“And you call yourself a greater demon!”
A weaselfolk clad in a mage’s robe was screeching at a lump of flesh in a massive tank.
The flesh pulsed with every foul word. A bark-like skin remained on what could just barely be identified as a face.
Between that and the weasel’s words, this must be the remains of the bark demon Satou’s party had fought.
“She-she-she, how goes things, demon summoner Zomamurgormi?”
A cloying voice emerged from the darkness; a beastfolk male, wearing a hood pulled low to hide his face.
“How unlike you to pay us a visit. The plan is within the expected parameters,” the weasel replied. From what Zomamurgormi said, he knew this hooded figure.
“She-she-she, well, I see what the emperor’s brother sees in you. Yet I have heard the necromancer entrusted with the demon lord’s relic came up short. Was that ‘expected’?”
“……You’re aware? He was but a sacrificial pawn. A test to see what forces the Great Sorceress could muster.”
“She-she-she. Using Psychic Magic to turn his adoration of the sorceress into obsession, his reverence into twisted love—that poor frog.”
They were speaking of Zanzasansa, who’d led an undead army to attack the fortress city of Arcatia.
“Hmph, inferior races exist to serve at the whims of their betters. As it should be.”
“She-she-she,” the hooded man seemed less than impressed with the weasel’s superiority complex. “Were you able to detect the all-too-vital Purple Moon Core?”
“The familiars I sent and the demons possessing adventurers were all taken out by the Great Sorceress’s people.”
“In other words…not yet?”
Zomamurgormi looked very shifty.
“Oh dear.” The hooded man sighed.
“They even took out my greater demon!” the weasel roared. “Why is the divine beast Fenrir, who listens to no one, working for the Great Sorceress?! Why was a hero there?! Was he not sent back to the land of the heroes after eliminating the demon lord in Parion Province?!”
“Your intel’s out of date. There are two heroes. Hayato was the Saga Empire’s hero, while Shiga Kingdom has a hero named Nanashi. I’d imagine that was the one who appeared at the Jungle Labyrinth.”
“Two heroes?! But if they mowed down the greater demons I propagated in a single blow, they’re far beyond the level of an ordinary—”
“She-she-she.”
“What’s so funny?!”
“The Light of Freedom leaders summoned a spawn of the evil god in Shiga Kingdom—and Nanashi annihilated it.”
“A spawn…? A human defeated the avatar of a god?!”
“She-she-she. My nephew was there—he said Nanashi worked with the guardian sky dragon.”
“If a sky dragon’s helping…no, impossible. Stories of the spawn predate the Flue Empire, and it destroyed countless countries that had magic far more powerful than what we have today! You could reduce Shiga to ash without taking that down!”
“It seems their casualties were minimal.”
Zomamurgormi muttered, “Impossible” again, then shook his head, refocusing.
“If this hero is that absurd, then no ordinary tactics will suffice.”
“She-she-she. If you need spies, I can provide.”
“I’ve no use for anyone who works for money. I have summoned demons that specialize in infiltration.”
“Won’t the Great Sorceress detect them?”
“She will…so I’ll eliminate her first.”
“Is that even possible?”
“I’ll use a curse. The relic left behind by the Dark Lord of Necromancy will make that trivial.”
“She-she-she, here’s hoping.”
“……Still, activating the curse is hardly simple. I’ll need you to provide what I need for the ritual.”
“She-she-she, if we can verify the Purple Moon Core, that is no problem at all.”
The hooded man promised his familiars would fetch the components, and he vanished beyond the darkness.
“He’s gone? But even with the sorceress cursed, if the hero arrives, there’s little I can do.”
Zomamurgormi stared into the dark, pondering this.
“No matter how superhuman his skills, the hero is only human. If I scatter seeds of calamity in the neighboring kingdoms, he’ll wear himself out resolving them.”
The weasel ordered the demons to possess generals and ranking nobles, causing chaos to distract from his attack on the fortress city.
Zomamurgormi used up all his mana summoning demons, and he collapsed in a chair, gazing at the bubbling tank.
“The Purple Moon Core…if we had that, we could locate the invincible flying fortress the foolish gods hid away,” he muttered, speaking to no one in particular. “Submit that to His Majesty, the emperor’s brother—and he’d tear that false emperor, worshipper of Sai-ance, off his unearned throne.”
He began to chortle, watching the greater demon in that tank slowly rebuild itself.