Chapter 26 - The Devil’s Heart
Demonization showed the most extreme transformation among those that existed within ‘The Five Families’.
Not only did the appearance change, but it completely altered the species itself.
The Werewolf’s beast transformation changed their form from human to wolf, or something in between, but Demonization was different.
From human to devil.
From a mortal to a half-immortal.
A being that made fire, life’s greatest enemy, its ally, and spewed forth hellfire.
─I will kill you….
The demonic face, no longer human, melted and reconstructed by fire, now hideously distorted, spoke.
The moment I was caught in those large, brutish hands, it felt like I would be dragged to the very bottom of hell.
And the devil fully intended to drag the Youngest Son to the bottom of hell.
Before that, it would inflict a seemingly infinite and distant pain.
Kwaaaaaaaaang─!!
The devil, spreading its membranous wings to float, charged straight at me.
Along with its ram’s horns, its skin seemed to burn hotter the closer it got.
My five senses made me clearly recognize that the monster before me was undoubtedly a devil.
So, instead of the Griffin, the Youngest Son took something else out.
“Water is perfect for fire. And holy water is perfect for devils.”
Just seeing that transparent bottle made the force of its charge weaken noticeably.
“It hasn't been long since I left my room, and yet I’ve met one strong person after another. The fortunate thing was that they were strong people I knew, so I could prepare.”
This was my countermeasure against Cardmun Balum.
Genuine holy water, not from the Scripture of the Dark Wheel, but from the western church, brought in by Maxman.
I poured it all over my body.
“…It stings.”
Its rigidity rejected not only devils but anything devil-like and wicked.
It was a quality that perfectly suited pure mages.
“But is it as much as you?”
Smiling, I slicked back my thoroughly soaked hair.
I had acquired as much holy water as I possibly could, so I had quite a few bottles.
Though its high price was a flaw, I was able to receive this much as a favor from someone of a great merchant’s stature.
To him, it might have been an investment, but the holy water, which came as free money, was generously invested into my body.
The devil’s heat died down as if it had seen a living ghost.
However, its animosity and hostility were not erased.
Because for the devil, the murderous intent toward the Fifth Son was even greater than the disgust evoked by the holy water.
“Now this will be a fight worth having.”
I picked up the scythe the fiend had dropped when he became a devil.
──「Head Collector」──
[Description]
: This is the symbol of the Family Head, passed down through generations of the Balum family. The blood of their ancestors has hardened near the handle and has yet to disappear.
[Effect]
: Mana consumed when using the skill 「Balum's Scythe」 is reduced by 20%.
: The power of the skill 「Balum's Scythe」 is increased by 20%.
[Unique Skill]
: Execution
───────────
My red pupils quickly scanned the sinister weapon, which even had a unique name.
“This is useful.”
Although I had never wielded a scythe with this body, I was of the Queen’s bloodline.
The nerves and senses spread throughout my body were incomparable to a human’s, and the cowering devil prioritized defense.
Never mind the increasingly sharp trajectory of the scythe; the hand that caressed the blade was drenched in holy water.
The moment I was cut by that scythe, it would be no different from allowing holy water into my body.
An action that followed instinct rather than rational judgment.
But the Youngest Son crushed even that caution in a single breath.
“Your weapon is awesome. Your skills are awesome. Your son is… hmm. I should hold back on that one.”
─Kwaaaaaaaa!!
Another horn sprouted on the devil’s head.
Did that represent its anger?
If so, and if the gatekeeper had also been a devil, his facial features would have been invisible because of all the horns.
Anyway.
Cardmun Balum, with even more horns sprouting, did not yield to the holy water and launched a fierce attack.
“Yes. You have to come at me like this for me to spot an opening.”
I stepped back and swung the scythe.
Using skills mixed with holy water, the number of effective hits gradually increased.
But the limit was quickly revealed.
“…Without the holy water, it can’t even scratch it.”
From which family did I get the Balum’s Scythe skill?
From the devil right in front of me.
Except for the blade doused in holy water, Balum's Scythe couldn't even leave a hairline scratch.
Its intimidating presence, magnified again by fury, now ignored both my skill and the holy water as it charged in.
Was it a trick of the eye? For a moment, it seemed as if this devil was smiling.
It was prey that was almost caught.
That’s what its instincts told it.
That damn instinct. Instinct. Instinct.
Even a genius like Cardmun Balum had demonized without retaining his reason.
But what if it were me, inside the system?
What would I be like?
I would surely get used to it, improve, and adapt to the new power.
I was able to make the skills I had only seen on a screen my own.
My bloodshot eyes gleamed with greed.
“The one-on-one ends here.”
A crosshair was drawn in the empty air.
Something that wouldn't fall behind in terms of weight class leaped out from within.
Kuuuuuuuuuung─
Strength collided with strength.
The red undead ogre and the red-skinned, black-horned devil collided.
What happened like an accident led to a standoff as the devil moved both arms to grab the ogre’s shoulders.
Colossal strength versus colossal strength.
To prove whose strength was superior, they explosively swelled their thighs and pushed against each other.
“Hold him just like that.”
The Youngest Son, who had already circled behind, brought the holy water-drenched scythe to its neck.
[Activating Unique Skill 「Execution」.]
When the scythe aims for the neck, it ignores a certain amount of the opponent’s defense.
Penetrate the devil's thick skin and let the holy water seep in.
Aim with the skill, take its head, and then take its heart.
The plan was perfect.
Until the devil squeezed and burst the ogre’s arms.
Ppeoeoook─!!
A minimal defense with the body of the scythe.
I was sent flying into the air by the devil's punch.
Even so, I cut away my clothes, lest the hellfire spread to my skin.
It was a judgment that avoided the worst-case scenario, but I had to admit I had been too hasty.
On the ground, warmed by the devil's heat.
“This is tough.”
Its strength seemed similar to Remus', but the unquenchable flame called hellfire was too bothersome.
For its part, the holy water must be incredibly annoying.
“It should be seeping in by now.”
Cardmun Balum’s movements had become much slower.
The movements just now, bursting the ogre's arm and intercepting the Youngest Son in mid-air, were close to a desperate struggle.
Furthermore, the holy water continuously weakened the devil’s power.
At some point, maintaining the Demonization alone would consume a great deal of mental strength.
Moreover, the timing was perfect.
“You’re weaker than I remember, Cardmun Balum.”
Originally, his Demonization was more powerful, refined, and boasted a long duration.
He also wasn't the type to weaken so rapidly even when exposed to holy water.
The reason was that he was still young.
Compared to the north or south, where the aging of the body was fatal to one’s skills, the west and east grew stronger as their wrinkles deepened.
Racial traits were one thing, but mental cultivation was mostly built up over time, and geniuses gained much enlightenment during that time.
Cardmun Balum met the Youngest Son while lacking that time.
“Is it very different from your expectations? The guy who should have fallen from that last blow got right back up. You seem quite surprised.”
I spread the torn fabric of my clothes.
Since I had avoided the basic defense and the hellfire, there was no need for the Path of the Beast.
The devil’s eyes changed.
As the power of Demonization weakened from the holy water, a bit of reason returned in reverse.
Instead of pushing forward with the brute force of his flesh.
Kureureureureureureu─
It didn't stop at its fists; it poured hellfire over its entire body.
That much was close to an act of self-immolation, but in doing so, it was evaporating the holy water.
At the same time, it enabled a much more flexible offense and defense by using the hellfire for both.
Just like this.
Kuuuuuuuuuuung─!!
A fist came thrusting in, flying at a low altitude.
Its size alone completely filled my vision.
Forcing a fire-weak undead to handle that amount of hellfire was abuse.
Worse, hellfire had the power to annihilate souls and the undead, so I could lose the Griffin I had been lucky to obtain.
But that didn't mean I could win without the undead.
‘Then I should use an undead I don’t need.’
I chose one of the ones I obtained from the Dusk Citadel and equipped it.
It was an easy task to deploy several of these at once.
Undead Private Soldiers appeared in a line from the spatial artifact.
Enduring the heat of the hellfire with the Skeleton Armor, I lifted the butcher knife the private soldier was holding.
[Using Unique Skill 「Meat Grind」.]
The armor I was now wearing belonged to a man who was a slaughterhouse owner in his past life.
A murderer who butchered pigs by day and people by night.
He had a truly outstanding talent for the sensation of slicing meat, of crushing and carving it.
Barely opening my eyes in front of the hellfire, I confirmed the bloodline.
‘I’ll tear open the wound made by the scythe even more.’
Following the drawn bloodline as a trajectory, I swung the butcher knife.
Ppudeudeudeudeuk─!
Despite the armor's bulk and the flesh, I sliced along the grain of the meat with sensitive senses.
The wound grew larger, now close to a fatal one.
Nevertheless, the hellfire did not weaken.
He was a tougher guy than I thought, no. It was a tougher skill.
Puhwaaaak─
[「Butcher of the Slaughterhouse」 has been completely destroyed.]
The Butcher was destroyed, but the Youngest Son, who had escaped the body at the right moment, was unharmed.
Another Undead Private Soldier rushed at him.
Donning a new set of armor, I aimed for the same wound once more.
[Using Unique Skill 「Single-Point Pierce」.]
I added depth to the wound with the spear the private soldier was holding.
The devil, trembling and flinching, swung its hand again.
[「Miki of the Harpoon Spear」 has been completely destroyed.]
“Shall we keep going?”
The Youngest Son’s smile was hidden as he was encased in another private soldier's armor.
.
.
.
One attack was followed by one destruction.
One equipping was followed by one attack.
After that, another destruction followed.
The Youngest Son’s attacks did not fail, and neither did the devil’s.
The problem was that what the devil killed was already dead.
And what the Youngest Son was trying to kill was still alive.
The living thing inside the dead kept putting on the dead, evading death.
As this continued, the devil's hellfire gradually died down.
And the spark of its life dwindled along with it.
Around that time, the skin of the vampire kin also regained some color, his complexion improving like that of a living person(?).
But for a noble of blood, a good complexion was bad news.
‘…I feel like I’m going to burn to death.’
Of course, I didn't die.
Then this fiend could also endure it.
For the direct descendants of the Queen, all concepts other than death were the same.
“This is my last arrow.”
I had used up all the Undead Private Soldiers from the Dusk Citadel and even the ogre that had lost both arms.
What remained was a truly valuable card.
The devil, who had already shown its trump card of hellfire, could not avoid it.
──!!
A sound like the listener's intestines being ripped out pierced my eardrums.
An arrowhead shaped like a hawk’s beak struck the devil directly.
Its wings, already red, were covered with the devil’s hot blood, and steam rose from them.
“Is this a 10-pointer?”
The hole pierced clean through its stomach showed the other side clearly.
And yet, it didn't touch the heart.
It was a perfect 10-point shot from the heart collector holding the Head Collector.
Chiiiiiiiiik─
Smoke, as if from a fire being extinguished, covered the fallen figure.
Even with its stomach pierced, its eyes were still open.
They were incredibly peaceful-looking eyes.
But they were not the eyes of the living.
I spoke to the corpse.
“I understand why I seemed easier than the Fourth Son. But I didn't want to die either. And it’ll be the same in the future.”
I reached a hand into the hole and naturally took out the heart.
“I trust you'll help me well from now on.”
Unlike Balum’s Scythe, this was a skill worth acquiring directly.
“Rest in peace.”
I closed the eyes of the father who had lost his son.
Beside me, the Griffin approached naturally.
I placed the heart, still warm with the residual heat of the hellfire, in its beak.
[Will the player acquire the new Unique Skill?]