The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits

EP8. The Coming Doom

A few days later, Peria looked at Ainzel with blank eyes and handed him a map.

“The place I marked… is where the flow of magical energy is suspicious. Look.”

When Ainzel unfolded the map, he saw a red X drawn in the middle of the enemy territory.

“Damn… I had to create a ton of new spells to find this. I detected each and every magical current mixed in the atmosphere, studied the situation, and did all sorts of things to create a meaningful indicator, and then I came up with the answer. If I was just getting off track… Ha, that’s okay. Anyway, I did everything I could for you, so just know that.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

Ainzel looked at Peria, smiled, and expressed his gratitude.

“So, why on earth do we have to stop producing the Ash Soldiers? Come to think of it, the Ash Soldiers are strong, but… they don’t have that much of an impact on the battlefield.”

Ainzel looked at Peria and said.

“Even if it doesn’t have much of an impact now… If the Ashen Soldiers end up making up the majority of the enemy’s forces later on, it’ll be different. Think about it. The Ashen Soldiers aren’t limited by stamina, so the longer this war drags on, the more disadvantageous it’ll be.”

The moment the ash-gray soldiers became the main force on the battlefield, the battlefield changed in an instant. They were not limited by physical strength, and they could easily succeed in operations that would have been impossible for living beings. It was no longer a matter of combat power.

“So, do you really think we should destroy that facility? It’s dangerous.”

“That’s why we’re comrades, doing such dangerous things. That’s how a group of warriors usually move.”

At those words, Peria merely narrowed her forehead and said nothing.

…

A few days passed. Not long after returning to the Empire, Ainzel and his companions moved to destroy the production facility of the Ashen Soldiers once again.

“Hmm… We’ll probably pass through Grandis’ territory, but if we hide our energy as much as possible and go to a place where there aren’t many people, there won’t be a big problem. In the first place, passing through their territory only lasts for a few hours. Even if Grandis discovers us late, we’ll be able to escape or fight them if necessary. Even if Grandis reached the Transcendence Realm faster than us and is stronger, we’re still at the same level.”

Ainzel nodded after hearing what Sein said.

“Fuck… It’s only been a few days since I returned to the Empire and now I have to come here… .”

Lena let out a grumble, but she knew what Ainzel was thinking as he prepared for the journey, so she didn’t say anything else.

They moved along a mountain path that no one knew about, and they also moved without leaving any traces.

As a result, they finally reached the realm of Grandis.

“I’ll have to be careful because I don’t know what’s going to happen from now on. Can you cast a spell to prevent tracking?”

As Beatrice spoke, Feria cast a spell on the group to prevent them from being tracked.

This reduced the chances of Grandis chasing them. Ainzel quickly moved his body.

In this way, they crossed the realm of Grandis, and finally came across a place where the flow of magical power was strange.

“I definitely have a strange feeling…”

Lena tilted her head. Lena was the most sensitive of the group, but even she didn’t seem to know exactly what was going on.

They climbed over the hill and finally came across a suspicious looking facility.

“Are you saying that this facility could be the one that creates the Gray Soldiers?”

As Peria spoke, Ainzel nodded.

“Then… I’ll cast more magic to avoid being detected.”

“…Thank you. Then let’s get started.”

They began to infiltrate the facility.

As soon as he set foot inside the facility, Ainzel frowned.

The interior of the facility was filled with an eerie atmosphere.

The atmosphere felt heavy, as if it was choking him. Not only Ainzel, but his companions also frowned at the feeling.

“What on earth is this place?”

If it were simply a place that made ash-gray soldiers, there would be no such thing as this level of morale. Yes, if the ash-gray soldiers were truly mere creations that resembled living beings.

When I felt this atmosphere firsthand, I began to wonder if the ashen soldiers were really just beings similar to servant horses.

“Something, the atmosphere is….”

Ainzel felt overwhelmed in a different sense, not in the same sense as Grandis or the other strong men.

It felt like lifting the veil of a truth that I didn’t think I should know.

My instincts were warning me. The moment I realized this, they were ringing the alarm bell that I couldn’t go back to the past.

Ainzel began to examine the interior of the facility in detail.

When he opened one of the doors inside the facility, he saw a pile of ‘stacked’ demons, looking like puppets, with blank, soulless eyes.

If the demons were in a normal state, they would have clearly felt Ainzel’s presence through their five senses the moment Ainzel opened the door, but the demons were still lying there in a daze, dead.

Ainzel approached them cautiously.

Then, he grabbed the arm of a demon that was hanging limply and felt its pulse, and he felt that the demon was alive.

Apparently, the heart was beating normally.

But why does he look so dead?

Ainzel thought for a moment and then incinerated them alive while they lay there.

No matter how dead they looked, they were still demons. There was no reason for Ainzel to leave them alone.

He frowned for a moment, then closed the door and began to move.

Perhaps because they had just seen the same bizarre sight as before, their colleagues also became wary of their surroundings and slowed down their movements.

They advanced little by little with their faces hardened.

And then, suddenly, screams began to be heard.

“Ewwwwwwwww!”

Ainzel and his companions started running as soon as they heard the sound.

And, in the place where the sound came from, something unbelievable was happening.

Because a demon was tied to a chair and screaming while having a needle inserted into his vein.

“aaahhh! Please, please save mehhh! My head, my head hurts so bad! Please save me!”

The demon that had been screaming and running wild suddenly collapsed, and black tears began to fall from its eyes.

Her eyes had lost their light, and her body was like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

It looked similar to the demons I had seen earlier, except that black tears were flowing from its eyes.

However, little by little, things began to change.

The demon’s black hair gradually turned into a pale, cloudy white, as if it had been bleached, and the demon’s skin color gradually changed from a blood-red to a pale color.

And then, the skin continued to become pale, pale, and pale, and soon turned completely ashen.

The ash-gray soldier standing next to him with a mechanical movement released the body of the newly reborn ash-gray soldier, and the newly reborn ash-gray soldier stood up and started walking somewhere.

Next, the gray soldier who had been standing there grabbed one of the demons by the hair and dragged him, forcing him to sit on a chair.

The ash-gray soldier tied up the demon’s body so that it couldn’t move, and the tied demon began to scream.

“Please, please save me! I don’t want to end up like that!”

But the soldier paid no attention and injected a needle into the demon’s arm.

Ainzel and his companions froze at the sight.

What on earth are you looking at?

I was so confused that I couldn’t make any decisions.

The sight of a living demon being injected and losing consciousness in real time and turning its body ashen was not just creepy, it was also grotesque.

Regardless, the gray soldier continued with the ritual.

And this time, the demon screamed and its body sagged, but its body did not turn ashen.

Then, a demon came in with a huge body, thumping, and lifted the tied up demon’s body.

“Oh my, anyway, those things are too weak to even properly receive the Demon King’s black magic, which is why they are in such a state. It makes me angry to think that the Demon King is wasting his time extracting his black magic because of these scumbags.”

After saying that, the demon began to move while still holding the limp body of the demon.

“I guess I should put this in the disposal room… Anyway, disposing of it is also a job… These kinds of trash guys keep coming out. Come to think of it, it seems like it’s almost time to incinerate it? I guess I should dispose of it all at once.”

Ainzel and his companions hid themselves, feeling as if their heads were not keeping up with the sudden development.