## Chapter 1246 – Savior of Hell
And so, I sowed destruction wherever I went, tearing apart every demon that dared to cross my path. No matter who attacked, none could lay a finger on me.
Everywhere I passed was utterly destroyed.
“Ah! Kat! Something finally appeared!”
“What’s that?”
As we flew, a black tower-like structure emerged in the distance.
—Rumble!
Lightning crackled around the tower.
Even a black cloud-like mass enveloped the area; it felt like a demon lord’s castle.
Above all, it was huge.
And thick.
Its pitch-black color almost made it look like my— No. It resembled a human’s magic tower. Surprisingly, the building’s exterior was adorned with intricate decorations.
Demons made that?
I couldn’t believe the damn demons had created it.
It was that well-crafted.
Is a true demon lord living there?
“It seems to be a demon fortress!”
“A fortress? Not a tower?”
Was there a reason to think it was a fortress?
“Demons wouldn’t idly build a tower. Such large structures are almost always used as fortresses, so you can just consider it a fortress.”
“I guess so? Wow. But a fortress…”
Demons make fortresses too, huh?
“Usually, mindless demons build nests, but fortresses require a purpose, so smarter demons create them.”
“That’s true. It means they have something to protect.”
“And it also means they have the power to build a fortress.”
That’s obvious.
There’s no way those nasty demon bastards would cooperate in building such a large structure unless some powerful being forced them to. Only someone incredibly strong could threaten them like that.
And that someone would be damn powerful.
“I’d like to read what’s inside, but… as expected of Pandemonium, I can’t get a clear sense of what’s where or how much there is. It’s like trying to find one person in a crowd.”
“That is difficult. It’s okay; we can just go inside and find out.”
Whatever it is, we can see it with our own eyes.
“Then shall we go! There’s bound to be something! Perhaps the strongest one in this area is there! Thump-thump-thump-thump!”
Hilde, excited, waved her arms and made those sounds. What an adorable gesture. She seemed eager to massacre demons with me.
Anyway.
Is there an archdemon inside?
That’s the only kind of being who could threaten other demons.
If there’s an archdemon, then all the better.
“Heh heh heh, they made a fuss about wanting us to come, but we found them first.”
“It’s good that we’re finding them. It’s like a treasure hunt!”
“In this case, it’s more like a mimic. Let’s go.”
—Flap.
I flew with Hilde towards the top of the tower. The tower was so tall that we had to increase our altitude slightly to enter the black clouds.
“Celestial Demon Armor.”
—Whoosh!
As soon as we entered the clouds, I unleashed my power. —Crack! The black clouds vanished. Unable to withstand my power, they were purified.
“Visibility secured! Kat! I see the roof!”
“Hilde, stay close to me.”
“Yes!”
In truth, even if a few archdemons appeared, protecting Hilde would be a piece of cake. Anyway, Hilde stuck close to my side.
—Crack!
I looked down at the roof and retracted my wings.
—Whoosh!
My body plummeted. Even as I fell, I maintained a stance as if standing on the ground. This much was easy.
Now, should I use the Celestial Demon Godly Steps?
I’ll adjust the output to only break the roof. I plan to scout first, so there’s no need to destroy everything.
“Celestial Demon Godly Steps.”
As I activated the Celestial Demon Divine Art, power surged into my feet.
As I stepped on the roof with my empowered foot.
—Kwakakakakakang!!!
The roof shattered.
I crashed through the roof and entered the building’s interior.
“It’s empty.”
Is it because it’s right under the roof?
There was nothing here.
“It’s empty. But there seems to be a proper door over there.”
Hilde said as she followed me through the hole. Then what? I’ll have to break the door. I approached the door and casually extended my foot.
—Kwaaang!!
The door shattered, revealing a staircase.
“Let’s go down.”
“Yes!”
I descended the stairs with Hilde.
* * *
As I explored with Hilde.
“Oh. Is that the guy?”
A figure wearing a black robe came into view. Foolishly, it didn’t seem to have noticed us yet.
Walking so blatantly.
“But a demon wearing a robe?”
“Intelligent demons sometimes wear clothes. Like me.”
“What are you talking about? Hilde, you’re an angel, aren’t you?”
“Eek! I forgot! Anyway, shall we take care of that guy first?”
“Heh heh heh, we should.”
“It’s slaughter time!”
We followed the guy.
“Hey. Hey, you. You, you bastard.”
The moment I called out to the guy as we approached.
—Halt.
The guy stopped in place.
“Yeah. You. Come here.”
“…?”
—Click.
The guy turned around.
“What the fuck?”
What is this guy?
It had a human shape, but its entire body was black. Not like black people, but truly black. And its face had no features.
It was like a black mannequin.
A mannequin walking around with its own consciousness.
“Hilde? What is that?”
“Hmm…? I’ve never seen this species before.”
The guy stared at us, then.
—Rip!
Suddenly, it opened its mouth!
“That bastard! I thought it didn’t have a mouth, but it did!”
Hideous teeth protruded from the mouth that split all the way to its ears! Of course, the moment the guy opened its mouth, I was right in front of it. I wouldn’t fail to react to something like this.
What’s the point of going forward?
—Grab.
I grabbed its neck.
“Keh… Keh-keh.”
As I grabbed its neck and lifted it, the guy groaned in pain. I wish I could communicate with it. If I can’t, I’ll just have to kill everything while exploring.
“Hey. Where’s your boss?”
I loosened my grip slightly to speak.
“Keh… Keh-keh. Karr… Kuduk, Kugugugu…”
The guy uttered strange words.
Is that the demons’ language?
“Speak understandably, lowly demon.”
Just as I was about to ask Hilde, she came to my side and shoved her sharp claws into the guy’s eyes, saying with an extremely cold attitude.
“Hilde? What’s it saying?”
“I don’t know either! It doesn’t seem like I can communicate with this bastard!”
“Is that so?”
If I can’t communicate, I’ll have to kill it.
—Squeeze.
I put a little force into my hand, and the guy’s neck was crushed like fresh fruit. The result was, of course, death. I defended myself from the black juice that spurted out with my power and threw the corpse away.
“Hmm… Still, this. Kat. It seems like a familiar created directly by a stronger demon.”
“A familiar.”
Hilde explained that it was a lower-ranking subordinate created by a higher-ranking demon. In other words, a loyal subordinate who absolutely obeys orders.
“But it takes a lot of power to give them intelligence. If they’re mass-produced, they become trash. If they’re carefully made, they can be quite good. This seems to be a mass-produced one. But it still seems useful.”
“But it can’t compare to the original, right?”
“Absolutely not.”
A technology for manufacturing subordinates.
Anyway, it seems there’s someone capable of making something like this. Moreover, there probably isn’t just one in this huge tower. There are probably a lot.
“Still, a demon with numerous familiars is a force to be reckoned with!”
“I can disregard it.”
“As expected of Kat!!!”
“Then let’s find the others!”
“Yes!”
And so.
I explore the tower.
As I walked down the long corridor, a door appeared.
—Kwaang!
I unhesitatingly smashed it and went inside.
“Oppa’s here.”
“…!”
“…!”
“…!”
The moment I entered, the same bastards I had just killed simultaneously looked at me. The number was exactly twenty-five. They seemed to be doing something, but I didn’t care.
—Kwaang!
I immediately kicked off the ground and flew towards them.
“Hahahahaha!!!”
As I flew, I slashed in all directions with my hand blades.
—Chwajatak!!
“Keeeek!!”
“Keeeeeeek!!”
The heads of the familiars were all destroyed, creating a black bloodstorm. The time it took to slaughter twenty-five of them was less than 2 seconds. —Thud. Soon, the twenty-five ejected heads fell to the floor.
“Gasp! Kat! This is!”
“Hmm?”
As I killed them all, Hilde cried out in surprise.
“Look at this…!”
Hilde was holding some strange sphere made of black smoke. What is it? It felt like the smoke from black dry ice gathered into a round shape.
Looking at it, I didn’t feel anything in particular.
About five of those smoky spheres were floating in the air.
It seems these familiars were touching them.
“These are human souls!”
“What!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Shookkkkkkkkkk!!!
My legs gave out! I clutched my head and sat down in shock!
“Th, th-that’s…! A soul!”
“Yes!”
“Kieeeeeeeeeek!!”
“Souls that have become the property of demons through contracts or other means! After a slight process, they can be given this form!”
“Whose! Whose souls are they!!!”
“That cannot be known! Perhaps they have been here for a long time…!”
“How can I free them!”
“I don’t know! None of the demons would care about that!”
“Damn it!!!”
“Judging by the blackness, it seems they were torturing the souls…!”
“They tortured the souls!!!!”
Those crazy bastards dare torture human souls!!!
“They’re all sentenced to death!!!!”
—Flash!
I jumped up from my seat and resolved to do it.
But.
“Oh.”
Come to think of it… The guys who make deals with demons can’t be ordinary people. The demon contractors I’ve experienced were all trash.
“Hilde. Are these all the souls of demon contractors?”
“Mostly, but not necessarily. Even innocent or guiltless people can easily have their souls stolen!”
“Damn it!!!”
I almost felt relieved! As long as there’s a possibility, I can’t just leave these pitiful souls alone!!! It’s natural for those bastards to suffer, but I can’t stand innocent weaklings suffering!!!
“Anyway, so this is a soul.”
“It’s a bit unusual, isn’t it? I don’t know much about souls either. But… I know there’s some power in them.”
“So that’s why monsters are after them. Hilde. How can I take this?”
“Should I put it in the inventory?”
“Can you?”
“I’ll try!”
—Swish.
Hilde took out her inventory and put the soul inside.
“It works!”
“Oh! Good job!”
“Anyway, Kat! There might be quite a few of these souls in here!”
“I’ll have to take as many as I can.”
I’ll do the exploration later, and for now, let’s recover the souls first.
I looked around.
“Hmm? But where is this?”
It was a strange room. Bizarre machinery and various unknown pipes were connected. It was machinery, but it didn’t feel like something from modern Earth. They were literally Demon Machines.
“It feels like a laboratory or something.”
Hilde licked her lips and examined the machine.
“Judging by this, it seems they’re using this device to process the energy emitted from the souls.”
“That’s a truly demonic machine.”
“This pipe connected here! If we follow this pipe, we might reach the core facility!”
“The core facility. Right. That makes sense. Usually, gathering these things leads to the big boss.”
“That’s usually the case!”
“Then let’s go.”
The Demon Machine was attached to the wall. The pipe connected below led to the lower floor. Is it like city gas or something?
—Kwaang!
I stepped on it and broke the floor.
If I keep tracking this pipe and breaking the floor, I should be able to move to the core facility.
“Let’s go, Hilde.”
“Yes!”
* * *
While slaughtering all the familiars we encountered, we went down to the lower floor following the pipe. It didn’t take long. A few seconds to kill, a few seconds to break the floor and go down. It was super-fast.
Before long.
We arrived at what seemed to be the core facility.
—Boom!
The moment I broke the floor and went down to the lower floor. Unlike other places, it was a very large space. Should I call it a hall? It was a room that exuded a boss room vibe.
And.
“Who dares to invade my palace? Who dares to destroy my soldiers?”
A stern, solemn voice came from over there.
What the fuck.
“Who dares to disturb my rest?”
Something was sitting on the throne.
At first glance, it looked like a human. It was a bit tall, and its skin was grayish, but it was wearing luxurious noble clothes, and its abundant white hair seemed well-maintained. Nevertheless, it had bull-like horns on its head.
This bastard was a demon that looked like a human.
“You’re the boss here.”
“Kat…! This aura! It’s strong!”
“I can see that.”
—Swish.
The guy got up from the throne. —Flash! A light flashed, and a shadow was created behind the guy. —Swoosh. Suddenly, something sticky rose from the shadow. It was the familiars I had been killing until just now.
The number was in the dozens.
This bastard… starts by summoning subordinates.
He knows his stuff.
“The impudent one shall reveal their name.”
The guy’s voice was extremely solemn.
“My name?”
My name is.
“Conan. The detective.”
“Conan, is it.”
“Kat?”
“Then what’s your name?”
I asked nonchalantly, and the guy said in a still solemn manner.
“My name is.”
“Yeah.”
“The great archdemon of Pandemonium.”
Arch!!!!! Archdemon!!!!!!
Archdemons!!!!!!!!!!! Must!!!! All die!!!!!!!
“Dantalion.”
“Archdemon!!!!! Dantalion!!!!!!!!!!! Kieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!!!!”
I can’t take it anymoreaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I!!!!!!! Clutched my head and charged!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
