TWEM Vol. 7 Chapter 9 Part 1
Chapter 9 – Confronting the Four Heavenly Kings
When I teleported to the headquarters of the Four Heavenly Kings’ army, a black-haired man, Lauren, was yelling at his subordinates.
“What are you doing! Hurry up! At this rate, our Lord’s resurrection will be—”
“Oh, can you tell me more about this Lord?”
“—!?”
Lauren turned around at the sudden voice.
The surrounding soldiers also pointed their weapons at me, clearly displaying their wariness.
“…Who are you? You don’t seem to be from our army. What do you want?”
“Hey, I’m the one asking the questions. And what are you planning on doing here? Are you going against the Demon King?”
Lauren snorted when I said that.
“Against her? What nonsense. This world belonged to our Lord from the start. This is just a battle to take it back.”
“And?”
“Huh?”
“You’re going to attack for that reason alone?”
“Of course. But that’s not all. After I take control of the demon realm, I’ll start a war to make this world my Lord’s property.”
“By ‘my Lord,’ you’re talking about the evil god sealed in that castle, right?”
As I pointed to the floating castle, Lauren was furious.
“You dare call my Lord an evil god!”
Yeah, that seemed to be the case.
Now I knew what their goal was.
“Here’s a letter for you from the Demon King.”
I said, tossing the letter to Lauren.
“From the Demon King…?”
After receiving and reading it, Lauren crushed the letter in his hands.
I could sense the irritation and annoyance on his face.
“Right, I was asked to deliver a message as well.”
“What?”
“She said, ‘If you become my enemy, I will show no mercy.’”
Lauren snickered when he heard this.
“Hmph. I don’t swear allegiance to the Demon King Fran Vampir. I only swear it to the first Demon King and the God we worship.”
“I see. So that means we’re enemies, right?”
“How else do you want me to interpret it?”
“I see. Well then.”
As I was about to leave, the red-haired man next to me called out to me, not Lauren.
“I’m Gyuray. I don’t know who you are, but I commend you for coming this far. But do you think I’m just going to let you get away like this?”
“I’m Haru. So you won’t let me go?”
“I’ll be sending your head to that girl.”
As Gyuray readied his weapon, Lauren and the other demons also got into fighting stances.
It seemed we would have to fight.
I let out a deep sigh.
“I was told not to fight, but I guess I have no choice.”
“Even though you keep talking like that, you can’t escape from this many people… No, are you trying to say you can win?”
I heard Lauren’s statement and I laughed.
“What’s so funny!”
“It’s not funny at all, but the advantage of numbers only works on those who can’t overcome the wall. Against those stronger than that, it’s not numbers that matter, it’s quality that matters.”
“Quality…?”
Gyuray and Lauren still didn’t seem to understand.
“I’ll explain if you don’t understand. You were the one who attacked first, so don’t complain.”
I raised my right hand up into the cloudy sky.
“—Thor’s Hammer!”
The sound of thunder began to rumble from the clouds that covered the sky.
Then I swung my right hand down with force.
The next moment, lightning struck behind Gyuray and Lauren.
“What!?”
I aimed for the middle of the army.
There was a gaping hole in the ground, with no one standing there.
I wonder how much of the enemy’s strength was reduced by that attack?
As I was thinking that, Ellis told me.
《The magic attack just now wiped out 30% of the enemy forces.》
Annihilated? Well, they were certainly gone, but… that leaves only 14,000.
As I was thinking that, Gyuray and Lauren glared at me.
“You said you came alone, but did you have a magician hiding nearby?”
“There’s no way an individual could unleash that much magic.”
It seemed they still misunderstood the situation.
So I’ll make sure you two understand that you’re mistaken.
“—Yamata no Orochi!”
As I spoke, black flames appeared behind me and swirled, forming a shape.
It was Yamata no Orochi, the Eight-Forked Serpent, a monster from Japanese mythology. The last time I used it was to annihilate the monsters when Gheel marched into the Kingdom of Perdis. If there’s one thing that’s different from then, it’s that this time, my whole body was made of black flames.
Gyuray and Lauren froze when they saw the magic I used.
No, they were probably on guard.
“What is this…?”
“I’ve never seen magic like this before.”
I snorted as they spoke.
“Of course.”
“What?”
“That magic and this magic are both original magic I created. Now — burn them down.”
Following my orders, Yamata no Orochi, unleashed a black flame breath from its eight mouths.
“Dodge!”
The breath missed Gyuray and Lauren by a hair, as they managed to dodge it, but it engulfed the army behind them.
I froze as I looked at the scene in front of me, for after the breath passed, there was a straight line of burnt ruins.
“Huh? Was it this powerful? I don’t think it was this powerful before…”
《Since Master has evolved into a High Human, the basic power of magic has increased. Also, the enemy’s strength has been reduced to about half of what it was before with the previous attack.》
“Damn…”
Even I was a little taken aback.
I was told not to fight… but well, Gyuray and Lauren were still alive, so it’s okay.
I walked up to Gyuray and Lauren, who were on their knees, and told them.
“You’ll have to prepare to be wiped out when you come to Delzas.”
With that said, I use teleportation magic to return to the Demon King castle.
～
“—So, about half of the enemy has been annihilated.”
“Huh? Eh? Annihilated?”
Fran and Tendo didn’t seem to understand what I said when I returned.
“Wh-Wh-What are you talking about?! Explain it properly!”
Fran grabbed me by the collar and leaned in to question me.
“No, I was just stating the facts…”
“I only told you to deliver a letter and a message, so why did the enemy army disappear? And I told you not to fight.”
“No, I was planning to go back without fighting like you said. But the two Heavenly Kings were saying they were going to send my head to you, so I used two spells as a threat.”
““…””
The silent two seemed to be annoyed by what I was saying.
“So, Haruto. How many are left? Ten thousand?”
“Yeah. About ten thousand, right?”
“About…”
Tendo looked at me with a somewhat dismayed look on his face.
However, in this world, quality trumped numbers in battles.
No matter how many there were, they would be overwhelmed by someone with overwhelming power, so it’s important to know how many people there were who have reached that level.
“So, Haru. Gyuray and Lauren are…”
“They’ll probably attack if they haven’t learned their lesson from that. I mean, they’ll definitely come.”
“I see.”
“Come to think of it, they said something like, ‘We pledge allegiance to the first demon king and the god we worship.’”
“I thought so.”
Fran looked somewhat convinced by my words.
“What do you mean by that?”
“I’m curious too. What do you mean?”
Perhaps having resigned to the looks Tendo and I were giving her, Fran quietly nodded.
“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about it, so I guess it’s okay.”
After that, she opened her mouth.
“Gyuray and Lauren are the descendants of those who originally served as the first Demon King Alogis, and grew up hearing about his greatness from their parents. And Alogis is also a Demon King who was granted the protection and part of his power from the god he worshiped – the Evil God. Well, he was defeated and sealed away by a High Human.”
“Are you different, Fran?”
“I don’t believe in the Evil God, and I don’t need his protection.”
Fran spat out.
“No wonder they disobey my orders. So both Gyuray and Lauren believe in the Evil God and have sworn allegiance to him.”
Fran sighed in disgust and looked at me and Tendo.
Then she looked a little sad.
Was it because she would be fighting her own kind, or did she not want to fight those who were once her allies?
However, that sad expression only lasted for a moment, and soon changed to a strong Demon King’s gaze.
“But this is clearly treason. We must stop it at all costs. That’s why I’m asking you, Haru and Ten.”
Tendo and I looked at each other, then we looked at Fran and spoke at the same time.
““Leave it to us.””
“Hehe. Let’s get ready.”
～