Chapter 97

Garu Gannis was fleeing.

In a single teleportation, he escaped from that deathtrap to outside of Rodnea. From there, he teleported multiple times until he reached a place where the castle walls were barely visible. After his magic power was exhausted, he simply ran with all his might. Despite not having covered much distance, he was already out of breath and his legs were entangled. But he couldn't stop.

"Damn... Damn it...!"

Fear prevented him from stopping.

The thought of facing that boy in that place now seemed unbelievable.

Zolmneum was probably dead.

The scorching red wave he saw just before teleporting wouldn't leave his mind.

All of his companions were dead.

Despite their great strength, they could do nothing against that boy.

How did it come to this?

Who could have predicted the existence of such a being?

"That guy... Ha, is the Demon King...? Such... Such nonsense...!"

He couldn't understand how Zolmneum had come to that conclusion.

But now, he was the only one who knew this. He had to inform the King of the Demon Race... no, all races of this crisis. This was his remaining mission. He had to fulfill Zolmneum's will at all costs.

At that moment, Garu Gannis suddenly focused on something ahead.

Far down the road, he could see a carriage heading towards Rodnea. It was probably a merchant. It was a cargo wagon, but there were no guards.

Garu Gannis felt his heart slowly calming down.

The Demon Territory was still far away. He would need to resupply many times along the way. Now that he was alone, he couldn't afford to miss even a single opportunity. Besides, it was almost dusk. He had managed to get quite far from Rodnea. Even the Demon King couldn't pinpoint his current location and pursue him at this distance.

For now, he would raid that carriage for supplies and find a place to camp for the night.

That was the best course of action.

As he ran towards the carriage, Garu Gannis summoned a magical flame.

He couldn't perform large-scale teleportation anymore, but he could still use simple fire magic without any problem. And that was enough for now.

Just as he was about to release the flame—

"Gu... fu..."

He suddenly spat blood from his mouth.

The flame he had summoned disappeared. The young demon stumbled and fell to the ground. As he bit into the dirt, he looked at his chest, where a sharp pain was spreading. A long, vertical wound, as if he had been pierced by a massive blade, was bleeding profusely.

"What..."

He had no idea when or how he had been injured.

But he had a good idea who was responsible.

"What... What is he... Is that... the Demon King...?"

He felt his consciousness slipping away with the blood.

A chill spread through his body.

It was impossible.

According to the legends, the Demon King... didn't have such power.

It was too alien.

It was as if... he belonged to a different world entirely.

"Who... is that... Demon King..."

Shortly after his final whisper—Garu Gannis' breathing stopped.

The demon heroes who set out to defeat the hero all died this way.