It was a few hours before Minwoo regained his consciousness in the tower of the Demon King’s castle.

“Demon King, preparations for the human hero summoning ritual have been completed. The ritual will begin soon.”

“..Yeah.”

The 17th Demon King, Ernate, who had just been unsealed, was sitting lonely on the throne.

Under Ernate’s feet, beneath her podium, a girl in a maid’s uniform was kneeling. Unlike the Demon Lord, she looked like an ordinary person at first glance, but her pale skin color, crimson eyes, and exceptionally sharp fangs made you think she was also something other than human.

The devil, Ernate said.

“There won’t be any problems with our preparations, right?”

“Yes, for now… But Demon Lord… Are you okay?”

The girl’s clear voice contained deep concern.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s already too late to turn back anyway.”

“But… “

“The ceremony is enforced. There is no reversal.”

“..Siora, the representative of the vampire clan. I follow the Demon King’s orders.”

After saying words of submission, the vampire girl who called herself Siora immediately turned into dozens of bats and disappeared.

When Siora disappeared, only the Demon King, Ernate, was left alone in the wide main hall of the Demon Castle. She sighed for an unknown number of times.

“Really… Is this a good thing?”

Just now, she showed a resolute side to Siora, but it was an undeniable fact that she was anxious.

But no more defeats could be tolerated. This is the largest gamble ever made in her history, or even in the history of all previous demon kings. If this operation fails, she may be destroyed by humans without even having time to seal herself.

It is said that it was inevitable for the plan … But perhaps it was because she was unable to regain all of her original power due to her early resurrection. Ernate’s heart was weakened as she did not live up to the name of the Demon King, a name synonymous with fear. She recalled the memories of past demon kings who always fought against humans in a rebellious manner, and Ernate tried to control her mood. However, as if her anxiety did not go away, she unconsciously cared about the large bead-core on her chest with her fingertips.

“Maybe it’s because of this body.”

Ernate glanced down at her own body, specifically at the area around her voluptuous breasts, and then clicked her tongue in annoyance.

Thanks to her early resurrection, Ernate was able to be resurrected earlier than the human hero summoning ritual, but she had no choice but to suffer the same side effects.

Ernate, the 17th Demon King, was the first female among the Demon King.

It was also proof that she had not yet regained her true strength.

Due to the nature of the Demon King, who can continue the memories of previous Demon Kings intact, the idea of ​​a female body seemed very unfamiliar to the Demon King, who had always lived only as a male body. I wonder if perhaps this body is the cause of my uncharacteristic anxiety. Although it was only for a moment, she thought that way.

But soon Ernate put that thought out of her head.

“It doesn’t matter. As long as I can inflict defeat on humans … As long as I can bring deep despair to that abominable hero and his companions. The gender of this body is just a trivial thing.”

The Demon King, Ernate, repeated this to himself and slowly looked around the inside of the hall with a somewhat lonely expression. Had she been fully resurrected, this spacious hall would have been filled with her own trusted minions. However, for her now, the only subordinate with decent intelligence was Siora, the vampire girl from before. Of course, she was one of the strongest and most trustworthy loyalists among the Demon King’s henchmen, but she was the only executive in the Demon King’s army, so things were not going well.

But if her plan is successful, Ernate will have another henchman. And it was clear that this new subordinate, who came from the same world as her hero, would bring her victory in her war against humans.

The Demon King, Ernate, did not doubt that he believed that.

…

The last descendant of the vampire clan, Siora was a faithful confidant who had served the Demon King for generations since ancient times and was one of the most elite executives of the Demon King’s army.

Before the Sentai Demon King was sealed, she received part of the ‘Anti-Hero Summoning Plan’ from him.

The final battle between the Sentai Demon King and the Sentai Hero resulted in the hero’s victory. Hero and his party, who sealed the Demon King, began to wipe out the remnants of the Demon King’s army with the imperial army, but Shiora somehow succeeded in avoiding the humans. Of course, in the process, all of her family fell victim to the warrior’s sword.

There was a special reason why Siora tried to survive alone, even at the expense of her clan. She had to carry out a special mission given to her by the Demon King.

That was to steal the unique technique of the Hero summoning ritual from humans.

Siora succeeded in infiltrating the castle without the knowledge of the imperial army, which was concentrating all its efforts on the final battle. Among the vampire clan that excels in stealth behavior, she possesses martial arts skills and successfully steals her technique.

However, due to the structure of the spell, Ernate, the next Demon King, had no choice but to be resurrected earlier than the designated time. This is because unless humans summoned a hero at the right time, it was impossible to summon them even if they knew the magic.

The Demon King, Ernate, along with Siora, prepared a summoning ritual for themselves at the time when humans opened the dimensional door. The basics are the same as the human summoning ritual, but there is one difference.

When summoning a warrior, humans try to ensure that the summoned person matches the warrior’s qualities. There are four main qualities of a warrior. It referred to bravery, wisdom, charity, and justice. The hero summoning ritual was designed to summon a person with all the qualities.

If the magic was used as is, it would only result in the birth of another hero, so the Demon King slightly modified the magic to summon the person they needed. So, unlike the hero, a person who has a more evil character and who harbors great hatred for the hero is summoned.

Siora completed all preparations for the summoning ritual and received final confirmation from Ernest just before activating the spell. Now it’s just a matter of timing it with the humans’ hero summoning ritual.

“– — –!”

As Siora cast her spell, the huge magic circle drawn at her feet glowed brilliantly. As it was a summoning ritual from another dimension, the spell was very long and complicated. She continued to build her techniques, shedding sweat that she had not shed even when fighting humans. For the sake of the Demon Lord and to avenge her clan, Shiora performed her ritual with all her might.

As time passed, the light emitted from the magic circle grew stronger, and soon the light enveloped the entire underground cavity.

And soon the ceremony ended.

“Ha… Ha… Is it success..?”

Siora, whose physical strength had been severely depleted due to performing her summoning ritual alone, collapsed on her floor. Originally, the Hero Summoning Ceremony was the largest ceremony performed by all court wizards in the empire. She had gone through it alone, so it was no wonder she was so exhausted. If the Demon King, Ernate, had not provided magical power through the core, it would have been impossible for even Siora, an excellent magician, to proceed with the ritual alone.

After a while, the light that was so strong that it obscured my vision gradually subsided, and eventually the magic circle stopped working completely. Siora looked above the magic circle.

The place was empty.

“Nothing…? That can’t be… There was definitely a reaction…!”

It was a plan that cost so much sacrifice… Failure was something that could never have happened.

“What happened, Siora?”

“Demon King…”

Ernate, the demon king who had suddenly appeared in front of Siora, was looking down at the empty magic circle. Siora corrected her disheveled posture and lowered her head.

“I’m sorry, Demon Lord! I’m not good enough..! Please kill me!”

“…”

Ernest silently looked down at the prostrate Siora. Failure? No, it couldn’t have been a failure. Ernate was also watching the summoning ceremony. At least Siora didn’t make a mistake.

It was that time.

Kugu Palace…

A small vibration was transmitted. It was closer to a shaking of the ground caused by an impact rather than an earthquake.

Ernest muttered.

“Is that the case?”

It is a summoning ritual on a scale so large that it crosses dimensions. There is no guarantee that you will be summoned exactly to the specified coordinates. In other words, although the location was slightly off, the summoning ritual was successful.

“You wait here. I’ll be back soon.”

“Oh, I understand.”

As Ernate disappeared, Sciora gathered up her disheveled body. Ernate told me to wait, but I don’t know what will happen from now on. To assist the Demon King, it was important to recover from fatigue as quickly as possible.

“Demon King… I hope you are safe.”

He is a demon king who has no rivals on the continent other than the warriors, but he is currently unable to regain all of his original power due to his incomplete resurrection. Moreover, since he was summoned from the same dimension as the hero, he could never let down his guard. We must be prepared in case the summoned person does not follow our instructions.

It was a highly gambling plan in many ways, but there was no turning back for them now. However, it was Siora who once again pledged that she could do anything to take revenge on humans.