Chương 2: Chapter 1 - Prelude to the End of the World

Despite talking a big game about destroying all of reality as I knew it, I had one teeny, tiny problem. I couldn't even get back up to the boss room to clear the tutorial. Whatever magical barrier AltSys had erected to stop me from leaping to my doom was dozens of feet down from the start of the lavafall. In addition, it was spherical, and I couldn't get enough grip to climb the sides. I attempted to do a [Flash Step] assisted jump, and that got me close, but I was still about 5 feet short.

If this world was any gamier, I could probably just swim up the lava. I grumbled to myself. Fortunately, I had a spell that would work perfectly for this exact scenario. [Blink]. Unfortunately, I had no mana to cast it with, Singularity was completely empty from casting the ritual, and I had also used up all my mana and stamina potions in the lead up to the ritual as well. That left [Cast From SP]. I had a further problem there. Since I had failed to defeat any enemies, I was sitting at level 1.

Level 1 [Demon Lords] only have 150 SP. I checked the skill, just to see, and saw it had gone up to 6. I tried to cast [Blink], the 100 MP spell, using all my SP, and it just failed and refunded my stamina. Well this is great. I thought as I flopped to the floor, defeated. Guess I just lay here for all eternity. … Despair form may have been affecting me more than I thought. I idly scrolled through my inventory. I looked at the dragon parts that I still hadn't done much with and kept scrolling around. Oh.

I forgot about you. I thought as I stumbled on an idea. It would only give me one shot due to the tutorial's mana-draining effect on me, but it was better than sitting down there moping for the rest of eternity… marginally.

"Alright, Titus," I told myself.

"You'll have to swim against the current if this works, so the armor will have to go." I removed my armor, stuffed it into my inventory, and then focused. Alright, [Flash Step] and jump as far as you can, then [Blink] as far into the river as possible. After psyching myself up sufficiently, I crouched, jumped with a [Flash Step], and then pulled out my one remaining wand that I hadn't touched in ages.

"[Blink]!" I cast at the apex of my leap. I was expecting to get a few feet past the end of the lavafall and struggle against the current. I went much, much farther than that. What the frick? I asked myself as I looked around inside the calm part of the lava flow. My [Spatius] skill is capped. Why am I suddenly going farther? I opened up my skills. I didn't even get to [Spatius] before I spluttered lava in amazement. [Temporus]… level 10. But why? How did I gain so much experience from casting a single spell…

I trailed off. Wait… Did it increase faster because I cast the ritual while in combat? I groaned with a mouthful of lava. If my guess was right, that meant that instead of blindly casting [Foresight] whenever, I should have picked fights beforehand. Oh, well. I thought. Doesn't matter. I don't need any more skills for my next plan. I took another quick look through my status now that all of that was squared away, and I discovered the reason for my extra distance on [Blink].

While [Spatius] was still sitting at the cap of 5, [SpatialTemporus] was now also sitting at level 5. That would do it. I paused. I wonder how far I can [Teleport] now. However, I was curious about one final thing. I flipped over to achievements. I remembered way back that there was one for getting a skill to the soft cap of 5, so I was sure there had to be one for level 10 in a skill. [Skill Master]. 5 perk points… 7 total. Just 3 more, and I can get my last perk for fast health regen.

That still sounded like the least helpful perk I could pick up. The number of times that I had died, or even felt threatened, by someone outlasting me in a way that regen mattered was 0. Oh well. Might as well get it anyway. I was stalling. It was time to put my armor back on and clear the tutorial for the 8 th time. I slowly swam to the surface and pulled myself onto the shore. That was a lot harder than I expected. My body still felt heavy, and moving was difficult.

However, that seemed to be a side effect of the despair aura that was currently making the entire room collapse on the floor and not attack me. So, I guessed that was worth it. I painstakingly got my armor on, one piece after the other, and lit on fire. Alright, now to just pull my aura back in… I tried, but… I couldn't.

"That's not good," I muttered. However, it didn't change things much. The first wave went down just about the same. I just had to walk around with my legs that felt like lead and punch enemies as I went with [Fire Strike]. Wave 2 went about the same. The elites came in, got hit with my aura, and then fled and/or collapsed to the ground where they were. The only difference was the boss. It was strong enough to shake off my aura and charge toward me.

It bowled me over, threw me, bit me, and used its flamethrower on me. With my full set of Demon Lord armor on, none of that dealt a single point of damage. I was back up to level 4 after the earlier enemies, but my body still felt like the entire world weighed down on it. I could barely manage to shuffle after the boss, and half-heartedly hit it with [Earth Strikes] whenever it grabbed me. However, that was enough. The boss eventually died, and I had the presence of mind to pull out Singularity as it did.

Being ported out of the tutorial always restored me to full resources, and I wanted to ensure my staff was also charged up. And then, it was time to decide. Where to port to? I asked myself as I thought about destinations. My plan would require a lot of travel, but it didn't necessarily have to be in order. And so I tried north first. Can I teleport to Gert? Or whatever the capital city of the United North is these days? I asked the obelisk system I had technically set up 500 years ago.

System: High Effective Spatius skill detected. However, destination obelisk is not in range. Darn. I thought for a moment. Maybe central instead, then… What about Dave Paradise? I asked. System: Coordinates set to Dave Paradise That'll do. Send me out. System: Warning. Zone is currently claimed by a hostile faction, and the boss is available. I mentally snorted. Do it. I appeared right next to the obelisk in the early morning light. I got the usual spiel… System: The realm trembles as a new Demon Lord is born!

Demon morale has been restored, and darkness begins its nefarious plans to conquer the world … and a boss health bar for the Blob of Daves appeared.

"[Hell Blaze]," I cast into the cluster, defeating it instantly. And then I heard shouts of panic. It appeared that the [Watch Officers] were still guarding the dungeon every day to ensure that only the scheduled party got their level-ups. I shrugged. Today's team would just have to deal with it. I shuffled slowly to the southeast as I began casting [Teleport]. I passed by one officer who was frozen in a mixture of shock, panic, and despair. I stopped and slowly swiveled my head to look at him.

"Boo," I stated flatly. That finally kickstarted things, and he ran away screaming like the rest. I had announced my presence to the world, and I was sure that I would have an army, or the [Hero], on me as soon as they could get to me. However, "as soon as they could get to me" was not within 10 minutes. My [Teleport] finished, and I was suddenly at the base of the great central mountains. I began my climb. It was just as cold as I remembered, if not more, since we were in the middle of winter.

However, my black flames and my innate cold resistance were enough to keep me from the chilled debuff. The only problem was that mobs now inhabited the great central mountains. There were icy bats which were more annoying than a threat and even ice wyverns. I discovered the latter when it knocked me off a cliff, and I splatted to the ground. I only survived and stayed out of Demon Lord form due to my extra health from my helmet and the fact that there was 2 feet of powdery snow at the bottom to cushion my fall.

After that, I decided to approach things in a lazier way. I pulled my staff out, waited for mana and for [Teleport] to be off cooldown (which, apparently, my extra skill levels had really cut down the cooldown time), and then I teleported to the top of the great central mountains. 1 short ritual later, I was done with part 1 out of 5 for the next step of my plan. After that, I [Teleported] down to the river separating Pumil and Dryadal.

I was planning on letting the current do most of the work for me as I traveled to the United North, but I paused before jumping in as I caught my reflection.

"If I needed to eat, I would say I was dying of starvation," I said quietly as I took in my gaunt and shriveled form. I shook my head at my hunched form and put my appearance out of mind. Without further ado, I walked a few steps into the river, collapsed into it, and let the water take me north. That was what I had done the last time I needed to go to the United North, and I figured it would work just fine this time.

I completely forgot that the last time I had traveled via the river, water monsters weren't really a thing. In just a minute, knife fish appeared and started ineffectually bouncing off my armor. Unfortunately, the water seemed to negate any damage from my flames, so I needed to kill them if I wanted them to stop bugging me. I couldn't bring myself to care. I rested until Singularity was full again, stowed it, and then just relaxed and let the current work.

I eventually made it to the shore of the northern sea. I had amassed a huge school of knife fish that were following me doggedly, even though most of them had run out of SP and had to rest several times. I also accidentally caused two monster waves in some of the riverside towns I passed, which also gave away my position to the world. I mostly just shrugged that part off. The worst case scenario was that they caught me, and I died, which would mean I got to reroll my Demon Lord form.

Since despair seemed to especially suck, I was almost willing to just jump on the [Hero's] sword if I had to. However, I figured death would come in its own time. I didn't need to rush it. In the meantime, I would at least continue working toward my plan. I looked at the huge school of fish that was following me. Nothing stopped me from leaving them there and letting them disperse, but I was also kinda irritated with them. One cast of [Lightning Spear] later, and their dead bodies all floated to the surface.

Then, after recovering my mana, I cast [Teleport] as far as I could north into the sea. Swimming with my armor on was kind of awkward, but the only other option was to die like a scrub to any water monsters that came after me. And while thinking of that, I [Disrupted] [Monster Magnet] because I didn't want to deal with another giant school of knife fish. … Or find out if the rumors of sea monsters that I had heard way back had any merit to them.

To doubly ensure that I wouldn't test out that rumor when I was only at level 8, I decided it was best to do most of my water-based travel via [Teleport] instead. I simply sank down and rested, since apparently, I couldn't float even with how light mithril and dragon scales were and then swam back up when [Teleport] was off cooldown.

I eventually arrived safe on the bitter cold shores of the United North. With a few more [Teleports], I arrived at my destination. A certain dungeon surrounded by huge walls of ice. I spent the next several hours on a ritual and was done with part 2 of 5 of my next step. I teleported to the treasure turtle beacon in the far east and continued my shuffle to part 3 of 5. I reached the giant snails soon enough.

While I was initially planning to pass them by, I realized that I had several different things that I could spend my skill points on. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Increasing the cap on [Spatius] and [SpatialTemporus] was the biggest one. It took about 5 times as long as normal, but I eventually killed enough snails to hit level 20, found my training zone obelisk, and bought those two upgrades.

[Spatius] actually hit 6, but [SpatialTemporus] didn't budge. That was kinda expected. [SpatialTemporus] was a higher-tier skill, so it would have been silly if it already had enough experience banked to hit 6. Though, a part of me had been hoping that the [Restart] ritual had been enough to get it to 7 or 8. With that taken care of, I cast another ritual at a certain volcano. Then I teleported to one of my many beacons I had placed around Gram to give me a way back after fighting the treasure turtles.

This particular one was a Children of the Flame hideout in DeepMine town. … Or at least, it used to be a Children of the Flame hideout.

"Excuse me," I stated as I shuffled past a shocked group of people who seemed to be throwing a feast of some kind.

"Don't mind me," I continued as I made it to the door, let myself out, and then finally heard the sounds of panic and calling for the [Guards]. … I might have also accidentally lit some stuff inside on fire with my armor, but I just shrugged and kept walking. Little else of note happened while I was in that town. Oh, some archers took potshots at me, but I just ignored the arrows that bounced off me. The one thing that mattered was that I overheard a [Soldier] speaking into a magic artifact as I walked past him.

"Recall the [Hero]! [Demon Lord] sighted!"

"Recall…" I muttered as I stopped. I turned to face the now petrified man.

"Is the [Hero] still Jonathan Andrews?" I asked.

"Y-y-yes," the [Soldier] stuttered in reply.

"Good," I nodded slowly.

"Tell him I'll meet him here in… a week or so," I continued. With the date of our showdown scheduled all nice and neat, I [Teleported] south to complete part 4 of 5. I cast the ritual, waited for some mana, and teleported to a beacon I had placed in Jenkins. Then, it was south to the river, so I could travel west to the ashlands. I mostly floated along, spammed [Teleport] whenever it was off cooldown, and I was free of the river in just a few days.

Then, it was the travel across the ashlands, which went even faster than I expected. It estimated that my maximum range for [Teleport] was above 100 miles at that point, and I could do that every hour with how low the cooldown was. That really ate up the ground. Then, with my final [Teleport Beacon] created at my castle, I was satisfied. Next step complete. I thought. Now, guess I die. I teleported back to my DeepMine beacon, scared the crud out of the same family, and then walked to the obelisk at the town center.

I collapsed near it and looked up at the sky. He should find me here easily enough. I thought. For the next couple days, I mostly just wallowed there. I had nothing to do but think, and I didn't really like that. I wonder why none of my speakers have tried to get in touch. I thought idly at one point. Oh… They probably all died. I had taken every single member of my cult into the deathlands to ensure I completed the ritual. My failure likely meant that my cult was no more. Easy come, easy go.

I joked to myself mirthlessly. However, I didn't really need them. I just needed to get rid of this despair form so that I didn't have a non-existent weight crushing down on me with every step I took.

"Stand up and face me, [Demon Lord]!" I heard the call after who knows how many hours.

"Finally," I groaned as I painstakingly forced myself to a knee and then up. I was face to face with a much older Jonathan Andrews. A bunch of people in golden armor also flanked him. No… Not gold. Paladium armor. I realized. Wow. What a waste.

"We meet again, Jonathan," I stated, ignoring the utterly useless armor on display.

"Come to slay me once more?"

"Yes, monster, and I-" Jonathan started.

"Then get to it," I grumbled, cutting off whatever indignant speech he was about to give. He scowled, readied his sword, and it started glowing. He's not that stupid, right? I asked myself.

"[Sunder]!" he shouted with an ensuing thunderclap. I just sighed in response. I could have let it kill me. I could have just done nothing. However, it was better for my plans to reset the [Hero] immediately instead. I just assumed that wasn't going to be an option. [Sunder] met [Reflect Attack], and Jonathan ate dirt.

"Well, you did always want to be like Jake," I muttered.

"Power of light restore-" the armored people started chanting. Of course, the people in the anti-[Demon Lord] armor were [Clerics] or [Paladins]. Should have guessed. They also needed to die because I had just shown them one of my trump cards. However, their chant was lengthier, giving me time for two spells of my own as I pulled out Singularity.

"[Summon Dave]," I cast with my staff pointed over the [Hero's] back.

"[Hell Blaze]!" I cast towards the largest grouping of enemies. Unfortunately, they had wisely spread out, so even though I [Overchannelled] it, I still couldn't hit the entire group. I stowed Singularity as I [Flash Stepped] in. Then I laid into the first armored figure I saw with [Fire Strikes], but I took small bits of damage as I made contact with the paladium. I ignored the damage because I assumed it was inconsequential… I was correct, but not for the reason I thought.

The [Cures] had not been aimed at the downed [Hero] like I had assumed.

"[Cure]!" a dozen voices rang out as they all aimed toward me. I [Disrupted] one, but that left more than enough damage to kill me outright. I yelled in pain as the spells entered me, one after the other, and that was the one thing that saved me. It was one after the other and not a single large attack. System: Critical HP Detected. Sufficient Level Detected. Demon Lord Form detected. Auto-activating Demon Lord Form.

System: Attempting to activate despair form I really need to figure out a better way to deal with healing magic. I thought to myself. I couldn't believe I would lose a fight like this… even though I had done nothing to prepare for it since I had just been planning to die. System: Despair Form Activated With a quick slaying of the dave that was on his back and several [Heals] shot in his direction, Jonathan got back to his feet. He quickly drained a health potion, which got him back above half.

"Hold your attacks until the health bar is filled!" Jonathan shouted.

"He's invulnerable until then!" Jonathan had studied [Demon Lords]. He knew about the monstrous power of wrath, madness, and pride. He knew about the trickery of deceit and envy. However, he could only guess the powers of greed and despair. That meant he couldn't be sure that he would succeed here. And that was why the entire town, his beloved hometown, had been evacuated, and high-level members of the army and watch placed on the outside to ensure that the [Demon Lord] would not escape.

However, the concerning part was that the [Demon Lord] didn't appear to be transforming as the health bar filled up. The accounts always said that he grew in size and became a monstrosity, often accompanied by screams. But there was nothing, not a whisper, until the health bar filled. With a quiet, wordless moan, the [Demon Lord] melted before Jonathan's eyes and became a puddle. Everyone stared at it, bewildered, for a half-second, and then Jonathan took control again.

"Ranged attacks! At the puddle!" he shouted. [Heals] and [Cures] were shot in its direction, and John's caution was vindicated as the health bar decreased. However, no one present expected the shallow puddle to suddenly expand. It grappled all of the [Paladins] present with its bubbling ooze and began pulling them under. Meanwhile, the ooze reached Jonathan, and he struck down at it with his sword. The health bar visibly moved at that, and the ooze seemed to shy away from him, but that was only in one direction.

It came from the sides and behind, and Jonathan was soon trapped and sinking in the tar-like substance.

"Just hold on!" John shouted.

"The paladium is working! Its health is decreasing! Just stay strong, and we'll defeat him yet!" The [Paladins] yelled back their agreement, and everyone gathered struggled against the binds and attacked the puddle… until they were all the way under. Jonathan found himself in a world of inky darkness.

"Jonathan, Jonathan, Jonathan," came an eerie voice.

"Where are you?" John asked the surrounding darkness as he swung his sword at nothing.

"Stand and face me!"

"No need to face you," came a voice from in front of him.

"Not worth the time," came a second from his right.

"You don't hold a candle to Jake," came a third from his left.

"I may not, but I am still strong enough to defeat you!" John shouted.

"Really?"

"Jake wasn't strong enough."

"I went easy on Jake." John snorted.

"Your lies are easy to see past, [Demon Lord]."

"Shall we show him?"

"We don't even need to lie."

"We only need to give the truth." Suddenly, the inky void was replaced by… the Faroff Forest dungeon? He was looking through someone's eyes. There was a party standing there, and was that… Jake? John asked. He looks so… young. He watched as the mimic ate the young [Hero].

"Mmmmm. Tasty [Hero]."

"Savior of the world, gone just like that."

"Tadah. I won." John laughed.

"You honestly expect me to believe that is what happened? Jake defeated you. I know his story by heart!"

"You're right."

"That's what should have happened."

"Here is what did." John watched in confusion as the memory replayed… only this time, it quickly changed. The memory shook and jerked as the person, which John belatedly realized was Titus, sprinted to Jake just in time to tackle him away from the mimic.

"And another."

"There's more."

"I saved him many times." John watched in confusion and slight horror as memories played out. Saving Jake from the dragon, saving him from the fall off the great central mountains, and defeating him during the final showdown.

"I could have killed him."

"In some ways, I did."

"Had to die instead." A creeping dread started coming over him, but John shook his head to clear it.

"It doesn't matter! Jake still defeated you! He still became a [Hero]! And-""Poor little John."

"Doesn't even measure up to Jake."

"And not even Jake could defeat me."

"I will," John answered quietly, trying to fight the dread coming over him.

"I will find a way out of here and-""There's no way out."

"You're trapped here until you die."

"And you've already lost." System: Zone, DeepMine Town, has been claimed by the Demon Lord Faction"No," John whispered.

"You couldn't save it."

"You were too weak."

"Your hometown is gone. Just like that."

"I…" John started.

"I will…"

"You will die."

"Just like Jake."

"Old and alone." John couldn't even respond.

"But it's okay."

"The next [Hero] will take care of it."

"Don't you trust the System?"

"System," John said softly.

"Yes, System will take care of things."

"Not even Jake killed two [Demon Lords]."

"Just rest, [Hero]."

"Your work is done. Let the next one take care of things." John's eyes felt heavy. I just… need to rest for a while. His eyes closed… and that was the last thing he knew.

System: The Demon Lord has slain the Hero! As the Hero has named no successor, a new Hero will be chosen To be honest, that fight was a much closer call than it initially seemed. While John was kind of easy to target with despair by comparing him to Jake, the [Paladins] that had been pulled in along with him had much fewer chinks in their psychological armor. They also damaged me over time since pulling in paladium inside of that form still hurt me.

In other words, if they had just hung on for long enough, I would have died to the [Paladins'] armor. Instead, the [Hero's] death was enough to make the rest fall like dominos. It was so much easier to make people despair when the literal [Hero] of the world had done so himself. After taking care of the [Hero] and his [Paladins], despair form took care of the rest of the soldiers on standby around the town… with a bit of help from all the monsters that spawned as a result of me claiming a town zone. And then…

the hour was over.

The puddle reformed into my body, and I was left blinking.

"I… won?" I asked incredulously.

"Demon Lord form never wins against [Heroes]. What the frick?" I looked out across the razed town, with my monsters running amok, and then shook my head.

"Well… I guess we're doing this now, then," I muttered. I pulled out Singularity and began casting.

"Time to speedrun the end of the world."

The [King] of Gram sat at his desk during another mundane day… at least until the first message from glorious System appeared. System: The Demon Lord has slain the Hero! As the Hero has named no successor, a new Hero will be chosen He frowned and called for an aide.

"This [Demon Lord] has only been active for a few days, and yet Jonathan Andrews is slain," he muttered to himself. That was… a bad tiding. An even worse one was that his faction had lost a zone.

"Get me news on the new [Hero] as soon as possible," he told his aide.

"Also, send word to [General] Cunningham. He is to retake DeepMine." His aide bowed, left his presence, and the [King] returned to his thoughts. The [Demon Lord] has never claimed a town zone from us in history… Has he? He called for a [Historian] while he continued on his paperwork. It was a tragedy, but the town had been evacuated before the [Hero] engaged the [Demon Lord].

And given how the [Demon Lord] operated in the past, [King] Graham was more worried about him trying to regain followers and do another ritual than take over with military might. At least, until an hour later when the second message from glorious System appeared. System: The earth dungeon has been claimed by the Demon Lord! Only 3 elemental dungeons remain!

"The earth dungeon?" [King] Graham asked.

"Only 3 elemental dungeons remain?" His eyes widened.

"No… It is just like the story of Jake! The [Demon Lord] is trying to end the world!" Like most people in Placeholder, [King] Graham had mostly forgotten that the [Demon Lord] had that option. He swiftly left his study and attempted to get ahold of his peer in the United North. The [Demon Lord] would soon be headed in that direction, and their [President] needed forewarning. The warning wasn't needed for two reasons.

First, the [President] of the United North was already aware and mobilizing people to the ice dungeon. Second, it was already too late. System: The ice dungeon has been claimed by the Demon Lord! Only 2 elemental dungeons remain!

"It has only been an hour!" [King] Graham exclaimed.

"How has the [Demon Lord] already reached the frozen north!?" From there, it was not only Gram but the entire world that started to panic. An emergency [Scry] session was called for all the leaders of Placeholder and their courts. Everyone attended. The [King] of Graham, [Queen] of Pumil, the [President] of the United North, and several [Governors] of Dryadals city-states. Besti was the last to join. [Queen] Pumil yelled…something…that made her [Translator] wince.

"Her Majesty thanks the Besti delegation for joining us… finally," the man stated in Virian. He then repeated himself three more times in what [King] Graham recognized as Gertian, Elvish, and Bestian. This will take too long! Graham's [King] grumbled internally. The dungeons will all be claimed before this bureaucratic nightmare finishes! His worries were interrupted by aging [Princess] Violet of the Besti delegation.

While he didn't speak the beast's tongue, and the [Translator] had not yet translated her most recent statement into Virian, there wasn't a need. The woman had pulled out a scrying mirror that showed the unmistakable visage of the [Demon Lord] wreathed in black flames and lying next to an obelisk in a frozen room. The meeting erupted into chaos. 5 different nations all shouted over each other in their native tongues.

"Quiet!" Graham shouted.

"Let the woman speak!" However, he only succeeded in adding more fire to the flames. No one there could understand his shouts either. This cannot go on. He thought. We need order, regulations, and… a common language. Or at least, magic items to translate. By the time the people had been calmed enough to hear the Bestian [Princess's] explanation, the [Demon Lord] had turned to look at the [Scry] and destroyed it.

The [Princess] sparked yet another uproar when she left view of the multi-nation [Scry] and then came back with the [Scry] showing the [Demon Lord] once again. The blue text preserve us. Graham thought. Though, this time, it was because of what was showing on the [Scry] and not the incompetence that the world leaders had shown all around. The [Demon Lord] had stood up. There was now a better view of his gaunt and hollowed figure and of his menacing staff that he was using to cast… something.

The [Demon Lord] grumbled and destroyed the [Scry] again, just a minute after the last time. Cooldown is 1 minute on that skill. The tactician in Graham immediately noted. One did not become the [King] of Graham without training in military matters, of course. Order was eventually restored, and the nations were told that Besti had secret knowledge of the [Demon Lord] that allowed their leaders to [Scry] him… but that was as much as their oaths would allow them to tell.

The next order of business was to try to convince the desert dwellers to move to protect the fire dungeon, but they dug in their heels.

"The area around the fire dungeon is far too dangerous to send our [Monks]," the Besti delegate stated.

"And, unfortunately, given the [Demon Lord's] abilities, the point is moot anyway. By the time we could muster our warriors, the [Demon Lord] will have-" System: The fire dungeon has been claimed by the Demon Lord! Only 1 elemental dungeon remains! The entire meeting ground to a halt as everyone stared at the message from System.

The Bestian [Princess] excused herself once more, got the [Scry] on the [Demon Lord] up and running again with a whispered spell cast, and they saw the [Demon Lord] lying down in a volcanic dungeon.

"Very persistent," the [Demon Lord] muttered while turning over on his side to stare directly at the spell.

"Are you the fey?... No… Couldn't be them. They'll never want to see my face again." He rolled over onto his back and continued.

"Who else could that be… That pretty much just leaves Gram with their neat little spying and espionage facility-" [King] Graham whitened slightly.

"I have no idea what he could possibly be referring to," he stated, with his [Translator] faithfully removing the awkwardness of his lie.

"-or… Besti," the [Demon Lord] finished.

"Ah, that would make more sense. How is that traitor Ren doing? Has he kicked the bucket yet? Hope he got his money's worth out of the dungeon and all those gems." The [Demon Lord's] casual revelations immediately put Gram and Besti under fire from the rest of the meeting. So much so [Princess] Violet didn't bother getting the [Scry] up and running after it was snapped yet again.

The one good thing was that everyone knew that the [Demon Lord] was a liar, so both Besti and Graham were able to come out of the accusations mostly unscathed… mostly. Graham was sure that his people's operations would come under much more scrutiny. Getting back to the original purpose of the emergency multi-hour meeting, as expected, there was nothing any nation could do before the 4 th message from System greeted them. System: The air dungeon has been claimed by the Demon Lord!

No elemental dungeons remain, and he can now activate the demonic portal in the west! In the span of less than 6 hours, the world had lost its [Hero], and the [Demon Lord] had claimed all of the elemental dungeons. The only thing that they could discuss was what to do next. The good news on that front was that the next [Hero] had already been located. Fortunately, he was a member of Pumil's stoneguard, which meant he already had a bit of combat experience. Unfortunately, no one quite agreed on what they should do.

Should they send an entire army after the [Demon Lord]? Just the highest-level individuals? Should the [Hero] level some more or go immediately? King Graham decided they needed more information first.

"[Princess] Besti, can we get confirmation on the [Demon Lord's] position?" King Graham asked. She nodded as soon as the translation came through and then reactivated the [Scry]. It had been more than an hour since the air dungeon had been claimed, and that meant the nations got to watch in silence as the [Demon Lord] ascended the obsidian steps to his throne.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry that it came to this," the [Demon Lord] said as he practically collapsed on the throne.

"If there was any other way to get in touch with him… I would have used it." He shook his head.

"But this is the only way, so I'm not backing down. I guess what I'm trying to say is…" He sighed deeply, and then his piercing red eyes looked directly at the [Scry].

"Rally your armies. Bring your new [Hero]. Send everything you have after me to try to save this stupid little world because, as of now… the kid gloves are off." The [Scry] cut out for the last time with yet another snap. There was still hours' worth of arguing to be done, but there was one thing that everyone agreed on immediately. Placeholder would not give up without a fight.