Published at 26th of December 2025 7:38 am

Chapter 437: Interlude: Memoirs of a Certain Demon King Part Two

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

People forget. Inconvenient history is rewritten by the victors, and before long, no trace of the truth remains.

People desire. Their greed knows no bounds, endlessly craving wealth and power.

Thus, it was inevitable. The Red Stone brimming with infinite mana, even when its true nature is forgotten, passes from hand to hand, fulfilling human desires.

[Gahahaha! Ive finally seized it! With this Infinite Red Stone, our empire will become the strongest military nation!]

[Oh, this is his greatest treasure! The Flame of Akasha that promises us wealth and prosperity! Hehehe, with this, our victory is assured]

[The legendary Perpetual Motion Source, huh? To think it actually existed Hey, recover it carefully! This will solve our resource problems in one fell swoop!]

Transcending time and history, buffeted by the tides of the world, the [Seal Of The Demon King] changed owners. This cycle was broken by a single young man.

[Its because of things like this that people keep making mistakes! Disappear forever!]

In the innermost chamber of a floating castle sustained by excess mana, more befitting of the Demon Kings citadel than the original, a blue-haired youth arrived. Having cut down all the soldiers of the great empire that ruled the world, the youth strikes the Magic Stone with his glowing fist in a final effort.

The Magic Stone shattered with a spectacular sound, scattering across the worlds skies. A small white lizard rides on the shoulder of the youth who accomplished this feat, but this did not mark the worlds salvation once again.

The youth probably didnt know it was the Demon Kings seal. No, the people of the world had long forgotten the Demon Kings existence. And while the Demon Kings seal couldnt be broken by mere shattering it also couldnt be destroyed so easily.

Red rain fell like meteors. Each of the thousands of shards contains the same infinite mana as the original, and as unsuspecting people find them, the world begins to turn again.

[This is amazing! You can draw out mana endlessly! With this, we can create powerful weapons to blow them away

[Whoa! Infinite water!? Are there any more of these lying around?]

People forget. People desire. And history repeats itself but some things have changed. The contaminated mana, now a thousandfold due to the scattering of the magical source across the world, has exceeded the worlds self-purification capacity.

[Cough, cough. The air around here has become quite stagnant Ah, when was the last time I saw a blue sky? How many decades ago was it?]

A man wearing a mask-like object covering the lower half of his face looked up at the sky, saying this. The heavily clouded sky brought only twilight-like brightness even during the day, and in places not benefiting from the Red Secret Stone, people can barely live normally.

And even that wont last long. Humans, finally giving up on living on the surface, made a decision that would determine the worlds fate.

[Now, we will implement Project D.]

In a dark, cold room. A middle-aged man with a beard, seated at the far end of a long table, announced this in a solemn voice. It was an absurd plan to abandon the contaminated surface and retreat underground, and to execute such a reckless plan, precious resources were allocated to develop new beings to work as human limbs similar to humans, but decidedly not human.

Type A Humans were given small bodies capable of working in confined spaces, with overwhelming physical strength disproportionate to their size.

Type B Humans were specialized to deal with groundwater, the biggest problem in underground excavation, and were capable of underwater activity.

And to compensate for the low fertility of these two types, Type C Humans were created, capable of breeding with both races while intentionally favoring male offspring to adjust numbers (as children generally inherit the mothers race).

These living magical tools, created from the mana of the infinitely glowing red Magic Stone, dig underground for humans, and humans establish bases in the holes they dig.

[28th Garrison, setup complete Hey, how far down do we need to go]

[Who knows. The contaminated mana is getting denser by the day, so they just keep saying to dig faster and deeper. Well, its fine since the slaves are doing the actual digging.]

[Hey, watch your language. Theyre Type A Humans. Slavery is prohibited by international treaty, dont run your mouth]

[Yes, yes Geez, disposable living magical tools that cant even replenish mana are called humans Really, those bigwigs sure love their pretty words.]

The hole continued deeper and deeper. And people didnt realize. They dont know that theyre using the Demon Kings fragments a convenient, infinite power source to power their garrisons. They have no way of knowing that this is whats producing the contaminated mana, and that theyre installing the cause in the closed spaces theyve fled to.

Therefore, the concentration of contaminated mana rose rapidly. The underground space dug to evacuate all of humanity became twisted into a labyrinth, and the overly concentrated contaminated mana warped even reason itself, to the point of creating failed new humans from stone walls.

[What are these things!? Theyre so damn hard! And they keep regenerating!]

[The walls! The walls we drilled are returning to normal! This cant be, our retreat!?]

[Damn it all, keep moving forward! If we cant retreat, we can only advance!]

[What about no, what should we do with the Type A Humans? We cant leave them behind.]

[Abandon them! We can replenish our numbers when we reach a suitable base!]

Humans struggled desperately. But ordinary humans were never meant to survive long in such concentrated contaminated mana. In the end, within 100 years, all humans died out, leaving only the Demon Kings kin the new humans.

Losing those who gave them orders, the new humans were confused and troubled, but ultimately decided to fulfill their given instructions. Namely, establishing new bases and maintaining the created bases.

Some began exploring the infinitely expanding dungeon powered by infinite mana to establish new bases. This marked the beginning of the Explorers, and even after the technology and resources to create new bases were lost, their role persisted.

Some remained in towns for base maintenance. While repelling the failed Encounters that approach them, wanting to become the same due to their common origin, they continue to endlessly protect the facilities necessary for humans to live in the dungeon.

And so, for hundreds, thousands of years. In a world where nothing remains, they continue to live quietly. In a world where facts and truth have all turned to dust, their days of continuing a journey with no destination were supposed to last until the day the Demon Kings seemingly infinite mana was exhausted, but

[Weve arrived! This is the town of Nihana, the 2187th Garrison.]

A familiar face suddenly appeared on the flickering screen. Perceived through the magical circuits spread throughout the town from the management facility, it showed the current generations hero and two humans accompanying him.

One was a woman with unusually long ears. The worn-out memories of the Demon King barely recognized her as an Elf. And the other one was

[My lord. Lord of my power. Please let my final memories sleep within you.]

A gentle male voice. As the image faded like closing eyelids, my consciousness also faded into darkness.

When I came to, I found myself frozen with my hand extended towards the red stone. I lifted the glass container, removed it, and gently grasped and extrated the fragment. As I did so, the thoughts the Demon King couldnt fully express flowed into my body

Ah, I see. So thats how it was. Youve been watching the world with such thoughts all this time. Harboring such feelings, with such intentions. In that case, I

Im sorry, Ed-san! I couldnt find anything like an instruction manual anywhere Huh, its gone?

At that moment, Anemo came down the stairs behind me. As I turned to face her, Anemos eyes widened in shock.

Ed-san!? Whats wrong? You look like youre about to die!

Anemo

Ignoring her concern, I dropped to my knees and tightly embraced Anemos small body. Feeling the undeniable warmth of life, tears unknowingly fell from my eyes.

Gyaaah!? E-Ed-san!? What are you doing so suddenly!?

Im sorry. Anemo Im truly sorry

Eeeeeeh!? Its not something to cry about! That was just a bit of an exaggeration, and the mana wouldnt run out that quickly. So, um, Ed-san? Look, Tia-san will be back soon too, you know?

Im sorry Im sorry

Ed? Theres nothing here What are you doing?

Tia-san!? N-no, its not like that! I didnt do anything Come on, Ed-san!?

Please forgive me for being powerless for only being able to end things

Ed?

Oh, come on! What am I supposed to do about this!?

Kyuu?

Leaving Tia and Anemo in confusion, I continued to utter words of apology, as if expelling thousands of years worth of sorrow.

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