Chapter 16. Facing the Demon Lord (6) Part-2

"Hahahahahaha!"

"Yes. I did. This is why they say humans are stupid, controlled by their desires. Even though they became heroes for their race, in the end, they might be disposed of because of the humans; that's what a hero is!"

Karina doubled up while replying.

"That human, I want to eat him! I want to catch and eat him! How fresh the blood of a hero would be…!"

Karina's fair face reddened as if she were aroused. She bit and sucked on her finger, as though she was forcing herself to hold back.

"Well, the blood of the Demon Lord is more tempting for me…! That female scent smells so good! I just want to catch and ripen her as livestock. But there's something more important to deal with for now."

Bludifer looked at the orcs' bivouac. The Demon Lord and the orcs were surely present there. "The Demon Lord isn't in the capital of the Demon Kingdom, nor are the nettlesome Apostles! The orcs' general Karakul and the ogre's royal soldier Kuman are with the Demon Lord."

"The military engineering supply unit Kolbo is not here as well. Well, though even if they were, there I could beat them down by myself anyway! I should put off the troublesome things as much as possible. Shouldn't we use our brains a bit? There are some other Apostles, but it would be enough to beat them down with only the slave wolves. What I'm saying is I don't have to do it myself! Haha! I'm smart, aren't I?"

"You're cool, Big Brother!"

Bludifer's eyes sparkled in delight.

"The throne is empty. And the Demon Lord's assistants are split up fighting with the heroes. Ha, there's no better timing than this!" He hugged Karina. "Let's go, sister! To the capital! Let's go and sit in the vacant seat! I will be the Demon Lord. I will rule everything as a Lord! The demons would be slaves, and let's throw up a festival of blood where humans would be livestock!"

Bludifer and Karina laughed together as their bodies became fog and disappeared, flying far away. A black crow that had been watching them from the Hero's Allied Forces' side tilted its head with its golden eyes twinkling.

***

"Is it a coup d'état…?"

Karakul looked questioningly at Tom, who was walking in the orc's outpost, at the sound of his mumble and asked him, "What are you talking about?"

"…Well, I think it's better to handle the hero's party now."

"…Did you, by any chance, find out new intel?"

Tom could reconnoiter by summoning crows. Their eyes and ears could penetrate better than any demon, and they could catch even small sounds. If he had summoned a crow and was snooping around the hero's camp, he must've bumped into something.

"Yes. It seems like the hero's side is planning to attack tonight, probably around dawn."

"…I see. We should prepare then."

"On top of that, a few bats that escaped were seen."

"By bats, you mean…?"

"Vampires."

"…"

Karakul instinctively recalled Bludifer and Karina at the word 'vampire'. Vampires were indiscriminate and had a violent tendency. They could live by drinking beasts' blood but had a hobby of enjoying the blood of humans and demons, raided small villages or downtown areas—on a larger scale, and extorted blood.

In short, they were creatures that impulsively followed their instinct, so they also ravaged humans without any rhyme or reason, piling up anger and hatred. That was also the primary reason why the image of demons was perceived as 'demons eat humans!'

'Even among the vampires, Bludifer and Karina are overly evil. Those bastards, are they scheming something?'

Those two had a track record of indiscriminately raiding humans and demons at the Demon Kingdom's frontier, thirsting for blood. Karakul wanted to suppress them, but they were opponents that he was reluctant to fight against. That indicated how strong they were, and the slaves they managed—the werewolves—were mighty warriors that were hard even for orcs to defeat.

"The vampire said something about 'sitting on the throne'."

Karakul's eyes grew bigger in shock. Even if they were high-rank vampires, they lacked the strength to fight against an army consisting of powerful demons and the Apostles. Besides, the Apostles had crowned Lily as the Demon Lord while keeping him in check because they knew if he became the Demon Lord, the Demon Kingdom would be ruined entirely. Though someone powerful should be the Demon Lord, someone that did things impulsively just to shed some blood was also inappropriate for the position.

"…What are you going to do?"

Karakul had to give up the Twilight City and turn the Demon Lord and the troops to at least run after the vampires and catch them while they still had a chance. He needed to do it to block the coup d'état. In this situation where even if he contacted the capital, there were no troops to respond to the emergency. It would be hard to stop the vampires with only the remaining Apostles.

'I can't stop them with only the Orc army and myself. But one of the 12 Apostles, Kuman, is also here.'

2nd on the rank, Kuman the Ogre's Royal General was there as the Demon Lord's guard. With him, even though he couldn't kill the vampires, he would be able to at least kick them out.

Karakul asked Tom for his opinion, but he smiled after thinking carefully and said, "Let it be."

"…"

Karakul stiffened but soon bowed his head.

"All right."

Even though curiosity rose up at the back of his mind, what he had to do now was to stop the hero's party. If he faltered in his defense, it would be the same as putting the Twilight City under fire and opening the way for humans to invade the Demon Kingdom.

***

The ogres were standing in front of the outpost where the Demon Lord Lily Golt was at.

Most of them were 4m with bulky builds, and the weight could be felt through just their appearance—their whole bodies were wrapped in an armor made of demon's bones, including the helmets. Still, there were others that were even bigger and gave off a much stronger impression than them.

Ellin got into the orc's bivouac, her face lightening up as she saw the ogre.

"…Ah! Mr. Kuman!"

Her build reaching 5m, a pair of horns on top of her head, and fangs sticking out from her mouth, her fist was like a big rock, and her skin seemed solid and stiff, just like armor.

Even so, she was clad in heavy armor, feeling out of place—It seemed as though one could pierce through her armor with an ordinary sword, they wouldn't be able to puncture her skin. Additionally, the mace Ellin was holding appeared to be more than twice her height.

One of the 12 Apostles, the Demon Lord's bodyguard, protection, and the one that directed the ogre cavalry, a collaborative strategy with the orcs, was an Apostle named Kuman. 2nd on the rank, he was also the second monster to vampires that possessed absolute power.

"It's been a long time, Ellin."

Kuman bowed his large body and looked at Ellin. Even though he spoke slowly, his body was reacting fast. Happy to see Kuman, she also tiptoed, pretending to make herself taller and then lifted up both her hands.

"Whoa… you got taller, didn't you?! You're still growing in height, right?"

"We don't grow taller. But did Ellin you?"

"I'm tall enough! For doppelgangers, transformation is useful, so it has nothing to do with age." Ellin smiled faintly.

"I heard that you rescued someone of my kind, huh? Thank you."

"You're welcome! We live helping each other out!"

Kuman tilted his head. "Is that so? If you need a hand later, tell me. I'll help."

Ellin nodded at Kuman. "You're cute as expected, just like the mascot that represents the Demon Kingdom. You might be gaining more popularity than slimes!"

"Thanks. But I think slimes are cuter. Besides, they're small. That's why I like them."

Ellin looked at the tent through Kuman's legs. "Uhm… What about Ms. Lily…?"

"She's inside. You want to meet her?"

"Really?! Thank you!"

"But, the orc's corps commanders are here too."

"What…? Those stuffy old men? Ugh… Ms. Lily must be feeling suffocated for sure!"

Kuman smiled at the sight of Ellin getting worried. "Still, try to go in. She would be happy that you came."

"Really? Hmm…"

Ellin fixed her posture and cleared her throat as her outfit gradually started to change, transforming into a uniform made of black, neat clothes.

Doppelgangers characteristically had the quality to just alter parts of their body; they didn't need clothes as a result. That was also why they didn't need separate weapons since they could make swords, armors, and shields. Still, such hard properties required them to extend and use their bones to be built, and they felt the same pain when their armor got cracked.

Moreover, for clothes, since it was also skin, they couldn't help but get sensitive because of the feel of it on their own skin. In that sense, Doppelgangers wore clothes like hoodies when they made clothes personally from their bodies.

She took off the hoodie off her uniform and passed it to Kuman. "Please watch it for a while!"

"All right."

She then went into the tent with a nervous look on her face.

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