novelraw Chapter 209 : Demon King's Remnants (2)
Chapter 209 : Demon King's Remnants (2)
Demon King's Remnants (2)
「Even after using divine art and the remains of the Demon King, it ended in failure.」
Those were the first words it heard upon opening its eyes.
Iti did not know why it could understand that language, or even whether it recognized that it was a "language".
Still, those memories were so jumbled that they did not even maintain a proper form.
「Don't resent us. The arm used on you is precious to us as well.」
They said such things and discussed among themselves what to do with it.
Someone argued that keeping it alive would just be troublesome and that it would be better to dispose of it here.
There was also the suggestion that they should try to use it for its power, but it was quickly dismissed.
There was no way they could control a monster lacking even intelligence.
If that failure ever managed to use the power in that arm, it could lead to great damage.
At that moment, Mimos wanted to tell them that he possessed intelligence.
However, his thoughts would not connect to language.
Naturally so.
Even if there were memories, there was not even a proper vocal organ to produce sound.
「Don't resent us too much, Mimos.」
With those words, they—the demons—tried to kill it.
It had to escape from here.
The moment Mimos thought it must somehow escape to survive, its body sank into the ground.
「What?!」
The power held in the Demon King's right arm.
Mimos, having awakened the ability to phase through all matter, escaped.
It then hid in the deepest part of this hellish tower.
There, it honed its power and, using its chaotic and tangled memories, grew slowly stronger.
It lived by killing the demons who charged in to kill it, hiding in the depths.
And then.
At some point, the demons stopped seeking him out altogether.
Mimos did not leave the depths.
Even if it came up, the most it could reach was the area with the laboratories.
Any further seemed impossible, perhaps out of fear.
The demons realized this and trapped Mimos there.
They decided that, rather than dealing with it forcefully, it was better to leave it in that place.
If it ever became a threat, the top-rank demons could step in and dispose of it then.
With that judgment, Mimos was left in the depths.
From the moment it was born, it never once saw the light.
***
Mimos's power, attacking by freely changing form, was truly troublesome.
Yes, putting aside whether it was strong or weak, it was simply troublesome.
Other than attacks that used the Demon King's arm, its other abilities were not particularly outstanding.
In fact, in terms of pure physical ability, Benadic—whom I fought at Gwehyeoldo—was much superior.
However, in terms of being annoying, Mimos was much more so than Benadic.
'Honestly, our compatibility is not good.'
If Shin Ah-yeon had been here, she would have suppressed the divine art emanating from Mimos's body itself.
That would have slowed down his ability activation, making him easy to suppress.
And in Lee Soo-ah's case, she had Life Lantern Ignition, so phasing through matter or whatever else would have been pointless.
'I should have brought at least one of those two.'
Regret hit me belatedly, but there was no helping it.
Both of them were S-rank and too famous; no matter how we boarded the ship, they would not have been allowed even to enter the port of Alcatraz.
"In the end, there's only ever one thing I can do."
Throwing punches until the opponent falls.
Kwakwang! Kwakwakwakwang!!
Fur sprouted from its snake form, morphing into a lion.
From lion to wolf, from wolf back to human.
It varied its attacks so I could not easily mount a counterattack.
By repeatedly toggling phasing through matter, it gradually increased the wounds on my unharmed body.
Mimos's eyes were desperate.
Squeezing out all its power, it struggled desperately to bring me down.
The more it did, the thicker the Demon King's aura emanated from its body.
That aura welled up so strongly that it stimulated my heart.
'The Demon King's Heart.'
Fists and fists, fists and claws, fists and fangs.
They clashed and glanced off each other in midair over and over, each leaving wounds on the other.
'What power does the Demon King's Heart hold?'
The Demon King's arm possessed the ability to phase through matter.
So did the most special heart among demons possess no special power?
'No one ever learned the Demon King's powers.'
It was the same in that world.
Even now, 300 years after his death, it must be the same.
No one ever learned the Demon King's powers.
Of course.
Anyone who had seen the Demon King's power died without exception, and after conquering humanity, he never used his full power again.
'Would it have hurt to reveal something in battle?'
The Demon King was purely strong. If he was that strong, he could have bothered to explain his abilities, but he died without revealing them, even at the very end.
Afterward, I immediately implanted his heart in my body and returned to Earth, so I had no time to check what power it held.
All I knew about the Demon King's Heart was that it contained the source of the Demon King's power.
'Maybe I was mistaken all along.'
Stimulated by Mimos's power, my heart became active naturally.
It did not forcibly consume my body, but beat like any normal heart.
Naturally, that power was not strong.
There was no way it could be stronger than forcibly using the heart's power.
'The Demon King's Heart was not just a matter of quantity of demonic energy or magic power.'
As I observed the power of the heart, peering into it, I saw a small door open—just a little.
I was gradually coming to understand what power the Demon King's Heart possessed.
The amount of magic power in my body had not changed since I began fighting Mimos.
My wounds had increased, but my breath did not falter even one bit.
As I observed and examined the Demon King's Heart, I touched the door that had opened.
It was only then that I began to grasp what power the heart held.
'The power of the Demon King's Heart is to never tire.'
It was a very simple ability.
The power of the Demon King's Heart was simply to be inexhaustible.
The important point was that, 'by any means', it never wore out.
It was not just stamina, nor could it ever run out of magic power or demonic energy and grow fatigued.
In other words, even fighting at full power with all my might, the Demon King's Heart would never get tired.
'So that's why.'
That's why you were so strong.
Since there was never any fatigue, you could always draw out over 100 percent of your power in a fight.
Never tiring.
That meant the phrase 'overdoing it' simply did not exist for the Demon King.
Naturally, the power I currently used was far less than what the Demon King had wielded in the past.
Of course, I had only just learned how to use it.
"Should I try a little experiment?"
Clenching my fist, I activated all the magic nodes in my body.
I had been holding back, using only a certain amount of power, planning for a long-term battle—but with the Demon King's Heart, there was no need to conserve anything from the start.
I partially activated the power of the Demon King's Heart and hurled my fist at the demon beast charging toward me.
Kwaaaaang!!
My fist clashed with Mimos's, which had solidified just as it attacked, and Mimos's new form shattered through several walls as it was sent flying.
「......!!」
Confusion filled Mimos's eyes.
With my power suddenly amplified, it could no longer handle my counters head-on.
The speed at which it phased through matter had slowed greatly, leaving Mimos's body completely exposed to my fists.
'Faster than it can use phasing.'
Little by little, Mimos's body was shattered by my fists.
The left arm it used to block was torn off, and the right ankle it tried to escape with was smashed off by another blow.
Without even a chance to transform, Mimos had to take the beating relentlessly.
「Ah, aaah.」
Mimos's body gradually collapsed.
The only part left intact was the very right arm that formed its core.
"Mimos."
Its head was half blown away, and its lower body had disappeared somewhere.
I walked slowly toward the twitching Mimos.
Perhaps he could no longer use the Demon King's power; even phasing was not activating.
But the power of divine art still worked.
Given time, its body would likely recover naturally.
So I would end it right now.
"......"
I clenched my fist and walked up to Mimos, writhing on the ground.
If I struck down and completely destroyed its head, even this monster could only die.
「Ah, it hurts.」
Seeing Mimos desperately trying to flee to survive, I couldn't bring myself to bring down my raised fist.
"Ha, damn it."
If the failed youth at the auction had been a victim, so too did Mimos count as one.
Being born in this damn laboratory was Mimos's only crime.
Because of that, I could not bring myself to end his life.
As if I saw a reflection of myself from the other world.
"Mimos."
「......?」
Slowly, I bent my knees and crouched beside the broken Mimos.
Meeting the gaze of his red, glass-like eyes, I spoke.
"I'd like to make you an offer."
At my subsequent words, Mimos's eyes blinked rapidly.
It was a sign of unconditional agreement.
***
"Lord Damian."
Damian, who had been quietly reading a book, gently closed it at the voice calling him.
"It looks like Park Jung-woo has gone to Alcatraz."
"Alcatraz, then he must have entered the King's Tower."
"He may even have encountered Mimos."
Mimos was truly a regretful failure.
Even using the Demon King's right arm, it could not be controlled, so leaving it there had been the best choice.
A monster incapable of speaking, making only strange cries.
"It seemed it could use a little of the Demon King's power, so if things go well, maybe Park Jung-woo...."
"Sebin, do you really think that's possible?"
"...... No."
Even if it could use the Demon King's power, it was nothing but a failure.
No matter how strong it got, it could not stand up to the top-rank demons.
That was far from the level Damian desired.
"Still, thanks to Mimos's data, we laid the foundation for creating a 'god'."
As well as a way to perfectly transform this world into the demon realm.
If the King's Tower began to be investigated in earnest, Park Jung-woo would surely notice something strange.
That the place was a facility modeled with a specific 'purpose' in mind.
"Do you truly believe we can complete our 'god', Lord Damian?"
"Of course."
"I do not."
Sebin sighed and shook his head.
"There are already several who have succeeded, as our hypothesis predicted. They must surely be an enormous fighting force. Taking beings who were strong from the start and making them even stronger...."
Beings almost synonymous with gods.
Their power was honestly so overwhelming that even Sebin found it difficult to grasp.
Creatures stronger than ever by merging the originally powerful humans with the power of the top-rank demons.
"But that was still never enough to be called a 'demon god'."
"......"
Damian did not affirm or deny Sebin's words.
In truth, the experiment, like he wanted, had succeeded, but the result was not worthy of being called a 'god'.
Let alone a demon god, it had not surpassed the power of even the 'Demon King'.
"Perhaps it's because we focused too much on just ability."
"Just ability... you mean?"
"Yes."
Damian thought of one man.
He was a human from another world, and not even an awakener.
He had withstood terrible experiments without going mad and gained mighty power.
Moreover, he had slain the Demon King and performed the feat of sealing his power within his own body.
Even with the Saintess's power, that should have been impossible.
"Human desire far surpasses that of demons, and so humans sometimes do what can never be done."
Park Jung-woo was such a human.
His strength was not simply because his body was strong.
It was because his mind was infinitely strong that his body could be as well.
"And we just happen to have such a human with us."
A man who was out of his mind.
A man who walked willingly into the jaws of death, even when he had already gained everything.
"I have quite high expectations for him."
Lately, he seemed to be going through desperate hardships, but if he could overcome that, surely.
Surely he would become the strongest trump card of the demons.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Jin Su-hyuk is not Mimos.
(ㆆ.ㆆ )