Chapter 75

The Legendary Rebuilding of a World by a Realist Demon King Chapter 75

Fleeing Starfish

The fight would not be single combat.

It was my personal opinion, that it was something you did if you were very strong or very foolish.

If I could avoid it, then I would.

I hadn’t been able to avoid it in the past, but there was no point in battling alone this time.

After all, I wasn’t even sure how to go about fighting a Demon King that was not a humanoid.

And so it was a great relief to me to have a ninja by my side at this time.

Fuma Kotaro had eight kunai in his hands, and he began to launch them towards Decarbia.

I suppose he was seeing how the Demon King would react first. However, Decarbia didn’t even dodge them.

Instead, he conjured a magic barrier and stopped all of them.

“Demon King. Clearly, this Decarbia thing fights with magic.”

“Indeed.”

That was another thing that separated him from the previous Demon Kings.

Both Sabnac and Eligos had been warriors.

They had also been quite strong, but predictable in a way. As for this starfish, I had no idea what it would do next.

It didn’t even have a readable face expression.

So, what would it do?

As I watched, the starfish began to glow. And then a ray of light shot out from the center.

It came out in a straight line and went right through Fuma Kotaro’s heart.

It continued to pierce through the walls, making holes in the castle.

Kotaro fell heavily to the floor. But I wasn’t worried.

This was a ninja.

A legendary ninja.

I would be very surprised if he would die in just one hit.

I imagined him getting up and shouting a line, just like out of a novel.

“Decoy Art!'”

And indeed, when I looked at the ground again, there was just a log there.

As for the real Fuma Kotaro, he had gone around to the back of Decarbia, and was slashing at it.

—But then again, Decarbia had the pentagram on both sides, so I wasn’t sure which side was the front and which the back.

In any case, he had succeeded in launching an attack.

Slash!

Blood sprayed into the air.

I might have been more relieved than anyone else in the room.

There had been some doubt in my mind about it even being mortal. But it was now clear that it took physical damage.

We just needed to attack it when the barrier wasn’t up.

So it could be defeated by either attacking it where it wasn’t protected or by breaking the actual barrier. I chose the first option.

The barrier was only in the front, so if I continued to draw Decarbia’s attention, Fuma Kotaro would be able to kill it from the back.

He would understand my aim without me having to say anything, and so I started to launch my attack magic.

Little by little, the wounds on the starfish increased. It was getting weaker.

“We can win!”

It was just as I thought this. Decarbia’s body began to glow once again.

Perhaps this was his last, desperate attack.

His energy was concentrated outward and then unleashed. This time, it was a very thick ray of light.

Not only that, but other smaller rays came out of it as it rotated.

It was a 360-degree attack.

I thought it was merely vain resistance at first, but it wasn’t.

The rays were clearly meant to destroy the throne room. And just like that, the bricks from the ceiling began to fall and the pillars crumbled.

I took a step back and created a magic barrier in order to protect Eve. In the meantime, Decarbia escaped.

I had assumed that the starfish would be quite slow, but he was so fast I could barely see him go.

But he did leave some amusing words first.

“Demon King Ashtaroth. Cowardly strategist. You may have taken my castle, but this is not the only one under my rule. As long as I have this body and the will to fight, you will never win.”

And with that, he disappeared through a hole in the ceiling.

Fuma Kotaro saw this and whistled.

“Now there are more people out there who want you dead.”

He laughed.

And so I replied confidently.

“It comes with the role of being a Demon King. One more enemy is not going to make me uneasy.”

“Well, that is very bold of you, Demon King.”

While we both seemed amused, there was a certain maid standing next to us who looked quite upset.

In fact, she looked depressed and had a faraway look in her eyes.

I knew why.

She was blaming herself for Decarbia’s escape.

As she was a maid I had relied on so much up until now, I had to do something about it.

And so I gently touched her hair and said,

“It’s not your fault, Eve. Don’t worry about it.”

“But, it was because you had to protect me…”

“It would have been much worse for us if we had lost you. Besides, what would I do if I could no longer drink your tea?”

“…But…”

“Enough of that. I think Decarbia always meant to escape. There was likely little I could do to stop him.”

“Oh? Why is that?”

Eve looked puzzled.

“This is Demon King Decarbia’s castle. Can’t you just destroy his core?”

“Perhaps. But what if his core is not in this castle?”

“Surely, that is not the case?”

“Fuma Kotaro is searching for it now. But my instincts are telling me that it is not here.”

Fuma Kotaro was searching the castle in order to prove this.

He led his subordinates through the castle and they searched carefully, but they were unable to find the Demon King’s core.

Eve was surprised when she found out.

“So, he doesn’t actually live here?”

“I do believe that it is the biggest of the castle towns that he owns. But the core isn’t here. Or perhaps it would be accurate to say that it is ‘no longer’ here.”

“What do you mean?”

“I felt it as we were fighting. There was something strange about him.”

“Well, he is an aberration.”

Kotaro said. But I shook my head.

“It is something that only a fellow sorcerer would notice. But there was immense power within him. And that power can no longer be felt in the castle.”

Eve heard this and then seemed to realize what it suggested.

“Su-surely you don’t mean…”

She was astonished.

“I do mean that. His core is inside of his body. A Demon King who had become one with his core. That is what Decarbia is.”

While Eve was surprised, I was not.

Every Demon King protected their core desperately.

And they all wondered and thought hard on how best to protect theirs. While Decarbia’s was maybe not a perfect answer, it was a good one.

At least, he can not be taken by surprise.

It was no wonder he treated his subordinates badly. He didn’t have the same fear of an uprising that others did.

That was good news for me in a way. But not entirely.

After all, he could move freely without leaving his weakness behind.

I stole his most important town, but he was still free to do as he pleased.

Still, I decided to send a message to those in the castle.

“Demon King Decarbia has escaped. This castle is now the property of the Ashtaroth army. Those of you who were working for Decarbia, surrender immediately. If not, run! There is no point in fighting anymore!”

They lost the will to fight after hearing this. And they all surrendered.

Some of them fled, but it was unknown if they went to Decarbia or not.

It seemed unlikely that any soldiers would want to return to a Demon King who paid them with fake gold.

In any case, there was no point in shedding more blood.

When I said this, Fuma Kotaro replied,

“…Demon King Ashta. You are a true man of ability. You exceed even Hojo Ujiyasu in wisdom. It is as if you are the second coming of his ancestor, Hojo Soun.”

And like that, I earned his trust and a new castle.