The demon lord.
The ruler of demonkind, the king of whom humans shall defeat. The manifestation of true evil and the symbol of absolute power. A long time ago, when the demon clan emerge from a distant land, they were controlled only by a single king.
In that era, the demon lord was perceived to be an absolute tyrant, he indiscriminately order to kill humans in sight. Diplomacy was not an option, and the war was a fool's wish as the magnanimous amount of power in the demon lord's hand was immeasurable, something that exceeds the imagination of man.
But the church has a solution against this chaos, the heroes. People who are born with fresh soul from another world who holds the protection of the gods. The only people who could stand a chance against the demon lord, the most powerful weapon of humanity, the symbol of hope.
And so, using these killing machines called heroes signaled the start of the war. The demon lord was defeated and killed, the demonkind were banished from the human continent. Nobody heard of them since that day.
But they returned… stronger than before. The search for heroes began, and their death was evinced.
The demon world was now controlled not only by a single king but seven demon lords.
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Something feels strange in the atmosphere, I have felt this way before many times back during our expedition in Juvilla. The feeling of fear that emerges at your back, the sensation that made you want to vomit and irrationally scratch your neck until it finally bleeds. The hopelessness, the evil that crawls in the darkness, the unknown thing that might sprout when you least expect it. That is the sensation when you knew that he is near, they are here. The demon lord is here.
'They are turning back! At this rate, we will get stomped!'
The golems suddenly turn back making a U-turn in their route. This unprecedented action made the goblin's straight linear formation break like ants in the road. Squashed, and buried in the soil were those who met the fate of being stomped by the rocky feet, and the remaining goblin who survived were impaled by the fast-moving white worms as they made noise in their fall from the shaken ground.
However, I survived, with Rina's undying will to help me. Every time I felt like I am falling, she was always there to catch me. The situation made everyone in panic, some goblin runs away only to be skewered by the giant worms, those who remain were crushed by the giant foot of golems. Soon enough that they can't control it anymore, they scream madly as if losing hope and consider death as the only way of salvation.
I was in shock, my body was shaking from the immense bloody paint of genocide. Goblins are too weak to defend themselves, they can't do anything but rely on luck. I never considered their life before when I was still a human, I slew them and be merry when I win, but I never knew the other side if I put my foot into their shoes. The will to survive, only to be crushed instantly in hopelessness. The life of the weak was something I didn't manage to understand when I was once a human.
As a goblin, I also have a parent here. Where are they? My body cannot move but I still tried to browse the place desperately searching if they survive. The moment I am nearly giving up when I can't see them, my life with those two flashes before my eyes, the sinking feeling that I suddenly lost when my human memory merged with the current was recalled and my eye swells with liquid nearly wanting to drip out of my eyes. And suddenly I saw them rising from one of the holes in the ground. They survived, I was so happy that I meant to shout and call their names, Kirda, Hipa.
"har… har ga ha, Kala… Joba… Tar… yaha taka(no… no way, Kala… Joba… Tar… Mama, Papa) "
I looked up and saw Rina who was holding me up, overflowing with tears in her eyes. But it was not a tear of joy, I looked forward and saw how the place was defiled with blood, bones, and flesh, a lot of them died in the most excruciating way. Scattered body parts were everywhere, and some of these belongs to Rina's siblings and parents. Seeing this, Rina cannot endure the pain anymore and started to cry.
She dropped me and started to walk towards their corpse, creeping as if scared to look at their faces. But the thing was far from over. The noise Rina kept making reacted to one of the golem's worms passing by and started to attack.
"Crap! Rina Gya hab ta ha ha (Rina HIDE!)"
I pushed her out of the attack but the slicing motion of the worm sever my left arm. The pain was intense but it didn't matter to me at the moment, my mind is filled with Rina of whom I wanted to protect. The pain of having a severed limb, reminds me of how I was killed during my human days, those people I tried to protect turned my back on me, they betrayed me and I am repeating the same sequence all over again.
But I can't help it, my body move on its own accord, and Rina didn't do anything wrong but to protect me all the time. It was just natural to return the favor.
"Vin!"
'Hurts, it hurts! Am I going to die another time? No matter, haha, if I die with just this, how come I could defeat the hero with this goblin body?'
Rina was calling my goblin name but she was making noises all over attracting that damned golem around. So I irritatingly made up my mind. I want to fight and not sit idle just like in the past. I don't want to be useless again, this is the first step in my revenge. I want to take revenge on myself for being so useless.
"I am here stupid golems! Do you want a piece of me? Come here and I will break you, you solidified dungs"
And so, the golems approach with worms wriggling around its body. Goblins are born with the naturally agile body so I could outrun them, probably. My only goal was to lure them away from the goblin horde. I run while I make noise to make the golem follow me. White worms were faster than I am but it was fine as long as it didn't detach to the golem. Every time the worm attacks, I am trying to slash them away with my cleaver sword, but I can't cut them, they are too fast for my eyes to see.
And then I accidentally fall and slide to a slope, the worms aggressively chase me down and I felt a warm sensation in my left leg that grew into a familiar pain. The pain of losing away from your main body.
'No no no, whyyy? Shit my leg!'
"Ack!"
Without a leg and an arm, I crashed down the ground. With no proper set of limbs, I cannot move anymore, and the blood was starting to flood my body dry. I managed to lure those stone head golems away from her, it means that I won. I may have lost the battle, but still, I won the war.
'This must be good enough. Even if I die, I will be reborn again so it doesn't matter. At least I saved Rina and the others. Rina, please survive'
The grumble in the ground started to increase its vibration and some of them stopped. White worms surrounds my body as it was preparing its white epidermis to trust into my body. At this moment, I knew it will be the end. My vengeance will be put on hold until I return back, it may be years for me to return but that was okay.
"I will kill those, traitors for sure. I may be useless, but I did my best for them. Then they will just dispose me when I am not needed? I just wish I am to be reincarnated as a demon lord or a dragon next time so I could tear down those idiots."
Even after I lost so much of my blood, the fact that I could still speak my long promise of revenge proves the vitals of this goblin body was not to be underestimated. It is less fragile compared to my former human body. But what's more surprising is the fact that the white worms seem to pause their attacks.
I turn around to face the golem one last time and tell them my farewell message.
"Fuck you stone head. Ah!"
Then a white light crashed with the golem and disappear creating a loud bang that flew me away. It happened too fast, that my eyes couldn't capture exactly what has occurred but I just knew that, with that impact, definitely the golem could die. I looked to find out what happened after and the golems who were trying to catch me were totally destroyed into dust.
A powerful large-scale attack that left nothing to the target, how frightening. What kind of creature could do that? I asked myself. And I heard two female voices talking with each other. Their presence shouts danger so I crawled my way to a hole in the ground. I can't see their faces but their voice sounds like kids teasing each other.
"A-amazing Millia."
"It was nothing, my lord. Hehe"
'Impossible, how could kids kill a bunch of gigantic golem in one shot?!'
My thoughts and imagination run wild, what if they are demons or a demon lord in the worse possible case scenario. Demon lords according to books was said to mimic the voices of children to attract clueless people, but once they found out the origin of the source of the voice, they will encounter not children but... a hideous monster that will eat them alive.
Usually, demon lords are depicted to have horns and tentacles with sharp tongues and teeth and slimy skin. Their oversized muscles bulge out of their skin and their creepy smiles dictate death to those who could see. They are said to grow up to 25 meters tall and destroy a country in a blink of an eye. But, also they are said to have the ability to change form so there is no real reference of what they really look like. Either way, demon lords are the least you want to encounter on the road especially when you are critically injured as I do.
"Millia you're so cute and humble"
"No my lord, you are the most beautiful person I have ever seen, compared to me I look like a maggot"
Maggot is the best comparison to an appearance of a demon lord, but a cute maggot is unbelievable. Maybe demons have their own beauty standard diverse into humans. Like me, in the form of a goblin, I perceived Rina as a beautiful female but if I saw her in my human form, then I may have slain her at that exact moment.
"C-cute, m-m-me? Don't t-tease me. Umm, Millia, did you see a goblin just now?"
This demon is doing great in acting bashful, I was enjoying it but when the word goblin came out from their mouth. I just knew I was done for. They saw me. I feel restless that I am unconsciously shaking my body finding comfort in the soil.
"Maybe, I hit him accidentally"
"Why are there so many goblins in here?"
"It's Goblin Migration, goblin travels elsewhere to another land after they consumed completely their natural food resources."
It was a fact, we moved out of our village because the resources were already too depleted to support us all. Some of the goblins were left behind but we choose to find a new place to live and grow our own community. It was a tradition to do so so that our clan could flourish and avoid extinction.
"I-I see, so it is really a goblin. Millia, is it possible that a goblin could speak the human tongue?"
"Certainly it's not possible! Goblins could only think to an extent, their intellect could not compare to humans although they could use weapons and run from danger."
"So, it is just my imagination then. How disappointing… Huh?"
"Lord Lilith?"
Someone pulled me from the ground by my loincloth. I was found, I am dead. Dead! Just thinking about the ways they could kill me makes my spine shiver, although I lose too much of my blood but why am I still alive! What's going on?! I look at them and saw… humans?
No, they were not, the one who pulled me out of the soil looks human enough. Her white skin and smooth fragrant hair shine as it reflects the light from the sun and runs down to her elegant clavicle. Her red ruby-like eyes are crystals that sparkle from curiosity and worry, echoing her innocence as if it will emerge a tear at any moment. She wore a white simple dress, thin enough that enhance her feminine feature. She is a beauty, a pearl in the deep dark ocean. But because of this insane perfection made me believe she is far from human.
On the other side.
'What the heck is that thing??'
A horned kid about half a meter in size smirks as if she saw me as nothing but a lowly flee. Her sharp canine teeth poke out of her mouth and her black sclera was proof enough of her inhumanity. Her heterochromia pupils, red-colored in the right and blue in the left remind me of someone who was delusional and egoistic. She stands there with both of her hands in her waist. And I just noticed that she also has a tail.
The girl who pulled me asked me a question followed by the strange creature's.
"M-mr. Goblin. A-are you trying to hide from us?"
"With your butt, poking right out of the soil?"
Butt? Maybe because I move too much I accidentally expose my location but, I am embarrassed that they saw my butt and made fun of it that I instinctively responded.
"S-shut your crap! Release me now!"
"…"
"…"