The Demon Lord's Judgment
A thunderous roar echoed as the Humian forces appeared. Ten Humian soldiers in total rode atop mechanical vehicles designed for mobility. These machines hovered through five mana-emission vents, operated much like riding a horse. Two large vents at the bottom kept the craft roughly eighty mentols above the ground, while three smaller vents at the rear provided rapid forward thrust.
“Did you really think you could outrun a Scavenger with those stubby legs? Filthy dwarves!!” shouted the lead soldier as he landed his Scavenger and hurled an open taunt. The nine soldiers following him touched down in turn, setting their own machines on the ground. They were armed with firearms that appeared to fire mana beams, and their armor consisted only of thick, durable cloth uniforms—yet these were inscribed with various defensive spells, granting them protection comparable to metal plate. Their heads were encased in full-face magical devices; the eye sections were made of glass for visibility, while cylindrical components covered their mouths. The synthetic rubber seals completely blocked outside air, and the cylinders bore magic circles imbued with purification effects. They seemed to be purification artifacts designed to filter Terraris’s rampant pollutants and supply fresh air.
“Captain! It’s a Demonian!”
“Kehaha! She’s a beauty! We’ve struck gold!!”
The squad captain, grinning as he dismounted his Scavenger, turned his gaze toward the Demonian woman who had stepped in front of the dwarves. His lecherous eyes crawled greedily from her head to her toes, dripping with blatant lust. Normally, when other races encountered Humians, most either fled in terror or froze in panic. The captain assumed this Demonian woman belonged to the latter category—paralyzed by overwhelming fear and unable to move.
“Hey, how long has it been since our base ran out of sex slaves?”
“Three years, sir! Slave raids haven’t been yielding results lately, so the supply was indefinitely suspended.”
“And yet they say Esteronan is overflowing with slaves. We’re just the ones being discarded, aren’t we? Those pig nobles.”
The captain’s casual question received a rather detailed reply. Hearing it, he spat out curses as if freshly angered by the reality that had resurfaced in his mind. Esteronan—the last Humian city at the southernmost tip of the Astaris continent. The soldiers dispatched to the distant north, unable to remain in that land of peace, seemed to receive neither proper management nor support. The captain felt deep rage at the stark contrast between the prosperity of Esteronan and their own miserable reality.
“Kuh!! Tonight I’m going to give those massive tits a good, hard squeeze!!”
“The commander’s in the same boat without any sex slaves. Won’t she become his exclusive property?”
“You idiot! That’s exactly why we have to hide her! A female appearing after three whole years—do you really plan on handing her over just like that!? Besides, he’d try to send her to Esteronan in pristine condition rather than sampling her himself. Hoping that if he keeps paying tribute, they might summon him back to Esteronan again—that fool.”
The captain looked at the Demonian woman once more. She remained utterly motionless, her expression blank as she stared back at them. Her breasts looked ready to burst, her waist slender, her hips full and supple. The captain felt his heart pounding as though it might explode, and he swallowed hard without realizing it.
“Hey, female. Don’t take this the wrong way, all right? If you’re sold off to Esteronan, you won’t have a good time. Once you become a public prostitute, you’ll have to service hundreds of customers a day. Within three months your crotch will be a bloody mess and you’ll be dead. But I’ve never seen a woman as stunning as you, so the nobles are bound to take an interest. And every last one of those nobles is a pervert—you won’t survive intact. That’s what being dragged to Esteronan means.”
“I’ve heard some even cut off limbs and raise them like that! How horrifying.”
“You heard that? This is a good opportunity. At most, the ten of us will just pass you around—no one’s going to die. We want to keep you around for a long time too, so we’ll share what food we have left. You know how big a blessing that is in this insane world, don’t you?”
The captain tried to coax the Demonian woman with a tone that sounded almost generous. It wasn’t because he was kind or gentle; he simply preferred a woman who willingly satisfied his desires over one who resisted violently. Moreover, if the dwarves were handed over to the commander and then revealed the woman’s existence, they would face punishment. He believed that making her understand being kept by them was the better option would ensure the dwarves stayed silent out of concern for her safety.
The Demonian woman, who had maintained her blank expression until now, gave a faint smile. Her crimson lips parted slightly, revealing sharp fangs, yet even this wild, threatening detail only enhanced her beauty. Seeing her small smile, the captain thought his persuasion had worked and began approaching her with trembling hands.
“Th-that’s right. We won’t treat you badly…? First… why don’t you… take off your clothes…? If you behave, tonight’s dinner will even have meat…”
The captain was so sexually aroused that he could barely speak properly, his breath ragged. His blood boiled with excitement, blurring his vision, and all that surging blood had rushed to his lower body, making his manhood swell painfully against his trousers. The woman before him was a peerless beauty the likes of which could not be found even in the heavens, and the thought of freely groping her with his own hands nearly paralyzed his reason. His face flushed crimson as though it might burst, and he was about to warn the dwarves never to speak of the impending orgy or the woman’s existence.
Only then did he finally notice the dwarves’ condition—something he had overlooked, blinded by the Demonian woman’s overwhelming beauty. Dwarves were a race that could not distinguish courage from recklessness and would charge headlong into certain death for the sake of honor. It was unthinkable for them to hide behind a frail woman instead of protecting her; anyone hearing such a story would scoff and call it a lie. Yet these dwarves stood silently behind the woman, and when he saw the terror in their eyes, the captain realized something had gone terribly wrong.
The dwarves, trembling with fear, were not looking at the Humian squad. They were staring in terror at the Demonian woman standing before them with that faint smile. The captain frantically turned his gaze back to her and tried to draw his weapon, sensing that the situation had taken a disastrous turn. Now that he looked at her again after seeing the dwarves’ state, he understood that he had completely misinterpreted the meaning of her smile. A chill ran down his spine, and his breath caught in his throat.
And that breath never returned.
BOOOOOOM!!!
The captain’s face, still filled with confusion, was struck by the Demonian woman’s fist. The punch came so fast that neither the Humians nor the dwarves could even see it flying. Upon impact, the captain’s head exploded with a tremendous blast, vanishing entirely. Fragments of flesh and bone sprayed across the soldiers behind him, drenching them in their captain’s blood.
“Hahahaha… Ahahahahahaha!!!”
The Humian soldiers, still reeling from the shock, had their silence shattered by the Demonian woman’s laughter, which tore through the air. It was not a laugh of pleasure. Even the small smile she had shown earlier had not been one of goodwill. The Humians’ assumption that it was a smile of affirmation or acceptance had been a grave mistake.
Sometimes, when rage grows too great, laughter comes instead. The Demonian woman was furious at the Humians’ cruel and despicable behavior.
“Yes. You Humians have always been like this. Parasites gnawing away at Terraris. Once parasites begin to rule their host, the host itself is doomed to die. That is why Terraris has become what it is now.”
The Demonian woman began walking slowly toward the Humians. With just a single step, the soldiers felt an overwhelming threat and scrambled in panic to raise their firearms and aim at her. Their hands, numb with terror and refusing to obey, moved clumsily as they fumbled to arm themselves—an utterly ridiculous sight.
“I am pleased at this moment. Whether a thousand years ago or now, you remain just as vicious and filthy. If you had become virtuous, the sword of vengeance I carry would have dulled and rusted. Thank you for remaining as these disgusting vermin. At least I will feel no guilt.”
“F-fire! Shoot!!!”
Zwoooong!! Zwoong! Zwoooong!!!
Nine mana-beam weapons blazed. Their intense rays struck the Demonian woman’s body directly, and fierce heat and smoke began to swirl around her. Even as the ground beneath her grew scorching hot and glowed red, the Humian soldiers did not stop firing, desperately pouring out beams until the mana in their weapons was completely depleted.
Click! Click!
Even after the mana stones lost their light, the soldiers kept pulling the triggers again and again. That was how deeply fear had gripped them—the captain’s meaningless death had shaken them to their core.
“D-did we get her…?”
Thud!!!
One soldier muttered without thinking. In that instant, something flew out of the black smoke and pierced straight through the chest of the soldier who had spoken. It was a small, ordinary pebble that had flown from within the smoke, yet its power was anything but ordinary. It left a massive hole through his entire torso, as though a giant stake had been driven in and ripped out.
Emerging from the black smoke and searing heat created by the concentrated mana-beam fire was the Demonian woman—completely unharmed, without a single scratch. Only her black halter-neck dress was torn and scorched in places, yet even that was rapidly regenerating, restoring itself to its original pristine form. A fierce glow blazed in her crimson eyes, and a terrifying killing intent that could stop hearts struck the Humian soldiers with despair.
“My name is Neromeltia di Isis. I am the Demon Lord who has crossed a thousand years to pass judgment upon you. You hideous, filthy insects!!”