I'm Actually Not Overpowered!

Chapter 176 Aftermath Of The Crisis [Pt 1]

"U-urgh..." Hogun groaned as he awoke from his deep slumber.

His head was ringing, and his body still throbbed with residual pain. He was still disoriented, but his blurry vision slowly regained focus.

The lion-headed Demon tried to perceive his surroundings—blinking hard as he yawned and winced even more.

'What is going on...? Where am I?'

The ceiling and walls seemed to resemble some kind of tent, though he felt magic coating his surroundings—and not the good kind.

"Oh? You're finally awake, Hogun?" A sound came from beside him, causing the disoriented Demon to tilt his head to the right.

His consciousness swiftly returned as he saw four of his comrades—three of which were all wide awake and staring at him.

"W-what's going on...? Heshu. Pierrus. Kiko. What happened...?" His tone was slurry, but Hogun still made his point.

His memories were returning, and the last thing he remembered was how the humans were winning the battle.

Their champion easily bested he and Adu, and he was sent crashing to the ground. The painful memory of defeat made Hogun's heart sting, but a sudden thought flashed in his mind.

"Speaking of Adu—?!"

"Relax. You're so uptight, jeez..." Kiko sighed, pointing to his left side, where he hadn't bothered to look.

"U-uh...?"

Adu was still asleep. It seemed he was also rendered unconscious, and he hadn't regained consciousness yet.

"A-ah... that's a relief." Hogun's lion face displayed a warm smile.

Despite his nasty personality, he was still Adu's friend. He was glad they both survived—though he was slowly realizing that he couldn't say the same about every other person.

"What happened? Where's everyone else?"

The only Demon Generals he could see were Heshu, Kiko, Pierrus, Adu... and himself. That was half of their total number.

Plus, Hogun couldn't see any of the Demon subordinates kept under their charge. A very terrible feeling slowly rose from within him.

"I'll explain." The one who spoke now was Heshu.

He and everyone else were seated, almost as of they couldn't be bothered with anything going on. And the reason for that was due to the story that Heshu was about to tell.

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Hogun was told everything.

The events that occured after he passed out. How the Demons that swore allegiance to the human champion were all slaughtered by their master—Valefor.

He was told about the clash between the human champion and Valefor, and how the human actually won.

Valefor's army was eventually defeated. The humans suffered no casualty. And the Demons were forced to surrender and taken prisoner.

Heshu mentioned how they separated the surviving Mid-Demons from the Demon Generals, and how it was uncertain where their subordinates were being kept.

"This tent is enhanced with Magic that makes it impossible to escape from. It has a high concentration of Holy Water too. Plus, there's a rune formation outside that dampens our powers and generates a barrier."

In essence, they were trapped.

*

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*

"S-so, we lost...?" Hogun muttered, causing Heshu and the other Demon Generals to nod.

It was appalling that their leader—Demon Lord Valefor—would execute so many of his subordinates, and then lose the ultimate battle.

It made him realize just how powerful their opponent had been all along.

"Coming here was a mistake." Pierrus muttered.

He hadn't said a word until this moment, and his broody tone didn't make the atmosphere any less tense.

"Yeah, yeah. Now that we're here, what's our fate?" Kiko pouted.

The utilitarian Demon shrugged, his eyes fixated on the ceiling for a while before he finally said anything more.

"I assume the champion of the humans will come to offer us the same deal as last time. He'll want us to offer allegiance."

Pierrus' words were like a bombshell to everyone. They must have all suspected the same, but if he could make an educated guess about it, then it was probably true.

"I will never become his subordinate. He killed my pet Dragon!" Kiko protested.

Heshu and Hogun fell silent. They didn't know what to say.

For Hogun, whose master was dead, he felt a void that had to be filled with a new superior. He often found himself enamored by the overhelming authority of the human champion, but... could he ever swear hid allegiance to such a being?

As for Heshu, he wondered whether it was simply his lot to become a subordinate or not. At this point, he was no longer sure about what to do, or what not to do.

"I'm considering accepting his offer." Pierrus calmly posited, causing another uproar among the Demon Generals.

"B-but why??!" Hogun knew he was being a hypocrite, but he spoke up anyway.

"Didn't you refuse before? Why now?" Kiko huffed in cute anger.

Heshu simply maintained silence and awaited Pierrus' reasoning.

"There's no merit in refusing. Even from our distance, I'm sure you could all sense the overwhelming amount of Miasma that came out of the town of Dulum. It didn't come from Demon Lord Valefor. His Miasma signature was separate..."

Hogun's eyes bulged. No one told him about this.

"That Miasma must have come from the human champion. Not only can he use Mana, but also Miasma. Something tells me he isn't wholly human. How else would you explain the fact that he possesses such abilities that transcend human limits?"

No one could argue against Pierrus' words. Kiko and Heshu especially understand how incredibly dense and otherworldly the Miasma they had sensed was.

None of them could move, even though they were far away from the actual scene.

If all of that power belonged to the champion of Dulum, then—!

"He'll probably kill us if we refuse, just like he killed Demon Lord Valefor. And as you can see, he is well able to protect his people. Not a single one of the humans suffered casualty."

It was an incredible argument.

"What does your instinct say?" Heshu finally asked, narrowing his gaze on the pragmatist.

"I'm still confused, and everything thus far had been unexpected. However, this seems like the best route for survival... and I'll be taking it."