The Demon King's Incurred Debt (1)
Yushin and Ardena remained in the Akiteon Mountains, bracing for any potential threats. The Valua Kingdom might rally its army. There was even a chance that elf rangers, seeking vengeance for their kin, could cross the border and spark a battle.
Ardena felt guilty toward Yushin. He had been dragged into the elves' troubles yet again.
Lately, one anomaly after another keeps cropping up. With Sabnack in Granata already a major concern, now the Tyranny Demon King and even the Valua Kingdom are stirring up trouble... What the hell is going on?
Was this all just coincidence? Ardena harbored deep suspicions about the string of bizarre events. None of them were minor incidents that could be brushed off. Why were these things happening now, of all times?
She couldn't bring herself to admit it to anyone out of embarrassment, but Ardena wanted to show Yushin a more lover-like side and solidify their bond. It was only natural to harbor resentment toward those who interfered.
"Ahem!"
Her face burned hot. Ardena cleared her throat awkwardly, steadying her pounding heart.
"Yushin."
Spotting Yushin's back as he stared endlessly toward the eastern region where the Valua Kingdom lay, Ardena approached. She sensed unease in his posture. With heavy steps, she closed the distance.
She'd heard that most human slaves brought to the Liberia Elf Kingdom suffered from homesickness, yearning for their homeland. Was he feeling the same? True, Another Ones came from other worlds... but for Yushin, who had served in Valua for so long, it must feel like a second home.
"I've known all along. About how the Valua Kingdom treated elves and countless other sub-races like tools, trading them as slaves."
Ardena let out a low sigh at Yushin's murmur. He still seemed bothered by what the slave hunter had said. She replied that the villain had just spouted sophistry and nonsense.
"To humans, and to elves too. I must look like a filthy hypocrite. Back when you captured me on that battlefield... I thought it was karmic retribution. Punishment for me, who'd stood by and watched sub-race slaves being traded like objects."
Ardena's eyes flashed with anger as she grabbed Yushin's shoulders at his guilt-laden murmur. She yanked him toward her like she was seizing his collar. Their noses nearly touched.
Finally, with eyes blazing fury, Ardena glared at him and shouted in warning.
"Yushin. Yushin Gilliard! You are no hypocrite. No elf thinks of you that way. If any ungrateful wretch dares say otherwise, I won't let them off! So Yushin, don't you dare belittle yourself like that."
The man I love, the hero I admire—he is no hypocrite. If he were just some mere pretender, he never would have challenged the Lord of Ten Thousand Demons to save the elves of Liberia. She still remembered his fierce battle with Sabnack. That's why Ardena felt genuine rage at Yushin demeaning himself.
"Uh, yeah..."
Not expecting such a vehement reaction from Ardena, Yushin looked quite flustered.
"But you're a bit close."
"Eek!"
Their lips were nearly brushing. Seeing the spark in Yushin's dark eyes, Ardena jolted back in surprise.
"S-sorry... But Yushin, you're saying such nonsense...!"
Yushin burst out laughing at Ardena's flushed, embarrassed cheeks.
"Ardena feels like a big sis."
Aside from the elf rangers kidnapped by the slave hunters and now returned, there were no other casualties. They kept watch on the border, bolstering defenses. The Valua Kingdom was locked in civil war, suppressing rebellions across its territory, so constant vigilance was needed. It seemed unlikely they'd send an army charging over the border.
Ardena had suspected Valua's involvement, but judged the odds low—they were too busy with successive uprisings to antagonize the Liberia Elf Kingdom.
"This unease just won't quit."
Ardena tapped her opposite arm with her fingers, her face grave.
While Bariteon Trident and other senior warrior captains shone on the Demon King Army frontlines, Ardena had made her name on the Valua Kingdom front. She'd racked up victories in the war and even captured one of the Kingdom's Seven Swords, her skills unmatched.
"Senior Captain, we've scouted the entire area—no other anomalies."
"Good work, Warrior Captain Liana."
The Akiteon Mountains were elf ranger territory. Humans running rampant against rangers armed with spear-swords was near impossible. That's what she'd always thought.
But this incident changed her mind. Somehow, the slave hunters had abducted rangers. Even with many forces pulled back to fight the Demon King Army, it was incomprehensible that elves could be captured here.
"What if those slave hunters have some bizarre sorcery...?"
"I'm worried about that too."
The human named Karbah had refused to talk. They'd sent him to Maherith—for public execution, and to deploy the Shadow Clan to extract his memories and uncover secrets. He likely knew plenty. Unlike the others Liana had slain, he seemed privy to much.
"The border's precarious, but the real issue is Sabnack. Heard she was betrayed by her subordinates and cornered, but she won't go down easy."
Ardena never let her guard slip. Not until she saw Sabnack's corpse—not until she witnessed the Demon King's severed, bloodied head.
Yushin's strike stripped Sabnack of her immortality. But a Demon King's greatest weapon is swordsmanship honed to the peak. As long as she has both hands to wield her blade... we can't rule out resurrection.
As Ardena pondered Sabnack's potential revival, something occurred to her. She turned to Liana.
"Warrior Captain Liana."
"Yes, Senior Captain."
Is it some top-secret intel? Liana tensed at Ardena's serious expression.
"Yushin said I look like a 'big sis' to him."
"...Pardon?"
"I don't quite get what that means."
What the hell did I just hear? Liana figured Ardena was making an uncharacteristic joke. But Ardena was dead serious—genuinely troubled. As a lifelong spinster high elf who'd never dated, she overanalyzed every little thing from her (presumed) boyfriend.
Age-wise, she's not a big sis—she's an ancestral grandma...
Liana muttered inwardly but knew better than to voice it. She'd been punished by Ardena multiple times before.
"It must mean she relies on you that much. Even the strongest want someone to lean on sometimes."
Liana's words were a hasty excuse. But Ardena liked hearing it—the usually stern captain broke into a grin she couldn't suppress.
"Ahem, is that so...?"
Ardena raised a hand to clear her throat, but failed to compose herself. Her face, stripped of its cool facade, kept beaming like a fool.
"You're head over heels for Yushin."
"I've never felt emotions like this before, so it's confusing sometimes, but..."
As Ardena chatted with Liana, she sensed urgent footsteps approaching. Liana noticed too, eyes on the door. It swung open, and an elf ranger entered.
"Warrior Captain Ardena. Warrior Captain Liana. Urgent dispatch from Maherith."
Amid the siege by tens of thousands of demons around Granata, chaos reigned. Liana looked incredulous; Ardena nodded heavily, as if half-expecting it.
Sabnack wasn't dead yet. The Raging Flames Demon King endured encirclement by near-endless hordes. Surely plotting revenge on the Diablo Slayer and the elves who'd forced defeat upon her.
Ardena hesitated, unsure how to break this to Yushin.
The black flames soaring over Granata vanished soon after. Half her Demon Core lost, the overload from overusing the remaining half had sealed her Rampage Flame authority.
All that remained was a single sword. Her trusty rusty blade, ever at her side.
Sabnack didn't retreat. Despite the horrific poison from demon sorcerers' plots, her legs held firm.
"With this one sword, I slew the previous Raging Flames Demon King and claimed her Demon Core! Even halved, it won't be easy to rip it from me!"
Her sharp shout made the encircling demons flinch back momentarily. She wouldn't fall. Why wouldn't this woman—this monster—fall?! Terror twisted their faces. They screamed in fear.
This feminine monster, wounds from her Diablo Slayer duel unhealed, poisoned by demon sorcery, endured through absurd willpower.
"Your sword seems faster now."
The black minotaur guarding her rear snorted hot breath. Sabnack laughed at her vassal's words.
"You think so? If you say it, then it must be."
Her other vassals arrived: ghost riders, undead knights, and loyal demons rallying. The one-sided battle in Granata began to shift dramatically.
Learning death has sharpened her blade. More refined, precise links in her sword forms.
Sabnack clenched her fist, spitting bloody saliva. She would survive. Slaughter these traitors, regroup with precious comrades, rise again.
She'd survived defeat by El Seed, founding her Demon King Army. If she lived—if she escaped here—she'd challenge the Diablo Slayer once more. And butcher every elf who'd stripped her bare.
"Sorry to interrupt the heat of battle, but..."
A black spear swept, scattering demons around Sabnack. The fiends recoiled in shock, revealing the wielder: a massive, muscled giant in black full plate, face hidden by helmet, only glowing red eyes visible from within.
"Here to collect the overdue payment, Demon King Sabnack."
King of all beasts, great sovereign ruling the southern continent, harbinger of desert storms to end eras. Bordering elves to the west, humans central, demons east, dragons north in precarious balance.
The black spearman had come to claim what his master was owed.
Debt? Sabnack's too young to know about that stuff, lol.