Chapter 121: Chapter 121: Conflict [2]
Floor 27.
The moment the four of them teleported here, the first thing that greeted them was a stench worse than the feces of all the animals combined.
It was the smell of over 2 million decomposing corpses.
"Damn it! It’s disgusting!"
They all cursed involuntarily, then wordlessly covered their noses.
After that, they glanced around.
"..."
Not a single sound could be heard.
There were no voices of people talking.
There were no sounds of children playing.
Obviously, everyone had been killed.
The Dicathen Kingdom had already been destroyed.
"What a pity for a kingdom."
Kael sighed.
Although he felt that way, this sacrifice was necessary.
Not only did it revive the demon king, but it also announced to the entire world that the Dicathen Kingdom was no more.
It had been destroyed by demons, or rather, destroyed by the demon king alone.
Although this was quite extreme, it was the fastest way to convey the news to all humanity.
"...What should we do now?"
Kaede asked, glancing around.
"Isn’t it obvious?"
Kael pointed towards the royal stables.
Fortunately, since there was enough straw and water, the horses were still living quite well.
"We need to go to..."
***
"The Voidveil Empire. That must be where they were headed."
Sitting on the throne that had been created for him, looking at the myriad of demons kneeling below, the demon king spoke.
"The Voidveil Empire?"
"Yes."
In this world, the Voidveil Empire was destined to be the place where important political meetings would take place forever.
There was no great reason.
It was all because the hero Dix, who was worshiped as a god, was the first emperor of the Voidveil Empire.
"Then is there anything we need to do, Your Majesty?"
The Demon King glanced at the demons kneeling below.
"How many troops do we have now?"
"About 4 million demons are ready to go to war at any time."
"Too few."
The Demon King cleared his throat.
"I remember that our demon race had over 20 million troops? Why are the number of demons ready to go to war so pitifully small now?"
Feeling the murderous aura coming from him, the assistant couldn’t help but tremble.
"Yes, Your Majesty, some of the demons have been slaughtered since we lost, and the rest have scattered everywhere."
The Demon King stood up, emitting a terrifying pressure, as if he could tear apart reality at any moment.
"I’ll give you a week. Gather all the soldiers for me. Then, we’ll set out."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
With that, the Demon King walked away, returning to his bedroom.
"Tsk."
The obsidian armor he was wearing was indeed very aesthetically pleasing as well as highly defensive, but it still had an extremely annoying flaw.
It was very heavy.
It was as if he was carrying 10 suns on his shoulders.
But that was understandable, after all, it had been a hundred years since the Demon King last wore this armor.
"...What a pity. It used to look brand new, but after that battle, a lot of cracks appeared."
For just a moment, the demon king’s eyes flashed with a recognizable murderous intent.
"Damn humans."
He clenched his fists as he recalled the scene of the demon race losing shamefully to an inferior species.
"This time, I will exterminate you all."
***
Revived the demon king, sacrificed the Dicathen kingdom, and then made the other kingdoms join forces to fight against a common threat, a common enemy, the demon race.
That was a plan laid out by Erza Dicathen from the very beginning.
It was a perfect plan.
But that was if all the kingdoms were willing to do it.
"I think we need to pause this war and join hands to defeat the demons. Everyone saw that in just one day, they successfully wiped the Dicathen Kingdom off the map, right?"
The King of the Lumindra Kingdom spoke.
"The demons are strong? Nonsense. The Dicathen Kingdom lost because they were too weak."
The King of the Sylvandar Kingdom sneered.
The King of the Aetherforge Kingdom argued:
"But no matter what, the fact that they can destroy a kingdom in a day is not to be underestimated."
The King of the Nethervale Kingdom interrupted:
"I’m fine with pausing the war. But don’t expect the Nethervale Kingdom to help you guys."
That was the reason.
All the kingdoms had conflicts with each other, to the point where a world war had to break out.
And now someone was saying that they had to join forces to defeat the demon race?
This was no different than telling a bullied victim to become friends with the one who bullied him.
"That’s only natural. If your kingdom is destroyed by the demons, wouldn’t the one who benefits the most be my kingdom of Eldrathor?"
The joy and anticipation couldn’t be hidden from his old face.
Now, there was only one last party that had not yet commented.
Without anyone having to remind them, they all looked towards that person.
The Emperor of the Voidveil Empire, the strongest side in this war.
"Hmm..."
Sitting in the main seat, he frowned.
"If you want to pause the war, feel free. But my Voidveil Empire will not do that."
The Emperor did not respect anyone.
And he had the power to do so.
"We have enough power to fight against the demons, and also fight against your small kingdoms."
"...!"
All five kings were so angry that their blood boiled.
But unfortunately, they could do nothing.
As the Emperor of the Voidveil Empire said, in this war, his empire was the side that held the most power.
Just like that, the meeting came to an end.
Or rather, it was adjourned, since it wasn’t going anywhere.
***
"That’s exactly the situation."
Seraphina finished after summarizing everything that had happened recently.
"And as everyone can see, the situation isn’t looking good at all."
Damn it!
Of course Kael knew that.
He wasn’t blind!
But as Seraphina had shared, Erza’s plan had one mistake, and if it wasn’t handled perfectly, this small mistake could make all of that prince’s sacrifices go to waste.
’What should I do...?’
While thinking of a solution to this problem, his gaze shifted to the outside of the window.
Staring at the giant statue of a man raising a sword to the sky.
As if challenging the heavens.
It was the statue of the hero Dix, who had the greatest contribution in the war against the demon race.
"...!"
Kael’s eyes immediately flashed with a light.
"All the people of this world regard the hero Dix as a god..."
His lips curled up slightly, forming a complete arc.
"So, why don’t we make use of it? By having someone pretend to be the messenger of the hero Dix."