It appeared suddenly one day.
A Bakemono with the figure of a human, that is.
— * * * —
I ca to the Human Realm in order to do the preliminary work in preparation for the day I would be crowned as the Demon King.
On that day, I was in the midst of negotiating with the head of the ogre tribe, the monster that I wanted to appoint as one of the upper echelons of the demon king’s army.
“— So, we agree that I’ll recruit ten ogres from this tribe to beco part of the demon king’s army’s military strength, am I right?”
“Yes. We couldn’t offer too many, however, please rest assured that every single one of them possessed a tenacious body. They will definitely beco Shitori-sama’s strength.”
“Ten is more than enough. I could see just how trained their bodies are based on the one that you showed earlier. They will surely perform magnificently for the sake of Evil God-sama.”
“Such kind words.”
“By the way, Chief.”
“Yes. What might it be?”
“You...are strong. So how about this, do you want to beco one of the top brass of the Demon King’s Army?”
“Hahaha. Shitori-sama, you jest. What can a senile fool such I can possibly do. Please pardon with the stronger youngsters of our tribe.”
“Hmpf. Are you saying I’m not worthy of having you serve , is it…”
“N-no! Such a thing —”
“I understand. I will raise a Demon King’s Army that will be worthy of your leadership! Ti is the thing that I don’t have any shortage of, after all.”
At this ti, I thought that I still had a century, at the very least, before ascending as the Demon King.
“In the event that I manage to raise the strongest Demon King’s Army of all ti, I will definitely prepare a seat for you among the upper echelons of this army. When the ti cos, please do not refuse my invitation, alright?”
I stared at him right in the eye.
The tribal chief seed to discern my determination, so he believed in .
“... This humble one understands. You have already said your piece, and as such, please allow this one to occupy the lowest seat of the Demon King’s Army’s leadership. However, the condition is that you must raise the strongest Demon King’s Army of all ti — am I right?”
“ — !! I-I understand!!”
I was on cloud nine at this ti.
That’s because I finally fulfilled my goal. This legendary, long-lived Ogre who survived after fighting and repelling three generations of heroes in the past finally agreed to beco a leader of the Demon King’s Army.
“Well then first, allow to introduce the ten youngsters who will be joining Shitori-sama’s subordinates.”
“Please do.”
I left the ogre chief’s den with him, when —
That thing stood before us.
“Oh! Saw a powerful looking ogre over here!! He’s looks aweso, and I guess he’ll be perfect as the 18th floor boss, right?”
It was sothing that had the appearance of a human.
— A colossal lump of mana.
It was moving like a human, and was cheerfully yamring on like a child who just discovered a toy.
“W-what are you? Who are you?”
“Shitori-sama, please step back. This guy is… strong.”
The ogre chief stepped before as if to protect .
The aura that he emitted was totally different from the one he was wrapped in during our discussion.
The legendary ogre was seriously guarding against it.
Then, that thing before us must be anything but ordinary.
“You, how did you co here? There should be ogres on the lookout.”
“I already annihilated all of them.”
“ —Wha!?”
“I see.”
It was unbelievable.
We didn’t even feel the faintest trace of a battle.
However, I tried searching for mana in our surroundings, but not a single ogre was moving now.
Then by “all”, he was not only referring to the ogre guards, but the one hundred plus ogres living in this village.
The chief apparently realized this, too.
“Shitori-sama, please run.”
“Eh”
The chief muttered under his breath without tearing his gaze of that thing.
“This thing massacred my entire tribe without us none the wiser. We didn’t feel any trace of the battle. You do understand what this ans, do you?”
The chief’s tone was grave.
“Even I probably won’t win against that. However, if it’s buying ti for Shitori-sama’s escape, I could still give it my all!”
The chief rushed towards the humanoid thing while uttering those words.
A huge cater ford on the ground when he kicked it to gain montum. I could see that he flew at an unbelievable speed towards that thing.
And yet —
“Ugh, so fast! If I knew there’s a guy this strong I would have brought a weapon at least.”
That thing calmly stopped the chief's assault using a black, narrowish, long piece of wood.
“Shitori-sama! Go at once!!”
I finally returned to my senses when I heard chief’s words.
I tried to hastily withdraw to the Demon Realm, when —
“N-no way...the teleportation portal is —”
“Shitori-sama, hurry!!”
The chief was furiously punching the humanoid lump of mana, but I could sense his panic from his voice.
However, I couldn’t return to the Demon Realm.
“T-the teleportation portal won’t open!”
“ —what!?”
The teleportation portal that led to the Demon Realm wouldn’t open no matter how many tis I attempted to.
“That’s a no-no. There’s no way we’ll let you escape.”
“—!?” (Ogre Chief and Shitori)
Another Bakemono appeared.
It was a different body from the humanoid Bakemono currently fighting against the chief.
I didn’t want to believe it, but it was probably the thing that prevented from teleporting.
“S@$#^!!!!”
“Whoaa!?”
The chief enlarged his right arm and punched the humanoid thing and sent him flying away, and at that sa instant, he grabbed my body and rushed away from that place.
The humanoid in front of didn’t seem to be in the mood for combat, and it was so startled by the ogre’s actions that it slowed down, allowing us to escape from there sohow.
The ogre chieftain sprinted through the woods while still carrying .
“Shitori-sama, hurry and fly away from here! Those guys probably interfered with the teleportation portal because of their unbelievably dense mana. As long as we shake them off, you can definitely return to the Magic Realm.”
“I-I understand.”
The chief threw in the air.
“Chief, co with to the Demon Realm!”
“I will remain here and hold them back. Even if it’s just a little bit of ti —!? Shitori-sama!!! Behind you!!”
“Eh”
I turned around when I heard the chief’s voice, and there —
“Flying isn’t allowed, too.”
The demon stood there.
No, I was the demon here, though.
But, the title of demon fits that thing perfectly well.
It chopped off my wings with his hand.
“Shitori-sama!!!”
I spiraled towards the ground, and the chief caught .
“That was close. There’s no teleportation marking on you, so if you escape to the Demon Realm, we won’t be able to follow, you know? That’ll be too bad, we discovered high quality goods after all.”
“Sorry. I didn’t anticipate that move.”
“So ogres can also make their hands big, huh.”
The Bakemono increased to three.
The one who fought against the chief, the one who disrupted my teleportation, and the one who chopped off my wings right in front of my eyes.
“Nah, it’s not just hands, they can make their entire bodies huge.”
“Yep, yep. There are also so who can turn into giants, it seems.”
“............”
The embodint of hopelessness erged from the depths of the forest.
Two more Bakemono had followed us.
I could probably take two of them down if I released the power of the demon king.
But...five would be impossible.
“Wait a sec, why is there a difference in the things we know, huh?”
“Who knows? We’re created for battle, so maybe that part isn’t taken seriously?”
“Hmmm… so we’re not perfect copies of each other, huh.”
“Individual personalities might erge to cope with the different situations — that’s what the Original said.”
“Heh~, so that’s how it is.” (all the rest of Halt clones)
The five Bakemon started talking among themselves while surrounding the chief and .
I felt like their attention had drifted away from us.
In that case, if we managed to take down one of them, we could escape — that was that I thought, but…
“It’s too early.”
The chieftain stopped when he noticed that I was about to release my power.
Indeed.
I was too hasty.
These humanoids didn’t know the extent of my power yet.
Our chance for escape would surely co.
This was a misjudgent on our part.
Actually, this timing had been our one true chance.
“These two’s impossible to ta with just us guys, right?”
“Yep, they’re way too strong.”
“Yeah, especially that sister over there.”
“Demonic Class?”
“Nah, isn’t she a demon?”
“Anyway, let’s just call the Original, alright.”
“Oka~y!” (the rest of Halt’s clones)
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