There was a disturbance in the forest.

Nomi pricked up her ears as she sensed the change in the air. She surveyed her surroundings with a grim expression on her face and worry in her heart.

"Something's coming."

When they heard this, the Blood wolf's stopped their walk and drew their weapons in preparation for battle. Shortly after, Lucifer tightened his grip on his broadsword as well.

"Is it the King of the Radiated Forest?"

Nobody answered Saul's uneasy question as he took out his katana. Everyone merely watched the depths of the forest in silence.

"This is bad."

Even the usually flighty Nomi was speaking in a serious tone:

"Something massive is coming. I don't know why it's moving in a serpentine pattern, but from the sound of trampled grass, it should be here soon. However… can't be sure if it's the King of the Radiated Forest."

"Let's fall back, it doesn't matter if it's the King of the Radiated Forest or not, staying here is very dangerous. Even if it's not the King of the Radiated Forest, we've entered its territory, so the chances of it giving chase are very high."

As he said this, Taguchi looked to Lucifer.

"Sato-san, can we trouble you to be the rear guard?"

"No problem. Leave it to me… We'll take care of the rest."

The Blood wolf's called out their encouragement to Lucifer one after the other as they helped Saul retreat from of the forest.

"Sato-san, please don't overdo it."

Saul's voice carried an absolute faith in Lucifer, and his eyes glittered with admiration underneath his hair. It made Lucifer feel deeply uncomfortable and he wished that they would leave quickly.

As he watched them disappear into the forest on the other side of the clearing, a twinge of unease ran through Lucifer. He was not sure if he could leave the forest by himself, but then he immediately considered that he could let Dark guide him.

There was a more pressing problem before him at the moment—

"Damn… They might think it's not the King of the Radiated Forest… and even if I bring it back to my home, I need some proof of having beaten it… Should I cut off one of its legs?"

"—lucifer-sama."

Oxy's gaze was far afield, looking at the mighty shadow that emerged from the distant trees. There was no way to make its shape out because it was hiding behind the trees, and without the sun to light it, there was no way to tell if it's body was in fact, brown.

"Has our guest arrived?"

"Or maybe we're the guests", Lucifer idly mused as he stepped up in front of Oxy. He had no idea of how strong it was — what level it was, so Lucifer made the logical decision of putting himself in front of the magic caster oxy, who was not suited to melee combat.

Once he got in front of oxy, Lucifer felt the air move. He immediately crossed his broadsword in front of him like a shield. He heard something like the sound of steel meeting steel, and a tremendous force bore down on Lucifer's arms. A weighty and swift object had struck the broadsword Lucifer was holding.

He saw a long, furry tail slowly retreat behind a tree. Its tail attacks like a bullwhip. However, judging by the feel and sound of the impact, that tail must be as hard as metal… its attack radius of over five meters will be hard to deal with, but how does it live with a tail like that?

With no frontliner skills, Lucifer had no idea how to deal with it. All he could do was advance into melee with his foe.

Lucifer sighed. He braced his shoulders into a battle-stance, ready to counterattack. In response to this, a serene bass voice boomed out from the forest:

"How spectacular; to think thou could endure the blow of this one. Perhaps this is the first time this one hath encountered a foe possessed of such prowess."

It continued:

"Then, oh trespasser upon mine demesne. Shouldst thou decide to quit the field, this one shall not pursue thee, in honor of thine magnificent defense…what say thee?"

Lucifer thought it a little stupid if it thought he was going to run away. It's a little rude, isn't it? Still, a talking tree with a bullwhip-tail and a high degree of speech and knowledge made Lucifer very curious.

"…and if I don't leave?"

Lucifer replied, and he could almost hear the creature's arrogant frown.

Actually, this creature wasn't speaking English or Japanese or any other language. It was simply making noises but an item which Lucifer had equipped on him called, [the nature's lover] allowed him to communicate with animals.

"…What a wild tongue thou hast, oh trespasser! Now behold this one's mighty form! Stare with eyes wide and tongue tied, and tremble in dread and awe!"

The King of the Radiated Forest slowly emerged from the trees, revealing its body.

As Lucifer saw it, his eyes went wide.

"Fufufu, this one senses thy fear and alarm from beneath thine helmet!" a smile twisted the face of the beast, and it curled its long tail. There were strange symbols on the brown fur covering its body.

It was about the size of a horse, and it was high to the ground, being larger in the vertical direction rather than the horizontal.

The king of the Radiated Forest shrank the distance between them.

"What is this…"

An indescribable feeling washed over Lucifer. After becoming a demon, all the strong emotions he felt were immediately suppressed. With that in mind, this was probably not a very strong emotion. Even so, he had not felt this in a long time — including his time in Hollow — the sensation when a monster appeared before him.

"…I have a question; what is the name of your species?"

"This one is known in thy tongue as the King of the Radiated Forest. Apart from that, i was once known as subject 101. This one holds no other titles."

Lucifer' gulped, and then asked further:

"Your species… might they be called grey Wolf's?"

The King of the Radiated Forest.

From what Lucifer could see, it closely resembled a Grey Wolf. Its fur was originally silvery, or rather, snow white, now brown from dirt contrasted by its black eyes, and its body looked like a cat.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Of course, wolf's did not have such long tails, nor did they grow larger than a human being. However, those two factors aside, if this was an grey wolf brought back year's ago from extinction, it would make sense.

"Thou art a very odd fellow. Dost thou not run at the sight of this one's terrifying form? Dost thou not tremble in fear?"

The king of the Radiated Forest chuckled as he eyed Lucifer. In the end, he found him peculiar for standing his ground. It tilted its adorable head — it seem to have a long neck — and the King of the Radiated Forest sniffed at the air before speaking again:

"This… this one hath lived in solitude all mine life. This one canst not answer thee, for this one knowst not of this one's… or dost thou imply that thou knowst of this one's species?"

"Um… er… I guess, sort of…my friend who used to own a cat..a being like you..told me about grey Wolf's."

Behind him, oxy quietly went, "Ohhhh," probably because he had learned something about his creator's friends.

"What?! To think beings like this one would be raised as pets!"

The King of the Radiated Forest puffed up its cheeks.

Lucifer had no idea whether it was unhappy or trying to intimidate him, or something else. The only thing Lucifer could be sure of was that it was definitely Not eating.

"Hm… This one prays thee enlighten me on that matter. This one is a living being and must procreate. If others of this one's breed exist, then this one must go forth and multiply, lest this one become a failure as a living being."

Lucifer sighed as he listened to the king of the Radiated Forest's complaints, and he replied in his own mind:

"A failure of a living beings huh..i wonder how it will react if it ever found out I never once had my first kiss in all my twenty year's of living or even a girlfriend..oh king of the forest, you're hurting my feelings."

After Lucifer's musings were over, he physically answered:

After Lucifer's musings were over, he physically answered:

""…Er, it wasn't as big as you, anyway."

"Be that as it may… perchance it was a juvenile?"

"…No, even fully grown, it was small enough to fit in the palm of my hand."

With a vague sense of sadness, the King of the Radiated Forest's whiskers drooped down.

"Indeed, that is quite a stretch… this one must pass the years in solitude, after alll…"

"…If you were a more impressive looking species it wouldn't be so bad… but you're a oversized cat. I do sympathize with your circumstances, but if there were others like you, your numbers would increase without end and the world might end up being destroyed…"

The King of the Radiated Forest twitched its whiskers. While its eyes were the same shiny black as always, there seemed to be some anger in its tone:

"What an outrage! Increasing the numbers of one's species is important! And this one hath lived without companionship all mine life! 'Tis only natural to desire others of mine kind!"

"Oh… um… well, that's certainly true… forgive me, I misspoke…"

The King of the Radiated Forest nodded lightly:

"This one shall forgive thee for that grievous error."

In response, Lucifer let out an exasperated sigh:

"That is a relief, I suppose…"

Lucifer said, scratching the back of the helmet.

Lucifer's heart was beginning to soften somewhat at the King of the Radiated Forest's plaintive whine — a plaintive whine which seemed to cry out, "Save me from my solitude." It was as if this creature was crying out for help. And now that he had gotten a better look at the creature, the king of the Radiated Forest was much more adorable than he had first thought.

"Why couldn't it be a bear or a troll… or even a dragon. A dog or a giant would be a bit better…"

Then he spoke out loud to himself:

"You know, I expected nothing. Yet, somehow I'm still disappointed."

This was a line which Lucifer's mother had told him back in 8th grade after seeing his final's report card.

"What? To be disappointed at this situation, how is it possible?"

The King of the Radiated Forest spoke with a sense of bewilderment.

"Thy is truly a strange and odd creature, oh trespasser… perhaps this one had better let thee go…"

"No, no, don't blame yourself. It's not your fault. I just had a long day."

Lucifer said to him.

The King of the Radiated Forest remained silent for a moment, staring at Lucifer's

Metaphorical face.

"…This one feels an incomprehensible sense of familiarity…"

Lucifer found his heart fluttering when he heard those words.

"I see, thank you. Well, I'll introduce myself before the duel, my name is Lucifer the light bringer, but my other persons is of a friendly neighbourhood mercenary called Sato."

Just then, oxy spoke up:

"Lord Lucifer, are you alright?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm confused.."

".........at what...the monster being a cat part or the"

"You're talking to a giant cat."

"It's not a giant ca—"

But then the king of the Radiated Forest spoke up and this time, Lucifer turned off his translation item and all he could hear were cat sounds.

He sighed.

He turned on the item again and the king of the Radiated Forest was insulting him.

"Oh well, now you've done it."

The king of the Radiated forest continued speaking in its oh' so mystical ways:"You think this one is nothing but a cat, and dost intend to flee this battle. If this is the limit of thine courage, I shall not let thee go..."

As it continued blabbering, oxy turned to Lucifer and asked:

"What's it's saying?"

"The beast say's, since you've offended it, that the only way it can regain its honour is to follow it's age old tradition and battle us."

"I see... this cat is quite the tsundere huh..."

"Yeah, it's quite the tsundere..."

Lucifer nodded as he watched the King of the Radiated Forest puff up it's cheeks. In this case, he would not defeat the King of the Radiated Forest, but capture it alive to pick its brains.

"oxy, fall back," Lucifer said, forcing some semblance of fighting spirit back into himself as he gave that order. Oxy had a look of absolute confidence in Lucifer's victory on his face as he bowed deeply and then retreated to a corner of the clearing.

"Oh — but know thou that being outnumbered is no handicap for this one?"

"…I can't do something as embarrassing as fighting a cat two-on-one."

After hearing those words and seeing Lucifer raise his weapons in a fighting stance, the King of the Radiated Forest lowered its body and tensed its entire body.

"Regret not thy decision! Now bear the charge of this one!"

The massive body forcefully kicked off the earth with a mighty bang, and lunged at Lucifer.

The flying tackle of the King of the Radiated Forest's massive body would have tossed any ordinary person away, had they been hit by it. However, Ainz used the blade of his broadsword as a shield, and took the King of the Radiated Forest's charge head on. Despite its fearsome destructive power, Lucifer still easily resisted it…

"Muuuuu!"

The Wise King of the Radiated Forest was surprised by the unmoving Lucifer, and slashed with the surprisingly sharp claws on its forepaws. Lucifer raised the broadsword in his right hand to block the strike and immediately after used it to do a slash.

He did not put his full strength into it, but it was still quite a forceful blow. But the King of the Radiated Forest evaded the attack with surprising agility, and then slashed at Lucifer with the whip-like tail which Lucifer blocked.

Lucifer sighed.

"That's enough."

Speaking with a cold, crystal clear voice, Lucifer pointed his broadsword at the King of the Forest and activated his skill.

"[Death]."

Since its instant death effect was too strong, he decided to reduce its potency and instead activated its fear effect.

A cold, soul-chilling vapour gusted out from Lucifer.

The moment that mass of cold air washed over the King of the Radiated Forest, every single one of its hairs stood on end, and it rolled over with surprising speed. All he could see was its brown fur, and its soft, defenceless belly.

"Craven! This one yields to thee!"

"…Ah… in the end it was just a beast…"

"Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you."

Lucifer's voice showed no trace of pity or mercy, and it made the King of the radiated Forest shiver. At the same time, it found itself unable to lift its body off the ground, as if something was keeping it pinned in place.

Lucifer knelt down, and looked at the King of the Radiated Forest's panicked expression.

"…What shall I do with you?"

The huge cat said nothing as it looked at Lucifer's masked face.

"It's a creature of this world, so chasing it away would be a shame. Sadly, it's just a cat, so should I raise it as a pet… at the very least, I should make use of its corpse."

Lucifer had necromantic skills which allowed him to turn a corpse into an undead slave, though the quality of the undead produced depended on the species of the corpse.

The best corpses were those of powerful beings like Dragons, while human corpses could become zombies and skeletons. Then, given that the King of the Radiated Forest did not exist in Hollow, what sort of undead would its corpse make?

A King of the Radiated Forest Zombie?

"Shall we kill it?" a cheery voice rang out.

Lucifer turned, and found that dark had mysteriously appeared beside oxy.

"If you kill it, I'd like its hide. It looks like it would make a great pelt…"

Lucifer lowered his head and looked straight at the King of the Radiated Forest, who was looking at him with moist, tear-filled eyes. Its whiskers twitched as it waited fearfully for its future to be decided.

Just then, he suddenly recalled the words which he had exchanged with the King of the Radiated Forest. Then, with a sigh, he made his decision.

"My true name is Lucifer The Light-bringer."

"And the fallen angel of darkness." Oxy added.

"Yes that too. If you are willing to serve me, I will spare your life."

"Th-Thank you very much! This one shall offer absolute fealty to thee for the gift of this one's life! The life of the King of the Radiated Forest shall be an offering to the great warrior, Lucifer the light bringer-sama!"

Dark looked at the King of the Radiated forest, who had jumped up and was frantically pledging its loyalty. He seemed happy.

"That is so cute."

However, in the moment that his heart softened, dark's expression returned to a cold look as he asked:

"Lucifer-sama, is it really a good idea to allow this one to live?"

Lucifer nodded.

"Of course it is. In this world, it's a great pity if I can't use the things I come across."

That was true. There were more possibilities if this being was alive.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.