Dark Nest (3)
“Emergency—! Emergeeency—!”
[Hurry, the barrier…! No, muster the troops first… Kuh! Damn it!]
“Impossible! No one noticed until they were right on top of us?”
Helheim’s army had appeared in the very heart of Dark Nest’s headquarters.
Thrown into confusion by that sudden emergence, countless demons fell into chaos all at once.
It was only natural for them to react so violently.
After all, the very reason “Gates” existed was to prevent situations like this.
And was this not the heart of the faction, connected to every territory?
As such, their defenses against outside intrusion could only have been thorough—yet all of them had been rendered utterly powerless in vain…
“Hmhm~ Still, this is unexpected. This must be your first time in a situation like this, yet your movements are more systematic than I thought. As expected of Dark Nest?”
[…Kuh!]
Ignoring the marquis-class demon Serentata glaring at her, Hela, the planner of this surprise event, calmly looked around and murmured in admiration.
Her opponent seemed to take it as mockery and showed his resentment, but she was sincere.
She had expected them to flounder at the sudden, unforeseen crisis and collapse easily, yet the sight of them somehow forcing themselves to respond even amid the chaos had left an impression on her.
They were on a level that could not even be compared to the Abnormal of Duke Goerang, whom she had destroyed before.
“Well, no matter. It’s all meaningless resistance anyway.”
A chilling smile formed on her lips.
From the moment she herself came here—no, from the moment Davidson, who had visited first, set foot on this land, this outcome had already been as good as decided.
Of course, using Hela’s “World of the Demonic Heaven” like a passageway to move the troops from the forward base here intact had been quite a troublesome task…
‘The forward base is located at the Central Gate, a strategic point of Dark Nest. On top of that, I personally made my move here in the heartland connected to every domain. There’s no way this could fail!’
Naturally, even that had not been a simple matter.
It was easy to say, but there was a reason she had poured her heart and soul into this plan for a long time and prepared thoroughly in advance in order to make it succeed.
If she had not obtained the fragment of divinity through Ken, she would not have been able to pull it off this quickly.
‘Since that was stolen from him, it’s only natural that the Demon Dragon Duke is going berserk like that. Of course, that probably isn’t the only thing he lost.’
Hela let out a faint snicker.
As she, too, was well versed in black magic, she could infer enough about what the other party had been plotting just from the facilities inside the temple.
Not only had he intended to remodel his own body using the Demon King’s remains, but he had also planned to use the fragment of divinity he had been saving all along afterward.
‘Seeing as he was using the temple however he pleased, he may even have been chosen to become another apostle.’
And yet, just as he was about to begin the work in earnest, a thief who appeared out of nowhere had stolen all the core materials. How could he not be furious?
Especially when, for him, it must have been a grand undertaking he had been preparing for hundreds of years.
Perhaps because of that, even at this very moment, Dark Nest and Demoniac were still fiercely clashing like mortal enemies.
‘Of course, rather than saying they’re evenly matched, it would be more accurate to say that Demoniac is desperately holding on by any means necessary against Dark Nest’s one-sided offensive.’
Even so, if asked whether she felt even the slightest bit sorry toward Demoniac and the Duke of Black Darkness—
Naturally, she did not possess even a speck of such sentiment.
That was because Hela had already grasped to some extent what tricks that man had been playing behind the scenes.
‘He seems to think he definitely weeded them out, but…’
The strongest power she possessed.
A power whose danger everyone had been wary of, yet no one could accurately estimate just what she could do with it or how.
Through the executives influenced by the power of the “Demonic Nature,” which had grown so rapidly that it far exceeded their expectations.
“Hehehehe—.”
[…….]
With a meaningful smile on her lips, Hela looked at the marquis-class demon Serentata, who was on guard against her.
From the head of a long-necked snake to the body that traced an elegant curve down to the ground, and the tail stretching far behind.
Serentata had the body of a giant serpent with a pair of powerful arms attached, but he could not bring himself to swing the vicious axe and great saw-blade in his hands as he pleased.
‘…The moment I move, I’ll be done for.’
His extremely developed instincts rejected the reckless movements of his body.
At the same time, the very air in every direction, the mana filling the world, and the space of the entire area all rose up at once and pressed down on him as if to intimidate him.
So that he would not act rashly.
That was the reason he could not move carelessly despite being the chief commander in charge of defending the base.
Rumble, rumble, rumble—!
Thud— thud—
While he remained pinned in place, unable to do anything one way or another—
Helheim’s army, which had advanced from beyond the wilderness, began stamping their feet continuously and unleashing their fighting spirit to the fullest.
Lined up behind Hela, they looked as though they had already completed every preparation for battle and would charge in to begin the war at any moment.
At the military aura erupting from them like an active volcano, the headquarters’ defensive barrier shook violently.
Most likely because the “World of the Demonic Heaven” had overlapped with it, punching holes through what had once been a perfect barrier.
At that, Serentata instinctively realized it.
‘…Damn it. It’s over.’
This was a fight they could not possibly win.
That was a separate issue from the arrangements laid throughout the vicinity to prepare for external attacks besides the barrier, or the fact that they still had more troops.
The flow had already completely passed to the other side.
‘But it’s too early to give up. There’s no need to insist on winning.’
He was one of the strongest in all of Dark Nest, counted on one hand.
The moment someone like him gave up, not only this headquarters, but every domain ruled by Dark Nest would fall wholly into the enemy’s hands.
He rolled his yellow serpent eyes this way and that, desperately racking his brain for a way to break through the situation.
‘For now, simply buying as much time as possible will be enough. If we can just hold out until Duke Demon Dragon hears the news and returns…!’
Just as he steeled himself and firmed his resolve once more—
“I can hear the sound of your little schemes turning from here. But how long are you planning to keep standing there so blankly?”
A leisurely voice flowed into his ears, shaking that resolve from the roots.
They were only a few words, yet just hearing them caused the erosion of his mind to begin progressing even faster.
And that was not limited to him alone.
“Huu— huu—.”
[Kuh… I had heard the rumors, but to think it was truly this severe?]
“Ahh, Duke Demon Dragon…”
Unrest spread among those who had gathered according to the established response system despite the chaos.
Even Serentata, a marquis-class demon, was wavering, so it was only natural that those below him would show such reactions.
[Impossible. How could this…! When we investigated beforehand, she certainly wasn’t at this level…!]
“How insolent.”
As if cutting off his flustered words, Hela crossed her arms arrogantly and narrowed her eyes.
To think he dared try to measure her limits with that trifling insight of his.
In truth, this was all thanks to the fragment of divinity she had acquired recently, but she did not care in the slightest about such minor details.
After all, that too was now her power.
“It seems you need a lesson. Now, then, first…”
Her red eyes, containing the “Dominion” power of the Seven-Colored Demonic Eyes, flashed sharply.
The ones under Hela’s dominion, those blindly following her even at this moment behind her, resonated in a chain with the aura of domination.
And that soon connected as one with this world known as the “Demon Realm”—
[“Kneel.”]
Then a single short command was uttered.
The reaction that occurred immediately after was extremely dramatic.
Baaang—!
Rumble!
Thud!
Along with a clamorous tremor of the earth, as if an earthquake had struck—
The majority of the troops gathered to block Hela were forcibly slammed into the ground.
Demons of various forms—giants, beasts, plants, and more—writhed on the ground and paid homage to her all at once.
Only a very small handful of high-ranking demons struggled to resist that coercive force.
[……!]
“What?!”
But they, too, froze at this sudden miracle.
No matter how much inferior they were compared to high-ranking demons, they were still an elite combat unit left behind to defend the headquarters.
Yet all of them had been neutralized by a single word…!
“Hoo.”
Hela let out a short breath.
Thump— thump—
She could feel it.
From the moment she set foot in the enemy’s heartland to this very moment, when she infringed upon a rival’s rights, looked down upon his followers, and pressed them beneath her.
The authority as Demon King dwelling within Hela was growing a little stronger.
‘Now I understand why the Demon King’s position is so absolute in the Demon Realm.’
In this Demon Realm, those who followed the Demon King were no different from a kind of believer.
Perhaps because she had already raised several avatars to the level of demigods, she instinctively sensed how she could use this power more efficiently.
At the same time, she could also understand just how foolish the Fifteenth Demon King, who had fallen to the Demon Dragon Duke’s scheme, had been.
If he had not indulged in pointless greed and had first devoted himself to fully gathering the power he possessed, then at the very least, while he remained in the Demon Realm, not even the Demon Dragon Duke, who had joined hands with a human god, would have been able to harm him recklessly.
‘It’s nothing new that the greatest enemy of those in power is greed.’
Hela slowly moved forward.
Not to attack, nor with any particular defensive posture, but in a completely defenseless state.
However, the forces of Dark Nest, who had gathered with the resolve to die, could neither dare to block her path nor inflict any harm upon her.
They could only stare up at her blankly.
“Kneel!”
At that moment, Siana, who had been quietly following behind Hela, shouted fiercely.
One way or another, she too was a count-class demon.
At that cry filled with savage force, the knees of those who had been struggling to endure finally touched the ground.
“Lower your backs.”
Next, Ken, who had been sweeping his sharp eyes over the surroundings, muttered coldly.
As his aura, now undeniably marquis-class, was added, the bodies of those who had begun to raise themselves were pressed back down to the ground.
[Bow your heads—!]
Holding aloft the banner he had quickly changed over to, Tovares, the marquis-class Balrog who had at last returned as a conqueror, roared thunderously.
In his voice as he faced his former comrades with their positions reversed and their heads pressed to the earth, there was even a hint of delight, as though he were enjoying this situation.
““You stand before the King!””
At the words shouted in unison by the soldiers of Helheim, Serentata, who had resisted until the very end, squeezed his eyes shut.
King. Demon King. Ruler of the Demon Realm.
One who reigned above all demons, and who ruled the Demon Realm in the Demon God’s stead.
…Now, he had no choice but to acknowledge it.
Here, in the heart of Dark Nest—
A new Demon King, the Sixteenth Demon King, had been born.
And that Demon King was not the Demon Dragon Duke whom he supported.
Clatter—! Clang!
The great axe and saw-blade in his hands tumbled to the ground.
Then, little by little, he bent his waist, and without resisting the tremendous coercive force pressing down on his body, slowly placed both hands on the ground.
[I greet the new Demon King!]
And so—
The moment the chief commander’s head finally touched the ground.
《Your influence as Demon King expands. The entity’s existence becomes clearer.》
All of Dark Nest’s territory, renowned as the greatest in the Demon Realm, fell under Helheim’s control.
It was the moment when the incredibly sudden and lightning-fast robbery of an empty house, carried out while the homeowner had gone off to fight, ended in success.
***
The front line against Demoniac, Dark Nest’s encampment.
[…What? What did you just say?]
Duke Demon Dragon Krushire, having heard his subordinate’s report, asked back as though he found it absurd.
Of course he would.
If anyone suddenly heard such a ridiculous story, would they not have no choice but to react like this?
“Th-the Gate…!”
But at the words his subordinate continued with, he realized he had not misheard.
In truth, for him—someone capable of distinguishing every single footfall of an ant—mishearing anything was impossible in the first place.
What mattered now was the fact that something had actually happened that made him doubt his own hearing.
[Impossible!]
The Demonic Dragon Duke did not hesitate and immediately attempted spatial teleportation.
To one of Dark Nest’s forward bases, a place he had been able to travel to without any major issue until not long ago.
But…
[…….]
There was no response.
The Demonic Dragon’s body remained stranded on this front line, exactly where it was.
Even when he tried to move elsewhere—even to the main base that could be called his own nest—it was the same.
The gates truly had all been sealed.
To the point that even he, who possessed free-pass authority over every domain of Dark Nest, could not move!
He already knew the cause, having heard the rest of his subordinate’s report.
Grrrind—
While he had been away.
His main base had been occupied in a sudden surprise attack, and every existing territory connected to it had been stripped bare.
By that mongrel of Helheim, who had been lying low for a while!
[Graaaaaaah——!]
A roar of fury burst from the Demonic Dragon Duke’s mouth.
He had been struck in the back of the head not once, but twice in succession.
After earning the title of Demonic Dragon Duke, he had never suffered at anyone’s hands except when he had failed to become Demon King, which made it all the more painful.
[I’ll kill you, you wretches—!]
Of course, only spatial teleportation through the gates had been blocked; it was not as if he could not move at all.
But the place he was now was the very heart of what had, until recently, been the Black Darkness Duke’s territory.
It had been the perfect position when advancing with unstoppable momentum, but for that very reason, transporting troops without the gates would inevitably take a long time.
Returning from here to his main base would take no small amount of time, and…
‘That much time would be more than enough for them to absorb most of my domains!’
Nor could he abandon his troops and charge in alone.
If he faced that mongrel without any forces to support him from behind… this time, something truly irreversible might happen.
Crunch! Craaack!
“Kieeeek!”
“D-Duke, sir… kek!”
To suppress his rage, he shoveled the nearby demons he could grab at random into his mouth.
His actions came to a stop only after some time had passed.
And even then, had it not been for a sudden contact from an unexpected figure, he would have continued for quite a while longer.
[…What is it, Pieta? Have you finally decided you want to die? Have you grown tired of running away now?]
The moment Helheim’s solo advance began.
A meeting was arranged between the victims who had both been stabbed in the back.