The Knight King Who Returned with Gods : Chapter 46
Translators: Nyx and Ririi Rain
Episode 46 God of War and Flame
The morning of the scheduled attack.
When Androzin heard that the demons had been defeated on
the first day of their attack wave, he flew into a rage.
"What?! They fled without even trying to
fight?!"
It also hadn't occurred to him that they'd saw the castle
be destroyed on the first day of their attack. In the script of the repetitive
history, the battle would continue for the next five days before the castle
would finally fall.
But this was the first time they had been crushed without
even a pretense of a fight. In a hundred years, in 95 iterations of history,
there had never been a more humiliating defeat.
"You cowards!"
Androzin's eight halberds danced, dismembered bodies
darting up one after another.
-Keeeeeeeeeeeeee!
The demons dismembered by Androzin's halberds were not
ejected into the spirit realm, but their souls were absorbed by the
blood-stained halberds, which caused incessant screams.
Pathetic things.
Androzin pitied his subordinates who had died during the
night.
They were specialized warriors, among the demons of
pleasure, as they gained pleasure through pain.
And yet, by the end of the night, they were as good as
dead. Leon's surprise attack was to blame.
In all of history, he was the first madman to storm out
of the castle and hunted the demons himself.
What could the madman possibly want so badly that he
would abandon the safety of the castle to pursue the demons?
Androzin didn't know.
He didn't know that the all-nighter demon hunt was a
stress reliever for Leon, who had a terrible anxiety attack at the mere
presence of demons.
Just as he was scolding his subordinates and trying to
reassemble them─
"Wha-?"
Androzin's eyes widened. The fields and forests full of
vegetation suddenly lost their vitality and died.
Although, technically, it had returned to 'the way it
was'.
And this can only mean one thing.
"The Queen's dream (illusion)... is broken?"
This world was a world built on evil. A place where any
man or woman can be corrupted by the Queen.
Repeating her dream, the essence of corruption
transformed her into a demon of pleasure.
Endless despair was required for this, and the remaining
five years were the final step in bringing her to her knees in certainty.
The dream (illusion) that was originally supposed to
destroyed only after the Queen's fall was forcibly broken?
Something had happened. Androzin grew impatient.
"Damn it! The Queen is supposed to be reborn as the
Lord of Pleasure!"
That was the order of the current Supreme Archdemon of
Pleasure.
Androzin led his troops and headed straight for the
castle. There was little time to gather all the forces, but time was running
out.
Reynald and the Jewel of Wisdom watched on. Reynald
whispered cautiously,
"Shouldn't... you go help?"
[I'm not going, though?]
You little shit.
Raynald struggled to swallow those words.
* * * *
Leon, Gu Dae-sung, and Yappy slapped the sleepy hunters
to wake them up and walked straight out of the castle.
The hunters were dumbfounded when they awoke to find the
interior of the castle in ruins.
“W-What? What happened?”
"We... we went underground and... what
happened?"
Leon doesn't bother to fill the hunters in on the
details. Because right now, responding to this rapidly changing situation was
an urgent priority.
"Demons!"
"Demons have entered the castle!"
The demons, meanwhile, were already over the gates and swarming
inside. It was a rapid turn of events that the hunters couldn't comprehend.
"Damn it, where did the soldiers on the walls
go?"
"S- so many of them!"
Gu Dae-sung shouted to the disoriented hunters,
"Raise your shields...!"
The hunters reacted instinctively to the command.
Clatter, clatter, clatter, the shields stacked up
mechanically. The phalanx that was completed in an instant welcomed the demons.
-Kill them!
-Destroy!
The demons of pleasure charged, stripped of clothes and
bare. Their fighting strength was not great. But demons of pleasure flourish in
numbers.
The mass hitting from the front alone exceeded a hundred.
"They're a lot...!"
The hunters withstood the impact of the crashing demons
and plunged their swords through the gaps in the shields.
-Kii!
-Kgkk!
The lower-level demons were easily defeated by the
hunters' swords.
【 Terror of the
Demonic Race 】
【 Most Accomplished
Demon Slayer 】
【 Demon Lord Slayer 】
These three buff traits amplify the hunters' damage to the
higher-level demons. Their strikes gain anti-demon qualities, and the demons
around them become weakened.
Adding to that was the【
Aura of Lion's Heart 】.
The hunters' defense was solid.
-Kiiek!
'They're
coming from the back!'
At the other end. Chief Kim Jin-soo, holding his shield,
felt hopelessly defeated by the demons coming around them.
Being encircled was a matter of seconds. It would take a
short time to be finished off.
'And
yet, no one is moving!'
Even he, a B-class tanker of the Association, was getting
nervous. How could these D-class hunters remain calm and invulnerable?
The reason was the presence of the Holy Knights.
-Exterminate enemies. Arming up.
The minimalistic machine guns were shooting a rainstorm. That
was not all. Steel wires imbued with holy power whip by at unrecognizable
speeds.
"Ki...?"
"Keh?"
They didn't know what had passed through their torsos,
but when they did, they perceived a neatly sliced section of their body sliding
away.
Leon's side was the most gruesome. The demons pissed
themselves just by being glared by him, and their eardrums ruptured at the
sound of his roar.
Two Holy Grail Knights covered both sides of the
formation. The blows they unleashed were more powerful than all the combined
sword strikes of the D-Class hunters.
-Hiig...!
-Demon Butcher...!
-Center, center, center!
The demons chose to swarm around the outnumbered hunters.
They would rather die in the battle and escape to the
spirit realm than be cut to pieces by the Grail Knights on the left and right
and have their souls grinded to dust.
"Kuh...!"
"Why is it so heavy...!"
This increased the burden on the hunters. Chief Kim
Jin-soo shouted.
"<Shield of Protector>!"
It was Chief Kim's unique skill, Shield of Protector. A
skill that temporarily increased the defense of the entire team by 20%.
Normally, it was a skill that would only benefit tankers,
but this group of Hunters were supposed to be bad tankers.
Yet the hunters endured with sturdy stance thanks to
their strengthened defense.
But as if to spell the end for them, Androzin yelled from
the rear,
"Go! Revel in the pleasure of pain!"
Androzin's crown glowed with a great dark light. The
demons' eyes strained grotesquely as they were exposed to the crown's light. In
the most common language.. they lost themselves.
"Kihihi...!"
"Kyahahahahaha!"
The demons screamed and charged. They throw themselves at
the shields and don't care if their torso was pierced.
They threw themselves with glee, as if the pain had
become pleasure.
It was overwhelming. The shield was so heavy that Gu
Dae-sung wanted to toss it right then and there, but he didn't. The hunters
also didn't move from their positions.
[A soldier's virtue is to be good at a single thing. Put
all your strength into blocking, and the Knights will take care of the rest.]
The King commanded them only one thing:
Stand your ground and keep the enemy at bay.
And the knights will crush them.
'As long
as we hold on... !'
'His
Majesty will do something about it!'
They believed in the knights. They believe in the
Lionheart. The soldiers hang on, hang on, and gazed at their King's back as he
galloped to triumph.
"Let's go, Stallion!"
Behold, that strong back.
His Majesty the Lionheart will see this through. Just
like he always has.
"Huh?"
Leon disappeared from the hunters' field of vision. The
endless black tide of demons had swallowed Leon, who was alone.
The hope faded.
And the black waves filled their eyes.
* * * * *
Many.
Leon swung his holy sword without hesitation at the swarm
of evil that filled the space before him.
Five demons screamed at the single blow. But others
quickly took their place.
The demons showed no sign of fear. Their bloodshot eyes
were wild and delirious.
This was a technique the Archdemons of Pleasure had used
many times before.
It transforms the pain of the horde into pleasure and
turns them into pleasure-seeking maniacs.
Demons of pleasure were weak in combat, but with buffs
like this, they can be quite a nuisance.
'Insufficient
damage.'
The enemy was simply too many. Androzin himself had come
to lead the army. The final confrontation was supposed to be on the last day of
the attack.
But was pushed forward when the Queen's illusion from her
dream was shattered.
'Can
I do it?'
'If
only I have the Grail Knights with me... or at least the Royal Army...'
'But
what can I do by lamenting on something that isn't here?'
Leon had always fought alone. For one hundred and eighty
years, he'd been fighting a war against demons. It was a matter of life and
death for all the demons and for Leon.
But there was a difference between then and now.
Back then, the land was filled with divinity.
There was faith in the gods, holy power, and the support
of all the gods from the beginning of human history.
But not now.
'There
is a lack of faith, and all I have is my body.'
'The
holy laws I have honored so many times can only be used once or twice at most,
and my holy sword and holy lance have been stripped of their full brilliance.'
'Can
I do it?'
"No! I have to do it!"
Leon's sword radiated a blinding light. Layers of light cut
through the demons.
'For
the sake of the soldiers who watched his back, for the sake of the gods to whom
I would give glory and honor.'
'Even
if I am alone, I must do it.'
That was why he was the Lionheart King, the sole apostle
of the gods.
"For the Lionheart--!!!"
It was then. Leon's sword struck. A black, magical blade
flew through the air. Leon's holy sword deflected it, but the rebounded blade
slashed at Stallion's throat.
"Stallion...!"
Leon stumbled to the ground as Stallion collapsed from the
blow. The summoned Grail quickly began to heal Stallion, but the wound was not
easily mended.
The Knight's tumble was an opportunity for the horde of
demons. A wave of demons surged forward and tried to crush Leon.
-Charge──!
Masses collided. The moment of impact, a combination of
acceleration and weight, was a moment of pure spectacle.
The demons were sent flying with a boom, and at the lead
was the Death Knight Ricardo Byrnes.
"Great General."
"King Lionheart."
Those knights who slit their own throats in their glory
days turned into undead who roam the land. The Queen's Royal Knights, loyal to
her even in death, had left her side and were here.
What does it mean?
“Have you knights woken up from your dream?”
"Our loyalty to Her Majesty the Queen remains the
same.”
"As it should be."
"But... if you can make a difference......."
They put a bet on him. Leon smirked.
He had long been a symbol of hope.
Even when the world was being ravaged by demons, even
when the gods took refuge in his very heart.
And now, even the hunters and the Queen's loyal knights.
"Then I must prove it. I'll live up to the
expectations."
As he had always done.
To the stars, against all odds.
"O God of War and Flame, please answer my
call!"
And answer they do.
The divinity spoke in a strong voice with no need for any
altar, no shrine, only the passion of gallantry itself to provide.
[Still, you play a loss-making role; they are but
flickering flames that could snuff out at any moment without you.]
"Then I will stand before them forever, until the
day comes when they are able to stand on their own."
Stallion dissipated. The white divine spirit wept in
disgrace at being sent back without being able to keep watch over his sworn
ally.
"Thank you, my friend. You may rest."
Leon turned to look at the 38 knights who were now
shielding him, keeping the demons at bay. From their midst, the Lionheart King
shouted,
"I am Lionheart, the proud greatest cavalryman of
Pethos, the god of war and flame!"
At the loud shout, the demons writhed in pain, and the
soldiers and knights became more aware of Leon's presence.
"O War! O Flame, thy greatest cavalryman calls upon
thy flame of war, here and now...!"
Each syllable, each word, carried unbending honor and
weight. The God of War and Flame responded to that clear request.
In an instant, skin-searing heat and roar shook the
battlefield with vibrations.
The demons, knights, hunters... all eyes turned to the
heart of the blaze. In the center of the divine flames, where demons were
extinguished at the slightest touch, stood holy beings of a density far beyond
common sense.
Fire-breathing bulls.
The divine beasts that exuded violent and ferocious
energy were beings outside the standards of human comprehension, far beyond all
measure.
A giant war chariot drawn by two such bulls. Leon climbed
aboard and gripped the reins. He bellowed,
"I, Leon Dragonia Lionheart, take command of the
Queen's most faithful knights!"
Thirty-eight knights. Deathknights with swords and
spears, fell into a formation at the rear of the war chariot, as the terrorized
demons backed away from them.
"You are the proud sword of the Spero Kingdom and
the shield of the Queen!"
“I have been entrusted with the noble task of punishing
evil.”
"Knights of honor! Be the flame that purifies
evil!"
The fiery flames of war ignited the blades of the Death
Knights.
The flames that burned and purified the unholy recognized
them as pure.
"Follow me."
Leon pointed his lance.
The lead is always his.
"Then we shall win."
***
Previous chapter | Novel page | Next chapter
Help us keep our spirit up by buying
us Coffee (人ゝω・）
