The Legendary Spearman Returns

Side Story Chapter 186

-The Demon Spirit’s body is mine!

Tshchary dashed through the vault as fast as lightning, followed closely by Perchilin.

-Keep your promise, Tshchary! I’m the one who lent you Sloth and Lust!

-I’ll give you the two Evil Sins back, but you don’t have a problem with me having the Demon Spirit’s body, yes?

-What?

Perchilin frowned, but Tshchary went on as if that were only natural.

-Two Evil Sins aren’t going to cut it. I need at least the Demon Spirit’s body to have a chance against the Shining Darkness. Don’t you agree?

-Your logic is weird. You should put those items back on the table after everything is over!

-Not really. From my perspective, I can have everything after I get rid of the Shining Darkness—meaning I don’t have to keep our promise when the time comes.

-...Are you seriously going to do this?

-Perchilin, you must be forgetting that you’ll be enslaved by the Shining Darkness forever without me. Besides, you’re the one who betrayed me first.

That pricked Perchilin’s conscience.

-Alright! Don’t say anything else, just undo my Overlord Symbol first! This is stressing me out too much.

-Okay, I’ll do that right after I get rid of our new obstacle.

Perchilin felt the enormous mass of mana in front of them that Tshchary was referring to and flinched.

-A new obstacle...? Is this... a dragon?

-I’ll take care of the lizard, Perchilin. You stop any possible pursuers in the meantime.

-What the hell!? Are you asking me to stop the Shining Darkness on my own without any Evil Sins?

-A minute will suffice.

Tshchary darted into the darkness, ignoring Perchilin’s protests.

The witch felt like she was going insane. A minute? No, she wasn’t sure if she would last ten seconds. If Joshua simply told her to obey him, then Perchilin had no choice but to kiss the floor. Tshchary seemed not to care what would happen to his colleague.

-Shit! It’s no use crying over spilled milk.

Despite her misgivings, Perchilin came to a halt and desperately prayed that anyone except the Shining Darkness would be chasing after them.

-...I should block the pathway itself, although I’m not sure it’ll work...

Perchilin held her hand out toward the floor. They were currently dozens of meters below the ground, so if she were to dig further, she might encounter water, lava, or a bottomless pit. With any one of them, it wouldn’t be too difficult to block the passage.

-Let’s do it. I can’t die like this after everything I’ve gone through to get here.

Perchilin was confident that she had the most unfortunate life among all the demons capable of wielding an Evil Sin, but she was finally about to discover her silver lining and reign as a Demon King in the Human Realm!

-Never—!

A sudden, ear splitting bang! made her jump. Curiously, the sound came from the direction Tshchary had gone, not from the way they had come.

-What...

Perchilin turned and gasped. All that took was a single attack from Tshchary’s scythe for the man—presumably actually a black dragon—to fall helplessly to the floor. The man’s Ninth Circle spells were useless in front of Tshchary, which came as a shock to Perchilin considering that the reason why demons had always failed to invade the Human Realm was those lizards.

-That’s the power of Sloth...?

A fountain of blood spurted from the dragon’s chest, one that only grew larger over time.

“Urgh... Arghhhhhhh!” The mighty dragon screamed, unable to withstand the pain.

Perchilin had possessed Sloth before, so she could tell what was going on. The power of Sloth could be used to slow time in a certain area. When the flow of time around a wound was slowed down to an extreme degree, the victim’s tolerance for pain became meaningless. The strongest shock from being attacked came right after the blow landed, but the power of Sloth could stretch that moment a hundredfold.

“What... happened...”

When Sloth’s owner increased the area of control, their entire target could be slowed down, from blinking and other movements to their reaction time.

-This is so easy. In fact, it’s so easy that I might yawn.

Tshchary stroked Crevasse’s chin with his bony fingers, but Crevasse couldn’t do anything. A few seconds later, Crevasse slowly looked up and said, “You...demon...!”

-I was wondering where all the lizards were hiding, and here you are. Wait, then is that one over there also a dragon?

Tshchary glanced into the darkness, chuckling.

-Judging from what I can sense, that lizard seems to be a baby... Hehehe, you were too greedy with the power that you don’t deserve. You two may be black dragons, but that’s not a power that a dragon hatchling can handle.

“Don’t... touch...!”

-Quiet.

Tshchary stood up and kicked Crevasse, sending him rolling across the floor until he hit the corner. Tshchary tilted his head in confusion.

-Huh. Did I get stronger because of the Evil Sins or did dragons get weaker...?

There was no way for Tshchary to know that Crevasse had given his dragon hatchling two-thirds of his heart, leaving the demon to wonder.

-Well, it doesn’t matter. Now, let’s get to the main dish.

Tshchary could feel that the Demon Spirit’s body was within a hundred steps.

-I’ll swallow you whole.

The reaper smiled wickedly as he approached the hatchling.

Suddenly, a ray of black light came shrieking out of the darkness.

-What?

Tshchary quickly held up his scythe to block the ray. He quickly created a Black Shield augmented by the Aura of Lust. In terms of durability, the shield was harder than adamantium, the sturdiest mineral in the Demon Realm.

And yet, the entire shield was rapidly marred by cracks.

-Demonic power...?

Tshchary was well aware that black dragons were the only dragons who could simultaneously use mana and demonic power, but a black dragon’s ability to use demonic power was nothing compared to a demon’s. Nevertheless, this mysterious ray of demonic light penetrated Tshchary’s barrier quite handily.

Glittering specks of obsidian dust were flung into the air as the shield broke, and the shockwave pushed Tshchary back so far that he ended up where Perchilin was busy digging a pit. Her head jerked up.

-D-Don’t come over here!

Unfortunately, Tshchary was already right in front of her.

-Ahhhhhh!

Tshchary and Perchilin got tangled up and went rolling head over heels.

A black-haired boy, no more than ten years old by appearance, slowly approached the demons. Tshchary immediately tried to stand up, but he couldn’t budge as if he had been glued to the floor. Perchilin was no better off.

-Ts-Tshchary. What is going on?

Tshchary couldn’t say anything in reply. Like prey in front of a predator, Tshchary was unable to use his power or even so much as lift his finger. He had an idea about what was happening right now.

-Is this... the Demon Spirit’s power?

The young black dragon, most likely Crevasse’s hatchling, arrived in front of the demons and grabbed Perchilin and Tshchary’s necks without hesitation.

-Ugh...!

-L-Let me go. Let me go!

Tshchary and Perchilin struggled to escape from the boy’s grip.

That was what happened before Joshua arrived at the secret vault.

* * *

“...You’re the last dragon hatchling left in the Human Realm,” Joshua slowly said as he took in the sight in front of him.

“And you’re Joshua Sanders,” Creshua retorted.

Joshua’s eyebrows twitched, but not because Creshua fluently spoke Igrant’s common tongue. The dragon hatchling surely had no experience of dealing with a situation like this, yet he was nonchalant. Above all, Crevasse, his parent, was dying, but the boy didn’t even glance in Crevasse’s direction.

“...I’ve heard a lot about dragons' lack of familial love,” Joshua murmured.

“Family? Are you talking about that weak idiot who does nothing but nag?”

Joshua 's eyes widened. The boy’s temper was, quite frankly, rotten as hell.

‘How can he be so rude to his own father?!’ Lilith shrieked.

-...Calm down.

Joshua let out a sigh. “I didn’t let Crevasse keep the vessel just to protect this kind of boy.”

“I wanted to meet you so much, Joshua Sanders.”

“You wanted to meet me?”

“I heard a lot about you from Crevasse and saw what you’ve done through the Demon Spirit’s memories. I’ve examined your battles over and over. I can understand why they call you a god-slayer.”

Creshua’s tone was still arrogant for a boy who was talking about his father, much to Lilith’s irritation. Joshua had to calm her down before turning his attention back to Creshua.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to say, but I would like to have those people you’re holding by the neck.”

“Are you talking about these demons?”

Joshua nodded. “Yes, I need them right now.”

Perchilin, quick to read the air, immediately shook her head at Creshua. Although Tshchary still looked too shocked to speak, it seemed he didn’t want Creshua to hand them over to Joshua either.

“...I see. You're more interested in these worthless demons than me.”

“No, I’m not—”

“Okay, then I’ll do this.”

Still expressionless, Creshua opened his mouth—and kept opening it until it stretched into a grotesque maw and the only thing that Joshua could see was Creshua’s mouth.

“Wh-Wh-What is that?” Lilith stammered aloud in surprise.

Creshua then proceeded to surprise her again by swallowing the two demons whole before turning to glare at Joshua. “So, are you ready to pay attention to me now?”