Rattle rattle…
Bell carefully opened the window in the room. The view outside caught her eye. The sun had risen in the demon realm as well. That was quite a remarkable thing.
“But the scenery is really red.”
Bell gazed at the sky, which was filled with a blood-like red color. The sun looked even redder than the sky.
Prepared to head outside, Yuma and Bell faced the dishes laid out on the table. A spread made up of various premium monster meats.
“Whoa?”
A red-skinned demon, resembling an orc, looked at Bell and Yuma while pointing at a black, nasty-looking piece of meat with a tiny fork compared to its large hands.
It was a gesture suggesting they could eat it too, but Bell instinctively stepped back.
With her eyes wide open, she stared at the black meat.
“Wow, I wouldn’t give that to Hestia. Oh, but maybe Hestia would eat it at least once out of curiosity?”
Bell briefly tickled the ears of the cat-folk swordsman Hestia, who was mindlessly having breakfast in the intermediate world.
Eventually, Bell and Yuma returned to their assigned room and ate sandwiches they had stored in their spatial pocket artifact.
After finishing their sandwiches, they stepped outside again and found the Great Demon King Lilith sitting in a chair. Yuma slowly opened his mouth.
“Is everything ready?”
Lilith nodded at Yuma’s words.
“Yes, we can depart!”
Lilith’s yellow eyes sparkled as she had her subordinates clean the desk.
She then spoke to her right-hand man, who was standing there.
“Unfold it, Ron.”
Ron, an elderly man with impressive white hair and gray skin, scattered numerous items across the now-empty table.
They resembled the belongings of magic scholars in the intermediate world.
Ron’s neatly arranged white mustache caught the eye as he slowly opened his mouth.
“This black circular device on the left completely blocks out surrounding noise. With this, we will completely silence any sounds leaking from the building where the head of the family resides.”
Yuma’s eyes widened.
“Is there a separate building for the head?”
Lilith nodded, placing a piece of paper on the desk.
“Yes, it seems the Berzette family treats the head of the family with special care. Here, they were being monitored alone about three hours away from the original territory of the [Leviant] family.”
Yuma closely examined the map Lilith had unfolded. As Lilith had said, below the massive walls of [Leviant] was another circular area surrounded by walls.
“From Berzette’s perspective, they’re treating the head of the [Leviant] family specially, but thanks to that special treatment, it’s become much easier to operate.”
Leaving aside the number of troops guarding the area where the head lived, the land itself wasn’t very wide, so it seemed possible to swiftly occupy the territory without being caught by the Great Demon King [Berzette].
Regardless of the number of troops, the land itself isn’t very large, so it seemed possible to swiftly occupy the territory without the Great Demon King Berzette noticing.
“It looks like there’s a semi-divine monster stronger than the first tier acting as the guard, but that’s something I can take care of myself.”
As a Great Demon King with god-like power, Lilith, the master of this massive Hell Castle, wouldn’t have any trouble handling a single guard.
Ron pointed to one of the items on the desk.
“This is an artifact that temporarily distorts the scenery of the area. With this, no one outside will notice anything happening in the territory where the head of the family resides for a short time.”
Lilith opened her mouth again.
“The distance from Berzette’s demon castle to the place where the head of the family resides is about 6 hours. That should leave enough time for a sufficient conversation after the rendezvous. If we can get the mark from the head right away, it might be a bit tight on time, though.”
That was true.
Still, if we could receive the mark before fighting Berzette, it would be the best decision.
“You’ll need a lot of manpower.”
At Yuma’s words, Lilith drew a crescent moon with her bright yellow eyes.
“That’s right, but compared to the troops needed to behead the Great Demon King Berzette, it’s just a mere scratch of manpower. You’ll keep your promise, right?”
Yuma nodded without hesitation.
“Yeah, I intend to keep that promise.”
To break out of the culprit’s shadow and create the elixir to consume the Dragon Heart, they needed blood extracted from the heart of a Great Demon King, making Berzette an unavoidable target for Yuma.
Lilith smiled at Yuma’s unwavering response.
“Good, that confirmation is enough. I’ll clean up the dozens of first and second tier entities within the territory being monitored by the head of the Mark family.”
Lilith continued speaking.
“Then we’ll depart in 30 minutes.”
“Okay.”
*
Thirty minutes later, the place the Great Demon King Lilith led Yuma and Bell to was the location of the Hell Castle’s mounts—home to black leopards.
A dozen black leopards sat quietly in their cages, watching Yuma and Bell. Yuma and Bell approached the black leopards.
Lilith spoke up.
“If we can tame these beasts, riding one each will be the fastest way to reach our destination. Don’t worry. As we saw on the map, we’ll be navigating through the jungle, so we won’t be detected.”
Yuma carefully observed the black leopards. It was clear that the muscular legs in front of him could tackle anything blocking their path, whether it be forest or jungle.
“The way to tame them is simple. You just have to ride them. As long as you don’t panic. Monsters typically bare their fangs to those they fear, and follow those who reign over them.”
“Is this the way it goes?”
At Lilith’s nod, one of her subordinates stepped forward and brought out two massive black leopards from the pen.
Without hesitation, Yuma mounted the one on the left.
Not fearing beasts that were no different from wild animals. This was also true for Hector, the military horse Yuma had tamed before, and Ethan, the griffin.
Unlike the demons he had previously ridden, it seemed this leopard had questions about the human riding it, momentarily tightening its muscles and sharpening its senses.
“Grurrr…”
Once mounted, Yuma calmly stroked its fur and petted its neck to ease the tension, causing the leopard to retract its baring teeth and relax its stiff body.
“Wooaaah!”
In contrast, Bell, riding on the right leopard, seemed to struggle with balance, only managing to stabilize herself after wrapping herself in defensive magic.
Lilith revealed her white teeth in a grin at the sight.
“Hehehe, let’s get going.”
Two hundred first-class demon troops, summoned by Lilith’s advisor Ron, set out riding the black leopards. Yuma and Bell followed closely behind on their respective leopards.
The jungle, true to its name, was filled with enormous, snake-like vines.
The black leopards easily navigated through the chaotic forest with their natural physical prowess.
Crunch!
They dashed forward, smashing any vines that obstructed their way.
They raced on for more than five days.
On the sixth day, their journey began anew. They continued until dusk started to fall when finally, something came into view.
A tightly packed gray wall that left no gaps in sight appeared, a perfect barrier blocking all external entry.
Surrounding that wall were dozens of Berzette’s troops.
Noticing them from a distance, Lilith raised her hand, bringing the advance to a complete stop.
Ron bowed his head towards Lilith.
“There are a hundred personnel outside the wall, and about the same number inside monitoring the head of the family. Half of the handpicked demons are skilled in stealth, so we should be able to annihilate both inside and outside simultaneously.”
She would cast a silence spell so that the ruckus wouldn’t leak out, but it was safest to handle it quickly.
“We’ll disguise those outside with demons capable of transformation and those who can create decoys to make them appear unscathed.”
Once that was done, at least until Berzette’s side sent personnel directly, they wouldn’t be detected occupying the area.
Berzette, master of all blessings, was not lacking even among the five great demon kings revered as the gods of the demon realm, and despite not having drawn their swords against each other for a long time, they held onto their tension.
This is why they had separated the head of the family, the most important figure among the ones who create the marks that served as the source of their powers, to be monitored individually.
The task of assigning the surveillance troops had not been handled personally by Berzette, but rather delegated to a subordinate, agreeing with that subordinate’s opinion that a demon king would not act directly.
It wasn’t directly done by the Great Demon King himself, but rather entrusted to his subordinate. The fact that he agreed with that subordinate’s opinion that the Great Demon King wouldn’t move personally was evident.
Crack─
The necks of the second-tier demons inside and outside the wall twisted grotesquely.
A sword pierced through the back of the first-tier demon, skewering its heart and sticking out the other side.
Squeal!
Lilith quickly attached a red thread to the thirty first-tier demons that looked at her as she boldly entered through the wall.
Whoosh! Whoosh!!
With a single clap, the first-tier demons ignited into flames and turned to ash.
The only ones left were the semi-divine level monster, the Red Tiger, inside the wall.
A massive tiger charged forward.
Lilith created a huge fireball and threw it at the beast.
Boom!
Half of the Red Tiger’s head was blown off with a deafening roar, but it did not stop its charge.
Kra—waaaaaah!!!
With a thunderous shout, its giant paw swung wildly.
Thud!
Stepping forward, Lilith grabbed the weapon-like paw.
Whoosh!
Then, with her power, ‘Infernal Flames,’ she enveloped the Red Tiger’s entire body in flames.
Kaboom!!
The Red Tiger, charred black all over, crashed to the ground.
Lilith brushed off her hands and turned her back.
In that moment, a fierce flash erupted from the Red Tiger’s eyes.
“Hah, a bug—”
Lilith awakened fire in her right hand and turned her head.
Ka—aaang!!
In that split second, Duke Yuma’s Balmung deflected the Red Tiger’s attack.
Boom—!
In an instant, the Red Tiger’s body exploded, completely facing the full force of Yuma’s attack, which was ten times the usual strength.
Giant chunks of flesh tumbled to the ground.
“Did even death not get confirmed properly? Pathetic, Great Demon King.”
Yuma advanced forward without even looking at Lilith.
The demons of Lilith’s faction gulped as they witnessed Yuma’s power that they had only heard of.
“T-This guy was unrealistically persistent! Aaaah!”
Yuma ignored Lilith and opened the door of an old, shabby house.
Creeeak—
A figure came into view. A woman was sitting in a chair.
“Are you the head of the Gakin family?”
At Yuma’s words, the woman slightly turned her body and looked back.
Yuma’s gaze met with hers. His eyebrows narrowed.
Platinum blonde hair.
And silver eyes.
“…Who are you?”
-[Don’tScrewMeOver], what an intriguing name. Are all human names this fascinating?
They looked exactly the same.
[Lv.92] Selene
And the name was the same too. The Demon Lord Selene from the game [Loop Blood].
