Chapter 923: The True Face of Asuk
"D-Demon King? What is she saying?"
"What's going on? She's talking to that Nangou guy...?"
"Isn't she the Demon King?"
Everyone including Jedith, the reincarnators, and the Crimson Demons like Megumin were shocked upon hearing this, confusion and bewilderment filling their eyes.
"What a pity! If only you had summoned me just once!"
The black-haired girl wore an expression of helpless regret.
"After all, killing you in bed would have been so much simpler!"
Her eyes shimmered with intense killing intent, completely undisguised, as if holding enough hatred to drown Eiji, seeming to want to kill him with her gaze alone.
"Who exactly are you?"
Eiji remained unmoved by her killing intent, only asking in a deep voice.
"What is your relationship with the Archduke of Hell, Asuk?"
Archduke of Hell?
Hearing this title, the adventurers behind him stirred into commotion once again.
"Relationship? Hehe, ahahahaha!"
The black-haired girl paused for a moment upon hearing this, then burst into wild laughter.
"You're right, this is indeed the first time I've appeared before you in my true form, so let me reintroduce myself—My name is Asuk! This body holds the authority over dreams, I am one of the seven supreme archdukes of hell, Asuk!"
"Archduke of Hell? Isn't this situation a bit bad?"
"Isn't that an enemy only gods can oppose? Shouldn't we call the goddess Eris in now?"
"If she's not the Demon King, then could the Demon King be..."
Some reincarnators tried to run outside, some Crimson Demons were already chanting teleportation magic, and Megumin looked at Eiji confronting Asuk with shock.
Each of them was a powerful adventurer, but they weren't trained soldiers. No one could remain calm in the face of an unbeatable enemy.
With just a single sentence, everyone fell into panic.
Only Kazuma immediately used his stealth skill, quietly observing from a corner.
"What the hell? You're Asuk?"
Eiji stared wide-eyed at the black-haired girl, his face full of unprepared shock.
"Aren't you male? At the very least, shouldn't demons be genderless? Why are you appearing as a woman?!"
The scene was so shocking that even Eiji became confused.
That's right, he had always thought Asuk was male!
According to the witch, the Treasure Vault in the deepest part of the Demon King's Castle was created by their clan's ancestor—the reinforced concrete and Japanese input method were the best proof—and the password to that Treasure Vault was a series of teachers' names!
In other words, the Yasaka ancestor was definitely male!
Could it be that Asuk isn't actually the Yasaka ancestor?
No, that's impossible. He had admitted it himself back then—Asuk is definitely the Yasaka ancestor himself. Even Barnier said so!
Then what exactly is going on?
"Fuhahahaha! This matter shall be explained by me!"
Just as Eiji was falling into confusion, accompanied by familiar loud laughter, a man wearing a black and white mask appeared in the hall with a flash of white light.
"Barnier? Are you going to side with that guy?"
Seeing this, Asuk frowned delicately and looked over.
"The Archdukes of Hell have long had an agreement to present a united front against external threats. As the foremost Archduke of Hell, do you intend to personally tear up this agreement?"
"Fufu, nothing of the sort, Asuk!"
Barnier remained completely unperturbed, merely chuckling lightly.
"Ultimately, that agreement only applies when facing major enemies like the Celestial Realm. In matters like this, I naturally have the right to stand on his side... However, I'm merely an observer this time - I won't stand on his side, nor on yours!"
"Why?"
"Because I've already reached an agreement with the new Demon King!"
Barnier made no attempt to conceal this, stating it plainly.
"As for what exactly this agreement entails, allow me to keep that a secret for now!"
Asuk glanced at Eiji.
His expression was indeed extremely calm, as if he had long anticipated this situation. Barnier's neutral stance didn't come as a surprise to him.
"Fine then."
Asuk clicked her tongue in displeasure, choosing to temporarily retreat.
If possible, she naturally hoped Barnier would stand on her side, but just as he said, the agreement among the Archdukes of Hell held no weight in such matters, and she couldn't force Barnier.
"New Demon King... So Mr. Nangou really is the Demon King?"
Jedis was completely confused, his gaze staring blankly at Eiji, unable to regain his composure for quite some time.
"Alright, allow me to clear things up for you now, new Demon King."
Barnier cleared his throat, stroking his chin as he adopted a thoughtful posture.
"Where should I begin... Well, let's start with the conclusion - Asuk is indeed the ancestor of the Yasaka clan, this is absolutely true, but she is also definitely female."
What does that mean?
As if seeing through his confusion, Barnier continued his explanation.
"Demons have no gender, this is beyond doubt, but this only applies to pureblood demons. For example, me, and Maxwell, we are pureblood demons, so we have no gender distinction. However, succubi are different."
"Although succubi are also a type of demon, they aren't pureblood demons themselves. They inherently have genders, and this race is entirely female. Most importantly, each of them possesses the innate skill 'Dream Design' - and this is precisely the prerequisite for becoming an Archduke of Hell who controls dreams!"
"Every generation's Dream Archduke has always been a succubus!"
I see.
Eiji looked thoughtful. So it seemed that as long as one learned Dream Design, it was possible to become an Archduke of Hell.
No, wait a moment.
Something felt off.
Ordinary adventurers fundamentally couldn't learn Dream Design, because that was a succubus' innate skill and didn't belong to any profession!
In other words, aside from succubi, the only ones who could learn this skill were those with the weakest but most versatile profession that could learn all professional skills - adventurers!
But this skill had no offensive power whatsoever, so even adventurers were unwilling to learn it.
The reincarnators all came with cheat abilities - each of them would become super-strong professions, like Sword Masters, Archmages, and so on. Aside from someone like Kazuma who brought the wrong cheat, no one would remain in the adventurer profession!
Yasaka's ancestor should be the same. She possessed the cheat-like protection of monsters, but was inherently weak, so she would definitely seek ways to strengthen herself. It's even more unlikely she would learn the skill of dream design!
Unless—
Eiji's expression suddenly turned strange.
"Fuhahahaha! It seems you've figured it out!"
Barnier's face revealed an utterly filthy smile.
"That's right! It's the reincarnation ritual! To become a Great Duke of Hell, Yasaka's ancestor used the reincarnation ritual to reincarnate herself into a succubus, thus acquiring the skill of dream design!"
"The conclusion is, he reincarnated from male to female!"