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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: How to Understand Demonica
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"Heretic... Inquisitor! Clear the way... you sheep!!"
The young man who dynamically plummeted from the second-floor window executed a flashy landing roll, then shouted something as soon as he stood up. Of course, his words didn't carry properly to the guards, who were a good distance away.
For someone who had fallen from a two-story building in full armor, his movements were far too agile. The guards eyed him warily.
"Did that guy just tumble three and a half times on the way down from the second floor?"
"I heard the assassin was built like an ogre."
"Me too. Word was he just smashed right through the front."
As the guards began murmuring, a noble who appeared to be the squad leader bellowed from horseback.
"Quiet! Quiet! Shut it! Spears up! Don't let him escape!"
"Did you hear what that guy just said?"
"...Doesn't matter! We'll interrogate him at headquarters! What about the entry team?"
"Squad One went in a while ago, but no one's come out yet!"
"Incompetent fools! Doesn't matter. The assassin who murdered the captain is right in front of us!"
The noble shouted as he drew his command saber and pointed it at the man. The man slowly rose, cracking his knuckles. From beneath his robe, the youth's eyes gleamed.
-Screeeeech!!
The young man's arm traced a brutal arc. Soon, something shot from his fingertips. A flash streaked from him to the noble—
-Neighhhh!!
The horse the noble rode reared in shock from the sudden impact. And the noble atop it fell silently—no, without even a scream.
"Cap, Captain?"
"M'lord?"
-Thud.
"H-Hiiiik!!!!"
A dagger was buried in the noble's skull! The guards recoiled in horror, and from afar, a robed man slowly approached.
"Rise, demon."
"D-Demon!!"
"No, not me. I'm an Inquisitor!"
-Krrunch...
At the youth's words, the dead noble's body twitched. Soon, the sound of the guard captain's skin melting and bones crumbling echoed. The guards paled and staggered back.
-Oh? A Faceless?
'A pretty big one, too.'
The noble's body turned to mush, and a formless monster with ashen, corpse-like skin that endlessly dripped and melted slowly rose. A stench of sulfur and rot poured from it.
"M-Monster!!!!!"
"Gaaaaah!!!!!!"
"Call a priest!!!!!!!"
The guards tossed their weapons and scattered in all directions. Faceless, hell's scouts. Devils with near-perfect mimicry and the ability to absorb the knowledge of those they devoured.
-A Faceless infiltrated a noble...
'Means the city government's completely corrupted. Better this way.'
-Shing.
Fernandez drew the greatsword strapped to his back. Its hefty weight felt reassuring. The Faceless crawled slowly toward him, eyes blazing.
[Stay... still. I'll make it... quick.]
"Warm words, thanks!"
-Whoosh!!
Fernandez swung at its head. The creature's body turned gelatinous, and the blade passed harmlessly through.
As Fernandez stumbled from the miss, the Faceless lunged at the opening.
Its slimy flesh slapped against Fernandez's exposed back. The meat seeped like liquid through his clothes, clinging to his skin.
-Sizzle...
The Faceless's flesh began melting Fernandez's skin. It chuckled.
[Your... flesh... is mine!]
"Gotcha."
-Splat!
In an instant, Fernandez's hand plunged into the Faceless's flesh.
-Krunch.
[Grrrrr??!!!]
"Shapeless bastards are always such a pain."
From within the Faceless's flesh, his fist emerged clutching a small, gleaming black stone.
The Faceless shuddered. As Fernandez squeezed, cracks spiderwebbed across its core.
[Grooooar!!!!]
-Crack!
'Non-combatant no matter how you slice it, but why's it so cocky?'
-Devils are bold this era. They rarely come to the surface, so they rarely get beaten.
'Ugh, gross.'
The dripping slime felt revolting. Fernandez shuddered as he peeled off chunks. His melted skin rapidly regenerated.
-The government's hostile. Army'll swarm soon.
'Civil politics aren't our problem.'
Enmagicka and Heretica would handle cleanup. Demonica's job was demon extermination and heresy destruction alone... Fernandez grinned and headed into the alley.
*
A dungeon's essence is traps, monsters, and atmosphere. The last one matters most. Fernandez was inwardly disappointed as he wrecked the sewer tunnel.
Too high expectations? Overestimated Demdrizad? Atmosphere was good, but no monsters, traps at thief-gang level. And...
'No puzzles!'
Black mages and heretic cults always included puzzles. Wisdom trials blocking entry without the right solution! That's dungeon core, right?
So it was trivially solved by smashing pumps or foundations. If anything, this was a D-rank dungeon!
"Demdrizad seemed a cut above total trash, though..."
-They're mid-tier rabble this era.
"Oh, right?"
Yeah, their real rise came after fleeing failure in Gloridayn. Seizing city hall might be peak for these guys.
'Still impressive, honestly.'
-Kirhas's impact probably spotlighted Demdrizad too.
"True. Kirhas was a beast."
Kirhas Hearttaker. Greatest warlord among beastkin of the Holy Pantheon of Good Gods.
The Great War hit her later years, but her [Kirhas Heartseekers] rivaled any knight order.
Raise her right? She'd grow into a force delaying the end times by years.
"Promising."
But Feizashi stayed silent. Lately, their mindsets diverged more often.
Did he take all the madness? Bodiless? Hard to pinpoint, but not urgent now.
"Anyway, end of this filthy sewer soon?"
-Structurally, yeah.
Assuming straight shot, they neared the slave market's central sewer.
If Demdrizad didn't span the whole city, exit here.
'The place they hid by building a dungeon.'
High odds: demon-summoning altar.
Fernandez grinned at the crude stone door carved like a crocodile devil. For atmosphere, red glass eyes.
"Bingo."
Inquisitor entering. Fernandez chuckled inwardly.
*
-Creeeeeak...
The stone door screeched like a scream as it swung open. Fernandez's forearms bulged, forcing the heavy slab aside.
"Wh-What in the world!!"
"What were the guards doing?!"
"Damn it, damn it. An Inquisitor!!"
Fernandez pinched his nose against the acrid blood reek, eyeing the shouting men. Suspicious figures in black robes gripped bloodied obsidian daggers, staring him down.
"Wow. Demdrizad~ When'd you sniff out my identity?"
"Damn it!"
-Shing!
One swung his dagger, blood droplets spraying into red snakes. They lunged at Fernandez in a flash.
-Crack!
Fernandez backhanded a snake with his fist and shook it off.
"Punched [Kalethush's Red Serpent]?!"
They gawked at him. Fernandez cracked his knuckles with a grin.
"Now I get why Demonica fought like idiots in my past life."
"Raaagh! Sadarkelia! Lend strength!"
-Shing!!
The man screamed, swinging—the red crocodile burst from pooled blood on the floor, pouncing. Fernandez drew his two-handed greatsword and cleaved its skull.
-Squelch!
"Too easy. Addictive."
"Eeeeek!!!! You monster!!!"
As Fernandez approached chuckling, the men frantically stabbed a corpse on the altar.
"Hey, hey, stop there. Think ripping that one summons something special?"
"Buy time!"
"Yes, Bishop!"
At his words, two heretics gripped daggers and charged. Fernandez's eyes twitched. Dare they?
"Mages picking melee? You dare?"
His fist flew at the first's head. Or tried—the man caught it mid-air!
"Oh?"
Stunned, Fernandez paused; the other leaped, swinging at him. The robe slipped, revealing his face.
"Huh????"
Lizard face. Yellow eyes gleamed; toned muscles showed through the loose robe.
"Die!!!!"
-Boom!!
The scaly fist smashed Fernandez's jaw. With his arm pinned, he staggered. Head rattled from impact.
'They implanted devils in themselves??'
How to handle backlash...? Devils aren't kindly neighbors lending power. Implanted ones erode flesh slowly, shatter the host's mind, then cackle. Soul melts into 6th realm's lowest chaff.
Even desperate devil-sorcerers avoided it. Fernandez was more shocked they blundered blindly than the 'melee mage' bit.
Worst unequal pact with devils, signed.
"Poor fools..."
Fernandez booted the half-devil gripping his arm.
-Bang!
"Gack!"
As they backed off, warily circling, Fernandez raised his two-handed greatsword slowly.
"I'll grant repentance while your souls lean human."
"Shaaa!!!"
The devil-sorcerer shrieked serpent-like and charged. Fernandez ducked low, sweeping horizontally. Red blood sprayed everywhere.
"Feizashi. Think I get Demonica's mindset now."
-Ah, yeah.
"Raw power simplifies everything!"
Maybe Inquisition's Demonica got too strong, brains atrophied? Fernandez smirked, greatsword ready.
Vast divinity pulsed through veins. Infiltrating muscles and tendons, packing absurd explosive output beyond his frame.
Greatsword swayed at arm's end. In that instant, he glimpsed the half-lizard devil-sorcerer gaping at him.
Its thigh tensed, springing like a coil—slow-motion. Time compressed; Fernandez neared ecstasy.
Unlike magic's mysteries. Peak tension, muscle fatigue spiking dopamine and endorphins through his crown...
-Slash!
He swung again at the four-legged charging devil-sorcerer.
-Boom!!
Flesh exploded.