Chapter 736: Challenge

Sophocles had two wings, two horns, and a dark gray and black perfectly proportioned body with proper hands and feet, carrying a gigantic sword on his back.

His murky yellow eyes contained complex emotions. Just his eyes alone were larger than my entire body. He was staring at me with a vigilant expression.

Apart from him being slightly large, he wasn’t really all that much.

“…The entire airship is smaller than his hand. Are you sure that he’s just slightly large?”

“Tsk, you think he’s incredible just because he’s large? Maybe he’s nothing more than a fluffy pillow.”

Sophocles’ gigantic head approached the airship’s deck. His breath was just like an eruption of magma from the lower planes, but this was actually the standard breath of any gigantic demon.

“…Roland, you’re still the same as before.”

Just the wind from him speaking almost blew me away. The nearby Saint-ranked monk and the three Legend-ranked guards were already completely suppressed by Sophocles’ demonic aura to the point of not even being able to move.

“Fine, being big is indeed a big deal.”

Things were unlike back when I’d last seen Sophocles in Hell. At that time, I had been supported by Hell’s Four Elemental Pillars, and I also had many powerful individuals supporting me back then, including those who were at Main God power level. But right now, Sophocles had come in his true body. He was a super existence that was capable of destroying an entire country, no, a large part of the continent just by himself.

When standing straight, he reached far higher than the clouds. Judging based on size alone, this famous scammer and deceiver was actually much larger than even Chaos War God Donatis, making Sophocles seem more like a War God.

“Long time no see, Afu. What business do you have with me?”

“Afu? No! I am Sophocles! The venerated Chaos Main God, Sophocles!”

Sophocles instantly exploded in fury. His sulfuric breath made me feel as if I was inside a volcano. The airship’s deck started creaking as cracks started rapidly spreading on the airship at a visible rate.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Your temper is just as bad as it was before, Afu.”

“Sophocles! I am Sophocles the Deceiver, Sophocles the Scammer! I am the idol of all scammers and schemers! I am Sophocles, the wisest demon of them all!”

“Okay, Afu.”

I shook my head—Sophocles seemed to be surprisingly easy to anger by my intentionally getting his name wrong.

“I, Sophocles Elostankaven Wast (102 more syllables skipped for the reader’s convenience)… Oops, I almost told you my full true name! I know you! This must have been your scheme! You were just trying to scam my true name out of me! How scary, what evil curse is this? Even I, the wise Sophocles, almost fell for your trick!”

I sighed rather helplessly. Sophocles was overly in love with using the exclamation mark. It seemed that he was also a bit of a chuunibyou. How come I never discovered last time that he was so hilarious?

“Afu, a demon like you is calling someone else evil? It’s just that you have low intelligence, isn’t that right, Afu? Are you still alright, Afu? Did you have lunch yet, Afu? Is your mother doing alright, Afu?”

Sophocles viciously slammed the ground with his claws. The resulting impact was as loud as a thunderclap each time.

Meanwhile, that shark Demon Lord was trembling in fear while hiding behind him, yet misfortune suddenly descended upon him. The Chaos Main God suddenly grabbed the shark Demon Lord and then tossed him into his mouth.

*Chomp!*

As expected, in every world, people who were in a bad mood would really want to eat something. Sophocles chewed on the Demon Lord for quite a while before finally calming down.

When he opened his eyes again, the red light in his eyes was now calm again.

“Afu, do you still remember how it felt like to be surrounded and attacked by Hell Dragons… Eh?”

I was going to keep teasing him, but our “little chat” was suddenly interrupted. It turned out that the white-haired Legend-ranked female mage was pitifully tugging on my clothes.

“Milord! Your Highness Roland!”

She pointed at the airship, which was now filled with cracks while shaking all over, while imploring me with a tear-filled expression.

“Please stop teasing Afu. Even if you’re still fine, we can’t take his pressure anymore… Lord Afu, no, Lord Sophocles, please don’t look at me like that! Please don’t steal away my soul!”

The Chaos Main God viciously glared at her, causing her legs to constantly tremble. She was probably almost about to pee herself… Er, the airship deck and her mage robe were now wet. It seemed that she had already peed herself in fear. As I was a gentleman, it would be best to pretend to have seen nothing.

And so, I gave a big thumbs-up as I turned around and smiled at the angry Chaos Main God.

“Good job, young lady. I have a good opinion of your fearlessness. Come, let us pee together at the Chaos Main God.”

And so, I really took off my pants right in front of Sophocles and aimed directly at him… What? You’re saying that this wasn’t a gentlemanly action? A true gentleman wouldn’t care about boring etiquette! I was using my actions to relieve the young female mage’s embarrassment!

Since she had peed herself, if I also peed right in public, then it would make her seem less dirty in comparison… well, probably. Didn’t it work this way at least in theory?

“…Roland, you should give up on trying to anger me. I, Sophocles, am no novice. I would never lose my sense of logic and reason just because of such a lowly challenge.”

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Before saying that, shouldn’t he let go of the pitiful succubi and four-winged Berserker Demon that he had twisted into pretzels? Also, he should really be reducing his powerful aura as he was even killing off the demons around him.

I smiled as I refrained from continuing to tease him anymore.

Sophocles was correct. From the very start, I had been trying to intentionally anger him.

Anger was a very interesting emotion. On the battlefield, some would become even more vicious and powerful because of anger, while others would show weaknesses that would weaken themselves.

If I judged correctly, both Sophocles and myself were the latter type. We were both warriors who would fight more with our brains. Losing the sense of logic and reason would only make our schemes have more holes in them, greatly reducing our combat strength.

Perhaps truly angering him would be rather difficult, but there was nothing wrong with trying. Even if it was impossible to completely anger him to the point of losing logic and reason, too much anger would still imperceptibly begin to affect the accuracy of one’s movements and the reliability of one’s thoughts.

Indeed, I was already prepared for an all-out fight against him.

The moment that I saw him, I already realized that it would be quite difficult for today’s encounter to end peacefully. I already started preparing for a cruel fight to the death.

Demons were no kind individuals. Knightly chivalry, fair fights, and other such concepts were nothing more than a joke to them. A demon would only unhesitatingly get rid of any enemy who was a possible threat.

Ever since the day that the demon wave descended, I knew that a Chaos Main God would come to attack me sooner or later. However, I hadn’t expected that Sophocles would be the first to come for me. He was someone used to scheming, so I figured that he would make use of others instead, which he would feel was more befitting of showing off his intelligence and wonderful schemes.

I originally thought that someone like Donatis would be the first to find me rather than Sophocles, who had suffered multiple times before due to me.

My Holy Light sword hummed at my waist as if this prey was one that it really wanted to hunt down.

Since I knew that a Chaos Main God would come to attack me sooner or later, of course I would make my preparations. My Holy Light sword was definitely the mortal enemy of all demons. Meanwhile, any ace or ultimate technique would always be the most effective the first time that it appeared in the world. My Holy Light sword Dawn was truly lucky to be able to show off to the world with Sophocles the Deceiver as its first sacrifice.

I placed my right hand at my waist, causing my entire body to faintly glow with Holy Light. I smiled as I mentally prepared for a fight to the death.

“Holy Light—”

However, Sophocles suddenly took a step back.

“Just take a look at what’s going on around you. Do you think that they’ll be able to survive if we fight here?”

Black smoke was rising from all over the airship. The airship’s deck and body were filled with cracks. All of the most powerful guards were already collapsed on the deck. Just being in such close proximity to the Chaos Main God was far too difficult for their bodies to handle.

Since it was like this already for the most powerful individuals on the airship, then the ordinary people inside the airship’s guest rooms had probably already started dying on a large scale.

All powerful existences of Order would have their own personal domains of Order. Demon Lords and above would have a personal power of Chaos that could distort the environment around them. They would instinctively corrode the nearby environment. This was just a regular instinct such as breathing for humans, yet no mortal would be able to handle it.

Of course I could see what was happening to them. I had been paying attention all this while. However, what could I even do?

“Ha, I can return what you just said to you. I, Roland, am no novice, either. Do you really think that these people are capable of being hostages who will limit me? They were destined to die from the moment that you appeared. At most, I can pay some compensation to their family members, and then slice you even more viciously for their sakes.”

I smiled as I threatened Sophocles. I was indeed telling the truth here.

I wouldn’t possibly hold back when facing a Chaos Main God.

Rather than having too many worries, which would limit my actions and likely cause my death, I would instead choose to pretend that the other people on the airship didn’t exist. At most, I would simply pay compensation afterwards to take the moral high ground. It wasn’t like I would be the one who killed them.

A Chaos Main God had arrived, causing their deaths. That would be all.

We didn’t try to hide our conversation from the others. The airship guards who weren’t dead yet were looking at me with rather complex expressions ranging from hatred to fear. In a way, my choice to take this airship was also the cause of their potential deaths, so it wasn’t unreasonable for them to hate me.

Were they absolutely certain to die here? No, they weren’t. And right now, I would try to slightly improve their odds of survival.

“…You achieved Level 4 by using the Concept of Holy Light?” Sophocles suddenly asked.

I lightly tapped on my sword hilt, causing a lightsaber which gave off a pure glow to appear. The entire world was illuminated as Sophocles took yet another step back. This time, it was because of his demon instinct.

“Indeed. I knew that you Chaos Main Gods would come for me sooner or later, so of course I would choose to use Holy Light in order to breakthrough to the next level. Right now, I am probably the strongest Holy Knight in the world.”

Sophocles hesitated for a moment, until he finally forced a smile that looked even uglier than crying. “Actually, I didn’t come here to fight with you today. I have some things that I’d like to discuss with you,” he remarked.

I smiled. It was exactly as I had expected. Sophocles didn’t have the personality where he liked to personally fight his fights in the first place, and if he really did want to fight me, he would have instantly attacked already. How could he possibly have given me any time to prepare, or even come up to the deck of the airship?

But if I had shown any signs of fear or weakness, he never would have let go of such an excellent opportunity. At the very least, he would have definitely tried to test me with his attacks. Only by acting that I was willing to slay him at all costs, and that I had an ace up my sleeve which he didn’t know about, would it be possible for him to directly give up on even testing me and only discuss his real objective with me.

Angering and trying to force him to attack me was actually because I had already seen through his overly paranoid personality. Acting as if I had a guarantee of being able to slay him would scare him into not daring to even try and test me.

That was the only chance of survival for the airship’s passengers.

And since I was trying my best to ensure the airship’s passengers’ survival…

“Afu, let’s talk someplace else.”

“Sophocles! I’m Sophocles, not whatever damned Afu!”

“Okay, Afu. I’ll remember, Afu. No need to repeat yourself, Afu.”

“Damned bastard who deserves to be burned to death by Holy Light! Fine, just call me whatever you like!”