He Became The Most Insane Emperor Of All Time [EN]: Chapter 256

Tall buildings, shops packed tightly together, and obstacles like cars blocking the roads everywhere.

It was undeniably Earth. But there were no people, and it was strangely desolate.

‘They said this is a reflection of my mind, but is this how I see Earth in my heart?’

Well, who knows. Maybe in my past life, I was the kind of guy who secretly wished the world would end.

“But can we still find the key’s location in this state?”

“Of course.”

Lizelda immediately channeled her magic, and the dreamy light emanating from her hand soon pointed the way.

“I can track the magic imbued in the key. It’s a secret passed down in our clan. Oh, and there’s one thing I didn’t mention.”

“What is it?”

“The key itself is an artifact with power. It’s made from the horn of a Great Demon, so it’s only natural. So, what I mean is…”

Grrrrrrr-

Before she could finish, figures suddenly began to appear from all directions.

They looked like people turned into zombies. But they weren’t just ordinary zombies; some had strange mechanical parts mixed in.

“…The maze’s magic must have affected them as well. Just like now.”

“You’re telling me this now?”

Kiiiirik-

Thud! Thud!

No sooner had I spoken than the mechanical zombies began to attack.

Some wielded electrified wires like whips, while others simply fired guns.

Tuh-wung! Ting!

“That’s strange. Weren’t these illusions? How can they exert physical force?”

“A being recreated with sufficient magic can have physical properties.”

As Balthazar said, bullets were actually bouncing off the armor. Mass production is impossible, but I’m glad I made bulletproof armor.

“No choice then. We’ll just have to defeat them all as we advance!”

Shoosh- Shoosh!

The shadow blades swept over them.

The mechanical parts of the zombies had decent defense, but they were easily cut by the shadow blades.

Whoosh!

Swish!

“Burning illusions doesn’t taste too bad.”

“As long as I’m here, no one can threaten Your Majesty!”

Balthazar and Kyle also played their parts. Even with a large number of zombies swarming, they were often annihilated by our superior skills.

Krrrrrrrr-

“…Now they’re even bringing out tanks.”

But harder opponents kept appearing.

“What’s a tank, Father?”

“It’s… a type of armored vehicle. Prospera mentioned them in a report before you were born…”

Thwack!

“…Let’s get rid of those things first and then talk.”

Without time for idle chatter, a farce unfolded as we immediately charged at the new weapon of civilization, swords in hand.

Of course, one shouldn’t underestimate fantasy. We easily dodged machine gun fire or blocked it with magically enhanced armor.

As for the cannonballs-

Clang!

Bang! Bang!

“He split it in half.”

…He even showed the skill of splitting the incoming cannonballs in half.

After that, we destroyed the tank’s core, silencing it. The exterior looked impressive, but the interior didn’t have the engines I knew.

“The first key fragment is nearby. Fortunately, they didn’t take it.”

After defeating the wave of enemies, we were able to obtain the key fragment as originally intended.

It was just a broken piece, but as Lizelda said, it was an artifact with a great deal of magic.

“I can sense about three or four more magical signatures. It seems the enemies took about three.”

“They took about half in a short time.”

Well, they must have retreated after getting that much.

“Let’s keep moving. Huh?”

“What’s wrong?”

“…No, it’s nothing.”

I briefly saw someone I shouldn’t have.

-You killed me and live so well. It’s infuriating. Emperor.

Karshtein.

I definitely killed him with my own hands—no, come to think of it, I didn’t kill him myself, but made him commit suicide.

Anyway, that bastard was cursing me.

“But so what?”

“Pardon?”

“Ah, no, it’s nothing.”

A guy I didn’t miss much appeared, but… so what? Am I supposed to feel guilty?

When my reaction was lukewarm, the illusion disappeared with a ‘Hoo-ooo’ sound.

Then another guy appeared.

-You. You outwardly preach the empire’s justice, but your actions are nothing more than hypocrisy.

Next is the Spirit King, huh…….

This guy accused me of being a hypocrite. It was partly true. The measures I took with the elves were largely due to my hypocrisy.

But what? Even if everything else is true, does the Spirit King have the right to say that to me?

If I had left him alone, he would have done worse to humans than I did to the elves, so it was just laughable.

The moment I thought that, the Spirit King also transformed into someone else with a Hoo-ooo sound. This kept repeating.

“It seems the maze is starting to show illusions. The good news is that it’s only at a slightly annoying level.”

“It’s definitely bearable, right? All I got was my mother’s illusion scolding me.”

“That’s strange. The maze’s illusions aren’t usually this weak.”

“Could it be because a significant amount of the key’s magic has disappeared?”

Fortunately, it seemed that the intensity of the illusions wasn’t very high for the others.

Instead, I felt like the illusion attacks were concentrated on me.

Various illusions appeared. It wasn’t just dead people either.

The Grand Empress Dowager, the previous emperor whose face I didn’t even know, my wives, even Pestras, whom I had killed recently…….

-Are you happy now that you dumped me and became an emperor?

…Even my ex-girlfriend who dumped me before I fell into this world appeared.

Am I happy that I became an emperor after being dumped? Of course, I am! Getting dumped was a great benefit.

“This is the last key fragment. There are no more key fragments in the maze. But… is there something good happening, Your Majesty?”

“Hmm? Well, getting all the key fragments is a good thing, right?”

“…Well, I guess so.”

Even the ghost of my ex-girlfriend disappeared with a Hoo-ooo sound, and I felt quite good.

“So, we have four keys… so we have to fight the Great Demons with these. By the way, how many Great Demons are there?”

“Seven. That’s why there were seven key fragments.”

“Oh… so we have to fight three of them with pure strength.”

“Or we could take the remaining key fragments from them.”

After taking all the key fragments out of the maze, we began to discuss what to do next.

In fact, all that remained was to face the Great Demons.

The hardliners’ army was still there, but they had suffered a defeat and their strength had weakened, so they weren’t a major concern.

“But still, we need to replenish our forces. It’s not just to prepare for the Great Demons, but more than anything……”

It was to prepare for the possibility of the Creator God coming.

“It could be the opposite.”

“The opposite?”

“The hardliners wouldn’t fail to prepare for the worst-case scenario. Of course, they wouldn’t easily think that the Great Demons would lose to you, but……”

Even if that wasn’t the case, they might be prevented from breaking the seal, or the Great Demons might attack them in reverse.

“They might have made plans to escape to the Demon Realm where the Creator God is in preparation for such a situation. I think this is more likely.”

“That makes sense. There’s no reason for the Creator God to take a gamble so early.”

For me and the Creator God to fight now is a gamble where it’s difficult for either of us to predict victory.

Moreover, the Creator God has an overwhelming force, so it’s more advantageous for him not to step forward.

Even if there are several tactical defeats, it’s enough strategic success for him if he only succeeds in eroding the empire’s power.

Of course, if even that strategic success is unsatisfactory, he can choose to compete with me later.

“It’s certain that the Creator God is unlikely to be there. Even so, this fight isn’t very advantageous.”

The reason was that the force capable of fighting the Great Demons was very limited on our side, with only me.

“The four keys can weaken four Great Demons. The remaining three must be faced with my strength……”

-I can help with that, human.

“……!”

While I was holding the key fragments and pondering the method alone, a voice was heard from the key fragments.

What is it? Is the illusion from the maze continuing here?

-I am not a voice of illusion.

“Then what are you? Reveal yourself.”

-I am Astaroth. One of the seven Great Demons imprisoned by the demons of hell.

“A Great Demon… speaking to me through the magic imbued in the key. But why should I listen to a Great Demon?”

I’m going to kill you anyway.

-Arrogant emperor. I assure you, you cannot defeat all seven Great Demons alone.

“You won’t know until you try. Besides, what are you going to do about it? Are you going to help me? Is a Great Demon going to help kill another Great Demon?”

-You are mistaken. Just because we are Great Demons doesn’t mean we are on the same side. Rather, we are close to being enemies.

“You’re all sealed by demons anyway.”

-It’s certainly unfortunate. But I regret the tyranny I committed. It was a late regret.

Well, you must have regrets since you were sealed. But I don’t know if you sincerely regret it or if you regret not trampling on them more.

-That doesn’t matter, Emperor. I have no intention of returning to them whether the seal is broken or not.

“What do you mean?”

-I want to avenge the Great Demons.

“Revenge? Did those guys do something to you?”

-You wouldn’t know what happens inside the seal.

Astaroth told of the events that occurred while he was trapped in the seal.

-The abyss of hell that sealed us contained not only the Great Demons but also their followers and even their blood relatives.

-I cherished my followers and family. Even though I was called a tyrant, I cherished them even more after they were sealed with me.

-But the Great Demons killed me to gather strength to escape the seal. And even my followers and my family!

“You died?”

-That’s right. I died and had all my power absorbed by them. Except for the magic left in this key fragment.

-It was I who gave the Succubus Queen the horn that would become the key to the seal. It was to atone for the sins I had committed, even a little.

“The word atonement doesn’t suit a demon very well.”

-Then how about revenge? I want to avenge them. And I will make you an offer that is hard to refuse.

The offer that Astaroth went on to make was certainly hard to refuse.

-I will help you defeat the Great Demons and gain their power.

It was truly an offer with no reason to refuse.