Chapter 67: Hatred Toward Humanity

The demon woman harbored a deep hatred for humans.

Betrayal, oppression, contempt, violation—those memories continued to fuel a fire of malice that never died.

Eventually, freed from the long-standing shackles that bound her, the woman gained her freedom.

“…Revenge.”

In her eyes burned pure hatred.

A resolve to rise against the humans who had tormented and humiliated her.

The scars of disgrace engraved on her body radiated heat.

“Let the hammer of judgment fall upon humanity—!”

Her seething hatred slowly dissolved into the darkness of night.

“Yet again, even in this modern age, a Hero has appeared.”

…Since ancient times, this world has operated by an unchanging law.

That when humanity is endangered by demons, the gods will select and send forth Heroes.

“Heroes are truly a nuisance. Each one is granted the power to annihilate an entire demon race on their own.”

Heroes are strong. You could call them “agents of divine self-governance.”

The source of their strength lies with the goddess who created this world.

Regardless of what is just, these goddesses—who care nothing for such concepts—stand unwaveringly with their kin: humans.

“Yet in the modern age, there are only two Heroes…”

The goddesses are slowly losing their power.

Burdened with cleaning up the endless messes made by foolish humans, they are gradually shedding their divinity.

Where once nearly ten Heroes were chosen just a few centuries ago, now only two remain.

And each of them is pathetically weak compared to the ones Ilyu once knew in the ancient era.

Be it Aldebaran or Karl—neither could hold a candle to any Hero Ilyu had fought in the past.

“So at last, it seems the goddesses have come to the end of their rope.”

There is a chance of victory. A real one.

Compared to the past, there are fewer Heroes, and they are far weaker.

Meanwhile, Ilyu, as the Demon Lord, is steadily regaining the full might of her prime.

“It’s a winnable fight. As long as we don’t make any stupid mistakes, absolutely, without a doubt…”

The girl who was once the Demon Lord had no doubt in her victory.

All that remained was to avoid making any foolish missteps.

Such was the ancient Demon Lord now cloaked in the skin of a nun…

---

“…!”

Her face went pale as she found herself confronted by a Hero.

“K-Karl! Why do you have that!?”

“Kukuku… Ilyu, this here is, well—”

Every move Karl made rattled Ilyu’s composure.

Because what Karl now held in his hand was undeniable proof of her actions as the Demon Lord.

—Ilyu still couldn’t beat Karl. Her power hadn’t yet reached the level of a Hero.

She felt as if her heart were being crushed in his grasp.

“A-Ah, uhh…”

It had happened early that morning, when everyone began packing at once.

“Oh, look what I found.”

Karl had casually pulled it out of his own bag.

“K-Karl! What is that, exactly!?”

“Well, you see…”

The Hero grinned meaningfully, mocking the Demon Lord.

As if to say, I know exactly who you are—

“This is someone’s panties.”

“You still haven’t thrown those out!?”

He held up a pair of women’s panties—ones he’d acquired back in Yowin.

“A-a-a…”

“See? Ilyu looks totally grossed out that those came out of your bag. Seriously, just get rid of them already.”

“But, you know… I just have a feeling this might be an important item or something.”

It was a memory she never wanted to recall—a cursed recollection.

Back when Ilyu, who couldn’t even cast offensive magic herself, resorted to desperate measures and tried to burn down the academic city using an “ancient bombardment weapon” she had prepared.

“W-Wait, what!? The bombardment was blocked!? Mister Goblin, what do we do!?”

“Vaaa—”

“Uhh, uhh, uhh. F-For now, just one more shot!! I didn’t think there’d be a modern mage capable of blocking this kind of bombardment…”

The day of the operation.

The ancient weapon’s bombardment, which Ilyu had proudly fired, was easily intercepted and wiped out.

In truth, it had taken everything Aldebaran had to stop it, but from Ilyu’s perspective, it looked like it was swatted away with ease.

“This is bad. No, but I can’t give up now—”

“Vaa!!”

“But I don’t have much mana left, so I’ll use a mana stone… Take this!”

Unwilling to back down, Ilyu deployed her trump card: a mana stone, and fired another shot.

But once again, the bombardment failed to reach the city of Yowin. It was intercepted by fire magic and snuffed out completely.

Apparently, Yowin had some decent magical interception systems in place.

“As expected of an academic city. Even their defense tech is respectable, huh?”

Ilyu took a moment to think.

If the current firepower wasn’t enough, she just had to increase it.

“Alright, let’s shove in about three times the standard amount of mana stones! We’re going big!”

“Vaa!?”

“It’s fine, it’s fine! I’m sure it’ll work! Probably!”

With that, Ilyu forced more mana stones into the cannon than it was designed to handle.

“There’s no way they can intercept this firepower!! Fire—!!”

“…Vaaa…”

As the goblin beside her dripped with nervous sweat, Ilyu unleashed a ridiculous mega-blast—

“…Huh!?”

“Vaah!?”

But yet again, the bombardment was completely blocked—this time by a mysterious wall rising out of the ground beneath Yowin.

“What the heck is that!? Isn’t that way too overpowered for modern magic tech!?”

“Vaa, vaaa!!”

“Wait, no waaay!? One of the Heroes is charging us right now!?”

And that’s when Ilyu finally realized—Hero Karl was sprinting at full speed straight toward her.

“Oh crap oh crap oh crap!! Then—then just turn the cannon and fire at the Hero—!”

“…Vaaa.”

“What is it, Mister Gobli—”

Karl would reach them in less than a minute.

If he got close, she’d be dead for sure. Panicking, Ilyu tried to shift the cannon’s aim—

“VAAAA!!”

“GYAH!!”

Whether it was because she messed with the wrong part or overloaded the cannon with mana stones…

The ancient magic cannon utterly self-destructed into tiny pieces.

“…Ah.”

Please follow all instructions and dosages carefully.

The ancient weapon, having been forced to fire beyond its design specs, was now a wreck—completely beyond repair.

“S-Strategic retreat—!!”

And with that, Ilyu ran off into the depths of the forest.

“Damn you Heroes! I won’t forget this────!”

Thus ended the months-long, carefully prepared bombardment operation on Yowin, led by the Demon Lord—in total failure.

“…Wait? Where are my panties…?”

When the ancient cannon exploded, Ilyu had been right next to it and was blown up with it.

During her regeneration, her panties had slipped off—though she only realized this much later, once she’d escaped to a safe location.

---

Miraculously, the nun’s panties had survived the explosion, perfectly intact.

They were silk, used, and carried a faint floral scent.

“Ah, wa—t-those, wa—”

“Don’t look at me like that, Ilyu. Come on. My Hero instincts are telling me this is somehow a key item.”

And in fact, he wasn’t entirely wrong—the item did have anti-Demon Lord properties (specifically, mental damage).

“Don’t tell me you were sniffing them alone or something.”

“I was NOT!! I’m telling you, I’m purely keeping them because they might be important!”

“…Karl. I’ve thought this for a while, but… are you mentally alright?”

“Don’t give me that serious look while asking that, Rey…”

Through the peculiar intuition unique to Heroes, he had sensed the item’s importance.

Though from the outside, he just looked completely insane.

“Okay, seriously though, that’s disgusting. Can’t you just throw them away?”

“Aww…”

Ilyu herself was not thrilled by any of this.

If someone examined the panties with some kind of magic and figured out they were hers, there’d be no way to talk her way out of it.

And more than that, the idea of her own underwear being classified as a “key item” was mortifying.

“…Actually, it’s made of pretty high-quality fabric. What if we just wash it and give it to Sayori as a gift?”

“Bro… I think Sayori would be extremely disturbed to receive used underwear from a guy.”

“That so…?”

Ilyu’s panties nearly became a gift offering to another woman.

“But when I hold these, I feel this weird surge of fighting spirit! Like, ‘I will defeat the Demon Lord!’—that kind of courage.”

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

And yet, the Hero was acutely attuned to the faint aura of the Demon Lord still lingering in the fabric.

“Look, just promise me you won’t show up to the final battle holding those, okay? When future generations talk about our exploits, you’ll be known as The Underwear Hero.”

“…You’re right. So I guess sneaking them into my coat pocket before battle is out of the question?”

“You were planning to do that!?”

Ilyu’s eyes went dead at the mental image of a Hero brandishing a pair of panties in the final battle.

Her own climactic showdown centuries ago had been far more intense, serious, and emotional. Ideally, she’d like the same kind of atmosphere for this final battle.

“…Well, whatever. For now, I’ll just keep holding onto them.”

“I’m not going to stop you or anything.”

“A Hero who treasures someone’s unidentified panties… That’s definitely not a story worth preserving for future generations.”

Unfortunately, Karl had no intention of parting with the panties. It was possible he was just a pervert.

His companions looked uncomfortable, but not enough to get angry and forcibly throw them away.

And from Ilyu’s side, protesting too strongly would only make her look suspicious, so she couldn’t push it either.

“Well, just watch me, Maika. It may look stupid now…”

“It is stupid.”

“…but one day, having these panties will save my life. I can feel it—just trust me.”

“…I really hope I’m never in a situation where something like that could save me.”

The Hero spoke with an oddly specific vision of the future, and Ilyu shed a tear, wondering what she would do if such a moment ever actually came to pass.

“Alright, that’s the last of the packing! Let’s say goodbye to Sayori and head out first thing tomorrow!”

“Leave the panties here, will you!?”

And so, without realizing it, the Hero had come into possession of a Demon Lord-slaying item.

---

“Humans really are the worst.”

And thus, the Demon Lord’s hatred toward humanity only grew stronger.