Chapter 211: The Underground City (6)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 211: The Underground City (6)
Seeing the smile spread across the bastard's lips, I instinctively furrowed my brow.
It was the ugliest deer I'd ever seen in my life.
“If you become my apostle, I shall share my power with you.”
“Are you asking me to become a demon worshipper?”
I pretended to focus on his words while concentrating on my recovery.
I didn't know what an apostle was, but receiving power from a demon sounded no different from being a demon worshipper.
“Khuhuhu, I thought you were somewhat intelligent, but you're emptier in the head than I expected.”
Snap.
At that moment, I heard something snap inside my head.
This deer-headed bastard...
If it weren't for my internal injuries, I would've ripped his throat out on the spot. But until my body recovered, I had no choice but to buy time.
“A demon worshipper is a term that encompasses all intelligent beings who worship demons. Like a follower. However, an apostle is one who has made a direct contract with us. You could think of it as being like the saints of the church.”
A grin formed on the deer-head's lips.
It was a chilling smile, almost terrifying to look at.
“If you become my apostle, I will grant you the power to command storms and lightning as if they were your own limbs.”
He extended his hand toward me, making his offer.
Unlike the deer head on his neck, his hand was that of the now-dead demon worshipper.
“The owner of this body was a piece of trash with not a shred of talent. His body and mind were utterly vile. And yet, such a man nearly annihilated your party. Surely you understand what that implies.”
“...”
He was right. If I hadn't been there, the party would have been wiped out.
But the black mage was, at best, a 3rd Circle practitioner.
For someone like that to wield such powerful, curse-laden death energy and command hundreds of undead was, logically, impossible.
“Now! Take my hand! Make a contract with me and become my apostle! With your talent, you could one day even attain the right to transcendence!”
His clown-like, exaggerated gestures were annoying, but objectively, his offer was tempting.
The black mage I had just defeated hadn't even made an apostle contract, yet he had single-handedly almost annihilated a B-rank party.
If I made a contract with this thing, I could instantly gain even greater power.
“H-Hyun-woo, you can't! You mustn't trust a demon...!”
“Outsiders, stay out of this!”
The deer-head's expression twisted, and a menacing killing intent flooded the area.
Kim Yujun, who took the full brunt of it, gasped for air. His face turned so pale it wouldn't have been surprising if he fainted on the spot.
“...If I really make a contract with you, can I become stronger?”
“Hyun-woo!”
A grotesque smile spread across the creature's face.
“Of course!”
“How much stronger can I get?”
“That will depend on your resolve. Offer me sacrifices and bathe in the blood of your own kind. You will grow as strong as the blood you spill.”
I could hear a desperate voice calling my name from behind, but I ignored it and walked toward the creature.
“Come! Take my hand! Money, honor, and women! You will have everything you desire!”
The creature, two heads shorter than me, stared at me with a crazed smile.
With the face of a corpse on the verge of rotting away, it held out its hand.
But I didn't take it.
“What are you hesitating for?”
“The contract.”
“Hmm?”
“You're not seriously thinking of making a deal without a contract, are you? You're a demon. Why should I trust you?”
“Hmm... Very well.”
Snap.
When he snapped his fingers, a rolled-up parchment appeared in mid-air.
“Being needlessly suspicious is one of humanity's defining traits, after all.”
I unfurled the contract and reviewed its contents.
At first glance, there didn't seem to be any problems.
“Party A shall offer Party B 1,000 human souls every six months? Isn't that too many?”
“Haha, other demons demand at least 5,000 for an apostle contract. I'd appreciate it if you saw this as a sign of my goodwill.”
“Forget 1,000, I feel like I'd get killed by the church or a hero just trying to collect 100.”
The creature shrugged as if it wasn't his problem.
Then again, a demon wouldn't care about such circumstances.
“Wait, there's a strange clause in here.”
“Hmm? Where?”
“Number seven. Are you playing this kind of trick in a contract?”
“A trick? What do you take me for...”
Shunk-
With the sound of something piercing flesh, the creature's head drooped downward.
In the brief silence, it looked up at me.
The eyes that had been so consistently disgusting to look at finally contorted.
“You bastard, what is this—”
Slice.
Before it could finish its sentence, its head went flying.
Not a single drop of blood spilled from the deer head as it rolled across the floor.
It looked just like a mascot head.
“...I do not understand. Why refuse the contract? It was a chance to become strong, quickly and easily.”
The head, after rolling for a while and hitting a wall, spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
It was a grotesque sight.
“I don't make a habit of holding hands with men.”
If it were a succubus, that might be a different story.
No matter how desperate I was, I had no intention of holding hands with some smelly beast.
“Khuhuhu... I should have made a contract with the woman, then.”
“You crazy bastard.”
Squelch.
I immediately stomped on its head.
There was no skull or brain inside.
It just felt like mud. Even with half its head caved in, the creature was still smiling.
“I shall look forward to the day we meet again.”
I quietly raised my middle finger.
With the creature's foul laughter, the remains turned to dust and vanished.
But I didn't let my guard down.
It was a demon that could teleport. It could be pretending to have disappeared, ready to pop out from anywhere for a surprise attack.
For a while after, I heightened my senses and remained vigilant, but I couldn't feel its presence anywhere.
The ominous magic power that had filled the plaza also began to fade.
“Hoo.”
Just when I thought it was really over.
Vvvvvng-
I felt a small vibration from somewhere.
A cell phone couldn't possibly ring inside a gate.
Don't tell me...
I opened my inventory.
Inside, I found the culprit behind the vibration.
Or was it the cause, not the culprit?
In my hand was a jet-black pendant.
[Cursed Obsidian Pendant
Grade: Rare
Consumes magic power to grant the dark element to magic and weapons.
Allows the use of ‘Black Curse’.
Allows the use of ‘Weak Domination’.]
It was a lowest-grade artifact I'd gotten from killing a Skeleton Mage in the dungeon beneath the World Tree.
I'd had no use for it, so I'd just stored it away.
Vvvvvvng!
The vibration grew even stronger when I took it out of my inventory.
Wondering what was happening, I infused it with magic power.
Tiring-
[The ‘Cursed Obsidian Pendant’ resonates with demonic energy.]
[Absorb the residual demonic energy of Purpur, Count of Gehenna, Leader of 26 Legions?]
[Y/N]
A new screen blocked my view.
Residual demonic energy?
I had kept my senses heightened to their peak ever since I'd cut off the deer-head's neck, but I hadn't felt any demonic energy at all.
What should I do...
[Y]
After a moment of hesitation, I finally pressed the accept button.
I was confident the app wouldn't recommend something that would harm me.
The process had been arduous at times, but in the end, everything had been to my benefit.
[The ‘Cursed Obsidian Pendant’ is absorbing the demonic energy.]
[Absorbing…30%]
[47%]
[62%]
[81%]
[97%…]
[Absorption complete.]
[Special condition met.]
[The ‘Cursed Obsidian Pendant’ has transformed into the ‘Demon's Pendant’.]
[Demon's Pendant
Grade: Epic
A pendant imbued with demonic power.
??? (Locked)
??? (Locked)]
The pendant's appearance had changed.
Just as I was distracted by the overall sharper design and the cryptic description...
Kwoong!
I heard something fall nearby.
The unusual vibration made me instinctively look up.
KWOOONG!!
The ceiling was shaking as if it would collapse at any moment.
Due to the aftershocks, the stalactites hanging from the ceiling began to fall one by one.
The massive stalactites were smashing parts of the city like bombs.
The scale of it was too immense to be an aftereffect of the magic I had used.
More importantly, the flow of magic throughout the entire gate was abnormally unstable.
It was as if the gate was about to close.
Did that demon bastard do this?
I wasn't certain, but it was the most likely possibility right now.
Pushing aside the creeping anxiety, I returned to my party members.
“Hyun-woo, are you alright?!”
“Th-Thank goodness...! First a demon worshipper, and then an actual demon...”
Both of them looked better than before, but they didn't seem to have any idea that the gate was about to close.
Then again, only veteran mages would be able to sense the flow of magic within the gate right now.
“We need to get out of the gate immediately. It's going to close soon.”
“What...?! What do you mean, the gate is closing?”
“I don't have time to explain everything.”
Thud, Kwoong!
The ceiling was steadily crumbling even now.
Judging by the flow of magic in the gate, we had about 20 minutes left.
“Noel, take everyone and get out of here now. You can treat the men like baggage; just carry them.”
“What about you, Oppa?”
“There's a place I need to stop by.”
There was something I absolutely had to grab before leaving the gate.
“See you later, then.”
*
After parting with Noel, I immediately ran toward the castle.
It was quite a distance, but thanks to pushing Formless Electric Body to its limit, it didn't take long.
CRASH!
I kicked down the main gate and used Detection to find the stairs leading to the basement.
There.
I smashed through the iron doors blocking my path one by one and headed underground.
The annoying spiral staircase brought back some old memories.
Back then, I couldn't even detect magic properly, so I was always tense, never knowing when a monster might jump out.
Anyway, if this were an ordinary gate, I would have thought this was the way to a treasure vault.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
“Disgusting.”
When I reached the lowest floor, the stench of decay was overwhelming.
Corpses were strewn everywhere, along with unidentifiable reagents.
It was the black mage's workshop.
If I'd had more time, I would have taken some research materials or reagents, but I couldn't afford to now.
“Found her.”
Using magic detection, I found Song Minha, unconscious inside a prison cell.
Fortunately, she didn't seem to be seriously injured. They probably kidnapped her to use as a sacrifice.
I broke the lock, went inside, and lifted her into my arms.
All that was left was to escape.
“Ugh...”
As I was climbing the stairs, Song Minha let out a faint groan and woke up.
“Wh-Where am I...? I was scouting, and then... Huh? Hyun-woo...?”
“Go back to sleep. I'll take you to a hospital.”
I covered her eyes with my hand.
I didn't need another person to convince.
“...Okay.”