The Executed Sage Reincarnates as a Lich and Begins a War of Aggression
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Terra
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 110: The Sage Controls the Battle
The Demon Lord boldly attacked.
It was a transcendent spear movement.
Even adorned with the carapace and scale armor, she still maintained her quick movement.
She moved in a way that would prevent my sword art from being used effectively.
In addition, the power of her spear was exceptional.
Enhanced by the capacity of the holy sword, it could purify my body with a mere scraping.
The fact that the Demon Lord had remarkable talent with spears made it even more troublesome to handle.
The chains of light were seemingly sewn together and released toward me.
They attacked me from all directions.
Moreover, unlike when the Saint used it, they didn’t automatically track my movement.
Instead, the Demon Lord directly controlled them using her intent, making them capable of unexpected maneuvers.
I was already hit by a series of attacks many times.
As a result, various parts of my body were damaged, with some of my limbs pretty much detached if I didn’t reinforce them with miasma.
If I wasn’t immortal, then I would have died long ago.
How ironic. We’re standing in opposite positions compared to back then.
The Demon Lord in front of me was making use of holy power to hunt me down.
Meanwhile, I tried to compete using evil miasma.
I couldn’t help but feel that this situation was the work of destiny.
Even so, the Demon Lord’s combat ability was significantly improved compared to ten years ago.
Even without adding the power of the holy sword and chains of light into the equation, she clearly surpassed her former self.
If she was still the same as back then, I would have already defeated her.
It is probably due to the spell used for the resurrection.
I could tell from this battle alone.
The present Demon Lord had a new existential meaning inscribed upon her by Baruch.
It was the factor of “The one who defeats the Demon Lord.”
Since their ashes were used, she seemed to inherit the duty of the current generation of Hero and Saint or something similar.
Even though she was the previous Demon Lord, a factor that made one a hero was inscribed upon her.
As a result, her power was greatly increased to match my strength.
It would have been impossible if she stayed as a mere Demon Lord.
“What’s wrong? This shouldn’t be all of your power!”
The Demon Lord repeated her attacks with no signs of slowing down.
The spear swung in all directions.
I used my magic to deflect the chains of light that flew toward my blind spot.
If I didn’t focus my consciousness in all directions, I would be killed in no time.
That was how fierce her attacks were.
I increased my concentration to its limits and kept swinging the keepsake sword.
After hundreds of exchanges, the Demon Lord suddenly sighed.
Then she whispered.
“…If the hero were to see you right now, I wonder what she would think?”
“—“
Her whisper wasn’t something I could just ignore.
It was a thought I had been avoiding for a long time.
Even though I immediately brushed off that thought, my hand didn’t move as I intended.
There was no way the Demon Lord would overlook such a chance.
“It’s an opening.”
Her spear struck and pierced my right eye socket.
Darkness flooded across half of my vision, and a burning pain sparked in the back of my head.
The chains of light rushed toward me and held my limbs in place.
White smoke rose where they touched me.
The pain of the purification began to erode my body.
The Demon Lord who trapped me hefted her spear on her shoulder and looked right at me.
She then sighed loudly.
“How naïve. Even as you turn into an immortal, you still fail to overcome the weakness of your heart.”
“…”
I couldn’t refute that.
I was aware of the weakness of my heart.
I thought it would never make me hesitate, yet my movement slowed down at a crucial time.
I couldn’t help but resent that.
“This is the end. I’ll take the title of Demon Lord back.”
As she said that, the Demon Lord wielded her spear.
She was trying to penetrate my soul.
Surely, she would end it all with a single hit, leaving no time for me to suffer.
—However, that would be a problem.
I suppressed the miasma inside my body.
The purification of the chains of light accelerated, making the restrained area erode at once.
With my limbs collapsed, I could now escape my restraints.
I fell toward the keepsake sword in the edge of my vision.
I let myself collapse to the ground.
“Wha…”
Even as my actions stunned the Demon Lord, she didn’t stop her attack.
The spear was approaching in front of me.
When I released my miasma, it spewed out from the section where my limbs were cut off.
They would be my pseudo limbs.
They were very fragile, but I only needed them to last for a moment.
I grabbed the sword with one hand, then kicked the ground.
I twisted my upper body to avoid a stab from the Demon Lord.
The tip of her spear, which exuded holy power, crushed my upper and lower jaws.
Furthermore, my cervical spine and collarbone were also scraped.
My ribs were pierced one after another, and the impact caused my hand-less arm and my hip bone to detach and sail through the air.
However, that was the extent of the damage.
The stab failed to finish me because I just barely managed to avoid it.
As I evaded the spear, I extracted my remaining power and unleashed it toward the Demon Lord.
I swung up the keepsake sword as I stepped forward, and aimed it at the nape of the Demon Lord.
“This…?!”
The Demon Lord blocked it with a shield made out of scales and shells.
The blade struck and sparked, then scraped across the surface of the shield.
I raised the sword again in the middle of the slash.
The change in direction bent the shield.
Then I deviated from my apparent target and swung the keepsake sword toward one of the horns on her helmet, slicing it off.
It missed the Demon Lord’s neck.
The undisturbed momentum kept the sword moving wildly.
The limbs of miasma reached their limits and disappeared, and I fell forward.
The horn that was cut clattered as it rolled on the ground.
Cracks spread across the horn before it completely shattered.
That was the result of my desperate attack.
As I looked up, the Demon Lord held her spear at the ready.
She stood straight as she stared down at me.
“What a shame. That attack sure scared me. As expected of the Sage who managed to save the world.”
As the Demon Lord boasted about her apparent victory, she tried to thrust her spear through me.
But her movement stopped abruptly as she suddenly convulsed.
Her arm trembled and the spear fell to the ground beside me.
“Gu, uh…?!”
The scales and carapace of the Demon Lord peeled off and evaporated.
Her true face, now revealed, held a distorted expression of pain.
The spear also lost its shape and broke down.
“…”
I used chantless wind magic and pushed the Demon Lord away with a gust of wind.
She failed to counter and smashed into the ground, rolling with the wind.
As she tried to get up, she coughed violently.
A viscous black liquid spewed from her mouth.
While the Demon Lord held still in agony, I regenerated my limbs of miasma.
This time, I made them a little sturdier.
Appearance wise, it wasn’t that much different from bones.
I used those limbs to stand up.
Something broke down with every move I made.
Needless to say, I was wounded all over the place.
This body wouldn’t last for long.
I looked at the Demon Lord, who was still collapsed on the ground.
She looked at me with dying eyes.
“You… what did you do…?”
“I just targeted your structural weakness.”
I answered her without hiding it.
My jaw was broken, but that didn’t seem to affect how I spoke.
Soon the Demon Lord’s expression fell as she noticed something.
“Don’t tell me…!”
“That horn I cut off was the catalyst of your resurrection. Once that part was lost, the spell would naturally break down. That was a weakness you didn’t have when you were still alive.”
I knew well that my all-out slash would be blocked by the Demon Lord.
She was capable of doing that much.
Even if I took her by surprise, I doubted I could land an accurate hit.
Therefore, I attacked on the premise that I would change the trajectory mid-slash.
The Demon Lord moved as I expected, and I managed to strike her weak point.
However, it was a feat that was impossible to do with my own power.
The Demon Lord was aware of that person’s swordsmanship.
However, it was the same for me.
I also had that person’s experience within me.
Therefore, I could intuitively tell where the Demon Lord would move her spear to.
I picked up the keepsake sword and squeezed its handle tightly.
I still had enough power left to do this.
I was the one who controlled the outcome here.
All that remained was to finish the battle.
With the keepsake sword in hand, I stalked toward the Demon Lord.
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