“Ellis!”
“Damn it!”
A demon.
A demon appeared from sowhere and pierced through Ellis’s chest.
Splatter-!
Blood sprayed everywhere as her heart was ripped out.
Ellis collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.
The demon who turned around was a handso man with sharp features, standing at 2 ters tall.
His gray skin, not found in humans, sparkled in the sunlight.
“I was just going to watch, but you looked too delicious to resist!”
He stuck out his tongue and licked the blood from his mouth.
Then he opened his mouth wide and devoured the heart in one bite.
Crunch! Slurp! Slurp!
He gorges on the heart greedily.
Soon, he smiled with satisfaction.
“Nothing tastes better than a fresh heart, indeed.”
The heroes could only watch with wide eyes.
Nicolo gritted his teeth.
‘So this is a demon…’
In fact, he and his companions had never seen a demon before.
While they had plenty of experience hunting magical beasts, this was their first encounter with a demon.
‘Just a demon! We’ll cut them down in one strike when we et them!’
‘Why are you stating the obvious!’
‘Hahaha!’
mories of laughing and joking with the companions flash by.
They were truly ignorant.
Face to face with a demon now, he had no choice but to realize.
He was just a frog in a well.
Nothing but an endlessly arrogant fool.
‘I need to move…’
Demons above a certain level have a unique presence.
Like facing a fierce predator.
Any living being facing a demon feels weak in the knees and trembles.
He had heard about it countless tis, but actually experiencing it brought a fear far greater than expected.
Nicolo bit his lip.
The tallic taste of blood helped him regain so clarity.
‘I need to check its combat power.’
Nicolo took out the combat power ter.
[Combat Power: 75,542]
Nicolo smiled slightly.
It was lower than expected.
‘We can handle this.’
The trembling now is just because they’re not used to it.
If they fight, they have a good chance of winning.
Nicolo’s combat power is in the mid-60,000s.
His other companions were also above 40,000.
Though Ellis died from the surprise attack, the remaining four could handle it if they worked together.
“Everyone, snap out of it!”
Nicolo shouted.
“His combat power isn’t much different from ours. If we respond like we always have, we can win!”
His companions’ eyes regained focus at Nicolo’s words.
“Right! We can’t die like this.”
“How many magical beasts have we hunted until now? A re demon is nothing!”
Though they appeared foolish just now, they were heroes who had struggled for three years.
They had been through many life-and-death situations during that ti.
The four heroes quickly regained their composure and ford a formation.
Little by little, they advanced forward to surround the demon.
Seeing this, the demon wore an expression of disbelief.
“Don’t tell you think you have a chance?”
“Hmph. You’ll regret not taking advantage of the surprise attack.”
If he had attacked right after killing Ellis, they wouldn’t have been able to respond.
They likely would have been wiped out.
But now that they’ve regained their senses, the situation has changed.
‘I’ll cut you down here and complete the hero quest.’
Nicolo gripped his sword tightly.
“Let’s go!”
“Haaa!”
The four heroes charged in simultaneously as if planned.
***
“Pathetic~ So pathetic~”
Ten minutes.
That’s how long it took for Nicolo and his party mbers to fall.
Even that was only because of his playful attitude.
If he had been serious, the fight would have ended within 5 minutes.
“Cough!”
Blood spurted from Nicolo’s mouth.
He couldn’t understand the current situation at all.
‘Why… Why is there such a huge difference…’
There are countless heroes in this world.
While the exact number is unknown, it’s certainly over hundreds of thousands.
Among them, how many are prepared to face monsters?
Half.
Only half of all heroes grip their swords prepared for death.
The rest give up fighting and live new lives as ordinary humans in this strange land.
Then among that death-prepared half, how many beco true heroes?
Most aspiring heroes die in their first year.
By the third year, they gain power equivalent to decent knights, but by then, almost no heroes remain.
About 5% of the total.
Nicolo was a hero who stood out even within that 5%.
He always strived to beco stronger and grew faster than others.
‘I gave up everything to beco stronger… But why…’
Exceeding 30,000 combat power gets you treated like a knight anywhere.
Exceeding 50,000 combat power gets you treated well even in large territories, essentially giving you noble status.
Nicolo and his companions gave up all of that.
He left on a journey only to beco stronger.
Yet why does he feel so weak now?
Choi Hyun-seok and the demon before his eyes.
What makes those two different, that they’re so strong?
Nicolo couldn’t understand.
“I, I am… A hero…”
What was the path he had walked until now?
What had he done for these three years?
“A hero? Pfft! You call yourself a hero?”
The demon sneered.
“Sheesh, when every Tom, Dick, and Harry goes around calling themselves heroes, it loses all its weight. All its weight.”
The demon grabbed Nicolo’s head and lifted him up.
“Look around. Where do you see a hero here?”
“…”
“All I see are idiots, don’t you agree?”
The demon grinned.
“Farewell. Sha you can’t play hero anymore. But I’ll tell you sothing good.”
“…”
“Even if you die now, you’ll co back to life soon. When that ti cos, I’ll let you play hero forever. Soone of your caliber should make a decent commander-level entity. Kick!”
The demon raised his other hand.
The hand that had pierced through Ellis’s heart.
A hand soaked in red blood.
Drops of blood were forming at the tips of his sharp claws.
Nicolo closed his eyes.
‘So this is how it ends.’
It seems like quite an empty death.
Since coming to this other world, all he did was fight.
If he had known it would end like this, perhaps he should have enjoyed life a bit more.
“…”
Ti continues to flow.
Nicolo was puzzled.
Why isn’t he finishing off?
Could it be that he died without even feeling pain?
He slowly opened his eyes.
“Keuuu…!”
Before his eyes, the demon’s face had turned red as he struggled.
And the man holding the demon’s hand, Choi Hyun-seok, grinned.
“Got you.”
***
The unnad demon and Choi Hyun-seok clash.
That fight was sothing Nicolo had never seen before.
It was a battle of a completely different dinsion.
Woong! Kwajik! Pa-at!
A battle like sothing you’d only see in animation or movies.
In the blink of an eye, they exchanged attacks, repeatedly closing and widening the distance between them.
Kwa-ang!
The two clashed once more and stepped back.
“Whew. It’s been a while since I’ve had a warmup.”
Choi Hyun-seok casually brushed off his shoulders.
He looked quite relaxed.
In contrast, the demon appeared quite exhausted.
That’s when Choi Hyun-seok called out to the demon.
“Hey. Which division are you from?”
The demon frowned and asked back.
“Division?”
“Which unit do you belong to?”
“How much could a human like you know about the Demon King’s Army to ask such a thing?”
“If you don’t want to answer, fine.”
As Choi Hyun-seok started to move again, the demon quickly held up his palm.
He hadn’t recovered his stamina yet.
Since Choi Hyun-seok seed to want to talk, it seed better to play along for now.
“4th Corps, Direct Nesis Regint.”
“4th Corps? So you’re under Corps Commander Park Hyun-a?”
Upon hearing Park Hyun-a’s na, the demon shouted convulsively.
“That woman is not the Corps Commander!”
“Then who is the Corps Commander?”
“Obviously, it’s Lord Onyx. He’s the only true 4th Corps Commander!”
Onyx was soone he had heard of before.
He was originally the 4th Corps Commander, but after Park Hyun-a ca, he was demoted to Vice Commander.
Choi Hyun-seok didn’t know the details, but he had heard that Onyx had accepted defeat against Park Hyun-a and stepped down.
“Isn’t Onyx the one who got beaten by Park Hyun-a and beca Vice Commander?”
“Y-you…!”
Had he touched a nerve?
The demon’s face turned even redder.
“Shut up if you don’t know anything! He intentionally gave up his position!”
He seed to have unusually high loyalty for a mber of the Demon King’s Army.
“Sigh, that woman will die soon anyway. No, she’ll beco Lord Onyx’s loyal subordinate.”
The demon smiled coldly.
From his words, Choi Hyun-seok could tell that sothing ominous was about to happen.
‘The internal affairs of the Demon King’s Army are more complicated than I thought.’
He had thought they were just a group that liked to fight.
But it seed they had their own political dealings too.
“Anyway, you’re saying you didn’t co on Corps Commander Park Hyun-a’s orders.”
“Of course not!”
“Then you ca on orders from this Onyx guy, what’s your purpose?”
“Do you think I’d tell you that?”
The demon smirked.
As if such a thing would never happen.
“They all start like that.”
Choi Hyun-seok smiled back.
His smile was even deeper and colder than the demon’s.
“After taking a few hits, they all start talking.”
“Hmph, I’d like to see you try…”
Before he could finish speaking.
Choi Hyun-seok, who had already closed the distance, planted his fist in the demon’s face.
Kwadeudeudeuk-!
The demon’s neck twists grotesquely as it flies through the air.
Choi Hyun-seok didn’t let the creature go.
“Going for the corner!”
He grabbed the creature and threw it against a huge boulder.
BOOM!
He launched his fists at incredible speed at the creature pinned to the rock.
“Jab! Hook! Right! Jab! Upper!”
He pumled it relentlessly like hitting a punching bag.
The demon couldn’t respond and kept getting beaten.
‘W-what kind of movent is this…!’
Until just monts ago, their movents had been fairly even.
The demon was getting pushed back slightly, but thought it was at a manageable level.
However, that was an illusion.
Choi Hyun-seok had rely been warming up, just as he had said.
Once he started moving in earnest, the demon couldn’t respond at all.
“Kuhheuk!”
The demon turned into a bloody pulp in an instant, collapsed to the ground.
“Demons are great because they’re tough. It feels so good to hit them.”
These were injuries that would have killed an ordinary human several tis over.
Yet the demon was still alive and squirming.
“Starting to feel like talking?”
“J-just kill …”
“Hey~ What’s with the independence fighter roleplay? We all know the Demon King’s Army isn’t that loyal of an organization, so just spill it.”
The demon’s response was to spit.
“Ptui!”
Choi Hyun-seok wasn’t one to just take that.
He twisted his body to dodge and flowed like water, planting a knee kick right into the demon’s face.
“Kahak!”
“Why do you keep asking for a beating?”
“I-I have nothing to say to you.”
“I already know everything anyway. You were planning to use so kind of necromancy here to raise undead, right?”
“How did you…”
“If you die, the six months of preparation will all go to waste, right?”
Choi Hyun-seok crouched down and brought his face close to the demon.
He spoke in a whisper.
“So let’s talk. Then I’ll let you go. A promise between us!”
“Kuk, kuk…”
Suddenly the demon started laughing.
“Khahahahaha!”
“What’s wrong with this bastard?”
Choi Hyun-seok frowned and backed away.
The demon glared at Choi Hyun-seok with clear eyes.
“You… You’re Choi Hyun-seok…”
“What?”
“Coming close, I can feel a faint demonic energy… Among humans, only Choi Hyun-seok possesses demonic energy.”
Choi Hyun-seok hurriedly covered the demon’s mouth.
“This bastard trying to ruin soone’s life!”
He frantically looked around.
No one should hear this conversation.
“Phew.”
Fortunately, the hero’s party was far away.
They wouldn’t have heard the whispered words.
“Kukuk, Choi Hyun-seok. You being here ans…”
The demon smiled maliciously.
“Yes. You ran away from the Demon King’s Army. I knew this would happen soday!”
“What do you an ran away?”
Choi Hyun-seok put on a serious expression.
“Actually, I’m on a secret mission.”
“What…?”
“I received orders to disguise myself as a hero and monitor the human side’s movents.”
The demon narrowed its eyes.
It was a suspicious look, questioning whether Choi Hyun-seok’s words were true.
“I’m carrying out Lord Hemis’s orders. I can’t tell you the exact details because it’s classified, but…”
“Lord Hemis…?”
“Yes!”
Choi Hyun-seok barely held back his laughter from bursting out.
‘I took a shot in the dark, but he’s actually falling for it?’
Hemis was dead.
It hadn’t even been a month since Choi Hyun-seok left the Demon King’s Army before that.
‘I expected information would be slow to reach soone stuck in the countryside for 6 months… This confirms it.’
He didn’t know that Hemis was dead.
“Let’s not fight among fellow Demon King’s Army mbers. I have to establish my cover identity here too, so I’m just playing hero because I have to.”
Once the ice was broken, the lies flowed smoothly.
“Hey, I need to know the context to decide whether to help secretly or not…!”
“…”
“Just tell roughly what Lord Onyx ordered. Then I’ll play along with the rest accordingly.”
The devil’s – no, the hero’s whispers began.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter! If you would like to support or read advanced chapters, you can do so by unlocking chapters.
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