A Nightmare That Lingers
Ten years had passed since the final battle at the Demon King’s Castle.
The Holy Kingdom of Astraea had grown far stronger than before, thanks in large part to the Saintess Lucretia.
The Saintess Lucretia possessed an overwhelming amount of holy power. Not only had she turned the tide of the war against the demonic army led by the previous Demon King, Laylana, she had also spent the years that followed purifying the lands across the kingdom that had been tainted by demonic energy. The kingdom had recovered at an astonishing pace.
Furthermore, countless citizens, despairing for divine salvation amid the war with the demonic forces, had turned to the goddess Astraea. As a result, the Holy Kingdom of Astraea’s international influence had expanded dramatically.
Even more striking, the war with the demonic army had corrupted territory across the entire continent. The Habsburg Empire, the strongest nation on the continent, had lost nearly half its territory to demonic corruption.
To treat these corrupted lands, mages or priests were required. Naturally, priests were far more efficient at purifying demonic energy. And when the priest in question was the Saintess herself, she could perform purification on a truly continent-wide scale in a single act.
Among the seven remaining nations of the continent, the two most powerful were undoubtedly the Habsburg Empire and the Holy Kingdom of Astraea.
Yet among the companions of the Hero who had once fought beside him, the Habsburg Empire still possessed the Great Sage Griffith Ricardo and the Flash Magic Swordswoman Irene.
The Flash Magic Swordswoman Irene, current Empress of the Habsburg Empire, was not only the most beautiful woman in history, but also the most gifted individual the heavens had ever bestowed upon any mortal. Ten years earlier, she had been the strongest after the Hero himself. Now, a decade later, she was even more formidable.
It was precisely because the continent’s greatest hero, Irene, sat upon the imperial throne that the Habsburg Empire continued to be regarded as the mightiest nation.
However, because so many of its people had embraced the faith of the Astraea Church, the Holy Kingdom of Astraea was no longer something the Habsburg Empire could simply ignore. In the church, Saintess Lucretia held power that surpassed even the Pope’s, making her the de facto ruler of the entire realm.
The number of priests had increased. The number of paladins had grown. Those who had fought bravely against the demonic army during the war were now far stronger than before.
And Lucretia herself was a beauty whose appearance rivaled that of the Flash Magic Swordswoman Irene. Countless people revered her.
At thirty years of age, she still looked no older than her early twenties. Her youthfulness was matched by her unwavering virginity. Many were deeply saddened by her purity.
The story of how she had once proposed to the Hero and been rejected was widely known across the continent. Because of this, people mourned that the Hero—whom Lucretia had fought to the death alongside the Demon King—had fallen, never to return.
Yet Lucretia herself harbored a different kind of worry.
*Has he truly died?*
Ten years ago, on that day, she had been ready to kill Kim Jae-hyun for rejecting her and choosing Irene instead. But Irene’s interference had prevented her from delivering the final blow.
If the Hero, wielder of the Holy Sword, was still alive, the situation would grow far more dangerous.
A Hero carrying the Holy Sword stood above the Pope and the Saintess in both status and reputation. The continent itself revered the man who had slain the Demon King.
Within the Holy Kingdom of Astraea, her own authority already eclipsed the Pope’s. But the sudden appearance of the Hero would shatter that authority in an instant.
Other nations might suffer a blow to their image, but the Holy Kingdom’s prestige rested on much more fragile foundations.
Moreover, the priests and paladins who had stood with her that day had also agreed to his elimination.
In exchange for their actions, they now lived as the “Hero” sent to save the Intermediate World—bestowed with enormous wealth and honor. None of them regretted their choice.
The Hero had been kind to everyone. He had never pursued power. Yet even before the summoning, it had been decided that if he proved too powerful, he would be removed while the Demon King was weakened.
Whether he wished to return or not made no difference. The plan had proceeded without opposition because it aligned with the current Crown Prince of the Habsburg Empire, Ferdinand, and because it matched Irene’s own long-held opinion that the Hero had to be dealt with.
*What a foolish man. Once his usefulness ended, removal was inevitable. But if he had at least become my husband… everything would have been different.*
Lucretia had always believed her feelings for Jae-hyun were sincere. The sight of him with Irene had been unbearable.
That was why she had attempted to kill him that day and had handed the brainwashed Irene over to Ferdinand.
Had Jae-hyun chosen her instead of Irene, she would have protected him at the highest level, safe and secure as her consort.
Of course, he would have been forced to wield the Hero’s name and power for the sake of the Holy Kingdom. But at least he would never have suffered the humiliation he endured.
If asked even now how she felt about him, she would have declared, without hesitation, that she loved him most.
So deeply did she love him that she had decided to kill the man who had chosen another woman over her.
If she could not possess him, she would crush everything he held. That had been her chosen path, and even now she felt not a single drop of regret.
Yet the fact that Irene had failed to kill him and that he had escaped gnawed at her.
She did not know which dimension he had fallen into. She and her co-conspirators had all agreed that the Hero was dead.
His Holy Sword’s recovery power was gone. His remaining demonic energy was gone. How could he have survived?
More importantly, if he were alive, why had he not shown himself in the ten years since?
*But what is this unease?*
—Thump—
Her heart raced with unease. At the same time, a cold shiver raced down her spine.
—Smirk—
It felt as though somewhere, Kim Jae-hyun was smiling at her.
* * *
“Krraaa…”
Not the real velociraptor, but a monster that looked exactly like the one from the Jurassic Park films was tearing apart a corpse.
Around it, a variety of other monsters—each with its own grotesque form—fed on the bodies of the slain humans. Men, women, and children alike were being devoured by the monsters. The scene was revolting and sickening. Anyone who saw it would feel an immediate surge of rage.
Yet Ron and Rin, brother and sister, felt nothing but disgust.
They were black mages. They had sworn to seek revenge. They could not afford to feel revulsion at something so minor. They had witnessed far worse as children.
Crack! Crack!
And somewhere, a monster shaped like a crow-like bird let out a satisfied belch, its belly full.
Until moments ago, these humans had all been alive. Now they were nothing but food for the monsters.
Jae-hyun had promised to spare fifty of them. He had kept that promise. One hundred and twelve people had died. Their corpses had been thrown to the beasts. Still, fifty had survived.
But since the experiment with Saintess Lucretia was over, the cleanup had to be thorough.
Jae-hyun had no intention of revealing to the continent that he was the Demon King and had descended into the Intermediate World. Not yet.
The villagers had already learned the truth. He had told them himself.
It had not been a mistake. From the beginning, he had made it clear he would not spare a single soul.
The villagers had been nothing more than bait, wriggling in desperation for hope before he mocked them.
“Quite a good gathering.”
Jae-hyun had absorbed the qi from one hundred and sixty-two humans, transformed it into demonic energy, and felt satisfied. The qi he had gained was richer than what could be extracted from corpses alone, but that was not why he was pleased.
Killing a mere one hundred and sixty-two people was nothing to the Demon King.
But watching the humans suffer had been deeply satisfying.
Now that he was the Demon King, he enjoyed the sight of them dying in agony.
And, most of all, the experiment he had conducted on Saintess Lucretia had confirmed that the method was quite effective.
“Lord Demon King, shall we depart now?”
Selina asked quietly.
Lucien, who loved slaughter, had been reveling in the carnage, sword flashing as she slaughtered the humans alongside the monsters. But Selina preferred something cleaner and more elegant.
She was a hunter. A predator.
For a vampire, humans were merely prey to be drained of blood.
Naturally, she did not enjoy mindless slaughter. It felt like playing with food.
Of course, neither the Dark Elf Queen Lucien nor the Demon King Jae-hyun found slaughter repulsive or unpleasant.
To them, humans were not food. Slaughter was the proper way to taste them.
Lucien gained far less qi than the Demon King, but still far more than other demons.
Yet because Jae-hyun had already absorbed all the qi, she had gained nothing. It did not matter.
Soon, a grand blood festival would begin.
And Selina had her own expectations. Jae-hyun knew exactly what those expectations were.
“It seems you wish to taste the Saintess’s blood.”
Selina wanted to taste the blood of Saintess Lucretia. As a predator, she wished to hunt the Saintess.
“Yes.”
Jae-hyun chuckled at Selina’s polite reply, placed a hand on her shoulder, and said,
“But I cannot taste a virgin like Lucretia. She must bear at least a hundred children.”
Of course, those hundred children would be the offspring of Brider monsters.
If that happened, her hymen would be damaged. Even though she had not yet received a human’s penis, if she accepted a monster’s tentacles and the eggs were implanted, causing them to hatch inside her womb and burst out of her body, calling her a virgin would become ambiguous at best.