First of All, I’m Drinking - Chapter 103

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 103

“K-kill each other?”

Deilos trembled as he raised his arms.

“What, why? Or would you rather both of you die?”

“N-no! No!”

Demonic energy gathered in Deilos’s grasp.

Nephard’s eyes widened in shock.

He hurriedly tried to summon his demonic energy to resist, but Deilos’s movement was faster.

“I’m sorry! Nephard!”

Boom-!

Nephard’s head exploded.

The match was decided in the blink of an eye.

“Smart. Quick to judge the situation too.”

I patted the top of Deilos’s head.

“Well done. I’ll spare your life.”

“Th-thank you, human. But can I ask you just one thing?”

“Do you think you’re in a position to ask me questions right now?”

“No! I won’t ask! It was a slip of the tongue!”

Deilos bowed frantically, hands and feet moving desperately.

I was somewhat curious about what question he wanted to ask, so I just allowed it.

“Go ahead. What are you curious about?”

“You’re human. How can a human use demonic energy…?”

“Oh, that?”

I’m getting tired of hearing this question from enemies.

How many times is this now?

I had hoped for a different question, but my interest quickly cooled.

“If you answer my questions faithfully first, I’ll tell you.”

“Of-of course! Ask me anything!”

“‘Ask me anything’ is informal speech.”

“Pl-please ask me anything, sir!”

“Good.”

Excellent.

Now it seems we’re ready to have a conversation.

“First question.”

With my insight activated, I extended my index finger and thrust it in front of his face.

“What is the Demon Subjugation Society?”

“It’s an organization of demons summoned by Lord Lucifer’s sect. A few priests are included to serve us, but most are demons.”

“How many members?”

“Currently about 30… Since more than ten just died, it’ll be less than 20 now.”

Fewer than I expected.

“Are there no demon races or monsters?”

“No. Everyone is composed entirely of demons.”

“I see. Why did the Lucifer Sect summon you all?”

“I don’t know that much. I only know they summoned us for some specific purpose, and that many demons are needed to achieve that purpose.”

But the Lucifer Sect had practically left the demons unattended.

The Demon Subjugation Society became known to the world because demons kidnapped beastmen to devour them.

Surely kidnapping beastmen wasn’t related to their main purpose.

That was merely satisfying the demons’ desires.

“Anyway, whatever purpose the Lucifer Sect has, I understand that not enough demons have been summoned to achieve that purpose.”

“Yes… That’s probably right.”

“Good. Then they’ll try to summon more demons. And when they find out that all the demons they worked so hard to summon were killed by someone, they’ll be furious.”

A good idea came to mind.

An evil smile leaked out without me realizing it.

Seeing my expression, Deilos flinched.

“There are other hideouts besides here, right?”

“Yes, of course. Fearing discovery, we’ve divided ourselves among three locations.”

“Guide me to the other two locations immediately.”

I pressed a blade of demonic energy against Deilos’s neck.

A thin line was drawn along his neck wrinkles, and blood dripped steadily.

“Yes! I’ll guide you right away!”

Deilos nodded his head up and down frantically.

* * *

“Huh? What? Deilos?”

“What brings you here?”

“Your base is somewhere else, isn’t it?”

A dilapidated temple in the forest.

It seemed like a place that once worshipped one of the neutral deities, but now it’s an abandoned location no one uses.

Ten demons had gathered in such a place.

“More importantly, a human?”

“Why did you bring a human?”

“Wait. Sniff sniff… This guy smells of demonic energy?”

“What? Really?”

“It’s true! The human smells of demonic energy!”

“Interesting.”

“It would be worth studying once.”

The exact same reaction without a single deviation from when Deilos and Nephard discovered me.

Deilos looked at his comrades pitifully.

“Huh?”

“Why do you look like that?”

Deilos squeezed his eyes shut.

“I’m sorry.”

Crack-!

Black thorns pierced through the demons’ faces.

Thud.

The demons, now corpses, collapsed all at once.

The temple became soaked with blood.

The ten demons died without even realizing what was happening to them.

“Did I let them go too easily?”

I frowned, thinking I could have killed them a bit more painfully.

“Well, there’s still one more location. Continue guiding me.”

“Y-yes, understood.”

Deilos’s fear toward me seemed to be growing.

Originally, living beings are most afraid when facing an existence whose identity they cannot comprehend.

That’s exactly how I must appear to Deilos.

“Isn’t that Deilos?”

“What brings you here?”

The final location.

This place was also an abandoned factory like the first hideout.

However, the area was much smaller.

“Bringing a human, how unusual.”

“I haven’t been able to eat beastmen lately, so I’m getting quite hungry. I think even humans would taste delicious.”

One, two, three, four….

There were eight demons in total.

“Those are the last ones, right?”

“That’s correct.”

Deilos couldn’t bear to watch his comrades’ final moments and turned his eyes away.

Slash-!

The blade of magi severed the demons’ limbs from their torsos.

“Kraaak!”

“My leg! Uaaaak!”

“What, what is this! What’s happening! Kraak!”

I walked steadily toward them.

With each step I took, the demons’ terror-filled eyes focused on me.

“I don’t really have any information to extract from you, but I think I’ll try killing you as painfully as possible.”

The demons who detected the magi I had unleashed were horrified.

“Just think of it as bad luck.”

Before ascending to the Pantheon.

Even when I lived as a lower-class demon, I despised demons.

I remember their disgusting ideology filled with elitist consciousness and how they massacred demons for entertainment.

‘I kill every demon I see.’

Whether they had done wrong or not.

Being a demon was reason enough to die.

“Kraaaaaaak!”

“Save me! Please save me!”

“Uaaaak! Please stooop!”

Whoooosh-!

Flames of magi burned the demons’ bodies.

If I used my signature technique, Fear Fire, I could turn them to ash in one go, but I didn’t show such kindness.

Just ordinary flames infused with magi.

The demons screamed and died slowly in the flames.

‘The demons’ tenacious vitality and regenerative abilities must be resentful in a situation like this.’

Crackle, crackle.

Sparks flew.

After about an hour passed, only two demons remained alive.

I beheaded the remaining two to ensure their deaths.

“Ah.”

Deilos shed tears.

At first glance, the summoned demons didn’t seem to have deep camaraderie or bonds with each other.

Even so, anyone would be mentally shaken seeing their own kind massacred before their eyes.

“I’ve killed them all.”

With this, all the demons summoned by the Lucifer Sect were dead.

The Demon Subjugation Society could be considered effectively dismantled.

The Nox Cartel’s mission was also cleared.

‘It wouldn’t matter if I returned like this.’

If I brought the demons’ heads to show Garcia, the Nox Cartel would acknowledge my achievement.

Of course, I had no intention of ending it here.

“Now you have one last thing to tell me.”

I turned to look at the crying Deilos.

“Spill everything you know about the Lucifer Sect.”

* * *

Whooom-

Three figures appeared along with the light cluster of spatial movement magic.

“Emperor!”

Merry ran over and hugged me tightly.

“I’m glad you’re safe.”

“Gah! Merry! I can’t breathe!”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

Being hugged with full force by an 8-star warrior felt like my bones were breaking.

Merry came to her senses and let me go.

“Really, you’re impossible to stop.”

Diago crossed his arms and shook his head.

“If something had happened to Prince Emperor, we would have….”

“I’m sorry.”

“Please don’t do such reckless things in the future. We know you’re strong, Emperor, but please think of us who worry about you.”

“Alright. I won’t do it again.”

“Heek, heek!”

Kise was sprawled on the ground in a ridiculous position, kissing the floor.

“The position keeps, heek, heek. Changing! Heek!”

“….”

Seeing Kise struggling like that made me feel slightly sorry.

“Emperor, that thing….”

Merry pointed at what I was holding.

“I’m going to show it to the Emperor.”

Thud.

I lightly threw Deilos’s head onto the floor.

“I’ve caught all of the Demon Subjugation Society with this. The Nox Cartel entrance exam is successful for now.”

However, what I was aiming for didn’t end here.

“I’m thinking of using this opportunity to erase the Lucifer Sect from the world.”

Lucifer is an evil deity with no hope of redemption.

The Demon Lord who receives the most human sacrifices.

Even Vergil rarely demands human sacrifices from his believers.

He was one of the deities who made great contributions when killing me, and his very existence was harmful.

If I could kill his proxy this time, it would become much easier to subjugate Lucifer himself later.

“Fortunately, Lucifer isn’t a deity without a proxy like Esnia.”

I heard information about Lucifer’s proxy from Deilos.

Her name is Adora.

Gender is female.

She appears to be in her late twenties, but her actual age is impossible to guess.

Because she has been disgustingly prolonging her life for a long time through Lucifer’s divine power.

“She’ll probably be furious when she finds out I killed all the demons they summoned.”

If she’s angry, she’ll need somewhere to express that anger.

I put Deilos’s head into subspace, then picked up the head of some nameless demon lying around on the floor and removed the pair of horns protruding from its annoying forehead.

I then held it upside down and dipped the hair into the blood.

Using the head that absorbed blood like a brush, I carved letters on the floor.

[Are you pissed? If you’re upset, come to 127-96 113 Mantangkar.]

Merry, Kise, and Diago were shocked.

“You’re trying to… call the Lucifer Sect here?”

“It’s a place a bit away from residential areas. I checked everything in advance.”

I couldn’t let innocent victims get caught up in our battle.

Actually, it was more to avoid having my identity discovered by civilians.

“It’s so obviously a trap—do you think they’ll really come?”

“What if they don’t come?”

They’ll definitely come.

Trap or whatever.

All the demons they summoned with such difficulty were slaughtered, and that’s the only message the culprit left behind.

They’ll come looking for us in a state of rage.

“It’d be great if Lucifer’s proxy comes personally, but it doesn’t matter if they don’t.”

Even a low-ranking priest would be fine.

As long as they come looking, I can beat them up and find out their headquarters.

“Let’s go to the Emperor first and report.”

There’s no reason to face them with just our forces alone.

If I report what we’ve discovered to the Emperor, he’ll surely send reinforcements.

Maybe the Emperor himself will move directly?

5th place among the Top 10 Strongest of the Continent.

If the Emperor with his transcendent martial power comes personally, the Lucifer Sect will be finished even without me stepping in.

It would truly be like getting something for nothing.

“Good.”

I smiled with satisfaction at the pleasing plan.

“Let’s head back to Rantaskar first.”

“J-just let me rest a little!”

Kise shouted more desperately than ever before.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————