Chapter 106
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 106
Chapter Title: I'm the Real Devil! #4
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Demon Balder.
Master of the great plains and towering mountains.
He flung open the sturdy door and appeared.
[Mountain Demon – Balder Lv.22]
Balder absorbed power from the bronze dolls, they'd said.
With all his collectibles now freed, this should have been the moment he was at his weakest.
And yet... level 22?
Incredible.
The demon scanned the wreckage of his display room.
His goat-like horizontally split eyes twisted in an instant.
“What the hell is this━─!!!!!!”
His roar was like an erupting volcano.
Coronea darted behind me with a whoosh and shouted.
“You idiot! Yor here cracked your vault open and burned all your contracts!”
“What? Opened my vault?”
Balder's bloodshot eyes fixed on the empty vault.
His healthy complexion drained to pale.
“How in the world...”
“Uh... well... it just kinda happened. Sorry about that. Heh heh heh!”
“...Just kinda? My vault isn't something you open without a key. That's why it's a vault. And you did it 'just kinda'?”
At that moment, the level 17 female warrior charged in like a bear.
“Locked up for 200 years, thought I was gonna die, you bastard!”
Balder deployed an invisible barrier in the air to block the attack.
Boom-!
“Is 200 years of grudge only this much?”
“Come on!”
“Kill him quick!”
Countless people swarmed Balder.
They swung their weapons to shatter the barrier he'd hidden behind.
Clang! Clank!
But the transparent barrier was so tough it only hurt their hands gripping the weapons.
‘Time to bolt!’
I slipped out of the room fast.
Then headed to the banquet hall to regroup with Hammer and the others.
“Hammer!”
“Yor! What the hell just happened? It's chaos out there!”
“I raided Balder's vault. Everyone's freed now! They're pounding on Balder to beat him to death!”
“What? Raided what? Outta nowhere with that nonsense...”
“Sigh, Hammer. You knew this was how it was gonna go.”
Felix clutched his forehead and shook his head.
Hermit, mid-sip of wine, frowned and nodded.
“Yeah! That evil demon bastard Balder! Invites a thief and shows off all this fancy silverware? He's practically begging to be robbed!”
“Really?”
“Buddy, if you'd swiped a dish or goblet and got caught? He'd have turned us all into statues for no good reason and put us on display.”
Damn! Demon Balder bastard!
All this fancy dishware and goblets were a ploy to tempt me into thieving.
“Where's my sister!? My sister!”
Nimble rushed up to me, asking urgently.
Her sister Daisy was still in Balder's room.
“Sister!”
Whoosh-.
Nimble bolted off somewhere.
Felix exchanged glances with Hammer.
“What do we do?”
“Damn it all! No choice now—we take down this demon and reclaim our homeland from the 'Deep Night'!”
Hammer blew his horn long and low.
Balder was still hunkered inside his spherical barrier.
Even surrounded by nearly a hundred people, his momentum didn't falter.
“You ant bastards! I'll fill my wine with your blood!”
Balder bared his fangs in rage.
Coronea shot back.
“Then stop hiding like a coward and come out from behind that barrier!”
Balder's collectibles were strong.
High-level northern female warriors, ancient vampires, and more.
Items handpicked by the demon.
He probably never imagined they'd all break free at once.
That's when it hit me.
‘This is why they say don't put all your eggs in one basket!’
But we couldn't get complacent just because we had numbers.
Who knew what that sinister demon might pull next.
In the end, Hermit stepped up.
“—Secret Arrow!”
Pew pew-.
Hermit's secret arrow struck Balder's magic barrier.
Crack-. The barrier fissured.
Balder's face flashed with shock.
“A mere mage cracks my mana barrier?”
“The barrier's cracked!”
“Pile on!”
“You damn mutts!”
Balder ground his teeth.
Soon his body began to swell massively.
His shoes and clothes tore, horns and fangs lengthened.
A furry body, bat wings, reverse-jointed legs.
Flames flickered from the tip of his bull-lizard face, heating the room.
[Demon Count Balder – Lv.22]
The demon from the black satchel came to mind.
Demon General Baldruuk.
Balder, Baldruuk.
Similar names.
Brothers, maybe?
Balder dropped the barrier and chanted.
Green flames spread in a circle instantly.
Roar-!
“Hot!”
“Argh!”
The surging blaze burned everyone as they rolled away.
From the inferno, Balder's massive hand snaked out like a serpent and grabbed Coronea.
Then squeeze-.
“D-don't... arghhh!”
Crunch, grind-.
Coronea burst like a tomato in the demon's grip.
Balder slurped up the blood.
Can we even beat this thing?
Balder's eyes turned to me.
His brutish palm reached to grab my collar.
“Yor, run!”
Something burst out and bit Balder's wrist.
Grrrrr-.
Grrrrrr-.
Two fierce wolves.
Balder recoiled in surprise.
In the end, Nimble's tail was caught in the demon's hand.
From the tail down, Nimble petrified into bronze with a crackle-.
—Whimper! Yelp-!
Nimble's pitiful cries tugged at my heartstrings.
Before I knew it, I was charging at Balder.
“Yaaah! Put Nimble downnn!”
I clung to Balder's arm and stabbed a dagger into the back of his hand.
Stab, shunk-!
Balder finally released Nimble.
But grabbed my collar instead.
“Urghhh!”
‘Now what?’
As I frantically racked my brain for a good plan—
Boom-!
A massive explosion rocked overhead.
Eeeee-.
My ears rang.
“...Wha, what is it.”
Did a missile drop or something?
Amid the flying dirt and mansion debris, I barely opened my eyes.
And saw a colossal being pinning down Demon Count Balder.
Stone Dragon Isidore.
Remembered Hammer blowing the horn—that thing summoned Isidore!
Isidore unleashed a petrifying beam at Balder.
The thrashing demon Balder.
Crackle-.
Balder, mid-sentence, turned to stone.
His resentful glare at me had a certain artistic flair.
“A demon who loves making statues turns into one himself.”
Karma? As I pondered, Isidore stomped the statue—crash.
[+166,644,400 Ether]
[High Demon's Horn: An extremely sharp horn. Sharp enough to use as a weapon on its own.]
[High Demon's Wing Membrane: Tough wings. Hard to pierce even with spears or swords.]
[Scream Sword: Longsword forged in hell's smithy with screams. Its uniquely finished blade scatters wails of the damned.]
Balder's corpse dropped a ton of Ether and items!
What the hell is all this!
And Isidore was pretty generous for a dragon.
“Heh heh, so this mountain was yours originally?”
Isidore sprawled belly-down in a suitable spot.
He vomited a dazzling night flower from his mouth and placed it beside him.
Hammer addressed the stone dragon.
“Stone Dragon! This land is imperial territory and will be reclaimed!”
The stone dragon looked up.
Through the ceiling he'd smashed, stars floated so low they seemed within reach.
“Never thought I'd live to get help from a thief!”
The northern female warrior Hororo.
She slapped my back—thwack.
“If you ever come to the tundra, find me, Hororo!”
“Thief! Thanks to you, we lived!”
“Balder bastard! Good riddance!”
Strangers thanked me profusely.
Praise doesn't pay the bills, but damn if it doesn't feel good.
Made my nose itch, so I rubbed it.
Anyway, raiding Balder's mansion netted about 10 billion Ether total.
That went to our five-person party.
‘Way more than the 3 billion he promised as reward!’
My cut: 2 billion.
Enough to hit level 15 and then some.
Feeling great!
This is why we explore the Wall!
Only we thieves get praised for stealing.
As things wrapped up.
Nimble and her sister Daisy embraced tightly.
“Sis! Why were you here!?”
“Nimble, I went to Kerning Town looking for you and got kidnapped...”
Squeeze-.
Daisy gripped Nimble's hand.
“Nimble, let's go home now! The soul contracts binding us are gone!”
“......”
Nimble glanced at us.
She'd become an explorer because of Balder and the soul contracts, right?
Said she'd earn Ether to pay the penalties after breaking them.
But Balder was dead, contracts all ashes.
No reason for her to stick with us anymore.
“Nimble, we need you!”
But I whined at her.
“Stay with us and you'll rake in Ether too!”
Nimble was an herb-gathering expert.
Losing her would tank our party income!
“......”
Nimble silently looked between Daisy and us.
After much tail-wagging deliberation.
Squeeze-.
She took Daisy's hand.
The meaning was clear.
Nimble and Daisy descended the mountain together.
Under the moonlight, two wolves raced side by side across the vast plains.
Leaping past each other—.
Sometimes stopping to nip tails or roll in the grass.
Hermit tsked at the sight.
“Hah! That girl just leaves without looking back!”
“That's how it is in this business. Party members swap every few months, or every two weeks if it's rough.”
Hammer laughed heartily.
“Alright, everyone—head back!”
No portal, so we had to trek to the Wall.
Our party got a ride from Isidore, so we returned quick.
“Whoa, you guys ride dragons like personal carriages!”
Elder Sacksen on duty gawked.
That night, I dreamed of two wolves frolicking.
Waking up, I felt a twinge—would I never see Nimble again?
“Raked in tons of Ether, so whatever.”
Time to level up.
Heading to the campfire, there was Nimble munching a burger and cola.
“Why'd you sleep so late?”
“Nimble! Didn't you go home?”
“This is my home.”
Nimble scratched her cheek.
“Couldn't say it yesterday. Yor, if not for you, I never would've saved my sister and family. Even paying penalties, that demon wouldn't have let us go.”
“Yeah, high chance of that!”
“So... call it settling the debt! You guys need me too, right?”
Wag wag wag-.
Nimble's tail whipped around as she spoke.
Her tail smelled like my shampoo.
“Groomed your tail? No fleas jumping today.”
“Fl... fleas!? What fleas!”
Nimble wolfed out and nipped my ankle.
“Owowow─doesn't hurt...?”
It didn't hurt even though she bit.
Bit gently?
“Hmph, idiot? Why would I hurt you?”
She bolted off like that.
Shampoo must agree with her—her fur gleamed sleekly.
Anyway.
Thus, Nimble officially joined Hammer's party as an explorer.
And our Hammer party got promoted to 'A' rank.
Reevaluated based on recent achievements.
“Party rank? There's such a thing?”
I didn't think much of it.
But Hammer and Felix were losing it.
“Damn it! A-rank already? We're in deep now!”
“Crap! This is all your fault, Yor!”