Chapter 565: God and Devil, and the Human Between Them (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 565: God and Devil, and the Human Between Them (4)
The book opened with startling ease.
To Kim Do-jin, it was no big deal, but both inside and out, all hell broke loose.
“How in the world…?”
Outside, it was Dantalion.
-“How did you open that…?”
Inside, it was Gula.
I had simply seen it.
The color and flow of the magic imbued in the book.
All I did was alter my own magic to match it and create a resonance.
For Kim Do-jin, it was a piece of cake.
However, explaining this method wasn't easy, nor did I want to.
“…It just opened.”
“Th-That's impossible! The Book of Dantalion is permitted only to me…!”
“Guess it decided to change owners now that you're about to die.”
“H-How could…?!”
I ignored his reaction.
Right now, I was just curious about the contents of the Book of Dantalion.
What kind of secrets did it hold?
Could I really see the world's past, present, and future, just as Dantalion had claimed?
Swallowing dryly, I shifted my gaze to the open book.
It felt like I was stealing a glimpse of a heavenly secret forbidden to mortals.
On the pure white paper, a single sentence was written.
“……”
My face hardened as I read it.
The words were difficult to comprehend.
I slammed the book shut and asked, “This book… how does it show its contents?”
No matter how thick a book was, it couldn't possibly contain the entire past, present, and future of the world in a single volume.
That must mean the content changes depending on how one reads it.
Dantalion sneered.
“Kekeke… It seems you saw something completely unexpected.”
My sword dug into Dantalion's shoulder.
Shunk-!
“Just answer my question.”
Dantalion's face contorted in pain.
With a twisted smile, he answered as if granting a great favor.
“I don't know what you saw, but that is your desire.”
“…This is my desire?”
“Yes. What you so desperately wanted to know, what you craved, what you wished for.”
Every single word lodged itself in my chest.
The frantic pounding of my heart felt deeply unpleasant.
I wanted to deny it, to insist it wasn't true, but I couldn't, which made it worse.
“Is that so.”
My emotions turned to ice.
My blade sliced through Dantalion's neck.
Schlick.
An attack without a shred of hesitation.
Thud!
Clatter, clatter.
The venomous old man's face, eyes still open, fell and rolled across the floor.
“Kugh…!”
Dantalion curled up, letting out a groan that conveyed his intense agony.
He wasn't dead.
In that, he wasn't so different from a human.
If your head is cut off, you die.
But he had multiple heads. Losing one was merely painful, not fatal.
“D-Damn it…!”
The face of a handsome man, which had taken the place of the severed head, roared with fury.
His remaining faces all flushed red.
The life he had clung to for so long in order to ascend to the Seven Deadly Sins was being toyed with.
And by the Apostle of Gula, of all people—the very bitch who had handed him a crushing defeat hundreds of years ago and trapped him in this rift.
‘Damn them both…!’
The rage that had risen to the top of his head subdued his reason, which had been running wild like an untethered colt.
He accepted it.
There was no chance of survival here.
He accepted the fact that he would have to endure another long cycle of reincarnation, perhaps for hundreds, or even thousands, of years.
But.
‘You think I'll die so easily…!’
They say even a cornered mouse will bite a cat.
Kim Do-jin seemed lost in thought, having forced him to his knees like a fish already caught.
Even if he had to die, he would leave him with a taste of regret.
‘Now!’
Dantalion shot off the ground in an instant.
Propelled forward with immense force, he headed straight for the spot where Im Na-eun was bound.
The fact that Kim Do-jin had come all this way to rescue her meant she was of considerable value to him.
“I'll take you with me to the grave…!”
Reaching her in a flash, Dantalion thrust his fist forward.
His target was her chest.
He intended to crush her heart in a single motion, making recovery impossible.
Thwack!
He failed.
Kim Do-jin, as if he had known all along, rushed in and blocked his hand.
“This bastard just had to be disgusting to the very end.”
Flames erupted in my eyes.
The fury traveled down my arm and into my sword.
A torrent of light burst from the blade, momentarily washing the world in white.
It was followed by a low sound.
Slice.
Slish.
As the heads were severed, his vision tilted.
One, two, three, four.
The gazes from each face went dark, one by one.
Finally, only one head remained.
In the instant Kim Do-jin's blade flew toward it…
‘Now is the time!’
Dantalion's long hand shot out toward Kim Do-jin.
A strike with all his might.
A move of mutual destruction that only one with multiple heads could attempt.
His fingertips were wreathed in crimson flames.
“……!”
Spotting it too late, I twisted my body.
A fierce blow.
But I didn't feel greatly threatened.
It was well-timed, but not impossible to dodge.
As his hand cut through the empty air, a dark smile spread across Dantalion's lips.
‘I expected this. That you would dodge this attack.’
That was why he'd never intended it.
He had no thought of taking me with him.
His target had always been just one thing.
The Book of Dantalion.
The flames coiling around his fingertips fell toward the book.
Fwoosh!
Flames erupted.
My face twisted.
“Shit…!”
I put more force into my sword and sliced off his last remaining neck.
At the same time, I drew up magic with my other hand, trying to freeze the flames engulfing the book.
Clang!
It wouldn't freeze.
The fire didn't diminish in the slightest as it consumed the Book of Dantalion.
“Kekekeke…!”
The final severed head taunted me as it fell.
“Did you really think… I would hand my treasure over to you…?”
Kekekeke!
His relieved laughter, as if he had achieved his goal, grated on my nerves.
I raised my foot and stomped on the head that was still laughing its ass off, crushing it.
Squelch!
The face shattered into pieces.
The ruined mouth babbled one last time.
“This grudge… I will never forget…”
The final words of the archdevil who had vied for a place among the Seven Deadly Sins scattered bleakly and faded away.
* * *
He had been threatening, but it hadn't been a particularly dangerous fight.
The archdevil Dantalion.
He was once a powerful being, strong enough to aim for the Seven Deadly Sins, but now he was a fallen entity who had lost his power.
I lowered my gaze.
At its end lay the half-burnt book in my hand.
The Book of Dantalion.
I had managed to extinguish the flames somehow.
But by then, more than half of it had already been burned away.
I opened the book, just in case.
“…Nothing.”
Unlike before, not a single sentence was written on the pages.
Only black scorch marks remained.
My mistake.
To think I'd make such a blunder at the very end.
“Haaah.”
As I let out a long sigh and closed the charred book…
-“A pity. Had that book remained, your path forward would have been much smoother.”
Tell me about it.
Though it had its limits, the power of the Book of Dantalion was undeniably immense.
Its value would have been even greater for me, since I primarily deal with humans.
-“It is a shame, but what can be done? It has already burned.”
Hmm.
True.
It would have been a huge help if it hadn't burned, but what's done is done.
Maybe it's for the best.
At least now, the future where I become a slave to the book will never come to pass.
I looked down at the charred book once more.
So is this useless now?
Then, Gula spoke.
-“Nay, that is not so.”
Not useless?
-“Indeed. A faint trace of Dantalion's power remains. If you entrust it to a skilled artifact craftsman, it could be made into a rather useful grimoire.”
A grimoire…?
I've never heard of that.
Not a spellbook for learning magic, but a grimoire.
Gula asked in a tone of surprise.
-“You do not know of grimoires?”
Never heard of them.
-“Hah… No wonder I found it odd that all the mages you've encountered carry only staves.”
Gula sighed deeply.
She continued.
-“Think of a grimoire as an artifact exclusively for mages.”
What does it do?
-“When you cast a spell that has been inscribed in the grimoire's pages beforehand, its power is amplified.”
Power amplification, huh.
If that's all, isn't it pretty much the same as a staff?
In fact, a staff seems better, since it amplifies magic without needing to be inscribed beforehand.
-“What foolishness. Why would you compare a staff to a grimoire?”
Why compare them?
Because you can obviously only hold one of them… wait.
Don't tell me I'm wrong about that?
-“Indeed. A grimoire can be used simultaneously with a staff.”
Holy shit.
“This is insane…”
…Maybe this is even better than the intact Book of Dantalion?
-“However, I am concerned. I wonder if there is anyone in this world capable of repairing it, now that the art of making grimoires has been lost.”
That is a bit of a worry.
Still, a master artifact craftsman should at least be able to give it a try, right?
I'll have to look for one sometime.
The Book of Dantalion, to be reborn as a new mage's artifact called a grimoire.
But that wasn't the only spoil of war.
I picked up Dantalion's sword, which lay abandoned where he had first fallen.
Vwooom!
The sword's cry rang out as if welcoming my touch.
“It's definitely a good sword.”
Holding it in my hand, I could feel its true worth even more clearly.
Its wild nature, akin to a demon sword that sliced through everything it touched whether I wanted it to or not, was a bit grating, but it was at a level I could control if I tamed it properly.
It wasn't a sword I needed.
If anyone were to use it, Seo-yeon would be a better fit.
I was worried her soft personality might prevent her from taming the sword properly, but it would probably be fine.
Her parents are Son Si-woo and Han Ju-hee.
Both of them were famous for their nasty tempers back in the day.
“That's enough for the items.”
Though she wasn't an item, there was still one thing left.
A spoil of war gained from killing Dantalion.
I turned toward what I had been trying to ignore and slowly walked over.
Reaching Im Na-eun, who was still bound in black chains, I reached out and cupped her face.
“Hey.”
She was infuriating.
Was that why?
“Who digs their own grave without their master's permission?”
This time, I was genuinely angry.