Chapter 157: Chapter 157: War [18]
"Hans Varun?"
Regulus repeated the name, frowning.
The demon felt that this name was familiar.
Then, not long after, a light flashed in his eyes.
Regulus remembered where he had heard this name from.
Before the day all the commanders were sent out to carry out the mission, the demon king had gathered them all together, and shared with them all an important piece of information.
— You should not underestimate humanity.
— Because I have encountered some truly strong people.
— If you encounter them, then you must use all your strength, do not hold anything back.
And among those people, there was one name that the demon king had to especially emphasize.
— Hans Varun. That is the person you should be most cautious of.
Cautious?
All of a sudden, Regulus burst out laughing.
"Hahahahahaha!"
To be honest, that demon didn’t take the Demon King’s warning too seriously.
They were demons, and their opponents were just a lowly race.
Why should Regulus be careful when facing a lowly race?
"The Demon King is overreacting, really."
The demon forced himself to stop, and once again, wiped away the tears that had gathered at the corner of his eyes.
Regulus’s opponent was just a human.
And even if he was that guy named Hans Varun, he was alone.
If they wanted to have a chance to destroy Regulus and Pochi, humanity should at least send all the troops of a kingdom and all the weapons they possessed.
But humanity didn’t do that.
Instead, they only sent one person?
"I really don’t know if you’re being arrogant or stupid, humans."
Honestly, Regulus didn’t take Hans Varun’s words seriously at all.
To the demon, it was probably just a provocation.
"Wait a minute..."
Suddenly, an idea popped into Regulus’s head.
"If... that guy named Hans Varun is trusted so much by humans... then what if I kill him?"
Would humans suffer?
Would they cry?
Would humans be plunged into despair?
Just thinking about the expressions they would have made Regulus’s body tremble with excitement.
Immediately after, the demon pointed towards Hans Varun.
"Pochi, kill him."
An order was given.
— Understood.
And as usual, Pochi received it.
With the speed of a rocket, Pochi rushed straight towards Hans Varun.
But, the protagonist just stood there, coldly watching the distance between him and the giant worm getting narrower and narrower.
Simply because he did not take the worm’s strength seriously at all.
Simply because Hans believed that he was stronger.
And that was the truth.
[Sword Saint.]
Hans’s strongest Ability at the moment.
At first, the protagonist’s sword did not show much change.
But just a few seconds later, the change became more obvious.
From the void, thousands of tiny golden lights began to appear and envelop the blade as if fate had bound them together.
Creating a scene that was both poetic and magical... but also full of danger.
It was like a combination of a fairy tale and a ghost story.
"Oh, are you performing a magic trick, human?"
Regulus, who had naturally seen this scene, spoke up.
But, he did not take this seriously at all.
To the demon, this was just a normal show.
It was obvious that Regulus was looking down on Hans.
And on a place like the battlefield, it was the most foolish action.
"..."
The protagonist did not respond, only lightly swinging his sword.
Words could not prove anything.
Actions could.
Whoosh!
And the next second, the entire battlefield was covered in an extremely blinding light.
"Damn it! What the hell is that!?"
But, that light didn’t last long, as exactly 1 second later, it had completely disappeared.
"What happened?"
Regulus slowly opened his eyes, trying to slowly adapt to the light.
The demon was very curious about what had just happened.
As well as the result of Pochi’s first attack.
But at that moment, an incredibly familiar scent wafted past the demon’s nose.
"This is... the smell of blood?"
Having identified the scent, Regulus’s smile became even brighter.
"Good job, Pochi..."
The demon couldn’t finish his sentence.
Because the moment he completely opened his eyes, what entered his vision was not the sight of Hans’s body being smashed to pieces.
The protagonist was still standing there, acting as naturally as possible.
Not taking anyone or anything seriously.
"Wait... if that’s the case, then who does that blood smell belong to..."
Then, with a gaze filled with terror, Regulus slowly glanced towards Pochi.
"...!"
As expected, that blood smell belonged to Pochi.
Not stopping there, 1/10 of the giant worm’s body had completely vanished into nothingness.
And immediately, the demon’s pupils shrank.
Following that, tears began to flow uncontrollably from the corners of Regulus’s eyes.
They were tears of pain.
"Argh!!!!!! It hurts!!! It hurts!!! It hurts!!! Argh!!!!!!!!!"
***
"Huh?"
Hans felt quite strange when Regulus suddenly screamed in pain like that.
But, the protagonist didn’t pay much attention to this.
His goal was only one.
That was Pochi.
Hans had to kill that giant worm, that walking weapon of destruction as soon as possible.
That was the mission he was given by Alaric.
Not being able to waste any more time, Hans started running towards Pochi.
[Sword Saint] was also activated.
Ready to slash at any moment.
If that giant worm just stayed there and let the protagonist finish it off, then everything would be fine and wonderful.
But of course, life isn’t like a dream.
Feeling Hans’s thick murderous aura and the approaching death, the worm didn’t hesitate and burrowed straight into the ground.
It was running away from him.
And this really made the protagonist feel uncomfortable.
"Tch."
Clicking his tongue, Hans stopped, pushing all his senses to the maximum.
He couldn’t jump into the hole that had just been created by the worm.
Once he went down there, Hans would be greatly limited.
As for Pochi, that place was no different from its home ground.
All the protagonist could do now was wait.
But... how long would he have to wait?
1 minute?
1 hour?
1 day?
1 week?
1 month?
1 year?
Hans didn’t have that much time.
He had to end everything quickly.
Then, the protagonist’s gaze stopped at Regulus who was floating in the air.
Feeling his gaze, the demon frowned with contempt.
"What?"
It seemed like he had stopped screaming.
How strange.
But now was not the time to think about that.
"Hey Regulus, do you know a game called Pokemon?"
"Huh?"
It was a game that Hans really liked.
But, there was one thing that the protagonist always felt puzzled about when playing that game.
Normally, humans would let their pokemon fight each other.
"But, I’ve always wondered what would happen if a pokemon’s owner was defeated before his pokemon was defeated."
"...Wh-What do you mean, human?"
Regulus sensed that something bad was about to happen.
And he was right.
"Will you be my test subject, Commander Regulus?"
[Sword Saint] was activated.