Gonna Be a Demon King!
Chapter 77: A Never-Ending War

Chapter 77: A Never-Ending War

Meanwhile, Naephas, back on the ground, raised his left hand and tapped the screen of his watch. A small hologram was projected above it, and he quickly navigated through its touch interface, finishing with a tap to initiate a call.

Magic power surged from his body and into the watch, making it release a signal that shot up to the skies at light speed, cutting through the atmosphere and reaching the receiver aboard the demon satellite orbiting the planet.

The satellite received the signal and harnessed the energy of the planet’s host star, which it had been absorbing, to warp the fabric of space. This distortion created a wormhole which the signal was redirected into, allowing it to travel across vast distances, to a place where even light would take years to reach.

A few seconds passed, and then, the hologram before Naephas changed, forming the image of a demon with deep violet skin, four curved horns on his head, and a wide yawn stretching across his face.

[Naephas boy, what’s going on?]

"I have an update, Lord Xynax.

Two of the ones you’ve been watching have achieved aura awakening."

The sleep instantly vanished from Xynax’s violet eyes as he leaned forward, his interest piqued.

[It’s about damn time! It’s been months since they reached level 100. Why were they so slow?]

Xynax was clearly displeased about how long his prospective students had taken to awaken their auras. Sensing his displeasure, Naephas quickly spoke up to clear the misunderstanding.

"They were out of battle for over two months. They only returned to active duty two weeks ago."

Xynax raised an eyebrow in surprise at this.

[What for?!]

His expression shifted into a dissatisfied frown as he continued.

[The ideal time to awaken their auras was right after surpassing level 100! While the energies in their energy cores were still unsettled, they could have drawn out their nascent auras then, strengthening them as they continued to level up.]

The demon shook his head with a sigh, but just before Naephas could reply, a deafening explosion rang out in the distance, followed by supersonic shockwaves that reached Naephas almost instantly.

Reacting to the sound, Xynax finally took notice of Naephas’ surroundings and asked,

[Where are you?]

"A dark-elf forest. We ran into a bit of a complication with the plan to incite them to fight the light-elves."

As soon as Naephas finished speaking, his senses picked up on spatial activity, and with a quick bow, he excused himself.

"Pardon me, Lord Xynax."

Turning toward his shadow, he commanded.

"One of you, get out here."

Immediately, his shadow wriggled, and a demon wreathed in darkness emerged from it, dropping on one knee beside him.

Pointing towards the southeast of his position, Naephas spoke.

"There are dark elves fleeing in that direction."

"Understood. Removing that direction."

With that response, the kneeling demon got up, dark mist coiling around them as they reached into their own shadow and pulled forth a long sword wrapped in writhing black lightning.

They swung it once, unleashing a wide, horizontal arcing slash of demonic energy that tore through the trees like paper, jagged bolts of black lightning ripping through trunks and branches in an instant.

Massive century-old trees burst apart as if struck by artillery, their splinters hurled high into the air. Bolts forked off from the main arc, slamming into the ground and detonating in bright, blinding flashes.

The dark elves caught in the path barely had time to scream. Some were vaporized where they stood, their outlines burned into the earth before vanishing in a storm of light and sound. Others were flung violently aside by the shockwaves, their bodies twitching as residual current laced through them.

What remained was a smouldering corridor of scorched earth and still-smoking stumps crackling with leftover arcs of energy.

The demon turned calmly, stepped back to Naephas, and dropped to one knee again without a word.

"Good work."

"Thank you, Sir."

With that, the demon’s figure melded back into Naephas’ shadow, and he refocused on Xynax’s hologram, catching the sight of the laughing four-horned demon.

[Did he actually wipe out the entire area?! Let me see!]

Naephas rotated his watch, allowing the camera to capture the scorched remains of that part of the forest, and the view seemed to make Xynax laugh even harder.

[Hahahaha! He really did "remove that direction."]

While Xynax laughed uncontrollably, Naephas remained silent, his demonic energy radiating outward in all directions to detect any escaping elves.

By the time he’d confirmed there were none within his perception, Xynax had stopped laughing.

[Which two have awakened their auras?]

"The two High-Demons: The Wind Blade girl and the Gravity boy."

[Ooh! Good, good!]

Xynax nodded with satisfaction, then placed a hand on his chin as his expression turned pensive.

[What about the other one? That lightning leopard?]

"He has not shown any signs of aura awakening."

[Was he also out of action for two months?]

"Just one."

At Naephas’ answer, Xynax’s expression darkened slightly, a brief flicker of disappointment flashing in his eyes. But it vanished so quickly that Naephas almost thought he’d imagined it.

[When he awakens, send him to Area 2.

Bring those two High-Demons to Area 1 as fast as you can.]

Naephas nodded, but just then, his eyes lit up as an idea sparked in his mind.

"If I may ask, would it not be better for me to have them level up a bit more?"

[Hmm? What are their current levels anyway?]

"138, and 140 respectively."

The response came almost immediately, revealing Ilya and Xaren’s current levels after defeating the half-giant from earlier.

[Nah, no need. They’re good. Just get them over here as soon as possible.]

A moment after Xynax spoke, the light of remembrance flashed in his purple eyes and he leaned in closer.

[Your assignment to that world is nearly finished, right? Bring them over when you leave.]

"They will be brought promptly, Lord Xynax."

Xynax nodded at Naephas’ response, then raised an eyebrow and turned his gaze in another direction.

[Seems like I have a visitor. Anyway, have those kids with you next time we meet.]

With that, the hologram flickered into rapidly disappearing shards of light, and Naephas pressed the button on the side of his watch, powering it down. He let his hand fall with a sigh, his gaze distant as he thought of the figure known as ’Lord Xynax.’

An older, far more powerful demon.

But despite his immense power, Xynax was not one for the battlefield.

Make no mistake, he was one of the strongest demons of his rank, yet instead of fighting in his race’s never-ending wars, he found more satisfaction in taking demons with potential and drawing that potential out.

Or, as he liked to call it: "Beating young demons into shape."

’...Perhaps he’s fought so much that he’s grown bored of it all and is now doing this as a hobby.’

Naephas considered this thought, which wasn’t too far from the truth, before shrugging and muttering aloud.

"Whatever his reasons are, it doesn’t change the fact that I get rewarded for every new student I bring him."

With that, Naephas unfurled his wings, flapping them as he ascended into the sky so he could properly survey the burning dark elf forest.

"No other stragglers. Good."

Pressing his finger to the device in his ear, Naephas spoke, his voice echoing in the ears of all Mid-Rank demons in the area.

"The Angels and Giants have allied with the Dark Elves.

As such, from this moment on, all races and breeds on this planet are considered hostile.

Unless they are specific targets meant to be captured, kill on sight."

[[[YES, SIR!]]]

The chorus of voices responded in unison, and Naephas barely paused before moving on to the next item.

"Now then, there is a second dark elf forest to the west of our location. They’re currently evacuating after detecting our presence in this one."

Turning his gaze to the west, Naephas issued his ’order.’

"That area... I believe it’s better suited for plains than a forest."

[[[...]]]

A brief silence fell over the Mid-Rank Demons as they processed Naephas’ words.

But they needed no further explanation—they knew exactly what to do: erase that forest from existence.

However, they didn’t need a second to understand what he was directing them to do: Remove that forest from the planet’s surface.

[[[YES, SIR!!!]]]

Their response came in unison as Naephas saw streaks of black light cutting across the sky, heading west. From beyond the clouds, an airship descended, carrying a legion of soldiers now being ordered to eliminate all dark elves in the next forest.

After giving his casual order for genocide, Naephas lowered his fingers from his ears and muttered to himself.

"Angels, huh?"

The Anthesis of the Demon Race.

Their Natural Enemy.

Aside from special existences known as ’Slayers,’ Angels were the race with the greatest natural advantage over Demons.

And, of course, the opposite was true as well.

The two races had been locked in conflict for as long as history could remember.

"What’s even the point of the war?"

Naephas wasn’t the only demon who had taken a step back to ask this question. But, like most demons who did, he quickly pushed the thought aside.

"Not like I really care. I only care about the benefits it brings me."

This mindset was one of the main reasons the war between the two races had persisted for so long, showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon.