Chapter 39 - The Butterfly Effect (2)

Demonic energy.

Utterly pure, deep demonic energy. Of a high order.

Drakson heaved his heavy backside off the throne at the summit, where he had been waiting for a report.

“Did you send another demon, by any chance?”

Casey knew he had not, but had to ask. The power was at least that of a high-ranking demon.

“Of course not!”

The energy was alien. Drakson was the Beast Demon King, and all the demons and demonic creatures around him were his subjects.

None of their demonic energy escaped his notice. This energy had not merely escaped his notice—it had erupted out of nowhere.

“Then an intruder...”

“Who would dare!”

Entering another Demon King’s territory without prior agreement was taboo. To the fiercely individualistic demons, an intrusion into their territory was no different from a declaration of war.

Drakson raced down to the first floor, with Casey following behind.

“It must be one of the other two Demon Kings, excluding Demon King Ugar and Demon King Berge.”

“Berge? Why rule him out?”

If anything, he was the most likely suspect.

“When he descended, no demons joined him other than his adjutant, Gordon. Even the demonic creatures and privileges he should have received as the top graduate were taken away. And all the demonic energy points he earned...”

“True. Even if he wanted to send someone, he has no demons to send.”

Berge was the most hostile toward Drakson, but that eliminated him from the list.

“If another Demon King really did send a demon, I suspect Demon King Jason.”

“So do I. That idealist Reina doesn’t have the nerve to pull something like—”

Just then, the crystal ball rang urgently.

It was Quail.

『“My lord, something terrible has happened!”』

“If you mean the high-ranking demon, I already sensed it. I’m on my way myself, so...”

『“That isn’t the problem! The dwarves’ princess killed the prince of Ormus! The enraged Ormus warriors are charging at her to kill her!”』

Drakson’s face twisted grotesquely.

“... What the hell...”

The incomprehensible situation left his mind frozen. But he quickly assessed what was happening.

“Stop them! The princess must not die, no matter what! If she’s a corpse by the time I arrive, I will hold you responsible.”

『“As you command! I will protect her with my life!”』

* * *

As the Ormus warriors encircled the dwarves and pressed the attack, demonic creatures struck them from behind.

The ambush was completely unexpected, and every bit of the Ormus warriors’ attention was focused on the dwarves.

What followed was a one-sided slaughter.

“Aaaaargh!”

“Look behind you! Stop the demonic creatures!”

Amid screams, the encirclement collapsed.

“Your Highness, this is our chance!”

Volbov gathered the knights. The dwarves, scattered in every direction by the fierce assault, formed a tight formation around the princess.

“Move. I’ll clear the way.”

“It’s dangerous.”

“If I were going to cower behind you lot and whine, I wouldn’t have asked to come.”

Before he could stop her, Louise took the lead with her battle-axe.

CLANG!

Sword and axe collided. The brute force drove the Ormus warrior two steps backward. But he could not fully absorb the impact, and the axe did not miss the opening.

CRUNCH!

Louise kicked aside the corpse with its throat torn out. Twisting her axe, she deflected a blade aimed at her blind spot by a warrior using his comrade as cover.

Volbov’s sword pierced the man’s heart.

“Are you all right?”

“Keep up. I’m picking up the pace.”

She snorted.

* * *

“We opened a path for the princess and the dwarves to escape.”

“Well done.”

The battle was already hurtling toward its end. Most of the dwarves, with Louise at their head, had managed to get away, while most of the Ormus warriors had become prey for the demonic creatures.

“Don’t kill those men. Let them go.”

“Are you sure?”

“They’ll be our witnesses. Witnesses who will tell everyone that the dwarven princess smashed their prince’s skull.”

Drakson had been appalled when he first heard that Ormus’s Second Prince was dead. But on reflection, it was not so bad.

After all, the princess was the one who had killed him, and there were plenty of witnesses.

‘The high-ranking demon who supposedly drove the Second Prince back is a problem, but he didn’t actually kill him. The surviving Ormus bastards will testify to that.’

That would likely lead to outright war at worst, or a clandestine conflict at the very least. All that bloodshed and death would be quite entertaining to watch. Not to mention the handsome yield of demonic energy points from their mutual hostility and murderous intent, their fear and terror.

But that was not what mattered right now.

“Where did the demon go?”

Drakson quickly scanned the surroundings. But the culprit who had made him move his heavy backside was nowhere to be found.

That high-order demonic energy belonged to at least a high-ranking demon. Yet Drakson had sent no demon here other than Quail.

“My apologies. By the time I arrived after sensing the demonic energy, he had already disappeared.”

“You couldn’t even find a trace?”

Quail bowed his head.

‘Just who the hell is he...!’

Beastmen were born with heightened senses, which evolved another step as their power rose.

A high-ranking beastman demon missed very little. The keenness of their sight, touch, and even smell was unrivaled.

‘And this is my territory. Anyone who could fool Quail here...’

Would have to be a Demon King, or a high-ranking demon who specialized in stealth.

“Where did he appear?”

“This way.”

The ground was gouged out, with stone fragments scattered about.

Traces of a fierce battle. Traces of demonic energy lingered there as well.

‘A high order.’

And it was not entirely unfamiliar.

‘Of course it wouldn’t be.’

He did not know the motive, but another Demon King must have sent the intruder. He had attended the Harmony of Towers with the other Demon Kings, so it would be one of their subjects.

‘Not Berge or Ugar.’

Berge had no high-ranking demons under him, and Ugar was not the sort to betray him.

And as Casey had said, it did not seem like Reina Sordein either. She was not one to resort to cowardly schemes in secret.

For a demon, the bitch had her head full of flowers and chased nothing but ideals.

That left...

‘Jason Cockmundo.’

The Demon King of Lies. That treacherous Demon King who always wore a mask of courtesy, smiling as he stabbed you in the back.

They had been exchanging information lately and maintaining relatively good relations, but Drakson did not trust him.

If someone had sent a high-ranking demon to infiltrate his territory, he was certain it was Jason.

‘But why?’

He would not provoke a conflict for no reason.

‘To set me up?’

Had he intended to kill the princess and prince, then have others do his killing for him? But Jason had no reason to do that.

‘Besides, they say he never touched the princess. Killing Berft’s princess would have far greater repercussions than some prince of Ormus...’

That meant his objective lay elsewhere.

Drakson slowly followed the demonic energy. But the trail broke off abruptly. The intruder was so stealthy that even a Demon King like him could not easily track him.

“Ridiculous.”

Drakson heightened all his senses to their limits. He sniffed the air and felt its currents.

And then...

He found an exceedingly faint trail leading toward Mount Merkon.

In an instant, he snapped to attention.

‘Could it be...?’

He had been as careful as he could. He had kept it hidden. But he could not be certain his precautions were perfect.

Jason might have some way of finding out. What if he had discovered the Phoenix’s corpse and was trying to steal it?

“Damn it!”

The Phoenix’s corpse was certainly valuable enough to risk souring relations with another Demon King.

Arain, where Demon Kings socialized with one another, was the exception in the first place. This was the true nature of demons.

Drakson abandoned everything else and raced toward Mount Merkon. Trees and rocks shattered along his path.

At that moment—

BOOOOM!

The distant volcano erupted.

Pure, scorching mana scattered in every direction.

He was a step too late.

“Jason, you son of a biiiiitch!”

Drakson roared.

The Demon King’s demonic energy surged forth.

So immense and savage that even the heroes in Tarta could sense it.

* * *

“Hah, hah...!”

Karchin, a warrior of Ormus, ran while clutching his burning shoulder. A long trail of his blood stretched behind him.

His head spun. But he gritted his teeth.

‘I have to live.’

He had to survive and report to His Majesty the king.

That lawless dwarven princess had murdered the prince! They had to tear her limb from limb and repay her in kind!

He ran, driven by nothing but his obsession with revenge.

He knew instinctively that the moment he poured everything out to His Majesty, he would collapse and never rise again. But he did not care.

As long as he could have his revenge, as long as he could honor the soul of the prince who had died so pointlessly, that was enough.

WHOOSH!

THUD!

The faint whistle through the air became a heavy impact.

A brief cry, and the ground slammed into his face. No. His body had pitched forward.

“Aaaaargh!”

His leg throbbed. The arrow embedded in it had completely shattered the bone.

A shadow fell over him. Karchin looked up, his eyes trembling.

The figure did not block out all the sunlight. It was short. A dwarf.

“Y-you bastards...!”

The metallic stench of blood hung thick all around him. Until now, he had thought it was his own blood. It was not.

Had he failed to notice because he had run looking only straight ahead? Now he saw what he had missed.

The ground was covered in red. Hands and feet protruded from corpses among the sparse bushes.

“Ah...”

They were all warriors of Ormus, just like him. The prince’s personal guards, who had fought beside him in service to His Highness the Second Prince only moments ago.

“Don’t feel too wronged. You tried to kill us first, didn’t you?”

He understood what that meant. And so he screamed.

“You fucking dwarf bastards! Do you think this will hide the truth? Don’t you fear heaven’s judgment?”

“Well, you bastards certainly aren’t heaven.”

‘Why...?’

He frantically looked around. But there was no one.

Normally, there would have been heroes and mercenaries everywhere, hunting demonic creatures.

Why, of all days, did it have to be today?

Bitter tears of blood flowed from his eyes.

WHOOOOSH!

A black arrow cleaved the blue sky.

THUD!

Karchin’s consciousness went dark.

* * *

A dwarven knight dragged Karchin’s fallen corpse into the bushes and tossed it aside. He erased as many traces as possible and waited for the next prey.

Over the ensuing stretch of time, twelve more Ormus warriors appeared and became departed souls.

“It seems no more are coming.”

“I’d say so too.”

Louise wiped the blood off her battle-axe.

“Keep your mouths shut. A demon killed the Second Prince. They fought hard to help us and were wiped out.”

“Yes. The battlefield is full of traces of demonic creatures, so that cannot be concealed.”

“Burn all the bodies and withdraw.”

“Yes.”

The dwarves burned every corpse and buried the remaining ashes.

“It’s fortunate no one came.”

“Yes. I heard there are usually plenty of heroes and mercenaries around. We’re lucky.”

As she spoke, Louise cut her own forearm.

“Your Highness!”

“Do you think it’ll look believable if we don’t at least do this? They were wiped out.”

“...”

In silence, the dwarven knights made themselves look even more battered. They inflicted wounds, covered themselves in blood, and caked themselves with dirt.

“Let’s go.”

Only once their preparations were perfect did they return to Tarta, where...

“The Demon King has broken our tacit agreement and acted without warning! We must summon the heroes at once and prepare for war!”

They realized it had all been utterly pointless.