Ordinary Demon Kings generally built their towers somewhere that made people think, “Ah, there must be a tower around here.” Somewhere moderately dangerous and moderately difficult to find.

Humans did not know this was in accordance with the Guide’s stipulation that a tower must be “neither too easy nor too difficult to reach.” But a thousand years of experience had taught them that towers were built in such places. Over those thousand years, it had become something they took for granted.

But the Demon King of Hellfire was different. He had built his tower in Erjest, a forbidden region humans had yet to conquer. And it was not even at the summit, the most likely location.

That small difference had doomed repeated searches and hero’s journeys to failure. Despite devouring countless humans and heroes, including a Star, and inflicting “failure” on the great hero Balaf Dislord, he had gone unpunished. That was what had brought about the present situation.

A coalition army of no fewer than 110,000, with a thousand heroes. A vast force on a scale assembled only in the distant past, when humanity had been less capable of dealing with Demon Kings. All to kill just one being: the Demon King of Hellfire.

Everyone’s eyes—the eyes of the entire continent—were upon them. Balaf Dislord tried to count how long it had been since he had embarked on a hero’s journey amid such continent-wide attention, then stopped. That was not what mattered.

'Find the Tower of Hellfire and kill the Demon King.'

He had no intention of giving him an easy death. The Demon King would suffer for every hardship he had caused Balaf, for every blemish he had left on his reputation. Before that, he would have to spill everything about why he had disregarded the Guide and how he had moved his tower.

“There is no tower in this section.”

“This basin is ogre territory. We engaged five ogres and killed them all.”

“Harpies appeared. We killed seventy-six, and roughly half escaped.”

“We have lost contact with the Thirty-Fourth Search Party, which headed northeast.”

“Twelve frost drakes attacked the rear. Forty-two dead, and...”

Reports poured in without pause, and losses mounted. As the coalition expanded its search radius, clashes with the harsh natural environment and the monsters living in it were inevitable.

“Isn’t this approach far too crude?”

“The Demon King is trapped like a rat anyway. Rather than push ourselves like this, we should take our time and proceed methodically...”

“The Demon King has already made trouble for us several times. Do you intend to take it easy and let him get the better of you again?”

The heroes represented the coalition, but the nobles of the various nations were the ones who actually commanded its troops. They voiced their dissatisfaction with Balaf’s relentless advance, only to fall silent at his icy rebuke.

As a result, the combined imperial and Dormund forces responsible for the west moved through the mountains more quickly. Naturally, Balaf Dislord was at their head. Several weeks passed that way.

After Balaf had arranged the camp and was gazing up at the night sky, a knight approached him.

“Sir Balaf, we have received word from Aina.”

“What is it?”

“Traces of demonic energy have been found.”

“...!”

At last. Balaf grinned, baring his teeth.

“Where?”

“From Buarn Rock...”

“Enough. I’ll make contact myself.”

“Yes, sir.”

The knight left, and Balaf went to his tent to find his communication orb. A moment later, Aina appeared.

“You found traces of demonic energy?”

『Yes.』

“Where?”

『About thirteen kilometers northeast of Buarn Rock.』

To make their search easier, the search parties had been mapping Erjest while naming memorable rocks and terrain features to use as landmarks. Buarn Rock was one of them.

“Is it the tower?”

『I can’t be certain. We haven’t seen it ourselves. What we found is exactly what I said: traces of demonic energy. Very slight and faint.』

“There’s nothing slight about it. This is our first result in weeks.”

They had not found even a trace of the tower before now. What could be more welcome than finding demonic energy, however faint?

“I’ll come.”

『Now?』

“Right now. Contact Gillian Aint and Buern, and summon everyone.”

『It’s far too late at night...』

“Have you forgotten our humiliation?” Balaf spat through gritted teeth.

“What if that damned Demon King hides his tower again or moves it while we wait? Will you let us get our hopes up for nothing again and accomplish nothing? Can you take responsibility? Can you guarantee the tower won’t disappear again?”

『All we’ve done so far is sense demonic energy.』

“Only demons and demonic creatures possess demonic energy. That makes it directly connected to the Demon King and his tower.”

『... I’ll contact them.』

Faced with his growling, Aina gave a small nod.

“Up! Everyone up!”

“We’re moving out immediately!”

Humans needed light to travel through the darkness. The imperial and Dormund armies brightly illuminated their surroundings with artifacts called magic orbs. But those lights did not help only human eyes.

Erjest’s original inhabitants, whose territories had been invaded—the beings called monsters—were more often nocturnal than not. Following the scent of prey and the lights, monsters came and attacked them.

AAARGH!

ROOOAR!

Screams and monstrous cries mingled with battle cries and death. Pristine snow turned red as they carved a road of blood. The blood and corpses drew still more monsters, perpetuating the vicious cycle. But Balaf Dislord paid it no heed.

He saw neither the drake opening its filthy maw at him nor the yeti throwing an enormous boulder in the distance. All that hovered before his eyes was the tower that must be nearby—the Demon King’s tower, the Tower of Hellfire—and the Demon King of Hellfire within.

“You’re here.”

At the end of that bloody road lay what Balaf had so desperately wanted.

“It really is demonic energy.”

He could sense faint demonic energy beyond the darkness. It was too weak for ordinary humans, or even most heroes, to detect, but Aina, who had attained the rank of Star, and Balaf, reputed to be the greatest of heroes, were exceptions.

“Where are the others?”

“Neither has arrived yet.”

“We advance as soon as they arrive.”

“Moving at night is a bad idea.”

“Better than standing by and watching the tower disappear. By now, the Demon King of Hellfire must have noticed our movements. We need to catch him by the scruff of the neck before he flees.”

Much later, two forces arrived. Like Balaf’s force, they had shed blood that need not have been spilled, carving bloody roads of their own. Yet no one called his order unreasonable. They agreed with Balaf that the tower might disappear again, and that they must never let go of their present lead. They, too, had tasted failure alongside him.

“First, we follow the demonic energy. We find the tower, and then we discuss what comes next.”

“Yes.”

“Agreed.”

The great army began moving again. News that demonic energy had been detected filled the ranks with tension. Demonic energy was the power emanating from demons or demonic creatures. Ironically, though their home—the tower—was saturated with it inside, almost none escaped outside. Following demonic energy was therefore no guarantee of finding the tower.

But in the end, it amounted to the same thing. Demons and demonic creatures would return to the tower eventually, so following their demonic energy was certain to lead there.

And fortunately, they were right.

“A t-tower!”

“There are demonic creatures, too!”

The demonic creatures prowling around the tower rolled their eyes back and charged at the coalition. They soon became corpses, and beyond them the tower greeted the army, its imposing silhouette standing serene even in the darkness.

“... At last.”

Balaf’s eyes flashed at the sight of the tower’s all-too-familiar shape and size. The other Stars, the heroes, and the humans all felt the same. At last, their target had revealed itself.

Before their eyes stood the tower of the Demon King who had abducted Hilderan’s Crown Princess, inflicted the despair of failure on Hillen Cargill, repeatedly made fools of humans and abducted countless princesses, and handed the great hero Balaf Dislord his first failure.

Anyone who did not feel excited or elated at seeing the tower after weeks of searching could hardly be called a human being with emotions.

“Hmm...?”

Balaf tilted his head as he carefully examined the tower.

“Something is strange.”

“What is?”

“Something is different.”

“Different?”

Gillian examined the tower, but soon shook his head.

“It looks the same to me.”

“To me, too.”

“... Am I imagining it?”

Perhaps his fixation on the Demon King had made him oversensitive. Balaf calmed himself and gave his order.

“Only the heroes will enter.”

The tower did not admit heroes alone. It was simply that the heroes’ power of dimensional interference was more effective against demons and demonic creatures. With so many troops available, there was no particular reason to send in only the heroes. Yet no one challenged Balaf Dislord’s words.

There were no fewer than three Stars present, along with another 349 heroes. Within the tower’s confined space, too many allies would only get in the way. Three hundred fifty-two heroes was just the right number.

Above all else, though, they believed there was no way Balaf Dislord could lose to a Demon King who had nothing going for him beyond hiding his tower.

And so they entered the tower. Quite some time passed.

BOOOOOOM!

A tremendous explosion swallowed the tower and everything beyond it.

* * *

COUGH, COUGH!

“Aaaaargh!”

“Help me...!”

“My legs! My legs!”

Through the shrill ringing in his ears, he could hear soldiers screaming. Amid the acrid smoke, the heavy smell of blood stabbed at his nose. Count Armutz, who had temporarily assumed command in place of the heroes who entered the tower, could not comprehend what was happening.

'What is this...?'

They had found the tower. The heroes had gone inside. Their only remaining task was to surround it and hold their positions, just in case the tower tried to flee.

The monsters that had initially attacked with such determination had left countless corpses before the formation of tens of thousands of troops, and then begun to hesitate. A good while had passed like that. As they waited for the heroes to emerge and the tower to collapse, they had been filled with hope that they could finally leave these wretched mountains.

Then the explosion came.

Beginning inside the tower, the blast brought the entire structure down and struck the coalition troops from behind as they fought the monsters. Flames surged, and melting snow turned to steam, obscuring their vision.

Count Armutz instinctively wrapped his entire body in aura, but the staggering impact punched through it and slammed into his flesh. He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again. Hell on earth lay before him.

Half-melted corpses lay strewn about. Burning soldiers screamed and rolled in the snow. Above all, the tower had collapsed. But could this truly be called the defeat of the Demon King?

“The h-heroes...!”

He could not find them. More precisely, it was difficult to look for them. Screams assaulted his ears, while steam and demonic energy blocked his sight.

'Demonic energy...?'

Yes, that was demonic energy. So dense it was visible to the eye without consciously searching for it or sharpening his senses.

“...!”

A chill ran down his spine. Foreboding slammed into his mind.

Something—something that must never happen—was happening.

“We have to run!”

His instincts warned him. He shouted. But the hellish cacophony swallowed his cry without a trace.

And then.

GRRRRR!

ROOOOAR!

Drawn by the dense demonic energy, monsters’ eyes glittered in the darkness. There were more of them than anything they had faced so far. Far more.

* * *

“Coming to watch in person was definitely the right choice.”

CLAP, CLAP, CLAP!

Berge applauded. How could he possibly sit still?

The tremendous explosion was spectacular beyond measure. The all-devouring conflagration had fulfilled its role perfectly. The tower had collapsed, and the blast had struck not only the heroes inside but shaken the coalition army outside as well.

“So dwarven-made bombs really are the best, too.”

Their explosive force was thoroughly satisfying.

“Now, for the second part.”

With the explosion, the demonic energy planted in advance began to pour out. This was the second trap Berge had prepared alongside the bombs.

Monsters had their roots in the Demon Realm. They were demonic creatures scattered from that realm into other dimensions, where they had settled over long ages. Though they no longer used demonic energy, their instinctive craving for it remained. In other words...

“Here they come.”

Demonic energy was the perfect bait for luring monsters. The tremendous explosion, powerful enough to shake the mountains, had drawn their attention. And the delicious demonic energy flowing out afterward delighted their mouths and noses.

“Now, then.” Berge smiled. “How many of you will make it home alive?”

In high spirits, he unwrapped a chocolate and popped it into his mouth.

“... I can see why they like it.”

It was sweet. So very sweet. As delightful as the play unfolding before him.