A Bottom-Tier Adventurer Devoted to Supporting Their Idol Activities: Every Time, They Offer Rare Materials and Stir Up the Elites - Episode 18: Roger VS Demon King

Episode 18: Roger VS Demon King

…It’s hot.

Like my face is being blasted by scorching wind.

I hurriedly opened my eyes and found myself leaning against the trunk of a massive tree. Right… I had taken out a ton of monsters and passed out from exhaustion. Might’ve accidentally slept for two days.

I absentmindedly stared up at the sky.

Still hot. Of course—it made sense.

There was a towering pillar of fire right in front of me.

The flaming column twisted upward. It was stretching from the earth to the heavens. Magic, probably. Someone’s.

I kept watching it for a while, until the pillar of fire lost its strength and eventually disappeared.

I circulated magic through my eyes to enhance them. I then looked down at the ground. Multiple charred corpses. Looked like someone was cremating them. Huh. Didn’t know there were cremation services… in the middle of the forest.

“Perfect.”

Might as well have them dispose of the corpses in my backpack too. None of them are tasty monsters anyway.

I grabbed the backpack I had hanging from a branch, opened the mouth of it downward, and began imagining only the monsters I didn’t need. One by one, I dropped their bodies to the ground. I was adjusting it so they’d pile into a neat heap.

After all, burning everything in one pile is more efficient.

Once I’d emptied out all the useless corpses, I channeled magic into my legs—

—and leapt down from the tree.

*BOOM!*

A loud crash echoed and the forest trembled.

Oops. Did I scare the cremator?

“…Huh?”

The cremator had pointed ears and a hawk-like nose. His skin was green—Goblin-esque. But the most notable feature was that his face had no eyes. Seriously creepy. Definitely a monster. A unique one, too. Maybe even…

Anyway, let’s try talking.

“Good evening~”

The eyeless freak just faced me, silent. Almost like… he could see me.

“Oh, did I surprise you? Since it looked like you were burning corpses, I figured I’d ask you to do mine too. I’ll pay, so could you cremate these monster corpses for me?”

The creepy guy’s face twisted. Deep wrinkles were forming.

“Who… are you? Was it you who took the lives of my followers?”

He looked toward the heap of monster corpses.

“Yeah, that was me. So who’re you supposed to be?”

“I… am the King. One blessed by the Evil God.”

Yes!

Rare monster encounter! Gotta get my hands on some rare materials no matter what…!

Judging from that flame pillar earlier, this guy’s probably a magic type. I’ll take him out with pure melee. He looks soft—I won’t need a sword.

I channeled magic through both legs and took a stance.

With a *BOOM*, I kicked off the ground and closed the distance between us.

Right there in front of me was the eyeless green face. Flat and uncanny.

“Ha!”

I swung my right arm lightly and clenched my fist only at the moment of impact. I infused it with magic. Stronger. Faster. Imagining explosive force.

“[Absorb].”

The Demon King muttered something weird as he caught my punch with his right palm. Ordinarily, his whole arm should’ve been blown off. But the impact was nullified. He was gripping my fist, suppressing it.

“[Release].”

Quietly, the Demon King touched me with his left hand and murmured another strange word.

Instantly, a violent shockwave exploded through my body.

“Gah!”

Something hard slammed into my back and a clot of bl00d surged up my throat. Looked like I got hit with my own punch. I was sent flying into a tree—thanks to the Demon King’s bizarre skill.

“Fufufu… Is that all, human?”

The Demon King grinned with his eyeless face. Still creepy. I need to turn him into crafting materials ASAP.

“‘Absorb’ and ‘Release,’ huh? So it’s a counter-focused skill?”

“How many things do you think I’ve absorbed… until now?”

He raised his left hand toward me and whispered:

“[Release].”

Suddenly, dozens of arrows shot toward me.

“Tch!”

I forced my aching body to move, infused my legs with magic, and dodged sideways—barely making it. But the Demon King didn’t relent. Every time he whispered [Release], arrows, spears, swords, spells—all kinds of attacks came flying at me.

…Okay. I underestimated him.

I hate to admit it, but I suck at dealing with continuous saturation attacks. In short, this was bad.

I’d have to change tactics.

While dodging the projectiles, I took a magic stone out of my backpack, charged it with magic, and hurled it toward the Demon King. At the same time, I used my legs again to close the gap.

The moment the magic stone exploded, the Demon King raised his right hand and used [Absorb]. At that same moment, I launched a kick at his left side.

The Demon King raised his left leg to block it. Tougher than I thought.

But… no [Release] this time.

Huh. I see how it is… He can’t use [Absorb] and [Release] at the same time, can he?

I backed off with a step and took out three more magic stones from my backpack. I charged them all and threw them like explosive grenades. At the same time, I rushed in again.

The Demon King absorbed the chain explosions with [Absorb] and focused on defending against my melee.

I followed the plan and swung my right arm. The Demon King dodged and pointed the eye in his left palm at me. The eye grinned.

“[Release].”

“Guh…!”

A sword fired from his left hand pierced my abdomen.

So he can use both [Absorb] and [Release] at the same time…

Guess that was just a bluff earlier.

But I wasn’t trying to win with brute force anyway. My goal was to get close—to touch him when he thought I was done for.

I grabbed his outstretched left wrist and focused on the magic flowing through him.

It was immense—like a swirling storm. Mishandle it even a little, and it’d explode.

“What are you—!?”

“Go ahead. Go berserk.”

I manipulated the magic inside his body and directed it toward his eyeless head. I was spinning it up to a dangerous level. Immediately, his head began to glow bluish-white.

“Pop.”

*BOOM!*

Right as I whispered it, the Demon King’s head exploded.

His body collapsed to the ground, muscles spasming rhythmically—no longer receiving commands from the missing brain.

I pulled the sword from my belly and took out a proper high-grade potion from my backpack, healing my wound.

“Alright then…”

Looking around, I spotted three burned human bodies besides the Demon King’s corpse. Judging from their gear, they were adventurers.

“Guess I’ll try that thing.”

I pulled out the sketchy new potion I got from the old lady at the apothecary and poured it over the three fallen adventurers.

It worked like a charm—their burns healed, and they began breathing again.

Looks like they were still alive after all.

“Lero lero lero lero…”

“Yep. They’re high as hell.”

Leaving the babbling adventurers alone, I approached the now-dead Demon King’s corpse.

“The rare part’s gotta be… those hands, right?”

I drew a short sword from my waist and chopped off both of the Demon King’s wrists.

The eyes on the palms had closed their lids. I swiftly packed both hands into my backpack.

“Alright, time to bounce.”

Sensing people approaching, I promptly left the scene.