Chapter 48
Chapter 48
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: Founding of the Nation
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"So, if we don't kill the princess... the Hero will gradually be corrupted?"
"That's right, my lord. And please, speak comfortably with me now."
Hyeon, the Demon King, bowed his head to the Great Demon King.
"No. Treating you this way, as in the old days, and closing the eye on my forehead-it helps me keep my anger in check. Hyeon, King of Dream Demons and Falsehood."
At Iven's words, which made his head throb, Hyeon hid his horns and bowed.
"As you wish, my lord."
"Then listen well, my horns."
Iven addressed the horns seated around the obsidian round table in the central floor of Tehom Castle.
"I've gained control over the anger that's been burning and rotting me from within bit by bit, and now I plan to devise a way to kill Miflas. Some of you here have witnessed the Hero's changes firsthand. That sight was surely like the light of Or, and that power will be the greatest threat to us, who have lost Neshef."
"And it doesn't end there. Each knight's power is growing stronger by the day."
Kirumin Jay spat out in lamentation. Her wounds had fully healed, and perhaps influenced by Iven through the horns, she seemed a bit calmer.
"You can block the light of Or emanating from the Hero with me. But to do so, we must bring the will of Or back to this Tehom, built upon Neshef's will."
Iveldra spoke, her eyes hidden behind a mask of black feathers.
As her words implied, Bulki, who had appeared from the future, was emitting the light left by the dead Or, so to block it, overlaying it with Neshef's will in Tehom would be the way. That would be the most fundamental method to stop the future Hero.
"But in my view, the most important thing is that for our revenge, we must first prosper ourselves. Even now, there are not a few who, unable to endure hunger, devour their own young, my lord."
But that was for the future-later. As Khifuk Gurimson, the eldest of the Red Blood Savages, continued, organizing the western continent was the more urgent task right now.
The horns, the true leaders of those called demons, expressed their opinions to one another.
"There is a way."
And Iven, their true Demon King, gathered all their wills and devised a plan.
"Hyeon, why is it hard for life to flourish in this land of Gehenna?"
"The biggest reason is that the previous Great Demon King's will was focused on revenge rather than prosperity. On top of that, the harsh terrain, the demons with almost no civilization, the overwhelming thirst and hunger we feel compared to the plants and animals that die off quickly, and so on."
"What we'll solve now isn't the distant goal. It's the most urgent. First, before blocking Or's light, I'll tour Gehenna with the horns of each race."
Then Hyeon pulled an old parchment from his bosom and placed it on the round table-Gehenna's only map. He explained kindly, as if he were a Knight Order Captain again.
"As you can see, the night goblins live in Hatham, the massive mountain range dividing the frozen lands at the continent's northernmost point from Tehom here, hunting and eating other creatures to survive. Their biggest problem is..."
"Our problem is the undead leaking out from the frozen lands."
Kirumin Jay slammed the table in fury, and Hyeon raised a hand to stop her as he continued the explanation.
"Ahem. And below that, here in Tehom, there are my demons and dream demons under my lead. Our race is divided into hierarchies, so there's not much trouble on a large scale-maybe for the lesser demons? And below Tehom is Midvar, the barren land of the Red Blood Savages."
"We fled there to escape the Mountain Giants. We survive by eating the remaining beastkin and birds."
When Chanherk Gurimson, the second prince of the Red Blood Savages, spoke, Iven asked.
"Eating beastkin?"
"Otherwise, we'd have to eat our brothers."
His eyes overflowed with a grim resolve. Iven couldn't fully understand but grasped the sentiment through the horns and waited for the next explanation. Hyeon continued.
"Beyond Midvar is a place with a lake and black forest, more or less. This land isn't natural-it's formed from the bodies of Mountain Giants. When they move, the earth changes shape."
"That's where the map ends, so where do the wolfkin live?"
Hyeon answered with a somber expression.
"They lived beyond Hatham, in those lands before they froze. The earth froze, and they lost their homeland-but it was all the previous Great Demon King's will."
"Cruel."
"Wise. You'll come to understand as you travel."
Having finished the explanation, Hyeon paused to let Iven ponder. Iven gazed at the map, recalling his plan once more. It was difficult, but inevitable.
"There is a way."
"What is the way, my lord?"
The eye on Iven's forehead opened, and black-violet karmic flames overflowed from the golden pupil.
"Now that I know this power, I intend to grant horns to all demons worthy of them, not just those gathered here."
Iven rose and slammed his palm down on Tehom on the map, shouting.
"I will make all who live in Gehenna my Demon Kings."
In that instant, the overwhelming pressure of his noble will made all the horns bow their heads. It was what Iven had thought of since his human days. Make them all knights-or if not knights, all Demon Kings.
"One by one, as they become my horns, we will forge one empire uniting all races that have lost Neshef!"
The Great Demon King's will flowed through the horns.
It was different from the previous 'Kill.'
Unite. Survive. Prosper. For the Empire of Iven in Gehenna on the western continent, established by Great Demon King Iven van Ivelhac uniting the races.
And so began the Demon King's tale of founding a nation.
Unaware, for now, that through this very act, he would experience death once more.
***
"To think something like this exists at the end of the great plains."
"It'seems like a formation caused by sea winds. It's a similar terrain on the outskirts of Deinaus Forest. The rocks rise up, looking just like massive waves."
As Shainelius said, the rocks curved upward like enormous waves. Bulki surveyed the surroundings, thinking it impossible to climb that precarious cliff like shattered crystal. Then Rondnel spoke.
"The great dwarf Sherpandnel told us to follow the rock waves to the right. But he warned us to watch out for something on the way."
"That's probably it, isn't it?"
At Bulki's words, everyone looked to see what resembled not a crab but a pus-like clump of mud raising its claws. It ceaselessly spewed something foul and fishy, seemingly ready to charge at the Hero's party at any moment.
"A tidal flat formed from clumped dead sea creatures? I'll take it."
At Shainelius's words, Bulki suddenly recalled Elis, who had hunted Joins to show off her sword.
"No. It'll be faster and better if we all handle it together."
"No, Hero. There's something I want to show you."
She pulled from her back a bow half the size of her usual one.
And as she gripped the bow and flicked her fist into the air like drawing it back, the folded parts inexplicably unfolded, becoming longer and sturdier than her regular bow.
"What's that?"
"We should have opened the Holy Brazier sooner."
As she drew the bowstring, the filthy amalgamation of sea and mud-the tidal flat-sensed the danger and charged fiercely at the Hero's party, spewing foam.
"My bow's name is Yaorkeshet. True to its meaning, I am the bow that guards the forest..."
"Uh, Shainelius, that thing's claws are charging at us furiously-shouldn't we hurry if you're going to do something? The more it rolls, the bigger those claws get... Huh?"
The more the tidal flat twisted and rolled, the larger its claws grew, dwarfing its body.
"Danger!"
And in that moment, as it swung down its massive claw.
"Next time we meet, I'll pierce you dead for sure."
'Arrow of the Forest that Pierces Impurity'.
Thwish! Boom!
The approaching tidal flat collapsed in a heap, a massive hole bored through it, spilling black, watery blood and rotting flesh with no entrails to speak of.
"Hero, and half-dwarf, trust me from now on. With me here, we won't lose a single knight ahead. I'm one of your knights too, after all."
She flicked her sword-like bow to fold it and slung it over her back. Bulki turned to Shainelius with a bitter smile. She had probably just remembered someone she'd lost in a similar situation, like he had.
"Yeah. Let's never lose anyone again."
The Hero Bulki said sorrowfully. He had surely said something like this before. And he had become a knight precisely for that reason.
"Don't give in to the temptations of the abyss that pop up out of nowhere, Hero. That's what we agreed on, right?"
"Right. That's what we said. We'll do our very best."
Oh no, that line too...
He looked up at the clouds, which were once again covering the sky.
"Let's go. We need to meet Sherpandnel now."
The Hero once more took steps too heavy for one man to bear.