Volume 2 - CH 5.1

Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist, Editor: Krizzeir

Chapter 5: Let’s Overturn the Fate of Death, Part 1

「Sofia is really cute, isn’t she? She’s no longer a little girl, which is truly a shame, but she’s not an old hag either! If I had to name her current state, I would say that she’s a mature little girl. Ahh, just the sound of it is like music to my ears.

「Please stop talking now, our ears are going to rot.」

「It’s been some time but you’re just the same piece of trash as usual.」

「It’s because right now she’s in his ideal strike zone.」

Lilu, Yunis, and Spina threw insult after insult at the demon who was staring at Sofia as if she was some godly entity. Spina seemed to be especially bitter about this, since in her eyes, he was defiling her former name.

Speaking of Sofia, now that she could get a good look at Logan for the first time, she was obviously terrified and hid behind Mari, clinging onto her skirt tightly.

Generally she was a little cowardly, and extremely cautious of strangers and newly met people, so that kind of behavior was understandable, Aur couldn’t help but to wonder after whom she took that particular trait of hers.

「Logan.」

「Yes Ma’am!」

When Mari called his name in a low voice, he immediately stood straight and saluted her. Although it was a half-joking action, there definitely was some kind of hierarchy between Logan and Mari, with Mari on the very top, and Logan on the very bottom.

「If anything were to happen to me, please take care of Sofia. Can you do that for me?」

But what came out of her mouth was not a reprimand for him.

「Stop saying gloomy things like that.」

Logan broke his posture and clicked his tongue.

「Even if you didn’t ask this of me, Logan will always be ready to take care of all the little girls in this world!」

「Yeah, I thought as much.」

Mari sighted as Logan was giving her a thumbs up with all of his arms.

「Ah, but if you try to do something funny or weird to her, I will smite you even from beyond the grave, capiche?」

「That was uncalled for!」

Receiving a critical hit, Logan dropped his shoulders as Mari graced him with a smile that was both charming and scary to look at.

「This is it.」

They were in a cave situated near the big river at the foot of a huge mountain range. In front of them was something that looked like a rectangular piece of rock made entirely of white stones.

「Yes, there is no doubt.」

Tena nodded and confirmed Aur’s suspicions.

「This is the Altar of Sacrifice.」

It was finally the day of the sacrifice. From Aur’s group, three people were present: the Demon Lord himself, Tena, and…

「Sofia.」

「U, Un.」

Sofia nodded with a scared expression, but nevertheless, she bravely walked towards the altar.

「Heave-ho!」

Aur kept a close watch over her as she clumsily climbed on it.

「Is this okay, papa?」

「Yes, my child.」

He watched bitterly as she laid down on the stone surface.

There was no other choice for them. Right now, she was the only person within their group who fulfilled all the conditions necessary for the sacrifice. But even so, sacrificing someone he considered to be his own child left his heart torn open.

「…He’s coming.」

Tena warned them with sharp voice.

As if to respond to her voice, dark clouds began to gather, and a thunderous roar could clearly be heard. The torrential rain slashed at them mercilessly, and the level of water in the river increased dramatically.

And finally, “He” has revealed himself.

「“He”… ah, yes, of course I know about him.」

Sakuya nodded when Aur asked her about “Him”, feeling an inexplicable sense of tension.

「I heard that you and him are on the same level.」

「Same… maybe in the sense that he calls himself the Devil King, but other than that, we are nothing alike. I would like to ask you not to lump me up together with the likes of him anymore.」

Both her voice and her gaze were filled with intense disgust. But also fear.

「He does not resort to violence or cruelty when it comes to subjugating his territories, he just razes them to the ground until there is nothing left. That is who “He” is.」

Thinking back on Sakuya’s words, Aur gazed on what was quickly approaching.

It looked like a gross amalgamation of disgusting scales. And from the darkness above, something stared at Aur with red eyes that were even bigger than those scales. One, two, three… there were four pairs of sinister eyes in total.

「Red eyes just like a ghost, and a body covered in snake-like scales the size of a mountain…」

Aur could feel that his voice was trembling. He could not shake away the thought that he could not win against something like that even if he had Wolfe at his side. And the mountain part was not a metaphor. He was merely stating a fact.

Just his head to neck measured over one mile in length. He didn’t even want to start guessing how long his body was up to the tip of its tail. Compared to this monstrosity, the Heavenly Giant they used in their assault on heaven looked like a child’s toy.

「So this is “Him”…」

Sakuya called him {Yamata no Orochi}.

It was a draconic serpent with eight heads and eight tails.

They said that simply uttering his name increased his power, so Tena just called him {Eight.}

One of Orochi’s eight heads opened its enormous mouth filled with sword-like teeth and loomed in closer to them in order to devour the sacrifice that was prepared for it.

「Sofia!」

Aur called out his daughter’s name. Sofia was now a being similar to both Orochi and Aur, a Demon Lord who ruled over her own Dungeon. If uttering Orochi’s name gave it power, then maybe it was possible to do the same with her!

When he spoke her name, his power flowed into her.

「Now then, time for a quick review of what we learned.」

They were not strictly inside of it, but for Sofia, who could take control of any territory and make it a part of her Dungeon, it didn’t matter where she was.

「What is the most effective trap against any forms of aquatic life?」

「A pitfall!」

And along with Sofia’s voice, the ground within her field of vision caved in.