Makai Hongi

Chapter 218

Now, it was time for the second fight against the Demon King.

I was defeated the last time. But that wouldn’t happen again. After all, I’m…

“Going to run away!!”

“What!?”

While my body was charged with mana, I jumped.

It was a good thing that this place was an open garden.

I kicked the walls as I launched myself towards the top of the castle.

“Hey, Golan! What are you trying to do?”

Tralzard was furious. That was no surprise.

I had said that I would fight, and then ran away.

“Your tactician is very impressive. That was a good plan. But that’s why I felt that something was wrong.”

I stood at the top of the castle and looked down at the Demon King. It felt very good. Standing up here.

“What are you saying?”

“The reason that Seitry told me about my country. It was so that I would get fired up, right?”

“…Yes. So you knew.”

“But I’m not so nice as to go along with your plan and fight. I don’t like it when people make me a pawn.”

“Tsk. So you saw that far.”

Tralzard gritted her teeth.

That being said, I had truly found it unbearable after hearing of my homeland.

Even now, as I lived here, the Ogre villages might be under attack.

My comrades could be fighting desperately for their lives.

And so I wanted to return to my country as soon as possible.

And if making me feel like this was Seitry’s aim, then what could be the reason?

I thought hard.

I had to guess what the tactician was thinking. I had to.

“I was made the attacker and I’m supposed to be dead. That’s why I was locked up in the tower. But Seitry would have thought that the enemy would think, ‘our comrade died during the attack. That means no information has leaked. We are safe.’”

“Indeed. And we planned to use that as a way of catching them all while they had their guard down.”

They were connected to the Wild Hunt. They probably killed them after some questioning.

It had been days already.

If they sent their fastest and attacked, it would all be over now.

If I was correct, then there would be no one left.

All the threads that connected to Nehyor and his men would have been severed.

And so perhaps Seitry would have decided to try the same tactic once again.

Make it that the attacker was actually still alive, and see how Nehyor would react.

Perhaps Seitry had expected me to fight Tralzard and then run away.

It didn’t have to be a member of the Wild Hunt. It could be anyone. Someone would try and contact me after I escaped. And they would arrest whoever that was. And so they had to make me fight and escape.

“You’re trying to use me as bait, aren’t you?”

That was my conclusion.

“Golan, you talk as if you’ve seen everything. It makes me doubt that you really evolved from an Ogre. …Well, you’re not wrong. Indeed, I surrender. I am defeated. I will not attack you now, so come back down. If I follow you up there, the castle will crumble.”

While I had been ambushed the first time, this time I was able to get the upper hand.

We hadn’t actually fought, but I still managed to win this round. And since I would have lost if it was a proper fight, it was an overall good result.

And so I descended back into the garden.

“I don’t know why Nehyor is so important to you, but I’m glad that I was right.”

“You have a sharp eye, Golan. Maybe you should be my tactician.”

“Perhaps intelligent Ogres will be quite common soon.”

“…I doubt it.”

Yeah. Me too.

“So, why do you care so much about Nehyor?”

After all, he was just a Lesser Demon King. Surely he wasn’t much of a threat to a Demon King?

“Mmm. While you were in the tower, we attacked a certain settlement that was connected to the Wild Hunt. And we questioned them. And while we did not learn much, we learned a few of Nehyor’s aims.”

“Oh? When Nehyor was in my country, everything he did was confusing to me.”

“The basis of his actions are incredibly simple. His goal is to become an Elder Vampire.”

“I thought it might be that. Judging from what he stole from the castle.”

“Apparently, you need a Demon King’s Orb of Control in order to evolve. There are other things too, but we now know that Nehyor is trying to take the life of a Demon King.”

“A Lesser Demon King trying to take a Demon King’s Orb of Control?”

It was too reckless.

“If I fought him a hundred times, I would win every time. But Nehyor’s aim is just an Orb of Control, so he doesn’t have to kill the strongest one.”

“I see. So he’ll target a ‘newborn.’”

Perhaps it took time to adjust to the changes in your body when you became a Demon King.

It might be difficult to use your special abilities.

And even if you could do everything, you would still be the weakest out of all the Demon Kings.

That made you a good target for Gekokujyo.

“That is why he was wreaking havoc to the west of my country. He was trying to make a Demon King out of one of those Lessers.”

“I see. So that’s why he was there.”

I had gotten in his way, though I nearly died in the process.

But I had no regrets about cutting Nehyor.

And I would still kill him.

“If Nehyor defeated a Demon King and evolved into an Elder Vampire that would make him as strong as a Demon King. And so he would become one.”

“It’s possible.”

“And I suppose he’ll try and rise to a Great Demon King after that.”

Nehyor? Rising to Great Demon King? Was that really possible?

“But, wouldn’t that be very difficult?”

Even Tralzard had stopped at Demon King.

“According to Seitry, he’ll likely do the same thing as he is now. In other words, get as many Demon Kings involved as he can and start a war that he can take advantage of.”

“Ah…”

Yes, he would do that. He definitely would.

“And so we cannot ignore him. We will be drawn into this war amongst Demon Kings.”

“Well, there are four Demon Kings in the surrounding area. So it must be rather ideal for him.”

“It will be too late…if we wait for Nehyor to become an Elder Vampire. And so I meant to find him first, and kill him.”

While using me as bait.

Nehyor put a lot of importance in information.

If he knew that I had escaped from Tralzard, he would want to know how much she knew.

“You wanted us to fight, and then you would purposely let me go.”

“Mmm. I had no choice. Currently, Nehyor is targeting that cluster of small countries, including your own. He is pulling the strings in order to create a Demon King that he can take down.”

“And so you want me to help?”

I understood the reason, but I didn’t want to be the tactician’s stooge.

“If you stop Nehyor, I will help your country.”

A Demon King’s protection? Now that was tempting.

“I’m just a soldier. You will have to talk with the General. However, I will chase after Nehyor on my own. But first, I must return to my country…”

Just as I said this, the ground started to shake.

“What!?”

Tralzard looked shocked. Even I could tell that there was a barrier around the castle.

It would not be easy to make it shake like this.

But this sensation was familiar.

“Is it…an invasion from the Celestial World?”

Now that I thought about it, I had heard that a holy stake was found a few days ago.