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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Greed, the Demon Lord of Avarice, craved everything: money, people, fame.
[T/N: I’ve decided to just call him greed since it fits better with the others, also for those of you who don’t know Avarice is Greed it’s just a fancy way of saying it.]
He couldn’t be satisfied until he had it all.
‘Fuck.’
Here he was, a being whose voice alone could make humans tremble, trapped inside a lizard.
‘What the hell am I doing?’
His slitted reptilian eyes focused on a single figure.
‘If it wasn’t for that bastard… I wouldn’t have lost everything-!’
The injuries inflicted by Lee Jun-woo. Even for a Demon Lord, they were severe, forcing him to find a new host. But in the meantime, he had become a target for the other Demon Lords.
‘You’ve grown weak, Greed. You’re useless.’
‘Those bastards-!’
‘Even if you recover, you’ll be of little use. So…’
Find the Hero’s party and finish the job.
Injure them, at least.
Or die trying.
Die by our hands, or defeat the Hero’s party and return.
The choice is yours.
‘Shit…’
Weak Demon Lords were expendable.
Sacrifice yourself for the survival of the others. Abandoned and humiliated, Greed roared at the Hero’s party, the memory of his humiliation fueling his rage.
-It’s all your fault-! You ruined my life as a Demon Lord-! I’ll never forgive you-!
Greed lashed out with his tail, sweeping it across the narrow cave. The wide-ranging attack was difficult to avoid in the confined space.
Luna and Hare dodged frantically.
“W-We’ll die if we get hit…! B-Be careful, Luna…!”
“Right! Thanks, Hare!”
“W-Wait… why am I worried…?”
Hare shook her head and shouted again,
“No… j-just get hit by the tail and die…! Don’t get in the way of me and Mister…!”
“That’s not going to happen!”
Luna’s eyes narrowed as she dodged Greed’s attack.
‘Stay calm. Don’t get flustered.’
A torrent of emotions surged within Luna.
The corpses of her family.
Mister’s death.
The Demon Lord’s smiling face, stepping over their bodies.
Luna gritted her teeth, her gaze locked on the lizardman’s red eyes.
“Hey, you. Lizard.”
-Is that the Hero? Not hiding behind that man this time?
“…So you’re the red Demon Lord from before. Confirmation complete.”
If it was the same Demon Lord…
‘I have no reason to hold back.’
Luna cried out inwardly,
‘Holy Sword, lend me your strength! I’ll kill this Demon Lord with my own hands!’
-…
The Holy Sword offered no verbal response, but it answered with action. Luna placed her hand on her chest, slowly drawing the sword.
She pulled it free, the blade gleaming in the dim light.
“I haven’t forgotten my family’s killer! You haunt my dreams! I’ll kill you-! Even if I have to die a thousand times-!!”
-I don’t think I killed your family…
“Shut up! You tried to! Attempted murder is still a crime!”
Luna charged forward, the Holy Sword enveloped in a blue aura.
Hare, watching intently, matched Luna’s movements, their coordination honed by a decade of friendship.
“L-Luna…! Are you aiming for… ‘that’ spot…?”
“I don’t know! But it’s probably the spot you’re thinking of!”
“O-Okay…! Then I’ll move too…!”
“Right!”
As soon as Luna finished speaking, Hare darted towards the lizardman’s abdomen.
Greed scoffed, swiping at her with his sharp claws. The air whistled as his claws sliced through the air.
-Such quick little pests… If I were in my original body…! You would all be dead by now…!!
Hare continued to harass Greed, flitting around his abdomen like a fly. Greed assumed their target was his stomach. But it was a feint.
‘Hide the true attack… within a lie…!’
Just as Mister had taught her.
Hare’s attacks were merely a distraction.
“Now, Luna… Attack…!!”
“I don’t need you to tell me!”
The Holy Sword, radiating a blue aura, plunged downwards.
Luna’s aim was true.
“The head.”
Mister had said, if you don’t know the enemy’s weakness, aim for the head.
“Mister said most creatures have a weak spot in their head.”
As Luna’s feet landed on the ground, the lizardman’s severed head screamed, its voice echoing through the cave.
-Gaaaah-! You insignificant Heroes-!!
“I-It’s talking even though its head’s been cut off, Mister…! D-Do lizard heads regenerate like tails…?”
“No, heads don’t regenerate. Well done.”
Thud-
The lizardman, or rather, Greed’s stolen body, collapsed, its strength gone. The Hero’s party had defeated the Demon Lord far more easily than Lee Jun-woo had anticipated.
“…It must be because of the weakened body.”
“What are you talking about?! We’re strong! Mister! Hero Luna and! Rouge Hare are strong!”
“…It’s ‘rogue,’ not ‘rouge.’”
“Same difference!”
Hare insisted they were different, but Luna, genuinely unable to grasp the nuance, refused to correct herself.
“Rogue, rouge, whatever!”
The Demon Lord’s defeat had been surprisingly anticlimactic.
Lee Jun-woo knelt beside the lizardman’s body, his face grim.
“Mister! What are you doing?! Why do you look so serious?!”
“W-We won…! You can smile now, Mister…!”
Lee Jun-woo remained silent, staring at the body. A tense silence filled the cave.
Finally, he stood up and patted Luna and Hare’s heads.
“You both did well defeating the Demon Lord so easily. Especially you, Hare.”
“Yes…!”
“You made Luna shine. You did very well.”
“He… Hehe… thank you…”
Hare basked in the praise, a contented smile on her face.
Luna, unable to stand it, shouted,
“W-What about me?! I did a lot too! I did really well! Praise me too!”
“…I’ll praise you plenty later, Luna.”
“W-What’s that supposed to mean?!”
“It means…”
I can’t do it now.
“Don’t hesitate, Luna.”
With those words, the atmosphere in the cave shifted dramatically. Something was changing. Luna and Hare refused to acknowledge it.
“M-Mister…?”
“….”
“Your eyes… they’re turning red…”
Luna and Hare gasped.
Lee Jun-woo reached into his subspace with a trembling hand and dropped a rope onto the ground. The meaning was clear.
“Restrain… me… and… go home…”
So that Estia could destroy the Demon Lord.
Restrain him with the rope.
Luna and Hare always obeyed Mister’s commands, but…
“M-Mister’s body… possessed by a Demon Lord… I-I can’t… I-I can’t attack Mister…”
“…Why… why did you make this choice…?”
This command was different.
Even knowing that the being before them wasn’t Mister, but a Demon Lord, they couldn’t bring themselves to act.
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It wouldn’t be easy.
It would be difficult.
Even though I had drained my body of magic power, my physical abilities were still considerable.
“It will take a long time.”
I was trapped in darkness, the scene playing out before me like a TV screen.
Greed, the Demon Lord of Avarice, was currently in control of my body, using it to fight.
“I hope they don’t hesitate, but that would be too much to ask.”
Greed wasn’t used to my body. He was still adapting, leaving many openings in his defense. But Luna and Hare were reluctant to attack.
“They could have easily stabbed me… Too bad.”
Did he hear my silent musings?
A door opened in the darkness, and Minerva appeared.
“…Too bad? Jun, that’s your body they would be injuring.”
“It’s been a while, Minerva.”
“…Yes, it has.”
Minerva sat down beside me, as if nothing was amiss. She must have seen the conversation between Luna and me in her book. She seemed to have realized that my feelings had shifted.
“Minerva.”
“…Yes?”
“The future you showed me. It’s certain, right?”
“…Yes, eventually, they will restrain you and destroy the Demon Lord.”
After Luna and Hare defeated the lizardman, Minerva’s choice had appeared before me.
I had chosen option 1, which was why I was here now. I chose to destroy the Demon Lord now, relinquishing control of my body to Greed.
‘I’ll give you everything you want! Anything! What do you desire? Women? Money? I can give you all of that. With my power, anything is possible. How about it? Isn’t it a good deal? I promise!’
Greed’s voice was frantic, desperate. I saw the future and accepted his offer. Not because I wanted what he promised, but for Luna and Hare’s growth.
“It’s strange that you offered me that choice. I never would have thought of giving a Demon Lord control of my body.”
“…It was the most effective method. Nothing more.”
Minerva smiled enigmatically.
‘Indeed… even if they killed the lizardman, Greed’s soul would still be alive… this is the best way.’
Trap Greed’s soul in my body.
Then restrain the body and take it home.
The rope I dropped wasn’t ordinary. As long as they tied up the body, Luna and Hare would win.
In the meantime, I would simply observe their growth.
“…Jun-woo.”
“Yes, Minerva.”
“Please defeat all the Demon Lords quickly. It would… put my mind at ease.”
Minerva’s smile was tinged with sadness. I couldn’t tell if she had said “my” or “your” mind at ease. But one thing was clear.
‘…She’s changed.’
Since that day, Minerva’s priority had shifted from my safety to the defeat of the Demon Lords.
“Defeat the Demon Lords quickly, so you can be happy. I’ll help you, okay?”
“…Okay.”
I replied to the melancholic Minerva and turned my attention back to the screen. They were struggling, but they didn’t seem to be in any real danger.
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