143. Alliance

“Whew……”

Due to my attacks continuing to rain down on him, he was torn apart.

He didn’t take any damage from my physical attacks, but now he could not stand against my magical attacks.

He did not resist in the slightest, taking the full brunt of the attacks.

Eventually, letting out a moan of pain, he sank to his knees.

His body bled nonstop.

Receiving such a fierce attack, it wouldn’t have surprised me to find that his entire body had evaporated.

Enduring all this was enough for me to praise him.

I landed the finishing blow on his body that was hanging on to life by a thread.

Praying that he would not rise again, I attacked.

A massive mountain of ice rose up from the ground, completely encasing him.

The Eye of Insight that marked him with a red dot no longer did so.

This meant that he had perished.

I did not leave this spot, but instead surveyed the surroundings.

Belkoseu had the title of Immortal Knight.

I believed that I could get rid of him using the skills that humans used, but I had a bad feeling about it still.

I had the suspicion that he would rise again once more, despite having perished.

A minute passed.

My expectations were that Jamon and Ladin had taken notice of this fight.

Despite still in the process of growing stronger, they probably couldn’t ignore the amount of magical energy BElkoseu carried.

And there was no doubt in my mind that I was under their close surveillance.

If I did not engage in combat and stood still, my exact position wouldn’t have been given away, but the situation wasn’t ideal in this case.

It wouldn’t take that long before the two of them were upon us.

‘Since he hasn’t risen again, I guess it’s surely over?’

I was relieved, but also regretful.

If he obtained a massive amount of magical energy, I wouldn’t be able to stop him no matter what I tried.

It was the right decision to shut down any chances of him growing stronger.

With his broken remains of a corpse behind me, I began to walk.

Uninvited guests were coming, after all.

However, the moment that I took a single step away, it happened.

“Hm?”

I could hear the sound of liquids bubbling.

It made sickening plopping sounds as if in a swamp.

Naturally, I turned around, praying that he wouldn’t revive.

However, the result wasn’t good.

What I hoped wouldn’t happen had occurred.

There’s a saying that an intuition expecting a sad event is never wrong.

The pile of shredded meat that was the remains of his former body began to slowly gather, regaining its form.

“I guess I was wrong…..”

“……”

The red dot from the Eye of Insight came back.

As his form recovered further, the mark became clearer.

This moment was evidence that I was completely wrong.

Belkoseu could not die from any attacks.

He was a lifeform that really was immortal.

Was there not a method to silence him forever?

I was planning on using him to help take down the Demon King and Ladin.

It was the same with my plans of obtaining loot.

This alliance would let me easily obtain loot without having to go all over the place.

However, experiencing his revival with my own eyes, I couldn’t help but rethink my plans.

What would happen if he became strong as, if not, stronger than the demon king?

I did speak with our informant of the demonic realm, Karin, about this before.

I asked him if there really wasn’t a way to defeat BElkoseu.

Even under specific hard to reach conditions, was there really not a single way to take him down?

The answer to that was none.

After recovering fully, a smug smile adorned his face as he rotated his shoulders and cracked his neck.

Looking at him, I thought to myself.

‘I cannot give up on the loot. Just for a little while…. We’ll keep this dangerous alliance for a bit.’

Drawing magical energy into his hands, he began to create his armor once more.

I had thought that his armor was made from processing bloodstones, but it seemed that he made it using his own magical energy.

Finishing repairs, he spoke to me.

“Whew…. I wasn’t wrong about you.”

“……”

“Since you had taken down Berdan, I expected you to be amazing, but to think that you were this strong. I cannot stop being flabbergasted at your strength.”

“Same here. I thought that you would never rise again from my attacks.”

“Kuhuhu. Did I not tell you so…… My power is Undying Authority. So now that we got that out of the way, are we finalizing this alliance?”

“There is one thing that bothers me, but we’ll go through with it.”

“What is it?”

“I’ll explain this as simply as I can. I can kill you.”

“That’s right.”

“However, if you become stronger through me, then you can imagine the implications.”

“…..”

“When you reach that point in strength, you break our alliance and make Earth your target, I will be helpless before your might.”

“Kuhuhu…… It’s obvious that you don’t trust me. However, that won’t happen. Where are you going with this?”

“…….”

“Are you perhaps asking me to divulge a method to eliminate me?”

“Oho? That would be great. However, I don’t think that you would divulge such information that would put you at such a disadvantage?”

“Kuhahat! You’re rather sharp. If you’re curious, I’ll tell you. There is no way. Well, there might be, but do you think I’d know such a way? I merely use my unique Authority to my advantage. I was created by the gods, but I doubt that they would let me walk the same path as them…… What is this safety mechanism that you wish for?”

“Guarantee? There’s no such thing. Just know this. Do not think of betraying me. And our alliance lasts only until Jamon is defeated.”

“Good. Then we’ll be competing to take the Demon King’s life.”

“For now, we change locations.”

“Pfft. Jamon. He’s running as fast as he can. Alright.”

“Then…….”

****

“Keruu….. Jong Ho.”

“Hm?”

“What time did Min-Cheol say he’d be back? Is it not time yet?”

“How many times are you going to ask me. Over an hour at the least.”

“Kehel…. Wouldn’t be a good idea to try detecting Min-Cheol’s magical energy?”

“Hm…. Your ability isn’t something that you can constantly use. Be patient for a bit longer. He’ll be here soon.”

“Kehmuru……”

“Instead of worrying about that, focus on the magical energies near you if you want to avoid getting done in like the last time.”

“I got it. Kel?”

“What is it? Who is coming?”

“Min-Cheol is coming! Kerururu… Keheck?”

“Why? Why are you being so surprised that Min-Cheol is coming?”

“Keh….. Be…. Bel…. Belkoseu!”

“What do you mean? Are you saying that Min-Cheol and Belkoseu are coming together?”

“Keck! Kurk! Kurk!”

Karin began to hiccup due to being so nervous.

Jong Ho could only look at him with worry filling his eyes.

A few moments later….

“I think they’re here?”

“Kuhuck! Kurk!”

“Shit…. What is that…..”

I saw Min-Cheol walking towards us from far away.

However, he wasn’t alone.

Next to him was a man in black armor and cape walking alongside him.

Jong Ho immediately called for Karin.

“Karin. Are you sure that the person next to him is Belkoseu?”

“Kurk! That’s right. Kurk!”

“Just what is he thinking…..?”

Without any concern towards how surprised Jong Ho and Karin was, Min-Cheol walked up to the Immortal Knight Belkoseu without a care in the world.

Jong Ho followed his instincts and prepared to fight.

Monsters were akin to dolls for humans in terms of trust.

However, the aura Belkoseu carried felt bad enough for him to be on edge.

Min-Cheol spoke up.

“Did I keep you waiting for long? Thankfully it ended earlier than I thought.”

“……”

“What’s wrong?”

“Kurk! Mi… Min-Cheol. Next to you……”

“Ah, Belkoseu? He’ll be accompanying us for awhile.”

“What? Do you know how crazy you sound right now?”

“Kuhu. You also carry a lot of magical energies…”

“…..”

“There’s no need to be on guard. I have agreed to an alliance with him. It won’t be a long one though.”

“Wait a moment. Min-Cheol, let us talk for a bit.”

“Alright.”

“Keheck! Kurk! Family! Me too. Let me in too. Take me with you.”

“Kuhuuu…..”

“There’s no need to be scared. It’s going to be okay, Karin.”

“Keheck!”

Leaving the trembling Karin behind, Jong Ho and I gathered at a place far away from Belkoseu.

Perhaps Jong Ho couldn’t believe what he was witnessing, because he asked me with a flabbergasted look on his face.

“How did it come to this?”

“As I said, we’ve formed an alliance.”

“Cast Silent.”

“…….”

A thin barrier formed to surround Min-Cheol and Jong Ho.

Silent, a skill that prevented sound from traveling outside, was casted.

Even though we were far away from Belkoseu, Jong Ho couldn’t hide his anxiety.

“Are you insane?”

“…….”

“Just what reason do you have for making an alliance with that monster…..”

“I couldn’t kill him.”

“What?”

“I couldn’t defeat him with Awakened skills.”

“This just gets better….”

“That’s why I thought we might as well make an alliance.”

“You should’ve just left him be! You should’ve just ran away at that point!”

“Hyungnim. At this rate, we don’t know when we can take down the demon king and return home. What Karin said about the endeavor taking over a hundred years as a joke might come to fruition. And even if we run away right now, the situation won’t change. We can slow down his growth, but we can’t stop it. It’s a problem that we’ll have to deal with at some point in order to gain complete dominion over the demonic realm.”

“Whew…. What did he want? Let’s hear it.”

“You can already guess. It’s magical energies.”

“What can we obtain from this?”

“Artifacts and jewels.”

“Min-Cheol. You need to think this through. That guy doesn’t die. We can’t kill him no matter what we do. But you’re going to help him grow stronger? To take down Jamon and Ladin? While we try to catch a cat, we can get bitten by a tiger!”

“I also thought that as well.”

“……”

“Hyung-nim. Did I already tell you that I’m sure of this?”

“You also said that your belief that he won’t revive was wrong.”

“……”

“Min-Cheol. I believe in you. I don’t think that you made the wrong decision.”

“……”

“You must have thought this through several times. But this, I cannot understand. Are you sure that I can trust in you?”

“There must be a way to defeat him. Until we find out how, let’s use him to our convenience.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. There definitely is. And I don’t plan to let him grow strong as the Demon King.”

“Of course.”

“It’ll be brief. Until then, we need to get as much as artifacts and jewels out of him.”

Jong Ho looked into Min-Cheol’s eyes for a long time.

He could not understand what Min-Cheol was thinking in the slightest.

However, since he had never let him down before, Jong Ho decided to follow him still.

Letting out a long sigh, Jong Ho spoke.

“Whew…… Alright, let’s do as you say.”

“Thank you, hyung-nim.”

“Tell him to immediately summon Lich Kings!”

“Pfft. I got your order. Let’s go!”

“Alright! I don’t know anymore! Whatever, let’s just do it!”