Chapter 39 : Butterfly Effect (2)
Chapter 39: Butterfly Effect (2)
It was demonic energy.
It was nothing but the purest, deepest demonic energy. A high level.
Draxon, who had been seated upon the throne at the summit waiting for a report, rose his heavy body.
“Did you send another demon?”
Casey had no choice but to ask even though she knew he had not.
Because it was at least the level of a high-rank demon.
“There is no way I would!”
It was an alien presence. Draxon was the Beast Demon King, and all the demons and monsters around him were his subordinates.
Their demonic energy never escaped his sight. Yet this demonic energy was not simply beyond his perception—its presence had erupted out of nowhere.
“Then an intruder….”
“Who would dare!”
To trespass into another Demon King’s territory without prior agreement was taboo. For the highly individualistic demon race, an intrusion was no different from a declaration of war.
Draxon dashed down to the first floor. Casey followed behind him.
“It must be one of the other two Demon Kings—excluding Demon King Ugar and Demon King Berje.”
“Berje? Why exclude him?”
If anything, he was the most likely in terms of possibility.
“At the time of the Descent, no demon joined him except for his adjutant, Gordon. Even the monsters and benefits he should have received as First Seat were taken from him. Not to mention, every Demonic Point he acquired was….”
“Indeed, even if he wanted to send someone, he would have no demons to send.”
Berje, who was most hostile to Draxon, was thus excluded from the list for that reason.
“If it truly was another Demon King who sent a demon, I suspect it would be Demon King Jason.”
“I think the same. Reina, that idealist, lacks the guts to pull off such a thing….”
At that moment, the crystal sphere rang urgently.
It was Quail.
『My lord, we have a major problem!』
“If it is a high-rank demon that appeared, I have already sensed it. I am on my way personally, so—”
『That is not the issue! The Princess of the dwarves has killed the Prince of Ormus! The enraged warriors of Ormus are charging in to kill the princess!』
Draxon’s face twisted grotesquely.
“...What… is this….”
His mind froze at the incomprehensible situation. But soon, he quickly assessed it.
“Stop them! No matter what happens, the princess must not die! If the princess becomes a corpse before I arrive, I will hold you responsible.”
『I receive your command! I will protect her with my life!』
* * *
As the warriors of Ormus surrounded and pressed the dwarves, monsters attacked from behind.
It was a completely unexpected, disastrous ambush, and all the warriors of Ormus had their attention fixed solely on the dwarves.
What followed was a one-sided slaughter.
Kkyaaaah—
Look behind you! Hold the monsters back!
With screams, the encirclement collapsed.
“Princess, now is our chance!”
Bolbof gathered the knights. The dwarves, who had been scattered in all directions under the fierce assault, formed a tight formation around the princess.
“Move. I’ll break through.”
“It’s dangerous.”
“If I were just going to stand behind you sniffling and whining, I wouldn’t have come.”
Before they could stop her, Louise strode forward, raising her battle axe.
Kwaang—
Sword and axe clashed. Overwhelmed by brute force, the warrior of Ormus staggered back two steps. But he failed to fully disperse the force, and the axe did not miss that opening.
Kwajik—
Louise kicked away the corpse with its neck torn off. Using the fallen body as a shield, she twisted her axe to deflect a blade aimed at her blind spot.
Bolbof’s sword pierced the enemy’s heart.
“Are you all right?”
“Keep up. I’m picking up the pace.”
She exhaled sharply.
* * *
“We’ve opened a path for the princess and the dwarves to escape.”
“Well done.”
The battlefield was already reaching its end. Led by Louise, most of the dwarves managed to withdraw, and most of the warriors of Ormus had become prey to the monsters.
“Don’t kill those ones—let them go.”
“Is that all right?”
“They’ll serve as witnesses. Witnesses who’ll spread the word that the princess of the dwarves crushed the skull of their nation’s prince.”
When Draxon first heard that the Second Prince of Ormus had died, he was horrified. But upon reflection, it wasn’t such a bad thing.
Because the one who killed the prince was the princess. And there had been multiple witnesses.
‘That high-rank demon who drove the Second Prince into a corner is a problem, but it wasn’t the one who killed him. The survivors of Ormus will testify nicely.’
If that happened, at best a great war, at least a covert conflict was highly likely. The spectacle of blood and death was entertaining enough to watch. And the Demonic Points he would gain from the hostility, killing intent, fear, and terror directed at each other would be plentiful.
But that wasn’t the immediate problem.
“Where did the demon go?”
Draxon swiftly scanned the surroundings. But nowhere was the culprit who had forced him to haul his heavy body over here.
The high-level demonic energy belonged at least to a high-rank demon. Yet Draxon had sent no demon this way aside from Quail.
“I apologize. By the time I arrived after sensing the demonic energy, it had already vanished without a trace.”
“You mean you couldn’t find even a trace?”
Quail bowed his head.
‘Just what kind of bastard is it…!’
Beastmen were naturally gifted with heightened senses, and as their rank rose, those senses evolved even further.
A high-rank beastman-type demon rarely missed anything. Their sensitivity—sight, touch, and even smell—was unmatched.
‘And this is my territory. The only one who could deceive Quail here would be…’
A Demon King, or among high-rank demons, one specialized in stealth.
“Where did it appear?”
“This way.”
The ground was gouged out, stone fragments scattered everywhere.
Traces of a fierce battle. And within them remained traces of demonic energy.
‘A high level.’
And it was not entirely unfamiliar.
‘Of course it wouldn’t be.’
He didn’t know the intention, but it was definitely something sent by another Demon King, and since he had formed the Harmony of the Towers with the other Demon Kings, it had to be one of their subordinates.
‘Not Berje or Ugar.’
Berje had no high-rank demons under him, and Ugar was not the type to betray him.
And as Casey said, it wasn’t likely to be Reina Sordein. She was not the kind of person to use cowardly tricks from the shadows.
A demon, yet her head was full of flowers and ideals—always chasing lofty dreams.
Then the remaining suspect was—
‘Jason Kokemundo.’
The False Demon King. A treacherous Demon King who always wore the mask of courtesy, smiling as he stabbed others in the back.
They had recently exchanged information and maintained a relatively good relationship, but Draxon never trusted him.
If someone had sent a high-rank demon to infiltrate, he was certain Jason was the one.
‘But why?’
He would not spark a conflict without a reason.
‘Was it to trap me?’
To kill both the princess and the prince and drag him into a scheme of murder through another’s hand? But Jason had no motive for that.
‘And if that was the aim, they said the princess wasn’t touched. A princess of Berfht carried far more political weight than some Ormus prince…’
Which meant that was not the purpose.
Draxon slowly followed the demonic traces. But the trail abruptly vanished. Even he, a Demon King, could not easily locate something so stealthy.
“Ridiculous.”
Draxon heightened every sense to its extreme. He sniffed, felt the air.
And then—
He found a faint, very faint trail leading toward Mount Mercon.
In that instant, his mind snapped fully awake.
‘No way…?’
He had been careful. He had hidden it well. But he could not claim perfection.
If it were Jason, he might have found a way to uncover it. If he had realized the Phoenix’s corpse existed and intended to seize it—
“Damn it all!”
Indeed, the Phoenix’s corpse carried enough value to justify turning hostile against another Demon King.
After all, Arein’s habit of maintaining contact among Demon Kings was the unusual part—such interaction was not the true nature of the demon race.
Draxon ignored everything else and charged toward Mount Mercon. Trees and rocks shattered entirely along the path he carved.
At that moment—
KWAaaaaaANG—
The distant volcano erupted.
Pure yet scorching mana scattered in every direction.
He was one step too late.
“Jason, you son of a biiiiitch!”
Draxon roared.
The Demon King’s demonic energy surged violently.
So massive and ferocious that even the heroes of Tarta would sense it.
* * *
“Huuk… huuk…!”
Karchin, warrior of Ormus, ran while clutching his burning shoulder. A long trail of blood stretched behind him.
His head spun. But he clenched his teeth.
‘I must live.’
He had to survive and report to His Majesty the King.
That the barbaric dwarven princess had murdered the prince! That her limbs must be torn apart in retribution!
Driven solely by his obsession for vengeance, he ran.
He knew that the moment he poured everything out before His Majesty, he would collapse and never rise again—but it didn’t matter.
If he could take revenge, if he could honor the soul of the prince who died so meaninglessly, that was enough.
Swaaish—
Thud—
The small sound of something piercing the air was followed by a heavy impact.
A short gasp escaped him as the ground slammed into his face. No—his body had collapsed forward.
“Gyaaaaah!”
His leg throbbed violently. An arrow embedded in his leg had shattered the bone completely.
A shadow fell over him. Trembling, Karchin lifted his head.
It didn’t fully block the sunlight. The figure was short—a dwarf.
“Y-You filthy—!”
A thick metallic smell of blood filled the air. Until now, he thought it was his own, but it wasn’t.
Perhaps because he had been running while staring straight ahead—things he hadn’t seen before finally came into view.
The ground was drenched completely red. Between sparse bushes, hands and feet stuck out at odd angles.
“Aah…!”
They were all warriors of Ormus—his own comrades. The royal guards who had fought beside him just moments ago while escorting the Second Prince.
“Don’t be too resentful. You were the ones who tried to kill us first.”
He understood what that meant. And so he screamed.
“You damned dwarf bastards! Do you think killing us will bury the truth! Are you not afraid of the heavens?!”
“At the very least, you lot are not the heavens.”
‘Why…?’
He frantically scanned the surroundings. But no one else was there.
On any other day, the place would have been crawling with heroes and mercenaries hunting monsters.
Why, of all days, today—
Bloody tears of resentment fell.
Swaaaish—
A black arrow sliced through the air.
Thud—
Karchin’s consciousness vanished.
* * *
A dwarven knight dragged Karchin’s fallen corpse and threw it into the bushes. They erased as many traces as possible and waited for the next prey.
Much later, twelve more warriors of Ormus appeared—and met the same fate.
“It seems no more are coming.”
“That’s how it looks to me as well.”
Louise wiped the blood from her battle axe.
“Keep your mouths shut. The Second Prince was killed by a demon. They were wiped out while fighting desperately to help us.”
“Yes. With the battlefield full of monster traces, it won’t be something they can hide.”
“Burn all the bodies and withdraw.”
“Yes.”
The dwarves burned every corpse and buried the remaining ashes.
“It’s a relief no one came.”
“Indeed. I heard there are usually many heroes and mercenaries around here. We’re lucky.”
Saying so, Louise cut her own forearm.
“Princess!”
“Would it look credible otherwise? We’re supposed to be acting like we were annihilated.”
“…….”
The dwarven knights silently worsened their own conditions—inflicting wounds, smearing themselves with blood, and covering themselves in thick layers of dirt.
“Let’s go.”
By the time they returned to Tarta, having made perfect preparations—
“The Demon King has broken the unspoken agreement and acted without warning! We must gather the heroes immediately and prepare for war!”
—they realized everything they had done was utterly meaningless.