Dungeon of Pride, Laplace



Although Gareth spoke to the crowd, his words were intended for the others observers who hadn't shown their faces or were peering from the distance.

The place was silent for a while before a few demons stepped forward, their voices trembling with a mixture of fear and sycophantic praise.

"Demon Lord of Envy, Belial.. your commanders are truly unmatched. We bow before their might and envy their power. We have no qualms and accept your rein as the new demon lord from this day forth." they declared, their words laden with both bootlicking flattery and genuine awe.

What a joke, there was no way they would go up and challenge a commander especially after they witnessed the devastating loss of Duke Megera. Their status and reputation was very much precious to them, they had no intentions of throwing it away and become the laughingstock in front of the whole demon world.

There wasn't a single demon noble present in the venue who was still unsatisfied or held any qualms about the new demon lord assuming his position. The defeat of Duke Megera had that much impact on them.

Belial's smirk widened, as he sensed the atmosphere of fear and adulation that surrounded the venue.

"Your words are noted," he replied with a voice dripping with a mix of superiority and indulgence.

"My fellow demons, worry not for this power is not meant to be exercised on our own kind. Today was just but a reminder to all the demons and to show my predecessors that I am worthy of my title".

In the demon world, might was law. The one who had the bigger fist was right. Therefore, the demons in the venue erupted into applause, their eyes flashing with a newfound respect for the demon lord. 

Belial had not only proven his own worth, but had ignited a fire within the hearts of all who bore witness to his power presentation.  It was a moment that would forever be etched into the annals of demonic history.

From this day forward, none would dare challenge his supremacy, for they had witnessed the undeniable might of his forces and the envy it inspired.

"It looks like the fight with Megera was enough to shut them up" Gareth, ever the astute observer, nodded approvingly, his eyes glinting with a blend of satisfaction and pride.

The fear and astonishment that permeated the venue pleased him greatly, it reaffirmed his belief in the power of his son and the commanders of Envy. Although still a little lacking, but with his and the support from his faction, it wouldn't be a problem for Belial to assume his new role.

And so, the power presentation drew to a close, the Hexennacht venue remained in a state of silent reverence. The grandeur of Belial's forces, his vast wealth, and the strength of his commanders had left an indelible mark on the hearts and minds of many who bore witness to it.

That said, even though the power presentation had come to a close, the Hexennacht was far from over. If anything the real matters of the Hexennacht was about to start.

The event was paused for a bit for the attendees to clear their minds with the music and the treats prepared for them. After a while, as the echoes of the power presentation subsided, the atmosphere within the venue shifted.

The time for discussing the pressing matters of the Hexennacht had arrived. Demons of various ranks and stations gathered around, their attention focused on the matters that threatened to disrupt the peace of their dominion and plagued every demonkind. 

At the centre of the discussion stood Belial, the Demon Lord of Envy. His expression was composed and commanding as he presided over the gathering with a presence that radiated authority.

Seated nearby was Gareth, the cunning Archduke and also the father of Belial. Other than him, there was also the Demon Archduke Agares, Boros, Goliath and Orca. With all the demons present, the Hexennacht officially convened.

The atmosphere turned sombre and focused. On a side note, Duke Megera who had recovered from the damage he suffered from his fight against the General of Jealousy, had also rejoined the event. Though it couldn't be said that he was in a very good mood after his humiliating defeat.

"Alright, everyone.. Let us start this event with the most pressing matter at hand".

Belial clapped his hands and a Demon Duke subordinate from his faction, stepped out. They took out a big parchment of paper from their space ring and spread it open on top of a table at the centre of the venue.

As all the eyes shifted towards the paper, they realised that it was a map though not just any map, but the map of the entire Demon Continent.

Belial, the Demon Lord of Envy, rose from his seat, and gazed at the gathered demons with his piercing violet eyes. With a commanding and resonant voice that pierced through the air, he spoke.

"Fellow demons, the humans have made significant inroads into our territories in these past few centuries, building air routes and teleportation gates. Their presence had no doubt allowed us to amass great wealth and resources and has helped us grow stronger".

"However, this has also opened the demon continent to the humans. Their relentless pursuit of power threatens to destabilize our dominion and shatter the delicate balance we have maintained for aeons…"

The first topic that was discussed in the Hexennacht was the significant number of dungeons conquered by the humans in the past couple of centuries. Whispers of concern echoed through the venue, each word a testament to the demons' growing unease.

"Are the humans trying to break the treaty? Did they forget the significant losses they suffered in the ancient wars?"…

"Hmph, they are blatantly disregarding the agreement, so why should we follow it too? Let's show those humans diving inside out dungeon that all their transgressions would be punished"…

"Are you all insane? We cannot be the first ones to break the treaty. We the demon race are already imposed with several sanctions and repercussions. To this day, we aren't allowed to step foot openly on the central Continent. If on top we are the first ones to break the treaty, the consequences will be extremely dire. You do whatever you want to do with your own dungeon, but do not drag all of us into it"…

"Heh, the era of peace has made you a coward and a wuss who only knows how to sit back inside his dungeon and hide. I am ashamed as a fellow demon noble to know that someone as gutless as you exist among us. Since when did we the race of demon nobles fear anyone? So what if we incur 'their' wrath if we break the treaty? I say bring it on. This peace is nothing but a façade and this treaty that was forcefully imposed on us is extremely prejudiced against us while favouring the other party"..

"I agree with him, all those rules in the treaty are clearly meant to restrain us"…

"You all have gone insane. Do you think this is still the ancient era? Even the Demon lords of now have to be respectful to 'them', who do you think you are…".

The opinions of the crowd were clearly divided, one side wanted to punish the humans and talked about breaking the treaty, while the other side was against taking action against the humans since they were afraid of suffering any loss.

"Hey, why are they fighting over such a common issue? I didn't think that the race of demon nobles who only seek their own self interest would discuss about matters that didn't even concern them"

Simon who was attending the Hexennacht for the first time, didn't understand why such a matter would concern all the demon kind.

It was not unusual for a dungeon to be conquered, in fact, such cases occurs many times over a decade. Of course, in all of those cases, it is the low tier dungeons that are created by low ranking demons such as Demon Earl and Demon Viscount that gets conquered.

There are hardly if any cases where an intermediate tier dungeon gets conquered. So why were these demon nobles so riled up?

"You are right, we the race of demon nobles aren't united, we are all motivated by our interests and hardly show any care for what happens to others. However, you are wrong about one thing".

"This is a serious matter that concerns all of us Demon Nobles. Since you haven't attended the previous Hexennacht, you might not know it, but this issue has been raised because it is not the low ranking or intermediate ranking dungeons that have been conquered, but a genuine high ranking dungeon belonging to a powerful Demon Duke". Oswell explained.

"What?"...

"You heard that right, the adventurers managed to conquer an [A] rank dungeon. It is a shocking matter; however, it wouldn't cause all of us demons to be so riled up. The reason why some demons are even going as far as to say they would break the Treaty, was because it's not just one high ranking dungeon that got conquered but three of them".

"What's more astonishing is that all three dungeons were ruled by powerful Demon Dukes who had lived for more than 2000 years. Naturally, the force that they had amassed was equally formidable, yet all of them got destroyed in the last three decades. Something like this hasn't occurred over a millennium. Naturally, an issue like that would be raised in the Hexennacht".