Volume One: The Nature of the Devil Never Changes
Arc: The Great Guerrilla War
Just as Scarlet King was about to leave, a powerful yellow light suddenly appeared behind him. He reacted immediately and caught the object flying toward him.
It was a scroll.
As soon as Scarlet King caught it, the First Elder called out from below:
"This scroll contains the approximate location of the pink bees. Use it to reach them quickly without getting lost."
Without saying a word, Scarlet King turned around and flew swiftly toward the northeastern forest using his jetpack, having realized that heading south had been a mistake.
When he arrived, the surrounding forest was eerily quiet. A strange stillness hung in the air, one that made Scarlet King's ears uneasy as he thought:
(According to the information in the scroll, the pink bees should be here. But I need to proceed carefully. It seems these bees only appeared recently in this era, since I don't remember pink bees existing in any previous era.)
There was nothing but the sound of the trees swaying and a sweet fragrance reminiscent of lemons.
Scarlet King suddenly heard a sound resembling the buzzing of cicadas. He drew the two Imperial Dragon Scale Daggers and switched off his jetpack so it would not make any noise. Then he began following the sound, walking lightly across the grass.
When the buzzing suddenly grew louder, Scarlet King hid behind a tree and peeked around its edge. On one of the nearby trees, he saw countless bees gathered around a hive, producing a sound similar to that of cicadas.
The hive was pink, while the bees themselves glowed with a deep pink light.
Suddenly, Scarlet King felt the two daggers vibrate. They lit up with a violet glow, and Mo Sheng's voice echoed inside his mind.
(Hmm. I can sense the aura of Cute Demonic Bees.)
Scarlet King communicated spiritually through the daggers.
(Mo Sheng? How are you able to communicate with me? It seems you used some kind of technique on the daggers so you could speak to me through them more easily.)
Mo Sheng replied with a laugh:
(That's right. Do you remember when you held the Dragon Sword? I linked my soul to both the sword and the Demon King's Ring, making it easier to communicate with you.)
Scarlet King considered the details Mo Sheng had mentioned.
(I see. It seems that after the two weapons were fused, the spiritual inscription on the sword was transferred to the daggers.)
Scarlet King lowered his eyes slightly while observing the bees' movements.
(Do you know anything about these bees, since you mentioned their name?)
Mo Sheng began explaining the species of beast.
(These bees are called Cute Demonic Bees. Don't let their cute name or color deceive you. They are still demonic beasts, and they're considered extremely dangerous and widespread throughout the demonic dimensions. What's strange is that they've appeared in the classical dimensions.)
(You probably don't recognize them because the only time you entered the demonic dimensions was when the Demon Slayers were pursuing you and the Demon Extermination Decree had been activated. You were fleeing at the time, so you didn't have enough time to learn much about the demonic dimensions.)
Scarlet King responded to Mo Sheng's speculation.
(Perhaps when the Demonic Ancestor entered, a queen bee passed through the gate and began building her hive here. And yes, you're right. I didn't have time to learn about the new things inside the demonic dimensions, especially since we're still at the beginning of the era.)
Mo Sheng fell silent for a moment before continuing:
(Perhaps. More importantly, the bees are the workers, the wasps are responsible for defense and attack, and the queen is the factory. Everything has its own function.)
(The wasps are most likely hiding among the nearby trees, watching and waiting to attack or defend. They remain completely still so that they produce neither sound nor aura. Even so, they can move slowly without releasing either.)
Scarlet King remained silent for several seconds.
If the wasps were hiding in the trees, and he was standing beneath one, then that meant they were…
He stared at the daggers for a moment before slowly raising his head.
Thousands of red-eyed wasps stood on the branches above him, staring directly at him.
"Damn my rotten luck."
A deafening buzzing erupted as the wasps charged toward Scarlet King. He leaped into the air, activated his jetpack, and flew away at high speed while thousands of other wasps emerged from the surrounding trees and pursued him.
The wasps were slowly closing the distance between themselves and Scarlet King. Even though his speed was infinite while flying in a straight line, they continued approaching him little by little and were nearly close enough to sting him.
(Damn it. My speed is infinite, but only at the first level of the Absolute scale, while they're at the second. That's why they can slowly catch up to me, even though both of us possess infinite speed.)
After flying at tremendous speed, mist suddenly appeared around Scarlet King. He emerged from it in midair and crashed down onto the ground in his Titan King Transformation.
He turned around and threw a punch toward the swarm of wasps.
However, they scattered and avoided the attack. They swarmed around Titan King's arm and devoured it within seconds. The entire arm disappeared, despite being made from an incredibly powerful metal.
Titan King was stunned.
He quickly retreated as mist appeared around him once again. This time, he emerged in his Black Hole Transformation.
He opened his mouth and swallowed the swarm of wasps, successfully consuming them.
However, although the wasps should have been digested within seconds, their attacks during those few seconds were concentrated on a single point. As the damage accumulated, his attack-nullification ability disappeared.
The black hole was injured, and part of his void body was torn apart. The wasps escaped from inside him and resumed their pursuit.
Mist appeared around the black hole for the third time.
This time, however, the wasps flew straight through the mist.
There was no sign of the black hole, Titan King, or Scarlet King.
Back at the hive, mist suddenly appeared beneath it. Scarlet King emerged from the mist and said:
"Good thing I used Vaporization to escape."
He immediately drew one of the daggers with one hand and pulled out a thick rubber sack with the other. He cut down the entire hive and quickly stuffed it into the sack.
(If I collect only the pink honey and hand it over to the sect, the queen will simply produce more. That means the sect will keep sending me back here, which will delay my plans.)
(So I'll give them the honey and keep the queen and the workers. I'll raise them so they can produce honey for us, and then we'll see whether it's actually useful.)
As Scarlet King smiled, he heard buzzing behind him.
When he turned around, thousands of flying wasps were hovering in front of him.
"If I return the hive, will you let me leave? No? Fine. Running away is half of manhood."
Scarlet King flew away at high speed while the wasps chased after him.
(Intelligent creatures. Most of their units followed me, but two remained behind to protect the hive. Even though they're wild creatures, they're intelligent.)
(It seems the reason they reacted so slowly was that they were watching the place where we escaped earlier. They didn't notice my presence here until the queen sensed danger.)
Scarlet King turned around and opened his mouth.
A red beam appeared, followed by a powerful burst of flames that successfully killed several of the wasps.
Scarlet King thought:
(Fire is the solution!)
However, this only drove the wasps into a frenzy, increasing both their speed and strength.
Scarlet King immediately contacted the Yin and Yang Guardians.
(Quickly place some slaves who possess fire abilities near the lake. Also prepare a human or cultivator. I'm going to conduct an experiment on them.)
Scarlet King accelerated toward the laboratory.
As he approached the mountain, he spotted the lake. He descended like an eagle, plunged into the water, and shot through it.
The wasps entered the water without hesitation and continued pursuing him as though the water did not matter.
Scarlet King immediately emerged from the lake inside the cave, where many slaves were already standing and waiting for his command.
His soaked body struck the ground as he shouted:
"Now!"
The wasps emerged from the lake, but the slaves were waiting for them.
They unleashed their fire abilities, burning the majority of the wasps.
Only one survived and shot toward Scarlet King.
At that moment, Tyrant Ikalat appeared and caught it with ease.
"It's fortunate that I'm a Chaotic Being. Insects have no effect on my body."
Scarlet King stood up and brushed the dirt from his body as Lin Yuan called out from a distance:
"Good work, Ikalat!"
Scarlet King looked around.
"Where's the test subject?"
Yin Guardian appeared while holding a bound man with dark skin and black hair.
"We found this man wandering around the mountain, so we abducted him."
Scarlet King looked toward Ikalat.
"Make the wasp sting him."
Ikalat smiled maliciously as he approached the man and placed the wasp on his hand.
The man screamed from the power of the wasp's sting.
"Aaaaah!"
His body immediately began decomposing.
His skin slowly dissolved, followed by his flesh, until nothing remained but an empty skeleton.
"I see. The wasp is powerful and possesses the ability to decompose things. Crush it."
Ikalat crushed the wasp in his hand.
Lin Yuan asked with a trace of sympathy:
"Scarlet King… wasn't that excessive? Killing an innocent person?"
Scarlet King turned slightly and looked at Lin Yuan from the side.
Scarlet King would never kill merely for the sake of killing. Killing was nothing more than a means. If it could solve his problems and benefit him, then what did it matter?
Scarlet King replied with a faint smile:
"Did I hear that correctly? Killing innocent people is bad? Isn't that laughable?"
"As long as someone lives in this world, they cannot be innocent. In the cultivation world, killing is natural. What's strange is refusing to kill."
"Humans kill weaker humans. Beasts kill weaker beasts. Animals devour smaller animals. That is the food chain. As long as you are strong, you will stand at the top, and you can be innocent according to your own definition."
"The victors and the powerful are the ones who write history. They portray themselves as innocent heroes who fought against evil."
"You might say that this is immoral, and according to moral logic, you would be correct. From the perspective of morality, my words are disastrous."
"But morality is nothing more than a fleeting form within a long life. Humans change by nature, and nothing prevents them from changing—not even morality."
"In this savage world, adhering to morality is like insisting on standing at the edge of a cliff while thousands of people behind you are about to push you off."
Scarlet King calmly closed his eyes as he contemplated.
"Anyone can live as long as they possess the ability to do so. Anyone can die, and someone can even return to life. But no one is innocent."
"Simply by existing, you consume Qi, which represents life. Doesn't that make you guilty?"
"You consume something that another being depends on. Perhaps you caused it to die from a lack of Qi so that you could survive. Therefore, you are not innocent."
Scarlet King then shrugged and raised his hands indifferently as he walked toward one of the rooms.
"If you wish to adhere to morality, then do so. I don't care. But understand that my daggers—and everyone else's swords—are extremely sharp."
"Perhaps everything I said is wrong, and a few minutes from now, you'll find me defending morality more fiercely than anyone else, as long as doing so brings me closer to my goal."
"The world itself is not emotional. It is neutral and realistic. Living beings are the ones who struggle over good and evil instead of profit and loss."
Lin Yuan remained silent for some time.
Ikalat appeared behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"The hero kills the villain so that everyone will applaud him, while the villain may have been created by the tongues of the very people applauding the hero."
"But the Demon of Rebirth… will kill you, the hero, the villain, the people, and everyone else if doing so serves his interests."
"So don't try speaking to him about morality unless it benefits him. You never lived through the era of the true Demon of Rebirth."