If Zach wanted, he could have entered the middle hell quietly and stealthily killed the guards, but he didn't. If he did, that would have taken him hours to get rid of all the guards from the city. Not to mention, he would have gained no intel on the inner hell.
Even if he had managed to get some information from one of the guards, that would never have been enough. Therefore, Zach started the revolution and lured all the guards to one place where he could interrogate them and then execute them accordingly.
It was all part of Zach's plan from the start. And now that he had got what he wanted, he had no need of the guards.
The same guards who had closed the windows were now opening them so they could escape. But whoever attempted to move ended up getting sliced into pieces.
"Don't fear!" the leader of the guards said. "He is the only one! And we are in the hundreds! Look around you and find him! He is undeniably in this chamber! Don't let him escape."
"Oh, come on. Why do you keep saying the same thing again and again?" Zach scoffed.
His voice was echoing, coming from all sides, so the guards couldn't even trace him.
"Giving fake confidence to your soldiers even when you know you cannot escape… honestly… that's pitiable…"
The leader began to kill the guards to find Zach. He thought if he killed everyone in the chamber, he would surely find Zach. But Zach, however, had different plans.
Zach opened the nearest door to the leader and said, "Let's see if you care more about your life or catching me."
As soon as the door opened, the leader made a run to the door, but the moment he stepped out of the chamber, his body turned into ashes.
"Seriously… you all are liars. Of course, no one cares about anything else other than themselves. That's a common nature of every living being. So why must they enjoy terrorizing the weak? I know the answer, but still… if you have no guts to challenge someone stronger than you, so you have no right to hurt the weak."
Suddenly, all the doors and windows of the chamber opened, followed by Zach's voice that said, "If you step out of this chamber, you will die. If you stay in the chamber, you will die. And if you somehow manage to escape, you will be killed by the citizens.
If you survive even that, you will run straight to your demon lord, and he will kill you in the end. So no matter what you do, you will die. Your name has been written on a death note, and death is waiting for you.
It's up to you to decide how you want to die. You can choose any of the four death packages I gave you. But my personal recommendation is dying by hand as that's the easiest."
All the guards present in the chamber couldn't help but quiver in fear. Until a while ago, they were blatantly beating the citizens in the city, but now that it was their turn, they had become losers.
Regardless, Zach was amused enough by all that, but he got bored pretty soon.
"Alright. Your time is up. Die and become one of the lost souls in hell!"
The bodies of the hundreds of guards dropped to the floor and turned into ashes.
A few seconds later, Zach jumped into the chamber from one of the windows and confirmed everyone was dead.
"Well, that went smoothly."
In truth, Zach was never in the chamber.
After he jumped, he climbed the tower, but from the outside. And after eavesdropping on them, he killed a guard that was close to the window.
He spread his terror and then opened the door, from which the leader had tried to escape, but Zach was waiting outside and killed him.
Surely, he had fooled them all, but he got that plan from Layla, who was still in his shadow.
Zach wanted to become one with the shadow, so what could be better than hiding in plain sight but still staying invisible in others' eyes?
SIGH!
He let out an exhausting sigh and muttered, "Now, what to do? I cannot enter the inner hell alone. It's too dangerous. But what if I lure out the demon lord outside? That sounds impossible considering how much of a coward he is."
"Hmmm…" Zach hummed and pondered for a few seconds before coming up with an idea. "What if I turn everyone against him? But that has a low chance of working as I highly doubt he cares for his citizens."
Zach jumped out of the tower and landed in between the citizens.
"Rejoice, citizens! All the guards of this city have been exterminated. No need to thank me, but if you truly want to thank me, then take me to the person who has been to inner hell before."
The citizens glanced at each other while whispering, but none of them spoke directly to Zach.
"And just so you know, I am stronger than the demon lord. So I wouldn't suggest anyone try to backstab me or betray me. I wouldn't think twice before cutting you all down if I sense you all are brewing something," Zach asserted nonchalantly.
"My name is Zagreus! You may know me as a 'Legend of the dead demon child'," he announced.
"...!" The citizens began to whisper even more.
A few seconds later, an old man stepped forward and asked, "Are you truly the legend of the dead demon child?"
"Indeed."
"But you are alive."
"Well, yes. But you know how the story goes, don't you?" Zach shrugged and said, "And you must also know what happened to those who tried to harm the dead demon child."
"Yes… we know…" The old man nodded and uttered, "Please follow me. I will take you to the only demon in the middle hell, who has been to the inner hell and returned alive."
The sourc𝗲 of this content is free(w)ebnov(𝒆)l