Cale looked once at the robe on his knees, then looked back at the Demon King.
“......!”
Over the Demon King’s shoulder, Strategist Ed could be seen drawing in a breath.
“Is this thing valuable?”
At Cale’s question, the Demon King answered in an indifferent tone.
“No.”
Cale’s gaze neatly ignored the Demon King and shifted to Strategist Ed.
“...It is one of the five treasures handed down to the Demon King through the generations. It is a robe that makes even gods unable to gauge their opponent.”
After hearing that explanation, Cale looked at the startled faces of the strategist and General Mol, then said to the Demon King,
“Lend this to me for a bit.”
“!”
“!!”
Regardless of whether Strategist Ed and General Mol were shocked, the Demon King remained calm.
“Do as you like.”
“Oh.”
Cale grinned in admiration, and the Demon King neatly ignored it as he passed by Cale.
“Follow me.”
A robe that supposedly made even gods unable to gauge another’s ability.
Cale hugged it tightly to his chest and followed behind the Demon King.
In his wheelchair, of course.
*****
General Mol and Strategist Ed.
The faces of the two demons were stiff to the limit.
The two demons, both skilled at managing their expressions, could not hide their emotions.
“Mm.”
The Demon King fell into thought.
His gaze turned to Siz, commander of the royal guard, who was prostrating before him.
“You said the third Emperor cannot come here?”
“...I apologize, Demon King.”
Siz bowed even lower.
The city of Midi.
In the large conference room of its lord’s castle, the Demon King had intended to summon the third Emperor, Dragon King, and after looking down at the meeting room where not a single member of the third Emperor’s party could be seen, he opened his mouth.
“What did he say?”
Siz, commander of the First Army royal guard, opened her mouth with a stiff face.
“He says he wishes to enter the ancient site.”
General Mol could not hold back and finally spat out,
“That senseless bastard—!”
After turning the ancient site and the two cities, Midi and Mika, into a complete mess, he was now acting like that.
Strategist Ed’s hands trembled.
To him, who regarded the Demon King of Ennui as the only one with the makings to become the demon god and wished to raise the Demon World above the divine realm and heavenly realm, the third Emperor’s behavior was not merely arrogant. It had crossed the line.
“Demon King—”
Strategist Ed stepped forward.
But when the Demon King opened his mouth, Ed had to stop.
“How entertaining.”
The Demon King’s eyes did not smile. Only his mouth did as he said that and turned his head.
The wheelchair in front of General Mol. He asked the person whose face and entire body were wrapped tightly in the robe and could not be seen,
“What do you think should be done?”
At his question, a hidden mouth opened from deep inside the hood.
“Isn’t it obvious?”
Cale tossed out the words bluntly.
“Aren’t you going to save the demons?”
The expressions of General Mol, Strategist Ed, and Siz, commander of the royal guard, changed strangely.
“Right.”
The Demon King’s smile deepened.
He slowly rose from his chair.
Every one of his movements carried ennui and boredom, yet strangely, his steps were light.
“You said the third Emperor is in front of the ancient site?”
“Yes, Demon King.”
The Demon King began walking. Watching him, a solemn resolve settled over Strategist Ed’s face. This was the Demon King yielding one move to the third Emperor.
It was then.
“We don’t have time.”
Cale gestured for General Mol to push his wheelchair and continued speaking.
“Walk a little faster. Stop striking useless poses.”
With a blank face, Mol pushed Cale’s wheelchair and overtook the Demon King. The Demon King let out a small laugh, then quickened his steps a little.
Interest toward Cale was blooming in his eyes.
“.......”
Strategist Ed followed after them, struggling to hide the peculiar expression on his face.
*****
And when the Demon King’s steps stopped,
they faced the third Emperor.
“.......”
The third Emperor, Dragon King, stroked his long white beard and kept his mouth tightly shut.
The truth was, he was flustered.
He came?
That Demon King had come all the way here?
Why?
The third Emperor had faced the Demon King several times. But this was the first time he had seen this man move personally like this.
“.......”
The third Emperor kept his mouth tightly shut and remained seated in his chair without even greeting the Demon King.
The entrance to the ancient site.
That area was connected to the entrance of the village belonging to the clan that guarded the site.
But right now, aside from the third Emperor’s subordinates and the Demon King’s party, not a single demon could be seen here.
Only silence filled the entrance of the village.
However, from somewhere deep inside the village—
from its far end, faint sobbing could be heard.
Or perhaps it was a cry filled with someone’s grief.
In any case, in front of that entrance, the third Emperor sat on a chair one of his subordinates had brought.
The third Emperor had not entered the ancient site.
To be exact, he could not enter.
—Cale, that demon seems to be the priest.
Crackle, crackle—
The ancient site was made up of piles of stone that looked like buildings.
Because there was no fortress wall or wooden fence surrounding the site, Cale could see its interior clearly.
However, at the eastern, western, southern, and northern edges of the ancient site—
wooden towers standing in the four cardinal directions.
A strange energy that began from those wooden towers and from the staff of a demon standing at the entrance covered the entire ancient site and blocked the third Emperor’s approach.
“.......”
The priest had her eyes closed.
The old woman stood with her eyes shut and did not place her gaze on the third Emperor, the Demon King, or anyone else.
She simply stood in front of the entrance to the ancient site, guarding it.
The third Emperor can’t enter the ancient site.
Cale recalled the information he had heard from General Mol.
The demon god does not exist now, but definitely did once.
The proof was supposedly that wooden staff in the priest’s hand.
As long as that staff, handed down from ancient times, protects the ancient site, even the Demon King cannot enter without permission.
Of course, with the third Emperor’s level of strength, he could erase that defensive formation. But the moment he does, the ancient site will explode.
The defensive formation created by the four wooden towers and the priest holding the staff.
It was both a defensive formation and an explosive formation.
The only way to enter the intact ancient site is to have the defensive formation withdrawn.
Because of that, the third Emperor had apparently tried to wield the clan as hostages in front of the priest.
It’s still only an assumption, but they say that during that process, the child who was a candidate for the next priest was seized by extreme fear.
They were thinking that perhaps that fear had caused the seed of chaos to germinate.
Cale was looking at the old priest, whose mouth still bore clear traces of dried blood.
—Cale.
Suddenly, the gluttonous priestess called him.
Huh?
Cale flinched.
Lately, whenever the gluttonous priestess appeared, something happened.
So he had instinctively tensed up when—
—That priest smells like wood.
Huh?
Cale paused at those words and looked at the priest again.
“!”
What?
Cale flinched again.
“.......”
Because the old priest had slowly opened her eyes and was looking at Cale.
The Demon King stood at the very front.
Behind him stood the strategist and the commander of the royal guard.
Behind them stood Cale and General Mol.
That old woman was definitely looking at Cale.
At Cale, whose face and body were completely covered by the hood.
Mm.
This feels kind of uncomfortable.
As Cale’s face began to stiffen—
“Third Emperor.”
The Demon King opened his mouth.
He was still standing as he looked down at the third Emperor.
“.......”
At his call, the third Emperor flinched and glanced at the Demon King.
But in his eyes were annoyance, irritation, and anger at having faced something troublesome.
How dare he......!
Strategist Ed grew angry at that sight.
But his anger burned even hotter at the glares of the third Emperor’s subordinates directed at him.
At that moment—
“What is it?”
The third Emperor spoke with a grin.
Still, he spoke politely to the Demon King.
He is not even a god—
Of course, inwardly, he looked down on the Demon King.
The third Emperor.
His power was close to or equal to a god’s.
That was why he did not want to treat the Demon King, who had not reached godhood, with proper respect.
“If you called me, state your business.”
Still, because the first Emperor, the first Wanderer, had told him to treat the Demon King properly, the third Emperor spoke politely in his own way.
Of course, the expressions of the subordinates beside the Demon King were not good, but they did not even enter his eyes.
There was no reason to °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° keep insignificant things in his sight.
And the Demon King answered his behavior.
“I will not ask you to pay for what happened before.”
“...What?”
For an instant, doubt entered the Dragon King’s eyes.
Because, for a moment, he did not understand what the Demon King had said.
“However—”
The Demon King paid no mind to that reaction and continued saying what he had to say.
“I will ask you to pay for this incident.”
“Ha!”
The third Emperor was dumbfounded.
The ancient site.
In truth, he had come here because, in a situation where it was unclear where he should go to find Cale Henituse and Choi Jung Gun, he had simply moved as his interest led him.
Of course, there had been something the first Emperor had once said.
The ancient site of the demon god. I am curious about that place. If the demon god truly existed, then the first god to be erased would likely be the demon god.
Those words had sparked his curiosity and led him here.
And yet, how dare—
They blocked me.
A mere demon had blocked him.
Even the Demon King did not dare say anything about his movements, yet these trivial things had stood in his way.
That fact enraged the third Emperor.
That was why he absolutely wanted to enter this ancient site and destroy it.
Then something useless had happened.
Ugh, aaaaagh—
The power of chaos suddenly exploded from one child and spread around them.
The third Emperor realized that this was the scheme the Order of the God of Chaos had tried to inflict upon the Demon World back at Moraka Castle.
That was why he was currently dumbfounded.
“A crime, you say? I rendered a service.”
If anything, he had rendered a service.
Was it not thanks to him that the God of Chaos’s scheme had been exposed?
“Ha!”
So absurd that he let out another hollow laugh.
“......!”
Then his eyes widened.
His laughing face froze exactly as it was.
Tap.
At some point, the Demon King had arrived right in front of his nose.
He had not noticed.
It truly happened in an instant.
So fast he could not even gauge how it had happened.
The Demon King, who had been several steps away, had come right before his nose.
Tap. Tap.
And slowly patted his shoulder with his hand.
!
Cale’s eyes widened inside the robe as well.
—Cale, that is similar to Instant!
Listening to the stingy old man of the Fire of Destruction speak in shock, Cale looked at the Demon King.
The Demon King of Ennui.
What was the power he possessed?
What kind of power did a being who controlled his surroundings with energy alone possess?
Cale was curious.
And after looking into it, he had learned that in the war against the previous Demon King, the current Demon King had been called the “god of battle.”
A being specialized in fighting.
And a being who made his enemies powerless.
Only those things could describe him.
It isn’t Instant.
That power was not Instant.
The Ancient Tree responded to Cale’s thought.
—It is pure movement.
The Demon King had not raised any energy at all. He had stolen the gazes of the third Emperor and Cale through movement alone.
It was physical ability to an astonishing degree.
Is he even human?
No. He was a demon.
No, even if he was a demon, was that possible?
While Cale was newly shocked by the Demon King’s strength—
Do not underestimate the Demon King. Treat him carefully.
The third Emperor recalled the first Emperor’s words and pushed away the Demon King’s hand.
“......!”
But that hand did not move.
It was terrifying strength.
“Third Emperor.”
The Demon King spoke lowly.
Looking down at the third Emperor.
The Demon King’s voice settled over the third Emperor’s head.
“You are not a god.”
“!”
The third Emperor’s eyes widened.
He understood the meaning of the Demon King’s words.
If you are not a god, you cannot beat me.
At those words, the third Emperor wanted to say that was not true.
However—
“Did the first Emperor not tell you to be careful of me?”
“......!”
“You will not do against the first Emperor.”
“.......”
Tap.
After lightly patting the third Emperor’s shoulder one more time, the Demon King lowered his hand.
Then he leisurely stepped back and looked at the priest. Seeing that the old priest’s gaze was directed toward Cale, he opened his mouth.
“Stop being stubborn and withdraw. I know the first Emperor is curious about this place, but this is somewhere even I cannot enter without permission.”
The Demon King’s eyes turned to the third Emperor.
The third Emperor’s crumpling face went stiff.
“Leave.”
The Demon King’s eyes as he spoke those three syllables—
there was nothing visible there.
Only killing intent filled them.
Killing intent that held nothing else.
Only the will to kill the third Emperor could be seen.
Gulp.
The third Emperor swallowed without realizing it.
This bastard isn’t below a god, is he?
Because the third Emperor had met many gods, he could tell.
The Demon King.
This bastard was god-level.
He simply was not a god.
He had undoubtedly already reached a realm comparable to a god.
Then why can he not become a god?
The Demon World.
Compared to the divine realm and heavenly realm, it could not wield its strength properly. Even so, unlike the many earthly dimensions, it had maintained its form intact as a single world for countless years.
The one who stood at its apex.
The Demon King.
That name was by no means light.
There was a reason the heavenly realm and divine realm could not treat the Demon World carelessly.
Whooosh—
And the third Emperor, too, was someone close to godhood.
Seriousness settled over his stiff face, and energy circled around him.
He could not simply back down before the Demon King like this.
A strange tension flowed between them.
It was different from before.
At that moment, the Demon King opened his mouth.
“Now we can have a conversation.”
He took one step back. The tension vanished. The Demon King gestured to the strategist.
The strategist, guessing the Demon King’s intent to make the third Emperor leave and quickly treat the demons, stepped forward with a stiff face to follow that will.
“Yes, Demon King.”
“Guide him to the city of Mika.”
Following that, one of the Dragon King’s subordinates stepped forward.
“You handle it.”
The third Emperor, Dragon King, entrusted what came next to the subordinate who had stepped out at just the right time.
Now the Dragon King would go to the city of Mika and discuss leaving this place and what to do afterward.
Pointless.
Suddenly, General Mol thought that contest of strength was truly pointless.
Even at this moment, sobbing could be heard from the village.
...Demon King.
Mol could understand a little of the ennui gathered in the Demon King’s eyes.
But more clearly than the ennui in the Demon King’s eyes, someone else’s living gaze now rose in Mol’s mind.
Cale Henituse, who had told them not to waste useless time.
Mol’s gaze automatically moved toward him.
Huh?
Then he froze.
What is this?
Cale Henituse had his head lowered.
Without even examining the Dragon King, he was suddenly looking down at the ground beneath the wheelchair.
What is it?
Mol wondered why he was doing that.
But Cale’s back blocked his view, so he could not properly see beneath the wheelchair. More precisely, near Cale’s feet.
Rustle, rustle.
The ground touching Cale’s wheelchair.
A root had surged up from there.
Very small.
So no one else would know.
But leaves sprouted from that root and swayed gently. There was not even a breath of wind.
—Cale.
The gluttonous priestess reacted.
Cale could not pretend not to notice.
—That priest is calling you.
Just as the gluttonous priestess said.
—The wooden towers are calling you too.
The old priest was looking at Cale with a very heated gaze.
The wooden staff in the priest’s hand.
That staff was planted into the ground.
And leaves had sprouted from the staff like a living tree, and their shape was identical to the leaf touching Cale’s foot.
What is this?
Why is that old priest staring at me so fiercely?
Cale could not hide his discomfort at the priest’s eyes, which looked at him as though looking at a winning lottery ticket.
As if she had stumbled upon some windfall, the old woman’s eyes sparkled—no, blazed—as she looked at Cale.
Rustle, rustle.
Though there was no wind, the leaves at his feet swayed.
—Cale.
The gluttonous priestess tossed out a remark.
—Should I translate what the leaves are saying?
Huh?
No.
I don’t think you need to.
—The savior has come!
Wow.
—That is what the leaves are saying. Then I will go digest now.
The Demon King began walking, and the Dragon King moved with him.
They left to converse, and only Cale and General Mol, who no one was paying attention to, were left standing there.
“Mm.”
Cale let out a low hum.
“What should we do?”
Just as General Mol carefully asked that—
another person who had remained here.
The priest. She broke her silence and opened her mouth.
“We have waited.”
Her gaze turned toward Cale.
Mol flinched as he saw that. The priest removed her hand from the staff planted in the ground and bowed at the waist to Cale.
It was an extremely polite and cautious gesture filled with desperate emotion.
The priest spoke to Cale in an earnest voice.
“O savior, please let the gray rain fall.”
Cale flinched.
Mol flinched too.
