Every monster in the army aside from Gustav had been divided into groups to clear this fabricated world. To that end, only a portion of the army had slammed into Jinguuji’s group. However, Gustav’s numbers were on a different level. The entire army numbered around a thousand, whereas Gustav numbered around seven hundred. All seven hundred tripdrills had surged into this area at once.
Kudou Riku left just enough subordinates behind to stall Hibiya Kouji, then quickly retreated. The majority of the tripdrills that made up Gustav weren’t under his control, so they naturally attacked his other monsters too. Kudou Riku dominated any who got close to him to create a safe zone, but it was impossible for him to do the same for all his forces in the area, who numbered over a hundred. To avoid friendly fire, he had to withdraw for now.
After the terrifying violence of numbers passed, Kudou Riku returned. The forest was scarred by the stampede. Tripdrill corpses with strangely smooth cross sections lay on the ground. Looking up at the large eagle monster flying overhead, Kudou Riku ordered the wolf he was riding to head to the landing point. There was a large pool of blood in front of the eagle. The wolf sniffed, then howled.
“My king, it seems that man has suffered a serious wound,” Dora said.
Kudou Riku nodded. “Seems so. I don’t see a corpse, though...” He narrowed his eyes. “We failed to kill him. Well, whatever.”
Judging by the amount of blood, he wasn’t in a state to move around much. This wasn’t something he could recover from after some rest, so it would be impossible for him to get out of this world filled with traps and guardian giants. Considering the danger in this world, it was highly likely he would die if left alone. Even if he didn’t, if he had no way out of here, Kudou Riku could just come back to kill him later. Disconnecting himself from his fury with calculated logic, he quickly made his decision.
“First, let’s chase Jinguuji. We can take our time to finish the Absolute Blade af—”
“M-My king?!”
Kudou Riku hunched over in the middle of speaking, nearly falling off the wolf. Dora ran over and supported him in a fluster.
“It seems I pushed myself a little too far...”
He couldn’t put any strength into his body. Much like his already-dead arm, other parts of his body were reaching their limit. Kudou Riku’s power came from his despair at his lack of power. Because of that, his strength as the Demon King actually weakened him.
Before coming here, he’d anticipated this would be the decisive battle and had acquired even more subordinates. Thanks to that, despite expending some of his forces making his way through these fabricated worlds, he still had plenty left. In exchange for surpassing his limits, he’d damaged his own body enough that the end was near. His gaze suddenly shifted to the Mad Beast. Even this powerful monster couldn’t get away unscathed in a battle against the Absolute Blade. It was bleeding all over.
“You did well.”
The beast remained silent.
“But we don’t have much time. The end may be near. I don’t know what shape it’ll take, though...”
There was obviously no reply. He should’ve known that, but the boy stared deep into the mindless beast’s eyes as if there was something there.
“You give it some thought too. Before time runs out, that is.”
“My king...?” Dora raised her voice in confusion.
“It’s nothing,” the boy said, shrugging. “Now then, shall we?”
He was reaching his physical limit, but that was no reason to stop. His journey had been a one-day trip to ruin from the very beginning. The Army of Darkness obeyed his command and began marching deeper into the fabricated world.