Have you ever thought that plants are disgusting?
Flowers. Leaves. Stems. Fruits.
Just imagining it makes the plants fresh and beautiful.
The beauty of nature, full of vitality.
… … That was an expression completely unrelated to the inhabitants of the gap that invaded the demon realm.
Kkieeee-!
Plants are plants in their own way.
The sight of the weeds twisting and twisting their vines, trying desperately to imitate humans, was undeniably disgusting.
Kekekekekeke!
Their structure was similar to a kind of flower pot.
If the skulls on their heads were upside-down flower pots, countless purple stemmed plants stretched out from underneath them, crawling on the floor like octopuses.
But when the battle really started, the stems got entangled and twisted together, and they started to get up from the ground and walk, awkwardly imitating two arms and legs.
The demons felt a creepy feeling at that sight and attacked them.
“The people of the gap are imitating us!”
“Stop it! Don’t let it happen!”
Why is that?
From the moment the ordeal began, the demons were at a loss as to what to do with the discomfort that was instinctively rising within them.
This disgusting feeling was felt equally by both intelligent and mindless demons.
Wasn’t this strange in the first place?
The demons were living without even knowing the name ‘Dwellers of the Gap’.
But the moment I saw them, I instinctively knew their names.
As if I knew it from the beginning.
‘There’s something strange about these guys… … .’
Essil was more aware of this fact than anyone else and felt more alert.
For demons, the sense of ‘instinct’ was a sense that was directly connected to survival and should never be ignored.
Especially now, information that I didn’t even remember suddenly came to mind, so it must be information engraved in the blood or souls of demons…
“Kwaaak… … !”
“… … !”
“Everyone, be careful! If you touch these guys, they’ll suck your mana!”
But there was no time to think long.
At that moment, the demons who had been at the forefront of the battle against the residents of the gap were seen retreating in confusion.
The purple vines that wrapped around their bodies sucked away their mana.
“Get out of the way!”
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Jjajak!
At that moment, demon knights armed with demon armor dashed forward with great momentum, and mercilessly tore apart the vines that had wrapped around the demons.
But the vines were persistent.
Kkekeke!
The torn vines twisted like snakes in the air and wrapped around the bodies of the demon knights.
“… … Where!”
Thank goodness.
The demonic armor they wore prevented the inhabitants of the crevice from having their mana drained when they touched them.
At the command of the Guardian, the armor that Harmakan had specially modified for the demons served its purpose perfectly.
But they moved more and more persistently, eventually finding a narrow gap in the evil spirit’s armor and thrusting their sharp, thorny tentacles in with a “swoosh!”
“These, these guys… … !”
The demon knights felt dizzy and hastily tore the bastards apart, then turned to look at Essil and shouted.
“Esil-nim! Be careful!”
“These guys not only suck mana, but they also inject strange poisons with their thorny tentacles!”
They were truly mosquito-like.
No, they were a combination of the unpleasant aspects of mosquitoes and leeches.
Just touching or brushing against the vines will drain your mana.
If you get pricked by a thorn, an unidentified poison penetrates?
“Those damn bastards. I’m going too!”
Clink!
At that moment, Eshil also put on the demon armor and leapt forward.
“asleep!”
Wedge- Crunch!
The devil’s spear shot from Essil’s hand pierced their skulls and shattered them.
Then the vines that had been growing around the skull like a flower pot lost their strength and fell down with a thud.
Essil, who confirmed that, gave a loud order.
“The head is the weak point! Aim for the head!”
At Essil’s words, the demons spread the news among their fellow tribesmen who were fighting among themselves.
“Everyone, aim for the head!”
“The skeleton is the weak point!”
At that command, the demons rushed forward to smash their heads.
“If you wear armor, your mana won’t drain even if it touches your body! Death Knights take the lead, just watch out for the thorns!”
“I don’t know what kind of poison it is! Never get pricked by a thorn!”
Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!
The skeletons are shattered without warning by the demons’ attacks.
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A full-scale battle has begun.
But even if the weakness was discovered, the battle did not proceed easily.
From the beginning, there was an overwhelming difference in quantity.
The number of beings endlessly flowing in through the dimensional rift was far greater than the demons led by Eshil.
Eshil gritted his teeth.
‘I should have gathered more demons… …!’
I’m angry.
If this was the old demon realm, we would never have been so outnumbered as we are now.
But what can we do?
Currently, the demon world is torn apart and wandering through the dimensional rift, and if all the demons scattered across the fragmented pieces of the dimension were to be gathered together… …!
‘Each of these guys is weak. But there are too many of them. Where have they been hiding all this time and why have they appeared?’
“Ugh… … !”
In the midst of fierce fighting, the first casualty was eventually reported.
“Krrrrr… … .”
The demon, wrapped in vines and having all of its mana sucked out, began foaming at the mouth and its eyes lost focus.
That moment.
Kkekekeke! Kkeeheehee!
Suddenly, laughter erupted.
A clear laughter coming from a skeleton, or rather, from a weed, that had successfully eaten a demon.
“… … !”
At that moment, Eshil witnessed it.
The identity of the unease I’ve felt ever since I first encountered the inhabitants of the gap, those unidentifiable beings.
Shwaaaaak-
Suddenly, vines start to coil around the skeleton.
The figure appeared to be building muscles on top of a skeleton, and soon began to create a ‘complete body’.
“……oh my god.”
At that astonishing sight, sighs came out from the mouths of all the demons, including Essil.
Yeah, something was off from the start.
Those hideous creatures who weave vines to create limbs, as if imitating demons… … .
The moment I sucked up a whole demon… … .
“Khuhi! Keehihi!”
The nameless weed finally became a ‘devil’.
* * *
“… …Is this the demon realm?”
Suho, who entered the double dungeon through the crack, opened his mouth in confusion as he looked at the demons swarming in front of him.
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The solvent shook its head.
“No, it’s just a dimensional gap.”
“Then what are these demons?”
“What is it? They are the inhabitants of the niche who have proven their worth by eating demons and becoming demons themselves.”
“… … !”
As the dragon said, purple demons were now gathered in front of them.
[Devil of the gap] [Devil of the gap] [Devil of the gap]
… … .
Above their heads floated nametags that clearly read “Devil,” but their core was still a weed made of vines.
But those who were like octopuses parasitizing on a skullcap had transformed into human models that looked like they belonged in a science lab, weaving vines into their own muscles.
No, in terms of size and shape, it was closer to a demonic figure than a human.
Because there was even one with horns.
The problem was that this wasn’t just a simple imitation of the form.
[The ‘Title: Demon Slayer’ buff takes effect.] [When fighting demon-type monsters, all abilities increase by 40%.]
“You are truly the devil.”
Suho’s eyes sparkled.
The fact that the title effect, which only applies when dealing with demons, was activated was proof that these weeds were real demons.
“You ate a demon and became a demon?”
“Yes. It looks like the fragments of the demon world scattered across the dimensional rift have been invaded by these guys. In short, they’ve been ‘contaminated.’”
Antares’ gaze, looking at the demons in the gap, was clearly filled with unpleasantness.
“As I said, the inhabitants of the gap are the dregs of the Absolute. So these weeds always yearn to become something. The easiest of them are the souls of demons.”
Suho also seemed to know what would happen next.
“Could it be that the souls of demons cannot go to the sea of the afterlife even after death?”
“No, the order is a little different. When a living being dies, their souls float through the sea of the afterlife and become nutrients for the World Tree. That’s the natural order… … .”
Heeheehee! Kkireuk!
The conversation stopped and suddenly a battle began.
The demons of the gap began to surround them and attack them from all sides.
“I’ll take care of the rest!”
Because all sides were open, Seo Ji-woo took charge of Su-ho’s rear.
Suho swung Volkan’s horn at the gap demons rushing in from the front.
Hwaruk! Kuwaang-!
But the reaction was quite different from the weeds we had fought before.
The weeds named ‘??’ that had been fought earlier were helplessly burned by the flames of the guardian, but the demons in the gaps avoided the attacks or even fought back with weapons.
“Your response method is exactly the same as that of real demons.”
It was interesting, but that was it.
[Use ‘Skill: Storm of Black Flame’.]
Kuwaang!
[The Demon of the Gap has been defeated.] [The Demon of the Gap has been defeated.] [The Demon of the Gap has been defeated.]
… … .
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As the battle grew more intense, the dragon Antares spread its short wings and rose to land on Suho’s head.
And he continued his explanation with a solemn expression.
“I think I should tell you about the World Tree first. The World Tree uses dead souls as its food to grow and bears fruit. And from those fruits, new souls are born. From the most beautiful and pure fruits, the soldiers of the rulers are born, and from the other fruits, the souls of the countless races you are familiar with are born.”
“Reincarnation?”
“Well, you can use whatever expression you want, but no one knows exactly what happens inside the World Tree. Since the dead soul is once divided into nutrients and then reborn, there’s no way to confirm whether it’s the same soul. Well, anyway.”
Antares continued speaking, looking at the demons in the gap.
“As I said, among the souls that fall into the sea after death, there are quite a few that are caught and eaten by weeds before being eaten by the World Tree. We call that ‘Mana being polluted.’”
A strange look appeared in Soo-ho’s eyes at the familiar expression.
“… … Mana is contaminated?”
“Yes. One of the functions of the World Tree is to purify dead souls. However, if the soul bypasses the World Tree and gets caught in the weeds, it will become contaminated. Then, that soul will never be able to return to the sea of the afterlife.”
Hehehe!
Kkekekekeke!
“… … And that’s when they become devils just like these guys. That’s when the dregs that were nothing finally gain an identity.”
Before he could finish speaking, something happened to enter Suho’s field of vision.
[Mana is contaminated and cannot be extracted.] [Mana is contaminated and cannot be extracted.]
Suho realized the truth as he looked at the messages floating above the corpses of the rift demons he had just killed.
‘Yeah. I always wondered.’
Every time I fight demons.
Every time I see a message that their souls are not being extracted.
Suho was really curious about that.
-Why on earth won’t it work?
-Why can’t the souls of demons be extracted?
The more I thought about it, the more I couldn’t understand it.
What is the difference between the souls of beast-like demons, insect-like demons, and countless other races, and the souls of demons?
What a huge difference that can make.
The power of the Shadow Lord, who even rules over death, is not working.
-Mana is contaminated? What exactly is it contaminated with?
If the meaning of pollution is ‘poison’, then it’s a problem that can be solved by detoxifying it.
If the meaning of pollution is ‘dirty’, then how dirty is it?
In the first place, the souls of the villains that Harmakan, a member of the Demonic Tribe, likes are also evil souls, so wouldn’t they be extracted as shadow soldiers without a doubt?
-But why is it that only demons cannot be extracted?
But only today… … .
I just found out why.
What is it that has contaminated the souls of these demons?
“Weeds are tenacious. Once they have their sights set on something, they never give up.”
Listening to the words of the dragon Antares, Suho was reminded of something.
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“The souls of demons cannot go to the sea of the afterlife. They are already nutrients of weeds, not nutrients of the World Tree.”
Demon realm.
From the beginning until now, demons have lived in a relationship of eating and being eaten by each other.
“All demons were originally… … inhabitants of the crevices.”
It seems that the trial that Eshil was waiting for was… … .
It seemed like a testament to who was truly worthy of being the devil.
But at that time.
Tiring!
A single line of system message arrived in front of Suho.
[The quest has arrived.]
