The Demon King is Unfathomable

“…”

‘Mission? What’s that?’

Roan didn’t recall such a setting, but he decided to go with the flow, seeing how immersed the player was in the role-play. It spared him the trouble of explaining too.

Faced with the skeleton soldier’s expectant eyes, Roan cleared his throat and spoke with an authoritative voice, “Good. That spares me the hassle of making unnecessary explanations.”

Following the flow of typical RPGs, he should be assigning them quests next.

‘Eyy… What should I get them to do?’

Roan surveyed his surroundings before his gaze fell on the labyrinth’s entrance.

“That is the previous demon king’s labyrinth. Traitors of the netherworld roam within. Explore the labyrinth and report all happenings to me. If anyone attacks you, give them a vicious pummeling in return!”

‘Traitors of the netherworld?! That has to be a main storyline quest!’

With glowing eyes, he ran to the labyrinth entrance.

Some players noticed his movements and followed him out of curiosity. Some looked at Roan, who was emanating boss’ vibes, with gleaming eyes.

‘Is this guiding NPC for beginners? You should have said so earlier! We wasted so much precious time doing nothing!’

After sending off an overexcited player, Roan was about to confirm the condition of the demon king domain’s core and check if there was a new mission when the remaining skeleton soldiers suddenly surrounded him.

Ruckus followed.

“Mission! Beep beep! Skip! Faster!”

“Revered Demon King, I am your smartest servant! Please bestow me with a quest so that I can share your worries!”

“Demon King, look at me too! I am your fiercest claw! I’ll discipline this heroine on your behalf!”

“Demon King, you mustn’t believe him! You don’t know how many people that guy has scammed!”

“I am your long-lost brother!”

“Succubus! I want a succubus!!!”

“…” Roan was speechless.

‘What the hell is this?’

Sensing the increasing excitement among the players, Roan took a deep breath and roared, “Silence!”

At the same time, he used his authority to halt the noisy skeletons’ movements, causing them to be frozen in their last pose like machines with their plugs pulled.

The Calamity system didn’t grant Roan the ability to freeze players, but these players were occupying skeleton soldiers he had summoned through the demon king domain’s core, after all. As a demon king whose soul was bound to the core, he had absolute authority in this domain.

No one could overwrite him!

The tunnel was finally silent.

Roan looked at the anxious monkeys before him and spoke up with a resounding voice, “I am the demon king and your lord. The land beneath your feet to the shaft entrance is my domain. My domain should have been larger, but the previous demon king was an utter fool. He screwed everything up and left a huge mess behind, forcing me to start anew.

“Our goal for now is to build an everlasting base in the heart of the human territory. It will become the foundation for us to propagate faith in the netherworld among the surface dwellers. First and foremost… we shall pick up our weapons and fight! We shall take back our shaft and labyrinth from those filthy rats!”

Halfway through his words, Roan could already see pairs of crimson eyes warily eyeing him.

In fact, he realized from the moment he stepped into this area that the Northpeak Shaft had become the ratmen’s turf.

It was unknown whether these ratmen used to be the previous demon king’s subordinates or that they had moved in from elsewhere… Regardless of which, it didn’t matter.

Those who bare their fangs at the demon king should be prepared for death.

As soon as Roan was done with his monologue, he lifted the movement restraint on the player skeletons and pointed at the rats hidden in the shadows.

“Smash their heads in with your pickaxes and claim their weapons! First come first serve!”

He was worried that the players might disregard his words and leave him in an awkward position, but it looked like he had severely underestimated their zealousness. They were so overly energetic that they would have leaped at any quest thrown their way.

As soon as they regained their control, they raised their pickaxes and charged at the ratmen lying in ambush in the shadows.

“GWARRRRR!”

“It’s a quest, a quest!”

“The rest of you get back! I’ll handle it alone!”

“Long live the Demon King!”

“…”

‘Quest?’

More than one player had mentioned that term, so he couldn’t help but think more about it.

‘Can these players receive quests from the Calamity system?’

It made sense for players to receive quests from NPCs, but he would have to get to the bottom of how the quest mechanism worked so that he could put it to better use.

Also, he wasn’t planning to offer those players any rewards. It would be very troubling if he had to pay them when they completed their quests.

While Roan was racking his brain, the skeletons were already slaughtering their way through the slave rats. The sight of so many skeletons filling the tunnel terrified the slave rats, quelling their morale.

There was no need for any profound strategies here. All the skeletons did was take turns smashing their pickaxes down on the slave rats.

The slave rats blocked the attacks with wooden boards, but they stood no chance against the persistent barrage of attacks. It wouldn’t have made a difference even if they were armed with metal plates!

Slave rats were ultimately cannon fodder in the labyrinth. It was common for them to bully amateurs in the labyrinth, but it was a different story when the amateurs were grouped up in a huge pack.

Only a few seconds into the fight, the slave rats were already overwhelmed!

“Jip!!!”

A ratman finally succumbed to its fear and darted back into the shadows.

More quickly followed its example.

To think that these experienced cannon fodder would be destroyed by a bunch of amateurs!

“Don’t run!”

“Stand still!”

“Experience! My experience points!”

The players at the forefront immediately chased after their escaping experience packs.

Undead beings were equipped with night vision and life detection, so the players’ movements weren’t hindered even when they wandered beyond the torch-lit areas.

But there were also players who stopped, not daring to venture deeper into the shaft.

There were cowardly players as much as there were bold players. This was their first time seeing rats who were half their height. Even though their fear of monsters was dampened by the game framing, they still needed time to grow accustomed to it.

“T-that’s terrifying! How could there such fat rats?!” Hungryhungry huddled like a ball in the corner, shuddering out of nervousness.

She wouldn’t have feared even goblins and dragons, but rats…

‘What’s with this awful taste!!!’

A troublemaker noticed her and mischievously brought a still alive ratman up to her, “Bro, you need some experience? This one is still alive—”

“DIE!!!”

“…”

“Not bad. I’ll give it an 80 out of 120.”

On the whole, Roan was still satisfied with the players’ skills. He also jotted down a couple of more unique usernames.

These skeletons looked identical, but when he focused on them he could see their usernames. If he stared a little longer, their health bar and character page would appear too.

‘I wonder how things appear from the players’ perspective. Can they see my health bar?’

Roan didn’t want to burden the players with too many quests on their first day, so he handed the initiative to them and let them freely explore the Northpeak Shaft and the underground labyrinth.

On the one hand, he lacked an understanding of the players’ capabilities and characters.

On the other hand, he needed to further investigate what the Calamity system was capable of.

Further observation was required.

He noticed one of the skeleton soldiers trying to pull down Chris’ pants.

He initially considered turning a blind eye to it, but to uphold some level of propriety, he still shouted, “Enough! These people are my prisoners. If you want prisoners, capture your own!”

The skeleton soldier named Explodingknowledge quickly pounced aside. When he noticed many eyes falling on him, he anxiously waved his hand and explained, “I-I-I was just…”

“Seeing how realistic it is?” Orcknight wrapped his arm around Explodingknowledge while guffawing. “I get it, bro!”

“Equipment! I’m looting her equipment!!!”

“Okay, okay. Chill, we get it. Later, when this NPC isn’t around…”

Roan: “…”

‘I understand your language, you know? Haa, forget it.’

He couldn’t be bothered explaining to the players, so he added two more rules to the server to prevent these players from going overboard with his prisoners.

Only living beings could provide the power of faith, which was why demon kings took prisoners instead of killing them outright. That wasn’t necessarily good for the prisoners though, as most of them were tortured.

In any case, he had a use for these prisoners.

‘I need to first get a cage to lock them. Let me try some Steel-tier spells.’

Roan took out a thin wand and waved it at a nearby wall, producing a dark yellow light.

“Stone Prison!”

The earth shook slightly.

Thick stone pillars rose from the ground and intersected one another, forming separate prison cells around each of the trembling adventurers.

Even though Roan was a necromancer, he was capable of more than necromancy. He was also skilled at earth magic, one of the branches of magic close to necromancy.

He also set up a couple of Copper-tier magic formations in the vicinity to further ensure that his prisoners couldn’t escape.

Next, he needed to secure the demon king domain’s core.

The core was not so fragile that it could be destroyed by a couple of skeleton soldiers, but in case the players tried to do something to it, he added a few rules to the Calamity system that would result in the player being automatically kicked offline.

He also constructed a few defensive formations around the core.

Protecting a demon king domain’s core was Demon King Academy’s 101.

After settling everything, Roan clapped his hands for a job well done.

He looked at the stone prison again and saw Hugo staring at him in absolute terror. The latter was the only one conscious, and he had witnessed Roan’s entire ‘coronation’.

While admiring Hugo’s cowardly expression, Roan threatened with a smile, “I wouldn’t try to escape if I were you. Death is nothing much, but it will be terrible if you turn undead, don’t you agree?”

Hugo frantically nodded, stopping short of only swearing on Saint Sisto’s name.

Roan shot him a huge gaze before picking up the torch, which had dropped to the ground, and left this eerie shaft.

He might be a necromancer, but he had no plans of spending the night here. This shaft was not just filled with undead beings but demonic creatures too.

Besides, there was an abandoned inn at the shaft’s entrance.

The inn was tattered and looked like a haunted house, but Roan was unfazed.

His dormitory in the Demon King Academy had carnivorous plants and lava fountains. Sometimes, when he was washing his face, he would raise his head and find himself facing a woman with unkempt hair inside the mirror.

Compared to that, this inn was nothing at all.

Roan occupied the inn room with the least draft.

After tossing his luggage on the bed frame, he took out a wand and cast a few detection and defensive spells. Then, he lay down on the hard wooden bed.

‘I’ll make do with this for the night.’

He had traveled via a portal into a completely different time zone. By evening, he was already on the verge of nodding off. He was glad that he could finally rest now.

Just as he was about to doze off, he spotted a white silhouette flashing across the mirror.

Chills ran through his body. He leaped from the bed and grabbed his wand.

“Who is it? Come out!”

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