My Goblin System : Levelling up with my SSS Class Devouring skill

Chapter 272: Chapter 272

Pope Gregorius stood slowly, his expression cycling through shock, confusion, anger, and finally settling on something like barely controlled fury. His voice, when it came out, carried the full weight of his ecclesiastical authority.

”TheReaper. Explain yourself immediately. Why would you refuse to eliminate a demon lord who killed one of our heroes? Why would you actively oppose the very duty you were summoned to perform?”

TheReaper was silent for a long moment, his expression thoughtful as if carefully considering how to phrase his answer. Then he shrugged, and the casual gesture somehow made him seem more dangerous rather than less.

”Because I like him.”

The throne room exploded.

”You WHAT?!” King Ferdinand roared, his voice echoing off the marble walls.

”That’s impossible!” Commander Elric protested, his sword still drawn and his stance shifting to something more combat-ready.

”You can’t be serious!” Gattychan said, his green eyes wide with shock and confusion.

The four new heroes looked at each other in complete bewilderment, unable to process what they were hearing. The legendary hero—humanity’s greatest champion—was protecting a demon lord?!

Pope Gregorius raised his hand, and despite the chaos, gradually the room quieted. His face had gone pale, then flushed, then settled into an expression of cold fury that his position rarely allowed him to show publicly.

”Explain,” he said quietly, his voice carrying the kind of dangerous calm that preceded violence. ”Immediately. In detail. Leave nothing out.”

TheReaper’s smile didn’t fade. If anything, it widened slightly, carrying dark amusement that made everyone in the room unconsciously tense further.

”I’ve been alive for years,” he began, his voice conversational and almost friendly despite the situation. ”Summoned at the age of twenty-three, frozen in time by the divine blessing that prevents me from aging. Three centuries of fighting. Of killing. Of eliminating threats and saving humanity over and over and over again.”

He started walking slowly, casually, his hands loose at his sides in a posture that suggested complete relaxation despite the armed forces surrounding him. ”In that time, I’ve killed thousands of demons. Tens of thousands if you count the weaker ones. I’ve fought hundreds of powerful enemies—demon generals, dark mages, corrupted heroes, fallen angels. I’ve eliminated twelve demon lords, each one supposedly unstoppable, each one a terror that required everything I had.”

His voice took on a bitter edge. ”Do you know what all of that taught me? What years of victory after victory showed me?”

He paused, and when no one answered, continued with something that might have been pain beneath the mockery.

”Boredom. Crushing, soul-destroying, absolute boredom. Everything’s too easy. Everyone’s too weak. Every fight ends the same way—me winning, them dying, nothing learned, nothing gained. The challenges that should push me only remind me how far above everyone else I’ve become.”

His eyes gleamed with something that made even Pope Gregorius take an unconscious step backward. ”I’m so powerful that I can’t enjoy combat anymore. So experienced that I can see every move before it happens. So far beyond normal limitations that even demon lords feel like children playing at war.”

”But Satou...” TheReaper’s voice changed, carrying genuine interest for the first time. ”Satou is different. I’ve been watching him. Keeping track of his progress. Reading every intelligence report. And do you know what I see?”

He turned to face them all, his expression intense. ”Potential. Raw, unlimited potential. He’s growing at an impossible rate. Learning. Adapting. Getting stronger with every challenge instead of plateauing like everyone else. Three months and he’s already killed a veteran hero. Imagine what he’ll be capable of in a year. In five years. In a decade.”

”You can’t be serious,” Commander Elric said, his voice tight with barely controlled anger. ”You’re protecting a demon lord because you think he might eventually be strong enough to challenge you? You’re willing to let a threat grow unchecked because you want a good fight?!”

”Not might,” TheReaper corrected, his voice absolutely certain. ”Will. That kid is special in a way I haven’t seen since... well, since I was summoned. He’s going to become the kind of opponent I’ve been waiting three hundred years to fight. Someone who can actually make me try. Someone who might—just might—be able to kill me.”

He smiled then, wide and genuine and absolutely terrifying in its sincerity. ”So no, I won’t help you kill him. I’m going to let him grow stronger. Let him develop. Let him face challenges and overcome them and reach his full potential. Let him become everything he’s capable of becoming.”

The smile widened further. ”And then I’m going to fight him properly. No holding back. No mercy. No interruptions. Just pure combat between two beings operating at their absolute peak. The kind of battle that will either finally end my boredom or end my life, and honestly, I’d be satisfied with either outcome at this point.”

”That’s insane!” King Ferdinand shouted, his face red with rage. ”You’re willing to let a demon lord grow unchecked, let him potentially kill hundreds or thousands of our people, let him become a threat to the entire kingdom—all because you want a good fight?!”

”Yes,” TheReaper said simply, with no shame or hesitation.

The single word dropped into the throne room like a stone into still water, ripples of shock and fury spreading outward.

Pope Gregorius’s expression transformed. The measured political mask he’d worn for decades cracked completely, revealing genuine rage beneath. His hands trembled as he pointed at TheReaper with a shaking finger.

”You forget yourself!” he shouted, his voice carrying a furious authority that made the air itself vibrate with power. ”You were summoned to serve the holy cause! To protect humanity! To eliminate the demon threat! This... this BETRAYAL of your sacred duty—”

”My duty?” TheReaper interrupted, his voice going cold in a way that made the temperature drop noticeably. The casual amusement vanished from his expression, replaced by something harder and more dangerous. ”I’ve served for three hundred years. I’ve killed more demons than anyone in recorded history. I’ve saved your ancestors’ asses more times than I can count. I’ve bled and suffered and sacrificed everything—friends, loved ones, any chance at a normal life—for your precious humanity.”