Chapter 109
109. Frustration
I very enthusiastically persuaded the green demon to go reclaim the Essence of Power together.
Of course, I was terrible with words and completely hopeless at persuading people verbally.
“Kraaaagh! You demon-like bastard, all right! I understand!”
So I didn't use words.
The green demon completely fell for my electrifying persuasion with [Lightning Charge] instead of words.
Of course, I hadn't literally just given him electric shocks; after working him over appropriately, I embellished the story with a few lies.
Naturally, the lies I made up had plenty of holes, but the community ghosts filled them in on their own.
[Looking for someone to write a script for starting a revolushun in the Demon Realm]
The community ghosts with too much time on their hands, along with historian challengers interested in the Demon Realm's background setting, worked out the details for me.
“S-so it's true? The Demon King was really neutralized? You're not lying, are you?”
At present, the green demon believed I was a human who had been caught up in some kind of accident, fallen into the Outer Demon Realm, and survived there.
“Yeah, you idiot. I told you that bastard's soul was summoned somewhere, leaving only his body behind.”
Information I obtained from the community, a setting I had worked out myself, and violence that made my opponent more cooperative.
“I-if what you say is true… that is a very tempting proposition.”
Through the harmony of those three things, I successfully made a former Demon King my ally.
Afterward, I exchanged a few more words with the green demon and shared information with him.
Apparently, the Gray Demon King had the ability to steal and absorb other people's power.
The Essence of Power was apparently a jewel-like object containing power extracted from the previous Demon Kings by the Gray Demon King.
Since it was a tangible object, now that the Demon King had been neutralized—if we attacked with enough determination, we could take it from him.
Of course, we also concluded that the two of us alone wouldn't be enough to storm the Demon King's castle head-on—and I brought up what I had been waiting to say.
“So, there are others besides you who were victimized by the Demon King, right? How about gathering all of them and storming the place together?”
Apparently, more than one or two demons had their Essences of Power taken. Just counting the Demon Kings of the east, west, south, and north, there were at least four.
I had killed two of those four, but surely there were demons who were roughly the second-strongest in each region, right?
Having one's Essence of Power taken meant being strong enough to attract the Demon King's attention, and gathering all of them would create a formidable force.
“I see. Then our chances of success would increase greatly. Are you suggesting that we gather comrades for the revolution?”
The green demon nodded in satisfaction, unaware of what the future held for those revolutionary comrades.
A journey to gather enemies instead of allies—what a reverse Pokémon Master.
The moment I thought that, a system message appeared before my eyes as if it had been waiting for me.
[The Former Demon King's Unfulfilled Wish - Essence of Power]
Description : You have learned of the ambition of the green demon Rotuang, who once reigned as the Demon King of the Southern Demon Realm.
Though he hid himself as a gatekeeper, trembling in fear of the Gray Demon King, he still harbored an obsession with the Demon King's throne.
He wishes to reclaim the Essence of Power, defeat the Gray Demon King, and ascend to the throne of the Demon King once more.
You may help him, hinder him, or pretend to help while looking after your own interests.
[Quest Objectives]
1. Obtain Rotuang's Essence of Power.
2. Return Rotuang's Essence of Power to him (Optional).
3. Destroy Rotuang's Essence of Power (Optional).
4. Take Rotuang's Essence of Power for yourself (Optional).
5. Kill Rotuang (Optional).
Though it was called a quest, it was essentially asking me to choose what to do with this green demon.
As long as I obtained the Essence of Power in the first place, I would receive a reward no matter what choice I made afterward.
The problem was figuring out which choice would give me the greatest reward.
I stared at the quest objectives for a while, then came up with a very good idea.
Come to think of it, couldn't I accomplish all of the optional objectives?
I could return the Essence, steal it back, destroy what I had stolen, and finally kill him, right?
“If they're people from the Northern Demon Realm, they'll be easy to persuade. Let's head there.”
I readily nodded and traveled together with the green demon.
**
Even Floor 14, which was set in the Demon Realm, had residential areas known as villages.
In fact, despite being called the Demon Realm, the Inner Demon Realm was surprisingly livable. There were only a few minor drawbacks.
For instance, giant demon beasts occasionally appeared at night and carried people away, and every NPC was a sinister demon.
The NPC demons only had one horn and were pathetic weaklings, so they weren't a serious problem for challengers capable of reaching Floor 14.
As could be seen from the fact that all the former Demon Kings had been reduced to lackeys, demons basically followed the mentality of kicking down those below and fawning on those above.
But that mentality became a real nuisance for me this time.
“Hey, why is a human in a place like this?”
“Are you Lord Rotuang's servant or something?”
“A human as a servant? He's obviously packed lunch!”
The demons in the villages didn't pick fights with challengers because they were absolute weaklings.
But the two- and three-horned demons here were not absolute weaklings at all. They belonged among the strong.
Judging by their amount of mana alone, they had as much as I did or more, and on top of that, they possessed the demon race's powerful natural ability to dominate mana.
That was why they fawned over the green demon, who clearly possessed powerful strength, while acting smug toward me, who stood beside him.
It had already been two hours since we crossed into a different region in search of the one who had supposedly ruled as the Demon King of the Northern Demon Realm.
During those two hours, I had been placed in situations like this several times.
And every time, my response was the same.
“Hey, what about this guy?”
“He hasn't had it taken. Weak.”
Meaning that they were ordinary, weak demons whose Essences of Power had not been taken.
Rotuang squeezed his eyes shut as he answered. The demons who had picked a fight with me wore bewildered expressions.
They looked puzzled that I was apparently on equal terms with Rotuang, a powerful former Demon King.
-Crackle!
I drew a sword from my inventory and split the nearest demon in half from the crown of its head.
**
During the two hours I spent crossing the northern region of the Demon Realm, I killed roughly a hundred demons.
And after killing that many demons, I learned one thing: these guys were fundamentally lacking in technique.
Their natural physical toughness and the amount of mana they possessed were tremendous, but rather than being huge, they were simply bloated.
The ones who had lost their Essences of Power might have been an exception, but even those who hadn't lost theirs were absurdly weak compared to the amount of mana they possessed.
They were no different from pigs in a slaughterhouse, fattened until they were bursting with flesh.
“Y-you bastard!”
A three-horned demon saw its comrade abruptly split in half and charged at me in a fit of rage.
I channeled mana into the [Steel Straight Sword] and cut off the arm of the charging demon with its gleaming blade.
Since the [Steel Straight Sword] was a store-bought junk item obtainable even on Floor 1, it normally couldn't cut through the demons' sturdy bodies.
Even with [Sharpness] fully enhanced, it lacked sufficient sharpness, and even with [Durability] fully enhanced, it lacked sufficient durability, so it was naturally liable to break easily.
But by channeling my mana into it to supplement its sharpness and durability, it became a weapon rivaling the finest blades in the world.
-Slaash!
I cut down another demon, then kicked the shin of a different demon swinging its claws at me from the side.
With a crunch, the demon's entire leg broke, and its neck came neatly into view before me.
I swung my sword once more and bid its torso and head farewell.
Channeling mana into a sword felt remarkably similar to using an active skill.
There was little difference in that both consumed MP, and because it allowed freedom of movement, it could be considered a superior version of a skill.
The only way this mana-wielding swordsmanship fell short of a skill was that it required complex manipulation.
It was the difference between a macro usable with one button and a command activated by entering every input manually.
In the past, I had also found that 'command input' difficult, so I used to mix in active skills, but—
Now that I had acquired [Mana Dominion] and could manipulate mana freely, I no longer used swordsmanship skills at all.
[Weapon Mastery Lv.2]
- One-Handed Sword Proficiency (929 / 999)
But perhaps the system recognized this as using a skill, because the proficiency value that rose every time I used a skill continued to increase.
Soon, my one-handed sword proficiency would reach the maximum value of 999. I heard there was an achievement for that, too.
“It's over. Let's keep going.”
After wiping out all the demons that came charging at me, I stored my bloodstained sword in my inventory.
“I can't tell which one of us is the demon anymore. Is this what happens to humans after living in the Outer Demon Realm?”
The green demon spoke as if he was fed up. That was what my situation had come to.
Strength enough to make a monster on the level of the strongest being on Floor 14 tremble in terror.
Even the rankers on the community had no idea how strong I was.
At this rate, I couldn't help but remain fixated on the Gray Demon King or whatever.
I just hoped that the Demon Realm's revolutionary army, once it had fully reclaimed its Essences of Power, would be strong enough.