Chapter 104
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: The Answer to the Problem Isn't Always Good. (5)
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The answer to the problem isn't always a good one.
An unexpected demon's appearance.
Those present seemed to think it was the intervention of another Demon King.
It certainly didn't look like just any ordinary demon.
Even in the mortal realm, there were few demons bold enough to set foot in a place where a Demon King's power extended.
Moreover, word was it had even mentioned Kraksus by name.
It was surely here to check Kraksus, who had descended to the mortal realm once more to build his forces.
The Mera Alliance, spreading its curse to send power to Kraksus.
More precisely, it was clear they planned to do something to the Central Council.
'Who is it?'
At first, he wondered which Demon King had intervened.
But he soon realized that question couldn't be answered.
The demon possessing someone right now wasn't a full manifestation, so they couldn't capture and interrogate it.
All they could do now was take down that demon quickly and stop it from causing any more trouble.
[Oh, it's Hero Lin. Looks like she's gearing up to fight.]
At that moment, a subordinate on site mentioned Lin.
"Come to think of it, that woman's there too."
After failing once to apply the curse, they'd avoided her to dodge unnecessary suspicion.
She was a hero.
The perfect opponent to take down a possessing demon.
But upon second thought, there was a problem.
"Won't that demon blab everything? It even knows about Lord Kraksus..."
"True. It might spill everything to the hero and ruin our plans."
If it felt like it was losing to the hero, it would surely try to sabotage their plans that way.
In the end, the conclusion was...
"...Lin gets disposed of."
Kill Lin.
Eliminate any elements that could interfere with the plan.
That's how they'd always handled anyone who dug too deep into the Mera Alliance's true nature.
In fact, they'd even planted hypotheses about heroes' short lifespans around the world on purpose.
If someone grew suspicious and investigated those.
In places only the truly persistent could find.
That would lure them to the Mera Alliance to resolve their doubts.
And if they came asking about the hypothesis and the researcher who proposed it, kill them.
It was a trap, in other words.
A trap to filter out those trying to uncover the Mera Alliance and the curse on the heroes.
This was how the Central Council members had thoroughly hidden their identities.
Honestly, while they had the power to curse every hero on the continent, it only halved their lifespans at best.
They had almost no real physical might.
It would be ideal if they could strip heroes of their power entirely, but such a curse would tax even a fully manifested Demon King.
In other words, even the Central Councilors, his followers, wielded that level of power.
They'd gained infinite lifespans through demonic power and cultivated that much strength.
But if heroes learned of their plans and came charging in...
They'd be helpless.
Maybe two or three at most.
Among those empowered by demons, Central Councilors were special, matching or exceeding mid-tier demons.
But they couldn't turn every hero in the world against them.
On a continent with many nations, where each had five to ten at most.
So, if the Mera Alliance's true nature risked exposure.
Even if it was a hero strong enough to resist the short-life curse.
"...Lin's disposal is decided."
They had to kill her.
No matter how powerful a hero, Lin was just one person.
Much better than making hundreds of heroes their enemies.
"Conveniently, she's an adventurer. Famous or not, she's not affiliated with any nation."
"True, minimal backlash."
Adventurers died on commissions all the time.
Of course, she was a hero who rarely died.
A simple 'died on commission' would raise suspicions.
But conveniently.
Didn't they have the perfect setup?
"The Scar boss we were catching gets demon-possessed. She dies trying to stop it."
"Perfect scenario."
Now the issue was...
"So, who's going?"
Who would go dispose of an S-rank threat hero?
"......"
"......"
They couldn't risk their identities being exposed.
Even if they lost, they had to escape.
No, before that.
They might die.
So no one stepped up readily.
"Don't we need as many people as possible for this?"
Just go all at once and take her out.
It made sense.
Even Central Councilors who could handle two or three ordinary heroes.
The opponent was an S-rank threat like former Marquis Harkur or Jenny Harkur.
They needed upper-demon level power.
But numbers had their advantages; if all the councilors ganged up, they'd win.
But that wasn't feasible.
"Forgot? On the surface, we're this nation's Central Councilors. We can't all leave at once."
The nation's key figures all absent at the same time?
That would scream suspicion.
"We get the report late, sit in our council seats, and dispatch Shassen forces. Just like the rulers of other nations."
That was natural.
"So two. Three at most. We can cover for that with alibis as other duties."
At the words from the councilor in seat one, two raised their hands.
"Then we'll go."
"Mm."
A woman with a slightly young-sounding voice and a man replying curtly in a low tone.
As they raised their hands, the other councilors nodded.
"True. That duo's the best combo."
"Those two match three of our councilors in power."
An atmosphere acknowledging their strength.
Then the one in seat one nodded and pointed at someone.
"Then Kelph, you go too. With you, three should suffice."
"Me? Eh, sure."
The man tapped by seat one nodded indifferently.
Like he was just going because told to.
He seemed disinterested in the meeting anyway.
"Meeting adjourned. Return to your seats."
"Okay~ Let's go."
"Mm."
"Tch, what a hassle..."
The Central Councilors returned to their seats.
Meanwhile, three headed off to prepare for Shassen dispatch.
The two who volunteered and the one singled out.
"Hah...!"
Lin saw the demon charging straight at her and swiftly drew up her mana.
She instantly summoned an ice wall without incantation.
Of course, it wouldn't stop the demon's momentum.
Its vessel's muscles were bursting from the charge.
No matter that Lin was an A-rank hero summoning the ice wall.
Without incantation, hastily drawn mana—it was too much strain.
But it could blunt the momentum a bit.
Kwaduduk!
As expected, the wall shattered like a cookie, but it did slow the charging demon slightly.
Lin seized the gap to hurl herself sideways.
Swaak—!
She barely dodged the demon's outstretched hand.
Without the ice wall blunting it, she wouldn't have made it—razor-thin margin.
'What?'
But Lin felt something off.
The demon's attack seemed less about striking...
'Just... trying to touch me?'
Just reaching out to make contact.
A hand without real force behind it.
And without thrusting power.
"Got you."
Hwaaak!
Twisting the hand's direction sharply sideways.
Wouldn't be hard.
Deobseok!
"?!"
Lin's arm was caught in the demon's hand.
More precisely, in Marco's hand, the vessel.
"Touched you."
The demon, in Marco's body bleeding profusely from burst muscles, grinned grotesquely.
The moment Lin saw it, she knew something was wrong.
'It never intended to attack in the first place...!'
The demon was aiming for something.
Realizing that, Lin quickly ran scenarios.
Self-destruct? Demonic energy infiltrating to destroy her mana circuits? Or...
'Switching vessels...?'
Lin had once yielded her body to a demon.
Was it trying to take hers again?
"Looking forward to round two."
The demon said that.
And Marco's body collapsed.
'As I thought...!'
It had entered her body.
Having entered once before, it matched her soul's wavelength for re-entry.
[Kekeke, now... let's dig in.]
Craig said that as he began searching her heart's darkness.
[Trauma, trauma... orc, death, princess, hero, father, emptiness.]
Keywords tied to her traumas.
He groped for them.
[...Huh?]
He sensed something wrong.
[Why, why are they gone?]
The darkness staining her soul... it was completely cleansed.
[No, how...?]
How could this be?
Traumas, heart's darkness—they didn't vanish so easily.
In just three months.
What on earth had happened to her to wipe it all clean without a trace?
Craig fell into confusion.
'I don't know what you're looking for... but it's unpleasant. Get out of my mind.'
Beonjjeok!
In that interval, Lin's mental power shoved Craig back out.
"Kuhyeok?!"
In the end, Craig had no choice but to return to his original vessel, Marco's body.
"Kaaaaak?!"
The instant he returned, what he felt was.
The agony from the body he'd wrecked, thinking it disposable anyway.
Craig, kneeling from the pain, looked up at Lin.
"Y-You bitch... how..."
He stared at her in disbelief.
Lin looked down at him impassively.
"I've got something more precious now."
She glanced back as she said it.
Behind her, Kane watched with a worried expression.
'I see... that pathetic human became... this woman's pillar.'
Even so, to cleanse all darkness completely.
Was Lin remarkable, or that Kane fellow?
Then, suddenly, a great idea struck Craig.
'Then if that man dies... this hero woman's heart will drown in even greater darkness.'
In her empty world where she'd forsaken all, the one who'd become her anchor.
If that vanished.
What would happen?
As he thought that.
"...Hey."
Suddenly, from above, a voice in a completely different tone.
Low and menacing.
"What are you thinking right now?"
"...?"
Surprisingly, it came from Lin.
No, not just the voice.
'Her, her eyes...'
Whites bloodshot with rage.
Pupils unfocused.
Like... she might kill Craig right that instant.
"Wanna die?"
The moment he met that gaze.
Even Craig's true upper demon form felt chills of terror.