Chapter 136: I Didn't Even Touch It (1)
Kelva stared blankly into the open dimensional door.
What he saw was a conference room filled with purple bloodstains, with what appeared to be the arms and legs of commanders rolling around without concern.
A woman at the center of the round table in the conference room was drenched in purple blood, holding a cigarette, and wearing a chilling smile.
"It's finally opened...?"
The low mumble of the Hero King.
Seeing the faint smile and eyes filled with madness, Kelva organized his confused thoughts and easily found the missing piece for why communication had been impossible up till now.
"This crazy..."
Realizing it, Kelva couldn't help but curse.
The picture that formed instantly in his mind made him curse without realizing it.
'All the commanders?'
Of course, the commanders of the demon realm don't die just because they are killed.
They don't vanish if they die in the Middle Realm, nor do they vanish if they die in battle in the demon realm.
They simply lose power and undergo a revival process; in the end, they come back to life.
But even considering that, the scene before his eyes was unbelievable.
The situation looked like the First Legion Commander, the Hero King, had annihilated all the other commanders.
Of course, the Hero King's condition was not normal.
Although her limbs were intact, her entire body was covered with serious wounds, and broken artifacts littered the conference room and all around her.
Moreover, it seemed she had used all her magic, as there was no lingering sense of her usual dark energy and magic.
In other words, the Hero King had used up all her power source to subdue the commanders.
But even so, the scene before Kelva was extremely irrational, and for a while, Kelva couldn't think at all.
"Gasp!"
He belatedly regained his senses and immediately tried to sever the offerings and close the door.
Clang-!
"...!?"
The dimensional door that had opened by his will did not close by his will.
With a startled expression, Kelva looked at the dimensional door and realized that something resembling one of the Hero King's artifacts was wedged in between.
Soon, the Hero King, covered in wounds, began to step through the dimensional door.
"Damn it-!"
Seeing this, Kelva tried in any way to close the dimensional door and prevent the Hero King from crossing, but his efforts-
Crack-!
"Gah!"
-were instantly blocked by a giant rod shot from inside the dimensional door.
With that,
"...Finally...!"
the Hero King stepped through the dimensional door from the demon realm to the present world.
"Ha."
At that moment, Kelva frowned deeply, thinking everything had gone completely wrong.
No, things had actually gone wrong before now.
Though he hadn't seen it himself, the reason she, who had wanted to ascend to a higher dimension and became a demon following his will, descended to the Middle Realm was likely because she had heard about Lartania in the demon realm.
"He has returned, hasn't he?"
As if confirming Kelva's guess, the Hero King asked him as soon as she stepped through the dimensional door.
Kelva sighed and spoke as she casually asked about Lartania, despite her terrible wounds.
"...Now doesn't seem like the time to ask me that carelessly."
"Why?"
"Do you think I'll answer your question easily? No- Do you think you can get to Lartania in the first place?"
With those words, Kelva began to absorb all the remaining power of the sacrificial magic circle.
Crackle-!
The unprecedented power, drawing in everything around and turning them into dust again, was roughly pulling towards Kelva.
With that, Kelva's appearance began to change from a typical human to that of the other commanders.
Kelva continued speaking.
"Hero King, you will never make it to the territory of Lartania, nor will you meet the outsider."
"What makes you so sure?"
"You unilaterally broke your contract with him. You abandoned your duty. Do you think we demons- no, the demon realm - will let that slide?"
Kelva's body continued to transform into that of a commander.
His arms and legs began to change into those of a beast.
The horns on his head grew extremely long.
"Don't be ridiculous, Hero King, you will be annihilated here."
And what revealed itself-
"His confidant working from the shadows, given the title of 'Zero' Commander by him, I will kill you."
Zero Commander Kelva.
Who, without owning any legion, worked solely as the Dark Lord's confidant from the shadows, now stood before the Hero King, with his true power unleashed.
"Do you think you can defeat me?"
The Hero King's single remark.
To anyone else, it would sound extremely arrogant, but Kelva took it as a clear threat.
In reality, she had killed all the commanders in the conference room and stepped into the Middle Realm.
However, despite the threat, Kelva spoke with a smile.
"If you were in your original state, I wouldn't be able to win.
But look at your body now. Do you think I would lose to someone so severely injured that it's hard for you to even fight?
And I know that many of the artifacts you boast about are no longer with you, having seen the broken artifacts in the conference room.
Is that all? The magic power in your body is almost gone, and it's still draining even now. It must be due to the severe injuries. If left as is, it will likely leave permanent damage."
"......"
As the Hero King remained silent and listened, Kelva continued to speak.
"Of course, you don't need to worry about permanent damage, Hero King. You, who betrayed your trust, will die here, leaving only your abilities behind."
"...I don't think you can continue your plans just by me leaving my abilities."
Kelva momentarily stopped at the Hero King's sharp words.
Her words were true.
Once the Hero King knew that the Lord of Lartania had returned, the plan was already messed up, but Kelva, by using all the sacrifices to kill the Hero King in the Middle Realm, ended the demon realm's plan.
In other words, the plans the demons had worked hard on until now had no chance of revival.
They were left with nothing but permanent loss of power and no other gains.
But even so, Kelva smiled.
Even though the Hero King's words were true.
"Don't worry, using your corpse should provide a foundation to start again. And if I can capture and kill the outsider, sacrifices can easily be increased."
He judged that there was still a way out.
So Kelva smiled wickedly, looking at the Hero King, who was full of wounds.
The Hero King,
"...Kill the outsider..."
muttering softly and then-
Gasp-!
With a chilling gaze that made even Kelva momentarily intimidated-
"Try it, if you can."
-muttered that.
A few days after the Red Merchant's departure.
Territory:Lartania
Territory Development Level:
4812
Territory Population:
[Humans: 35,817]
-Secondary Buildings-
[Magical Engineering Research Institute]
-Owned Buildings-
[Lord's Castle LV3↑]
[City Wall LV5]
[Residential District LV5]
[Blacksmith LV5]
[Barracks LV5]
[Tavern LV5]
[Market LV5]
[Wood Processing Plant LV5]
[Restaurant LV5]
[Leather Processing Plant LV5]
[Stone Processing Plant LV5]
[Trade Post LV5]
[Secondary City Wall LV5]
[Inn LV5]
[Administrative District LV5]
[Paved Road LV5]
-External Buildings-
[Mercenary Guild LV1]
[Mage Tower Branch LV1]
[Blacksmith Guild Branch LV1]
-Owned Forces-
-Regular Soldiers: 1,000
-Swordsmen: 500
-Guards: 700
-Apprentice Knights: 200
The Magical Engineering Research Institute has been completed.
"...It's beyond expectations."
Kim Hyunwoo gaped slightly as he looked at the Magical Engineering Research Institute built outside the city wall.
As if showing that it was on a different level, the Magical Engineering Research Institute stood above the city wall, giving Kim Hyunwoo a sense of intimidation.
From the Lord's castle, he could overlook most buildings, but this was the first building he had to look up to.
'Well, if I level up the Lord's castle, I can look down on it again...'
To build that giant building, he had used up most of the Gold Coins he had accumulated in the territory.
'Plus, I've recruited more soldiers, so the maintenance costs have increased.'
While Kim Hyunwoo was thinking about the newly increased forces,
in the Red Eyes,
"Giral."
"What's up?"
"Take this."
"...This is the Shayu Spring Water that you gave to the Boss last time, why are you giving it to me?"
"Use it for that person, Loriel or whatever?"
"Yeah, there is such a person?"
"You get along well, right?"
"...If you divide it into good and bad, well- It's on the good side."
"Then that's fine."
"Huh?"
"Can you use that to mate with that person?"
"...What kind of nonsense are you spouting all of a sudden?"
Giral was hearing incomprehensible words from Ryu.