Chapter 12: Battle Against The Demon Lord!

Once again, his axe and my shield clash with a resounding clunk. The impact shoves me back, but I hold my ground this time.

Bastard, you’re not the only one who can use self-enhancing magic. I just made myself heavier!

I leap back to evade another blow, prompting the Demon Lord to follow up. Although reinforced, blood is still trickling from the numerous cuts, and the strain is rather evident on his leg. However, making myself heavier comes with drawbacks as well. My agility decreases; moving requires more stamina. But if it keeps me from being tossed from the sheer momentum of his frantic attacks, I can stay in the fight.

We exchange a few blows that way. I remain on the defensive, facing the wounded Demon Lord alone. After each blow, I retreat, prompting him to move with his sliced leg. It doesn’t take long until the giant demon grows tired of it, changing his strategy.

Directly attacking me, who wields an unbreakable diamond shield and the skill to block any of his axe's slow but powerful sweeps, won’t lead to his victory. However, I won't defeat him by just playing tank either.

Oh shit!

I dodge furiously. The attack pattern changes abruptly. Instead of aiming at me, the Demon Lord performs an impressive sweep of his axe, cutting two nearby trees so skillfully that their crashing wooden trunks force me to retreat forward, not to be crushed to death by their weight. Suddenly, I find myself within his unfair range, utterly unprepared for the weapon coming down from above.

Shit! He’ll split my head in two!

I would be fine wielding my usual shield now, but this one is much smaller. I hold it overhead to block the devastating blow, but my resulting stance is terrible.

Argh!

Again, I find myself unable to breathe and glued to one of the fallen trees before I know what hit me. I no longer hold either sword or shield in my hand. I instinctively cover my stomach with both hands.

That bastard kicked me in the stomach! Fuck!

Then, the pain kicks in, and I mean, it KICKS in! You don’t shrug off a kick from a 3-meter demon like it’s nothing. Had he hit me a little higher, it would have broken my ribs. Had he hit lower, I could have kissed goodbye to the faint hope of ever fathering a child. None of this matters, though. I crashed into a tree again, so even if I recover from the kick, my back is in horrible shape.

I’m done for!

Desperately, I attempt to reach my equipment, but the towering figure before me tosses the shield, which is far out of reach, with a mighty kick. As for the sword, the bleeding Demon Lord picks it up, gives it a brief inspection, and then, almost casually…

I’m so dead…

…snaps it into two. His bloodshot, red eyes meet mine. When he notices my panic, his evil nature becomes a wicked, toothy grin.

Well, this is it…

Faintly, I can hear Kenneth scream something in the distance as the Demon Lord raises his enormous axe, grinning as wide as the distance between the two massive horns sticking out of the black hair on his forehead. If he felt like it, he could easily gore me with those horns, but he won’t take a chance. Once he’s swung it as far back as his huge, brawny arms allow, the axe comes toward me in slow motion.

This is that moment you see your life flashing before your eyes, right? In the end, I wasn’t strong enough. I wonder what my family will think of me, once he’s chopped my head off… Wait…

I blink. Either time has come to an abrupt halt, or the Demon Lord has stopped swinging that axe in mid-air, just an arm's length away from ending my life instantly.

Why has he stopped? What’s going on?

The Demon Lord is no less surprised, his eyes rolling in every direction in their sockets. Then, I spot the cause of this sudden event.

Chains! Chains made of dark-aligned mana! Beatrix! She’s back!

The time that Beatrix could keep the murderous demon restricted is unclear. Therefore, I waste not a single second. I draw from the mana reserves Kenneth left me with and fix the bare minimum of damage required to regain the ability to escape my predicament. I can worry about the internal bleeding later.

“YOU FOOLS!!! THAT WON’T KEEP ME DOWN!!!”

King Ragnar is fuming and yelling as I heal myself. The damage is extensive, so I sit there for almost a minute trying to mend the heavy bruises I received. Quickly, it becomes apparent that I won’t be fast enough.

“What are you doing, Dave? Get the hell out of there!”

Kenneth is screaming at the top of his lungs, meaning Beatrix must reach her limit again. Indeed, the Demon Lord, still raging, has begun to twitch, and those movements quickly gain momentum. Then, the spell breaks, and the axe comes down immediately.

Crap!

Although the healing isn’t complete, I take a daring leap to the right. Massive pain erupts from the bruises I only fixed sloppily, but the axe comes down next to me rather than on top of me, splitting a portion of soil rather than my flesh and bones. In his fury, the demon has thrust it so forcefully that it takes a few attempts to pull it out of the gaping slash it created.

I struggle to get on my feet. Even the massive amount of adrenaline flooding my body cannot prompt my bruised body to move. The daring leap has worsened the injuries again.

In the end, I’m doomed after all.

“DIE!!!”

The Demon Lord swings his axe at me again; this time, no one can save me from certain death. I know I can’t evade his mighty battle axe. My injuries are too grave to move, my magic too sloppy to repair what’s already broken, nor have I learned any proper attack magic. Defenceless, without either shield or sword, I close my eyes and await fate. Will the gods even judge me fairly?

*CLONK*

The sound of metal tearing through flesh and bone fills the air, but there’s no pain.

Perhaps I died so fast that I never felt it? No, that can’t be, I hear the Demon Lord’s blood splattering on the ground just like before…

Someone wheezes as if they’d run the entire way from the capital here, while the ground shakes suddenly.

The Demon Lord fell over; did someone save me again? Wait, could it be…

“S-sorry hic I’m late hic Had ’dda slaughdder their hic re’nforcemenns hic heh.”

And they have a horrible hiccup and a heavy slur to their voice.

Berserker!