Chapter 427

If I couldn't fulfill my mission, one day my son would have to complete the extinction of humanity. The despair and betrayal I felt when he broke my horn after I couldn't kill his mother were indescribable. However, my son couldn't kill me, so he drove me out of Dark Land after breaking my horn. The demon king who had his horn broken lost all his power and couldn't rule over the demons anymore, nor could they follow him. Later, I realized that driving me out of Dark Land was my son's last consideration for his mother. If I had stayed in Dark Land, the demons who had escaped my rule would have tried to kill me. I became a cripple who couldn't use any power, magic, or knowledge. The pain of having my horn broken by a demon was worse than death. For a while, I suffered from the pain that I felt in the place where my horn used to be. Would I realize my mistake and come to my senses? I was just angry and unjustly treated. I was sad. I was too angry, too sad, and too unjust to admit that everything was over. I wanted revenge, but I didn't know how. I wanted to regain my throne with dignity and fulfill my unfinished mission. I searched for a way for the demon who lost his horn to gain power. I realized that I had to become an immortal being and became a vampire. I tried to become strong again by accumulating the power of other creatures within me. I drank the blood of many powerful demons, strong beasts, and strong humans while wandering between Dark Land and human land, sometimes fighting for my life to find the blood of the strong. I heard a rumor that there were those who had achieved the ultimate power of the vampire in a distant and remote place in the north, so I went to find the vampire lords and became a member of the Hwayo clan by putting the power of Lord Vampire in my grasp. Even after that, I drank the blood of countless creatures. I ate whatever I could catch and ate and ate. I ate so many creatures that the bodies piled up to form a mountain peak, and the blood I sucked became a river. At some point, I had to become the head of the Hwayo clan. The previous head of the clan, who had thrown himself into the world, gave me the position of head of the clan and said that it was time to stop killing for killing's sake. He said that even if I drank all the blood in the world, my thirst would not be quenched. He told me to think about whether I really wanted what I wanted and closed his eyes. It was something I had never thought about before. For a very long time, I realized that I had never really thought about anything. I had become a being driven by my instincts to kill, drink, and become stronger. I wandered the world in search of strong blood, but my original desire for revenge and purpose had been buried in the sands of time. I was still not strong enough. I was still far from reclaiming the throne. While accumulating slaughter to become stronger, the throne of Dark Land had already changed hands. My son, who had broken my horn and driven me out, had long since passed away, and I only recently learned that his daughter had become the next demon king. I had become a purposeless vampire, wandering the continent in search of blood as an immortal being. I no longer knew why the throne of the demon world had to be mine again, why humanity had to be extinct, or why I had wanted those things. I had become a mad vampire, driven by an obsession with strength and a thirst for blood. I realized too late that my vague desire for revenge and the throne had already disappeared. The power that had come from the mountains of corpses and rivers of blood was within me, but I realized too late that I had nothing I wanted to do with it. Even if countless tyrants commit atrocities, it is not up to me to kill them. As a tyrant, I sacrificed countless demons, and after becoming a vampire, I piled up mountains of corpses once again. There is no one who has committed more slaughter than me. It was not atonement, but because I had lost the meaning of it, I no longer indulged in slaughter. Wandering the world in search of blood, I fell into emptiness and wandered the world again like a lost wind, moving to wherever my feet took me without purpose or direction. Although I had lived for a very long time, I only saw how beings lived for the first time. When I was a demon king, demons were tools and humans were enemies. As a vampire, all beings were just materials for strength. After losing all desires, I was finally able to watch beings living in the world without any purpose or reason. I watched humans and demons living their lives without any purpose or reason, simply because they were there. Even though I had drunk the blood of countless beings and seen countless sights, it was as if I was seeing them for the first time. I crossed mountains, walked through snowfields, passed through deserts, straits, and jungles, and saw countless ways of living and forms of existence. They all seemed similar, but I watched the landscapes of their lives as they ran differently. "I couldn't help but know how much sin I had committed, how many lives I had destroyed. I have shattered and destroyed countless lives and foundations, even things that could have been more beautiful or enough as they were, all in the sack of insatiable desire. I am a criminal who learned how to love something too late. I am a disgusting and cowardly vampire who realized that there was something worth loving only after all the qualifications to love and cherish something had disappeared. So I thought to myself, the mountain of accumulated sins is too great, and the day to cover it with a line will never come, at least. At least... let's not pile up any more sins. It was still a vague life. I no longer sucked blood, but I watched over something and tried to help someone as much as possible without engaging in excessive actions. But I had no right to build up good deeds. The best I could do was to show a small amount of sympathy that could hardly be called good to someone. I spent those indifferent and observing times. In those long and long days of living in a still vague time, I heard that story. The war between Darkland and humanity is imminent. I felt confused for the first time in a long time. I didn't think there was a role for a forgotten demon king and an old vampire who had to kill countless people in that war. However, there was a sense of obligation like something. As a demon king who once made Darkland sick with tyranny. As a demon king who wanted the end of humanity and hated humans. As a very old root, but as a presence called Arc Demon. I felt a sense of obligation that I had to watch it, even though I couldn't play a big role in that war. It cannot be said that there was no sense of solidarity with the blood of the Arc Demon that had been diluted and disappeared. Even if I couldn't give the maximum help, I thought it was my job to at least hold the hand of a distant descendant very lightly. So I went to Bali and joined him. I hoped that the war would end without spilling too much blood. Regardless of whose victory it ended with, it was an event where blood flowed, so I thought that the line of war existed only in its quick end. As I thought, I took on a role that was not so special and watched the progress of the war from a distance. And... around the time the war was coming to an end. One day, a boy came into my store and opened the door. When I realized that the boy was a descendant, I... felt a certain destiny given to me."

After finishing the long story, Eleris looks at me. In a place where the demon king will never appear, Eleris faced me. What did Eleris think at that moment? When he tried not to take on any role, the fallen Darkland demon king, his distant descendant and last descendant, came into his arms. Eleris would have felt a strong sense of destiny that he could not remain a bystander on the outskirts of the incident. "The rest of the story... is as you know." Eleris is an ancient demon king long forgotten. Even in the ancient Bali, he knew that Eleris was a Lord Vampire, but he would not have known that he was an ancient demon king. Now all of Eleris's actions make sense. Were the actions and gazes that came out like a mother every time he faced me actually born from such a heart? In the ancient Bali, Eleris would have already marked his position as an absolute ruler as a demon king. However, since he was awkward at everything, lost his memory, and didn't even have proper abilities, Eleris could only worry about what I would do, and worry about getting hurt or dying. Eleris, who was a tyrant, could not have been a proper parent. So when he faced me, he may have tried to give me some kind of affection that he couldn't give to his child at the time. When I was curious about Eleris's identity, I thought he might be like my mother, but it turned out that he was a similar existence. Ark Demon who became a vampire. That was Eleris's true form. Although he lost all of Ark Demon's power, he was fundamentally an Ark Demon. That's why he stood on the side of the demon king to watch the end of the demon world he established, or to protect his victory. "This has been on my mind for a long time." "Yes, sir." Since Eleris knew that he was my ancestor, I wondered if I should call him by a different title. Eleris still called me sir, so I didn't need to organize my title. "Eleris, did you have a husband?" "Yes." I've been curious about this for a long time, but now I'm asking. "More than that, Ark Demon is such a small number, how is the species maintained?" Did Eleris marry another Ark Demon? Did the number decrease and decrease like this? Eleris just looked at me as if he was asking if he had asked that. Ark Demon is that. That's the one that can be done with anything. Uh... That's what it is. It's not clear from where to where. It's too scary. Just scary! It would be better if I didn't know who Eleris's husband was! "So, it seems that no matter who I ask or what I say, no one has ever mentioned anything about who I might like or anything like that......"

"As generations pass, the blood of Ark Demons is gradually becoming weaker."

Now I understand why my demon ruling ability is so weak.

We walk down to the underground of the Demon King's castle.

"When I heard that you wanted to prevent a great tragedy that would happen in the future... I even thought that maybe it was possible for me to atone for my sins. I told Eleris all the secrets.

In the future, the Gate incident will happen, and it will be a great tragedy for all beings in the world, and I want to prevent it.

That's why I got involved in finding Akasha.

"Of course, the mountain of sins I have accumulated cannot be erased by anything... but if it is possible, even a little, to help prevent that future tragedy. I dared to think that maybe I could reduce the weight of the slaughter and sin that I, as an existence, have accumulated even a little... Eleris wants to atone, but he knows that it is selfish and despicable to want that.

Nevertheless, Eleris is willing to cooperate if helping me is a way to reduce his sins even a little.

If it were a war, he would have been afraid to take anyone's side, but this is about saving everyone.

So Eleris hopes that my words are sincere and helps me.

"Your Majesty...."

"Yes."

"Whatever happens, I think it's fortunate that I get to meet you. It's my luck that you came to me while wandering around the human-filled Huangdo, and your luck... I believe that."

I hope that our meeting is lucky for each other.

With Eleris's words, I support him and continue down the stairs.

"Our meeting may not be lucky."

"...."

I put more strength into the arm that supports Eleris.

Our meeting at the store in Huangdo was the beginning of all this.

If I hadn't met Eleris, I might have wandered the streets of Huangdo and become a beggar or been caught as a demon and hanged.

If I hadn't met Eleris, I wouldn't have been able to enter the temple, and none of this would have even started.

Can our meeting be lucky for each other?

I don't know.

Nevertheless.

"Even if it wasn't lucky, I won't regret it."

I won't regret any of this.

"...."

Tears welled up in Eleris's eyes at my words.

* * *

We were soon able to arrive at the underground bunker of the Demon King's castle.

It was clear that we had arrived ahead of Antirianus and Arklichbo.

Eleris has now regained some of his strength.

"If the way to break through the Quantum Maze is the same as the way to get here, can those guys also break through the maze and come here?"

"I don't know about that."

It is not known whether only Ark Demons can reach here. Important thing is that Eleris can also enter this place, following me and Charlotte. Even Charlotte, who has a half-soul, can come here, so it is certain that an Ark Demon who has become a vampire can also enter this place. Eleris and I headed to the library. As for Druin, he coveted the magic book that Charlotte had confiscated here, and headed to the palace to commit a murder and then headed to the tomb of the lich. So, if Antirianus betrayed, he would find a way to reach here soon. Before that, we have to retrieve or burn the magic book. "Still... it's a shame to burn it..." "I'm sorry that I, too, as a wizard, cannot retrieve it... because we don't know what will happen when Akasha is completed..." Eleris and I stood in front of the library and sighed. "If there is a magic like the one Arklich used, it might be better to burn it." "Come to think of it, that's true..." I knew that magic was powerful, but just thinking about what would have happened if that meteor had hit the ground made me feel dizzy. Of course, what Harriet did to stop it was even more unreasonable. Magic itself is dangerous, and it would be better if such magic did not exist in the world. There may be such a magic book sleeping somewhere in this library, so it might be better to burn it than to secure it. As I looked at the library for a moment, the title of a certain book caught my eye. [Understanding the Operation Structure of Meteorite Corps through Celestial Observation and Orbit Calculation for Dimensional Portal Opening] It was a very thick book with a long title. What is this? I don't know, but it feels like it's somewhat related to that magic. I took out that thick book. "Hey, here..." Eleris also discovered something and took out a book from somewhere. The book Eleris was holding had the same title. "It seems to be the same book..." "Yeah." We took exactly the same book from completely different bookshelves. A strange chill ran down my spine. Charlotte had recently stolen a considerable number of magic books from here, and I had seen the piles of books scattered around Druin's house. I was sure the scale was not normal. So, one or two bookshelves here should be empty. "Why... are all the bookshelves full..." However, every bookshelf that came into my sight was completely filled without any gaps. * * * Memories of my experiences passed through my mind. The same book held in my and Eleris' hands. It is probably a magic book related to summoning meteorites. When I first discovered this bunker with Charlotte and Tana, I was looking for a magic that could improve Charlotte's condition. For example, magic that deals with souls. I was able to find a book on necromancy right away. When I found another version of the summoning spell to show to Lucien when we found this place with Eleris, I immediately found the demon language version of the spell. Eleris found a book called Quantum Maze, which was the book that designed this maze. I tried to find a book similar to summoning meteorites and found it immediately. This library is filled with an unusual amount of magic. Every bookshelf is completely filled without any gaps. The books seem to change in real-time, so we can find what we need without wasting time. We both feel uneasy about the true nature of the library and its contents. We found a notebook-like book with a red leather cover, and the first page made me hold my breath. It said, "My son, never use Akasha for destruction." This one sentence explained everything to me. Akasha is an artifact, and I had been searching for it without realizing it was already in my possession. Akasha is not an object; it is a space, and this library seems to be Akasha itself.