What if you are reborn as a demon after a funeral?

...In fact, it wasn't that he didn't want to retreat; it was just that this was the first time he had used his gravity lightning, which he had painstakingly developed by combining gravity magic from the mythological era, in actual combat.

The result was that he stepped on it too hard and it went all the way into the ground, but his body hadn't adjusted yet, so he couldn't pull it out at all!

After all, the ground, compacted by gravity, is even more solid than concrete; it's a testament to his strong physique that his feet didn't rot away.

Fortunately... as his body leaned back, his head luckily avoided a head injury, just like a watermelon in summer.

But before Ash could even feel fortunate, Bazart on the other side was also full of surprise.

Although he had no idea why his sword had suddenly become much heavier and even difficult to control, he knew it must have been done by this "human".

"Whether you're a mage or a warrior! Today—you'll all be dead!!"

Having failed in another attack, Bazart, whose eyes flashed with cruelty and arrogance, decided to go all out. He suddenly stepped onto the ground and charged into the area of ​​abnormal gravity. With a heavy rumble like a heavily armored tank, he swung his greatsword diagonally towards him like a tornado.

But just as he got close enough, the weight on his body and the weight applied to the blade suddenly disappeared, causing the blade to whistle past Ash's head as he charged straight at him with his body lowered.

Ash himself simply slipped under the blade, and before he could react, he flew past his feet in an instant, leaving a trail of blood in his wake.

Bazart felt the pain in his heel a moment later, which made him widen his eyes in surprise.

But he had barely noticed the tiny wound when he turned away. The blood that had seeped out of the insignificant wound, under the influence of the returning gravity, gushed out like water from a tap that had been turned on.

The heavy armor on his body exacerbated the pain in his wounds, causing him to momentarily kneel down.

This situation left Bazart utterly shocked.

Because he simply couldn't imagine that a mage could simultaneously display both impressive melee combat skills and bizarre magic, even to the point of making him kneel down.

Although it was completely unexpected, is it really possible for a mage to do something like this?

Before he could figure this out, Ash charged forward again with his sword drawn, and halfway there, gravity disappeared once more.

It was this constantly changing process that made him realize... that the other party seemed to need some time to switch between these two states, and he narrowed his eyes slightly.

The next moment, he swung his greatsword, sweeping across the earth with a deafening roar, stirring up a thick cloud of dust that completely enveloped Ash and his vision.

And the enormous blade, in the next instant, broke through the sandstorm and slashed horizontally towards the approaching person.

Ash reacted so quickly that he was somewhat complacent after his initial success, thinking that his opponent would retreat rather than attack. He was caught off guard and instinctively swung his sword back to try to block.

However, the hasty defensive swing seemed somewhat inadequate compared to the giant's clearly charged strike.

With a heavy thud, he was sent flying, the strong wind whistling past his ears as he arced through the air, crashing into a building wall not far away. The impact even pierced through the wall of the dilapidated stone house, causing him to disappear from everyone's sight.

........................

Ash seemed to be finished, but no one at the scene was paying attention to his condition, or rather, no one had the energy to do so.

The scene was filled with shouts of battle, but in reality, the battle between the demons and the elves, except for Frilian and Millie, was basically one-sided, so the air was filled with roars and the screams of people on the verge of death.

The elves had no energy left, and Bazart was too lazy to deal with them for the time being. He rushed over and swung his sword fiercely in front of the stone house.

In an instant, the entire wall of the stone house crumbled and disintegrated. The already dilapidated stone house collapsed as it lost a wall.

Just as Bazart was about to lose sight of him completely amidst the billowing dust, he wildly swung his sword and killed him in the sandstorm.

But before he could strike again with his sword, the sand and flying debris were suddenly controlled by an inexplicable force, momentarily suspended in mid-air, and then...

boom! ! !

The powerful repulsive force caused sand and gravel to scatter like shrapnel in his direction, catching him off guard and forcing him to take the hit head-on.

Sand and gravel pelted the armor with a crackling sound, but had no effect whatsoever. However, the holes in the mask were drilled precisely.

"All you do is play petty tricks—!" Bazart, in pain, couldn't open his eyes for a moment, but out of vigilance, he didn't move. Instead, he swung his longsword haphazardly on the spot, preventing Ash from getting close.

But he didn't intend to get close. He flicked his wrist and threw his general's sword into the sky. Then, purple lightning gathered in his hand and he slammed it into the ground with a palm strike.

The lightning bolt, like a python, writhed and sped toward the stationary giant.

Wherever the purple lightning passed, the ground cracked and shattered, leaving scorch marks all over the ground, and in the blink of an eye, it wrapped around the giant's body.

Maximum gravity is applied at this instant.

The earth groaned in despair, and the ground within a three-meter radius automatically sank. The giant in the center, whose legs were damaged, could not withstand the even stronger and more concentrated gravity than before. As blood spurted from his feet, he was forced to kneel on the ground.

The moment his knees hit the ground, the abnormal gravity, combined with his massive size and heavy armor, caused the ground to collapse more than a meter deep, unable to support his knees.

The body was injured, and the abnormal gravity caused the ground beneath the feet to be crushed.

This put Bazart in a similar predicament to Ash's inability to pull his leg out, and he couldn't even stand up, only managing to stay upright.

The Burial of Frilian: A Thousand Years Later: Chapter Twenty-Three Thank You, You Terrible Guy

Faced with the predicament of not being able to pull their feet out of the ground, Ash was merely frustrated, but Bazart reacted as if he had suffered a great humiliation:

"—I'll kill you... I absolutely must kill you! Human!!"

"Ah~ wait a minute." Looking up at the location of the sword blade, Ash brushed the dust off his clothes, smiled and shook his head: "You probably have a slight misunderstanding."

"what?"

"Actually, I am a demon."

"....What?"

With no one else around, Ash told the truth with a smile, which made Bazart instinctively pause, even suspecting that he was lying to him.

But before he could voice his question, Ash pointed to the sky: "Look?"

"Ok?"

He subconsciously looked up and saw a silver object falling straight down towards him at high speed.

The speed was frighteningly fast; it must have been propelled quite a height by the repulsive force, and then affected by gravity.

However, faced with this blade falling from the sky, Bazart had no way to dodge it at this moment. He instinctively felt as if his heart had been grabbed, and his pupils suddenly shrank.

But before he could even see what it was and lower his head, the rapidly falling blade, accompanied by dazzling sparks, pierced through his helmet and stabbed into his forehead.

Blood instantly gushed from all parts of the helmet, and the massive body swayed before collapsing with a thud in the next instant.

This scene brought a satisfied smile to Ash's face: "I was originally thinking that if things didn't work out, I would have to stall for time and fight a war of attrition, but the effect is surprisingly good."

If the blade had been inserted a little less deeply, the two would probably have been locked in a stalemate.

This made him determined to buy a greatsword someday.

As he collapsed, Bazart's consciousness rapidly melted away, but even in the end... he still couldn't figure out whether Ash was human or a demon.

But Ash didn't look at him again. After making up his mind to buy the greatsword, he converted his magic and swung the sword at the remaining demons in the area.

Although they were of the same race, just as humans would kill each other, demons killed each other as easily as humans did, and no demon felt any psychological burden about it... And now, at least he recognized these elves.

Ultimately, not all demons are loyal to the Demon King, and those who are forced to be loyal... the vast majority are simply acting out of desperation, driven by fear, because demons are essentially only loyal to themselves.

Many powerful demons, having already achieved sufficient strength, are completely indifferent to the existence of a demon king or their race, as the social structure of the demon race dictates that their racial consciousness is extremely weak.

..........................

When the shouts of battle in the village finally subsided, the demons' night raid came to an end, but flames and smoke still lingered throughout the village.

Since nothing is left after a demon dies, the ground is basically covered with the corpses of elves lying haphazardly.

The surviving villagers all had very grim expressions, but surprisingly, none of them broke down in tears; in fact, they were calmer than he had imagined.

"...They all seem as cold and aloof as demons. Are they a peaceful version of demons?"

Ash, who was usually somewhat saddened by the death of someone he knew, walked beside the body and couldn't help but sigh as he looked at Frillie, who was staring blankly at her companion's corpse.

This made Frilian look up and give him a disapproving look: "...Are you prepared to get beaten up for saying this at a time like this?"

"Don't misunderstand, I was just simply expressing my thoughts. I didn't expect you to hear me even though I was speaking so softly. I wouldn't normally say such things in front of others."

“It’s even worse when people talk about it behind your back.”

"Fine, so do you want to commit violence against me, the benefactor who just helped you? If you can do it, then I'll admire you. Go ahead and do it."

"poor."

"...I just helped you, didn't I?"

"Thanks, you wretched fellow, but I'm not in the mood to chat with you right now." Frilian looked at the corpses of her companions around her, her eyes drooping wearily.

Millie, whose arm was still bleeding profusely but had been temporarily bandaged, approached with a sigh and asked, "My arm is still bleeding. It's only temporarily bandaged."

"This village is no longer viable; it's about time we moved elsewhere... What are your plans?"

"...So that's what you're thinking about now? You're even worse than me." Ash stared blankly at Millie, who shrugged: "There's nothing I can do. Everyone's so cold. The only person I'm really familiar with is Frilian."

“…I see.”

Isn't this just a peaceful version of the demon race? — This time, he finally didn't voice his true feelings, but instead sighed at the elves' indifference.

After calming down a bit, and thinking about how Celia also didn't care about her own kind, he stopped worrying about it. He glanced at the corpses around him and suggested, "Anyway... before we move to a new place, let's deal with these corpses first."

"That's all we can do for now."