Necromancer able to Summon Dragons was Kicked out of the Hero Team but Adopted by the Demon Queen!

Our story starts with a young man facing off against the legendary Earth Dragon on a quest to retrieve the monster's eyes. Infuriated by his nonchalance, the dragon pounced, eager to make the boy a sacrifice to his glory. The monster celebrated a little too early and withdrew its claws to see its arms disintegrating like sand. As the dragon squirmed in pain, the young man was estimating the appropriate amount of power to accomplish his quest. He followed up with an offensive spell: the Wind of Decay. The energy of death wrapped around the dragon intensely, eventually eroding

the mythical monster's body. The eyeball rolled over to where he was standing. Picking it up with enthusiasm, the young man looked forward to delivering this rare quest item. Unfortunately for him, the Wind of Decay was too strong, eroding even the dragon's eye. He might have killed a legendary beast, but now he couldn't redeem the quest reward. If things go on like this, he won't be able to send money back home to his grandparents. Before he got into this situation, he was promised a stable income. So how did Cara Necros, a 13-year-old prodigy and a genius

with the abilities of a necromancer and the wise man job, end up like this? In this world, people undergo the rite of passage at the young age of 13, called the Ceremony of Revelation. During this sacred ceremony, a seal is bestowed upon them courtesy of the gods. Those who have acquired their innate job and ability set out to use their powers to benefit society as a whole. Among them came a special few who were bestowed with a special seal, branded as gifted. Cara was one of those lucky few. With his wise man job and talent

for necromancy at such a young age, he garnered the attention of notable people. His loadout was so valuable that a gifted Holy Knight, a gifted Battlemaster, and the hero himself extended an invitation for him to join the kingdom's premier party. He was scouted by the face of the kingdom to lend his power to the mission of subjugating the Demon King. Being a clueless young man, he could not see himself contributing that much and playing such an important role, but the hero reassured him that he would be stepping into a role that nobody else could fill.

The rewards would be bountiful. With the backing of the kingdom, he was promised a monthly salary of 200,000 gold coins. Hearing the monetary value of joining the hero's party, Cara's eyes turned money-hungry, and all doubts in his mind were dispelled. His grandparents just looked at their boy and praised his honest desire for wealth. Cara turned to the two most important people in his life and vowed that he would become a great wise man to earn lots and lots of gold. The old couple tried to tell him not to worry about them, as they didn't have

much time left to live anyway; they just wanted their boy to go out into the world and find his happiness. But this is what Cara has always wanted to do. He'd only be happy once his grandparents were taken care of. As far back as he could remember, his grandpa and grandma raised him on their own after his parents passed away. So now that he's able, he wants to return their love and make them happy. The old couple could not hold their tears back upon hearing their sweet boy talk like that. Hugging their grandchild tightly, they

expressed just how proud they were of him. And so, Cara Necros formally joined the hero's party, setting off on a wild journey with the best of the best. The Battlemaster was a menace when it came to close combat, able to hold her own even against giant, burly demons. The fight was tough, but she gritted her way through the heavy exchanges. Seeing her struggling a little bit, Cara stepped in to provide some cover fire. Utilizing the dirt around the dungeon, he used sludge bullets to blind and impair the demon in multiple spots. He stepped in just

to provide some cover fire but ended up injuring the monster heavily. So heavily, in fact, that it collapsed on the ground with its skin scraped off by dirt and sludge. Being the closest to the fallen enemy, the Battlemaster cringed at their brutal victory. In another dungeon, the hero's party found themselves surrounded by a tribe of savage orcs. Once again, Cara stepped up to increase the number of their allies. He touched the ground and created dozens of undead soldiers to make the numbers even. The Holy Knight looked at the grotesque undead clinging and keeping the orcs

occupied. A disgusted look appeared in her eyes, as a Holy Knight is a natural enemy of the undead. There was also the time when they had to face off against the double-headed dog demon, and the hero took the forefront to show the magnificence of his swordsmanship. Excited to contribute, Cara charged forward, telling Sir Hero to conserve his strength. Instead, with a wave of his hand, the young man unleashed a ghost shot that penetrated deep into the demon's furry body. The hero was naturally flabbergasted. He was so ready to show off his skills; still, he maintained

his smile and praised Cara for such a good job. Although he can only control spirits and spirit-bound objects, Cara thought that working harder would earn him lots of money. But standing out too much and being in the spotlight earned him the ire of his teammates. Maybe he was too naive, and this led to a very serious conversation in the middle of their journey. The hero pulled him to the side to apologize as he was asked to leave the party on his own. Cara was naturally... "Shocked he was doing his job properly, but he was getting

the boot. What kind of nonsense was that? He asked the hero what he did wrong, as being kicked out of the party would put him in a tough spot. The Battlemaster spoke up, insisting that they were the ones in the tough spot right now. She can't do her job as a Vanguard because of Cara's disgusting attacks; she can't even imagine punching anything that had touched his gross techniques. The Holy Knight also spoke up, raising her qualms against Cara. It's just that she can't stand his necromancy on a physiological level; seeing the undead made her queasy.

The Battlemaster added that they only recruited him for his Revival magic in the first place. Now that their Holy Knight had learned the miracle of Revival, they no longer had any use for his ass. Cara could not even get a word in to protest his side, so he just asked what would happen to his reward—the promised salary. Sir Hero stopped in his tracks as he remembered something. Turning around, he explained that since Cara's probation period had not ended yet, he would not be eligible for any payments from the Kingdom's pocket. Hearing that nearly broke the

young man's brain. The hero put on his most apologetic face and apologized that it turned out like this. In the end, he fished two pieces of gold coins from his sack and gave them to Cara as his personal token of gratitude. And so, he was fired from the hero's party, scammed out of a 200,000 gold contract, and couldn't send a single coin back home. That was the day he became an unemployed wise man. To make matters worse, his bad reputation as a useless wise man spread around like wildfire. Any other Adventurer party would not touch

him with a ten-foot pole. Being kicked out of the Premier party tanked his character so badly that job hunting did not go well. He had no other choice but to go off on his own, becoming a freelance Adventurer. That's Cara's story up to date. Staring at the decayed eyeball of the Earth Dragon, he sighed in defeat. He only snapped out of his stupor when some Spirits calling him 'Master' demanded his attention. They were reporting back telepathically because they found something while looking around. These Spirit voices belonged to the reconnaissance unit. In case he did not

get any loot from hunting, he sent out a few spirits to look for other possibly valuable things that could serve as a reward. Looking through their eyes, he saw some useless empty chests, some useless Soldier corpses, and one promising picture: a metal gate with intricate details. He zoomed in on this one image and grew curious as to what could be inside. Cara paused for a second, and the old Spirit next to him asked what was wrong. Without answering, the young man just took off running in the gate's direction. In his mind, questions of why there

would be a gated castle in this place floated around. A castle that emitted some seriously bad vibes. Inside this medieval-looking stronghold, a demonic servant kneeled to his Lord, Cecilia-sama, informing her that a human intruder had been detected at the front gate of their castle. Sitting on the throne was a voluptuous woman, fascinated by the appearance of a human at her castle's entrance. She blushed at the thought of what this so-called intruder would be like. Back outside, Cara wondered why there would be a massive structure in the middle of nowhere. He touched the cold metal railings,

and the magical mark on his hand reacted with a violent electric response. Maintaining his composure, he reckoned that the entrance was covered with a powerful barrier. Rolling up his sleeves, the young man did not back down. Whoever built this castle wanted to keep people out, meaning there was a high possibility of valuable treasures slumbering inside. So Cara touched the barrier and the cold metal once more. This time, he used an aging spell on the gate. It only took a moment to disintegrate the whole castle entrance; he aged the metal to the point of corrosion. The

old Spirit following Cara was impressed with how he manipulated the flow of time around the barrier. He just thought of it on the fly, and it worked. Now he was free to walk into the ominous castle, carefree and excited for the loot it might hold. If it wasn't for his sharp combat instincts, he wouldn't have noticed a foreign presence welcoming him right at the gate. Cara jumped back nimbly as purple lightning struck the ground where he was standing. A servant had come out to meet him at the bridge. This demon was quite fascinated with the

boy who could dodge his lightning in an instant. Holding another compressed Thunderball in his hands, he praised the young man's outstanding reaction speed. In this world, a demon is a being who receives a mark from the outer gods, in contrast to humans who receive theirs from the gods of Heaven. This made the demons permanent residents of the Dark World. So Cara asked the servant why a demon would be in a place like this. The servant landed and returned the question to the young man, stating that a human child had no business loitering around this castle,

let alone breaking through the powerful barrier and intruding inside. It turned out this domain belonged to one of the seven Great Demon Lords, Lady Cecilia. Hearing the servant's grand proclamation just confused Cara even further. He started stumbling over his words, stating he didn't know who the place belonged to, but shouldn't a Demon Lord's castle be inaccessible through a regular quest line? Infuriated, the servant was certain the young man was just playing dumb. Nevertheless, he’d show this." Intruder, the electrifying terror of Bagore. Lady Cecilia's most loyal servant—so he's a simp—pointing his hands at Cara, despair's Violet

Thunder crackled forward with destructive chaos. The technique illuminated the entire area, obscuring Cara. Belor sneered, thinking he had dispatched the weak intruder in one shot. He had always been proud of his despair's Violet Thunder, bestowed by the old god Noens; a mere human would be reduced to dust at its slightest touch. Instead of seeing a burnt corpse on the ground, the dust settling revealed a standing silhouette. Bagore was surprised; this was supposed to be an easy cleanup job, but the kid was still standing after taking the lightning head-on. He was unharmed, seemingly untouched by the

old god's technique. A gruff voice spoke up, insisting Belor was using a miracle that he granted the old spirit. Following Cara turned out to be that same old god, Noden. He proclaimed he wouldn't allow an imitation of his power to be used against his master. Belfagor didn't know what to do or say; he had never seen an old god in the flesh—no one had. If this really was the real deal, then why would he be siding with a human? Cara and Noden just ignored the bumbling servant. The kid praised the old man for being such

an amazing person, and Noden modestly laughed, saying that was a long time ago. Belor was utterly stunned at the sight of the impossible: a human was commanding a god in front of him. "Who the hell is this kid and what's his deal?" Noden turned to his master and apologetically asked for some magical power, and Cara gladly extended his hand to donate some. Upon linking their magical pools, Noden awakened the latent power of lightning inside his body, filling the surroundings with supercharged energy. The servant just realized how foolish his posturing from earlier was. Noden gripped his

Thunderbolt and asked that the young man watch, as this would be an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the true power of despair's Violet Thunder. With a quick throw, the highest-ranking servant of the Demon Lord was consumed by the rampaging thunder, shocking him to the core. The attack was so powerful that it nearly swallowed the entire castle with its devastating light. By the time the thunder started dying down, Belfagor was just a burned and paralyzed victim lying on the ground. Noden went back to his adorable spirit mode as Cara praised the grandpa for doing so well. With

a bright smile, he decided to keep moving toward the castle now that the first obstacle was down. But before he could take another step, the sultry voice of a woman appeared behind him. She lauded the young sage for showing her something interesting. He couldn't quite put a finger on the feeling, but Cara could not move another inch from the pressure the woman gave off. He had to fight the fear in his mind to jump and turn around. The woman assured him there was no need to be so on guard around her; if he kept acting

like she was the enemy, her feelings would get hurt, and he didn't want that to happen. Even old god Noden acknowledged the woman's overwhelming aura. "There's no mistaking it; this voluptuous Catgirl was the infamous Demon Lord." With a casual tone, she asked the young man for his name, and Cara Necros reluctantly introduced himself, committing the name to her memory. "Cecilia Israf Ferus, the Lust Demon Lord," bent down to his height and offered Cara a job to serve under her banner. Serving the Demon Lord sounded ludicrous, but she really wanted him on her team because Cecilia

liked how he fought her servant. Cara swiped her hand away from his face and bravely stood his ground. Stumbling through his words, he rejected the offer. When asked why, he answered that people often find his necromancy creepy, so he'd probably get kicked out of this new job for the same reason. Cecilia saw and heard the sadness in Cara's words and immediately understood what he was going through. Taking his hands, the Demon Lord asserted that humans have no eye for talent—real talent—because, to her, being at the top of the world, Cara's necromancy is a thing of

beauty, the most wonderful magic in the world. So, she wants him by her side to see more of that beauty. From now on, Cara was softening up, but he still felt queasy, as accepting this proposal would mean betraying his humanity. He couldn't do that, as he had a precious family to protect in his hometown. Besides, he needed to earn more money to give his grandparents an easier and more comfortable life. Cecilia slightly smiled and put forth an offer of a 2 million gold signing bonus along with an annual salary of 20 million gold. Casually throwing

out those unbelievable numbers while smiling like it was nothing was diabolical. Cara's eyes lit up with the prospect of coins, but the most attractive offer was the guarantee of his family's safety. Hearing of all those benefits, Cara immediately accepted the job, and so he was formally employed by the Demon Lord of Lust. With the acceptance of the job offer, Cecilia welcomed Cara to her massive castle, but before they went in, she wanted to ask him a favor. For the sake of peace and convenience, he needed to wear what looked like a dragon mask before they

entered the premises. Even though he was personally scouted by the Demon Lord, many demons would still oppose the addition of a human to the team. Cara asked if that was because he had already done something wrong, but she reassured him that it was not his fault. Her loyal servant had also woken up from the electrifying stupor, but he was still paralyzed. Belfagor felt betrayed as... He asked his master why they would willingly take a human in. She did not snap at him or anything like that; she just squatted down and patted him on the head,

praising her servant for a job well done. Of all demons, Belore should understand her decision the best; he was the one who fought against the young man directly, after all. Anyone with eyes should see that Cara would be a great asset to the demon army, so she needed Belore to keep Cara's human identity a secret. He was a bit reluctant to swallow the tough pill at first, but he eventually relented under the demon Lord's gentle gaze. Cara spoke up, asking if demons hate humans. It seemed like the kid didn't have a tainted worldview yet; he

didn't know why the Eternal War kept raging on. So, Cecilia decided to tell him a little story from the past. Long ago, the old gods descended from the outer world to defeat the dragons that ruled Humanity through force. The people saved from their draconic dictators worshiped the gods that saved them, but eventually, driven by Humanity's greed, they stole the power of the gods and sealed them away. In a rage, one of those gods, known as Bastet, created demons out of her hatred for humans before she was promptly sealed along with the other deities. Demons inherited

their creator's malice and hate; that's why they hate humans to the bone. This was Cara's first time hearing this side of the story. He could not help but feel a little guilty for being a human himself, but Cecilia urged him not to just look at the bad side of the story. Although their start stemmed from greed for power, Humanity also shaped a lot of beautiful cultures around kindness and love. Humans forged their own path, so they should not be defined by the acts of those who came before them. Hearing that, Cara felt a little better.

He didn't know how he fit into the picture of the demon Lord's roster yet, but he was pumped to do his best. He'd do whatever it took for the sake of sending money back home, so he excitedly asked his new boss what he should do first. Cecilia laughed, appreciating his enthusiasm. Belore opened the main gate of the castle and demanded everyone's attention. He introduced their new masked comrade as a magnificent demon who defeated him by commanding an old god. The demon staff of the castle looked a little skeptical, as they could smell a faint human

scent, but Lord Bagor's words carried a lot of weight. It did not help that the highest-ranking servant sucked at convincing other demons that Cara was one of them. Everyone watched as the new guy walked directly behind their demon Lord. Upon reaching the inner chambers of the castle, she divulged her plan for Cara to eventually aim to become a renowned demon general who leads everyone in the demon Lord's army. But for now, he'd have to settle by serving by the demon Lord's side to gain a bit more experience. Also, when it was just the two of

them, he could feel free to remove the dragon mask to be more comfortable. She opened the door to her chambers and introduced Cara's first task: he needed to tidy up her messed-up room. Cecilia coyly smiled, while Cara and his spirits were speechless at the sight of such disarray. He looked at the demon Lord with curious eyes, and she averted her gaze out of shame. Without holding back, he asked how the mess got this bad and if she was a bad cleaner. She couldn't bear to hear another word about her messiness and stopped the young man

from speaking another word. She insisted that she always tried to do it properly, but her room somehow always got messier. Anyway, Cara was being paid millions, so he'd better deliver an excellent cleanup job. From today, the demon Lord's room would be his workplace too. Curious, the young man asked why she didn't just choose someone from the plethora of servant demons in the castle. By his estimation, any one of her fiercely loyal subordinates would be happy to do it. She answered that it was impossible. Holding Cara's hand, she insisted that this job could only be entrusted

to him and him alone. Hearing those words made the young man feel important, as if he had been needed for once. So, Cara perked up and promised to do his best. Cecilia loved his outstanding dedication. Exiting the room, she added that she would be back by night and was looking forward to his progress. Cara looked at his spirit companions and steeled his resolve. Even though the chaos seemed daunting, at least he wouldn't be dealing with it alone. Much to the spirits' surprise, his plan to start this daunting cleanup process was to pick up one of

the loose books on the floor and read it. Old man Noens asked him what the thought process for this book-reading thing was, and Cara insisted that he wasn't playing around. Understanding demon culture and tastes would help with the proper cleaning, after all; he aimed to make Cecilia's ideal room based on what she liked. Doing that by himself would take forever, so he used his spirits to investigate via ghost detection. Each one of his ghosts picked up books and relayed their content directly to Cara through ectoplasm. Learning like that was an OP skill. Seeing the young

man push his mind to the limit, old man Noens reminded him not to push too hard and too fast. The old god was worried that this kid would overheat while trying to memorize everything at once, but his concern turned out to be unfounded, as Cara memorized the entire catalog of books in just a few minutes, shocking even the old god. Thanks to the... help of the ghosts, he was able to absorb so much information so fast, so he thanked them appropriately. Now that he had the blueprint of demon culture, it was time to clean the

room to his heart's content. Night came, and Cecilia opened her chamber door to a vastly different image than the one a few hours ago. Every corner of her room was practically shining; it was polished and clean. The layout of the room was arranged optimally, and everything was tailored to her liking. Cara gave all the credit to his spirit companions; thanks to their hard work, he was able to finish in no time. Appreciative of her new room, the Demon Lord turned to Cara and the ghosts to thank them properly. The young man had really exceeded her

expectations, and she was glad that he came into her life. Flashing a genuine and bright smile, Cara was just happy to be of service. He also brought up a question that he had while extracting information from the entire book catalog. He asked if Cecilia read human books. Cara had found some books with human authors under the Demon Lord's bed, so he took the initiative to organize them on the shelf along with other literature. Who would have thought that the Demon Lord of Lust would be interested in human biographies, poetry collections, cookbooks, and, most surprising of

all, romance novels? Hearing her biggest secret being divulged made the Demon Lord fluster; her cheeks were blushing intensely. She wanted to defend herself, but she could not think of a reason why she was reading romance novels. When Cara asked her if she liked humans, Cecilia lost her usual sultry and dominant demeanor. She took the books from his hands and asked Cara to keep her tastes a secret from everyone else. It was just that her ultimate dream was to create a world where demons and humans could live happily while preserving their respective cultures. For that, she

had been studying human culture as much as she could. In her studies, she discovered just how many human things were unfamiliar to demons. Chief among these concepts were the sanctity of love and marriage; that was the reason why romance novels ranked at the top of her book collection when it came to sheer volume. Cecilia felt embarrassed that this new subordinate of hers already knew who she really was deep down. Putting the book in her hand back in its place, she deliberately closed the space between them. This naughty boy had seen everything she desperately hid from

for a long time. It wasn't fair if he knew her and she didn't know him. Not giving Cara an inch to move away from her body, the red-blooded young man struggled to focus on anything else other than the massive globes in front of him. With a hazily seductive look in her eyes, the Demon Lord of Lust expressed her desire to know more about Cara Necros. She slowly moved her hands down to his shoulder, both of them red in the face, blushing profusely. Then she asked the big question: how did he end up making a contract

with the old gods? Sounding a little disappointed, the young man asked Cecilia if that was all she really wanted to know. Running her fingernails down his neck, she teased him by asking what Cara was imagining she would ask. He insisted that he wasn't thinking of anything in particular, but his flustered face told a different story. Anyways, these days, he calls these old gods his grandparents. These all-powerful beings, including Noin, used to be his neighbors. Puzzled by his answer, Cecilia wanted him to go into more detail. Well, everything happened right after he received his mark at

the ceremony of revelation. His real grandparents had been tricked into a piece of land surrounded by the haunting presence of spirits. They worried that if they couldn't expand the farm because of the miasma of death, they would struggle to make ends meet. The old couple didn't want to worry their grandson at a crucial time in his life, so they wanted to figure something out themselves. But Cara knew; he knew all along. The boy did not want to leave this problem to his old grandparents to deal with on their own. So one night, when they were

both sleeping, burdened by financial troubles, Cara snuck out of the house to figure something out by himself. He scaled their wooden fence and ran around the empty and barren tract of land. If he could expand their farm, it would make his grandparents happy and alleviate their money problems. The boy wanted to repay them for raising him, no matter what it took. Rolling up his sleeve and revealing his new mark, he intended to return the lifelong favor in kind. Even though necromancy can't purify curses, he still had the ability to gather and disperse vengeful spirits. Channeling

the power of the dead into his hand, he touched the barren ground and unleashed the dispersal of grudges. The power of necromancy crawled all over the ground, proliferating throughout the infertile land. Much to the young man's surprise, there seemed to be something odd directly below where he cast his spell. Without any warning or signs of frailty, the piece of land he was standing on collapsed, making Cara plummet down into endless darkness. The hole was so deep, and the fall was so long that landing raw down below could spell certain death. Thankfully, he was quick on

his feet and immediately drew power from his mark. Using his necromantic magic, he shot some sludge cushion on his landing spot to soften the blow. Thanks to his quick thinking, Cara landed at the bottom of the pit safely. Looking above, he couldn't believe that such a massive hidden hole was in his grandparents' land. Turning his head to scout the place, he... saw what looked like a little pyramid made with impressive architecture. It looked a lot like a dungeon. Why would there be such a massive dungeon under the farmland? That's the question running through his mind.

Maybe this was the source of that pesky curse, attracting vengeful spirits and making it impossible for the land to produce a harvest. Deciding to check it out, an old man holding a thunderbolt trident ordered him to halt his advance. That's right, this was the first time he met the old god Noens and a dragon guarding the dungeon. Without a hint of fear, Cara asked the old man who he was. Noden introduced himself and the other residents of this hidden dungeon as divine spirits. This place is their resting place, their graveyard. Hearing that he had just

stumbled upon the grave of the gods, Cara panicked as anyone would in his position. Raising the thunderbolt trident up to the young man's face, Noden asserted that this wasn't a place for humans and that the kid should leave at once. Cara might be quaking in his boots out of fear, but he couldn't just go away when he had explicitly come out to lift the curse from the land. Noens lifted his trident, and hearing another human defying him—a god—felt quite nostalgic. He took it as a formal challenge, and his despairing violet lightning flared up all over

the place. Anticipating the arc of lightning, Cara responded appropriately by dulling the electric attack with the spread of his sludge cushion. Unfortunately for the boy, some runny and muddy dirt was not nearly enough to stop the signal attack of a god. The despairing violet lightning tore through the sludge and gave the boy the kiss of electrifying death. He was paralyzed from the attack, Noden standing tall, not even breaking a sweat. Just as the old god was about to retreat to his grave, confident that the boy was done for, Cara slowly stood up. He took the

chance to fire up some mud bullets while the old god's back was turned against him. The attack naturally fell flat against Nan's wall of violet lightning. Tanking an attack and dishing one back to the enemy was supremely exhausting. Even the old god was surprised that this mere mortal child still had strength left to stand upright, so he decided to get a little more serious and engaged in a faster-paced exchange of attacks. His casual attacks were neutralized at every turn. Cara struggled, but his well-timed mud attacks were quite effective. By the end of their quick clashes,

the old god stopped in his tracks, taken aback by the kid's resilience. What could possibly drive a boy to such lengths? Any ordinary prodigy out there would have folded as soon as they saw an old god, but this boy was fighting tooth and nail no matter how much damage he sustained. The motivation driving Cara was the sad faces of his grandparents whenever they looked at the barren farmland. He had resolved to make them smile, and he would do everything in his power to protect those smiles with his power. He vowed to lift the curse from

the land. Noden stopped his barrage of attacks to comment that the boy had good eyes—kind eyes. Noden and the other divine spirits walked closer to Cara. The old gods reckoned that if they tagged along with this kid's journey, they might witness something interesting along the way. And so, that's how he ended up making a contract with his grandpa Noens. This old god also occasionally borrows Cara's virtually unlimited magic to materialize a physical form. By now, their contract has grown beyond just an ordinary agreement; the old gods practically see the sweet boy as their grandchild already.

Demon Lord Cecilia became curious about that dungeon where divine souls had been sealed. Not a single ancient text suggested the sacred site's location. Even so, not only did Cara find it, but he also managed to release the grave seal and remain unharmed. This young man might be beyond Cecilia's already sky-high expectations. Seeing her in a daze, Cara asked Cecilia if something was wrong. She patted him on the head and assured him that everything was all right. Cecilia looked him directly in the eyes and expressed her gratitude for sharing his story. Her intuition was on point;

this young man would make a great demon general for her army. To take the first steps in making that happen, he's going to need his own territory. So, the Demon Lord opened a teleportation portal with a wave of her hand. "It's time to go on a little trip to inspect what Cara's new home would be like." The portal that the Demon Lord made was a direct line to a menacing dungeon called On's Cavern. Inside were scrawny soldiers running for their lives, regretting their decision to even dare enter this cursed place. A blonde knight stood her

ground as the cavern shook with the heavy footsteps of the dungeon boss. This colossal beast had been the guardian of this place for so long, and there were still fools who dared defy his power. So, he never ran out of prey to hunt. The blonde knight raised her blade. She would never forgive this demon for taking so much from her kingdom. Charging forward, she brandished her sword with resolute killing intent. But the orc had a much faster weapon draw than her; even if the spiked metal club was a lot heavier, she was forced to turn

her fierce attack into a desperate defensive maneuver. The poor blonde knight might have prevented a direct hit, but the force behind the orc's swing was too much to handle. Half of her body was decimated; her armor cracked and her internal organs in disarray. The ruthless orc walked menacingly and grabbed her by the hair. liked trained women; they looked and tasted the best. Lifting the Knight, he intended to demonstrate the immutable fact that humans were nothing but demon food, showing his sharp fangs capable of crushing the toughest skulls and bones. He urged the Knight to give

in and give up. Fear filled her mind; she might have been brave earlier, but the image of being eaten alive was too much. Before the orc could get a decent bite out of the Knight, magical energy entered the cavern from above. Three necro bullet ghost shots interrupted the orc's meal, pushing him away from his prey. Taken by surprise, the colossal beast lay on the floor in pain. The Knight thought she was saved; reinforcements from the kingdom had arrived, but she was mistaken. The one who interrupted the orc was Cara, in his dragon mask, riding on

top of flying skulls. He was here to take over the dungeon. This was his first real assignment as the enemy of humanity. A few minutes ago, the Demon Lord and her new employee arrived at the entrance of the On's Cavern. Cecilia explained that this was a dungeon in the Greed Demon Lord's territory, near a human kingdom. She wanted Cara to go in there and defeat the demon general in charge. They basically came here to colonize a dungeon. Cecilia explained that the ogres in this dungeon had repeatedly attacked the nearby kingdom, terrorizing its people to no

end. If they were serious about her dream to unite both demon and human cultures, they couldn't allow any more of these types of grievances to grow. If given any other choice, Cecilia wouldn't do something so forceful, but this would be their first step towards creating a world where humans and demons could live happily. This brings us back to the present, where the ogre demon general had gotten up, laughing at Cara's takeover announcement. He introduced himself as Bellow, the demon general under the mighty Demon Lord of Greed. He was a beast that could crush anything with

his invincible might. Seeing the mark on top of those muscles was quite jarring for the young man. Slowly raising his hand, Cara knew he couldn't afford to lower his guard against such a formidable enemy. Not getting any response, Bellow angrily raised his metal club with the full intention of crushing the brazen intruder. In response, Cara activated his mark and called on one of his contracted gods to lend their power. It was the incarnation of flames, Volum. The spirit ball form of the old god clashed against Bellow's abnormal physical prowess. The injured Knight on the side

of the cavern was almost caught by the fiery blast. Bellow also could not believe his eyes; for the first time in a while, he was bested in a battle of brawn. The intruder casually used his burning hand to catch the spiked metal club, stopping the seemingly unstoppable attack. Cara sneered and swiped the blunt weapon away as if it weighed nothing. He looked at his fist covered with V's power with hesitation. The incarnation of flames assured him not to be scared, as there was no way in hell that they could lose to a muscle-brained idiot like

the orc in front of them. Cara trusted V but still reminded the old god to be careful, as the enemy was incredibly strong. He could feel that Bellow could go to a higher gear with all that anger building up. He was confident that the orc's next attack would be even more potent than the first. Hearing that, Bellow reasoned that he must have unconsciously held back. If he just attacked seriously, there was no way a kid could have stopped his onslaught. So he brandished his club once again, only this time it was infused with the power

of Earth Slash. Cara prepared himself and asked V to go all out. The old god concurred, drawing even more power from his magical mark. Cara manifested an even bigger blaze of scorching flames, borrowing from V's fiery arsenal. He unleashed the flame of Kagutsuchi. The intense heat rumbled forward, hungry to devour the demon general. Once it reached the beast, his skin was immediately burnt off, and his nerve endings were overloaded by the feeling of searing agony. It only took a few seconds to completely and utterly burn the boss of On's Cavern. Once the flame started dissipating,

Cara was met with a confusing image. He thought the monster had disappeared by using a stealth skill, but V explained that he had blown the demon general away completely, along with the immediate surroundings, not leaving a trace. Cara still refused to believe that they dispatched a demon general under the Seven Great Demon Lords. It couldn't be that easy to conquer a supposed powerhouse, so just to be safe, he used a ghost search to survey the area to see if Bellow was still nearby. Meanwhile, the injured Knight found herself a place to hide in. She held

her breath and tried her best to erase her presence out of fear of being the next target. In her perspective, this black demon was way worse than the man-eating orc demon of On's Cavern. As soon as she thought it would be safe to retreat, she ran as fast as she could, desperate to notify the hero of what transpired in this cursed place. By her estimation, it was possible that a new Demon Lord was about to be crowned. Sharing the sight of his ghosts, Cara found it strange that he couldn't find Bellow anywhere at all. He

finally gave up, thinking that the massive injured monster had somehow managed to escape his flawless detection. Now that he was alone in the dungeon, he could finally take off that suffocating dragon mask and report back to Cecilia. It turned out that his boss was just silently watching the whole fight from a distance. Finally, he came out to praise Cara for doing such a good job taking over On's Cavern. Instead of feeling celebratory, Cara felt terrible as he still believed that the demon general got away due to his lax attack. Cecilia played along, telling him that

letting the enemy escape really was careless of him, knowing full well that the orc vanished without leaving a trace. The young man was bummed that he didn't accomplish the mission flawlessly, but Cecilia was more focused on the fact that she had just witnessed the forbidden spell of the old god, Volados Hinoka Guchi. It is a technique that is used in the highest echelons of destruction. It was the first time that a demon lord like her had witnessed something so powerful, so she wondered just how much power this young man had hidden within him. Just thinking

about his potential got her cheesing with excitement. Anyway, it's time to get back on track and take the next step to becoming an official demon general. Cecilia took out a purple diamond gem and handed it to Cara. It was the symbol of an official dungeon master—the dungeon core. Taking the gem in his hands, the confused young man asked what this thing was for. The demon lord explained that with this jewel he could freely create a maze, a castle, or anything else that he could think of to mold a dungeon worthy of a demon general serving

under her. From today, On's Cavern will officially belong to Cara, so now he could create his ideal room to mark his territory. That lifted Cara's mood quickly; he liked the sound of building his own space from scratch. If you look outside of On's Cavern, you'd see the aftermath of Cara's fearsome attack—a burning hole larger than the dungeon's entrance itself. The young man raised the dungeon core and concentrated on visualizing his first dungeon build. The ground in front of him shifted and lifted upwards, spawning gravestones all over the place. With a broad and bright smile, he

proudly proclaimed that his first structure was done. It was basically a little mound filled with tombs. He was very proud of his graveyard creation. Cecilia asked him why he would build something so ominous. He answered that necromancy creation magic can only do things like this. Enthusiastically opening the door to his new home, he urged his boss to check out the interior, as he thought the inside was surprisingly cozy. Just as he claimed, the interior of his new room was quite a sight to behold. Even the demon lord of lust, who was used to seeing lavish

structures, was surprised to see such a lovely room. Cara's favorite part that he engineered was the soft monster cushion he got in the middle of the room. While he was enjoying his new space, Cecilia politely asked to borrow the dungeon core just for a moment. He willingly handed the gem back to her and asked what was up. She claimed that if he were to disappear, she would be left without someone to take care of her needs, and that just cannot happen. So, to remedy that problem, she used the dungeon core, drawing its potential better than

Cara did. Using her rich spatial magic, she opened a magical circle to serve as a portal in the middle of the cozy room. Seeing Cara's surprised and alarmed face, Cecilia explained that she had just created a direct route to her room. Winking seductively, her words sounded very flirtatious. Just then, the young man was not immune to the charm of the demon lord of lust, but he was still a naive young man and couldn't handle the possibility of having unlimited access to Cecilia's room. She shushed his worries with a finger to his lips. The demon lord

insisted on the portal as she trusted Cara wholly. Cecilia then teased him for planning something else with the portal, with a playful look on her face. It seemed like she was enjoying making Cara squirm under her touch more and more. The poor young man's heart could not possibly handle this much stimulation and teasing. He finally tried to protest all her provocations, but she just treated him like an adorable pet. Enough about flirty demons; let's see what's happening in the Royal Capital Guild for a minute. It seems like the knight who survived the fearsome takeover of

On's Cavern managed to report back to the authorities, and the capital hurriedly issued a new subjugation quest. They got a wanted poster set up for the unknown enemy who defeated the demon general of greed with a single strike of fire—a formidable opponent, to say the least. The capital thinks that there is only one man who can do the job: the man who stands at the peak of human limits. This man smiled upon hearing of a job that required his particular set of skills. Of course, we're talking about the narcissistic scamming hero and his two horrible

party mates—the insufferable battlemaster and the irritating holy knight. The hero quipped that they could pick up this mission as a warm-up before they officially start the demon king subjugation. The man asking for their help was excited that the famous hero would accept the request, but the greedy bastard would only do it if the reward was generously sizable. Before they could officially take on the subjugation mission, another person in the room urged the hero to wait for a minute. She stood at the corner, asserting that fighting an unknown enemy would be too dangerous, so they should

reconsider what they were about to go into. The hero sighed and laughed, assuring their fourth member that there was no need to worry about this miscellaneous mission thanks to that convenient stepping stone known as Cara Necros. Their holy knight has finally learned and mastered resurrection magic, ensuring stable support no matter what. Happens. The hero saw this mission as his chance to shine; he’d been waiting to challenge a big shot for a while now. He thought this girl was just holding on to a grudge because he fired the Necromancer she personally recommended for the party. The

girl in the light fabric armor, suited for mobility, Aisha, just looked at the hero with apathy. Cara quietly sat inside his coy graveyard creation, waiting for Lady Cecilia to come through the portal in the middle of his room. She was running a little late; this disappointed the young man. She said they would have breakfast together, but she might be a no-show. V rationalized, saying that maybe the Demon Lord was still asleep. Noden proposed that they go wake her up. Cara stood up and walked to the portal. It felt wrong to enter a lady's room without

permission, but this was just part of his job, right? He eventually reached the Demon Lord's tidy room while wearing the dragon mask and tried to carefully wake her up. Much to the young man's surprise, the Demon Lord of Lust actually went to bed wearing nothing but her see-through underwear. Lady Cecilia slowly opened her eyes, surprised to see a familiar figure looming over her bed. Without making a fuss about the young man in the room, she performed some good morning stretches that nearly made Cara drop to his knees. When she adorably wiped the sleepiness from her

eyes, she did not look like a powerful being in charge of a massive demon army; she just looked like a beautiful, sleepy lady. Lady Cecilia apologized for oversleeping, and Cara did not even mind the tardiness. If he could see this view every morning, refusing to get up from her cozy bed, she started requesting another five-minute nap. She even invited Cara to stay with her for a few minutes. She would only need a few minutes; for someone like Cara, it took a little bit of convincing, but he eventually got her to get up from bed and

move towards the dining hall. As an apology for being such a brat earlier, Cecilia had her people prepare a lavish breakfast fit for a king. It looked so good that it made Cara doubt whether he deserved such luxurious treatment. Cecilia assured him that he could do whatever he wanted, as this was a special human meal prepared by the castle's head chef. When he finally got the meat in his mouth, all troubles and doubts melted away. While he was happily chewing and chomping on such good food, he noticed a different type of vibe on the other

side of the table. In Lady Cecilia's plate was a horrible amalgamation of nightmarish ingredients forming a lump of black goo that looked like it had its own air of death. She did not bat an eye when taking a spoonful of the dark goo and putting it directly in her mouth. To her, there was nothing more delicious in the world than the special black goo on her plate. Seeing Cara look at her with astonishment while she was just naturally having her meal, she asked if the young man was curious. She explained that demon food is mainly

a shuttle for absorbing mana; it's never been ingrained in their culture to make it look traditionally good. It does not taste bad, but she understands that it must look like she was eating something gross in the eyes of a human. Recalling the time when the hero's party exiled him for allegedly being disgusting, Cara did not want to give Cecilia that same feeling, so he kept an open mind and asked if he could have a bite of the black goo. He wanted to try demon food too. Seeing him respond in such a surprising way got the

Demon Lord and the old gods worried for the young man. Much to Nin's disagreement, Cecilia was willing to let the kid experience demon cuisine with one spoonful to start. She gently brought it to Cara's mouth, the young man excited and tense at the same time. When he finally got to bite the black meal, a pleased expression spread across his face. The Demon Lord and her spirit companions waited for Cara to finish chewing and give his verdict. When he finally got the vile goo down, he realized that it was very delicious. Not expecting Cara to like

what she eats every day, Lady Cecilia was on cloud nine. Noen was a little confused, as back in his day, demon food used to taste extremely terrible. That might have been true before, but over the years, demon culture evolved to improve the taste of their cuisine. It has come to the point of being palatable even for humans, even if it looks a little messy and scary. There are many good things under muddy looks. Cara thought the same; food appearance hardly matters at all. Hearing the young man ask for a second serving and hearing his inspiring

words, Cecilia's heart skipped a beat. That day, the employee and the boss shared a demon meal in the castle's dining hall. Right after their hefty breakfast, the dungeon building came next. Cara was really pumped to improve his domain even further, but before they could get deep into everything build-related, Cecilia wanted to make sure that Cara had the proper understanding of a dungeon's role. They might look like petrifying death traps at first, but a dungeon is a valuable place where demons can replenish mana outside of eating. When inside one of these dungeons, the mana used or

spilled by the human adventurers who enter the dungeon becomes recycled to be absorbed by the core, turning into a drinkable form. The dungeon core basically sustains the powerful demons under IA and the other demon lords; it plays a vital role in the demon world. Dungeons are created. Using the Mana in the land, so if the core were somehow destroyed, the Mana would return to the Earth, making the land fertile for humans. The very existence of a freaky dungeon gives humans a valuable reason to challenge it. It has been cleverly designed to lure hopeful adventurers, which

poses another problem through the act of defending the dungeon itself, especially On's Cavern, a dungeon located at the border of human and Demon King territories, positioned in a contentious land. The frequency of attacks is a lot higher. Hearing that explanation, Cara formed the resolve to work extremely hard to improve everyone's lives. Letting his ghosts loose in his new domain, he urged them to do their best in the coming tasks. Away from On's Cavern, let's turn our attention to the distant, generic fantasy land where monsters lurk. These monsters are in for a rude awakening, though. The

hero and his Holy Light slash tore through every low-leveled monster like a hot knife through butter. The hero did not even break a sweat; his kills were primarily done in one hit, after all. Smiling from ear to ear, he was excited to push even further, as just a bit more journeying would get him to the Target dungeon. Meanwhile, his party was not in the best shape at all. The Battle Master had some beef with the Holy Knight; she was lecturing her for being hurt by a bunch of weaklings. It was a showing unfit for someone

dubbed as the shield of the hero. The Holy Knight argued that she messed up thanks to the Battle Master's carelessness. Aisha had to step out of the shadows and step in to stop the bickering, telling the girls to save the fighting for later. She asked them what they would do if a powerful demon happened to notice their annoying voices. Aisha just wanted to finish the mission and nothing else; she didn't want to get involved with this dysfunctional party anymore. But her efforts were met with an even more annoying tirade from the Battle Master. She blamed

Aisha for recruiting a useless Necromancer that they had to drive out of the team, messing up their plans. Aisha sneered that the Necromancer they were talking about had a golden seal; he would have been an undeniably valuable asset through and through. The Holy Knight was still irked about those Undead summons. Both ladies blamed Aisha for messing things up. Seeing this chaos, the hero stepped in to mediate. He admitted that Cara was a capable asset to the team at that time, but if he left everything to that kid, how could a hero shine like he was

supposed to? He just made a rational decision in his narcissistic brain and followed through, with the problem swept under the rug again. The ladies followed the hero to the rocky area where the dungeon lay. Aisha could feel the stupidity of the hero's words from a mile away; there's nothing rational about that guy. This current savior of humanity was said to have the talent to enhance all abilities with a heroic transformation, but in reality, he was just an attention-seeking brat. He was a dumbass who picked his companions primarily based on their looks and nothing else. That's

why he ended up with a party of selfish individuals. While Aisha was away gathering information, they even drove a promising recruit away. An assassin lady just joined this team because the pay was the best, but she's practically a glorified babysitter for an unruly party who thinks they're the best ever. Following the party to where they went, Aisha suddenly felt a heavy presence weighing down on her. It was so palpable that the air felt suffocating, and she could not lift her foot to take another step. This divinely sinister aura was oozing out of the Grave Dungeon's

entrance. Even the stupid hero had to pause before reconsidering their hastily accepted mission. From Aisha's earlier info, this dungeon was supposed to be just another ogre's fortress. Seeing a whole gravesite wasn't in her expectations. She proposed backing away for a moment to reconsider their strategy, but the party was already halfway down the stairs leading below. Confident in their capability, the hero's party pushed forward. Aisha really tried to stop them from making a grave mistake rushing in, but her words didn't hold much weight in this place. The spirits lurking around the dungeon immediately cited the hero's

party challenging their new domain. Seeing a familiar group coming in, the ghosts immediately transmitted a live feed to Cara's head. They were just in time, as Cecilia was with Cara at that time. It looks like the first Challenger of his new dungeon is the hero's party, the premier fighters of humanity. The Demon Lord and the old God were taken aback upon hearing that. Seeing that their first Challengers posed the worst-case scenario, Cara clutched the dungeon core close to his chest. Even against people he was familiar with, Cara vowed never to hold himself back. Activating the

magic inside the dungeon core, Cara called the gravekeepers to rise and fortify the defenses. Another command he issued was the completion of what he called the Eternal Coffin. As if on cue, Undead monsters started rising from the various tombstones scattered around the dungeon. Each of them moved with a singular motivation to follow Cara's will. These were the Undead soldiers who welcomed the hero's party to their former ally's dungeon. The Holy Knight had beef with the disgusting Undead, and so did the Battle Master, but even the hero was surprised to see unfamiliar enemies surrounding them so

quickly. Cara watched the imminent fight from the comfort of his room. He saw the hero's party scream at his zombies, and Cecilia stood on the sidelines, praising the young man for making Eternal Coffin such an impressively remarkable dungeon. Cara modestly laughed; he didn't have much time to prepare. So, he based the design on the dungeon where Noden and the others originally rested. He tried his best, but couldn't make it as elaborate as the original. Still, even the old gods think that what he built here should be more than enough to stop armies. Such a tricky

dungeon won't be easily breached by all kinds of intrusion. Back on the dungeon's opening floor, the hero immediately hogged the spotlight for himself. Charging forward with his sword in hand, he swung wide and fast, striking the first Undead across its deteriorating body. Seeing his attack land and take effect on the first enemy, he gained the confidence to take everyone down by his hands. The hero could have probably mowed down the low-level mobs in the opening area of the dungeon, but there were more enemies to deal with. There were a bunch of ghosts lurking above them,

just biding their time to strike while the party was distracted. These ghosts weren't necessarily a mortal threat, but they were undeniably annoying to deal with, given that they were ethereal beings without a physical form. The use of magic was required to get rid of them. The Holy Knight raised her hand and shone the Divine Light on the ghosts with Turn Undead. Much to everyone's surprise, the little ghosts remained unharmed; they were just momentarily blinded by the useless light. Realizing that the hero party didn't have anything to answer them, the ghosts erupted with grating laughter, mocking

the Holy Knight. She was the only one in the party who could perform magic, and it wasn't working. Magic was supposed to be her main job while the Battlemaster took on the front lines. The hero finally realized how useless his team was. Frustrated, the egotistic bastard, Lady Cecilia, watched with concern for humanity. Upon seeing that this was the extent of their current hero, they couldn't even properly deal with basic ghosts and Undead attacks. The hero specialized in physical attacks, so he was practically useless against magical beings. Their only hope would be some supportive items. Just

as Cecilia was thinking of that method, Aisha moved away from the shadows with impeccable speed. She was practically running along the walls. Upon reaching the space where ghost activity was concentrated, she opened a bottle of holy water to drench the pesky spirits. Touched by the slightest bit of holy water, any weak ghost would find themselves disintegrating. They tried to run away, but Aisha never left her job half done. With her holy silver knife, she cleaned up the bigger ghosts that managed to survive her holy water sprinkle. Upon taking care of the imminent threat, she heaved

a sigh of relief. Instead of thanking her for doing such a brilliant cleanup job, the Battlemaster criticized her for being too slow. Instead, she added that if Aisha could defeat them, she should have done so from the start. They were still at the initial parts of the dungeon, and infighting was already a problem. The vibes at this party were just the worst. Lady Cecilia praised the assassin girl for being skilled, but with trash teammates to carry on her own, it was uncertain what they would do next. Cara was still the new boss of this dungeon,

so he had to head out to prepare for the next obstacle. The Demon Lord of Lust turned to him with a message: good luck in his first dungeon defense. Cara put on the dragon mask and answered back with confidence. Aisha cut through the needless noise of her baby squad and imposed that they should rethink the strategy; they must retreat while they still can. The hero just looked at her like she was crazy. He believed that the future of humanity rested in their hands, so they should naturally go deeper blindly. Aisha’s got her work cut out

for her. No matter how she tried to establish that they were being reckless, no one listened to her assessment. The hero believed that the problem was minor; it was just a bad initial matchup. Besides, they could just use the items that Aisha had in storage. She argued that holy water is an expensive and precious commodity, so it can't be used so lightly. The Battlemaster quickly jumped to accuse her of holding resources back when her comrades were braving danger. The Holy Knight added that serving the hero is a priceless endeavor. Getting increasingly angry at these brain-dead

idiots, she told them to pay for the bottles themselves. In her mind, she was already ready to leave this party after the quest ended. To convince her to continue with the dungeon push, the hero offered to pay for every holy water used, but Aisha must promise to use more if necessary, just trying her best to get through the mission alive. Aisha, disgruntled, agreed, but she wanted to add a stipulation of her own: before they proceeded, they must retreat and regroup. Now, they would only use valuable consumables if they happened to encounter more enemies on the

way out. The hero nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders in response. After a few minutes, they finally let the experienced assassin and scout take the lead in finding the exit. They'd only been walking for a few minutes, and signs of an exit were already showing themselves at the end of a dark tunnel. Every bit of logical reasoning in her mind was telling her that something was wrong and the exit wasn't supposed to be this close. Maybe it was a blatant trap, but the rest of the hero party and their tiny brains could not comprehend that possibility. They

were just happy to enter a room where there were no enemies anywhere. Before Aisha could stop the three stooges, a barred metal gate descended from out of nowhere, trapping them in place. The supposed exit was closed off, and so was the way. They came in, from just as Aisha feared. They had willingly entered an obvious trap. Dread rose as a dark presence made itself known. This storm of evil slowly surged into a physical form. With her godlike reflexes, Aisha sent her valuable holy silver knife to where the dark energy was surging. The demon, clad in

black, simply thwarted her sudden attack with its fist. Aisha looked at this new enemy, and all color drained from her face out of fear. This demon was none other than Cara, wearing the dragon mask. He praised Aisha for breaking through the willowwisp of illusion, an impressive feat to say the least. With a new scepter in his hand, he extended his greetings to the hero's party, welcoming them to a dungeon of his own making. What would Cara do? What can the hero party answer with? Let's see how this goes. Cara, under the guise of a demon,

stood before the hero with his blade drawn. V advised that he should not bring out the old spirits in this battle for safety reasons. In the brief time he was working with the hero, they had seen the manifestation of the old gods before. If they managed to discover that a human had become an enemy of humanity, Cara's grandparents back home would be in grave danger. That's the last thing he would want, so he was okay with just relying on his power to repel this group standing before the unknown demon. The hero cheekily commented that they

had not been introduced to one another yet. He also hated the fact that it looked like this filthy demon was pretending to be a human. Meanwhile, Aisha was just speechless, given that this enemy deflected the holy silver knife that could break barriers. With the short stature of a child, you wouldn't expect such toughness. She tried to talk to the group to work together and attack with more caution, but the battlemaster just ignored her lead. The dumb battlemaster ran forward at full speed, thinking that she could handle this unknown enemy all alone. Since V could just

use generic fire spells, he should be perfect as a weapon to repel these intruders. With a slap of a hand, V's power transferred over to Cara's hand; this was a technique honed by the trust Cara and the old gods had formed: the power of possession. The battlemaster and her fearsome fists came at full sprint, hoping to blow the dragon's head away. With her limbs bursting with incredible speed, she performed a super combo. A super combo would only be a combo if it could make contact, though. Cara efficiently used his scepter to neutralize every incoming attack

from the series of strikes. The battlemaster could not believe her eyes; the enemy actually blocked everything effectively. After flexing his reflexes with blocks, Cara turned the momentum against the lady. He positioned cleverly and used the snake scepter's flexibility to ram against the battlemaster. She suffered quite a bit, considering this was just the first strike. Cara was expecting so much more from this fiery lady, but it looked like she was already out of the equation. Being cautious to a fault, Cara believed that the battlemaster went down in one hit for some sort of surprise strategy, but

he refused to let his guard down. He still held on to the belief that the hero's party would not be so weak. Based on the hero's surprised reaction, it sure did sound like they were just incompetent. The holy knight stepped forward with her lance. If physical techniques were ineffective, then she would just use magic to fight. She attuned herself to the Lord and asked to be granted the power to smite evildoers. She then fired off a beam of holy energy. The holy smite had the force and momentum to tear everything up along the way, and

she just happened to aim the spell along the path of her unconscious comrade. Based on the explosion resulting from the holy smite's landing, it looked like an easy kill. The holy knight beamed with a smile, thinking that she got the last hit. Aisha, on the other hand, gave her an earful for attacking in the direction of an ally. She wasn't phased by those comments, just excited to revive the battlemaster impacted by her attack. Aisha warned her to approach carefully, but she did not listen. That led to a beam of dark energy descending on her without

resistance. The holy knight shrieked in pain as the dark energy wreaked havoc on her body. She was sent back to where she initially came from. Aisha was just as surprised as everybody else. Meanwhile, Cara emerged from the ceiling, looking down on the foolish party from the top of the walls. He finally used his necromancy to breathe life into the lifeless bricks. Aisha looked at the enemy closer, and that physical technique—this magic that they were being subjected to—was clearly far superior to anything they'd ever encountered. Meanwhile, V was just cursing the humans below. If Cara hadn't

been there to rescue the unconscious battlemaster, she would have died from the holy smite. The incompetency was just too much. Despite all their failings, the hero still had the gall to laugh while raising his sword with his thin veil of bravery. The hero pushed his aura to the limits; it looked like this bastard hadn't learned his lesson yet. Here he was, trying to attack with his allies still in the way. The hero was actually proud of this setup. This way, using hostages wouldn't work against him. He would gladly sacrifice an ally's life for victory. That's

why they had resurrection magic ready on the go. With a crazed expression, he explained that death doesn't matter in the hero's party; they could always just spam revives to counter death. Hearing this trashy yapping, Cara recognized that he... Might be walking into a psychological trap. He had no reason to help an enemy if they wanted to kill one another, but with everything he's been through to get to this point, he was reminded of the humiliation, abandonment, and judgment of people. He couldn't bear to see anyone being abandoned anymore; he'd had enough of the strong ceaselessly

trampling the undeserving. So, he asked V to finally end this freaking fight. With the possession duration ending, the fiery spirit ball broke free into the world, recharged with plenty of power. Old God Vvad manifested himself in the material plane with his fire god form. The hero's last string of sanity must have snapped at the sight of the old God. He followed through with the attack that he was preparing, a showing of the hero's real power: the Holy Light Slash. It had the sharpness to slice everything in its path, but V just stood in front of

the blade, unperturbed, with a light smile on his youthful face. Volados pulled his fist back for a simple punch. This seemingly simple movement led to the release of Fire Thunder, a purely destructive technique that could devour anyone's hopes. The Slash and Fire Thunder clashed against one another; one was a power bestowed to humanity's strongest warrior, and one was a power unleashed by a literal God. It was not surprising to see the Slash buckle and shatter under the fire of Volados. When his ultimate attack was finally neutralized, the hero just stood in place, at a loss

for words. He wasn't phased by the possible death of comrades, but he was shaken by his own powerlessness. He thought he was infallible; he was supposed to be the strongest and the greatest to ever do it, but now he was being exposed to a power outside the scope of his understanding. This power came from the monster that trapped them in an airtight prison, along with the bizarre flying fire guy. He asked what exactly Cara and Volados were—who were these powerhouses, and what was their deal? But the hero's ego refused to back down. He sneered and

declared that it wasn't over yet; as long as he had the Holy Sword, the fight would continue. But it looked like even the Holy Sword had given up on him. Out of nowhere, the legendary weapon just went ahead and snapped itself in two, dropping the blade to the ground. The hero's complete kit of armor followed suit; the impenetrable equipment slowly dissolved into nothing. This went on for a grueling few minutes before the hero was left with nothing but his underwear. Confused and panicked, his Holy Sword and equipment just broke down so suddenly, along with the

hero's sanity. He blamed the enemies in front of him for using such sneaky magic to strip him of his power, but Cara and V had nothing to do with this. Aisha explained that a hero can only gain power by vanquishing evil and performing righteous deeds. What would happen if you did the opposite? If you abandoned your comrades without feeling guilt or repenting, it's only natural that the holy equipment would forsake its bearer. The hero argued that he hadn't even abandoned any comrades for real. This fool genuinely believed that leaving a young man two gold coins

as he kicked him out of the party was a generous act for an ally that was no longer needed. As for the unconscious comrades littered on the floor, he swore that he was still preparing to help them out. This desperate bastard tried to convince Aisha so hard, but he was preaching his selfishness to the wrong audience. Putting on her glasses, Aisha explained that in this world, souls are classified into two attributes. A good soul protects and nurtures others; an evil soul, on the other hand, prioritizes one's own gain over everyone else. These attributes are tied

to a person's actions and can change easily. The glasses that Aisha just equipped were called the Goggles of Truth; they revealed the actual attributes of a target. Looking at the hero's naked body, all she could see was evil. He had already become a fallen sage who lost his divine revelation. The hero, Norris Palladius, was a wicked man being forced to see the errors of his ways, and the darkness of his soul nearly broke the poor guy's brain. Aisha lectured him that it's unnatural for a leader to betray an ally. Norris was not just a fraudulent

hero; he was so vile that he should be disqualified as a human in the first place. He stood up, mind reeling, while thinking of ways to get out of this place, to get rid of all these people and start over. Naked, Norris ran towards the sealed exit, begging for someone, anyone, to help him. In an ironic twist of fate, his crazy run all over the room led to slipping on the remnants of his holy armor. Without any protective gear, the fool felt his skin scrape against the cold hard floor. Cara brandished his scepter, aiming it

at the hero. He disregarded Aisha and just focused on the pathetic worm crawling on the floor. Still, Aisha couldn't just stand by while a fellow human was about to bite the dust in front of her. With a heavy heart, the assassin placed herself in front of Cara's attack to save the hero against her better judgment. Fortunately for her, this spell was not offensive in nature; it was just a simple seal that landed on her hands. Cara, with his voice still disguised, asked if Aisha would like to stop, as he didn't want to play too rough.

Her reasoning was she needed to do her job since she was being paid to do so, so she'd keep her end of the contract, even if it meant guarding a useless bum parading as a hero. Out another sneaky blade to throw, she showed her resolve to fight to the bitter end. Cara remained calm at the sight of the incoming blade; he didn't bother dodging or blocking, as he had a few specialized spirits to do that stuff for him. Calling his flying skulls, they immediately swooped in to get him out of harm's way by flight. These

skulls were so fast when working in conjunction with Cara's Phantom move, instantly teleporting behind the assassin before Aisha could turn her head in the direction of the enemy. Cara's scepter was already landing—a disorienting bash to the side of her head. One tap, and the veteran assassin was out cold. That's how efficient Cara worked. Perhaps it's time to finally punish the false hero. This worm was thinking of escaping while his allies were being dealt with by an unfathomable enemy. There was no way in hell that he would succeed, but a helping hand—or boot—just arrived to keep

Norris the Menace in place. Lady Cecilia's bone-chilling demon lord cadence filled the room as she insulted how weak the hero was. Naked, Norris tried to turn his head to see who was stepping on him and saw an unfamiliar catgirl. He had never seen a high-ranking demon lord in the flesh before, so Lady Cecilia Israir properly introduced herself as the Demon Lord of Lust. The hero stumbled over his words; a dungeon ruled by a demon lord was unheard of. If he had known that, he would not have been so brazen as to challenge it. Lady Cecilia

regrettably explained that changing the past, in hindsight, is impossible. All they can do is face the consequences of their actions. Besides, if the hero hadn't been such awful filth of a human, he would not have lost his divine revelation. If he had coordinated with his comrades properly, they could have put up a fight. As if he didn't hear all those criticisms, the hero lifted his head, smiling as he pleaded to do anything just to be saved. He would even turn to the dark side if that's what it took to be spared. Hearing that preposterous offer

pissed Cecilia off. She didn't need worms like this guy; a demon lord's army should never be underestimated. Cecilia made sure to let Cara hear her following words. She established that demons value individuals as evil; that's why they work together to reach a place unattainable alone. That's the goal of the demon lord's army—it's different from mere selfishness. Cara could feel that the demon lord was trying to teach him something, but the young man couldn't wrap his head around it yet. Looking down, Lady Cecilia judged that Norris Palladius, the disgraced hero, didn't have enough value to even

be killed right now. So Cara raised his scepter to deal with the trash accordingly. To effectively drive the bastard away, he summoned a few fireballs empowered by the Phantom move. These fireballs quickly coalesced under the bodies of the hero party, lifting them up without burning their skins. When the Phantom move took effect, they were driven away from the trap room; the gates promptly closed behind them, leaving the demon lord and the masked young man alone. She asked him how he felt after this first dungeon defense. Removing his dragon mask, Cara admitted that it felt refreshing.

He thought he was ready to devote himself to the cause now. From now on, he promised to become a formidable enemy of humanity for Lady Cecilia's sake. She recognized his worth when everyone else didn't want him, patting his head; Cecilia felt overwhelmingly happy to have Cara by her side. She asked him to continue doing his best from now on. Now that they were on the same page, it was time to deal with the remaining elephant in the room. They needed to talk to Aisha the assassin about various things; she was a very valuable prisoner. Away

from the dungeon, we turn our attention to the land of violence, Calazan. News of the hero's defeat had already reached this remote area. A goblin kneeled in front of his master as he reported the development in the new dungeon, even down to the appearance of the Lust Demon Lord herself. Not only did that girl take over the dungeon that belonged to Kazan's overlord, but she also snatched the hero's head. The Demon Lord of Greed, Guga Zara, might have to step in and settle this mess. This Ganondorf-looking bastard has set his sights on Lady Cecilia in

the capital city. The news of the hero's defeat had also reached the Adventurers Guild. The guild had been made aware of the hero losing his divine power and becoming what's called a broken sword. Taking this disgrace seriously, the kingdom secretly executed him. As for his two companions, they were also permanently incapacitated to cover up the defeat. If that was the case, then what happened to their only competent member, the mercenary who was assigned to watch and help? Well, Aisha hadn't returned either; she was listed as most likely captured to interrogate as a source of new

information. Aisha Alistel was a gold seal holder who had survived countless battlefields. The guild trusted that she wouldn't snitch against humanity. Since the guild was stretched thin as it was, they didn't have enough resources to build a rescue team for her. They could only assume the mercenary was dead and the mission a total loss. Unbeknownst to the guild people, some sneaky ghosts were snooping around to see the pulse of the city. Thanks to that, Cara was completely aware of everything happening around him. Inside his cozy grave room, he was studying the dungeon schematics, thinking that

increasing its difficulty would be impossible. Sure, he could freely change traps and structures, but that was only up to a limit. Old man Noens argued that if the dungeon was tough... "Enough to repel a hero? It should be good enough for every other adventurer." Being a naturally paranoid guy, Cara believed that they could only repel the hero party because those people were careless. In the event of an attack from a veteran adventurer party or other demon armies, they could probably break through the dungeon's current defenses. So, for Lady Cecilia's sake, Cara had resolved himself to

protect this place at all costs. While they were brainstorming more ideas, a crimson portal opened inside the room. It was a sign that the site supervisor was back. This so-called site supervisor was actually Uru, Cara's companion spirit, the ancestor of all dragons. Seeing his gigantic, scaly buddy Uru arriving, Cara enthusiastically asked what he had found out about his inspection. Uru detailed that the facilities they could create with creation magic had reached their limit. Cara felt bad, feeling that he needed to train more; necromancy-type creation magic is just very limited. It's primarily used to enhance cemeteries

and the undead; it's not really suitable for strengthening a traditional labyrinth. However, Uru proposed compensating for the lack of facility limitations through good old-fashioned operation. With an efficient arrangement strategy, they should be able to build something unconquerable. Cara had a few ideas for strategies, but carrying them out would require some practical experience. If they wanted to do this right, they needed someone who understood an adventurer's perspective. Luckily, they might have the perfect person for the job. Cara put his drag mask and tattered cloak back on. As he headed out, with an innocent smile, he stated

that he'd be consulting with that person. That mystery person was currently screaming at the top of her lungs, complaining about the inhumane treatment she was being subjected to. The typically nonchalant assassin was currently yelling for the punishment to stop. Her punishment was an unusual one; she was dropped in a prison cell overrun by cute cats with tiny demon wings. She reckoned that her captors were trying to disarm her with cuteness. Looking at the fat white cat and its cute grin while vying for her attention, Aisha could barely hold it together. She bit her tongue and

tried her best to stay as calm as possible. Aisha didn't know what these demons were playing at, but she wouldn't be easily deceived by such despicable methods. She vowed to never fall for such an obvious trap in the form of a cute kitty asking for belly rubs. But Aisha was just human at the end of the day; one cannot resist the temptation of a demon cat asking for belly rubs. She eventually gave in and cuddled the fluffy, warm, and cute cats. Aisha was so into it that she was even meowing back at the furry kittens.

She was yanked out of her dreamland when the guy in the dragon mask appeared on the other side of the prison bars, still carrying one of the cats. She asked how the demons found out about her love for cats. Scratch that; she demanded to know what these demons were trying to do. Cara admitted to using necromancy soul reading to read her soul. Aisha was taken aback; this meant that they had already extracted information from her without her knowing. Cara found out that her name was Aisha Alistel, 24 years old, a mercenary assassin with the rare

item Master Talent. He also saw that her hobby was rescuing stray cats in the slums of the capital. Memories of her feeding and giving potions to sick kittens stood out in the soul reading. Hearing her secret being divulged made her feel embarrassed. Cara couldn't really read detailed memories, but he could see enough to understand Aisha's background and likes. Aisha loved cats, and there was nothing wrong with that; she believed that cats were honest. Unlike humans, they don't have a concept of betrayal. Cara concurred; he thought that her love for these fur babies was beautiful. Aisha

lowered her guard a little bit, but she was still vigilant, believing that she was talking to a demon. Sitting down, she asserted that trying to buy her favor with cats would be pointless. She wasn't afraid of death, and she would gladly take her information to the grave. She was paid before the mission, so preventing info leaks was part of her job. Cara dropped the voice-changing stick and removed the dragon mask as he admitted that he wasn't after her life. As soon as Aisha got a good glance at the face underneath the mask, it immediately clicked:

the one who beat the hero's party was not some ruthless demon; it was the kid they kicked out, Car Necros. Cara didn't know that this girl would recognize him immediately, but that's only natural because Aisha was the one who recommended him to the hero in the first place. More importantly, she questioned why a human like him was serving the Demon Lord. When asked if he betrayed humanity, Cara happily answered that he did. Under the Demon Lord's contract, he got better pay and benefits, which is the best. It wasn't just that, though; he genuinely found working

under Lady Cecilia fun—a very fruitful learning experience. He was plunged into the unfamiliar society of demons, a place where strength reigns supreme. How strong you are will determine everything in life. They establish a strict hierarchy based on wealth, power, military might, charm, and more. But in this society, a trait like cuteness is widely considered a weakness—a negatively valued trait. Which brings us to the cats: these monster cats are primarily used as training targets or simply food for other monsters. Aisha never thought that these cute cats were treated with such cruelty. It was a sad sight

of a foreign culture. That's why Cara wanted to do something—anything—to save these cats. He wanted to keep repelling adventurers without killing humans; he wanted to build a dungeon. That would just continuously drain their magic power. For that purpose, the young man reached the only feasible conclusion: using his own power, he wanted to create an area where cute monster cats could thrive and live in a dungeon that seemed conquerable but was not. Hearing the plan to create such an efficient dungeon made Aisha's skin crawl. She asked Cara if he really had no hesitation about betraying humanity.

Well, in the young man's eyes, there’s not much difference between demons and humans; it would continue to be the same no matter which side he was on. Aisha quietly thought to herself that humanity messed up when they made an enemy of this kid. In a way, Cara was a worse threat than a demon king. He proceeded to pitch her the proposal: they were in need of an adviser who knew their way around adventurer stuff to create this dungeon that could endlessly churn out mana. Extending his hands to Aisha, he asked if she would be willing

to go under contract and become his subordinate. She couldn't help but ask what the compensation would be, knowing full well that she might be heading into another trap. Cara dropped the figure of 10 million gold as a signing bonus and an annual salary of another 10 million after that, paid by the demon lord's deep pockets. Of course, this was basically twice the pay of the hero party—much better than the kingdom's measly offer too. But she still resisted, thinking that Cara was just using her love of cats to snitch on humanity. The final nail in the

coffin was the stipulation that if she signed immediately, she could have the monster cats as her subordinates. Suddenly, all of Aisha's doubts evaporated as she demanded to know more about this monster cat subordinate brigade, finally breaking down the assassin lady's defenses. Cara expressed that he was looking forward to the work they could get done together. Aisha insisted that she just accepted for the sake of the cats. Now that Cara's identity had been revealed, Aisha reckoned that rejecting would be too risky. With a sly smile, she planned to pretend to be a dutiful subordinate while quietly

stealing their information. Noin butted in, asking Cara to show the current state of the dungeon to the newest addition to the team. Smiling from ear to ear, he invited Aisha to have a look at his dungeon's design. This would be a good opportunity for her to gather some valuable information; there’s no better place to start than the entrance—the very ominous entrance of the so-called Eternal Coffin. Cara directed Aisha's attention to their first deterrent, the gatekeeper of sorts. As if he were a chirpy tour guide, he introduced the gatekeeper—the first monster adventurers would face inside, who

was none other than a dragon zombie. Aisha looked up at the behemoth, her mouth hanging wide open in shock and terror. Cara explained that he turned the dragon he defeated into a zombie. He assigned a quota for repelling enemies, and the beast became highly motivated because of it. That being said, Cara still felt like their first trash mob might still be a bit lacking. Aisha resisted the urge to deny that claim; an A-rank monster at the entrance was just insane. It also seemed like the zombie was not lacking when it came to enthusiasm. In fact,

the beast might be a little too excited. Cara kept on reminding the zombie dragon that killing is prohibited; if they kill adventurers, they can only get magic power once; just repelling them would be just right. The dragon admitted that he had a hard time holding back against scrubs. Without addressing the glaring issues of this entrance, Cara wanted to get a move on, as the next trap zone was something he was pretty proud of. Aisha refused to believe that the rest of the tour would be as shocking as the entrance. Upon arriving and walking to the

next area for a few hours, her belief slowly unraveled. No matter how far they walked, it seemed like they weren't moving—it was a bizarre phenomenon. So, she turned to Cara for clarity. It turned out that this kid casually manipulated space to create a Möbius loop path that adventurers would never escape without proper countermeasures. Cara sold the idea as just a light stoppage, but if someone stepped into this area without knowing, they would never get out and eventually starve to death. He turned to Noin and cited that with teleportation magic, this much would just be a

simple trap. The old god concurred, thinking that it would just be a five-minute delay at best. Their assumptions were so wildly skewed to their own power. Cara urged Aisha to hurry up and get a move on, as there were still plenty of setups to be shown. The assassin was starting to realize what the young man's deal really was. The next part of the dungeon was a classic boulder level: you either outrun the rock or get crushed under it. Then there were the spike traps, hidden so well that she couldn't spot them under the assault of

violet thunder pouring into the next room. She finally pieced together that what Cara made by himself was a truly unbeatable dungeon. Upon arriving at the final trap room, where he would greet those who were strong enough to reach the end, Aisha was huffing and puffing for air. Cara still genuinely believed that he did something mild and embarrassing: a dungeon that needed more improvement. Aisha appealed that the murderous intent all throughout the place was too much—it was more like hell, but milder. Fixating on the word "mild," Cara's first thought was to make something stronger, or adventurers

and other demons might break through. Another ancient voice chimed in, saying that Aisha was being quite harsh. Uru teleported to the final room to insist. That failing to meet a user's demand was a shame for the engineer. All he needed were suggestions, and he'd make the dungeon improvements happen. Seeing another dragon, Aisha was visibly shaken to the core. Cara introduced Uru as a ghost who used to live next door to his family; a dragon skilled with his hands, helping with dungeon improvement. He's also the ancestor of all dragons, the very same guy that ruled the

world in those mythical stories. No one can still remember fighting against Uru alongside the other Outer Gods a long time ago. Now, Uru just quietly watches over the world from his own private corner as a spirit who follows Cara. If you were Aisha, what would you even say to that ridiculous backstory? Cara noticed that Uru might be having a hard time talking to them when he's in such a large form, so the ancestor of all dragons promptly shrunk in size until he was even smaller than the young man. In his miniature form, he looked just

like a dragon plushie. Aisha felt like she was seeing a fever dream play out in real time in front of her. As a sage who commands the Outer Gods and the ancestor of dragons, does humanity even stand a chance? Aisha recalled that these op beings remain quiet because they believe that there is a stronger existence outside of their own. If they were to learn that humanity has no answer against a fraction of their power, that there's no one in the world who could break through such an outrageous labyrinth, things could go south really fast. She

envisioned Cara and that Demon Lord finding out that humanity was weak; so there was no need to hesitate, and they could just start destroying them. With the young man's talent, he could probably cause the apocalypse by himself. Aisha might be cynical when it comes to people, but the destruction of the world hinges on her next answers. When Cara noticed that she was behaving oddly, she tried to play it off like it was nothing. She took over and clarified that the dungeon's purpose should be to drain magic without killing. To do that, they need to suppress

the killing intent quite a bit. The current format is too difficult for the majority of general adventurers; it should be lowered up to the midsection to make the dungeon more accessible for more people. Noin, Cara, and Uru were impressed with how easily Aisha came up with the idea to fix their current setup. The three excitedly got to work on the midsection traps, monster placements, and overall improvements. Aisha, on the other hand, was feeling the weight of the world's balance on her shoulders. If humanity's weakness becomes known, destruction will follow. In her humble opinion, it should

be fine if the privileged royals who've become complacent and cruel are destroyed, but in the slums of the royal capital, Aisha had made lifelong friends and family—not to mention the stray cats minding their own business. Aisha steeled her resolve to play her role and prevent the destruction of the planet. She's still intent on infiltrating the demon army while making sure that they don't realize her espionage, all the while steering them away from the realization that humans are weak. A month has passed since then. The Eternal Coffin has become a smash hit for adventurers of all

levels. Most noobs could freely feel powerful when dealing with weak skeleton mobs at the entrance. Eternal Coffin also had the buzz of being the dungeon that defeated the hero, so business was booming. People have figured out that avoiding the intermediate area was the move; taking on the outside mobs would eventually lead to some loot. It's a gold mine. With the dungeon's progress, the members of Lust Demon Lord's house called for an executive meeting. Not knowing what was happening, the executives were getting alarmed by the new dungeon. Belphagor brought up the heated issue of the items

being continuously stolen by humans in the recently created Eternal Coffin. He might just be a servant of the Demon Lord, but Belphagor still wanted an explanation regarding their continuously hemorrhaging wealth. He turned to Lady Cecilia and Cara for answers.