Chapter 76 – TO BE CALLED A DEMON – 2
“Hmm, so you’re the demon?”
The equipnt to bridge the gap between Earth and the new world of Yggdrasia, as well as the mana-gathering and mana-storage systems, were located within a military compound. The hallway that would lead there was also the one connected to the command center where the military generals were. A very strange man wearing round sunglasses and a black cloak was lying in wait for in the hallway.
How odd, to see just a single person here... no, wait, he was accompanied by a pack of dirty stray dogs behind him.
But this was weird. I wasn’t exactly indiscriminately throwing around my demonic magical power around the place all the ti, but I also wasn’t suppressing my racial skill of [Fear].
Perhaps the man was resisting it the way so trained knights and soldiers could, but that pack of stray dogs should only be normal animals. Yet not only did they show not a lick of fear, they were even baring their teeth and growling at , looking obviously, unnaturally hostile.
Was it hypnosis? Or drugs?
[Sunglasses-Wearing Man] [Race:
Human
] [Weirdo]
[Magic Points
(MP)
:
5/5
] [Hit Points
(HP)
:
110/110
]
[Total Combat Power:
182
]
Just a normal human, although his combat power was quite high considering. Perhaps he knew so sort of martial art, and I was sure the other factor was the magic power he possessed, even if he barely had any.
He shouldn’t be a problem to in terms of combat power, but I still didn’t know who he was. I narrowed my eyes at him, and he took an exaggerated step backward.
“Ooooh, now that’s scary. Thought you were just a cute little lady, who knew you were a demon? Look, I’m getting goosebumps.”
As the man rolled up his sleeves to show , he suddenly whipped out an oddly-shaped knife that looked like a bolt of lightning, using it to cut into one of the dogs next to him.
“Go.”
The wounded dog leaped forward without even a single whimper. It ca in contact with my mist and imdiately froze in mid-air, the ice sculpture sailing past my side.
“...what were you trying to do?”
He chuckled. “Oh, I’ve just finished my preparations.”
Right then, what looked like so fog burst out from the frozen dog and flew into the man.
I sensed a sudden outpouring of sothing similar to magic power from him, and I took a reflexive half-step dodge. The wooden door and the frozen dog diagonally behind began to be invaded with greyness at visible speed.
Wait a minute, is this...
“...petrification?”
“Cor-rect! Amazing, I’ve never seen anyone managing to dodge it right on the first ti!”
What did he do? Even in Yggdrasia, only certain monsters have the ability of petrification. It wasn’t sothing Earth’s technology could replicate.
“Who are you...?”
“My, sorry for the late introduction. My na’s Herdu, and I co from a long-established line of Czech black mages. If you’re a real demon, you should know the mages of old, right? Tell who’s better, or them?”
As he gave his introduction, he stabbed his knife deep into the neck of another nearby dog. Herdu smirked even as the spurting blood sared his face, and he once more absorbed sothing.
[Sunglasses-wearing Man] [Race:
Human
] [Black Mage]
[Magic Points
(MP)
:
50/5
] [Hit Points
(HP)
:
110/110
]
[Total Combat Power:
182
]
He was holding more magic than his limit... I see. He was probably forcibly turning the lifeforce of other living beings into his own magic power.
He was one of the Earthborn mages. These people must have done a lot of experintation to leave behind their magecraft in a world that no longer had mana. The way they do magic was fundantally different from people in Yggdrasia.
But you know...
“Can you dodge this ti?”
Herdu once more fired his chantless spell. His magic power was absorbed into the wall, then suddenly reappearing on top of my head.
I just swung my hand to whack it off-course.
“...huh?” Herdu gaped in disbelief.
I brushed off the stony powder sticking on my glove, as if they were nothing more than dust.
“...tsk, tricks,” Herdu said, slashing into several more dogs in succession, killing one and only lightly wounding two others. As the two wounded dogs dashed towards , at the sa ti, Herdu also shot his spell with the magic power he gained from his kill.
I didn’t dodge. A single swing of my arm flung both the flying spell and the attacking dogs away. Herdu’s face twisted in shock as he saw what I did.
“Haahhh?!”
The spell composition was interesting, and I thought it could be quite effective depending on how it’s used. It would have been dangerous to if I’d still been a Low Demon.
But you know, there’s a fundantal problem... you’re using way too little magic.
Since he’d been killing every single ti he used his spell, he must not be able to store the magic gained from the lifeforce of others. The maximum amount of magic power Herdu could use at any one ti was likely to be only 50.
Upon the sight of his spells being so easily parried, he began to lose his composure, his face twitching.
“W-who the hell are you?!”
“Who? Didn’t you already say it yourself just a while ago?”
Or perhaps... he didn’t actually think I was a demon?
He recalled his words, and his face rapidly paled. He once more prepared to raise his knife against the defenseless strays, perhaps in a last-ditch attempt to struggle, perhaps to run away. I stretched out my hand and squeezed.
*crack!*
His knife shattered, the stress suddenly too much for it. His spell composition unluckily unraveled, and his limbs began to turn gray from their tips, turning into stone.
Herdu scread and wailed, tornted by the backlash of the black Curse magic. I leisurely walked close to him. He tumbled on the floor, trying to get away, his legs already failing him.
“...where are you going?”
“W-wait, please wait! I-I can give you money... I an people! Animals! I can give you as many lives as you want! Yes, you’re a real demon, right?! M-make a contract with . I know! I know demons can’t unleash their true strength in the mortal world without a Contract with a human!”
What the hell was he saying? Didn’t he see how I dealt with the army outside?
“That’s right! With a contract with you, I’ll beco the greatest mage in this world! Once I do, I’ll give you as many souls as you want! Kids, won, whatever you want!”
“I see...”
So he would make children into living sacrifices. To .
“Unfortunate for you, I already have the best contractor. Cheap souls like yours aren’t worth my ti.”
I gently touched the fingers of my hands together and crushed my palms against each other. The stray dogs he had been controlling until now abruptly regained their senses. They stood stock-still for a mont in blank shock, then they began to growl hungrily at and Herdu.
The stray dogs didn’t attack , fearing . But Herdu was right there, his arms and legs petrified.
I walked past the crawling man. He called after in panic.
“H-hey, wait...”
“Sorry. I’m in a hurry.”
I ran to the end of the corridor. I heard sounds of growling, of fighting behind , and a short while later, the dying screams of the man who called himself Herdu echoed in the compound.
*
After a while, the hallway widened. There was a vending machine and a bench. A giant man, advanced in years, was drinking from a small can. He quietly turned around upon noticing .
“The spirits of virtue are astir. I see your true face, evil spirit wearing human skin. This is the world of man. Return to hell where you belong, dark one.”
The old giant said, stretching out his hand that held the can with the words ‘RED BEAN SOUP’ written on it toward . Then he squeezed, and the steel can folded like wet paper.
‘Spirits of virtue’? Earth had so little mana even I, an archdemon, was finding it difficult to stay here. There was no way the elentals holing up in the spirit world would show up.
Seed like this old man was also an Earthborn mage like Herdu. He seed slightly different, though. He could see that I was a Demon right away.
[Huge Old Man] [Race:
Human
] [Shaman]
[Magic Points
(MP)
:
3/3
] [Hit Points
(HP)
:
130/130
]
[Total Combat Power:
144
]
The old man took out a tree branch, leaves still attached, and began chanting so sort of incantation.
“—O’ spirits, grant the power to repel evil!”
In response to his call, what looked like three balls of light floated out from the tree branch.
Hmm... that was surprising. He actually called up real elentals. Weak and so immature they might as well be babies, but real elentals all the sa.
But the spirits had been forced to appear in a world without magic, and their very existence was eroding by the seconds. Even their weak magic was being absorbed by the old man. They were beginning to peter out.
“My na is Ohan. Dark spirit, you shall perish before our virtuous power!”
“—Leave—”
I said, putting magic power into my voice. The elentals were forcefully sent back in an instant.
“...huh?” Suddenly losing the power of the spirits that he had stolen, the old man shrunk into a size smaller, as though he had also lost a part of his life force at the sa ti. He staggered, falling onto his knees. My claws gripped his head.
“...did you not hear their screams?”
The old man froze in terror. I took all his life force and his heat, then crushed the shriveled frozen head into dust.
“So that’s what the Earth mages are doing...”
In a world without mana, the techniques they were leaving behind were those that stole power from others.
If this continued, this world would be heading towards destruction like Yggdrasia, too. But with the power I had at the mont, I couldn’t stop it yet.
There was sothing else I should be doing instead. I continued deeper down the hallway.
So ti later, a double door appeared in my view.
I felt the presence of only a single person inside. I carefully opened the door, watching for any more ‘mages’. I didn’t know what room it had been originally, but right now it had an ‘altar’ made out of stacking tables covered with cloth. It looked like a chapel.
There was a priest praying to the cross set on the altar, his back turned to . He slowly stood up and turned around, greeting with the gentle smile of an old Father.
“Greetings, demon.”
[Middle-Aged Priest] [Race:
Human
] [Saint]
[Magic Points
(MP)
:
150/150
] [Hit Points
(HP)
:
250/250
]
[Total Combat Power
: 840
]
This guy... he’s a little different.
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