Intermission: Demon Lord (part 3)

After completely evading the guards' pursuit, Claygramor, albeit belatedly, introduced himself to the two.

The girl's name was Milka and the young man was Sian. Strangely, Sian introduced himself with his full name, Sian Fontes de Castilho, and asked if he had heard a similar name before.

When Claygramor questioned, Fontes de Castilho was supposed to be his family name. Apparently, he did not know his parents and was seeking information about them.

That was not a strange name in the previous world, but where he was now was a different case. He didn't even see a name similar to that after he was reincarnated. Moreover, people on the Demon Continent usually had only one name.

After the introductions, Claygramor told his plan. Obviously, he didn't even consider telling about his system and how it would rapidly strengthen. Taking advantage of the existence of the divine skills, he used this to corroborate his lie.

Claygramor told Sian that he had a divine skill that absorbed the energy of creatures that were killed and absorbed it into his body.

"So the plan is to just go out killing monsters?" Milka asked.

"Yes," Claygramor replied. "But I don't plan to go blindly hoping that the monsters will come to us. Although I have never gone there, I believe the best place to make maximum use of my skill is the ants' summit."

Claygramor's level had already reached 49, and he had found a bottleneck where the amount of essence he needed was enormous. But since it was the time of the ant stampede, their number is astronomical and they were probably enough for him to reach the next level.

Even if they were low level compared to him, he hoped that quantity would outweigh quality.

Considering that the demon lord and his soldiers went through difficulties every year, he knew that it would be dangerous to step into the middle of them blindly. But other than relying on Sian's strength to help him, Claygramor didn't have many available options.

***

After Claygramor explained his plan, they set off toward the forest. But just as they were about to enter it, something unexpected awaited them.

Thanks to his horns, Claygramor felt hundreds of presences approaching.

Among them was one that made him feel chills run down his spine.

While his legs were wobbling, he noticed that the expression of the two at his side remained impassive.

Believing that they probably hadn't noticed yet because they didn't have something convenient like his horn, he stopped them.

"You guys haven't realized it yet, but there's a dangerous monster approaching!"

"I already knew," Sian said. "That's even better, it saves us trouble."

"You shouldn't be so confident," Claygramor swallowed dryly. "I'm not sure, but I think that might be one of the kings of the forest."

"King?" Milka asked.

"I-I think it's the king of the sky. It's a monster that acquired consciousness a few months ago."

Soon after gaining consciousness, the King of sky had a disagreement with the lord of the territory they are in. He appeared and demanded that the three nearest lords make offerings to him.

Such a demand was unacceptable to the lords, so they formed a temporary alliance to kill the king of sky. Despite suffering some casualties, the lords and their retainers managed to defeat him, but due to his tenacity, he still managed to escape alive.

"What does this king look like?" Sian asked.

"It's probably a naga, some kind of sub-dragon," Claygramor replied. "He's too much for us to risk. If even the alliance of three lords could only scare him away, we'd better back off."

Ignoring Claygramor's concerns, Sian kept moving toward the forest.

"From the strength, it should be a good challenge. Milka, take care of the ants with him, I will find this king. Teshar, help if you have to."

Leaving these words, Sian flew off into the forest and the bird that was always on his shoulder flew to Milka's shoulder.

"Don't be careless, it's dangerous to go there!"

Despite Claygramor's shout, Sian didn't even look back.

Even though her master had gone to face a formidable opponent, Milka seemed calm.

"Master will be fine," she said. "You'd better worry about those ants."

Looking at where she was pointing, Claygramor, saw several ants the size of dogs coming out of the forest.

It was only a matter of seconds before the confrontation would begin.

Choosing to rely on Sian's strength, Claygramor drew his god-given sword and prepared to fight.

Meanwhile, Milka at his side pulled out a huge double-edged black axe and advanced against the ants.

Trying to kill as many ants as possible, they fought fiercely. But in the course of the fight, they discovered that although they were weak, the ants were tenacious. Worse still was the fact that their huge numbers put gigantic pressure on them.

If it were not for the high-level potions granted during his reincarnation, Claygramor would have already departed this world at the beginning of the fight.

However, even though he still had an abundance of potions, he wasn't getting many opportunities to drink it. Over the course of the battle, even with his powerful armor that he also received during reincarnation, the damage was still piling up.

Just as things were about to get really bad, the red bird on Milka's shoulder flew into the sky.

Although Claygramor had ignored it until now, he discovered this was also another tremendously powerful being.

With a simple flap of its wings, it burned all the ants on the ground as if they were nothing.

Seconds later, Sian arrived and in one hand he was holding Okleb by the nape and in the other he was holding his daughter.

According to Okleb, he had a divine skill of premonition and after sensing the approach of the ants, he warned the guards and ran to save his daughter who was gathering herbs.

As for the naga, according to Sian, after a quick fight, he ran away. But since he seemed edible, he marked him with the intention of paying he a visit in the future.

As Claygramor recovered his breath, he distributed the absorbed magical essence, but even that huge amount of ants was not enough to take him to the next level.

"It's still far from enough," he muttered.

"No matter," Sian said. "Those weren't all ants, the naga brought just a few to attack the city."

At that moment, Claygramor felt a gaze on him.

It was a demon with bat wings and silver hair.

Staring at his enemy for a brief moment, Claygramor turned away and started walking without looking back.

"Let's go."

Even though Claygramor was trying to show a cool pose to intimidate his future opponent, Sian did not seem willing to cooperate.

"Since when do you boss me around?"

Grabbing Milka's horn, he dragged her to Claygramo and grabbed his horn as well.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"Don't worry." Looking used to it, Milka propped her axe on her shoulder. "It's a fast way to travel."

"I prefer the normal way!"

Despite the complaints, Sian did not respond and carried the two as he flew away.

Although Claygramor believed he was going to have a tough time during the hunt, by the time they reached the anthill, the red bird had decimated almost everything.

The amount of dead ants was so great that the queen ant, whom he did not know existed, went out to meet them.

Even in the present day, where Claygramor was incomparably stronger, he still felt chills as he remembered Sian and the queen's fight. Especially the weapon that Sian used.

The battle was so great that what was once a mountain of hundreds of meters was eventually reduced to a huge valley. After that day, the ants' summit came to be called ants' valley.

After the ants, they continued exploring in the forest to accumulate more essence until Claygramor finally reached level 50.

Even with two days of continuous hunting, this still wouldn't be enough for him to easily defeat a demon lord, but he had confidence thanks to his sword and armor.

But that wasn't all in his favor, Sian filled him with buffs that increased his strength, fatigue recovery, regeneration, and various other things.

Strangely, the lord seemed to have stiffened movements, which was probably Sian's doing.

With all these factors, Claygramor eventually wins without much trouble. Due to a guilty conscience, he spares the demon lord's life. By the lord's choice, the two formed a contract and she submitted to it.

***

"I'm not a lesbian," Ruth complained.

"There was no way I could have known," Claygramor said. "You didn't explain anything, so I figured you were. I mean, Serina is pretty and the way you looked at her and said you wanted her and then took her, my fertile imagination has already imagined the worst. You even looked down on me and when I tried to stop you, I got kicked in the stomach."

In reality, that it was all just a misunderstanding. Ruth wanted Serina's services with her divine skill that made plants grow faster.

Interestingly, in a conversation with Sian, Claygramor discovered that on the central continent, the church usually takes everyone who is born some divine skill. But on the demonic continent, that was a little different.

Although the church frequently collects people with divine skills, they are not as active in remote places far from the center of the continent.

"You didn't want to tell me this story before for fear I would find out about your cheating?" Ruth asked.

"Do I have the option not to answer?"

"With so many restrictions placed on me, not to mention that your strength was clearly inferior, if I didn't realize that you were cheating, then I couldn't consider myself an intelligent being."

"Then why-"

"Why did I choose to submit? It's simple, you didn't seem fit to rule the territory."

"If that weren't true, you would have hurt my pride," Claygramor jested.

"That's exactly why I wanted to take a position where I could advise you on how to manage, so I could keep the people safe."

"That's a pretty pure heart for a cold appearance."

"We all have our principles."

Just then, someone knocked on the door.

"Come in," Claygramor said.

Opening the door, a girl with a human appearance, but resembling a rabbit with orange fur, came to meet him.

That was Serina.

"How are the preparations for the trade with Illianna progressing?" he asked.

"We'll have everything surveyed by tomorrow morning," she replied. "But I didn't come here for that, I came to let you know that the meal is ready."

Accompanying Serina, they went to the dining hall, where the other women of Claygramor were waiting for them to have lunch.