"Kuhak!"
Coughing out a mouthful of blood, Elrohir clutched his chest in pain before glaring at Eliseus in hatred. More than half an hour had passed since they began their fight, but he still hadn't landed a single attack on her.
After surviving the meteor that she had presented him, he found the fight getting harder and harder. She still seemed she was playing with him, however, which made it more irritating.
"Do you still remember about your cheeky remark at the beginning, whelp?" Eliseus sneered.
"… I haven't said anything that contradicts the reality," Elrohir replied with a frown. "I am formidable, and so are you … You are just better."
Scoffing lightly, Eliseus kicked the ground and dashed at Elrohir. Gritting his teeth to endure the pain from his ruined innards, he raised his mace high and then swung it down powerfully.
Boom!
Like it had always been, she could easily dodge his swing. As the mace struck the ground, she used it as a chance to swing her sword at his neck.
Being an experienced fighter, Elrohir swiftly raised his arm to block the sword. He covered it with a vambrace made of roots, successfully stopping the sword.
In the process, however, he released his hold on his mace. He remembered it only after blocking Eliseus' sword, so his face immediately tensed the moment he saw her hand on the shaft of his mace.
He wished she would never be able to lift it, but he knew it would never happen since she was too strong to not be able to do it. True to his expectation, soon enough, the mace was lifted and then swung powerfully at him.
Widening his eyes in bewilderment, he wondered just how far the gap between them was. He had never swung his mace that powerfully even after wielding it for decades—seeing it being swung with such vigour, he feared for his life.
Crack!
The mace immediately destroyed the layer of Mana that he used to protect his chest upon contact. It immediately caved in upon being hit by the mace; he groaned painfully at the same time he was launched to the back.
Unforgiving, Eliseus swung her sword, sending a Mana Sword at Elrohir. Said Dark Elf immediately gritted his teeth as soon as he sensed an imminent danger coming at him, and drew as much Mana as he could from his Mana Pool to encapsulate his body.
The moment the Mana Sword clashed with the Barrier protecting him, it was immediately dispersed. The Barrier, in return, however cracked, and his launch was accelerated.
Thud!
His launch was stopped by a tree. He hit the trunk so hard, he was completely embedded into it.
"Keugh... This is ridiculous," he remarked with a groan.
Painful as it was, still, Elrohir pulled his body out of the tree immediately. Demise would await him should he remain unmoving—he had learnt it from his fight with Eliseus so far.
Crack!
True to his expectation, Eliseus suddenly appeared beside him and kicked the part of the tree where he had been a few moments prior.
A quite significant chunk of the trunk immediately gave up. The moment her foot made contact with it, it was immediately reduced to smithereens.
Terrifying it was, regardless, Eliseus couldn't find herself rejoicing. Elrohir had managed to dodge her kick despite his condition, so it was really embarrassing for her.
Immediately turning around, she did a circle-kick. She could see him in the process of grabbing her leg from her peripheral vision, thus she did that to thwart whatever he wanted to achieve.
"Keuk! This Demon..."
Eliseus' kick was powerful enough to lift Elrohir off the ground. It also further worsened his internal injury, which made keeping his consciousness getting difficult.
"Hmph! Pathetic," Eliseus scoffed the moment Elrohir fell to the ground. "Pray that you would be able to back your arrogance up with with your power in your next life."
Raising the mace, which she had taken from him, she swung it down viciously. He immediately knew he was going to die the moment he felt the wind that was pressing his body down, so he gnashed his teeth and cursed his unfortunate end.
Clank!
Just a moment before his own mace ended his life, however, Elrohir got his salvation. Iorael deflected the mace with a thrust of rapier.
As the mace was deflected, Eliseus didn't even bother to keep her hold on it. She let it go immediately, allowing it to launch to her left, which was the direction where Iorael had thrust his rapier to.
"Hoh? They have done quite a lot to you too, it seems," Eliseus remarked as she looked at Iorael's state. He was bleeding from head to toe.
"I can assure you the opposite is true to your army outside," Iorael replied snarkily.
"Iorael?! Did you lose too? To that fake Queen?" Elrohir asked in bewilderment.
"Shut it, musclehead! Aren't you ashamed of being so helpless in front of a Demon?" Iorael replied aggressively.
Elrohir could only smile bitterly at Iorael's rhetorical question. The joke was on them: they had been the one who declared their superiority, but they were the one who had lost badly.
Running away, at this point, was the right choice to do, which was why Iorael had come to take Elrohir with him. The former had realized he could no longer fight Layland and Haletha after giving Layland his seventh power-up.
"Ah, they are running away," Eliseus remarked in disinterest. "Should I chase them? Hm... That direction—where are they going anyway?"
"They are not going anywhere," a familiar but heavier voice answered Eliseus. "They still don't want to let go of their clutch on Lysimork, so they will remain here."
Turning around, Eliseus blinked her eyes in surprise. "Layland? You have... Changed," she remarked upon noticing the pair of horns on his forehead.
"I have grown, not changed," Layland replied.
"I don't mean your horns—your aura." Eliseus shook her head faintly. "It is vile but controlled. You are now more Demon-like than before."
"How did my aura feel before?"
"Chaotic and sinister—the aura that every young Demon has."
Before Layland could reply Eliseus, Haletha cut in, "I think it is better for us to chase after them rather than chatting here. I know where they are going—the castle—and I suggest we should never let them properly settle in it."
"Relax, honey," Layland replied offhandedly. "We know what we are doing."
"H-Honey?" Eliseus and Haletha said in bewilderment.
Refusing to elaborate on the trivial matter, Layland said, "Those two are not just running away; they are also bringing the remaining Guardians with them. We are here waiting for those Guardians to get out of their hide, so we can avoid an ambush."
Recovering from their initial bewilderment, the two women nodded their head. They didn't care much about the explanation Layland had given them, however; they nodded their head to confirm to themselves that he had indeed changed.
The Demon the two were thinking about, Layland, was aware of his change, but thought nothing of it. He could feel the significant gap in power between the current him and the previous him, so he attributed his lax and confidence to that fact—it was normal.
"Oh, they have all gone now. Come, it's our time to shine, ladies!"
"..."
As Layland kicked the ground and dashed away, the two women stared at his back in wonder. They had not only seen him for a couple of minutes when he fought Logan, but the change in him made them feel like they hadn't seen him for years.
Haletha found it hard for her to wrap her mind around it. She knew she shouldn't have done it, but she had also been too focused on observing Layland during his fight with Iorael to help him, which means he had practically fought Iorael alone.
–Do you see what kind of future will be the end of Layland's journey, Haletha?
–Being a Demon King... Maybe.
–You sound worried that your answer is over the top.
In the night before their departure, Haletha had a small conversation with Ilschevar about Layland. She couldn't help recalling the conversation as she was chasing after Layland's back.
–Is it not, Lord Ilschevar?
–Well, considering the fact that I think Layland's journey will be endless, it is not. That kid... He is special, really. So many treasures are buried deep in him, the world will be shaken when all of them are excavated.
–Such confidence... Are you hinting he is a better Demon than you, Lord Ilschevar?
The conversation ceased after that question. Haletha's question didn't receive a verbal answer, but the bright grin on Ilschevar's face indicated one thing.
"Someone who is better than the Demon King who is shunned by the other Demon Kings due to his terrifying power, huh?" Haletha mused.
"I wonder just how powerful that Demon will be for the Demon King who has faced the God and survived to be that confident in him."
At the same time Haletha reached the end of her thought, she and the others arrived at the palace where she and Arieda had stayed in for most of their lives.
Even though only three days had passed since their escape, everything about it had changed. Haletha could no longer recognize it—she wondered if it was the same palace that she had left behind.
"Whoever has modified the palace has a bad taste. The artistic value has been ruined—it looks better flat with the ground!" Layland exclaimed before swinging Rexorem violently to destroy the door.
Knowing that they shared the same sentiment, Haletha smiled faintly at Layland's remark. Picking up her pace, she passed through the doorway at the same time he did.
Together, they faced the onslaught of the Dark Elves inside ... The ordinary citizens of Lysimork.
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦