The Knight King Who Returned with a God - Chapter 175:

It had been a while since Neutrois, one of the Great Old Ones, had lost a tooth on his bladed rake.

An epic piece of equipment by human standards. This blade is a demonic masterpiece that contains the souls of countless fallen.

[He’s got a body of that size, and looks like it’s made of stardust.]

-Yuck!

The fuselage of Yappy’s Marquis-class war machine is covered in stardust to the point where it’s almost unbelievable.

This means that breaking through its armor is the equivalent of dismembering hundreds of fully armed knights.

[But—! It’s not all made of stardust after all!]

His legs are torn apart by a blade rake but Neutrois continues doing the same thing to Yappy, right down to the paint, and cuts out the hidden vulnerabilities.

How did he pinpoint the vulnerability so precisely?

As Yappy continued his dizzyingly fast battle, he replayed the footage from earlier 3,733 times, and found the reason.

-Frame reinforcement from -06.34 to 07.25 seconds. Cause.

Analyzing hundreds of thousands of frames in less than a second and finding the differences in a second.

-Enemies, great sense of smell. Presumably reacting to the smell of the hematite and adamantine paint.

If the opponent reacted to the smell, then.

-Nova gas explosion. Gas blocked his sense of smell.

1.9 seconds to this point.

The strong artificial intelligence, which devoted all of its computing power to the act of combat, quickly found a solution.

-Yay!

Yappy mixes chemicals with the holy water produced by Leon’s Last Holy Grail and sprays it with an extremely poisonous gas.

[Hmmm—!]

This had two purposes. First, to block the Neutrois sense of smell, and second, to force him to retreat.

There’s no way Yappy’s overwhelmingly marquis-class endgame weapon can lose if the distance is open!

-Check enemy retreat. Doomsday Weapon set.

The distance has been opened and at that very moment, Yappy’s 680-millimeter Stardust Cannon takes aim.

This overwhelming force will send the Archdemon to the netherworld with a mere glance.

[Arrogant, you think I’ve never faced an AI weapon like you before]

At that moment, the ground beneath Yappy’s feet exploded and as his foot fell off, his shooting angle was deviated.

-The explosion in the subway.

Yappy realizes that the exploded bridge is in the subway, and the slight bloodstain is the first indication of what happened there.

-A suicide bomber is present. Life check.

The Demon Gate wasn’t the only place where demons had been summoned above ground. Demons had also been summoned underground and were lying in ambush.

-Defense forces deployed at each entrance to Taipei Station. Urgent demands.

Yappy quickly communicated but demons were already pouring out of the subway entrances in all directions.

-Space armament platform rearmed. Charged particle cannons open fire.

Yappy’s choice was to focus the firepower on the entrance to the subway station.

A barrage of charged particle cannons from space struck the subway point one after another, and the demons’ advance was halted when the ceiling collapsed.

<Region Declaration – Temple of Corruption>

——-!?

A giant purple magic circle appeared in the air directly above Yappy. At first he thought it was an offensive spell, but he quickly realized it wasn’t.

-Device malfunctions. Control systems inoperable.

The space platform is immobilized, as if overrun by a myriad of viruses.

[Machines are useful, but they’re still machines. It’s easy to take control away]

Neutrois walked slowly toward the creaking Yappy leisurely, clearing the gas with wind magic.

[I see you have some firepower, so let’s put it to good use.]

At the same time as Neutrois spoke, the Marquis’s muzzle, which had been taken out of his control, pointed in the opposite direction, towards the armored vehicles of the Kikiruks.

-Emergency Purge—!

At that moment, Yappy’s armament, which seemed to be about to burst into flames, drooped along with the entire unit.

[Hmph~ You stopped the unit before the artillery barrage. Not bad judgment, but——.]

Yappy was left defenseless and Neutrois smiled grimly as he patted Yappy’s iron tentacle leg.

[Indeed, I see, even if it’s made of stardust, how does it move, it’s weight is offset by an anti-gravity device]

The spot he was touching was exactly where the anti-gravity device was planted and Neutrois bladed rake stabbed into the exact spot.

-Quick!

The antigravity device is destroyed due to penetration from the outside and the marquis class collapses.

[Who’d have thought a mecha could take on us without toys like this!]

Neutrois climbs on top of the Marquis, which has come to a fuzzy halt. His bladed rake is about to slam into the fuselage when──

-Cockpit injection.

A modular block in the Marquis’s fuselage opens, and something shoots out of it with a bang, hitting Neutrois.

[—!?]

It and Neutrois are knocked backwards, landing in the middle of the demons.

-What the hell!

-Kill him!

A certain Man-At-Arms—who had once entered the Cheongju Gate and escaped with his life—had a pale complexion.

It was a trauma, a horror.

A hunter with eight glowing eyes, slaughtering hunters in the darkness of the sand. A multifaceted tank that raced from building to building.

The killing machine of Cheongju.

-Kwaah!

It didn’t take long for the fear to turn into a sense of security.

-Scoop! Scoop!

“——?”

“????”

The realization that flesh had been severed came before the splinters hit the ground.

In a crowded fight, he slices through flesh as he goes, scattering dozens of pieces with each swing.

-Yakt Spinner. Massive foot combat.

It was the stellar wire of a mechanical arm that sliced through dozens of demons in an instant.

More powerful than ever, he became a Holy Knight, powered by the infinite holy power, and he didn’t stop there.

-Tactics of Warfare 34. The Heavenly Network.

“??????”

Sixteen wires stretched out in all directions like a net, they were special wires forged from stellar iron, fine and thin.

Precisely crafted by the Holy Knight of Iron and Blacksmithing, the holy weaponry spread around Neutrois like a giant spider’s web.

The city’s buildings had been transformed into a giant spider web.

[This guy— What the hell, what are you doing!]

The implications were realized the next moment.

-Tactical Skill Combination 34-17. Iron Revival.

[?!]

In an instant, an enormous sense of gravity washed over Neutrois. He recognized the source of it, for he was a man of many experiences.

Thousands of years ago, a planet and its moon had invaded a world too close for comfort. In the face of fierce resistance, the Lord of Wisdom, Caracael, generated a gravitational field that dropped the moon onto the planet——

[As if the moon was in close proximity——!]

When Neutrois realized the implications, he was horrified. That machine was not just a machine, it was a Holy Knight of iron and blacksmithing, and what he was dealing with was iron literally made of “stars.

[Pseudo-planetization, resurrecting the remains of a dead star!]

Even he couldn’t have imagined the math and conceptual changes that would have to be made.

But this Holy Knight did it. It was an artificial intelligence that transcended the limits of organic matter.

[But—! I am the Great Old One! This is my territory! I have declared it—!]

<Declaration of Territory – Temple of Corruption>

The machine that Neutrois will take control of this time is the Yakt Spinner, which has now resurrected Star Iron as a star.

-Uncontrollable. Losing ground.

Neutrois smiles triumphantly. A machine, no matter how great, is still a machine. And in this realm of corruption, a machine without a counter magic is──

-Emergency injection.

[What?]

With a bang, the module opens, and a small gaseous body pops out. A Yakt spinner—no, Yappy locked eyes with Neutrois as he stood atop a Yakt spinner that looked exactly like him.

–Laser pointing.

The laser point on Yappy’s machine gun snapped at Neutrois but Neutrois smiled sheepishly in response.

[Ha— with a machine gun the size of a fingernail, how can I–]

-Goooowwww—!

Something is moving, something very large.

[What is that?!]

It’s the Marquis-class combat mech, which was stopped by an emergency purge. It pushed itself to its feet on creaky mechanical legs.

-Remote control initiated. Activated one-time limited action processor.

-Switched to full weapon set.

As the only being with the ability to process stellar iron and granted autonomous rights to the great comet, the strong artificial intelligence used its skills in iron and blacksmithing to create the finest weapons available.

First up is the Dominator: a two-kilometer submarine capable of waging short-term warfare against nations; these ships are outfitted more with Kikiruk warriors than combat vehicles.

The second is the Marquis class.

Unlike the Earl class, which doesn’t deviate from ‘land’ size, the Marquis class is a giant battlecruiser.

Its power comes from its six mechanical feet and cannons, which allow it to move through forests of buildings——.

Externally armed full set.

Internally armed full auto deployment.

Integrated combat systems with a seemingly endless arsenal of weapons supported by space-armed and sea-armed platforms.

This is what makes the Marquis-class so terrifying.

-Uncontrollable recoil due to destruction of anti-gravity devices.

Finished with his calculations, Yappy took control of the Marquis-class and fired the anchors.

Dozens of anchors shot out into the city, piercing dozens of buildings.

-The buildings catch the recoil.

In the next moment, the Marquis-class modular fuselage is fitted with the same weapons that launched stealth satellites in space and Dominators at sea.

Charged particle cannons.

Side ion cannons.

Six medium special reaction warheads.

Four 600mm tactical ballistic missiles.

Anti-infantry 195mm self-propelled howitzer rounds with direct fire.

All-weapon free to overwhelm the surface.

[Eek—! You! You! You—!]

Neutrois is still being held by the Holy Law Star’s Revitalization, and the troop carriers turn toward him.

Yappy lets out a little mechanical sound.

-Beep!

The next moment, there was a huge explosion in the city of Taipei.

* * * * *

Amidst the terrible heat and explosions, the demons gradually began to lose their footing.

-The two crazy Holy Knights are attacking the Great Old Ones!

-Those monsters! Why are they still here? We should have killed them all!

Holy Knights are a symbol of terror to the demons. That’s why they were so thoroughly destroyed.

The last of the Grail Guardians may have destroyed most of the demons, but there was no way Leon Dragonia Lionheart would ever rise again.

But why?

Why do these monstrosities keep popping up?

And one more thing they don’t know.

“How dare those damned fiends form a formation in front of me!?”

Extreme Light Holy Sword──

A holy sword of brilliant golden light was wielded in surprise.

The wrath of a goddess, wielded in the name of light and justice. It became a wave of light and swept through the demons.

“Lionheart King—!”

From the top of a skyscraper that should have been sealed off, the Lionheart King looks down on the demons with his glowing holy sword.

At his side, the Magician Queen and the four Knights of the Ten Thousand Gods look down upon the center of the battlefield.

“It is fitting that you should be huddled together like beasts and slaughtered. Beatrice.”

Beatrice stretched out her hand wordlessly with a fresh smile. A purplish energy poured from her fingertips, hovering over the skyscrapers and falling to the ground as mist.

“What is this–Cuck!”

It was the mist of death.

Holy Knight Jerea had changed the nature of the Holy Law <Realm of Illusion> to death. It’s a powerful holy law, and it should have consumed a lot of holy power, but Beatrice was using it so leisurely.

[It’s not only her holy power, but also the winds she creates with her magic?]

“Because I have to save.”

She is a magician queen, not just a Holy Knight, and the harmonization of holy law and magic has a more far-reaching effect than if she had used pure holy power alone.

Holy Law is certainly expendable, due to the deceptive power of its conceptual coercion. Even if a Holy Knight or Priestess is an agent who shares the faith of the gods, they must be careful of their consumption.

“But even so, I have no intention of letting them live.”

Beatrice hated the demons of pleasure and decadence, having seen her family members corrupted by them.

“Let the dance of death begin. Compulsory attendance by royal decree. It will not end until there is not a single demon left alive in this land.”

“Cckkkkkk—! This king will gladly participate in the Queen’s Ball!”

“Hoo hoo hoo hoo—! Your Majesty would make the best partner!”

The two kings dance not the fancy dancing of socialites, but the screaming and shouting of nightmares.

It’s a good thing they’re enjoying themselves.

* * * * *

“Ugh—!”

Archduke of Pleasure and Decadence Quai drags his body on a yacht.

He used the essence of corruption he had implanted in the queen earlier to draw them both inside.

There, Quai’s power was truly limitless.

There was nothing he could not corrupt, and no mortal–no, not even an immortal–could survive in his palace of corruption.

But why——?

‘How come they–how come they are not corrupted?’

Even Leon, whose connection to the gods had been cut off, and Beatrice, whose core had been planted with the essence of corruption, had eventually overcome the temptation.

It was beyond the scope of Quai’s common sense.

“You’ve become a nuisance.”

He had left his alter ego there, albeit via the Corruption Essence.

The power of holy law is the power of concepts. Even Quai, who had been torn apart by the Holy Law, was unharmed by the strange link.

‘If it weren’t for the Essence of Corruption, I would have died.’

The already powerful Magician Queen had fully awakened to the power of the Holy Law. Attacks from the mental realm would not work against Beatrice, who had truly become the High Priestess of Dreams and Death.

‘But——‘

What about the Lionheart King?

While imprisoning the Lionheart King through the Corruption Essence, Quai had found some interesting material.

The man’s spirit was unimaginably strong, but— he had a weakness.

If only he could find a way to exploit that one weakness——

-Quah!

The luxury yacht that Quai had used to escape the sea had barely withstood the massive waves without being overturned.

“The weather isn’t bad, but──

Quay realized what the waves were. No, it wasn’t a wave at all, just the aftermath of ‘its’ movement.

[I thought I smelled an unpleasant scent coming from somewhere— it was you, Quai]

A massive being breaks the surface. It had huge claws and countless tentacles, riding on a massive tail that seemed to bisect the island.

It created waves in the ocean with its movements, and killed countless fish with its mere presence. Worst of all──

“Ah, ah——.”

The sailors on the yacht recognize it, and they begin to shudder, forgetting to breathe, suffocating or going insane, smashing and beating everything in sight.

“Rakshar.”

Demon Archduke of Chaos and Destruction.

The demons of chaos had traits that made even the other demons shy away, but Rakshar was the greatest of them all.

No wonder, for he was a titan who vied for lordship with Malus, Lord of Chaos, until the very end.

The Lord of Chaos found the Archduke unwieldy and imprisoned him in the Kikiruks dimension, where he remained sealed away. Upon Leon’s appearance, the Demons of Wisdom broke his seal, but——

‘He has become more powerful. He already became a ‘Lord’.’

Quai shed his human hide. In order to remain sane in the face of this terrible being of chaos and destruction, even Quai, a Demon Archduke, had to reveal his true self.

[I hear you’re pretty banged up]

[I’ve been getting a lot of snacks lately]

Quai swallowed hard as he looked behind Rakshar—at the bustle of beings in Nampo Harbor.

The massive worldwide event was purely a means to an end for that demon. Many high ranking demons with territories had offered up their slaves to him.

[I guess using the Essence of Corruption didn’t work out so well, huh?]

Rakshar chuckled darkly. How many lives would be driven mad by that alone?

The voice will ride the air, ride the wind, ride the clouds, spreading its madness. But more than that——.

[Yes, but there’s a way to get to the heart of the lion, and that’s pretty——]

[No!]

Boom.

Quai looked down at the ‘tentacle’ that had pierced him.

[I found my way.]

Rakshar’s massive face twisted wickedly.