I Am the Weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings but the Demons Are Obsessed With Me

33 – The Fate of the Hero

The air was thick with an uncomfortable magic energy.

The power coursing through the hero’s body discharged like electricity, constantly resisting.

It was almost as if it was scolding him for daring to tread where he didn’t belong yet, sharply threatening his own being to recognize his place.

This realization was unbearably unpleasant.

Power is merely a tool. It is no different from the sacred sword I hold in my hand. Even if my destiny was determined by the goddess from my birth, it is I who shall fulfill that destiny.

He gripped the sacred sword.

The hero’s power flickered unstably, as if voicing my own uncertainty.

But it didn’t matter. In the end, it wasn’t about willpower.

I live like a specter, clinging to the revenge of those who died for me; I am nothing more than an avenger now.

If I had the relic ‘Scarlet’ given by that demon, I could kill even more of their kind.

That demon, who asked me to slay the Demon King, saved and aided me even though I am an enemy to their kind but I had no intention of indulging their whims.

“O Goddess, bless this vessel you have breathed life into, make it steadfast. O sacred sword, shine forth.”

A brilliant, glorious light was shot towards the heavens.

With the blessing contained within the rosary-shaped relic around my neck drawn forth, it would surely shine brightly.

Any demon who wished for the hero’s death would gather. They would come as beasts excited by stimulation, and beasts of prey lusting for raw flesh.

Beastly eyes sparkled from beyond the purple mist shrouding the horizon of the demon realm.

It was time for a slaughter.

*

At the entrance of the demon realm.

I led the rescue team, tracking the hero. We had followed through the teleport gate in the mage tower, so he couldn’t have gotten far.

Moreover, this place was the home ground of my past life as one of the Four Heavenly Kings.

“How do you know such paths?”

“I’ve lived half-man, half-demon for a long time, and in the past, I used to live in the demon realm.”

“So you’re originally from the bordering demon tribe?”

“Yes, well… It’s inevitable that our kind gets a bat-like reputation. It’s the truth, after all.”

“…That’s not what I meant.”

“Heh, no worries. Let’s focus on tracking the hero for now.”

Time was pressing, and the preparations were hasty.

I had to employ most of the knowledge and insurance I had amassed within the organization to rescue the hero, which even involved particulars and authority from my days as one of the Four Heavenly Kings.

I’m still puzzled as to why I have held onto the authority of one of the Four Heavenly Kings. What could the Demon King possibly be up to?

Though it does seem odd to strip a deceased person of their power…

Well, what’s most important at the moment is this.

‘I must be cautious not to run into any demons who know me.’

Being exposed as a traitor by demons would be a problem, but if any of them bowed their heads to me in the presence of heroes, that too would create suspicion.

A precaution to avoid raising doubts that I’ve laid a trap in the Demon World and lured them in.

So, I have intentionally donned a half-mask I used to wear in the past. It conceals my energy to a certain extent and is a valued item I use very rarely. Wearing such a distinguishable mask makes it easier to recognize me, ironically.

This has most commonly been used in high-stake assignments such as securing items from a foregone Count Primrose.

Anyway, most demons won’t recognize me with just this on.

Plus, for now, I am merely a guide for these heroes. Most of the battling is done by the heroes and I am just one among them. They are unlikely to pay much attention to me.

Even after taking all these precautions, if I get caught, what can I do?

I guess it can’t be helped then.

Upon rescuing the hero, half the job would be done, rest can be thought about later.

“From here, we will have to move with extra caution.”

Probably around this point, the Demon King’s forces would be on guard…

Wait, what?

“…It seems like we’ve been spotted.”

Some of the heroes rushed out hurriedly. It was beyond our plan, but we had no time for hesitation or dissuasion.

It was understandable, as what lay in front of their eyes.

A vast troop of demons and monsters that covered the horizon. We needed to rescue the hero as soon as possible.

‘What is this hero up to this time?’

I, too, followed the heroes, wielding a quarterstaff.

Brilliant golden light surged from beyond the hordes of monsters. Surely, the Hero was there.

We forge a path straight through.

And escape from the Demon World.

*

A whole day had passed since the hero started his desperate battle in the Demon World.

Many demons had been killed, but more kept on swarming in from all directions. Endlessly. The more we fought, the larger their numbers grew.

On the other hand, the hero grew increasingly exhausted and injured.

The hero had thus far endured largely due to the sacred relic he received from Scarlet. Every time the hero’s strength waned, the power of the relic filled the void, buying time, and the blessing of the goddess, which only grew stronger through trials, allowed the hero to grow and kill more demons. Already, the surrounding area was covered in the corpses of demons and monsters, shredded by the hero’s holy sword.

If a priest from the Holy Kingdom had seen this scene… they might have marveled at it and proclaimed it a miracle of the goddess.

The image of the hero standing up with a body that had been pierced with countless wounds was nothing short of a hero from the legends, and the fearlessness in his eyes made it impossible for those watching to think of defeat.

The demons, overpowered by his formidable aura, took a step back or even fled.

However.

Suddenly, the demons’ demeanor changed.

A colossal dragon was descending from the sky. It was the strongest of the four heavenly kings, Onix. The black scaled dragon with massive horns descended to the ground, holding a flame in its mouth. It lowered its head and breathed. The demons swirling around the hero were swept up and turned to ash.

An astonishingly intense heat melted part of the landscape, but…

“Another flame… I’m getting tired of this….”

As the hero overcame trials, his growing blessings protected him from the blaze. Emerging from the smoldering dungeon, the hero had grown a level higher.

The growth achieved from endlessly grinding down the hordes of demons, coupled with the experience of emerging from a pit of fire…

The hero had effectively gained almost complete immunity to fire.

Ironic, really. If he had this power when he battled that devil, there was no need to sacrifice himself.

“Oh goddess, cast down that blasphemous thing encroaching upon your sky. Holy sword, bite.”

The hero’s holy sword, swung from the bottom, lopped off part of the dragon’s wings.

As the dragon wobbled midair and the hero lifted his holy sword at the dragon’s neck,

Thorn vines sprouted from the ground, binding the hero.

Each thorny vine was a creature of a witch, containing paralysis and hallucination poison. The battlefield was filled with an unseemly sweet fragrance from blooming flowers, and a witch riding a broom emerged. It was Magenta, the witch of the four heavenly kings.

“What a futile effort…”

The hero effortlessly snapped the thorn vines.

Upon bursting, multiple seeds spread around the immediate area, sinking into the corpses of the demons and grotesquely sucking up their energy, blossoms sprouting above the mummified bodies.

A strong terror and hallucinogenic pollen were scattered across the battlefield but,

This too, no longer fazed the hero. The hero was too jaded to be swayed by such illusions. He swung his sword without hesitation.

It was a comical spectacle, really.

If only he had been this unwavering when facing criminals in that back alley, the priest wouldn’t have to be killed.

“Holy sword, catch that parasitic fly.”

The hero’s power exploded towards the broom-riding witch, binding her like a net.

Suddenly, the bodies scattered across the battlefield stood and entangled themselves in the net, buying the witch time to escape.

And then.

Swelling bodies everywhere, clear indicators of an imminent explosion.

Instead of dodging, the warrior charged into the bloated corpses, swinging his sword horizontally. A half-inflated corpse split in half, causing a weak explosion.

Green smoke rose from the blood-drenched battlefield, and from it emerged a skeleton wearing a hood backward – Chun Sik, chief sorcerer of the Four Heavenly Kings, the Death King.

All the corpses scattered on the battlefield charged at the warrior. The warrior, once again, cut down just about as many corpses as there were members of the Ben tribe.

Each one was as powerful and imbued with the energy from their time as demons, yet they merely fell like dry straws when the warrior swung his holy sword, returning once again to their eternal rest.

The warrior found this rather amusing.

He felt that if only he had as half the strength he possesses now while he was still a child, his mother wouldn’t have had to sacrifice herself for him.

“Holy sword, clear this up.”

As the warrior swung his sword horizontally with a full force, his radiant golden energy spread out, erasing the undead army from the ground.

He was truly the embodiment of a legendary hero.

Perhaps he could have even defeated the Four Heavenly Kings right there. The talent of the warrior was that magnificent.

However, the warrior’s sword didn’t succeed in defeating the Four Heavenly Kings.

That’s because they were aiding each other.

These conceited Four Heavenly Kings, who never acknowledged each other, had begun to ‘cooperate’ to fight the warrior.

Onyx, who had now taken on a human form from that of a dragon, descended to the ground. Magenta also dismounted from her broom to face the warrior, and Chun Sik, the Death King, stood as he always had.

“Heh heh, who would have thought we would end up cooperating.”

“Why would the sociopath, that corpse of a guy, suddenly help me?”

“Tsk, I’m not helping you, I was just trying to distract the warrior.”

They all knew who had instigated this ‘collaboration’.

The witch Magenta took a step towards the warrior.

The warrior tried to swing his holy sword immediately, but the undead of the Death King and dragon soldiers of Onyx grabbed his arms from either side. Even when he swung his arm and knocked them off, they endlessly rushed in and obstructed her movement.

As the witch approached the warrior, she gave a sly smile and opened her mouth.

“Human warrior, did you kill Rain?”

“Rain… the weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings…?”

The name he had heard from that ‘succubus’ came up again.

Even though he was bewildered, the warrior still answered.

“Yeah, I killed him. For someone called the Four Heavenly Kings, he was quite weak.”

“Hmm, is that so?”

The atmosphere around the hero shifted in an instant at his response.

Onyx’s pupils slit like those of a reptile, and flames mixed with his breath.

“hehehehe, that guy was the weakest among the Four Heavenly Kings.”

The witch mounted her broomstick again.

“Hee-hee, do you really think you can be proud of defeating just one such weakling? You’d better wake up from your dream~.”

Chunsik just stood there.

“Tsk, to be bested by mere humans. What a disgrace to the Four Heavenly Kings.”

Though they seemed relaxed at a glance.

The swirling purple aura of magical energy around them indirectly revealed the extent of their rage.

“The weakest among us.”

“The one so foolishly kind-hearted.”

“The very last in our ranks.”

Their voices overlapped for a moment.

“We will make you pay for killing him.”

The undead stepped back, and the hero’s arms were freed once more.

The hero gripped the holy sword.

But, for some reason.

“Come at me, hero.”

He didn’t feel like he could win.

“Don’t even think about having an easy death.”

And.

As always, when the hero was in peril.

Following that damned fate the goddess had set.

“The hero is here!”

Those ready to be sacrificed in his place appeared.