Chapter 134
Chapter 134
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 134
Chapter Title: A Talkative Starfish
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*Shhh—*
Uwe's body slowly toppled over onto the demon Decara.
The moment the spellcaster died, the incantation that had bound and tormented Decara vanished with him.
The starfish-like body, which had been sliced away chunk by chunk, had long since fully regenerated.
The hands, eyes, feet, ears, mouths, and noses scattered haphazardly across it rearranged themselves into yet another chaotic configuration.
Then.
A mouth situated above a foot opened wide and began to chew on Uwe, starting from his head.
*Crunch, crunch—crack, crack.*
After Uwe had completely disappeared.
The demon Decara spoke.
"Thank you. Thank you. Truly, thank you, my benefactor. My…"
The end of its sentence trailed off, lingering in the air.
The atmosphere seemed to demand that he state his name.
Loan answered, maintaining his distance from the demon.
"I didn't exactly do it for your sake."
"Of course, I do not know your intentions. Regardless, the result is that I have been freed from my suffering. I am simply grateful."
An incredibly polite demeanor.
Its voice, clear yet heavy, matched its attitude.
Like its appearance, its gender was impossible to discern, but its voice carried a sense of sincerity and trustworthiness.
Loan's eyes traced the sound waves lingering in the air like an afterglow as he asked the demon.
"You're quite polite for a demon. I'm guessing there's a story behind how you ended up like this?"
In truth, he was more curious about the movement of the sound than the demon's story.
Decara's skin turned a pale orange.
It seemed pleased with Loan's question.
"Ah… thank you for your kind inquiry. I am also very pleased to be able to speak of my tragic fate here and now."
The demon’s story was incredibly long and winding.
From how it was unintentionally awakened in the mortal world, unable to form a proper body and forced to live in this incomplete form.
To the days it was captured by priests and mages, dragged from place to place.
And the time it had endured day by day, surviving through seemingly endless agony.
That was the gist of it, but the telling was filled with a wide variety of episodes.
The story itself was enough to evoke considerable sympathy.
"Had someone like you not arrived, my fate would have remained this way for eternity. I cannot express how much I resented this body that could not die even when it wished to."
As the demon fervently told its story, it continuously prodded at Loan's mind.
Not in a metaphorical sense, but as a physical attempt.
Usually, the sinister power in a demon's voice comes from its unique vibrations and waves, but Decara's case was slightly different.
It was hard to see it as a natural phenomenon. The pitch of the sound, the direction in which the notes spread, the size of the waves, and the amplitude of the vibrations were all artificial.
*'It's subtle, but in my current state, I can tell for sure.'*
This was thanks to the enlightenment he'd gained during the chaotic battle.
Two Circles.
They were spinning around his heart, forming a cross.
This meant his power to draw in magic had doubled. It was as if he now had two circulatory paths in his body, both filled to the brim with mana.
Consequently, the amount of magic he could wield at any given moment had also doubled.
With the paths running vertically and horizontally, the way he could operate magic within his body had also become easier and faster.
It went without saying that his physical abilities had improved thanks to the ceaseless supply of magic.
It wasn't just that he had become stronger and faster; it was more accurate to say that his very senses for interacting with the outside world had become more acute and refined.
A perception that transcended limits.
The enhanced cognitive ability from the additional Circle was the driving force that allowed him to perceive time more subjectively and to refine his unique sense for reading mana with greater precision.
*'Sound is Decara's ability.'*
Just as Matthias had used the tool of 'speech' to delude his followers and persuade Loan, Decara's words had to be seen as a technique with clear intent.
And.
Swaying another's heart through sound was something Loan had practiced since he was young. Judging by his results so far, he might even be better at it than the demon.
After all, Matthias had been swayed by Loan.
He listened to Decara's continuing words, making his final confirmation.
"You are like the savior of my life. How can I possibly repay you? Please, tell me without any hesitation. I will do everything within my power. Is there anything you desire or are curious about? Speak."
Was it confident in its ability?
The way it concluded its sentence was different from before. It was as if it held a subtle command.
He was familiar with this sort of demonic rhetoric from experience.
If he hadn't neutralized the waves with his Barrier of Convection, things might have gone just as the creature intended.
Loan nodded slightly and replied.
"First of all. No matter how hard you try to do something to me, it's useless. It won't work, so don't waste your energy. If it's a habit, try to fix it. It's quite annoying."
"What… do you mean by that?"
Loan let out a small sigh.
"You'd be better off assuming I can read your every move. So, that 'I don't know what you're talking about' attitude is no good. It's a waste of time. It would be better to just honestly tell me why you had this ability but didn't use it on Uwe or the other dark mages."
The magic Uwe had used, as Loan understood it, was to stimulate and restrain the demon Decara, not to silence it.
That meant Decara could have reversed the situation with its voice if it had wanted to.
But the fact that it hadn't…
"You let yourself be captured on purpose, didn't you?"
…led to an unavoidable conclusion.
A silence followed.
Loan stared down at Decara, and Decara blinked the large eye on its hand, meeting his gaze.
The creature slowly opened its mouth.
"Ah, any explanation would sound like an excuse. Honestly, I am not confident I can persuade you. Yes. Even after witnessing that battle, I still tried something foolish."
Sensing resignation in its words, Loan shook his head.
"It wasn't foolish. Thanks to you, I gained something. So, honestly, I feel a bit grateful. You're like the giving starfish, I suppose."
"…Thank you for the undeserved praise. But I don't quite understand what it is I gave you."
"You constantly helped me advance to the next level. And right now, you're giving me a sort of realization."
"I am?"
"Yes. It's about the use of sound. Not that you need to worry about it. Just tell me why you deliberately stayed captive, even while enduring pain."
Every demon he'd met had its own personality. And each had its own way of harming humans.
And there were still dozens of demons Loan hadn't encountered, so gathering more information would make it easier to prepare.
Decara spoke.
Its tone was still calm.
"There is no need to fear pain. It is a necessary act to achieve a better result. Is it not the same for humans? I understand that giving birth to a child involves considerable pain. It is like that."
"Are you comparing your pain to procreation?"
"A sacrifice of cutting off one's own flesh for the sake of one's children. It was merely the stimulus needed to make it possible."
"So the pilgrims you fed your flesh to are your children."
"Strictly speaking, they are another me. It is my flesh, after all."
"Then constantly emitting magic was a necessary act for regeneration. So you could keep being cut."
"Precisely."
"So a host that has eaten your flesh can act as your main body at any time. That's what you meant by procreation."
"That is correct. You are a quick study."
"I see why you're so composed. And why you're spilling your secrets so freely."
Decara's scattered eyes and mouths curved thinly at the same time.
It must be smiling.
"The world will be filled with my flesh. That is why I let them capture me and cut away my flesh. And it is good for the humans, as they can experience strength until my flesh fully grows."
At that composure.
At that confidence.
Loan let out a small sigh.
He looked at the creature as if it were pathetic.
"No. That's not all there is to it. You seem to have misunderstood something."
"What do you mean?"
"The flesh you fed them. The corrupted monks created from it might be your children, but the people they addict become nothing more than vessels for other demons to enter. For every one of your children you create, you're making dozens, hundreds of vessels for other demons."
"Vessels?"
"Your body ended up like this, and you still don't know?"
Loan explained about the demonic vessels.
How other demons had also experienced the same incompleteness of form as its current body, and so they were turning humans into vessels for demonic possession.
Watching Decara's skin turn somewhat pale, Loan spoke.
"I've met quite a few demons. So I know that demons aren't always friendly toward their own kind."
"…"
"This plan to conquer the world by gathering your forces. You all think you should be the one in charge, don't you? But you've just been doing all the work for someone else."
Decara fell silent.
Its skin shifted between red and blue, indicating it was quite distressed emotionally.
Loan said.
"Well, no need to feel too wronged. I'll be getting rid of your children and the vessels all the same. The order doesn't matter. Let's end this."
He then extended a hand toward Decara.
A [Pillar of Fire] erupted, centered on the cluster of its organs. He adjusted the convection, using the dark mana the creature spewed as fuel.
Pain.
The creature violently spewed dark mana along with curses filled with malediction, closer to screams than words.
The pillar of fire, continuously fed by magic, would not go out until the creature was annihilated.
"Considering what you've done for me, I'd like to kill you instantly, but I'm sorry. There aren't as many spells to use against a regenerating opponent as I thought."
The shrinking height of the fire pillar meant that the dark mana Decara was emitting was diminishing.
And so was its body.
By the time the pillar of fire had shrunk to the size of a small candle flame, the creature's body had shriveled to the size of a palm.
And after the fire died out completely, and no more dark mana was being generated.
Inside the dark room, the mana Loan had purified began to rapidly replace the remaining dark mana.
Loan did one last check to see if the corrupted monks had any chance of regenerating.
Whether because of the host's death, their ability to regenerate and emit dark mana had completely vanished.
Just like when he'd faced them on the Path of Penance, he just had to eliminate them on sight. As quickly as possible.
After writing down the urgent information and sending it via carrier pigeon.
Loan opened the tightly shut iron door.
"…"
The tunnel was lined with the bodies of fallen dark mages.
There were no survivors.
Most had been killed by blunt force trauma, while some had marks from being clawed or stabbed by something sharp.
What was peculiar was that these marks grew larger the further he went.
Finally reaching the beginning of the tunnel, Loan was amazed to see the Archbishop and Aul running rampant against the dark mages.
"Aul-ul!"
The sight of the large Aul mimicking the Archbishop's kicks was so bizarre it was shocking.