Chapter 107
107. The Strongest of the Eastern Demon Realm
If I had to pick the best skill I acquired after Floor 9, it would be [Mana Dominion].
Ah, I excluded Mana Reinforcement, one of the Warrior's three divine skills, since I learned that technique through my own efforts before it became a skill.
And [Steel Soul], whose effect was absurdly overpowered and which was classified as a trait, was excluded as well.
Anyway, [Mana Dominion] is considered one of the three divine skills of the Mage class, corresponding to the Warrior's three divine skills.
Basically, it is a top-tier skill that combines all the essential Mage skills—[Mana Affinity], [Mana Detection], [Mana Manipulation], and so on—into one.
Ever since acquiring this skill, I have been able to control the mana flowing within me literally as I please.
It wasn't just my own mana; I could also sense the mana flowing through the air and move it as I wished.
Although my class was still Warrior, I had gained mana manipulation and detection abilities surpassing those of nearly any mage.
From my perspective, then, both the environment of this Demon Realm and the demon race itself were unquestionably insane.
An insane amount of mana overflowing through the air, and the insane race of demons, which absorbed plenty of it and grew from the moment they were born.
They call it the Demon Realm, but this was already closer to a factory producing biological magic weapons.
And the finest masterpieces produced by that factory were the three unkillable demons guarding each gateway.
“There’s no way someone like that could be so weak.”
I kept thinking that as I walked toward the next gateway.
The red demon I had just defeated had been far too weak.
Its actual combat ability had fallen nowhere near the level I had estimated from the mana I sensed.
Either it had looked down on me and held back its strength until the very end, or I had completely misjudged my opponent.
It had to be one of the two, but personally, I hoped it was the former. If it was the latter, there were more than one or two problems.
Not only would there simply be no one on Floor 14 I could fight seriously, but I also wouldn't be able to gauge my opponents' abilities properly.
So please, let this gatekeeper show me a truly different caliber of strength.
Even if I maintained my current rate of growth, clearing Floor 100 would be easy, but my goal lay beyond it.
“Stop.”
Before I knew it, I had reached the second gateway, and this time a blue-bodied demon blocked my path.
Unlike the red one I had faced earlier, it had no wings, and the horns jutting from its forehead were shaped differently.
The previous one had what felt like classic devil horns, but this one's horns jutted out sharply, emitting a jewel-like light.
If I had to compare them, they felt like a unicorn's horn.
It was also shorter and smaller than the previous one, and its muscle mass didn't look particularly impressive—it seemed more like an intellectual type.
But the amount of mana it contained was truly tremendous. I suppose it was a mage type.
“To pass through this gateway, you must answer three questions.”
Come to think of it, the way to pass through this gateway involved solving riddles too. So this was the type that required using your head.
Of course, now that all the information had been made public on the open community, there was no need to use my head at all.
“All right, the answer is this.”
I boldly drew my sword in front of the blue demon. For the record, the demon hadn't even asked its questions yet.
“I don't know what question you're going to ask, but a sword always knows the answer.”
Ferocious mana once again coiled around me.
**
A massive sphere of mana formed above the blue demon's head.
The sphere squirmed on its own for a while, then began spitting out fireballs, spears of ice, and bolts of lightning.
It appeared to be an attack spell that formed pure mana into a mass, then changed its attribute and spewed it out as needed.
-Boom! Kaboom! Crack!
The blazing fireballs collided with my body and caused powerful explosions. The spears of ice shot toward me with tremendous force.
Finally, lightning poured down like rain, striking my body in succession and turning the surrounding area into blackened ash in an instant.
Yet even all those spells couldn't stop me for a moment as I charged at the demon with nothing but a sword drawn.
“What is this? Are you kidding me?”
Having taken all its attacks head-on with my bare body, I closed the distance in one burst and cleaved through its shoulder.
-Slaash!
I drove the sword buried in its left shoulder down toward its ribs, then pulled it outward, carving away the left side of its upper body.
It was a fatal wound that would have killed it instantly if it hadn't been a demon; only after being reduced to this state did it finally bring out its horns.
There were six horns, one fewer than the red demon's. This one, too, was one rank above the boss.
“Kukuku… To think you would make Latohal of the Blue bring out his horns. There wasn't even anyone this strong in the Eastern Demon Realm…”
The red demon had called himself the strongest in the West, and this one apparently had a history of being the strongest in the East.
I did wonder why people like them were swaggering around as gatekeepers, but maybe it was simply part of their culture.
“Did you know that the guy who died earlier said something similar to you before dying in one hit?”
“What…? Surely you mean Galtram of the previous gateway?”
“Yeah, the red guy. So don't let your guard down—come at me properly if you don't want to die.”
At my words, the blue demon furrowed its brow and began releasing an immense amount of mana. As expected, it was on an incredible level.
Of course, there was no way someone with this much mana could be that weak. This time, it would show me its true ability, right?
-Vwooom!
Once again, a sphere of mana formed above the demon's head. Its force and the mana it contained were clearly different from before.
Apparently, that was its primary method of attack. The sphere transformed once more and poured out all kinds of magic.
-Boom! Kaboom! KABOOM!
A dazzling array of multicolored magic descended upon me, and the area, already a complete mess, was utterly laid waste.
It was certainly incredible magic. Neither its power nor its precision was lacking in the slightest.
Its attributes were also diverse, so unless you possessed comprehensive resistance like I did, it would be difficult to respond properly even with preparation.
The claim that challengers on Floor 14 could never break through by combat was no exaggeration. It truly possessed that level of strength.
But I couldn't hide my disappointment. It had clearly surpassed the level of Floor 14, but was this really all?
“What is this half-baked crap?”
Compared to the amount of mana it possessed, there was no way this was all it could do.
**
A short while later, the blue demon's body was rolling around at my feet, chopped into pieces and crushed.
This time, I had deliberately avoided inflicting fatal wounds and smashed it to pieces here and there so I could properly see what it was capable of.
I had deliberately made my attacks miss again and again, increasing its injuries, because I wanted to see the maximum power it could unleash while on the verge of death, but—
Until the very end, the blue demon displayed only pathetic combat power compared to the level of mana it possessed, and died.
“Am I really the problem?”
Was I misjudging the strength of my opponents, or had I overestimated them based on the amount of mana they possessed?
Perhaps they had been born with mana that was too powerful and, as a result, never developed the ability to use it efficiently.
Since it was classified as an ordinary mob rather than a boss, it didn't even give any damn individual reward. At this rate, I was completely screwed.
“Or is there some other setting at work?”
I opened the community and began carefully searching for information about the Demon Realm and its demons.
I had already searched extensively for hidden elements since Floor 13, but I wondered if there might be something I had missed.
But most of the results were posts I had already read, and there was no particular explanation for the demons' peculiar strength.
In the first place, apart from the first-generation challengers, there wasn't anyone who had even tried to break through these guys by force.
Ah, come to think of it, they had said things I'd never heard before when introducing themselves.
The Western Demon Realm and the Eastern Demon Realm, the twenty-third Demon King and so on, and nicknames like the Red and the Blue.
“Maybe there's something to this, too.”
I started a new search centered on those keywords. I also posted a wanted notice on the community.
[Author : Seo Jinhyuk#2661]
[Title : (Information Request) Why Are These Bastards So Weak?]
(Image)
I killed the Floor 14 gatekeepers, but they're much weaker than I expected. What's going on?
They're strong for this floor, but their combat power doesn't match the amount of mana they have.
The first gatekeeper said he was Gal-whatever of the Red, the 23rd Demon King of the Western Demon Realm.
The second gatekeeper said he was Latohal of the Blue, from the Eastern Demon Realm.
If you know why these guys are weak compared to the amount of mana they have, please tell me in the comments.
The comments came in extremely quickly again. Of course, most of them said things like, “How the fuck did you do that, you bastard?”
Most of my posts got over-the-top reaction comments first. If I waited a little, someone would bring useful information on their own.
After putting out the notice and continuing to search with the new keywords, I finally found something that could serve as a clue.
[(Series) Let's Learn About the Demon Realm Setting, the Background of Floor 14, Part 1.txt]
What I found was a series of posts uploaded by challengers with unusual inclinations who called themselves historians or archaeologists.
There, I found a new term: ‘Primary-Color Demons’.