NOVEL NEXT Ch. 44
About 10 minutes had passed before Pobler finally arrived.
“Sorry for being late.”
“Forget it. Let’s get going.”
With those words, Deltain gestured for Pobler to take the lead.
It wasn’t for any particular reason.
“So, how is it? Do you smell anything?”
Pobler had the ability to detect the scent of demons.
Not only could he tell where the demon was, but also its type and even the number.
Rumor had it that every demon gave off a different kind of fleshy odor.
“… yes, there’s just one. It’s definitely a demon of retrograde.”
Exhaling after taking a deep breath, Pobler asked.
“May I take care of it?”
“Is it that strong?”
“I’m sure it’s at least mid-level. Given the peculiar scent, it seems like one that has just recently acquired a name.”
Deltain looked deeper into the cave.
‘If it has a name, that means it has a consciousness.’
Such a demon had apparently left its tail behind at the campsite where they were staying.
And it just so happened that this occurred when he was taking Agnes out, right as they were fleeing to this desolate mountain range.
Deltain smirked.
‘What a load of nonsense.’
He was not the kind of person who believed in coincidences like this.
“These bastards are definitely up to something.”
The demons were cunning and vicious.
All of their actions were focused on corrupting sentient beings.
As such, Deltain never considered the possibility of a
“I’ll go check it out first. I need to ask it some questions.”
Deltain began walking into the cave.
Holding Agnes in one arm and snapping the fingers of his other hand.
Behind Deltain, a crescent-shaped disc floated into the air.
On it, a menacing array of surgical tools stretched and flexed, preparing for action.
It would be repeating what it had done most frequently over the past four years.
As always, there was no tension on Deltain’s face.
To him, a demon was dangerous only because of its temptations, not because its physical form posed any threat.
At least, not to Deltain.
[Screeech—]
Once Deltain had ventured deep enough into the cave that he could barely see ahead, he spotted the faintly glowing figure of a
No, perhaps calling it a monkey wasn’t quite right.
Its pale skin, reminiscent of human flesh, was hairless. Its wrinkled face had hollow eye sockets, and instead of a nose or mouth, an anus twitched where those features should have been.
Its body was even stranger. Where its shoulders should have been arms, it had legs instead.
In the center of its chest, a man’s genitalia hung, and below its waist were two pairs of arms, while a tail as thick as a leg dangled from its backside.
That tail was the source of its allure. An eye embedded at the base of the tail stared intently at Deltain.
Deltain spoke.
“What are you looking down at?”
[Scree…]
The demon of retrograde recoiled with a chuckle.
Deltain smiled back and waved his hand.
“Let’s wrap this up quickly. Don’t want to wake the baby.”
At the same moment, six arms attached to the Surgery Supporter shot forward like beams of light.
One of them, wielding a spinning drill, stabbed straight into the demon’s chest.
The spot where its genitalia hung.
Grind.
Its chest was shredded apart.
[Screeeee!]
“I hate demons that flaunt their genitals. Have some decency.”
The demon didn’t resist.
It couldn’t. The other arms had already seized its limbs and neck.
Blood began gushing from the anus on its face.
Deltain grimaced and said.
“I’m going to ask you a few questions now. If it’s true, spin your tail. If it’s false, raise it.”
Even though it was a high-level demon with intelligence, it couldn’t speak without vocal cords.
They could communicate in the mental realm, but that was only possible with the highest-level demons that could challenge the thrones of kings.
For now, the only way Deltain could communicate with the demon was through non-verbal means like this.
“Was it your intention to leave your tail at the campsite?”
[Scree…]
Kiriaugur spun its tail in a circle.
A sign of affirmation.
Deltain’s smile deepened, and he sent out two more arms.
At the ends of those arms were branding irons glowing red-hot.
Shhht!
The irons seared into the eye at the base of Kiriaugur’s tail.
The demon’s body convulsed violently in agony.
[Screeeech!]
“See? You knew it would hurt, so why lie? Let’s keep it simple.”
The five arms restraining the demon’s limbs and neck were now linked by glowing rings of mana.
If the demon lied, the rings would vibrate.
‘So, there’s someone else who ordered it.’
“Was it that one who gave you your name?”
Once again, the demon’s tail spun.
The rings vibrated again.
One of the arms thrust a scalpel into the anus on the demon’s face and twisted it around.
[Screeeeeeech!]
Deltain’s expression grew darker.
‘A highest-level demon.’
Just like the ones he had faced before—Chambler and Gaias—this was a highest-rank demon.
Only such demons had the power to grant names to others.
And one of them was now targeting him and Agnes.
Deltain, realizing this, exhaled his deep displeasure and opened his interface.
Chambler’s Dream (Complete)
Heart of Gaias (Complete)
Token of Endless Winter (Incomplete)
Jewel of the Deep Sea (Complete)
Breath of the Desert (Incomplete)
Rophalgar’s Gluttony (Incomplete)
Blessing of the Giant (Incomplete)
Ergoragia’s Purity (Incomplete)
Seed of the Magic Flower Actrias (Incomplete)
Deltain’s eyes skimmed over the list quickly.
He judged that if this was connected to the highest-ranking demons, these materials must be related.
‘The ones worth doubting are numbers 6 and 8.’
Of the proper nouns listed, those two were still shrouded in mystery.
Deltain confirmed this and opened his mouth.
“Rophalgar?”
No.6 Rophalgar’s Gluttony.
At the mention of the owner of that material, the demon stiffened its tail.
It was a sign of denial, and the ring vibrated.
The demon had lied again.
Deltain’s eyes gleamed.
‘So Rophalgar was the name of the demon.’
Another piece of the puzzle shrouded in mystery had been revealed.
One of the highest-ranking demons, Rophalgar.
With a name like
Deltain could have ended his investigation there, but for some reason, he felt uneasy.
‘… too compliant.’
Although the demon kept giving contradictory answers, it wasn’t refusing to answer altogether.
That ring lost its effectiveness if the other party chose to remain silent, and the spell had already been exposed among demons.
So why was a demon with a name being so obedient?
Didn’t something come to mind?
‘It’s almost like….’
It felt as if the demon was deliberately providing these answers.
No, even the fact that it was in this rocky mountain seemed suspicious.
Deltain’s expression grew serious.
His thoughts accelerated as he tried to figure out what he was missing.
‘What could the demon gain from giving me this information?’
Nothing.
There was absolutely nothing the demon, or its superior Rophalgar, could gain by giving him this information.
‘So why….’
At that moment, Deltain froze, his body shivering.
His eyes widened as a sudden theory struck him. He stared intently at the interface.
‘… neither of them stands to gain anything.’
But if you excluded them, there was one.
“… Ergoragia.”
No.8 Ergoragia’s Purity.
If the owner of this material was also a demon…
If this demon used Rophalgar as a front to conceal its true identity…
If it planted misleading information to make him lower his guard…
Deltain gazed at Kiriaugur, the demon before him, with this theory in mind.
The demon had stopped all movement.
It was now silent.
A twisted smile spread across Deltain’s lips.
“You’ve formed an alliance, haven’t you?”
But the smile was not from joy.
It was a response to the overwhelming sense of danger and anger bubbling up inside him.
“That’s strange. Named demons never form alliances, right? Hm? You always form strict hierarchies instead, don’t you? So why now, of all times, are you forming an alliance? What’s your goal?”
The arms of the Surgery Supporter completely enveloped the demon.
They peeled back its skin, tore into its flesh, and scraped at its nerves, continuing the torture.
All to get an answer.
Crack, snap, squelch.
The sound of tearing flesh and breaking bones echoed for a long time.
Yet the demon maintained its silence.
Eventually, Pobler spoke up.
“Boss. It’s dead.”
Stop.
Deltain’s movements froze.
He clicked his tongue, finally realizing that the demon had gone limp after glaring at it with bloodshot eyes.
“Spineless fool.”
He ran a hand over his eyes.
“Clean it up.”
But his mind was still racing.
He was trying to deduce further clues from the information he had uncovered.
‘This is related to the DLC.’
The
The most likely reason the demons formed an alliance was tied to this.
That also explained why they threatened the place where Agnes was present.
The demons must know what the Eternal Contract was.
This was evident from dealing with the previous demons, Chambler and Gaias.
Adding this alliance into the equation, one deduction emerged.
‘It must not be completed.’
The Eternal Contract might be something that demons must prevent from being completed.
Perhaps their reason for targeting Agnes was also tied to the fact that the
Deltain gazed at the demon’s mutilated corpse lying on the floor.
Its flesh flayed and exposed. Pobler was gnawing on it as he laid over the body.
Pobler’s ability was consuming flesh.
Depending on the type and quality of the meat ingested, he could gain additional mana.
Though the mana conversion rate was horrendously low, with enough investment, he could grow strong enough to rival Kaltara. But there was a function that Deltain had specifically added to Pobler’s ability.
“Pobler. Do you sense anything?”
“There’s no trace of any contract. This wasn’t obedience from a contract.”
“A demon obeyed without a contract? That’s seriously messed up.”
Deltain had added the function to detect contracts within a demon’s flesh.
It was the most valuable hidden piece he’d found, and its performance was flawless.
Which made the situation even worse.
If even such a powerful tool couldn’t detect a contract, then it meant the demon truly had obeyed without one.
‘The Eternal Contract.’
What could it possibly be, to drive demons into such a frenzy?
Deltain pondered further, but there was nothing more to learn for now.
“… in the end, I’ll have to go.”
Deltain’s gaze shifted toward the cave’s entrance.
‘The spirit of the snowy mountains.’
And the Spirit King he would meet there.
That was the only lead left.