The Hero Reborn as a Demon King Loli

She was starting to miss Lulum.

……

"Lord Lulum, we failed to complete the task you gave us. Please punish us, Lord Lulum."

Inside the Demon King's Palace in the Demon King's Castle, in a courtyard filled with flowers, two dark elves were kneeling in the middle of the courtyard.

These two dark elves were the same two that Chloe had previously defeated, and the person they were kneeling before was none other than Lulum, with her long silver hair.

With her back to the two dark elves, Lulum said in a completely unwavering tone, "Give me a reason, or else..."

The moment Lulum finished speaking, all the flowers in the courtyard withered instantly, seemingly foreshadowing the fate of the two dark elves.

Faced with Lulum's oppressive aura, the two dark elves lowered their heads even further, almost touching the ground.

"Lady Lulum, the reason is this: your daughter doesn't believe we were sent by you..."

"But you can bring her here directly...is that your reason?"

"No, we did try to bring her back directly, but... we couldn't beat her."

"Impossible...that child is clearly only..."

Hearing the two dark elves' answers, which sounded like they were trying to fool her, Lulum turned around and looked at them with an annoyed expression.

The two dark elves were as pale as light elves, and their expressions were as listless as programmers who had been working overtime for three consecutive nights.

Chapter Eleven: The Hero's Miserable Grave

Seeing the two dark elves who looked completely drained, Lulum was stunned for a moment.

For a moment, she thought that she had accidentally absorbed the essence of the surrounding plants along with them.

But she wouldn't make that mistake; at least she definitely didn't make that kind of basic error just now...

"So it was my daughter who caused this to happen to you?"

Lulum frowned, her tone somewhat puzzled.

With Chloe's abilities, it's clearly impossible for her to do that.

"Yes, or perhaps, no..." One of the dark elves hesitated for a moment, then stammered with a look of lingering fear.

"Explain yourself! Don't give me riddles! I just want to know why." Lulum's curiosity was piqued, and now she just wanted to know how Chloe had turned these two dark elves into this state.

The child clearly hasn't learned to eat "food" by this morning.

The other, more composed dark elf seemed to have organized her thoughts and began to recount what had happened to Lulum.

When the two women tried to forcibly take Chloe away, they inexplicably fell unconscious on the spot.

Although they woke up not long afterward.

Even after waking up, they had enough evidence to prove that Chloe had knocked them unconscious, but they still did not give up on their mission to bring Chloe back.

Forcing them won't work; they at least need to have a proper talk with Chloe so that they can have an explanation if Chloe really doesn't intend to go with them.

Using their tracking skills, they discovered that Chloe was not far from them, but when they arrived at the location, they did not see Chloe.

It was a twisted spherical object, two meters tall, with countless terrifying tentacles around it greedily devouring the earth. Upon closer inspection, the sphere itself was made up of layers of twisted tentacles.

Before they could get a closer look, the tentacles around the sphere seemed to want to devour them as well, frantically extending towards them. As they extended, the sphere slowly shrank, and a white figure appeared and disappeared inside.

Although they tried their best to avoid the tentacles, the tentacles cut off their escape route in advance and easily captured them.

Those tentacles seemed to be using them as nourishment, frantically draining their energy. If they hadn't been professional scouts with emergency teleportation scrolls, they might have perished there.

"So you escaped using a teleportation scroll? So what does that sphere have to do with my daughter?"

After hearing the dark elf's description, Lulum frowned, seemingly unable to understand.

"The tendrils are a vibrant green vine, and your daughter is the white figure she described. In other words, your daughter seems to be controlling those vines, but we're not entirely sure..."

Seeing Lulum's puzzled look, another dark elf immediately added.

Although the details were somewhat inaccurate, the dark elf did say everything that needed to be said.

After listening to the dark elf's explanation, Lulum also looked thoughtful.

"The emerald green vines, with their energy-absorbing properties—did Chloe accidentally brush against my broken sword? Could that broken sword be 'that thing' transformed from?"

"If Chloe can really control 'that thing'...it seems little Chloe is more capable than I thought."

After muttering a few words to herself in a voice only she could hear, Lulum's mood gradually improved. Then, with a kind expression, she said to the two dark elves, "Since that's the case, there's nothing we can do. I can forgive you this time."

Seeing that Lulum's attitude had softened slightly, the two dark elves hadn't even had time to be happy when Lulum curled up a wicked smile and continued, "Now I have a second task: to observe my daughter's situation and report back to me until she arrives at the Demon King's castle. It would be best if we could bring her back directly. By the way, only one of you needs to go."

"As for who to send... you two can decide for yourselves, after all, I'm not some kind of demon."

"Yes." The two dark elves, of course, couldn't refuse Lulum's request, but since only one person needed to go…

So the two dark elves began to communicate with their eyes.

"(Why don't you go?)"

"(Can't you go?)"

"(I suddenly remembered I have some things to take care of back home...)"

"(Bullshit, do you think I don't know you're an orphan?)"

“（＃￣～￣＃）”

Just as the two dark elves were arguing with their eyes and were about to come to blows, Lulum suddenly added: "Those who choose to go will be rewarded with ten years of paid leave and triple bonuses."

"(Suddenly I thought, I'll go instead.)"

"(Didn't you just say something happened back home? I'll go instead.)"

"(We're all orphans, where would we get a hometown from?)"

"(you……)"

They started arguing again after Lulu finished speaking, although the direction of their argument was completely opposite to what they had just argued.

There's no way around it, Lulum just gave too much.

……

Chloe, lying on the ground, was idly counting stars, which reminded her of her life as a blade of grass, a life that was just as boring and lonely.

She was still in excruciating pain, but she discovered that her MP seemed to be full.

MP is not usually so easy to recover, especially when MP is zero. In the past, it would have been abnormal if she didn't have a headache for two or three days.

But for some reason, her MP recovered unusually quickly.

After discovering that her MP was full, Chloe frantically cast healing spells on herself.

Healing magic is the only magic she, as a demon, has learned. It may also be related to her innate skills. In any case, healing magic is the only magic Chloe is good at.

Chloe's act of casting a healing spell on herself did indeed alleviate the pain, to the point that she can now move slightly.

I estimate she'll be able to get up and go for a walk by morning...

If I was only unconscious for eight hours, then what's the situation with this wasteland?

Then she seemed to remember something, and with some difficulty, she raised her left hand.

Sure enough, that's the problem.

Looking at the green glowing mark on her left hand and the vine-like patterns that wrapped around it, Chloe had an expression that said, "I knew it."

A slender vine extended from the spot where she had carved the light, and it connected to something else.

Chloe looked in the direction the vines were connecting and saw that they were connected to something familiar.

Looking at the sword stuck in the ground, she gradually understood everything.

Looking at the sword stuck in the ground, she gradually understood everything.

Sure enough, the reason the surrounding area had turned into wasteland was this broken sword.

The reason why MP recovered so quickly... is probably because of this vine connected to the sword, right?

Not only could it turn such a large forest into wasteland, but it also brought down Lulum with just a touch. What is the origin of this sword? Why was it stuck in my grave before?

Chapter Twelve: Is raising a loli (young girl) considered cute?

Chloe looked at the surrounding wasteland and suddenly a possibility occurred to her.

This broken sword stuck in the ground can absorb all the life force of plants in such a large area.

Then why did it not react at all when it was placed on her grave, like an ornament?

Is it possible that the broken sword was activated when she pulled it out?

This also explains why the surrounding plants only began to wither when she pulled out the sword.

Thinking from this perspective, the broken sword is very likely a newly created divine weapon, which may have been pulled out before it was fully grown... that's why it's a broken sword.

Chloe guessed that.

As for why it grows on her grave, don't forget what's actually buried in that so-called grave.

Those are all divine artifacts! Even though they're all damaged, who knows what kind of strange reactions will occur when so many fragments of divine artifacts from different systems are mixed together?

Chloe thought about it more and more and it seemed reasonable. To verify her guess, she used an item appraisal on the broken sword, intending to see how the system, after partially repairing it, would describe the sword.

【Item Name: Demon Oak Sword】

[Quality: Mortal to Divine (Quality depends on energy supply)]

[Item Description: A derivative product resulting from the mutation of a special plant after absorbing magical energy, true energy, heavy metals, radiation, and psionic energy.]

[Note: Is this some kind of cult?]

Although the test results surprised Chloe somewhat, they essentially confirmed her suspicions.

It was indeed because of her divine artifacts that this sword appeared.

However, she never expected that this sword was just a derivative, and where was the original sword? What kind of existence was it?

Chloe looked at the mark, or rather the contract, on her left hand and felt that something was off.

Are there any contract imprints that can deform?

Unfortunately, the status bar in the character panel is also broken, otherwise Chloe could have determined the problem from her current status.

[Abnormal Status: Parasitic]

……

Linfair is a dark elf and also a master-level assassin.

She belongs to the Shadow King's trusted squad and is his loyal subordinate.

That's who she is, because she messed up the first task given to her by the future Demon King, so she is currently on a mission to fix it.

That's right, she was one of the two dark elves Chloe had met, and the one Chloe had tricked into crying by pretending to comfort her.

The one who snagged paid leave was none other than Lin Feier!

This task was quite easy, because Lulum only asked her to guide Chloe in the right direction to the Demon King's castle, and did not require her to forcibly bring Chloe back.

As for protection? You're kidding me. Chloe's strength, which she displayed in that instant, was at least at the King level. Why would she need the protection of a mere Grandmaster level expert?

Even though Chloe looks harmless now, and even though she looks weak, pitiful and helpless lying on the ground, how could she dare to step into that dead land centered on her?

Did she really not see the tentacle that extended from Chloe's hand and connected to the earth?

What if all those maddening tentacles from yesterday were lurking underground, ready to ambush her the moment she stepped into that area?

If she were caught by those tentacles, she wasn't confident she could escape without using a teleportation scroll.

Therefore, she resolutely refused to set foot in that area. As for how to guide Chloe to the Demon King's castle?

Why not just toss a note over from a distance? After all, she's a pro at throwing things away.

Lin Fei'er gave herself a thumbs up for her cleverness.

……

Chloe, who had been lying flat on the ground for quite some time, was startled when she suddenly noticed an object resembling a kunai flying up beside her.