Chapter 108

Chapter 108: The Demon King's Castle (3)

The master of the SSS-rank dungeon—the Demon King.

When ranking the game's hardest bosses, the Demon King was always on the list.

Thanatos was the strongest, but that didn't necessarily translate to hardest.

As the story progressed, players could raise their specs, so bosses growing stronger meant the player grew too—making "hard" more a matter of difficulty relative to the player's power at that point.

The Demon King gazed down at us from his throne with regal authority.

My first impression upon seeing the Demon King in the flesh: calling him "darkness personified" fit him perfectly.

"I shall ask."

The moment his rich, resonant voice left his lips, the Heroes squeezed their eyes shut in terror.

No special skill at work.

The Demon King's existence itself was fear incarnate.

It was so natural to the Demon King that he paid it no mind and continued.

"What is your purpose in invading my castle?"

Most were too paralyzed to think straight, but Edelin and a few clear-headed Heroes showed confusion instead.

In their experience, monsters were mindless beasts.

A monster that spoke language and communicated with humans? This was a first for them.

Well, of course.

Monsters with true intellect—reasoning at a human level—only appeared from SSS-rank dungeons onward.

Also, monsters were fundamentally non-hostile to humans.

In their berserk Gate-influenced state, perhaps—but with the Gate freshly opened, hostility was even less likely.

In the game, freedom of interaction inside dungeons had been limited, but this was reality.

Meaning, if I played my cards right, we could not only survive but potentially gain something far greater.

"We are ignorant travelers, benevolent king. We did not know this was your castle."

"Is that truly so?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

I shot the Heroes a look that said 'follow my lead,' and they attempted their best period-drama speech.

"Y-yes......"

"Indeed, Your Majesty."

"M-mercifully... forgive......"

The Demon King pondered our fate briefly before delivering a clean verdict.

"Very well. I am a merciful king."

"Oh......"

"Therefore, I shall take only your lives, painlessly."

Lunatic.

Merciful? Where?

"Y-Your Majesty! Please wait!"

"Spare us!"

"Please, please let us go......"

The death sentence sent the Heroes scrambling to beg.

Not the smartest approach, but at least none of them was stupid enough to provoke the Demon King further. Small mercy.

I, however, had to be that stupid one.

To the Demon King, our lives were lighter than flies'.

Obviously, crossing him meant a gruesome end.

Paradoxically, crossing him was the only way to leave here alive.

Pfft.

A small scoff.

From there, I broke into laughter.

The Heroes stared at me—laughing with their lives on the line—as if watching a madman.

The Demon King glanced at me briefly, then lost interest and muttered.

"He's gone mad. Kill that one first."

At his verdict, a Dullahan moved.

The black greatsword drawn from its hip gleamed.

Before the blade could fall, my mouth moved faster.

"A demon tribe serving as an Evil God's lackey, and you call yourself a king? You should send that oversized throne to the Evil Gods instead."

Twitch.

The Dullahan froze the instant my words ended.

The Demon King had raised his hand to halt my execution.

Evil Gods possessed the ability to open Gates and connect dungeons to other dimensions.

But this ability wasn't omnipotent.

If they could abuse it freely, Earth would've already been overrun by more monsters than Heroes could handle.

Opening a Gate required certain conditions to be met, and the higher the dungeon's tier, the stricter those conditions became.

SSS-rank dungeons governed by self-aware monsters had especially stringent Gate-opening requirements.

Evil Gods and monsters were not allies.

The Evil Gods unilaterally opened Gates and pitted monsters against humans.

From the monsters' perspective, Evil Gods were worse than enemies.

While lower-intelligence monsters had no choice, SSS-rank dungeon monsters didn't dance to the Evil Gods' tune.

The Demon King's Castle seal.

It had actually been created by the Demon King himself.

Of course he wouldn't welcome a parasitic Gate that drained the mana his dungeon's monsters needed.

A boss of SSS-rank caliber could resist the Gate.

In the late stages, when dimensional assimilation was far advanced, resisting the Evil Gods' power would be impossible—but at this point in time, it could be done.

Yet this time, the Demon King hadn't resealed the Gate.

He'd left it open, willingly puppeting himself at the Evil Gods' behest.

"Halt."

Click—

At the Demon King's command, the Dullahans holding me stopped.

"You have quite the tongue."

His voice was the most furious I'd heard yet.

But the killing intent from before was absent.

"Indeed. Those creatures are more than capable of such treachery."

The Demon King concluded that my words had merit. Evil Gods were simply that untrustworthy.

I'd have loved to end things here, but it still wasn't enough to fully convince the Demon King.

"But it is also true that those creatures possess the power to fulfill my request. As long as even a sliver of possibility remains, I can endure being their puppet."

"And if you didn't have to?"

"What......?"

"We can save your daughter."

The Demon King's eyes widened and his pupils shook as if struck by an earthquake.

"Mmm......"

A heavy groan escaped him.

He was deliberating over my proposal.

For any other matter, he'd have ignored a straw grasped by a powerless human he'd just met.

But when it concerned his daughter, the Demon King couldn't make such rational calculations. His desperation had been enough to clasp hands with the Evil Gods he despised.

"Can you take responsibility?"

In the end, the Demon King capitulated before a tiny spark of hope.

The leader who'd seemed to possess a heart of ice was also a parent with the warmest heart of all.

"Yes."

"...Very well. If you can cure my daughter, I shall pardon all offenses and bestow a reward."

At last, the suffocating atmosphere filling the castle eased.

The Heroes each exhaled in relief.

"Follow me alone. The rest of you—keep them under watch."

─Yes, Your Majesty.

The Heroes looked at me with a thousand questions in their eyes, but no one spoke.

The Demon King had withdrawn his killing intent, but the terror seared into their minds kept them silent.

The Demon King led me to the castle's rear.

There, a spiral staircase stretched upward.

It was quite tall, and we climbed in silence for a long while.

The atmosphere shifted as we ascended. Unlike the murderous aura below, warmth and comfort grew stronger the higher we went.

This must have been radiating from the topmost floor—the princess's room.

We reached the tower's summit at last.

At the entrance hung a golden door adorned with bright, colorful decorations.

A jarring sight for a castle that was black through and through.

"I'm coming in."

A voice so tender it was hard to believe it came from the Demon King.

A short "Yes" answered from inside, and the Demon King opened the door.

WHOOSH—energy surged outward.

Similar to what I'd felt on the way up, but incomparably stronger.

Bathed in mana overflowing with the force of life, the vitality I'd lost in the dungeon cell felt completely restored.

The room—filled with ornate lace and charming decorations—was like gazing upon a flower garden.

On the ceiling hung an artificial sun emitting bright light, seen nowhere else in the castle. That artifact was likely the source of the comforting mana filling the room.

In the room's center sat a large bed veiled by curtains.

A moment later, the curtains parted and the room's occupant revealed herself.

A beautiful girl in sleepwear—but what caught the eye before her lovely face were the two small horns protruding from her silver-haired head. They proclaimed she was no ordinary girl.

"I greet my father."

A girl afflicted since birth with a terrible illness, teetering between life and death every day.

The Demon King had exhausted every possible means to cure her, but nothing had worked.

The Demon King's daughter.

This small girl was the key to saving our lives.