Titus the tyrant was dead.

If there were ever words that caused the entirety of Placeholder to rejoice, those were surely the ones.

However, that led to a bit of a conundrum. What now? What would the nations of the world do with the seemingly immortal tyrant slain?

If you’ve read the volumes up to this point, you may assume that each kingdom got back to business as usual. Pumil isolating themselves, Dryadal and Gram posturing their armies at each other, Besti being too far away to have any impact on the world, and Gert invading whenever and wherever they could.

However, if there was one blessing to the [Demon Lord’s] reign of terror, it was that everyone who knew war died off. There had been no wars of aggression during his reign, and the world’s armies had become much more suited to dealing with monsters than with other citizens of Placeholder.

To put it another way, the [Demon Lord’s] death shocked the world into an era of peace and cooperation.

In this chapter, we’re going to examine the events of the “Era of Cooperation” that lasted from the death of Titus the tyrant until the [Demon Lord] after him.

- Introduction to Volume 3, chapter 5 of “A Brief History of Placeholder”

-------

July 1st, 289 AA

After declaring my defiance towards the System, I did at least get a bit of help from AltSys’s system.

System : Survival Protocol activated. Offering quest

System: Quest offered. “Survive”

Quest details - Survive until the tutorial obelisk has regenerated enough mana to perform a respawn.

Time remaining: 52 years, 3 months, 17 days, 12:34:27:132 hours.

Decline: N/A

Reward: New Game Protocol will be reactivated

Failure: Permadeath

“At least I got a timer,” I muttered.

The first thing to do was to take stock of my situation.

“Status,” I stated.

Status

Name

Titus

Level

1

Class

Demon Lord

Race

Demon Lord

HP

50/50

MP

0/5

SP

30/30

Age

24

I couldn’t help the bitter laugh that escaped my lips. My resource pools were not a lot to work with this life. My HP looked like an NPC’s, and I only had enough SP to [Flash Step] 3 times. Meanwhile, MP was even worse. Even if I knew how to stop the mana drain I always experienced in the tutorial, I barely had enough mana for a bolt spell.

However, that did at least give me something to check. I pulled out both of my wands and checked my MP again.

It jumped up to 355… well, 0 out of 355, but I was at least grateful that any stats I gained from gear weren’t nerfed too.

It might be time to actually get some magic items. I thought. If only I had a way to afford them all… I looked around at the mountains of dragon parts that were still there from when I dumped them in a rage in my third life. I stuffed as many as possible without being over-encumbered and then got back to thinking.

That’s when I spotted the circular shield that I had propped up against the obelisk all those years ago.

I bent over and scooped it up.

“Not quite sure how a shield would work out with [Martial Arts], but I get the feeling I’m going to need all of the help I can get,” I said. Then, without further ceremony, I stuffed it into my inventory.

System: You are over-encumbered and cannot move

“Oh, right,” I said. “I literally just filled my inventory. Let’s see, what can I dump?” I asked.

I had dozens of emptied potion vials from the mana I had to donate, a few pieces of magicite that were also depleted of mana for the same reason, a fire dragon egg (which definitely couldn’t go), the 20 mana potions that I had asked Altsys’s system to save, the sword I had stabbed that lich with…

Insurance

A well-crafted sword enchanted with undead-bane

Yes, Pride had been responsible for naming the sword. He had it order-made just in case the lich he created decided to backstab him.

Out of curiosity, I pulled it out. Pride had only bothered with it when he stabbed the lich, but I was curious about the enchantment. I put my magical senses to the test and tried to figure it out for a few minutes before giving up.

I couldn’t quite make sense of it, but it did at least give me another thought.

I should probably learn how to enchant things sometime. I get the feeling it would be helpful with the ritual… or with making my own gear.

From there, I stuffed the sword back into my inventory and finally decided I would dump some dragon parts to make room for the shield.

I dumped a few pounds… then a few more… then I suddenly found myself in a pile of dragon parts, with no more left in my inventory, and I was still over-encumbered.

“Okay, what the heck is up with this shield?” I muttered. I looked at it in my inventory.

Wilson

A completely normal shield… Or is it?

“Wilson?” I asked. “Wait…” I frowned as that sparked an ancient memory. “I named you Wilson. Was that enough to change your System info, or… Did AltSys name you that when he made this dungeon?”

That sparked a downward spiral of thoughts that I would rather have not gotten into.

AltSys could tell the future somehow. That means he knew what would happen with Admin and me. And, this entire tutorial dimension was set up by him. I glanced over at the obelisk. Something tells me that my respawn mechanic and “new game” protocol might have been too. But then… why? Why would he care about what happened to me after he messed up Admin’s plans? Especially since I’m planning to undo that when I come up with time travel?

My paranoia mounted.

Am I still being played? Am I just playing into AltSys’s hands, and he has another use for me down the line? Am I anything but a pawn?

My thoughts went a million miles an hour, and I likely would have driven myself to madness, and madness form, if not for another burning problem.

My lungs. They felt like they were on fire, and I suddenly realized I was taking damage.

Thoughts discarded, I spun my head on a swivel and tried to locate the new tutorial threat.

Is it a new monster from the patch? I didn’t see anything around. Maybe a disease? Some type of added-on condition? Frick! I don’t have the MP to cast a [Restore]!

I flipped back to my status and gasped as I watched my HP dropping.

Then, it stopped. My lungs no longer felt on fire, and my HP stabilized.

“What the frick was that?” I asked. I was incredibly wary of whatever had damaged me, but all I could do was keep a lookout to see if it happened again.

I tried to pull Wilson out of my inventory, but I had had to wait an agonizing minute for the shield to appear. When it finally did, I examined it closely.

It has… some type of enchantment on it. I thought. I couldn’t determine what any of it was doing, and I didn’t even recognize the spell school, but it seemed pretty obvious what the effect was. It drastically increased in weight but only when it was in my inventory.

I got briefly lost in thought, and the burning sensation came back.

Again!? I thought as I dropped the shield on the floor and spun in a quick circle. However, this time I was slightly less panicked. How did I stop it last time? I paused and opened my status, but it didn’t go away this time.

What’s different? I thought with a bit more urgency. Oh, I guess I also did this.

I gasped, the pain disappeared, and I finally realized how monumentally stupid I was.

“I was just forgetting to breathe!” I said. Then my eyes shot wide open as I realized the ramifications of that. “What the frick? I haven’t had to breathe since I left Earth!”

Then, as if waiting for me to make a fool of myself, AltSys’s automated messages activated.

System : Warning, due to incomplete regeneration, some perks may not be operating at full efficiency. Please access the obelisk with “Demon Lord Diagnostic Mode” to learn more

Cursing AltSys for the thousandth time, I walked back over to the obelisk. “Activate [Demon Lord] Diagnostic Mode,” I said.

It did the same scary lightning routine that it did when I activated hospitality protocol way back when then it flashed a light over me a few times.

System : Diagnostic Results Compiled.

System : Ageless perk degraded. Aged body given, resource pools adjusted

System : Biologically Needless perk degraded. Sleep needs set to normal. Air needs set to highly reduced. Water and food needs unchanged. Resource regen timers unchanged

System : Status Effect Resistance perk degraded. Resistances halved. Immunities reduced to resistance V

System : Demon Lord Cold Resistance perk degraded. Cold resistance reduced to II

System : Darkvision perk degraded. Darkvision range limited

You just gotta keep kickin’ a man when he’s down, don’t you? I asked. I wasn’t sure who to direct my ire at. I could blame the System for putting me in the situation in the first place, AltSys since most of this was his fault, or even Pride since he was the one that ran up the tab that I was paying for.

In the end, I decided to blame all three and move on.

Needing to sleep and breathe are the biggest downsides. I decided. Well, aside from the pitiful HP, MP, and SP that I’m working with. Everything else is 100% manageable.

The next question was how I would clear the tutorial with that many handicaps.

Honestly, it will probably not be that different from the first time I cleared it. I thought. I was technically even weaker than I was then unless you remembered two things. I still had my skills and the ability to get health back. Both of those things were huge, and I was sure I could clear it in much less time than my pitiful first clear.

Even if it takes me a month, that’s a good thing. I don’t want to show up back on Placeholder on time. I thought. Showing up when they expect me is a terrible idea, so the longer I can wait, the better.

I paused. “Actually, why not just wait out the whole respawn timer?” I asked. “It’s not like I need to go back to Placeholder when I’m just fine in the tutorial. Yeah, it will suck a little waiting 50 years in here, but my perception of time is screwy anyway.” I nodded with my mind made up.

The only question was how I would spend my time. I first decided that I needed to get used to my new body.

I stretched a bit, threw some practice punches and kicks, and finally when I was ready, I [Flash Stepped].

The skill did not go near as far as I was used to, and it was all I could do to not topple over at the other end. It also took precisely one-third of my stamina bar, so I wasn’t too happy about that.

I need to get used to that sooner rather than later. If I try to do anything I did last life, I’ll end up dead.

However, there was one silver lining that I had yet to realize, and it only came to light when I started comparing my maximum distance for [Flash Step].

Wait… Isn’t that longer than my life before last? I didn’t dare get too hopeful, but there was only one possibility I could think of. I flipped open my skills page and saw a welcome sight.

[Flash Step] is level 8. I thought with a grin. I guess it counted just a bit of the experience from me literally traveling entire continents with it.

There were also two additional entries that surprised me.

“What the frick, I have the [Temporus] and [Spatius] skills?” I muttered. I closed out of my status and re-opened it, just in case my eyes were playing tricks on me, but they still showed. “I guess I have two spells in each school, and Pride did a decent amount of casting.”

The bad news was they were only level 1, and I was pretty sure I could have gotten them higher from retroactive XP if I had bought them from the obelisk.

However, in the end, I figured it was worth it since I didn’t have to shell out skill points.

That figured out; it was back to finding out how to kill time. I decided I may as well get a few levels while I was at it, but I came up with a good twist.

I hefted Wilson in my left hand and carried Insurance in the right. May as well give it a shot, right? Worst case scenario, I just switch back to using my fists.

Against the level 1 normal ants, I didn’t even come close to that.

Were they always this easy? I asked as I effortlessly cut down another group of four ants with just four swings. Even with my aged body and being at level 1, I didn’t encounter a single problem because it turns out… having more reach than your enemies is really nice.

There was one moment that may have been a close call. One of the ants managed to grab my sword in its pincers, and it did its best to wrench my weapon away from me.

I… let it do that. With a shrug and a quick [Fire Strike] kick (that I slightly regretted due to wasted stamina), that enemy went down too.

“Is it too late to pick up [Swordsmanship]?” I asked Wilson. Then I shook my head. “It’s a bit early to be talking to my shield. Besides, I haven’t taken this sword for a real test.”

The test I decided on was a bit risky, but I was still in the tutorial and was sure I still had respawns enabled there, so I wasn’t too worried.

I stared at my hated enemy and waited for all my SP to regen before I went in.

I’m gonna feel like an idiot if this is actually just a chest. I thought as I awkwardly slung my only ranged projectile… my shield.

Captain America I was not, but it hit with enough force that the mimic stirred to life.

I was prepared to make a fighting retreat against the slow enemy and just stab its tongue whenever it tried to grab me. I wasn’t ready for the mimic to determine that my shield was its enemy and for it to just wrap its tongue around it and swallow it whole.

I blinked in surprise. Then, with a shrug, I let forth the most fearsome warcry my geriatric body would let me, and I began hacking and slashing at the deceptive foe.

I need to keep an eye on it. I need to get out of here as soon as it finishes eating the shield. I can even [Flash Step] and try again later if I have to.

It turned out there was no need for that level of planning. Wilson lasted longer than either the mimic or I expected, and I managed to slay the level 5 monster with nothing but my sword.

That was enough to get me to level 3 right out of the gate, but that wasn’t the biggest surprise.

As the monster disappeared, two identical shields dropped to the floor.

I gasped. “An item dupe glitch! Score!”

To save a longwinded story, the answer was no. That was not an item duplication glitch. It just turned out that when mimics were set up to replace regular chests randomly, they dropped the normal chest rewards on the floor when they were killed. That, combined with Wilson being a rare drop in the pool for the tutorial’s chests, meant that I wasted a bunch of time trying to game the System only to end up with three shields.

I took all of them back to the obelisk room with me, which was a bit of a hassle since none of them could go in my inventory.

I debated what to do with them when I suddenly let loose a huge yawn.

“Right. Sleep,” I said. “I feel like I haven’t slept in centuries,” I joked to the gathered Wilson trio.

Fortunately, I knew exactly where I could go to get some shuteye.

I put my hand on the obelisk.

“Activate hospitality protocol,” I said.

System : Error. Hospitality protocol unavailable

I sighed. “Of course it is. Well, I guess I don’t have to sleep in a bed.”

I grumbled a bit as I set about making a makeshift sleeping area. I didn’t have any blankets or pillows, but I had some spare clothes I wadded up. It wasn’t that comfortable, and I prepared for a restless night.

I had no idea how right I was about that. My dreams were a blur, but they were certainly far from pleasant.

Me standing there, choking Faylen to death, only for the elf to be replaced by a dying Sarah who blamed me for her death.

Jake’s final [Sunder] charging up and tearing through me, only for him to also collapse and die in front of me.

And worst of all… me standing there in wrath form towering over the [Rogue] I loved. My club descended and-

“MEGAN!” I shouted as I finally started awake.

I was sweating. My hands were shaking. And I could tell that if I let those thoughts linger, he might come back.

“[Restore],” I frantically cast to no effect. “[Restore]!” I shouted more urgently.

“Mana. Need mana,” I said. “P-p-potion. Right. Potion.” I flipped through my inventory, found a mana potion, and drained it in one go.

“[Restore]!” I cast. The condition-removing magic flowed through me but felt like only a drop.

“O-o-only 5 mana. Need more,” I said. I pulled one of my wands out at random and drained another potion. “[Restore]!”

That was enough to at least let me feel my grip on sanity return.

I took a deep breath and then did the coldhearted calculus.

I have 18 mana potions left. If those nightmares return every night… I had a choice to make. I was planning to stay a while to avoid the [Hero] and await my respawn timer… but I would also likely fail one of my few rules about not getting madness form.

There was every chance that I would never recover if I went mad again.

On the other hand, if I died before the respawn came up again, that was also game over.

“Had to give me a hard choice this life, didn’t ya?” I groaned. I wasn’t sure what to do, but I was sure of one thing. I wasn’t getting any more sleep.

I stiffly stood to my feet and got moving.

I don’t think I can make it long enough to matter. I thought as I shuffled over to the nearest shield. Even if I take the most conservative estimates and guess that I only need one mana potion for a [Restore] every few days… That doesn’t even buy me two months. I frowned. Compared to 52 years, that’s practically nothing.

“Guess I’ll be getting out of here sooner rather than later,” I muttered. It was amazing what a nightmare-filled sleep on a hard floor could do to someone’s plans.

I would have headed for the boss room immediately, but my back was really killing me.

My solution, which made me look even more like an old geezer, was to grab a good-sized dragon bone for a cane.

Which reminded me.

“Right, I emptied my inventory,” I said. So, for the 2nd time in 2 days, I stuffed my inventory full of dragon parts. Though, I made sure I had enough room for everything except Wilson.

“Anything else I need to take care of?” I asked. I knew there wasn’t, but I was stalling. I didn’t want to fight the boss again. I didn’t want to go back to Placeholder with such a weak body. I didn’t want to be on the run from the [Hero] yet again.

However, I didn’t want to have those nightmares again even more, so that won out. Because if there were any options to make me sleep soundly through the night, I knew I wouldn’t find them in the tutorial.

I wonder if I [Restore] myself before I go to bed if that will stop the nightmares. I asked as I trekked through the familiar tunnels. I came upon a group of 5 ants, but I continued my internal monologue even as I stowed my cane to cut through them with my sword.

If not… I might have to see if there is an [Alchemist] I can find in Deepmine. I thought. Yes, Deepmine, not Faroff. There was no way I was teleporting directly into the cluster known as Faroff if I could help it.

Soon enough, I made it to the room in front of the boss.

I forgot how many of these guys there were outside. I grumbled as I drew my sword once more.

As for why I was still using my sword… I had come to realize that it was probably more stamina efficient.

Yes, I could one-shot ants with [Elemental Strike], but 1 SP was a lot to pump into a single enemy when you only had 36.

That and I didn’t have to reach or move as much, which my body appreciated.

The fight got dicey, and I took a few bites. I also lost my shield, which I probably should have just tossed to the ground since it wasn’t much help anyway.

Fortunately, the two elites guarding the door were content to watch until I took out all the other enemies. That made it nice and easy to stuff my sword in my inventory to walk up and deck them.

I hadn’t forgotten about their weakness to hand-to-hand attacks.

I entered the room and received one of the two expected messages as a solid rock slammed down over the entrance.

System: You have entered a dungeon boss room! You will be unable to leave by any means until the dungeon boss is defeated.

I frowned and looked up at the ceiling. “Well?”

System : Spawn--------

System : Spawn point----- error

System : Unable to set spawn point. Please perform diagnostics

“I don’t know what I expected,” I said as I put my face in my hand. “I wasn’t planning on dying in here anyway, but I guess I’ll just have to play it even safer than I thought I would.”

So, the next thing on the menu was resting up. In the last fight, I had depleted quite a bit of my stamina, and there was no reason to go out without being topped off.

That gave me some time to think about the upcoming fight, and I remembered a few other tricks I had up my sleeve.

That’s why, instead of charging down the hill like my idiotic first self, I went down it at a slow crouch.

[Sneak] at level 5 might mean they can’t detect me at all. I thought with a vague sense of hope. Unfortunately, I only made it halfway to the nearest lava channel before one of the nearby ants turned and bit me.

My cover was blown, so I activated phase 2 of my plan. Shield up to take the attacks from the ranged ants, Demon Lord aura going at full blast to cow any nearby enemies, and then my sword chopping down any ant that stood directly in my path.

It wasn’t perfect, and my health dropped to about half, but I got close enough to [Flash Step] into the river of lava.

Next up phase 3. Take down the healers… I paused as I had a thought. Wait. Do the healers matter? A quick think over my charge to the river gave me a hesitant no. Healers don’t matter if you can kill the enemies before they can get the heal off, and I could one-shot all but the fire ants (who took two hits).

That made my decision for me. I took out the ranged ants next, and, from there, it was easy. Instead of keeping my shield up for ranged attacks all the time, I got to use it for a different tactic… Did you know that Wilson stood up perfectly fine to lava? He also made for an excellent bucket to throw lava at my enemies.

To put it another way, while I didn’t make record time in my clear, I didn’t have nearly as big of an issue as I thought I would. I even came up with an idea when I had only the healer ants left.

This might be my last chance to try to get some sleep. I thought. I better make use of it. There’s no telling what craziness will meet me back on Placeholder.

So, with my wand out, I drained two more mana potions and cast [Restore] on myself before curling up next to the lava river to get some shuteye.

My dreams were… Different than last time.

-------

“And you’re really okay with this?” a shadowy figure said with a scowl.

“I can assure you,” a gentle voice from nowhere answered. “My goal isn’t to make him suffer.”

“Sure as hail looks like it,” the first figured snapped back. “And I would frickin’ know.”

I heard a soft sigh in response. “He is suffering and fighting against despair because he has not even reached the middle of his story.”

“I frickin’ know that,” the shadow muttered.

The voice talked over him.

“Meanwhile, you’re angry because you’ve seen to the middle of his story and believe it to be the end. As for me, I know what lies at the true end. And what a glorious one he shall have!”

“Is that supposed to make me feel any frickin’ better about this?” the shadow yelled.

“No. And neither will I ask for your forgiveness. I simply wanted you to know that I only did what must be done… and both you and he will understand in time.”

The shadow seemed to be about to give a rebuttal, but the voice interrupted.

“We must go. He is waking, and we have much left to do with your remaining time.”

The shadowy figure vanished.

---------

I stirred awake. My dreams had been much more pleasant than last time, so it looked like my idea to [Restore] beforehand had been on the money.

A part of me wondered if the dream I had meant anything, but I quickly laughed that thought off.

At least one of those voices cared about me. I thought. So, I already know that’s impossible.

The last person who had actually cared about me in this godforsaken world had died more than a century ago.

With a groan, I stood up and looked for the last healer ant I had left. It took a bit to find it. It was cowering in the corner by itself.

I killed it with a nonchalant sword swing and then hurried back to the lava river as the elites poured into the room.

For the elites, I didn’t have much trouble once I stowed my sword. Throw some lava on ‘em, [Fire Strike] punch ‘em; either way, they went down fast.

It was still enough time to do some planning.

I don’t think it’d be smart to take another trip into the void with the boss. I realized. I could get away with my first life because it died before I did, but I’m not sure if I’ll still be invincible to the out-of-bounds damage this life.

I had assumed it was based on suffocation, and I could hold a breath for more than 10 minutes (I had checked), but I still felt uneasy about making that my primary plan. So, I tested something out with the lava river, Wilson, and the over-encumbered condition.

I almost drowned since swimming with a shield was more complicated than I gave it credit, but my plan worked.

Way to defeat the boss, check. I thought as I stayed submerged in the lava for a bit. But what am I going to do after that?

As always, levels were my priority. I would be level 8 after defeating the boss, but that wasn’t near enough, especially with my weakened state.

My initial thought was to head to the infernal dire snails as always, but I realized there were some complications with that.

I have to sleep now. I thought. And I’m much slower than before.

To that end, I would want some supplies. At least a tent and a sleeping bag.

That made my tentative plan teleport out to DeepMine, disguise myself, and then make my purchases.

I should also get some gear, but that depends on how much money Pride left- HOLY FRICKIN’ SIT!

I opened my inventory, and a gold balance of more than 2 million stared right back at me.

It took several moments before I remembered where all that money had come from. Pride had reigned for a long time. During that time, Gram reclaimed most of its eastern front from undeath, and Dryadal reclaimed a lot of its southern front. Then, they had begged and pleaded with me to populate them with dungeons and zones so that they would be net-positive income if they were settled.

I’d agreed to do it… as long as they paid a hefty price on top of the 100,000 gold it took me to establish a dungeon.

Pride never looked at his status unless he had to. I thought. He didn’t care about the money. He just wanted to ensure that his “loyal subjects” properly paid tribute to him.

That was a game-changer. Unless the price of gear had skyrocketed, I could afford some top-of-the-line stuff with that much.

Unfortunately, it also had its drawbacks.

I’m going to attract every [Thief] in a one hundred-mile radius. I frowned. And that would have been fine in a previous life because good luck [Stealing] from me. But this time, I have to sleep. That’s 8 hours a day that I’m defenseless against my pockets getting picked.

Speaking of gear… I looked at my wands. Every time I get kicked out of the tutorial, I’m put at max resources, right? Equipping those right before I get sent out might be a good idea.

However, my lungs told me it was time to stop stalling, so I resurfaced and gasped for air.

“Alright, let’s do this,” I said as I shuffled onto the shore. I took a quick moment to get the key pieces of my disguise in place, my hooded cloak, and my blue-colored contacts, and then I strode over to the remaining elite ant.

It trembled in fear as I decked it in the face, and then as always, the boss’s screech ripped through the cave. The only difference was that 5 damage looked like a lot more on my diminished health bar.

I didn’t stick around. I sprinted as fast as my aged body would let me and dove into the lava.

It is following me, right? I asked. My question was answered by the colossal form splashing into the lava.

I swam for my life, even as we got to the portion with a current that dragged both of us along.

Unfortunately, the part I hadn’t calculated was how much slower I was compared to the first time I did this, especially since I was still lugging Wilson around. The boss rapidly closed the distance.

I tried to keep from panicking as its pincers snapped shut repeatedly, mere inches short of my legs.

Fortunately, its attacks ended up giving me my opening. I timed one of my kicks with its attacks, pushed off, and [Flash Stepped] ahead and a bit downward.

The current was also strong enough, so I proceeded with my plan.

I pulled Wilson into my inventory.

System: You are over-encumbered and cannot move

I sank like a stone directly to the bottom of the lava river. Meanwhile, the boss wasn’t so lucky. It sailed past me and disappeared from view as it fell off the edge.

I gave it a mock salute.

See ya later. I thought. Then, I began pulling out Wilson, even as I pulled out my two wands.

Fortunately, the boss took longer than a minute to die, so I was able to pull Wilson out and then discard it into the lava flow. I didn’t think I would have much use for a shield outside the tutorial, and something told me that letting that particular one fall into the wrong hands could be an issue. There was also the fact that I was a bit annoyed I couldn’t have it in my inventory.

When the boss finally kicked the bucket, I was yoinked into the obelisk interface as always.

Alright, now I have the chance to pick up a skill and-

Unfortunately, AtlSys’s system didn’t agree.

System : Insufficient mana to allow last-minute point spending. Immediately sending out to default destination

Default? FRICK! That’s-

I appeared in the center of Faroff on a bright sunny day as the System message rolled through.

System: The realm trembles as a new Demon Lord is born! Demon morale has been restored, and darkness begins its nefarious plans to conquer the world

I was going to be surrounded, but maybe if I got into [Sneak] quickly enough, I could…

“[Halt], [Demon Lord]!” came the cry from one of the many barricades cordoning off the obelisk from the surrounding area.

“I’m sorry,” I called back. “You must have me mistaken for someone else,” I lied.

“[Identify]!” was the reply. “Target confirmed! [Demon Lord] sighted!”

Muttering butchered swears under my breath, I took stock of the situation.

I was encircled, and I was sure that even a few high-level [Soldiers] could do me in with my minuscule HP. That was doubly true since I didn’t even have a Demon Lord form to fall back on.

However, I had one last play. I started casting, even as I [Got Into Character].

-------

How do they live out here in a place with no ceiling? Samson asked with a shudder as the [Mayor] continued showing him around Faroff.

He had insisted that he should be watching and waiting for the [Demon Lord] to return, but the [Mayor] had raised a valid point. While it was always 50 years after the last [Demon Lord] died, there was no guarantee that it would be precisely that length. In fact, the tyrant appeared in Placeholder years after he was expected.

So, the [Hero] politely nodded along as the [Mayor] droned on about boring human architecture when they received the message.

System: The realm trembles as a new Demon Lord is born! Demon morale has been restored, and darkness begins its nefarious plans to conquer the world

The level 25 [Hero] immediately took off for the town center, leaving the startled [Mayor] in the dust.

Samson was praying that there would be no casualties while he was on the way, and it seemed that System answered him because there were no sounds of fighting as he approached the obelisk. The only sound was a loud, arrogant voice from the square.

“-so go ahead and wait for your little [Hero] to come to save you!” the voice called. “None of you others are worth a second of my time!”

Samson had seen the sculptures that were carved of the tyrant, and that was what he was expecting when he heard that pride-filled voice echo through the town. Which is why he was a bit confused when he came to the square and saw a beastborn man who looked like he was nearly going to collapse from age shouting at the surrounding [Soldiers].

Samson briefly wondered if that was even the [Demon Lord] when he finally got close.

The oppressive presence confirmed it for him. It was as if the air around the [Demon Lord] proclaimed who he was and dared anyone to trifle with him.

However, Samson powered through it because that was his duty as a [Hero].

“Stand and face me, [Demon Lord]!” Samson bellowed as he pulled out hammer and shield and faced down the monster.

The [Demon Lord] spun to face him as he did.

“And here’s the [Hero]… at long last!” he said with a sneer. “Come! Entertain me, why don’t… you?”

The two began circling each other, but Samson’s confusion mounted. Doesn’t he seem a bit… Slow? And his speech… There’s something wrong with it.

The [Demon Lord] paused. “Though, I suppose I must ask. Ask you… Are you sure you want to do this… here?” he asked as he belatedly gestured at the surrounding [Soldiers] and buildings.

Samson grit his teeth. “You coward! You think you can take hostage of this town-“

The [Demon Lord] laughed. “Of course!... Of course not! I shouldn’t need such a thing.” He waved his hand dismissively. Then his eyes hardened. “But, if you promise to… follow me out of town to make this a… duel… I suppose I would not be opposed.”

Samson didn’t even have to think that one through. “I accept!” he called back.

“Very good, follow me!” the [Demon Lord] bellowed.

Samson followed at a slight distance as the [Demon Lord] simply walked through the town. The [Soldiers] parted before him.

He seemed to be taking his sweet time, and Samson’s nerves started mounting.

He seems confident. Samson thought. That put the [Demon Lord’s] attitude at odds with his appearance. He looked like he was desperately trying not to walk hunched over, and he stopped to have a coughing fit almost a dozen times.

On the last one of those coughing fits, when they were already out of town, Samson finally saw a hint of a blue potion bottle.

“What are you trying to pull?” Samson asked.

“Me?” the [Demon Lord] asked incredulously. “I’m… not pulling anything.”

“Then how far are you planning on walking?” Samson asked. “I think we’re far enough!”

The [Demon Lord] laughed. “Is that so? Fine! Come get me!”

Samson charged at the [Demon Lord], prepared to make a devastating swing with his hammer. He was ready for a counterattack, the [Demon Lord] to dodge, or any other myriad of things.

He was unprepared for the [Demon Lord] to drop to all fours.

“Please don’t kill me!” he whined. “I beg you!”

Samson skidded to a stop in front of the groveling [Demon Lord]. “I… err… what?”

“It was all just an act. I’m sorry! I’m not the [Demon Lord]! He just made me do it!” the… [Demon Lord]?... sobbed.

Samson raised an eyebrow. “[Identify].”

Sure enough, level 8 [Demon Lord] was what was displayed.

“Your trickery won’t-“

“What I mean is that I didn’t mean to do it!” the [Demon Lord] immediately switched tacts. “It wasn’t me that did all those horrible things, and I didn’t want them all to happen!”

“That doesn’t-“

“And if you kill me right now, things will get even worse!”

“How could-“

“You’ll get someone even eviler than me! And they won’t care about this world-“

“SHUT UP!” Samson bellowed.

The [Demon Lord] was stunned into silence but began muttering something under his breath.

Samson wasn’t sure what to do. This wasn’t how he envisioned his fight with the [Demon Lord]. In fact, given the extra damage that his weapon dealt to demons, and the [Demon Lord’s] paltry level, Samson was convinced that he could kill the hated foe of Placeholder in a single hit.

But still, he hesitated. The sobbing, inconsolable mess in front of him resembled nothing of the stories he had heard. The man was also unarmed and hadn’t made any move to attack him.

However, Samson had his duty. It was his job to slay the [Demon Lord] and keep the peace for the people. The [Demon Lord] was also crafty, so how could he be sure this wasn’t a trick?

He raised his hammer to prepare the final attack when the [Demon Lord] looked up.

And Samson finally realized what a fool he had been.

He’s casting! Samson thought in panic. He swung his hammer down in a fatal blow, but it hit nothing but air as the [Demon Lord] reappeared more than a dozen feet from him.

He charged, but it was too late. With one last smirk, the [Demon Lord] finished his chant.

“[Teleport].”

------

I collapsed to the ground more than a dozen miles away from the [Hero] in relief. I hadn’t entirely been acting when I had made my heartfelt pleas for him to spare my life. I was truly that close to dying for good.

If I hadn’t timed that [Flash Step] right… I shuddered before putting it out of my mind.

In addition to relief, I also felt utterly exhausted. It had been much more taxing than I expected to cast [Teleport] while maintaining a conversation in character. That was doubly true because I didn’t even have enough mana to cast [Teleport]. I had to try something entirely new where I partially cast it and drank mana potions as I went to make up the difference.

I had also covertly [Identified] the [Hero] and learned that he was level 25, which meant that there was no way I would ever try to take him on in a straight-up fight.

“The good news is that I should be able to avoid him pretty easily now,” I said with a brief chuckle. “Samson Stonebreaker, good luck catching me now that you’re a valid target for [Scry].”

I had made it out of the trap alive, and I was free. And that wasn’t the only reward I got for my duplicitous scheme.

System: Deception form set

I grinned. “Just what I needed. Looks like things are starting to look up.”