Mind Reading
Mind Reading
Mind Reading What surprised me most was definitely the demon right in front of me.
But that didn't mean my eyes stayed glued to him the whole time.
Lately, whenever I met a stranger, I'd developed a habit of immediately using the Player's Eye.
That way, I could tell whether the other person was an Otherworlder or not.
This time was no exception, of course, and thanks to that, I confirmed something just as shocking as that grotesque demon bastard.
[Whoa it's Yor]
[Yor-ha Yor-ha]
[Why's he coming out of that pit?]
[No run away! There's a demon here right now!]
[Yeopyeop you bitch if you just let him die I swear to god I'll get your ass banned with viewbots]
[↳ Has been kicked by a manager.]
It was a broadcast. One of the guys behind Dantalion was an Otherworlder doing a livestream. Honestly, I could sort of look past the broadcasting part.
The problem was that there was a demon right in front of me, and I had no idea what was about to go down.
"Hmm, since you seem to know me already, I'll skip the introduction. You live here, I take it?"
While I was running through all those thoughts, the demon Dantalion opened his mouth.
The way his face wriggled and changed was pretty fascinating.
I'd heard about it from the information Chae-rin had passed along, but seeing it in person right in front of me was still startling.
'How does he eat?'
That pointless thought only lasted a moment. First, I played dumb.
"...Maybe."
"Heh heh, judging by your reaction, it seems I'm right."
Unfortunately, that evasion was seen through in less than a second.
'Hoo...'
I sighed inwardly and asked.
"So, what business do you have here?"
I was a little intimidated, but the beings called demons were ones you could still reason with to some extent.
Even if they each had a screw loose and tried to kill people indiscriminately.
Anyway, they were creatures that possessed reason.
So, if I played my cards right, I might just get through this.
While I was thinking that, Dantalion spoke up.
"Oh, nothing major. I'm just looking for something."
"What is it?"
"Apologies. It's not something I can easily discuss with an outsider."
As he said that, he glanced briefly at the broadcasting Otherworlder.
The nickname was... Yeopyeop, was it? At any rate, it looked like he was being careful about what he said because of the broadcast.
But wait, if that's the case, couldn't he have just turned the damn broadcast off first?
I felt a little wronged, but there was nothing I could do about it.
"By the way, you're quite interesting. Most people, when they see me, usually get scared and run away. It seems you've met some others besides me."
"..."
"Well, never mind. There's something I need to check in the house where you live. Would you mind stepping aside?"
"If I show you my home... will you just leave?"
"Of course~ As you thought, we are beings one can reason with."
I considered him for a moment.
Various thoughts rose in my head.
Why had they suddenly come to this forest?
And why did they want to investigate my cave?
My eyes briefly caught something hanging from Dantalion's waist.
It was an arm, so badly decayed that it was now just bone with a few bits of flesh clinging to it.
Yet, strangely, it gave off no rotting stench. Instead, only a thick Demonic Energy emanated from it.
And that arm was pointing exactly toward my cave.
'Is he trying to get in there because of that?'
That was the best my uneducated brain could deduce.
"Yes, I believe what you're thinking is correct. So, please come out for a moment."
As if he'd read my mind, the guy confirmed it in a polite tone.
I debated it for a moment.
Was the right answer to block them from going in? Or was the right answer to just meekly let them into my home?
'Letting strangers in without a second thought is a bit...'
If they went all the way inside, there was all that blood I'd splattered around too.
It was a little awkward, but I had no other option.
I had no intention of fighting a demon with a broadcast still running.
If I could just get them to agree to a condition that only that streamer couldn't come inside, I could let them in for now.
And so, I wanted to end the situation somewhat quietly.
"Excuse me, Lord Dantalion. I know it's presumptuous, but may I say one thing?"
If only one of the Lemegeton bastards hadn't opened his mouth midway through.
"That man is a talent Lemegeton is looking for."
"Oh ho, is that so? For what reason?"
"Well, I'm not sure of the reason either... What I mean is, I once heard that the Branch Leaders and Team Leaders gathered together to hold a meeting about him."
I smacked my forehead. So, since they couldn't do it with people, they were now trying to use a demon to recruit me.
"You heard him, right? Plans have changed. Come over to our side."
"Why are you, a demon, trying to do what those guys say?"
"Haha, because you need a large power to live a long life. Isn't the world about mutual help and living together?"
He had a point, but hearing it from an actual demon felt strange.
For a moment, I shifted my gaze to check Yeopyeop's stream chat window.
[lol lol lol wtf do those cultist bastards know Yor?]
[no fcking way don't go over to them]
[Just looking at it, some of the users must have told them, these goddamn shitheads]
[But is just that enough to be called a talent?]
[Well first off if you see his face he's worth calling a talent lol]
Fortunately, they were only showing some curiosity, without prying into the details.
My answer was obviously decided. I looked at him and refused firmly.
"Sorry, but I'll pass."
Maybe that rejection didn't even offend him. The guy's smile deepened.
A rather odd reaction. Soon, his face shifted once more, and he looked at the cultist from earlier and asked.
"Is it absolutely required that only peaceful methods be used to bring a talent in?"
"P-pardon? Well, that's... I'm not sure. The Branch Leaders all think so differently, I couldn't say."
"I see!"
The Dantalion bastard nodded heartily.
And that was the moment.
An eerie sense of foreboding seized my senses. An alarm bell suddenly rang in my head.
My hearing caught a faint, minuscule anomaly at its very edge.
I immediately threw myself to the side.
Fwishh—!
And before long, a spear shot into the spot where I'd been standing. It was a hard, sharp spear made of intricately formed mana. If I'd stayed standing there, it would have pierced right through my shoulder joint.
I scowled deeply.
"What the hell is this you're doing?"
"My, I was actually hoping to at least inflict a wound. Your reflexes are quite impressive."
"I asked what kind of crap you're pulling."
"What do you mean? I'm in the middle of recruiting you."
I drew my spear.
"You think I'd join you if you do this? Thanks to you, I'm just getting more defiant."
"Heh heh, we'll only know that once we see it through to the end. And it's not just about the recruitment. I've simply grown a bit curious about you."
"You son of a bitch."
I couldn't hold back and spat out a curse.
Why were demons so interested in me? Did I have some kind of pheromone that seduced demons or something?
"Oh ho, have you also met other demons before?"
Even while I was having that thought, his attacks continued.
Fwishh!
A spear shot at me again. A pitch-black spear, as if resembling his pitch-black heart.
Its power was extraordinary, and its speed was extraordinary too.
Because of that, I had to add somewhat exaggerated movements just to dodge the attacks. Getting grazed wouldn't matter normally, but right now, the broadcast was running.
[Whoa wtf can you see that?]
[Dong-hwang-chya! You can't die!]
[How the hell does he dodge that lol damn]
Since a fight had already started, I had no choice but to fight.
From my tumbling position, I launched myself at him. The sharp spear blade shot forward swiftly.
Despite it being a pretty quick strike, his expression barely moved.
Rather, as if he'd expected it, a barrier appeared to block the spear's trajectory.
Clang!
A clear sound rang out, and even more interest filled his eyes.
"As expected, the reason you didn't fear me was because you were confident in your skills."
"..."
"But that alone still doesn't resolve my questions. You seem to be more worried about something else. More than thinking about your life in the face of a demon, it looks like you're more concerned about the location itself being exposed. As if you have something to hide. Am I right?"
I shut my mouth. This guy's intuition was unnervingly sharp.
From asking earlier if I'd met a demon before, to what he'd just said now.
It was as fierce as if he were reading someone's thoughts.
"Do you think I can read minds?"
...Yeah, just like he did right now.
Wait, could this bastard actually read minds?
"Come on, surely you don't actually think I can read them? I'm just making worthless guesses."
His tone seemed to deny it, but I could vaguely sense it.
The playfulness laced in his voice.
So, those words were a lie. He was telling a lie that was utterly obvious.
"You're smarter than I thought. Well, whatever. Then, let's assume I can read your mind as you think, and let's continue talking. It seems you're reluctant about something being exposed, but I can't quite tell what exactly you're so reluctant about. Tell me. What are you worried about?"
I held back my words and held back my thoughts.
Of course, thoughts aren't something I could control at will just because I wanted to.
But I could direct them elsewhere to keep other things from surfacing.
Therefore, I swung my spear.
After retracting the spear once, I swung the shaft toward his right flank.
"The right side, I see."
Unfortunately, it was blocked. But that was something I had anticipated.
I immediately followed up with the next attack.
Clang!
I used the ricochet force from bouncing off the barrier to spin my body. This time, I swung the spear fiercely toward his left temple.
"The left. How predictable."
The fight went on like that for a while.
I pressed him fiercely to cut down on stray thoughts. But not once did an attack land on him.
Because he could read my thoughts.
Every single time I attacked, a barrier would appear right on cue to defend. Though why he didn't dodge was a little strange.
At any rate, at this point, I couldn't help but feel it.
'He's on a different level.'
He was at least one step above any of the demons I'd met so far.
The fact that he didn't even flinch when I attacked only filled me with frustration.
What made it even more annoying was that he wasn't just defending.
Occasionally, when he had the breathing room, he'd send attacks my way too.
No matter how much I could detect anomalies with my hearing,
There was a limit to dodging all the magic flying at me through Silent Casting.
In the middle of all that, an accident happened.
Fssst—
While desperately dodging attacks, a wound eventually occurred.
It was a mistake, and it was also inevitable. My concentration and stamina weren't infinite.
The wound was insignificant. Barely a scratch, at most.
But the fact that a wound had happened—that itself was the problem.
Sssss—
The wound regenerated at high speed. Naturally, he wasn't the type of guy to miss that sight.
A strange light gleamed in his eyes clearer than ever before. A smile crept across his grotesque face.
"Aha."
Soon, he spoke out loud, as if deeply amused.
"You were a Manifestor, indeed."
The broadcast was still running.