One stroke.
Since I was holding a single sword,
Two extremes.
There was something that only I could cut.
-Gong-ja!
Blink.
-Now!
I looked in front of me.
No.
What was in front of me showed me.
-The head’s empty!
In front of me, there was someone with a black body.
Wastewater endlessly flowed from their body.
Even if I cut water, it was still water, so there was a lot to cut.
One sword, two extremes. [TN: korean idiom]
I cut what I had to cut.
-Keaaahhhhhh!
As they were cut, wastewater flowed from the King of Black.
It might not have been wastewater.
If it was, why was it red?
Blood.
Vibrantly red blood flowed from the Devil King’s body.
-Uk……keuk….!
The Devil wavered and stepped back. One step. Two steps. When he took his third step, wastewater didn’t flow from the Devil King’s right arm.
The footsteps of the Devil King were puddled with wastewater, but the puddle shrank with every step he took.
And eventually.
-Keuk, heuk……uekk…..
The wastewater was completely parting off from the Devil King’s body.
Drip. Drip.
Wastewater couldn’t flow anymore, so instead, blood flowed down.
The color of life was red.
[The being of the Devil King of Fall Rain is becoming even fainter.]
And the all-powerful was no more.
-No……this can’t, uek….!
The Devil King covered his left arm with his right hand. Blood was flowing from his left hand. The Devil King pressed tightly against his left arm like he forbade even a single drop of blood from dripping out.
-My child……not like this….my hate….
“Retreat.”
I spoke in a low voice.
The Devil King paused like he had been cut by my voice.
“Fall back to the 20th floor. You can’t win against me anyway. Return to your base, to the Devil King’s Castle.”
Even without looking at the ‘world map,’ it was clear what was happening.
Blue territory. The territory of humans covered the continent again. It passed the hills. It passed the area called the goddess’s shield. The temple with the one-eyed giant, the fields where the fairies were dancing, the waterfalls where the mermaids were playing, the mountains where dragons flew…..there wasn’t a single place that wasn’t blue on the continent.
Meanwhile, the red territory was,
“Go back to where you started from.”
One point.
It was only a single point.
Just as how a fire died down afters burning everything in its path, there was only a tiny red point on the world map.
That place was,
“Your final stop. Devil King.”
The Devil King groaned.
-You….
The Devil King lifted his head. Wastewater had stopped and blood was pouring down, but half of the Devil King’s body had been burned black. So was his face. His red eyes flashed violently, but that was it. The Devil King glared at me with an ash-covered face.
“Hmm.”
The Sword Saint wordlessly gripped his sword.
“I’ll leave the last attack to the Death King.”
The Witch slowly pulled her mirrors back.
-······.
There wasn’t a chance to turn the tables. They didn’t have any weakness. Was it because I saw the Devil King’s trauma? I felt like this was the situation where they were surrounded by the soldiers in the village.
-Keuk!
There wasn’t anything else for the Devil King to do other than escape. But the reason why the Devil King couldn’t easily decide was because he knew as well. It was the same.
Like how avoiding a fire only extended your life for a minute, even if the Devil King retreated to the 20th floor, his defeat was just pushed back.
-Shit….! Shit!
Blood dripped from his mouth.
[The Devil King has decided to retreat.]
[The Devil King of Fall rain is falling back to the 20th floor!]
Yes.
Running away even though you knew you would burn to death was something a human would do.
The further the Devil King was running away, the closer he was to becoming a human.
[Confirming the Devil King’s retreat.]
[Historical change.]
[The 19th floor stage is being revised.]
The world was covered by raindrops of light again.
After I checked that the Devil King was gone, I turned to look behind me.
“Sword Saint.”
“Mm.”
“Black Dragon Master.”
“Yeah.”
“Sorry. I want to clear the 20th floor by myself.”
I hung my head.
“Thank you for helping me so far. But I want to finish it with the Devil King. Please let me go alone.”
“······.”
The Witch shrugged her shoulders.
“Okay. I’m fine with that. You contributed the most coming on our way here…and I promised not to move for 5 days as you said. I broke that promise and helped you, so I’ll honestly stay still this time.”
“Hmm.”
The Sword Saint put his sword back in its sheath.
“After today, it’ll already have been 5 days. Meet me after you’re done with the 20th floor. We have a lot of things to talk about.”
“Yes, sir. Understood.”
I hung my head again.
“Thank you.”
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