“I killed you,” I said. “Do I need to do it again?”

  “...No,” he said after a long pause. “The contract is gone. There is no more reason for me to fight.”

  “Then disable your mental defenses.”

  “...It is done.”

  A minute or so later, the enthralling process was complete, the necessary geasa were placed, and I was finally able to relax and let down my guard a bit.

  “So, how’s unlife feel?” I said, reclining against a stalagmite.

  “Strange…” he said. “I have spent my whole life breathing, but… now I only do it when I wish to speak.”

  “Yeah, it feels weird at first,” I replied. “You’ll get used to it.”

  He narrowed his eyes at me. “Speaking from experience?”

  “Yeah,” I said. There was no real point in keeping it secret.

  “Then… there are other vampires still alive?”

  “Nope.”

  “Then… how were you turned?” he asked.

  “Pride did it,” I said.

  “Oh…”

  “Yeah…” I said, watching his stumps slowly extend. “By the way, you might want to disable [Rapid Regeneration].”

    “Why?”

  “Check your Life Energy.”

  He stared into space again, then grimaced. “Shit.”

  “How much do you have right now?”

  “11,” he said.

  “Ooh, that sucks.” I reached into my inventory. “Here.”

  “Is that-”

  “Yep, it’s your arm. Here I’ll hold it, you get the blood out. It’s been in my inventory, so it’s still fresh.”

  I held his severed arm under his chin, as he looked down with a mixture of disgust and existential crisis on his face.

  “You want me to drink my own blood out of my own severed arm?”

  “Well, it would be efficient, but I just wanted to see how you’d react,” I said, grinning. “I have other blood, and it would probably be better to just reattach your limbs instead.”

  He glared at me. “I’ve already lost and submitted to you. Is it too much to ask that you not humiliate me any further?”

  I stared back as the smile slowly melted off my face. What was I doing? Why was I being so cruel? I didn’t have a problem being cruel to my enemies, but he wasn’t my anymore. If anything, he was an ally, and a valuable one too. So why was I torturing him like that? Was I getting too into the role of Demon King? Was that bastard of a god influencing me?

  “Fuck,” I muttered. “You’re right. I’m being a real bitch right now, what the fuck. Here, lay down. I’ll give you some other blood and we’ll reattach your limbs and get you all healed up.”

  He eyed me suspiciously as he slowly lowered his back to the ground.

  “What?” I demanded. “It’s not like we’re enemies right now. You were right, I shouldn’t have been humiliating you like that. I was wrong. I’m sorry. Happy now?”

  “No it’s not that,” he said. “I’m just… surprised. I didn’t expect the Demon King of Pride to be so…” He trailed off.

  “Capable of reflecting on her mistakes?” I suggested.

  “Well…”

  “Of course I can reflect!” I snapped. “How the fuck do you think I get so good at everything?” I winced realizing what I was doing. “Sorry. It just annoys me when people assume things like that about me. I’m not stupid. I’m not arrogant. I’m not unfeeling. I’m not even that prideful! That dumbass god just decided I was going to be their incarnation, and boom! Now I’m stuck in a world full of people who hate me.

  “Am I better than most people? Objectively, yes, but that’s not not me being prideful. That’s an objective observation. I am objectively better than almost everyone at almost everything. And that’s true because of my hard work and ability to self-reflect. I’m not some arrogant brat with a little talent and a lot of backing who thinks she’s on top of the world, and I sure as hell don’t think I deserve to rule over everyone or anything like that. I work hard to be the best that I could be; it just so happens that my best is better than most people.”

  “I apologize,” he said, bowing his head as much as he could from his position on the ground. “I shouldn’t have assumed things like that about you. Please forgive me.”

  “Whatever,” I said. “It’s fine.” I summoned a globe of blue liquid from my inventory. “Open your mouth. It’s Kraken blood. It will replenish your Life Energy so you can heal properly.”

  He obeyed without complaint, and as I siphoned the blood into his mouth, I summoned the rest of his severed limbs and placed them out next to his stumps. Once the Kraken blood was gone, I drew my sword.

  “I need to reopen your wounds, so that your limbs can be reattached instead of regrown.”

  “Do it,” he said. “I’ve had [Pain Nullification] for decades, and I’ve lost limbs before.”

  I didn’t hesitate, slashing at his stumps with my sword, this time not bothering to cauterize the wounds, and instead moving his severed limbs up to the newly reopened flesh before moving onto the next one. Casimir did not even wince as I did this, and once the last leg was in place, he reactivated [Rapid Regeneration on his own without needing to be prompted.

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  “I have more blood, so tell me if your Life Energy starts getting low.”

  “Mmm,” he affirmed, nodding.

  It took five minutes for the skin to fully heal, showing no signs of ever having been damaged, but it was another twenty and two blood refuels before he started moving again, first wiggling his fingers and toes before carefully flexing each of his muscles and bending each joint. After confirming that his body still worked the way he remembered, he sat up, then got to his feet and started stretching.

  “Thank you,” he said, bowing to me once he finished testing himself.

  “No problem,” I said. “I’m the one who cut them off in the first place. And we’re probably going to be allies in the future to take down Ophelia, so I should be forming a good relationship with you.”

  “Nevertheless, thank you. You could have completely taken my mind, or tortured me, or even just left me dead, but instead you have not only brought me back to life, but you’ve given me freedom and respect. However, I must remind you that my family’s safety is my first priority. I certainly do want to help defeat Ophelia, but I will not endanger my family for it.”

  “Of course,” I agreed. “I don’t want to endanger your family either.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Yeah, whatever. If you’re that grateful, start repaying me. Tell me everything you know about Ophelia. Where is she? What is she doing? What are her divine abilities? Who else does she have working under her? Does she have any exploitable weaknesses? And why did she send you here?”

  It took well over an hour for Casimir to finish relaying all the information he had to me. He didn’t hold back at all, truly telling me everything he knew, down to the smallest details, like her favorite color (green, like her eyes) and dessert (lemon cakes).

  To summarize, Ophelia’s true abilities lie in areas outside of combat. She was not helpless in a fight, being a fairly accomplished water mage with inflated stats from her Demon King class, but Casimir estimated that she would struggle even against an ordinary paladin, and that she would have no chance against anyone stronger on her own. However, she was never on her own.

  Even before her identity had been exposed, she was never without one of the Ravellian Lions at her side, and since then, she always had at least two bodyguards above level 100 around her at all times. Casimir said he had only served that position very occasionally, because, as strong as he was, he was on the weaker end of the spectrum for her elite servants. She had multiple elves in her employ, a dragon or two, and Casimir said he had even seen a lich and a ghoul once or twice.

  As for her divine powers, he had never seen her use any abilities that stood out to him as divine, but he suspected that she had some kind of ability to read minds. Not once had he ever seen her fail to close a deal, and always knew exactly what she needed to provide to get people to work with or for her. Additionally, she was an impeccable actress. Her mood seemed to change constantly, but it was always under her control, and her behavior was always perfect for whatever situation she was in.

  He didn’t know where she was, since she always met him on neutral territory, and he only knew of a few locations where her people operated, but he doubted any of them were important. She knew that Casimir wasn’t truly loyal to her, and would betray her if he ever got the chance, so she never showed or told him anything too important. I made him promise to show me those locations when we got out of the Dungeon though.

  Lastly, the reason that she had sent him to the Cave of Ten Thousand Demons was a rumor she had heard about the true source of the Baek clan’s aura circulation ability. Patriarch Baek Ji-Min claimed that the circulation skill was the Dungeon’s first-clear reward, but Ophelia’s source stated that the technique was actually an incidental reward that anyone could acquire, and the true clear reward was something else entirely.

  “After coming here and seeing this place myself, I’m inclined to believe that rumor,” he said.

  “Because the demons use aura?” I asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Hmmm… The ones I faced weren’t doing anything particularly special with it. I’ve only seen imps though. Do the stronger demons use aura differently?”

  “Yes,” he said, nodding. “The imps are simple, unintelligent monsters, and their use of aura is crude. The stronger species use it better, and fight more intelligently.”

  “What are the stronger species? How strong are they?”

  “I have encountered 6 types of demons so far. The most powerful by far was the Dullahan. It’s-”

  “A headless horseman,” I interrupted. “I’ve heard of them.”

  “Yes,” he agreed, looking slightly annoyed. “It wields a sword, and it fights like a knight with decades of experience. If I were 10 levels lower, it would have been a difficult fight.

  “The next strongest are the Shedim. They look similar to harpies, but they are always male, and they have both arms and wings. Their combat is savage and unrefined, but they are very fast and strong. They are not particularly dangerous on their own, but they always come in groups of four or more.

  “Next are the fiends. They are strong and tough, but slow and stupid, and they have poor instincts. They pose no danger to anyone strong enough to damage them.

  “The imps, which you have already met, are the weakest. Slow, stupid, and weak, as you have already discovered.

  “Lastly, there are the succubi and incubi. I’m sure you have heard of them as well.” I nodded. “They are physically on the same level as the imps, if not weaker, but they are far more intelligent, and are even able to speak. Their specialty is mental obfuscation though, which has little effect on me, and none on you.”

  “And they all use aura?”

  “In some capacity. The weaker ones use it in much the same way you do, with nothing but brute force.”

  “I don’t just use brute force, I know how to fight.”

  “You know how to fight, but you do not know how to use aura in a fight. If you did, you would not have been so helpless against me with it.”

  I opened my mouth to protest, but realized he was right. Compared to him, my aura use was incredibly sloppy. I had blamed it on the fact that I had recently increased my [Vitality] and wasn’t used to the increased aura, but that was only part of the problem. Natalya had trained me almost exclusively in magic, and I had been so focused on learning what she taught so that I could get away from her that I didn’t have the time to learn about aura.

  “As I was saying,” he continued. “The weaker, less intelligent ones use only brute force, but the Dullahan, succubi, and incubi were more efficient and effective with theirs. The Dullahan especially was quite good, and his style was similar to the Baek clan’s style. Nearly identical, in fact, only it was a bit less refined. I expect that anything stronger and more intelligent than the Dullahan would be using the full Baek clan technique, and that it might be possible for an already skilled aura user to study and imitate the technique.”

  “Are you skilled enough to do that?” I asked.

  “Yes,” he replied, with just a hint of pride. “That is why Oph- no, Greed sent me here.”

  “Would you be willing to show me how it works?”

  “I see no reason not to. I do owe you a life debt. However, first, you would need to be trained in the basics of aura control, as yours are practically nonexistent.”

  “Fine,” I said. “Let’s start now then. No point in wasting time. I don’t want to be here too long, or I’ll run out of mana, and we’ll have to start drinking demon’s blood. I tried it earlier, and trust me, we do not want to be drinking demon’s blood.”

  “It will take time,” he said. “Even if you learn quickly, it will take at least a month for the basics, and learning anything more advanced will take even longer. And that’s not counting the interference from demons.”

  “Ah, but you’re still thinking in human terms,” I countered. “We,” I pointed to the both of us, “no longer need to sleep. And if you think it would take me a month, that means I’ll probably be able to learn it in a week or less. I was chosen as the Demon King of Pride for a reason. Also, there’s no need to worry about demons. My [Demonic Aura] skill seems to terrify them. They all run away when I approach. And it costs me nothing to maintain it, so I can keep it going indefinitely.”

  “Oh.”

  He sat still and pondered for a few seconds, then stood up. I made to follow him up but he motioned me back to the ground.

  “Stay seated,” he said. “Start circulating aura like you normally would. You have a basic technique at least, yes?”

  “Yeah, Ji-Soo taught me one.”

  “Han Ji-Soo?”

  “Yes.”

  “Mmm. Good. She is good. Now show me, and we will work from there.”