"How are you doing, Wolfe?" I asked, bending down to stroke the dire wolf's ears. He barked happily and rubbed his head against my face, panting excitedly.

"It's been a while," Stella agreed and received an affectionate lick from the dire wolf. She giggled and patted his head. "It's good to see that you're doing fine."

The trip back to Tyranvania took a week, and we were back in Claude's castle without incident. Surprisingly enough, Flynn had recalled his troops across the border, though I received information that he was scheming something big.

As for the gift I sent him, she was dead. I heard that she died a grisly death, with her brains sucked out of her skull shortly after serving as a host for parasitic larvae. Gross. But she deserved it, I guess.

She always wanted strong offspring, after all.

Even so, Eleanor reminded me to keep an eye on Flynn and the insect legion. The intelligence agents she had seeded across the Demonic Empire had brought back information hinting at rebellion on his part.

The hive mind had been putting together a swarm to conquer the whole of the Demonic Empire. Individually, the giant bugs were nothing. They were brittle and fragile, with the most terrifying thing about them being their appearances. Even with their sizes and deadly appendages – claws, pincers, mandibles, stings and venom – they were individually vulnerable to magic and could be easily dispatched by sheer strength. They lacked the majesty and power of the dragons, the intelligence and finesse of vampires, or even the tenacity and skill of kobolds.

The only dangerous thing about the bugs was their sheer numbers.

…and a new breed of bioweapon that Flynn was creating, having borrowed some of the homunculus research from Lindley…

"Yeah, I gave Flynn some of my research notes," Lindley admitted when he visited me. "I just thought I should inform you."

"Why would you do that?" Stella stormed at him. He gave her a look.

"Because he offered something in return? I'm a practical man. Why wouldn't I agree to a fair trade?"

"Fair enough," I said with a shrug. I didn't hold it against Lindley. I had always know that the Lich Lord was a pragmatic man…ahem, person. There was no reason why he wouldn't agree to a favorable trade. After all, unlike Stella, Lindley wasn't bound to the principles or morals of humanity.

In fact, he was actually doing me a huge favor by informing me of this transaction. Well, let's be serious, Lindley was just covering his ass. He knew I would find out about this eventually, either through an investigation or through covert intelligence networks integrated throughout the Empire (run by Eleanor) and so he decided to venture his information out of good faith rather than get bitten in the ass later when I asked him about it.

Whatever the reasons, it was still heartening to know that Lindley was at least on my side.

"What did he give you?"

"Materials for research, such as enzymes, secretions from insects, honeycombs, etc. In return, he asked for biological designs for a specific homunculus I had."

"What sort of homunculus?" I asked, already dreading that. Perhaps it was a mistake to give Lindley the homunculus research material. Well, it wasn't as if I had a choice. Sometimes things just turned out this way, regardless. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href="/book/the-demonic-emperor_16678483605795205/chapter-117-requiem_49669827178054365">/book/the-demonic-emperor_16678483605795205/chapter-117-requiem_49669827178054365</a> for visiting.

I couldn't dwell on the past and regret what I did. I had to look forward and focus on the present. The future. I needed to fix my own mistakes.

And to do that, I needed to first find out what sort of problems I had caused.

"An unusual design…a sort of biomechanical lifeform that I had artificially created in the lab. I haven't finished it yet because I required more genetic material, but in essence it is a parasitic species that implant its embryo within a host, which would then feed on it, emerge and mature into a warrior drone. Once there is enough of them, one of them would molt into a queen and construct a hive to lay more eggs so that they can propagate and reproduce. I also designed it to have acidic blood as a perfect defense mechanism – so that anything that tries to hurt it ends up getting eliminated in mutual destruction."

"Why does this sound very familiar?" I muttered.

"It sounds like an alien lifeform," Stella said. Lindley hesitated before nodding.

"Essentially, yes."

"So what will Flynn do with it?" I asked sharply. "Is he going to create a whole hive of those biomechanical…uh, aliens and then conquer both the Demonic Empire and the Havan Kingdom with them?"

"I would prefer the term xenomorph," Lindley said. When I gave him a look, he shrugged, his skeletal figure concealed well underneath his black cloak. "I would presume that is his eventual goal, yes, but I think it's highly unlikely he will succeed."

"Interesting." Eleanor raised an eyebrow. "You sound confident."

"I don't mean to sound arrogant, but if I wasn't able to perfect the design and successfully produce the xenomorph, then I hardly think Flynn will be able to do so. After all, he doesn't have the necessary knowledge or technical skills to conduct the experiment…"

"Except that you just gave him the knowledge…and the genetic material you said was missing, he could probably substitute with bug DNA."

Everyone turned to stare at me. Lindley was silent for a moment, but that alone spoke volumes.

"Why would you even create something like that?" Stella growled. Lindley shrugged innocently.

"As a scientist and researcher, it's only natural that I want to push the limits of scientific knowledge, to see what is possible and what isn't. Also, this might result in the birth of a thirteen demonic legion and thus add a lot of power to our side."

"It might also mean our destruction if what you said about its self-propagation abilities and need for hosts is true," Eleanor warned.

"That's why I gave up on it." Lindley made to scratch his bald skull. "In the end, I thought it extremely impractical. The point of a weapon is to help us neutralize our enemies, not destroy ourselves."

"But you gave the research material to Flynn." I buried my face in my palm. Lindley nodded, unashamed.

"His deal was…persuasive, to say the least. And it would have helped a lot in my other fields of research. Also, as I said, I was confident that he wouldn't succeed, so nothing to worry about."

Famous last words…and ones that I hoped wouldn't return to bite us in the ass.

*

In Gunnison, a small town in the province of Colorado, the townsfolk bustled about, having no idea of the tragedy that was about to befall them.

"Hey, kid, we have a delivery order for the baron's manor." A pizza chef called out to his teenage assistant, who sighed dramatically.

"Understood," he grumbled.

"And wear the hat!" the pizza chef called out after him.

While the teenage deliveryman went off with the pizzas, a father and son were hunting in the nearby forest.

"Look carefully, Sam," Buddy Benson told his son, aiming his arrow carefully at a deer in the distance. His son, Sam, nodded and watched his father pull the bowstring back before letting the arrow fly.

However, before the arrow could hit, there was a huge noise and the deer sprinted off. The arrow struck a tree and embedded itself deeply inside.

"Damn," Buddy cursed. He then remembered that his son was beside him and restrained himself with a forced smile. "Let's try again, son. We'll get the next one."

"What was that noise, though?" Sam asked, his eyes wide.

"I have no idea," Buddy admitted. He thought for a bit before drawing another arrow. "Maybe we'll check it out."

"Yay!" Sam bounced up excitedly, delighted at the prospect of an adventure. Buddy smiled and shook his head.

"Don't be too happy. It might be a monster. If that's the case, we'll have to run as quickly as possible."

"Can't you just kill it, Dad?" Sam asked innocently. Buddy chuckled at the faith his son had in him, but he had to shake his head.

"Not with a bow and arrow. You know how powerful monsters are."

"Yeah! If you can kill one, you can be a Hero! Or at least an adventurer!"

"Hey, now. If your dad could be an adventurer, he would have been one a long time ago. I'll just settle for being a hunter."

Buddy then swallowed and glanced at the violent rustle in the trees. He proceeded forward carefully, his arrow drawn tightly. If there was truly a monster, then it was his duty to investigate, confirm the sighting, and then hurry back to inform the adventurer's guild or guard outpost in Gunnison Town. From there, they would dispatch actual adventurers or knights to deal with the problem.

A single hunter like him wouldn't be able to fight a monster, unfortunately. Of course, he had to make sure it wasn't a false alarm. The Havan Kingdom had been stretched to the brink after the last war, what with the recent demonic invasions. There had been rumors that the hunter tribe in the southern province had been wiped out, and their leader – the governess of the southern provinces, Yvonne, had gone missing or was otherwise killed.

He didn't know. Ever since Yvonne took over as the governess, she had left the southern provinces in neglect. Colorado had been one of them, left by the wayside as the previous governess isolated them from the rest of the kingdom. There were news of Possessed destroying Zaid Town, particularly the presence of an Abysmal Ruler, but he couldn't confirm it. Given that there were no other sightings after the demise of Zaid Town, he didn't pay the rumors much heed.

Then again, there were news that a mercenary platoon had exterminated the Possessed, including the Abysmal Ruler, but he could hardly believe that. No single human platoon would be capable of slaying an entire horde of Possessed, much less Luciela herself.

"Dad?"

Buddy was drawn back to reality by his son's voice. He realized that Sam was staring into the distance. There was something moving in the grass…something small and fast. Frowning, he took aim at whatever it was, watching the rustling tall grass carefully.

A monster? But if it wasn't that big, then perhaps he might be able to slay it and even make a name for himself…

Chewing his lip, he shook his head and berated himself for his hubris. If it was truly a monster moving around in the tall grass, then he couldn't afford to underestimate it. Monsters were dangerous and resilient.

On the other hand, this could be a false alarm. Rabbits were known for moving this quickly amongst the grass. It could be a rodent, or perhaps…

"Dad? I'm scared." Sam was trembling. Buddy took one good look at him before he made his decision.

F.u.c.k it. He didn't care about fame. He wanted to do his duty, but he had an obligation to protect his son as well. Screw it, if he didn't know what was out there, then he would get adventurers to find out. If it turned out to be a false alarm, then let everyone laugh at him. He would even willingly pay the fee for wasting the adventurers' time.

"Let's go," he told Sam. "Let's get out of here."

Sam nodded, the good boy. Both father and son began sprinting out of the forest, rushing back toward the town. Of course, Sam had to trip over the uneven terrain and fell. It wasn't funny. Buddy reckoned that he should have expected it. It always happened in every cliché horror story.

"Sam! Are you all right?"

"Y…yes!" Sam was scrambling to his feet, but whatever it was, it was approaching fast. Knowing that his son wouldn't get away in time, Buddy notched an arrow to his bow and took aim. If it was a rabbit, then they would have it for dinner. If not, he prayed that his arrow would be able to kill it.

There was a screech and something hurtled out of the tall grass to fly at him. Buddy released the arrow and watched as it impaled the shrieking creature to the trunk of a tree. To his astonishment, acidic blood sizzled and corroded the arrow, along with eating away the bark of the tree. Within seconds, it had destroyed a good portion of the tree, causing it to crash down.

"Get away! Sam!"

Buddy hauled his son away, trying to drag him away from the fallen tree. The two of them made it, panting heavily as they caught their breaths.

"What was that, Dad?!"

"No idea." Buddy shook his head and glanced at the creature, which was currently half-buried beneath the tree. It resembled a pale horseshoe crab with finger-shaped limbs and a long, scorpion-like tail. It looked like nothing he had ever seen.

Taking a deep breath, he turned away and stalked out of the clearing. Gesturing to Sam, he hastened his pace.

"Let's get out of here, Sam. We had best report this back to the guild."

"Yes, Dad!"

Buddy hadn't taken more than a few steps when a second creature flew out of the bushes and latched onto his face. With a gurgled cry, he dropped his bow and fell over. Sam rushed over.

"Dad? Dad!���

He flinched when he saw that the horseshoe-shaped creature – similar to the one that his dad had just nailed to the tree earlier – was attached to Buddy's face. Its limbs gripped his skull tightly while its tailed coiled around his neck. Sam wanted to pull it off but he was so afraid that he staggered back and almost fell over.

There was a rustle to his right, and as he turned around fearfully, a third creature hurtled out from the tall grass and wrapped around his face.