◈ Episode 381. Demon King (2)
The Ten Thrones (十座).
A higher Demon King is a being that cannot be measured.
They possess the power to sway an entire worldview. Whether they were born with it, or whether it stems from the throne upon which they sit, I do not know. But their strength, at least, is no lie.
That was why I, Lee Hoyeol, could not help but be tempted.
I was hardly in a position to be picky, was I?
Granfell might be, but Lee Hoyeol could not afford to turn his nose up at anything.
I did not forget that original resolve, and searched for anything I could struggle with.
Whether it was a skill, an item, a shabby trick, elementary-level science, magic, anything at all. I had to take it all and use it, because only then would I be able to endure the weight of the burden I carried.
But life, as expected, was not so easy.
The Ten Thrones.
I had hoped it would be a special power unrelated to demons.
Had that been nothing more than a vague wish?
I looked at the messages that appeared.[A unique atmosphere takes control of the area.][Current Atmosphere: Demon King of the Ten Thrones, Lee Hoyeol][Warning: Akshan is watching you.][Charm]
The [Unique Atmosphere]
drawn out by it could wait for a moment.
What mattered now was this.
Our Akshan seniors were watching me.‘Feels like the back of my head is starting to sting.’A single line of message.
But the meaning it contained was by no means light.
I had not forgotten.
The reason some of the Akshan seniors had fallen into Hell.
In order to hunt demons, they had gazed into demons, and in the end, they had fallen into demonhood, been hunted by their comrades’ hands, and dropped into Hell. Those were none other than the Akshan seniors of Hell.‘There’s no room for excuses.’In that sense.
I was no different from them.
No, wasn’t I in an even more serious situation?
After all, it wasn’t just any demon.
A Demon King.
And one could say I had become no different from a higher Demon King at that.
I could understand why the Akshan seniors were watching this junior of theirs.
But I did not stop.
Because I had certainty.
Even if it was the power of a higher Demon King.
I was confident I would not be swayed by its evil.
The source of that confidence was, as expected, Granfell.
I opened my mouth.
“What you suspect is correct.”
Mary slowly nodded.
“This is the power of a Demon King.”
As if she were looking at something impossibly high above.
As if she were staring at an impossibly lofty being.
Mary’s expression was truly one of someone whose soul had left her body.
It was a look I was familiar with. The people of the Seorn Continent had reacted exactly like that when they faced Baal’s forearm. But as I said, there was no need to worry, Mary.
It was utterly calm.
My heartbeat.
My inner self.
My body.
There was no change whatsoever in me.『The very first thing Granfell learned as the next head of the family was not to be elated or shaken by personal matters.』Was it because Granfell considered even the power of a higher Demon King to be something trivial?
I did not know the exact reason, but one thing was certain.『The position of head of the Claudi family was one that permitted not even the slightest agitation.』The current me was no different from usual.‘Which means…….’Even our Akshan seniors, who would have rushed in at the first sign of a demon—especially a higher Demon King—were merely watching me. Whether that was an underestimation or an overestimation did not matter.『For underestimation, there was proof. As for overestimation, he would force it to become reality in the end.』That was right.
The current me intended to digest even the power of a higher Demon King completely as my own. Otherwise, I would not be able to survive the challengers aiming for me, the lowest in the hierarchy. Nor the ranking battles with the higher Demon Kings. Nor the Demon World I had walked into of my own accord.
As if making a vow, I recited.
“So you may devote your full strength.”
Nod.
Whoooooosh.
Mary’s violet light surged even more fiercely.
I, too, was a transcendent who could enter and leave the social hall of space-time.
Thanks to that, I knew exactly how much the cigarettes Mary always had in her mouth cost.‘The cheapest ones were 100 gold a pack, probably?’I had never witnessed Mary’s full power.
But I could swear that Mary was without doubt stronger than any mage I had seen thus far. Even the Tower Master, that cat, had not been able to form a circle.‘Compared to that, I’m…….’The absolute total amount of mana?
It would be incomparably lower.
A circle?
I had formed one by consuming an elixir, but it would not be wrong to say I had forced it open with my life on the line. Even experience could not compare. Mary had watched over the ill omen for what amounted to an eternity.
If only to pay for those cigarettes, she must have consistently carried out high-difficulty space-time missions.
Ssssss.
So, objectively speaking.
I would not have been able to withstand Mary’s first manifestation.
If I had not used the power of a higher Demon King and had faced her with magic alone, that is.
Ooooooh.
Twilight mana was dozens of times denser than the same total amount of ordinary mana. What that meant was simple. It meant one could draw out a high level of magical manifestation with only a small amount of mana.‘This really is her full power.’Mary had even stayed in the Magic Tower and learned new magic.
Now, even the one thing I could say I had an advantage in—
my superiority in magical knowledge—
could not be put to use.‘As proof, she didn’t manifest elemental magic.’Elemental magic had clear superiority and inferiority. Just as the freezing mage Senios had been unable to overcome the fire dragon Karimzeva. There existed a predator-prey relationship, where one devoured and was devoured by another.
Shaaaaaa.
But what poured toward me was nothing but pure twilight mana itself.
She must have perfectly grasped the concepts of pure magic.
A regular conference from some time ago, Senior Bangrit’s presentation, flashed through my mind.
-“Pure mana studies is, in theory, the most efficient magic! Because it doesn’t really have anything called compatibility. However, there is one enormous weakness……!”
The moment pure magic collided with another magic. If it was pushed back in absolute total mana, pure magic had the weakness of riding along with the other magic and being reverse-manifested.‘That’s why Bangrit became a senior.’A mana affinity considered the very best even in the Magic Tower.
Bangrit was literally like a lotus blooming from the mud. His innate mana affinity was what allowed Bangrit’s pure magic to avoid experiencing reverse manifestation no matter what magic it collided with.‘Which means the pure magic Mary is manifesting…….’Would it not be fair to see it as a perfect upper version of Bangrit’s?
What that meant was simple.
It meant I had no way to withstand it.‘It’s coming.’Shwoooooosh.
A violet storm of twilight mana raged fiercely.
Basic magical knowledge flowed through my mind. In order to respond to pure magic, one had to confront it with the magic among those they could manifest that possessed the greatest manifestation power.‘Because the absolute total amount is important.’But what is my specialty?
Understanding my place.
Even if I put forward the so-called construction magic, the magic with the best mana efficiency among those I could manifest, I would not be able to respond to Mary’s twilight mana storm.
So I had no choice but to wield it properly.
The power of a higher Demon King.
No matter what.
If someone asked how I had even thought to make use of the power of a Demon King.
I would have no choice but to present my experience.
Because I had witnessed it during the previous Demon King contest.
The reason countless demons had thrown away their lives to sit upon the throne.
Class (格).
Others might not know, but Granfell would be unable to understand it. A demon was just the same demon as any other; he might coldly say that it made no sense for rank or class to exist among an inferior race.
But I, Lee Hoyeol, knew.
Thanks to having played.
The game that had merely been a game—
The Chronicles of the Arcana Continent.‘If you seize the throne, you are promoted to a boss monster.’There was a gap between ordinary monsters and named monsters. And the gap between those named monsters and boss monsters could be considered dozens to hundreds of times greater.
That was also why dozens to hundreds of players clung to boss monster raids. Even if they were the same level, once the modifier [Boss] was attached, the dimension changed.
It had been so even in the days when seventy-two thrones existed. Then now, when only ten thrones existed. If one seized that throne, what sort of rise in class would that new Demon King accomplish?
As the person in question, I intended to test it.
Swish.
I gently raised my hand. I did not manifest construction magic. Like Mary, I drew out pure mana. In other words, I manifested pure magic.
Ooooooh.
As I said, my total amount of mana was absurdly small.Even with a rise of 150 levels, even with my level nearing one thousand.[Strength], [Agility], and even [Luck]
were stats into which I had invested no small number of points.‘I can make use of twilight mana too, but…….’My method of handling twilight mana, too, was nothing more than something I had learned by peeking over someone’s shoulder. I was not being modest; I had truly learned it by watching when Mary was teaching Jesse, hadn’t I?
Common sense said.
If my pure magic and Mary’s pure magic collided, then ninety-nine times out of a hundred—
no, a hundred times out of a hundred—
my side being shattered miserably was the proper order of magic.
However.
The movement of the colliding mana particles was unusual.
No……
Could that even be called a collision of mana?
“……!”
A one-sided crushing.
My mana was trampling over the twilight mana.
As if our “class” were different.
It was not even allowing the twilight mana to approach.
Mary let out a sound.
“……How can mana like this exist?”
Water and oil.
They do not mix with each other, so there is no shock of collision.
But just as water sinks below and oil rises above.
Between my mana and the twilight mana, there existed an irresistible principle.
Mary murmured.
“Mana even purer than twilight mana……?”
A pure-blooded magical clan, the descendants of twilight.
To them, the twilight magic and mana they used were the original magic itself. But the mana I was now emitting was clearly superior in rank to that twilight mana.
I calmly recited.
“Because its class is different.”
Of course, I had no intention of bragging.
It was simply because, by taking one of the Ten Thrones, my class had risen.
I swallowed, suddenly feeling the taste in my mouth.‘……Truly, how very Lee Hoyeol of me.’In other words, this too had been a struggle as desperate as any other.
However, I had not overlooked it.
Why was a Demon King called a Demon King?
Because he was the king of demons (惡魔), he was called a Demon King (魔王).
If my mental strength had wavered even a little…….‘By now, I’d have been dragged away by the seniors of Hell.’But Granfell’s mindset was with me.
Because to Granfell, demons were beings that could never be tolerated.
No matter how incredible it was.
Borrowing the power of a higher Demon King was something that could not exist in Granfell’s dictionary.
Because I believed in Granfell’s stubbornness.
I had succeeded in carving it out.
The evil (惡).
Thanks to that, what I had grasped in my hand was—‘For reference, magic (魔法) uses the same “ma” character, too.’The throne of pure ma (魔).
Whoooooosh.
I looked at the mana wavering from my body. I felt the efficiency of mana of a different class. I realized it. Now you have truly grown to a level where you can no longer use mana as an excuse, Hoyeol.
“There is no room to respond.”
Mary opened her mouth.
I nodded.
Mary’s words were correct.
The twilight mana had completely stopped flowing. Since it could not move, it meant it could not reach the process of manifestation. We had merely exchanged a single move, and yet Mary seemed to have realized that fact.‘I survived.’Only after letting out a breath did the scenery around me begin to come into view.
To be precise, I began to read the “atmosphere” around me.
Let me say this clearly: this was, strictly speaking, something to be happy about.‘Because I succeeded in carving the evil out of the power of a higher Demon King and using it.’In short, it meant I had succeeded in sucking out only the sweet juice.
And yet, somehow, the atmosphere was ominous.
When I looked around……
not only the dense trees,
but even the grasses of the earth were bowing their heads toward me.
To compare it to something.‘They really are looking at me as if I’m some Demon King, aren’t they?!’At that point, I became aware of it.[Unique Atmosphere].
So this was the effect of the stat [Charm]?
To put it simply, it was a power of presentation.
The unique atmosphere that originated from Charm.
It was making me truly appear as a Demon King to others.
I looked at the red gem attached to the Dawn Jacket, Rust.‘What an unwelcome effect……!’Even as it was, Granfell’s manner of speech, which needlessly set the mood, was already burdensome enough……! And on top of that, a unique atmosphere, even this kind of presentation, was being added?‘This is deeply terrifying.’What sort of thing the synergy between speech and atmosphere might bring about.
The moment I swallowed a groan inwardly.
A sound suddenly reached my ears.
Thud.
When I shifted my gaze, Mary was on her knees—no.
She was prostrating herself before me, her head lowered.
Then, in a trembling voice, she continued.
“Mary, Witch of the Southern Sea.”
I knew this would happen……
“Beholds the true Demon King.”
No, so I’m telling you, I’m not that kind of Demon King……!
Even if I look like a Demon King because of the atmosphere, here is the proof.
And proof acknowledged by my natural enemies, at that![Akshan withdraws its suspicion from you.]
So I’m saying I’m not that kind of Demon King?!