Chapter 2 — 의문
Part 2, Episode 31
Question
“Well, it’s a pain, but it’s not like there’s no way.”
Kaniye looked at Elric with a face full of doubt.
Elric grinned and tilted his head to show his left shoulder.
Kaniye’s eyes flew wide.
“W-when did you—?!”
A Sigil of Beguilement was clearly visible on Elric’s shoulder.
During the fight with Kaniye, Hyul’s thought-form had stripped the demons it devoured of everything they knew.
Kaniye’s body began to tremble.
Lilim are utterly unlike ordinary demon collectives.
Hive Mind.
One mind that governs many bodies, also called “grid computing.”
Centered on the core entity called Lilith, the Lilim link multiple branded terminals via a spiritual network and control them.
She splits off part of her will into hosts to use them as puppets; when they die, she recalls all their memories and mana, evolving again and again.
In other words, each terminal bearing the
Lilith is thus the mother and source of all Lilim.
‘
Through the forced
For now Elric has walled off her approach with a separate spell he prepared.
But the point stands: Lilith can reach in whenever she likes.
However.
Flip that around, and—
‘It means we can hack back up the chain.’
Elric fed mana into the Sigil of Beguilement and smiled coldly.
If all terminals are networked, then tracing it upstream might lead straight to Lilith.
And if he could leverage this Sigil well, he could sniff out their base just as easily.
And right now—
Standing here was the “First Butler,” who held higher clearance than the Sigil Elric possessed.
“N-no…!”
Kaniye thrashed as he realized Elric’s aim, but—
“I can, actually.”
Elric was already clamping a hand on Kaniye’s shoulder and locking eyes with him.
“【Show me】.”
Vmm!
Elric’s eyes gleamed violet.
He was turning the hypnosis back on Kaniye.
Kaniye struggled to resist, but—
“Kh—ghk!”
With a strangled groan, his resistance crumpled.
And then—
Fwooom!
The space around Elric flipped and inverted.
He plunged straight into Kaniye’s unconscious.
* * *
The moment he entered Kaniye’s inner world, he saw nothing—an empty void.
So dark he could barely see even ahead.
But slowly, things began to resolve.
Multiple Kaniyes, translucent and flickering.
And nameless, wandering dead alongside those Kaniyes.
There were so many that they seemed layered one atop another.
“Mephi, what are those?”
Mephisto, who had dived with Elric, snorted lightly. Against a Demon King, his help was inevitable.
“They look like residual consciousness of those this wretch devoured. The clearer they are, the more recent; the hazier, the older.”
The remnants kept repeating the actions and words from the moments they’d been in.
“And those?”
Elric pointed at spirits flitting through the air.
Kiiiaaah—
Unlike the ones that still held some human shape, these were twisted ghosts tearing through every corner of the inner world.
“Tsk. Those are the souls of black mages who made pacts with this thing. What a pointless way to go.”
Black mages often offered their own souls to forge contracts with demons.
For all kinds of reasons.
To take revenge on someone.
To gain power greater than anyone’s.
And this was the result.
“When the contract ends, they get eaten by the demon like that and remain forever as playthings here.”
Idiots, Mephisto said, folding his arms.
“Well, thanks to idiots like them, we are getting some mileage out of it.”
While Mephisto muttered, Elric stepped up to the nearest residual fragment.
‘P-please spare me!’
‘We’re not trying to kill you. You’re about to enjoy the honor of serving Lady Lilith. Think of it as a blessing.’
‘Aaaaaugh!’
A translucent Kaniye set a hand on a stranger’s head, and with a scream the remnant was snuffed.
Elric turned to another fragment.
‘Lord Kaniye, preparations are complete.’
‘Good. We move now.’
At his underling’s words, Kaniye followed right behind him.
Before him, countless people knelt, petrified.
‘Greetings. I am Kaniye.’
He introduced himself, then cast hypnosis over them all.
Once everyone had fallen under, Kaniye smiled in satisfaction and continued.
‘Now then, by drinking the holy water set before you, you shall become one with Lady Lilith!’
As the hypnotized people drank the blackened liquid, the fragment unraveled and vanished.
Elric turned his gaze to the drifting souls next.
When he grabbed one, its memories replayed across his vision.
‘You’re the one who called me?’
‘Y-yes.’
‘What do you want?’
‘Please make the woman who left me come back! I’ll offer my soul to Lady Lilith!’
‘What a proper little thing.’
Elric skimmed every last memory held by the remaining remnants and souls.
And he learned:
Every one of them had been implanted with Lilith’s
More than a few looked to be from the Clan of Hyung.
But as for fragments or souls tied to the crucial matter of their base, no matter how he searched, there was nothing.
He needed their base to get to Lilith.
Only then could he erase Lilith’s
“No helping it.”
He’d hoped to glean something decent here, but it seemed he’d have to meet the party in question in person.
“Stop skulking like a rat and come out already.”
No sooner had he spoken than the inner world began to rumble.
Rumble—!
From the very bottommost depths of the inner world—
The sea of darkness teeming with wraiths split left and right, and something colossal slowly lifted its head.
One of the Demon Kings.
Lilith of Debauchery.
* * *
A face so dazzling a glance felt like it might ensnare you.
The Demon King Lilith smiled seductively.
“Hohoho, as alluring a descendant as your Progenitor. Usdan overflowed with charm, too.”
Even as she spoke, there was true admiration in Lilith’s eyes.
As if to say: how did you even think to find your way here?
Elric shrugged.
“It just opened for me.”
“A very clever child. I’d heard whispers that you were chosen by the Progenitor… It’s well earned.”
Lilith murmured in admiration.
“But.”
At that instant, the air around her changed completely.
The aura of a savage predator.
The pressure bearing down on Elric grew heavy.
“To dare call me out. You’ve indulged in a very foolish bravado. I’ll see you pay the price.”
Lilith’s giant form cracked her jaws wide. The corners of her mouth tore all the way to her ears, exposing rows of jagged, saw-toothed fangs.
At the same time the rushing storm of demonic energy sent a chill up Elric’s spine.
‘Even after melting down this many magic stones, it’s hard just to stand here. How high does their ceiling go?’
After Azazel, now Lilith. Staring at yet another creature whose limits he couldn’t even guess, Elric had to swallow hard.
How much harder would he have to grind to stand against them? Even as the thought passed, he affected nonchalance and let a smirk curl his lips.
He wasn’t the one who’d be fighting this archdemon anyway.
“I’d love to, but… sorry, no can do.”
Elric thrust a hand forward and shouted,
“Go, Mephi! I choose you today!”
“…what dog-brained drivel are you spouting now.”
“Come on, have some flair. This is where you shout, ‘Mephi Mephi!’”
“…”
“Okay, one more time. Go, Mephi!”
“…one of these days you’ll be the death of this king.”
Mephisto shot Elric a look of pure contempt, but he knew perfectly well there was nothing to gain by arguing. He hurled himself straight at Lilith.
“Still.”
Before he knew it, a cold grin had tugged at his lips.
“This will be fun.”
Azazel had still been recovering from his battle with Usdan.
Even devouring him hadn’t granted Mephisto any dramatic change.
But Lilith was different.
She’d taken a millennium to heal, and looked to have reclaimed her peak.
If he could devour something like that—
It would be a tremendous boon to his resurrection.
Moreover, this was a mental world.
Free of the body’s shackles, he could wield his true form without restraint.
“Me—Mephisto?”
Lilith spotted him a beat too late and flinched, but the moment had already passed.
Kwoooooom!
The darkness shrouding Mephisto exploded outward, expanding dozens, hundreds of times as it took on a giant’s frame.
An archdemon with a wolf’s face and a ram’s horns let out a roar.
Grrrrroar—!
The din was deafening enough to make one think the mindscape would collapse.
Gooseflesh raced across Lilith’s skin; she forced it down and screamed,
“Mephistopheles! Have you truly betrayed demonkind to crawl to the Merbinger curs—?!”
“Crawl? This king?”
With every word Mephisto spoke, demonic energy howled. The miasma Lilith had so proudly donned was ripped to shreds, leaving not a trace.
‘Second time seeing it… and it’s still terrifying.’
It felt strange to see such majesty from the Mephisto he bullied so often—and, at the same time, a little frightening.
Someday he’d have to clash with him too.
“How laughable, Lilith. In this world, nothing exists that can rival this king.”
Mephisto’s eyes flashed cold.
“Merbinger, and you as well—you’re only fodder for this king’s Grand Design.”
Lilith twisted one lip in a forced smirk, fighting the pressure that felt like it might crush her flat at any moment.
The fine tremor in her face couldn’t be helped.
“A mere boot-licker for Merbinger, and you talk well?”
“You talk too much. Enough.”
The radiance pooled in Mephisto’s eyes turned to ghostfire and flared.
“Die.”
Kwoooooom—
His massive forepaw tore a long gash through space and came crashing down toward Lilith’s head.
Lilith crushed the pressure through sheer force and shifted into her true form.
Flash!
Out uncoiled a deep, jet-black serpent—
With two heads.
Kaaaah!
Wolf and serpent slammed together.
Rumble-rumble-rumble!
Their clashing auras shook the inner world as if it would shatter.
The Mage Who Devoured Talents