< 186. Déjà Vu >
The Buoyancy Ship.
As its name suggested, it was a vessel—but one could not dismiss it as a mere ship.
Floating stones. Peculiar ores that rose into the sky when infused with mana.
The Buoyancy Ship had been crafted from those very stones.
It was the sole national treasure of the Berft Kingdom, possessed by only one such vessel.
Infused with the dwarves' magitech engineering, it was not just a sky-faring war machine; it could cleave through the seas and submerge entirely.
Given that the tower lay submerged in the ocean, the empire's demand for the Buoyancy Ship held some reasonable ground.
Yet the dwarves were extremely reluctant to expose it to the outside world.
A treasure became poison simply by being possessed.
The relatively weak Berft Kingdom had managed to safeguard the Buoyancy Ship not because its power overwhelmed the nation.
There was only one in existence, making mass production impossible.
The mutual deterrence—"If I can't have it, neither can you"—created a delicate balance.
Thus, the Berft Kingdom had used it solely to defend their homeland, and only in the direst circumstances.
And now they were demanding it?
They called it a "loan," but there was no guarantee it would ever be returned intact.
"That's absurd."
"His Majesty the Emperor also said this: 'The current crisis arose because of you dwarves. Thus, you must resolve it. However, since you lack such power, I won't demand you settle it yourselves. Instead, shouldn't you provide more solid support to the alliance striving to resolve it?'"
"Hmm."
It wasn't wrong.
Forty-nine artisans had been kidnapped and forced into labor; the fact that they had aided a Demon King—albeit under collective dementia—remained unchanged.
And since those artisans belonged to the royal workshop, the dwarf kingdom couldn't entirely escape responsibility.
A misunderstanding? Not their own will?
Such excuses wouldn't sway the masses standing before the graves of countless dead.
Even among humans it would be futile; all the more so against other races.
The dwarves recalled the interspecies slave hunts once perpetrated by humans.
"If you refuse to the end, only the worst outcome awaits..."
A declaration of war. The dwarves swallowed their groans.
The king briefly changed the subject.
"...What do you mean the Flame Demon Tower is in the sea?"
"I've only heard the report myself. According to the empire's intelligence, the Flame Demon Tower is located off the northwest coast of Ormus."
"A Demon King's tower in the ocean? That's unprecedented."
But the Flame Demon King had flouted convention from start to finish.
One might even think, 'Really?'
For the Flame Demon King.
And the emperor had no reason to spin such an outrageous lie.
'Let's look on the bright side. If the empire wanted to monopolize the Buoyancy Ship, the other kingdoms wouldn't stand idly by.'
Especially Akan. The kingdom that had steadfastly countered the empire for centuries wouldn't tolerate its dominance.
'And we have no choice.'
"...Send another envoy to the empire."
When the assault force against the Flame Demon Tower was reformed, an agreement was reached: the Berft Kingdom would provide the Buoyancy Ship and a hundred dwarves to operate and maintain it.
Innumerable battles raged across the snowfields.
There were plenty of traps, and in the vast expanse, detecting them all perfectly bordered on the impossible.
This was partly because the dwarves' traps were so insidious and intricate, but also because blizzards—the hallmark of the snowfields—had begun to rage.
The advance slowed. The accumulating snow made trap detection even harder. A vicious cycle repeated.
Every other step triggered a trap, and without fail, monsters swarmed from all sides.
Battle after battle after battle after battle.
It was like an antlion pit. The deeper they ventured into the snowfields, the more obstacles piled up against them.
The 50,000-strong force was being whittled away, bit by excruciating bit.
But they had hope.
"Monsters!"
"Follow me!"
Balaf Disrod, their hope.
"The fiercer the resistance, the closer we are to the tower. This is the Demon King's desperate thrashing in fear of you all!"
The hope of the tower's precise location.
The alliance army was steadily closing in on the Frost Demon Tower.
"Over three thousand monsters slain."
The mood inside the Frost Demon Tower grew heavier with each report.
The brighter their hope burned, the darker the tower's prospects became.
"Traps?"
"All the mana bombs were preemptively discovered. Non-mana traps are being detected at about half efficiency by search spells."
This differed from Berge's fake tower. Back then, he'd merely twisted the mana bombs' mana to mimic magic points. The tower brimmed with them, after all. Hiding a tree in a forest was simple.
"Of course, it's definitely delaying them."
But it held little meaning.
"It's not entirely meaningless."
Berge, who had been listening silently, interjected.
"We're racking up quite a lot of magic points in real time."
Emotions once focused solely on Berge now spread across all the Demon Kings. And among them, Reina—who was currently playing the hero—was collecting them especially quickly.
She wasn't matching Berge's pace, but since descending, she was gathering the most magic points at the fastest rate.
Releasing her dimensional interference would ease it for her demons, beasts, monsters—all her minions.
Delaying them wasn't without purpose.
But unless this dragged on for weeks, with only a week left until the alliance arrived...
Time was critically short.
"......"
Reina fell into thought. Her heavy gaze swept over the demons who trusted and followed her.
Gaps dotted their ranks. Those absent had crossed an unreturnable river. For her.
Had their actions for her ever weighed so heavily before?
"Berge."
"Speak."
"If this lady asked to borrow magic points, would you lend them?"
"As many as you need."
"If we used them all to release your interference, could this lady win this war?"
"Perhaps."
"Perhaps..."
Reina popped a candy into her mouth.
"Everyone out. I wish to speak with Berge alone."
"Yes, my Demon King."
Atop the tower, only the two Demon Kings remained.
"'Perhaps' means it might not happen, right?"
"Yes."
"You're far different from before. Unless we clash directly, this lady can't gauge your exact level."
"And?"
"If even you say that, then it's real."
"I can swear it if you want."
Berge, who mocked the first Mahwang and Demon King's Canon alike, was utterly sincere this time.
Balaf Disrod was no ordinary hero. Not some fool who'd slain just one Demon King.
"This lady is their Demon King, responsible for them. I can't stake all their lives on a 'perhaps' or 'if.'"
Not when there was no alternative—but here, a clear one existed.
"So?"
"However."
Crunch—
Reina bit down on the candy. It shattered into crimson shards.
"This lady does not become a subordinate to weaker demons. If you want me as your minion, prove your worth."
"Now?"
"You know better than anyone how little time we have."
"Here?"
"Obviously."
"This is your tower. You have its blessing; I'm suppressed instead."
"If you can't overcome that much, how dare you covet this lady?"
Reina sneered. The sight overlapped with a scene from the past.
'Berge Dayas, arrogant dragon. The world is not all you know.'
Her advice—and mockery—to the wildly reckless Berge. He'd snapped back to shut up and mind her own business, her tone like soothing a child.
"...Fine."
Fighting in an enemy's tower meant starting at a disadvantage.
Reina Sordain had negated nearly all dimensional interference over a full century.
Berge? Barely two years. Anyone versed in Demon Kings would bet on her victory, every time.
But Berge was a dragon.
The pinnacle, strongest race in Ma-gye.
Interference scaled by ratio. A dragon's 1% innate power dwarfed other demons'.
Moreover, Berge had absorbed Vivian's tower, doubling his efficiency.
He'd devoured a phoenix corpse and dragon heart, elevating his core strength. His current 1% outstripped his past self entirely.
And he poured every ounce of his unprecedented magic point influx into interference negation.
Thus, Berge was confident.
No—he had to be.
This was his chance to claim Reina Sordain as a subordinate.
To swallow her legions whole.
To merge another tower and crush Balaf Disrod's neck.
"I'll show you why dragons are called dragons—why humans dread me."
Wings unfurled.
Horns sprouted from his head.
Jet-black scales cloaked his body.
Draconic eyes pierced ahead.
"So that's a dragon's true form."
Reina exhaled calmly.
Chilling frost merged with the tower, amplifying her power.
Crackle—
A spear of pristine ice settled in her hand.
"But you should know this too."
Dragons were the supreme race among demons, without doubt.
"Frost demons are scarcely inferior—equally great beings."
And Reina Sordain was their next leader.
"Come, Berge Dayas."
If you desire this lady.
Defeat her.
"Gladly!"
Berge launched skyward.
Flames erupted.
He saw the ceiling.
Berge shivered in the piercing chill. He spat out the blood filling his mouth.
'I lost.'
He'd lost.
Yet Berge grinned.
"I lost, huh?"
"......"
No answer came. Berge looked up. Reina's rigidly frozen expression was almost impressive.
"You're the winner, but your face says loser."
"Winner? Can you call this a win?"
Reina bit her lip.
"How? You've been in Alein just over two years."
"A dragon's two years aren't like other demons'."
"Your aura mixes magic points with something alien—mana. Alein's power, fused so seamlessly?"
"Want to know? Become my subordinate."
"Infuriating."
Reina laughed hollowly.
"Outside the tower, this lady would have lost for sure."
A razor-thin victory. Even with the tower's aid.
It had suppressed the intruder—Berge—while bolstering its master, Reina.
That margin decided it.
But no one here acknowledged the win or loss.
"What was this lady's century, then?"
Reina chewed her candy bitterly, crunching away.
She'd invested heavily in minions and legions, but never neglected personal might or interference negation.
Even a dragon—caught up in just two years? Her hundred couldn't match?
"So, will you become my subordinate?"
"This lady won."
"A victory you can't accept isn't one."
"...Balaf Disrod. You said he matches you, outcome uncertain?"
"No. I win."
"A hero empowered by dimensional forces—our natural predator."
Which could be interpreted another way...
"You mean this lady can't handle him? A mere hero of a few decades?"
"Mm."
That Berge and this one differed vastly.
After blasting hundreds of heroes and a Star, his infamy had skyrocketed, flooding him with superior magic points.
All funneled into interference negation. The gap was massive, but he kept quiet.
The hero hadn't gone all-out either, so certainty eluded him...
'Better stay silent.'
If she misunderstood positively on her own, all the better.
"If this lady became your subordinate, would you share the method?"
"Method?"
"How you seized this lady's nape in just two years."
A thirst for strength united all demons. Even if she prized honor and dignity, her demonic essence endured.
"I can share the method."
The method alone.
Red dragon byproducts—fiery essence—would poison Reina. She'd never replicate it.
"I accept your proposal."
"Really?"
"This lady speaks with one voice."
"Didn't you say only if I beat you?"
"An unaccepted victory isn't one."
"That's my line."
"This lady thought the same."
"Sure, if you say so."
What mattered if she volunteered?
"...I don't like that look."
"You like sweets? My tower's stocked with chocolate."
"This lady prefers candy."
"Cherry flavor, tons of it."
"Not bad. But first."
"First?"
"Tell this lady your plan. Just become your subordinate, abandon the tower, and relocate?"
"No need."
"Then?"
"I'll merge this tower with mine."
"...If it's not rude, may this lady ask one thing?"
"Go ahead."
"Is your head damaged? Or are you just mad?"
"Rude."
'Hm.'
Why the déjà vu?
< 186. Déjà Vu > End