Beyond the mirror, the Demon General halted as the kobold screamed.
However, once the order had been given, it could never be revoked. Leaving Berganda and Sheto behind, the horde of monsters charged straight towards the humans.
‘Th-this is bad! You lot, return to the main camp! Run!’
Led by the general of the Hero’s army, the humans began to flee.
Behind them, the surging tide of monsters pursued.
“Hehe…serves you right. You must hurry, or they will catch up with you. Hahaha!”
But the Demon King quickly lost interest in such trivial matters, and lowered his gaze to what lay at his feet..
The Demon General, whose charge had been halted. He glared ahead with smoking axe still in hand…and then there was the kobold, his face twisted in agony.
‘You, why! Have forgotten, promise with Hero!’
‘Such a thing…compared to the king’s command? A foolish pact not worth remembering.’
‘You’re the fool! You…not supposed to be…like this!’
“Oh?”
The Demon King narrowed his eyes at Sheto’s exclamation.
“It would seem my Demon General has thoroughly won over Sheto. Just looked at his anguish.”
“We had received such reports. Even Lord Berganda has become quite attached to him.”
‘You do not know me!’
The Demon General roared angrily as he leveled his axe once more.
The frenzied monsters ran past him.
‘I am the Demon King’s servant! If he gives me an order, I obey it. That is all there is to it!’
‘You, that magic! You had to use it! Because you knew, this would, happen!’
Sheto seemed to forget about the weapon in his hand as he desperately tried to reason with him. Moments earlier, he had thought that he would be consumed by madness after the incantation, but the little dragon had interfered and prevented it.
‘Everyone, acting against, their will! You don’t, want to be forced, fight! Yes!’
‘Don’t make me say it again. The Demon King is all that matters! His orders are absolute!’
“And yet…why do you have that look on your face?”
The Demon King now watched his subordinate’s anguish with unconcealed delight.
His loyal servant, torn between devotion to his king, his own sense of right and wrong, and the friendship he had forged with the kobold…
“Sheto, let me teach you one thing.”
The Demon King said, savoring every moment of the spectacle before him.
“Once my Demon General’s ‘Rampage’ has been unleashed, it will not end until either its victims die, or they kill the Demon General.”
‘Wh…what!?’
“If you wish to stop it, then fight with all your might and kill Berganda. Ah, yes…one more thing.”
The Demon King’s lips curled into a crooked smile as he looked at the humans in the mirror.
“At this rate, the game will not be very exciting, will it? So I have decided to add another little twist.”
Settling back deeply into his throne, the Demon King looked up at the ceiling, where patches of blue sky could be seen beyond, and pointed a finger toward it.
“Vanish.”
The brilliant sun shining in a cloudless sky gradually darkened. And as the darkness spread across the world like a great curtain, the eyes of the monsters upon the earth began to glow like baleful stars scattered across the land.
‘Wh-what!? The sun, disappeared?!’
“Blow forth, accursed wind that wells up from the depths of the Demon Realm, bearer of pestilence and blight…”
At the Demon King’s voice, the miasma of the Demon Realm flooded the darkness.
The foul, rotting wind swept across every corner of the battlefield and settled thickly over the corpses of the fallen monsters that had been left there.
Once it had thoroughly seeped into them, the Demon King gave his command.
“My loyal servants…the time has come. Awaken.”
And obeying his order, they began to rise.
The corpses of the monsters that had been burned by magic, their bellies ripped open by spears, and trampled beneath countless feet…all of them stood once again.
“From this moment on, this place shall become the hunting ground of my servants. Come now, Sheto. Show me that you can quickly take down my Demon General. Otherwise, not a single person here will leave this place alive.”
‘…!’
With a sad look at the Demon General, Sheto drew his bow to the full.
‘Demon General, Berganda… I will, hunt you, down!’
‘Very well. Come at me with everything you got! Sheto, Hero of the Godess!’
Exuding fearlessness from his entire body, Berganda raised his axe.
As he watched the two of them, the Demon King summoned countless mirrors into the empty air.
“Show me.”
The mirrors reflected monsters and humans alike.
Addressing them all, the Demon King spoke cheerfully.
“Show me how the flowers of your lives bloom…and then scatter.”