Chapter 29: Backlash

The two goblins were shocked, instantly looking behind them, only to see that the human kid had somehow already stood behind them, his aura still rising.

William has already devoured half of the massive demonic power that Demon King Kusala left inside his body; he vaguely felt his total magical power had reached the Moon's aptitude. You should know, magical aptitude doesn't increase linearly with absorbed magic—if magical power were likened to salt water, then magical aptitude would be the salt in that water. William hasn't increased his aptitude at all; the ratio of devoured magic to aptitude gain is roughly a hundred to one.

In the demon realm, the Demon King Castle of the Lust Demon Realm, Kusala, clad in red dragon-scale armor, sat high upon the throne, his right hand lazily propping his sharp melon-seed chin on the armrest, his legs casually crossed, as he leisurely listened to his subordinate demon generals report the day's work—every move he made was beautiful enough to make one's heart itch unbearably.

The demon generals all lowered their heads, kneeling before the throne in the great hall; even the demon general reporting work, aside from being called by name by Demon King Kusala, dared not raise his head, fearing that a moment's inattention would anger the Demon King and cost him his life.

They were all quite clever, knowing that Demon King Kusala lately would often smile for no reason; although this smile looks angelically beautiful to those unaware of his identity, they, having followed him for years, know that whenever he smiles, he definitely harbors murderous intent.

Actually, Demon King Kusala has been feeling quite good lately; she recently felt not just a trace but some of the magic she left inside William's body returning to her own, indicating that William must have encountered something that required him to use her magic to cope.

"Very well, keep using my power like this; when you've used enough of my power, I'll be able to find you again."

Kusala was feeling secretly pleased when a sudden strong magical backlash surged into her body; the demon core inside her suffered an unexplained backlash, the pain making her delicate body tremble as she almost fell from the throne.

The demon general reporting work below immediately shut his mouth; they all pressed their heads tightly to the ground, daring not to move. They didn't understand what had happened, but they could all sense that the Demon King's aura was in great disorder, as if he were injured.

After a while, the magical backlash inside Kusala finally ceased; although she didn't understand what had happened, she could feel that all the magic she had left inside William's body had completely lost connection with her, and her own strength had greatly diminished. She clenched her silver teeth against her coral-like lips, silently thinking, "William, you bastard, what exactly did you do?"

After an unknown amount of time, a demon general kneeling in the hall saw that Demon King Kusala had shown no movement; his eyes rolled around in their sockets as he suddenly asked, "Demon King Kusala, do you feel unwell?"

If William were to see him again, he would surely recognize the identity of the demon general who just spoke—the very demon general with massive bat wings who, when Demon King Kusala's army passed through Bigen Village in a past life, single-handedly slaughtered all the villagers of Bigen Village except William.

Kusala snapped coldly, "Does my body need your concern? Get out!"

The demon general immediately kowtowed, saying, "It was my impertinence; I deserve death; I'll get out now."

Having said that, he rolled repeatedly toward the hall's doors.

However, the junior generals present, including him, each had a thought after Kusala scolded him.

"The Demon King didn't even kill him? Could the Demon King really be seriously injured?"

Outside Bigen Village, in the forest, William used the Devour skill to completely absorb the magic that Kusala had left inside his body, raising his attribute level to twenty-three.

He had reached the same level as in his previous life, and his magical aptitude had risen from Star to Moon standard.

Feeling the long-lost power within him, William raised his sword with one hand, smiling as he waved at the two injured elite goblins before him, saying, "Come on, both of you at once, or you might not get another chance."

The two elite goblins heard and charged at William together; the lead goblin rushed forward, about to strike, when he saw the human kid step back with his right foot and lower his stance, shouting, "Two-Stage Thrust!"

Suddenly, the human kid shot forward like an arrow; the goblin in front panicked, hastily raising his blade to block, but seeing the kid about to pierce him with a sword, the kid vanished like a ghost from before his eyes.

Pfft!

A spray of blue blood jetted out; the goblin charging ahead was still pierced through by the opponent's sword, but the segment exposed in front of him turned out to be the sword tip, not the hilt—filled with doubt, the leading elite goblin collapsed dead.

The rear elite goblin, about to join his companion in a pincer attack on the human kid, suddenly saw his companion already slain by the opponent's sword; realizing he was no match, he dared not stay and immediately turned to flee in the direction he had come from.

"【Sword Strike Slash】!"

The running elite goblin had his spine severed by a sword qi, his corpse fell with a thud; William wiped the blood from his longsword and sheathed it, then said to the elite goblin's corpse lying on the ground, "Honestly, leaving your back to the enemy is a major blunder in battle, let alone when the enemy is stronger than you."

William didn't waste any more words; he simply used magic to heal his right arm injury and quickly headed to support his father David.

Not far away, David was in a stalemate with the dozen or so elite goblins surrounding him; the goblins coordinated, such that if he tried to attack the melee ones he'd be ambushed by archers, and if he tried to take out the ranged ones first, the few melee goblins would intercept him— for a while, David really had no good way to deal with them.

However, it was also difficult for the elite goblins to wipe out David quickly, so both sides kept pulling and dragging, prolonging the fight until David was worn down by the dozen or so elite goblins to exhaustion— that was when the elite goblins launched a genuine assault.

David realized this wasn't a solution; as he was pondering whether to feign injury to lure the goblins into boldly attacking him, he suddenly heard a goblin hiding nearby, shooting arrows in ambush, let out a miserable cry— it turned out to be a single sword strike that took its life.

David was pleasantly surprised; he looked in that direction, wanting to see who was coming to his aid, but he saw his son William appear on the goblins' periphery, longsword raised— after cutting down that elite goblin with a single strike, he quickly leapt toward the several archery-equipped elite goblins, and William's figure darted swiftly through the trees, his movements extremely agile.