Chapter 168
Chapter 168
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 168
Chapter Title: Reunion (1)
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Thick fangs mercilessly crushed the carapace.
The soft flesh and organs beneath were pulverized against it.
‘Kuh, kuuugh…… Kuueeeek!’
The senses he had developed to turn Bagder into a master-countering chimera now backfired as a curse.
The sharper the senses, the greater the pain. The agony, amplified several times over, was fully transmitted to Garot.
‘Q-quickly…… Just finish me off……!’
The moment Garot desperately wished for it, the fangs shattered the core.
‘I-I’m alive…….’
At that instant, all of Bagder’s functions ceased. Garot could finally find peace.
“Huh?”
……Or so he thought.
“Where am I?”
When he came to, Garot stood in darkness.
Darkness everywhere he looked. Even beneath his feet. He wasn’t standing on ground, but on darkness itself.
‘Am I not dead?’
As Garot harbored doubts, the darkness writhed, and a wolf sprang out.
The wolf lunged in an instant, bit off Garot’s arm, and vanished. Garot clutched his shortened forearm and screamed.
“Kuh, kuaaak!”
Blood sprayed wildly from the torn stump. In soul-crushing pain, Garot gasped for breath.
But that wasn’t the end. Another wolf appeared and tore into his leg.
Everything below the knee was ripped away. Garot collapsed to the ground, bleeding.
“Uh, uheok…… Heok…… Hek……!”
Five or six wolves appeared before Garot’s eyes. He waved his remaining arm and said.
“W-wait a moment…….”
The wolves charged at once, devouring his remaining limbs. They ripped open his belly, scraped out his entrails. They crushed his spine and lapped at the marrow.
“Aak! Kuaaak!”
In excruciating torment, Garot screamed. But no matter how much he cried out, the wolves didn’t stop.
“Huh, huhahaha! Hahahahat!”
In the end, only his head remained. Yet he didn’t die. He just laughed like a madman, his mind broken.
The wolf opened its maw and swallowed Garot’s head. As he slid down its throat, Garot felt relief.
‘F-finally, it’s over…….’
But the next moment, what Garot faced was his intact body.
“……Huh?”
Garot looked down at himself in shock.
His torn limbs had regrown perfectly, his ripped belly restored, his broken spine standing tall once more.
-Grrr.
-Grrr.
The wolves surrounded him again. Garot’s face drained of color.
“Uwaaak!”
Once more, the wolves swarmed and tore him apart. Garot endured the mind-shattering pain anew.
It didn’t take long for the wolves to devour him completely.
And the next moment.
“……Huh?”
Garot’s body was restored again. The wolves surrounded him once more.
Only then did Garot realize.
This was a spiritual realm, and he was suffering as a soul.
That’s why his body regenerated no matter how much it was eaten. As a great black mage, Garot’s soul wouldn’t dissipate easily.
“St-stop…….”
Garot shouted at the wolves.
“Stop! Let…… let me go!”
Garot’s wail echoed long. But it was soon drowned out by the wolves’ feasting sounds.
* * *
‘By now, he’s suffering inside Fenrir’s stomach.’
Gazing at Garot and Bagder’s corpses, Demian recalled past memories.
Those swallowed by Fenrir didn’t die peacefully.
Trapped in its stomach, they eternally suffered, producing dark magic power. Until their souls finally dissipated.
A great black mage like Garot wouldn’t dissipate easily, so he’d agonize in Fenrir’s gut for a long time.
‘A fitting end for trash.’
Thinking that, Demian approached Fenrir.
-Kng…… Kuuung……
Now transferred to a body of darkness, Fenrir wandered around Garot’s corpse, groaning.
It didn’t seem to mourn Garot’s death. Something else was at play.
“What’s wrong?”
-Master…… Master is gone……
Thanks to the contract, Demian could somewhat read Fenrir’s thoughts.
-This bad guy killed Master! Master disappeared!
But that didn’t mean he fully understood them.
Demian focused on Fenrir’s words for a while before grasping it.
“This guy killed your master and tormented his soul until it dissipated, right.”
Demian pondered briefly.
There was no way to revive a dissipated soul. But he could soothe Fenrir’s regret.
Demian gathered all the dark magic power Garot released upon death.
He stored some in his bracelet, using the rest to cast a spell.
Dust began gathering over the magic circle Demian deployed. Fenrir’s eyes widened at the sight.
-Master! I smell Master!
The ashes soon formed the shape of a small boy.
But it was just a shape. No facial features, fingers improperly formed.
Even so, Fenrir wagged its tail furiously, face full of joy.
-Master! Master!
Fenrir bounded around the boy, then lay belly-up before him.
But the boy stood motionless, unresponsive.
-Master……?
Fenrir slowly rose, licking the master’s face.
But nothing touched. The dust forming the shape just scattered and reformed.
Fenrir looked at Demian, tail drooping. Demian said with a bitter face.
“Sorry. The remaining lingering thoughts were too faint; this is all I could manifest.”
The boy hadn’t left proper lingering thoughts even at death. Meaning he’d been exploited terribly by Garot.
-Master……
Fenrir gazed weakly at the boy. Then, the boy slowly extended a hand.
The formless hand stroked Fenrir’s head a few times. Joy returned to Fenrir’s face.
-Master! Master!
Demian couldn’t help but be astonished.
The lingering thoughts he’d gathered were extremely faint. He hadn’t expected them to move.
Lingering thoughts were the remnants of emotions and memories at the moment of death. This child must have thought strongly of Fenrir right up to the end.
The boy’s lingering thoughts began slowly dissipating. Fenrir watched intently, as if to memorize it.
When the boy fully vanished, Demian asked Fenrir.
“What will you do now.”
A soul turned undead could never reincarnate.
Fenrir’s paths were to remain like this eternally or dissipate for peace.
“If you wish, I can let you rest. But your soul will dissipate…….”
-Master!
“It’s regrettable, but your master is gone. He can’t return.”
-New master! New master!
Fenrir looked at Demian, wagging its tail wildly. Demian stared at it in confusion.
“……Me, the new master?”
Fenrir nodded vigorously. Demian looked at it incredulously.
“If you come with me, you’ll have to fight constantly.”
-……Fight? With who?
Demian pointed at Garot’s corpse.
“With strong, dangerous guys like him, over and over.”
At that moment, Fenrir’s eyes turned fierce. Its round body bristled with fur.
-Good.
Fenrir said in an intimidating voice.
-If I can kill more guys who killed Master…… I like it. I’ll follow. Follow the new master.
Thanks to the contract, Demian knew.
Why Fenrir had completed itself as an undead.
It was revenge against black mages.
“……You’ve chosen a hard path too.”
Demian welcomed it.
As the Beast of Ruin, Fenrir’s potential was immense.
It wasn’t even fully formed yet. Fenrir would grow even stronger.
“Then, what should I call your name…….”
From what Demian knew, Fenrir was a name given by black mages. He couldn’t keep using such an unlucky name.
-Name? You’ll name me?
Fenrir’s fur settled, returning to its round, cute form. It looked at Demian with eager anticipation.
“How about Eternal Destiny Breaker.”
-……
But when the name left Demian’s mouth, it had to scowl.
“Don’t like it? Well, it lacks some intimidation. Absolute Power Slayer might work.”
Fenrir scowled again, even stamping the ground with its front paw. None pleased it.
-Chunk!
Fenrir declared energetically. Demian asked, baffled.
“Wouldn’t Eternal Destiny Breaker be better than that?”
-Chunk! Chunk! Chunk!
Fenrir insisted louder. In the end, Demian had no choice but to yield.
“No matter how I look, other names seem better…… Fine. I’ll call you Chunk.”
-New master! Great!
Chunk began rubbing its face against Demian furiously.
-Master! New master!
Demian looked at Chunk annoyedly. Then Domenico approached and said.
-My lord, congratulations. You’ve gained a powerful force.
“Well, it is strong.”
Its actions were pure dog, but Chunk was a fearsome undead.
Then Chunk spotted Miya. Miya spotted Chunk.
“Keng?”
-Neng?
Miya and Chunk tilted their heads side to side, staring.
“Keng! Kengkeng!”
-Kng……
Miya bared teeth and growled. Chunk tucked its tail.
“Keng! Kaeng!”
Then Miya thumped its chest proudly. Demian asked Domenico, incredulous.
“What’s that one saying?”
-I’m not sure…… Establishing hierarchy?
“Figures those in similar straits can’t get along.”
As Demian clicked his tongue, the barrier Garot had erected began crumbling.
It’d be trouble if others saw Demian surrounded by undead.
Demian pulled out a travel chest from his subspace and said.
“Everyone, get in.”
“Keng?”
-Kng?
Miya and Chunk looked unwilling. Miya wanted to stay out longer; Chunk wanted more playtime with Demian.
“Don’t be annoying, get in now.”
Demian grabbed and stuffed them in forcibly. They struggled, to no avail.
Unlike them, the skeletons and Domenico entered obediently.
“Ah, Domenico.”
Before he entered, Demian stopped him.
-Yes, my lord.
“You’ve trained Miya well. Very good job.”
-You overpraise me.
“So double the intensity.”
-……Pardon?
Domenico thought he misheard. But Demian’s face held no jest.
-……Understood.
True to his loyal knight nature, Domenico had to obey.
Then, suddenly, Demian stared into empty space. Domenico asked, puzzled.
-My lord, what is it?
“Nothing.”
Demian twisted one corner of his mouth and added.
“Just that there was one more rat pup.”
* * *
“……Garot’s dead?”
Cardac, observing the barrier from afar, muttered in shock.
“What the hell happened……?”
Garot had left him outside, uninterested in spectators, so he’d seen nothing.
“That guy had Bagder with him……?”
Garot was a pervert obsessed with monsters and undead, but his skills were real.
Especially Bagder, the chimera he created—it could look down on high-class foes.
“Demian Haksen…… What the hell is he?”
Amid the bewilderment, Cardac shivered.
“……That guy might actually satisfy Him.”
The greatest master.
The origin of all black magic.
The Archlich.
He sought souls of exceptional talent.
As Rubia said, bringing that human would earn immense reward.
He wanted to kidnap him right now. But Cardac lacked confidence in capturing alive.
Even his weakest poison would turn Demian Haksen to toxic sludge.
“Guess I’ll head to Rubia first.”
Cardac’s body melted into the shadows again. And vanished somewhere.
Stunned by the shock, Cardac didn’t notice.
Demian Haksen was staring right at his position.