Chapter 98

Ifrit’s flames turned all the undead atop the fortress' peak to ash. However, the fire, which was intense enough to burn away even their souls, somehow left Caron untouched.

Fwoosh.

Caron watched silently as the brittle bones crumbled to dust before his eyes. White ashes swirled and scattered into the air, but the fight was still not over.

Clang!

Suddenly, chains emerged from the violet sky, binding Ifrit once more. And above them, the giant purple eye watched the fortress's summit intently.

Crack.

It seemed Ifrit’s flames had wounded the dark mage, but they hadn’t finished him off for good. Through his half-charred robes, the dark mage's skeletal body was visible.

Caron chuckled as he took in the sight, sneering, “So, this bastard was nothing but a skeleton."

Liches were the pinnacle of the undead. They were dark mages who traded away their souls to extend life far beyond its natural limits.

Caron smirked at the figure before him and remarked, “So you sacrificed everything just to reach the Seventh Circle? How pathetic. You chose to become a lich just to cling to your life for a little longer...”

“You... could never understand... what I desire...” the lich rasped. His voice was weak, his jaw clicking as he struggled to respond. “The grand plan... has already been... accomplished. The gate... will open...”

There was no fear in the lich’s tone. Of course, that made sense; it was because liches couldn't be completely destroyed without breaking the orb that held their life force.

Caron narrowed his eyes as he looked down at the half-burned skull, asking, “Guillotine, do you have any suggestions?”

Guillotine replied with amusement,

“I think this bastard has got the wrong idea.”

“What?” Caron asked.

“The phylactery[1] is a handy trick for liches, sure. As long as their phylactery’s intact, they can’t die. But... There’s still dark mana in him, right? This is the very method your first ancestor, Rael, often used. He didn’t just destroy liches, he’d keep them around to drain their mana. Any liches he found, he’d use them as extra fuel just in case,”

Guillotine explained.

"Wow, as expected of my ancestor. The way he thought is on a whole different level,” Caron said, amazed.

“And of course, it was all thanks to me,”

Guillotine said.

Caron was able to understand right away. Liches couldn't die without their phylacteries being destroyed, so Rael had kept them around to use as renewable sources of mana.

“So, it's basically a pet lich, then. Is that right?” Caron confirmed.

“Exactly. I like your comprehension skills. I'll give you full marks on that,”

Guillotine said.

“Alright, hold on. I’ve got something to try,” Caron said as he drove Guillotine straight into the lich’s skeletal frame.

Crack!

The sound of cracking bones echoed through the air as the lich’s eerie voice rasped, “I-I... will return... once again.”

Caron laughed brightly before replying, “Oh? Are you going somewhere?”

The lich paused, taken aback. “...What?”

“Bon appétit,” Caron said with a grin.

“W-What are you doing?” the lich stuttered.

Guillotine’s blade shone with an ominous, dark blue light. Soon, an enormous surge of mana began to flow from the lich straight into Caron. His mana core filled up rapidly, recovering every bit of power he’d spent during the battle. The amount of mana coming from this lich was incomparable to that of a mere high-level demonic monster like the Minotaur from his last encounter.

“I wonder if this is how a bear feels when it raids a beehive,” Caron murmured, feeling the accumulated dark mana that the lich had hoarded pouring effortlessly into him. As Guillotine had assured him, the weapon’s efficiency in absorbing dark energy was far beyond anything Caron had anticipated.

Crack.

The lich, realizing his situation had gone horribly wrong, tightened his grip on his wand. However, Caron easily stomped on his arm, crushing it underfoot.

Crunch.

"Maybe it's because it was roasted by fire, but it breaks easily. You better handle it carefully," Caron warned the lich.

He had almost ended up a complete wreck. Ifrit’s chains had fortunately loosened just in time; otherwise, he could have suffered even more severe injuries.

With Guillotine still embedded in the dark mage's chest, Caron looked down from the fortress’s peak. Below, he could see a massive figure charging across the battlefield, trailed by two knights and a legion of elves moving in close formation. It seemed their efforts had temporarily disrupted Ifrit’s chains.

“Looks like everyone’s earning their keep,” Caron remarked.

He glanced back up to the sky, locking gazes with the violet eye hovering above. Though he had successfully subdued the lich, he sensed that its consciousness hadn’t been fully cut off. Even now, the violet aura was spreading across the sky at an alarming rate. Beyond its gleam, something lurked—a dark, forbidding presence that made Caron's skin prickle. Something ominous beyond measure was undoubtedly waiting beyond that door.

Guillotine’s voice echoed in Caron's mind.

"That eye belongs to the Demon King of Slaughter.”

“You could’ve given me a heads-up about that earlier,” Caron muttered.

“Want a full breakdown on the Demon Kings too?”

Guillotine offered.

“Don’t bother. I already know enough,” Caron said, declining the offer.

Thanks to his previous life, he’d learned far more about Demon Kings than he ever cared to. The Four Demon Kings who ruled over the demonic races were Void, Havoc, Sloth, and Slaughter. Each had long posed a threat to the world in their own unique way. The King of Havoc was the very same demon who had once made a pact with the Malevolent Emperor in his previous life.

“It’s been roughly over fifty years...” Caron said.

The direct influence of a Demon King hadn’t been felt since the Malevolent Emperor incident all those years ago.

“The Gate of Chaos for a Demon King,” Caron murmured to himself.

Just then, a low voice from behind interrupted his thoughts, saying, "No, that's impossible."

It was Orion, who had quietly approached him. The elf’s face had turned noticeably paler than before, clearly strained from dispelling the dark mage's lingering magic atop the fortress. He said in a ragged voice, “There’s not enough mana gathered here to summon the Demon King."

“Then what’s the plan?” Caron asked.

“This place was only ever a foothold. The real goal was to summon legions here to corrupt the forest—where Mother resides,” Orion explained.

Caron quickly pieced it together, then asked, “They intended to summon the Demon King through the World Tree?”

“It’s the fastest method,” Orion replied.

“Those maniacs,” Caron muttered.

“...The problem is that their ridiculous plan nearly succeeded,” Orion continued, casting a grim look down at the lich. It was unimaginable that they’d even prepared chains strong enough to bind the Spirit King. And now, Ifrit remained ensnared by those same chains emanating from the gate. It was far from over.

“Why didn’t you banish the lich?” Orion asked.

“Oh, don’t worry about him,” Caron replied casually, placing his foot on the lich. “Think of him as, I don’t know... a mana booster?”

“...Are you absorbing his dark mana?” Orion asked.

“Pretty much,” Caron answered. With his foot still resting on the lich, he asked, “So, how do we stop the ritual?”

𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

“It's simple. We have to bring down this fortress. It’s channeling dark mana to the Chaos Gate,” Orion explained.

As the two discussed ways to stop the gate, an unsettling noise rang out.

Creak, creak, crack

.

The noise came from the lich’s twisted body. Caron glanced down, noticing that the lich’s condition had grown even stranger. Its once-blue eyes were now tainted with a sinister violet glow.

"Caron. Be careful,"

Guillotine warned.

Caron replied with a slow nod. He was able to sense that something else had taken up residence inside the lich.

—Caron Leston.

An ominous voice echoed, and Caron felt an immediate surge of bloodlust awaken within him. The voice clawed at his mind, but he skillfully suppressed the impulse, replying with a smirk, “Quite the esteemed guest to grace my pet lich’s body. Could you get out?”

『How does it feel to be unshackled? Are you satisfied, or do you remain confused?』

But the voice responded differently than Caron had expected, and his expression hardened.

“...You,” Caron whispered. Those words alone were enough for him to be certain that this guy knew he had reincarnated. He asked, "How did you know?"

Caron held his breath as he met the eyes of the Lich—or rather, the Demon King. But before Caron could ask more, the voice continued.

—

I will give you a gift. I hope it pleases you.

Whoosh!

A sudden pulse of energy surged through the air as the violet eye in the sky flared ominously.

***

Caron stared blankly at the ominous eye in the sky. He couldn't understand why, but an unending fury welled up inside him that made him want to destroy everything in the vicinity. The urge to unleash violence surged within him.

"Pull yourself together,"

Guillotine’s voice interrupted. "

This is the power of the Demon King of Slaughter. Don’t let it consume you. This isn’t ordinary bloodlust—it’s something far more sinister."

The rage Caron felt was truly unnatural. It was unlike when he’d only heard the voice; now, the urge was nearly impossible to resist. His mind couldn’t process it, couldn’t understand it; he naturally wanted to surrender to it. His very being craved the release, to swing Guillotine and sever the neck of Orion, who was right there beside him.

A line of blood trickled from his lips as he bit down hard, using the sharp pain to push back the impulse. Finally, he turned toward Orion and said, “Orion, it’s the Demon King’s—”

Swish!

Orion’s condition was even worse than Caron's. The elf's eyes were red with fury, and he swung a blade of wind at Caron. The wind spirit that had carried them up this fortress now aimed straight for Caron’s throat, barely missing him as he dodged.

“Guillotine,” Caron muttered urgently.

"...Stab me into his body. I’ll take care of it,"

Guillotine replied.

“Got it,” Caron said as he lunged forward, charging toward Orion. Dozens of spirit-made walls rose to block his path, but every one of them shattered under Guillotine. Fortunately, Orion hadn’t put much distance between them.

Slash.

Guillotine's blade pierced deep into Orion’s thigh. After a tense moment, clarity returned to Orion’s eyes as he finally broke free from the mind control.

“What in the...” Orion gasped, scanning the area with a grave expression.

“It’s the Demon King's power, Orion,” Caron said, watching him intently.

“...Unbelievable. How could it be this potent even without the Demon King’s physical form?” Orion asked.

“That doesn’t matter right now,” Caron said as he cast a worried glance down the fortress. Even he, with Guillotine’s aid, had barely resisted the dark influence. Those without any defenses wouldn’t stand a chance.

Screeches and shrieks echoed from below. Just as he feared, the battlefield had already devolved into chaos. Those who had been working together to break the chains now turned on each other with mindless violence. Elves attacked elves, and monsters tore into one another. The battlefield was nothing short of a nightmare.

Caron let out a quiet sigh. There was no longer friend or foe—only the overwhelming, insatiable drive to kill. All that murderous intent melded into a frenzy that spread across the land.

Then, amid the heart of the carnage, violet smoke poured down from the eye and took shape.

Whoosh.

Then, it began to gather into a figure that wore purple armor and had red eyes. Although the figure looked like a knight, Caron instinctively knew what it was, muttering, “...The Demon King.”

With that unholy aura, it could be nothing else. As it was standing in the middle of the battlefield, the Demon King locked eyes with Caron. Then, its voice reverberated in Caron’s mind once more.

—Isn’t it a truly beautiful sight?

The master of madness smiled at Caron amid the chaos.

1. In fiction, this refers to the vessel that contains a lich's life force. ☜