The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits

EP8. The Coming Doom

Ainzel’s face hardened. His mind couldn’t keep up with what was happening.

I guess it was by injecting the Demon King’s black magic through that injection that he was turning the Demons into ashen soldiers.

Only then did everything make sense. Why had the warrior of the past said that the current Demon King had powers specialized for war? What was the connection between the appearance of the ash-colored soldiers and the Demon King?

Ainzel took up his sword.

This facility had to be destroyed immediately.

Seeing Ainzel like that, Peria said.

“Hey, hey. Calm down for a moment. If we move too hastily, we could all be in big trouble. Do you remember? This is the middle of the Demon King’s army. That’s why you have to move with the utmost caution.”

Ainzel frowned when he heard that.

“…Then what on earth should we do?”

“First, we must eliminate the demons here and then destroy this place. We must first defeat the demons guarding this place and then destroy this place.”

Ainzel also couldn’t say anything further to the opinion that Peria conveyed.

As he nodded, Peria first subdued the demon holding the sagging body.

“First of all, it would be good to get information out of this guy.”

When the demon glared at Feria, Feria tapped the demon’s head.

Then, Peria closed her eyes and stood for a moment, then said:

“Well, this place is definitely for using the Demon King’s magic to turn the demons into ashen soldiers. All of the Demon Kings of the past had powers specialized for battle, but this Demon King seems different.”

This was something Ainzel already knew.

“And… the structure of this place seems a bit strange… I don’t know the details either… but it seems like there’s something on the lower floor.”

Ainzel felt puzzled by what Peria said.

Wasn’t this a facility that mass-produced gray soldiers anyway? What’s going on downstairs?

He felt puzzled, but since he couldn’t do anything, he just cut off the heads of the subdued demons and killed all the demons that were tied up.

It was fun to see the demons tied up, trembling in fear, begging for their lives, and finally beheading them, but after tasting their blood and looking at the corpses strewn about, I felt a bittersweet feeling.

He gritted his teeth.

The stuffiness in his chest just wouldn’t go away. In any case, there was nothing he could do but keep moving forward.

They started to go down, dealing with the demons they encountered continuously.

When I came to my senses, the inside of the facility was filled with the corpses of countless demons.

Ainzel swung his sword, as if trying to forget his headache or simply vent his near-infinite hatred. In some ways, it seemed as if he was swung even more than Sein.

He killed, killed, and killed the demons like that. But unlike usual, killing the demons didn’t make him feel good, but rather he just felt suffocated.

Why? The reason may have been because he saw the demons screaming and turning into ash-colored soldiers right before his eyes. Perhaps the thought of having their body and soul forcibly taken away by their king caused some kind of ripple in his heart.

No, that wouldn’t be the case. Those who followed him, those who showed him favor, a little girl, were killed by the demons. There should be no hesitation in killing them.

Ainzel tried to hone his hatred.

So Ainzel ran wild, killed, and laughed to forget the unknown hesitation in his heart.

But that didn’t make things any better, and he soon found himself killing all the demons in the fortress and standing in front of the giant gate.

“What the hell is this door… damn, this is ominous.”

As Lena spoke, Sein responded.

“I’m not sure, but wouldn’t it be better to just open the door? It doesn’t seem like there’s anything else we can do.”

But Lena shook her head.

“No, you can’t sense it, but this is no joke. If it’s this level of fraud, you won’t even know what they’ve done. I get goosebumps just thinking about going in there. Of course, I have to go in, but I’m against going in without at least getting some information about the inside.”

Periya also agreed with Lena’s stubborn words.

“I think so too. It doesn’t make sense to go in without any preparation when you can tell at a glance that someone looks suspicious. At least you should get some information…”

“However, it seems like there is no place to get information. Haven’t we already killed all the demons? Of course, if we look for them, there may be some demons that we haven’t been able to kill, but if we waste too much time on that one piece of information, we could end up in danger.”

Opinions began to differ.

Even Ainzel didn’t know what to do in this situation.

What is the best choice to make?

Ainzel made up his mind.

“Let’s go in. There’s no point in hesitating here.”

When Ainzel spoke, Lena sighed deeply and said.

“Haa… Yeah, I knew you’d do that, you little brat. Yeah, let’s just go in. I’m going to die or something…”

At that moment, the door opened.

“…The intruder came all the way here.”

Ainzel took a step back at the unexpected turn of events.

A massive body. The lower body reminds me of a mountain goat or goat. A whip in hand.

“Malley, Kidus…!”

Malecidus was right before my eyes.

The colleagues were bewildered, but they were not afraid.

They have achieved the state of transcendence. No matter how strong Malekidus is, if they face them together, they will not lose. That is the calculation. Yes, unless they are truly monsters beyond the standard, who have surpassed the state of transcendence.

Malecidus wrinkled his nose and said.

“Hmm… You’ve gotten a lot stronger. Have you reached the state of transcendence? Even so, you won’t be able to get past this place.”

As soon as Malecidus gave the signal, his immediate subordinates began to appear.

There were several master-level powers.

Ainzel couldn’t laugh off the level of his direct subordinates, who had fighting power just below that of a legion commander.

“Beyond this place, there is something you dare not touch… something you shouldn’t even dare to touch. Don’t do anything foolish and face death. No matter how far you have reached the realm of transcendence, you are still children. Realize that there are differences in level even in the same realm.”

Ainzel couldn’t help but laugh at Malekidus’ words as he brandished his whip.

“Since when have you been talking so much?”

“…”

In the past, Malekidus, who had dealt with the saint and himself, looked down on them and spoke to them as if he didn’t even consider them as his opponents. He had even said words that seemed to acknowledge them, but at least they were not gazes that looked at them as equals.

But the current Malecidus was different.

“Why, now that you’re no longer an easy opponent, are you running away?”

Malecidus cried out, his face crumpled.

“Kill them! Bring their corpses before me!”

…

For several days before that time, Grandis had been angry.

“What on earth… What on earth.”

The children of his vassals were disappearing one by one.

Are you saying that you kidnapped the children while avoiding her gaze? That didn’t make any sense at all.

The skills she possessed were already at a level that could be called the pinnacle of transcendence. But does it make sense that she was kidnapping only children from her territory without her knowledge?

As a lord, she had a duty to bring back her vassals’ children, and she was also extremely angry that she had dared to touch a child herself.

I was going to show those brazen b*stards who dared touch the child Grandis cared for with affection what it meant to touch her.

She was angry, which was rare, and it also meant that Grandis’ condition was different from what Ainzel and his colleagues had assumed from the beginning.

In normal times, Ainzel and her companions would have passed through her territory without any warning as they tried to hide their presence as much as possible.

But Grandis was very, very, very angry, and much more sensitive than usual.

Eventually, Ainzel and his companions’ location was discovered by Grandis.

Grandis felt it and thought about going to kill the warrior right away, but when he thought about it, something felt strange.

The warrior was heading towards what should have been an empty, uninhabited place.

Grandis was beginning to feel certain that they knew something.

She started following them.