I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake. Chapter 158

I Killed the Demon King. It Was a Mistake.

Chapter 158

Other Black Horn tribe members rushed to save the troll.

However, when the staff stripped away the black energy attached to their bodies, they collapsed and died as if they had lost their souls.

The black energy, united as one, flew through the skull staff to save the troll.

Caesar wielded Thunder towards the ‘path’ created by the black energy.

The black energy was engulfed and burned by divine flame.

When the divine flame tried to spread along the black energy, the staff cut its connection with the troll.

“How strange.”

The staff, as if alive, somehow pioneered another path and injected black energy into the troll.

It was undoubtedly a mysterious and vulgar object.

Could it perhaps be destroyed?

Caesar held Thunder in both hands.

“Uriyaaaaaaaa!”

Berserker triple stack.

Caesar brought down his axe.

Using Steel Wind, the staff bent like a bow.

Its elasticity seemed better than expected.

Creak! Groan!

It seemed the object was trying desperately to endure.

But in this world, all existing forces are ultimately brutally shattered by more powerful forces.

Snap!

A terrible scream leaked from the skull staff.

Kyaaaaaaaaah!

Like a train spewing smoke, it violently expelled black smoke into the air.

Finally, the staff was completely crushed.

Caesar looked around.

All the Black Horn tribe members who had rushed to save the troll had fallen.

Caesar turned off Berserker.

His swollen body subsided, and the steam rising from his body disappeared. [TL/N: Gear 4]

Caesar picked up a broken piece of the staff.

‘If I have time, I’ll read its memories using psychometry.’

Rustle!

After stopping Berserker, Caesar turned at the sound behind him.

There were beast people.

The beast people were looking at Caesar with a mix of curiosity and vigilance.

Then he saw one person he recognized.

“Caesar?”

A beast person from the Red Fox tribe.

It was Arang.

***

Caesar sat on a rock embedded in the middle of the open ground.

The beast people were looking at Caesar sideways while organizing the wounded and dead.

Arang gave a few instructions to the beast people and then approached Caesar.

“How did you know to come here?”

“Hard to believe, but it was really a coincidence. I needed a place to land Whitey.”

Whitey was circling near Caesar.

Why is this guy being so annoying?

-…My owner has too many scary friends.

-I should listen well.

Caesar took a turnip from the luggage tied to Whitey’s rear and casually threw it on the ground.

-It’s a sweet potato!

As Whitey fell to eating the turnip on the ground, Caesar could focus on Arang.

Arang was standing with crossed arms, staring at Caesar.

“You want us to believe that?”

“If it wasn’t a coincidence, are you saying I knew in advance?”

“You could have known through doppelgangers.”

“Even if that were true, what would change? I saved you.”

“Your help was unnecessary. We didn’t ask for it.”

“That’s true. But I think I deserve at least a thank you.”

Beast people, succubi, and those with tails can read emotions even without reading minds.

A tail swaying at the waist means curiosity.

A tail fluttering means good mood.

A tail rising straight up to the head means vigilance.

Currently, Arang’s tail was sitting low, with just the tip swaying like a leaf in a gentle breeze.

It was shame.

“…I’ll say thanks for now.”

It feels like talking to a cat.

By the way, you’re a fox.

Aren’t you a canine then?

Why are you acting like a cat?

“Anyway, it looks like you’ve met other tribe members.”

Arang nodded, looking at the beast people organizing the battlefield.

“That’s right. But now more of our people are captured.”

“So you deliberately tracked down and ambushed the Black Horn tribe?”

“Yes. They don’t set up guard shifts when they sleep. Well… From their perspective, they don’t need to.”

Arang’s gaze turned to the skull staff.

Of course, with this skull staff, one could be revived even after being assassinated.

Why bother setting up guard shifts?

Caesar held the broken skull staff and said,

“Come to think of it, do you know anything about this skull staff?”

“We don’t know much about it either.”

“I still hope you could tell me something.”

Arang began to ponder for a moment.

-…Should I tell him?

-Still, since he helped us, I should tell him what I know.

He still seems to be wary of Caesar.

Of course, it would be awkward if a doppelganger who hit the back of his head acted like nothing happened.

Why did he betray anyway?

“It’s a staff created by the high priest of the Black Horn tribe. It’s given to the most talented shamanic priests among the trolls under his command.”

“High priest? What’s that?”

“You’re talking as if you know nothing about the Black Horn tribe?”

“Exactly. I know nothing at all.”

Arang tilted his head.

“Didn’t you say there are doppelgangers in this forest? Why didn’t you ask them when you could have easily gotten answers by contacting them?”

“I’m not close with those doppelgangers. I don’t want to be close to them either.”

The doppelgangers hidden in the beast people’s forest are all Elijah’s avatars, which makes him slightly uncomfortable.

Should he describe the relationship between Elijah and Caesar as a temporary alliance?

While they could potentially backstab each other at any moment, they’re moving together because their goals align, something like a marriage of convenience.

So he basically didn’t want to give Elijah too many details about Caesar’s location or movements.

“…I completely don’t understand. Aren’t you fellow beings?”

“Didn’t you say that historically, your tribe hasn’t been on good terms with the Gray Wolf tribe? Why weren’t you on good terms, even though you’re both beast people?”

“…Well, it’s too complicated to explain easily.”

“Same here.”

Judging by Arang’s tail, which was slightly stiff and standing upright, it seemed his questions weren’t completely resolved.

“You’re such a strange doppelganger.”

“In what way?”

“Among the doppelgangers I’ve met so far, I don’t think there was anyone quite like you.”

“Are you talking about the doppelgangers you met during the Demon Realm War?”

“That’s right. They were all uniformly taciturn.”

Caesar momentarily felt a chill down his spine.

“…What was that like?”

“It felt like talking to a talking gargoyle. Talking to a gargoyle might have been better.”

“Wait a moment.”

Caesar grabbed Arang’s wrist.

And he recalled the appearances of the doppelgangers he had met.

Countless doppelgangers from numerous battlefields.

Though they all looked different, they shared one common trait: their expressions were lifeless.

“…What are you doing?”

Caesar released Arang’s hand.

“Nothing special.”

From this, he could confirm one thing.

All the doppelgangers Arang had met so far were Elijah’s avatars.

Caesar looked at the other beast people and asked,

“Did the other beast people also find the doppelgangers they met to have little emotional variation?”

The other beast people thought for a moment and then all nodded.

“What about the doppelgangers you met before the Demon Realm War?”

“Meeting doppelgangers was almost unique to the Demon Realm War, except for the Demon King, of course.”

“What was the Demon King like? I didn’t meet him much, so I don’t know well.”

Arang and the other beast people shook their heads.

“We don’t know well either. Because the Demon King rarely appears except during battles. Well, if there’s something unique, he was somewhat hot-tempered.”

“Didn’t you feel something was strange? That all of their personalities were stiff?”

“…I just thought that’s how doppelgangers are. Of course, I didn’t have the capacity to think about it deeply.”

This problem seems more serious than I thought.

Caesar met two doppelgangers before meeting Pepe or Elijah.

However, those doppelgangers all had abilities and personalities.

One was extremely cowardly, and the other was gluttonous.

Their emotional expressions were quite diverse, and they were always on edge, worried about being exposed among humans.

If all the doppelgangers he had met so far were emotionless derivatives of Elijah…..

It would be correct to say that most of the demon realm war was manipulated by Elijah’s hands.

‘I thought Elijah might have been active during the demon realm war… I never thought he would be operating this deeply and secretly.’

Of course, it’s not right to talk only about the representatives of Arang’s race.

It would be good to have a conversation with vampires who have lived quite long, like Borden.

“Why are you asking about that?”

“No, it’s just that something seems a bit strange. It’s not certain, so it’s awkward to tell everything.”

“…Is that so?”

Caesar changed the subject before they could question him further.

“By the way, are you practicing the typhoid prevention method I taught you? How is it? Is it okay?”

“There is definitely an effect. But I never dreamed it could be solved so simply.”

Caesar looked at the young beast people sitting in groups in the open space, boiling water in crumpled helmets and grilling meat.

The process of lighting the fire was quite unique, the beast people knelt before a dead log and prayed before lighting the fire.

It seems like some kind of tree funeral or something.

“Just boiling water and grilling or boiling meat to eat. At first, I thought it was a joke.”

“But the effect was good, right?”

“Yes. Is this what they call hygiene? Anyway, the number of typhoid outbreak patients drastically decreased. Of course, the mountain tigers and gray wolf tribes objected to burying or wind-burial of dead trees instead of cremation… But everyone accepted it.”

“If you want to survive, you have no choice.”

“Yes. If you want to survive, you have no choice.”

The reason beast people don’t eat meat is obvious.

They love trees terribly.

Mountain tigers bury trees deeply so that not a single branch protrudes when a tree dies.

Gray wolf tribes perform wind burial by moving trees to an open space where there are no trees.

The red fox tribe cremates on rocks.

If these beast people who love trees so terribly have to use firewood for every meal, wouldn’t many of them say they’d rather starve?

The reason they are currently doing cremation is because there are many dead trees due to the orcs. Probably, if the dead trees disappear, they will start raw eating again.

Because that’s just how they are.

“By the way, I want to hear about the high priest and priests. Who are they?”

“We don’t know much either. But what’s certain is that all the priests and the high priest are trolls.”

“Are there no priests with unique abilities?”

“Among the priests, absolutely not. They only have the ability to control black energy.”

Caesar had just cut two horns from the troll.

But they have no abilities other than controlling black energy….. 

I’m not sure if this is the limitation of the high priest who creates devils, or due to their abilities.

“So the high priest has 3 horns?”

“No, 4.”

4 horns?!

Does that mean he has 4 abilities?

Caesar could barely handle the twin-headed ogre because it was a ‘melee-type’ devil.

But looking at it, the troll seems to be a ‘wizard-type’ devil who uses magic or sorcery.

Wizard-type demons are more than twice as tricky compared to melee-type demons.

Melee-type demons can at most enhance physical abilities like wrapping weapons with strong energy or growing an extra arm or mouth.

Wizard-type demons mostly have unique abilities like sealing opponents, preventing them from using their arms or legs, or avoiding death.

One doesn’t need to look far for an example, just look at Andromalius.

Wasn’t he able to skin a living devil’s skin and wear it, extending his life, and transform his bodily fluids into any desired medication?

If he hadn’t faced Barre, he would not have been able to kill him.

“Does he also have no abilities other than controlling black energy?”

“Unlike other priests, he does have other abilities.”

“So, looking at the high priest’s abilities, he can create this skull staff, and create devils from Orcs. That’s two confirmed abilities, right?”

“No, he uses the black energy to create the staff and transform Orcs  into devils. So the ability you know is just one.”

“Huh……”

I’m speechless from the absurdity.

What is this black energy that can create demons and skull staff?

“Do you know anything about this black energy?”

“We only know that much. But we do know one of the high priest’s abilities.”

“Oh, what is it?”

“When the high priest dies, he is reborn by ripping through the belly of another Black Horn tribe member.”

Was this guy an alien in his past life?

Why on earth would he be born by ripping through a belly?

“So you can’t kill the high priest unless you kill all members of the Black Horn tribe?”

“As far as we know, that’s correct.”

“Do you know of any other abilities?”

“I’ve never heard of any other abilities.”

Caesar sighed deeply and fell into thought.

This is much more complicated than expected.

He can only be killed by wiping out the entire Black Horn tribe.

Meanwhile, it seems he can turn any Orc into a Black Horn tribe member…..

If this goes wrong, the demon realm might entirely fall to the Black Horn tribe.

“Are you planning to kill all Black Horn tribe members?”

“Yes. That’s the plan.”

“That’s impossible no matter how you think about it. No matter how strong you are, you can’t face so many Black Horn tribe members alone.”

“Oh, it seems I haven’t told you my affiliation.”

Caesar pulled out a military tag from his neck.

“I belong to the Allied Forces. I’m the special operations battalion commander leading 300 wizards, 103 knights, and 664 soldiers.”

“What?! 300 wizards?”

Is it because they are beast people who use magic?

It seems he knows very well about the power of wizards.

TL NOTE:

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