The Devil King was towering, though nearly skeletal; his dark fur did little to mask the bony character underneath. I was almost scared for a moment until I remembered that I wasn’t.

“So... uh, what now?” I would’ve preferred to resolve this peacefully.`1

The devil king frowned. “An intriguing query, mortal. I had maintained the notion that you were a formidable opponent, but as you appear to be only level one, there may be a factor yet unaccounted for.”

“Oh, I’m just really lucky. Anyways, I was wondering about your kids. Where are they?”

“What grounds have you for such an impertinent request?”

Not worth the effort. “By the way, are all demons immortal, or is it just you and your kids?”

“All of demonkind is blessed with the gift of eternal life.”

“Oh, cool.” I couldn’t have been more glad to hear those words - now, having to bother with the devil king and his family was unnecessary for the plan I had brewing. I tried to turn away and leave, but the door was sealed shut. “Um, thank you for the information, Mr. Devil King, I’m gonna leave now… Could you please open the door for me? It seems to be stuck.”

The Devil King scoffed. “Did you truly believe that you could escape my grasp so easily? Your demise was ensured the moment you stepped inside.”

“That’s tough. So I guess you want to try to fight us then?”

“Fight? No… This shall be an execution.”

The devil king lunged his body toward me, and unsurprisingly, he missed. He tried attack after attack with no success, and I had to wait there for like a minute before he got the memo.

“How do you still stand? You’ve evaded each and every attack without taking a single step! It appears that you truly are an Isekai Winner.”

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Considering the way these things usually go, I was surprised that the Devil King hadn’t just dropped dead during his barrage. Actually, for him to survive that long, I should’ve been the one struggling right then. I had a feeling that something was up, and an even better feeling as to what. Having played a few MMOs when I was younger, a realization came to mind.

I sprinted toward the Devil King, each opening finding me, and landed a kick in between his legs. It didn’t do any damage, obviously, but seeing as I’d managed to knock him back, victory was guaranteed.

Struggling to maintain his footing after my attack, the Devil King squeaked in agony. “Argh! How could you, a mortal, possess such might?”

“You told me earlier that I was level one. Even being myself, I don’t think my luck is at the kind of level it would take to dodge all of your attacks. Well, not under normal circumstances anyways. I think - no, I’m positive - that this world has level scaling. Each enemy is powerful relative only to the player, and since, as you already pointed out, any normal person would be, like, level five billion by the time you fought them, your power is diminished to almost nothing while I’m here.”

“Nonsense! Are you trying to say that this world was constructed for humans, not demons?!”

“You didn’t catch that from the fact that humans can level up in the first place? You really are dumb, Jesus Christ. No wonder this was my first contract.”

Sally, still at the doorway, was steeling his nerves as if he wanted to join the fray. I motioned for him to stay where he was though, as approaching the Devil King at his level would make this situation a lot harder to manage. 

I scanned the surrounding area for some sort of rope or cage. It didn’t matter that the Devil King was immortal, so long as I could keep him in one place. Looking through my belongings, I noticed that I still had Sally’s chains with me. I had passed the set of keys back to the shop owner the same day that I got him, but by sheer coincidence the key that the Devil King left in the door behind us fit the chains exactly. I rushed over to the Devil King once again and in a single motion tied his arms and legs together.

“So, I guess it’s time to have some fun...” I smirked. “I wonder where the other demons live? Maybe you could tell me…”