The Hero Who Returned From Death Quits

EP9. ■■

The black monster trampled everything in front of its eyes. It couldn’t even tell what it wanted. It just kept going, going, going.

Elgardin, the first city that Ainzel encountered, was completely destroyed. The monster destroyed everything in its path, burned everything, and then let out a strange sound that was either laughter or crying from the ruins.

And the news was relayed to the empire. It was thanks to the communication network connected to the magic crystal ball. Upon receiving the report, Peria held her forehead and said.

“monster…?”

She began to frown. She was half out of her mind after seeing what happened to Ainzel. In that situation, a monster that appeared out of nowhere was not likely to be welcome.

Not just any simple monster, but even more so a monster capable of destroying cities and slaughtering humans.

If it had been a time of peace, or at least a normal time, it would have been possible to deal with the monsters. However, this world has not yet fully recovered from the damage it suffered from the Demon King. That is why the fairy spirit masters who can quickly restore things have become popular.

Sitting in her room, staring at the fireplace, Feria summoned her staff. The staff she had inherited from her adoptive father was more convenient for her than the scepter that had been used by emperors for generations.

“Ha… What the heck is going on? I have to take care of this quickly.”

No matter how strong the monster is, it can’t win against her. She has reached the realm of transcendence, and now that the Demon King is dead, she is one of the strongest people in the world.

And as she said that and got up from her seat, she was suddenly contacted through the crystal ball.

It was Carbaine’s crystal ball that she had just received a report on.

“what?”

As she lifted the crystal ball, a fairy’s image appeared in it.

It was Lena’s appearance.

Feria said with a surprised expression.

“Lena!? Aren’t you with Ainzel right now? Why are you contacting me all of a sudden…!”

Lena ignored Peria’s words and said.

“The monster that just contacted you, don’t kill it!”

“what?”

Feria narrowed her eyes and spoke. Lena continued in an urgent voice.

“It’s Ainzel! Ainzel was suddenly exposed to black magic similar to that of the Demon King, and he transformed into that form and started going wild!”

Feria shouted with her eyes wide open.

“What!? Why did Ainzel turn into something like that!?”

Lena opened her mouth.

“I don’t know either. Black magic suddenly gushed out from Ainzel’s body, and his body melted away. Then, his blood was reconstituted and he turned into a monster.”

After hearing those words, Feria finally realized what had happened.

Inside Ainzel’s body… The black magic of the Demon King that he had continuously absorbed while killing him must have run wild because it came into contact with black magic that felt similar to the Demon King’s. Lena made a bewildered expression.

She also wanted to ask what the identity of the black magic that was said to be ‘similar to that of the Demon King’ was, but since Ainzel’s condition was more important, Peria decided to focus her attention on Ainzel.

“Anything else unusual?”

Then Lena said with a serious expression.

“…he keeps saying things like ‘I hate you’ or ‘this is annoying.’ Or he even screams.”

When Peria heard those words, she felt terribly devastated, but at the same time, she felt as if she could see a glimmer of hope.

Saying something like that means that at least Ainzel’s consciousness might still be left somewhere.

Feria said to Lena with a serious expression.

“Listen carefully, I will find a way to bring Ainzel back, no matter what. So, you help people suffer less damage.”

Lena nodded and disconnected from Peria. Then, she looked at the people outside the building where she was contacting Peria.

Everyone was preparing to evacuate, abandoning their homes. The line of refugees was long. The kingdom that Carbaine belonged to tried to control information from the residents, but it did not last long.

And then, the time finally came.

“aaaH!”

A scream rang out.

And humans were able to realize.

That huge, black monster with a long tongue hissing and screaming is the monster that is widely known to devour cities.

People began to tremble in fear.

The monster rushed in and destroyed the wall in one fell swoop. Its appearance reminded me of a man-eating giant from a folk tale. The only difference was that the monster in front of me was a real being.

The monster continued to rampage.

“Ahhh…! It hurts! It hurts! I hate it!”

The monster that had been screaming like that started to run wild again.

Lena wanted to minimize the damage from the monsters. However, in a situation where she couldn’t give up on Ainzel, she couldn’t even carelessly deal with the monsters. She gritted her teeth. Several buildings were engulfed in fire, belching smoke.

…

I started running into the forest with the wild strawberries. My friends were already running ahead of me.

I started to feel out of breath. But even so, the kids were enjoying it.

“Let’s go quickly, Ainzel!”

“The strawberries are growing on the top of the mountain! I’m going to pick them all!”

I could hear children chattering.

I smiled. Every single scene I saw before my eyes must have been the same as yesterday, but for some reason I felt happy.

As I climbed the mountain path, I finally reached the top of the mountain, where wild strawberries were in full bloom. I picked some and put them in my basket.

Then I picked up a raspberry and tasted it. The red juice flowed out and the sweet and sour taste hit my mouth.

After picking wild strawberries a few more times, I suddenly looked at the view from the top.

The open view, the clear sky, was so beautiful.

I saw that sight, smiled brightly, and then shouted.

“hey-!”

It was a voice that came from my heart.

…

The monster started to run towards the people. Numerous soldiers were chasing the monster and blocking it.

People ran away. But even they gradually began to feel out of breath, and fear grew more and more.

“Please save me!”

“Please, someone stop that monster!”

I heard people screaming.

The monster twisted its face in a strange way, either laughing or crying, and stared at the scenery. No, since it had no eyes, the expression ‘seeing’ might not be appropriate. What was certain was that the scenery was clearly different from yesterday.

The monster ran towards the place where people were gathered, and finally reached them and started to grab them.

Then, the monster opened its mouth wide and chewed a person. Red blood flowed out and the screams grew louder.

After tasting human flesh a few more times, the monster looked around.

It was a city in ruins. The soldiers were no match for the monsters.

The sight of everything disappearing, the sky obscured by smoke from the flames, was a horrific sight.

The monster raised its head, looked at the sky, and shouted.

“AA …

It was a sound like a terrible scream.

Feria looked at countless materials. She had high hopes that there would definitely be a way to save him. However, even after looking at all that material, no clear solution came to mind.

To begin with, Ainzel’s current state would be similar to that of the ash-gray soldiers, whose appearances had changed considerably. However, it was only due to the difference in how much black magic was inside his body, or whether there was a demon lord to control him, that he had become considerably different.

The problem was that not only she, but no one else knew much about the Demon King’s power. If there had been a way to deal with it in the first place, Ainzel would not have done such an ignorant thing as sucking the black magic directly into his body.

Could she possibly cope with something like that? She didn’t know. Just by injecting a little bit of black magic, could she bind the soul, turn the body into a puppet, and force it to follow orders? That was a method that was beyond human perception to begin with.

Therefore, she had no choice but to accept that she could not save Ainzel by simply removing the dark magic from his body. If so, the only way was to act directly on his inner self.

But Feria just couldn’t find a way.

She frowned and continued to study, since she only had a few days left.