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

Under the cover of night, the chestnut-haired girl gripped a light sword in one hand and leaned against a tree with the other, panting heavily.

It took Philippako a lot of effort to deal with all twenty-three cultists, including the fourth-tier leader.

Aside from the time she encountered a beast tide with the help of other adventurers, this was the first time she had managed to kill so many opponents in one go while being restrained by other professionals of the same rank.

Actually, these cultists are much easier to deal with than the monsters during the beast tide.

Monsters grow up in a wild and constantly fighting environment, and their combat experience is certainly incomparable to that of cultists.

Furthermore, these cultists wield their magic in a very stiff manner, as if they were using something that doesn't belong to them.

A sudden idea flashed through Philippa's mind.

"Could it be that these cultists' magic comes from the demons they worship? Demons are creatures that feed on all kinds of negative emotions, so the cultists commit killings and perform rituals to sacrifice these things to the demons and obtain magic from them as a reward?"

Philippa frowned. That seemed to make sense.

The petite girl with chestnut hair shook her head. She still had too little information and needed to deepen her investigation into the Demon Cult. There was still no clue about the Demon King.

The task is arduous and the road ahead is long.

"who?"

Philippa was startled. Just now, she had felt a sense of being watched, a feeling that made her deeply uncomfortable and sent chills down her spine.

Philippa raised her light sword, her beautiful eyes fixed intently on her surroundings, completely absorbed, like a wooden doll, not daring to move an inch.

As soon as she finished speaking, the feeling of being spied on vanished, and Philippa breathed a sigh of relief.

What was that just now? It couldn't have been an illusion, could it?

Was someone secretly watching her, only to quietly leave after she noticed?

—————————————————————

"Is your intuition really that sharp?"

In the jungle under the cover of night, Gray, dressed in his familiar black robe, turned his gaze away and sat on a treetop.

Having promised Delta he'd stay here for a few days, and having nothing better to do, Gray decided to observe Delta and his servants carry out their mission.

A reliable message came from the intelligence department: tonight, the Netherworld and Shadow faction of the Demonic Order will send a priest to lead a team, supervised by a high priest, to hold a sacrificial ceremony using the villagers of Black Soil Village as offerings.

Upon learning of this news, the Shadow Court would certainly send people to deal with these cultists, and Delta, which was closer to Black Soil Village, naturally accepted the task.

After all, the presence of high-ranking members of the demon cult, such as priests and high priests, makes their handling a high priority.

Gray followed to observe the mission and unexpectedly discovered this familiar, charming figure.

Princess Philippa, who is also her nemesis and hero, has encountered her again.

However, Gray had no intention of showing up to catch up with her.

Now that he knew the hero was Philippa, Gray thought it best to avoid contact with her, since who knew if the hero had any special means to find the Demon King.

Until a solution is found, hiding from the hero is the best option.

Grey hadn't expected that her secret spying would be detected. What was the point of the black robe's cognitive blocking function?

This alerted Philippa, and Gray immediately looked away, turning his gaze to Delta, who was not far away.

Delta has swiftly and decisively captured the high priest.

The high priests, being members of the same rank, knew far more than ordinary members, so they initially planned to capture them alive to see if they could extract any information from them.

Despite the vast disparity in strength, the high priest did not give up the fight.

Seeing that Delta had no intention of killing him directly, the high priest's expression gradually turned crazed, and he laughed maniacally with a distorted face.

"Shadow Court, what a Shadow Court! We've run into two troublesome things at once."

But you still think you can get anything out of me? Dream on!

Suddenly, his eyes widened and he began to mutter incantations.

Having learned from the previous experience, Delta immediately swung his Blood Scythe, beheading the High Priest.

After carefully listening to the words the high priest uttered before his death, No. 0211 made a judgment.

"This is a secret technique used for self-destruction; fortunately, it was stopped in time."

"I give up." Delta shrugged. "I didn't get any useful information again."

Seeing that Delta's operation was over, Gray leaped down from the treetop.

"We weren't very lucky. This high priest is either a madman who is devout to demons or has been brainwashed. The only useful information can be obtained from those who join the demon cult for profit and then rise to the higher levels."

The lower-level members are poorly informed, while the higher-ups know more and have the means to silence them. No wonder the Demon Cult has been able to remain hidden and not release much information.

Today's operation was rather half-hearted; we only managed to take down the high priest, while Philippa dealt with the other cultists.

"Lord Shadow." Upon seeing Gray appear, the blonde, mature vampire Delta quietly approached again.

"About this hero..."

Gray knew what she wanted to say. When Theta came to him, he revealed his identity as the Demon King in front of the Seven Shadows.

The ten shadow servants now know he is the Demon King, so naturally they will be hostile to the hero whose mission is to kill the Demon King.

“Ignore her…” Gray pondered for a moment and changed his instructions.

"Don't lay a hand on her. Just send some people to keep an eye on her and know her whereabouts. If necessary, they can lend a hand."

"Uh-huh?"

Delta was somewhat puzzled.

It's understandable that Lord Shadow would ignore his arch-rival, the hero, but showing friendliness and even offering help...

Delta's brain CPU began to heat up, performing calculations at extremely high speeds, trying to deduce Gray's intentions.

As a long-lived vampire, Delta has witnessed the rise and fall of several Demon Kings and Heroes.

Among all the Demon Lords Delta has ever seen, and indeed all those throughout history, Gray is an extremely special case.

Despite being a demon king, he stayed in a human noble family as an adopted son, and instead of considering how to revitalize the demon race, he created a Demon Shadow Court that was compatible with all races.

Moreover, Lord Shadow is the most unfathomable demon king Delta has ever seen.

If it's Lord Shadow, he can do anything outrageous, right? So we should try to think of Lord Shadow's goals as high as possible.

It is compatible with all races and has a friendly attitude towards its arch-enemy heroes...

Could it be that!

A flash of electricity seemed to strike Delta's mind, and the transformation was complete.

Lord Shadow plans to unite all races, unify the world, and bring heroes under his wing, thus completely changing the situation of various races being divided across the continent!

Delta gasped.

Although it sounds outrageous, Lord Shadow might actually be able to do it!

Delta's beautiful eyes immediately reflected fervor and admiration.

"As expected of Lord Shadow Demon!"

Gray: ? ? ? What do you understand now?