Shadows of the Forest
Meeting Elemir in the Elf Forest
In the depths of the Elf Forest, Kim Jae-hyun’s clone stood face to face with Elemir.
“Grrrrr!!!”
“Uuuuu…!”
Both Emperor Ferdinand of the Habsburg Empire and Duke Griffith of the same empire stared blankly into the sky, minds shattered.
What they endured was far beyond ordinary mental torment. For Ferdinand, the humiliation was crushing; for Griffith, it was hell itself.
My precious life… ruined.Curse… my precious member… defiled.
Ferdinand, who had trampled Irene beneath his heel, and Griffith, who had betrayed Jae-hyun in alliance with him, had both felt the suicidal urge countless times.
Yet no escape. The Demon King’s curse of immortality and the curse that drove them to madness had been locked upon them.
Griffith gazed at the ceiling, voice weak and trembling.
“My treasure… to be buried in Laylana’s corpse… defiled…”
“W-what?!”
Ferdinand, who had been bowing his head, suddenly shot upright.
“Th-this madman! Duke Lucrezia! Grrr! You… you dared to defile Laylana’s corpse?!”
Ferdinand had no idea that Griffith had engaged in such depravity with the previous Demon King’s body. The revelation struck him like lightning.
Necrophilia! Corpses! A corpse fetish!
The confession from the man he had never imagined could harbor such perversion left Ferdinand reeling.
“I-I’m sorry, Your Majesty! When I was brainwashing Irene, I wanted to… but she is Your Majesty’s woman… so the only women whose beauty could calm my lust were Saintess Lucretia or Demon King Laylana… but I could not with the saintess, so I…”
“Kyaaaaak!”
Before Griffith finished his words, Ferdinand clutched his head and roared in agony.
Impossible! That means… the thing that entered me… was the corpse itself!!!
The mental torment was now unbearable. The knowledge that this would happen again and again terrified him more than anything.
In fact, both Ferdinand and Griffith had tried to distance themselves from one another to escape this situation.
But whenever the curse activated, Griffith would find him, and even in public, he would shamelessly throw himself at him.
At this point, even ignoring the empire’s top power, it seemed cleaner to simply kill Griffith.
But they could not.
They could not kill each other, nor could they commit suicide.
On the contrary, under the curse’s influence, they were forced to protect one another.
“Grrrr! Your Majesty! The only way to escape this horrible curse is to kill the Demon King, Kim Jae-hyun! That is the only option!”
“Yes! We must kill him! Kyaaaaak!”
Ferdinand, thinking of Jae-hyun, burned with unbearable hatred and rage.
Even as a lowly creature, he dared to steal my wife, Irene, the Empress, and then subjected me to this abominable humiliation… I will never forgive that wicked Demon King!
He slammed his fist against the wall, teeth grinding.
“Lucretia! Contact Minos Kingdom, Gallia Kingdom, and Valois Kingdom at once! We must activate Plan B!”
The original plan had been to study Laylana’s corpse and use the data to remodel Irene’s body into a combat weapon capable of facing Jae-hyun.
But since Irene had already returned to Jae-hyun’s side, the plan was impossible.
Ferdinand remembered all too clearly the overwhelming power Jae-hyun had displayed when suppressing Irene, who was now stronger than Laylana.
Even if they pooled all their strength in the Intermediate World, he could not be certain of defeating this evil Demon King.
Therefore, they had no choice but to execute the plan they had never carried out.
“As you wish, Your Majesty.”
Though the current Demon King, once the Hero, was now incomparably stronger than the previous Demon King, and the Holy Astraea Kingdom had fallen, they did not despair.
They had already felt uneasy when they realized they could not kill the Hero.
So they had prepared for the worst.
Kyle Tennant had contacted them. They must summon Jason and William and act immediately.
* * *
When Kim Jae-hyun revealed the reason for his attack on the Elf Forest, the female elves who had been suppressed and were now regaining consciousness were already awake.
Their rage was immense, fueled not only by the deep grudges of the dead male elves but also by the living females.
Yet elves were a race of calm, measured emotion.
Because the lives of the young elves hung in the balance, the waking females glared at Jae-hyun with burning hatred—but not a single one screamed.
The dead male elves, however, cursed Jae-hyun with their lingering resentment.
Then, in the instant a crimson light flared from Jae-hyun’s red eyes…
All the death energy they possessed was sucked dry by him.
The stolen death energy was instantly converted into demonic energy, becoming a new source of power for Jae-hyun.
The male elves had been filled with immense hatred toward the one who had killed them.
Their death energy had been so potent that left unchecked it might have corrupted the forest.
But now, having had every last drop absorbed by Jae-hyun, they felt something they never expected.
Yet Jae-hyun did not believe they were truly happy.
Having lost their will for revenge and their minds calmed, they had become completely powerless.
Without any desire for revenge, they simply did not even know why they existed anymore.
Would that truly be happiness?
If so, it would have been kinder to turn all humans into vegetables.
Therefore, Jae-hyun looked coldly at the male elves who were happily declaring their souls had been “saved.”
“The grudges of their souls have vanished…?”
To the other elves, including Elemir, it appeared the souls of the dead males had been given salvation.
Jae-hyun pulled out the Holy Sword and spoke in a cold voice.
“Ungkor.”
“Yes, Demon King.”
“From now on, slaughter the male young elves.”
“Yes.”
Ungkor was puzzled—Jae-hyun had ordered him to spare about twenty—but he followed orders without question.
He would kill every last young elf, keep twenty alive, bring them before Jae-hyun, and question them.
The young elves who had not been captured were all gathered near the World Tree, hiding.
Jae-hyun’s clone had already located every hiding place.
“They’re hiding in the shadows near the World Tree. It won’t be difficult to find them.”
“Understood.”
“Wait!”
When the young elf boys were on the verge of death, Elemir, who had been talking with Jae-hyun, spoke urgently.
“I will do anything you want! Please, just spare the children! They have done nothing wrong!”
“What value do you have?”
“Wait! Then I will do anything too!”
“I will do anything!”
“I will do anything!”
When Jae-hyun said one was not enough, countless female elves stepped forward and swore they would do anything.
They were all mothers, sisters, or wives who loved their young sons and brothers dearly.
“You will not be enough. All elves present, swear your loyalty to me. In exchange, the young elf boys will live—alive, and not torn apart by Balrog fangs.”
What Jae-hyun demanded was a blood oath of loyalty.
The elves knew what would happen if they swore loyalty to the Demon King.
They would become part of a dark legion that served under the Demon King, bound by contract.
Especially the elves would be transformed into Dark Elves.
“The choice is yours. But if even one of you refuses, every young male elf will die.”
Jae-hyun threatened that if anyone refused the contract, the young elves would all be slaughtered.
Elemir, the first to bow her head.
“I will swear loyalty if you keep your promise.”
“I will too.”
“I will swear loyalty.”
“I will too.”
Elemir started, and one after another the other female elves followed, swearing their loyalty to Jae-hyun.
Eighty thousand elves lived in this forest.
Among them, five thousand adult females and six thousand dead males.
The remaining twenty-four thousand were young elves, of whom eighteen thousand were girls and six thousand were boys.
To save those six thousand boys, fifty thousand adult females would have to become eternal slaves of the Demon King.
Elves lived in tight-knit groups.
They valued their own kind above all. But not every female elf felt the same.
“I… I can’t!”
“I can’t either!”
Some refused out of fear of becoming Dark Elves.
“Wh-what?!”
Elemir looked at them in confusion.
If they refused, the six thousand young boys would die!
As a High Elf who saw group sacrifice as natural, Elemir could not understand.
Yet among elves, there were always those who quietly followed the group until the moment of true sacrifice.
Then they would rebel.
It was not wrong. Right now, they were simply forcing sacrifice upon the others.
Elemir had believed every High Elf was capable of such noble self-sacrifice for the children.
Now she understood her faith was wrong.
Even a High Elf could show the simplicity that was pure elf.
Jae-hyun’s clone spoke in a cold voice.
“Among the elves who have sworn loyalty, 50,127 out of 50,006 have refused. Because 121 elves refused loyalty, the safety of the young male elves has been canceled.”
Elemir met his eyes, trying to protest.
“Wait…!”
But her eyes widened in shock.
Her voice had suddenly vanished.
Elves Swear Loyalty
The young elves who had been about to be slaughtered now faced a new fate.
The air in the forest was thick with tension.
Jae-hyun’s clone stood motionless, red eyes glowing faintly.
He waited for the final decision.
The fate of thousands of lives hung in the balance.
And he was not a man to be swayed by emotions.
He was the Demon King.
He would not hesitate.
He would not forgive.
He would not forget.
He would only take what was his.
And what was his would be reclaimed.