The Lowest-Ranked Hero Has Returned
A hidden passage lay behind them.
Inside, a dark corridor stretched endlessly into the distance.
“This place...”
“A secret passage within the imperial palace.”
“A secret passage?”
“Yes. It was built to allow the royal family to escape if the palace was ever overrun or completely surrounded by enemies.”
“Oh.”
That made sense.
It was the imperial palace, after all.
It wasn’t strange for it to have an emergency escape route.
“But what happens if an outsider finds the royal family’s secret passage?”
“They are usually executed on the spot. It wouldn’t be much of a secret passage otherwise, would it?”
“...We should put everything back the way it was before anyone sees us.”
Professor Elisha and I stepped into the passage and carefully restored the wall behind us.
Whoosh.
A faint ember flared from my fingertips, illuminating the corridor.
“Using the Primordial Flame as a torch... feels oddly complicated.”
“Well, didn’t you use it as a lighter before?”
“Ahem. Now that you mention it, I did.”
Looking somewhat embarrassed, Professor Elisha took the lead.
“Can you still sense the presence?”
“It’s quite far, but... I can feel it deep inside this passage.”
Her violet cursed eyes narrowed as she gazed into the seemingly endless corridor.
“We should move as discreetly as possible from here on.”
Saying that, Professor Elisha wrapped my head in spider silk.
[Can you hear me?]
Her voice echoed inside my head.
Instead of using magic, she transmitted her voice directly through the vibrations of the silk.
‘This way, we won’t trigger any magic detection.’
I nodded at her.
[Yes, I can hear you clearly.]
[Good. Let’s move.]
We proceeded down the corridor, dimming the ember’s glow.
For over ten minutes, we walked in silence.
Eventually, the narrow passage widened into a large cavern.
Rustle.
The sound of movement.
[There are people here.]
Scattered throughout the cavern were figures clad in gray robes.
[What are they doing?]
[I’m not sure... They seem to be looking for something.]
At that moment—
Among the robed figures, one man stood out.
Unlike the others, who wore animal masks, this man’s face was exposed.
‘Mephisto.’
The Archbishop of Corruption, Mephisto.
‘Seto was telling the truth.’
The information that the Eternal Order had joined forces with Mephisto to infiltrate the palace.
I had wondered if it was misinformation, but seeing this confirmed it wasn’t.
‘But what are they looking for here?’
The robed figures moved busily, searching for something.
“Are you certain this is the place?”
A man in a bear mask turned to Mephisto, sounding impatient.
“Yes. It should be somewhere in here.”
“...Haa.”
The bear-masked man let out a deep sigh.
“The Apostles of Destruction... Where the hell did they hide the Ember...?”
“Wait.”
Mephisto raised a hand, cutting him off.
“...Who’s there?”
Mephisto narrowed his eyes and turned his head.
‘Did they notice us?’
I had done my best to conceal our presence.
Clicking my tongue.
I clicked my tongue and prepared to stand up.
Clank. Clank.
The sound of metal rang through the cavern.
“As expected of Lord Mephisto. We hid our presence well, but...”
From the opposite side of the passage, where Professor Elisha and I were hiding, golden-armored knights emerged.
‘The Golden Order?’
The imperial knights, known as the strongest order on the continent.
‘Why are they here?’
If they were here to track down the Eternal Order like me, they wouldn’t have been hiding.
‘Why would the police hide from the burglars inside a house they were invading?’
More importantly—
They knew that the infiltrator was Mephisto.
“The Golden Order... You managed to sneak in here as well, I see.”
Mephisto narrowed his eyes at them.
“The Blessing of Destruction can erase the presence of demonic energy.”
“...Has the Archbishop of Destruction already regained enough power to use the ‘blessing’?”
“Haha! ‘Already’?”
The leading knight chuckled and shrugged.
“Did you think infiltrating the Golden Order was something that could be done in a day or two?”
He smirked as he placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.
“Lord Amon has long since regained his power.”
The Archbishop of Destruction, Amon.
The highest-ranking among the six archbishops.
And in my previous life, he played a key role in unsealing the Demon God.
Moreover—
‘He was the very first one to die when the Demon God awakened.’
When the Demon God emerged from the abyss—
The Archbishop of Destruction was engulfed in its flames and burned to death.
‘A rather pathetic end for the so-called strongest archbishop.’
That was the nature of the Demon God.
It didn’t matter if you were an enemy or an ally.
It simply dragged everything into the abyss of destruction.
It was, in the truest sense, a catastrophe.
‘But still.’
The Apostles of Destruction had infiltrated the Golden Order?
Then why weren’t they working together with Mephisto, another demonic being?
Why were they instead glaring at each other, ready to fight?
‘What the hell is going on here?’
Frowning, I watched as the tension in the cavern reached its breaking point.
“Amon has already... regained his power?”
Mephisto bit his lip.
“You expect me to believe such nonsense?”
“It doesn’t matter whether you believe it or not.”
The knight shrugged and unsheathed his sword.
“The Ember of Destruction has already been lit.”
“Damn it...!”
Fwoosh!
Black flames erupted around the knight’s sword.
“Damn it...! Everyone, prepare for battle!”
The bear-masked man shouted as he lifted a massive hammer.
Following him, the other animal-masked figures drew their weapons.
Boom!
Clang! Clack! Clang!
In an instant, the underground cavern of the imperial palace transformed into a fierce battlefield.
[What... exactly is going on here, Candidate Dale?]
[I don’t know.]
We had only been tracking the traces of the Order of Eternity, yet somehow, we found themselves witnessing an unexpected battle between the Apostles of Destruction and the Order of Eternity.
‘Did this exact event happen in my past life as well?’
If so...
‘Then who exactly was responsible for Camellia’s death?’
The Apostles of Destruction and the Order of Eternity.
Amon and Mephisto.
Who was involved in the empress’s death, and why were these two sides fighting?
“Die!”
“Hraaah!”
As these thoughts raced through my mind, the battle between the knights and the Order of Eternity grew increasingly intense.
With Mephisto siding with the Order of Eternity, one would expect them to have the upper hand, yet the battle was unfolding in the exact opposite direction.
“Haha! So this is the so-called ‘power of eternity’? It’s annoyingly persistent, but nothing special!”
“Guh!”
“Aaargh!”
The members of the Order of Eternity were falling one by one under the knights’ attacks.
Even Mephisto was slowly being pushed back by the knights’ coordinated assault.
‘This isn’t...’
It wasn’t that the Order of Eternity was weak.
The Apostles of Destruction were simply too overwhelmingly strong.
‘Far stronger than I ever knew.’
‘At this rate, the Order of Eternity will lose.’
Then, suddenly—
A realization struck me.
‘Among the six archbishops, the only one whose death was never confirmed was Mephisto.’
Yes.
One day, Mephisto simply vanished without a trace.
And on the day the Demon God was resurrected, bringing about the world’s destruction...
‘What if he didn’t disappear, but died here, which is why no one ever knew of his fate?’
That would explain his sudden absence.
If he perished in the underground of the imperial palace alongside the Order of Eternity, no information about his death would have ever reached the outside world.
“Aaagh!”
“Guhhh!!”
The battle was tilting further in favor of the Apostles of Destruction.
The knights, wielding swords wreathed in black flames, were each as powerful as an archbishop.
‘They weren’t this strong in my past life.’
I had fought the Apostles of Destruction multiple times before, but they had never been this absurdly powerful.
“......”
I had no idea why they were so strong.
Nor did I know why beings of the same demonic nature were fighting each other.
But one thing was certain.
‘If this continues, Mephisto will die.’
And if he died, there would be no one left to explain this tangled mess of a situation.
“Tsk.”
Clicking my tongue, I stood up.
[Candidate Dale?]
Ignoring the voice of Professor Elisha echoing in my mind—
Boom!
I kicked off the ground and charged into the battlefield.
“What the—!”
A knight’s eyes widened in shock as I swung my sword, now cloaked in ember-like ashes.
“Guh! Wh-Who are you?!”
“What is that bastard?!”
The knights’ formation, which had been holding strong, wavered under the sudden assault.
“Now!”
Seizing the opportunity, Mephisto launched a counterattack.
Like a tower collapsing from a missing foundation, the knights fell one after another.
The tide of battle shifted in an instant.
I wove through the knights, cutting them down mercilessly.
“Aaaargh!”
“Guh! Krrghhh!”
The Apostles of Destruction were each as strong as an archbishop, but...
They couldn’t withstand the combined assault of Dale, Mephisto, and the Order of Eternity.
The number of fallen knights grew.
Though the battle between the remaining Apostles of Destruction and the Order of Eternity continued, the outcome had already changed.
“You are....”
Mephisto looked at me with trembling eyes.
“There are a lot of questions we both want to ask, but let’s settle one thing first.”
Turning to face Mephisto, I spoke.
“What exactly is your goal?”
Why was a demon fighting alongside heroes against his own kind?
Until that question was answered, no further conversation would have any meaning.
“......”
After a long silence, Mephisto finally spoke in a low, steady voice.
“My goal is singular.”
His voice, heavy with conviction, echoed through the battlefield.
“To prevent the resurrection of the Demon God. That is my purpose.”
“...What?”
Preventing the Demon God’s resurrection?

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