## Chapter 918 – Otherworld Dungeon

Remains.

It was truly remains.

The corpse of the monster king, its head severed, continuously spewed black blood, causing a flood. Indeed, its massive body held a fitting amount of blood.

“Is it… really dead?”

Aria said.

“It’s really dead.”

I said, grabbing the severed neck of the monster king’s head. This bastard was undoubtedly dead now.

“Wow, what a huge deal.”

It’s a damn big head, really.

In the end, our desperate fight managed to repel the invader from another world.

If a regular army had faced this, it would have been a literal catastrophe.

Risha-level magic hardly worked, and Karin-level powerhouses’ attacks were all absorbed by its supernatural shield. On top of that, its tentacles for dealing with armies regenerated like crazy while hunting. Not to mention its wide-area bombardment magic.

A warrior or mage with some skill could destroy these tentacles, but they would regenerate immediately. There was no fundamental solution.

You really needed to bring all sorts of equipment to take this down.

Manpower, equipment, talent, technology, wealth.

You had to use all of that to barely manage to catch it.

The royal knight order and the elven army here now could never have caught it. They weren’t an army organized to exterminate monsters. This kind of monster was definitely beyond standard.

Truly an otherworld being…

If it weren’t for us, the kingdom would have had to endure a considerable amount of bleeding, whatever it was. We nipped a major accident in the bud.

“Hilde.”
“Yes.”

I suddenly thought of something and asked Hilde.

“If a Great Demon descended with its full power, would it be similar to this?”
“I was thinking about that too… First of all, the durability of the body would be much weaker than this monster. Great Demons are ultimately beings with limits, so they can’t do this much. But…”

Hilde crossed her arms and narrowed her brow.

“Hmm…”

She paused for a moment as if contemplating.

“The destructive power would probably be incomparable. This monster king’s destructive power wasn’t that great, to be honest, right? It was just big and tough.”
“Hmm.”

The combat power of a Great Demon… That does seem likely.

Anyway, if the defense is low, then hits will land. So, assuming a regular army is facing it, it would be easier to catch than this monster king.

“Crazy.”

Still, it would be tough.

I put the head down and sat on it.
I used too much power and got exhausted.

“Haa…”
“Hoo…”

Karin and Liz also came and sat on either side of me.

“Anyway, I’m damn tired. What the hell, it’s not working even if I hit it like crazy. My pride is hurt, you know.”

Karin said, leaning her head on me.

Karin prides herself on being in the top ten or so in the kingdom, but this time she couldn’t land a single effective hit due to that shield.

Of course, her pride would be hurt.

“I’ll have to give you some intensive comforting when we get back.”
“Kyahehe, I’m looking forward to that.”

Karin laughed and rubbed her cheek against me.

“Excuse me, excuse me. Karin.”

As she was doing that, Liz covered her mouth slightly with her fingertips, smiled with her eyes, and leaned slightly to call Karin. Since she was sitting on either side of me, she had to lean over to see Karin.

“What.”

When Karin answered lowly.

“No. I just called you.”

Liz answered in a tone full of joy, as if she was in a good mood.

“I just… I just called you.”

It felt like teasing.

“I just called you. I’m telling you to answer that I just called you, Karin.”
“Ugh, this bitch. Why do you have such a confident expression?”

Karin frowned, realizing that Liz was teasing her. Liz was teasing Karin for not landing an effective hit.

She must be feeling good because she had some fun with my Gravitational Amplification.

“Well? I’m always confident.”
“…”
“Ah! This time, my contribution was huge! Ah, really! I suffered more than Karin!”

The moment Karin showed a sullen attitude, she revealed her true colors.

“Be quiet, you bitch…!”
“There’s no need to be embarrassed, Karin. It can’t be helped. It was just a matter of the direction of the technique, right?”
“Shut your mouth.”
“Oh my, Karin. Are you getting angry?”

Karin grimaced, but it only added to Liz’s enjoyment.

“…Who said I was angry.”
“Oh dear… Karin. That’s what I always say, right? Indeed, um. Yes. That’s exactly it. Should I call it a ‘Martial Artist’?”
“Wow, she’s being so sarcastic!!!”

Karin exploded and grabbed my shoulders, shaking me.

“Husband, stop her!!! I feel like I’m going to die from being teased!!!”
“Ugh.”
“Hehehe, ah. This is so much fun. You see, Karin. Swordsmen who only rely on weapons can’t help it. At some point, there’s a limit to their training. But what about martial artists? Because they don’t have weapons, there’s no limit to their training.”

Her face was full of smiles as she shook her head from side to side as if looking at something unavoidable.

“No, sis. You’re really good with weapons.”
“Gauntlets, claws, and knuckles don’t count as weapons.”

A cowardly martial artist…!

“So, Karin. If you only cling to weapons, you can’t get stronger…”
“That, that bitch is really…!”
“Okay, okay. I’ll stop.”

Liz waved her hand as if to say she would stop at Karin’s about-to-explode attitude, but at that moment Karin stood up.

“Ah! Ah, I’ll stop! Don’t get up!!! Ah, come on!! I’m tired now!!! I said I’d stop!! Why are you getting angry again!”

She answered urgently and started running away from Karin, and Karin chased her.

“Shut up! If it wasn’t for Claudie, you wouldn’t have been able to hit it at all!!”
“Yes! Because it’s true! I’m telling you not to follow me because it’s true!! Ah, really, you can’t take a joke!!!”
“What the hell are you talking about, saying that’s a joke!!”
“Kyaaaaak!!”

ㅡSplatter splatter!

They were running well even though the black blood that reached their ankles was splashing.

“Ah.”

But watching them is funny.

“Katt. Mama is tired too.”
“Come here.”

Claudie, who looked like she had used all her strength, sat on my lap.

“This is like Claudie made the wound and we caught it. Isn’t that right?”
“Hehehe, with just that? I only attacked twice. And I used up all my strength.”
“That’s the most important thing.”

We wouldn’t have been able to make a wound if it wasn’t for Claudie.

“Still… Taking the Spirit King’s heart helped. My mana increased more than before, yeah. I can deal with situations like this too.”
“I got a lot of help too. Did you see that earlier?”
“That weird continuous footwork? Hehehe, it was amazing. It was so fun to see the monster king falling because of that.”

Weird continuous footwork.

Claudie stretched and continued.

“Haa… If it was the old days, I would have avoided the opponent as soon as I saw them.”
“Can a believer of the Warrior God do that?”
“Because I was a believer of the Warrior God.”

Knowing your limits and dealing with them calmly is what makes a great warrior. Anyway, I put Claudie down and got up from my seat.

“This…”

The monster king’s head.

ㅡSparkle sparkle.

The head was wearing a sparkling crown and a pure white mask. It was obvious that it was a very valuable item. The crown, made of gold, was as big as a giant would wear, and it was studded with equally large jewels.

Who would have used this crown for what purpose?

Of course, I couldn’t think about wealth during the battle, so I just brushed it off… But the size of the palace, and the fact that the corridors were all huge, meant that the original owners of the palace might have been giants.

Such a giant race was defeated by these monsters…

“It is a very… interesting object.”

Risha said.

“I don’t know why the monster king is wearing this. I wonder what the reason is…”

She had a face as if she was looking at something very interesting.

“Risha, maybe this is a cursed item?”

Winia, who was standing next to her, also said with a suspicious face.

“A cursed item?”
“It’s a bit strange, isn’t it? A person suddenly transforming into a monster. Maybe wearing this crown caused the sudden transformation?”

That could be the case.
We should be careful when handling it.

“That’s a creepy story.”

Claudie rarely showed such a reaction.

“Maybe if you look at it, you can’t resist the urge to put it on your head… Is it like that? There are some plants that do that. If you smell them, you can’t resist the urge to eat them…”

Aria trailed off.

“Make?”
“They grow mushrooms inside. Mainly in the stomachs of monsters.”
“Oh my, shit.”

That’s scary.

“If that’s the case, we should break it.”

We have to break everything, regardless of value. If simply wearing a crown can turn you into a monster like this, it would be a very inhumane weapon. Let’s be careful when handling it and analyze it.

“And the mask is really bothering me. There’s no way the monsters would just be wearing it.”
“Things about the other world are unknown… It’s probably not very useful to think about it now. More than that, they’re starting to come.”

Aria answered at Winia’s words.
They’re starting to come.

“Katt. Look at those guys!!!”
“Yeah.”

It’s time for the guys who ran away to come back.

“Oh, oh oh oh!!! Look over there!!!”
“So much blood…!”
“Such a terrible being!!”

The elves, who had retreated once and belatedly ran back, cheered.

“The lord of the other world is dead!!!”
“The human paladin killed the lord of the other world!!!”
“Waaaaaaaah!!!!”
“Hooray!!”

These damn useless bastards.

Instead of bringing these kinds of guys to this kind of event, they should have brought the great warriors who protect the World Tree. That would have reduced the number of casualties among the elves.

In fact, if you just cut off the tentacles, you can reduce the damage itself.
It’s just that you have to keep cutting them off because they regenerate infinitely.

“This paladin killed the monster king of the other world!!!”

I shouted, looking at the cheering elves.

“The birth of the Elf Park Guardian!!!”

This is enough to be called the birth of the Park Guardian.

“Guardian’s birth!!”
“Waaaaah!!”
“The human paladin avenged the comrades…!”

The elves who were cheering came to me and thanked me.

“Thank you, human paladin. It was a strong monster that we could never have faced, but you managed to take care of it…”
“Indeed, he is an amazing warrior.”
“It’s ridiculous to pick a fight with such a warrior…!”

Did you just realize that, you damn useless bastards.

“How are the injured?”
“That is… critical. Those who were pierced through the chest did not survive. Above all, those who transformed into monsters…”
“It’s a terrible thing.”

Still, it’s a small damage because it appeared here, but it would have been a disaster if it had appeared in the royal army, which consists of regular soldiers without mana.

ㅡPaaat!

At that time, the royal knights ran from over there.

As soon as they came in, they were surprised to see the stream made of black blood, and then they were surprised to see the monster king’s corpse.

“Th, that…! Such a monster!!”
“An amazing monster…!”
“Indeed, the king of monsters!!!”

Naturally, exclamations poured out.

“Co, could it be!! Did the paladin-nim take care of it again!”
“I heard the elves ran away…”
“I heard you fought alone!!”

I nodded at that.

“As expected of the paladin-nim!!!”
“It’s like a hero in a story!!”

In fact, I didn’t do much.

Anyway, we undoubtedly did everything, so all the rights to his corpse belong to us. I should talk to the General about that.

ㅡTata tat!

At that time, the General ran over urgently.

“Pa, Paladin-nim…! What is this!!”
“As you can see, it was the king of monsters. A very powerful opponent.”
“Ah…!”

He was also shocked to see the corpse.

“There is no doubt that we killed it, General. You can rest assured now. The greatest threat has disappeared.”
“Haa… Th, this is how it’s resolved… Thank you! Thank you, Paladin-nim!!!”

Anyway, the problem has been solved, so he thanked me. Anyway, he won’t be blamed because he’s dead.

“Of course, I didn’t kill it alone. I killed it with my companions behind me.”
“Ah, are those the people over there… Are they magicians and warriors?”
“That’s right.”

Maybe the paladin order and other support troops will come soon. When they come, let’s hand over properly. We must properly inform them about the threat of the other world.

“General. I will take care of the corpse myself.”
“Ah… Yes. Please do so… It’s not a problem for me to say anything about.”
“Very good.”

Okay.

The elves wouldn’t claim ownership without any concept, and if the royal knights also let go, I can take care of everything without having to beat anyone up. I can’t give it up when I caught it while going crazy.

“But…”

Suddenly, I remembered the haunted house I went to last time. I think of it as a kind of otherworld dungeon.

It disappeared like a mirage when the situation ended.

ㅡOtherworld buildings sometimes disappear suddenly.

Maybe this place will be like that too.

Let’s retreat for now.

“General. I think it would be better to withdraw the troops and go outside.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I’ve had a similar experience before. I found a building that was presumed to be from another world… It suddenly disappeared at some point.”
“…!”

I didn’t say the ominous words that we would disappear somewhere strange if we were inside.

Honestly, if I sell that corpse to the magicians, I can get a huge price. So I want to organize that huge corpse first, but safety is the most important thing. I have no choice but to postpone it. More than anything, it’s a job to dismantle because it’s so big.

We retreated immediately.

Taking only the head with the crown and mask embedded in it.

And we saved the elves’ lives, so let’s talk to the elf commander about this. Originally, if you save someone’s life, it’s common sense to pay the price.