Chapter 142
Chapter 142
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 142
Chapter Title: Demon and Archmage (4)
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The demon froze, doubting its own eyes.
- Guuk, this, this is impossible....... How can mere physical force...... break the restraints...... .
Kadim stepped forward calmly. His crimson eyes flickered ominously, like the blood sea that had swallowed the pile of corpses.
"Your epithet was 'Devouring Demon,' wasn't it."
The demon couldn't answer easily. Nausea and a surreal daze clouded its mind. Kadim let out a sneer.
"Pathetic. A so-called Devouring Demon, leaving its own mouth intact to borrow someone else's jaws."
- Guub, guuuk, guweeeek...... .
"Listen well. 'Devouring' isn't about lazily swallowing with some power."
Suddenly, a jet-black axe soared into the air.
Whoo – woong, whoo – woong, hung, hung, hung -
As the demon's eyes blankly followed the afterimage, the warrior leaped like a flash of light, snatched the handle, and...
――――――――――Sse – kyung!!
...traced a vast circular arc in its fall, slicing nearly half through the mountain goat's neck with a single blow.
Jjeogeogeok, pushushut - !
- ......Keurheoeok!!!
Arterial blood spurted like a fountain from the severed carotid. The demon tried to repair the split crack at once. But Kadim was already clinging to its surface.
Kadim gripped the ragged flesh tightly. Then he ravaged the wound, tearing into muscle and vessels with his teeth.
Kkujjeujuk, kkujjeojeojeok...... .
- Kuaaaaak!!! Kuaaaaak!!!
The demon writhed in excruciating agony. Yet Kadim didn't budge an inch. Like a starving evil spirit, like a beast craving its prey's essence, he buried his head and gulped down the gushing blood without end.
Kwaagagagagagwang - !!!
He couldn't withstand the belated explosion the demon summoned and was hurled back. But it didn't matter. He'd already drunk so much that the scent of blood mingled with every breath.
Kadim wiped his drenched mouth and finished his thought.
"......This is devouring—personally severing the prey's throat and glutting on its flesh and blood."
- Geuheoeok...... .
"Anyway, I've taken a bite out of you, and you've bitten me. Now we're even. From here on, it'll be a fair fight."
With the neck wound compounded by massive blood loss, the demon teetered on death's edge. Meanwhile, Kadim—his first playthrough body brimming with vitality—was in a state beyond full strength. It was blatantly unfair to anyone watching, but the demon, lower body pinned by the magic circle, had no choice to flee.
- Geuk, geuk, geuheoeoeoeok...... .
Even so, the demon thought. It couldn't meet its end staring wide-eyed.
The humiliation of defeat at a mortal's hands was plenty after centuries rotting in this musty library.
The demon resorted to a half-forgotten trait. The possession trait of a 'Possessing Seed'—injecting thoughts to seize the target's body. It converted the curse-forming magic into thoughts all at once and unleashed them at Kadim.
The result, needless to say, was nearly identical to what the split body outside had suffered.
- Kreuheok! Guweeeek!!
Kugugung...... .
The demon failed the possession and collapsed in ruin.
- Wh-what are you, you bastard....... What's hidden in that body of yours....... H-how can a mere mortal's flesh harbor something like that, something like that...... .
"...... ."
Kadim furrowed his brow ever so slightly. He'd assumed it was the same reaction as before and nearly brushed it off, but something nagged at him.
"What do you mean 'hidden'? What did you see inside me?"
- Red, a deep crimson something....... Just looking at it felt like my heart was being crushed....... Damn it, you don't even know what's possessing your own body? Guuwek, no wonder I found it odd for a mortal to wield such a 'miracle'...... .
"...... ."
It must have glimpsed what he'd seen in the fumbling illusion of the demon realm—and what the judged shrine maiden in Agon had witnessed.
Kadim had thought himself immune to possession because a modern human had once possessed him. But perhaps that assumption was wrong. The unidentified, ominous presence that had dwelled in his flesh from first to second playthrough might have been shielding him from mental incursions all along...... .
'Wait...... But this is my first playthrough body right now? The demon's possession never worked even in the first playthrough...... .'
Doubts piled thick within him. A deep canyon furrowed his brow.
But this wasn't the moment to dwell. He felt bloodlust seeping into every crevice of his mind. Having tasted blood after so long, he'd gorged far more than needed.
Before the madness surged, he had to end it all.
Kwa – ang!
Axe-handle gripped like a cannonball, he hurtled toward the demon.
- Guuuk, damn it...... !
The demon switched back to magic as well. As if denying any further attacks, it obsessively etched curse formations onto the canvas of darkness. It unleashed a frenzy of twisted mysteries—black explosions, encroaching vines, binding freezes, surging waves.
――――――― Kwaagagagaga, teudeudeudeuk - !!
Temporarily, it held the enemy at bay. The massive curses left no blind spots. The berserker's furious charge faltered—tangled in vine heaps now and then, struck by blasts, bound by restraints, shoved back by waves—yielding ground inch by inch.
Regrettably, it was truly only 'temporary.'
—————————— Kwaagagagwang! Kwarrururu...... .
Thorns blanketed the area without gap, the ground upheaved in devastation—yet Kadim suffered no fatal wounds. At worst, peeled skin and minor muscle damage. Injuries like these were mere stimulants to stoke his battle fervor.
The berserker roared savagely and charged anew.
"Hueoeoeoeoeup!!"
―――――――――――― Sse – kyung! Sse – kyung!
Furious axe blows trailed by gale-force wind pressure. A swath far wider than eyeballing suggested was rent asunder. The demon, fixated on offense, failed to block the slashes. Crimson gashes scarred its chest and right flank.
- Kreuheoeok...... !
Kururururuk - !!!
The demon belatedly turned to defense. It summoned barriers thick as black ramparts, sealing every approach. So vast and solid that even the axe cleaving all else couldn't pierce them at once.
Yet that too was mere futile thrashing.
Kadim activated the 'demon's authority' he'd just devoured.
Kung - !
Kugugugugugu...... .
Far smaller in scale than the demon's summons. No shadows blanketing heaven and earth—just a divine shadow rising from the floor to the ruined ceiling.
But the devastation matched. The chimeric beast, goat and lion heads fused, gaped wide and barreled into the thick barrier. An impregnable wall against even mad slashes reduced to a single bite's worth.
Teo – heop! Kuhuuu...... .
Its trump defense evaporated pointlessly. By none other than its own authority. The demon bellowed in horror.
- What is that! How can you summon the 'Indomitable Devourer'...... .
No need to indulge the enemy's fluster. Kadim gripped the axe handle in silence and swung. The bloodthirsty blade mercilessly butchered the mountain-sized goat body.
―――――― Sse – kyung, sse – kyung, jjeok, jjeo – geok!
- Kuaaaaaaaaak!!
Hide and muscle rent, blood erupted in a spray. Arms hacked to segments and flung away, abdomen split to spill thick guts. The half-severed neck fully decapitated at last—the demon toppled like a colossal tree at life's end.
Kung! Kururururu...... .
The three-horned head rolled clattering across the floor. The magic forming its eyes burst, black tears trickling down. A chill lament leaked from the cooling severed throat.
- Damn it, I can't die like this....... Keuh...... Melissa...... unable to chew that wench's flesh...... eternal regret...... .
Puk - !!
A vicious kick pulverized the goat head. Skull crumpled, gray matter burst—and the venomous final words dissolved into an unfinished murmur forever.
The demon, sealed centuries amassing world-devouring malice, perished like butcher's scraps without venting so much as a mote of its hate.
Kadim brushed blood scabs and flecks from hair and skin. His gaze lingered on the corpse chunks oozing pus-like gore.
"...... ."
The mind-reeling stench of blood. The urge to rip into flesh and guzzle anew hammered his skull.
But no more blood was needed. Battle done, his veins overfull. This was enough. No more blood. Enough. No need. Enough...... Blood...... more...... no...... .
"......No."
Not enough.
Pathetically short.
Absurd. Prime blood after ages—stop here? Must hold back. Restraint fraying. Absolutely no more. But a bit more couldn't hurt. Madness not fully gripped yet. A few flesh chunks, mouthfuls of blood—surely fine.
Yes. Just a few chunks, a few mouthfuls.
Just a few chunks, a few mouthfuls more.
Kadim bared blood-smeared fangs. He took a step toward the meat.
But on the verge of the blood feast, he spotted them at his feet and froze.
A wavy-patterned throwing axe sprawled carelessly.
And a thick leather tome splayed open haphazardly.
With the demon slain, its barrier vanished. The book lay discarded like wastepaper, pooling blood seeping between pages.
"......!"
Kadim snatched up the book and axe in haste, chanting the invocation.
"[God of Struggle and Wilderness, Atala. Look upon your Great Warrior...... .]"
Huuuwooung...... .
Faint golden aura settled over his flesh. It scoured the madness tainting his mind, dissolving it like refuse. Sanity reclaimed at last, Kadim heaved a deep sigh of relief.
So close to botching it on the final stretch. That was why he'd hesitated to draw on his first playthrough body...... . And with demon blood drunk so long ago, the craving's intensity had fueled the madness.
'......From now on, to curb impulse buildup, I'll need to drink blood now and then.'
Atala's divine power warded off madness for the nonce. But henceforth, its side effect loomed as the threat.
Ppudeuk -
He hauled up his numb left arm. Before the backlash overwhelmed him, everything had to end.
He filled a steel canteen brimming with high demon blood, putting distance from the gore-reeking debris. In a corner of the ruined library, before a creaking desk, he settled and opened the tome.
Melissa's records looked thick enough, but brimmed with far vaster contents. Flipping page after page, Kadim soon realized it defied all reason.
Pararararararak -
Lifting one side launched an endless cascade of pages...... .
No matter how many he turned, the thickness never shrank. Pages magically extended near-infinitely. Research notes scribbled densely burst forth like a flood. The mages' lifelong holy grail—ultimate knowledge rendering grand enigmas mere diversions.
"...... ."
Pity it was worthless to Kadim. Superhuman dynamic vision swept every inch, yet it resembled naught but worm-heaps of scrawl. He kept flipping till decipherable script emerged.
Then, abruptly, familiar words leaped out.
Parak - !
'Atalan from beyond the mountains' wilderness, copper-skinned, towering height and ogre-like bulk! (Human-beast hybrid? Possible? → See research topic 31), demands to travel together on sight (Trafficker? Slave merchant lackey? Criminal odds sky-high!! Extreme caution!!!)'
Ripples stirred in his black pupils.
Ancient memory-waves crashed past his heart's seawall.
Blurred ink, yet etched immortally at the instant penned. The first encounter with the lifelong shut-in girl mage—abruptly proposing companionship to a total stranger.
But the addendum below, penned later, was wholly new.
'......But doesn't seem like a bad guy!'
"...... ."
His lips hardened like granite on sight. An emotion beyond words crushed his heart with leaden weight.
Ppudeuk, ppudeudeuk...... .
Yet the divine backlash brooked no leisure, spurring him on. Kadim brutally shoved down the swelling feelings and flipped onward with effort.
Playful doodles morphed into despairing slashes deeper in. Quit-wish phrases every other page, the girl mage's trial-scarred memoir skipped at haste...... Until he found it.
Records from three centuries past—after the great demon's death and his departure.
Kadim exhaled deeply, as if shaking off caked dust.
"......Huu."
And confronted the shard of truth.
*
After the great demon perished, an unidentified rift appeared, and Kadim vanished through it.
And then.
Our hero, Gale, vanished.