Chapter 3: Escape

“Where am I? Why did I become a woman?”

What is this?

Was it a nightmare?

Did I try to eat a woman while I was sleeping and my soul was inhabited?

Or was it some other demon lord’s psychic magic against me?

“That doesn’t seem right.”

No. I feel it vividly. I am now inhabiting this girl’s body.

“I possessed a corpse. The girl’s mind died and her soul left, but her body remained and became my body. But….”

“Keuk…!”

A lot of blood burst out of my mouth.

It wasn’t a blood vessel bursting somewhere in my body, but the blood that had been pooling in my mouth burst out.

This girl has no heart.

Her heart had been ripped out and all her blood was about to drain out, and the blood she had just spit out was the last blood left in her body.

There was only one reason why this body was moving even though she was a corpse.

“I became undead.”

I was inhabiting the body of an undead.

There is no other way to describe me at the moment.

“What is it?”

I looked around at those performing the ritual centered around me.

“Oh, he has come!”

“How happy we are! Our savior has finally come!”

“Praise! Cheer! The great being!”

“Are they crazy?”

They remind me of some fanatic. Those I don’t want to get close to are all wearing unidentified robes.

“The Seal of Sloth?!”

500 years ago.

The seal of the legion I led was engraved on their robes.

The emblem that fluttered in my Demon King’s castle was engraved on their robes.

“Oh, he has awakened! Our great Demon King, Bel Phegor, has finally descended!!”

***Bel Phegor! Bel Phegor! Bel Phegor!***

The sight of them was almost like a mass madness.

I wondered what to do with them, but I opened my mouth without realizing it because of the magical power that seemed familiar.

It was a magical power I knew.

“Zephaar?”

“Yes! That’s right! Your faithful servant, Zephaar!”

The man took off his robe. His face was a skeleton.

“Zephaar. Zephaar. He was the head of the necromancer school that led the 17th Legion of Warlocks. Those who surrendered to the Demon King’s army while still human. Did you become a lich?”

“Yes, that’s right! Ah, even though you’re in a young child’s body, your voice radiates majesty!”

“I thought you were dead.”

“How could that be! I, Zephaar, have waited for five hundred years, thinking only of my master.”

Zephaar knelt before me, his bones all that remained.

“Ah, do you know how much we’ve suffered since you passed away?”

I glanced over and saw that everyone else seemed human, but they were all necromancers who had mastered warlock magic.

“The Battle of Igrasis Plains that will decide the fate of the Demon King’s army and humanity. You waited for the victory of our Demon King’s army at the Demon King’s Castle. We tried to advance to win against humanity, but…”

“I was killed by the warriors.”

“Keuk…!”

The Demon King was killed right before the war.

Naturally, most of the monsters under the Demon King’s control would have gone mad and run wild, and the Human Union would have wiped out the rabble of the Demon King’s army.

“I barely survived. And I gathered my forces, praying for the return of my master.”

“Really? So what do you wish from me?”

“Restore that brave appearance once again! My master, the Black Dragon Bel Fegor!”

A Black Dragon.

To put it bluntly, it’s just a Black Dragon.

Even though I’m a Dragon, my own kind cursed me for becoming a Demon, and I defeated them all and took the position of Dragon Lord.

The Lord’s insides were really awesome.

I don’t know if he’s alive now.

The last time I hit you, I was locked in a cave in a state of extreme unconsciousness.

“Now, put your body here! So let the great demon king’s deeds return to this land!”

“I don’t want to.”

“Huh?”

“It’s annoying.”

Regardless of what Zephaar had in mind for me, I had no intention of committing such atrocities against humanity again.

“It takes a lot of magical power to summon the main body.

I’m tired.

It’ll just be a struggle to gather the Demon King’s army again.

And even if the Demon King’s army is there, they’ll still have the Holy Sword, right?

Then why would they gather another army?

Half of the Demon King’s army will be blown away with one swing of the Holy Sword.”

“D, Demon King! How can you say such a thing!”

“And most of all.”

I pointed to the body of the girl I was in, especially the heart.

The empty heart. And Zephaar, who had cut out my heart and was holding it with a sword.

“What do you plan to do with me?

Huh?

You dirty human.

Just because you became a lich doesn’t mean your human nature has disappeared, right?”

“…Heh, heh.”

Zephaar started laughing, his bones crackling.

“K, heh, heh heh…! Kuha, heh, heh hahahahahaha!!”

“You’re crazy.”

“A crazy guy?! Yes, you’re crazy! As expected of the Great Demon King! I never thought you’d notice! As expected.”

“I can easily subdue a lich like you with just your soul.”

“Ugh, ugh…!”

Zephaar groaned in pain.

“Ta-da.”

He spread his two hands. My two arms followed suit like Zephaar.

“Still, it seems you can call me the Demon King, but I’m sorry, you’re just an undead under my control right now.”

“_____”

I’m screwed.

“Hehe, just follow my orders! You may have been the Demon King in the past, but you’re just a trash demon bitch who was summoned by me and only had your soul left!”

“We’re in big trouble, Zephaar!!”

One of his subordinates hurriedly ran and knelt down.

“We’ve been caught! The knights are coming!”

***

“Break through! Kill the enemies of humanity!”

The knights ran into the cave along with the shouts of the female knight in white.

In front of them, “Charge!”

“For humanity!”

The knights ran with their bodies clad in divine power.

They thought of their own.

“These sons of bitches…! Pretending to be slave traders and kidnapping children.”

The female knight grabbed her sword filled with divine power.

“You bastards…!”

“General. We’re in big trouble.

The warlocks’ resistance is too fierce. If we continue like this…”

“What are we going to do! Even if the resistance is fierce, shouldn’t we go in and stop the ritual?”

The female knight jumped off her horse.

“I will go in myself! Everyone, follow me! Charge!”

The knights who had been waiting also dismounted from their horses and ran inside.

“Hurry up and run! We have to get there before the ritual is performed!”

But Goooooh!!

A huge wind of magical power blew from inside the cave.

“Ahh…! It’s already too late….”

The knights were frustrated. Some of them knelt down and prayed to God.

The ritual was already nearing its end, and before even reaching the altar where the ritual would take place, the ritual was already over.

“No, not yet.”

“Clank!”

The female knight raised her sword high.

“They say that demons are at their weakest right after being summoned!

It’s not too late!

There’s still hope!”

“Saint!”

“Run! Even if the Demon Dragon is resurrected, we’ll kill it!”

The female knight-saint ran forward ahead of everyone else.

“For the world!!”

The knights began to advance again.

***

“Damn it…!”

Zephaar ground his teeth in irritation.

“I didn’t think the dogs of humanity would smell it already…!”

“Phew, you’re really immature in handling things. To think that the place where the ritual was being performed was discovered because their tails were caught. In my time…”

“Shut up!”

Zephaar fired a magic bullet at me.

I got hit and went back.

Shoot.

The river in the cave was flowing under the cliff.

“No! Stop!”

“No, that baby is until the end.”

I blew a fist towards Zephaar and ran down the cliff.

“I’m a fuck, a dog.”