Forsaken Priest of the Hero's Party-Chapter 66: Grimudos Climax (3)

Countless civilizations had risen and fallen.

Each one had its own unique way of using magic. However, techniques from one era were rarely passed to the next. Even when they were, they were often lost over time as cycles repeated.

At the start of each new era, talented individuals emerged and brilliant minds came together to shape the magic of their time.

But only one successor inherited the wisdom of all the previous eras.

That knowledge was what made Gellie the Ancient Demon King.

Slash!

Suddenly, a line of blood appeared on Yurinel’s cheek and began to flow, but she didn’t have the energy or focus to feel pain. Leaning on the holy sword, she took a step forward.

“Ugh...!”

Clang!

Yurinel and the sword cried together.

The reason she didn’t rush in to strike the Demon King was because the moment she tried to move towards him, immense pressure pushed her back. It felt like she was being crushed by the weight of the sea. The magical force felt like a physical weight, pressing down on her with unimaginable force.

It was like she was walking alone in the eye of a storm. She had nothing to rely on and even the smallest mistake could send her flying beyond the mountains. Fighting was out of the question—approaching him was a struggle in itself.

‘What... kind of technique is this?’

She gritted her teeth and only moved her feet forward, lowering her body to minimize the pressure. She progressed one step at a time.

The technique Grimudo was using was called “ki force,” a way of manipulating internal energy to strike an opponent. It was an ancient technique created long before the start of this era.

When used in the palm, it creates a wind strike. In the fist, it became a punch that packed a powerful force. In a sword, it became a sharp, cutting force that could slice through anything it touched.

Even with magical reinforcement covering her entire body, Yurinel struggled to withstand Grimudo’s wind strike. The pressure felt like an entire mountain was pressing down on her.

Even the holy sword, the pure crystallization of divine power, began to crack under the force.

The agony was unbearable.

“Magical reinforcement is a brilliant concept, but did you think it was the only way to strengthen the body?”

Withdrawing the palm he had extended towards Yurinel, the Ancient Demon King unsheathed his sword.

A sharp sword pressure struck Yurinel with a sound so deafening, her eardrums tore. She swung the holy sword to defend herself, but blood poured from her ears onto her sleeves. Her arms stung, her tendons severed.

She tried to lift the sword in her hands, but she couldn’t even muster strength in her arms.

“Magic has infinite possibilities. If all you can do with it is create magical reinforcement, then it’s no wonder that you’re being overwhelmed by just this.”

Yurinel struggled to reconnect her tendons using the holy sword’s divine power as she tried to approach Grimudo, but he stomped his foot, sending a shockwave through the ground. She couldn’t dodge in time and the hit sent her flying.

Blood spurted from her mouth and her head went blank.

It was as if the weight of the world itself had crushed her. She crashed into the ground, smoke rising from the holy sword. Only then did she realize the source of the impact: the shockwave that had earlier destroyed Parnell’s magic.

The shockwave was another form of strengthening oneself, different from both ki force and magical reinforcement.

It was another ancient technique, lost to the repeated time cycles. While it wasn’t as versatile as magical reinforcement, its destructive power was unmatched.

Although Grimudo appeared alone, it was as if the civilizations of past eras were standing behind him, lending their strength.

How many talented individuals have been born and died throughout history? How many discoveries had they made?

If someone were to diligently gather and train with all of that knowledge for hundreds of years, how much strength could they attain?

Only Grimudo would know.

“In the past, individuals known as the Serene Rayman and the Hermit Geher challenged me. You’re not the only one who has lost.”

The Demon King comforted the fallen hero with his hands clasped.

Countless others had challenged him before, and every single one of them had been defeated. Even those who managed to escape alive could be counted on one hand. Grimudo still remembered the names of those rare individuals. Yurinel’s name was now among that glorious list.

“Even those who called themselves Grand Masters couldn’t defeat me and fled. There’s no need to take your loss too hard. It’s not because you’re inferior to me that you lost.”

Magic creates forms, but magical reinforcement does not.

It shaped itself according to the person using it, like the Princess’s dragon or Roka’s moon reinforcement. While it was more versatile, ancient techniques were far superior in terms of constructing forms and using them in battle.

The ancient practitioners had taken the world’s magic as their spiritual power and used it to create various forms.

The sword Grimudo wielded was one such creation. It was born from the manipulation of spiritual power. These methods were beyond Yurinel’s understanding.

They were a completely different discipline from magical reinforcement. Without the proper knowledge, even someone as talented as Yurinel couldn’t grasp them. Everything about it was incomprehensible.

Grimudo’s spiritual power stood tall like the mountains while deepening like the oceans. A calm, black pond appeared out of thin air and from it, a beast with no eyes or nose leaped out, snarling Yurinel with its only feature—a wide-open mouth filled with needle-like teeth.

Clang!

The beast chomped on the holy sword, and as it bit down on the blade, a crack appeared. Light burst out from the sword. The beast was instantly destroyed when struck by the beam of light, but the crack in the holy sword didn’t vanish.

From the start, Grimudo had never been the strongest. In terms of raw talent for handling magic, he didn’t even come close to Yurinel, but through sheer effort and the accumulation of knowledge and power over the years, he had surpassed her.

Talent alone couldn’t overcome the weight of time and training.

Yurinel had failed once again to bridge the overwhelming gap of ages. She couldn’t surpass the wall of knowledge and experience.

“The.. The holy sword... cracked?!”

Parnell, who had been panting from magical exhaustion, fell on her backside in shock.

Yurinel, however, wasn’t particularly surprised. She gazed at the holy sword with a melancholic expression, her hand gently caressing the blade. She barely held back tears that threatened to well up.

As expected, even you couldn’t endure any longer.

She had long realized that the holy sword had exceeded its limits while it was being toyed with by the sword pressure earlier. From the moment Saint Aridel’s performance fell short compared to Kyle’s, Yurinel understood and accepted that the Three Major Goddesses were not as mighty as she had once believed.

The opponent was the Ancient Demon King, a being beyond the norm, capable of snapping even the famous whip of the Western family, the Vindication, with ease. If anything, Yurinel was grateful that the holy sword had endured this long.

“If we’re going, let’s go together. You can stay with me till the end, right?”

The light in the holy sword flickered. They had been together for ten years now.

After spending so much time together, they shared a bond like that of a married couple. Yurinel could understand its silent message just by the flicker.

Wealth. Honor. Glory.

All those things would now become vain dreams.

But if she could die as a hero who landed at least one blow on Grimudo before dying, that wouldn’t be so bad. It was indeed giving up, but her mind felt much more at ease after accepting it.

“Very well. Come.”

Seeing Yurinel’s determined eyes, the Demon King smiled. He stopped the wind strike, scattered the spiritual power, and ended the shockwave. What Grimudo wanted to show now was his latest technique—magical reinforcement, which is still used in this era.

Behind Grimudo, black magical power writhed and condensed. The color of his magic was pure black, without a single impure color to taint it. Being black meant it extinguished all other colors. Any color that touches black is dyed black and murky.

That’s why only those with extraordinary tenacity and will could create black magical reinforcement. That pitch-black magical reinforcement began to take shape behind Grimudo.

It wasn’t the sun, or the moon. It didn’t borrow the form of a dragon-like Ardein or Harmael. Why would he, who had already reached the ultimate, need to borrow someone else’s form?

This chapter is updat𝓮d by freēnovelkiss.com.

“Gri, Grimudo...”

The black magic took the form of Grimudo himself behind him. The magical reinforcement, full of intense will, stared at Yurinel with glowing eyes.

With color, form, and power, the other Grimudo roared at the sky, making the world turn black. The reinforcement took its final shape.

“We can’t win...”

Lucia Western, lying on the ground, was filled with despair.

“That... can’t be beaten.”

Even the pride of the Demon Hunter had been crushed by Grimudo. In truth, her pride had been nothing but empty bravado in the face of him.

Trying to face a typhoon with your bare hands wasn’t courage nor confidence—it was madness, not even worthy of being called recklessness.

“Cough! Hack!”

Suddenly, coughing sounds broke the silence. Aridel and Renheim had finally broken through the deadly barrier and escaped.

Their hair was a mess and their clothes were torn. Barely alive, their divine power almost depleted, they looked up to see another Grimudo standing behind the Demon King. This black figure loomed over them, watching the world beneath.

“Good heavens...”

“My goodness...”

Both of them gasped in shock.

In such a short time, the situation had fallen from bad to worse, beyond anything they had imagined.