The Demon King Overrun by Heroes Novel - Chapter 68

Chapter 68
## Chapter 68: The Situation is Dire

“Keep a sharp eye on Jason.”

These were the opening words from Reina Sordain the moment they stepped into the Tower of Extreme Cold.

Berge found the timing unsettling. It felt too deliberate to be a mere twist of fate, especially since Vivian had offered the exact same warning. He couldn’t help but wonder if there was some secret coordination happening behind his back.

“What’s the reasoning behind that?” Berge asked.

“I’m aware of the arrangement you made with Ugar,” Reina replied. “That includes how you dragged Rozel Charnt and Hillun Kagil into the mix. There is no logical way for you to have connections with heroes possessing Star of Fame status on your own. Jason Kokumondo had to be the one pulling the strings, right?”

Berge was baffled. Who was manipulating whom?

“Regardless,” she continued, “those two are the ones credited with slaying Drakson. Even if they were just fulfilling a standard guild contract and stumbled into the role of heroes, caution is the only logical path.”

“Wait a second,” Berge countered, instinctively taking Jason’s side because the theory seemed so far-fetched. “Jason killing Drakson? That sounds like a massive leap in logic.”

“Before his demise, Drakson insisted a high-tier demon had trespassed on his lands. He went as far as scouring the tower archives to validate his claims. I don’t believe he was making it up, and Ugar shares that sentiment.”

Berge fell silent. He tried to imagine the secret discussions the demon kings were having while he was busy in the Hildran Kingdom. He realized his perception of Jason might be entirely different from how the others saw him. Before his regression, he’d viewed them as a group of four losers sticking together, but clearly, there was more to the dynamic.

“Hasn’t Jason provided support to you as well?” Berge inquired.

Jason was a rarity—the first demon king to survive more than a century in Aren, a place where his kind usually perished rapidly. After Jason’s arrival, the longevity of subsequent demon kings had notably increased. Berge had always assumed they operated on a system of mutual aid.

“I am appreciative of his help, certainly,” Reina said, popping a cherry-flavored candy into her mouth. “However, being grateful doesn’t mean I’ll overlook the murder of one of our own.”

“But there isn’t a shred of proof linking him to Drakson’s end, is there?”

“Correct. That is precisely why we are currently in the stage of suspicion.”

It was a surprisingly grounded take.

“I have a question,” Berge said. “If Jason assisted the group, how did he actually do it?”

“I suppose you wouldn’t be privy to those details,” Reina noted. “You know how demon kings used to drop like flies within decades of arriving in Aren? Jason was the one who broke that pattern.”

In the eyes of a demon king, the Standard was the ultimate law, and the Founding Demon Emperor was a deity. Because their methods worked in every other world, they never questioned the rules. If someone died, the demons simply blamed it on the individual’s weakness. Strength was everything; failure was a stain on one’s honor.

Aren had earned a reputation as a graveyard for the incompetent because no one dared suggest the Emperor’s Standard was flawed. The higher-ups continued to send unsuspecting newcomers to their deaths to maintain the illusion of the Emperor’s perfection. It was a lethal combination of blind faith and institutional dishonesty.

Jason had been the first to deviate from the script, acting as a mentor to those who followed.

“What was his method?”

“For me, it started with guidance,” Reina explained. “He warned me against the reckless kidnapping of royalty.”

“Did you follow his advice?”

“Initially, I had no intention of doing so. There was no benefit.”

“It sounds like you changed your mind.”

“When I first arrived, there were two others here besides Jason and Drakson. This was before Ugar’s time. Jason made a deal with me: just wait for one single year.”

“And you agreed to that?”

“He swore on the Founding Demon Emperor and the Standard that no harm would come to me. Given that a year is a blink of an eye for our kind, I decided to see it through.”

She paused, reflecting on what happened next.

“Exactly one year later, the individual known as the Void Demon King followed the Standard to the letter. He was promptly decapitated by a surge of heroes. That was my wake-up call. Aren is not a place where the old rules apply.”

“What about the others, like Ugar or Drakson?”

“I’m not sure of the specifics, but he likely offered them similar strategic diversions.”

Berge frowned as a realization hit him. “Then why didn’t he offer me the same protection?”

“You acted too quickly,” Reina said bluntly. “You snatched the crown princess of Hildran before anyone could even talk to you. Almost no one makes a move on royalty immediately upon arrival.”

Standard procedure required reconnaissance and patience. Berge had bypassed the entire learning curve.

“The hero situation spiraled out of control before we could step in. By then, the opportunity had passed.”

“I understand.”

“But we’re drifting,” Reina said, her tone sharpening. “The point is this: Jason did us a favor, but that doesn’t grant him a license to betray us. We also have to consider that he might have been lying about the intruder in Drakson’s territory. Our priority is identifying the true killer.”

The temperature in the room seemed to drop.

“Do you have a strategy?” Berge asked.

“Vivian Blunt. We are going to assist her in a very public hunt for the murderer. Ugar is already on board.”

The plan was straightforward. Unlike Jason or Berge, Reina and Ugar had almost no footprint in the human world. Reina stayed isolated in the frozen north, and Ugar relied entirely on Jason’s networks. They lacked their own intelligence assets.

“How? Drakson’s tower is a pile of rubble. There’s no evidence left.”

“The Berft Kingdom,” Reina stated.

“The dwarves?”

“Specifically, Louise Berft. The reason Drakson went on his hero-slaying spree was because a high-ranking demon supposedly killed the 2nd Prince of Ormus. Drakson maintained it wasn’t his doing. The truth of that encounter is the key.”

“And the only person who saw it happen is the 2nd Princess of Berft,” Berge finished the thought.

“Precisely.”

“What’s the plan for her?”

“There is only one traditional interaction between a demon king and a princess,” Reina said coldly.

They were going to kidnap her.

“We will deliver her to Vivian Blunt. While dwarves are famously stubborn, Vivian is a succubus with unrivaled expertise in mental interrogation.”

“That will incite a war with the Berft Kingdom,” Berge pointed out. “Turning the dwarves into enemies is a massive risk.”

“Vivian Blunt will be the one to shoulder the entire reputation for the crime.”

Berge forced his lips into a smile. “I see. That’s… quite a plan.”

*We are absolutely screwed,* he thought.

—

### The Dwarf Princess

Louise Berft was a problem. The fiery princess of the underground realm was the one witness who could dismantle everything because she had seen Berge’s demonic form. Furthermore, since she was the one who had actually crushed the Ormus Prince’s head, she would be the most vocal about blaming a demon to cover her own tracks.

Upon returning to his own domain, Berge bypassed the confused looks of the three princesses and went straight to the summit of his tower.

“Gordon! Gordon!”

“I am here, my lord. What is the emergency?”

“Get in touch with Hillun Kagil and Granada immediately. I need the exact location of Louise Berft.”

“Excuse me? Why such a sudden interest…?”

“We have to kidnap her before anyone else does!”

“Please, take a breath and explain what is happening,” Gordon urged.

When Berge finished explaining the demon kings’ plot, Gordon looked pale. “Good heavens! We cannot allow that to happen under any circumstances!”

“I know!” Berge paced. “But attacking a dwarf princess without a strategy is suicide.”

“That isn’t even the main concern, my lord! If it comes to light that you were responsible for Drakson’s death, every authority and privilege granted to you by the towers will be stripped away instantly.”

Kidnapping Louise offered a tiny chance of survival through deception. Being exiled by the tower system meant total ruin. Between a bad option and a catastrophic one, the choice was clear.

“You’re right,” Berge conceded.

“I’ll message Granada now.”

As Gordon hurried to the office, Berge felt a weight in his chest. He was choosing the “lesser” evil, but he hated both options. He needed a way out that didn’t involve a kidnapping.

Two days later, the report arrived.

“Louise Berft is currently confined within the capital of the Berft Kingdom,” Gordon reported.

“Confined?”

“Yes. Following the incident with the Ormus Prince, the King issued a royal mandate. She hasn’t stepped foot outside the palace walls.”

“Damn it,” Berge muttered.

Dwarf cities were subterranean fortresses. Every entrance was a chokepoint. While Berge could slip into a minor city with a simple disguise, the capital was a different beast entirely. The royal castle was a deathtrap.

Infiltration was possible, and he could probably snatch the princess, but…

“There is no way to pull this off without revealing my true nature,” Berge realized. The power of the Phoenix was too distinct; the moment he exerted real force, his identity would be obvious.

He let out a frustrated laugh. He was stuck.

“My lord,” Gordon suggested, “is there a way to simply prevent her from being kidnapped in the first place?”

“How? Reina doesn’t care about hiding her identity if she’s pinning it on Vivian. She won’t hold back.”

“What if we placed a natural predator of the demon kings inside that castle?”

“A hero?”

“Exactly. A hero so formidable that even a demon king would hesitate to engage.”

“You mean Hillun Kagil?”

Berge thought about it. If Hillun—who was now significantly more powerful after the recent battles—was stationed inside the dwarf palace alongside their elite guards, it would create an impenetrable shield. Demons were always at a disadvantage outside their towers, and Hillun’s heightened senses would detect any demonic presence the moment a spell was cast.

“The dwarves are isolationists,” Berge noted. “They won’t just invite Hillun Kagil in to stay.”

“Hillun mentioned that Roger Friedri might be an exile now, but he is still a legendary figure among dwarf craftsmen,” Gordon reminded him.

“True.”

“Master smiths have unique signatures—brands they engrave on their masterpieces. It serves as a seal of quality and identity.”

“I’m familiar with the concept.”

“If we have Roger create a piece of equipment with his authentic mark…”

“And give it to Hillun?”

“Yes. Hillun presents it to the Berft Kingdom as a gift or a lead on Roger’s whereabouts.”

Louise Berft, who was obsessed with finding Roger, would be ecstatic. The King, who had a bounty on Roger’s head, would grant Hillun an immediate audience.

“But that only gets him through the door,” Berge countered. “It doesn’t give him a reason to stay as a permanent bodyguard.”

Gordon sighed, stuck on the same hurdle. Berge closed his eyes, searching for the final piece of the puzzle.

“In that case,” Berge said, his eyes snapping open. “We use leverage. We make it so she can’t afford to let him leave.”

“Blackmail?”

“Drakson’s surviving minions saw Louise kill the Ormus Prince. Hillun met those survivors at the Beast Tower. It’s perfectly believable that they would have confessed that secret to him during the interrogation.”

“If he uses that information to ‘suggest’ he stay and protect her secrets…”

“Hillun’s reputation is too massive for them to simply kill him to keep him quiet. They’ll have to accept his ‘protection’!”

The master and servant shared a moment of triumph.

“The only downside is that Princess Louise will probably despise him,” Gordon noted.

“If the price of safety is a little resentment, I’ll take that deal any day.”

“Agreed. I’ll send word to Hillun immediately!”

As Gordon left, Berge stood up from his seat.

“As for me…” he muttered. “I suppose it’s time to go bother our resident blacksmith.”

**[068. We’re Screwed]**