Marilyn thought she was quite outstanding. She wasn’t being arrogant. Objectively, she was an extremely outstanding individual, and there was a reason why the organization chose her to be a spy under Zich. No matter how much their personalities matched, it would’ve been impossible for her to become a subordinate whom Zich trusted without skills. As a result, Marilyn had great confidence in herself. Even if she was weak in face-to-face battles as a curse caster, she thought she could beat most opponents in her age range. She supposed that her abilities would continue to progress in the future until there weren’t many who could rival her. Considering how she was one of Zich Moore’s key subordinates and top comrades among the Demon People, Marilyn’s evaluation of herself was valid. Yet, right now, she felt that this confidence in herself was completely useless.
An ear-splitting noise rang inside the tomb due to Zich swinging Windur as he had done many times in this battle. A sword slash filled with mana that felt like it could stop her heart in an instant passed by her. There was nothing that could hinder it—regardless if it were the earth, stone chambers, shadows, or statues, they were all the same in front of its power and were crushed under its might. The slash shot forward and reached the ends of the tomb, hitting against the wall.
Baaaaam!
The slash finally disappeared. However, the effect it had was chilling. Parts of the wall collapsed to the ground. Although the wall was much stronger than ordinary walls since it was protected by the tree’s mana, a gigantic dent formed in it.
Bam! Bam! Baaam!
The stone statues cut off by the sword swings fell. They didn’t move after they were neatly sliced in half. Marilyn gripped her staff tightly and leaned her body against it. Her legs felt limp, and she felt like she would fall without the support of her staff. She painfully raised her head and checked the effects of Zich’s attacks. The first thought she had was laughable— she thought that his movements were clean. The sword marks that appeared in front of Zich shot straight forward; they shot past the areas cleanly removed of shadows and corpses of statues were sliced vertically in half. It even sliced the statues standing on top of their monumental podiums and made a deep mark on the wall. It was a chilling sight that showcased the power of Zich’s strikes.
Marilyn gulped. Like forcing a rusty windmill to turn, she turned her neck and looked at Zich again. He was making a cheery smile. It was the face she loved, but for the first time since she met him, she felt an emotion other than love: fear. The object of her fear opened his mouth now.
“How is it, Marilyn? How is it like seeing the strength of the Demon Lord in person?”
In other times, she would have answered Zich’s questions immediately, but now, her lips didn’t open. It felt like her lips were stuck together with very strong glue.
“Hey!” She heard a loud noise and saw that Lyla was glaring angrily at Zich. “Why did you also smash the stone chambers! There are writings that I haven’t deciphered yet!”
“They are probably not anything important anyways.”
“You don’t know without checking! I don’t know what kind of information would be there!”
The two began to argue in the middle of a battle. Most people would have been dumbfounded by the situation, and some might have even clicked their tongues in annoyance. Yet, the two weren’t arguing in the middle of battle because they were foolish.
‘It’s because they are at ease.’
Even while they were surrounded by shadows and statues, they were fully confident about their safety, and Marilyn couldn’t deny it.
“I—I get it!” Zich grumbled and swung Windur.
Baaaaaam!
Another collision erupted. Dozens of statues collapsed simultaneously around them, and the shadows near them were crushed as a result. Marilyn was at a loss for words at the sight of statues breaking apart in pieces. She wondered how many times they were cut in the short span of time. Yet, the person who caused this ridiculous situation didn’t seem to feel much.
“Is this much fine?”
“Yeah.” While seeing Zich and Lyla converse with one another, Marilyn regained her senses. The battle wasn’t over yet, and it was one she couldn’t lose at all costs. No matter how strong Zich was, she couldn’t give up.
‘I have to attack now!’
Even if they were at ease for a reason, they had let their guard down. If she could inflict damage onto them, this was the best opportunity. With mana, Marilyn moved the statues and shadows. The statues and shadows’ movements became agile like mana flowing in like water.
‘As expected, the tree seems to have become completely liberated.’
As more mana poured into the statues and shadows, their powers naturally strengthened. However, Marilyn wasn’t satisfied. It was because Zich had become far stronger than how strong the statues and shadows had gotten. Bearing Marilyn’s worries, the shadows and statues rushed towards Zich and Lyla.
“Should I help you?” Lyla asked, but Zich shook his head.
“No need.”
Lyla nodded and didn’t ask any more questions; she had asked without really meaning it anyways. So, she crossed her arms and began to watch as a stand-by. She knew how strong Zich was at this state. Zich moved. The shadows rushed towards him with their arms changed into sharp blades, but Zich sliced them easily. Even mud seemed harder than them at this point.
Boom!
One statue ran towards Zich. It lifted its sword high and struck down at Zich. Zich’s reaction was to slightly raise his open left hand. The stone sword quickly dropped down and approached the top of Zich’s head. It was at that moment that Zich finally moved his left hand. Zich’s hand hit against the sword’s side.
Bam!
An unbelievably loud sound erupted from Zich’s small action, which looked almost like a joke. The result was astounding. So far in this battle, there was a time when the stone statue’s wrist had been cut off, but it never lost its grip on its sword. However, this time, the stone statue all too easily dropped its sword. The sword that was flipped to the side crushed the shadows that were gathered together, and it tumbled a few times before lying flat on the ground. Without its sword, the stone statue stood defenseless in front of Zich, and Zich lightly swung Windur in a diagonal line.
Slice!
An extremely soft sound rang out in the air, and the stone statue was completely cut from its shoulder to the waist. Marilyn was preparing a curse, and her mouth was wide open. The battle in front of her was like literally a fight between an adult and a child. Moreover, the difference between their levels looked like a fight between a trained adult at an extremely high level and a child who just started walking on two feet. However, this was only the beginning.
Windur began moving like a storm. Regardless of its danger and ferociousness, the sword aura it unleashed with its movement was extremely beautiful. Some of the aura spewed out in a large half-moon shape while other parts scattered like snow or spread out like light the size of a finger. It was to the extent that Marilyn was momentarily in a daze—she had now lost the statues and shadows that protected her.
This was also the same for Lyla. ‘I guess you can also fight like this.’
So far, whenever Zich released all his mana, his main battle tactic was merely letting out his large amount of mana. However, just this tactic was more than enough to suppress his enemies. On the other hand, Zich’s battle method was different this time; one could even call his battle style elegant as he really showed off his amazing mana control. Moreover, he wasn’t limiting the amount of his mana to control it; he was freely using all the mana he released without any trouble. He merely refined and fine-tuned his mana and used it in a more sophisticated way.
‘It must have been impossible to defeat him.’ Lyla pitied Glen, who faced Zich as his enemy, for a very brief moment.
Bam! Bam!
The stone statues were quickly crushed. Likewise, the shadows had zero chance at stopping Zich. He was able to easily crush the shadows as if he was stepping on an army of ants crawling on the ground. Marilyn also did not start still; she continuously shot out curses. However, Marilyn’s curses broke before even reaching near Zich. The curses she put on Zich by sight didn’t seem as if they were even working.
Thud!
A stone statue collapsed to the ground; it was the last remaining statue. All that remained were shadows clustered together like insects. However, the shadows were unable to pose a danger to even Lyla.
Zich stared at Marilyn and said, “How about it, Marilyn? Have you realized the power of a Demon Lord at least a little bit?”
“…”
It did not take long for Zich to defeat all the stone statues. The shattered fragments of the statues were splattered all over the ground, and it seemed as if they were there since the very beginning. Shadows continued to rush towards them, but their movements were meaningless since all the statues were destroyed. Marilyn stopped the shadows’ movements as she saw that they were all destroyed by a flick of Zich’s finger.
“Is this the end? Or did you prepare another surprise show?”
Instead of replying to Zich’s question, Marilyn asked a question back, “You’re saying that’s the power of a Demon Lord?”
“Yep. To be exact, it’s the state when all of my mana has been released.”
“That must have been the power you used to defeat the monster ambush and save Violuwin in the past.”
“That’s right.”
“And that process must be related to the tree.”
“You’re also right about that.”
“You’re easily replying to all my questions.”
“Because it doesn’t matter what information you obtain anymore.” Zich was confident about not losing to Marilyn, and this was what he meant by this sentence.
“You’re full of confidence. Do you really think you’re going to win?”
“If you have anything else in mind, do it. I can even wait for you if you need time to prepare.”
Marilyn was not able to reply.
At her silence, Zich said again, “This is my final offer, Marilyn. Come join me.”
Marilyn felt the gravity of his words. It was easy to realize that this was really his last offer. Marilyn smiled; it was a very beautiful and lovely smile. “I refuse.”
“Is it because of your loyalty to your master?”
“That’s also true, but this is also what I want.”
“Why?”
“Rather than staying beside you in one life, I want to continue meeting you, even if I don’t remember my past lives.”
“You’re saying that again.”
“This is what I truly feel. I have strong competition in this life as well.” Marilyn stared at Lyla.
Lyla tilted her head as she watched their conversation from behind.
“Honestly, I’m not confident about beating Lyla in a battle for you, Sir Zich.”
“What the hell are you saying!” Lyla shouted out loud after realizing what Marilyn meant.
However, Marilyn was calm. “It’s fine to be naive, but it’s not good to deny your feelings too much, Lyla. If you have even a little bit of sense, anyone can tell that you like Sir Zich.”
“Wh…!” Lyla’s face turned bright red.