A Demon King was not an opponent one could face easily.
And Gaon had already confirmed it with magic.
With magic, he could kill Dormanimonu quite easily.
That was why Gaon decided to try taking him down with a sword instead.
“……”
“……”
“……”
At Gaon’s declaration, Dormanimonu frowned wordlessly.
He was telling him to go all out while saying he himself would not use magic?
Even the tyrant Myrdaon would not say something so arrogant.
No, he could not.
Gaon smiled faintly at Dormanimonu’s reaction and released the temporary seal he had placed on the Heavenly Demon Sword.
The moment the seal was undone, the Heavenly Demon Sword’s true power was revealed.
Naturally, Dormanimonu, who had been frowning, flinched.
What the hell is this……!
What? Why is the sword……
This is impossible!
He had known it was no ordinary sword.
But he never imagined it would contain such power.
Dormanimonu hesitated.
Just moments ago, he had planned to teach Gaon a lesson for daring to engage him in close combat.
But after seeing the power of that sword, the thought vanished completely.
The strong feeling that if they fought in close quarters, it would be him, not Gaon, who would suffer, took hold.
It was then.
Gaon swung the Heavenly Demon Sword.
The Pacheonki wrapped around the blade stretched out in a long line toward Dormanimonu.
It was too fast to dodge.
In other words, he had to block it.
Dormanimonu moved both fists to block the Heavenly Demon Sword.
Crunch!
The Heavenly Demon Sword rapidly pierced through Dormanimonu’s demonic energy.
It soon reached his fists.
Slice!
The Heavenly Demon Sword cleanly cut through both of Dormanimonu’s fists.
With a pained expression, Dormanimonu pulled his fists back and retreated.
Thankfully, Gaon did not pursue.
Dormanimonu, having gained some distance, looked at Gaon with a bewildered face.
If Gaon had pressed the attack and continued the assault?
Dormanimonu would have suffered severe damage.
But why hadn’t Gaon followed up?
Was it because he lacked experience in close combat?
No, that could not be.
The attack Gaon had shown just now was definitely not something from someone lacking experience.
At that moment, Gaon pointed the Heavenly Demon Sword at Dormanimonu.
“……?”
“……?”
“……?”
Dormanimonu looked at Gaon with a puzzled expression.
Just what was he trying to do?
He could not let his guard down.
He could not relax.
The swordsmanship Gaon had displayed earlier was not something to be taken lightly.
At that moment.
Vwoong!
The Heavenly Demon Sword vibrated.
An ominous feeling swept over his entire body.
Slash!
“…!”
“……!”
The following scene left Dormanimonu—no, Mani and Monu—in shock.
Mani and Monu turned their heads to look at where the left head, ‘Dor,’ had been.
Dor was gone.
It had been cleanly severed above the neck.
Demonic energy was gushing out from the stump where Dor’s head had been.
First, Mani and Monu hurriedly sealed the wound.
Then they thought.
We have to run.
Right now.
They had to pour everything into escaping, just as they had initially planned.
There was no point in fighting.
Having quickly come to an agreement, Mani and Monu released a massive amount of demonic energy toward Gaon.
It was pure demonic energy discharge.
They knew it was useless.
They released it anyway, fully aware of that.
To buy time to escape.
A huge mass of demonic energy flew toward Gaon.
Mani and Monu turned around and began running with all their might.
Boom!
A tremendous explosion rang out soon after.
It was clearly the sound of the demonic energy mass exploding.
Mani and Monu did not check the result.
The outcome was obvious anyway.
Gaon would not have been injured.
Even if he had been hurt somehow, it would be a negligible injury not worth paying attention to.
Rather than confirming an obvious result, it was better to put even a little more distance between them.
It was then.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Multiple orbs appeared in front of them.
They were blue orbs filled with cold energy.
It was undoubtedly Gaon’s magic.
Mani and Monu hesitated for a moment.
Should they dodge or break through?
They didn’t have much time to think.
Break through.
Let’s break through.
After a short deliberation, the two heads decided to charge forward.
Dodge?
Gaon might catch up in the meantime.
Mani and Monu covered their entire bodies with demonic energy.
They charged toward the orbs.
Soon, the first orb exploded, releasing intense cold.
Crackle!
The cold instantly froze the demonic energy.
Mani and Monu realized their mistake.
We should have dodged!
We shouldn’t have tried to break through!
They had made the wrong choice.
They should have gone around instead of forcing their way through.
The cold had not only frozen the demonic energy.
It had penetrated the demonic energy and reached their physical bodies.
Of course, their bodies had not frozen solid like the demonic energy.
Still, the effect was significant.
Their movement speed began to slow down.
But they could not stop now.
Mani and Monu continued advancing while resisting the cold from the orbs.
Naturally, the cold grew stronger and their speed continued to drop.
At this rate, they might freeze completely.
Just why……
How is this happening……?
The more they thought about it, the less sense it made.
The cold was strong.
But it was not strong enough to be unmanageable.
In terms of cold strength alone, the Demon King of the Bitter Cold, Askalon, had even stronger cold energy.
It was not a mistake.
Mani and Monu had actually experienced Askalon’s cold before.
Askalon’s cold was definitely stronger.
The problem was that Mani and Monu had been completely unaffected by Askalon’s cold.
So why were they in this state against weaker cold energy?
Suddenly, they recalled the basic magic Gaon had used when they first met.
They had ignored it because it was basic magic with weak energy.
And they had paid the price.
This was clearly the same situation.
Having finally escaped the field of orbs, Mani and Monu stopped moving.
They poured everything into pushing out the cold energy.
Expelling the cold was not easy.
It was difficult, but not impossible.
Eventually, they expelled all the cold and recovered their original condition.
However, they did not start moving again.
It was because of the countless blue orbs that had appeared in front of them once more.
The moment Mani and Monu saw the orbs, they knew.
They could not escape.
Mani and Monu looked at the orbs with complicated expressions and thought.
That bastard Catulon…….
Just what the hell is he doing!
They had told Catulon to wait.
But did he really intend to just sit there quietly and wait?
It was then.
Countless presences were detected by their senses.
For a brief moment, Mani and Monu felt hope, but then they frowned.
It was clearly their own subordinates.
That was the problem.
They would be of no help at all.
They would simply die meaningless deaths.
Mani and Monu turned around.
They saw Gaon.
Gaon was slowly closing the distance, sword in hand.
To Mani and Monu, Gaon looked like a grim reaper bringing death itself.
Mani and Monu glanced back at the spot where ‘Dor’ had once been.
If things continued like this, they would clearly meet the same fate as Dor.
Mani.
Monu.
Mani and Monu called out to each other simultaneously.
They realized it.
They were thinking the exact same thing.
In the current situation, there was only one method left for Mani and Monu.
Unity.
Of course, Dor was gone.
However, while Dor’s consciousness had disappeared, the control over the body that Dor had been responsible for had been distributed to Mani and Monu.
In other words, the power of their unity would not be diminished at all.
Having made their decision, Mani and Monu immediately took action.
Whoosh!
An enormous amount of demonic energy was released from their entire body.
Whooooosh!
The amount of demonic energy continued to increase.
Gaon stopped moving at the sudden change in Dormanimonu.
He watched quietly and thought.
So he had a hidden trump card after all.
Dormanimonu’s power was increasing at a rapid rate.
To a level incomparable to before.
Of course, it was still not enough to threaten him.
If it had been a real threat, Gaon would not have simply watched.
He would have acted long ago.
How strong will he become?
Gaon looked forward to it.
How much stronger would Dormanimonu become?
And how long would the strengthened Dormanimonu be able to endure the Heavenly Demon Sword.
Soon, Dormanimonu, who had been continuously releasing demonic energy, stopped.
Instead, the released demonic energy began to be sucked back in.
In an instant, all the demonic energy was absorbed into Dormanimonu.
Only then could Gaon clearly see Dormanimonu, who had been obscured by the demonic energy.
Dormanimonu’s appearance had changed dramatically.
First, he now had only one head.
His six arms had also been reduced to two.
It was not only his head and arms that had changed.
His overall body size had shrunk significantly.
Previously a giant over six meters tall, he was now similar in size to Gaon.
Soon, Dormanimonu opened his eyes.
“O…….”
Their eyes met, and he let out a groan.
It was not Gaon who groaned.
It was Dormanimonu.
What the hell is this.
The reason Dormanimonu groaned was because of Gaon.
Just how strong is he!
He had achieved unity.
At this level, he was confident he could endure against Myrdaon for several days.
Yet against Gaon now, he felt he would be lucky to last even an hour, let alone a day.
Gaon’s realm was overwhelmingly higher.
“Just how did you reach such a realm?”
Dormanimonu asked.
No matter how much he looked or thought about it, he could not understand.
How a human could obtain such power.
Gaon answered.
“By working hard.”
“……”
Dormanimonu frowned.
At the same time, Gaon raised his sword.
Dormanimonu flinched.
It was the exact same stance as when Dor had been destroyed.
He could not stay still like this.
Dormanimonu quickly leaped into the air.
Gaon lightly raised his sword following the movement.
It was an extremely light motion.
However, what followed was anything but light.
Slash!
The sword qi cut through space as it flew toward Dormanimonu.
Dormanimonu, who had jumped into the air, urgently thrust both fists forward in panic.
A massive wall of demonic energy formed.
It was a wall capable of blocking even Myrdaon’s attacks.
However, Dormanimonu could not feel at ease.
Because this was Gaon’s attack, who was stronger than Myrdaon.
Soon, Gaon’s sword qi struck the demonic energy wall.
Crack!
In an instant, the demonic energy wall was covered in cracks.
Then the sword qi pierced through the wall.
Dormanimonu, who had already anticipated the wall would be breached, did not panic.
Instead, he released the demonic energy he had prepared.
Grrrrrrrr!
Dormanimonu’s demonic energy clashed with the sword qi.
Dormanimonu breathed a sigh of relief.
The sword qi had been weakened thanks to the wall.
It was now at a level he could fully block.
Gaon’s sword qi quickly lost power.
It soon disappeared without a trace.
Whew.
Dormanimonu let out a small internal sigh as he looked at Gaon.
Then he frowned silently.
Countless sword qi were flying toward him.
Each one carrying power comparable to the previous strike.
Damn it……
He could never block them all.
Blocking even one had required considerable effort. How could he possibly stop this many?
There were only two things Dormanimonu could do now.
First, struggle desperately until death.
Second, accept death quietly.
After a short hesitation, Dormanimonu chose the first option.
You never know.
If he struggled hard enough, he might get lucky and survive.
Dormanimonu began moving with all his strength to dodge the sword qi.
However, “maybe” remained just “maybe.”
Crunch! Grrrk! Thud!
The sword qi relentlessly struck Dormanimonu’s entire body.
Soon, Dormanimonu began falling toward the ground.
As he fell, Dormanimonu did not move at all.
Boom!
With a tremendous crash, Dormanimonu slammed into the ground.