/
Their footsteps echoed horribly through the empty corridor. Then, Julia began to stare blankly at the door that seemed to be several times more than her own height.
She recalled the first meeting between Estelle and the Demon King, which she had already seen in the original story before. Even though the Demon King at that time was not in a serious state of outburst like today, he still showed such powerful magic and eventually caused the main character to be left half-dead. In other words, it meant that there was a lot of distrust in the ‘key’ itself.
Perhaps he had noticed Julia’s hesitation, Barbatos started walking out of the barrier first. In the stillness similar to the deep sea, a groan that was mixed with a tad of pain immediately flowed from his mouth.
Even Lerazier, who appeared to be smirking all the time since they first met, had his face stiffened with tension.
“Master, this is Barbatos.”
“……”
“I’ve brought along the key. May I come in?”
Clink!
Instead of giving any sort of consent, something just cracked and exploded in the room. Barbatos shrugged his shoulders before turning around.
“He has allowed it, so go inside.”
“Allowed? Th, that?”
“He didn’t tell us to leave, so it’s considered as a permission. Let’s go inside, little key.”
Agares wrapped her arms around Julia’s shoulders. Then, Agares proceeded without hesitation, even while being aware that the slender, limp body was trembling under her own palm.
As she had been driven by that strength, Julia took her last step without any resistance at all. And……
Boom—a tremendous sense of pressure that had been completely different from before was weighing down upon Julia’s shoulder. She couldn’t even breathe properly, just as if she had been buried under a huge rock.
An absolute power that would never allow even a small gasp to leak at all. A supernatural power that made her feel like she was compelled to get down on her knees and bow her head right at that moment. Even though the thick door was blocking it, Julia could still feel the strength clearly.
“Go inside.”
Barbatos grabbed the doorknob even without her having prepared her own heart just yet.
“Ugh!”
“Wow, you seem to look hot today as well, Master.”
The barrier behind his back began to shatter with a terrible burst. If she was still at that place, it was clear that her whole body would have been torn from those fragments of broken magic.
Among those three demons, Agares had the finest features, but that had only been her appearance. Julia felt that her nails were digging deeper and fiercer into her shoulder. Plus, even Lerazier appeared nervous.
A gust of magical power just like the blast of wind was constantly rushing in. Julia’s long hair could no longer overcome the wild momentum as it fluttered wildly into the air.
“Brother, quick!”
“I’m still doing it even if you don’t say that.”
The dark sphere, which had grown in size from the grasp of those two brothers’, began to suck in the waves of magical energy like a black hole. While the strength of the gale had weakened a little, Julia hurriedly regained her consciousness once again before peering inside the door.
The inside was a total mess. The windows that had occupied one side of the huge bedroom were completely shattered, leaving only the bare frame, while the expensive drapes and carpets had already turned into such shabby rags. All the pieces and interior materials were also broken and shattered—scattered all over the floor.
In the middle of such a room, there he lay—the Demon King, Bael.
The long black hair was all disheveled upon the white sheet while his firm chest was already exposed without any clothes on and it was moving up and down violently as if it was struggling with the power.
Bael’s blood-red eyes suddenly turned to look at the uninvited guests who were right outside the door. Just like a rabbit that had stood in front of a wild beast, Julia was numbed and frozen.
[▷Bael
………………]
Similar to before, a dialogue window that informed the thoughts of the character popped up in her mind. However, there was only the name while the contents were completely hidden from guesswork—whether or not he was currently feeling good or even bad…… At a first glance, it appeared to be the worst.
“Master, you’ve already been through a lot.”
“……”
“As you may have heard before, this key is highly likely to be genuine. That was the first time that a human has actually survived in front of that magic stone like this.”
“……therefore.”
Bael’s voice was low and gloomy as if it was gashing against iron. The bodies of those three demons who had received his gaze began to collapse—one after another.
“Kugh, Master!”
“That’s probably not the kind of answer that I’m looking for.”
He then slowly raised his body up from lying on the bed. Even though he only lifted his upper body, the three demons still had to do their best not to fall over without raising their heads.
[▷Lerazier
God, you got me all wrong. It really is no joke today. I might truly die like this!]
As she caught a glimpse of Lerazier’s thoughts, Julia immediately clasped her hands tightly in fear. If he—a high-ranking demon—had to struggle so much, she would soon be the same as well. Since she was never the main character, Estelle, she didn’t even know if she would really end up dead this time.
Her body trembled as she closed her eyes tightly in fear of the rushing terror. However, she didn’t realize that due to that reason, the people around her began changing gradually—from being surprised to astonished.
Crash, crash.
The sound of solid debris being heavily trampled into powder eventually grew closer and closer.
[▷Bael
………………]
The back of Julia’s hair was quickly caught and tugged back. Her head was lifted forcibly and she had no other choice but to merely open her eyes once again.
The pair of eyes that were burning like flaming fire were simply staring down at her.
“How are you holding up?”
“……”
“Answer me.”
“……Yes?”
Feeling confused, Julia tried to turn her gaze away, but she couldn’t move since the back of her head was still being held tightly in his grasp.
As she attempted to roll her eyes downwards, the grip on the back of her head grew even stronger as if he wasn’t fond of it. In the end, Julia had no choice but to keep her gaze directly at Bael.
‘Ah.’
Within those blood-red eyes, there was a creepy chill like the pupils of a snake. Even though she knew that it was dangerous, she could still glance at him without really knowing why. It was at that moment when she unconsciously began reaching out to the corner of Bael’s eyes.