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Are you trying to rush the operation a bit too much?

I can accept such criticism as much as you want.

Because there was a time when a secretly planned operation failed completely in the three minutes between my announcement and my subordinates saying it wouldn’t work.

It was also a surprise attack back then.

When I announced the tactic of using tunnels to break through the enemy’s protective shield, the Sand Worms waiting underground were right beneath the empire’s capital.

“No way, my lord! If we do that, we risk being caught by the enemy!”

There was someone who opposed my operation, claiming to have his own secret strategy, assuring that if we followed his plan, we could sweep away all the humans in the system.

“Because of your chatter, we’ve been delayed. We’ll carry out the operation.”

The moment I said that and moved forward with the plan, all the Sand Worms were wiped out.

Where did the operation leak from?

It slipped out of my mouth.

To be precise, the moment I informed my strategy, a spy from the empire within my command headquarters secretly informed the empire of this fact.

The operation returned in failure, and after a thorough investigation, we concluded that it was during that three minutes.

During those three minutes that my subordinate was rattling on, the empire urgently summoned heroes and repelled the Sand Worms underground.

The Holy Sword of Light descended from the sky, accurately targeting and piercing the Sand Worms waiting about a hundred meters underground, while the elite forces that were about to charge out with the Sand Worms ended up buried alive beneath the ground.

I should have just gone for it.

Back then, it was the early days of leading the Demon Lord’s “army,” and I was experiencing quite a few trial and error moments in managing the group.

I was a master in one-on-one combat, but I hadn’t built up the know-how for running a large group yet.

Because of those three minutes, I missed the golden opportunity to topple the empire.

Later, the hero wielding the Holy Sword of the Earth returned to the empire, leading to the absurd situation where I had to confront two heroes wielding the Holy Sword.

In the end, it took me a whole year to completely conquer the system.

What if that tactic had worked?

I was genuinely regretful about the failure, which I had been so confident would lead to victory.

That’s why I deliberately didn’t disclose the entire hero-launching plan this time, and I was truly grateful that Lucius silenced the dissent of the group and helped me…

“There’s… nothing?”

I don’t feel Satan’s mana.

This is clearly Count Scouter’s Territory, and I’ve just landed after blowing half the castle away with the bombardment of the Holy Sword.

Yet, I feel nothing.

The only presence detected is presumably that of the demons within the Demon King’s Castle.

“Ugh, argh…”

One Lizardman was pinned under the debris of the collapsed castle, bleeding.

I approached him and aimed the Holy Sword at his neck.

“Where is the Demon King?”

“Hehe! I didn’t expect a hero to come flying…!”

The Lizardman sneered at me, raising a hand in defiance.

“You’re faster than I expected, but… he has already escaped…!”

“What?”

“Hmph, anyone would know that if you see someone aiming to shoot, it’s only natural to avoid it!”

“……The Demon King abandoned the Demon King’s Castle?”

“Foolish hero…!”

The Lizardman spat out blood and yelled at me.

“The Demon King’s Castle is… where the Demon King exists! Where the Demon Lord is, that is the Demon King’s Castle!”

“I know that.”

Swish.

I decapitated the Lizardman in one stroke.

As his mouth gaped open in a final mockery, his head thudded to the ground, spilling blood.

“…….”

I scanned the battlefield with my eyes.

Simultaneously, I surveyed the mana permeating the entire wreckage of Count Scouter’s Territory.

There were roughly about two hundred demons trapped under the castle debris.

And the number of demons around the Demon King’s Castle…

“About five thousand, I guess…?”

Each one was strong enough to pose a decent threat, yet I felt utterly deflated.

“…Killing these guys will only lead to their resurrection anyway.”

Puff.

The Lizardman’s body dissipated into mist.

Like a toxic gas, the orange smoke started to drift away into the sky.

“…Soul Devourer. Demons bound to Satan…”

Instead of becoming a servant and slave to Satan, there’s a secret known only to Satan that assures resurrection even after death.

Even if I were to kill the demons here, the demons bound to Satan would surely revive.

And they would tell the tale.

That the one wielding the golden Holy Sword killed us.

That power undoubtedly belongs to the Holy Sword.

“……Tch. That ends up being a huge loss.”

Simply knocking out the enemy’s minions comes to nothing.

“…To think the Demon King has fled from the Demon King’s Castle, what a disaster.”

Satan.

He fled right before the impact.

*

“Putting a hero in a cannon and firing? Are they insane?”

In the forest.

The being clad in an orange robe, Satan, sat on a rock and chuckled emptily.

“Bel Phegor wasn’t lying. He said heroes can appear anytime, anywhere, and here they go, launching a hero from a weak country like the Anari Principality.”

Satan shook his head, spreading out a map.

The distance from the Anari Principality, where they deployed the howitzer, to the Demon King’s Castle, where he had been just ‘ten minutes ago,’ was quite far.

“…At this rate, a hero might suddenly stab me from behind with a teleportation. To fly this far… Is this speed unearthly?”

Even flying at full power would take several minutes, but the hero resolved that issue by loading himself into the cannon and soaring as a projectile.

“……Did Bel Phegor fight against such fellows? How chilling.”

Ah.

Great Demon Lord Bel Phegor.

What kind of battles have you been through?

Of course, the opponent is a hero wielding the Holy Sword of the Wind that even toppled a Great Demon Lord, but still, the attack that instantly flew in and obliterated what I intended for the Demon King’s Castle was something that could not be predicted.

[Hey, Demon Lord. Are you okay?]

“Ah, I’m fine. Are you nearby?”

[I took refuge. No matter how I am, I can’t fight against a hero.]

Through the mana mist hovering in the air, a black-haired girl appeared.

[…But is that really the Holy Sword of the Wind?]

“You know better than I do, how would I know?”

[I don’t know either. There’s no one who has seen the Holy Sword of the Wind. Maybe only the person stabbed by it knows if it’s real or not?]

“I’ve heard nothing. Even so, judging by its current state, it seems like a ‘genuine holy sword.'”

Boom, boom—!

Golden storms raged in Count Scouter’s Territory.

The blonde hero began hunting demons, beheading them one by one.

“I made a wise decision to flee beforehand. If I had hastily tried to stop him with a shield, I would have undoubtedly died.”

[That’s unexpected. I thought you would confront him directly.]

“I’m no fool. I do not engage in battles unless I’m sure I’ll win. Especially in situations where my power is constrained like now. I have only one chance. If I miss this opportunity… the demon race is doomed.”

[…Well, I understand what you’re thinking since I know the Demon Lord by nature, but what about your subordinates? If the hero starts rampaging like that, won’t the demons you’ve just subjugated run away in fear?]

“That’s a possibility. For now… I need to find a countermeasure. I’ll send you the coordinates. Come to my side. Gather all the other officers so we can assess the situation.”

[Got it, Demon Lord. I’ll be there soon.]

The mist disappeared.

Satan then rolled up the left sleeve of his robe and pulled out the ring fitted on his finger.

“…Burn, Flamberge.”

Whoosh.

A red glowing sword appeared in Satan’s hand.

Even in the hands of the Demon King, the sword remained a vivid red, and Satan raised the flame-spitting sword — no, the demonic sword Flamberge high up.

“…If I use this, can I truly win?”

As a sword, he needed to wield it correctly.

However, Satan…

“…Ugh.”

The raised Flamberge fell downwards.

It seemed not that he swung it down, but it was as if its weight dragged it down.

“…This won’t do. I need to finish the takeover quickly….”

Satan reverted the sword back to a ring form, gritting his teeth.

“Bel Phegor said it. A hero’s enemy… achieves maximal effectiveness when used as a hero.”

Crack.

“…Corrupt the Mercenary King and make him fight the hero.”

*

“Ha.”

In a fit of rage and for harvesting magic stones, I rampaged using Lucius’s body to clear out all the demons.

I effectively killed all the demons in Count Scouter’s Territory, and later, people can come here to gather the magic stones.

‘Now that it’s revealed that Lucius is the hero, there’s no hiding it anymore.’

I originally planned to just supply and leave, but how did it come to this?

‘But is it just a difference in order?’

Going to Sky Island is ultimately for gaining power to defeat the Demon Lord.

If I can overthrow the Demon Lord without obtaining the Spirit Device, perhaps I won’t even need to go to Sky Island.

“…I can find out how to respond gradually. Fleeing outright means… he can’t fight properly yet.”

In other words.

Satan is still not at full power.

“Well, that’s fine. After all, it won’t end with just this one time.”

The divine power gathered in the Holy Sword is still quite ample.

“I’ll bombard him with the hero until I catch him.”

Run all the way to the edge of the continent.

I’ll lead my howitzer, and with the hero’s bombardment, I’ll wipe them all out.

“The Holy Sword hero will have to feel how hellish this is himself. Right?”

Only I.

Shall not be.

Defeated.

 

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