...
In front of a Gothic black castle, shrouded in demonic mist and adorned with eerie skulls, stood four richly dressed and equipped young men and women.
On the castle's main gate, ancient characters were scrawled crookedly—
Demon Kings Castle!
"Finally, we've arrived."
"Yes."
"This is the final battle. Let's go… to defeat the Demon King and save this world!"
"…"
Leading the group was a handsome young man with shimmering golden hair and resolute eyes.
His name was Belial, and he was the Hero of this world.
The two girls and one boy in the party were his adventurer companions.
Among them, a young woman wearing a teal armor, with delicate features and slightly pointed ears, was the archer of the party.
Her name was Miru, a princess of the Elf Race, and the party's ranged damage dealer.
On the Aima Continent, due to the continuous and drastic proliferation of monsters, Elf Race, Dragon, Dwarf, Human, and other races were already on the verge of extinction.
If the monsters were allowed to continue proliferating, not only would the various races perish, but even the world itself would be destroyed.
Therefore, Miru joined the Hero's party, chosen by the Goddess, and has been fighting to defeat the Demon King until now.
That's right.
The Goddess had given a divine oracle: the world was on the brink of destruction, and only by defeating the source of the monsters could this calamity be stopped.
And the source of the monsters was none other than the Demon King.
Moreover, as long as the Demon King was defeated, the Goddess would appear and grant the Hero one wish.
The other green-haired young man in the party, named Dali, had a somewhat frivolous demeanor, but his eyes sparkled with intelligence.
He was the party's Ranger, bearing the important responsibility of supporting his teammates, and at the same time, he was also a Shield Warrior.
Indeed, Dali was a rare dual-class individual, a genius seen only once in a century.
Don't underestimate the small shield on him; that was a legendary weapon!
Everyone in the party possessed their own legendary weapon, and Hero Belial's was the Golden Holy Sword, a super-legendary anti-Demon King weapon bestowed by the Goddess.
The last member of the party was a young woman with an expressionless face.
Her name was Eriel, the party's Mage, specializing in ice magic.
At this moment, the young woman's delicate face exuded a chilling aura.
Her tender face was even more beautiful than that of Miru, the Elf Race princess.
She was the most beautiful woman on the Aima Continent.
Looking at the familiar, crooked characters on the Demon Kings Castle, Eriel's expression froze, and she stopped, somewhat disbelieving.
"…Is it him?"
Gritting her teeth, the young woman's eyes were incredibly complex.
In Eriel's beautiful, clear blue eyes, there flashed a mix of surprise, resentment, sorrow, entanglement, and other extremely complex emotions.
Clearly, the owner of these characters had a deep entanglement with her…
This emotion was too complex to sort out or explain, and only Eriel herself could bear its taste.
"What's wrong, Eriel?"
Seeing her best friend stop, Miru looked at her with concern.
As an Elf Race, Miru was at least over 50 years old, which was equivalent to a 16-year-old human in the Elf Race race.
And over 10 years ago, Miru had already met Eriel and become good friends.
"I'm fine. Let's go."
Facing Miru's concern, Eriel gently shook her head.
Taking a deep breath, the young woman resumed her ice-cold demeanor and walked determinedly towards the Demon Kings Castle.
Whether it was him or not, she would know once she went inside!
"Eriel…"
Looking at her best friend, Miru sighed, wondering which bad man had turned this innocent and pure saintess into her current cold self…
...
"Achoo~~"
Inside the Demon Kings Castle, a black-haired young man with a pair of demonic horns, sitting on a skull throne, suddenly let out a big sneeze.
"Who's talking about me again?"
"Well, never mind. As the Demon King, it's normal to be cursed by the people of this world."
"Speaking of which, why is the Hero taking so long to arrive? I even went easy on them!"
"This generation's Hero is really f*cking weak!"
The young man currently complaining about the Hero was, of course, our protagonist.
As a transmigrator from Water Blue Star, Arata became the Demon King "Diabolos," and was quite happy at first.
After all, he was the combat ceiling of this world, invincible, wasn't he?
And as the Demon King, having a few cute and charming succubus ladies as subordinates wasn't too much to ask, right?
Of course, he would absolutely not admit to the name Diabolos!
He wasn't a pineapple.
But when he saw what the succubi looked like, he almost threw up.
The so-called succubi were actually a mass of hallucinogenic flowers, looking like Venus flytraps with a mouthful of sharp teeth.
They drooled when they spoke, which was disgusting.
Arata felt like the world was playing a trick on him. Where were the cute and charming succubus ladies he was promised?
No succubus ladies? Other monster ladies would be fine too.
However, he was still disappointed; the other monsters all looked like grotesque creatures, similar to the evil gods of Cthulhu, both disgusting and ugly.
He even thought that among the Demon King's army, the highest in terms of appearance were the goblins…
At this point, how could Arata possibly endure it?
This wasn't the Demon Kings Castle; it was clearly a base for demons and monsters!
So, he decisively fled.
However, regrettably, as the Demon King, he was subjected to restrictions.
If he left the Demon Kings Castle for less than half a day, all the monsters would begin to riot and proliferate, and even the places he passed through, not even a single blade of grass, would be demonized and turn into ferocious monsters.
Now he was screwed.
Arata felt as if he had arrived in a screwed-up game world, because he could see his skill panel and attributes.
Among them, a series of title passive abilities made him both love and hate them.
Titles: Demon King, King of Monsters, Undying Existence, Original Darkness, Source of Fear…
Ultimately, as the Demon King, he would absolutely not die before fulfilling his mission.
He couldn't even commit suicide.
And there was only one way to fulfill his mission: to be defeated by the Hero, and the game would end… What the heck!
He had transmigrated, so if he, as the Demon King, was killed by the Hero, wouldn't that be the absolute end?
Restricted by the world, unable to leave the Demon Kings Castle, he could only watch a group of ugly monsters daily, discussing how to attack other races and conquer the world…
After living for decades, a bored Arata could only find an excuse to go into seclusion and choose to sleep, and when he woke up again, Arata was completely bewildered.
Because a guy in splendid armor was stabbing him with a sword.
But comically, no matter how that guy stabbed, he couldn't break his defense.
Finally, feeling a bit bored, Arata flicked the opponent with his finger, and the opponent died.
This guy was clearly a Hero, and he had even cleared out his group of ugly, unintelligent monster subordinates.
As a transmigrator, Arata hadn't slept in vain all these years.
He discovered that as long as he used the cultivation method inherent to the Demon King to train his soul, he could break through this world, and even the system of this world.
And there was only one cultivation method inherent to the Demon King: absorbing the negative emotions of all living beings.
These negative emotions would transform into powerful demonic energy, training his soul and making it stronger.
And after killing the first Hero, the number of monsters instantly proliferated.
This was precisely the Demon King's passive ability, the Scene of World's End.
As long as someone carrying the will of the world was slain by him, the world would be one step closer to destruction.
So, does this damned world even let people have fun properly?
Arata was a bit troubled.
He also wanted to fall in love with the lovely ladies of the magic world and live a happy life.
But who made him transmigrate as the Demon King?
Later, when he further cultivated his soul, he was finally able to suppress his aura.
Suppressing the Demon King's aura would not burden the world, nor would he have to worry about demonizing the plants and animals around him.
Now he could finally go to the human world and have fun.
During this time, he met a human girl, an innocent, lovely Saintess…
"Demon King Diabolos, come out and face your death!"
An angry roar interrupted Arata memories.
Looking towards the sound, the new Hero's party appeared before him.