The Demon's Last Words
I led my party until we found Kim Seohyun's location.
He wasn't hard to find.
Because he was already locked in combat with a demon-man.
Fwoooosh!
A flame dragon coiled and snarled around Kim Seohyun.
The demon-man facing off against him came into view.
The demon-man looked familiar.
Thankfully, he wasn't an executive-class one.
Could be worse, then.
This wasn't the worst-case scenario. But that didn't mean the enemy would be easy to handle.
Three meters tall — easily twice the size of an ordinary person. His body had clearly developed along physical lines. Whether he had high demon-repelling force, I couldn't tell, but demon-men like this one were strong in close combat.
Should I assign Hong Yuhwa to Kim Seohyun?
The worst was behind us, but the situation was still bad.
Even though this demon-man hadn't reached the rank of superior, the sheer power and regeneration unique to demon-men meant that defeating an ordinary one usually required two heroes of equal level.
With Kim Seohyun and Kim Ara at full power, along with Erciel — and Hong Yuhwa besides — we could hold the line against almost anything.
The problem was that the demon-man wasn't alone here.
"Need a hand with that, big guy?"
"Get lost! I have no need for your help!"
On the opposite side, another demon-man came into view, rounding up citizens to take hostage.
Hmm.
After a full day of proper rest, my condition was at its peak. Even being as frugal as I could with Yeokcheon, I could only use Heukgyeong three times.
I'd love to know how many demon-men there are at minimum.
Two were visible right now.
The Black Demon Society was strongly individualistic, so those two were likely the whole group. The Association was in Seoul, so by now they'd have dispatched heroes as well.
The calculation was done.
I would kill those two bastards here and now.
I pulled every elixir out of my subspace bracelet at once.
Red, yellow, pink — potions glowing in vivid colors. Stat-boosting elixirs, colloquially known as "puffer potions" for the way they inflated your abilities.
Glug, glug, glug.
They tasted like their colors. Strawberry, lemon, watermelon — I'd deliberately made them that way because I hated anything that tasted bad, but now that they were inside me, they just made me queasy.
"Whew."
By the time I'd drained the last potion, the fight between the demon-man and Kim Seohyun had come into clear view.
CRUNCH!
Fist met sword, thunder rolling with every clash. Kim Seohyun was driven back.
"You parasite-sucking piece of trash. I'm going to rip you apart limb from limb."
"The one dying will be you."
At Kim Seohyun's words, a dragon surged up behind him.
KROOOAR!
A wind dragon. My heart ached with fresh feeling.
Kim Seohyun had inherited the Thousand-Year Martial Meridian.
The name was literal. It was the martial art created by every soul who had ever existed in the murim, forged to stand against external threats — the united work of sects that even people ignorant of the murim would have heard of at least once: the Nine Great Sects, the Five Great Clans, the Sichuan Tang Family, the Demonic Cult.
A thousand years of accumulated martial lineage, condensed into a single art.
The Nine Heavens Nine Dragons Divine Technique.
Two dragons howled behind Kim Seohyun now — the flame dragon and the wind dragon. The two of them collided with the demon-man.
KROOOAR!
Merged together, they birthed a flame-wind dragon whose head alone spanned ten meters.
So he still hasn't mastered the Nine Heavens Nine Dragons Divine Technique.
Kim Seohyun had learned nine separate martial arts. By this world's standards, his growth was something of an anomaly, but through my eyes, it looked a little disappointing.
"Filthy vermin…"
The demon-man snarled.
That was one of the drawbacks of becoming a demon-man: speech grew crude, and combat grew monotonous. Call it the price, perhaps — in exchange, a demon-man gained power rivaling their regeneration.
The flame-wind dragon's claws had raked across him, leaving his skin scorched and seething — and yet, in no time at all, the demon-man was half-healed.
"Yuhwa, Ara — help Kim Seohyun."
"You — don't tell me—"
Hong Yuhwa looked toward one side. There, a demon-man was leisurely herding citizens along.
"That one's mine."
"Oh my, are you sure? That one's terribly strong too."
Erciel came to stand beside me.
"I'm fine. I'd love to say 'leave it all to me' — but actually, help me once."
"Of course."
Erciel flashed a grin.
"Then one favor. Can you lay that thing down thick with an illusion?"
"Sure. That much is easy."
"And give Kim Seohyun a hand too."
"Hm. Fair enough — that side does look tougher."
Erciel studied the demon-man facing Kim Seohyun.
RUMBLE!
A building groaned, crushed under something enormous. I caught sight of Kim Ara swinging a blade over two meters long — too massive to even properly call a sword.
Another demon-man was visible, his chest carved open on a diagonal, his entire body seared with horrific burns. He snarled, and within moments the wounds were half-restored.
Uncanny. But in this world, that was simply what demon-men were.
Beings who had offered the things of other worlds, piece by piece, to strange and wicked powers in pursuit of their own greed.
And that was exactly why Seo Gayeon, who could kill demon-men with ease, was indispensable.
Next week, I'm genuinely awakening Seo Gayeon. I swear it.
I wanted to let her bloom slowly, but the difficulty of this dungeon was making my head spin.
For some reason, a first proper battle scene always tends to go easy on you. And even without the three of them — Erciel, Kim Ara, Hong Yuhwa — I'd still have had to risk my life here.
Tsssring.
I drew the Heukcheon Demonic Sword and walked toward one of the demon-men.
"Hey there, student. I'm a demon-man with a kind heart, see. Quit playing hero and scamper off now."
The demon-man grinned.
"Ah — no, never mind. Why don't you two go be hostages instead?"
His temper flipped in an instant. Demon-men acted purely on whim — a behavioral pattern closer to a beast's than a human's.
"Erciel. Now, please."
Clap.
The sound of a single hand striking another.
In that instant, the demon-man's focus went hazy.
Erciel was the strongest of us all in one-on-one combat — because her illusions were no different from reality itself. Against a humanoid opponent especially, her efficiency was beyond imagination.
I steadied my breathing.
Seo Gayeon wasn't here, but I could substitute for her role to a degree — because the power of Yeokcheon and the mana Seo Gayeon carried, though different in nature, produced the same result.
"What… is…"
The demon-man's focus was slowly returning. There was no time for stray thoughts — he'd snap out of it any moment now.
The sliver of an opening Erciel had carved for me. All the current me could manage was to inflict a moderate wound on a demon-man.
I poured my nyeom into my legs and leapt.
From the subspace bracelet, I drew out a single kitchen knife and threw it.
The placement was roughly right. Thanks to my dexterity, I could throw precisely where I aimed.
The target: the demon-man's right eye.
I channeled nyeom into the kitchen knife.
Thud.
The blade sank into the demon-man's eye.
"GRAAAAAH! You verminous little—!"
The demon-man shrieked and tore free of the illusion. He glared at me like he wanted to kill me on the spot.
Chilling, honestly.
Well — mission accomplished. From now on, that bastard wouldn't spare a single glance for the citizens.
Black Island Sword Art.
I swung a sword that was nothing but fast.
Even so, the demon-man responded to it with perfect accuracy, whipping an arm up to block the Heukcheon Demonic Sword.
CLANG!
"A blade with no depth, nothing but speed, and you dare face me?! Come back in ten years!"
Tsk.
I clicked my tongue inwardly. Outmatched overwhelmingly in raw strength.
-Don't trade blows with him. It won't hold. And your speed falls short too.
the Heukcheon Demonic Sword murmured.
True enough. I was outmatched in speed as well. Technique? How long had I even been in this world — when was I supposed to have learned technique?
God, this game is garbage.
And yet I could still smile.
Cursing under my breath, I kept moving. I'd hunted the demon-man in front of me more than a few times — not relentlessly, like a shadow serpent, but well over three hundred times? That's roughly the number I remember.
Every ability he used, every attack he made — it was all mapped out in my head.
-Open your eyes wide, my lord. See everything your opponent is. That is the true beginning of battle.
I followed the Heukcheon Demonic Sword's counsel.
The demon-man moved. His movements were simple, but maddeningly hard to answer — an overwhelming gap in raw stats.
His shoulder shifted. I ducked along the trajectory of the blow and thrust the Heukcheon Demonic Sword into his inside line.
"You little pest!"
The demon-man planted his foot. Minimal motion, maximum efficiency. I abandoned the thrust and slipped sideways.
The instant he reacted —
I poured Yeokcheon into the Heukcheon Demonic Sword.
Paehon — Soul-Crushing Wave.
"Wha—!?"
The demon-man flinched.
Paehon was a formidable power in its own right, but with Yeokcheon flowing into it, I could bind my opponent down all the tighter. And on top of that — the Illusion of Truth.
The muscles of the demon-man's arm bulged. With eyes full of absolute conviction, his fist drove unerringly toward my torso.
"Your tricks won't save you—!"
Those conviction-filled eyes widened in shock. The demon-man wrenched his muscles and threw his own body off course — unmistakably an act that carried enormous risk. I didn't know what exactly, but that much was certain: the illusion Haumong's engraving had shown him was threatening enough to force it.
"You gutter trash — I'll shred you to ribbons and kill you—!"
I concentrated my nyeom, summoning every last strand of Yeokcheon. I hurled the Heukcheon Demonic Sword at the demon-man's head and focused power into my fingertips.
"Ha! Such cheap tricks—"
The demon-man batted the Heukcheon Demonic Sword aside with his hand — while dodging my attack.
My nyeom
— I dumped it out without restraint. The Heukcheon Demonic Sword froze in midair, then shot straight back at the demon-man.
"So THIS is your real strike!"
The demon-man snatched the Heukcheon Demonic Sword out of the air. A very brief moment.
It was also the one window in which I could reach him.
"Pathetic sleight of hand!"
Another arm erupted from the demon-man's abdomen.
Heukrin — Black Scale.
Yeokcheon flooded over my hand.
CRUNCH.
My fist punched straight through the demon-man.
The power of Black Scale was the power that rejected the encroachment of all abilities. It bored through the demon-man's conjured arm and reached his belly.
"Im… poss… ible…"
"I've been wanting to say this for a while now. You — talk way too much."
And then — Heukgyeong — Black Force.
A shockwave blooming from within, tearing through every fiber of the demon-man's being.
Kriiiek.
The demon-man's body swelled and shrank, swelled and shrank — Yeokcheon rending him apart from the inside.
Having come this far, there was no way left for the demon-man to beat me — unless I went mad and withdrew Yeokcheon.
"You… you're the one from that prophecy…!"
The demon-man's eyes turned vicious. His body swelled, swelling toward detonation — and then stopped. He'd meant to blow himself up and drag me down with him, but Yeokcheon was not a power so easily accommodated.
Hm.
I recalled what the demon-man had said moments ago.
Prophecy.
In this world, there existed the mysterious — power to wield, in the shape of spirit and will, forces that defied this world's laws. And there was one prophet each among the righteous factions that backed the heroes and the faction that backed evil.
The prophet is a being who will swallow the world. — anyone stepping into this line of work knew that saying. It was famous enough to be common knowledge.
Because that being was said to hold the potential to annihilate every demon-man in existence.
I looked toward Kim Seohyun. He was killing his own demon-man — bursting its head, then bursting its chest.
I stared into the empty air.
Main Quest — Chapter 2: Halt the Black Demon Society rampaging through the city.
[COMPLETE]
Then it was time to claim my reward.