter 38
Translators: Nyx and Ririi Rain
Episode 38 The Shifting Gate
Upon entering the gate, the light faded. Slowly, the
scene ahead started to come into view.
"Uh?
What everyone saw was a vast battlefield.
-Kraaaaaa!
-Kikakyakyakyakya!
Heteromorphic monsters were swarming around, each of them
a demon. The horns protruding from their heads and the foul aura emanating from
their bodies gave them away.
The demons were marching across the plains. And there
stood an army to stop them.
"Stop them!"
"St- stop them?"
"Impossible!"
There were over a thousand demons at first glance, and
the army facing them was only a few hundred. Not only were they outnumbered,
but their equipment was inadequate.
Compared to the hunters who had advanced modern
technology, their medieval armor and spears were no match for demons ten times
their size.
And the recruits themselves were similarly bewildered by
their encounter with the demons' forces.
"Wh- why demons?"
"A Demon Gate?!"
The recruits were baffled. Demons appearing from a yellow
gate was unheard of.
Being summoned to the middle of the battlefield out of
nowhere was baffling enough, but demons?
Even Gu Dae-sung, who had spent his life studying gates,
had never heard of such a phenomenon.
"Raise your shield! Focus! Get in formation!"
Despite the sudden change of setting, Leon's orders
remained calm.
The men quickly came to their senses as Leon mounted his
pure white steed, brandishing his sword in the air and knocked on the men's
shields.
"Ra- raise your shield!"
The first to the fifth group. Following their leaders'
instructions, the formation was completed in a flash.
"Forward! Advance forward!"
Forward? Not just to hold their ground and then watch?
Leon's order surprised the recruits, but they'd been watching and learning for
four weeks.
Absolute obedience to the knight's orders. Needless to
say, there was a price to pay for disobedience.
【 Aura of Lion's Heart
】
Above all, his presence alone granted an abundance of
buffs. The men advanced slowly, shields raised.
'Aren't
they afraid?'
Looking at them, Chief Kim Jin-soo wore a confused
expression. He couldn't help but realize how reckless an order it was to advance
toward that horde of demons, but the recruits obeyed dutifully.
And on top of all that, there was a profound sense of
omnipotence in the air. Kim Jin-soo was startled by a barrage of system
messages that obscured his vision.
'What
are these enhancement buffs?! Are all the hunters being given buffs beyond what
a Commander could give?!'
In the meantime, dozens of demons were charging this way.
"De- demon hounds!"
"They're coming!"
Bloodhounds. Commonly referred to as demon hounds, the
dogs were human-sized demons.
They pounced on the huddled masses of shields and arrows,
seemingly oblivious to their breathlessness.
-Kwang!
-Kwaang!
Violent body slams, almost like suicidal charges. Kim
Jin-soo had a hunch that the assault would break through the defense.
But.......
"Kkeuhh!"
"Hold on!"
The men withstood the four-legged creature's physical
onslaught. Not just one or two outstanding men, but all of them held on.
'Aren't
bloodhound's charges tough even for B-class hunters?'
Class B tankers would possess unique skills that help
them with tanking. But these D-class hunters shouldn't have such a skill, yet
they were able to block the bloodhounds' charge with their hands.
"Counterattack!"
At Leon's command, the men thrust their swords through
the gaps in the shields. Their swords easily pierced the flesh of the demon
hounds.
-Kieeeg!
-Kwaung!
The foremost demon hounds went down in a heap, but then
another wave of demons arrived. They were Greatswords, wielding swords taller than
their body.
"Block!"
They were the hunters who had already blocked the demon
hounds' charge. The minion-level demons slammed against the shield wall with
frenzied strikes, but the defense was solid.
Leon raised his sword and shouted,
"One step forward!"
The recruits advanced with their shields in hand,
pressing up against the Greatswords, giving the enemy no room to swing their
greatswords. Immediately, their leader ordered,
"Push!"
-Bam!
They endured four weeks of maddening training. The hunters
pushed the demons back with an explosive push.
"Stab!"
From then on, it was a series of repetitive, almost
mechanical motions. Block, push, stab. There was nothing quite like this
infantry tactic in close combat.
As the stream of demons was sliced and diced, a giant of
a demon emerged.
"De, Demon Troll!"
"It's a demon troll!"
It was a heavy monster the size of a house and wielding a
club that must had been at least two meters long. The recruits' pupils trembled
as they realized that they were no match for it.
"Don't back down! Stay in formation and hold your
ground!"
Leon's voice snapped them out of it. His presence was all
they needed to 'hold their ground'.
-Corresponding to heavy targets. Sniping initiated.
It was then. A miniature machine gun opened fire,
accompanied by a mechanical voice.
-Radadadadadadadad!
It was a hail of holy grail rounds. A bullet fired from
the fuselage of the Grail Knight was a holy attack in itself.
"Sir, Sir Yappy?!"
"Why is Sir Yappy here?"
Regardless of the hunters' reactions, the Demon Troll
that had been marching with terrifying momentum now wailed in pain and slowed
to a crawl. It was because the holy machine gun bullets fired by Yappy had
shattered its knees.
"Kuaaaaaaaah!"
But the troll didn't stop its stride and raised its club.
This troll was at least Class B... but its large stature put it on Class A
difficulty.
There was no way D-class hunters would be able to stop a
boss-level monster from exiting a yellow gate──
"Uooooo...!"
Gu Dae-sung raised his shield. It properly protected his
comrade's right shoulder. The hunters, who heard it enough that their ears
would bleed, naturally followed suit and closed in alongside Gu Dae-sung's
shield.
- Boom!
Gu Dae-sung and the other hunters felt their bodies being
pushed backwards. The insurmountable difference in mass breached their defenses
and sent shockwaves through them.
'Huh?'
But a shared puzzlement flashed through the minds of the
men who had blocked the Troll's blow.
'Is
it lighter than His Majesty charging?'
'There
is at least a fourfold difference in strength.'
'What?
We stopped him?'
In the past four weeks, they hadn't been able to stop
Leon's charge even once. The slightest bit of slack in their footing would send
them hurtling into the air.
【 Strongest Assaulter 】
Compared to that, a troll's swing would only make the
recruits' shields tremble!
"Well done!"
In the meantime, Leon, who had already reached the Troll's
back, swung his holy sword with a whizz, and the Troll's head was sliced off
before it could react.
The neck of the Troll was sliced off as if it was tofu.
-Kiiii...!
-Kyaak...!
The demons' momentum waned as the Troll, who had been
their trump card, fell to its death. On the other hand, the hunters gained
momentum.
The demons, demoralized, took notice and began to
retreat. It was because the Demon Troll had 'disappeared'.
-Kiii... dead.
-Troll... really dead.
For demons, life does not end with death. They were
immortal creatures who gained flesh and played around in the material world.
When they died, they merely returned to the spirit world,
losing nothing more than their material vessel.
The Troll that had just died, however, did not go through
the process of passing into the spirit world. It was sucked into Leon's
summoned Grail and 'disappeared'.
"Th- they're backing off!"
"We won! We won!"
As the men rejoiced in their accomplishment, a horseman
approached Leon and the hunters.
Judging by the appearance of his armor, he was likely to
be a commander or a knight, and he bowed to them first, expressing his
gratitude.
"Thank you, for you have come to save our Spero
Kingdom, warriors!"
The hunters each checked their system windows at the
words.
[The Spero Kingdom is being invaded by demons. Defend the
kingdom from the invasion of the demon lord].
Time remaining: 1 week
"What is this quest......."
"Demon lord, does it mean a monarch-class
demon?"
"It can't be a monarch-class demon, there's no way
that such a demon would appear at a yellow gate!"
The hunters were very confused. Some insisted on exiting
the gate immediately. But.......
"What, the portal is gone?"
"How did this happen... Is this a shifting
gate?"
"No way!"
The hunters' faces turned pale. The joy of victory was
gone in an instant, replaced by despair.
"Quiet! Don't make a scene!"
Leon's voice boomed over the crowd. The Lionheart King's
aura, lifting the morale of his soldiers by his mere presence, brought the
half-dazed hunters to attention.
Only when they were quiet enough did Leon speak,
"Sir Spinner, what brings you here?"
- Observation of anomalies. Entry of another party.
Yappy holographically displayed an image of its vision. A
figure in robe, not Leon and the other hunters. It appeared that the individual
was using some sort of invisibility spell, as they were only visible in
infrared.
"Is this person up to something?"
-Lack of evidence.
"Is there anyone who can explain the current
situation?"
Gu Dae-sung carefully raised his hand.
"Thi- this is a shifting gate."
"What is that?"
"It's a gate anomaly... To put it simply, the gate's
difficulty spikes and we can't leave until we clear it."
Blocked from the outside. A sudden increase in difficulty.
No way out, and no way in.
Leon looked at the portal, which had disappeared unlike
the one at the orc gate, and understood that the way out was closed.
"Hmm......."
How could something like this happen to the group of
recruits? A coincidence? It was unknown.
As Leon pondered, the hunters' complexions grew darker by
the second.
Usually, the raid group would not be able to cope with
the sudden increase in difficulty as gates were pre-measured and the
appropriate party would bid accordingly.
In other words, it was no exaggeration to say that when a
shifting gate appeared, the hunters inside were destined for annihilation.
And now they found themselves trapped in a shifting gate
with an infinitesimal survival rate.
'Still.......'
Despite this, there was one reason they didn't panic: the
presence of the Lionheart King in front of them.
"Your, Your Majesty... do you have a plan?"
As the anxious hunters' attention was centered on him,
Leon spoke with a calm expression to prevent them from losing faith,
"We'll attack with our usual formation. The quest
said to defeat the demon lord."
"Demon lord... maybe a monarch-class demon."
"Humph...! I am the Lionheart King who slaughtered two
demon lords and over 30 archdemons. Do you doubt my strength?"
"Oh oh oh..."
"Yes, His Majesty has three demon-related skills
alone!"
【 Terror of the
Demonic Race 】
【 Demon Lord Slayer 】
【 Most Accomplished
Demon Slayer 】
These were the demons-related skills that were revealed
by the system message. The hunters' faces brightened with hope.
"......."
Leon didn't bother to mention that the battle was fought
on his world, which was filled with divinity.
He didn't tell them that they were no match for a demon
lord in their current state.
They simply had to lean on the hope that was him. A
knight must remain firm at all times.
* * * * *
Meanwhile, Reynald Shelman, the culprit behind the change
of Gwangju Gate to a Daemon Gate, was watching as Leon crushed the demons.
"In one blow, a mid-level demon, a Demon Troll
is......."
No matter how much the hunters had been drawing the
Troll's attention, it was a shocking sight to see such a tough creature decapitated
in a single strike... Above all, the Troll's 'demise' was a shocking sight.
Demons were immortal creatures. They existed in the
spirit realm, and their physical manifestation was nothing more than a shell.
They were more like remote-controlled drones, and thus
their deaths did not kill the demons themselves.
However, this Lionheart King's sword could bring the end
to the demons he slashed.
It goes through the spiritual cord and forcibly enacts a
'death' result: the pilot of the drone dies when the drone is destroyed.
Terrifying.
He could see why the Great Demon beyond the Jewel of
Wisdom would flee in terror.
[Hee hee… Hee hee hee!]
"Great One?"
Despite witnessing such a dreaded existence, a sinister
laughter emanated from the Jewel of Wisdom.
[Weakened! You've weakened! Lionheart, Leon Dragonia
Lionheart, you are only a human after all! Hee hee hee!]
Weakened? That?
The one who killed a Demon Troll, which wasn't a normal
troll at all, with a single blow?
Apparently enjoying the fact, the Jewel of Wisdom cackled
and replied to Reynald's inquiry,
[Hee hee, if he had the power of his heyday, he would
have annihilated about a thousand demons in one blow! If he had enough holy
power, he would have unleashed his holy sword!]
"Holy sword... Do you mean that...?"
His blade had emitted a brief but brilliant light when he
beheaded the Demon Troll. Such power, and it hasn't even been unleashed?
[Heh heh heh... Even if he strikes well, he's only
slightly stronger than a Holy Grail Knight. He's already fallen!]
As the Great Demon of the Jewel of Wisdom rejoiced,
Reynald spoke cautiously,
"Great One... then shall we perform a ritual for you
to descend?"
[What?!]
The Great Demon was dumbfounded.
[No! No matter how weak he is, he's still the Lionheart
King! He's a lunatic!]
But you said he was weakened.......
Reynald swallowed his discontent and asked,
"Then... who will take care of him?"
[Hehehe... ! The demon lord here.]
"The demon lord......."
Reynald also saw the quest. There is a demon lord here.
"No way... There really is a demon lord?"
If there was such a being, it was a sure win. In the
history of the thirty years of fighting since the cataclysm, a demon lord was a
monster among monsters that slaughtered countless S-class Hunters...
[The energy of this gate is not worth a penny for a demon
lord to descend, but... there is a demon that has been designated as a lord
here].
"Oh, oh......."
Reynald swallowed hard at those words. Humans who serve
demons often wish to become demons themselves at the end of their roles.
They long for the immortality of demons and harbor the
ambition to become an archdemon themselves.
But a lord who can even dwarf an archdemon?
[Heh, heh, heh... there is a being here that those ugly, corrupt
demons have been working on for a hundred years...! That would be enough to
kill the weakened Lionheart King!]
But for that, Reynald would have to move like their limb.
Using the fragile hope of the Spero Kingdom, he will awaken
the 'Queen'.
***
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