The Death Mage that doesn't want a fourth time

95 Fire

With her shoulders heaving up and down, Ternecia gave a gleeful cackle at the drug-like sense of liberation that was filling her mind. Her appearance was now quite unlike that of a Vampire.

There were horns not only coming from her temples, but twisted, branched horns had also sprouted from her back, abdomen, upper arms, the back of her hands, thighs, knees and calves.

"Kufuh... Did you see it? Did you taste it? This is the power of a sealed part of the Demon King Guduranis... the 'Demon King's horns.'"

The fragment of the Demon King that Ternecia had acquired several tens of thousands of years ago. That was what these horns were. The 'Demon King's horns' that could pierce through all kinds of magical defenses and even tear through Adamantite with ease. This was Ternecia's trump card.

By joining forces with Birkyne and Gubamon, who also harbored fragments of the Demon King in their bodies, she had escaped from heroes with the divine protection of heroic gods and emerged victorious in battles with Pure-breed Vampires who worshipped other evil gods.

But that would end today.

"I see, fufu, they betrayed me. Ah, I see, I don't need them. I'm this powerful, aren't I? That's right, I'm strong. I don't need them. I'll kill them, take their fragments of the Demon King, find the other fragments in the Amid Empire and Orbaume Kingdom – guh!"

Ternecia was seething with rage at Birkyne and Gubamon who hadn't come to save her, but suddenly she gave a groan and clutched her head.

This is bad, the encroachment has already begun. I have to hurry and suppress it...!

Fragments of the Demon King bestowed vast power to those who possessed them. Enough power to even fight against gods.

However, the price of this power was great. The fragment of the Demon King's body was still alive. It was trying to take over the mind and body of Ternecia, its false host, and gather the other fragments of the Demon King in order to resurrect him.

Even if it weren't alive, the Demon King's fragments contained Guduranis's Mana that had properties that were not supposed to exist in Lambda, so they would still eat away at their hosts.

The extent to which this had occurred was displayed as the 'Demon King Encroachment Degree' skill on the Status. Ternecia's Demon King Encroachment Degree was already level 5. The higher the level of the skill, the more freely she could use the fragment of the Demon King, but it was also proof of how close she was to the Demon King, how much her mind had been encroached upon.

Ternecia tried to calm herself and suppress the Demon King's horns, but seeing Heinz and his party get back to their feet around her, she had no choice but to stop doing this.

"This is... the power of a fragment of the Demon King," Heinz murmured.

"To think you'd fill my Adamantite shield with holes. You really outdid yourself," said Delizah.

Heinz and his companions had been seriously injured, but none of their wounds were fatal. And even those serious injuries were steadily healing.

"... Good grief. It seems that you are far more like Vampires than I am," said Ternecia. "How is it that none of you died with my last attack?"

Delizah's Adamantite shield and Heinz's armor of Mythril and Dragon scales had been torn to pieces by the Demon King's horns. Even if they were A-class adventurers, at least one... in particular, the lightly-equipped Edgar and Jennifer, should have suffered fatal wounds.

However, all of them were still alive and ready to continue fighting.

Before them was a monster who had lived since the age of the gods, defeated several gods and even possessed a fragment of the Demon King, there was no sign of defeat in their eyes.