Prologue (1/2)
He was the weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings, and he was the leader of the Rebirth Demon King's Enforcement army. His name was Artpe Hirtana Kelduke.
His name was spread across the human world as being one of the Four Heavenly Kings.
If one mentioned the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon King's army, the humans would think about the monsters that could cause mountains to fall. They were seen as beings that could cause earthquakes and the seas to dry. However, Artpe was different.
He was someone who had been recognized by the Demon King through polishing his strange ability. He was granted the prestigious title of being one of the Four Heavenly Kings thanks to his strange ability
However, he was weak.
He would make an entrance with an awesome aura wrapped around him, but in the end, he would die by the hands of the hero's party. Then a being with a more awesome aura would show up and say, 'Hoo hoo hoo. In truth, he was the weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings!' In this story, he was cast as being the weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings.
“The hero is really coming, commander. Don't we have to run away before that happens?”
As expected of the subordinates under the weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings, all the demons under his direct command were lacking in firepower. On top of it all, their temperament was lacking too.
“If you want to run away, you should try running away.”
“I'm sorry!”
His subordinate was thinking about running away even before the fight. He hit his subordinate in the back of the head and climbed to the top of the Demon King's castle. When he did, he could clearly see the hero's party coming through a doghole created to bypass the castle wall. It seemed this was their attempt at secretly infiltrating the castle.
Whenever a Demon King was born to conquer the world, a hero always appeared to put a spoke in the wheel. The hero was the Demon King army's ultimate enemy.
“She really is here. The Demon King is on borrowed time now.”
The hero had appeared around three years ago, yet she was already here. Who would have expected this?
Artpe couldn't smack himself in the back of the head for having such a thought.
Still, he was a bit relieved. She was here much earlier than expected, there was no way the hero would be able to win against the Demon king.
“The problem is that my troops will be the first to face them.”
Maybe a Demon King's mind was reshaped when the successor put on the crown. The crazy Demon King had a terrible personality and he always sent the weakest amongst the Demon race to fight the hero first.
This strong-willed hero was able to rapidly grow for the past 3 years because the weakest demons were sent first, then the degree of difficulty was slowly increased as the troops failed. If the Demon King wasn't a lord, Artpe would have smacked him in the back of the head.
Currently, Artpe was moving, and the reason behind his action was obvious. The weakest force in the Demon King's castle was his force, and he was their commander. No one from the Demon King's castle would lift a finger until every single one of them was killed.
Artpe decided to look at the bright side. He was one of the Four Heavenly Kings, would he really be killed by a new hero? The last time he checked on her level was about an year ago, and the hero had been level 200. She might have grown a little bit, but she wouldn't even be able to scratch the Demon King's castle.
“Let's check her out first.”
This was the ability that allowed Artpe to reach his command post. He activated the 'Read All Creation'. It was as the words implied, it was an ability that allowed him to find out information about anything that existed in this world. This innate ability was one of the reason why the Demon King kept Artpe by his side.
He had trained his ability through the years, so he was able to successfully activate it from a long distance.
Several lines appeared in front of his eyes, written in the language of the Demon Clan.
[Name - Maetel]
[Race : Human Female]
[Title : Hero]
Artpe was at a loss for words. He had known the female hero was a commoner and her name was Maetel, however, he lost the ability to speak when he read the last line.
[Level : 374]
“······.”
“What should we do, commander?”
He couldn't even hear the question asked by his subordinate, who stood by his side. Artpe's mind was in a confused state.
'What? 374?'
When he checked up on her only a year ago, he was sure she was only level 200! The Demon King had just reached level 400!
“Hey. Did we do something to the humans recently?”
What caused the worm to become a dragon?
“The Demon King wanted spice things up a little bit, so he personally dispatched several armies to the place where the hero lived. Now that I think about it, I heard no news of their return.”
“Ah-ha. He wanted to spice things up a little bit? Ahh, I didn't know about that!”
'He marinated her so perfectly that a hero appeared as a full course meal! That son of a bitch! I should just call him a chef instead of a Demon King!'
Artpe's subordinate looked at his stormy expression and immediately grasped the situation. He made a sour face as he asked Artpe a question.
“Should we run away, commander?”
“Yeah. Now I want to run away too.”
This was beating a dead horse, but Artpe was weak. However, in the end, he was still one of the Four Heavenly Kings. He was level 350, and he had considerable amount of skills. However, this was also why he knew what the disparity between him and the hero meant.
Even a single level difference meant that one's soul was outclassed, it was impossible to beat the other unless one had a really good Skill.
What would happen if there was a difference of 24 levels? Even if he gathered all of his soul to oppose the hero, he would be destroyed by a single move.
Artpe really wanted to run away. He wanted to crawl through the doghole made by the hero. How great would it be if he could run away to a place where a being from the Demon race wouldn't be recognized? He wanted to go to a peaceful place where fighting and war didn't exist. How great would it be if he could just live peacefully while raising some cows!
“Koo-ooh-ooh.”
When he had that thought, a red choker appeared on his smooth neck, ruthlessly tightening. It put pressure on his body and mind. He was owned by another, the Demon King's Innate Ability called Absolute Control was activated.
When one was defeated by the Demon King, the Demon King’s Innate Ability would activate to control his opponent. Once his innate ability took hold, it was impossible to escape from it. One had to follow all of his orders, and if one held thoughts that ran contrary to his orders, their neck would be choked.
When that happened, death was the final outcome. One had to turn back into a docile sheep to follow his order, or they could just choose to die. Artpe had to select one of the two choices right now.
He wanted to live a little bit more, so he chose the former option. The choking sensation around his neck quickly disappeared.
“Commander...”
“It's all right. Don't say anything.”
There were several times in the past when he felt the sensation of being choked to death, it was akin to what happened a moment ago. On such occasions, Artpe struggled to live by not resisting against the orders of the Demon King. This was why he was able to stay alive until now.
He had experienced scenes of violence until he was fed up with it, he wouldn't be broken by a mere hero.
However, it was also clear that he would lose for sure if events continued along down this path. Artpe thought hard on how he would be able to survive this. In the end, he chose the last resort. He hadn't wanted to choose this option.
“Please go contact Etna-nim.”
She was the only woman amongst the Four Heavenly Kings, the leader of the Army of Thieves. Her name was Etna Carlyfate Mirecard and was ranked second in Four Heavenly Kings' ranking. However, the most important part was that she was in love with Artpe.
“Tell her I'll agree to the Soul Pact if she helps me. She'll come here after she gets permission from the Demon King.”
The Soul Pact was the absolute contract of amity that could be made between two Demons. Basically, it signified marriage.
“...do you really want to marry her? You still won't be able to die a natural death.”
“Can't you see I'm about to die right now? Do you really want to argue about it at this moment? Are you trying to pick a fight with me? Do you want to die before me?”
When Artpe browbeat him, his underling quickly ran into the castle. He let out a sigh at this sight.
Etna was a beautiful and powerful woman. Even among the Demon race, who was famous for being ill tempered, she clearly possessed a pure nature, which was why she was popular amongst her subordinates. A woman of such caliber liked him, this was a big blessing for him even if she wasn't his type.
So why did Artpe turn down her proposal until now? The man who was ranked 1st amongst the Four Heavenly Kings was in love with Etna. Artpe didn't want to make an enemy of this man, so he had turned down her offer.
However, he couldn't worry about making a future enemy right now. The hero’s party was coming towards him, and they were too scary for him to worry about the implications of his actions.
Ah, they were already running amok.