—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: selkie
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
A tingling sensation ran through my fingertips.
I winced slightly at the faint pain I felt after striking something solid, but that reaction didn’t matter. As I faced the ‘result’ before me, the corners of my mouth automatically curled up.
“To think I defended against this level of strike and only took this little damage… It’s definitely the equipment bestowed by the Demon King. Its performance is impressive.”
The general ruling over this place, Rob, and also a renowned holy knight across the empire, was Cassandra.
I knew her combat strength rivaled or even surpassed that of the elven paladin Amelda, who was part of the hero’s party. This attack she launched at me was no ordinary strike either.
‘A charging attack using her shield… Wasn’t it called Divine Shield’?’
A power used in the story to defeat one of the demon generals.
If the target had been the general who fled just now instead of me, that blow might have inflicted a significant wound.
The attack’s raw power was strong, but more importantly, it was imbued with divine power—a force that was the complete antithesis to demons. The strike was the worst possible match for them.
However, at this very moment,
even though I defended against Cassandra’s lethal strike head-on, the impact I felt was merely “a little painful.”
That was all.
The armor I wore had excellent defense, and even though I was equipped with demon-made gear, I was still a human.
Because of that, I didn’t suffer the additional damage Cassandra had expected based on our mismatched elements.
On top of that, my base stats alone were enough to completely overwhelm her.
From Cassandra’s perspective, it was clear that she had encountered the wrong opponent.
‘Looking at it this way, they did their best by setting up another trick. Not that it helped much.’
The moment Cassandra’s attack was blocked, the one who tried to strike me but ended up with her neck caught,
Terra, the beastwoman warrior.
She was proudly on my blacklist as a member of the hero’s party. As I tightened my grip on her neck, I watched her struggle in pain.
“Kuhhh!”
Terra screamed in agony, desperately trying to attack my arm to escape.
But once her neck was seized, she could no longer exert her full strength. Additionally, my armor was so sturdy that her attempts to break free were nothing more than futile thrashing.
However…
Aside from her meaningless struggles, I discovered something important about Terra.
‘I thought it was just a piece of jewelry… But could this be…?’
A green glow from the shackles caught my eye.
As soon as I realized what it was, a smile crept onto my face.
‘The Shackles of Domination… Such a rare item she’s wearing.’
An item that turns its wearer into a berserker, robbing them of their sanity and making them obey orders.
In the game, you could only obtain one, and even then, it was known to be extremely hard to find.
My gaze shifted from the shackles back to Cassandra, who was struggling to even raise her shield due to the force of my sword. To be precise, I looked at her fingers.
The ring on her hand was the medium that controlled the shackles.
As I stared at it, an amusing thought popped into my head.
‘I was planning revenge anyway, so this isn’t a bad idea. I’ll have to see if it works according to the setup, but even if it fails, I have plenty of other methods.’
With that decision, I gripped Terra’s neck tightly. Then…
– Crack!
“Kuh!… Uh…”
Terra lost consciousness from the sudden shock, her body going limp in my hand.
I had used just enough strength to keep her alive.
After confirming her fainting, I let go, dropping her to the ground.
I turned my attention from Terra to Cassandra, standing nearby. At that moment, terror spread across Cassandra’s face.
I extended my now-free arm toward her.
And then…
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“This… this can’t be…”
In an instant, the Demon King snapped the beastwoman’s neck, rendering her unconscious.
As Cassandra watched him eliminate an opponent of her strength in a flash, she realized that her gamble had failed completely.
Pure terror consumed Cassandra’s face.
‘This… This is the power of the Demon King? No… This can’t be… He’s far stronger than anything I’ve heard! How… How did my ultimate move fail so miserably…?’
Despite the 2:1 advantage, Cassandra’s expectations were shattered within seconds by the Demon King.
He turned his gaze toward the terrified Cassandra.
His face was hidden beneath a helmet, so she couldn’t read his expression, but that only made his presence more terrifying.
The Demon King extended the arm he had just used to hold the beast-warrior toward Cassandra.
“A… Ah…”
Cassandra was overwhelmed by a sense of hopelessness.
She couldn’t even think of practical actions, like abandoning her shield and fleeing or drawing her sword to attack him.
Her mind was filled only with sheer terror.
Unable to shake the horrific sense of doom, Cassandra could do nothing but tremble in fear.
In the next moment…
“Kuh!”
The Demon King grabbed her wrist, twisting it violently, forcing her to drop her shield.
In the face of the cold and overwhelming power contained within it, Cassandra felt intense pain and had no choice but to release the shield from her grasp.
Then, with irresistible strength, the Demon King forcefully grabbed Cassandra’s wrist and began to examine her as if observing her closely.
Regarding his actions, which were both terrifying and incomprehensible, a horrifying realization about her own future suddenly surfaced in Cassandra’s mind.
‘Why… Why isn’t he cutting my neck? What is he…?! Could this be… what they say… about the fates of warrior women captured by the Demon King…?’
Stories circulated among the allied races…
terrible fates awaited those captured by demons.
Humiliated by low-ranked demons like goblins or orcs, some were kept as playthings for high-ranking demons until they were sexually abused to death.
Although there had been no concrete proof, those stories were widely believed because of the demons’ evil and brutal nature.
In that fleeting moment, as Cassandra envisioned a more specific and hopeless future, she hung her head low, her wrist still held firmly by the Demon King.
‘It’s over… The Demon King will capture me, humiliate me, mock my faith in the gods, and…’
Despair filled Cassandra’s heart as she envisioned the unbearable future.
At that moment…
A faint memory of a story about the Demon King surfaced in her mind.
‘Now that I think about it… I heard somewhere that, unlike his subordinates, the Demon King takes pride in being a warrior…’
The source of the story was unclear, so she couldn’t be sure.
But in that moment, Cassandra realized she had no choice but to cling to that faint hope, no matter how small it was.
“Right… If it fails, it’s not like things could get worse… If he doesn’t spare me, I’ll still face the same brutal fate at the hands of demons. In that case…”
Clinging to a tiny glimmer of hope, Cassandra trembled with fear and tension.
At that moment…
“!”
The Demon King suddenly released her wrist as if throwing it aside.
Caught off guard by his action, Cassandra dropped to her knees before him.
Desperation welled up inside her.
The next words that came out of her mouth were driven by the desire to at least protect her minimal honor as a holy knight serving the gods.
“Kuh! Kill me!”
Ah, so that line came out huh?