The Darkness Was Comfortable for Me

TLN: Woah woah, guys! The sponsored chapters are just going up at this point! I am really thankful to you all, but at this rate, I won’t be able to finish them at all, haha.

I will be locking the sponsored chapters for now. If you are going to donate, please do so solely to support my translations.

Anyways, that was crazy. Thanks a lot to you all for showing so much support!

We are close to the end of this arc!

——

“Uoooooh!” 

Inside the pitch black fog of darkness, there was an icosahedron that’s a deeper darkness than that. 

Marchosias was losing its temper and squirming around trying to get out. 

However the Dark Coffin isn’t that easy to destroy. 

The darkness of Darkness Fog is reinforcing the darkness in here and increasing its potency. 

Spirit Energy was being drained out from my body constantly to a never before degree. It is a powerful restraining ability, but the cost is high. 

I have to change my way of using it compared to Bind which only costs a bit of Spirit Energy each use, or my Spirit Energy will end up running dry in an instant. 

I have my own Spirit Energy plus the energy the Spirits lend me thanks to the effect of Affection of Spirits, but it is not like I can use abilities infinitely. 

I would say around 90% of the ability’s cost is being shouldered by the Spirits. However, that also means I am supplying that 10%.

It would be more appropriate to say that I am using 10% in order to serve as the trigger of activation for the ability. 

At any rate, that 10% is always being used, so even if I can use 10 times more abilities than your regular person, if I continuously use powerful abilities, I will run out of gas quickly.

This is a battle against time. 

I jumped inside the dark coffin. 

Only a Dark Spirit User clad in Darkness Fog can enter this coffin of darkness.

“Grrrrr!” 

“Let’s put an end to this…! Whether you can get away from these restraints, or you die before that…!” (Hikaru)

The right side of its face was gouged out by the Photon Ray of Rifreya, blood pulsing out from it, and the remaining left eye was shining crimson even inside this darkness. It really makes me feel the infinite stamina a Demon Lord has. 

I jumped onto the back of the Demon Lord that was desperately struggling, trying to get out from the bindings of darkness.

The lion’s back of Marchosias covered in hard fur was hot, and it made me feel the lifeforce of a Demon Lord. 

But no matter how powerful and fiendish of a natural enemy it is towards humanity, there’s one weakness!

I put all of my weight into it, and swung my shortsword downwards onto the Spirit Veins Center -the base of its neck.

“Uooooo!” (Hikaru)

“Grrrrraaaaa!” 

The Demon Lord roars as if it were bringing it out from the depths of its entrails. 

It is a situation where it can barely move at all, however, the bleeding from its wounds were making its whole body tremble. 

I bring my shortsword down over and over again while still straddling the back of Marchosias. 

Yet, my shortsword was bouncing off with each strike, unable to penetrate that fur and muscle armor.

Spirit Energy is leaving my body ceaselessly in order to maintain the dark coffin. 

Because of my Spirit Energy running dry, even though I am in deep deep darkness, my vision was dyeing red. 

“Gwooaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” 

The Demon Lord is also not silently taking my hits. 

It is shaking its body and mustering its full power. 

Every passing moment, Spirit Energy leaves my body.

But not only that, the wild shaking of the Demon Lord was also sapping away at my stamina and making my aim unsteady. My arms were shaking and it was getting hard to even hold onto my shortsword.

“Damn it! Not even this much is enough?!” (Hikaru)

“Garrrrrrrruaaaaaa!” 

Massive amounts of blood were coming out from the neck of the Demon Lord, however, that tough body was not allowing the passing of attacks to its weak point. 

The shortsword has enough sharpness. The problem is my own physical strength. 

I was breathing heavily and my vision was narrowing.

In this pivotal opportunity, I can’t deal a finishing blow. 

“Damn it! How about this then?!” (Hikaru)

I hold my shotsword aloft and bring it down with reckless abandon. 

“Gwooooaaaaaa!” 

However, due to the Demon Lord wiggling its body heavily, I missed the weak point, and it was stabbed onto the back. 

And at the same time, the binding power of the Dark Coffin drops slightly. 

My Spirit Energy is about to run out.

I could feel that reality sink in.

Things are getting bad…

The next instant that crossed my mind…

“[Dispel].” 

That word from the Demon Lord melted the Dark Coffin.

At that very moment, I was immediately shaken off its back, and crashed pitifully on the ground.

When I looked up, there was the Demon Lord that had its right eye shine fiercely despite having lost half of its face. 

It let out a hot sigh of fire -it was as if Marchosias was laughing. 

—Death.

I could feel that certain feeling caress my back. 

Countless fangs inside the giant mouth of the Demon Lord, and the fire that flickers from that mouth…

My life will be taken away the next instant by those fangs, claws, or fire…

The dense presence of death was making me have no choice but to prepare myself for that conclusion…

The darkness had been erased by the Dispel of the Demon Lord, and it had completely set its sight on me.

The jaws of Marchosias opened widely and approached, attempting to bite off my neck…

But at that moment…

“[Light]!” 

An intense flash happened in front of me.

That light so powerful it threatened to burn my retinas made it impossible for me to open my eyes. 

“Hiyaaaaaaa!!” 

A shout filled with fighting spirit rang, and sounds of collision happened intermittently. 

The sound of deft footsteps, the noise of blows, and the sounds of a sword cutting the wind…

“Gwuruaaaaaa!” 

What was reflected in my eyes after they had finally recovered enough to see something was…the greatsword of Rifreya having wounded Marchosias as if attempting to cut off its head. 

The strength on the limbs of Marchosias were leaving them with its head half split. 

Light was dissipating from its red shining eyeballs.

“Gwooooo…” 

The Demon Lord raises a death cry as it perishes.

And at the same time, a Chaotic Spirit Stone -in a size I have never seen before- fell onto the ground. 

I looked at that half dumbstruck while still grovelling on the ground. 

“Defeated…? Did we defeat it…?” 

I could hear cheers of ‘Waaa!’ from afar.

I could see Alex and the others running here.

—Yay, we did it. 

—We have defeated the scary one. 

—Kyakkya.

The voices of the Spirits rode the wind and reached my ears. The sinister presence that was ruling the place until now had disappeared. 

The Demon Lord…has died. 

We won.

We managed to win with only us. 

[Congratulations! You are the first Chosen who has achieved a [Demon Lord Subjugation]. As a first time bonus, you will be granted 3 Points.]

[Congratulations! You have managed to defeat a Demon Lord, so you have now obtained the Hero Title. This being your first title acquisition, you will be granted 1 Point as a bonus.]

[The 3 Point Loan return has been done.] 

It has been a while since I have gotten a God announcement. 

Alex is probably getting those same announcements. The one who dealt the killing blow was Rifreya, but I am being treated as having subjugated it, so Alex should be falling into the same category. 

(Fufu…I am a hero, huh. Rather than me, it is Rifreya who is the hero, and I am the party member.) (Hikaru)

Well, it is most likely a simple title that’s given to everyone. 

It is fortunate that I got 1 Point, but there’s no point in the title itself. 

“Hikaru! Are you okay?!” (Rifreya)

Rifreya runs to me, who is sitting on the ground. 

That figure of hers showing a shining smile celebrating our victory was strangely dazzling in my eyes.

The Demon Lord was far far stronger than I thought. 

The only saving was that it didn’t spam its Chaotic Abilities. If it had spammed them, we would have lost. 

Leaving aside Dispel, there’s no means to stop Fear, making it uncounterable. 

“I am okay… You too, Rifreya… You seem to be okay…” (Hikaru)

“Hikaru? Wait, are you really okay…?” (Rifreya)

“Yeah, I might have pushed myself a bit there… I leave…the rest to you…” (Hikaru)

“Eh, Hikaru?! Hikaru!!” (Rifreya)

Maybe because of the relief of defeating a Demon Lord, my consciousness grows further away. 

I didn’t manage to revive Nanami, but I had a sense of fulfillment that I did the best I could.

I let go of my consciousness.