Chapter 159. A Clash Between Two Fools
The Maze Forest, where Hayangi was staying.
The forest where my life had truly begun to get tangled up.
The forest where everything had truly begun revealing itself.
I had finally arrived at its entrance.
I didn’t stand there staring blankly at the forest while drowning in nostalgia.
What would be the point now?
More importantly, I couldn’t even see the forest at the moment.
All I could see were people dressed in bright red clothes who looked completely out of their minds.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
“Aaaagh!”
“Enemy attack!”
A rain of arrows fell as if covering the entire sky, and screams erupted everywhere.
Some people hurriedly raised shields to block them.
Others didn’t even have shields and were struck defenselessly, turning into human porcupines.
“How annoying.”
“Seriously....”
Jayeon lightly stretched one hand forward and blocked the rain of arrows pouring toward me.
When people saw the arrows bouncing off the enormous ring extending from Jayeon’s arm, those who had been defenseless slowly began gathering around me one by one.
So damn annoying.
“Why... Why did they suddenly...?”
“...Haha....”
At this point, I was used to problems appearing every step of the way.
Of course.
Sure.
It must be the world telling me to overcome hardship no matter how rough and long the road became.
Haa....
What I desperately needed was something warm, gentle, and fluffy.
Why was that so difficult?
“Uncle, what are we supposed to do?”
“That’s what I’d like to know....”
I didn’t know the details, but members of some radical organization called the Salvation Faction had occupied the village people needed to pass through to enter the Maze Forest.
Until recently, they had apparently been living peacefully among themselves.
Then at some point, they suddenly became violent...
And things ended up like this.
“If we release the kids and wipe them out during the night, I’m worried about the rumors that’ll spread afterward.”
“If we try talking them down, fanatics like that probably won’t listen.”
“If I lead everyone together and we all work hard as one...”
I stopped.
That felt too much like what the Chairman wanted.
The type of person Ruin would probably accept as someone worthy of allowing the world to continue...
Would most likely be some flawless Hero who gathered countless people’s hopes and made them look up to him.
If I stepped forward here, led everyone to victory, and made them all happy...
Then I would be taking one more step toward becoming that ideal Hero.
Do you know how hard I worked to fall all the way down to my current position as a Demon King hated by everyone?
Absolutely not!
“Hero, please! Please save our village!”
[Quest Generated! ‘Sudden Division...!’: Take back the village occupied by the Salvation Faction and restore peace to its residents!]
[Success Reward: ‘Talisman That Drives Away the Mist’]
The forest mist didn’t matter to me.
The only person affected by it was probably the Village Chief.
The reward wasn’t particularly useful either.
What?
Experience?
Reward money?
Do you seriously think reward money matters to me now?
I own the arena!
I’m preparing a franchise branch on the Alliance side!
Do you understand?!
“If someone cannot stand on their own, what good will opening the front door do if they still can’t climb the stairs?”
I shook my head.
“I refuse.”
“W-What does that even mean?!”
“Handle your own problems yourself.”
“Do things properly on your own and become an adult by yourself.”
“Keep those words deeply engraved in your heart.”
A worthless man.
A bad guy nobody expected anything from.
A racehorse wearing blinders, charging straight ahead toward the destruction of the world.
A bulldozer with broken brakes driving straight onto the sidewalk.
That had recently become my dream for the future.
“If you cannot protect what matters to you with your own hands, then what good will escaping this immediate crisis through my strength do?”
“If this happens again because you remained stupid and pathetic, are you going to rely on someone else next time too?”
“How pathetic.”
[The trait of the Agitator class activates! Many people begin to waver because of your words!]
Agitation?
What exactly was I agitating them toward?
“I will not interfere in this battle.”
“Protect your own village yourselves.”
“If you want to sit there helplessly and run away, then go ahead.”
It would mean taking a long detour...
But let’s just go around.
If things got really bad, even if it was a little dangerous, we could just ride Flying Fish and fly in through the air.
‘...Wait.’
‘Since we’re already here, should I just overturn everything?’
Apparently there was some monster settlement near this village too.
So we could go there...
Either lure the monsters out or subdue them...
Then lead them here and slam them straight into the village.
Yeah.
That didn’t sound bad.
Ah!
Before leaving, let’s say something shocking.
Something that completely ignores and mocks the other person’s value.
Hmm....
What would be good?
“...Be reborn.”
“?!”
Hmm.
That came out a little strangely.
Whatever.
Let’s go deal with the monsters right away.
“What did you say lived around here again?”
“As far as I know, they are descendants of ancient spirits.”
Aien explained.
“They exist somewhere between spirits and fairies.”
“They have built their own civilization, but they are still treated as monsters.”
Wooden masks.
Bodies made of stone, wood, and earth.
Flowers blooming through the cracks in those bodies.
For some reason...
I immediately liked how they looked.
“They look like they’d be incredibly nice....”
I grinned.
“Which means corrupting them will be even more satisfying!”
Let’s hurry.
I’m not getting involved in complicated fights between humans.
I was going to dive straight into the world of monsters where I didn’t have to care about complicated relationships or interests.
If I went to those spirits this time...
I might be able to sell them the wooden fragments left over as dead stock from the Hero promotion exam.
They had been too difficult to control to use properly.
Or maybe I could plant them and control the spirits however I wanted.
“Looks like it’s our Jayeon’s turn to work hard.”
“Leave it to me.”
Jayeon puffed up proudly.
“Spirits are no different from turtles flipped onto their backs in front of me!”
That was a cute expression.
Still...
First, we should talk to them—
No?!
Bad Ingwang doesn’t solve things with words!
He shows it through actions!
I’m going to become such a terrible person that even Ruin will go—
“Tsk... This is a little much....”
I’ll become such a horrible human being that Levy’s heart nearly explodes from happiness.
Inhale.
Exhale.
I’ll do it!
“There it is.”
“They even built walls like, ‘We live here~’.”
“...But it’s way too quiet.”
“...Yeah?”
Aien raised the question, and everyone tilted their heads.
We left the rest of the party outside the monster settlement and went in.
The entire settlement had an eerie silence hanging over it.
We searched thoroughly.
There were plenty of spirits with their heads hanging down as though dead...
But none moving around actively.
“What is this...?”
“Hibernation or something?”
Jayeon examined one.
“These spirits are extremely hot inside.”
“Almost like there’s a fire burning within them.”
They were spirits.
And also somewhat like fairies.
It wouldn’t be strange for them to have one or two unusual traits.
Or...
This current state might be the aftermath of some enormous disaster.
Hmm.
This was a little troubling.
If I helped them and turned them into my subordinates...
Wouldn’t that make my path toward becoming a villain even easier?
“Uncle! There’s something like an altar over there!”
“An altar?”
I shrugged.
“Aren’t altars all over this game?”
“That’s true, but....”
Just in case, I picked up one of the curled-up spirits and carried it with me toward the altar with Aien.
The altar itself didn’t have any especially distinctive features.
But compared to the rest of the settlement, it gave off a very foreign feeling.
Even when I placed the spirit on top of it...
Nothing happened.
“Usually there’s at least some kind of hint.... Ah.”
The Salvation Faction was in the village below right now, wasn’t it?
Was this their work?
But the Salvation Faction....
Did they have some connection to Erol?
As far as I remembered, Erol had hit it off with Chang and gone traveling somewhere else.
Hmm.
Just hearing the name made them sound like some cult.
There had probably been something with the exact same name in reality at some point too.
“...Should we offer a sacrifice?”
Aien stared at me.
“How do you know what’ll happen if you do that?”
“Maybe something good will happen....”
But admittedly...
If I offered a sacrifice here and something resembling another Demon King suddenly appeared...
That would be a problem.
After I flooded the Underground Kingdom, players quickly formed raid parties and attempted to attack the Demon Kings in different regions.
And yet...
There still hadn’t been news of even a single Demon King being defeated.
It was rare for anyone to even reach a Demon King.
That was how absurdly high their raid difficulty was.
‘There’s no way we can handle something like that by ourselves.’
For a moment, I considered causing the problem and then running away.
But the balance between humans and demons couldn’t collapse yet.
Maybe once I became strong enough to at least hold out in front of a Great Hero.
But right now...
It was too soon.
“Then for now, let’s move these guys to the Abandoned District—”
I stopped.
“No.”
