Chapter 248: Great Demon King Ifriil
「What happened? What’s going on?」
「It’s Rara-chan! She’s been captured!」
Sherry pointed at a dragonkin, draped in a crimson cloak.
In his arms, Rara-chan hung limp, clearly taken hostage.
It was obvious we couldn’t fire at him with Rara-chan being held as a shield. Lyle-sensei, who had been protecting them from behind, stepped forward apologetically.
「I’m sorry, Takeru-dono. I was with them, but—」
「It couldn’t be helped. This is no ordinary foe. That’s the Great Demon King Ifriil, isn’t it?」
Every move this enemy made was outside of our expectations.
I knew it the moment I looked into his blood-red eyes. This was the Great Demon King Ifriil.
Earlier, we could’ve flanked him while the Metal Dragon was still alive, but he hadn’t. Was it a deliberate choice, or just coincidence? The Great Demon King’s actions were impossible to predict. His motives were inscrutable, which is why even a strategist like Lyle-sensei was outplayed.
But I was beginning to understand his pattern. Whatever Great Demon King Ifriil’s goal was, it wasn’t to win this war.
Victory wasn’t what he was after.
「So, you’ve figured out I’m the Great Demon King?」 Ifr
「Of course.」
A dragonkin with scales redder than blood, draped in a crimson cloak—he radiated an ominous aura unlike any enemy we had faced before.
There was no mistaking it—he was the Great Demon King.
「And you must be the hero sent by the Evil Goddess Asama. Heh… It’s all destined, after all.」
He called the goddess Asama an evil god. To him, perhaps, the gods we revered were his enemies.
Before I could even process the sudden mention of a hero, a woman in a revealing bondage-like armor stepped forward. She was the same demon beast tamer from earlier, the one who had controlled the Hydra. When had she slipped away and returned here?
「Great Demon King-sama, this one isn’t the hero. The hero is a woman.」
Puffing out her chest proudly, the demon woman seemed overly eager to make this declaration. We had been passing Louise off as the hero, so in a way, her meddling came as a relief. She was a bit of a clown, but at least she was on our side for now.
Great Demon King Ifriil barely glanced at her, disinterested.
「My business here is finished.」
「No, wait! Release Rara-chan!」 I
「Rara… So that’s the name of the Mother of Chaos’s vessel?」
「Rara-chan is the granddaughter of the Sheba tribe’s chieftain from the Reptilian people of the Afri continent! She’s under my protection. She’s got nothing to do with your nonsense about the mother of chaos!」
My words only made Great Demon King Ifriil laugh harder.
「Ha! Is that so? You’ve unwittingly brought me the vessel for the Mother of Chaos’ return.」
「I’m telling you, Rara-chan has nothing to do with that! She’s just a kid!」
「Unaware as you may be, you’ve been a pawn in reviving the Mother of Chaos.」
「What the hell are you talking about?」
「This girl, Rara, is the vessel for one half of the Mother of Chaos’s soul, born across the sea. Together with me, the vessel for the other half on this Abyss Continent, she holds the key to the Mother of Chaos’ resurrection. It was fated that she would eventually come here, but you’ve accelerated that process—how ironic.」
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
Now that he mentioned it, Rara-chan had always been different from the villagers. Unlike them, she had always wanted to explore, always talked about the sea. It was as if something had been drawing her to this land all along…
I thought it was just childish curiosity, but had she been drawn to the Abyss Continent by some connection to the Mother of Chaos?
「Wait, hold on. The conversation’s moving too fast. Are you planning to… sacrifice Rara-chan or something?」
「Sacrifice? Ha ha ha ha ha!」
「What’s so funny?」
「In gratitude for bringing me a fragment of the Mother of Chaos, I’ll enlighten you. We demons have no custom of offering sacrifices to gods. Why? Because I too am part of the Mother of Chaos, as is this girl, Rara, and this entire Abyss Continent. When the Mother of Chaos reappears in this world, everything will return to how it was before that Evil Goddess Asama plunged the world into chaos.」
「I don’t get it.」
「Of course you don’t, hero of the evil goddess. Filth like you could never comprehend the nature of this world.」
I couldn’t quite grasp what the resurrection of the Mother of Chaos, who was the very essence of this world, would look like, but I knew one thing for sure—it wouldn’t end well.
I decided to stop hiding the fact that I am a hero.
This was likely my first and last chance to speak with the Great Demon King Ifriil.
「Great Demon King Ifriil. I am Sawatari Takeru, from the Kingdom of Silesie on the other side of the Abyss Continent. I am Asama’s hero, but at the same time, I am also a neutral hero, blessed by the Mother of Chaos. What the Mother of Chaos desires is not the destruction of humanity. It’s neutrality… the harmony between humans and demons.」
「Neutrality? I see… so it was you. You’re the one who filled the Mother of Chaos with strange ideas and led her astray.」
「Led her astray?」
「Because of you, I have suffered greatly. I should never have felt gratitude for you bringing back her fragment. Harmony between humans and demons? How laughable. To me, both humans and demons are impure beings that must be eradicated equally.」
Great Demon King Ifriil spat those words out, and the one most visibly shocked wasn’t me, but Hydra, the beast tamer standing by our side.
The Great Demon King, who had just proclaimed the destruction of not only humans but demons as well, had finally revealed his dangerous ideology.
The rumors we’d heard through the grapevine—that Great Demon King Ifriil sought to destroy the world—seemed to be true after all.
Even though he was once the prince of the Kingdom of Nisrok, it’s amazing the demons of the demon nation still followed such a dangerous leader.
「Wh-what, Great Demon King-sama? What do you mean by that…?」
Before Hydra could even finish asking, Great Demon King Ifriil silently took off into the air, still holding Rara-chan.
「You’re not getting away!」
I fired my magic rifle, aiming for the Great Demon King Ifriil’s shoulder. I couldn’t let him escape with Rara-chan.
As long as I didn’t hit the hostage, it didn’t matter. If necessary, I could shoot him in the back as he flew away.
But Great Demon King Ifriil made no effort to dodge the shot.
Even after his shoulder was pierced, he showed no sign of pain.
He simply looked down at me, cold and emotionless.
「Sawatari Takeru, hero of neutrality. You speak of harmony between humans and demons, but what have you truly done up until now?」
「That’s…」
「War and slaughter. But don’t misunderstand—I don’t blame you. It’s the natural law of survival. When a sword is raised against you, you must strike back. The vanquished are devoured by the victors. If you don’t bare your fangs first, you’ll be the one crushed. I too have savored it—bloody, senseless wars, consumed to the fullest.」
「Ifriil!」
I fired my magic rifle, aiming for his head.
Yet still, he remained unfazed.
The red dragon scales were too tough, preventing the shot from reaching flesh.
Even so, Great Demon King Ifriil showed no signs of pain, and instead, a blissful smile crept across his face.
「Ah, neutral hero, Sawatari Takeru. It seems certain that you are beloved by the Mother of Chaos. This power is truly that of our mother, Chaos. And you too, in your anger, have used that great power for destruction. This is the answer. When endless conflict spills rivers of blood and piles mountains of corpses, what meaning could your talk of harmony between humans and demons possibly have?」
「Even so, I’m not like you. I fight to end wars!」
「What a coincidence, hero. I too fight to end wars. If humans and demons are wiped from the surface of the world, then there will be no more conflict.」
「Don’t be ridiculous!」
I kept firing my magic rifle, but it was futile. The shots were effortlessly deflected.
I continued shooting until I ran out of ammunition, but I couldn’t make Great Demon King Ifriil take even a single step back.
「I’m not being ridiculous. Peace, conflict, anger, hatred, joy, compassion—everything will vanish. The time has come for all to sink into chaos.」
「That’s something I can’t allow…」
The moment I thought that, my chest burned.
The faded ‘Silver Feather’ I kept close to my heart began to glow brightly.
As I gripped the feather, a scorching power surged through my body.
So, even Asama wants me to stop this.
If I could just use the power that Asama has sent me… but my magic rifle lance was out of ammo.
「Even the Mother of Chaos herself is moved by the law of retaliation. Destruction begets destruction, slaughter begets slaughter, death begets death. As I predicted, the great war that engulfed the Abyss Continent has unleashed a chain of destruction, slaughter, and death. All of it will sink into chaos. The backlash will soon tear the world apart.」
I could finally see what Great Demon King Ifriil was talking about.
I only knew the Mother of Chaos as the ‘furuki sha’—through the tentacle-woman. She was like a pure, innocent child.
Whatever you did to her, she would respond in kind.
When Asama created the human race, the Mother of Chaos created the demons in response.
The goddess Asama feared the backlash from the Mother of Chaos and limited her intervention in the world.
And it seems that Great Demon King Ifriil has been using that backlash to his advantage.
By inciting a conquest war on the Abyss Continent, he used the resulting chaos to create demon beasts and to fuel further wars.
No wonder even Lyle-sensei couldn’t discern his true purpose.
Conquering the Abyss Continent was just a means to spread destruction and slaughter for Great Demon King Ifriil.
To the Great Demon King, it didn’t matter whether the ones who died were enemies or allies.
His only goal was to kill as many humans and demons as possible.
If that’s his motivation, then his senseless actions start to make sense.
It’s as if Great Demon King Ifriil himself is a calamity, spreading conflict and death.
I have to stop him, and I have to do it now.
「King-sama, please use this Demon Killer, the holy lance designed to slay devils.」
At just the right moment, Clementine handed me the holy lance.
「I’ll borrow this, Clementine!」
The holy lance was tremendously heavy and long, but right now, that felt just right.
The light of Asama’s power surged through my entire body. I will defeat him.
This will be my one chance.
I’ll end it with this strike.
I aimed the Demon Killer with all my strength and struck down Great Demon King Ifriil, who was still ranting as if giving a speech.
A heavy impact shot through my arms as the lance pierced deep into his chest.
Even though the lance had impaled him through the middle of his chest, leaving a gaping hole, Great Demon King Ifriil’s face remained calm, as though nothing had happened.
For a moment, I thought he might be invincible, but I was wrong.
The next instant, he coughed up blood with a loud ‘Gehack!’—enough to drench Rara-chan, who was still held captive, staining her body red.
I reached out to snatch her back, but Great Demon King Ifriil, a dragonkin who could fly freely, dodged effortlessly.
Suddenly, I felt myself being lifted into the air. Oracle had grabbed me from behind, floating us both up. Good—this meant I could still fight.
「Hero, that was a fine strike, filled with hatred.」
「You don’t have the luxury to act all composed anymore.」
The light of Asama’s power was working.
This time, I would slice him in half.
No matter how powerful a Great Demon King he is, there’s no surviving being cut to pieces. The only issue was if he used Rara-chan as a shield again.
「Your powerful hatred only serves to nourish the Mother of Chaos… But I cannot afford to die just yet.」
I charged with the holy lance again, but this time he used Rara-chan as a shield.
「Tch, using such dirty tricks at this stage?」
「You don’t have to kill me. Kill this girl, and you will stop the Mother of Chaos from reviving. Do you have the resolve for that?」
「I could never…」
There was no way I could.
I tried to find an opening to strike only Great Demon King Ifriil, but with Rara-chan as a shield, I couldn’t get a clear shot.
「Yes, that’s it. Your soft heart is also part of fate. Hero, I’ll be waiting for you in Laurentite. I’ll show you the revival of the Mother of Chaos, the fall of the evil goddess, and the end of this world—with a new beginning.」
「Wait… damn it, not here!」
At that moment, the power of the ‘Silver Feather’ seemed to fade, and the glow of the holy lance began to vanish rapidly.
Seriously, a power-down now?
Great Demon King Ifriil must have noticed too, as he gave a sly grin, as if to say this was all part of the plan. He spread his crimson cloak wide in front of us.
I immediately tried to dodge and thrust the lance forward, but—
「Whoa, I can’t see a thing!」
The target was Oracle.
The cloak, acting as if it were alive, wrapped itself around Oracle’s face, blinding her.
Without Oracle carrying me, I couldn’t fly.
In that brief moment, Great Demon King Ifriil evaded our pursuit and disappeared beyond the clouds.
「Takeru, I’ve lost sight of the enemy.」
「I know. Take us back to the ship.」
Laurentite, huh?
It seems I have no choice but to move as Great Demon King Ifriil planned…
As I mulled over the situation, Oracle suddenly shouted in alarm.
「Takeru, look ahead!」
Up ahead in the sky, two figures were fighting atop a wyvern. They were both pulling on the reins, spinning wildly in the air in a chaotic corkscrew.
What the heck is going on…?