Chapter 214: From This Moment On, the Hero’s Sword... Belongs to the Demon Lord!

Oshu’s eyes flew open. With a desperate cry, he raised his sword and brought it crashing down toward Rein.

A surge of Holy energy tore through the air—his final reserve of life force fueling the mightiest strike he could muster.

Rein, already shattered by the previous onslaught, was in no state to resist. He clung to consciousness by a thread, his body battered beyond recognition.

He couldn’t even try to dodge. All he could do was stare, wide-eyed, as the blade’s radiant light descended upon him.

BOOM!!!

In a blinding flash of Holy energy, Rein’s blood-soaked body was obliterated.

The look of utter despair frozen on his face seemed to linger in the air—a terror so profound that even after he was gone, its chill remained, palpable to all.

“What now?!”

Oshu spun, shouting to the Evil God Cultist—his supposed last hope. They had to complete the ritual before Lin Wei could intervene.

But the instant the words left his lips, the cultist exploded.

SPLAT!

Blood and viscera burst apart like grotesque fireworks, the echo of a dying scream reverberating through the chamber.

“Pfft… hahahaha.”

Lin Wei, who’d been annoyed with Morteir only moments before, now laughed openly at the so-called Hero.

He fixed Oshu—whose face was frozen in disbelief—with a mocking, pitiless grin.

“You really thought I wouldn’t notice? That I’d be too slow to react?”

“I just figured dealing with the subjugation squad was a hassle, so I let you handle it for me. Saves me the trouble of prepping another Crystal Coffin.”

When he’d dispatched the first two squads, Lin Wei had simply frozen them and buried them—end of story.

But as more and more squads kept arriving over the past two months, he began to suspect that Alicia herself had set her sights on him.

That was when he’d been forced to craft Crystal Coffins specifically for the Hero’s Party, even going so far as to choose this supposedly secret, auspicious spot to stash them.

Too bad it only lasted two years. Looks like he’d have to find a new hiding place soon.

“You…”

So it wasn’t an escape—it was a trap?

A nameless terror swept through Oshu, as if he’d plummeted headlong into the Abyss. He should have been furious—he’d long dreamed of facing Lin Wei alone, of killing him with his own hands.

But now, faced with the chance, all he felt was fear. Pure, soul-chilling fear.

Because this man was the Demon Lord.

The ultimate nemesis of every Hero—the sworn enemy of all humankind.

But he was never meant to appear now. Not like this. Not when Oshu was battered and alone, stripped of all power.

“Damn you, Lin Wei! I won’t die here!”

As always, Oshu clung to faith in moments of despair. If fate had brought him to this crossroads, surely Alicia would grant him guidance.

He forced down his terror, gripping the Holy Sword with trembling hands—as if the goddess-blessed blade could offer him one last hope.

“You’re right—you won’t die here.”

Like every Hero’s Party member buried here before, it was never about whether Lin Wei wanted them dead.

The real question was whether a Hero, blessed by Alicia and wielding divine power, could even be killed at all.

So far, the answer had always been “no.” From the Lava Platform to the Resting Place, if Lin Wei hadn’t blocked that last terrifying blow, the sleeping heroes might have already awakened.

Heroes blessed by the goddess always seemed to have Destiny on their side. Unless you stripped them of their title, you couldn’t kill them outright—you could only force them into slumber.

“Hm?”

But just as Lin Wei prepared to use his usual method to put Oshu to sleep, he froze.

The Holy energy swirling around the sword was formidable, even to him. But in the blink of an eye, the sword’s radiance faded.

It was indescribable. It felt as if his once-dangerous opponent had suddenly lost all qualification to fight.

The threat vanished. The pressure dissolved. Even the power that had shrouded Oshu’s body flickered out before Lin Wei’s eyes.

It was as if… the man standing before him was no longer a Hero.

Just a trembling, powerless adventurer.

“What… what’s happening?”

Oshu felt it, too. The sword—once an extension of his own will—suddenly felt impossibly heavy. His wrist buckled. The blade slipped from his grasp and crashed to the ground.

The hollow thud of the Holy Sword hitting stone sounded like the end of the world.

He scrambled to pick it up, but his hands shook uncontrollably. He had no idea what was happening.

“Well, well. Looks like our Hero can’t wield his Holy Sword anymore.”

His terror was writ plain across his face.

“That’s impossible! I’m just exhausted from the fight, that’s all!”

But the sudden fear twisting his features made him look almost pitiable.

With the goddess’s Blessing and his Hero’s title, Oshu had always possessed a lifeline—even against the Demon Lord.

Now, with his last crutch gone, he was just another mortal—shaking before a power far beyond his own.

“I see.”

Now, no matter how you looked at him, the Hero couldn’t summon even a flicker of Holy Radiance.

This wasn’t even a true life-or-death crisis anymore. If something unexpected happened, he could probably escape.

Lin Wei raised a hand and gave a lazy wave.

A heartbeat later—

Oshu, who had just managed to lift his sword, heard a dull thud. He looked down.

His hand was still gripping the hilt, but it was lying on the ground—severed at the wrist.

Blood spurted in a crimson arc from the stump, agony lancing up his arm. He collapsed, clutching the wound, howling in pain.

“AAAAAAHHHHH!!!”

“Not bad… Not bad at all, Oshu. You really did lose your Hero’s power.”

Lin Wei had never imagined this was possible.

He’d buried seven teams already—from the very first Heroes to the legendary Great Adventurer Weiss.

Even when he could crush them with brute force, he’d always had to rely on his Demon Lord abilities—never daring to show killing intent, always freezing them at the last instant.

But now… now, that rule had been broken.

“Why did you suddenly lose your Hero’s power?”

“Was it because you killed your own comrade? Or because you tried to side with the Cult of the Evil God? So that’s it. If you lure a Hero into betraying their path, the goddess strips them of their title.”

“All this time, I’d been focused on how to seal a Hero, never on how to kill one by making them lose their qualifications. You’ve shown me a whole new path, Oshu!”

There was no longer any reason to hesitate.

As Oshu stared in horror, Lin Wei finally understood.

Black-and-red light gathered at Lin Wei’s fingertips—energy more than enough to kill a Hero. The power swelled, threatening to pierce the very heart of the cavern.

“No… no. I’m the Hero—I can’t die here!”

No. He wouldn’t die. He couldn’t perish in some nameless pit.

All those failed predecessors—they merely slumbered, waiting for a chance to awaken.

He was stronger than all of them. How could he truly die?

“Seal me away, Lin Wei! Our battle isn’t over! We have to fight fair—you can’t do this!”

“Let me go! I’ll give you Iresha—take them all, just spare me!”

Despair at the brink of death shattered Oshu’s mind. His spirit collapsed, pain and terror wracking his body until he was half-kneeling—a broken shell of the man who’d once wielded the Holy Sword with pride.

“How pathetic… Oshu.”

The Hero he’d once feared had crumbled so easily.

Lin Wei’s eyes were cold as he gathered his power. There was no pity—no joy in victory—only the calm extermination of an insect.

“You’ll die here in obscurity, remembered only for the sin of killing your own comrades.”

“I’ll say the Demon Generals ambushed us, betrayed the Holy See, and killed Oshu when he tried to defect to the Cult of the Evil God. As for me, the Honor Knight, I’ll claim I slew the Headless Horseman in a surprise attack.”

A brilliant light flared before Oshu’s eyes.

It was a flawless story. With no survivors, no one would ever contradict it.

“Die in despair, and let the world forget you.”

BANG!

A flash of crimson pierced Oshu’s skull and surged through his body. The air thickened with the stench of death, suffused with necromantic energy.

The once-feared Hero Oshu dissolved into a pile of rotting flesh.

“Tch… That was almost disappointing.”

There’d been no epic duel, no protracted struggle.

He’d simply snuffed out the Hero in an instant. The silence that followed felt eerily unnatural.

Lin Wei rubbed his brow, feeling uncharacteristically unsettled.

“Oh well… At least that’s one more troublesome opponent dealt with. And I’ve got a better sense of what’s happening with the demons.”

“So the new Demon Lord is still regaining her strength, and the reason they betrayed me is just because I’m human? They think I’m a spy for the Empire? Has the new Demon Lord lost her mind?”

He’d have to investigate the demon situation once he returned to the Imperial Capital.

…This place was a wreck.

Lava was pouring in through cracks in the mountain wall—the place was finished.

Between the collapsing cavern and the destruction all around, the Crystal Coffins couldn’t remain here any longer.

Time to find a new resting place for the Heroes.

“Gotta move them, and fast.”

By now, reinforcements from the Adventurers’ Guild would be entering the Labyrinth.

As for the Crystal Coffins, as long as he maintained a magic field, he could store them in his spatial storage for a few hours without issue.

“Let’s get them all in…”

With a thought, a swirling vortex of space opened behind Lin Wei.

The coffins scattered throughout the cavern shot toward it like iron filings drawn to a magnet, vanishing into his personal storage, where magic would preserve their vital Elements.

“That should buy me five or six hours, at most.”

The storage space was nearly infinite, but not meant for living beings.

Even at full power, he could only keep the coffins stable for a few hours. Any longer risked [Heroic Revival in Desperate Straits] or even [Storage Space Meltdown].

“I’d better find a new location soon… Hm?”

As he swept the cave one last time, Lin Wei’s foot struck something metallic.

He looked down—the weapon Oshu had wielded.

“So this is… the Hero’s Sword?”

He picked it up. The blade was dull, lifeless—just a plain, blackened sword, no finer than what a village smith might forge.

“Whatever. I’ll take it with me.”

The weapons of previous squads, saturated with Holy energy, had always been sealed away with their owners.

But this was the first time he’d found a Hero’s sword abandoned by its master—a traitor to the Holy See.

“Done here.”

Lava was seeping in faster now, even with energy barriers holding it at bay.

Satisfied, Lin Wei gave the cave a final scan—no loose ends.

He dropped the barriers and turned to fly out.

RUMBLE—

The moment he left the cavern, plunging into the lava, a flood of molten rock surged in behind him.

The walls buckled. The floor collapsed.

Within seconds, the entire chamber was swallowed by magma.

Aside from the rumbling earth, there was no sign that anything—alive or dead—had ever been there.

◇

Eleventh Floor.

A hastily expanded safe zone.

The Holy See and Adventurers’ Guild had fully occupied the area.

Elite adventurer teams formed a ring around the perimeter, their blazing auras testament to their strength.

These were Legendary teams—each led by at least one [Legendary Adventurer].

Had it been them caught in the earlier spatial trap, they might have cut a path through the ambush and escaped to the surface.

Assuming, of course, the dreaded [Headless Horseman] didn’t intervene.

Only the three great knight commanders of the Holy See could hope to face such a foe.

“All personnel, tend to the wounded and search the target area!”

“Commander Meilin… about that so-called Demon General, Krulu—should we keep her under anti-demon surveillance?”

The Judgement Knight in charge of logistics addressed Commander Meilin, submitting the latest intelligence.

No matter their seniority, not even the most seasoned Judgement Knights dared show disrespect to the formidable, beautiful woman before them.

“Let her be.”

“You handle things here. I’ll search the area again myself, see if I can find an entrance.”

Commander Meilin, still fresh from her journey through the lava, frowned.

Half an hour earlier, she’d received Yalis’s urgent plea for help.

She’d been on the northern border, overseeing disaster relief, but had rushed to the City-State of Brook at top speed, using Lin Wei’s holy marker to guide her.

She’d found battered adventurers and traumatized hostages.

But the most critical person—Lin Wei, the Holy See’s future Pope—was nowhere to be found. For Meilin, who wanted him on the throne, that was unacceptable.

“He’s the only one who can replace Selena. Anyone else can go missing—except Lin Wei!”

Had she known things would spiral so far out of control, she would have used any means necessary to keep him by her side as a Judgement Knight. She’d never have let him take such a risk.

According to the reports… Below the lava, Lin Wei was facing not only Legacy-level Evil God Cultists and demons, but one of the Demon Generals—a being on par with Meilin herself.

That was the true summit of demonic power. Even if the Hero had fallen as well, could the two of them truly escape such a predicament?

No… They’d probably already been consumed by the lava. After all, Lin Wei hadn’t reached the Legacy level yet.

“I’ll go back down. You all hold the line here.”

Her icy, flawless face betrayed a fleeting trace of anxiety.

Meilin spun her spear and leapt back into the world of magma—a streak of golden lightning.

“Lin Wei’s going to be okay, right?”

Elsewhere—

Iresha paced anxiously, watching Meilin vanish into the lava.

She gripped her staff tightly, but it brought no comfort.

“Are you doubting Mas—doubting Lord Lin Wei’s strength?”

Krulu, lounging against the wall, seemed unmoved by the concern. Her nonchalance only stoked Iresha’s frustration.

“Hah? How can you be so calm? Don’t you care at all?”

She’d had enough of Krulu—insufferable at the best of times, and now, after everything, still acting like a demon… no, a Demon General.

Iresha glared, on the verge of snapping.

“If you’re one of the Demon Generals, why are you up here with us? Shouldn’t you be down there with Lin Wei, fighting the other Demon Generals?”

“I’m too weak to do anything but get in the way, so I came back. But you—couldn’t you help? Are you just pretending to cooperate with Lin Wei?”

“Heh… You really don’t have any faith in Lord Lin Wei, do you?”

As if Morteir and those other fools could threaten the Demon Lord.

If she weren’t stuck protecting these people, she’d never have left the battlefield.

“I’m only here because I’m certain Lord Lin Wei will return alive. He ordered me to protect the mage called Iresha—I assumed you must be important to him.”

“Didn’t expect you to have so little faith… What are you so worried about?”

Krulu, who’d once betrayed the Demon Lord, knew she had no right to lecture. But faced with these fragile humans, she couldn’t help but retort, irritated by their weakness.

“Hah? I—I—I do trust Lin Wei!”

“But that doesn’t mean I want him to take risks! There’s only one Lin Wei—if something happened, I’d never get him back. Damn it, why am I so useless?”

“Damn it, damn it, damn it… When it really matters, I’m always dead weight. Why does Lin Wei always have to protect me?”

Blaming others was pointless. If anything, this was all her fault.

Iresha was furious with herself for being so weak.

If only she were stronger—if she’d reached LV70, half a step into Legacy-level…

Then she could have fought beside Lin Wei, instead of making him shoulder the burden of the demons and the Cult of the Evil God alone.

At the very least, she could have helped protect the hostages.

If she were stronger, maybe Krulu wouldn’t have needed to stay behind.

Maybe she could have gone down and fought alongside Lin Wei.

Why couldn’t she just be stronger?

“Where are you, Mr. Lin Wei…”

On the shore, Yalis gazed out over the Magma Sea, fists clenched.

She’d pleaded with Sister Meilin to let her into the Labyrinth, but had been told to wait outside.

She’d hoped to see Lin Wei first, to share the joy of bringing reinforcements and win his praise. But as soon as she entered, she heard the news—

Lin Wei hadn’t evacuated. He’d gone beneath the lava, into the depths with the Cult of the Evil God.

Even Meilin herself couldn’t find him. It was a nightmare beyond words.

“Please be okay, please be okay, Mr. Lin Wei…”

She wanted to introduce Lin Wei to her father, to bring him to her birthday banquet, to show him off to all her friends.

She wanted—on that day, before Iresha could—

Now, all she could do was pray.

“Please, Goddess Alicia!”

The Saintess pressed her hands together in a sacred gesture, as devout as if she knelt before the goddess’s statue in the Holy See.

All other thoughts faded. Only her desperate wish for Lin Wei’s safe return remained.

“I’ll do anything if you bring Mr. Lin Wei back!”

“Really?”

A familiar voice sounded behind her.

Yalis’s eyes snapped open in disbelief. The very person she’d been praying for stood before her—Lin Wei, calm and relaxed, as if he’d just returned from a casual stroll.

“Oh? So you’ll do anything, Saintess? Didn’t know you’d miss me this much.”

“In that case, allow me to announce—Lin Wei is back, just as you wished!”