novelraw Chapter 290 : Primordial Demon (8)
Chapter 290 : Primordial Demon (8)
Meanwhile, in the East.
The ‘Red Zone’ was the largest corps-level Anti-Demon Front in the East, formed where the Murim Empire bordered the Demon King’s Army.
There, an Anti-Demon legion of an unprecedented scale—never before seen even in the vast lands of Murim—was stationed.
— Advance!
— Do not let a single one of them leave alive!
— Waaaaaaaah!
It wasn't just the forces of the Church Alliance that had gathered.
The reason they had all converged in this one spot was that all the Magical Beast forces that had been clashing on other Anti-Demon Fronts had withdrawn and moved here.
The Magical Beasts from the other two corps-level Anti-Demon Fronts bordering the Murim Empire had moved to the ‘Red Zone’ without any apparent reason.
To respond immediately to this sudden concentration of military power, the Murim Empire had also gathered its scattered forces in one place to oppose that host.
Three Duke-level demons and the numerous demons under their command.
Countless lower-ranking demons and Named-level Magical Beasts that were impossible to count individually.
Truly, the ‘full power’ of the East had gathered in one place.
As three Duke-level demons had taken the field themselves, the Emperor of the Murim Empire, ‘Gongson Zan,’ also personally led his army to meet them.
“…Overwhelming.”
The Emperor, drenched in blood after just decapitating a Baron-level Titled Demon at the front of the battlefield, stood still and muttered as he watched the continuous string of horrific atrocities unfolding before his eyes.
If there was one thing he was confident in, it was ‘combat experience’; he prided himself on not falling behind anyone in the Church Alliance in that regard.
The Murim Empire was vast, and it handled the largest number of Anti-Demon Fronts across the four cardinal directions.
He was the type of man who would be the first to charge into the vanguard when war broke out.
However, even to someone like him, the scene before him was unlike anything he had ever witnessed.
Units of a hundred thousand? A million? Those numbers had long been surpassed.
It was a scene difficult to describe in words—a host so vast its scale was impossible to gauge, all struggling desperately to take each other's lives in a single location.
It was so sudden and monstrous that it was hard to believe he had been contemplating where to take a stroll just this morning.
Yet, even so, he didn't feel like they would lose to the army of Magical Beasts.
He had always possessed that much confidence, and even in this sudden situation, there was external aid present today.
Shhh—
“…She said her name was Shim Cheong, right?”
The Emperor muttered as he looked at the girl in the five-colored hanbok standing in the distance.
She was a girl who still looked young and immature, as if she hadn't yet fully grown.
When she first appeared before the Emperor, he had thought it was some kind of prank and intended to send her away, but he had no choice but to accept it after hearing the self-introduction that followed her name.
『…As a descendant of the Demonic Cult, I currently hold the position of the Heavenly Demon.』
The Demonic Cult.
It was a familiar name.
No, in fact, saying it was familiar wasn't enough.
The bond between the Imperial Family and the Demonic Cult was not something that had lasted only a few years; it had continued since the primordial era, when the first Heavenly Demon and the first Emperor fought together against the Primordial Demons.
Only after hearing the word ‘Demonic Cult’—which came along with her statement that ‘U-jin sent me’—did the Emperor understand why U-jin had visited the Shandong Peninsula in the past.
‘…So that’s how it was.’
He had looked into U-jin’s tracks before.
Even so, he hadn't been able to find anything particularly meaningful.
And when he saw the ‘Xuanyuan Sword’ that U-jin had brought with him, the word ‘Demonic Cult’ had faintly crossed his mind.
He had even ordered a separate investigation because of it.
However, the group identified as the ‘New-Demonic Cult’ claimed to be the remnants of the Demonic Cult, yet not a single trace of the ‘Demonic Cult’ that the Emperor knew could be found within them.
That was why he had set aside that possibility.
Of course, Emperor Gongson Zan wasn't unaware of the existence of the ‘Real Demonic Cult.’
Though he had never met them face-to-face, he knew they lived somewhere in the lands of Murim.
There were separate records passed down in the Imperial Family, and since Murim was the Emperor’s land, there was no way he could be ignorant of the bond between the Emperor and the Heavenly Demon that had descended from the first generation.
However, if what he knew was correct, the successor of the previous generation of the Demonic Cult had severed the lineage that had continued for an eternity, declaring that they would not pass on the succession to their descendants.
He had even heard rumors that the price for that was becoming blind.
He knew of the power of the Demonic Cult recorded in ancient times, but he thought it would be improper to further persuade someone who had sacrificed their own eyes to end their bloodline, so he had put it out of his mind entirely.
Because of that, the Emperor could not hide his surprise at seeing Shim Cheong appear so openly before him.
If this was the case, then U-jin’s visit to the Shandong Peninsula really had been to find the Demonic Cult.
Of course, another possibility remained.
The possibility that her very existence was a lie.
She could have obtained information about the Demonic Cult through some means and imitated it to gain something from him.
Just like the ‘New-Demonic Cult’ that prided itself on being the remnants.
But the Emperor’s doubts didn't last long.
The reason was simple.
Once the battle began, the martial might she displayed was proof enough that she was truly the ‘Heavenly Demon.’
No other proof was needed.
The martial might unfolding before his eyes was so peerless and autocratic that even the Emperor himself wouldn't dare to imitate it.
He realized it the moment he saw it.
The title ‘Heavenly Demon,’ which sounded arrogant enough to be considered hubris, wasn't a grand name used to inflate one's ego.
It was simply a name that suited the reality.
Boom—!
The ground for dozens of meters in every direction exploded from a light stomp of her foot, and a punch thrown into the air slaughtered dozens of demon soldiers at once.
But even that wasn't her true essence.
Her true essence was the ‘Army of Magical Beasts’ that moved as if she were their conductor.
“An enemy commander who controls his own kind… She’s a monster.”
It was a terrifying way of fighting that he wouldn't want to face even if she were on the enemy side.
The scale wasn't small either.
Shim Cheong was single-handedly operating a force of Magical Beasts nearly the size of a division around her.
No, rather, it was a more accurate description to say she was equivalent to a one-man army in terms of the area she defended.
In a normal army, the numbers should decrease as each soldier falls, but the army of Magical Beasts surrounding Shim Cheong was constantly replenished by nearby beasts as others died in real-time.
Because any creature that entered a certain range immediately turned into an ally, she could display a combat performance far exceeding that of a standard division-level force.
This part perfectly matched the records passed down in the Imperial House.
Even the Imperial Family had often used the expression ‘One-Man Army’ to describe the Heavenly Demons who had led the Demonic Cult throughout history.
Yes.
With Shim Cheong’s intervention, they could somehow deal with the army of Magical Beasts.
It was more than enough.
…However.
That was only if the force invading the Murim Empire was limited to the ‘Magical Beast Army.’
The real problem was ‘that thing.’
— Booooooo.
A giant—a massive, immense creature—a monster so huge that no matter how hard one tried, only one of its four limbs could fit into one’s field of vision at a time.
It was certainly the first time he had witnessed it in person, but the moment the Emperor saw it walking on four legs with horns on its head, he knew.
That was the ‘Primordial Demon’ that had plunged the entire continent into terror and brought countless people to the brink of extinction in ancient times.
Though they were few, it appeared clearly in the ancient texts of the Imperial Family, so he recognized it immediately.
『…Behold Beheymes. Look at the mighty strength coming from its loins and the incredible power surging from its belly. Its tail sways like a cedar; the sinews of its thighs are close-knit. Its bones are tubes of bronze, its limbs like rods of iron…….』
『…It ranks first among the creations; all the green grass that grows on the lush mountains where all the wild beasts play is its food. Who can capture it by its eyes, or pierce its nose with a snare…….』
Beheymes.
When he had read the records of that Primordial Demon in the ancient texts, the Emperor thought the metaphors and exaggerations were severe.
The image drawn when combining the descriptions in those texts was bizarre beyond belief, a mysterious form that resembled nothing else in the world.
Even the contents within were riddled with over-the-top descriptions that felt like nothing but hyperbole.
He thought the sages of that time had emphasized the descriptions particularly strongly just to raise awareness of the Primordial Demons that had existed in ancient times.
But that wasn't it.
It was simply the truth.
They had merely listed that unbelievable truth as it was.
Words couldn't capture it all, but having witnessed it just as they had, he could tell.
That thing wasn't something that could be contained in any form of this world; it was something ‘beyond measure.’
It was just as described.
Not a single trace of strong will or purpose could be found in its movements.
— Boooooo.
It merely moved its steps while letting out an unintelligible cry blankly.
But even that was enough.
Its very existence was a catastrophe.
— H-H-Help, help me!
— Argh!
Just as ants die from a step taken without intent, countless soldiers and heroes of the Murim Empire were losing their lives to a single one of its steps.
With that one trivial act of stepping forward, hundreds, thousands of bodies exploded.
Even the Emperor, who had broken through numerous dangers while experiencing all sorts of hardships in the Anti-Demon wars existing in the Murim Empire, didn't think he could possibly stand against it.
Yes.
The sages' descriptions were correct.
That thing was a disaster by its very existence, an incomprehensible living being where the very attempt to block it was impossible.
Just as humans can do nothing about a sudden natural disaster.
If that thing had already been unsealed and appeared, it was a realm beyond human control.
…Or so he thought.
Flash—
“Ah, I’m a bit late.”
Until U-jin’s figure, holding the Xuanyuan Sword, appeared along with the white magic circle characteristic of the Guardian Cross Order.