~From the [Dragon] Demon Lord"s perspective~
The [Dragon] Demon Lord Astaroth was dashing through the sky atop a dragon.
He had entrusted his faction of Demon Lords with the task of attacking the dungeons of the ones that attacked the [Beast] Demon Lord. As for Astaroth himself, he was going to take care of the one behind it all.
Leading the charge were twenty selected dragons. All except one of the twenty were fully-trained and fully-leveled A rank monsters. A certain dragon was clad in darkness while another was clad in electricity. Each was different but all, without exception, was extremely powerful.
The Dragon medal was extraordinarily powerful even among A rank medals. The dragons born out of it crushed everything in their path. There wasn"t a Demon Lord foolish enough to fight head-on against [Dragon].
The place that the [Dragon] Demon Lord was aiming for was the enemy"s stronghold, the Holy Capital.
There was only one person [Dragon] could think of that was behind all of this: [Black] Demon Lord Balam.
Who was the next most powerful after the three current strongest Demon Lords? [Black] Demon Lord Balam"s name would unquestioningly appear in the minds of most when asked such a question.
He was the only Demon Lord whose t.i.tle was the name of a color. His Unique Skill allowed him to do various things so long as it was a.s.sociated with the color black. It was an extremely versatile ability but as compensation, each of its effects were exceedingly weak even though their consumption of magic power was terribly high.
His medal offered great versatility too since it had the ability to change during Synthesis into any random medal a.s.sociated with [Black]. It was very much like gambling each time.
To lure humans, he used religion. Furthermore, by turning his dungeon into a holy site for his religion, he was able to efficiently gather the human beings" emotions.
There were other Demon Lords that tried to mimic him but he was the only to succeed.
Controlling humans freely was hard. And even if the other Demon Lords could eventually do so, they were going to be crushed out of the race by the [Black] Demon Lord first. He was the kind of Demon Lord that didn"t permit compet.i.tion and wanted to monopolize it all.
Such was [Black] Demon Lord Balam.
◇
[Dragon]"s forces had arrived at the Holy Capital. As soon as they reached the city, its citizens panicked while the soldiers and adventurers readied to intercept the invaders.
There hadn"t been a single Demon Lord that dared to attack the Holy Capital.
After all, for the bishops from various countries, the [Black] Demon Lord was their G.o.d. So, attacking this city was tantamount to declaring to the whole of mankind that you were their enemy.
An ordinary Demon Lord would at first hesitate and then completely abandon the idea of attacking the Holy Capital. However, for the [Dragon] Demon Lord, the feelings in his chest were not of hesitation but rather confidence to the point of arrogance in his own abilities.
To him, mere humans, no matter how many of them stood together, would never be able threaten his dungeon. Rather, it would actually be a good promotion for his dungeon. Heaps of humans would come to dungeon without the usual need to entice them.
As he thought of such, a ferocious smile floated on his aged face. Normally, it would seem that his was a face of calmness but in truth, it was one of unforgiving fury and cruelty. Anybody that knew him would warn that if ever there was one that shouldn"t ever be angered, it was him.
"Now, let"s enter the Holy Capital."
To the dragons flying in the sky, such things as the walls made by the humans to hinder their attackers were nothing. But then, when they flew over the walls, the dragons collided with an invisible barrier.
This defensive barrier wasn"t a product of a monster"s special ability; it was made by the desperate efforts of the humans within the Holy Capital.
Humans shouldn"t have been able to use a barrier strong enough that it could hinder even [Dragon]"s elites but if numerous priests were willingly sacrificing their lives, it was a different story.
They sacrificed their lives not because they were being threatened or manipulated, but purely because of their faith on their G.o.d.
Seeing such humans, [Dragon] Demon Lord Astaroth pitied them.
He knew that the [Black] Demon Lord didn"t feel any compa.s.sion towards the humans. Worse, they were viewed as nothing but cattle.
[Dragon] knew the least he could was to make them suffer as little as possible.
"Go run wild, my kin."
By his command, 19 of the twenty dragons activated [Berserk] and were clad in a black haze.
[Berserk].
It was the fiendish ability that the monsters made with the [Dragon] medal could have. In exchange for losing their intelligence and reason, it increased all of the monster"s stats except for luck. If an A rank monster with a progressive level was made with [Berserk], it would allow the said monster to compete even against an S rank monster.
Originally though, save for some special monsters, this ability couldn"t be conveniently turned on or off, making the monsters steeped in madness impossible to control.
However, 19 of the twenty elites of the [Dragon] Demon Lord, the [Raging Dragon Division], were able to suppress Berserk during normal times and when it was activated, they were able to remain in control for about fifteen minutes.
As for what made this possible…
"Caesar, how is it? It has been long since you and I have seen battle, hasn"t it? Have you grown dull?"
The Emperor Dragon Tupon gave its master a quiet look.
Among all dragons, this silver one was the most sublime, beautiful, and powerful.
It was the third of [Dragon]"s Covenant monsters. It was also his only S rank.
With the exception of the [Creation] Demon Lord, S rank monsters weren"t normally made. They were commonly obtained through rewards given by the Creator. The Dragon Emperor Tupon was such a monster.
It had an ability called [Dragon Emperor] which allowed it to rule over all dragon-kind.
Even if a dragon was under the influence of Berserk, it would still obey the skill bearer"s commands. That wasn"t all; the forces led by the Dragon Emperor Tupon also experienced the utmost increase in their power.
The Black Dragon of Death Siegwurm made by [Creation] Demon Lord Procell also possessed [Dragon Emperor] but it just couldn"t compare to the other dragon.
After all, the [Dragon Emperor] Skill was a skill that could grow stronger by having the skill bearer devour the soul and power of other dragons. One could only become a king of dragons, in the truest sense, when this skill had bloomed.
The Dragon Emperor Tupon, who had fought in countless battles, had obviously fulfilled such condition over and over again, and had thus become a true monarch of dragons.
"Bow down to our rule. My [Raging Dragon Division] shall crush anyone that stands in our way."
At the moment, the [Dragon] Demon Lord"s elite forces were all equivalent to S rank monsters… actually, they were stronger than even average S rank monsters.
Against such nightmarish creatures, the defensive barrier built on the sacrifice of human lives was shattered like gla.s.swork.
The dragons entered the Holy Capital and rampaged as they wished. The humans defending the city tried to resist but it was all futile. Countless arrows and magic spells were flung against the dragons but most didn"t hit and even if they did, it did nothing.
Conversely, just one attack from a dragon took dozens of human lives.
Each member of the [Raging Dragon Division] was a nightmarish monster straight out of a child"s bedtime story. Each was a monster that would take hundreds of knights and dozens of heroes to barely defeat and yet now, there were twenty of such monsters. The humans had no chance of winning.
And so, the elite forces led by the Dragon Emperor Tupon arrived at their destination which on the outside seemed like a school. Entry to this place was restricted to a select few in order to keep what was within a secret. As for what it truly was, it was a cultivation facility with the purpose of artificially making heroes.
Before its entrance was a lone Demon Lord.
It was the [Black] Demon Lord Balam.
He was a beautiful, young man that wore black aristocratic clothes.
Whether it was to keep up appearances, he was accompanied only by humans and angel-type monsters.
The surrounding humans were kneeling and praying dear founder, save us!
"[Dragon] Demon Lord Astaroth, how dare you do as you wish in my garden!? Anything more and I will not forgive me. I will make you pay."
"Hmm, not forgive me, huh? Tell me, how exactly are you going to make me pay?"
At the exact moment that question was raised, the dragons opened their jaws and performed their special attack: a breath.
Breath attacks of lightning, fire, water, darkness, light, wind, and all possible attribute, came flying at the same time.
The breath attacks that were beyond human understanding collided with the barrier setup beforehand by the angel monsters. This barrier however was torn through as though it was paper.
Like so, the cultivation facility that the [Black] Demon Lord tried to protect then vanished.
Due to the excessive strength of the breath attacks, not a trace of the facility was left.
"Now, it"s gone. What will you do now? Tell me, how exactly will you make me pay!!?"
[Dragon] Demon Lord Astaroth laughed loudly, distorting his wrinkled face.
His cruel side within was coming out to the surface.
The dragons behind him began to laugh as well.
In reaction to this, the [Black] Demon Lord"s face got cramped and full of anger.
"For you, a toy of the Creator, to do this to my dream. You, without thought, foolishly do things like this as though you"re a cog in a machine."
The said words were full of contempt but the [Dragon] Demon Lord only continued to laugh.
After a while, the two Demon Lords locked eyes. As they did so, the dragons acted wildly and the humans and angels died soon after.
"…You really know nothing, don"t you? We Demon Lords exist purely for the benefit of the humans, forced to make them stronger. We are beings bound to that rule. Despite our G.o.dlike strengths, we are forced to be slaves to these humans!"
What the [Black] Demon Lord said was completely correct.
For a Demon Lord to feed on the emotions of the humans, they had to give some form of benefits to the latter. Even if their actions were to cause harm to the humans, it would still, in the end, serve as an ordeal to make the species grow stronger.
Like so, Demon Lords truly were beings bound to make humans and their civilizations prosper. They truly were Children of the Planet, cogs designed to lead this planet onto the next stage.
Even the [Black] Demon Lord, who viewed himself as using the humans through religion, was not exempt from this. Just by giving the humans the concept of religion, he had contributed to their growth.
As long as a Demon Lord was a Demon Lord, they were bound this rule and fate.
"What of it? I have no qualms with that rule. Even with that, I am free to choose which path I may take."
"I beg to differ. I"m sure even you know of Demon Lords abused to death by humans, right!? Or of Demon Lords who don"t want to use monsters to entice humans so they abstain from feeding on emotions but eventually just die. Or of Demon Lords who dreamed of coexisting with humans but are taken advantage of instead. I was acting for a great cause: to free all Demon Lords from such a rule. To that end, this facility was necessary!"
For all Demon Lords, the [Black] Demon Lord cried and he really meant those words. However, it did not affect the [Dragon] Demon Lord and it wasn"t for a lack of understanding.
The [Dragon] Demon Lord also had questions about their existence as Demon Lords. Perhaps he was even the one with the most correct understanding of the situation. That said, he wasn"t completely sympathetic with the [Black] Demon Lord.
"You say such weird things. You dislike having your monsters be bait for the humans? Then you can just do something like what [Creation] is doing. And Demon Lords that are taken advantage of? Only fools fall victim like that. Besides, you and I both have taken advantage of countless humans ourselves. You know that the weak get eaten, whether they be human or Demon Lord. In the first place, would the other Demon Lords wish to be freed from such a rule?"
Even though he had questions about their fate, the [Dragon] Demon Lord didn"t find it to be so bad to be stuck in such a fate. And for this reason, the two Demon Lords would never agree on the subject.
"[Dragon] Demon Lord Astaroth, you who have always followed the correct path will never understand."
The [Black] Demon Lord gave up on trying to persuade the [Dragon] Demon Lord. For him, the latter was an old man not only in appearance but in the mind as well and was thus too obstinate to ever change.
The reason [Black] came to this place was not because he thought he could stop [Dragon], no, it was to earn some time. And even though he still hadn"t earned enough, it would have to do.
"Yeah, I don"t understand. What I do understand though is the fact that you did as you pleased and started this whole fight. No matter how great your case may be is irrelevant; you will have to die."
As soon as [Dragon] finished that statement, his dragons once again did their breath attacks.
However, in that same moment, the [Black] Demon Lord vanished.
This was an effect of his ability. By activating it, he was able to hide himself in a different dimension through a shadow.
"Don"t be too full of yourself. We haven"t lost yet. We"re going to kill the [Beast] Demon Lord and you will be next. Only you I will never forgive! I will make you pay!"
[Black]"s skill was versatile but not strong. It was within reason to believe he had not gone far.
And yet, the [Dragon] Demon Lord did not give chase.
Giving chase would be beyond his task. Everything else after this was in [Creation]"s realm of responsibility.
Wouldn"t want to pamper him too much, [Dragon] thought as he climbed onto a dragon and set forth to return to his dungeon.
He also thought of why the enemy aimed for [Beast].
Was it truly to show off his power by defeating the current three strongest Demon Lords and thus usher in a new age, or rather his new age?
After a while, the dragon by his side telepathically told the [Dragon] Demon Lord that the [Time] Demon Lord had arrived in [Creation]"s dungeon.
In reaction, a soft smile appeared on [Dragon]"s face.
"Hm, so Dan has moved, huh? That [Creation] sure is interesting. With him in the center of all this, Marcho, Dan, and I are taking part as well. I missed this. But then again, I don"t intend to be an old fart who reminisces on days gone. If that [Creation] lives to return, then I guess I wouldn"t mind have him as Stolas"s groom. I better arrange for her wedding dress."
With that thought, all traces of his cruelty was gone from his face. His face was that of gentle old man now.
Tl note: Changed [Darkness] to [Black]. In other words, this was the same Demon Lord mentioned in . The WN chapter still uses Darkness but the LN has changed this.