The maid squad is too strong, what use is there for me, the Demon King?

The heretical succubus betrayed the Lord of Pleasure and joined another's side.

The archbishop desperately wanted to purge this heretical succubus immediately, but the composure displayed by the man in black robes, coupled with the confirmation of the information obtained from the archbishop's council, made the man in black robes before him unfathomable. This made the archbishop hesitant to act rashly, and he could only watch the "adulterous couple" flirting from the sidelines while his mind raced.

"Let's stop our chatter here. It would be too impolite to keep so many people waiting for our endless chatter."

Gray hadn't forgotten his purpose for being there, and immediately turned his gun on all the cultists present: "Sorry to keep you waiting, it's time to go to hell... or should I say to meet the master in the Netherworld Prison? In any case, none of the cultists present will be spared!"

I'll deal with a few bishops and archbishops first.

"Kappa, make sure the small fry don't get away. Easy task, right?"

The pink-haired succubus also abandoned her flirtatious mode and replied with a coquettish laugh, "Yes, ma'am!"

Indeed, if the high-ranking bishops and archbishops are all chosen, Kappa can easily deal with the remaining low-ranking, weak-spiritual minions.

With that, the Demon King Grey unleashed his domineering aura and magical power, creating an overwhelming presence that filled the entire area.

The archbishop's pupils contracted sharply.

Knowing that the man in black robes before him had likely killed Lockston Kingsol, the archbishop thought he was mentally prepared, but he never expected the aura emanating from the man to be so terrifying.

The archbishop instantly realized that he and four other eighth-rank bishops were no match for the enemy; his only way to survive was...

We can only hope to buy time and summon Lord Rast's projection!

Fortunately, the ritual had already opened the passage to the Netherworld Prison, but it had just closed, making it relatively easy to reopen it and summon the projection.

The archbishop immediately telepathically instructed one of the bishops to prepare to summon the projection, and then ordered the remaining three bishops to "act immediately to help buy time should anything go wrong."

He stepped forward, hoping to buy as much time as possible with words.

"Our Demon Cult should have no enmity with you, so why is this happening, Demon King?"

“Oh, right.” Gray raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. “You don’t seem to be familiar with the Demon Lord’s magic. So how did you recognize it?”

Gray realized he hadn't used the Demon Lord's name much; most of the time, when introducing himself, he used the phrase, "我が名はシャドー,阴に潜み, 阴を狩る者。(My name is Demon Shadow, I lurk in the darkness, and hunt the shadows.)"

So how did he know he was the Demon King?

Even if it's just a guess and not confirmed, there must be some basis for such a guess, right?

The probability of guessing correctly by guessing randomly is infinitely close to zero.

Gray was curious... and more than just curious.

How did it come to light that he was a demon king?

Gray wasn't afraid that the Demon Order would know there was a Demon King and a Shadow Court continuously fighting against cultists, but he was afraid that the information that "he was the Demon King" would reach Philippa...the Hero.

“Our order also has its own intelligence network.” The archbishop did not directly answer Gray’s half-questioning question, but instead answered a question with a question:

"Loxton, Carleon, Itheran, and Revander all died at your hands?"

Upon hearing that two of the four names were unfamiliar, Gray thought for a moment to make sure he had never heard of them before, and said, "I've never heard of Ka or Lan. Are Lockston and Revander the real names of two archbishops? If the other two are also archbishops, then it was indeed me who did it."

As expected, the archbishop's secret passage led to this location.

Gray then took the opportunity to ask what he wanted to know: "How did you know I'm the Demon King? I answered one of your questions honestly, how about you answer mine honestly in return?"

The archbishop's goal was to buy time, so he naturally tried to answer as many questions as possible.

"During the Holy Light Pilgrimage, those in the secret realm who were power-hungry and controlled shared the intelligence."

Gray wasn't surprised to hear this: "I was indeed a bit reckless back then..."

But it was a chance to kill the demon directly, and it also saved Philippa from exposing the Demon King's existence.

If given the choice again, Gray would not hesitate and would still save Philippa and kill the demon.

"Thank you for your honest answer. In exchange, it's impossible for me to let you go, but I can wait a while before killing you. As long as it doesn't take too long, I can cooperate. How long does this ritual to summon the demon projection take?"

Now it was the archbishops and bishops' turn to be surprised.

It's not a problem that the stalling tactics are seen through; it's easy to spot.

After all, it wasn't about stalling for time. Who would bother chatting with a black-robed man who suddenly barged into their faction's important ceremony?

It's not surprising that the other party realized he intended to summon Lord Rast's projection to deal with him.

They've had a lot of dealings with the Demon Cult, so they must have seen methods of summoning demons from other factions' archbishops. This is the ultimate method for every faction.

But what surprised them, or rather, terrified them, was...

The black-robed man in front of them knew their plan and wanted to cooperate with them to buy time, waiting for them to summon Lord Rust's projection.

What does this mean? It means that the other party is not afraid of a tenth-tier demon projection at all.

He wanted to reassure himself by saying that the man in black robes was arrogant and conceited, but when he thought about how the man in black robes was involved in the deaths of four archbishops, the archbishop of the lust and pleasure faction could not comfort himself in that way.

Before the archbishop could speak, one of the bishops couldn't help but shout, "What a pretentious act! Lord Pleasure is a tenth-tier being, a pinnacle of existence in the world. Lord Rast's projection is something no ninth-tier professional can match. How could a mere demon king possibly break through to the tenth tier and be on the same level as Lord Rast? Tenth-tier professionals can't stay in the prime plane forever..."

Upon hearing this, Gray's eyes widened immediately.

Because of the statement, "Tenth-tier professionals can't stay in the prime plane forever."

He did not doubt the truthfulness of this statement.

Bai Lin was just a tenth-tier dragon who had officially ascended to the rank of dragon. Suddenly, an angel from the Heavenly Realm came down and attacked Bai Lin.

Then will happen...until one is powerless and thrown back into the main plane.

This statement touches upon the rules of this world. The world Gray is currently in is the Prime Material Plane, and he has learned from the goddess that "the Prime Material Plane does not allow the existence of tenth-order beings."

Gray never expected that he could say such a thing without being restricted by the world's rules.

The cultists who could say such a thing... their demonic cult of lust and pleasure... do they know something?