Next Life – Chapter 72

Rubens remained unperturbed, not panicking. Regardless of his inner thoughts, he truly embodied the leader of the demon organization.

When Gerik arrived at the designated location, Rubens was there, along with another creature, a Black Owl. The Black Owl was enveloped in light, transforming into a humanoid shape. It was the moment of deification, a process Gerik himself had undergone.

“You’ve come at the perfect time. This is Laam, a new comrade I’ve found.”

“It’s Laam! Nice to meet you, senpai!”

Gerik felt he was loud and unnecessarily cheerful.

“Without delay, Laam. I want you to verify the truth of the information Gerik has brought. Investigate what has become of Zagan-sama’s封印地 (fūin-chi) from the sky.”

“Leave it to me! Laam will! Gracefully! Steadily! Splendidly! I’ll investigate!”

Laam reverted to its monster form and took flight.

“…You didn’t have to use someone like him.”

Rubens responded to Gerik’s words, laced with abundant exasperation, with a sigh.

“It can’t be helped. This is an emergency. Samuel has been dealt with, and Zofi, Rupert, and Cedric haven’t returned. We can’t afford to lose any more of our current forces.”

In other words, Laam had been chosen as a disposable pawn. Gerik understood Rubens’s concern. Their numbers had dwindled from a maximum of twelve to eight. Looking at the numbers alone, it was a loss of a third. All of them were low-ranking demons, so it wasn’t a significant blow in terms of combat power, but it was natural to feel a sense of crisis. However, the current problem was that Rubens was the only one who seemed to feel such a crisis.

“I’ve taught him ‘Telepathy’ as well. Unless he makes a grave mistake, he should be able to communicate.”

Rubens’s words contained no hint of anticipation for Laam. He likely only cared about confirming whether the report of the Demon King’s demise was true. Gerik didn’t think it was cold-blooded. It was unlikely that someone who could become a demon conveniently appeared at this time. It was far more probable that Rubens had assisted in their deification. From a certain perspective, they were individuals who couldn’t become demons without the help of other demons. Such beings were not worth mourning. Those with potential became demons on their own. Gerik himself had become a demon by devouring numerous adventurers and monsters.

“What if the report of Zagan-sama’s demise is true?”

“Don’t panic.”

Rubens attempted to calm the hasty Gerik with his eyes and voice.

“If it’s true, we can’t handle it. This means we must change our course of action.”

Rubens remained utterly calm. It was astonishing that he could be so composed, given the death of a being as high as the Demon King. As if seeing through Gerik’s thoughts, Rubens said,

“I am a demon who has lived for over a thousand years. I have even witnessed the death of a Demon King.”

Perhaps it was the gravitas of an elder. Gerik pondered this and found Rubens reliable.

After Gerik returned to his post, Rubens let out a deep sigh. In reality, he wasn’t that calm. His skill lay in appearing calm and thus calming those around him. His mind was in disarray; he had merely adopted an unhurried attitude to buy time to reach a conclusion. A being capable of destroying Demon King Zagan was an extreme threat. While it was a well-known fact that even Demon Kings weakened over long periods of sealing, completely destroying them was still difficult. Otherwise, humanity would try to destroy them after they had weakened. The reason there were no such precedents in the past was that destroying a Demon King required strength comparable to a Hero, and it took centuries for a Demon King to weaken. Hundreds of years after sealing, there was no guarantee a capable individual would exist to destroy the Demon King. Although humans hadn’t noticed, the reason demons occasionally attacked humanity was to strike down those with high potential before they could grow strong. Most of the demons under Rubens’s command likely didn’t know this either. Rubens was implementing his own version of the human method: “To deceive the enemy, start with your allies.” It was likely that other veteran demons on different continents were doing the same. Despite the past emergence of numerous Heroes who sealed powerful Demon Kings, Rubens believed this was the true reason monsters had not been eradicated. Because their numbers were small, they reached their limits after defeating a few Demon Kings and their subordinate demons. If they existed in numbers equivalent to the demons, monsters would have been annihilated long ago. So, why wasn’t a more large-scale attack launched? Because of a bitter precedent. In the past, a large-scale attack that drove humanity to the brink of extinction gave rise to an unparalleled monster named Melinda Guilford. She destroyed multiple Demon Kings, sealed the strongest Demon King Auraniess, and created the discipline of magic and the tools known as Magic Items.

“Never create another monster like that again…”

These were the dying words of the oldest demon who had doted on Rubens. Despite the presence of many Demon Kings and demons led by Auraniess, only one had returned. He thought they shouldn’t repeat that, but there were many problems. They had to show a strong front; otherwise, they couldn’t maintain what humans called “charisma.” Many demons had lost their comrades to humans and harbored deep hatred. Dragons and Griffins, as high-ranking monsters, were exceptions. He had to consider those aspects as well.

(What’s bothering me is Marius. Why did he appear at this time?)

It was true that he was gradually eroding the military strength of human nations, but it would be a long time before any visible results emerged. He appeared suddenly, without warning, and his past was unknown. It was unavoidable to assume someone had intervened. Rubens wanted to discover the identity and objective of that person. If he could do that, he might be able to eliminate a Melinda-class monster without a fight.