The Demon Lord's Choice

The blood-covered hall was lined with towering skeletons dripping in gore.

The suffocating pressure made the delegations from the Earth Dragon Clan and Weave Shadow Nest hold their breaths without realizing it.

In this world, skeletons were nothing rare, and their strength was hardly worth mentioning.

After all, most of them had incomplete souls and lacked sound minds. Even if they possessed Bronze-level or even Steel-level strength, they struggled to fully use it in battle. It was common for them to be killed across levels by low-level adventurers, or even adventurers without Extraordinary Power.

Yet these undead were different.

At the very least, they gave Arakdo a completely different feeling from those dull-witted piles of trash.

Not only could these fellows leap and bound around, they could use adventurers' combat skills and even dissect monster corpses like adventurers...

They were practically alive! The Earth Dragon Clan must have noticed this too, which was why they had sent envoys...

Fully alert, Arakdo discreetly glanced at the Lizardmen not far beside him.

The other party seemed to sense his gaze and narrowed his eyes at him.

That arrogant expression was like he was looking at an insect, not taking him seriously at all.

Faced with the suppression of their bloodlines, Arakdo was furious but did not dare act up. He could only swallow his anger and endure for now.

Seemingly noticing his retreat, the Lizardman envoy lifted his chin, his expression becoming even more disdainful.

As the saying went, subordinates followed their leader's example. Seeing their boss act so high and mighty, the guards behind the envoy also began swaggering about, waving their weapons and casting provocative looks toward the Weave Shadow Nest delegation.

Arakdo and the hunters behind him dared not speak in anger, only issuing chirping insect noises as a warning.

To the Lizardmen, that self-consoling clamor sounded no different from begging for mercy.

Above the maze, in the Demon Lord Territory, Leon carefully observed the monsters' scheming through You You's ability.

For humans, reading the subtle expressions of monsters was not easy.

But he had lived in the Demon Capital for eighteen years, and he knew the temperaments of all kinds of hell creatures and their provocative gestures like the back of his hand.

Judging by the Lizardmen's swaggering manner, they clearly did not take those spiders seriously.

That was hardly surprising.

Whether on Earth or in another world, lizards were natural predators of insect-type monsters.

Especially here, where the former could even use human tools. Wouldn't that make the spiders an all-you-can-eat buffet? Recalling what he had learned at Demon Lord Academy, Leon's thoughts quickly became clear.

He would use the threat to their survival to win over the spider tribe, then use the human enemy to suppress the Lizardman tribe.

That way, the first floor of the maze would be his for the taking! Time for yours truly to make an entrance...

"Stone Skin!"

Putting away the mirror in his hand, Leon raised his Magic Wand and immediately stacked twelve buffs onto himself.

"Swift as Wind!"

"Mana Enhancement!"

"Atmospheric Barrier!"

"..."

After finishing that flashy sequence, he casually drained Chris, who had been watching the show beside the Stone Prison, then stepped forward and jumped into the deep pit leading to the first floor of the maze.

Normally, he would never dare jump from a height of more than ten meters, but he was now covered in buffs. Even if it were higher, he would not be the least bit worried!

The instant he landed, the airflow from Atmospheric Barrier blew the dust on the ground more than ten meters away.

Pairs of eyes swiftly focused on him.

The Cave Spiders and Lizardmen showed obvious wariness, while the players' faces were filled with longing.

The Demon Lord!

He had finally arrived! The cutscene had been loading for so long that many people thought their equipment had frozen.

"I heard someone wanted to see me."

Visible ripples of magic flowed beneath his pitch-black cloak. Standing amid white bones, the man looked like a king of the graveyard.

The Lizardman envoy could not gauge his depth. He only felt that this man was terrifyingly powerful, with so much magic that it seemed ready to overflow. "That would be me, Your Highness. I am Okdo! Champion Warrior of the Earth Dragon Clan, and envoy of Lord Sa Nu!"

A deep hum like an ancient bell rolled from the lead Lizardman's throat. He lowered his fierce head, knelt on one knee, and placed his right hand over his left breast.

It was the etiquette of a subject before a sovereign.

Looking down at him with cold eyes, Leon's lips curved into a faint smile.

"The Earth Dragon Clan? Lord? Did I hear that right? A four-legged snake dares use that word in front of me? It seems Mr. Dragan never taught you what humility means."

Lizardmen had two major sore spots.

One was being called Lizardmen regardless of their species, and the other was being called four-legged snakes.

Incidentally, to keep the players from being utterly confused, Leon had specifically told You You to add subtitles to their "player system."

Sure enough, the group of four-legged snakes flew into a rage at his mockery.

"You—!" A bare-chested Lizardman yanked the shortbow off his back and furiously drew an arrow from his quiver.

But before he could pull the bowstring, his scaled head flew from his neck, tracing an arc before landing in the corner of the hall.

"Hungryyy..."

The drawn-out groan echoed beside them.

Okdo jolted in alarm and rapidly turned to the side. A zombie stood there with a greatsword in hand, its cold eyes fixed on him as though it were looking at a corpse.

Every scale on his body stood on end. He leaped back to widen the distance, one hand already gripping the short blade at his waist.

This thing—

When had it gotten close?! His hand clenched and released around the dagger, then clenched again before loosening. Okdo was terrified.

His amber pupils darted between the motionless zombie and the necromancer in the distance. His heart pounded like a drum.

The sudden scene stunned every monster present. Their eyes held fear, rage, dread...

Even Arakdo the Cave Spider was dumbfounded.

He had been happy to see these geckos suffer, but he had not expected the Demon Lord to disregard the envoy's status entirely and lop off that fellow's head with one stroke.

As for the motionless players, their eyes shone with excitement.

Was this the pinnacle of Calamity Online's combat power?

That sense of pressure—

It was insanely awesome!

"Nice expression."

Studying the lizard head lying on the ground in the distance, Leon spoke carelessly, like an unreasonable tyrant.

"It can reluctantly serve as decoration for my palace walls."

The Lizardman guards were boiling with rage and about to erupt, but Okdo hurriedly stopped them.

"Wait—!"

His humble appearance was almost identical to the Cave Spiders they had looked down upon.

Looking at the Demon Lord lightly raising his Magic Wand, he knelt on one knee again and said in a trembling voice.

"Honored Lord Demon Lord! Please allow me to finish! We came here in pursuit of peace!"

This time, he no longer postured by calling him Your Highness, instead promptly addressing him as Lord Demon Lord.

However—

Leon would not so easily believe that the fellow had truly submitted.

Leon looked down at him and spoke in an offhand tone.

"Peace?"

"Y-yes!"

Okdo forced a friendly expression onto his scaled face and humbly raised his head to look at him.

"The threats on the surface are imminent. This is not the time for internal strife. You do not wish for those humans to take advantage of us either, do you? Lord Sa Nu... our chieftain hopes to form a peace treaty with Your Highness. Neither side will attack the other. We shall coexist peacefully and remain friends forever!"

This so-called peace treaty was merely a stone thrown to test the waters.

No lord would sign such a thing with his vassals, and in hell, a contract without strength to guarantee it was worthless.

If the Demon Lord accepted the agreement, it would expose his weakness.

Then, whether the Earth Dragon Clan launched a full assault to eliminate this threat once and for all, or held the Demon Lord hostage to command lesser forces and conquer the lower floors of the maze... they would have room to advance or retreat as they pleased.

And if the Demon Lord refused, it would mean he was confident he could crush them. Whether that confidence was a bluff or genuine, they could at least proceed cautiously.

This was the chieftain's scheme.

Before deciding how to deal with the Demon Lord, they needed to first determine his strength before making their next move.

While Okdo was secretly calculating, Arakdo in the distance was also quietly weighing matters, waiting for the Lord Demon Lord's answer.

Perhaps the Lord Demon Lord had not realized that the gecko kneeling before him did not take him seriously at all.

The same went for the entire Earth Dragon Clan.

He was curious what choice the Lord Demon Lord would make, and whether that choice would prove worthy of Weave Shadow Nest's loyalty... and of his own.

The monsters each harbored their own schemes, but Leon, looking down on them, merely smiled.

You think I can't see through that?

Heh.

What do you think I usually study in class? "...That is the funniest joke I have heard today. Four-legged snakes want to discuss an agreement with me."

Ignoring the panicked yet furious face, Leon turned his gaze toward the Cave Spiders crawling on the ground and spoke softly.

"And you? You little eight-legged creatures, are you also here to negotiate terms with me?"

Professor Eunos's personally taught fear technique.

Defense was not all he knew. He had mastered this as well, able to wield it with perfect control.

Faced with those cold eyes, Arakdo felt his entire body stiffen, his carapace trembling uncontrollably with chirps.

There was no mistake—

That pressure from the Demon Lord! The man before him was far, far stronger than Her Majesty Arachinos! "Weave Shadow Nest is willing to offer you our loyalty! The maze shall forever belong to hell! Forever belong to the Demon God Hall! And forever belong to honored you... We await your arrival! Honored Lord Demon Lord!"

His brain raced as he racked his mind for every flattering phrase he could think of.

A wise man submitted to the circumstances—

He was voting on behalf of Her Majesty Queen!

Anyway... she had agreed to it, that thing about pretending to submit first.

"Coward!"

Okdo, still kneeling on one knee, cursed and sprang from the ground like lightning.

The test had failed! This was the worst possible outcome!

The other side had no desire to negotiate with them at all. A contemptuous insult had dismissed the agreement they had painstakingly devised, and he did not even want to hear a compromise proposal.

It was obvious! This Demon Lord's strength far exceeded their imagination, so much so that he had no intention of playing their scheming games!

Rather than have them submit—

He wanted to use their heads to consecrate his banner! "Prepare for battle!!"