Chapter 75: Corrosion
Even inside the coffin, the black feelings whirling in my brain don’t seem to settle down. I desperately take deep breaths inside the darkness, trying to calm myself down. This Demon King’s army is the worst. It’s unjust.
The decisive match between me and Man-Eater was stopped by the intruder – Demon Lord Rainel. Just where was he watching us from?… it’s pretty far away, but there’s a chance that he was observing us from the castle. If he came just ten seconds later, I would have beheaded Man-Eater, who stabbed me with his poisoned needles and burnt me with his cursed flames.
Still, what a terrible story. He didn’t come out when I was on the brink of death, but he immediately came to stop us when Man-Eater got a few scratches… Well, I’m not a member of his army or his ally, but it’s still too much. Monica also didn’t tell me anything about Man-Eater. Well, she did tell me something, but that information was fatally lacking.
As I thought, Senri is the only one I can trust.
It’s fine. It’s fine that I let Man-Eater go. The match was already decided. The next time I go against him, I can definitely kill him. There’s no way I’ll forgive him. That bastard cannot be trusted. I’ll kill him like the scum he is, in an ambush. I’ll kill him and immediately forget his existence, as if he was something insignificant.
The problem is Demon King Rainel. I can’t beat him. In my current state, at the very least. Rainel, who appeared at the battle arena last night, was strong enough to convince me of that, and it only took a single glance. His thick legs that firmly trod on the ground, his giant body and his mane, all shone with a mysterious golden color in the darkness. Demon Lord Rainel ―― is a golden lion. He is the literal and legitimate great king of beasts.
He looked like a normal beast. However, his figure far exceeded the physique of Man-Eater and Albertus, rivaling the giant black evil dragon that the Lord summoned at his end. Nevertheless, the moment he landed on the ground, his footsteps were silent. Even I, who was looking at him from close up, couldn’t see his true form.
His voice was calm and it didn’t have the same mocking tone as Man-Eater. He didn’t have a human face, but it made one think of his higher intelligence compared to Man-Eater. And above all―― the sharp claws on his front legs were made of silver, most likely intended for killing me.
It―― wasn’t just ordinary silver. It was holy silver, just like Senri’s sword. It was made of the expensive and rare blessed metal, that was created in order to cut through everything wicked. It was a vampire-slaying metal that would completely seal away my regeneration ability.