Chapter 63
Chapter 63
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 63
Chapter Title: Yet More Survivors
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It was a dark night with not a single light on.
Under the moonlight that was the only source of illumination in the pitch-black darkness, three men were running for their lives.
Scurry, scurry, scurry!!!
And thousands of cockroaches were chasing after them.
A horde of cockroaches, each one far larger than a human hand, was pursuing the three men.
The five War Boys they had been dragging along had already been completely annihilated by a monster that was considered the king of the cockroaches.
The nearby zombies had met the same fate. They had all become hosts for the cockroaches, leaving the streets teeming with nothing but black insects.
"Goddammit!!!!"
"We're gonna die!! Fuck!!! We're gonna die!!!"
"You crazy bitch!!! Shut up and run!!!!"
They had set out to find Manager Park from the Central Guild's recruitment department, who had failed to return long after he was due, only to run into this disaster.
They had thought at most they might run into a few zombies, but they never imagined that a never-before-seen insectoid monster would be inhabiting the streets.
Moreover, since they had never encountered evolved creatures like Ghouls, they were even more defenseless as they roamed the night streets.
The evolved creatures, drawn by 'The Allure of Something,' were concentrating their attacks on the Mart and paid no attention to any other locations.
In fact, aside from Jang Jo-jun's group, very few people had witnessed an evolved creature in this city yet.
Regardless, the price for ignoring the Apocalypse night was steep.
No matter how many they killed, the swarm of insects never dwindled.
It was a terrifying fear, a nightmare from which the only escape was for someone to sacrifice themselves.
"At this rate, we're all gonna die!!! Goddammit...!!! Everyone, fall back! I'll stay behind!!"
"What!! Hey!!! Choi Yoon-gi! You can't come back a second time!!"
"Fuck... We're all dead anyway, does that matter?! I'll block the path, so you and your brother can run and tell the executives properly!! There's a crazy monster living on this street!!!"
The man named Choi Yoon-gi stopped running and turned to face the cockroaches chasing them.
The fact that the War Boys were dead must have already reached the ears of the Warlock of Evil Spirits. However, he had to go and report the information about the monsters inhabiting this street in detail.
If they didn't know about the existence of this cockroach swarm, something big could happen to the Central Guild.
So, he, who had already been 'incited' and was willing to die for the Central Guild, decided to sacrifice himself.
"Graaa... Grrraaaaahhh!!!!"
Choi Yoon-gi's clothes tore, and his flesh burst open.
His size grew unnaturally, his eyes turned green, and twisted, blood-soaked wings erupted from his back.
Just like Manager Park, who had clashed with Jo-jun's group had been.
He too transformed into the form of a demon.
"Krahaaaa!!!!"
Soon, Choi Yoon-gi, drunk on his overflowing power and the mental exhilaration, let out a scream-like groan.
In exchange for shedding his weak physical body and transforming into a monster, he had obtained overwhelming demonic energy.
Demonic energy was a power commonly wielded by those related to demons or those who had made a contract with one.
And those who had offered their souls to a demon and mutated themselves could wield demonic energy even without awakening as a Player.
That was exactly the case for Choi Yoon-gi. With the help of a demon worshiper, he had sold his soul to a demon and obtained demonic energy.
It was a truly impure blessing, an ability he had gained by gambling with himself.
"This power... Ah... Aah... So this is why... everyone... goes crazy... Haha... Hahahaha. Krahahahaha!!!!"
Now that he had fully transformed, he could never return to being human, but he didn't care.
Now, if he didn't rip out and devour the hearts of living humans every day, his body would collapse, but even so, he didn't care.
Certainly, before he had transformed, he would have cared.
But once you get a taste of it, it's more accurate to say that you can never escape.
Once you've tasted this kind of insane intoxication, no one can return to their previous, weak physical body.
Right. It's impossible to go back to the time when he was just releasing a pathetic trickle of demonic energy.
He would be consumed by a greater thirst for power and the desire to kill and devour living things, and go on a rampage.
The demonic energy given by a demon is like a drug. Choi Yoon-gi was now in a state similar to having ingested a lethal dose of drugs.
And so, he went crazy. He had been injected with a lethal dose of drugs but didn't die, so he had no choice but to go insane.
Just like Manager Park, who had one of his arms cut off by the scythe wielded by Merehele, transformed in a desperate bid to live, and went on a rampage in his madness.
He too had lost his mind to the ecstasy of demonic transformation.
"Haha...!!! Lord Baphomet... Thank you!!!"
Along with the confidence that he could do anything, Choi Yoon-gi unleashed his amplified demonic energy without hesitation.
The sensation of the faucet, which had been dripping, bursting and gushing out water satisfied his masculine urge to discharge, and Choi Yoon-gi grew more and more intoxicated.
Painless pleasure. Power without responsibility.
And even if it leads to an unavoidable destruction at the end, many people will follow and worship demons in the face of the drug-like authority granted to them right away.
This is the fundamental difference between demons and demon gods.
The way they view their contractors and minions is completely different.
If demons see their worshipers as disposable tools to be used and discarded, demon gods create true devotees, apostles to worship them.
That is why demons are 'parasites.'
And demon gods are 'gods.'
"Die!!! Kihah!!! Die!!!"
Deep red demonic energy spewed from Choi Yoon-gi's hands.
Kwajajajajak!!!!
The thousands of cockroaches chasing the three fugitives could not penetrate the demonic energy curtain that Choi Yoon-gi had spread alone and were blocked, bursting apart.
"Weak!!! So weak!!! Too weak!!! Hahahaha!!!!!!"
Choi Yoon-gi couldn't stop laughing. It was just so funny.
It felt as if he had smashed the wall of reality that had only seemed terrifying.
It felt as if he had the rampaging world in the palm of his hand.
And so, he didn't see it.
The cockroaches parted as if performing the miracle of Moses.
A woman with horns growing from her head was approaching, breathing heavily.
"Haa... Haa... Disgusting..."
The woman covered the hammer she was holding with a black aura.
Then, she spread the demonic energy she had absorbed earlier low across her surroundings.
As the dark blue aura slowly approached, Choi Yoon-gi was finally able to see the woman properly.
"Who are you!! How dare you not kneel before me!!!"
His mind was already half-gone, and he couldn't properly assess his opponent.
The pink-haired woman, the Demon Slayer, shook her head as she looked at Choi Yoon-gi, who was bursting into a mad laugh.
He couldn't know what that meant.
The next moment, he realized his vision had been reversed.
"Guh... uh?"
Kwadang-tang-tang!!!
The massive body of the demon-possessed man was sent flying.
In an instant, the Demon Slayer had closed the distance and charged in, and with a heavy kick imbued with demonic energy, he couldn't hold his ground and flew through the air, crashing headfirst into the ground.
The Demon Slayer drew the demonic energy from Choi Yoon-gi, who was embedded in the ground.
"Kraaaah!!!! St... Stop!! This power!! It's mine!!! Stop!! Don't take it away!!! Ah, no!!!"
Even if he screamed belatedly, no one would come to save him.
A blackened hammer flew toward Choi Yoon-gi. An indifferent death flew toward him.
Kwajuk!!
"Kraaaah!!"
Choi Yoon-gi sacrificed one of his arms to barely block the attack. He quickly exploded his demonic energy and attacked the woman who had been swinging the hammer.
He had clearly aimed to blow up her abdomen or internal organs, but as his attack landed, black armor appeared on her stomach and blocked it.
Of course, while it blocked the direct impact, it couldn't perfectly block the shock that was transmitted.
The woman, her pink hair fluttering, was pushed back. Choi Yoon-gi quickly tried to get up and escape. He had realized it. He could never win against that strange woman.
"Kuhuk... Ptooey."
The woman spat out blood, casually wiped the corner of her mouth, and then, as if it were nothing, kicked off the ground and charged at Choi Yoon-gi again. She then swung her hammer at the fleeing Choi Yoon-gi.
Kwang! Kwang! Kwang!
The hammer came down so fast it was invisible. Before Choi Yoon-gi could even react to all of them, her hammer struck the head and shoulders of the fleeing demon-possessed man, his back, and shattered his spine.
"Ah!! Aaack!!"
Along with a dull bursting sound, a horrific noise of flesh being crushed and bones being pulverized filled the streets for a long time.
Along with the scream of the demon-possessed man, whose wings had been torn out as he died.
*****
In the meantime, the two men who had abandoned Choi Yoon-gi and fled increased their speed and quickly escaped the scene.
"Dammit... Hyun-woo, that wasn't Yoon-gi's scream...? W... We should help him..."
"Hey. Hey! Just pretend you didn't hear anything and run. Don't stop... It's already too late. We can't let Yoon-gi's sacrifice be in vain... Uwah!!!"
As they were running for a long time, something pierced Lee Hyun-woo's leg. Lee Hyun-woo's strength left his leg, and he tumbled forward, falling over.
As he fell, he saw it.
From beside his younger brother, Lee Hyun-jae, who was running behind him, darkness gathered and a giant mouth appeared, biting off and swallowing his right arm.
"Grraaaaah!!!!"
Lee Hyun-jae fell to his knees and screamed. His older brother, Lee Hyun-woo, tried to approach his younger brother, who was spewing blood, while pulling out the black dagger embedded in his own calf. However, his body slowly stiffened and only trembled, unable to approach his brother.
The dagger must have had something on it. Like a paralysis venom or something.
"Kuhah... Dammit... Dammit..."
Lee Hyun-woo thought that they had fallen into a trap someone had dug.
Something was off from the start with those abnormal cannibalistic insects. They should have run away without going deeper in.
"L... Lee Hyun-jae... Transform... You have to transform to live..."
"Grrk... Hyun-woo... If I do that..."
"You're already done for, you punk!!! It's better to transform quickly...!"
As Lee Hyun-woo was about to say more, someone approached them.
"Are you guys also something like demon-possessed?"
It was a man with a face that was strangely blurry... a hard-to-remember appearance.
"Grrk...! Ar... Are you... the master of that crazy insect swarm?!"
Lee Hyun-woo, his body trembling from the paralysis venom, still didn't lose his spirit and shouted at the man.
He had the confidence that if he just demonized, he could kill him.
The man, whose question was ignored, asked back in an unpleasant voice.
"I asked you first. But why aren't you answering? Pluton."
Kwajik.
"Grraaaaahhh!!!!!!"
His younger brother's remaining arm was bitten off and torn away by a snout that shot out from the darkness.
Lee Hyun-woo's face was splattered with his younger brother's blood, and he felt like he was going insane.
The technique that man used took his brother's arms in an instant, without any preliminary movements.
There was no time to respond. It just tore off his limbs in the blink of an eye.
Before a skill he had never heard of or seen, Lee Hyun-woo lost his will to fight.
"Uwah... Grraah!!"
As both his arms were torn off, he was on the verge of death from the shock and pain, and Lee Hyun-jae tried to entrust his body to a demon, as his brother had said.
However, that too failed.
Kwajik...!
The head of Lee Hyun-jae, who was crawling on the ground and in the process of transforming into a demon, was chewed up and bitten off by an Abyss Maw. Hot blood gushed out from the cross-section of his neck.
Looking at his younger brother's limp torso, Lee Hyun-woo was dumbfounded.
"Th... What is this..."
"You saw he was about to transform. Do you think I'd just leave him be? I killed him before he could transform."
Lee Hyun-woo saw the corpse of his younger brother, who had lost most of his limbs and died, and for a moment, his mind went blank.
The opponent didn't give him time to transform.
He would be eaten by something unknown before that.
He had the thought that it might be better to just surrender.
Of course, the monster-like man in front of him didn't even give him a chance to surrender.
He couldn't even surrender of his own will. This entire situation was being orchestrated by that man.
"Now, you're the only one left?"
Puwhaaaak!!!
A tentacle shot out from the hand of the man whose face was strangely hard to remember, and it bound Lee Hyun-woo.
Lee Hyun-woo screamed, feeling the pain as if his limbs were being crushed in a hydraulic press.
Then, the tentacle wrapped around his neck and went up, covering his mouth as well.
"Hey. Just in case, don't think about transforming into a demon. I'll make you explode right away."
"U... Ugh..."
With his mouth bound, Lee Hyun-woo shed tears.
Behind the man who was binding him with a tentacle.
The pink-haired woman, holding Choi Yoon-gi's demonized head, was walking over.
There was no way to escape. He couldn't run away or get out.
Even if he were to summon a demon and transform, he would be helpless.
He was finished, thought Lee Hyun-woo.
"Alright, I'm going to ask you a few questions now. If you answer correctly, you'll die without pain. If you don't answer properly, you'll die in a lot of pain."
At the man's words, Lee Hyun-woo nodded. The tentacle that had been binding his mouth loosened slightly, just enough for him to speak.
"You guys, that is, tell me everything about the Central Guild's location and their forces."
"Th... That's..."
Lee Hyun-woo's entire family was in the Central Guild. Even though he had just lost his younger brother, he couldn't sell out the rest of his family.
Lee Hyun-woo decided to endure it. He would rather die while enduring it.
Chwahak.
"Grraaaaaah!!!"
Something sliced past Lee Hyun-woo's arm.
The cut area hurt more than it should have.
The pain, which felt like it would drive him insane, made Lee Hyun-woo tremble and scream.
"Wouldn't it be better to answer?"
A woman of a petite build, wearing a black mask that looked as if it had been cut from a shadow, approached, twirling a dagger, and whispered to Lee Hyun-woo.
"Ah, no!!!"
"Eun-ji. Keep going."
"Yes, Oppa!"
Chwahak. Chwachak! Puk-juk!
"Grraaaaahhh!!!!!! Grraah!! It hurts!!! It hurts so much!!!!"
It took only three minutes for Lee Hyun-woo to tell everything he knew about the Central Guild's location and the Awakened and forces inside it.
He couldn't endure three minutes of torture and sold out the place where his family was.
"Hehe... I... I told you everything... I said it all..."
Lee Hyun-woo, drooling and with tears, snot, and even urine flowing down his body, repeated the information he knew several times before finally dying, crushed by the pressure of the tentacle.
This is how the end of someone writhing in pain always is—empty and futile.
"There are more than I thought."
"Right. They said they were the largest, all-weather force, but..."
"Most of all, that guy, the Demonist, is a problem. To be able to demonize non-Awakened..."
"I hear there seem to be some restrictions... but it's a very troublesome ability."
Jo-jun nodded and stroked his chin. The Central Guild guys would only get stronger the more time they were given.
The information from Lee Hyun-woo. After torturing him several times to confirm that the answers were the same, as it was hard to believe at once, they managed to get some information that could be considered definitely true.
The number of members belonging to the Central Guild is currently estimated to be over two hundred and is still increasing.
The Central Guild guys are a group of survivors who have settled in the building that once housed a huge cult called 'Our Hearts Church.'
The number of identified normal Awakened alone is approaching fifty, and in particular, the Warlock of Evil Spirits, Wisp Warlock, the Demagogue, and the Demonist are dangerous.
"To think that guys like that were in the neighborhood right next to us."
"Right... To think a group like that was settled just a 30-40 minute distance away..."
"Let's go back for now. We'll have to go on the offensive tomorrow."
Jo-jun set fire to the corpses of the dead with his Salamander and left the scene.
***