I Gain Infinite Gold Just By Waiting-Chapter 269: Episode 4-2_Demon King (5)

5.

The plan worked like a charm.

The Demon King, who had been watching with leisurely detachment, now charged in with a hardened expression. For Buja, who had planned a one-on-one duel from the start, the situation couldn’t have been more promising.

The scenario he had imagined couldn’t have unfolded more perfectly.

He had cut the Demon King’s army cleanly in half. Once all his preparations were complete, he had dreamed of an efficient victory—killing only the Demon King instead of facing the entire demon army head-on. Now, he had turned that difficult dream into reality.

It would not be an exaggeration to say he had achieved ninety-nine percent of what he had set out to do.

Even so, Buja’s expression remained tense.

That last one percent.

He was now experiencing firsthand that securing that final one percent was harder than all the planning that had come before.

BOOM!

The numbing shock from a single clash was so heavy it made him doubt he was even wearing his full Demon God’s Armor set and Legendary accessories. Whenever his eyes failed to track the Demon King’s flickering form, he couldn’t help but let out a weary breath. ’Is this really the Demon King under penalty?’

’Would I have been able to win if we had fought in the Demon Realm?’

The Demon King was so strong that Buja couldn’t even begin to run the numbers.

And this wasn’t even a one-on-one fight; Kallis was blocking almost every attack while Buja merely assisted from the side.

Naturally, the damage Kallis was taking was far greater.

The Demon King, unleashing a barrage of powerful attacks while exposing them to all manner of demonic energy, showed not a shred of mercy.

In that situation, the only silver lining was that they could fight the Demon King at all.

’So this really is useful, huh.’

[Heavenly Gate Open Scroll]

▶ Grade: Legendary

▶ Usage Restrictions

1. Can only be used while a “Gold Mission” is in progress.

2. Requires sacrifices of at least 1 celestial and 500 demons.

3. Requires 100,000,000 gold when opening the Heavenly Gate.

▶ Upon use, opens the gate to “Heaven.”

A single scroll costs fifty million gold.

It was his trump card, bought by emptying out every last coin he had earned on the continent and all the gold from his final remaining dragon lair.

Naturally, even if he met restrictions one and two, there was no way he would have enough gold left to satisfy condition three.

In the end, it was bait.

Bait to hook the Demon King, who didn’t know about his Gold Maker trait.

If the Demon King had simply kept watching, if he had actually waited for the celestials to come pouring out of Heaven, then Buja’s gold would have evaporated into thin air, and he would have ended his life with nothing but a blank scroll.

But it had worked.

And the fact that it had worked meant the celestials were just as strong as he’d hoped.

Strong enough to make the Demon King afraid.

Afraid, or at least annoyed.

Whatever the emotion, as Buja watched the Demon King try to finish off Kallis and rush to help the demons attacking the saintess’s group, another thought crossed his mind.

’If only I’d had a hundred million.’

What would have happened if he had actually opened the Heavenly Gate? If celestials had descended from Heaven, and the Demon King had watched a single one get torn to shreds by thousands, tens of thousands of demons?

Would the Heavenly King have come, too?

A war between celestials and demons.

Could that have become the spark that led to the end of the continent?

The worry didn’t last long. It was something that would never happen. Even if he changed his mind now, he didn’t have the gold to put it into action.

All he could do was face a Demon King who, instead of being fully composed, was pressed for time and on edge.

That was a small clue.

A tiny gap in an otherwise impenetrable shield.

’He’s letting his guard down?’

Now that they were face-to-face, the Demon King must have realized it. These two humans, representatives of their race, were not his match. They were certainly powerful among their kind, but they had already played all their cards. Now, they had nothing left but a straight-up clash of raw strength.

So his attention was drifting, half of his focus gradually shifting toward the growing magic circle.

He wouldn’t actually let the gate activate, but with a base price of fifty million gold, the visual impact right up until the moment before it opened was guaranteed to be spectacular.

As it sucked in demon corpses, the light grew brighter and brighter.

When the massive gate to the Demon Realm had opened, the entire world had been drowned in darkness; now, the Heavenly Gate was erasing that darkness, preparing to flood the world with light.

For demons, it was a skin-crawling sight. The light they couldn’t even dare to look upon in the Demon Realm was now swelling before their eyes like a cancerous growth.

They couldn’t help but pay attention, even if they didn’t want to.

And that was why Kim Buja saw an opening.

’We’ve won.’

No matter how mighty the opponent, there would always be at least one moment to drive a sword into the heart of an enemy who had let his guard down—even if that enemy was the Demon King.

* * * 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The fact that the Gold Maker class lacked any flashy, unique combat skills was, in many people’s eyes, a massive penalty.

What did it matter how strong it was or how incredible its growth potential was? In the end, what mattered was what people could see.

No matter how overwhelming your stats were, no matter how spectacular your swordsmanship or magic looked, those were still just extensions of familiar sights. The background might change, and the monsters might get stronger, but eventually, people would get numb to it.

That was why Fly remained so popular and endlessly entertaining. His core ability was the very definition of ordinary. He used "magic," the most common skill in the game, but his ability to wield it in every form imaginable had become his defining trait.

Unlike other mages, who could barely handle a single element, he had learned every elemental spell and showed them off in all sorts of combinations. Every dungeon made people look forward to what new mix of spells he would use.

Fire and water.

Lightning and earth.

Mixed together like paint, they created entirely new kinds of magic.

With that kind of visual appeal, people couldn’t get tired of it, even if the monsters were the same on repeat.

In a way, it was a matter of talent and luck—of having the right conditions from the moment of Awakening to pick and choose from a wide array of options. It was something only possible for a Legendary-grade class.

That was why so many people always worried when they looked at Kim Buja.

—Doesn’t he have way too few class-exclusive skills?

—Aside from learning “Mimic” at the start, I don’t remember seeing anything.

—No, I did see him pick something up every 10 levels or so, but he never explained them.

—Yeah, same. I saw one or two, but they were the kind of thing you’d skip showing. Just from the names, they didn’t look combat-related at all. Stuff like “Lucky Box” or whatever.

The only Legendary class where the player shone brighter than the class itself.

A non-combat class that the player had somehow turned into something stronger than any combat class.

People wondered if even a player like that would eventually hit the limits of his class. No matter how skilled you were, you couldn’t surpass the wall of your class.

History had proven that over and over.

It was a short history—six years, now heading into seven—but countless players had appeared and vanished. Those who remained at the top all had one thing in common: powerful, combat-oriented classes.

Oddballs like Kim Buja had appeared before, but in the end, they had all disappeared after a few years. Not died and vanished. They had simply faded from people’s memories.

That was why Fly was so impressive.

From beginning to end, he had stayed burned into people’s minds.

That was the power of class traits.

—What if he’s got some hidden skill he’s been keeping secret?

—He’s gotta have at least one.

—It’s not like he’s needed it so far, though. Until now.

In a way, that only made people more curious.

There had to be at least one. Even if it was a passive skill. Since he hadn’t revealed a single skill after Mimic, people figured he had to be hiding at least one trump card.

Rumors like that spread far and wide.

And no one criticized him for it. Every player was expected to keep one or two cards up their sleeve.

Plunge—!

The Demon King let out a strangled gasp.

And with that hidden card, Kim Buja drove his sword into the Demon King’s heart from behind. He curled his lips into a bloody grin at the thick, pulsing sensation that traveled up through his fingertips.

’Son of a bitch... what a trash-class piece of crap. Times like this really make me miss something like Elemental Wizard.’

Mimic, the skill he had learned back when he was level 10 or 20—he could barely remember—was the trump card that had finally made its appearance, delivering the finishing blow.

Level 30, 40, 50, 60, 70.

He had gotten five more chances to pick up additional skills, and if even one of them had been useful in combat, it would have helped immensely. He wouldn’t have had to end up in this state, his whole body wrecked, thinking, ’Even if the Demon King dies, I might die too.’

Even so, he had done it.

“How dare you...!”

He couldn’t blame the other class skills; they had paved the way for him to get this far. And the Mimic he had saved until the very end had more than earned its keep.

[Mimic]

▶ Grade: (S) Legendary

▶ Category: (Gold Maker) General

▶ Level: 15

▷ (Gold Power) Consume gold to copy the target’s skills.

▷ At level 15, applies 200% effectiveness.

▷ Copy up to 5 skills of your choice.

▷ Copied skills last for 24 hours and are removed after 15 uses.

▷ You can level up this skill by spending 100,000,000 gold.

He had no complaints.

If anything, having only this one skill had allowed him to grow this strong. If he had had to split his resources among multiple skills, he would have run into serious budget issues trying to level them.

Whew.

It was just a shame. If he’d had even one more skill like this, he wouldn’t have had to feel the hole torn in his side, the loss of his left arm, or the endless taste of blood flooding his throat.

He had saved it, and saved it, and saved it again, right up to the end.

Until the Demon King’s true power was fully revealed.

Until the Demon King himself drew the very dagger that would be driven into his own heart.

Then, at the final moment, he had pulled it out.

A skill no one remembered.

A skill that had faded from everyone’s minds.

“Goodbye.”

He yanked the sword out of the Demon King’s heart and, in the same motion, sliced through his neck. Even as his head was severed, the Demon King could only spew rage, unable to move. He was completely bound by the Dark Shackles Buja had used on him, unable even to think of resisting.

The Demon King was, without a doubt, the Demon King. The five authorities granted to him, when turned back on their master, created a few seconds of paralysis that even he could not resist.

As the Demon King’s body collapsed and his head rolled across the ground, the battlefield fell into a collective silence.

The radiant gate and the fallen Demon King.

The outcome was decided.

The demons began to slowly back away. Then, all at once, they broke and ran.

In this, reality and fiction were no different. Everyone cherished their own life. In a battle they could win, they might fight without fear of death, but in the face of the Demon King’s death and the appearance of celestials who could erase them from existence, the demons were nothing more than living creatures.

The darkness receded.

Light poured down on the continent once more.

[You have completed Chapter 4-2.]

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