Ch.178178. Great Demon Magan

A battle between Great Demons.

They glare at each other in the calm silence that marks the beginning.

Vellica, who had been showing rough provocations and confident speech until just now, quietly whispers to me.

[I talked big, but you know you’re the one who has to fight, right?]

“……”

[Even as a Great Demon, I’m still dead after all.]

No matter how powerful a demon might be, after death, they cannot freely use their power as a soul.

Just like humans.

Death comes with true equality even to demons.

The reason she could use her power while parasitizing me was obviously because I was a Spiritmaster.

Though it seemed like my body had been taken over by a Great Demon, everything was ultimately under my control.

Magan probably knew this as well.

[But it’s also true that you can draw out my maximum power because it’s you.]

“Just control the legs stuck in my back.”

I didn’t mind my newly formed right hand since it was a part I originally had, but the spider legs that had sprouted like wings seemed to require practice to handle properly.

But since there was no time for that now, I left it to my assistant.

[Of course.]

“Don’t whisper in front of me!”

With that shout, a giant black hand rose from the floor. The same one that had bound Darius and Deia came crashing down toward me quickly.

It was a technique with enough power to subdue even Tairn, the Magic Tribunal Judge, in a single blow, but.

‘I need to test this.’

I raise my newly sprouted right hand. The moment my hand, still spinning in a spiral pattern, touches Magan’s attack.

The giant hand begins to distort strangely and gets caught in the spiral.

Magan’s attack disappeared in less than a few seconds.

[This much is easy!]

Vellica boasts proudly with a shrug. While I thought this level of power hadn’t even required effort yet.

I could truly feel how vast the difference in power was between a Great Demon and a human.

Kigigik!

The spider legs embedded in my back extend and support me against the floor. Thanks to them, my body rises and my feet leave the ground, eliminating my need to jump.

[You’re physically lacking, so leave the brute movements to me.]

Tadadadak!

The spider legs move forward rapidly like a pianist striking piano keys.

The speed was so fast it couldn’t even be compared to my running.

Arriving instantly before Magan, I brought down my right hand like a hammer, but.

Kuwoong!

A thick plate-shaped shield appears above Magan’s head. His hideous eyes look up at me, gritting his teeth, spewing hatred and rage.

“How dare you!”

The plate quickly spiraled and disappeared as if being sucked into my right hand, but.

Magan, who had crouched down, seized the opportunity and jumped upward with his mouth wide open.

A leap that seemed impossible with that body. Through the breaking plate fragments, his widely opened mouth swallowed my right hand whole.

Wuddeuddeuk!

“……!”

Magan’s mouth corners slightly rise after devouring the spiral arm that could distort everything it touched.

Wugeok wugeok.

The creature, who started chewing right away, didn’t stop there and tried to cling to my body with his arms and legs, but.

Pook pook pook!

The spider legs supporting me stabbed his abdomen like blades, creating distance between us.

Thanks to that, Magan’s outstretched hands and feet flailed in the air, but regardless, my right hand had been bitten off.

With Vellica’s help, I urgently tried to pull my body back, but my back was blocked by something hard.

Turning my head slightly, I saw a huge circular plate.

It covered us, trapping both Magan and me simultaneously.

[Focus properly!]

The battle was unfolding so rapidly that my thoughts could barely keep up.

Inside the plate, it was dark, hot, and so humid that breathing was difficult.

In this situation, I couldn’t even see my severed right hand properly.

In the pitch-black interior, Magan’s yellow eyes grinned right in front of me.

“The ingredient preparation is incomplete.”

Kwadeuk!

The sound of something being chewed echoed from below. It seemed one of the spider legs had been bitten.

Kwadeudeuk!

As the spider legs supporting me began to disappear one by one, my body staggered and lost balance.

For a moment, my left foot slightly touched the floor, and instantly something sharp like teeth tried to bite my foot.

Though I couldn’t accurately gauge what was happening in the darkness, I could tell that a battle of nerves between Vellica and Magan was taking place on the floor over me.

“Heheheh.”

Magan’s eyes curved like half-moons.

His gaze, subtly telling me it was just a matter of time, reminded me of what fear I had forgotten, but.

I release mana with my left hand.

Only then could I see the hideous shadow creatures that looked like snakes with mouths.

They rushed at me viciously, intending to devour the blue light, but.

I immediately flicked the mana sphere upward, and the mouths flew toward the mana instead of my left hand.

Wugeok wugeok wugeok.

Since the sphere was small, the mana was quickly devoured, but the mouths continued to devour each other.

It was a bizarre sight, but Magan still had his mouth corners raised.

“Pathetic.”

Just that much of an impression.

He had an excited expression like a child waiting for his food to be ready, but.

“……!”

His curved eyes widened as some rumbling sound spread through his stomach.

“Uweeeeek!”

Vellica’s right hand poured out of Magan’s mouth. It returned to me, finding its owner again.

Kwang!

“Vellica!”

[Ugh! Look how wet my arm is!]

Despite complaining, Vellica put strength into the few remaining spider legs to surge upward, and I stretched my right hand up, shattering the plate that had trapped us and escaping outside.

“He’s out!”

“Deus!”

[I thought you were dead!]

Deia, Elenoa, and the Dark Spiritmaster exclaimed with joy as they watched from outside.

But I had no time to respond to their cheers. The plate that had trapped Magan and me had already melted away and disappeared.

And there was Magan, crouched and drooling.

“I thought you wouldn’t be able to digest a Great Demon’s power so easily.”

After all, the hands and mouths protruding from outside were still parts of Magan’s body.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t try to devour me through them.

If the external mouths eating the spider legs were connected to Magan, then conversely, I thought I could directly damage him through them.

I didn’t strike him through mana. I simply created a path for Vellica’s right hand, still undigested in Magan’s stomach, to find its way back to its owner.

[You could do something like that?]

“I have quite a good teacher. I guess I’m at least somewhat of a Mage now.”

After so much training and so many battles, I should be able to do at least this much.

[But your right hand has lost a lot of power. If it had stayed there, it would have been completely digested.]

“……”

As Vellica said, the weakening of the right hand’s energy was clearly visible even to the naked eye.

[We can’t let it get eaten anymore.]

“My thoughts are a bit different.”

[Huh?]

Magan regains his composure and readjusts his stance. It seems that having something that went deep into his stomach come back out through his mouth was quite painful.

“We need to keep fighting while getting eaten.”

[What crazy talk is this?]

Despite Vellica’s incredulous rebuke, my eyes remained fixed on Magan, who was still looking at me with his head lowered but eyes glaring.

“The reason Magan is strong is because this is his banquet.”

[…We can’t eliminate the banquet. The stage is already set. No matter how much we run, we’re just food to him now.]

“Exactly that.”

It was meant as praise for Vellica hitting the core issue, but she just scratched her head.

[How does Stella even talk to this guy?]

“I’m the one wondering how Stella could become friends with you.”

We had complaints about each other, but anyway. I had found a way to win.

[So what’s the plan?]

“The banquet has already been activated, so we can’t stop it. But not everything at a banquet is edible.”

[……?]

“We just need to show him that we are, in fact, dishes that cannot be eaten.”

I put strength into my right hand again, and although Vellica didn’t fully understand yet, she used the spider legs to send me toward Magan once more.

“Stop them!”

Magan, still feeling unwell, shouted angrily, and his secretary rushed forward to block our path.

I didn’t want to waste unnecessary strength, but since I couldn’t just let it pass, I was about to take him down in one blow when.

Kuwoong!

Tairn, wearing a robe, violently released mana from behind his back and threw himself at the secretary.

Magan’s hand that had been restraining him while dealing with me had disappeared, allowing him to move.

“Go!”

“Eek!”

The secretary, who had fallen after being pushed by Tairn, desperately tried to pierce his neck with her sharp nails, but.

Kwadeuk!

Her raised right hand was cut off and rolled on the floor.

Darius, who had synchronized with Tairn, had drawn his sword and cut off the fallen secretary’s hand.

[They’re useful after all!]

Vellica praised the two, but I was still glaring at Magan.

He gritted his teeth and pulled out a golden trident from his mouth.

‘No, not a trident.’

A giant fork.

I couldn’t help but sneer at the weapon that reflected his will to still see us as mere prey.

[It’s a weapon called “Seeker of Delicacies.” He must have taken it out for the first time in hundreds of years, so he must be quite desperate.]

Hundreds of years.

It was an unfathomable amount of time, but conversely.

It meant that for such an unfathomable time, he had been dining rather than fighting.

The golden fork thrusts straight toward me. Only when it reached right in front of me could I understand.

How much karma this weapon carried.

The fork was filled with countless thoughts screaming, writhing, and suffering.

My neck passes through the gap between the fork tines. It was a dangerous situation where I almost got pierced, but Magan took the opportunity to grip the fork in reverse and raised his hand high.

As a result, the fork tines pressed down on both my shoulders, and due to the overwhelming difference in strength, I had no choice but to kneel, but.

“Huh?”

[What?]

Magan and Vellica.

The exclamations of the two Great Demons burst out simultaneously.

My right hand and the spider legs embedded in my back had all disappeared, and Vellica, in soul state, was now gripped in my left hand.

“Try eating this.”

[Hey! Hey!]

I extend my left hand far back like a shot-putter and swing it toward Magan’s mouth.