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Chapter 32: Encounter (3)

“Fascinating. A demonic beast that talks.”

Henry was undoubtedly surprised. Such a demonic beast had never been heard of before.

“What are you? You’re not a doppelganger or something lame like that, are you?” Henry asked as he held out his left hand.

Swoooosh!

A strong gust of wind blew through his outstretched fingertips. Physical attacks did not work on a being with a non-physical form; thus Henry deliberately chose to use magic. Black was also left bewildered.

“M-magic?” stammered Black.

“See ya.”

Pop!

The compressed air rapidly expanded, sending a powerful shockwave toward Black. However…

“You dodged it?”

Black had managed to dodge Henry’s attack. No, rather than a dodge, it looked more like a section of its body was a cloud that had floated away from the attack.

“Eeeek!”

Only when about half of its body had been blown away did Black realize the seriousness of the situation. It immediately chose to run away; it knew better than to retaliate against a foe like Henry. It floated through the air and flew away speedily, a simple escape tactic.

“Try as you might, you aren’t getting away.”

Even as Black flew further away, Henry seemed to be in no rush. Instead, he softly cast another spell as he watched Black grow smaller and smaller in his vision.

“Return to Body.”

Sssssst.

As soon as Henry cast the spell, traces of Black’s form, which had scattered into the air, began to take shape again. They slowly began taking the shape of Black’s original body, the one it had left behind long ago.

“How effective magic is depends on how you use it,” Henry commented.

Return to Body was originally developed to find the remains of dead soldiers. However, since it was very difficult to cast and consumed a lot of magic power, there were very few people who could use the spell to their benefit. Now though, Henry did not need to worry about tracking Black down.

He looked up at his platoon, who were still engaged in combat. It was a fierce battle, but they were all still alive, while quite a number of Tauruses lay dead on the ground.

‘Looks like they don’t need my help.’

After briefly checking on his platoon, Henry began tracking the remnant of Black’s body. The safety of his platoon members was important, but Henry knew they valued revenge for Carter more than their own safety.

* * *

Black flew away with all its might, its mind in a state of severe panic.

‘What’s with that guy? Why does my hypnosis not work on him?’

Black had only dealt with warriors before. This was the first time it had encountered such an opponent. Not only had the albino Taurus’ lightning strike failed, but Black’s main skill, hypnosis, had failed too. This sent Black into a confused panic, but the reason why its hypnosis hadn’t worked was simple. Henry was a wizard, and one whose skills were far superior to Black’s.

‘I-I need to find a new host, quickly!’

Black was too weak as an independent being, so it had to find another host as quickly as possible. After running away for a while, Black managed to discover another demonic beast. This particular demonic beast was called Hollum, a kind of from the Demon Realm that resembled a moon bear.

Goaaaaaaar!

Black desperately shoved itself down the Hollum’s throat, without even taking the time to hypnotize its target. For a target of this caliber, it didn’t need to use hypnosis anyway.

The Hollum immediately collapsed. Then, after shaking its body for a while, it got back up on its feet and began to move normally, as if nothing had happened. Black had successfully taken over.

The Hollum had just been enjoying a meal after a successful hunt. Black resumed eating the blood-soaked meat, pretending to behave normally in order to blend in. At that moment, Henry, who had been chasing Black, appeared.

“Hmm.”

Black’s separated body had led Henry straight to the Hollum. The piece of Black’s body that Henry now possessed was just a cloud of vapor, so Black had not noticed its absence.

Black grew nervous as Henry drew nearer. This guy had defeated the albino Taurus. Black knew for sure that a pathetic host like a Hollum could never match up to someone like him.

‘Please just go.’?Black murmured under its breath as it continued to eat the Hollum’s food. It could not taste a single thing. Cold sweat began to drip down the Hollum\'s forehead.

“Oh, a Hollum?”

Henry noticed the Hollum and slowly walked over to it. “I thought maybe Black used you to hide from me.”

Swooosh.

As soon as Henry finished speaking, he drew his holy sword and wrapped it with magic power.

“You idiot.”

Slash!

Henry swung his sword, and the Hollum’s body fell to the floor. Henry then snapped his fingers.

“Ignite.”

Roaaar!

Fire ignited the Hollum’s corpse.

Aaaaaargh!

It was said that the greatest pain in the world was the pain of being on fire. Black could no longer bear the pain and hurriedly attempted to escape the Hollum’s body.

“How! How did you find me!” Black screamed.

Henry raised the corners of his lips as he spoke softly. “Where is Carter?”

“Carter?”

“The human knight who disappeared about a month ago.”

“You think I’ll tell you that?”

Henry sighed. “Guess I’ll have to make you.”

Seeing how Black knew of Carter despite not knowing his name, it seemed that Carter was in fact, still alive. Black had decided to be uncooperative, which meant it had decided on the painful route. Henry decided to freeze Black first.

“Freeze.”

Crackle!

“You! What the hell are you!” Black cried out desperately, now trapped in ice.

“I don’t think I’ve permitted you to ask questions.”

Henry snapped his fingers again. This time, the ice began to compress. The pressure was strong enough to crush the ice together, sending waves of pain through Black’s body.

“Kaaaaaargh!”

“Now do you feel like talking?”

“Fuck! Why the hell are you doing this to me!”

“Didn’t think so.”

Snap.

Roaaar!

The magic spells continued. Each time Henry snapped his fingers, Black froze, was squashed, or was burnt again. Each time, Black’s screams grew louder.

“Must feel good to be this resilient.”

Black’s body, which had been as large as a cloud, had now been worn down to the size of two fists. It had endured Henry’s torture for a long time, but it was nearing its limit. It fell into a deep despair.

‘Why, why, why!’

It had never encountered this kind of danger ever since it had escaped from the Demon Realm.

Henry froze it again. It had lived for so many years, and yet, it was only now that it learned that it could be frozen.

Finally, Black dropped to the ground. Henry walked over to it and looked it in the eyes.

“You. What are you?” he asked.

If Carter was still alive somewhere, it wouldn’t have been difficult to locate him. Henry could have easily asked Iselan for help by using his men to start a search party. He did not necessarily need Black.

But Henry was curious. Black was a demonic beast, but it could speak the tongue of men. In addition, it was merely a 6th district demonic beast, but it had defeated a top-notch Sword Expert. Something was different about Black.

“I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you, just please spare my life.”

Henry was prepared to squeeze more information out of Black slowly and painfully, but it appeared that Black was already terrified enough. Henry freed Black from the ice with a single gesture of his hand.

“Show me the way.”

There was nothing more to gain from bullying an opponent who had already lost their fighting spirit. At Henry’s command, Black, who was now as small as Henry’s fist, stumbled as it got up and slowly floated ahead.

* * *

Black took Henry rather deep inside the 6th district area.

“H-here it is.”

They had arrived at the mouth of a cave that Henry did not recognize. The cave grew wider and wider as they ventured further inside. As Henry followed Black into the innermost part of the cave, a figure came into view. It was Carter.

“Commander Carter?”

Carter had his eyes closed, as if he was dead. His body looked thin and weak.

Henry stepped forward to check on Carter’s well-being.

Wooooosh!

Suddenly, however, Black suddenly entered Carter’s mouth. Not long after, Carter’s eyes shot open as he jolted upward, now possessed by Black.

“Did you think that I would be so easily defeated?” Black shouted out boastfully. It had left Carter’s body here for this very sort of situation. However, Henry simply smiled.

“You really think I’m stupid, huh.”

Unless Black was an idiot, there was no way it would have missed such an obvious opportunity. Henry had known that Black would go for it, and had let it happen on purpose.

“What’s so funny?!” Black spat, accurately recognizing Henry’s smile as a sneer. It grabbed Carter’s sword that was placed by the wall and pointed it threateningly at Henry.

Zzzzzzt!

“Aura?”

To Henry’s surprise, an Aura radiated from the blade.

‘Can it use its host’s abilities at will?’

Giving Black one last chance had turned out to be worthwhile. Thanks to this, Henry had learned something new.

“You’ll pay for weakening me. And…”

Black raised Carter’s sword in the air.

“Your body will be mine.”

‘As to be expected of a parasite.’

Henry finally understood why Black had kept Carter alive. Its main power was its parasitism, and it was only natural for parasites to covet a strong host.

“Die!”

Black made the first move. It clutched Carter’s glowing blue sword and rushed toward Henry, swinging menacingly.

‘But that’s all there is to your ability.’

Whoosh!

Thud!

Henry lightly dodged each heavy strike. Without even drawing his sword, he struck Carter in the neck with his scabbard. Carter’s body collapsed to the ground in an instant.

“H…how!”

“That’s why you’re only a demonic beast.”

“W-what?”

“You may be able to speak and imitate swordsmanship, but that’s all there is to you.”

Black was able to speak the human language and use its host’s abilities. These were astounding powers, but that was all there was to them. No matter how well Black knew how to imitate swordsmanship, it was not a true swordsman. The main skills, footwork and sword techniques, had to be honed for years or even decades. The true strength of the Aura only shone when both of these were mastered properly.

Black wanted to move Carter’s body, but it had become stiff as a log. Henry had struck a vital point. No matter how much it tried to force some kind of movement, its host was still a human. The limits of a human body were on clear display.

“Let go! Let me go!”

Even though its host’s body was completely paralyzed, Black continued to struggle. It was a miserable, ugly sight.

“Paralyze.”

Henry paralyzed Carter’s body once more, this time with magic. Eventually, the struggles ceased, and Black fell into despair again.

“Do you finally understand the difference between you and me?”

Henry had given a glimmer of hope to a desperate opponent. Then, he had brutally shattered any sense of that hope. No one could have recovered from that. Black had truly been totally defeated.

“S…save me.”

Just as Henry had expected, Black started to beg for its life, completely hopeless. Of course, Henry was not concerned about Black’s life. He ignored its pleas and decided to address some of his curiosities.

“I’ll decide on that later. First, what the hell are you?”

“If I tell you, will you spare my life…?”

“That depends on your answer.”

“M-my name is Klever! I’m a pure demonic beast from the Demon Realm, and one of the last survivors of my clan!”

“Clan?”

“Yes!”

Black’s real name was Klever, apparently. Klever answered all of Henry’s questions, desperate to ensure its survival.

“What clan?”

“I have yet to find an appropriate word to describe it in the human language yet, so I can’t tell you…”

“I can speak the Demon tongue. So, answer me.”

“I-is that so? Our clan’s name is Alalr!”

‘Alalr?’

Henry quickly translated it back into the human language.

“Mimik?”

“What… is that?”

“It’s what we call you in the human language. Tsk, to think that a Mimik could have such abilities…”

Mimiks were one of the lower-tier monsters. They parasitized boxes in order to attack humans who opened them. Henry felt an immense sense of disappointment upon learning that the fearsome Black had just been a Mimik the whole time.

“The questioning ends here. Now, die.”

“P-please wait! You said you’d let me live, you are breaking your promise!”

“I said I’ll consider it. I never promised. Igni…”

“W-wait!” Clever shouted just as Henry was about to cast Ignite.

“What?”

“I-if you let me live, I’ll give it to you.”

“What do you mean, it?”

“You’ll definitely like it. Please, release me for a moment.”

“You’d best think twice about pulling any sort of trick.”

Henry wasn’t concerned, even if Klever did try to escape again. Even without Return to Body, there were plenty of other ways to track it down.

Henry released Klever from his magic restraints. Black gas erupted from Carter’s body, merging together. It grew into Klever, in its original form.

“Mm?” Henry uttered as Klever revealed a massive pile of treasure.