Returnee's S-Rank Management Guide

Chapter 208 : Demon King's Remnants (1)

Demon King's Remnants (1)

The Demon King—when I first heard about him, it was when I confronted the Emperor of the Empire.

"What you are doing is treason! Are you truly trying to bring about the destruction of humanity? Are you about to say that listening to the demons was just a matter of pursuing personal gain?"

The Emperor, dragging his body across the ground, looked up at me with eyes full of hate as he spoke.

"Do you think you can do anything just because you have a bit of power? Your strength is nothing but a candle in front of him. It is a feeble flame that would be snuffed out with but a single deeper breath."

Of course, the Emperor's head simply exploded from my companion's magic, but his words left a deep impression on me.

The dense fear in the Emperor's eyes as he glared at me.

Even facing death, that fear was not directed at me, but at someone else.

The Emperor truly feared for humanity's future before he died.

He did so because he believed the Demon King's rage would be directed at humanity.

"Really, you're still so devoted to helping the demons even after death, aren't you?"

I glanced down at my chest, then looked straight at the hunk of meat in front of me.

What was amusing was that, despite its appearance, the hunk of meat was completely calm.

Just like when I first confronted him, right in front of my eyes.

"What are you?"

It wasn't something I actually expected the hunk of meat to answer.

In reality, it said nothing at all.

It merely stared at me.

That made it all the more unpleasant.

'It's not just the Demon King's remains—there are all sorts of things mixed in.'

I quickly guessed the truth.

That hunk of meat wasn't a single life form; it was something created by merging multiple life forms into one.

'Just like Benadic.'

That hunk of meat probably used the same method Benadic had used.

Successful or failed test subjects' remains from this facility.

On top of that, combined with shards of the Demon King.

They must have created that thing by bundling it all together.

Of course, since they couldn't properly control it, they likely just left it here.

'It seems it can use at least some of the Demon King's power.'

They were probably waiting until they had a perfect means of control, at which point they would take it out.

「God.」

At that moment, the monster opened its mouth.

It was not in human language.

It was the demon language.

「Imitate God.」

The red, glass-like eyes embedded in its face, the same as the hunk of meat, turned toward me.

「Your name is Mimos.」

The hunk of meat's feet, which had been looking at me, started to move.

「You are our failed creation, just one step short.」

「Failure, failure.」

The hunk of meat kept muttering those words on and on.

It must have learned them from what had been said around it.

Mimos.

Something that consisted of the Demon King's remains and countless other merged life forms.

It did not repeat the memories of the remains, but endlessly uttered the words it had heard since its creation.

「I hate you.」

Mimos pointed at me with its finger.

「I don't know why, but I hate you.」

Even without memories, Mimos held hostility toward me.

It might have been because I held the Demon King's heart, or because I was the one who killed the Demon King.

Or perhaps the demons instilled that hatred.

「Die, die. Die.」

Mimos said as it slowly began to move towards me.

Familiar characters surfaced over its entire body, glowing in gold.

Divine art—the same thing I'd seen on Benadic's body was now appearing on Mimos as well.

KWAAAAANG!!

'Fast.'

Mimos's right arm swelled and slammed down on the spot where I'd just been standing.

Was it because we were on the lowest floor? The ground didn't shatter, it just dented deeply.

'This entire deep level was made to control Mimos.'

Everywhere was lined with unusually sturdy metals.

It wasn't just the solid design—the entire area was constructed from mithril.

A metal with strength incomparable to something like steel.

"Don't resent me too much."

I clenched my fist.

Recalling what happened with Benadic, half-hearted attacks wouldn't even scratch this thing.

Though I did not use the Demon King's power, I channeled all the power I could currently use into my punch.

At the unmoving Mimos, whose giant hand was thrust into the ground.

Whoosh!

"......!!"

But my fist merely cut through air.

It wasn't that Mimos dodged.

I had literally just hit empty space.

"What the...?"

THWACK!!

The moment I hesitated at the incomprehensible situation, Mimos's right arm, still embedded in the ground, swept out horizontally and struck my body hard.

If it were under normal circumstances, the impact wouldn't have bothered me—my blood had become active, making me nearly immune to most physical attacks, even if I wasn't on the level of a Saintess.

Yet for a brief instant, I felt an almost dizzying impact.

"...... What on earth did they make?"

Mimos, having sent me rolling for several meters before I barely managed to regain my posture, did not bother to follow up.

It merely gazed at me, calm.

That gaze was reminiscent of the Demon King.

Its fighting style was strikingly similar to the Demon King's.

Especially that right arm.

'That right arm is the Demon King's.'

Its form changed with each attack, but it was unmistakably the Demon King's.

'And.......'

The power emanating from the Demon King's right arm was tremendous, but what Mimos just showed me felt doubly threatening.

'My punch... just passed right through.'

My punch thrown at Mimos went right through its body.

Like hitting an intangible illusion, all I hit was empty air.

That's what happened when you strike monsters comprised mainly of spirit bodies without using magic power.

But I had covered my hand with both magic power and demonic energy.

Even if Mimos had turned into spirit form, it should have been damaged.

"Don't tell me, you can pass through matter?"

Now I understood how its footsteps suddenly vanished as it approached us.

Mimos, while approaching us, must have used its phase ability to pass through matter and drop downward.

'Come to think of it, the Demon King had a similar ability.'

Sometimes, his attacks would ignore thick magical barriers or armor and inflict direct damage.

We'd dismissed it as just another form of magic, but, apparently, it was one of the Demon King's abilities.

"But even that guy never used it on his entire body like this."

Perhaps, with him, that power was confined only to his right arm.

Now, this thing could use it across its entire body.

Huff.

Its presence vanished.

Even though it was right in front of me, I couldn't sense a thing.

It wasn't even exuding killing intent at me—it lacked proper emotion to begin with.

It just wanted to kill me, whether out of instinct or because it had learned to do so.

Shwing!!

It swung its hand at me at high speed.

I counterattacked, but naturally, my hand merely passed through its body.

Of course, I had expected it, so this time, my hand just brushed its cheek.

「Failure, failure, failure.」

Still muttering that phrase, it kept attacking.

The red, glass-like eyes brimmed with deep hatred.

But that hatred was not solely directed at me.

It was aimed at all humans like me.

'If this thing got out...'

At least in Alcatraz, there is no way to deal with this monster.

S-rank?

Even with immense power, attacks need to connect for anything to work.

"Mimos, you said?"

"?"

It was a strange duel.

A meaningless fight where both of us struck nothing but air.

I had no means to strike it, and it couldn't touch me.

Of course, if the fight continued this way, I would be at a disadvantage.

Even if I used the Demon King's power, I couldn't hit it.

Minor injuries continued to accumulate—there was nothing good for me in a battle of attrition.

No matter how unkillable I might be, if Estella's authority was completely depleted, who knew what might happen next.

"Why have you stayed here? With your ability, you could easily get out."

I twisted the trajectory of my punch toward its body.

There was no point in hitting its body for days; it wouldn't do any damage.

"You must hate the ones who made you—aren't you desperate to kill everyone with a human form, like me?"

Mimos held hostility toward me.

It said it hated me the moment it first saw me, so I thought it was connected to the Demon King's arm.

But, after trading attack and defense like this, I realized—

It didn't hate me because I was 'Park Jung-woo' who killed the Demon King.

It simply hated me for being in human form.

"And yet, you stayed here... Isn't that it?"

The redirected punch struck Mimos's outstretched right hand, which had been aiming for my head.

KAANG!!

A deafening blast—impossible unless fists truly collided—echoed through the deep floor.

Unlike before, when I was just hitting air, this time my fist perfectly knocked aside its hand.

「......!!」

"You didn't go outside because you were scared."

Mimos looked at my fist.

It was as if it couldn't believe it had been struck.

'In the end, to attack me, it has to materialize.'

Otherwise, it would be impossible to attack me.

The annoying thing was, even that materialization was applied only to the attacking hand.

No matter how many times I attacked at the same time, my blows never connected to its body.

And even that hand only materialized at the last moment, just before hitting me.

So, if I wanted to land a blow, I had to seize that split-second.

「Die, die, die!!」

Perhaps shocked by the pain it felt for the first time, Mimos continued to attack me in rapid succession.

If it had run away, things would have gotten really troublesome, but it didn't.

Instead, it pressed its attack even harder.

Its blows were fast, strong, and sturdy.

Even after colliding with my punches several times, Mimos only bled a little and didn't sustain any fatal wounds.

But a crack appeared in its once-impenetrable defense.

Every time our fists clashed, I'd begun slipping a bit of my demonic energy into its body.

THWACK!!

「Kaaaak!!」

In the end, its ability also derived from the Demon King's power.

And since the Demon King is a demon, it requires demonic energy to use that power.

So, if I disrupted that flow, I could interfere with its ability as much as needed.

Of course, the openings I could create this way were very small.

Even so, as long as there was a small gap, I could drive in my fist.

「It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!!」

As my fist struck its abdomen and sent it flying, Mimos's form transformed into a four-legged beast.

A monster shaped like a wolf.

Then it lunged at my throat, even faster than it had flown away.

"You can even change your form?"

What an extravagant spec.

I gave a hollow laugh and grabbed its wide-open jaws with both hands.

Slick—

"!!"

But only for a moment—just then, the materialization of the teeth I'd grabbed faded, and my fists passed right through.

The instant I saw that, I immediately jerked my hands back.

"Tch!!"

Sharp pain shot through my hands.

A quick glance showed the flesh neatly bitten away in the shape of teeth.

'It faded out, then rematerialized.'

In other words, it passed through my hands while non-material, then materialized inside.

If that happened, the part where our bodies overlapped would become part of its body—no matter how tough I was, those overlapped parts would simply vanish.

'If my reaction had been just a bit slower...'

Just imagining it sent chills down my spine.

Even the Saintess's body, immune to most attacks via the power of law, would still be helpless against that.

Mimos possessed that kind of power.

"Good thing I told Ivan to leave with the documents."

Suppressing the pain, I clenched my fist.

The Mimos that had been in wolf form now looked down at me, transformed into a giant snake.

With deep, abiding hatred.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】