The Greatest Estate Developer - Chapter 398: The Final Attempt (3)

It hurts.

Who was it that said sacrifice is noble?

“That’s ridiculous, really.”

Javier chuckled to himself without realizing it.

Now that he found himself in this situation.

Bleeding for someone else.

The word “sacrifice” seemed like a joke.

“It just hurts. A lot.”

His left shoulder was burning.

No, it felt like it was being scorched by fire and crushed by a hammer.

Beside him, Lloyd’s face turned pale.

His eyes were wide open, as if he were about to shout something.

But the words seemed stuck in his throat, his mouth agape in shock.

Was he that surprised?

“I’m sorry, Lord Lloyd.”

Squelch!

The tip of the scythe that had pierced through his shoulder retracted.

The wound that the blade had carved out filled with blood.

It spilled out.

His chest was soaked in dark red in an instant.

But he couldn’t collapse or even kneel.

He held on.

“…Why?”

The fake Lloyd barely managed to ask him.

Seeing that expression made him chuckle again.

“I tried to deflect the scythe, but I failed. I struck it with my sword, but it didn’t work. All I managed to do was slightly reduce the force. If I hadn’t, you would have been impaled, Lord Lloyd.”

Blood gushed out.

But there was no time to focus on the pain.

“This is enough for me. Lord Lloyd, please… be safe.”

“Hey, wait a minute…”

He gripped his sword.

Turned his body.

Swung it.

Whoosh—!

He put all his weight behind it.

Poured all the aura he had left into it.

Squeezed every last drop of mana from his body.

The force was less than half of what it normally would be.

But it didn’t matter.

“Even just once!”

If he could land a hit on the King of Hell.

If it meant there was a chance for Lord Lloyd to survive.

Boom!

His sword was blocked.

The shock reverberated through his left shoulder.

Blood spurted out again.

But the hand holding the sword grew even more relentless.

“Hmph!”

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

With all his soul.

With everything he had.

He thrust, slashed, swung, and struck.

Twisted, cut, deflected, and stabbed.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Sparks exploded in his vision.

Each time, shockwaves pummeled his entire body.

His mind became hazy.

Fear occasionally swept over him.

It felt like both his body and soul were being battered.

But no matter how overwhelming the despair and fear that engulfed him.

He never let go of his sword.

He swung it even harder.

He vowed that he would rather die here than retreat.

If that meant the fake could be safe.

He was willing to do so.

That would be enough.

That would be sufficient.

More relentlessly.

More fiercely.

Until the very end.

Until his last breath.

Even if he shattered and broke in the process.

He kept clashing.

Clashed even harder.

Clashed again.

Crash! Crash! Crash! Clang! Clang!

The countless impacts shook his entire body.

His mind became more frequently hazy.

His vision went black.

Then it turned white again.

The world flickered.

It must have happened dozens of times.

Then, at some point, he felt a lightness in his entire body.

Whir—!

Without realizing it.

In the midst of extreme concentration and pushing past his limits.

The fourth circle around his heart began to awaken.

Whoosh—!

The flow of his aura turned into a rapid torrent.

Undergoing a different level of amplification, it surged through his entire body.

For the first time, he managed to push back the King of Hell’s scythe.

Thwack!

“Hmm?”

The King of Hell’s eyes wavered slightly.

But that wasn’t the end.

The wave of change that began in Javier’s chest grew even stronger.

The limits of his body.

The boundary of his mind.

The extremity of his will.

Through his being.

Through his flesh.

All the barriers were breaking down.

Whoosh—!

The fifth circle roared to life.

All 60 trillion mana hearts spread throughout Javier’s body resonated in unison.

The combined five circles responded to the resonance.

The ground under his feet was also enveloped in aura.

The King of Hell chuckled.

“Do you think this will change anything?”

As if to respond to his mocking laughter.

The sixth circle blazed like a flash of light.

Screech—!

Every cell in his body awakened.

The 60 trillion mana hearts within the nuclei of his cells roared.

Amplified six times through the six circles.

The aura, amplified to 2 sextillion 799 quintillion 360 trillion, fused through his heart.

Every cell went wild.

Every nerve sparked.

Every blood vessel screamed.

It raced, leaped, charged without hesitation, smashed, pierced, advanced.

Thunk—!

The upper body of the King of Hell, which had blocked the slash, shook.

A warlike smile spread across the King of Hell’s face.

“Good… Ugh!”

Slice!

With a single strike, one of the King of Hell’s legs flew off.

Of course, the King of Hell didn’t just take it.

Whoosh!

The scythe aimed for Javier’s neck as it flew.

The wand sliced through the air as if to pierce his chest.

But Javier was no longer there.

Faster than the wind.

More stealthily than a ghost.

With a single step, he moved behind the King of Hell.

“Huh?”

Sensing the chilling intent to kill, the King of Hell immediately reacted.

Swish!

A flash of light flickered from the sky.

A meteor descended from orbit.

But…!

Javier’s sword brutally slashed through the space.

The meteor, rushing at over Mach 25, collided with his blade.

In that instant, tens of thousands of strands of aura exploded from Javier’s sword.

Boom!

The physical shockwave from the collision.

The massive shockwave that was about to spread across the area.

The overwhelming radiative heat energy that threatened to engulf everything.

All of it was swept away by the explosive outburst of aura.

It had no effect on the ground or the surroundings, instead dissipating into the sky as it scattered.

Meanwhile, Javier remained unaffected by any shock.

Rather, he used the recoil from the impact to his advantage.

“…!”

Swish!

There was no loud sound.

It moved smoothly, like sliding.

Fiercer and cleaner than a beast.

It moved between spaces, between gaps in the air.

“Huh?”

The moment the King of Hell flinched.

Thunk!

The left side of the ruler of Hell was shattered into thousands of pieces.

The wand was smashed to bits.

Only the right half of his body remained intact.

Barely managing to swing the scythe in retaliation.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The scythe, with a three-meter handle and blade, spun wildly.

It swept through every direction like a storm.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Javier’s relentless sword strikes clashed hundreds of times with the King of Hell’s scythe.

In that brief moment, the King of Hell, who had instantly regenerated his left side, tried to counterattack.

Swish!

The mana in the area warped.

All the air within the vicinity turned into the infernal flames of hell.

Flares, thousands of degrees hot, comparable to the surface of the sun, engulfed Javier.

But Javier didn’t panic.

His response was simple.

He withdrew his sword for a moment.

Concentrated his power.

Slashed horizontally.

Slash—!

The air was cut.

The space was split.

A momentary void in the space appeared.

The flares were trapped in the absolute void.

They were crushed before they could even release their radiative heat.

The King of Hell’s eyes wavered at this blatant defiance of physical laws.

“What the…?”

But the King of Hell had no time to figure it out.

Because Javier immediately charged at him.

Crunch!

“…!”

Javier’s longsword stopped right in front of the King of Hell’s face.

He barely managed to block it.

It was unbelievable.

“Can a human really become this strong?”

Of course, the ruler of Hell knew very well how extraordinary a swordsman Javier was.

But he thought that was all there was to it.

He believed that, after all, Javier was still human.

That he could never surpass the biological limits of his kind.

He was certain of it, and he had confirmed it.

But looking at him now?

That wasn’t the case.

“This guy, he’s become a completely different being from before.”

A chill ran down his spine.

If he had been in his true form.

If he had been bound by the laws of death?

“It would have been incredibly dangerous to face him.”

It certainly would have been.

No matter how powerful he was.

He would have had to engage in battle, prepared to take damage.

But not now.

“It was wise to come as an avatar.”

The King of Hell inwardly breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

The body offered for his descent was that of a lich.

Which meant he was an immortal being.

“Javier Asrahan. No matter how wildly you rampage, no matter how much you throw everything into this fight, you might break and tear me apart, but you can never kill me. Nor can you defeat me.”

No matter how many times he was broken and shattered.

No matter how many times he was cut and crushed.

He was an immortal being.

He would never die.

Any damage would be restored in an instant.

So no matter how formidable Javier Asrahan became, no matter how fiercely he charged at him, there was nothing he could do to change the outcome.

That fact delighted the King of Hell.

That was why, even as he endured Javier’s breathless onslaught, even as he was slashed repeatedly by the sword and cut by the aura, even as he was pierced by the blasts, the King of Hell remained unfazed.

Instead, he enjoyed it.

Watching Javier’s desperate efforts.

Seeing his struggle to win.

Like a spectator toying with him, he regenerated his body over and over again.

As if daring him to try again.

Deliberately taking hits.

And then regenerating his body once more.

Occasionally, he even unleashed powerful spells.

Just to keep things interesting.

To push him further.

As if playing with an ant he’d caught.

Looking down on the ant that tried so hard to bite his finger.

He would drop a meteor, ignite a flare, fire a gravity orb, and unleash the curse of the damned.

Of course, Javier withstood all these trials and assaults.

He charged at him even more fiercely.

Like a resilient toy.

Like a punching bag that refused to break, no matter how much he was tossed around.

He showed an indomitable spirit that delighted the King of Hell.

But even that fighting spirit had its limits.

“I’m… bleeding too much…”

As the battle continued beyond the limits of human endurance.

Javier’s breathing became visibly ragged.

Slowly, but surely.

At an accelerating pace.

His stamina was depleted.

No matter how grand a master he was.

Even if he had opened the Hexa Circle.

It wasn’t enough to handle a pierced shoulder and the massive blood loss.

No, just being able to fight this long was already a miracle.

Splurt!

Once more, as Javier tried to spur his attack, blood spurted from his left shoulder.

Javier’s face grew even paler.

His movements noticeably slowed.

But Javier didn’t stop.

“Not yet, not yet…”

It wasn’t over.

Lloyd had not regained consciousness.

So he needed to hold on a bit longer.

He had to buy more time.

So that Lloyd could live.

That was his job.

“So, please…”

Just a little longer.

Don’t collapse now.

He etched his determination into himself.

But determination alone wasn’t enough.

His physical limits gripped him more cruelly.

The more he used and amplified his mana heart.

The more fiercely he moved.

His heart pounded harder and faster.

The bleeding worsened accordingly.

Finally, all color drained from Javier’s face.

His lips turned pale, almost white.

But even then, Javier did not stop.

“Please…”

He took a step.

Raised his sword.

Advanced toward the King of Hell.

Drawing the shortest line, he slashed downward.

But unfortunately, the movement was too slow.

And weak.

Thud.

The sword, without a trace of aura.

Fell feebly against the King of Hell’s shoulder.

“Is that it?”

A blatant sneer spread across the King of Hell’s lips.

Javier didn’t answer.

Instead, he lifted his sword again.

Like that distant day in his childhood, when he first learned swordsmanship.

At the boundary of consciousness and unconsciousness, he instinctively raised his sword.

Once more, he slowly brought it down.

But the motion remained incomplete.

Boom—!

The King of Hell’s kick slammed into Javier’s abdomen.

“…!”

Javier was flung back without even a scream.

Rolling across the ground several times, he collapsed in a bloody heap.

“Gah! Urgh, gah!”

He needed to stand up.

But his body wouldn’t obey.

He crawled.

Used his sword to push himself up.

Tried to muster strength in his legs.

But then, a foreboding shadow fell over his face.

He lifted his head.

He saw it.

“Well fought. I’ll make you the leader of my Hell Knights after your death.”

The King of Hell had his scythe poised.

He swung it without hesitation, aiming straight for Javier’s neck.

He couldn’t dodge or block it.

He had failed.

This was the end.

His struggle.

Everything, up to this point.

The moment he realized this, he muttered a final wish like a dying testament.

“Lord Lloyd. Please, be safe…”

Sorry for not being able to protect you longer.

This seems to be as far as I can go.

As he thought this.

The scythe came slicing through the air.

And then, suddenly, a dark silhouette blocked his view.

Thud!

“…!”

There was no time to block it.

No chance to stop it.

A hot liquid splattered on his face.

It wasn’t a sound that came from his body.

It wasn’t blood that flowed from him.

Unconsciously, he murmured.

“…Lord Lloyd?”

Lloyd had somehow leapt in front of him.

Pierced through the chest by the scythe.

Smiling at him calmly.

“Why are you crying like that, looking so pitiful?”

“What… Lord Lloyd?”

“This was always the plan. I told you not to cry… didn’t I?”

“But…”

“Thanks to you, I managed to pull this off.”

“L-Lord Lloyd?”

He didn’t understand what Lloyd was saying.

Why he was smiling like that.

What he had managed to succeed in doing.

He wanted to ask.

But there was no time.

Lloyd’s eyes quickly grew dim.

The vitality drained from the smile he had just moments ago.

His head slumped powerlessly.

His last breath escaped him.

Just like that, the young master he had served died right before his eyes.

“…Wait.”

This can’t be.

It’s a lie.

It shouldn’t be this way.

This wasn’t the ending he wanted.

So, please. Just once. Just a little.

“Lord Lloyd!”

He wanted to stand up.

He wanted to reach out.

To grab the man who had just died.

To shake him awake if he could.

But it was impossible.

Standing up.

Reaching out.

Grabbing and shaking him.

He had to realize he could do none of it.

Clang!

The King of Hell dropped the scythe.

It tumbled to the ground, still skewering Lloyd’s corpse.

And the King of Hell stood tall.

Casting a dark shadow over him.

Savoring the joy of having finally achieved his goal.

Looking down at him with a sense of dominance.

As if mocking him that it was now his turn.

“I’ll skewer you with this.”

He raised the newly formed wand.

Aimed at his chest.

A deranged glint in his eyes as he smiled.

At that moment.

Suddenly.

“Should I spill a little secret? You can’t recover from wounds inflicted by your own weapon, can you?”

A voice came from behind the King of Hell.

At the same time, a hand reached from behind the King of Hell.

It grabbed his neck and body.

Before the King of Hell could react.

Pulled him close. Hugged him tight.

Thud!

A large scythe burst through the King of Hell’s chest.

Over the King of Hell’s shoulder, Lloyd grinned with a fierce smile.

“Ah, I finally got it right this time.”