Chapter 75
After turning the scythe-wielding skeleton to ashes, Daisy made a very proud expression.
She spoke to me somewhat triumphantly, "Etham!"
I wasn't sure, but it seemed she wanted to be praised.
So I randomly patted Daisy's head, and Daisy made a very satisfied expression and said to me, "Like."
Seeing this, I smiled slightly and was carefully patting Daisy's head when suddenly, I noticed a bead had fallen among the ashes.
Wondering about this sight, I approached and examined it, and could recognize it was a bead similar to the one that had been inside the Dullahan.
What exactly is the identity of this?
I had already eaten enough of these in the training ground to be sick of them.
It was somewhat funny to have this question now, but still, it was a question worth addressing, so as I was staring at it intently,
Daisy carefully tugged on my clothes, made a gesture of eating the bead, and pointed at my mouth, "Myeong! Tasty. Eat."
At her words telling me to eat it because it was delicious, I smiled slightly.
It was cute how she was looking out for me, and quite funny how she was staring with drool dripping.
I wiped Daisy's drool to show my thanks, then put the bead in my mouth.
I felt a satisfying sense of fullness spreading through my entire mind, and felt my mana and strength increase.
As I was smiling, feeling that sensation was quite pleasant, Daisy patted her belly, which had become slimmer than before, and said, "Myeong. Grumble."
It seemed she wanted some too, so I smiled slightly and said, "I'll give you the next bead that comes out."
"Myaang!"
At my words, Daisy's eyes sparkled excitedly and she nodded quickly.
I was about to start moving to get beads to give to Daisy when Siren, who had been watching us from behind, stared at Daisy and said, "You're chubby but have a big appetite too. Chubby Pigsy. Shortened to Chubbsy."
"Myeok?!"
At those words, Daisy rose as if flaring up and jumped at Siren, starting to make "myaak" sounds.
Watching this, I thought they got along well anyway and smiled, then calmly turned my gaze and looked up at the ceiling.
Judging by the fact that the eyeballs stuck to the ceiling haven't disappeared, it seems the one we caught earlier wasn't the main body.
If so, there was an extremely high possibility that the main body was hidden somewhere here.
Wondering where it could be hiding, I was calmly moving my feet when Ruen behind me asked me a question, "Um, Lord Damian... I might be worrying unnecessarily, but why is there a demon race here?"
At that question, I momentarily stopped and looked back.
...Yeah? Why is there a demon race here?
If they had secretly infiltrated like spies and were up to something, I could understand.
The demon race and Demon King's goal was to destroy the human world and rule over it, thinking this was natural.
So according to the description in the original work, it was written that they were beings who could never join forces.
But the black mages not only brought in demon race to invade this port city, but even deployed them here.
...It couldn't help but seem somewhat strange.
It would be right to see this as a fact that wasn't revealed in the original work.
Since the original work progressed based on Dale's subjective perspective, considering that actual facts, for example, things like fake heroes or Elisia's real personality, weren't described in the original work, there was a high possibility that the demon race were not just cooperating with the black mages, but deeply entangled with them.
As I was looking at the pure white ash pile on the floor and pondering how they might be entangled, the eyeballs above blinked again and sent down monsters.
Just as I was about to grab my mace to deal with them lightly, Daisy approached me and while making "myeong" sounds, set fire to various places.
"Myeong!"
Watching the enemies instantly burn up, I laughed hollowly for a moment, not understanding how I had been so weak in the past despite having Daisy.
Anyway, what's important is this shadow city.
Sensing it was about time to end this, I moved towards the building.
***
As I entered inside, I saw black mages frozen in fear.
Seeing this sight, I couldn't help but have big questions.
I did deliberately create a scary production and such, but...
I didn't think black mages who killed countless humans would be scared by just that.
Moreover, it wasn't just one or two, but all of them were terrified.
At this point, I thought it didn't seem like simple fear atmosphere production was the reason and crossed my arms.
Then there must be a separate reason, but what could it be?
I used shadows to burst all the black mages' heads as I climbed the stairs.
As I was hearing the cracking sounds from around me and thinking I didn't understand, I soon reached the very top floor.
"...Grr."
An old man mixed with black smoke.
An old man with a form that I couldn't tell if it was right to call human made a strange sound and gestured to me.
Seeing this sight, I pondered for a moment, then decided to kill him first and was about to move forward gripping my mace when,
Just as I stretched out my foot, the shadow old man suddenly flared up brightly.
Then, foaming at the mouth, he shouted at me in a very clear voice, "Y-you monster, you finally came to my home. Get out of here!"
Monster? Home? Finally?
I was the one bewildered by these incomprehensible words coming out one after another.
I was silently staring at the old man mixed with shadows and was about to open my mouth to draw out some information when Ruen quickly clung to me and whispered some quite interesting information to me.
"The essence itself is human, but it's in a state of being half demon race...!"
Whether it was a human becoming a demon race, or a demon race mixed into a human body, I couldn't know.
But one thing for certain was that the black mages were not just deeply entangled with the demon race beyond...
The fact that they are creating it itself.
Of course, this might be too much of a leap and there's clearly a possibility it's not true, but the old man who seemed to be the 'core' of the shadow city was supporting my conclusion.
So there were too many doubts arising to simply say it wasn't true.
Therefore, I decided to capture that guy first and was about to cover the old man with shadows when,
An extremely miserable scream that was too cruel to be human echoed, and the old man collapsed miserably to the floor.
...I hadn't done anything yet, but his reaction was somewhat bewildering, so I was feeling reluctant when…
"Ugh... Kugek gek."
A bizarre sound echoed from below.
Massive demonic energy gushed out from inside the old man's body collapsed on the floor and started enveloping everything around.
I narrowed my eyes as I watched everything around shattering and twisting, then tried to suppress the demonic energy using Daisy's flame power, but…
"Kieeeeek!"
The amount of demonic energy gushing out was too much, making it impossible to suppress even with Daisy's massive power.
The moment I realized this fact, I felt a faint smile spreading and looked ahead.
Usually, those with demonic energy often have beads.
That meant if I absorbed that guy, it would be possible to absorb a massive amount of power.
With that thought, just as I was thinking I must definitely kill that guy,
Everything around was dyed in darkness and suddenly all forms started twisting.
The underground cavern rose up, no longer an underground cavern.
The buildings in the port city mixed together as if an earthquake had occurred, and furthermore, the water touching the port city spread in all directions, flooding everything.
As I was gripping my mace tightly, looking at the city that had instantly become a place where everything was mixed and submerged, the old man who had turned into a shadow changed his form again into a huge black heart.
As if it had become the heart of the city, it settled in the central air using numerous long flesh strips.
Perhaps because it had become a giant heart, the sound of the heart pulsing could be heard even from far away here.
Seeing this, I thought it was a sight that made my mouth water no matter how I looked at it, and licked my lips.
After telling Siren to protect Ruen, I grabbed my mace and moved forward.
Crunch grunch gack.
A sound like foaming at the mouth echoed all around and intense demonic energy tried to push me back, but it wasn't directly attacking, and that level couldn't stop me, so I lightly waved my hand to deflect it and gradually got closer.
As I was moving my feet like that, the port city background surrounding me disappeared and a strange scene unfolded.
[If you kill your family with your own hands, I'll let you live.]
Along with this, a sunken voice echoed gently in my mind.
In this somewhat bewildering situation, I quickly looked around, but there didn't seem to be anyone who had directly inserted the voice into my head.
What is this?
As I was frowning, not quite understanding, a rippling scene that seemed to show someone's past unfolded near the shadow heart.
[I-I'm sorry Tran, Parin... Forgive this unworthy father.]
A scene of a somewhat young-looking man stabbing his wife and child to death while drenched in fear…
At this excessively cruel scene, I moved forward with my expression strongly frowning.