The Sword Emperor Transmigrates-Chapter 275

Adam Kadmon struck Beelzebub again, erasing nearly half the knowledge and power he had accumulated over the years.

As the light giant overpowered him, the Lord of Flies started rambling like a madman.

“Nonoyoucannotitismineitisallminethisknowledgeisminethismagicisminethispowerismineyourkindisweakandinsignificantyoudonotdeserveitallofyouwilllayeverythingdownbeforemeitwillbemineforever—!”

Beelzebub couldn’t help it. All Demoniacs, regardless of rank, were born with a sense of emptiness. As fragments of Crom Dubh, they yearned to be whole, ceaselessly trying to fill the void by devouring each other.

The Lord of Flies had been able to suppress his primal impulses by pursuing magic instead, but now that was slipping away, allowing those long-repressed impulses to surge and take hold of him.

“Stopstopstopstopgiveitbackgiveitbackgiveitallbacktome...!!”

As desperation took over, Beelzebub frantically charged at the light giant. Though he had lost most of his magical knowledge, he was still a Brain Demoniac; he wielded his psychic powers to morph the swarm of flies into a giant bullet, which shot forth at the speed of sound.

Not even the secret ace of a Profound Realm master would be this deadly.

“You have no right to anything, for you have created nothing. Your only talent is leeching off the truly talented ones,” spat the greatest Grand Magus, pointing at Beelzebub as if passing judgment.

“Erase him, Adam Kadmon.”

At once, the giant swung its fist to deliver death.

THOOOM...!!

It didn’t matter that Beelzebub was moving at the speed of light or that his body had been enhanced with psychic powers. None of it mattered in the face of sheer perfection. In the blink of an eye, the Lord of Flies was banished into oblivion, evaporating under the light.

Just like that, the Mage Devourer that had once haunted the magic community met his gruesome death.

The President of the Arcane Society had slain the first of the Named with ease.

***

“...I look terrible. I didn’t think I’d have to go this far,” Wade muttered to himself as he gripped his stomach, coughing up blood.

He had defeated Asmodeus, though at a price. He had used the aura meant to protect his body from the speed of Areadbhar to strengthen his attack instead. Having resorted to that, his skin was now charred, the damage extending even to his bones.

After disposing of Asmodeus’s twelve telekinetic swords, Wade had broken through his psychic shield with a flurry of slashes and stabs, unleashing an incredible amount of power.

And now, all that remained of the Demoniac was a blackened scar upon the land—a smoking crater, hundreds of meters deep.

“I ended up burning through half my lifespan, and it was still a close one...”

Wade was certain he would have died if he hadn’t gone to such lengths. The scariest part about the Named wasn’t their combat abilities or depth of experience, but their festering spite, which suppressed any fear of death. If they were going to die, they would do anything to bring down their enemy with them.

“...I won’t be able to help the others in this state. I need some rest. I guess age is catching up to me, huh...”

The old man lay by himself in the wasteland. His face was riddled with exhaustion, but the spark in his eyes burned brighter still.

Those young knights had grown strong enough to take his place. Wade had faith that the House of Cardenas and the Arcadian Empire would endure, even if he fell. They would live on.

As he contemplated that, the third battle was nearing its conclusion.

■■■■■■■——!!!

The relentless barrage of attacks from the three Demigods had destroyed most of Baphomet’s body; only a portion of his upper body was left. Even so, the Demoniac ferociously hurled his axe with his one remaining hand.

The weapon, bigger and heavier than a battering ram, surged through the air to decimate Nicholas. He didn’t even have time to use spatial magic to block it. Even Audrey and Demian would be in serious danger if they were the target.

“What?! But he’s almost dead! The bastard still had some fight left in him...!” Nicholas blurted out.

However, he was prepared. Knowing he was weaker in close-quarters combat, Nicholas had preemptively cast dozens of shielding spells in case he left himself vulnerable to a potentially fatal blow.

Befitting a librarian, hundreds of scrolls unfurled around him. First, a basic shield activated, followed by diversion spells, impact absorption spells, antigravity spells, and even supreme magic that slowed down time.

With such defenses, Nicholas could take a direct hit from Meteor Strike and walk away with just some soot on his armor.

“...What?!”

But somehow, Baphomet’s axe cleaved right through the shield made of dozens of magic arrays. Of course, its momentum was partially absorbed by the supreme magic, but the axe never stopped, not until it tore through Nicholas’s side and clattered to the ground.

CLANG—!!

The ground shook, and only then did the light fade from Baphomet’s eyes.

“Nicholas! Are you all right?!” Demian shouted, rushing to his side to pour potions over the wound before applying pressure.

Luckily, Nicholas was still in one piece.

Audrey slashed Baphomet’s body one last time, making sure he was truly dead. She let out a long sigh upon confirming it was over.

“What a ridiculously powerful monster. He was absolutely relentless, attacking with every step he made, every breath he took... That bastard was a Demoniac, but still, I can respect that kind of fighting spirit.”

Unlike Brain Demoniacs, Heart Demoniacs spent their time and energy training their physical abilities, but that didn’t mean they were unintelligent. They observed and learned from their opponents’ strengths and morphed their bodies so that they could target their weaknesses most efficiently. That was how Belial had fought.

But Baphomet, on the other hand, had stuck to the same form and same strategies the whole time. With his immense physical prowess, he had never slowed down, not even when critically wounded. Up to his last breath, he had pushed past his limits.

And finally, Sabnock.

“Phew, I’m pooped, even though we weren’t even in danger...” Cruella muttered.

“I can’t even begin to guess how many monsters we’ve slain,” Grace added.

Both of them were on the brink of exhaustion. Though their abilities were very well-suited against Sabnock, their fight had dragged out the longest.

The two of them had stuck to a very simple strategy—take control of Sabnock’s corpses using necromancy and wipe out his servants with wide-area attacks. Of course, that required quite some energy, and the Demoniac had matched their technical advantage with sheer numbers.

In other words, this battle had also been a close one.

“■■■■■...?!”

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“■■■! ■■■■, ■!?”

“■■■■■■—!!”

Now that their leaders had fallen, the Demoniac army fell into disarray. They still outnumbered the humans, but their fighting power had dropped significantly.

“...Huh? Why are they running away all of a sudden?”

“Doesn’t look like they’re trying to lure us somewhere.”

“I mean, even if we don’t know what they’re planning, this is an opening. Let’s take this chance to wipe them out!”

The knights were visibly confused as they watched the Demoniacs’ ranks fall apart, but they didn’t stop swinging their swords.

The Demoniacs pushed, trampled, and killed each other as they ran wild, each trying to save their own skin. In fact, more of them were slain by their own kind than by the knights or the magic corps.

The army of sixty thousand collapsed in no time. The noble-rank Demoniacs might have been able to rein them in if there had been only a few thousands of them, but with tens of thousands? Not a chance.

It was a total bloodbath.

The common Demoniacs had piled up into a mountain of corpses, and quite a few noble-rank Demoniacs had perished as well. Some of the Black Dragon Knights even chuckled at the sight of the Tongue Demoniacs’ tongues lolling out of their mouths.

The monsters had tried to flee as soon as they realized what was happening, but they were promptly chased down. With no one to direct them into proper battle lines, what ensued was an utter disaster.

“Ahahahaha! Look at these dregs, just as foolish as the mongrel god they were born of! I didn’t even have to lift a single finger!”

Now, they were all in the palm of Hades’s hand. He laughed heartily, jeering at the slaughter. The Named had proven quite powerful, but now that they had been completely wiped out, the expedition only needed to deal with the small fry.

Hades’s power surged as he absorbed a tremendous amount of energy. As his Divine Territory expanded by tens of kilometers, so did the authority he could wield within it. While he couldn’t fully restore his former divine power, the likes of royal Demoniacs could no longer pose a threat to him.

As someone who could now easily take on five Demigod Tier entities by himself, he was no longer the one who needed protecting.

“Ha!”

Hades, now nearly a True God, suddenly sensed something lurking behind their current dimension and sneered.

“You are as childish as one would expect from a monstrosity born from the remains of the God-Slaying War. You have no right to rule the netherworld. If you are going to throw a tantrum like a child, you might as well show yourself!” the god of death roared.

And sure enough, the monstrosity revealed itself.

Crom Dubh—the name itself inspired awe and fear, its original meaning in the ancient language being “black crooked one” or “one drenched in blood”[1]. The Great Evil had been chased out to an outer dimension, but having his essence stolen had provoked him to come out.

Crom Dubh had willingly consumed a large portion of his strength and unripened divine power to reach out.

Rrrrrrip...

One hand ripped through the dimensional fabric.

1. There seem to be no sources to verify the latter meaning ☜