Chapter 98 – Episode 98 – The Demon Lord of Dreams and Hope! Defeat Your Nemesis, the Hero!
* The devil of dreams and hope! Defeat your nemesis, the hero!
Meanwhile, who should be the most impatient to revive the hero and his party?
It is Sloth disguised as the lord of Beret.
‘Reina escapes… The warrior is resurrected… Has the first prince been defeated? … Even if he was a useless human, I thought he would have been able to tie him up if I had given him his weaknesses, but he was more incompetent than I thought… ‘
A bald lord who sits in a dark room and listens to the opinions of his subordinates who continually bring new information. The main information was reports on the imperial army’s conscription and internal situation, but occasionally, whenever information from the Hero group was mixed in, the surrounding atmosphere became dark.
“Is the execution team dead?”
“Yes… Both teams, the one in the empire and the one borrowed by the kingdom, are annihilated.”
“It’s difficult. I was hoping they would work a little harder.”
The Empty Armor Soldier of the Living Dead sympathized with his words while kneeling on one side.
“A long-established team that has been around since the days of the Demon King’s Army. Their information-gathering abilities and techniques for subduing opponents were outstanding. According to the report, Reina still had the trauma of torture remaining and was on the verge of surrendering in just a week, so the idiots of the Imperial Army If I hadn’t done so, I would have definitely dropped it.”
“But it failed…?”
“Yes…”
“It’s full of incompetent people. Not only did they miss out on Rayna, who would become a great toilet monster for our Demon Lord’s army, but they even made those with the best skills die… The first prince was like that, and he handed over a good card that could entangle a hero, but like that. He was defeated so easily… Why didn’t he keep Gara in check in the first place?”
“He left for the countryside as soon as he disbanded the party, so I guess he thought he would have nothing to do with the current political situation.”
“As a result, both Reina and Hero were released. It was my mistake to entrust the hero to the First Prince. If this was going to be the case, it might have been better to torture Beret himself. In that case, I could have played with the hero without knowing about Reina. .”
He complains that he can’t do this or that as he wants, but there is no sign of failure. The viscous substance flowing out from half of the bald lord continues to gurgle, repeating unpleasant movements and laughing slightly.
“That’s a lie.”
“Oh, did you get caught?”
“You’re not saying that you failed. It seems like you expected the first prince to fail.”
“Oh… You’re quick-witted… At most, I guess it was too blatant on the subject of monsters for contact purposes?”
“What was the reason you gave the hero to the first prince? Sloth must have known that that man was more ambitious than he seemed… You must have expected that even if he dropped the hero, he would use it as his own and betray us…” 〈 Br〉
“I knew it, so I handed it to you.”
“Did you have some other strategy for taking your time?”
“Yes, even if you say that, I had no intention of imprisoning the hero in Beret from the beginning. When I received a report that Reina had succeeded in destroying the Empire, I planned to bring her to Beret and use her as an all-out weapon. But I wonder if the hero is a little different from Rayna. … That bitch is like a bomb planted in the kingdom from the beginning.”
“Bomb…?”
“I don’t mean it physically. It’s a metaphor. But I’m sure I can make the kingdom disappear.”
“So can we win?”
“Well?”
“Well, no…”
The slimy viscous body entered Lord Beret’s head and took control of his body. The bald lord stood up and looked out the window, his smile erased, his index finger raised to scratch his temple, and he made a troubled expression. It’s like expressing emotions that are difficult to express when you’re a viscous body with someone else’s face.
“Leave the hero to the First Prince… Up to this point, my plan was correct. It didn’t matter whether he succeeded or failed in training the hero. However, Reina escaping from that situation deviated from my plan… I deviated greatly. … The rag dragon, who suffered from defeat and torture, thought he would be easily destroyed, and as if laughing at this, he escaped by a truly absurd miracle.”
“Was there a reason why you could become a hero and not Reina?”
“Yeah, well, I can’t say anything right now. So this plan is half a success and half a failure.”
When he sat down again and acted bluntly, the soldier looked up at Sloth and asked.
“So what happens now? What did you fail at and what did you gain?”
“There’s a lot to say about a single soldier… I’d like to say that, but as you said, I’m the type of person who likes to talk about my plans. So, let me just say…”
Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch. Crunch, crunch, crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. They were the ones who were organizing the costs of operating the imperial army and reports from various places, and everyone seemed to be interested in this story and listened to Sloth’s story.
“Once you get it… The Hero and his party are cornered, the kingdom is in shambles, and you see the hero despairing… This is confirmed. In particular, the sight of the hero screaming is already a very anticipated scene.”
“Oh…”
“If that’s true…!”
“Aaaaa…”
Everyone was delighted with Chief of Staff Sloth’s confident remarks.
The resurrection of a group of warriors… Everyone was in an atmosphere of despair, but I wondered if this one word could change the air.
-Only.
“What is the other half?”
“That’s right! You said you got that far, but what about the lost rest you talked about as if you failed?!”
To this, Sloth responded in a truly unpleasant way this time.
“It’s our lives.”
“… Yes?”
“It’s our lives. We risked our lives. The lives of the Imperial Army, the remnants of the Demon King’s Army gathered here in Beret, including mine… That’s why the operation failed. All staff members are disqualified.”
Everyone freezes for a moment at the unpleasant, flat tone of speech that dominates the atmosphere of the place.
“… Eh.”
“Now, wait a minute…”
“What is that…”
“Why?!”
Everyone threw down their documents and shouted, but the lord gave an awkward reply, scratching his cheek this time.
“Isn’t that obvious? There is no Demon King, the Four Heavenly Kings are alone, what about the combat unit? Advisors? Even the army was borrowed from another country? It was a miracle that they were able to restrain Reina and the hero by striking their weaknesses in this state, but they eventually escaped… Barely able to reach the kingdom. A spy was infiltrated inside, but this too was lost to the Second Prince faction… What’s left?”
“Well, then…! Isn’t this a struggle!”
“Are you fooling us?!”
“-I never said no. I didn’t lie. I told the whole truth and did the best I could.”
When I easily admitted it, the agitation did not subside and opinions flew in absurd directions.
“Then shouldn’t we just run away!”
“Fortunately, the kingdom has not been able to gather an army yet! There are only a few hero parties! If they are scattered to various places──”
“It’s a struggle anyway. What’s the point in our Demon Lord’s army surviving without the Demon King? The monsters created by the Demon King has a limited lifespan, and it’s impossible to increase their lifespan without the Demon King… We all know that there is no answer other than all-out war, right? “
“Then what was that just now?”
“How can you bring despair to a hero?! How can you harm a kingdom?!”
“Why did you come to that conclusion!”
“It’s fun later. It’s like a gamble before you die, and if you do well, you can survive, so you struggle.”
“If I do well… Is it…?”
“That’s right. ‘If you do well.'”
Sloth sat down, crossed his legs, and exhaled comfortably, his face finally looking at ease. Although his men remained shaken, he realized that even if he ran away as he said, he would only die quickly.
“Those unreasonable guys… Can we win…?”
“Somehow hit the level drain and trap it again…”
“Wouldn’t that make you resistant?!”
“But since you’re human, if you torture me again, somehow-?!”
“Well, first, it would be impossible to win. They were the ones who created miracles many times during the height of the war, and now they don’t have the same national power or power. Especially the hero… I held on to him for the longest time so far, but I still couldn’t drop him. Raina decided that there was no hope. Anyway, the hero must have superhuman tenacity, and he did things that would have betrayed me many times, but he was fine.”
“I heard about the torture inflicted on the warrior… There was even a time when all the skin was removed and human instruments were made…”
“I heard that this time, he made soup out of his own eyeballs and fed it to him as a meal replacement…”
“You cut his tongue into a hundred pieces and fed him… Ugh…”
“They say that because that didn’t work, they repeated the process of dismembering the entire body and restoring it… They say it was even worse than what they did to Raina…”
Everything I said was terrible, but it all happened.
This is part of the penalty the hero suffered due to Tei’s mistake.
‘Isn’t it already normal to smile and forgive the idiot younger brother who did something like that…? Crazy bitch… ‘
His subordinate was sweating and exhaling from an unseen angle.
“A hero is someone with courage, and that’s why he’s a hero. That’s a living spirit monster… It may look panting and flattering on the outside, but it doesn’t take even a second for it to change its complexion and attack again. However, if you kill it, it’s a troublesome being that comes back to life somewhere with Resurrection. It’s truly a disaster.”
“Monstrous bitch.”
“But you can still give me despair?”
“Even if the hero despairs, our lives will be lost, but we will still get revenge. I think he is the perfect person to burn the final flame.”
Then he opened his palm.
It’s like declaring, ‘There’s only so much I can do.’
“We are cornered. However, in such a hopeless situation, is there anyone other than me who can make it this far? Although defeat is certain, if we do well, we will survive… It instills despair in that monstrous hero… It also ruins the kingdom… I Since we’ve done this far, shouldn’t you all do the same well?”
“Yes… That’s right…”
“If it weren’t for Sloth, I wouldn’t have made it this far…”
“I apologize for what I said earlier.”
“After all, you have to fight, not run away!”
They somehow regained their will and decided to support Sloth even after hearing his confession. Those who had let go of the pen came up with the wisdom to somehow attract soldiers, and also came up with a new plan to kidnap the demi-humans and other races that had escaped the hand of the Demon King’s army, and immediately presented it to Sloth. The atmosphere was heartwarming, but what they were doing was, of course, an evil organization itself, so I can’t defend it.
‘Whoa…’ ‘
Sloth, leaning forward in his chair and lifting his chin, looked at his old colleague… He thought of the Four Heavenly Kings.
‘Sesta, who only killed the weak and was infinitely weak to the strong… He seems like a fool who became the first sacrifice of a hero who just came out of the village… Furthermore, he was a good guy who often brought me human test subjects to help me research new abnormalities, but I thought the hero who had just come out of the village would be weak, so I attacked him, and he came back with his throat cut… ‘
First, there is one mean-looking goblin.
‘Ghast… To avenge Ogas, he was a fool who stalked the hero with a crystal ball and did all sorts of things, but was killed by his younger brother’s holy magic… He was of great help in detecting the enemy’s plans, but his voyeurism was so strong that it held him back… I heard that Raina was exposed to the outdoors in the square right now, so I ran out to see for myself, but strangely enough, I got caught in a trap… If you think about common sense, you can’t do something like exposed play during a war… That’s why it was such a funny death.’
One blue-winged bird-headed beast.
‘Magak… You have always liked human flesh. He was a good guy who was blunt and a gourmet, so he would tell me what kind of people tasted good, but I never thought he would lose his diary… For some reason, that person called Gara has even become possessed by magic… It’s the first time I’ve seen you talk about love like that, about your first love, your confession, how many children you’ll have afterward… I promised that I would definitely go to the wedding, but then I ended up leaving like that… ‘
One female ogre with two heads.
‘The Demon King who guided us… He said he would create paradise by turning humans into livestock… ‘
Lastly, a picture of the five of us, including Sloth himself and the demon king hidden in silhouette, was drawn in my brain. It seemed like a heartwarming sight just to look at, but the surrounding background was dark, and the corpses were covered in blood, so it was a sight that only they enjoyed.
“Mr. Sloth?”
“Are you, by any chance, crying?”
“… No. It’s nothing. It seems like dust got into the eyes of the human controlling it.”
“Is that so…?”
Sloth regains his motivation after finishing reminiscing.
And then he spoke loudly!
“Let’s all work hard to defeat the Demon King’s worst enemy, 〈 Hero 〉…!!”
“Yes!”
“Of course!”
“I will follow you until the end, Sloth!”
At Sloth’s shout, everyone stood up, ignited their enthusiasm, and united in spirit.
The hero party always stands out for being defeated, but the opposing party is always sincere.
The Demon King’s army committed evil deeds again today for their own survival.
