area51novel Page 208
Page 208
"Ah woo~"
“Ahhhhhh~!”
Inside the cell.
The child's voice was full of anxiety. The little bean, who was only the size of a human knee, kept shaking his white hair, which was big enough to cover his body. Two small demon horns appeared on his head. He tiptoed weakly, like a little rabbit, and then cried out in a frantic voice.
She strained with all her might, jumping back and forth in front of the tall human, trying to reach the bottle of milk that had been prepared in his hand.
But that despicable human, taking advantage of his height, stood with his hands on his hips and teased her, laughing wildly: "Come on! Come beg me! Is this all you're willing to do for milk?!"
The white-haired little girl jumped for a while until she couldn't jump anymore. She curled up into a ball of fur on the ground, panting heavily: "Ooh... ooh..."
"Waaaaah! Why did you stop? Don't you want to drink it? Then I'll drink it for you, slurp slurp slurp~" At this moment, the cheeky and annoying voice rang out again in the cell. Shaking the milk bottle in its hand, the golden-haired, two-legged light demon raised the milk bottle high, pretending to drink it up right away.
This really annoyed the white-haired loli who had been somewhat tired and stopped to rest. She stomped her short legs angrily, grabbed the scumbag hero's legs again, and started yelling as if she was about to cry:
"Ba ba! Milk! Milk~!"
"Hahaha! Hahahaha!" Mino immediately threw his head back and laughed wildly:
"You weak and helpless little devil, you're even calling for your father again just to get milk? Let me tell you, don't even think about calling for your mother, let alone your father..."
The familiar and alluring fragrance of roses gradually wafted into my nostrils.
"Don't even think about doing anything, my dear hero~!"
A gentle female voice, full of kindness, came from behind.
Mino's body stiffened, as if he had been frozen in place, like a puppet on strings. He stiffly turned his head and saw Kletina with her arms wrapped around his back, exuding a terrifying aura, and a group of great demons at the door looking at him with contemptuous eyes.
"Aha, ahaha, you guys... you're back pretty early, huh?" Mino chuckled dryly, cold sweat gradually beading on his forehead.
Klettina's chilling gaze fell upon her. Her hand, which was holding the bottle high, trembled, and then she obediently and slowly lowered it. The little bean in front of her feet had bright eyes, grabbed the bottle, and eagerly began to suckle at the nipple.
"Milk~!" Holding the milk bottle, Mia revealed a radiant, angelic smile.
Swish-!
In an instant, Mino felt the murderous intent of the group of great demons in the cell surge.
"That damned perverted hero, how dare he bully such an innocent and adorable Mia-sama? Is this something a human could do?" Dark flames rose from the pages of Swell's book.
"What a piece of trash... You actually tricked Mia into calling you 'Dad,' and you even said 'again' just now?" Migo made no attempt to hide the contempt and coldness in her eyes: "Why don't you go find a corner and die?"
“A hero cannot, or at least should not.” Apophis shook the hilt of his sword.
"Mino, do you want to be... a dad?" Fim tilted his head.
“Hero.” Kletina took a deep breath, a cold smile on her face, and walked towards him step by step: “You should know what kind of mixed torture you are about to face…”
"It's a misunderstanding! It's all a misunderstanding!" Her eyes widened, and her scalp tingled, she retreated to stand pressed against the wall, frantically explaining:
"After I fed this little one that day, I don't know why she keeps making that sound! It really wasn't me who started it! I'm innocent!!!"
"Wait, put that thing away! There's still that thing? How come you even brought that thing out?! Help! This is vigilante justice!!"
"Mia, speak up for me!!! Speak up for me!!!"
"Bang bang!"
"—Shut up! Do you want me dead?!"
A powerful surge of magic materialized and floated within the cell. Mino watched as the enormous shadow slowly enveloped his face, swallowed hard, and his eyes flickered with fear and despair.
The next moment, a series of screams echoed from inside the cell.
……
Chapter 302 A Millennium-Old Secret: The True "Demon King of Time"
An hour later.
The conference hall at the bottom level of the Demon King's castle.
The flickering will-o'-the-wisps illuminated the figures at the demon council meeting.
"In short, our most formidable opponents now are that rising hero and the unfathomable morning star of the kingdom."
After escorting the sleeping Mia back to her room, Kletina's shadow materialized in the first seat as she looked at the demons: "Now that the blessing has been completed, the hero's strength must have increased dramatically."
"Mino's sister, Shana, is definitely our most difficult enemy to deal with right now!"
“That’s right, Lady Kletina.” Swell spoke up at the long table: “Moreover, I have received two extremely bad pieces of information. Those humans have started preparing a counterattack against us without stopping for a moment.”
"According to the information we have received, both Shana, the Hero of Sin, and Lak, the chief mage of the Round Tower, disappeared from the capital shortly after the great battle!"
Swell seemed to be giving a wry smile: "Destroying that sacred and great round tower is certainly a good thing, but it seems that we have also released a beast that has been hiding in the darkness for a long time... Lady Kletina."
Kleidina frowned slightly: "That royal archmage is one thing, but even the Hero of Sin left the capital immediately after completing the blessing?"
The blessing and awakening ceremony of the hero are different. It is the moment when the hero is truly born. It is also possible that with the descent of the goddess's resonance, a blessing of revival will be born in the country. It is generally treated as a festival of equal importance to the founding of the country.
Without the hero, the kingdom's subsequent actions cannot proceed, just as Prince Ota's absence on the founding day of the kingdom has a huge impact on public morale.
"Going to such lengths... what is the kingdom's explanation to the outside world?" Kleinna asked Svir.
“No explanation.” Swell shook his head: “Prince Ota said he didn’t expect the hero to run away.”
——This is a lie.
The demons present all had a clear judgment in their hearts.
Would Ota, as the king, not know the movements and goals of the chief of the round tower and the hero? Obviously not. It's even more likely that these two humans were acting on his orders, while Ota was setting up a smokescreen for them.
Those two were not acting on their own initiative, but rather carrying the will of the entire human kingdom and had a meticulous and well-thought-out plan!
At the head of the long table, Kleidina made her decision:
"Svir, strengthen the Demon King's Castle's demonic domain awareness. Prepare for the worst: if humans do reach the Demon King's Castle again, I can only remind them once more of the enduring legends and eternal fears of the past millennium..."
Mia's innocent sleeping face flashed through her mind, while Kletina's cherry-pink eyes were filled with an extremely dangerous aura:
"That power belongs to the strongest demon king—the Demon King of Time—"
The demonic aura present trembled slightly, and the pages of the Swell book shook once more. This was a truth known only to all the great demons present:
That overwhelmingly powerful Demon Lord of Time is indeed Lady Mia… but with that Demon Lord of Time's might, she has repeatedly suppressed and annihilated the human powerhouses who have attempted to offend the Demon King's castle over the past millennia. That unseen "Demon Lord of Time," who instills fear throughout the entire continent, is right before our eyes—
Through the power of "nurturing," Kletina can both complete the cycle of magic for Lady Mia and drive the flow of time; she can also briefly contain the terrifying magic belonging to the Demon King of Time within her body! Acting as the Demon King's agent!!!
The power of the First Demon Official and the Demon King of Time merged to form a status that is almost divine!
Although that would also put a great burden on Kletina, with the Demon King's castle as her backing, she could both attack and defend without any risk. It was also the ultimate trump card of the Great Demons, equivalent to the God of All Weapons!
“Also, Swell.” Kleinna looked at Swell:
"Sixth Demon, Astrid, can you still contact her? We might need her help during this special period."
“This…I’m afraid it’s impossible now…” Swell said with a sigh. “I don’t know why, but since the fall of Pope Brad, our knowledge of Lady Astrid has been getting weaker and weaker, as if we’ve been trapped in the tight security of the human kingdom.”
"This time, as we approach the capital, my 'knowledge' authority has even fed back to me that the channels for exchanging knowledge with Lady Astrid have been reduced to zero."
“Aside from the one-way intelligence channels I left behind, we can no longer approach Lady Astrid without alerting humans.”
"Seriously, such a thing exists..." Klaitina's expression turned slightly grave.
"It seems that Astrid is also facing great challenges, and may even be in dire straits, as can be seen from the strict guard that humans are taking against her. In that case, we can only wish her good luck."
“If we intervene forcefully, it may cause the situation to become irreversible.”
"I share the same view, Lady Kletina."
Swell nodded slightly, feeling a little sympathy for Astrid in his heart. Now it seemed that their decision to let Astrid infiltrate the human kingdom was probably the biggest mistake they had ever made.
Right now, all Swell could do was pray for Astrid in secret:
Hopefully, that ruthless and decisive human king won't lay a cruel hand on Lady Astrid...
……
The human kingdom.
The capital of Kur.
A month has passed since the battle to defend the capital that shook the entire kingdom.
"The other top-tier combatants who were injured in the battle of the capital are also slowly recovering." Prince Ota sat at his desk, reading the report from the Holy Church, a slight trouble in his eyes: "But..."
"It seems that Pope Tonks gained some insight during the battle and went into seclusion underground in the Holy Church. It's unknown when he will emerge again."
"Saintess Lena went alone to the Pure White Ice Peak to find the sacred ice mine in order to repair the damage to the Ice Heart. If things don't go smoothly, it will take a considerable amount of time."
Looking up from the document, Ota sighed deeply, "Chief Lark went off on a mission in a mysterious manner, and then there was the disappearance of Warrior Shana that day..."
"In the end, are the only ones we can truly rely on the warriors of Dane?"
Turning his head, Ota asked the Knights Commander Erwin, who was waiting to the side, "How is Dane's injury recovering now?"
"Your Highness, Lord Dane suffered 365 comminuted fractures in the battle a month ago!"
Erwin said firmly, "Now, he has almost fully recovered!"
“If the capital were to face a similar crisis again, I think there would be no problem sending Lord Dane to the front lines alone!”
Chapter 303 The Warrior of Light, Shana's Disaster Trait
"That's good." Ota nodded with a sigh of relief.
"Dain's contributions to the kingdom, both overt and covert, are immeasurable. He wiped out the Wolf Mercenaries, severely injured the Second Demon, and in this battle to defend the South Gate, he was probably ambushed by the demons, much like Pope Tonks, but he still successfully stopped the demons' invasion..."
"No matter what, the kingdom will not treat him unfairly!"
Ota pulled out a drawer from his desk, took out a gold medal engraved with shining wings, and pushed it to the edge of the desk: "Erwin, the ministers and nobles' resolution has been passed. This is probably the fastest and most uncontroversial award ever issued in the kingdom's decision-making process."
"Wait a moment, take this medal to Grand Duke Thanaus's residence."
Erwin stepped forward, his eyes trembling slightly. "This...this medal is...the Warrior of Light!"
Holding this thin, gold medal, Erwin felt as if it weighed a ton!
As everyone knows, titles related to light hold the highest status in the kingdom! Warrior of Light is the greatest and most glorious title, a synonym for the most powerful and valiant humankind!
But there is only one hero, and very few others can reach or come close to the status of a hero.