Demon King of the Royal Class

Chapter 374

Reinhart had grown stronger in his own way. By constantly taking on dangerous challenges and rushing headlong into them, he had become stronger. That was Reinhart’s way.

Cliffman couldn’t use Reinhart’s method.

‘But is it truly impossible?’ Ellen wondered.

Cliffman’s talent was Combat. Ellen pondered what this talent meant. It was a talent in the broadest sense of the word—anything related to combat. A talent for winning battles. It encompassed the use of any weapon, yet Cliffman kept losing to Reinhart.

What exactly was Cliffman’s talent?

Crack!

Cliffman’s training sword crashed through Reinhart’s, breaking it. However, Reinhart, whose sword had been broken, pulled back swiftly, dodging Cliffman’s swing and grabbing him by the collar to throw him to the ground.

Thud!

“Ugh!”

Even in a situation where his sword was broken, Reinhart’s reaction speed was superior.

Watching Cliffman stagger to his feet, Ellen said, “Stop it.”

“Yeah, take a break. It’s not like today is the only day...”

“No, I can still go on...” Cliffman insisted.

Ellen glared at him. “You won’t get anywhere like this.”

Ellen swept up the broken pieces of the training sword with a broom and put them away. Then, she took the training sword from Cliffman’s hand and hung it on the rack.

“You need to do something different.”

“Different...?”

Cliffman tilted his head in confusion, and Ellen looked at Reinhart.

“Reinhart.”

“... Yeah?”

Reinhart didn’t know what Ellen was thinking.

“Can you bring that senior here?”

“What? You mean Olivia?”

“Yeah.”

“Why her all of a sudden?”

“I think she could help.”

Olivia’s help. Reinhart seemed to consider it for a moment, then nodded. “Okay. I’ll ask her.”

Cliffman was bewildered, and Ellen stood with her arms crossed, leaning against the window of the training grounds, waiting for Olivia to arrive.

How long did they wait?

Creak.

“... Why are you looking for me?”

Olivia Lanche’s expression soured the moment she saw them. She had come reluctantly at Reinhart’s request, but was clearly displeased.

However, Ellen didn’t seem to harbor any hostility towards her.

Ellen understood.

Since the time she had shared her secret, Olivia’s hostility wasn’t that strong, and felt more like a mask. Even though they didn’t like each other, they knew that neither could pose a significant threat or harbor ill will towards the other, and so had to acknowledge each other to some extent.

“I need your help,” Ellen said.

“What? My help?” Olivia narrowed her eyes even more, her look of displeasure deepening.

“You’re not helping me, you’re helping him,” Ellen pointed to Cliffman.

Cliffman flinched as Olivia Lanche, the notorious fifth-year, looked at him, even though they weren’t well acquainted. Despite having developed some immunity to social anxiety in certain circumstances, Cliffman still found it difficult to deal with people he wasn’t familiar with.

Ellen did not pick up a training sword, but moved to the center of the training grounds and looked at Cliffman.

Rumble!

With her Mana Reinforcement activated, Ellen looked at Cliffman with eyes full of eerie energy.

“With your skills, if it looks like I’m going to kill him, you can stop me, right?” she said to Olivia.

“Uh... what?”

Ellen had openly acknowledged Olivia’s superior skills, which left her dumbfounded.

“Can you do it or not?”

“Well, I think I can... but why are you asking me to do this all of a sudden? Why should I?”

“Oh,” Reinhart let out a sound of realization.

Cliffman, still bewildered, didn’t understand the situation. Ellen Artorius, clad in the blue flames of Mana Reinforcement, looked at Cliffman.

“From this point on, you might actually die.”

“Uh... what?”

“I’m not joking.”

Combat...

It wasn’t about sparring. It was about real fighting. Ellen realized that Cliffman’s talent would manifest in real combat situations.

“Do you still want to do it?”

Cliffman finally understood what Ellen was hinting at. It wasn’t about subduing an opponent and ending it. His talent would truly shine only when his life was on the line, when there was that level of desperation. In a real life-or-death battle, his talent would truly come to light.

That was why she’d wanted Olivia brought in. She could intervene at a critical moment to stop Ellen, and had access to powerful Divine Power to heal Cliffman if he got injured.

Cliffman met Ellen’s calm gaze. Reinhart whispered something to her, and Olivia sighed and nodded in agreement.

Cliffman swallowed and looked at Ellen. She wasn’t joking. She said she would fight with the intent to kill, and with safety measures in place, she would indeed fight as if to kill him.

“I’ll do it.”

Cliffman dropped into his stance. No more words were needed.

Ellen advanced swiftly.

Thud!

Cliffman did not even see Ellen approaching.

Thwack!

“Ugh...!”

Bang!

Cliffman took a heavy blow to the abdomen and rolled several times across the training ground floor.

“Ugh... cough... cough!”

Blood trickled from Cliffman’s mouth before he could properly get up.

“Damn... you crazy bitch!”

Olivia, her face pale, quickly approached Cliffman and cast a healing spell.

“Huff... huff... huff...”

If Olivia hadn’t been there in time, Cliffman might have actually died from a ruptured organ. Though his injury had been healed, Cliffman was trembling, his face still pale. He couldn’t even speak, and it was Olivia who was furious.

“Hey! Are you insane? What if he actually died?”

Ellen’s expression remained calm.

“If you can’t do it, let’s stop. I don’t intend to force you,” she said cooly to Cliffman. “But if you decide to continue, I won’t be playing around.”

If his talent only manifested when his life was on the line, then it needed to be at least half on the line to be even partially effective.

Cliffman wanted to become stronger. Ultimately, it came down the same method as Reinhart: Fight with your life on the line. Reinhart had grown stronger as he walked down that path.

If Cliffman wanted to follow that process, he too had to engage in fights in which he might die. Not just sparring, but real fighting.

Ellen had already shown she had no intention of holding back. That erased any lingering doubts Cliffman might have had. Slowly, Cliffman stood up.

“Th-thank you... senior. But I’m going to continue.”

“Hey... what is up with you guys? Why go this far?”

Olivia was bewildered, but Cliffman was desperate in his own way. He had decided to face the Demon King. He had decided to help Riana get her revenge. He couldn’t back down when offered the chance to awaken his unknown talent.

“Let’s do it, Ellen.”

“Okay.”

“No... Reinhart, what’s with them?”

Olivia approached Reinhart, who murmured something to her, as if to reassure her and ask her to observe for the time being.

If it had been a training sword, it would have pierced his abdomen, killing him. Ellen was using her fists, which was the most minimal safety measure.

Cliffman’s talent, Combat, didn’t depend on what weapon was used.

Ellen was objectively stronger than Reinhart. Cliffman had been defeated by Reinhart in just a few exchanges, and he hadn’t even seen Ellen’s earlier approach.

Olivia could heal him, but if she couldn’t react in time or if a vital spot was hit, he could die. Ellen intended to instill that tension.

‘If you’re not careful, you could really die. So if there’s some unknown strength within you, bring it out.’

It was Cliffman himself who clung to Reinhart all day, wanting to become stronger. He couldn’t tell Ellen that he wanted to stop because the fight was too intense and frightening. Cliffman gritted his teeth and looked at Ellen.

“I’m coming.”

With that warning, Ellen flew forward again.

Thud!

He still couldn’t track her movements. You can’t dodge what you can’t see.

Unless she deliberately missed, it was impossible to dodge.

Clang!

Ellen’s fist was blocked by a white protective barrier that formed around Cliffman’s chest. Once again, Cliffman hadn’t reacted. It was Olivia’s hastily cast shield of Divine Power that blocked Ellen’s punch.

“... Are you really trying to kill him?” Olivia grumbled, having barely managed to block the attack.

“... Wasn’t this supposed to be the moment he dodged?” Reinhart commented, as if something that should have happened didn’t.

Cliffman hadn’t dodged.

‘No,’ Ellen thought.

Ellen had seen Cliffman’s body turn slightly just before the barrier formed. However without the barrier, he would have still been hit.

‘He tried to dodge something he couldn’t even see.’

Cliffman had indeed attempted to dodge something he hadn’t been able to perceive with his senses. Whether it was instinct or something else, Ellen couldn’t tell.

Cliffman’s talent hadn’t led him to victory, but it had twitched in the right direction.

Olivia looked between Ellen and Cliffman, then sighed as if she had no choice.

“You’re out of your weight class,” she said to Ellen. “Step aside.”

“...”

Olivia didn’t know the details, but she understood what these first-year kids were trying to do. Ellen was too fast and strong. If she went all out, she might kill Cliffman before Olivia could even react.

“Reinhart, you do it.”

“Being considered the appropriate opponent... feels kind of crappy.”

Reinhart scratched the back of his head and pulled Ellen back by the shoulder.

Ellen was out of Cliffman’s league.

Reinhart was someone that Olivia could handle in case of an emergency yet also someone who could be a significant threat to Cliffman if he went all out.

“Well, I guess it’s not wrong,” Reinhart said.

In the end, it had to be Reinhart.

Cliffman had asked Reinhart to give it his all earlier, but he never meant going in with the intent to kill.

This time, Reinhart was going in with the intent to kill. He would go even more all out than Ellen, trusting that Olivia would handle things somehow. However, Cliffman couldn’t rely on that.

He had to approach it believing he might die if he made a mistake, to awaken his true talent.

Rumble!

Reinhart’s body was once again enveloped in blue mana, and he reinforced his body with Self-Deception.

He wasn’t just giving his all—he was intending to kill. Cliffman didn’t know, but Reinhart had quite a bit of experience with this kind of fight. It was something that only those who had been through such real battles could possess.

“Alright, let’s do this.”

Killing intent... Cliffman could feel the killing intent emanating from Reinhart.

Any vague belief that Olivia would protect him vanished in the face of that intent, as if someone was squeezing the life out of him.

Reinhart charged at Cliffman. He wasn’t as fast as Ellen, but his eyes could barely keep up with his movements.

Cliffman could only detect the movement of his opponent’s shoulders and the length of his stride. By judging those trajectories, Cliffman instinctively recognized what Reinhart was aiming for.

Planting his left foot as a pivot and drawing back his right shoulder... He recognized that his opponent’s right arm was coming.

His body, not his mind, could read that the fist was aimed right for his face. If the mana-infused fist hit his face and Olivia couldn’t react, he would truly die.

‘I’m not going to be able to react in time. I’m gonna get hit,’ Cliffman thought.

Swish!

However...

“...”

In that split second, Cliffman dodged the punch with a simple tilt of his head and moved into Reinhart’s space. It was a bizarre sensation—his body, not his mind, had reacted.

Thwack!

“...”

Cliffman’s uppercut, thrown just as he dodged the hook, landed squarely on Reinhart’s chin. Cliffman had extraordinary strength and build, and the chin was a vital spot. In a normal situation, the fight should have ended here.

“Whoa.”

But Reinhart, having taken the hit to the chin, was grinning, as if he hadn’t felt any impact at all.

“This is definitely a bit different from before.”

Thud!

“Ugh!”

As if to show that the difference in output and intensity couldn’t be overcome, Reinhart drove his knee into Cliffman’s abdomen.

Cliffman had reacted and even landed a counter, but he couldn’t penetrate the protection afforded by Mana Reinforcement.

Reinhart rubbed his chin calmly as he watched Cliffman bounce off the ground and roll backwards.

“Ugh... huff...”

Reinhart grinned at Cliffman, who was gasping for breath. “Let’s go again. It feels like something might really happen if you keep at it.”

His words were genuinely meant to encourage Cliffman, but with his expression, actions, and tone, Reinhart came off like a third-rate villain.

***

Olivia’s idea that Reinhart would be a better opponent than Ellen was correct. Ellen was too fast and strong, and she was an insurmountable wall even if Cliffman’s talent manifested.

While it was true that Reinhart was relatively weaker than Ellen, he would be able to draw out Cliffman’s talent more effectively.

Thud! Thud! Thump!

Cliffman couldn’t withstand Reinhart’s punches, which were enhanced to their fullest potential, and the overall difference in their physical capabilities was significant. However, since Cliffman couldn’t take the hits, he dodged and deflected Reinhart’s attacks, exploiting openings.

Even though he couldn’t see the attacks coming, he managed to deflect them, and while he was pushed back and eventually took a critical hit that Olivia had to heal, Cliffman was undeniably different from before.

Both Olivia and Ellen were watching their fight.

“... I don’t know much, but his movements seem better than when he was fighting you,” Olivia said.

“I think so too,” Ellen agreed.

Both noticed that Cliffman’s movements were better against Reinhart than they had been against Ellen.

His talent in combat truly shone in situations of crisis and real combat, and it was clearly manifesting in the presence of danger.

Ellen believed she understood why Cliffman’s talent was manifesting more clearly in the fight with Reinhart.

Ellen’s expressions were hard to read, but Reinhart was exuding hostility and even a sense of killing intent. The difference was easy enough to explain.

Ellen showed minimal expression, and there was nothing to read in her demeanor. While facing Ellen, it was hard to feel a sense of crisis. She was just unpredictably lethal.

However, Reinhart acted rough and had a hard expression. In a fight, he gave off an aura that he might really mess someone up. So, regardless of actual skill, Reinhart exuded a menacing aura that said “just try and cross me, I’ll destroy you,” while Ellen didn’t. Reinhart instinctively induced more tension in those who faced him while he was in this state.

Moreover, Ellen would end things in a single exchange before any back-and-forth could occur, whereas the constant exchange of blows—in addition to Reinhart’s demeanor—gave Cliffman time to realize he was being cornered.

Thud!

“Ugh!”

Thus, Reinhart was, in many ways, the optimal opponent to draw out Cliffman’s strength. Reinhart looked down at Cliffman as Olivia healed him.

“If this is all your talent can do, then you’re still a long way off.”

He added fuel to the fire. At Reinhart’s provocation, Cliffman gritted his teeth and stood up again.

Reinhart smirked as he watched Cliffman.

“Am I still going too easy on you?” Reinhart added.

“...”

Ellen knew why Reinhart was acting this way. He was trying to add to the sense of crisis and provoke Cliffman to draw out his desire to win.

“If this is all you can do even when I’m going easy, it might be tough.”

She understood. She knew why Reinhart was doing this. It wasn’t for nothing.

“Try a little harder.”

She knew why, but it was still infuriating.

“Reinhart... I get what you’re trying to do, but you’re really a piece of work,” Olivia muttered, seemingly feeling the same irritation in real-time.

Thud!

As Cliffman charged and swung a punch toward Reinhart’s solar plexus, Reinhart easily dodged and tripped Cliffman, sending him tumbling to the ground.

With Cliffman on the floor, Reinhart lifted his foot, aiming for Cliffman’s head.

Reinhart, with a chilling smile, was about to stomp on Cliffman’s face. If he used his full strength, Cliffman’s head would be crushed.

Thud!

Reinhart brought his foot down without hesitation, but Cliffman managed to roll away just in time, springing back into a ready stance.

Though his provocations seemed like mere taunts, Reinhart’s actions were ruthless. Watching Cliffman rise again, Reinhart smiled coldly. The boiling malice and madness in that smile seemed too genuine to be an act.

“What is it?” Reinhart said as he grinned at Cliffman. “Think of me as the Demon King standing right in front of you.”

Cliffman didn’t know the true intent behind those words, but they sent chills down his spine.

“Are you still going to act like this if that was the case?”

He didn’t know what the real Demon King was like, but if the Demon King were in front of him, would he still carry on like this?

Rolling on the ground, dodging somehow, throwing out ineffective attacks... If the Demon King were truly in front of him, he might not even have the chance for this conversation. He might die without even dodging the first strike.

Would he die without even a twitch? The figure standing before him wasn’t the Demon King. The Demon King would surely be a very terrifying, evil, and powerful being, different from Reinhart.

“Think of it as image training.”

Reinhart, with a smile that seemed evil no matter how you looked at it, whispered to Cliffman, “I am the Demon King.”

‘I am the Demon King...’

Cliffman didn’t understand the power behind those words, but as soon as he heard Reinhart say it, he felt something like a hallucination. The figure before him did not seem like Reinhart at all, but some incomprehensible and powerful entity.

Gulp.

Cold sweat ran down Cliffman’s entire body. It was as if he had fallen under some evil spell, as if he had been hypnotized by Reinhart. Reinhart was giving off an entirely different aura. Cliffman surrendered himself to this hypnosis.

The being before him was the Demon King... He might not be able to face it. He might not be able to win. But he had decided to fight alongside others.

He had decided that he would fight with them, and he had to be able to stand beside them. He couldn’t be pushed aside in a real fight for being a hindrance. He was weak, and as a weakling, he had to risk something big when facing a strong opponent.

If the being before him was truly the Demon King, what did he have to do? Even if it cost him his life, he had to take an arm or a leg.

No, if he couldn’t do even that, he had to at least take a finger.

If even that was impossible, he had to at least leave a scratch. If he, a weakling, could even manage just that against the Demon King, it would be a tremendous achievement. Because the Demon King would be strong, and doing even that would be a heroic feat.

Swish!

He deflected Reinhart’s right fist with his left arm and aimed for a counter, but Reinhart dodged with a simple tilt of his chin and widened the distance between them again. Even this much would be considered good defense.

His fists couldn’t penetrate Reinhart’s Mana Reinforcement, so the fact that he had managed to deflect his opponent’s unpredictable movement and thrown a counter meant he had already grown.

Merely dodging Reinhart’s offensive attacks was enough. This was the best a weakling could do.

Against the Demon King, risking his life to leave even a scratch would suffice. He doubted whether even that was possible.

But was that really enough?

“...”

Cliffman gritted his teeth, watching Reinhart with a cold smile as he searched for an opening.

Was it okay to be weak? Of course not.

His talent was Combat. The real purpose of that talent was to achieve victory in combat. To win the fight.

It wasn’t the fight itself that mattered. The true identity of this talent was victory. To fight, to seize, to overcome.

There was no way he could be satisfied with just a scratch.

There was no way he could be satisfied with merely dodging.

The purpose of combat was victory. There was no such thing as a battle fought to lose. Therefore, only by achieving victory did the talent of Combat fulfill its purpose.

“Here I come.”

Reinhart approached, with a demeanor markedly different from before, as if he truly intended to break Cliffman apart.

The instinctual warning of danger pounded in Cliffman’s head. He couldn’t win against the Demon King. He couldn’t win against Reinhart either. Yet, his talent had to live up to its name.

He had to make the impossible possible. He had to do what he couldn’t do before. There was only one thing he had to do: win.

For the sole purpose of victory, Cliffman had to satisfy several prerequisites.

First, he had to dodge the enemy’s unseen attack.

Swish!

Cliffman sidestepped Reinhart’s outstretched arm with a slight twist of his shoulder. But the attack continued.

The change of step indicated a low kick which couldn’t be avoided. He’d dodged the unseen attack, but an unavoidable one was approaching.

That was the next step.

Second, he had to withstand an attack that would normally send him flying.

Thud!

Reinhart’s low kick hammered into his thigh, but it stood firm. Reinhart, perhaps not expecting Cliffman to be able to withstand it and not get knocked back, had not prepared his defenses. An opportunity presented itself. An opening.

He’d dodged the unseen attack, and withstood another that he had no right to be able to.

Then, the next step.

Third, if the true value of his talent was to turn an unwinnable fight into a victory, he needed a powerful strike capable of piercing what he couldn’t before, capable of penetrating his opponent’s Mana Reinforcement. Just as the supernatural power of Self-Deception did.

Even if the source was different, the result had to be the same. Something that makes the impossible possible—a talent for victory.

Combat... It had to invoke the same miracle as Self-Deception, though the cause was different.

While Self-Deception made many things possible, the talent of Combat had to make one thing possible: victory.

Since it had such a narrow condition, it had to possess an even more powerful output.

Rumble!

Everyone’s eyes widened as they saw the explosive surge of blue flames from Cliffman’s body.

“What?!”

Blue mana erupted from Cliffman’s body.

Clang!

“Ugh!”

Reinhart was sent flying backward by Cliffman’s punch.

Thud!

“Uh... w-what?”

Olivia’s expression was dazed, as if she couldn’t comprehend what she had just witnessed.

“...”

Ellen remained perfectly calm, as if she had somehow expected such an outcome.

“... Shit.”

Reinhart, lying on the ground and staring blankly at the ceiling of the training ground, muttered a curse, his voice filled with a mix of complex emotions.

Reinhart had anticipated this might happen, but now that it had, his expression was a jumble of emotions.

And then...

A sudden fit of coughing, and inevitably, Cliffman spat out a mouthful of blood.

That day, there was one more patient in the duty priest’s office who needed attending to.