Vol 1 Chapter 18 – The Lightning Annihilation Sword【Vol 1: The Beastkin Hero Arc】

From the black clouds obscuring the moon, purple lightning poured down onto the tip of the Lightning Annihilation Sword, which was held high in the sky.

The moment it struck, a tremendous burst of light occurred alongside a resounding roar.

As the light subsided, Flavorus stared at the phosphorescent blade in Allen’s hand and muttered like a delirious chant.

“Impossible. You should be dead. Allen Norsh… you were supposed to have fallen alongside Demon Lord-sama.”

That was the light that saved the world, the purple aurora floating in the distant sky.

On the day the Demon Lord was slain, it was witnessed in the skies of every nation.

In the aftermath of the lightning strike, Allen’s mask slipped off.

It revealed black hair like condensed night and beautiful amethyst eyes.

Along with a sweet face that captivated any who looked upon it.

“It can’t be… Is it truly Allen-sama?”

Nearby, Branford stood rooted to the spot with a dumbfounded expression.

Clad in purple lightning, Allen slowly walked toward Flavorus with the crackling, electrified Lightning Annihilation Sword in one hand.

“Now then, do you have any last words?”

Snapping back to reality as the black-haired young man approached, Flavorus desperately clawed at her head while frantically putting distance between them.

“A ghost of the past! Why are you here now?!”

“Let’s see. I just came to clean up my disciple’s mess.”

“Guh, I can’t die yet! Don’t underestimate me, Allen! Dark Curse: 《Cursed Poison Claws》!”

Black magic circles appeared on Flavorus’s hands and the six protrusions on her back.

The claws on both her hands elongated terrifyingly as green liquid spurted from them and the protrusions.

As the liquid dripped, it effortlessly melted holes into the earth with a sizzling sound.

Some kind of super-powerful acid, huh?

“So what?”

The Hero did not flinch in the slightest.

Purple lightning from the phosphorescent blade wrapped around Allen, who stood in a relaxed posture.

Allen couldn’t use magic or mana enchantments, but through the power of Asmodeus, he could artificially replicate them.

“Now, suffer through the poison and die, ghost!!”

The Eight Demon General charged. In response, Allen also unleashed a combat skill.

“Combat Skill: 《One Thousand and Eighty-Eight Consecutive Slashes》.”

Allen’s sword arm blurred.

In an instant, a chill pierced through Flavorus’s entire body.

The poison claws he—or rather, she—had thrust toward Allen were chopped into tiny pieces with every inch they advanced through space.

No, not just the arm. The body, too, along with the protrusions on her back.

Perhaps due to concentrating to her absolute limit, her perception of time stretched terrifyingly, allowing Flavorus to see it. She ended up seeing it all.

Countless purplish-blue lines covered the air above the entire village in a mesh pattern.

She realized that every single line was a slash, forming a barrier of blades.

Even though the slashes passed harmlessly through the surrounding villagers upon contact, Flavorus was sliced apart the moment she touched them.

There was nowhere to run.

“A-Ahhh, that’s…?!”

Her vision was dyed black.

Before she knew it, Flavorus was reduced to just a head.

Arms, legs, and torso alike were finely diced to a pulp, scattering internal organs and defiling the earth.

“How anticlimactic… No, wait, did he just say a thousand and something?”

Witnessing the Hero’s supreme technique, Branford—whose limit was 《Eight Consecutive Slashes》—twitched his cheek.

“N-No, nooo!! My beautiful body?!”

The severed parts vanished into white smoke.

Her boasted carapace was completely meaningless.

The match was already decided.

However, as expected of a high-ranking demon, she apparently still had the energy to scream even as just a head.

“As expected of an Eight Demon General. Magnificent vitality.”

Offering his praise, Allen approached.

“Why… why did this happen to me? Damn it, don’t come any closer!!”

Flavorus was in the depths of despair, but only her personality as an individual would be lost. The Eight Demon General 【Parasitic Eater】 would not die.

The Parasite Carapace Tribe would not go extinct.

Opening her diamond-shaped mouth, she desperately piled on the words.

“A-Allen… Even if you take my life here, you won’t be able to save the villagers, you know?”

“…”

At those words, Allen quietly stopped in his tracks.

“I’ve implanted my children into every single villager. They are already lurking deep within their bodies. Until they consume all their flesh and mana, they will not leave the host. We, the Parasite Carapace Tribe, are an individual yet a swarm. If even one reaches adulthood, it will become the Eight Demon General 【Parasitic Eater】 once again. Tell me, Allen, could you massacre these villagers? You can’t, right? You’re a Hero, after all. But if you don’t, using the villagers’ bodies as nourishment, we will once again—”

“Unfortunately, with that combat skill just now, I’ve already slashed apart and annihilated every tiny parasite inside the villagers’ bodies.”

Allen demonstrated by stroking the electrified blade of Asmodeus.

“Huh?”

“Look around.”

Prompted, Flavorus surveyed the area with her compound eyes, which were capable of seeing in all directions. The villagers had indeed regained consciousness.

“W-What? My body is suddenly free…”

“I-Is it truly Allen-sama…?”

“There’s no mistake. He looks exactly like the portraits.”

She was astounded. How did he slaughter only the larvae without harming the villagers in the slightest?

“W-Why? Don’t tell me that’s your Brave Skill?!”

Those who harbor a Brave Core within their bodies can wield a special power.

That power is called a Brave Skill, an incomparably powerful ability permitted only to Heroes that draws a clear line from normal combat skills.

In Allen’s case, she thought the effect was to selectively choose and cut only what he wanted to cut, but…

“No, this is simply technique. I haven’t used my Brave Skill yet.”

“T-Technique?! What even is technique anymore?!”

It was so incomprehensible that Flavorus lost all understanding of what technique even meant.

Resuming his steps, Allen arrived right in front of her face.