God-Tier Enhancement: My Upgrades Never Fail-Chapter 276: Episode _Legend of the Demon World (9)

13.

The Demon World was a society, too.

Even if it was a society where you were more likely to be greeted with a swinging weapon than a simple hello, it was a society nonetheless.

Naturally, there were ordinary demons, and there were demons who didn’t enjoy fighting.

They were just a small minority.

In any case, among those demons were blacksmiths, which meant armor also existed.

In the Demon World, where a single well-crafted piece of armor was worth more than ten weapons, blacksmiths were inevitably held in high esteem.

That esteem had only grown since it became known that the current Demon King’s weapon—the very one that had cut down the previous Demon King and lopped off the heads of twelve top-tier demons with ease—owed much of its power to Enhancement.

They wanted good weapons.

They wanted good armor.

Most demons didn’t wear armor.

They might wield powerful weapons, but in a world of constant life-or-death battles, they didn’t see the need for it.

It was a matter of pride.

If they wanted to, they could cover themselves head to toe so that not even a single blade could slip through, but in the Demon World, that was considered a pathetic tactic fit only for Celestials.

The fact that no one could forge armor capable of withstanding demon Dark Magic for long also played a part.

It was humiliating enough already; if they put on armor and then lost, they would never escape the shame, even in death. Imagine being mocked for it every time the day of your reincarnation rolled around.

So they had little interest in armor.

But Han Simin’s gear was different.

“This! This! Is this better than the Demon King’s?” a top-tier demon asked, holding up a piece of level 70 +15 armor.

“Hey now. Don’t you dare compare anything to Epia’s gear. Of course it’s not better than hers,” Simin replied kindly. “But I guarantee you this much—I won’t waste words. Try it on and decide. Epia, help me out.”

“Okay.”

This was a completely different Simin from the one who treated all of Epia’s underlings like dogs, regardless of their rank.

Standing beside him with a full-on salesman’s smile, Epia stepped forward and nodded.

The top-tier demon quickly donned the armor. Instead of her +14 twin swords, Epia swung a simple iron sword at him.

Whoosh—

The blade skimmed across the armor in a blur, so fast that even the top-tier demon reacted a beat too late.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Silence descended.

The power was devastating.

With a single swing, space itself tore open. The rift, unable to contain the paradox of its own existence, then exploded.

And yet, the armor that had taken the direct hit was intact.

The blast wave from the explosion left scars on the parts of his body not covered by the armor, but the armor itself was unscathed.

The only mark left on it was the glorious trace bestowed by the Demon King.

“Wow.”

A top-tier demon didn’t care about scratches on armor.

They treated the scars covering their bodies as badges of honor; a mere blemish on armor meant nothing.

All they could do was marvel.

’This is the real deal.’

With armor like this, they could toss aside pride and social appearances.

No, wearing this wouldn’t even hurt their pride.

Who would dare point at this armor and mock them for being pathetic enough to wear it?

If anyone did, they could simply show them.

Show them the power of the armor.

Show them how, without attacking even once, they could toy with an opponent by defending alone.

A late-learned vice is always the most dangerous.

For demons who had lived their whole lives without armor—especially top-tier demons who always had to watch their backs—this felt like gaining an extra life.

The top-tier demon who had taken part in the test glanced around.

Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t the only one feeling that way.

The other top-tier demons, and even the high-ranking demons below them, couldn’t hide their astonishment.

Those who had been caught in the explosion were exhausted from desperately defending themselves. Seeing the top-tier demon who had taken the direct hit standing there unharmed set their minds racing.

They were probably all mentally calculating their net worth.

The top-tier demon shouted urgently,

“I will pay the price! Can you wait for me a moment?”

“Of course. You probably don’t have it on you, so hurry home and come back.”

“Thank you. I’m definitely buying this one.”

“Of course. First come, first served.”

Han Simin gave a magnanimous nod.

The top-tier demon let out a sigh of relief and began to flap his wings, but the motion was cut short as Epia blocked his path.

“Hey, hey. Where do you think you’re going?”

“...Where do you think? I’m going to pay for it...”

Han Simin stared at the demon with an incredulous look. The top-tier demon protested, equally aggrieved.

’You told me to go.’

’You said you’d wait.’

But the demon’s resentful glare was met with Simin’s next words, which made it clear he had completely misunderstood.

“Go ahead, but leave that here.”

The demon fell silent.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to sell it to someone else. Everyone’s going to try the items on before we hold an auction, so you don’t need to be impatient. You can understand that much, right? It would be a shame to let a top-tier demon just snatch it up for a bargain. Right, Epia?”

“Do as he says.”

Top-tier demon or not, no one could so much as twitch before the Demon King.

At Epia’s single command, the demons hurriedly tried on the items they liked and then took their leave.

“I won’t wait long.”

And with that, the first auction in the history of the Demon World began.

*

After the demons had left, Han Simin reached out and stroked Epia’s head.

“Nice work. As expected of an educated demon; your acting was as smooth as flowing water.”

“You taught me everything, Honey.”

“...Huh? What did you just call me?”

“Why?”

“Oh, nothing. My memory’s just a bit spotty.”

“Mm.”

Every time she called him an endearment, he felt a pang of guilt—her looks alone made him feel he shouldn’t be doing this. But he was slowly getting used to it. Besides, it was ridiculous to feel guilty now, when he was the one who had planned all this and was currently exploiting her. He decided to just accept it.

In practice, the deck had been stacked from the start.

It went without saying that no matter how ordinary the iron sword, it was still an attack swung with the full strength of the Demon King. A mere piece of level 70 armor, even at +15, could never block that without taking any damage. On top of that, the demon wearing it hadn’t even tried to defend himself; he had just stood there and taken the hit.

If Epia had truly intended to pierce through, the +15 armor would have been shredded like paper, and the iron sword would have ravaged the top-tier demon’s body.

It had all been just for show.

“Damn. Compressing space, twisting it, then making it explode so flashily—where the hell did you learn a trick like that? You’d have to be an idiot not to fall for it.”

“You taught me that, too.”

“...Yeah?”

She wasn’t a cat, but her purr was adorable. Then again, as a succubus with ears and a tail, calling her a cat wasn’t exactly wrong. In any case, his hand, which had been stroking her soft hair, came to a brief halt.

’What the hell kind of person was that previous Enhancer?’

Whenever something came up—whenever Epia’s wicked side emerged—it was always connected to that previous Enhancer.

It was almost as if...

“Isn’t he one of your ancestors, Simin?”

He was speechless.

He’d had his suspicions when he saw the man shove a contract in Epia’s face in the second video, but it seemed he was even more impressive than imagined.

The resentment and dislike Simin had felt for being saddled with a trash class that had no attack skills and numerous restrictions suddenly dropped sharply.

’Right. So I wasn’t the only victim.’

That previous Enhancer had been a sacrifice to BetaGo, too. To make a living, earn money, fall in love, and even have kids with a garbage class like this, your personality was bound to get twisted.

For some reason, he felt a sense of kinship. And because of that, he also felt an odd fondness for Epia, who had been so thoroughly shaped by such a master.

“I have a feeling we’re going to be great business partners.”

She was strong and a great con artist. Above all, she was pretty and young. If he could control her properly, where would he ever find a better partner?

“Now move your hand.”

“Okay.”

’But controlling that insane personality of hers won’t be easy, not until I finish the Story Quest—or even after.’

*

14.

The Heavenly King and the Celestials safely reached the Demon World.

“...Damn demons. Still as filthy as ever.”

Of course, they had taken enough damage along the way to make anyone scowl, but they had arrived quickly enough to call it a relief.

“Heavenly King, we were not able to recover the bodies.”

“For now... we move quickly.”

“Yes, sir.”

It couldn’t be helped. He could have minimized casualties if he had wanted to. The Celestials were numerous, and the Heavenly King’s power was immense. However, if he had done that, they would have played right into the demons’ hands. A small force would have stalled for time while waiting for the main army to arrive.

The longer it dragged on, the more time would be wasted, and before they could achieve their objective, they would end up in a massive war, suffering nothing but meaningless losses.

Dying in a war against demons was not something Celestials feared. However, they did not want to fight a pointless battle, and certainly not on the Demon World’s home turf.

If they were going to do this, they had to win. Yet a full-scale war in the Demon World could only be disadvantageous for the Celestials.

So they chose a frontal assault, ignoring the demons who were self-destructing. As a result, the damage had grown. In the grand scheme of things, however, the losses were negligible.

Aside from the unpleasantness of taking damage from mere demons and suffering avoidable wounds, the outcome was excellent. Under normal circumstances, the Demon World was not a place one could reach so quickly, or with so many troops.

That meant one thing.

“There is trouble inside the Demon World as well.”

Even with an army that included the Heavenly King, it wouldn’t have been strange for the demons to have gathered to check their advance by now. The fact that there was still no response meant that something had happened—something so sudden they couldn’t mount a proper defense. And considering a war with the Celestial Realm that could decide the Demon World’s very survival might break out at any moment, it was clear this was no small incident.

That was why the Heavenly King could smile.

“Perhaps...”

He might have come to rescue Aria, but he could end up walking away with a much greater prize than he’d expected.

“Where is Aria?”

“Over there.”

Wary after one failed attempt, the Heavenly King and the Celestials began to run with renewed hope, straight into the trap prepared just for them.

In their hopeful eyes, even the dark, gloomy sky seemed as if God himself had darkened it for their sake. That hope began to seep into the Demon World.

*