ALL NOVEL Chapter 30
Chapter 30 – Trial (10)
[You possess an extraordinary power. Do you truly believe you’re a holy knight, blessed by the celestial light?]
“Ugh…”
Deus lifted that horrific face and let out a smirk. Just that was enough to make Riena hesitate.
‘Another terrifying monster.’
Like every monster she’d encountered so far, the boss monster Deus was a creature she had never heard of or seen. A massive, red mass contorting on the floor, resembling only half of a giant’s form—it was nothing short of repulsive.
Though still in a weakened state, reminiscent of a Chapter 1 boss, this meaningless detail was irrelevant to her, having now faced the Demon Lord directly.
[Is this all it takes to terrify you?]
“Shut up, you wicked beast.”
[Even without using my piercing power, I can feel your heart trembling. Young paladin, what brings you here? Your so-called faith?]
Deus mocked Riena, who was genuinely tense in his presence. Indeed, her legs trembled unconsciously, making her grit her teeth in acknowledgment.
However, Deus paid no mind to the man beside her. To him, who merely stood dumbly by, watching the sudden exchange between the two, Deus saw only Riena—alive, vibrant, exuding strength and emotion—as trivial compared to his interest.
“I don’t know what nonsense you’re spouting. It’s entirely my own will to fight this creeping pest that has infested my castle.”
Gritting her teeth, Riena glared at Deus and pointed at him accusingly.
It wasn’t an incorrect statement. She had indeed started this quest in ignorance, guided by his lead. Yet, she had witnessed firsthand the calamity the Demon Lord had brought to the land and the victims it caused.
“Wicked invader. I will not allow scum like you to exist.”
She layered her fear with anger. The souls of the mother and child she had fought to save, the knight who had requested death to free this land—they were all there.
Even the countless souls of residents who had been resurrected as monsters, used by Deus, were reflected in her mind.
To those victims, Riena saw her past self—helpless against an overwhelming foreign invasion.
‘This is a trial. No matter how the world changes, the truth remains unchanged even when facing entirely different enemies.’
As she recognized this as a test she had to overcome, the form of the game held little significance to her.
Whether it was a charmingly blocky sandbox game or an action RPG with realistic graphics, it was all reality to her.
The unique traits or purposes of games would not matter to her now or in the future.
Before her stood an ‘enemy’ she had to defeat. From here on, such foes would appear in various forms and with different purposes, and she would grow by overcoming them, transcending her past self.
That single fact was the only truth.
[This is…interesting.]
Deus, the boss monster, recognized Riena as a fascinating entity. The game’s story expressed a conflict between celestial beings and demons, yet here she was, declaring her intent to kill him based purely on her will.
[Go ahead and try. The more steadfast the soul, the more rewarding the harvest.]
Grinning, Deus moved his enormous arms in preparation. The real battle phase was beginning.
‘Can I win?’
Riena flinched for a moment at that momentum. Even now, with Deus not having fully descended, he was a monster that seemed like a common human could never match.
His massive form easily filled more than half of the banquet hall, enormous enough to house at least a hundred people. The mental debuffs typical of a demon lord might be blocked by Celestial Blessing, but that only prevented the debuffs.
If her own mind couldn’t handle it, the effect wouldn’t amount to much.
[This, this little being!?]
In terms of freedom, he was unhindered. Suddenly startled, Deus gasped as he watched the man perform extraordinary moves, charging forward and landing his skills on Deus’s body.
For Riena, the formidable being of Deus was just another game monster to defeat. Upon observing Riena’s brief hesitation, he realized it was time for him to act and instantly went for a roll.
[How dare you!]
Furious, Deus swung his enormous arm down like a windmill. The sheer power could crush the stone floor in an instant. He evaded it through a roll, but Deus swiftly swung his arm to strike him again.
In fact, facing the boss from Chapter 1, whose tutorial-like obstacles should have been easy, experienced a combo of high difficulty attacks—attacks that ignored any preordained patterns.
[How can this be?]
However, from the spot he had fallen, he popped a potion and bounced back up, circling around Deus again, looking for openings.
This took Deus aback with a great shock. He had grown accustomed to a player’s actions but, now that reality melded with Riena’s essence, the shift was jarring.
[How can he still be fine?!]
Flustered, Deus attempted to attack him once more. In this moment where the game had transformed into reality, the concept of HP now belonged solely to him in this world.
He absorbed bone-crushing strikes and fatal blows as if they were nothing and got back up, nonchalantly drinking the potions he had diligently gathered.
Throughout this ordeal, he hadn’t uttered a single scream. Even through the eyes of the demon lord who was skilled at detecting emotions, his blood-covered face showed no signs of feeling anything, as if he were unaware of death itself.
[This can’t be possible…]
Death Demon Deus felt an instinctive terror at this sight. He was clearly an ordinary human, yet his actions were so mechanical that even the Demon Lord himself was appalled.
And the emotions brewing in Deus became an opening. As a boss monster bound by patterns, he wouldn’t have exposed such a weak point.
“Die, demon!”
Riena, firmly grounded, closed the distance in one leap toward Deus.
‘I’ve already defeated that massive black monster. There’s no way I can’t take you down.’
Landing a decisive blow on Deus’s face, she recalled the time she faced a bug and steeled her resolve.
This wasn’t her first battle against a gigantic foe.
[!!!]
As expected, Deus let out a scream, writhing in pain from the severe wound inflicted upon him. No longer restrained by patterns, he could only perform the defined attacks, but Riena, moving freely, could counter those attacks effortlessly.
‘This is my duty.’
Even after landing on the ground, dodging Deus’s wildly swinging arms, Riena glanced at his figure. That was the opening he had made. Intuitively, she understood that it was her role to seize that opening and finish him off.
This moment wasn’t just about this fight. In reality, whether battling other tribes or bugs, she would have to fight like this again in future games. She confirmed and accepted that for herself.
[This is nonsense!!!]
As his body burst from the two skilled strikes, Deus released the souls he had absorbed, summoning a multitude of wraith soldiers.
The wraith soldiers charged at them en masse, and he flung himself into the throng like he had been waiting for this moment. He did it to buy Riena time to finish off the Demon Lord.
“Do you want to die disgracefully until the end?”
[You will pay dearly. Even if I may have suffered under limited powers, the others won’t be so easy. Your existence will be known by all!]
Angered by Deus’s actions, which humiliated the souls of the victims to the very end, Riena scowled at the nearly fallen, gasping Deus.
With his bigger face pressed into the ground, he glared at her threateningly through one mismatched large eye, but to her who knew nothing of the demons in this world, he was hardly a threat.
[Wait, stop…!]
Without hesitation, she thrust her sword into Deus’s eye until the hilt was buried.
In an instant, that gigantic body erupted, spilling blood everywhere, and the oppressive power haunting the area vanished. One Demon Lord who had tried to crawl into the mortal realm had thus been put to rest.
The wraith soldiers summoned in a hurry by Deus crumbled as well. Although the curse that had descended upon the village remained, it too would fade with time.
“Ah.”
Yet, everything wasn’t over. For her, this fight was about proving herself, but for him, it was only a step toward gaining rewards.
As the scene fell silent and the sun’s rays, barely piercing through the clouds, illuminated the area, Deus pointed a finger somewhere.
‘What are those?’
As if he knew something, he led Riena effortlessly to a secretive space within the castle, hidden behind secret passages and doors. It was a room filled with rare items collected by the lord for pleasure—a place to change a character’s class.
Items infused with special powers like bows, spears, swords, and staffs were abundant. By picking these up, players could obtain the skills of that profession and progress in the game.
‘Does he mean to grab one of these?’
Riena watched as he moved with purpose and picked up the mage’s staff.
It was a choice to maximize his abilities, which had certain limits.
“Was it predetermined?”
Choosing the mage class and transferring his character to a magician, he chuckled softly at Riena’s subsequent actions, waiting just in front of the screen.
In truth, she had awakened as a warrior and had trained to wield different weapons, excluding swords, so perhaps it was only natural for her to choose the knight class.
“Woah, power is flowing into the sword! This is!”
As she drew the longsword, the power contained within it coursed into her. It was distinctly different from simply seeing the interface for a character transfer.
For her, this transfer felt like a bizarre experience—much like when she learned the skill ‘heavy strike’—where her mana twisted awkwardly.
“Ah…”
Noticing her bewilderment, he nodded to reassure her.
Whether or not it worked, Riena quickly found her footing amid the strange energy wrapping around her.
‘This is enough for today.’
He immediately logged off, sending Riena back to the village.
Though several hours had flown by, both he and Riena remained completely unaware of how much time had passed.