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‘He’s going to be easier to deal with than I thought.’

If Ganisel were a lowly demon like Gaga, Henry would’ve simply suppressed him with brute force. However, Ganisel was a top-class predator, the second highest in the Demon Realm. He was a completely different beast from Gaga.

Thus, Henry thought it would be far more efficient to appease him into taking a proactive stance than to use force to control him.

Ganisel’s pupils twitched slightly at Henry’s offer. Did this human even know what the hell he was talking about?

However, Ganisel had no choice but to believe Henry because he could clearly see the greed in his eyes as he offered to help him take revenge. And most of all…

‘He’s ripped off six of my wings… He could’ve suppressed me with force if he wanted to, but he didn’t.’

For that reason, Ganisel felt like he could trust Henry’s offer. He tried getting up, leaning on his own strength to support his body. Six of his wings, which were the source of his strength, had been cut off, but he still had two left, so he wasn’t completely powerless.

He stood upright and stared into Henry’s eyes without saying anything, and Henry matched his gaze.

It wasn’t a power struggle. There was no killing intent in Ganisel’s eyes, which meant that he was trying to gauge Henry’s capabilities and honesty.

The two maintained eye contact for a while, and Ganisel eventually broke the silence.

“Let’s hear your side of the story first.”

“Excellent choice,” replied Henry.

At Ganisel’s relaxed attitude, Henry’s lips curled into a slight smile, and he offered a handshake. Ganisel looked at Henry’s outstretched hand for a moment, then reluctantly grasped it.

The two of them shook hands a couple of times, and then Henry proceeded to tell Ganisel about his situation. When he was near the end of his story, Ganisel curiously asked, “The Demon Realm Gap?”

“Well, in my world, we call it the Demon Realm Gap. Anyway, Brillente dragged me there through that gap, and I want to go back to where I came from, but no matter how hard I look, I can’t find it.”

The Demon Realm Gap was something Henry had named, so those in the Demon Realm couldn’t possibly know what it was just by its name. Thus, Henry offered Ganisel a detailed explanation of what the Demon Realm Gap was exactly.

After listening to him for a while, Ganisel eventually said, “I get what you’re saying. I think you’re talking about the dimensional disaster.”

“Dimensional disaster?”

“Yes. I don’t know about the human realm, but in the Demon Realm, it’s one of those disasters that happens from time to time. For example, if a dimensional gap is suddenly formed and you get sucked into it, that’s a dimensional disaster.”

“A disaster? No, Brillente was definitely targeting me, so I wouldn’t call this a disaster.”

Henry didn’t agree with Ganisel’s explanation. Brillente had clearly planned to kidnap him, so it couldn’t have been an accident. Besides, if the Demon Realm Gap was a type of dimensional disaster like Ganisel was saying, how could Brillente have used an accident to kidnap him?

As Henry voiced his reasonable skepticism, Ganisel nodded and said, “It’s possible because Brillente was a candidate for the next Demon King, chosen by the Demon God himself.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s just as I’ve said. You probably don’t know this, but a Demon King candidate is granted more powers than you think. One of them is the power to manipulate dimensions. That’s one of the reasons I myself wish to become the Demon King.”

The power to manipulate dimensions—it made sense for Ganisel to pursue such power, given that he had to cross dimensions in order to reach the heavens and exact his revenge.

This additional explanation managed to somewhat clear things up for Henry. With these new facts in hand, he started to collect his thoughts.

“Then if you become the Demon King candidate, you’ll gain the power to cross dimensions?”

“That’s how it’s been so far, since a Demon King always has to cross over to the human realm.”

“So that’s how it is, huh…”

The reason Henry’s magic hadn’t penetrated the Demon Realm Gap was the fact that dimensional magic itself was far beyond his abilities. For Henry, magic that could manipulate dimensions was something incredible, verging on fantasy.

However, now he realized that there was a way to gain the power to manipulate dimensions without having to increase the level of his magic.

When he came to a final conclusion, Henry smiled and said, “Then it’s settled. If I become the new Demon King candidate, I’ll be able to obtain dimensional power.”

“That’s… right.”

“What’s with that face? Are you sad now that I want to become the new Demon King? Technically, your goal is to take revenge on the heavens, not to become the Demon King. Am I wrong?”

Henry wasn’t saying all of this just because of the excitement of the moment. Besides his cheerful attitude, Henry actually had good reasons for wanting to become the Demon King.

‘I guess ripping off his wings really did take a toll on him. I didn’t realize his strength would decrease this much.’

Shortly after cutting off Ganisel’s wings, Henry realized that his power had decreased noticeably. Thus, he thought that it would be better and more efficient for him to become the Demon Kind instead of Ganisel.

Of course, that wasn’t the only reason.

Dimensional power—Henry didn’t know exactly how it worked, but if he could attain such powers by becoming the Demon King, that alone would be enough of a reason for Henry to pursue that title.

‘That way, I can close the Demon Realm Gap.’

He had failed twice to close the Demon Realm Gap. Even then, as he was speaking to Ganisel, Henry couldn’t possibly know what kind of demonic beasts were swarming into the Demonic Beast Forest.

“...Okay.”

Ganisel also felt similarly to Henry. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was forced to respect Henry’s decision. Having already lost six wings, it would be impossible for him to overtake his competition and become the new Demon King.

It was better to fulfill his goals with the help of someone than not at all.

“But the candidate for the Demon King… Wait, I mean, where can I meet this Demon God?” asked Henry.

“Why do you ask?”

“Think about it. I killed Brillente, the Demon King candidate, and I’ve defeated you, the next possible candidate. So if this candidate for the Demon King is appointed by the Demon God, shouldn’t I already be chosen as the next candidate?”

“I see. According to the laws of the Demon Realm, you’re right. But technically, the Demon God doesn’t actually choose the candidate himself.”

“Then who does?”

“His representative, who acts as an oracle. She’s the one who chooses.”

“A representative? Is there something like an organization that serves the Demon God?”

“No, it’s not a church or something like that. There’s someone who always speaks on the Demon God’s behalf. We call that being Raina.”

“Raina? Then we have nothing more to talk about. Let’s go to Raina right away.”

“No, we can’t go there.”

“Why not?”

“Raina is the Demon God’s one and only representative, so she’s guarded by the Demon God’s apostles. Rumor has it that they’re even more powerful than the Demon God himself.”

“That’s it…? So you’re saying that we can’t dare to meet Raina because some apostles are guarding her?”

“That’s right.”

“You needn’t worry, and rumors are just rumors. I’m sure everyone was so frightened by the rumor that nobody has even bothered to check.”

Apostles—it was definitely too soon for Henry to hear that accursed word again. Of course, the apostles he had recently faced were like Arthus’ dogs, but they had also been blessed with Janus’ divine power.

In spite of that, Henry and his comrades had managed to defeat all of them. Also, for all he knew, the Demon God could just be another deity like the rest.

‘That’s probably why everyone calls him a god.’

If this Demon God was just like all the other deities, Henry had no reason to be afraid of him.

‘I don’t know who the Demon God is, but I have enough divine power to stand up to him.’

Having ascended to divinity himself, Henry no longer had any reason to fear such beings.

- Um…

“Huh?”

When Henry and Ganisel had pretty much wrapped up their discussion, Gaga, who was waiting for them, spoke up.

- What happens to me now?

In his situation, running away seemed like the only possible option. However, trying to run away from Henry and Ganisel was tantamount to suicide.

Thus, Gaga was just patiently waiting for action to be taken on him, hoping that it wasn’t going to be death.

Henry stared at Gaga, and the lizardman looked pitiful. In truth, now that he had Ganisel, Gaga was nothing more than useless baggage.

However, Henry couldn\'t help feeling that Gaga was suspicious. Of course, he didn’t seem suspicious in the sense that he could end up hurting Henry, but something still didn’t sit right with him. Thus, he decided to keep Gaga around for a little longer and tease him.

“Well, once a guide, always a guide. We’re going to meet Raina now, so do you know where she is?”

- I… do know.

Raina dwelled in a forbidden area in the Demon Realm, so everyone knew where she was. One had to know exactly where the forbidden area was so that they wouldn’t accidentally wander into it.

Henry smiled at Gaga’s answer.

“Great. Then lead the way.”

- …Alright.

Gaga couldn’t possibly refuse, since he had brought this upon himself.

The three of them set out, and once again, Henry used his 8th-Circle Haste to speed up the journey.

The three traveled at a tremendous speed and quickly arrived at the forbidden zone where Raina was.

- We’re here.

Upon arriving at the border of the forbidden zone, Gaga instinctively took a few steps back. It was only a plot of land, but Gaga instinctively knew that he was certain to die if he stepped into this area.

Ganisel also sensed the same kind of threat.

The fallen angel was noticeably more passive than when he had all of his wings and was ranked second in the Demon Realm.

“...You’re being reckless,” Ganisel said reticently with a hint of fear in his voice.

“I won’t know unless I give it a try.”

Against the wishes of the two demons, Henry stepped into the forbidden zone, but nothing happened. He shrugged his shoulders and turned to Ganisel and Gaga.

“See, nothing happened.”

Tak, tak, tak, tak…

But just then, they heard a strange sound as though two things were hitting each other. It started out as a faint ringing, feeling like tinnitus, but it grew louder as time went on.

Henry looked around at the unfamiliar sound, but there was nothing in sight. So, he ignored the sound and decided to continue forward, but just as he was about to take another step, a giant hand burst out from underground and grabbed him.

Grip!

The grasp was so strong that it would’ve crushed the bones of a normal person.

A skeletal hand, pure white in color, was wrapped around Henry’s ankle.

Rattle, rattle, rattle…!

That faint ringing sound from earlier had become loud and clear. The ground shook, and one by one, strange figures wearing white helmets rose from the ground.

- Th-they’re here!

The things on their heads weren’t actually white helmets. The heads themselves were skulls that looked like helmets.

These bony figures were alive. They were skeletons.

Seeing the rising skeletons, Henry said wryly, “Boy, you sure know how to treat a guest. I’ve only taken one step in and there’s so many of you already.”

As Henry sarcastically commented on their rather exaggerated greeting, hundreds and thousands of skeletons kept emerging from the ground. All of them were armed with weapons made out of bones.

Henry turned to Gaga and Ganisel, his back against the skeleton soldiers and the forbidden zone.

“Watch this.”

With that, Henry raised his arm and held it next to his ear, then clenched his fist and brought it down like a hammer.

Boom-!

With a thunderous sound, a massive crater was formed before him.