121-122

Chapter 121: Guild Growth 6

Demon King

Guild Growth – 6

My wounded abdomen began to regenerate, but it was slow going, given the amount of mana concentrated in the wound. Thankfully, Solas spewed out a spider web barrier to prevent the woman from assaulting us.

"What's that small thing? It reeks of you." The next moment, a fire consumed the barrier, and a dagger flew out in front of me. I could see a third arm emerging out from under the woman's side, holding a sharp dagger. That must have been what stabbed me in the stomach earlier. It was hidden from me too well.

"Kh…!" I swung my mana-imbued greatsword to block the two daggers, spreading out the Wings of Jinma as wide as I could in this area. Our weapons collided, shaking the ground with an absurdly loud roar. The woman let out a spiteful laugh.

"Weak." My greatsword was pushed back, making an uncomfortable cracking sound as it was damaged despite being protected by the mana of Jinma. I was never dissatisfied with my weapon's performance since upgrading it, but now… Mana, physical abilities, and now weapons. I had no advantage against her. My thoughts must've been evident on my face as she smiled bloodily at me.

"I was hoping for a moment of what was left in you. But your power…there's nothing left but a few worthless artifacts." I set a trap under her feet with Lunatic Trickster, but just as with Andras, she easily negated it.

"What were you just trying to do? You know it doesn't matter." I already knew that there was no way to win with magic, but from the start, Lunatic Trickster was nothing more than a way to distract her concentration and make it difficult to resist my attacks. My sword crashed toward her, pushing her back as her center of gravity momentarily faltered.

"It's weak…try harder!" I parried the attack that flew in to hit my sword, and her hand, which I was about to hit, shot straight through my chest at a strange trajectory. I clenched my teeth and rushed toward it. If she was similar to Andras, then my strategy would be the same. Turn all of my mana into Predation and burn it up!

"Khhhh!" The woman groaned. Blood gushed from my chest as mana flowed into me. It healed my wounds and replenished my consumed mana, with an unforgettably sweet taste. Before I could think of eating more, a cold sword flashed before me. I swung my sword to stop it, sparks filling the air. From the sounds my sword was making, if I didn't repair it now, it would become unusable.

"Only the edge of the ability remains. Please, try to eat more!" I instinctively evaded using Ubiquitous. A splendid display of fireworks appeared where I just was. Since I also dealt with fire magic, I could tell that it was a flame incomparable to mine, possessing a foreign nature.

"Myu!" Solas leaped into the air, aiming at the woman's neck just as I had. His attack flew at a speed that even I couldn't recognize, connecting and causing blood to spurt out. I didn't miss that gap, rushing in with my sword using Predation.

"It's annoying…You're annoying!" Mana exploded out from her, coming into contact with the spider web Solas had emitted and turned it into a rock. We both noticed it at once, stepping back.

'It's a rock…?' I recalled Andras and the power of Destruction he possessed. She had a similarly unique power, of the same source even if the quality was different.

"I didn't want to use my ability against you…"

"You've got guys saying you won't exercise your privileges as an upper-level entity."

"I'll admit that I was looking down on you…ha!" The flames were rising, frightening Solas.

"It's disgusting to have to use so much mana on a weaker subject." Her power was similar to that of Andras, and far away from my own. It wasn't one possessed by a higher-level entity, however, or the Elakatra. It was a unique power of the demons. Which means this woman once wore the name of a demon. Without really knowing why I was consumed by anger, I couldn't stand my own feelings, even though I knew it didn't suit me very well.

I turned it all into desire. What would be a fitting punishment for this traitor? I would eat everything without leaving a single trace. The power of Predation welled up around me. I filled the Wings of Jinma with the power of Destruction that I obtained from Andras. Until now, I had no conviction that I would win. I was behind her in every regard. But now, I realized that I thought I would win even when I fought Andras. A memory began to tickle at my mind.

"Whoo…!"

"Come. I will turn you into a stone statue to decorate my bedroom!" Fires erupted all around me. She revealed that her fire could turn everything it touched into stone, so I had to get rid of it before it could touch me. I already had the power to do so. I made full use of Ubiquitous. As if Reaper wasn't working, she gathered the flames right where I appeared. However, I didn't become a stone statue. The Wings of Jinma spread out, causing vibrations and spreading the power of Destruction in every direction, scattering her flames. She extended her arm again, clicking her tongue.

"Still…!"

"Marcocias."

"What?" At that moment, all of her flames disappeared. I hadn't negated her abilities; I just called out her name. It was the memory tickling at my mind, of her in the distant past. Her eyes opened wide.

"My name…huh? How?"

"This is revenge from the past." Solas, who managed to slip behind her, struck her neck just as before while I was focused on stopping her flames. However, the results weren't the same as before. Solas was wet with the blood gushing from her wound, deep enough that I could see bone. At first glance, it was clearly a fatal wound.

"Kahak!" She groaned and took a few steps back. A snake-like tail began to protrude from behind her.

"What happened? My name…?"

"You are a traitor." My determination to protect the underground and the demons who lost their names due to it. They lost their power when they had given up their names.

"To think that you've turned yourself into an elf."

"You know the status of the noble elves. It wasn't hard to make me an elf with his strength."

"Noble." She had abandoned the form of a demon and chose to live with the elves. The worst thing was that the one who convinced her was the chief of the Elakatra, undoubtedly a demon like me. She began to laugh despite her fatal wound.

"Do you realize what you just did? You gave me my name! Now you have no hope of beating me!"

"Oh, yeah." Fighting Andras, I would have never thought of doing that even if I could have. But she was different from him. Her change didn't stop with just a tail. Wings made of fine yellowish-brown feathers rose from her shoulder blades, and two horns sprouted from her forehead.

"You took it away, so it's natural you could give it back! Why didn't I realize that until now?"

"Your superior must've been hiding it."

"What?" Black blood scattered from her mouth as I used the power of Destruction.

"Khhh…!" She vomited up blood, a far cry away from her prior self as her pupils shook violently.

"Why…?"

"Think about what you're doing right now."

"…" By losing their name, the demons hid their existence. Marcocias had been able to pretend to be an elf because unlike Rain, L, or A, she could walk outside and use her power. But now she recovered her name and her demonic form. As a result, the powers of an elf, equal in class to my own, was attacking her body.

"Ah…!" She seemed to realize it herself. She was suffering even more because of the elf's power inside her than because of my attacks. Had she forgotten in the passage of time? Or perhaps someone deliberately made her forget.

"You made a mistake."

"No, I…a mistake!" Her eyes flashed. Even if her body was collapsing, powerful mana still remained. If she could just burn me away, everything would be fine for her. The world was stained with flames. If my desire to devour her hadn't been supporting me, no doubt I would've been claimed by despair already. My power of Destruction vibrated through my wings again, wrapping around me. It was a weak force, but just enough to shake off her flames for now.

I reached out and grabbed Marcosias's head; distress was ridden on her face. I had finally succeeded in closing the distance, even if I was doing a little better than her. I could feel my magical power scattering away from me.

"You were deceived."

"He couldn't have…!"

"If you want to think that until the end, do whatever you want." Maybe this was a gift from him, whose name I didn't know yet. Maybe it was a warning, or a trap, or maybe just a simple greeting. It didn't matter which one. Everything was equal under the power of Predation.

"Thank you for this meal."

I opened my mouth wide and began to eat.

Chapter 122: Guild Growth 7

Demon King

Guild Growth – 7

I couldn't help myself when I saw delicious food. Instinct took over my reasoning, and I could only focus on the outcome. It increased my efficiency in eating everything I could.

[You gained 79,039 experience.]

[You received 170,000 gold.]

[Predation became Lv 3.]

[Your level has risen several times.]

[You have obtained the Pure White Envoy.]

[You have obtained a Mirror Shawl.]

Yet, once there was nothing left in front of me, I gradually returned to my senses. It left me with a gloomy feeling as I looked over the results of what had happened after I gave into my hunger.

[Soul Magic increased by 18.]

[New Magic increased by 21.]

When Marcosias's body was no more than a drop of blood and a piece of flesh, I could barely stand to think about it. 'Why was I able to recall her name?' If that possibility had been with me from the beginning, why was it possible only now? It would have been nice to take out the memories inside me at will; if everything became clear. When I confronted her, I realized that she was a demon I knew, and her name came up so naturally. It brought imperfections into her existence and brought me victory.

But what was this frustration I couldn't help but feel? I felt like a doll dancing on someone else's stage. Unable to control the situation, just swinging on by.

'Is there really only one Elakatra I have to fight?' I couldn't shake the feeling that I forgot something important, something in the gaps in my memory. 'Does the leader of the Elakatra really exist?' At that time, I could feel energy rising within me as if to break off those thoughts. Instinctively, I could feel that it was the energy of Elakatra, threatening my own mana. It tried to eat at me from the inside, noticing that I wasn't an elf myself.

'It won't be difficult for them to figure out how someone like Marcocias died.' She would become the trigger that would reveal me to them. Her very death would prove my survival. From now on, I would have to assume that the other side suspected my existence and was moving against me. Fortunately, that wouldn't change much of what I was already planning to do. But at least for now, I could be convinced they didn't know of me.

'What is the truth? I've been putting off so much because there was no answer, but someday soon I'll need to come to a conclusion.' For now, at least, it was the time to focus on surviving. I felt the power of Predation rising within me. I could remember a time when I could only eat away at a person's flesh, using my regeneration to turn it into my own life. I wondered if that would work with this Elakatra mana inside of me. Could I turn it into my own energy?

I thought of L, how she erased their energy the other day, and that was enough. It wasn't just the warmth I received from her. I remembered all of the trajectories her mana followed. My Predation embraced the energy of the Elakatra inside of me, dismantling it bit by bit. Mana began to overflow from me, swirling around me to heal my wounds. I could feel my power and skills unifying.

[Belkena Spell became Lv4.]

When everything was over, and I opened my eyes, countless monsters were lined up around me.

"…I will kill all of you." I considered why they hadn't attacked me so far as I lifted my sword to aim at them.

[I surrender.]

"What?"

[I can't beat you, and I don't want to die. So, I surrender.]

It was a neat declaration of surrender, coming from the man who stood at the back of the gathered monsters. He was the largest of them, with overwhelming mana that stood out. I immediately recognized it as a parent entity. They didn't look so different from a human on the outside, except for the twigs sprouting out where there should be ears.

"Are you the owner of this dungeon?"

[Yes.]

"How did you come out?" There were fundamental laws a dungeon had to abide by, one of which was that a boss couldn't leave the boss room.

[The door was broken in your fight. Her energy rampaged about in here. If you hadn't eaten it, the dungeon might have collapsed."

"The door broke…" I repeated his words like an idiot, looking back. Indeed, the door had been shattered. Was that possible due to the energy of a demon and an elf mingling together? Given one more thing to consider, I let out a sigh.

[Is this Earth?]

"It is now, yeah."

[Is that so? I figured as much, given the countless people coming down here to die.]

A feeling of discomfort came over me. The way this man spoke, and his choice of words, all gave me a peculiar impression.

[I don't want to die. One death was enough.]

"I see."

[If I can live, I'll do anything. Better to be a demon than a spirit.]

That desperate feeling held by those who survived death. I was convinced.

"Are you a fallen?"

[I don't know what that is.]

"Were you human?"

[…You were too?]

The monsters between us split apart like the Red Sea. He floated in the air and flew toward me.

[I can hardly believe it, given your strength. Are you really human? From Earth?]

"I was."

[If so, how…no, never mind. You…so, you…]

"You can call me Fate. Did you also die during the Great Fusion?"

[Alright! Yes! When I opened my eyes, I was already here without anyone to talk to.]

What a powerful creature to be born as. I thought Cain was lucky among the fallen, but I hadn't even thought someone could be born as a dungeon boss.

[There was no one. Everything here was so different from the Earth. I was trapped inside that tree, and only recently could I feel people's spirits when they were killed. I only had these monsters, but they don't know how I feel.]

"No, they only kill by instinct. They lack human-like intelligence."

[True, but that doesn't mean they should disappear. It feels wrong to condemn them- these monsters who shattered my hopes.]

I decided not to tell him that even if humans had reached him, they would've still tried to kill him as the boss monster.

"What is your name?"

[Yuta Katsuragi. You can call me Katsuragi.]

'Japanese now?'

[Will you save me?]

"Alright."

[If so, go ahead and use that sword.]

I could tell he saw me as nothing but an object of fear, given how I dealt with Marcocias. Would my words make sense to him? I hesitated before opening my mouth.

"I have a suggestion."

[If you save me, I will listen to anything.]

He was so quick to agree that I felt a bit embarrassed.

"Be my subordinate, at least it will be better than staying here."

[Okay, captain.]

'That answer was too quick!' Did he hear Lee Chan-yu call me that before I sent him away? I reached out with a sigh, placing my hand on Katsuragi's head as he flinched away. I triggered Domination, claiming this dungeon's boss as my subordinate and this whole dungeon as part of my fortress. Katsuragi's eyes flashed open at the intense flow of mana. It felt a bit creepy, but the mana of Jinma now resided inside of him, bringing him a new, more destructive power.

Now we had a new guild member.