I Became a Hero With a Lot of Experience

13 – 013: Farewell (2)

In fairy tales and legends, while the sorcerer is portrayed as wise and composed, warriors tend to be depicted as brave but excessively reckless due to their passion.

Warriors on the frontlines inevitably step forward to protect their comrades in the rear, their reckless appearance seemingly dim to the eyes of onlookers.

Naturally, up until now, even the warrior I’ve known from games or comics had such biases.

A massive sword. Muscular body with balanced strength typical of a warrior. Clothing that excessively suggested savagery.

All were far from intellect, yet unlike the biases surrounding warriors, Umbasa wasn’t overly reckless or dim.

Umbasa lacked some physical prowess compared to other officers, but her intelligence and bravery made her an intelligent force within the Demon Lord’s army.

In the far distance, beyond human sight, what came into Umbasa’s view was the king’s procession.

A grand procession held at the time of selecting the hero. Even without exceptional intellect, anyone could easily deduce its significance.

For weeks, with patience, hiding her presence, Umbasa had been waiting, watching over the procession.

The opponent was an elite knight who served closest to the hero and the king, yet Umbasa was confident she could handle this.

A feeble champion of the gods, chosen only once in a thousand years except for the last moment, and oddly persecuted compared to other champions who received lavish treatment, indicating the champion had power below expectations.

Otherwise, how could a princess throw the champion out of a moving carriage, forcing him to spend the night on the carriage’s roof?

Unless Umbasa’s presence was noticed and this was staged, such an event was implausible.

Of course, even if half-dead, the champion fell from the carriage without significant injury. However, seeing him spend the night on the roof provided a glimpse of the treatment given to the champion.

Lacking skilled infiltrators, Umbasa was unaware of the events within the castle city, yet she believed this operation had a good chance of success.

When Las sneaked into the carriage of the two women without directly guarding and merely swayed his hips, it almost seemed like a dare to take action rather than just sitting still.

The champion was left unattended in an open space while the maximum force automatically stepped aside.

How could one remain idle with such a perfect opportunity?

As the carriage entered the dark woods, Umbasa didn’t hesitate and initiated the operation.”

Having confirmed the resilience of the hero, the thought of sniping him down was abandoned.

Therefore, Umbasa ordered his subordinates to use shockwave magic to blast the hero away and concentrate firepower on the carriage.

While the carriage was enchanted with various spells and boasted strength beyond ordinary castle gates, it was natural to assume that the knights would not abandon their lord and his family to seek out an ineffective hero.

This judgment was reasonable, and the plan indeed succeeded.

Isolated from the carriage, the hero now stood alone before Umbasa. However, the knights were all occupied guarding the carriage, paying no attention to the hero.

Up to this point, everything unfolded according to Umbasa’s expectations. If there was one unexpected event…

“Shatter him into 19 pieces!”

“Amazing prowess!”

Umbasa had not anticipated that the hero would be so valiant. In his expression of hatred and resentment, there was a strong personal emotion rather than a sense of duty as a hero.

This was someone he had likely just encountered today. How could this individual harbor such intense anger, having arrived in this world not long ago? Was it because a comrade was in distress? No, there was no reason for such emotions toward those who had not long ago meted out punishment to him.

Unable to find a solution to the problem through contemplation, Umbasa temporarily set it aside in a corner of his mind and bravely unsheathed his giant sword.

While Umbasa’s strength was not comparable to other demon army officers who could contend with an entire army, he could sweep away an average group of knights.

The perfectly executed swing of Umbasa’s greatsword aimed at the hero’s head without any resistance, like a loose handle easily catching the flow of a man’s urine.

However, just before the greatsword touched the hero’s head, it was abruptly repelled by a new white light enveloping the hero.

The next moment, what the hero held in his hands was a giant, pure white shield covering his upper body entirely.

“Is that growth?”

Growth. This was the first time he had witnessed it directly, having only received information about it.

Equipment imbued with the power of gods, incomparable to magical tools or ancient armaments.

Seeing the indescribable force of an unknown variable, Umbasa didn’t even consider attempting to attack the shield.

Instead, he delved deeper into the hero’s side, swiftly moving to stand behind him.

If there was a risk in attacking the shield, he would simply bypass it and attack the hero directly.

“It’s over! Hero!”

With such a natural thought that anyone could have, Umbasa, now standing behind the hero, swung his sword towards the hero’s waist.

And…

“Huh?”

A moment later, Umbasa’s world was dyed black along with a white light.

“Hey.”

“Whoa?! Lady Shabryra!”

The next moment, after the world plunged into darkness and opened his eyes again, Embasa found himself in an endless abyss.

The one who casually spoke was Shabryra, the commander of the Demon Lord’s army who would dedicate everything to her master until the Demon Lord’s arrival.

With snow-white hair shining like snow, she approached leisurely and took a seat next to Embasa.

“Well, this is absurd, damn.”

“Do you know the situation you’re in, and you’re swearing?”

“Well, it’s not like I’m dead, is it? Otherwise, there’s no way Shabryra would be on the opposite side of the continent.”

“…What’s this? You know it well. Yes, I admit it. Well, this is the last delusion you’ll see before you die.”

“Damn… I thought I could defeat the hero.”

His defeat was a moment of complacency.

Although he intended to be cautious, watching Embasa being scorned by everyone over the past few days unconsciously made Embasa look down on the hero.

Embasa was blocked by an invisible wall swung by the sword.

The last thing Embasa saw was an indescribable white light pressing down on him.

“How was the hero? Was he strong?”

“Well… It felt like I lost before I could unleash my full power. Actually, I feel a bit sorry. The first officer of the Demon Lord’s army I faced was a girl like me.”

“You’re being surprisingly kind to the one who killed you. Don’t you feel sorry for your subordinates?”

“Well… I was only looking at all my subordinates as pawns on a chessboard. I can move and save the pieces, but I never thought the pieces would recognize themselves.”

The remaining subordinates would probably all be killed by the knights, but that had long since escaped Embasa’s attention.

Was it because he had shaken off the last lingering regrets?

The figure of Shabryra, which was clearly visible just a while ago, gradually blurred, and the endless darkness began to engulf Embasa’s body.

What could be at the end of this darkness? Thinking about it, Embasa gradually sank into the darkness.

As Embasa’s consciousness fell into the endless abyss, the hero looked at the crushed body of Embasa and murmured.

“…It’s not that you didn’t react to turning around.”

Immediately after deflecting Uni’s brilliance, when Embasa attacked from behind instead of the front, the hero thought.

Perhaps the greatsword was a decoy to draw out Uni’s brilliance, and the real attack was the possibility of a hidden weapon or fist.

If a boss who accepted 19 men could surely hide at least one weapon.

Even if that wasn’t the case, there was also the possibility of magic, summoning a weapon.

Judging and being cautious like that, but what Embasa wielded was not a fist or a weapon summoned by magic but the greatsword he had been holding all along.

When the greatsword was blocked by Uni’s light, without any hesitation, the hero raised Uni at an angle and crushed Embasa’s body.

Uni’s power is to repel and push away everything except for the virgin (first attack).

In other words, it’s the power to repel everything directed at oneself.

Crushed by the sacred force emitted by Uni, Umbasa’s corpse was truly gruesome.

From the crushed and broken appearance of bones and organs, no one could recall Umbasa’s former self.

“Thanks to you, I got to know Uni’s new power. Farewell, whatever-your-name-was. You might not be remembered, but there’s no way I’ll ever forget the damn number, 19.”

“Y-You bastard!!!”

“…Huh?”

Thrown into the battlefield anew, there was no time to mourn Umbasa’s death.

＜Experience: 29＞

29 Experience Horses guarding Umbasa’s rear. Demon army lackeys, A.

“…I’ll shred you into 29 pieces, you son of a b*tch.”

Umbasa’s number was already forgotten.

*****

“Haa…!!”

As Las tumbled out of the carriage, everything had already concluded.

The magical onslaught pouring from the woods was fierce, yet the focus of the firepower on the carriage meant they couldn’t fend off the attackers from the woods.

“Commander!! Are you alright?!”

“Yeah… I’m sorry. It’s my fault for being inside the carriage…”

“Oh, no. It’s worse than that. I see the hero—!!”

The knight’s words were abruptly cut off midway.

Suddenly, something streaked from behind, leaving red traces, staining Las and the two emerging from the carriage.

Las reflexively swung a mana-infused sword, but it was futile against the quasi-liquid entity.

“Urgh!!”

“Oh, sorry… I wanted to make a grand entrance by throwing the commander’s body, but I guess I haven’t quite mastered controlling my strength yet. Threw it too far, I think.”

Casually appearing from the woods, the hero scratched his head, looking sheepish.

His lower body was drenched in blood, yet apart from his hands, there was scarcely any blood on his upper half.

“Commander…?”

Upon hearing that, Las and the knight’s eyes turned towards the thing that dirtied their bodies.

Despite being minced to the point of unrecognizability, when they saw the horn emanating presence amidst the minced flesh, they realized:

This was the body of the demon that led this assault.

“Did the hero really defeat the officer alone?”

“Yeah, I tried to cut him into 19 pieces, but I was too weak, so I just turned him into minced meat. Something about an officer…”

“An officer…”

Among the demons who initiated the invasion, it is a position only the strongest can obtain.

Even if he was a hero, the fact that a novice alone defeated an officer was so astonishing that, unable to contain his surprise, he spoke.

“I’m sorry about the clothes. No, originally, rags are meant for cleaning dirty things, so there’s nothing to feel sorry about, right?”

Ruby and Uriah were appalled by the words that were impossible to accept.

“What are you saying now, Hero?”

For the first time, Las showed a grim expression in front of the hero, but the hero, unperturbed, continued speaking.

“What the hell. Where is the little punk who couldn’t do anything but tag along, raising his voice?”

“…”

“Even a damn horny bastard restrains itself for a day. Those guys probably heard the sound of a cart creaking and came looking, right?”

In the face of irrefutable reasoning, Las had no choice but to remain silent.