Chapter 152: The Hero, the Demon King, the Demon God, and God – 1

Chapter 152: The Hero, the Demon King, the Demon God, and God – 1

While the girl wielding the Holy Sword took a moment to regroup and gaze at the Demon King’s castle, the castle itself was in an uproar.

……To be precise, it was in an uproar for a moment.

“Hmph…… Anyway, they’re just beasts, so they don’t listen.”

“…Even so, did you really need to go this far?”

Blood flowed profusely within the Demon King’s castle.

It was because the monsters, having witnessed the annihilation of the previous two legions, refused to go out and fight.

Especially since, unlike the previous two legions, they weren’t bound by a single race but were a mix of various races, making harmony even more difficult.

Even the Gumiho, the commander meant to lead the legion, refused to go out, so there was no way they would fight properly.

“Do you wish to revive them as undead?”

“No. They’re useless even in death.”

Normally, the Demon King would have ‘educated’ such complaints with appropriate force, but……

Due to the Demon God’s incessant, maddening shouts to kill the Hero, she had no patience left.

Some monsters fled, but that wasn’t important to the Demon King. The only important thing was to kill the Hero.

The Demon God’s shouts, so annoying, so absolute, and so difficult to listen to, echoed repeatedly in the Demon King’s ears.

“……Since all the other legions have fallen, I suppose it’s my turn to go.”

“No. You… stay here. At least with you here, I don’t think I’ll go mad. In this… clamor.”

Whatever had made the Demon God so angry, he incessantly shouted to kill Hero, raging.

Was he so furious that the Demon King’s Army had been defeated by the Hero? Or was he enraged that the monsters, whom he had intended to create a world for, were dying?

Or perhaps…… he simply hated the Hero so much.

The Demon God’s irrational fury was reaching the point of sounding like a scream beyond a shout, and now, beyond the Demon King, even the Archlich standing beside her could faintly hear it.

“It is blasphemous to say, but… perhaps, would you consider cutting off communication with the Demon God-nim for a moment?”

“……I appreciate your concern, but if I did that twice, the Demon God-nim would tell me to kill you first.”

“…Understood.”

Unlike the Demon King, who, hearing these shouts, only understood that the Demon God harbored hatred for the Hero,

The Archlich, hearing the Demon God’s shouts and rage from a slight distance, could be a little calmer and hear the voice in more detail.

The Demon God’s voice was not simple hatred. It was certainly hatred, but…… within it, fear was mixed.

However, that fear seemed less like fear directed at the Hero, and more like fear of something he was trying to hide being exposed.

It was a fear as if a weakness that should never be revealed was about to be exposed.

However… the Archlich clutched his head at the Demon God’s voice and couldn’t bring himself to convey this to the Demon King, who was slowly going mad.

It was a fact he himself had only accepted after calmly confirming it multiple times, so how could the Demon King in that state possibly accept it?

Instead, he calmly announced that the Hero had finally reached the Demon King’s castle.

“Demon King-nim, the Hero has entered the Demon King’s castle… will you go yourself, or shall I give her a light welcome?”

“……As much as I’d like to go myself, in my current state… Hmph. My head is throbbing. Since the Demon God-nim promised silence for a crucial moment, I’ll go after I’ve calmed down a bit.”

“Understood. Then, I shall raise my legion to greet the Hero.”

With those words, the castle began to vibrate.

Countless souls and the dead rising from all directions, and all dead beings harboring malice towards the living.

They rose at a single gesture from the Archlich and began to move to faithfully fulfill their roles.

***

“……So it’s that guy this time. The Archlich I saw before.”

The Hero’s voice echoed.

However, unlike before, no answer was returned.

The dead merely moved with threatening sounds, approaching the Hero.

At that sight, the Hero quietly drew her Holy Sword.

Alien divine power gleamed. It was not the usual divine power that bestowed the blessing of rest upon the dead.

Divine power that crushed uninvited guests who dared to set foot in the world through forbidden paths bloomed.

Whether God pitied the dead, or if it was mere hypocrisy, he sought to give them the blessing of rest… but the divine power of those who defied God did not do so.

It merely sought to crush the dead who had entered the land of the living unlawfully.

“……There are an awful lot of them.”

Whether they intended to employ a tactic of quantity over quality, or if it was merely a delaying tactic, the legion summoned by the Archlich was not particularly high in quality.

But there were many. Enough to fill one floor of the Demon King’s castle and still more pouring in.

Even among them were vampires and Dragonkin who seemed to have been killed by the Hero before.

The Hero, after briefly observing the number of the legion, imbued the Holy Sword with divine power and swung it broadly.

Unlike before, it was an utterly simple attack, devoid of any technique or magic.

If such an attack had been used against the legions she fought earlier, it would never have worked.

However… for this army of the dead, which prioritized quantity over quality from the outset, what mattered was how many enemies could be dealt with at once, not how excellent the attack was.

If the opponent chose quantity over quality…… it was only right for the one facing them to also choose quantity over quality.

And so, the army of the dead crumbled in one layer, but the Hero showed no joyful expression at all.

…Because such a vast number of the dead followed behind that the fallen soldiers were barely noticeable.

The Hero sighed softly and once again infused divine power.

***

The endlessly surging army of the dead began to show its end.

For the Hero, it was less a difficult and exhausting battle than it was… a rather boring, annoying, and time-consuming battle.

All she had done was simply imbue the Holy Sword with divine power and swing it.

However, because of that, the Hero could tell.

That this entire legion before her was merely a delaying tactic.

Therefore, the Hero dealt with the army of the dead even more casually.

Since it was obvious that enough time had passed to achieve the purpose of delaying, her intention was to conserve as much strength as possible.

Indeed, the army of the dead was weak enough to be dealt with casually.

However…… the beings located in the Demon King’s room, which she entered after defeating the army of the dead, were not so.

“Huh…… There are faces I definitely killed, aren’t there? When did they bring the corpses?”

“Having reached this level, one shouldn’t be bound by mere corpses when summoning the dead.”

The Lord of the Vampires and the King of the Dragonkin, whom she had killed, stood there.

And…… in a state that seemed to retain quite a lot of their power from when they were alive.

But the problem for the Hero was not them…… but the Demon King, glaring at her from the throne as if to kill her.

“……If I say I came wanting to exchange a few words, but then say that they attacked, and this is what happened inevitably, will you believe me?”

“Believe it or not…… the option of conversation is already gone, isn’t it?”

“Why, did the Demon God order you so? It seems what I have to say must have been quite frightening to him, eh?”

At those words, the Demon King’s expression twisted, and the Archlich was silent for a moment.

For the Demon King, who was directly exposed to and communicating with the Demon God’s voice, those words were nothing short of a provocation… but the Archlich was different.

Having lived for a long time, explored for a long time, and observed for a long time, the Archlich, who was among the wisest of monsters, could tell.

The news the Hero brought…… was something that could sever the relationship between the Demon God and the Demon King, no matter which way it went.

“Oops. Isn’t it terribly rude for a subordinate to interrupt while I’m talking to their boss?”

“…The Demon King said she had nothing more to say.”

Therefore, he quickly intervened, cutting off the Hero’s continuing words.

The Archlich also vaguely felt an impure sensation from the Demon God, but……

He was not extraordinary enough to doubt his god or defy him.

Even if the Demon God had some sinister thoughts and a duplicitous side, he still thought it would be better than a future of defeat at the hands of humans.

And while the Hero’s words were momentarily cut off by the Archlich’s attack, the Demon King also rose from her throne and picked up her weapon, an axe.

At the same time, the undead of the two legion commanders, already summoned as the dead, also began to move, approaching the Hero.

The Hero, looking at that scene, let out a small sigh and then…… gripped her Holy Sword again.

The next moment, the Demon King, the Demon God, and the Hero clashed.