The Slime Doesn't Die from Mana Transfer

Chapter 95 : The Demon King and the Hero

Russell had more or less figured out what the so-called “Demon King’s Diary” contained.

On the far side of the Muscovy Mountain Range lived many tribes other than humans.

Why had the north of the range become the domain of so-called “demons,” while the south belonged to humans? That distribution of races likely had roots far back in history. But that analysis could be left aside. The point was, each race had carved out its own territory. In the beginning, these groups fought endlessly, their conflicts only intensifying.

After long ages, realizing this path was meaningless, the races chose instead to seek peace and development, turning to other means to resolve disputes.

Thus, the Federal Government was born.

The Federation held the authority granted by all races, its chief purpose to mediate conflicts and manage the northern continent as a whole. The highest leader of the Federation was known as the Demon King.

That said, it was less like a “king,” more like a president.

The owner of this diary appeared to be one such Demon King… perhaps even the previous Demon King.

In order to seize a chance at counterattacking the kingdom, he had the mysterious cult leader perform a ritual spell upon him.

Judging from the diary, the ritual succeeded.

Mana, vitality, strength, speed—all were explosively enhanced. He gained mana that seemed inexhaustible.

If the Hero dared attack, she would surely be defeated!

With such conviction, the Demon King strode to the battlefield, full of vigor, leading his army.

And was cut into three pieces by the Hero.

…

The Holy Sword Hero was unbelievably strong.

The Demon King had thought himself powerful, yet still could not match her.

Barely clinging to life, he retreated from the front. He intended to take revenge on the cult leader, only to find that the man had already vanished.

Worse followed.

Dark-purple markings began to appear on people’s bodies.

The greater one’s exposure to the ritual, the deeper the hue of the markings.

Worse still, with time, the afflicted began to mutter strange words, seize, tremble, fall into bloodlust, or attack their comrades like lunatics. They would lose consciousness, performing acts they themselves could not comprehend.

As if… something was eroding them from within.

The condition worsened steadily.

The Demon King named these afflicted the Corrupted.

The Corrupted gradually lost their sense of self, becoming mindless husks, alive yet worse than dead.

And that was not the greatest problem.

When the Demon King tried to kill them, he found that their symptoms transferred to himself.

Anyone not yet afflicted would inherit the corruption upon the death of a Corrupted. Even the Demon King was no exception.

Thus—

The Corrupted spread like a plague, endlessly, without stop.

The Demon King could find no cure.

The Federation was doomed.

Not just the Federation—the entire northern continent, perhaps even the entire world, could be destroyed by his single mistake.

The only solution he conceived was to slaughter all Corrupted with his own hands, then kill himself. But… he could not guarantee that, once fully eroded, he would retain the sanity to do so.

Just then, the unexpected occurred.

The Hero crossed the Muscovy Mountain Range, broke through the Federation’s armies, and stormed alone into the capital—the so-called Demon King’s Castle.

The twenty-four Guardians, the Eight Demon Generals, the Four Heavenly Kings—none could withstand her.

The Hero declared she had come to kill the Demon King to end the war. If he wished to live, he must immediately order a ceasefire.

The Demon King was helpless.

This war had been instigated by the kingdom; the Federation had only fought in defense. But by now, events had long slipped beyond his control. Even if he called for peace, would the races obey? Could he ignore the hawks demanding continued war? Who would repay the damages wrought by the fighting? How could the corrupted Federal soldiers be settled? Who would bear the cost of peace?

In the end, the Demon King was only an administrator, not an absolute ruler.

He had no authority to end the war.

Faced with the Hero’s demand, the Demon King had no answers.

He could not win. He could not flee.

So he asked her instead.

“You call yourself Hero, chosen to wield the Goddess’s Holy Sword. But if you were in my place, could you truly do better? Could you convince the war faction to accept peace? Could you solve the crisis of the Corrupted? If you can, then kill me. Let me be free.”

The Hero, hearing this, lowered her blade.

She said:

“Then show me. Let me see for myself if it is truly as you claim.”

Thus the Demon King abandoned his collapsing government, and the Hero stepped away from the battlefield.

The two traveled together for half a month across the northern continent.

They visited every race’s lands, barren wilderness, snowy tundras, bustling cities, and desolate wastes. Walking and seeing together, it was like a journey.

Through it, the Hero came to understand the Demon King—and the Demon King came to understand the Hero.

In the end, the Hero remarked:

“What ‘demons’ and ‘humans’? This is nothing but humanity’s own civil war.”

The Hero awakened to the truth: there was more than one road to peace.

She realized that slaying the Demon King might not improve anything at all, and that such blind idealism would be irresponsible.

So she chose to stay, and bring about peace her own way.

The Demon King felt her sincerity.

He too made his decision. He would lead all Corrupted into the Abyss of Chaos.

It was a place where time and space themselves lay in disorder, where mana endlessly rearranged in chaotic flux. Once entered, none could return.

The Demon King chose to make it his final destination.

The Hero tried to stop him, to find another way to solve the problem of the Corrupted.

But the Demon King knew—he himself was already on the brink of corruption. Only the protection of the 【Demon King System】 let him resist so far. Any delay might push him past the point of no return.

At last, he kept his promise.

He led all the Corrupted into the Abyss of Chaos, ending forever the cycle of erosion.

What the Hero did afterward—remained unknown.

Inside the Abyss of Chaos, time and space blurred, and consciousness warped. Corruption worsened, but without anyone left to infect, it hardly mattered.

In his rare moments of clarity, he could only write in his diary.

The very book Russell now held in his hands.

Finishing the last page, Russell shut the diary and slipped back into Rozelite’s body.

All in all, it was a rather cliché story: the hero and the villain, faced with a greater crisis, joining forces to save the world, and ending with a “happy ending.”

Cliché, yes—but realistic.

The “Holy Sword Hero” in the diary was likely the same current Demon King Anna had mentioned before.

Which meant these events weren’t far in the past.

Probably within fifty years.

The tribes beyond the Muscovy Mountain Range were collectively called “demons” by humankind. But in truth, it was all just civil war.

As for the diary’s claim that the war had been started by the human kingdom…

Russell found that doubtful.

Everyone stood from their own standpoint. Of course their accounts were biased. One side said one thing, the other another. No way to know the truth from one voice alone.

Aside from that—

That Hero seemed monstrously strong.

Not only had she fought armies of tens of thousands of Corrupted alone, she had even crushed a Demon King empowered by subspace. She had driven him to despair, made him abandon resistance, and willingly walk to his death.

That kind of strength was beyond the power of numbers.

But in this supposedly happy ending, one unresolved mystery remained.

That cult leader, the man who appeared suddenly, vanished mysteriously, and threw the Federation into chaos…

Who exactly was he?