Demon King

“I hurried as much as I could!” I replied to my sister, who punched my arm as I stepped out of the gate, followed by the rest of Rebellion. Cain stepped through last, being especially careful.

[You’ve become even more beautiful. Is this the power of forbidden love?]

“It’s the power of evolution! I’m going to brief you on the situation, so stop joking and listen!” Human greed was the main motivation behind wars, and this one was planned the moment the Great Fusion happened. We were now in an era where all man-made rules had collapsed, and it was impossible to know when you would die.

“The cause is simple. Dungeons and Chaos Souls have continued to appear, and all of the countries are suffering from resource shortages as the lands that were formerly occupied by humans are being taken over by monsters.”

“There’s no way to stop it.”

“China and the United States have become the main pillars, while the other governments were swept away. The first battle just occurred a while ago. An entire city was wiped out by an army of wizards.”

“Wait, what about the Korean government?”

“There’s no way it will survive. I wonder who’s to blame for that?!” Korea’s main strength had been One Flag and Lee Minha, who I had erased from this planet.

“Just joining the war will be ruinous, there are powerful people on either side.”

“The pollution of Chaos Souls in China and the United States wasn’t so severe, so the government should still be at full power.” Quite a bit had remained even after killing all humans who had been assimilated with the Chaos Souls. No doubt, I influenced the start of the war because of that. My actions had been abrupt, and none of the humans knew about the Chaos Souls. In their eyes, I was functionally a powerful terrorist who had been walking around, killing as I pleased. Maybe it made them act irrationally, though I had no intention of taking responsibility for their actions.

“It’s a relief then that there’s no fear of a nuclear war.”

“But there are groups with nuclear-like destructive power.” For wizards who dealt with high-level magic, teleportation magic to move large groups over a long distance was a breeze. They could move entire armies right into the middle of enemy territory on a whim, which was terrifying enough.

“Brother, what are you going to do?” My sister always complained about me, but she had full confidence in my strength.

“Rescue the dwarves.”

“…Huh?” She blinked blankly at me.

“Rescue the dwarves. Then, we’ll attack all the dungeons that sprang up.”

“Dwarves…what about the war?”

“I’ll ignore it.”

“But you said we’d have to intervene!”

“With the dwarves and the dungeons. Now that Devil’s Night has passed, there will be a storm coming to Earth. The war may make it difficult to move, but we have to ignore them and move regardless.” She looked like she couldn’t believe it.

“Are you really my brother…?”

“We’re not some savior like Santa Claus. We don’t have to try and embrace the disaster that’s coming for humanity. Rather, there’s no way to stop it.”

“Still…”

“Si-yeon.” I clasped her shoulders and looked into her big anxious eyes, seeing my reflection in them.

“I’ve no desire to force you. You can do whatever you want, and I will go about this my own way too. Whether one-hundred million or even a billion people die in this war, there are dwarves who will be my allies and dungeons that will increase my forces. That is more important to increasing the probability of us surviving.” I was connected to her through the chain of Domination, but I had no intention of forcing her to move according to my will. She just needed to do what she thought best. I had already prepared for her safety so that she wouldn’t die. I moved away from her and turned to face the group.

“Let’s move everyone. The record has started to react, so they’ll be here soon.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll follow your will.”

[War…damn it.]

[Finally.]

The rest I had taken was long and sweet, but now on, only work remained. My sleeve was caught by my sister, and I looked back at her reddening face.

“What is it?”

“I also…want to go with you.”

“What about the war?”

“Rather than humans who don’t even know…my brother is precious to me.”

“…Will it bother you, though?”

“Huh.” Her face was full of agony, but she seemed to have no intention of speaking. Her determination and conviction, which had taken her this far, was amazing. But now she was saying she would leave that to go with us.

“Is it important enough to ignore humans dying in front of you?”

“To me, it is.”

“…Then it is to me too.” She slapped her cheeks and turned toward Han Jia, who was looking at her with her mouth wide open.

“Then, I will now go by myself. The rest of the guild’s command will be temporarily transferred to you. Please take into consideration everyone’s will.”

“Si-yeon…” Han Jia seemed hesitant but eventually nodded.

“We will protect our country somehow. Come back safely.”

“Hm.” It was pathetic that the country needed to be protected by two children of high school age. I let out a sigh at that thought as the record began to spin.

“Let’s go straight away. It’s possible that the Elakatra will be on standby, so be prepared.”

[No problem.]

I poured my mana into the record, the needle of which stopped spinning and created a huge gate in the air. From now on, I might not be able to sleep for a few weeks. I was worried that my sister wouldn’t be able to withstand it. I unconsciously turned to look at her, and she let out a sigh as my thoughts were made plain on my face.

“You’re the one who made me evolve, don’t worry! Ow, that hurt!” She thumped my back solidly as she reassured me. I smiled and jumped into the gate with the group. From now on, we would secure the dwarves and dungeons that were appearing on Earth.

I heard a voice suddenly that sounded remarkably familiar.

[It is gradually being completed.]

“…?” Looking back, there was only Han Jia, waving a hand toward the gate with a somewhat stupid expression. She was waving vigorously.

‘No way. Whose voice was that?’ The question worried me, but I couldn’t figure it out. Ultimately, where the gate led us, there was a battle taking place that wouldn’t allow me to think about it.

It didn’t take long to secure the dwarves that appeared around the world. The dwarves were spread out all over the world at the same time, but with the record, I could be just as fast as the Elakatra. Fortunately, we also had the other dwarves assist us. Our party would head to the nearest place, and we sent dwarves protected by higher-level monsters to the distant places where dwarves had shown up. Thanks to the record taking them there, even if a difficult enemy showed up, they could quickly run away. In addition to that, my new magic combined with Ubiquitous allowed me to send my self to other places instantly, making things much faster than they had been before.

“It’s beyond comprehension. If you grow anymore, I might have to start calling you a god.”

“If I were a god, things would be going a bit better. Move without the bullshit.” Our movement was extremely fast, but everyone noticed us in every country we showed up in. We had no intention of hiding the fact that we were the ones rescuing the dwarves. Some countries claimed rights to the dwarves that had appeared, and some tried to attack us. We didn’t intend to go out and fight them, but those who attacked us were boldly killed.

“They are the enemies of mankind!”

“These guys are crazier than those on the Devil’s Night!” I could see my sister’s pained expression whenever humans were killed, but she didn’t act. She already learned the harsh lesson that she couldn’t change their minds. It was one I learned the hard way myself.

“It’s all so stupid. Why do they fight when we could work together to drive the monsters out…”

“The range of ‘all together’ is much narrower in their minds than yours. I’m no different because my concern is that we only need to survive.”

“Brother, am I among that we?”

“…Yeah.”

“…I see.” As she traveled the battlefields with me, I could tell her thoughts were changing. Her convictions were being broken down. Her ideals, such as ‘humans must not fight with other humans.’ were starting to crack. She realized it was impossible to stop the fighting, and that even if I could stop it, the problem would remain. She had no choice but to be brought down to reality. Of course, for her to be happier, I didn’t think her losing that need to sacrifice herself would be a bad thing. But I couldn’t help but feel bitter that because of me, she had to make a compromise with reality.

Before I came back, she didn’t hesitate to risk her own life, but because she now had family around, she couldn’t do that anymore. That stuck in my heart. Maybe I didn’t want to reveal myself to her because I didn’t want to change the way she thought.

We all began to notice that despite being on the move for two full days, no elves showed up.

“It’s as if they vanished from the planet.”

“They may think if they run into us, they’ll die and be consumed.” El, the leader, was arrogant, but his men weren’t. Close to twenty of their best had died on the Devil’s Night, so it was natural for the rest of them to be on guard. It would be great if they stayed hidden, but that wouldn’t happen. The next time I faced them, it might be the final battle. No doubt, I would see him then, though I knew I couldn’t beat him as I was now. My heart pounded regardless, a small bit of arrogance sprouting in my heart.

‘No. Pride is stagnation. I’m still lacking, there is still much for me to devour.’ I shook away those vain thoughts as the representative of the dwarves who had gathered so far approached me.

“We will go underground as well.”

Only

“With comrades that will join us, we will create a new home on Earth and leave these fools to bite at each other.” To persuade the other dwarves, Alec and the others had mobilized with supportive behavior and speeches. As a result, contact with the dwarves went smoothly.

“With this, we have 23,200 people. Thank you, Fate. The plan is coming to fruition.”

“There’s still a lot left. Let’s move.” As soon as the rescued dwarves were sent underground, a new gate to more was opened.

“I finally found it.”

“Crazy. Look at that huge amount of mana.” What happened was something I was only vaguely aware of by some miraculous chance.

“What do you guys know? Explain.”

“Wow, there are only strong people!” I looked back, finding four high-level entities I hadn’t sensed, standing side by side.

They were humans who had reached the realm of the higher system through their own strength.