Chapter 276: Demon Bael

W-What the heck is this!?

W-Why did I, the highest ranking subordinate of Evil God-sama —

The strongest demon, this Bael —

Had to be beaten black and blue, huh!?

…D*mn.

Really, this is so messed up.

I can’t resist at all.

Even if I tried to retaliate, all my moves were crushed in an instant.

W-Will I… disappear here?

Memories of the past suddenly appeared in my mind.

Evil God-sama created me several million years ago.

A lot of things happened during that time.

The kingdoms I destroyed were innumerable.

There were also times when I possessed the monarch’s body and did whatever I wanted.

Even the souls of the people I gathered were already past hundreds of thousands.

It was fun, really.

…Huh?

What?

W-Why am I reminiscing about the past?

D-Don’t tell me…this is what people refer to as ‘your past fleeting before your eyes when you’re at the brink of death’?

— I see.

So I’m… gonna die here, huh.

I stared at the oncoming colossal pillar of light while reflecting on why this happened.

It all started when a slime suddenly appeared in front of me.

　──＊＊＊──

I had been searching for the demon ranked twelve among us, Sitri-sama, when suddenly —

[It] appeared before me.

The reason why I’m calling someone ranked lower than me with honorifics was because she had become the Demon King.

We demons would gain the power to become the Demon King when we received protection bestowed by Evil God-sama. At the same time, that demon would be treated as Evil God-sama’s close aide.

In other words, even if the demon’s rank was low, if Evil God-sama bestowed his protection on him or her, the other demons would have to show respect to that demon no matter what.

If the demon was rank low, and was weak even after obtaining the power of the Demon King, then there would be instances when the other demons would look down on him, but —

Sitri-sama was different.

There were 72 demons directly under Evil God-sama.

Among them, Sitri-sama had a high ranking of twelve, and she was chosen to be the Demon King.

Her power far exceeded mine.

I addressed Sitri-sama with honorifics for that reason.

Even so, if I was chosen as the Demon King, I’m sure I would be the strongest Demon King to exist.

I looked forward to the day that I would become the Demon King.

Then one day, Sitri-sama didn’t return home after an excursion to the Human Realm, and her subordinate low-ranking demons sought me out.

The disappearance of the next Demon King should be reported immediately to Evil God-sama normally.

However, presently, Evil God-sama had fallen asleep for some reason.

Sitri-sama’s familiar went to me for that reason.

I dispatched my subordinates into the Human Realm right away to search for Sitri-sama.

Afterward, I received a report that they found traces of Sitri-sama being in the Kingdom of Glendale, but there was no other lead.

The remnants of Sitri-sama’s mana had been overwritten by a magic far more powerful than hers, thus it could no longer be tracked.

Preposterous…

The twelfth in the hierarchy of the demons had become the Demon King, you know?

There’s no way somebody in the Human Realm would be powerful enough to erase the traces of her existence.

If we’re talking about probability, then it would be possible for the heroes who hail from another world, but Sitri-sama had yet to reign officially as the Demon KIng.

There’s no way the heroes would be in this world now.

I decided to manifest in the Human Realm and search for Sitri-sama myself out of frustration because of the slow progress of the search.

It had been several thousand years since the last time I came here.

In the land where the remnant of Sitri-sama’s mana felt the strongest according to the report of my subordinates —

I had been ‘stored’ inside a slime.

….Hm?

You didn’t get it?

It’s as literal as it can get.

A lowly slime managed to store me inside it.

It’s not ‘absorption’.

It’s ‘store’.

Not sure how it came to be, but that much I knew.

Hahaha…

Even though I’m the one saying this, it doesn’t make sense to me, too.

……

Why?

Just why am I, the strongest demon of all, have to be stored inside such a mere thing as slime?!

This, F@%#^&%$*, d@$# slime!!!

…It’s useless to holler my lungs out.

There’s no sound inside this thing.

I couldn’t use my mana like I wanted to.

No matter how many times I attacked this thing’s insides, all my attacks were just absorbed into who knows where.

Moreover —

D-Did it come again?!

Fire attribute magic that was powerful enough to instantly vaporize low level demons flew at me out of nowhere.

I barely managed to dodge it.

Was it around a half day after being stored by this guy? Magical spells that were unbelievably powerful started to relentlessly attack me one after the other.

And it wasn’t just magic.

Attacks that would slash through my skin with the bare touch, blows that were powerful enough to shatter my bones, those sorts of things were being constantly hurled at me.

I learned how powerful they were when I got attacked the first time I tried to defend myself.

There were very few wielders of these flying slashes and hits — those who were on a level that was at par with heroes.

Not only that, the power of those attacks were out of this world.

They kept pouring on me like rain.

No way… there’s no way I’d die while being stored inside this f@#$@# lowly monster!!

I’m Bael — the strongest demon of all!!

I desperately dodged all the spells and attacks that were hurled my way.

　──＊＊＊──

It was probably two days now since this slime stored me away.

I was still alive.

But… I was already at my limit.

That’s when —

The slime suddenly threw me up.

I, I’m out!!!

“D-Don’t @#$% with me…A mere slime…to this Bael —”

I wanted to obliterate this slime that dared to store me right there and then, but —

“Guys, this is bad! Looks like the slime morphed into a demon!”

…Eh

The slime was nowhere to be found.

In turn, there were a bunch of Bakemono standing there.

This group was so Bakemono level that I, the strongest demon of all, could only use the word ‘Bakemono’ to describe them.

Three colored dragons.

Two nine-tailed foxes.

Three spirits.

It was obvious that they were terrible just judging by the quality of their mana and their appearance. They also seemed to be wrapped in auxiliary magic.

These guys could hold their own against demons, and yet they were further strengthened.

And there’s that, too.

The Half-elf with the blood of heroes, Tina Harivell, was here. The woman who was the comrade of the hero that defeated the Demon King Velt.

And the worst of the all was the black-haired guy with azure eyes holding a sword that was almost as big as him.

Based on the mana wrapping his body, he must be the master of the Bakemonos.

The boss who could probably easily defeat all the Bakemono here even if they charged at him all at the same time.

By the way, Sitri-sama was with the Bakemonos. She was also oozing with bloodlust towards me.

I understood now that Sitri-sama had already become the subordinate of the black-haired Bakemono.

The Bakemono Boss barked his order.

“Everyone! Let’s go!!”

It seemed that they had already finished their preparations to attack before I came out of that cursed slime.

I didn’t even have the chance to defend myself, not even once, when my body was bombarded by the barrage of attacks.

Dragon’s Breath.

The half dragon, half-human’s slash attack.

The blows of the beastkin wrapped in white scales.

The spells of the Spirit Kings.

The laser beam from the nine-tailed foxes.

Sitri-sama’s spell —

Shaved my entire body bit by bit.

I see… so all the attacks that had been released while I was being stored inside the slime belonged to them — every single thing.

Not only that, Tina and the black-haired guy kept on cutting my hands no matter how many times I regenerated.

There’s no way I could counter attack.

I finally crossed my limit.

With no way to do anything else, my body slumped to the floor like a worn-out rag.

The black-haired guy conjured a colossal pillar of light.

So this is the end, huh…

I need to say it, I need to say this no matter what — I hollered with all my might.

“I! I’m not a slime —”

“Holy Lance!”

The ginormous pillar of light crushed me.

Tsk. I couldn’t even say it until the end….

My consciousness was fading away.

This was complete obliteration, huh.

Evil God-sama, I’m sorry.

I… this is only as far as I could go, it seems.

The days that I went on rampages as your subordinate —

The days we spent bothering that d*mn granpa Creator God —

It was really….reall….fu….n…………..