The Demon King Who Draws

Chapter 22

“…This is it.”

“Where is this…”

Mawen’s party finally reached their destination with his uncle.

Kwarlung-!

“Is this… a dungeon?”

“It seems so.”

Mawen gritted his teeth.

“Damn those demons! As expected, they had a sinister scheme!”

“That’s right! The incident they caused in Riudira was also to lure us here!”

“…Hmm.”

When they discovered a dungeon, reporting was the priority.

But this party was different from the others who had been devoured by the Rotten Roots, as they had a strong person in their party.

“Uncle, what do you think?”

“What are you asking?”

“We could also choose to go back…”

Mawen said that, but he expected his uncle to disagree. He himself had only asked a formal question.

“Go back… Hmm, fine.”

“…Yes?”

“Of course, only you.”

“What do you mean…”

“I’m not going back.”

As expected, he thought his uncle would do that.

“I won’t run away either.”

“…”

“My father was taken away by the wicked demons. How can I leave when I have my enemy in front of me?”

Marus looked at the people behind him.

The vanguard Dale, the cleric Freya, the mage Roem.

They were all novices.

But they had experienced all the dangers with Marus, so they had a distorted view of the world.

“Uh… Um…”

“What should we do…”

As the two in the back hesitated, Dale asked.

“Do you have a reason to keep chasing Fon, no… Faust, even if it means risking your life?”

“…Never again.”

Marus’s face was grim, sad, and angry.

“Never again will I let the same thing happen that night because of my hesitation.”

“…”

“If we lose him here, someday there will be victims I don’t know. I… have to stop that.”

They all nodded, moved or empathized by his speech.

“Then I won’t back down either.”

“And, if we have Marus with us, we can easily defeat those demons, right?”

Marus added the final touch.

“It’s foolish to underestimate the enemy before a battle… But promise me one thing. No matter what happens, I’ll protect you if you stay by my side.”

“Then we’ll go too!”

“Let’s all together, root out the evil!”

Nod…

Mawen never felt his uncle was more reliable than at that moment.

Click…

Click…

Whooosh-!

As the fire on the torch went out, five figures disappeared into the underground of the rotten roots.

* * *

“Lord Faust.”

“…”

“There are intruders.”

“I see.”

The intruders had sneaked into the rotten roots.

‘They finally came.’

As I expected.

I didn’t think they would back off.

The warning and declaration of war I left for Mawen across the bridge in the pouring rain.

That I would kill them all if they chased me.

If they ignored that warning, I would do my best to make them regret it.

Sssssssssss…

As I spread my hands wide in my heart, the dungeon’s terrain appeared like a hologram.

There were five red dots on it.

When I zoomed in, I could even see the shape of their mouths like a CCTV.

The dungeon connected to my heart was literally my other body.

So they were no different from being inside my stomach.

Kuuuuung-!

“The door, the door we came in is gone!”

“I see. But… what kind of forest is underground…”

“Huge is an understatement, it looks no different from a rainforest at a glance.”

Every word they uttered was information to me.

A diviner or a shaman.

Or a monk or a cleric who had thrown off their novice status.

They could have defended against eavesdropping if they were at least that level.

That means, their level is not even that.

Sssssss…

“Uncle, why are you doing that?”

“…No, I felt something suspicious, but I guess it was my imagination.”

Marus looked at the air for a moment and turned his eyes.

“Then, let’s move.”

“I trust only you, Marus.”

They started to move in a direction.

They were a fairly meticulous party, leaving markers or slashing the ground with a knife to mark the path they had moved.

As I looked at them, I thought of my top priority.

‘It would be best to kill them all in the forest field, but the chances are… slim.’

One of the five was the boss of episode 1, the serial killer Cal Curso.

Cal Curso was a tough opponent even if they had cleared the previous stages without any trouble, but now they hadn’t even properly gone through the previous stages, so they might be slaughtered by all the lives in the dungeon.

…Me too.

‘It’s not hard to read Cal Curso’s moves. The important thing is how I respond to his moves.’

It’s been a while since I crossed over to this world of Lemegeton. What should I call the point I realized while living here?

There is one, creepy point.

That is, the things that happen here mostly follow the timeline and setting of the game Lemegeton, but not all events match perfectly.

For example, the abilities of the demons were summarized in a few lines of text in the game, but the abilities that the demons used in actual combat were much more diverse and free.

The Phoenix who spewed fire constantly in battle, and the Black Fairy Queen who manipulated the rainforest terrain near the dungeon at will, were examples of that.

Also, the mailbox that Agnea had hidden was also a feature that was integrated into the UI in the game, but it was a real object here.

Not only that.

Strangely enough, the amount of magic stones, the gacha currency, was more than in the game.

Because of this, I was looking for other ways to get magic stones, unlike the game where I could only get them through payment or daily dungeon guardian missions.

The world was similar to what I knew, but not identical.

That fact, which I had to accept, sometimes caused fatal dangers.

Like the situation now, where I brought Cal Curso in front of me without any preparation.

So I have to be sure at every moment. I have to doubt endlessly to survive in this world that hates me.

‘I’m ready, but… I don’t know what variables there are.’

Variables can happen anytime, anywhere.

Usually, each stage of the chapter can be dealt with by just having a field ready, but there are exceptions.

Especially difficult stages or situations like boss battles.

In boss battles, if you let the battle go automatically, you usually get into trouble.

So you have to use the hand control, where the user controls the field manually.

“Move soon.”

“Okay.”

My command was to the Black Fairy Queen who controlled the forest.

Then the command was to the demons of the forest she controlled.

Rustle…

“Huh?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Did you hear that… sound?”

“…No?”

“Maybe not…”

As the cleric tilted her head, Marus raised his hand and said.

“Stop, it’s an ambush.”

“What? What…”

“Get ready!”

Pipik-!

The mage who was stepping back stepped on the trap he had set up.

“Arrows!”

Tudududung-!

Dale blocked the arrow trap with his shield.

Prr-!

Aah!
Sting-!

A goblin’s poison sting hit the cleric’s ankle.

They had a lot of gaps, as befits novices.

“Uncle!”

“I’m coming!”

The goblins that had been waiting in advance attacked the party from the front under the Black Fairy Queen’s command.

It was a devastating attack that could sweep them away if they didn’t respond quickly, as they appeared from the fog.

“Damn, there’s a shaman! Mawen, follow me!”

“Dale, you protect the rest!”

A textbook response.

They split into two groups, guarding the rear and attacking the shaman.

Until then, they would be able to cope with it easily. If they thought the threat to the rear was serious, Marus could always pull out and save them.

But I don’t want that.

Kwaahhh-!

“…Orcs?”

“Uncle! Orcs…”

“Mawen, get behind me!”

“But…”

“They’re all adults! You’re not ready to face them yet!”

What if another threat was added to Marus and Mawen who had separated?

“Damn it, Dale! Hang in there! I’ll finish these guys and…”

Their separation lasted a little longer than a moment, and this…

“Start.”

Even if the two groups were torn apart right away, no one could put them back together.

Forest, move.

Chwaaaaa-!

Suddenly, the forest shook and twisted the terrain. The dense trees filled the gap between the two separated groups.

“Wait… what is this…”

“Mawen! Don’t fall!”

“Kyaaahhh!”

“Marus! Mawen!”

Eejiijiik…

Eejiijiijiik…

The forest’s terrain changed greatly.

The change separated the intruders into two.

“Damn it!”

“Go-goblins too were swept away!”

“A blessing in disguise… How did this…”

It wasn’t just a matter of a barrier being created between them. They were lost in a dark forest with no light, where the fog was thick.

‘But, this side also took a lot of damage.’

Orcs and goblins were the most convenient pawns among the forces I could move. Those tribes were torn apart by that move.

‘The orcs were killed by Marus, and the goblins were swept away by the separation…’

As I expected.

“The torch?”

One left.

Whooosh…

“Let’s not separate from each other.”

“Yes, right now the only one we can rely on is Dale.”

“Ma, right!”

“Ahem… Let’s find the two.”

As the separated ones chattered, I was thinking about the information I had received from the Black Fairy Queen beforehand.

“This scale of change will consume a lot of power for me. I probably won’t be able to recover until the next battle.”

At the time, it was an unexpected remark.

Instead of expanding the range and effect of the ability, it would cause aftereffects.

Or maybe this was also because of the increased capacity and autonomy of the demons. In this world, hasty certainty is like poison.

“How much power can you save?”

“Half is hard.”

…Giving up the next battle is a huge risk.

“Then what about time? How much can you buy?”

“Deliberately separating the two groups will last at most 10 minutes… After that, they can meet each other at any time.”

…I see.

Time limit 10 minutes.

Enough.

In my plan.

As I came out of my mind, I saw Dale and the two women still standing still.

“The forest moves… It’s hard to believe even after seeing it.”

“Is this horrible forest really the land of that Fon… no, Faust the demon?”

“…We’ll have to find out from now on.”

The mage, who was holding the cleric’s clothes tightly in fear, pointed to a tree a little away and said.

“There’s a light…”

“Be careful!”

“We have to find Marus and Mawen somehow, right?”

“Yes, this situation is more dangerous now.”

“Let’s go, it could be them.”

“How about shouting?”

“Do you want us all to die here?”

“Go closer, it might be Marus’s torch.”

They were drawn to the light, and approached the dense forest.

“This light… it’s a spirit.”

“A tree spirit, right?”

“Is it, dangerous?”

“Well… I don’t know exactly…”

Then, something moved through the trees, piercing the light.

“Mawen? Marus?”

Kujijijik…

The trees shook and a huge body appeared.

The forest troll raised his club high and greeted them.

“Th-this…”

“Runnnn!”

The club fell vertically.

Kwajiiiiiiik-!

Something was crushed, breaking the silence of the forest.