Demon King.
The six lords reigning over the Demon Realm, beings capable of manipulating an entire dimension.
Their power is beyond what ordinary demons can fathom, rivaling even the eight thrones of the wicked angels.
With such overwhelming strength, they generally avoid interfering with the Lower Realm.
Just as a human wouldn’t bother meddling in the kingdom of ants, they too see no reason to intervene in the land of those less than bugs.
“…That must be the case.”
But why?
Why is the power of the Demon King over there?
A being imprisoned long ago on an altar, Immensus swallowed loudly as they watched the shield imbued with their will shatter.
It was a protection they had painstakingly crafted.
Considering their opponent was of the Celestial Race, they thought it necessary to keep a careful eye and granted more power than what was originally required.
Not that they hated the Celestial beings.
All past emotions had long been forgotten after being imprisoned here; only the escape mattered to them.
It didn’t matter whether the challenger ascending the altar was one of the Celestial beings, as long as they offered ‘value.’
“Why do they possess a fragment of the Demon King? And also a dragon and an angel?”
They couldn’t understand.
There was absolutely no way those creators would grant such power.
‘Especially to a mere test subject like a dragon and a bitter angel.’
“…….”
Chaos!
─Kyaaaah!!
─Run away!
─Please save me!!
“…This is dangerous. But beautiful.”
Though it was merely a fragment, just swinging it sliced everything apart.
The fragment bore no will.
It wasn’t using any strange tricks or gaining profound enlightenment about the piece.
That young dragon was just ‘swinging’ it.
Yet, defying all logic, it cut through everything.
“I’m certain. That’s not something received. It must have been picked up randomly.”
Of course, just because one picked up a fragment doesn’t mean anyone can wield it.
“…I need to revise my plans.”
A ‘value’ greater than anything else has appeared.
—
After extracting information from the girl I captured earlier, I headed to a cave where their group hid.
There was a rather high-level shield set up in the cave, layered with magic and imbued with their own powers, but it wasn’t made by them.
‘At least someone gave them magic.’
It’s a level close to that of upper-tier ‘power.’
If I try hard enough, I could break through, but I thought of a simpler method.
A spherical shield covering the hideout.
Even if the composition of the shield was made up of high-level magic, its essence was still just a shield.
Once breached, it loses all meaning.
“Lin.”
“Sre?”
I summoned Sre, who was diligently munching on meat, and asked him to break the shield in front of us.
Sre banged his head against the shield a few times, letting out an “Uh!” before raising his front paw and bringing it down in a fit of rage.
Kaboom!
And it shattered.
The shield created by an upper-tier existence crumbled down way too easily.
[Wow!]
[Hahaha!]
[It broke like a piece of candy! LOL]
[Sre is adorable.]
[Great Sre!]
[Dragon punch!]
[Info: Sre’s claws can even cut Lily!]
[Technically, number one among Lily’s summons!]
[This is insane!]
Kraaaack…!
It’s cold! It’s so cold!!
As I slipped through the cracks of the broken shield, I could see the corrupted beings shivering in the cold.
“Graaaar!!”
And amidst those corrupted beings, Sre was running around.
Inside, there was concentrated magic, but Sre had already adapted to the frigid magics.
Such ‘low-level’ magic couldn’t affect Sre at all.
Seeming excited by the long-awaited action, he was enthusiastically exhaling cold air, but the cold was merely part of Sre’s basic abilities.
“Uh?”
The real power lies in those purple crystal-like claws.
Tap.
“Ouch.”
Lifting Sre’s claw, I poked it into my hand, and instantly, a small stream of blood oozed out.
Still sharp as ever.
“Is it fun?”
“Yes!”
“Good. Play more.”
I put Sre down again and looked at my hand, which still hadn’t stopped bleeding.
Though the cold was still flowing, as I concentrated on the holy energy, the cold gradually subsided, and before I knew it, the bleeding stopped.
The Demon King’s power is formidable, but without will, there’s a decent chance of countering it.
“Eek!!”
“Dark Sorcerer. And oh, there he is.”
“A monster…! It’s a monster!”
The Dark Sorcerer and the corrupted Great Mage Tio.
The two villains were huddled here, hiding.
They scattered their magic in resistance, but having already lost their will after witnessing a fragment of the Demon King, and with whoever created this shield offering no additional strength, they were at a loss.
What happened next was similar to what occurred on the 49th floor.
I used holy power to completely drain their strength and brought them before the now-queen princess, who, despite her surprise, expressed her gratitude.
Furthermore, I recovered and eliminated all the magic they had unleashed on the outskirts of the continent, ensuring they wouldn’t get into trouble again.
I even learned the name of the one who granted them power.
‘Immensus…’
It’s clear he’s of the Demon Race, but perhaps because he hasn’t risen to the upper ranks, it’s a name I haven’t heard before.
It seems I’ve never heard that name before.
The unique ability is darkness close to infinity.
Of course, it isn’t truly infinite; there’s a limit to the darkness he emits.
By the time I meet Leo, who has made a full circle around the world…
Ding!
[The Master of the Altar lets out a chuckle.]
[Great Achievement! You have destroyed the shield created by a great being in one fell swoop!]
[You have earned the title, Shield Destroyer (Sub-Divine)!]
[Growth’s Altar Level 65 has been conquered.]
[You have obtained five Golden Coins.]
[The door to Level 66 opens.]
Level 65 has been broken.
Leo and I returned to Level 65, with five Golden Coins in my hand.
“It’s broken.”
“Eh. Already?”
“Did you see everything I said?”
“Yep!”
While I was dealing with the corrupters, I made one request to Leo, who was vulnerable to magic.
“It was just the sea? After going around, the continent came back up.”
“What about above?”
“Above is just the universe…”
“Hmmm.”
So that place was just fabricated after all.
I had suspected it ever since there was one continent on a single planet.
[The end?]
[This took a bit longer than expected.]
[Next round, let’s go!]
[It’s been over two hours.]
[This took longer than I thought, lol.]
[Yena is still on Level 73, so it’s fine.]
Unlike Level 49, Level 65 wasn’t complete until I finished everything, so it took some time.
Though it was beyond the promised two hours, it couldn’t be helped.
Leo and I headed straight to Level 66.
[The Master of the Altar is focusing on you.]
■
After that, the difficulty of the levels was mostly similar.
Leo and I rapidly ascended the levels and arrived at the last mission room before Level 80: Level 79.
Level 79 required stopping the horde of demon beasts rushing into the kingdom.
The Dark Sorcerer and Tio had been completely taken care of without a chance of reappearance, but the demon race sent forth another minion to move the demon beasts.
Leo merged with the Spirit King of the Wind to sweep them away, while I simply cleaned up with my spear and hammer.
“This one’s a bit easy.”
“That’s right.”
But still, they were only demon beasts around Level 160.
With Leo draped in a holy buff and me having reached the fourth tier, they weren’t all that strong against us.
[This is too easy?]
[ez]
[Demon race is nothing, lol.]
[Growth’s Altar Level 80 has been conquered.]
[You have obtained four Golden Coins.]
[The door to Level 80 opens.]
Sizzle—
[The door to Level 80 opens.]
“…? Lord Leo?”
As we were returning to Level 79, darkness suddenly enveloped me, moving me somewhere.
Done.
The broadcast has been cut.
No, it’s not that the broadcast has been cut.
“Is time running out this fast? Seriously, what a bunch of crazy folks. I’m sorry, you have to avoid ‘Cheongsu’s Eye’ to have a conversation.”
A space similar to the Spiritual World.
The Master of the Altar invited me to another ‘different’ 79th floor where the flow of time is different as soon as I cleared the 79th floor.
Shuffling. Shuffling.
Someone approaches from beyond the darkness.
Instinctively, I pulled out the White Guardian, and the pure white light illuminated the space shrouded in darkness.
All I see around are countless boxes and familiar coins rolling about.
And…
“Rabbit?”
“Sit down. We don’t have much time.”
A rabbit with black fur held a wine glass in one hand while waving the other in the air.
As he waved his hand, a golden table and chair, along with a gigantic box, appeared in an instant.
He sat down on the chair and tapped the table.
“What’s this? Why aren’t you sitting down?”
“So this is how you made the fake?”
I didn’t sit down but picked up a rolling coin.
Coins made up of quite a variety of forms and structures.
These were probably used to trick Yena.
“To be liberated, I had to do anything.”
“Are you a Demon Race?”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“My former name was Immensus, but now… I’m just a rabbit with black fur. Who I was in the past isn’t really important.”
“It is important.”
The opponent is a Demon.
I can’t understand why he called me here, but if he’s a Demon, he has no intention of doing me any favors.
‘Demons are as much a target of hate as Celestials.’
He frowned but soon shook his head.
“Alright. Let’s be honest. How much do you know about this world?”
“Just that strange raccoons are managing it?”
“Exactly. Those not-so-funny raccoons are manipulating everything in the world. And that also applies to the ‘Masters of the Altar.'”
Clink.
“I’ll give you information about the raccoon. In exchange, hand me that fragment.”
“Fragment?”
“The fragment of the Frost Demon King! I don’t know how you got it, but if you just hand it over, I’ll give you everything. 1 billion? No, I can give you 10 billion! Experience points, whatever you want!”
He said this while spreading his arms wide.
10 billion and experience points. And information about those raccoons I’ve been dying to know in exchange for the fragment?
“I’d rather not.”
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