I Picked Up the Abandoned Hero

12 – 12. The most beautiful light

Humans were thought to be very strange creatures.

That’s something I’ve always felt since the old days, when I left my hometown about 10 years ago.

They can live up to 100 years at least, and they are not a race with exceptional magic or physical abilities.

From my point of view, the only advantage of humans is their ability to reproduce, and despite their lifespan of only 100 years, unlike us elves, they are able to give birth to many offspring.

Is that why? Humans were very numerous.

Since I left my boring hometown, there are only humans everywhere I go.

On a fictitious day, hundreds and thousands of people die from being attacked by monsters or demons, but there were always humans everywhere.

Form a group, equip a village, and build a city.

That seems to be a typical human characteristic.

I felt that there were too many people, to the point where I wondered if humans were relatives of the gross and terrible monster called the cockroach.

Perhaps that’s why he can stand up against demons.

The Demon King is undoubtedly one of the strongest people in the world, and the demons themselves are all strong people.

Although their lifespan is quite long, although not as long as us elves, and although not as long as humans, they outnumber us elves.

‘It’s amazing, we elves have the longest lifespan. Why does it feel like the elves are the most backward?’

I didn’t understand what I was thinking.

Elves have excellent magical abilities and have a very long lifespan.

Furthermore, their eyesight, which is 10 times that of humans, does not need to be explained in words.

You can see things that you cannot see with the naked eye, and you can see things that are several kilometers away without difficulty.

Although it has the disadvantage of being a little weak, it was possible to make up for it with the agility of the elf.

Still, strangely, I feel like the elves are the most backward.

‘Now, I’m not even fooling around saying I’ll keep the old tradition. To think we’re still in a small kingdom in the forest.’

As proof of that, I am confident that I am being captured by a demon I have never seen before.

“Come on, Orcs. That nagging demon king ordered you to test your abilities, so if you don’t want to be cornered, you’d better work hard.”

To be precise, it was by Orcs led by demons.

A strange demon with white hair.

If you only look at the appearance, it’s rather close to a human, but the magical power that you feel is definitely that of a demon.

-Excuse me, I’m sorry, but you all have to be kidnapped here.-

That demon, together with the orcs, is raiding the city at dawn and kidnapping all the residents.

Of course, the guards and knights tried to stop them, but they couldn’t handle the hundreds of Orcs summoned in the middle of the city.

So absurdly, the city fell in an instant.

I also cooperated with the elves in the city to respond, but I was eventually captured by the number.

Even if they tried to get out of the city, they couldn’t because that demon had put a barrier around the entire city.

“By the way, there were also dwarves, right? For some reason, arrows kept flying from somewhere. Thanks to that, the orcs got hurt a lot too. The demon king ordered only humans to be kidnapped, so you guys have to deal with it separately…”

“If there is no proper way to deal with it, can I kill the male elves and rape the female elves?”

The head of the Orcs politely asked the demons who were in trouble.

“Oh, wasn’t that the opposite?”

“I don’t know where those rumors came from… Anyway, it seems that many of my subordinates are angry with the elves over this incident. Please leave it to us.”

“It doesn’t matter, but do you like guys with normal faces, no boobs, and no flesh? There are humans over there.”

“Didn’t the demon king tell you to kidnap humans? You can’t touch hostages. We’re not satisfied either, but we’ll have to use an elf like that to vent our anger.”

“You guys do eat, but you really have nothing to cover. I don’t know anything else, but I think that’s good about you.”

The Demon tribe pointed a finger at me and said.

‘…No matter what happens, I’ll kill him with my own hands.’

It’s embarrassing why he was pointing at me, but it was understandable.

“You guys have a lot of hardships too. How did you get caught by a demon lord? Then I’ll be reading a book. Tell me when you’re done. Don’t be noisy.”

“Thank you!”

The head of the Orcs bowed his head to the demons and expressed his gratitude from the bottom of his heart.

‘That filthy piglet must too.’

In my head, I killed those demons and orcs dozens of times.

This was just a meaningless delusion.

Because there was nothing I could do in reality even though I was so angry inside.

“These evil demons and orcs…! Do you think I’ll leave you alone!”

At that time, an elf suddenly came out and shouted.

It was an elf who looked quite old.

“No, that one?!”

“Even if I die, I will go with you guys! In the name of a proud elf!”

“Damn it! Everyone run away! You’re trying to make us your companions as well as your own people!”

A red magic circle appears on the elf’s body and magic begins to swirl.

That elf, is it possible he intends to self-destruct?

Looking at the magical power of the magic circle, when it explodes, the elves who are held hostage die together.

Of course, it was better than being humiliated by a filthy creature like an orc, but I didn’t know that I would go out alone like that.

But that only hastened his death.

“No, you go alone.”

At some point, her demons came back.

“You are-“

“Bread.”

Puff!

As the demon pointed her finger at the rebellious elf, her head exploded in an instant.

“Ah…”

The elf’s blood and flesh splattered on me.

Her eyeballs rolling under her feet were terrifying.

With her head gone, the elf collapsed powerlessly, and the self-destruct magic naturally lost its light.

“Ah, it interferes with reading. If you use your spare time for nothing, you will be annihilated by the demon king. Be careful.”

“Al, I see…”

With that light, all the elves held hostage lost their fighting spirit.

Actually, other than that elf, the other elves also had no intention of being easily defeated by the orcs.

It is said that it was impossible to escape in the city because of the barrier, but now, I am not particularly trapped outside the city.

Orcs are not particularly fast or agile.

In other words, it was possible to run away from the opportunity in moderation.

‘What is that demon? What magic did you just use? Did the magic work in the first place?’

… Was just a stupid misunderstanding.

Of course it wouldn’t be difficult to run away from the orcs.

However, that demon only put a barrier on the city, and did not directly step in to capture the city.

How long could I have endured if I had gone all the way to that demon? 1 Hours? 10 Minutes? 1 Min? No. If that demon wanted it, the whole city would have disappeared the moment it appeared.

Only the orcs destroyed the city.

So, even if the elves somehow manage to get away from the orcs here, it is certain that they will be killed in an instant as soon as that demon comes out.

That demon can easily annihilate us without thinking.

I wonder if I could have subdued that elf with fancy and great magic, but just now I handled it as simply as stepping on an ant on the roadside…

You will literally be killed if you leave here.

My body stiffened at the thought that I might end up like that too.

It seemed to be the same for other elves as well as me.

“Huh? What, have you already appeared?”

“Why is that?”

But the demon’s attitude suddenly changed.

At first, they seemed to be bothered by the elves and told the orcs to take care of it, but they were surprised to see that there was nothing there.

“That’s because the hero appeared over there.”

“Dragon, hero?! Why is the hero here- the undead must have been blocking the way to this city…!”

The astonished orcs.

The reason was because of the hero.

Hero is a name I have heard even in my hometown.

“Then you must have cut down all the undead, now you can easily wipe out a thousand or so…”

The one chosen by the holy sword will slay the demon king with this sword.

There is probably no one who doesn’t know that short and concise sentence.

So you’re saying that a legendary hero is coming here?

“There was no order to deal with the hero? Because I’m always in charge of supervising you guys. If you don’t want to disappear with a shiny sword for no reason, you’d better run away.”

“But the hostages…”

“You can take one or two hostages and throw the rest away. The demon king didn’t say exactly how many hostages to bring. Maybe my anger won’t kill me.”

The demon ordered the orcs to withdraw immediately, leaving the hostages behind.

However.

“Instead, kill all the elves right here. Their longevity means long-lasting resentment, because if you leave them alive for no reason, only you will be in trouble later.”

It seemed that he had no intention of keeping us elves alive.

“I know elves well. Especially, the fact that the dwarves live too long unnecessarily.”

“Okay. Everyone must have heard what Alfred said! Kill the elves and throw away the humans! We retreat right before the hero arrives!”

I couldn’t help it.

As the demon said, elves live a long life, and resentment lasts as long as they live.

That was an extremely correct decision for the demons.

“…Oh, did I relax too much?”

“What does that mean-“

It’s just that the hero was faster than the demons expected.

“Even if teleportation was considered, I didn’t expect it to come like that.”

“Captain! Something is flying from the sky!”

The orc henchmen shouted, pointing at the night sky.

“No way, that’s-!”

It cuts through the night and descends like a meteor.

With a light like that, you can see it no matter how high up you are, even if your eyesight isn’t as good as that of the elves.

Something was flying from the sky.

It was human-like in size and shape.

“Everyone, prepare for a shock! The warrior is coming!”

It was when the boss orc shouted to everyone.

For an instant, all the sounds there were cut off, and the field of view was stained with darkness and then covered with pure white light.

For a moment, everything seemed to have been erased.

The shock came only after a while.

“Wow… Isn’t that too much effort? I was thinking of holding a hostage if I had to, but that wasn’t my intention to blow away all the hostages. He’s very smart.”

The sight that followed made me doubt my eyes.

“Alfred!”

“It stings, my hands are all burned with this.”

In an instant, the Orcs were annihilated.

The demon lamented at the outstretched hand to block the attack.

As the smoke clears, the green earth is blown away, revealing sunken terrain.

Only a handful of Orcs survived, and those who were lucky enough to be outside the area of destruction or just nearby were blocked by the demons from the previous attack.

“…If you surrender, I will spare your life.”

And then I heard a voice.

A voice coming down like a meteor.

From there, the rumored hero begins to appear.

It was the same warrior who fell as if from thousands of meters in the air and destroyed the orcs with the impact and power of the holy sword.

For an instant, I was taken away from her gaze and thoughts.

You can be so beautiful even though you are human.

I thought humans had no special powers, but there are humans with such a special light.

Suddenly, I had such thoughts.

“Or do you have something to say? Satan Alfred, and Orcs.”

The hero pointed the holy sword and said.

“No, why am I surrendering? Besides, it’s good not to forget. We have hostages.”

“Ugh, let go of this…!”

Then, as if the demon had waited, he picked me up and said.

“You are a warrior who saves people, right? But are you really going to be okay?”

“Alfred…!”

The demons are dirty and want to use me as a hostage.

The hero opened his eyes in anger.

Obviously this demon is amazing.

It might be worth a try even if you fight that hero, but from the demon’s point of view, it didn’t seem like you had any intention of taking the risk.

“…Never mind me! Just blow away these evil demons and orcs!”

It can’t be.

Even if I had to die, I wanted to let go of this Demon and Orc leader.

“Hey, are you crazy?! What do you dwarves take pride in self-destructing?!”

“I’d rather die than be manipulated by people like you! Let go of the idea that everything will be what you want!”

“I saved my life to be used as a hostage, but they repay the favor with their enemies.

“Ah-“

But suddenly, the view changed drastically.

The warriors and demons became as small as ants, and the burning city began to come into view at a glance.

The demon threw me high into the sky.

I don’t know how high it is here.

Still, I was certain of one thing: I would surely die if I fell from this height.

‘Ah, I’m dying from falling like this.’

The Asmodian could use other elves as hostages.

In the end, I will die like the elves despised in my hometown, without even making friends with those who insulted me.

The cause of death was a fall.

It will die even more horribly than that elf a moment ago.

My limbs will explode and become food for monsters, and I won’t even have a bone fragment left.

It doesn’t matter. It was a common story that an ignorant young elf went missing after playing games.

I’m sure I’ll be one of those elves who met such a stupid end, something I’ve been prepared for ever since I left my hometown.

What’s so big about dying?

Anyway, I have already lived 50 years longer than the average human lifespan in my hometown.

“I don’t want to die…”

But it is difficult.

Deceiving myself wasn’t as easy as I thought.

In my head, I say that I am not afraid of death, but my body was already trembling with death in front of me.

“I don’t want to die like this-“

How long will it fly like this in the future?

That demon must have been so powerful that he threw me so far away that the city was far away before I knew it.

This will end the ascent and stop, after which it will plummet to the ground.

I’ve been told I’ve fallen from a tall tree many times, but this has surpassed the level of a tree.

A creature without wings will die if it falls.

It was when I thought that I would soon be like that too.

Gasp!

“…?”

“Alfred… Did you lure me on purpose-!”

I felt the warm warmth.

I wondered what kind of light had come to me, and the hero who had been on the ground just before caught me.

Could it be that he jumped up here from the ground?

“Are you…?”

“Be careful, the impact of the fall will be quite large. I’m fine thanks to the holy sword, but I can’t protect you either.”

I just held onto the hero.

Thought that only this light could save me, I closed my eyes and prayed so that I would never lose sight of it.

“Alfred, are you really okay? Even if you accept the hero’s request so willingly…”

“You asked me to throw the same? It’s okay, otherwise the head cap would have been opened and made us prey to the holy sword? Then, of course, the hostage situation wouldn’t have worked.”

The demons looked at the scene as if they were enjoying it.

“Now, let’s run away before the hero returns! No matter how much time has passed, you have become a completely different person from when we first met.”

Then he disappeared with the Orcs.

They disappeared all of a sudden, just as they disappear when you shine a light on a dark shadow.

“…Are you okay?”

“Yeah, thanks to you… I lived…”

The hero saved me without a single wound.

I fell to the ground again with the same momentum as before, but apart from a slightly sprained ankle, I didn’t seem to be hurt.

‘Is this really a human?’

It’s just like the angels in human religion.

I have met countless humans and many famous elves, but this is the first time a child has such a light.

I seemed to fall in love with the light.

So, before I knew it, I followed the hero’s journey to repay the grace of saving his life, and after a while, I finally succeeded in subduing the demon king.

Although I was weak, I collapsed immediately after facing the demon king, but when he opened his eyes, the child was standing still with the demon king’s neck cut with a holy sword.

It was such a beautiful light.

It was the only light in this world that cut through the darkness that would cover the world of the demon king.

But why?

Why did you have such a beautiful light?

…Why did you do such a terrible thing?

Besides, what’s the monster next to it, other people don’t know, but my eyes can never fool me.

That monster is more sinister than the devil.

The Demon King may cover us, but he won’t swallow us.

Although it’s not as big and mighty as the demon king, the depth it possessed was inexhaustible.

That’s why I can’t simply explain it to a dark level.

That’s an unknown and dangerous thing that will absorb all the light of the sun.