NOVEL NEXT Ch. 9
Whoosh.
The demon that had revealed itself and the demons in the shape of pregnant women, who had been hiding until now, burned away in an instant.
“Kyaaa-!”
The demons that still maintained the shape of pregnant women screamed.
Even while doing so, the way they clung tightly to their bellies showed just how malevolent they were.
Deltain glared at the knights with the pillar of fire behind him.
Marquis Montbert gently smiled and calmed Deltain down.
“Don’t be too harsh. This is their first battle, so they’re nervous.”
“Demons don’t show mercy for a first battle.”
“That’s why I brought you along.”
Deltain glared at Marquis Montbert with a furious face.
But he clicked his tongue and moved on.
“Demons are definitely here.”
“If there’s a demon of craving, then there’s bound to be a breeding ground.”
“Take care of it yourself. I’ll only hunt the named ones and leave.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Marquis Montbert said that and gestured to the knights.
The knights, who had been tense and stiff, finally let out a small sigh of relief and followed the two.
Their eyes were filled with both fear and admiration.
Of course, it was directed at Deltain.
*
The method to track demons was simpler than expected.
You just had to find demons and then found the place where more demons gathered.
Of course, simple didn’t mean easy.
More than half of those who set out to hunt demons failed to recognize the true nature of the first demon they encountered and became its prey, proving this point.
Therefore, Deltain was extraordinary.
He had precisely burned only the demons he encountered so far.
The knights couldn’t understand this, but it was a familiar scene for Marquis Montbert.
‘He’s reliable.’
Deltain Hebron was a perfectionist.
A man who never accepted defeat.
Because of this quirk, he was stronger than anyone else when it came to demons.
Indeed, since there was no gap in his heart, demons’ temptations couldn’t affect him.
“There are more than I thought.”
“Indeed.”
“I remember hearing that they were regularly cleaned out.”
“They were, until last month. All these demons appeared within the past month.”
Deltain frowned.
Marquis Montbert’s words were a bad omen.
“That means there’s a dangerous one.”
“Now you understand why I called you?”
“Damn, all the troublesome jobs are mine.”
The rate at which demons reproduced depended on the level of their commander.
The fact that they encountered three-digit numbers of demons in the underground waterways meant that the demon governing them was of high rank.
‘Is it Gaias?’
Deltain pondered.
Then he shook his head.
‘No, it can’t be Gaias. I haven’t felt any special danger yet.’
It was a reasonable conjecture.
Just thinking about obtaining the
A boss worthy of being called a DLC boss.
Considering the change in the mana flow the moment one stepped into his territory, it didn’t make sense for Gaias, a fellow DLC boss, to be this weak.
‘The quest clearly said it’s a clue to Gaias.’
This meant they would only find clues here.
Splash.
Deltain’s step into the muddy water made a sound.
Following him were Marquis Montbert and the knights, their footsteps echoing.
Deltain clicked his tongue and snapped his fingers.
Bang!
One of the knights’ heads exploded in flames.
The bodies of those nearby jumped at the sight.
There were no screams.
The knights swallowed hard as they watched the headless corpse quickly turn into red flesh.
“Hey, you guys need to manage your numbers properly.”
A demon of discord.
A demon that infiltrated a group by deceiving human perception and caused internal conflicts.
Deltain had figured it out just by the number of footsteps he heard.
“Marquis, I guarantee these bastards will all be dead by the end of the year.”
“Today’s experience will make them more thorough next time.”
“I’m sure it will.”
Thus, while mocking the knights, they reached their destination.
“Demons have this problem. No sense of aesthetics.”
Deltain muttered as he looked at the huge door before him.
No, he looked at the pile of human corpses shaped like a door.
“Ugh…!”
One of the knights gagged at the grotesque sight.
However, this time, Deltain didn’t blame him.
The first demon hunt and the first confrontation with a high-ranking demon were indeed revolting.
Deltain examined the door with indifferent eyes.
The pile of corpses forming the door was stripped naked without exception.
Their joints were intertwined.
Parts where a dislocated jaw had someone’s arm inserted, a head was wedged between a woman’s legs, and someone’s leg stuck out from a pierced solar plexus were all enough to evoke primal disgust in humans.
“Marquis, I’m going to cast.”
“A 4th Tier spell?”
“It’s a high-ranking demon.”
“Understood. I’ll make a note of it.”
Deltain said this as he loosened his hands. The reason for this conversation before casting a spell was simple.
He required
This was expected.
The seventh Arch Mage in the continent’s history.
Without the title and the praise, Deltain was nothing short of a walking catastrophe.
The magic of the 4th tier, a requirement for being an Arch Mage, was extremely dangerous.
Although Deltain could easily bypass the consent, he adhered to it diligently.
There was no particular reason for it.
He simply saw no benefit in alienating them out of pride.
“Stand back.”
As mana flowed out from Deltain’s body, the space around him was suppressed, causing the knights to hold their breaths.
Marquis Montbert also looked uneasy. As a 3rd tier mage, he felt the pressure even more acutely.
1st tier magic recreated phenomena.
2nd tier magic manifested fiction.
3rd tier magic revealed cognition.
And the 4th tier.
It was a realm that interfered with time and space.
Black holes appeared around Deltain.
He reached into the hole and pulled out an object.
Only Deltain could identify this item—a handgun.
Click.
After loading the gun, Deltain aimed it at the door.
To those familiar with the weapon, his actions seemed foolish, attempting to break down a door with a mere handgun.
However, they needed to remember that this was a world where magic thrived, and Deltain was at its pinnacle.
The handgun was not just a physical firearm, but a weapon imbued with high-level mysticism.
It was a masterpiece that embodied the essence of a firearm using the concepts of time and space at the 4th realm.
It never lost its speed of 900m/s.
No matter the angle, it always hit its initially targeted object.
Thus, the concept of
This made it a lethal weapon against demons, who could only use their powers within the scope of living beings.
The scene that followed was almost clichéd.
Deltain pulled the trigger, and with a
The pile of corpses struck by it crumbled.
Squelching sounds of blood splattering followed by a clear view revealed something behind it—two flesh mounds resembling a woman’s breasts with long, withered arms protruding from the nipples.
At the ends of these arms were hands with four pairs of eyes.
It was a high-ranking demon.
Deltain swallowed his disappointment.
‘A miss.’
Even though he knew otherwise, he had hoped the demon was Gaias.
“Nothing comes easy.”
The demon looked at Deltain with its eight eyes, and he briefly felt his vision blur.
The scene that began to appear was a profoundly lascivious sight.
Deltain smirked.
‘A demon of lust.’
Protogenia’s essence must have been rooted in lust, hence the illusions.
Naked beauties of various races clung to Deltain, lovingly caressing him.
The sensation felt real, teasing his senses.
Their breathy moans and the wet fluids from their bodies clung to him, but Deltain remained unfazed.
“Idiot.”
Feeling the tattoo on his arm pulsed, he aimed his gun again and pulled the trigger.
Bang.
The magnum’s recoil shook his arm, and with a bizarre scream, all the illusions vanished.
What remained was the lifeless, sprawled flesh of Protogenia.
Whoosh.
Protogenia’s body was engulfed in flames and melted away.
Deltaine shoved the magnum back into the cartridge and approached the spot.
‘A clue.’
There had to be a clue.
After searching Protogenia’s corpse for some time, he finally found what he was looking for.
Deltain’s golden eyes sparkled.
‘Found it.’
Beneath the left nipple of Protogenia, where the arm had grown, a small jewel was embedded.
Deltaine reached in, tore it out, and retrieved the jewel.
It was a significant reward for Deltain.
The Mark of Servitude was a contract used by high-ranking demons to establish dominance. Considering the previous quest, he could immediately identify the owner of the mark.
‘Gaias.’
He could now approach that demon.
Deltain lifted his head, his gaze shifting to the dazed Marquis Montbert and the knights behind him.
A blatant smirk appeared on Deltain’s lips.
“Heh…!”
Deltain’s shoulders shook as he continued to stare at the knights, specifically at their flushed faces and inexplicably clenched legs.
“They pissed themselves. Idiots.”
It seemed they had succumbed to Protogenia’s illusions.
The knights hung their heads in shame.