### Chapter 382
Following Charlotte and Lilish extinguishing the first flame, the second flame was snuffed out thanks to the contributions of the Severed Sword, Guardian Sword, and Majus.
Watching the second cocoon descend, the three of them fell back with tired expressions.
It had been such a fierce battle that they were all beaten up.
While the group hurriedly received treatment from the Freemans’ Maria, who hailed from the Holy Kingdom,
Balok Balheim stepped forward toward Argol.
It was time for him to deal with the third flame.
Just as Balok silently watched the cocoon,
Crack!
It ripped apart, revealing the flaming crown.
Now, there were seven flames left, burning even more fiercely than before. Argol’s face emerged from between the raging blue flames.
This time, Argol looked far removed from a human; he now sported massive goat-like horns and had numerous arms bulging out from his torso, each gripping a pitch-black sword.
His lower body appeared completely crushed, now just a mass of black smoke floating in the air.
Clearly resembling a monster now, Argol rolled his many eyes around and locked onto Balok.
With that, he let out a massive roar that could easily shatter eardrums without aura protection.
His booming cry caused Maria, the archbishop who had rushed in to heal, to raise a divine shield to protect those who had lost their aura due to Argol’s curse.
“Quiet down, will ya?”
Even facing Argol’s roar head-on, Balok kept a blank face as he raised his sword.
At that moment, a blue current swirled around Balok’s blade.
Slash!
Just like that, one of Argol’s arms was cleanly severed and fell to the ground.
With so many arms at his disposal, losing one wasn’t too big of a deal for Argol, but it was enough to tick him off.
Thud! Thud!
As Argol plunged several arms into the ground, he shot himself forward like a cannonball.
He was fast—much faster than when they extinguished the second flame, Argol dove at Balok.
Standing ready with his sword still drawn, Balok drew in a quiet breath.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, slashes appeared all over Argol’s form, almost too fast to see.
Everyone’s eyes widened in shock at the sudden onslaught.
Balok thrust past Argol, unleashing a powerful strike.
BOOM!
Balok stomped the ground hard, sending Argol’s body splintering into multiple pieces.
Crack!
But Argol was no ordinary being.
Clearly, he wasn’t going to just fall apart from a mere slice.
Regaining control, he pressed his severed body parts back together using his hands.
With a flick of his neck, he twisted it 180 degrees and swung his black sword at Balok.
WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!
The flurry of strikes obliterated everything around.
You could feel the sheer power behind his swings shaking the entire Demon Bastion.
Moreover, with each swing, Argol grew bigger, as if he were getting stronger with time.
He swung that maddeningly growing body around, unleashing the black sword like a tornado.
In that dense smoke, a momentarily fleeting blue light zipped by.
Slash!
Argol’s arms and the black sword were chopped into blocky pieces that scattered everywhere.
“Grrr!”
Argol howled in fury, his mouth filled with rage as beams of light exploded out, smashing everything in their path.
In the chaos, new arms sprouted from his body in a limitless regeneration effort.
Just as he was ready to unleash his barrage again,
one of the light beams he emitted split apart.
And from that split came a precise strike that landed directly on Argol’s forehead.
Thwack!
A chunk of Argol’s forehead was torn off, black blood spilling out.
Just as he was regaining balance—
Balok suddenly appeared right in front of him.
Wham! Wham! Wham!
In an instant, Argol’s head splintered into dozens of pieces.
But even this time, as he attempted to reassemble his head, Balok shoved his sword right in.
“Curious how far you can recover.”
With that menacing line, Balok’s blade glimmered with a blue light.
Kraush recognized it.
It was Ry Balheim’s skill, the light sword, copied using the ability “Lepiten.”
Back then, Ry had deemed that sword incomplete.
And he was right.
That sword could only move in straight lines and was just a crude version of a complete sword.
However, Balok, who had bestowed it upon Ry, was different.
The light in Balok’s sword fused completely with the blade, creating a sword that transcended the Ten Great Swords.
The absolute output from Balok’s sword was concentrated to its limits.
This was Balok’s original sword technique.
Ultimate Truth
In that moment, the whole world turned a bright white.
Within that blinding whiteness, only Balok and Argol stood.
Balok’s sword forced all the darkness of the world to coalesce.
Exposed to the power of Ultimate Truth, Argol began to disintegrate into ash.
His endlessly growing body shrunk down to a size even smaller than Balok’s, becoming a tiny figure.
Despite trying to coalesce and mend himself, it was utterly futile against Ultimate Truth.
Endlessly repeating the attempts to reform, Argol’s regeneration finally faltered, and he ultimately ceased to exist.
Hiss…
Argol’s ashes drifted out of the realm of Ultimate Truth, sticking to the walls.
And there materialized a cocoon of sorts.
Naturally, the blue flame above Argol’s head left not the slightest trace.
As he returned to a cocoon after vanishing, Balok withdrew his sword.
With aura having transcended into divinity, Balok’s presence diminished compared to before.
Balok turned and looked at the former king.
“It’s your turn now, former king.”
“Yes, I’ve been waiting a long time.”
As Balok stepped aside, the former king fumbled to draw his bow.
Before they knew it, the cocoon was cracking open again.
The guy rebounding to life again—how fast could he resurrect?
But that played right into his trap.
The former king fitted an arrow onto his bowstring with a flair.
This arrow looked nothing like the ordinary ones he had used before.
With a vivid golden hue, it shone with brilliance.
He pulled the bow back to its maximum tension.
In that moment, explosive energy erupted from him, shaking the entirety of the Demon Bastion.
There was a reason the former king was positioned behind Balok.
He wielded a rather special skill.
Those who had seen him fight often raised eyebrows.
It would be doubtful to think a guy with such aura and output could be one of the Ten Great Lords.
In terms of combat power, the former king resembled any other knight. Just a knight who could shoot a bow well.
But those who knew the truth feared him.
They knew the terrifying might behind the single arrow he could unleash.
That one arrow.
To shoot it, the former king saved the majority of his aura up just for that arrow.
That was why his regular output seemed so weak.
He was always consuming aura for a single shot.
Thus, he spent most of his time napping to replenish his aura.
Every bit of aura he recovered would be concentrated into that arrow.
That was why he seemed so perpetually sleepy.
The reason he forged such an arrow was simple.
In case a creature far too powerful for any knight or soldier to handle appeared.
He aimed to end the threat with just one shot from that arrow.
In fact, his arrow had saved the front lines in the Kingdom of Jeblam many times.
With its immense power, he drastically reduced casualties on the battlefield.
And now—
The former king drew his “Killer Shot.”
After Balok joined the front lines against the Demon Bastion,
the former king had not once unleashed this shot.
He had simply saved it for that moment.
For nearly a whole year.
So, the arrow he now held was indeed a freakishly powerful arrow containing his aura accumulated over that whole year.
The reason he had been stocking up aura was solely for today, to take out the Demon Lord.
“I’ve waited a long time.”
The former king’s entire body glowed with a golden light.
A violent gust of gold poured from his Killer Shot, affecting his entire form.
“I’ve never gathered this much before, you know.”
He aimed at Argol, who was just about to emerge from his cocoon.
Argol peeked out with six blue flames shining brightly, only to find himself confronted by the former king’s blazing golden form.
At the instant his fingertips turned completely gold,
Argol realized what was happening too late.
“Prepare to go flying!”
With that, the former king released his bowstring.
And a storm swept through, consuming everything in its path.
The arrow, fitting its name “Killer Shot,” blasted half the fortress of the Demon Bastion into pieces and swept across the battleground.
Even the forces who had come to capture Argol were nearly blown away.
As the light of the Killer Shot began to wane,
“Whoa!”
Charlotte, who was bracing herself with her sword planted on the ground, stared in wonder at the spectacle.
Everything in the arrow’s path lay in ruin, revealing the sky above.
The dark clouds that had filled the sky to the horizon were swept away, uncovering the gloomy heavens of the Demon Bastion.
At that moment, a gust of wind swept through the broken fortress, tousling everyone’s hair,
and Argol was once more cocooning himself.
Completely obliterated by that one shot from the former king.
It was utterly overwhelming.
And right before this little cocoon of Argol,
Kraush stood with an outstretched hand.
His hand had already reached Argol.
“Good job, everyone.”
Kraush said casually, his hair turning white with the process.
With those newly sprouted horns, he ignited the divine flames with all his might.
“Farewell.”
And with that, Kraush poured all his white flames into Argol’s cocoon.
