◆ Demon Lord Castle – Front Gate ◆
【Jörmungandr (Young) has appeared! HP 72,000】
Suddenly emerging from beneath the snow was unmistakably Jörmungandr. Yes, I would never forget the fierce battle I had with it in the Abyss Cave. I never imagined I would encounter it again in a place like this. According to the book that Lord Hast possessed, it was said to be one of the strongest monsters from a bygone era, but could there really be so many of them? Perhaps this one is just a child.
I attempted to intimidate it, but it had no effect whatsoever. From what I sensed, regardless of the power difference, monsters that don’t flee from intimidation tend to be either extremely aggressive or, like that whale, indifferent to battle. This Jörmungandr, even knowing it might not win, seems to have something it cannot yield.
【Jörmungandr (Young) attacks!】
“I have a feeling this isn’t going to end well…”
As it charged at me, trying to swallow me whole, I held its snout down with one hand and pondered for a moment. It seemed far too desperate for that. It was as if it were following someone’s orders. If there was anyone capable of commanding it in a place like this, it could only be one person—the Demon Lord.
“The Demon Lord might be stronger than I expected.”
Even if it’s just a child, taming a monster that once threatened the world is nothing short of monstrous itself. Were there even children like this before? If so, there could be others. With this kind of power, if it rampaged across other continents, it could wipe them out in just a few days. Such a dangerous monster.
“Ga, Aaaahhh!”
“Whoa, it’s stronger than I thought…”
Even though I held it down with one hand, its strength caused my feet to sink into the ground. Fortunately, I had secured Kurinka properly, leaving both my hands free. I gripped Disballade with my left hand and struck a blow deep into its gaping maw.
【Lua’s Sonic Spear! Dealt 7,322,961 damage to Jörmungandr (Young)!
Jörmungandr (Young) has been defeated! HP 0/72,000】
The Sonic Spear pierced through its mouth and into its body, and its remaining torso lost all strength and fell onto the icy ground. With this one, it’s dangerous if I don’t crush its head. After all, it’s the kind of opponent that would still come at you even after being severed in half. I was overwhelmed by its incredible vitality back then. Compared to the child of Mega Atlas lying there, its power is diminished, but still…
“Alright, alright, so far so good…”
【Jet-Black Earth Dragon Dogra has appeared! HP 18,100】
A long, snake-like dragon I had seen before swam through the blizzard, coming my way. That was definitely the monster that the Funeral Knight, no, Eeks-san rode. To be honest, I had felt from that time that this one was anything but ordinary. While Jörmungandr and Mega Atlas might surpass it in raw power and vitality, this one seemed to possess a unique power that the other two lacked.
After observing me as I braced myself, it began to circle above the Demon Lord Castle. It didn’t seem to be signaling an attack or anything. I felt no killing intent, and rather than preparing to strike, it almost seemed to be inviting me into the castle.
“Is it okay to go in?”
Of course, it didn’t answer. Even as I approached the massive castle gate, Dogra didn’t cease its movements.
“Lua…-chan?”
“Kurinka! You’re awake?!”
“Yeah… What happened to me?”
When I honestly spoke about Cocytus, Kurinka, as expected, slumped her shoulders. I told her not to worry about it, but I wasn’t sure if it had any effect. More importantly, why did I suddenly wake up?
“I’m sorry… Lua-chan, you’ve been carrying me all this way…”
“Do you think I’d be discouraged by something like that? Not at all! You don’t have to worry about it!”
“But…”
“It’s fine! More importantly, we’ve arrived at the Demon Lord Castle. Look!”
The gate was so massive that I wondered how many times larger it was than us. It was an old wooden door, secured with iron or something, giving it a somewhat antiquated appearance. Combined with the jet-black coloring of the Demon Lord Castle, it exuded an aura of malevolence.
“I wonder how we open this. Should we just break it down?”
“Wait, wait, wait!”
Something emerged from a small door beside the castle gate. It was a centipede-like humanoid with dozens of arms. Its appearance was utterly out of place in this snowy expanse, but if it was a member of the Demon Lord Army, that didn’t matter much. The centipede creature, with its countless gleaming blades, stood in front of the door.
“There should have been Mega Atlas and Jörmungandr here, right?”
“I defeated them.”
“Don’t lie. You probably snuck past while Mega Atlas was sleeping, right? You’re all such sneaky little ones.”
“If you don’t believe me, that’s fine, but I’m going to pass through there.”
“W-wait! I didn’t say I don’t believe you! But this is the Demon Lord Castle. First and foremost, I, Hyakuregga of the Hundred Blades, am the gatekeeper here. Not to brag, but my strength rivals that of the Demon Lord’s right-hand man, the Funeral Knight. You’ve heard of him, right? The knight clad in jet-black armor who single-handedly destroyed the Kratz Empire. In other words, fighting me, who is equal to him, means you have almost zero chance of winning. Even if by some fluke you did win, there are countless traps and monsters lurking inside. It would be like walking to your own death.”
I was starting to find this all rather tedious. I didn’t understand what he was trying to say, and if he didn’t want to fight, I just wanted him to move aside. He had started rambling on, and I didn’t know why he was boasting about being equal to Eeks-san. I was getting angry.
“If you won’t move, then let’s fight.”
“No… there’s no need for that. Because you will never be able to open this gate. Therefore, I won’t even have to fight.”
“Take this!”
I thought the door would be incredibly sturdy, but with just a punch, it splintered and burst apart. The once-proud hardware was now twisted and mangled after just one hit.
“It’s open now, can I pass through?”
“…Go ahead.”
He had been talking non-stop just a moment ago, but suddenly fell silent and cleared the way. What was he trying to accomplish? I thought being a gatekeeper was about guarding the entrance.
◆ Demon Lord Castle ◆
First off, the ceiling was high—so high that it made my neck ache just to look up. The pillars were long, and there were multiple staircases that branched off, twisting upwards. The eerie interior was painted in shades of purple and black, making it feel like the stronghold of monsters.
The path lined with red carpet led into complete darkness, where nothing could be seen. Should I climb the stairs, or continue down this path? I was prepared, but the labyrinthine nature of this place exceeded my expectations. I couldn’t help but wonder if the monsters living in the Demon Lord Castle ever got lost.
“W-wow, this is amazing… Where do we go from here?”
“There were labyrinthine layers in the Abyss Cave too…”
“So Lua-chan knows exactly how to proceed, huh?”
“Yeah, it’s a hassle, so I’ll just break through the walls…”
Kurinka fell silent after that. Well, I mean, it’s true. There’s no way to know which path is the correct one, and if I had tried to brute-force my way through those layers, I would have still been stuck there by the time I became a grandmother.
But this staircase continued all the way up, so we had no choice but to keep climbing. Alternatively, we could go straight ahead. Honestly, I thought it would be best to have Kurinka transform into a dragon and break through everything in our path, but I couldn’t bring myself to suggest it. After what had just happened with Cocytus, I didn’t want to push Kurinka too hard. I could carry her on my back and jump from staircase to staircase, but that would still leave us guessing about the right path. So…
“Let’s go straight ahead.”
“Eh, is that okay?”
“Better than just randomly trying everything, I think.”
It was only after I took a step forward that I realized how naive that idea was, as the floor gave way beneath me and I began to fall. I figured Kurinka hadn’t thought to transform into a dragon in such a sudden situation. We were caught off guard.
◆ Demon Lord Castle – Underground Catacomb ◆
“We fell quite a distance, huh…”
“That hurt… It was a trap, wasn’t it…”
“Ah, we’ve fallen into the catacomb, huh?”
Shin poked his head out of my bag and surveyed the pitch-black surroundings. It smelled musty, and the air was stagnant; it was a feeling I hadn’t experienced in a long time. Memories of the Abyss Cave came flooding back vividly.
“This is an underground labyrinth where useless monsters and excessively violent ones are kept. Its vastness is beyond even my imagination…”
“Hmm, I wonder if there’s an exit. I could kick off the walls and climb back up, but…”
“You don’t even need to do that; if you transform into a dragon, you can just fly back up.”
“Th-these guys…”
Ignoring the twitching Shin, I surveyed the catacomb and pondered a particular question. It was the fact that there were far too few monsters. There had been a decent number of monsters around the Demon Lord Castle. There were even some gatekeepers, but I hadn’t expected the inside to be this quiet.
“Hey, Shin, is it normal for there to be so few monsters in the Demon Lord Castle?”
“Hmm, there should be plenty of monsters around that could easily devour even Shin, but…”
“Do you want to know why?”
From the depths of the darkness, a familiar voice echoed. I couldn’t forget him; had he already returned to the Demon Lord Castle? Cloaked in black, with grayish skin painted with dark patterns, and eyes that looked like they had dark circles around them—he was a creepy sight, almost sickly. He had come all this way just to light a candle.
“Juo…!”
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it? You all flew up to the sky just recently. Thanks to that, I couldn’t catch up at all.”
“Now that you’re here, you must be prepared, right?”
“To kill me? Are you serious?”
“Of course! It’s all your fault.”
“You think I could kill you? After all, I’m just a human.”
Juo approached as if it were the most natural thing in the world. What did he just say? That he was human? He was trying to unsettle us again. He had been like that since we first met at the Combat Tournament. He wasn’t particularly strong, but he always managed to get by with tricks. He had escaped back then, but this time would be different.
“Roel, or was it Kurinka now? You know him well, don’t you? After all, you two even kiss each other.”
“W-Why do you know that…?!”
“I know everything about you, you know. You prefer rice over bread, and I collected data showing that out of twenty days, you ate rice fourteen times. Bread just doesn’t fill you up. When you walk through town, you unconsciously lean towards Lua. And when someone approaches from the front, you have this habit of hugging Lua’s arm with one hand without even realizing it. Even after getting stronger, you still have that cowardly side, don’t you? By the way, about your underwear rotation—”
“Stop! If you say any more, I swear I’ll burn you! I really will!”
Kurinka’s face turned bright red as she gripped the Staff of Scorching Tales tightly. If he kept talking, she might actually set him ablaze. But speaking of underwear, what about mine?
“Ah, I’m not interested in yours, so I haven’t even bothered to look. It would be an eyesore. So you don’t have to worry.”
“Nobody’s worried! I’m so mad right now! You don’t think you can win against us, do you?!”
“Not a chance. After all, I’m the weakest among the Twelve Demon Generals. I probably couldn’t even defeat Hyakuregga outside.”
“Then that just means you should be prepared.”
“But does that really mean I will lose?”
【A horde of Dark Hounds has appeared! HP 1230】
【An Evil Wing has appeared! HP 2660】
【Chaos Knights ×5 have appeared! HP 1800】
The monsters that had been lurking in the darkness suddenly surged forward. A pack of black dogs spread out to block the path, while a dragon resembling a wyvern flapped its wings above. A rusted-armored monster glared at us from behind its helmet.
“From the moment you entered the Demon Lord Castle, all the monsters have been operating under Bathram’s command. The reason they haven’t attacked recklessly is that they concentrated their forces in this dark labyrinth. Even those who would normally be above are mixed in here.”
“I don’t care who Bathram is; do you really think this is enough to defeat us?”
“Who knows? At the very least, I know one thing. If you want to meet Eeks, you’ll have to navigate through the traps set by Bathram and get close to him. I’m quite curious to see how well Bathram’s skills will work against you.”
“Hey! There’s no way I’m letting you escape!”
【A Tooth Ghoul has appeared! HP 1406】
“I’ll make Kurinka mine eventually. Enjoy your fleeting happiness while you can.”
The moment I grabbed Juo’s shoulder, his robe fell away. But instead of that gray face, there was a hunched monster with a wrinkled dog-like face. Fangs protruded from its mouth, making it look nothing like Juo. That voice had come from its mouth. It was clear that this creature was not Juo, but what was going on? Perhaps the one we had been dealing with all along was this monster. Regardless, it was certain that he wasn’t particularly strong but possessed some unknown skills.
“Kurinka is mine. Try to take her if you can.”
“I’m not just yours, I’m—”
“Ah, sorry. I just—”
“Hehe, I guess it’s okay to be yours, Rua-chan, as long as you take good care of me!”
“I-I will! I definitely will!”
As a show of determination, I wrapped my arm around Kurinka’s shoulder. We were in a dangerous situation, and there was no time to be relaxed.
“This isn’t the time for flirting. If you think you can just fly back, that’s naive…”
“Is it not allowed?”
“That guy from the Four Heavenly Kings is already taking measures. Without his permission to manipulate space, we can’t move freely within this castle…”
“Manipulate space…?”
“Why not try flying?”
I immediately mounted Kurinka, who had transformed into her dragon form, and we aimed for the height from which we had fallen. After flying through the darkness, I finally realized something. We weren’t getting any closer to the top. Considering the time and distance we had fallen, we should have reached the surface by now. Yet, there was no sign of the darkness ending.
“W-What does this mean? Rua-chan, could it be that we’re…?”
“Yeah, we’re flying in the same place. There was a similar spot in the Abyss Cave, but I never expected someone to manipulate it here…”
“Concentrating the Demon Lord Castle’s forces in this Catacomb and isolating it with Geto of the Four Heavenly Kings… Bathram is more ruthless than I thought… At this rate, we’ll have to keep fighting here until we run out of strength…”
To defeat Geto of the Four Heavenly Kings, we had to overcome him to escape this place forever. And yet, monsters were constantly attacking us in this Catacomb. I couldn’t help but feel like we had been outsmarted. It was a realization born from having underestimated the Demon Lord Army unconsciously.
“Rua-chan, there are an incredible number of monsters gathering below us…”
“Geto of the Four Heavenly Kings, you really did it. I never expected someone like him to be here.”
“The biggest problem is that Shin has been completely treated as a traitor and locked up… brrr.”
I felt a bit sorry for Shin, who was trembling in the item pouch.
“Well, we’ll manage somehow. So what if they’ve gathered the forces of the Demon Lord Castle here? That’s actually convenient.”
Kurinka nodded vigorously, clearly understanding what I meant.
“I’m getting angry. They think they’ve won without even being able to bring out the fear from the mid-level of the Abyss Cave.”
On Kurinka Dragon’s back, I gripped Disballade tightly and sneered at the monsters charging toward us.
◆ Shin Report ◆
Hyakuregga, get to work!
His actual strength is decent, but his overconfidence is so strong that he was completely blindsided by the gatekeeper.
Is there really a gatekeeper that lets newcomers through just by saying “please”?
Well, it seems he has already taken down the parents of those three monsters, so I can understand why he would want to protect his life.
No, even I was surprised by this.
He really is the strongest monster on the surface.
I entered and was immediately trapped.
I completely forgot about Geto’s existence.
If he wanted to, he could make us wander endlessly within the Demon Lord Castle.
That’s why even the Twelve Demon Generals and other strong monsters don’t dare to oppose him.
No, the biggest problem is that even Shin got caught up in this.
This is strange; it’s definitely strange.
As I report Rua’s weaknesses, I realize I haven’t written about weaknesses in a while.
What should I do?
Monster Compendium
【Dark Hound HP 1230】
A wolf monster that lives in packs in the darkness. They attack without hesitation anyone who intrudes into the Demon Lord Castle.
【Evil Wing HP 2660】
A subspecies of wyvern that lurks in caves and darkness. It creates gusts of wind with its massive wings and strikes at high speed when the opponent is distracted. It possesses immense strength, and those who underestimate its slender appearance are often killed.
【Chaos Knight HP 1800】
A knight that guards the Demon Lord Castle. It exists like an undead and has no self-awareness. However, its swordsmanship can make even seasoned warriors tremble. Moreover, it feels no pain, so it charges forward without fear.
【Tooth Ghoul HP 1406】
A ghoul with a dog-like head. It usually only eats corpses, but when hungry, it targets living animals. It only thinks about biting, so its movements are monotonous. However, its physical abilities surpass those of an average human, making it a deadly opponent for anyone without combat experience.