On the other end of the shattered ancient door, a colossal Golem covered in divine inscriptions was kneeling on the ground, with its head lowered in my direction.

Just by looking at its size, along with the intensity of the divine light radiating from the magical inscriptions carved on its surface, I could already guess just how effective it would be in a fight against a demonic creature...

...Or even the King of all demonic creatures – which was my unfortunate, and unlucky self!

I could feel my eyes hurting just from staring at the bright glow radiating from those magical inscriptions. There was no way I was going to win if I decided to fight against it with my current body specs!

It was even more so if that fight was without me using any magical spells or skills – things I didn't have any idea about yet!

After knowing just how powerful this Golem was, I couldn't find a single ounce of motivation left in me to fight that monstrous construct – no matter how much that accursed Quest window wanted me to!

I was forced to push this 'gifted' body of a Demon King to its limits just a little while ago, only to beat that damned Berserk Troll.

However, no matter how scary and powerful that monster might have appeared to me, the simple truth was that – in the end, it was just a slightly stronger variant of a common lvl.19 monster.

If even such a weak and trashy monster could push a Demon King's body to its limits, I didn't even want to guess what would happen if I fought with an ancient Golem that was literally overflowing with holy power – the antithesis to my current demonic powers.

'Yeah. There's no way I'm fighting him....'

I didn't care if that 'Great Existence' or whatever became upset with my actions. I wasn't going to throw my life away just to please that being!

If they really wanted to settle their grievances with the Sun Goddess, they would have to confront her directly and duke it out among themselves.

And now, with a sentient magical Golem brimming with the Goddess' divine power standing in front of me, I believed I could easily avoid being caught up in a terrible misunderstanding.

After all, as a civilized gentleman myself, all I wanted was to communicate with the Goddess and make her understand that I was not an enemy, in a peaceful and civil way. And also to let her know that she had another enemy, who was kidnapping random people from their homes to fight against her!

But...

'...What is this?'

Moments ago, I was desperately trying to convince this giant Golem – whom I took to be the Goddess' apostle – that I was not the Demon King...

{...I am your faithful subordinate – First-ranked Heavenly King Dular – at your service, My Lord The Demon King…!!}

...and in the next moment, the Golem was suddenly on its knees, claiming that it was my – or rather, the Demon King's – loyal subordinate.

"Wait, just wait for a moment..."

Wasn't the order of things in this place.....a bit wrong?

"You.....y-you said you're one of the Heavenly Kings?"

{....Yes, even though I resemble a stone-puppet now, I was the first demon to be honored with that title by you....}

What do you mean – 'even though you look like this'...?!

No, more importantly, why was a Golem covered from head to toe in radiant divine power claiming to be a Heavenly King? Was all this just an act to make me lower my guard? Or was he really speaking the truth...?

And if he was speaking the truth, then what was the meaning behind my Tutorial Quest mission?

[Final Stage Initiated: Defeat The Awakened Divine Guardian!]

Why was it clearly telling me to fight and defeat this Golem? Weren't we supposed to be friends?

And in the first place....

"...if you really are a Heavenly King, then, aren't you supposed to be dead right now?"

The original game clearly mentioned that the Heavenly Kings were killed by the first generation of Heroes.

I doubted that the information from the game was false, since that would serve absolutely no purpose in whatever plans that Great Existence probably had.

Then, was I simply being paranoid, or was there really some kind of mystery hidden behind the overly generic-feeling game lore I had glossed over in my boredom?

The stone Golem slowly raised its head, staring at me with some unknown mixture of emotions swirling within its burning orb-like eyes.

{....Death....yes, indeed. I had died a long time ago, in the hands of the brave Heroes of Etheria.... I still remember the day of my death. As a warrior, it was certainly the most memorable day of my life....}

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"Then, as expected...."

I furrowed my eyebrows, stealthily getting ready for a tough fight ahead.

{....but those vile pigs from the Church just had to defile and trample upon my honor as a warrior...!!}

In his agitation, this dead-yet-alive Heavenly King who was in the form of a magic Golem suddenly let out a frustrated shockwave from his body.

"Ugh!"

Unconsciously, I clenched my fists and brought them in front of me in a defensive pose, before realizing that he was still talking about the events after his 'death', and not attacking me.

{...It's because of them, that I had to show you in such an unsightly display now...}

"Oh..."

Without showing any hint of embarrassment for the misunderstanding on my face, I promptly lowered my fists.

Originally, Etheria had quite a few religions that the natives of this world used to follow. But after the Great Demon Realm War, the Solaris Church was the only one left that could be referred to as 'The Church'.

{....After my death, without letting the Heroes notice, those fanatic bastards from the Church trapped my soul, before sealing me in this hideous body....}

'...wait, what?'

But since when could followers of the Sun Goddess practice such ominous techniques?

No, I could learn about that later. Right now, there was a much more important question I wanted to ask!

"...But why? For what reason would they seal you in a Golem's body? And why would they even leave you here?"

I could hear my own voice turning grim the moment I asked this question.

If the Hero parties already killed him, why would the followers of the Goddess seal a Heavenly King in a divine power-operated Golem body?

From what I knew from the game, the first-generation Heavenly Kings were supposed to be stronger than an entire Hero party.

If this guy was really the first-ranked Heavenly King, then the raw power he possessed during his prime should match multiple Hero parties at once!

I couldn't understand why the Goddess' followers would try to capture and seal the soul of such a powerful character, despite the obvious consequences if they somehow failed and he broke free from their control.

{...The reason I was granted this vessel....was so that I....could guard your sealing spot, My Lord...}

The sealed Heavenly King's words came out haltingly, as if he was ashamed to spell them out from his own mouth – or whatever sorcery he was using to speak without any vocal cords.

Seeing him hesitating to speak, I tried to push him a little.

"...Heavenly King Dular, you will need to tell me more than that. I need you to tell me exactly what happened for you to end up like this here."

Since this Heavenly King believed himself to be my loyal subordinate, I should naturally take full advantage of this opportunity to learn everything about my potential enemies, be it the Demon Realm-side, or the Etherian-side...

The bright glow from his orb-like eyes dimmed a little, before he started to answer my question.

{....Understood, my lord. After trapping my soul, those followers of the Goddess made me into the core of this magic puppet.... Because I was the last Heavenly King the Heroes had killed, they thought they could get away with anything....}

*Screech–!*

His stone fingers scraped across the rocky floor he was kneeling on as he tried to forcefully clench his fist, before spitting out in an anguished voice.

{....But even after sealing me, they didn't want to let me off the hook so easily....}

The Heavenly King lowered his head once more, hiding that glowing pair of orbs in the place of his eyes from my sight.

{....They used the divine power of their Goddess to seal and trap my soul in this new body, forcing me to endure this searing burn of their holy power forever!}

"Ah..."

So the reason he was sealed inside a prison that continuously radiated divine power, was to slowly burn his corrupted demonic soul till he went insane and died....huh?

However, since he was so vastly powerful, the divine powers could only purify his soul in an excruciatingly slow manner, prolonging his suffering for as long as possible.

Indeed, it was a pretty vicious method of imprisonment. Vicious enough make you wonder – were they really the followers of the Sun Goddess, the embodiment of purity and sunshine?

However, I still had once doubt about all this, that this Heavenly King hadn't answered till now.

"Earlier, you said that you were imprisoned in this body so that you could guard my sealing spot, didn't you? But why would they want to put you – my subordinate – in charge of that duty?"

{....}

Seeing that the Golem was staying silent, I also put a bit more force in my voice.

"...What happened? Why did they assign 'you' – my 'loyal' subordinate – to guard my sealing spot?"

With his head still lowered, the colossal Golem slowly started to speak.

{...My Lord, the reason I was sealed here....is because…}

The Heavenly King's voice was trembling a little.

*rattle~*

Suddenly, I felt the rocky ground under me shudder.

{...because, I was the only one remaining after the Heroes' death, who was powerful enough to stop you...if the divine seal placed on you was ever broken....}

The colossal Golem was slowly standing up from his kneeling position, making the shuddering feeling under my feet much more intense.

"You..."

Taken aback by the sudden shift, my eyes went wide open in surprise.

Was this the reason why the quest window told me to defeat him, despite him being the Demon King's subordinate?

"Heavenly King Dular, you..."

I had to admit, it was truly a nasty surprise.

{....I hope you can forgive my insolence, My Lord. But please release me from this unbearable agony....}

"...from the beginning..."

{....please kill me. This humble servant implores you....}

Indeed, it didn't matter if the soul used as the core of a magic Golem was loyal to the original creator or someone else.

Yeah, just like a rotten corpse reanimated using necromancy, he too would never be able to defy his current master's orders, no matter how much willpower he had.

"....you were stationed here to kill me?"

{....please kill me, and claim back your rightful throne once again....}

Thousands of feet underground, in a dungeon tunnel bathed in the wicked aura of darkness and despair...

{....please save me – from the fate of harming my liege, whom I once swore my loyalty to....!}

....an evil demon conveyed his desperate wish to me.

Suddenly, without any warning, the giant Golem raised one of its arms at me.

"No, wai—!"

*Whoosh–!*

A bright ball of divine power rapidly gathered in front of its palm, aimed directly at me.