Volume 3 Chapter 12 (1/2)

One of the two A rank monsters that accompanied [Steel] Demon Lord Zagan was a tiger-type monster with beautiful white fur contrasted by some black. The name of its race was the Byakko. It was a race of monsters that stood out even among the ridiculously strong A rank monsters.

This Byakko was given a name even though he wasn't a [Monster of the Covenant]. [Monsters of the Covenant] were deeply connected to their Demon Lords. So much so in fact that a Demon Lord and a Monster of the Covenant shared their magic power and even their soul with one another, thus making the burden of naming them light for Demon Lord.

However, the same couldn't be said when naming a fourth monster and so on; in the absence of a deep connection between them, the burden was one-sidedly all on the Demon Lord. And so, the Demon Lord was to pour all of his magic power into the name. However, the effects of this naming would stop at just awakening the latent potentials within the monster and nothing more.

Demon Lords rarely named monsters other than their Monsters of the Covenant. The process used magic power far more than their own total magic power. As such, going through the naming would leave them with a rather harsh backlash: the inability to recover their magic power for nearly half a month.

In this period until they've recovered their magic power, on top of becoming defenseless, Demon Lords would also become unable to use skills that required magic power.

So, to put in another way, for his Demon Lord to go so far and name this Byakko, it showed how capable the Byakko was as well as how much his Demon Lord trusted him.

”Temporary master, I'm now going to break through this dungeon room's defenses. This should be quite fun” said the Byakko with a joyous face as he slowly walked toward the dungeon.

”Wait, take some support monsters with you.”

”Don't need it; they'll only slow me down.”

”But for the sake of improving the chances of victory, you—”

”I said I don't need it. Get in my way and I'll kill you”

With a glance of a monster he should have control over, Zagan backed down. The Byakko had no intention whatsoever of showing the [Steel] Demon Lord any respect. After all, he only came due to his interest in the amusing Demon Lord his master talked about.

There were three old Demon Lords that meddled in this war. Unlike the other two who participated to preempt a potential problem and thus secure their position, the Byakko's master did so to test [Creation] Demon Lord Procell.

If Procell, in the end, was defeated but still showed promise from the Byakko's perspective, the Byakko was ordered to subtly arrange for his survival.

For the Byakko to do so, first let us discuss the only two restrictions a monster has concerning the Demon Lord that has control over it:

A monster can't go against his Demon Lord's ordersA monster can't make an attack against his Demon Lord.

In other words, a monster was free to do whatever it wants so long as these two points were followed.

Next, let us consider Byakko's abilities which includes his overwhelmingly strong body and the magic to strengthen it further; his fur that's highly resistant to physical and magical attacks and that can also be enhanced further the more magic power was channeled to it; and the powerful ability to affect the mind of his targets.

In conclusion, the Byakko was at least free to guide Zagan's thoughts and thus enabling the Byakko to prevent Procell from being killed.

Challenging the restrictions wasn't limited to the Byakko either; it wasn't uncommon for monsters to use and take advantage of their Demon Lords in some form. That's actually why some Demon Lords—unable to trust monsters—tended to avoid monsters with intelligence.

”Wha-what's with that attitude? I-I'm your master, damn it.”

”Then, show me the conduct and excellence of someone I'd like to take orders from.”

As though their conversation was over, the Byakko proceeded to enter the dungeon.

Along the way, among the monsters kept in reserve, the slimes Zagan borrowed from [Viscosity] all vanished. It was the proof that [Viscosity]'s crystal was no more.

In this short of a time, he has already conquered [Viscosity]'s dungeon…. interesting. I'm sure that that Orihalcum Gargoyle—a monster even I will have a hard time fighting—was there, thought the Byakko as it raised its evaluation of Procell.

Meanwhile, in Zagan's mind—which the Byakko read—was mostly fear and impatience.

Zagan then pinned his hopes to the Byakko and spoke, begging it to break through the dungeon in front of them.

This made the Byakko sigh internally.

Even if it's just temporary, why do I have to serve a small fry like this? Oh well, at least from now on, I can get rid of all this boredom. [Creation] Demon Lord Procell, I hope you're different from this small fry, thought the Byakko as it entered the dungeon.

When he was inside the dungeon, he recalled the words his real master said to him

”Kohaku, if my estimates are right about [Creation], even if he loses this war, he will have the strength and the capabilities to impress even you. However, should it turn out that he's more that I gave him credit for, it will mean your life in the battlefield. That is actually the outcome I am praying for. Demon Lords… us Children of the Planet are only here as tools to guide the humans… if we can find a person that could escape from such fate and get him on our side, I will not mind losing you. Now, Kohaku, I leave this task to you.”

A man that could make his master say that much…

His blood boiled at remembering those words.

He could have refused this mission but chose not to. He had become too strong; he couldn't even remember the last time he had to fight at full strength. As it was, if he was going to rot away anyway, he'd rather fight with all his might and die.

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As soon as Byakko entered the long cave, he immediately switched into battle mode.

So long as a target was either within a 100 meters around him or was within his line of sight, it was possible for him to read its mind. Should he choose to spend time and magic power, affecting his target's minds was also possible. Coupling his ability to always predict an enemy's moves with his vast combat experience and physical strength, he could effectively respond to every action with maximum efficiency. Such was the secret behind his strength.

So, with the Mithril Golems in his line of sight, he began to use his ability to read the golems' minds and dashed forward.

The inorganic golems also had something like an intent behind their actions so they too could be predicted.

”Here it comes”

At almost the exact time or perhaps even earlier than when the bullets from hell were fired, the Byakko who already read the Mithril Golems' minds ran at top speed and took three steps: one on the ground, one on the wall, and another on the ceiling where he proceeded to run as though he ignored the laws of physics—an act possible precisely because it was this Byakko.

And so, the Byakko avoided and ran past the bullets below.

Using his experience to assess the bullets' threat, he calculated how many he could endure.

If I poured in my magic power into my highly physical damage resistant fur, I'd say I can take on about ten of those.

The secret behind the overwhelming power of these long-range attacks was of course the dreadful weapon itself but the Mithril Golems' offensive capabilities added tremendous damage to the attacks as well. A Mithril Golem was overall equivalent to a B rank monster; it was horrendously slow but in exchange, in terms of physical strength and physical strength alone, it was comparable to an A rank.

A weapon that will not only make up for the golems' slowness but will also make good use of their strong points; that [Creation] Demon Lord was clever to pair them.

The golems then adjusted the angle of their heavy-machineguns upwards to try and hit the Byakko. However, the Byakko read this move and quickly dropped down. He then ran forward, mindful of keeping his body as low as possible.

His landing was not without injury, however; before he reached the ground, two bullets grazed him. Even if such an attack wouldn't instantly kill them, anyone less resistant to physical damage than the Byakko would still take great damage and most probably make them lose their balance, exposing them further to more bullets.

”Those attacks, they're certainly strong… but they can't cope with quick vertical movements.”

The dungeon floor was a long cave structure with nowhere to hide. The Byakko concluded that there was only one way to get past: quickly moving up and down.

By running on the ceiling, suddenly dropping down to move on the ground and then up again, he would be very hard to hit as the golems would have to correct the alignment of their guns each time, only for the Byakko to change his position by the time they have finished their adjustments.

After about more than half a minute of running and jumping between the ground and the ceiling, something exploded in the ground. That something was a landmine that Procell set. However, the Byakko was travelling far too fast; by the time the landmine activated and exploded, he was already so far away.

The golems hiding in the tunnels too were of no use. The tunnels in the sides were skillfully disguised and the Byakko did not see through that disguise but so long as the golems were within his territory—a 100 meters to be exact—he could hear their minds' voices even though he could not see them. There was also the matter of his speed; he ran past them in a blink of an eye, resulting in their flames hitting only the air.

”Is this because I got careless?”

Halfway through, he held his breath in since mixed in the air was a powerful poison. He inhaled a little but his self-healing abilities was enough nullify its effects. Nonetheless, if he continued to intake more of the poisoned air, he would have most probably lost control of his body. Such was that poison.

Despite of it all, Byakko smiled at the number of things being thrown against him.