Chapter 8

Once again Mirth was engulf with widespread chaos. Creatures never seen before started to appear. Most of the locals only referred to them as the minions of the demon lord but some of the wiser ones noticed the war with those creatures.

The locals of Mirth puzzled on why the creatures are waging wars against each other. Some of the minions who have taken over a territory were mercilessly massacred. It was done by the minions of the demon lords with absolute force. Some were innocent bystanders but it was not their day when they got swept up with turmoil.

The human alliance got a brief breathing room as the attacks of the demon lord came to a stop. They seem to target other creatures which are also a member of the demon race. They were too confuse on what is happening as the heads of the alliance saw new members of demon race in Mirth.

In history, only the demon lords are members of demon race in Mirth. His summons are all not sentient thus was not recognized as members of demon race. The appearance of the demon race made the situation more complicated as demons and demon lord’s summons started to clash whenever they meet.

There is no end to the chaos as wars both big and small happen in every corner of Mirth. Some of the members of the alliance thought of the appearance of the new demon race were a blessing in disguise. It kept the waves of monsters from the demon lord from attacking constantly. Instead, all their attention was focused on the newly emerged demon race.

They are also affected since roads are not that safe now. Some of the demon race managed to sneak in the human lands and incorporeal creatures would come for them.

The worst part is that the new demon race is showing considerable power. Some of them can manage to hold their grounds even though they can’t counter-attack. Some of them are occupying huge areas. As a result, demons with weaker powers started to gather towards stronger demons.

The human alliance got a period of short peace as the war outside their walls is going full. The constant explosions here and there are signs that the war was not subtle at all. Once the war ends, the enemy will focus on them again. The worst part is, if the demons and demon lord decide to work together and wipe out humanity once and for all.

The fear of that happening is enough to keep the alliance in its toes. Though they are not facing the assault of the demon lord’s armies and the demon race for now.

The alliance decided to gather all their hero-tier which was level thirteen. They managed to pool around a thousand of them and that is all humanity can offer as their elites. Every life of the heroes are priceless as there will be no more replacement for them.

Klein, the sole level fifteen arch magus of humanity is now leading the elite troops. He is a fire elemental specialist and he has high prestige in humanity now.

Even though his empire was torn into pieces, his individual prowess was enough for him to hold the highest authority. Klein is a bit gloomy for the rest but they can understand. Klein lost over seventy-five percent of his empire. He has no hope of rebuilding it until this war is over.

Klein is once again overlooking the vast armies of humanity within a high place. Behind him are his few selected trusted companions which are also hero-tier level. His party consist of only offensive oriented mages and warriors. Aside from a lone water type support female magician, all type of element is there.  He has a total of thirteen teammates. The rest of the hero-tier elites formed their own team then given the right to command a part of the human army.

“Do you think we can win this war Klein?” a man in full plate silver armor said as he looks around the last of the remaining forces of humanity.

Klein was silent for a bit before he opened his eyes and looked back to the man.

“A war can never be predicted. We may win, we may lose but I will be sure to thrust my spear into the demon lord’s heart.”

All the party members listening nod. Light of determination ignites in their eyes.

They were supposed to lead a comfortable life. Only act when something got out of control. Sadly, now they are all putting their lives into a battle that they might not even win. Even though they have the resolve to die to take down the demon lord, no one is more determined as Klein.

“We only have so much time until their internal wars end and then it will be our turn to face their might.”

Klein learned to be an emperor from the start. Even though he had his screw loosen up a bit, he was still a capable leader.

“If the demon race won then that shows how much more powerful they are compared to the mindless demon lord’s army. If the demon lord won then we might be needed to lay down our life to take down the demon lord.”

“I wonder how powerful the demon lord is?” the naive voice of the water type female magician said in wonder.

“We only see his minions but what if he is pitifully weak in personal combat?”

The people got thinking since in their minds, no one can be too perfect. Even they have advantages and disadvantages in skills. Some were great in physical strength and some were well versed with magic. They all vary in talent but no one in them is a perfect mix of magic and might.

“It might be so but it might also that we are facing the lone perfect of this Mirth.” Klein gave a bitter smile.

“We are facing a genuine demon lord and not some fake demon lords the past the human alliance made. We can’t hope for the better situation anyhow.”

“I see…” the female magician was a bit embarrassed with her thoughts.

“I hope that this war would not continue… My people are miserable.”

“All our people are miserable young lady,” a red haired skinny man snorted. “It is not only yours.”

“I am just saying,” the female magician frown in displeasure. “What’s your problem?”

“Speaking as if her people were the most miserable… how ignorant.” The red haired man walk away from the rest of the people.

“Let it go Lisa…” Klein said as he stopped the lady from storming off and chasing after the rude man.

“His tribe was taken over by a demon. Treated as plaything until they were forced to kill each other due to the demon’s boredom.”

The female magician named Lisa trembled a bit when she heard what happened to the red haired man. She thought that the panicking townsfolk were already miserable. Now she knows that there can be worse than what she thought. She knows that people are dying but she has not thought that they would be treated as plaything by some random demon.

“This is what the world has become now Lisa…” Klein gave a bitter smile. Lisa was his cousin from his mother’s side and he was reluctant in letting the naive Lisa into the war.

“We are facing the force of destiny.”

Lisa shook her head in denial. “Why would a goddess give birth into a demon lord? The world of Mirth is already good enough… why?”

All the people around them only sighed in response. All them also asked that question at least once after the war broke out. Why would a goddess who was all powerful be so vicious to make a true demon lord? Mirth is a world of happiness for them and they can’t understand why a being would change how the world is.

“Don’t we all love to hear the answer to that?” an old man with nearly bald head said.

“Only if we know what happened to the last demon lord subjugation will we able to get any clue why she did that.”

Klein froze as he heard what happened to the demon lord subjugation hundred years ago from his father emperor. He knew how the past demon lord asked for salvation of his kind. He was spirited away by the goddess and the demon lord castle was left like that.

The last Hero Mirah was able to go back home with treasures. She distributed it like mad until it was gone. All her party members left the scene right after imparting wealth to their family.

He knew the reason why but he was not able to tell that to others. The others only knew that the past demon lords were also heroes in the past. They took up the role of the demon lord to keep human race unified in a sense. He can’t tell the world that the demon lord now is the product of their selfishness. Meant to be their punishment.

“But Hero Mirah Valeria is no more.” Lisa is having a sad expression in her face.

“Why did she keep quiet about what happened in the past?”

The rest remained silent. Some also knew what happened since they were also direct descendant of emperors. Some high ranking people in their respective empire.

Despite knowing the true events of the past, they keep quiet in fear of demoralizing the whole human race. Who would want to fight against something made by a goddess meant to punish them? That just spells impossibility. They need to survive so they keep quiet and let the whole of humanity take on the burden of saving their race.

Klein as the leader of the alliance now is also forced to keep his silence. He can’t possibly fight the war if the rest of the human race managed to know that the goddess is punishing them.

“We just need to eradicate the winner of their battle.” He said in a firm tone.

“For now we wait and sharpen our claws. We need all the power we can get.”

“That’s right! We need to win the war and everything will be back to normal.”

“Right! We just need to do our best and come on top.”

There were many more following encouragement from the rest of the people around. It made Lisa’s mood a bit better. She was suddenly called to take part in the war and support her cousin in combat. She was the most gifted in healing and support magic there is and the race can’t possible let her off in this war. She left her hometown in hopes of making a better tomorrow. Instead she was made to be aware of how the war is going downhill for their entire race and not just her village.

“We just need to take down the demon lord” she repeated what the others are saying. Even though deep down there is something bothering her.

Why would there be new demon race suddenly and why would the demon lord fight against them? She has so many questions in her head but she can’t ask anyone since no one seem to want to answer that even if they know.

“Easier said than done…” another man beside Lisa spoke this time.

“We can’t even approach the demon lord with this vast number of his minions.”

“When the war is over between them then the numbers of the winner will surely plummet down” Klein added.

“That is our only hope and hope that the demon race wins instead of the demon lord. I feel tremendous unease when thinking about the demon lord. We saw creatures we never saw before. Especially those faceless nightmares that can come and go into our lands.”

Klein is talking about the humanoid creatures but without face. The only redeeming features of them are the long claws as their weapon and nothing else. It looks fragile outside but those creatures kept on the minds of everyone.

They saw how it battled with a demon that managed to slip into their society. Saw firsthand how those creatures toyed with a nearly hero-tier demon race. The attacks kept on going through but the monster would regenerate back into original after a few minutes.

The faceless nightmares also have the ability to negate a single attack once every few minutes. When the fight is done, those creatures disappeared just like they were not there in the first place.

There was not even a hint of mana being used. That is where they got their name from, they disappeared just like a dream but a bad dream that is.

“Yeah those creatures are truly enigmatic.” The man who is the right hand man of Klein added to the conversation.

“We can determine that they can be damaged but they come back to life after a few minutes when left alone. If those creatures were to attack in waves aiming for someone or someplace then that would be a nightmare.”

The rest of the people in the room were smiling bitterly at that. They don’t have any clue on how to eliminate them. The creatures were also at the hero-tier level themselves. They can ignore damage done to them. Any opponent who only thinks on how to take down his opponent without regards to defense is truly a wicked opponent.

“I made arrangement to capture one if possible and try to see if we can get something. It is fortunate that they were not sent to us for now.”

“Let’s hope we can find a way before the demon lord set his sights on us.” Klein looked at the sky in a silent prayer in his heart. He was not sure who he was sending it to but he just did it randomly.

Eastern Endless mountain rage

A being is running fast along the harsh terrain of the mountain as if its tail caught fire. The being has two very striking grayish bat wings behind its back and four tails of a serpent and a head of a bull with menacing horns at its front. It was a demon that was fortunate enough to escape the planar prison. It managed to arrive at this relatively peaceful place and decided to live in seclusion.

A month ago, something happened and creatures started to hunt him every now and then. His name is Velkoze Iceborn as he was from the tribe famous for ice magic and poison. He himself is an abnormality in his tribe.

His monstrous development was shunned by his own people. In the end, he lost his way. Soon, found himself trapped into the darkness of the planar prison. Fortunate enough to see light once every three hundred years of solitude.

All the prisoners will gather once in every three hundred years. Those occasions spark turmoil. Their difference and being sick in the head breeds animosity. It will then escalate into bloodshed. Beings in the planar prison were all mentally unstable or have too much desire for destruction.

“Who the heck decided to poke the hornet nest!!!” he shouted as he crashed into a tree crushing it into smithereens.

He was angry when he managed to know the reason for the hunt. A demon of the hundred demons general of the pit annoyed someone called demon lord of this world Mirth. Then the demon lord retaliated by sending massive demon hunt in Mirth arriving into his current predicament.

“What an unreasonable fellow!”

He shouted as he sent the humanoid hunter in his front flying with his mere physical body. He was three meter tall giant in himself. His speed does not relate with his build at all as he is truly fast for his stature.

He himself is also a member of the hundred demons general of the pit. Though he became a bit docile for the last thousand years of his captivity. He was hoping for the warden to see his change and let him out. Due the sudden appearance of cracks into the planar prison, his plans did not work out. He escaped into the world of Mirth with the dream of living a quiet life and comfort. Who knew he would face worse fate than he has in the planar prison.

He can take down the monsters chasing him but they seem to be immortal. They will rise again after a few moments. He will only grow tired fighting them without merit and so he decided to escape leading to his current situation.

He was proud of being one of the fiercest as he was ranked eighty two in the ranking of the pit. Though he was currently in a sorry state as his body littered with countless scratch marks. They can only be considered as annoyance to him but he still looked wretched. No one can be calm when being humiliated into such degree by beings weaker than them.

Velkoze started to gather mana in his four tails and the serpents opened their mouths in response. It started to form small dark green orbs in their mouths. It is his fusion skill combining poison and ice spells.

This one is made of a freezing magic and a corrosive type poison mist. The effects are truly opposite but his innate gift made it possible. The four serpent’s mouth is now having some weird screech. Due to the chaotic revolution of magic inside the sphere, it may also freeze and melt him if he is not careful.  

He managed to lock on the faceless hunters and sent the spheres into different directions. He did not hear any sound from the creatures when they were hit but he managed to freeze them in place. He managed to get some time and gain some distance for him to recover.

He can’t remember how many times he used this method to slow them down. He knows that they will soon rise again and continue the hunt.

“Ahhhhhhhh my days are awful!” he shouted in the sky as he runs as fast as he can leaving only a trail of dust.

“I miss the planar prison! Warden, please take me back! I am sorry!”

Then a crack appeared above his head and a massive hand scooped him up into the crack and vanish the next instant. The place became quiet until the hunters arrived but they lost trail.

They looked into the sky especially in the direction of the crack earlier a few moments earlier. The hunters seems communicating as they were moving their claws into bizarre patterns. The others also make some gestures making screeching noises as their claws grind into each other.

After some time, the creatures seem to come into an agreement. Their claws started to vibrate and made loud screeches. All them jump into the air which the crack was earlier and attacked all together. The space is torn apart and they managed to slip inside the crack.

The warden, which name has been forgotten by almost every being in existence looked into the intruders in his prison. He recognized them at first glance and his face twisted into great displeasure.

“Why are there Lost Lambs here?” His head started to ache once again. He is having great trouble into patching the portals that were opened accidentally and now intruders started to appear.

“The inhabitants of the Lost Paradise should stay in their place.” He extended his arm and swatted the intruders.

The intruders were sent crashing into the walls and soon the walls opened up like a jaw and swallowed them.

“Good grief… What a troublesome summons.”