Paladin of a Fallen Order (Novel) - Chapter 51 - Single Blow
Chapter 51 – Single Blow
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Translated by Pratt
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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The mages could reduce the damage by burning the pollen with fire.
Elbridge who could use authority to block the demon’s most core ability.
It was a demon with compatibility so excellent that it was rare to see.
‘Still, I must not let my guard down.’
People unfamiliar with combat often cause problems due to tension and fear.
However, those accustomed to combat are bound to face a crisis due to letting their guard down.
Carelessness is not something grand.
Simply halting judgment for a moment and letting the body move according to inertia.
That much is enough to lose one’s life.
Therefore, Elbridge did not stop thinking even in the brief moment he charged toward the demon.
‘How will the demon react?’
The most common actions shown by demons that handle plants are roots rising from directions difficult to deal with, stems, sharp thorns, or poison-coated leaves.
‘Then, it is about time···.’
Elbridge, who was running toward the demon, suddenly twisted his direction.
At that, a sharp root shot up from the position where Elbridge’s foot should have landed. If he had run without thinking, his foot would have surely been pierced.
‘As expected.’
Next, Elbridge ran while adjusting his stride with each step and shifting his angle of movement little by little.
The demon’s roots and stems shot up, aiming for Elbridge. But for Elbridge, avoiding such attacks was not a particularly difficult task.
However, that did not mean it was fine to fight leisurely.
A typical plant-type magic beast attacks the opponent by ‘moving’ its roots or stems. But right now, this demon was aiming at Elbridge by ‘rapidly growing’ its roots or stems.
It seemed similar at first glance. But there was a huge difference between the two methods.
Moving stems or roots are fine once you dodge them, but grown plants do not disappear even after the attack is evaded.
In other words, the range of movement Elbridge could maneuver would narrow as time passed.
‘I must hurry a bit.’
A demon that endlessly occupies space if given time, eventually completing its fortress.
It was a representative category that had to be dealt with quickly, even at the cost of taking risks.
Elbridge’s form, dodging here and there, brushed past the side of the demon.
Slash!
A deep scratch appeared on the demon’s marble-like forearm. But it was not to the extent of completely cutting off the arm. Still, it did not matter. Elbridge engraved the sensation of his right hand in his head.
‘Hardness verified.’
Next, Elbridge immediately turned back, focusing on the demon’s reaction.
The demon turned around slightly slower than Elbridge did. That movement gave Elbridge a clue.
‘For a demon, its reaction speed is slow.’
‘It turned its head despite being blindfolded. It is not accustomed to attacking behind its back.’
‘Is it a demon unfamiliar with close combat, or combat itself?’
Before he knew it, the grown plants were surrounding the demon and Elbridge, taking on a form similar to a bird’s nest.
The growth of the vines still did not stop. The sight of vines growing from vines, and new stems sprouting from stems was clearly visible. The speed at which the demon occupied the surroundings grew faster and faster.
The demon, the fortress made of plants, seemed to speak to Elbridge. That if he wanted to escape this fortress, now was his only chance. That it could let him out right now.
‘That is not the correct answer.’
In almost all battles, time is on the demon’s side.
If he retreated here once, next time he would have to subdue the demon by pushing through a solid fortress.
No matter how great Elbridge was, that would be an impossible task.
He recalled the advice Leonhardt had given him a long time ago.
‘Combat is like a path you can only pass through once. You must be cautious before taking a step, but once you have moved, you must boldly go all the way to the end.’
He was right. To minimize variables and to raise the survival rate.
It was right to finish the battle as quickly as possible on this spot.
Elbridge swung his sword toward the demon’s neck.
“Ha!”
Most demons resembling human forms can be subdued by taking off their heads or piercing their hearts.
Thud!
Sure enough, sturdy wooden stems reached out and defended the neck.
‘Is it a trick?’
‘No. It is not a demon accustomed to combat enough to use a trick. The neck is definitely a vital spot.’
‘Then what about the heart?’
Elbridge’s sword abruptly changed direction and swung downward.
Elbridge had surpassed the physical abilities of ordinary humans. But the trajectory his sword drew just now put a significant burden on Elbridge’s wrist and elbow.
Crack!
But it was worth enduring that much burden. Since with this single blow, one of the demon’s arms flew off.
One arm. If it were a human, it would be a fatal wound, but to a demon, it was not fatal.
Both the demon and Elbridge knew that fact.
‘What is important is the next.’
Elbridge’s arm bent in a bizarre direction again.
Elbridge’s sword, which had been held in a reverse grip before he knew it, moved horizontally.
Elbridge’s sword dug into the cross-section where the demon’s arm was cut off, deeply rummaging through the location where the demon’s heart was likely to be.
Elbridge checked the demon’s reaction with bated breath.
However, the demon flinched slightly, and that was all.
‘···Damn it.’
Occasionally, there are guys like this. Demons that cannot be subdued even if you pierce their heart.
But in Elbridge’s experience, even these demons would without fail stop moving if you blew off their head too.
However, the situation was not good.
That the demon’s rapidly grown vines tried to seize Elbridge’s sword and right arm was the reason.
‘If I cannot use the sword, it is over.’
Elbridge responded in an even more violent manner than usual.
Reaching out with his left arm to push the demon’s chest, while pulling out the sword with all his might using his right arm.
Screeeeech-
He succeeded. But as the price, the left arm that pushed the demon’s chest was caught by the vines.
It was not simply caught either. A sharp vine dug into Elbridge’s left arm. It would have been nice if it were a simple puncture wound, but the pain in his left arm quickly dulled.
‘It is poison. A paralytic poison? Or a composite poison?’
It was still fine. The Goddess of the Rusty Shield would delay Elbridge’s death, and in the meantime, the Goddess of Spring Rain and Moss would bestow her authority again to heal Elbridge. Surviving like that was not just once or twice.
But even that was a story possible only up to this point. If he died instantly due to physical reasons while paralyzed, there would be no treatment or anything.
Elbridge’s eyes quickly scanned the surroundings. Only one target. A space where he could aim for the demon’s neck.
The search was fast, and the decision was made immediately.
The muscles in his right arm, which was pulled back, expanded.
And Elbridge thrust his sword with all his might, as if performing spear-fighting. The demon’s vines, reacting late, tried to block Elbridge’s right arm and sword.
He felt the sensation of his right arm’s skin being torn by the sharp vine thorns. But it was not deep. Elbridge did not stop.
Squeeeeeze!
Elbridge drove his sword into the demon’s neck with superhuman strength.
The demon’s eyes, covered by the blindfold, faced Elbridge.
And Elbridge felt the demon’s will.
[Not yet···.]
Elbridge snorted.
Right. You would need more time. And that is why I have no intention of giving you that time.
Elbridge moved his right arm with all his might, twisting and rummaging the sword embedded in the demon’s neck. Although his right arm had become rags following his left, he did not care.
A perfect victory without even a small wound only exists in a child’s imagination or in a dilettante’s story.
A paladin’s combat was always like this.
After quite a bit of pain continued, the demon’s vines finally stopped moving.
He felt the remaining will of the demon disappear.
Subsequently, a massive amount of divine power burst out.
An amount of divine power that could not even be compared with when he killed magic beasts.
Among that, what Elbridge could receive was only a tiny fraction. But even that much was enough to fill Elbridge’s vessel to the brim.
‘If only I could offer the demon’s corpse as a sacrifice too, it would be really nice···.’
Elbridge’s chest was filled with a childish euphoria.
Since, among the countless battles he had fought so far, the experiences of Elbridge subduing a demon single-handedly were so few they could be counted on one hand.
Elbridge turned back and said to the mages.
“Seal it.”
The moment he spoke those words, Elbridge’s head spun.
‘As expected, was it not a simple paralytic poison···?’
Elbridge’s consciousness cut off.
*
“Seal it.”
Elbridge lost consciousness, leaving those words behind.
It was a brief and clear request, but the reaction of the surrounding people was a bit slow.
This was true for ordinary mages, and so was the Deputy Tower Lord.
‘···What did I just see?’
She had heard that for a reasonably skilled knight, facing a magic beast alone was no easy task.
However, Elbridge subdued a demon, not a magic beast, all by himself. A sight difficult to accept even after seeing it with one’s own two eyes.
‘A demon all alone···?’
Of course, Elbridge was not the only person in this space.
However, there was not a single person who could claim to have been of help to Elbridge, so no matter how highly they were evaluated, they did not exceed the level of spectators.
Only then did the Deputy Tower Lord realize one important fact. The fact that Elbridge had requested haste magic, but because she had been out of her mind watching the battle, she failed to cast the spell on Elbridge.
‘I have committed a foolish act.’
With her face flushed red with shame, the Deputy Tower Lord approached Elbridge and the demon.
After generating wind with magic to blow away all the drifting pollen in the surroundings, the Deputy Tower Lord blocked her nose and mouth with her left forearm, just as Elbridge had done, and cast her spell.
The first step was to separate Elbridge and the demon.
Slice.
As the Deputy Tower Lord swung her staff, a sharp wind arose and cut away the stems and vines produced by the demon.
Perhaps because the demon was subdued, the plants that were harder than most metals were as soft as ordinary trees.
After pulling Elbridge out, the Deputy Tower Lord chanted the spell together with the mages who arrived by her side and sealed the demon.
“The open door shall close, and the closed door shall be forgotten. Even if the sun sets and the stars rise, time shall not reach this place···.”
Before the demon was subdued, it was a seal that was not easy even for dozens or hundreds of people.
But now that the demon was completely subdued, they could finish the seal without difficulty with just a few mages.
Marcus, who ran over in the meantime, frantically rummaged through his chest.
And he found a small glass bottle containing red liquid, an elixir.
‘I did well to pack it. I had a feeling I’d have a use for it for some reason···.’
Elbridge sustained wounds concentrated on his two arms.
They were not vital spots that could endanger his life, but there was a lot of bleeding.
Was it a wound that could kill him? Was it a wound that required using the elixir?
Marcus did not know medicine, so he did not know the answer either.
But only one thing was certain. Rather than leaving Elbridge to die while hesitating, it was better to pour the elixir in first and take a scolding later.
Just as Marcus was about to open the lid of the elixir like that.
Whooooosh-
The pillar of light seen earlier plunged down again, enveloping Elbridge.
At that, the wounds remaining on Elbridge’s arms vanished in an instant. All that was left was a small scar.
“···.”
However, Marcus was still holding the lid of the elixir.
Because Elbridge still had not woken up.
Marcus checked Elbridge’s breathing.
‘Breathing seems normal··· or is it not? Is it a bit slow?’
Following that, Marcus grabbed Elbridge’s shoulders and shook them vigorously.
However, Elbridge still did not wake up.
‘Should I feed him the elixir even now? I should, right? If a problem arises because I didn’t feed it, it would be a real disaster···.’
At the moment Marcus, who was agonizing, was finally about to open the lid of the elixir.
The God of the Sunshower delivered an oracle after a long time.
– Marcus. Stop acting up and just stay still···.
Marcus faithfully followed the oracle.
*
Elbridge had a dream.
A dream where a woman stroked young Elbridge’s head with rough hands and whispered.
The woman requested in a sad voice.
“Elbridge. Grit your teeth tightly, and with a very angry expression, tell the mister. That you hate demons to death···. Understood?”
Elbridge nodded his head.
The woman held small Elbridge tightly, and Elbridge also hugged the woman tightly.
It was soft and warm···.
No, it was warm, but for some reason, it was not soft. Rather, a bushy and thick texture···.
‘Bushy···?’
Elbridge opened his eyes with difficulty.
At that, a deplorable sight unfolded before Elbridge’s eyes.
Rombel was held in Elbridge’s arms with an expression like he had chewed a bug.
Since this was a sight that could deal a profound shock to even a strong paladin’s mind, Elbridge protected himself with an immediate reaction.
Meaning, while pushing Rombel away with his left arm, he unconsciously swung his right fist and struck Rombel’s chin.
Thwack!
Rombel collapsed, losing consciousness.