When Amon was taken down, Paimon remained silent.
It wasn’t because he was close to Amon.
No matter how excellent his disguise skills were, once he entered the academy with the ancient dragon, it was a guaranteed death sentence.
The foolish fellow did something foolish, and in the end, he foolishly died.
There was sympathy, but it was a conclusion that could have been avoided if he’d made better decisions from the start.
Also, when his fellow countrymen were dying one after another, from Marbas to all the big names, as soon as they got involved with the professor Riyan, they started dropping dead one by one.
Even then, Paimon remained silent.
It had nothing to do with him.
He had realized that Riyan was dangerous, so there was no need to poke at it.
He wasn’t stupid enough to challenge an unknown enemy like the others.
The monsters Paimon created.
He had expanded his territory by invading the empire and devastating it.
But for now, he paused those actions.
He covered the lack of power from his main body with summoned beasts.
His strength came from the overwhelming number of monsters.
One overwhelming strong opponent was much more troublesome than 500 suitable strong opponents.
In bad matchups, it was always better to bow down.
He didn’t do anything that would provoke unnecessary attention.
He kept his activities to a minimum and watched Riyan’s movements.
He had made his decision, so there was no need to worry.
Therefore, when his fellow countrymen criticized Paimon, accusing him of not dealing with the professor, of hiding when he should be acting, Paimon remained silent.
It wasn’t his life that was being lost.
As long as it wasn’t him, everything would work out.
That was his thought, that if he just kept pushing through, someone else would take care of it.
He ignored the scolding and shut his eyes and ears to it.
But now, at this very moment, When the monsters created by Paimon came for Riyan, Not a single countryman was left to stand up for him.
They had all turned their backs on him.
Naturally, the demon’s head went blank.
In the deepest part of the Demon Realm, Paimon, sitting on the throne of the massive castle, wiped his cold sweat from his anxious face.
What followed the confusion was a feeling of injustice.
Of course, Paimon wasn’t angry that others had rejected his request for help.
It was a more fundamental kind of injustice.
‘Why was this happening?’
‘But… I clearly distracted Riyan’s attention, didn’t I?’
Paimon wasn’t idly sitting around either.
He had created a distraction, so that Riyan wouldn’t look toward the Demon Realm.
He had sent a problem his way to capture his attention.
***
H.L. Corporation.
The company founded by the black magic group known as the Silent Sheep.
It was Paimon who had fed the information about them.
The newspaper that Professor Riyan subscribed to.
Paimon had secretly swapped its contents.
He had emphasized the mascot of the sheep greatly.
He had manipulated the headline and published an article about H.L. Corporation.
That was how Paimon had pushed for the black magicians.
A genius professor, famous for his exceptional insight.
Someone like him would surely be able to deduce the connection between H.L. Corporation and the Silent Sheep from such a small clue.
As expected, everything went as Paimon had planned.
Although, wasn’t the hint too obvious? Wouldn’t he just think the mascot was cute and move on?
Despite his doubts, Riyan managed to catch the trail of the black magicians from that small clue.
A person of his character couldn’t ignore evil once he saw it.
It was clear he would wage war against all the black magicians still hiding in the empire.
All the criminal organizations undermining the empire would be eradicated with all his strength.
The expansion of the Demon Realm had stopped.
After all, the monsters could be revived easily after being killed.
There wasn’t a proper solution for them, and there was no need to rush.
What was urgent was dealing with the criminals threatening the lives of ordinary people.
That was what Paimon had believed without doubt… until now.
The new professor had sent his students to the Demon Realm.
They were trying to kill Paimon.
‘I had been careful not to let them find out.’
‘Could he never escape their sight?’
‘Had his plan been completely uncovered?’
He had tried so hard to avoid fighting Riyan, but now he found himself in a situation where escape was no longer possible.
A terrible situation where even support from his fellow countrymen was out of the question.
But Paimon did not give up.
It was still too early to give up everything.
‘If the new professor had come here, I would have lost all hope. But it was only his students who challenged the Demon Realm.’
Experts in both swordsmanship and magic.
Superhumans who had reached the level of mental and physical mastery.
He didn’t need to fight them.
If he could just defeat the students that Riyan had trained, it would be enough.
Of course, he wouldn’t underestimate them just because they were young.
Riyan’s students could not be ordinary.
‘But no matter what, in the end, humans are still just humans.’
Paimon peered through the crystal ball to watch the students.
The reason the Demon Realm had never been conquered by anyone was simple: they could never reach it.
The first and foremost reason was that the Demon Realm was vast beyond measure.
There were barriers that disrupted human magic.
As a result, spatial storage like dimensional bags could not be used.
Even if they managed to survive the monsters, the constant shortage of food would inevitably drive them to madness.
Hundreds of adventurers had died from hunger, eventually eating the venomous monsters in desperation, only to die from the poison.
“I’ll handle the cooking. When we were exploring dungeons, the Mercenary King himself taught me monster cooking techniques.”
Well… It seemed that a student, by chance, had learned some specialized skills, but with this level of experience, it should still be fine.
The second reason the Demon Realm hadn’t been conquered was that monsters in this realm were immortal.
Even if a monster was killed, it would soon revive.
Although new monsters were created, their numbers never dwindled.
No one could resist the overwhelming numbers.
“Do you all remember the runes that Professor Riyan taught us? Don’t forget to cast resurrection-prevention spells before killing them!”
Well… It seemed that, by sheer coincidence, there was someone among them who understood a bit of divine language and could handle such runes.
But with that, everything should still be fine.
The third reason it was called the Demon Realm.
Because the true hell began only after this point.
Paimon was a demon who drew power from human emotions.
Hatred and anger.
Fear and terror.
Managing those emotions of wealth was Paimon’s specialty.
Before reaching the castle, they had fought and killed countless monsters, and though they might not have realized it, every time they did so, Paimon’s power grew little by little.
The hatred toward the monsters targeting their lives.
The nervousness felt in a place surrounded by enemies.
Those emotions all contributed to Paimon’s strength.
The students, driven by anger, slaughtered countless monsters.
The negative emotions they emitted only made Paimon stronger than ever.
But, despite this, Paimon felt no power gathering.
***
After a moment of contemplation, Paimon realized the reason.
The laughter that echoed through the crystal ball.
They had all caught the prey, so why were they bickering over who caught it first? Playfully, they fought over it, as if they were on a picnic.
The monsters were fighting like they were playing with snacks.
One of them even said, “Let me have a taste too, don’t eat it all by yourself. Let’s share and kill it together.”
They were treating all this slaughter like a game.
There were no feelings of hatred or anxiety to fuel Paimon’s power.
Naturally, cold sweat trickled down Paimon’s back.
There was no fourth reason.
‘Who could have expected that someone would come to break through these three insurmountable challenges?’
The students had already reached the castle.
Their footsteps grew closer and closer.
Cold sweat ran down Paimon’s back, dripping like rain.
No matter how you looked at it, there was no way to survive.
In the end, all he could do was pray.
Please, let there be a miracle.
Please, let some way to survive appear like a miracle.
It was a wish that could never come true.
But, for some strange reason, his prayer was soon answered.
An obvious outsider among the students.
Somehow, a completely ordinary male adventurer was awkwardly standing among them.
A warrior with a pale face.
‘Had he accidentally joined them, unable to leave?’
The details didn’t matter for now—what mattered was that there was a way to survive.
Unlike the lunatics around him, he seemed to be feeling normal emotions.
The man was clearly afraid.
Paimon could easily use that fear.
He quickly built a spell.
Using negative emotions as power was Paimon’s specialty.
A spell based on fear enhancement was simple.
Before long, he had gathered all of his magic to construct the highest-level spell.
As it manifested, his body began to swell immensely.
Wings spread out, large enough to cover the sky.
He felt overwhelming omnipotence.
And then, the one-sided massacre was about to begin…
But why?
‘Why was it that he couldn’t feel the power flowing into him?’
The spell had manifested.
The fear from the subject should have turned into power and flowed into him.
‘So why was there no change within him?’
Paimon was confused, but the answer came to him unexpectedly.
The answer came to him literally.
With a loud crash, the wall was shattered.
The one who broke the wall shouted proudly.
“Damn it, Heavenly Lord! What is this blessing? My body is burning up!”
The monstrous creature’s eyes shot out beams.
The now-enormous creature laughed maniacally.
The creature’s head spun at a dizzying speed, resembling a disco ball.
It walked on all fours at incredible speed, even while upside down.
The great castle crumbled instantly.
Paimon gave up thinking about it.