Ch.200Chapter 200 – Empty Ideals

As I watched the dark blue explosion that engulfed the Demon Lord—the result of our colliding magical powers—I landed on the ground.

‘That was close.’

If the Demon Lord had just a little more strength left.

If the shadow dog hadn’t interfered with the Demon Lord.

This attack would have failed, and I would have been immediately counterattacked.

‘Thanks to that dog.’

The shadow dog that was presumably summoned by Beatrice.

If that dog hadn’t persistently fought and disrupted the Demon Lord, I would have died.

“Thank you.”

Whether it understood me or not, I expressed my gratitude, and the dog, perhaps being intelligent, barked at me.

“Woof!”

I’m not particularly knowledgeable about animals, but it felt quite friendly.

After greeting me, the shadow dog gradually faded away until it completely disappeared.

‘I could probably meet it again if it’s summoned once more.’

That’s what I thought as I bid farewell to the shadow dog.

I briefly considered asking Beatrice about it later.

I tensed my muscles again and looked toward where the explosion had occurred.

“I guess this wasn’t enough after all.”

I was certain it had been a critical hit.

But the Demon Lord was still standing on two legs.

Despite parts of the armor being shattered and cracked, the Demon Lord stood proudly.

Blue light burned from within the helmet as the Demon Lord stared at me.

“…Impressive.”

The Demon Lord then raised a hand to cover their mouth.

“Cough…!”

More blood than before flowed from the gaps in the helmet.

Then, with a cracking sound, part of the helmet broke off, revealing a glimpse of a finely featured jaw.

A very young man… or perhaps…

“That was quite a magnificent strike, warrior.”

The Demon Lord said, wiping blood from the corner of their mouth.

“However, unfortunately, your attack was insufficient to bring me down.”

The Demon Lord quietly raised their sword again, perhaps intending to continue fighting.

I quietly channeled magic into my gauntlets, creating magic blades on both forearms to face the Demon Lord.

Then, suddenly, the Demon Lord jumped backward.

“Swoosh!!!”

Green arrows flew toward the Demon Lord.

The Demon Lord quickly swung their arm to deflect the arrows, but they kept coming.

Taking that as a signal, I rushed in and swung my magic blade.

“Clang!”

“I’m sorry, but I won’t fall to attacks of this level!”

The Demon Lord said, parrying my blade.

Then, a green arrow flew toward the Demon Lord’s face, who tilted their head to avoid it.

It completely missed.

Or so I thought in that moment.

“What?”

The arrow suddenly curved and flew toward the Demon Lord.

The Demon Lord quickly deflected it and moved faster, but now the arrows began to chase the Demon Lord like guided missiles.

“This isn’t… magic!”

The Demon Lord said while deflecting arrows.

And then fireballs began to rain down on the Demon Lord.

“This, however, is magic.”

Stating the obvious, the Demon Lord made a big leap backward.

The fireballs hit the ground and exploded in small bursts.

Then Lumen descended from the sky.

[Sorry to keep you waiting.]

Lumen said quietly.

[That suspicious old mage craftily covered his eyes and escaped.]

There was killing intent in Lumen’s voice, perhaps due to frustration at letting his opponent escape.

‘…That damn bastard got away.’

I felt disappointed about missing him, but somehow I felt that Somnus would have escaped regardless of who was there.

His goal was to summon the Demon Lord.

Once he succeeded, he probably planned to flee immediately.

‘He surely prepared multiple escape routes.’

Even if I had been there, I probably couldn’t have caught him either.

Suppressing my regret about letting Somnus escape, I looked at the Demon Lord.

The Demon Lord was slowly responding to Lumen.

“…Thanks to you, I was able to enjoy quite a pleasant fight.”

While calmly answering Lumen, the Demon Lord gripped their sword.

“You who have been shooting arrows. Show yourself.”

[If you wish.]

A voice similar to Lumen’s echoed in my head.

Suddenly, a wind-like energy began to blow and gathered beside Lumen.

Green energy gradually grew larger, and soon an elf who closely resembled Pine appeared within it.

She was an elf woman in ranger attire who looked like what Pine might become when she grew older.

“State your name, elven hero.”

[Abies.]

The elf woman surrounded by green energy quietly said.

[Einherjar, Abies.]

“…So you were a member of the Hero’s party.”

[The seal broke, and I could no longer sleep, so I came out.]

Abies said, aiming her bow.

Then the Demon Lord looked at Lumen standing beside Abies and said:

“Lich. State your name.”

[Lumen.]

When Lumen stated his name, the Demon Lord slightly shook their head as if somewhat surprised.

“…You’re a bigger figure than I expected.”

[Judging by your reaction, our names seem quite well-known in the demon realm as well.]

“Very famous indeed. The Hero’s party.”

The Demon Lord said quietly.

“I never thought I would behold these legendary beings with my own eyes. I’m moved.”

The Demon Lord’s speech quickened slightly, as if excited.

Looking at the Demon Lord, Abies quietly said:

[We didn’t particularly want to see the Demon Lord, though.]

“That’s unfortunate.”

The Demon Lord’s wings drooped slightly, just like when they had made that suggestion to me earlier.

Lumen quietly extended his hand to form a magical seal, and Abies aimed her bow.

“What a touching story. Though the Hero is no longer in this world, his companions protect the world he saved.”

[There are already several permanent vacancies, though.]

The Demon Lord nodded at Lumen’s words.

“I wish we hadn’t met under these circumstances.”

The Demon Lord said, raising their sword.

Lumen and Abies prepared to attack against the Demon Lord.

And then.

Suddenly, black spheres and swarms of bats flew toward us.

“What are those?”

[Small fry!]

Lumen quickly used magic to eliminate the spheres and bats.

Meanwhile, a battered dark elf and a somewhat dirty-looking middle-aged man appeared beside the Demon Lord.

“We are honored to see you, Demon Lord!”

“Vanilla, Rage. You’re safe…”

The Demon Lord seemed slightly relieved to see their subordinates.

As I looked at those subordinates, I had an ominous feeling, and at that moment, voices came from behind.

“Phew, looks like we made it in time?”

“Kei, are you alright?”

I heard Beatrice and Eve’s voices.

Behind them, Chris, Sera, and Pine were approaching.

Looking at them, the Demon Lord quietly said:

“…There are many of you.”

“Sorry… They were stronger than expected, so we barely managed to escape with our lives…”

The dark elf spoke with frustration.

Then she soon continued with a grave expression:

“Now, retreat, Demon Lord. Rage and I will hold them off till the end.”

[You think I’ll let you?]

Lumen stepped forward in response to the dark elf’s words.

Facing the two demon race members with tense expressions, Lumen said:

[Do you think I’ll let you escape?]

“Of course not.”

The Demon Lord stepped forward to protect the two demon race members.

Soon the Demon Lord raised their sword, and we all raised our weapons as well.

And between us.

A black lightning bolt struck.

“BOOM!!”

“‘Protect the young lambs!'”

Chris quickly summoned a shield to block the lightning.

After blocking the attack and as the dust settled, a giant demon was staring at us.

“Demon Lord.”

“I’m glad you’re safe, Demon Lord.”

The gorilla-like demon race member said, standing in front of the Demon Lord.

‘A legion commander level?’

Perhaps because I had just fought the Demon Lord.

I could gauge the Demon Lord’s capabilities.

And I bit my lip slightly.

‘He’s almost uninjured.’

While other legion commanders were falling one by one, he must have been conserving his strength.

Is this the Demon Lord’s hidden trump card? As I was slightly suspicious, Lumen snapped:

[I saw you running away earlier. Did you come back to get beaten?]

‘I guess not.’

He wasn’t a hidden trump card; he just fled in the middle and thus had fewer injuries.

As I was downgrading my assessment of the Demon Lord, the Demon Lord quietly said:

“Unfortunately, I came here for a different reason.”

With those words.

The Demon Lord pulled something out from his chest.

Seeing it, Chris shouted in surprise:

“That’s…?!”

It wasn’t just Chris.

I, Eve, Sera, and Beatrice—all of us couldn’t fail to recognize that jewel.

‘Surely, that’s what the Emiris cult members…’

Could Somnus or Phobia have handed it over? When?

The Demon Lord quietly laughed.

“Humans have created quite interesting things.”

“Who gave you that?!”

The Demon Lord smirked at my shout.

“I won’t tell you.”

The Demon Lord said and began to pour magical power into the jewel.

Soon, light entered the jewel.

From afar, the sounds of monsters howling could be heard.

“My subordinates have already drawn in as many monsters from the surroundings as possible. Soon they’ll be rushing in to devour the elves.”

“You damn bastard!”

The elven forces have already been greatly reduced because of the demon race.

If monsters rush in as well, the damage will exponentially increase.

The Demon Lord laughed as he watched us panic.

“It seems you don’t have time to deal with us now, do you?”

[I’ll say it again, I won’t let you…]

“I anticipated that and prepared something for you.”

The Demon Lord pointed to the sky in response to Lumen’s words.

Suddenly, griffons began to descend from the sky.

“Screech!!!”

“Huh? Are those Pine’s?”

“No, they’re wild specimens!”

Pine immediately answered Sera’s question.

And from a different direction than the griffons swooping down on us, another griffon was seen rushing toward us.

“Screech!!!”

“That one’s mine!”

Pine said as she mounted that griffon.

Meanwhile, the griffons began to concentrate their attacks particularly on Lumen and Abies.

[Damn it, get away, bird brains!]

[…Move aside!]

I could see the two of them immediately fighting back against the griffons.

Seeing the griffons falling with blood, I thought those two would have no problem getting out.

But there were just too many griffons.

They couldn’t avoid being immobilized while dealing with them.

I quickly exchanged glances with Beatrice and was about to rush forward.

“I’m afraid I don’t want to fight with you either.”

The Demon Lord shot black spears toward us.

I, Beatrice, and Chris each used our own methods to block the black spears that appeared to envelop our group.

“Yes, a moment is enough time to escape.”

The Demon Lord pulled something out from his chest and tore it.

Recognizing it immediately, Beatrice shouted:

“Gate scroll!”

“Correct.”

A spatial rift appeared near the demon race members.

The dirty-looking man immediately began to carry the Demon Lord and the dark elf.

“Rage, hey?”

“Vanilla, just shut up and get on!”

Ignoring the bickering pair, the Demon Lord growled:

“Lord, what are you doing…!”

“I’m sorry, but the Demon Lord is more important, so it can’t be helped.”

The Demon Lord said coldly.

As they were about to enter the rift, I grabbed my weapon.

“You bastard…!”

I reflexively tried to throw my weapon.

And then I was momentarily confused by the sword with only a hilt remaining.

‘Oops.’

I had forgotten that the holy artifact was broken against the Demon Lord.

While I hesitated due to grabbing the wrong weapon, the demon race members had already entered the rift.

“Well then, we’ll be going now.”

“Rage, let go! Right now…”

“I apologize, Demon Lord! Retreat is the priority!”

The man carrying the Demon Lord and dark elf went inside, and the Demon Lord waved at us.

“Well then, human and elf gentlemen. Have fun with the monsters.”

“Stop, you damn bastard!”

But of course, they weren’t the type to stop just because I said so.

Through the gap of the approaching monsters, the demon race members vanished smoothly.

“Damn it!”

“Kei, the other monsters!”

With Sera’s urgent cry, I saw Beatrice swinging her chains to fend off monsters.

And Lumen, who had finished off all the griffons, spoke to me:

[…Calm down, we need to deal with the monsters first!]

“Damn…!”

I vented my frustration by tearing apart an approaching monster with my magic blade.

+

“Rage, put me down.”

It was the Demon Lord’s order, who was being carried by the vampire duke.

The duke immediately put down the Demon Lord and knelt.

“I apologize for the disrespect of directly touching your body…”

“It’s fine. It’s not like I’ll wear out from being touched.”

The Demon Lord said while sitting down.

“Your dignity…”

“I, originally of humble blood, am not accustomed to resting while standing.”

“I apologize. I didn’t mean to disparage…”

“I know. With the years we’ve spent together, how could I not? I’m just irritable from exhaustion.”

The Demon Lord said tiredly.

“The Demon Lord is merely the strongest in the demon realm, not the one with the noblest bloodline, so there’s nothing wrong with resting without dignity.”

“Aren’t you interpreting that a bit too conveniently?”

“Silence.”

Having dismissed the duke’s words, the Demon Lord tried to lie down comfortably on the ground.

“Please wait a moment.”

The duke quickly put down the dark elf and removed his cloak.

“The ground is cold. At least on my cloak…”

“It’s fine. It would be better to let Vanilla and Gigas lie on it.”

“…Then, I’m sorry, but please remain seated. It’s hard to clean if dirt gets on it.”

“…I’ll be considerate.”

The Demon Lord gave up on lying down.

And Baphomet approached the Demon Lord.

“Demon Lord.”

“You have many wounds, Merry.”

“Compared to you, they’re minor.”

The Demon Lord smiled slightly at Merry’s words.

Indeed, the Demon Lord was now almost a walking corpse.

Looking at the unconscious dark elf and gigas lying on the duke’s cloak, the Demon Lord quietly said:

“…We’ve just arrived here, yet everyone is in tatters.”

The Demon Lord had suffered severe internal injuries, and all but one of the precious legion commanders were wounded.

Most of the subordinates who had arrived here first had also perished.

“…The future will be problematic.”

There was much to do, but no one was uninjured.

First and foremost, they needed to recover their wounds with the help of demon race worshippers who were cooperative in this place.

“…By the way, that warrior and his companions. They were all coveted talents.”

“Were they?”

“Both their skills and character. I liked them.”

The Demon Lord was particularly concerned about the white dragon warrior.

Despite being injured, he fought against the Demon Lord without backing down and even landed a hit at the end.

The Demon Lord especially liked how he fought for his people, just like the Demon Lord did.

“His companions were also impressive.”

The companions who had neutralized not just ordinary subordinates but the Demon Lord’s trusted legion commanders, as reported.

Though it bothered the Demon Lord that they were all women, the Demon Lord liked all of them, including the women.

“And to think they included members of the previous Hero’s party.”

The Demon Lord never thought they could include them in the picture they were imagining.

A small laugh escaped the Demon Lord’s lips.

“Demon Lord?”

“…Despite this situation, I’m quite pleased that my joy has increased.”

Though expressed as joy, it was actually a significant challenge.

But having faced them directly, the Demon Lord could understand their character.

‘They were all good people.’

The Demon Lord smiled slightly.

‘Yes, I can’t just be pessimistic about the current situation.’

Even though the Demon Lord’s condition was like this, there were aspects of the surrounding environment that could be exploited.

Like those days when the Demon Lord conquered the demon realm with just one sword.

Like those days when the Demon Lord traveled, gathering companions.

If they start from the beginning, step by step…

As the Demon Lord was thinking this, the Demon Lord approached.

“Lord.”

“Yes, Demon Lord.”

As the Demon Lord knelt on one knee, the Demon Lord quietly asked:

“Where did that strange jewel and gate scroll come from?”

“They were possessed by humans who worship us. The ‘sponsor’ had given them in advance for emergencies, they said.”

“Sponsor?”

The Demon Lord was concerned about what kind of sponsor would possess such dangerous items.

The Demon Lord bowed his head and said:

“Thanks to them, we used them effectively.”

“…Since we received help, it’s hard to complain.”

The Demon Lord said quietly.

And then, as if admonishing, said:

“However, let’s not use that jewel again in the future. It would be better to dispose of all of them.”

“Why is that?”

“Because too much blood will flow.”

The Demon Lord spoke with a bit more force:

“…That jewel seems to forcibly draw in monsters.”

The Demon Lord said quietly.

“If we throw it into a city, that city would be annihilated by monster attacks. Repeating this several times would easily allow us to conquer many cities. However, if we cause too much blood to flow in this way, what would remain?”

Looking quietly at the Demon Lord, the Demon Lord said:

“Fear. Anger. Conflict. In exchange for using it, all beings on the continent would unite to eliminate the demon race.”

While the Demon Lord remained silent for a moment, the Demon Lord continued:

“What lies at the end is the extinction of the demon race.”

The Demon Lord said quietly.

“I am the king of the demon race. I have a duty to prevent the extinction of the demon race.”

Quietly declaring this, the Demon Lord said to the Demon Lord:

“For that reason, even if they are enemies, we must minimize the bloodshed and be prepared to dialogue with them.”

“Dialogue? You mean not using force? Even after so much blood has already been spilled for your summoning?”

The Demon Lord closed their eyes momentarily at the Demon Lord’s words.

“You may criticize me as a hypocrite.”

Many subordinates had been injured and killed because of the Demon Lord.

The same was true for the enemies.

It might be hypocritical to think this way after so much blood had already been spilled.

It might just be an empty ideal.

“But for the future, ultimately, having enough power to protect ourselves is sufficient.”

Reality is not easy for realizing empty ideals.

More blood might be spilled over the already spilled blood.

However,

‘If we abandon ideals in the face of reality’s walls, we cannot move forward toward the future.’

The Demon Lord had no intention of abandoning ideals.

“Dispose of it. That’s an order.”

Overriding the Demon Lord’s objection, the Demon Lord spoke firmly.

“It’s for the sake of everyone in the demon realm.”

This should be strong enough.

The Demon Lord thought so and turned away.

Then the Demon Lord’s voice was heard:

“I refuse.”

“Squelch!”

“…Ugh?”

Was there blood still left in the mouth that hadn’t been coughed up earlier?

The Demon Lord momentarily had such a doubt.

But sensing the presence behind, the Demon Lord slowly turned their head.

And muttered in disbelief:

“…You… bastard…”

The Demon Lord’s arm had pierced through the Demon Lord’s body.

“The Demon Lord refers to the strongest being in the demon realm.”

The Demon Lord looked down at the Demon Lord and smiled.

“Let me ask. If you disappear, who becomes the strongest demon race member?”

“…You… betrayal…”

“Betrayal? How uncomfortable.”

The Demon Lord said in response to the Demon Lord’s words:

“From the beginning, my only true master, the one I sincerely wanted to follow, was the previous Demon Lord. Not someone like you.”

The Demon Lord said in a cold voice:

“You lowly thing. A fool who doesn’t know how to use power even when possessing it.”

“You…”

Looking down at the Demon Lord, the Demon Lord said:

“Coexistence? A future where all the powerless in the demon realm can live? Ridiculous.”

When he pulled out his arm, blood gushed like a fountain from the Demon Lord’s body.

“The weak ones should disappear; that’s the natural order. The Demon Lord, who should be a symbol of fear, having such weak thoughts as coexistence.”

The Demon Lord’s face showed an expression of contempt.

“All the weak ones should just be subjugated by force.”

The Demon Lord spoke with anger:

“Someone like you doesn’t deserve to be the Demon Lord.”

“Thud”

Finally, the Demon Lord’s body fell face down on the ground.

“Demon Lord…!”

“Damn it, you guys?”

In the Demon Lord’s blurring vision, they could see Baphomet running toward them and the succubus being surrounded by humans who had suddenly appeared.

The vampire duke, who seemed shocked, was also seen reaching out his hand.

“I am the Demon Lord now.”

The Demon Lord raised his fist and said.

It was a fist raised high as if to crush the head.

“Your era ends here.”

Is this like a flashback?

A bright light that seemed to burn the eyes was entering the vision.

“Damn it…”

As the Demon Lord brought down his fist, the Demon Lord’s consciousness ended there.