Chapter 68
‘Eric Ather…’
On the battlefield where rats and humans were tangled together, screams and shouts echoing in every direction, a spot slightly away from the center.
On a hill, an old man with a hunched back quietly looked down.
The Demon King squinted as he watched the boy standing in front of the massive Rat Champion, Squalor.
‘Could that kid really be the young hero of the Church?’
It wasn’t difficult to spot him among the countless knights and soldiers.
According to the small child who came to report the death of Latenfenger that day, there was a female knight accompanying him.
‘For someone incompetent, he’s actually not too bad. But Latenfenger… I don’t think he’s a match for that kid.’
Before the boy faced Squalor, the Demon King observed his movements briefly.
He was exceptional, yes, but not enough to take on the swarms of rats controlled by Latenfenger and that child.
For an incompetent, he was astonishingly calm and competent—but only to that degree.
His ability to strike only the vital points in a single blow bordered on divine skill, but even among the humans the Demon King had seen, there were several who could pull off such precision.
Moreover, considering how he seemed exhausted and panting after only a few swings of his not particularly heavy or fast sword, it made one question how he became the Church’s hero. It almost seemed as if the annoying servants of that detestable goddess had finally lost their minds.
‘However…’
Yet, that was just appearances.
It was an undeniable fact that this frail incompetent had single-handedly captured the child he cherished so much—Latenfenger.
The mice did not lie.
They simply reported what they had seen and heard.
Swish—
Finally, the Demon King, who had been quietly observing Eric, furrowed his brows at the nauseating aura emanating from behind him.
‘Wait. That kid is definitely…’
An old man with wrinkles around his eyes and a sly expression.
Though older than he remembered, making recognition take a moment, there was no doubt.
How could he forget the disgusting holy power emanating from that small frame?
That man who had repeatedly hindered their Demon King’s army during the Great War—so annoying and troublesome!
‘Gregorius!’
The goddess’s most treasured servant.
The small giant of the North.
Since the Demon King had gathered his forces, disrupting that snake’s plan, he had expected the Church’s new hero to return north, but thought Gregorius would be hiding somewhere inside the fortress like before.
To see him openly outside…!
‘Looks like he followed that young hero.’
“Heh, heh heh. Hic! Hehehe hic!”
During the Great War, the Demon King had tried in vain to lure him out, never even seeing his face. Seeing him now, he laughed until his mouth tore.
“This is… really something.”
Eric Ather.
Though the boy looked surprisingly ordinary in person, it no longer mattered.
He was clearly hiding a trick.
‘Delightful!’
Otherwise, Gregorius wouldn’t have trusted him enough to reveal himself outside the walls.
The night was dark.
A vast field stretched between the Castrum Fortress and the hill in front of it.
In a corner where fresh white snow had settled, Eric faced a massive monster, unlike the other ratmen, in sheer size.
Thud—
Watching the enormous creature stomp toward him, shaking the ground, Eric threw aside the knight he had been holding and scratched his head in confusion as the monster stopped precisely in front of him.
‘Well… I wanted glory, but I didn’t expect a monster this big.’
Squalor.
A named under the Demon King.
He was special among the Demon King’s named.
Perhaps because he was a rat, the Demon King commanded a larger number of troops and named than other Demon Lords.
It was unclear if all of them had joined the battlefield, but of the nearly twenty named he controlled, Squalor always stayed close, favored by him.
‘Still, this one isn’t the strongest of the Demon King’s named… but facing him like this is tricky.’
For some reason, Squalor had been silently staring at Eric from earlier, and a deep sense of helplessness already weighed on him.
With nearly 200 strength and stamina, Eric’s agility and magic were lacking, but in this chaotic battlefield, that didn’t matter much.
‘…Maybe I should’ve brought Lilian.’
A moment of regret passed, but it didn’t last long.
Even if Lilian had been there, it would’ve been easier to handle Squalor, but there was no guarantee she could survive the battlefield crawling with countless rats.
Glory was fine, but risking a hero like Lilian was not worth it.
“-E-Eric… Eric Ather?”
How long they had faced off against Squalor uncomfortably, Eric didn’t know.
The creature tilted its head repeatedly, then asked in a clumsy voice:
“Are you familiar with that monster?”
“Of course not. The last time it appeared at the border, it was the first time I went out with the old parish.”
Hearing his own name from the mouth of a named, Eric frowned uncomfortably.
The situation wasn’t good.
A monster knowing his name wasn’t pleasant—it meant he would be targeted every time he entered a battlefield.
Of course, it also meant more opportunities for glory, but for someone like him, still lacking strength and heroes under his command, it could easily backfire.
‘No wonder… it singled me out in that chaos. I hoped it was just coincidence.’
Suddenly, Eric remembered Latenfenger’s warning from the old parish.
Some Demon Lords were watching the Church’s new hero.
He had heard of it, but didn’t expect them to move this quickly.
Even though the Church’s young hero had solved a few anomalies, he was still an inconsequential incompetent, not even the heir of the Ather family.
“-I’ll… I’ll take you alive! M-My father wants it!”
Then, Squalor pointed a massive finger at him and even dared to speak the Demon King’s name. Eric swallowed dryly, tense.
If it had come to this, it meant the monster had no intention of letting him go.
“You seem popular, even in the capital, huh?”
“Well, I suppose charm is a necessary quality for the heir of the Ather family.”
Looking at Gregorius staring at him strangely, Eric shrugged and joked.
Still, it wasn’t entirely bad.
Even in the noisy battlefield, Gregorius’s booming voice caused those around to glance at them in surprise, meaning any glory from Squalor would now belong to Eric alone.
“-D-Do not underestimate me!”
Vwoooosh—
After a brief exchange with Gregorius and Squalor, it seemed the monster had said all it needed. It swung its massive arm.
KRAAAANG!
“Ugh!”
With a loud crash, the fist smashed through the snow-covered stone ground.
Eric stepped back, deliberately keeping distance, but still sweat poured down his face.
‘Insanely strong.’
KRAAANG! KRAAAANG!
Squalor swung wildly, indifferent to allies around him.
Eric looked at Gregorius, who scrambled backward to avoid being hit by stray fragments.
“Sir Gregorius, better move back, just in case.”
“Huh? Then you…”
“If I get hit by those fists, healing won’t mean much. Just focus on antidotes from a distance so the mice are okay.”
After a moment of hesitation, Gregorius nodded and moved away.
He wouldn’t die from a single hit anyway. Clearly, the Demon King wanted him brought back alive, so Squalor probably intended to break a few bones before taking him.
“Uwoooah!”
It also meant Gregorius’s holy magic remained effective. But there was another reason he was keeping him at a distance.
Whoosh—boom—
Following the massive arm, snow swirled violently, blurring the surroundings. Eric seized the moment, slipping inside Squalor’s reach.
“This won’t do. Swinging your fists blindly like that—”
Before the fist landed, Eric reached Squalor and stomped down with all his strength.
Thud—crash—
Footprints marked in the white snow, an ice pillar shot up quickly.
“W-What?”
Squalor looked down in surprise at the ice climbing his leg, and Eric shouted loudly:
“Sir Leona!”
Screech—
Through the blizzard, Leona appeared at Eric’s call.
Screeech—!
At the same time, Eric deactivated Frost Step, and the melting ice caused Squalor to lose posture, allowing the sword to precisely slice his neck. Eric clenched his fist.
Gurgle…
Blood dripped from Squalor’s wrist to the ground. Eric narrowed his eyes.
“Sir, are you alright?”
“I’m fine. A bit hard to see because of the snow.”
Eric nodded to reassure Leona, who checked him just in case.
He couldn’t openly use abilities like Frost Step in such an exposed battlefield, but this was enough.
Even briefly freezing the ground in sync with the snow gusts disrupted the monster’s posture sufficiently.
“So, how’s it? Can we catch him?”
“…He’s sturdy and hits hard, but his movements are slow, so it’s manageable.”
Eric glanced at her, seeing her confidence, and smiled quietly.
Yes, that was enough.
No matter how strong, as long as she didn’t give up, he could eventually catch him.
Thud—thud—
Turning at the sound of falling liquid, he noticed a small pool of blood forming around Squalor.
Glurrrr—
The ominous blood slowly seeped into the ground, rotting rather than melting. Eric shouted loudly enough to be heard far away:
“Sir Gregorius!”
