166
I Killed the Demon King. It was a Mistake.
Chapter 166
For now, I'll set aside Caesar's issue, and it's time to solve the immediate problem at hand.
"Agatha, do you have an alternative to killing the Black Horn tribe?"
"Hmm..."
Agatha thought for a moment and then spoke.
"To be honest, I'm not confident. If those guys have resistance to illusion or charm magic, there's no possibility, and even if I use vampires... I'm not sure if I can kill all 150,000 Black Horn tribe members."
"What about using the sealing technique of the beast people?"
"You mean the Forest of Labyrinths, right?"
"Yes. That magic might be able to seal both Geotech and the Black Horn tribe."
"It's not completely impossible. Their Forest of Labyrinths magic is an incredible arcane magic. But can Raven learn it?"
"She's a genius. Once she understands the magical system, she'll definitely find a way to make it work."
Agatha thought deeply.
I knew what she was contemplating without using psychometry.
If Caesar receives help from the beast people, Agatha would have to forgive them.
But thinking about the succubi and vampires who had died after being sold by the beast people, it was incredibly difficult to forgive.
"You said before that if someone is to become the king of the demon race, they must carefully consider what would benefit the future of the demon race."
"I did say that."
"Honestly, we're already overwhelmed just defending against the Orcs attack. If the Black Horn tribe targets the Eagle valley, I can't even imagine if we can handle it."
Agatha's pink-colored pupils sparkled.
"So I'll forgive the beast people. But in return, I'll also demand their complete loyalty."
Caesar smiled satisfactorily.
"Thank you. Agatha."
"It's my judgment. There's no reason for me to be thanked by you."
Agatha said this with a small cough.
"By the way, haven't we been here too long? We might get caught by a wizard."
"I was just about to say the same thing. I'll leave now."
Agatha gently covered Caesar's eyes.
"Then have a good dream tonight."
***
The next morning, Caesar called for the fully energized Whitey.
The weather seemed to be becoming gloomy, indicating dawn was approaching.
Caesar gave Whitey a stimulant.
"Take care of things today."
-Where are we going this time?
Whitey seemed to understand words after all.
Though it had flown all day and collapsed from exhaustion, it was excited about flying in the sky again.
It's so simple and clear, which is quite nice.
He somewhat understood why Messio likes talking.
While Caesar was stroking its mane, he felt a presence behind him.
"Did you sleep well? Wizard Raven?"
"Looks like last night's story is over?"
Raven felt the magic waves emanating from Caesar's body.
Yesterday, there was a tension that seemed like it would burst if touched, but now it was calm.
"Well, what problem can't be solved through conversation?"
In fact, the problem was neither solved nor unsolved.
Just that if Elijah touches Caesar again, Caesar proclaimed he wouldn't hold back and would act out, so if he's a thoughtful person, he won't rashly interfere.
"I heard rumors that you broke the jaw of the Steel Lion Knight and destroyed his armor, so I thought you went to duel with the Allied Commander."
"Well... I had something that made me quite angry."
"Can you tell me about it?"
Caesar shook his head.
"Unfortunately, it's something Raven shouldn't be involved in, so it's difficult to explain."
Caesar was indeed very secretive.
But he didn't deliberately hide the fact that he had secrets.
It was more like boldly declaring, 'I have secrets!'
In life, I thought only 'Barre' would have such a bold character, but I didn't know there was another one here.
'Come to think of it, he uses an axe too.'
Of course, the difference is that he uses a double-headed axe...
'Is Barre Caesar's master?'
Though that glutton doesn't seem like the type to teach anyone...
Caesar was increasingly stimulating Raven's curiosity.
Caesar mounted Whitey and held out his hand to Raven.
"Shall we leave now? If we move diligently before the rain, we might arrive around tomorrow."
Raven set aside her curiosity for now and took Caesar's hand, climbing onto Whitey back.
"Let's aim to arrive tonight if possible."
"It won't be easy because of the rain."
"Magic has the power to make the impossible possible."
Rain began to fall droplet by droplet with a soft patter.
Raven used a shield magic that precisely blocked the rain.
The raindrops flowed along the shield as if they were under a transparent umbrella.
"It seems quite possible indeed."
"Let's go then."
When Caesar kicked Whitey side, it leaped a few times and took flight.
***
Geotech stared blankly at the clouds.
"If it just strikes once... Just once would be enough...!"
Geotech hated the sky.
The lightning had struck a total of 198 times.
Now, if only one more lightning strike would hit, he could immediately advance to the Demon King's castle, but that one strike wouldn't fall.
Ku-gu-gung!
A yellow lightning bolt swam through the clouds and disappeared like a ghost.
The Black Horn tribe members gathered near the pyramid began to self-harm and lament.
"We need a sacrifice! We need a sacrifice!"
"Our sincerity is not enough!"
"Offer 199 hearts! We need 199 hearts for the 199th lightning to fall!"
The Black Horn tribe members directly split open their stomachs and removed their hearts.
The Black Horn tribe members who removed their hearts, having refused the black blessing, ultimately died, and their bodies were wrapped in clean cloth and buried.
They then stacked the hearts neatly beneath the pyramid and danced around it.
"Strike, lightning! Oh sky, reveal the time!"
"Great Geotech, please send us lightning!"
"Oh Geotech! Oh son of the sky, Geotech!"
Geotech's nails dug into his palm.
No one desired lightning more than Geotech.
Before becoming the high priest of the Black Horn tribe, Geotech had worked as a dream interpreter and sorcerer, deeply believing in dreams.
On the day the rainy season began, he had a dream where the Black Horn tribe killed humans and invaded the Demon King's castle.
At that time, Geotech and the Black Horn tribe had instantly destroyed and burned the Forest of Beast people, advancing to occupy the Demon King's castle, and Geotech's horn had changed from black to pure white as snow.
'To change the horn white, I must go on the day the 200th lightning strikes!'
He could not continue covering his horn in plaster forever.
He was going crazy with the desire to truly have a white horn.
At that moment, a goblin approached cautiously.
"High Priest."
"What? Has the 199th lightning struck?"
"No, but I thought perhaps we should advance now rather than waiting for the 199th lightning... Ack!"
Geotech grabbed the goblin's neck and lifted him.
"How dare you doubt my prophetic dream?!"
"That's not... Urgh!"
Geotech slammed the goblin onto the altar.
The altar cracked like a spider web.
But the goblin was still alive, completely healed by the black blessing.
Geotech drew the obsidian dagger tied to his waist.
"Haven't I repeatedly said that to completely pacify the demon realm, I must become the 200th lightning and occupy the Demon King's castle!"
Geotech's dagger plunged into the goblin's heart.
"Urghhhh!"
"How dare you doubt and despise me?"
Scarlet blood stained Geotec's hands and face.
Geotech split open the goblin's stomach and directly pulled out his heart.
"Urghhhh!"
"Yes! Yes! Clearly, you were a non believer!"
Geotech's eyes turned bloodshot, and the black blessing began to creep out.
"There are non believers among you! Non Believers like venomous snakes are blocking the lightning!"
As Geotech pulled out the heart, the two black horns embedded in the goblin's head disappeared, and the black blessing flowing through his body vanished.
The goblin ultimately met a brutal death.
Geotech said to the troll priests cowering in fear:
"Immediately find the nonbelievers! There are serpent's children among you who do not accept the sacred black blessing and do not believe in me, the son of the sky and god of lightning!"
Geotech crushed the heart of the goblin.
"Tear out the hearts of the infidels! Only then will the 199th lightning strike the ground!"
Kugugugu!
Thunder roared and yellow lightning crossed the sky.
"Stain the ground with the blood of that filthy one!"
"Yes, my god!"
The priests drew their obsidian swords and went down below.
"You! Did you throw your bones toward the sacred altar? How dare you desecrate Geotech's altar?"
"Yes, yes?! Oh, no! It was just a habit...!"
"What are you doing! Restrain this infidel! I will split this person's heart to appease Geotech's anger and bring down the lightning!"
"No! This can't be happening! Let me go! Let me gooooooo!"
Geotech watched the scene of priests pulling out the hearts of those who seemed to be infidels and laughed bitterly.
"Yes. This is the trial given to me by the sky. If I overcome this trial, the sky will gift me a sacred horn."
The plaster on Geotech's horn fell with a trace.
***
Magic is truly great.
Raven cast magic to block the rain and maintain lift, arriving just before sunset in front of Geotech's pyramid.
The annoying rain would stop, and the clouds would gradually disappear over the sea.
Of course, he didn't even notice the rain had stopped, being captivated by the hellscape unfolding underground.
"...What on earth is happening here."
The black-horned tribe was killing each other.
Some were splitting another's heart with an axe, while others were tearing out and biting their own hearts.
Raven looked over the hellscape and spoke.
"It seems they are performing a kind of sorcery."
"Sorcery?"
"Yes. Troll sorcerers typically use sacrifices to perform sorcery. That's why tribes with troll sorcerers as chiefs are so feared."
Caesar was already aware of this basic fact.
Troll sorcerers often sacrifice dying green-skins on the battlefield to use unique sorceries.
They usually cast a 'berserk' buff on the Orcs, which, when applied, dramatically increases strength and health regeneration rate, allowing goblins to achieve almost troll-level regeneration and orc-level strength.
"But aren't those sorceries limited to buff and debuff spells?"
"That's because you've only seen troll sorceries on the battlefield."
Raven looked up at the pyramid's peak.
A white-horned troll was ruthlessly cutting and bursting the hearts of Orcs.
That must be the Geotech Caesar mentioned.
"I once read a document in the Demon King's Castle, written by a vampire who observed and recorded the sorceries used by trolls. It described sorcery as an extremely barbaric and inefficient primitive magic."
Caesar focused more on the word 'magic' than the words 'barbaric' and 'inefficient'.
"Does that mean sorcery is also a form of magic?"
"It's more like they have the same essence. I thought the same until now. Whenever sorcery was manifested, magic would move with its own will and shape itself. However, I thought there was nothing to learn from it. It was just too inefficient and not beautiful, as the caster would forcefully project their will onto the magic."
Raven read the rough magic waves emanating from Geotech's body.
"But now I know what kind of result this seemingly absurd inefficiency can create when accumulated."
The powerful wills emanating from Geotech and the black-horned tribe resonated and spread in all directions.
And the magic flow that spread out was definitely influencing the 'lightning rod magic' that Raven had placed above their sky.
"The lightning rod magic will break soon. At most in six days, at least in five, lightning will strike."