I landed on the roof of a building, and swung my sword in a flowing manner.
The blade produced a subtle sound as it vibrated.
I cut a circle around my feet, and fell into the room.
“Guegh?!”
As I crushed the soldier right under me, I decapitated the two soldiers beside him.
There was another soldier in the room, who raised his staff and began to chant.
I pierced his throat using the tip of my sword, which cut off his chant.
“…gh”
The soldier stared at me, eyes filled with tears.
It seemed like he wanted to say something, but he couldn’t make a sound.All he managed to do was exhale.
I turned away and pulled my sword out of his throat.
His blood splattered over me.
The soldier held his neck, fell to his knees, and breathed his last.
I used perception magic, but there was no reaction.
It seemed that I had wiped out all the soldiers in this building
“…”
I touched my robe.
It had become heavier as it absorbed blood.
It was hard to tell what color it was originally.
Blood overflowed from it as I squeezed it gently.
I had no choice but to ignore it for now.
Even if I did wring it out right now, it would only get bloody again shortly.
It had been a while since I spoke to Saint Makia.
I’d been running around the city and killing any member of the Holy Scepter Army I encountered.
I had already killed at least 3000 people.
Most of them had been hiding indoors.
I used my perception magic to locate the closest soldiers, and cut them down one by one.
While it was a very slow process, it had been quite effective so far.
My magic power consumption was very small.
At this rate, I could maintain my fighting ability until I annihilated them all.
The soldiers were supplying Makia with magic power, and most of their attention was focused on that spell.
That meant they couldn’t respond to my assault.
If they tried to prepare themselves for my assault, they wouldn’t be able to fully concentrate on their magic, which would delay the transfer of magic power.
Therefore, they had no choice but to remain defenseless.
Thanks to that, my battles so far were easy victories.
I continued to kill the soldiers.
Makia would naturally weaken once she had no source of magic power.
Without an abundant supply of magic power, she wouldn’t be able to use her Sacred Magic so freely.
Once it reached that point, I could win against her head on.
I left the building and ran through an alley, while detecting the position of the nearest soldiers using perception magic.
At that moment, chains of light attacked me from behind.
There were about twenty chains.
I ran while deflecting them with my sword.
The attacks from the chains of light had grown less frequent.
Makia must have begun considering the effect of the fallen soldiers.
Rather than increasing her damage, she began to worry about magic power consumption instead.
“Where are you?! Come out, you coward!” [Tsukii Note: say the person who bought the whole army to fight against a single person.]
I could hear Makia’s angry voice in the distance.
She was searching for me while dragging along the soldiers.
She still hadn’t found me, since she could only follow the chains of light that were tracking my location.
Makia wanted a short-term, decisive battle.
After all, if this kept up, the number of victims among the Holy Scepter soldiers would only increase.
Once her magic power ran out, she would lose her chance at victory.
She needed to find me at all costs.
Therefore, I used concealment magic.
In addition, I mainly used my sword to kill, so that I wouldn't draw attention.
On top of that, I used physical reinforcement to boost my speed, and I moved much faster than them.
Unless I made several mistakes, they wouldn’t be able to catch up to me.
I continued to kill without ever encountering Makia.
It came from underground this time.
My perception magic detected the whereabouts of the nearest soldiers.
Apparently they hid in the basement of a house.
They were trying to make it harder for me to find them.
It seemed they deployed concealment magic and held their breath, but that wouldn’t be enough to escape my detection.
I entered the house, used my sword to destroy the magic traps they deployed, and broke the door to the basement.
I then went downstairs.
It was dark at the bottom of the stairs.
Apparently they didn’t turn on any lights.
At that moment, an arrow flew from the depth of the darkness.
I grabbed it with one hand, and saw that its tip was soaked in something.
Judging by the unpleasant feeling, it seemed to be holy water.
It was equivalent to poison for the undead.
“UOOOOOOOOOHH!!!”
An empty-handed soldier ran up the stairs while yelling.
This should be the soldier who shot the arrow.
It seemed he made preparations to ambush me, instead of supplying magic power to Makia.
The magic power inside of him was expanding rapidly, causing him to flush like he had a fever and emit white smoke.
He was bleeding from his eyes and ears.
This is, don’t tell me…
Understanding the soldier’s intention, I kicked him away as he tried to cling to me.
The soldier rolled down the stairs and exploded a moment later.
The explosion wrecked the surroundings, and scattered chunks of meat.
The area became bloody in a blink of an eye.
The soldier had just used self-destruction magic.
It seemed he wanted to kill me, even at the cost of his own life.
I respected his determination.
“…it…hurts”
“He, lp… ple, a, se…”
There was a painful moan from the bottom of the stairs.
I went down to see what was going on.
There were several injured soldiers at the base of the stairs.
Pieces of wood were stuck in their limbs and torso.
It seemed to be damage caused by the soldier’s self-destruct.
They must have been supplying magic power to Makia all this time.
I killed the soldiers who were incapable of resisting.
I ignored their plea for mercy, and gave them my blade instead.
After killing them all I returned aboveground, drenched in blood.
Stop hating yourself. You are no longer a hero.
Tonight, my sword single handedly killed thousands of people.
It was definitely not the actions of a sane person.
I had no right to criticize the massacres committed by the Holy Scepter Army.
Perhaps I was already crazy.
For ten years, I kept questioning myself in the Valley of the Dead.
I kept thinking about it, even as my body rotted and my heart withered.
Perhaps I was already insane at that point.
I had no way to judge myself anymore.
I simply knew what I needed to do, and kept doing it.
I mustn’t stop at any cost.
I had no choice but to see it through to the end.
Whether or not I was sane was of secondary importance.
After that, I continued using my sword to kill the soldiers.
My robe was totally discolored, and blood constantly dripped out of it.
There was no problem regarding the keepsake sword.
It was still sharp, and fully usable.
As expected of the famed sword which had slain the previous Demon Lord.
And so I kept piling up the corpses of soldiers.
As dawn approached, I was lurking on the roof of a building.
My sight was turned toward a nearby ruined area.
Saint Makia was there.
Every surviving soldier was gathered near her.
They periodically used holy magic to illuminate the area.
Everyone seemed to have noticed that they would be killed off if they remained isolated.
There were no soldiers hiding elsewhere.
The soldiers that surrounded her were all that was left of the Holy Scepter Army.
It’s about 7000 people.
My guess might not be exact, but the number was definitely below ten thousand.
Compared to what they initially had, it was less than half.
From now on, assassination would no longer be possible.
I needed to move under the premise that I would be found, and prepare for an exhausting fight.
Dawn was approaching.
Once the surroundings were filled with sunlight, the Holy Scepter Army’s visibility would also improve.
I wanted to finish the fight while it was still dark.
I need to initiate the first attack.
I compressed thunder magic in the palm of my hand.
They still possessed the numerical advantage.
I wanted to deal as much damage as I could in a single attack.
I threw the completed thunder magic into the sky.
The compressed thunder ball flew smoothly over the heads of the Holy Scepter Army.
As people turned to look at it, it unleashed a blinding flash of light.