Chapter 207: The Demon King Called Jason
Having finished all urgent matters, Berje finally had some breathing room.
At last, he headed toward the prison where the nemesis he had so desperately wanted to kill—the adversary who had killed him—was being held.
The dark, damp heart of the prison.
Balraf Dislode—no, Daniel Deyrus—was there.
His four limbs were bound separately, with restraint devices connected from his neck to his torso. It was a perfect confinement that made even the slightest movement impossible.
‘Hmm.’
Berje checked the scrying orb installed to one side. He had been watching Daniel through that while seated on the throne, but seeing him in person was different after all.
The sight of the man, left unattended for over a week and visibly aged, made a smile rise on its own.
“How should I mock you for it to spread that I mocked you well? How should I ridicule you and foul your mood properly?”
How could he repay all the humiliations he had suffered back then?
“....”
Daniel reacted. He raised his head, and their eyes met.
Despite a week of neglect, the light in Daniel’s eyes had not died.
Berje liked that even more.
That the hero who had killed him was not trash who would break at the slightest crisis.
At least it was some comfort that he had not been defeated by a weak, pathetic bastard.
“You really do put effort into your nonsense.”
“Right, you wouldn’t know right now. But it doesn’t matter. I know, and I enjoy it. That aside, what should I call you now?”
Balraf Dislode? Or Daniel Deyrus?
“What do you think is better? I’ll do as you wish.”
“...Do you think you won?”
“I don’t think I won—I did win. You’re a criminal imprisoned in this freezing cell, while I crushed all the heroes and seized victory.”
“...I admit your strength is great. But you still won’t be able to obtain what you desire in the end.”
“Seems you have something you’re relying on.”
Could it be—
“Jason Kokemundo?”
“....”
“But did you know this? Among the heroes who dared to come seeking to cut off my head with you, there was one who already knew your true identity. Who do you think it was?”
“...What did you say?”
Daniel’s expression twisted for the first time.
“Didn’t a human who seemed unlikely to participate suddenly join the hero’s march?”
“Pablo Barkat...!”
“That’s what he said. That Balraf Dislode’s true identity was the Guildmaster.”
And that the Guildmaster’s true identity was the hero Daniel Deyrus, who had disappeared hundreds of years ago.
“How do you think he knew your identity?”
“...That bastard Jason, in the end!”
Daniel ground his teeth.
“It’s quite strange. You and Jason were allies who worked together for quite a long time, weren’t you? Yet to stab you in the back like this.”
“Hmph, it’s nothing unexpected. A trustworthy alliance between demons and humans can’t exist in the first place. Betrayal and backstabbing are your specialty, aren’t they?”
“That also means you never fully trusted Jason and were preparing for it.”
“....”
“The moment I learned your identity, I became curious about so many things.”
How you were wielding the Red Dragon Sword. What your status as Guildmaster meant, and what the identity of Balraf Dislode meant. What exactly happened after you disappeared with the tower hundreds of years ago.
“Before that, I only wondered why a mere hero was this strong, but fortunately that was resolved.”
You must have killed quite a number of Demon Kings while living for hundreds of years.
“But something else came up. Especially that.”
The shell.
“Your outer shell, so perfect that no one noticed.”
“Do you think I’d tell you?”
“Jason probably helped you. But I can’t even begin to guess the exact method.”
Berje stepped forward in one stride. The distance between them rapidly closed.
Berje grabbed Daniel’s shoulder.
“...Are you planning to torture me? Is that all?”
“Don’t worry. It’s something different from torture. Well, it will hurt.”
“What?”
“I thought about it. You were already using a shell to hide your identity. In that case.”
Can this shell you’re wearing now truly be called your real form?
“What?”
“No matter how much time has passed, you were the most famous hero on the continent, hunted as a public enemy before disappearing. There’s no way records of you don’t exist. Yet while you were Guildmaster, not a single person saw Daniel Deyrus and the Guildmaster as the same individual, did they?”
If they had, you would have been expelled from the Guildmaster position long ago and become a public enemy.
Then there was only one answer.
“That your shell isn’t just one.”
And that your current appearance isn’t your true form either.
“I plan to confirm that now.”
Berje put strength into his hand. Vast demonic energy writhed and pierced through the hero’s defensive mechanisms.
“Graaaargh!”
Daniel Deyrus let out a scream of agony. His pain was Berje’s joy, but for now Berje focused on something else.
And then—
───!
Berje’s fingers met a fierce rebound. With all mana and power suppressed, this should have been impossible under normal circumstances.
That only reinforced Berje’s certainty.
“Just how many layers does your shell have?”
More strength went into Berje’s hand.
In proportion, Daniel’s howls grew louder.
* * *
“Only one, huh.”
He had expected dozens, but there was only a single shell.
Even when it was peeled away like the previous one, there was no release of hidden power or anything of the sort.
“This is just for concealing appearance.”
Compared to Balraf Dislode’s shell, it was extremely crude.
But if one refrained from revealing power, it was close to perfect at hiding one’s identity.
“There’s no way you lived for hundreds of years with just these two. Did you get periodic supplies from that bastard Jason?”
Probably. That must have been one of Jason’s means of controlling him.
“So is this your real appearance?”
His face was sharper and more ferocious than Balraf Dislode’s, sharper than the Guildmaster’s.
But what didn’t change were his black hair and eyes.
“I thought you were an elf since you lived for hundreds of years, but I guess not.”
Does killing dozens of Demon Kings extend one’s lifespan? Or did you break through the limits of humanity?
Berje somehow held back the laughter threatening to burst out. He didn’t know why Ernan came to mind.
“...You bastard!”
“Yes, that glare. That’s it. That’s the look I wanted to see! The look I wanted to see!”
Eyes filled with deep-seated hatred and boiling rage.
“Isn’t it truly sweet?”
The rage of a hero who had lived for hundreds of years, who had likely killed countless Demon Kings. How delicious it was.
“So what exactly is this shell?”
Berje toyed with the fragments that had fallen from Daniel. They crumbled without enduring even the slightest force.
“...Do you think I’d tell you?”
Daniel Deyrus drooled from the pain, but the light in his eyes had not died.
“It would be better for you if you talked, you know?”
“Your nonsense won’t work.”
“You’ve probably already guessed that Jason intended to betray you.”
“....”
“As you know, I’m also hostile toward Jason. They say the enemy of my enemy is my friend, don’t they?”
“One cannot be friends with a Demon King.”
“But at least a small cooperation for the sake of revenge is possible, isn’t it?”
Since you’re already caught, shouldn’t you at least take revenge?
“You were once called a god, after all. If you show mercy by being used and then die quietly, I won’t stop you.”
“Seems you’re not the Demon King of Dark Flame but the Demon King of the Mouth.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“Spare my life.”
“Do you think that’s possible?”
“I’ll give you an arm. In exchange, if you spare me, I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”
“I didn’t know you were this good at talking nonsense.”
“Jason betrayed me, but you humiliated and shamed me repeatedly. To me, Jason and you aren’t that different. Without a guarantee of survival, there’s no reason for me to spill everything for your benefit.”
Daniel growled.
Despite all mana and power being suppressed, his bearing was befitting of a hero who had lived for hundreds of years.
“Choose.”
Kill me and submit obediently to Jason.
Or spare me and wound Jason.
“My advice is this: without my help, you cannot defeat Jason. You don’t know what kind of monster he is.”
“Well, I think I know him better than you, at least.”
“Is that so? Then tell me.”
Daniel sneered.
“Do you know how that bastard survived for hundreds of years?”
“What?”
Hundreds of years?
“Not a hundred?”
“Heh heh. See that? You know nothing about Jason!”
Daniel burst into mad laughter.
“So, what will you do? Spare me and hear what you want, or kill me and leave everything buried in mystery.”
Choose.
The piercing gaze of the hero once called a god shone with desperation.
* * *
“Aina-nim, can you believe this?”
The surroundings were filled with shattered glass. Yet Aina Sermyun could not bring herself to clean up as she usually did.
It was different.
Today’s Jason was far more enraged and hateful than usual. He was like a volcano that would explode the moment it was touched.
“Reina Sordein has become Berje’s vassal. Vivian Blunt as well.”
Just moments ago, news had arrived from the Demon Dragon summoned as an adversary to face Berje.
“He used the dwarves to make mana cannons. He made use of the Spirit King’s contractor.”
Kheheh.
“He blocked the hero’s march like that, and even.”
He let out a self-mocking laugh.
“He killed Balraf Dislode.”
His hair was in disarray.
“So easily. To think that everything I’ve done for hundreds of years would be denied so easily. I must truly be a fool.”
To fail to accomplish what Berje achieved in a mere two years.
“...That isn’t so.”
“No. I was foolish for not thinking of bringing the same Demon King in as a vassal. For not thinking of turning the kidnapped royals into vassals.”
His voice rose.
“If I had taken Draxon Doldov! Ugar Velbek! Reina Sordein! As vassals! If I had taken all the kidnapped royals as vassals as well!”
If that had truly been the case—
“I would have already conquered the continent and more. Isn’t that right?”
“That is impossible.”
“Impossible? How is it impossible? Didn’t Lord Berje show it to us? Isn’t that damned bastard showing it right now!”
────!
A table made of high-grade hardwood shattered into hundreds of pieces.
“That damned Demon Dragon! Demon Dragon! Demon Dragon! After raising hell in the Demon Realm, it interferes with me even here! Trash bastards who were merely born lucky, carrying their heads like decorations!”
“They ruin my plans! They overturn the board I set up and dare to rebel!”
“What? You need to release more interference power so I should hand over more demonic energy? I deliberately hid Berje’s abilities!”
───!
A sea of blood erupted and swept through the office. Lightning struck, and blades of wind carved everything apart.
“Those trash Demon Dragons!”
“Blobs of calamity with no worth in existing just because they were born!”
Everything in the office was destroyed.
The only two left standing intact were Jason Kokemundo and Aina Sermyun.
“...I’ve shown you an ugly sight.”
“It’s fine. I’ll clean it up.”
Aina straightened Jason’s disheveled hair and clothing.
“What are your plans going forward?”
“Balraf Dislode was a key I had prepared for a long time.”
“I don’t know everything.”
“He was both humanity’s hope and despair, cultivated over hundreds of years.”
By feeding Demon Kings and providing funds, he ensured that the man could gain power and fame.
He hated every Demon Dragon in this world, as well as the Standards they created.
But the Standard was a reliable way to obtain greater demonic energy and negative emotions, and he could not deny its practicality.
“The greater the hope, the greater the despair. Daniel Deyrus-nim was such an existence. But he noticed and constantly concealed his identity, so I went along with him for the time being.”
At the time, he wasn’t needed yet. But that went on for far too long.
So now, he had discarded that plan. Cooperation with Daniel Deyrus had become indispensable and invaluable.
Rather than aiming for something big recklessly and discarding him, he judged it better to cooperate and slowly draw the picture he wanted, even if it took time.
At least, that was the case before the Demon Dragon appeared and ruined everything.
“Heroes no longer have meaning.”
His strongest card, Daniel Deyrus, had been defeated. The next promising bud, Hillan Cargill, was instead one of Berje’s chess pieces.
“Even so, I believe we must respond by gathering powerhouses equivalent to the two Demon Kings and the Four Heavenly Kings that Lord Berje recruited. More thoroughly.”
“But heroes are no longer....”
“But isn’t there another option? The one Lord Berje showed us.”
“...Surely not.”
Aina gasped in shock.
“If that happens, it will be irreversible.”
“No. Lord Berje has taken Vivian-nim and Reina-nim as vassals, and it hasn’t become a problem so far. The severance of the connection to the Demon Realm was purely thanks to me mentioning Lord Draxon’s death. Which means.”
That Archduke Arkaine’s abilities were more incompetent than expected. More precisely, his ability to monitor and interfere with the assigned dimension from the Demon Realm.
Thinking about it, it was only natural. With the thick barrier of dimensional walls in the way, it would be strange if things went smoothly.
“I will summon Dorche-nim to the tower.”
As a pretext—
“He’s provided it himself. I can say I’ll give him Demonic Points, but since it’s unfair, I want to hear more details about that day.”
I want to see that insolent Demon Dragon’s face again as soon as possible.
Jason recovered his original smile.