Edmund transformed into a small tiny bird, and watched as the hero, along with some of his own forces, prepared for an attack on the Demon Lord Karras.
2,000 soldiers marched through the dense forests, and through the terrible terrain towards the converted keep of the Demon Lord Karras. The hero, riding on a horse, led the way. Demons in small packs came to face them, but they died. Aman radiated power, his powers stronger. Edmund could feel it. They arrived at the foot of Karras's Keep the next day.
In the original game, the hero would have to run around to nearby cities to get help, to eventually mount this same attack on the Demon Lord.
But things have changed. This time, the hero was in an advantageous position. Errama was able to provide about a quarter of the forces itself, instead of nothing in the original version of events, so the other nearby cities were much more willing to provide aid. This army was twice as large as the army the game's hero managed to create.
Differences. Even his own meddling fingers have changed the way the game was played out. The rock didn't do a thing. The rock was embedded in the bird's body like a necklace.
The Demon Lord Karras was a warlord. The kind of brute that fought heroes head on. The fact that the hero raised an army to attack the keep only caused Karras to emerge from its keep, a single large, gigantic demon lord.
Kiara stared at the giant demon lord that they could see from afar, and gulped. "-goddesses, protect us."
Hannah frowned. "Oh dear. This is gonna be a big fight."
This was the hero party's first demon lord battle. The Demon Lord Karras roared.
"HERO! YOU DIE TODAY!" The Demon Lord raised his four gigantic arms and his axes burned with black flames, it ran towards Aman and the hero party.
Aman raised his hand. "We'll take the demon lord. The rest of you spread out."
The soldiers nodded. "You heard the hero! We spread out!"
The heroines looked at the hero. Aman's sword shone, his hero aura rising to meet the Demon Lord's oppressive presence. "This is what we're meant to do!"
His divine blade shone, and he charged ahead. The hero's horse, somehow, caught in the power and influence of the hero's aura, galloped fearlessly towards the Demon Lord.
The Demon Lord's axes smashed into the hero's divine blade, and the impact caused a shockwave of wind.
"Support the hero!" Nysta shouted, as she glowed. The hero then glowed in the same manner, as Nysta's enchantments and healing protected Aman.
One-on-one, Aman wasn't winning. The Demon Lord was exceptional, and an entire league of power above the demon knights they met earlier. The girls, buoyed by the hero's blessing, joined the fray to help.
The hero raised his blade, and Edmund suddenly felt like there was a shift in the very nature of reality itself. The hero and the heroines' attacks were stronger, they moved faster.
Edmund watched, and realized his earlier conclusions were correct. "The hero is really too overpowered."
"That happens when so many of my sisters bless a single person." The rock on Edmund's neck subtly replied.
The battle was brutal, and many soldiers died as the forces fought against the demons. But there were more soldiers, and better prepared. They came with better equipment, and Aman fought the Demon Lord head on along with his little harem.
It was a brutal, bloody fight. Edmund winced as the demon king made deep cuts in the heroines, but somehow, despite what seemed to be lethal injuries, Nysta's healing somehow could reverse it, when her healing doesn't have the same effect on those not blessed by the goddesses. In short, the Heroines and the Hero's blessings of the goddesses also supercharged their healing, allowing them to recover from lost limbs, punctured chests.
It was wild.
Absolutely wild to see the new soldier, Sofia, get seemingly chopped with an axe halfway through the chest, and yet Nysta's enhanced healing brought her back to normal without a scratch.
Edmund's conclusion was that under the right circumstances, the hero somehow enabled what seemed to be game-like combat mechanics. It would not surprise Edmund that the hero or heroines could be literally revived in battle.
"Poignant observation. Reality is indeed warped around someone with that many blessings."
If so, there was no way he could face the hero in a straight fight. It was a doomed proposition, unless he had a way to sabotage those blessings.
Once the heroines realized that they could essentially recover from normally lethal damage, albeit limited by Nysta's mana capacity, they were able to attack relentlessly. Karras, despite his immense strength and power, ultimately was defeated.
Aman's blade flashed, and some kind of supercharged holy strike later, the Demon Lord Karras was cut in into six pieces.
Edmund thought Karras wasn't dead yet. Because the flesh seemed like it attempted to regenerate after a fatal strike. Then Aman leapt in, his divine blade pierced through Karras's remnant presence. Even as a watcher, he felt a flash of divine power, one that blasted Karras's spirit to bits. The six chunk's regeneration stopped instantly, and those chunks fell into the floor like they were lifeless husks.
[The Hero Aman has defeated the Demon Lord Karras!]
It was an announcement everyone in the world heard. Aman is now officially a hero.
Patreon
Would it be funny and a bit dark if the heroines are actually sacrificial vessels for the many Goddesses in the end? Like it would be a way to finally "taste" their well groomed boy toy. Or making him kill the demon lords is a way to make him a god.
Thanks for the chapter.
More likely simply disposable. We have no idea how many heroines there were available for recruit in the original game and if they run out they may simply create more. Would be funny if they ran out of named heroines and we simply got a brainwashed girl saying "Hi I am [Heroine #27] I have trained my whole life in [Healing Magic] would the kind hero allow my to join their noble quest"
@Vector what if, for each heroine edmund seduces away from the hero one of the dark goddesses returned to the world?, that the true reason the first one appeared was because he fully seduced the healer girl before hand?.
@shinikage you might be onto something, as he said himself that the dark relic wasn't there before (in the normal game).
Mc should find a way to kill one of the heroines just to drive a point that live is not a game and that they too could be killed in battle.
It would make them much more cautious and starts behaving more mature which is counterproductive for the MC. Taking away relics from the hero in advance and corrupting the strongest heroines before even meeting hero on the other hand is more doable and shouldn't have any serious negative repercussions.
Wonder what would happen if MC kills a demon lord. Would he be announced as a hero? Revealed to be a demon lord?
@Yamemai Ha, fascinating idea. Though that would bring Edmund too much attention, for now at least. I was more thinking that Edmund should save one of the Demon Lords at the last minute, hopefully tricking the hero, and enslave the weakened Demon Lord. (Are any Demon Lords female and attractive?) He'd want a smarter Demon Lord than Karras was, but female Demons are often either succubi or insane (often both), and he could work with that.
If nothing else, if Aman goes after Edmund, having another Demon Lord to take the fall is something he'll need.
@ksullivan42 that's probably the job of the clone
@ksullivan42 cant he create a clone that looks like a heroine and have it be killed in battle?, maybe kidnap the real one and corrupt it and in a key moment change it with his clone and done, their fear of death will also make the wary of the goddess if the blessing dont work in a key moment, maybe even afect the healer making her leave the party for a better healer (mc corrupt heroine)
Can make nysta leave if she truly feel that her own skills are lacking and the hero need a better healer (maybe make a copy of raven and make it die in battle while nysta failed tp heal it, the resl one would have been with mc and corrupted alredy), or corrput her and make a copy that is killed in battle and make the other heroines think that the goddess no longer neede her or deemed her useless since she failed to heal one of the heroines in battle and then come a new healer with better skills and since they didn't think she would leave the hero, then she is killed in battle, making them doubt wheter they are necesary or just stepping stones for the hero rise, mc could also use guilt and fake promise of making raven come back to live as a way to corrup her, raven is alive and well and since mc made her a demon then she would come as a demon and mc would then corrup her,
@Primarx cant he create a clone that looks like a heroine and have it be killed in battle?, maybe kidnap the real one and corrupt it and in a key moment change it with his clone and done, their fear of death will also make the wary of the goddess if the blessing dont work in a key moment, maybe even afect the healer making her leave the party for a better healer (mc corrupt heroine)
Can make nysta leave if she truly feel that her own skills are lacking and the hero need a better healer (maybe make a copy of raven and make it die in battle while nysta failed tp heal it, the resl one would have been with mc and corrupted alredy), or corrput her and make a copy that is killed in battle and make the other heroines think that the goddess no longer neede her or deemed her useless since she failed to heal one of the heroines in battle and then come a new healer with better skills and since they didn't think she would leave the hero, then she is killed in battle, making them doubt wheter they are necesary or just stepping stones for the hero rise, mc could also use guilt and fake promise of making raven come back to live as a way to corrup her, raven is alive and well and since mc made her a demon then she would come as a demon and mc would then corrup her.
@vic20 i still think making the more careful is counter productive. If they think the goddess would get rid of them if they were deemed useless, they would be more careful and build up their strength better so that they wouldn't get killed. With them more careful and using their time more for training, the mc will have lees chance to corrupt them, so he will lose the chance to gain more power while strengthening the hero party.
Also, making fake promise that he could bring back the heroine, means he have to reveal himself as a demon lord which is a stupid decision if he can do that without putting himself in danger