Chapter 101: Soohyun’s Madness
Chapter 101: Soohyun’s Madness
Before that, I simply raised my left hand and cast Anti-Magic. He'd said he was using about seventy percent of his power, but demons like him could never be trusted.
A white light shot out from my ring, mixing with the dark blue flame rushing toward me before promptly vanishing. The Dark Flame Belphegor had unleashed only faltered for a moment before resuming its fierce charge.
When I cast Anti-Magic, the demon had raised his eyebrows with interest, but after seeing the result, he let out a sneer.
“You fool. It was a grave miscalculation to think a mere human’s magic could block the flame of the great demon race. This is an eternal, undying flame permitted only to those of Duke rank and above…”
“Shut your mouth, you lunatic.”
“You! How dare you…”
I couldn't hear him anymore. No, it would be more accurate to say I deliberately tuned him out because I didn't want to listen. Watching the Dark Flame draw near, I raised my sword and aimed it forward. Then, I closed my eyes.
Awaken, Eternal Flame. Wake up and show this pathetic excuse for a demon what a truly eternal and undying Fire looks like.
The seal left by the ancient shamaness reacted faintly.
As I swung the sword in an arc, I felt a slight catch at its tip, and the sound of a firecracker exploding echoed all around. The Dark Flame he had sent was split in two with almost anticlimactic ease. It stopped dead in the air and burned away into nothing.
I let my sword hang low. I could hear the sharp intakes of breath from my party members, who had just been chanting defensive spells, and from Belphegor, who had been swaggering with confidence. And with that single exchange, I was able to roughly gauge his power.
“Looks like even seventy percent was an overestimate. Fifty percent? No… maybe sixty.”
At my taunt, the demon’s face twisted for the first time. But he quickly composed himself and asked in a grave voice,
“You! Just how did you do that…!”
“Just as you saw.”
“I can’t believe it! How could you extinguish the demonic flame, a power granted only to the highest-ranking demons!”
“You’re spouting nonsense even after seeing it with your own eyes. I guess all the high-ranking demons you speak of are blind fuckers like you. Thanks for the intel.”
“Grrr…!”
Belphegor showed a flash of anger and once again conjured a massive Dark Flame. Watching a sphere slowly form above his right hand, I, too, drew up my clear, crimson Aura.
“I’ll make sure that arrogant mouth of yours never speaks again.”
Watching Belphegor speak through gritted teeth, I opened my mouth with a serious expression.
“Didn’t you already see that your precious demonic flame is useless against me? This is getting tedious. Why don’t you show me another one of your little tricks?”
“Shut that mouth!”
With a furious roar, he swung his arm forcefully once more. A ball of fire, nearly ten times the size of a soccer ball, rushed toward me. In the past, I would have charged in for a head-on clash, but I didn't need to fight like that anymore. I took a deep breath and focused on sensing the two weapons I now possessed.
The Authority of a Sword Specialist, capable of cutting through anything.
The Authority of Eternal Flame, capable of incinerating everything.
The moment they aligned, I swung my sword again without hesitation.
Boom! Fwoooosh…!
“N-No way…”
Belphegor stared at the scene before him as if possessed. The flame he had poured all his strength into was sliced cleanly in half, and from the severed cross-section, a single, bright flame erupted and incinerated it.
Finally, the expression I wanted to see appeared on his face. This is fun. I want to crush him. I want to tear him apart. And I want to kill him. I tried to remain calm, but the more I tried, the more excited I became, unable to hide my feelings. Calming my ragged breaths, I slowly opened my mouth.
“Do you have anything else to show me?”
“W-What do you mean?”
“Summoning the Demonic Sword, Skurepf. Or the Colossus of Ruin… or perhaps.”
I paused for a moment, then continued with a grin.
“Are you preparing to escape using Dark Assimilation?”
As I rattled off his core techniques, Belphegor’s face grew even more confused, and he stammered,
“H-How! Who… Who are you!”
“Whoa, whoa. Calm down. Is this how Lilith, the one you trust and follow so devotedly, taught you to act?”
At the mention of Lilith, Belphegor looked ready to explode. The Demon Realm followed the law of the jungle. Demonkin possessed fierce pride, but once they submitted to someone, they offered that person absolute loyalty—though only when the superior was another Demonkin.
At the mention of Lilith, Belphegor’s face twisted again.
“You bastard… Watch your mouth. She is not someone whose name you can utter so carelessly.”
“Why? Lilith? I heard she was famous as the whore of the Demon Realm. Wasn’t the incident where Astaroth defeated and fucked her common knowledge? Ah. You don’t know yet?”
I had learned this by chance during my first run. A great deal of time had passed by then, but I had heard the incident occurred before I even entered Hall Plain. And nothing worked better for provoking the fiercely loyal Demonkin under Lilith.
As expected, my sneering taunts finally made Belphegor’s anger erupt.
“Kuaaaaargh!”
Belphegor let out a great roar and raised both hands to the sky. In that instant, the space where he stood began to distort, and I felt an unidentifiable, ominous energy envelop the area. My companions, who had been standing by, looked around with anxious faces.
I turned to my party and spoke.
“Ahn Hyun and Yoojung, stay where you are. Mages and Priestess, use every defensive spell you know to protect the party.”
“Kim Soohyun! What are you talking about!”
Vivian shouted at me. The others all had the same expression. But they were all suppressed by my chilling killing intent, unable to say a word. Only someone on Vivian’s level would have the guts to speak up while under the pressure of my Aura.
“I won’t say it again. I don’t care about the others, but this one is mine to deal with. All of you, fall back.”
Even as I spoke, his presence grew more intense. A quick glance showed Belphegor’s hair standing on end, reaching for the sky. He was constantly muttering, seemingly preparing a spell of considerable scale. This spell had to be the Colossus of Ruin. The idiot’s actually using it just because I told him to.
“Kim Soohyun! Are you kidding me? No matter what, he’s a high-ranking…”
Vivian’s constant chattering was getting on my nerves, and I clenched my jaw. Right now, I didn’t have the luxury of being considerate of others.
“I know! So shut up and stay back!”
“H-How could you…”
At my shout, Vivian took a step or two back, her face etched with hurt. But I had no time to console her now.
I raised my sword and took my stance. The technique I was about to use was an Ability classified under User powers. Unlike before, my Magic Power Stat was enormous, so its power would be different as well. I drew up a vast amount of Magic Power.
The Colossus of Ruin was a large-scale spell. I might be able to withstand it alone, but the party behind me would be skewered and killed by the meteor shower in an instant. I therefore had no choice but to play a card capable of countering it. This was an Ability I could not use during my first run because my Magic Power Stat had been too low, but I could use it now.
“A technique I developed to fight 〈her〉… I didn’t think I’d have to use it this soon.”
I muttered bitterly, then raised my foot and stamped it once on the ground.
*
I couldn’t accept it. Me, a great Demonkin, feeling fear toward a mere human? Impossible. Yet it was happening now.
Driven by that fear, I had no choice but to unleash my trump card. Preparing such a powerful spell in my incomplete state put an immense strain on my body, but its effect was guaranteed.
I did not know what trick the human had used to extinguish Demonkin flame, but he could only deal with one or two at most. Before hundreds of small meteors filled with Dark Flame, he would surely be reduced to ash. It was regrettable that I could not take the human women, but that was nothing compared with Lady Lilith’s humiliation.
My heart strained within my body, but I endured it. The spell was complete. All that was left was to unleash it upon the arrogant human below. The moment I lowered my head to check on him,
“Gasp.”
An unfamiliar sensation washed over my entire body. I almost canceled the spell I had worked so hard to summon. It was the feeling of death, of annihilation, something I hadn’t felt in a long time. My senses, honed over countless years, were screaming warnings at me. You will die. Flee.
“I’m going to die… me?”
I’m going to be killed by a human?
I shouted once. It was an instinctive struggle to drive away the fear dominating me. The act gave me a sliver of courage, and I swung both hands toward him with all my strength. A small-scale meteor-shower spell containing Demonkin flame. Its name was…
“Haaaaaaaaaaah!!!! Colossus of Ruin!!!!”
All other thoughts vanished. My mind was consumed by a single desire: to annihilate the human before me and restore my dignity as quickly as possible. But I couldn’t deny that the root of these thoughts stemmed from a primal need for survival.
In that instant, I saw his foot stomp the ground. It was just a single stomp, yet the ground around him rippled like water. But it only lasted for a moment. Seeing the ground fall silent again, I swallowed hard. What was that? What in the world was that?
Soon, I heard the ceiling above begin to crumble and could feel the presence of the meteors I had summoned. Only then did a triumphant smile spread across my face. You fool. Giving me time will be your downfall. I tilted my head slightly and saw them—the meteors, the Colossus of Ruin—pouring through the shattered ceiling. And only then could I feel a sense of relief. The penalty for using such a demanding spell with an incomplete body, the sanctions for damaging the building with the Override—none of it mattered. All I could think was that, at least, I would survive. That was when it happened.
The human, who had been standing still, suddenly raised his sword and sent it floating into the air. At the same time, a clear, crimson flame engulfed the blade. Seeing that flame, I felt a renewed sense of dread. For some reason, I had the feeling that the moment I touched that flame, everything would be over. Just then, a strange vibration echoed through the area.
Rumble, rumble, rumble…
A strange energy began to flow from the ground. And the moment that energy merged with the crimson flame, I could only stare in horror.
The sword blazed crimson, and then its number began to multiply. They were Flame Swords. One, two, four, eight, sixteen, thirty-two… The swords continued to multiply until they filled the space around him, too numerous to count.
“Ha…”
Only a hollow laugh escaped my lips. I lowered my head to meet the human’s gaze. The moment I saw him smile, goosebumps erupted all over my body. Why? Why does he hate me so much? The flow of magic sustaining the Colossus of Ruin nearly broke, but I managed to hold on.
I hadn’t liked him from the start. From the moment he first saw me, he had shown endless hostility. And he spoke as if he knew something. A surge of defiance rose within me, and I poured even more magic into my spell.
His face was so calm. It was an expression that seemed to ask, ‘You think someone like you can beat me?’ The human stood there with an arrogant look, then crossed his arms and let a faint smile play on his lips. With his arms still crossed, he casually raised his right hand and snapped his fingers.
And with a sharp snap, loud enough for even me to hear, the swords filling the space around him shot toward me in unison. For a moment, I felt an urge to dodge, but seeing the meteors streaking past me, I steeled my resolve.
Countless meteors shot toward him.
Countless Flame Swords shot toward me.
Watching the two massive tempests, each like a torrential downpour, about to collide, I gritted my teeth.