To achieve his ambition, Clayman had planted secret agents in the Great Jura Forest a long time ago.
First was the Orc Lord, and the hundreds of thousands of Orcs under his command.
He also had the Majin Gelmud monitoring the area, reporting intelligence back to him at all times.
However, not long ago.
All contact with Gelmud was lost.
This gave Clayman a bad feeling. "Did Gelmud encounter the Oni race and die in the forest?"
"Or..."
"Did Gelmud betray me?"
Clayman didn't trust his subordinates.
He was called the Puppeteer.
Because Clayman had the ability to forcibly control others.
In other words, the monsters under his command only feared him. Most obeyed only out of coercion.
"How's it going?"
The clown Laplace appeared before Clayman. "Being a Demon Lord isn't easy, is it?"
"You're back!"
Seeing Laplace, Clayman immediately perked up. "What's the situation with Frey?"
"Bad news."
Laplace said, "Frey has most likely completed her awakening ritual."
"She's already a True Demon Lord."
Crack.
The moment Clayman heard that Frey had awakened, he subconsciously crushed the wine glass in his hand.
"Damn it!"
Clayman's face twisted. "That woman, how dare she?! No way, how could she surpass me?!"
There were differences among Demon Lords.
But Clayman didn't believe he was inferior to Frey.
Yet Frey had taken that step before him.
"In that case!!"
At that moment, a thought of going all-in surfaced in Clayman's mind.
After all, if even that woman Frey could awaken, then he certainly could too.
"Whoa, whoa, Clayman, don't get reckless."
Laplace quickly advised, "Absorbing souls blindly isn't the best option~."
Just because Rin helped Ogerpon, Snow Empress, and others awaken didn't mean that the process of a Demon Lord Seed acquiring souls and evolving was simple.
Frey, who had fought Rin earlier, already proved how difficult it was to awaken as a Demon Lord.
She failed.
Even with over 600 years of accumulation, Frey still failed to awaken.
This showed that there was a fundamental difference between impure souls and pure souls.
And that was only the first step of the awakening ritual.
Even if soul energy was sufficient, a breakthrough in magicules was also required to evolve into a True Demon Lord.
One million magicules was the threshold. Crossing it meant entering the Demon Lord realm.
Failing to cross it meant the monster's body couldn't withstand high-density magicules.
Every failure consumed a portion of the Demon Lord Seed's potential.
This was why Clayman, Frey, and Carrion didn't dare to take risks lightly.
"You still don't have enough souls to evolve."
"And Clayman, your body hasn't been properly trained, has it?"
Laplace continued pouring cold water on Clayman, warning him not to rush into evolution.
Most importantly, even among True Demon Lords, there were those who possessed magicules but lacked Ultimate Skills.
If he didn't evolve, he couldn't defeat a True Demon Lord.
If he did evolve, he still couldn't defeat them.
In that case, it would be better to grow steadily, continue gathering strength, and wait for a real opportunity.
"I'm not the same as before, Laplace!"
However, Clayman completely ignored Laplace's warnings. He even thought the other party was jealous of him.
He had already established a Demon Lord's country, controlling the lives and deaths of countless people.
He was also one of the Ten Great Demon Lords.
Power, status, honor, wealth...
All Clayman lacked now was enough strength to surpass the other clowns and become the strongest among them.
That way, he would no longer be at the bottom of the clowns.
He could even become the leader of the Moderate Harlequin Alliance.
"But there's one thing, Laplace, that you're right about."
Gradually, Clayman suppressed his impulse and calmed down. "I actually don't need to be Frey's enemy."
The territories of the four Demon Lords, from bottom to top, were the Harpy Queendom, Dragon Country, Beast Kingdom, and Puppet Country.
He and Frey had no conflict over territory or interests.
Rather, it was Milim who posed a real threat to Frey.
Yes, even though the plot had shifted with Rin's arrival.
Clayman still came up with the plan from the original path.
He wanted to ally with Frey to control Milim.
Then, by using Milim's power, destroy the Beast Kingdom, creating an opportunity for war.
This way, Clayman could harvest enough souls from the beastmen to awaken.
However...
If he wanted to pull off such a collaboration.
Clayman thought, I might have to pay a price...
If Frey was still the unawakened Sky Queen, Clayman would definitely have discarded her once she outlived her usefulness.
Once he successfully evolved, both Frey and Carrion's territories would become his.
Unfortunately, Frey had already become a True Demon Lord.
Even if everyone had evolved, Clayman wouldn't be foolish enough to fight her to the death.
"Are you serious?"
Laplace was dumbfounded when he heard Clayman's plan.
Leaving aside why Frey would even cooperate with him.
Just the part about controlling Milim already sounded ridiculous.
She was a Demon Lord with Ultimate Skill.
Almost no one in this world understood just how strong a Demon Lord who controlled Ultimate Skill truly was.
Because every single one of their enemies had died without exception.
And now, you want to control a being like that with a few words?
What a joke.
"Don't worry, Laplace."
"I have absolute confidence in my Puppet Manipulation skill."
Clayman's arrogance left Laplace with no way to stop him.
He could only let Clayman go ahead and try to contact Frey.
In Laplace's view, Clayman's proposal was bound to fail.
However, beyond Laplace's expectations, Frey actually agreed to Clayman's request for an alliance.
"What?! Three!"
"You want the territories of all the Demon Lords?!"
Clayman stared at Frey's cold and arrogant face on the communication screen, gritting his teeth. "That's impossible!"
Frey agreed to cooperate with Clayman.
But her condition was that the territories of the Beast Kingdom and Dragon Country be given to her.
In other words, to gain a shot at awakening as a True Demon Lord, Clayman would have to offer up the lands of two Demon Lords.
(To be continued.)