The Taste of Emotion (1)

Copy Ego repeated the process of reconstructing and then stopping, all to feel the thrill of being on the verge of death. A dangerous tightrope walk on the boundary of life and death. When her heart threatened to stop, she forced it to beat again. When blood was insufficient, she drew it out anew. Even though she worked so hard to regenerate, it would just drain away again, ultimately only maintaining the status quo, but she didn’t particularly care.

‘This is the best…’

This hazy feeling is the best.

What should I say? Endorphins are constantly being released.

I feel like I’m becoming an idiot.

Was this how Yujin felt when a slime licked his brain?

Copy Ego watched Parsih carefully, focusing all her energy on managing her expression. If a girl with a hole in her stomach was grinning foolishly, it would look strange. Or would being treated like an ingredient be even stranger? Anyway.

Fortunately, the cooking took a very long time. He mainly used an oven that I don’t know where he got from, spending at least two hours on each dish. In other words, I could enjoy it a little longer. There was still time.

“Eu-geuk…?”

She played with her screaming heart for dozens of minutes like that.

Copy Ego came to her senses when there was a slight abnormality in her body.

Her heart sank in many ways at the body that wasn’t regenerating as she expected.

The reconstruction speed had slowed down.

I almost really died.

‘Right…. Synchronization….’

Even though I have Yujin’s memories, it’s still just a borrowed body. Now that the original ego has taken its place, I couldn’t control everything in the body. As time passed, the body’s rejection would worsen, and eventually, I would be ejected.

‘Tch….’

I was just starting to enjoy myself…. She stabilized the fluctuating Mana and refocused her mind. And she reminded herself of her original purpose. Memory recovery. Become one with Yujin’s ego, leave only the memories behind, and then exit. I am just a tool. Copy Ego completely stopped the bleeding and reconstructed her body.

‘It’s not working well….’

The reconstruction was so slow it made her yawn. At best, it was just maintaining life. This was because synchronization was incomplete, and she couldn’t properly use the Mana contained in the body.

This wasn’t good. If she couldn’t regenerate by the time the cooking was finished, she would have to fight with her body all fucked up. Of course, she could fight like that if she had to… but there were too many things to worry about. Above all, there were two opponents. She couldn’t focus on reconstruction, cooperation, attack, and defense all at once without moving. And she didn’t even know how far their skills went.

She had to increase the reconstruction speed.

To reconstruct quickly, she needed to use a little more Mana. The Mana that Yujin was unconsciously emitting was not enough. She needed to use the Mana accumulated in Yujin’s body. A vast amount of Mana that would make a dragon look like a newborn baby.

However, Yujin herself had to draw out the magic power, not Copy Ego.

If she interfered with that, she would have to push out the original ego and completely take over the body. Putting the cart before the horse. That wouldn’t do. Copy Ego smiled bitterly and woke Yujin’s ego.

‘Yujin. Can you hear me?’

The top priority was to move the mind and body to the safest place possible.

Memory synchronization was not that easy.

Yujin’s ego, buried at the bottom, raised its head. Yujin was flustered by the presence of Copy Ego, who had taken over her body, but she instinctively struggled to regain her body.

-Wh-what? I can’t see, I can’t see anything….

‘Wait! Don’t push me out!’

She barely grabbed onto the spirit that was trying to bounce away.

Copy Ego was horrified by Yujin’s struggles and shouted inwardly.

‘You can’t even reconstruct. If you awaken in this state, you’ll die.’

-Di-die?

It’s definitely me, but why is it so disgusting?

It feels like watching myself act cute when I’m drunk.

Ah. This is really dogshit.

‘Stop talking nonsense and listen carefully. I’m going to return some of your spirit. I’ll take all the pain, so just do as I say.’

-U-ueh…?

Nimi sipal…. Copy Ego bit her lip. What kind of guts did this crazy bitch have to become an idiot? Did she think that creating an ego for recovery would solve everything? Well, it would solve it. Sibal. She hated herself for doing her best while cursing the irresponsible Yujin.

‘Do you want to die?’

-I-I don’t wanna die….

‘Then shut up and follow my instructions.’

The thought of taking down two Demons with this idiot made her sigh already. Ignoring the sound of her trembling with fear, she projected Yujin’s spirit. Copy Ego felt the space she was occupying shrinking and handed over the control of the body.

‘Can you feel anything?’

-So-something feels full….

‘That’s Mana. The Mana sleeping inside your body. I’ll help you, so don’t be afraid and follow me slowly.’

Direct manipulation was impossible, but interference was not difficult. Even if she was a complete idiot, she could easily reach at least 5th Circle with the help of an Archmage. She gathered all the Mana scattered in the air and maximized the body’s Mana sensitivity. Yujin groaned at the unfamiliar sensation of being poked all over her body.

-I-It’s weird….

‘It’s normal. Now, I’m going to break through the Mana circuit. You might feel dizzy for a moment.’

Indeed. The Archmage’s body hadn’t gone anywhere. Just by increasing the sensitivity, an explosive flow was detected. Copy Ego couldn’t help but admire her own body, which was so ridiculously overpowered. At the same time, she greedily sucked in the flowing Mana. So much Mana was overflowing that she felt like she would vomit.

Good.

‘Now, I’m going to reconstruct. The Demons might notice, so I’ll do it quickly.’

Twitch. The muscles formed lines and took the shape of legs. It was a scene she saw often, but it was still grotesque. She was worried about the side effects of rapid reconstruction, but she decided to postpone it for now. She could give up one eyeball and a few internal organs, right? She would slowly recover them later.

“Hoo….”

Finally, she regenerated the clothes she always wore. A red frilled skirt, a white top made of soft material, and a garter belt. It was the default value for reconstruction.

“Ah-geuk….”

Copy Ego, who was about to get off the cutting board, twisted her body and vomited blood as her stomach bubbled. It seemed like a few internal organs had rotted. Fortunately, her legs were moving perfectly fine, so there was no problem.

-Seogeok.

The knife dancing on the kitchen made the sound die down.

Did they finally notice?

Copy Ego put Yujin’s ego back to sleep and stretched.

It’s not enough to cast Meteor, but… with this much Mana, I can take those bastards down and still have some left over.

“There. Who is it?”

He held the knife and tensed all his nerves at the recurring Mana fluctuations. It was an alien energy. The source was the same cutting board where the girl was tied up…. Even the location had changed. He couldn’t understand it. He had clearly cut off her legs and made a hole in her stomach, but she moved?

‘How?’

He moved quickly. This was a disaster. But he wasn’t anxious. He was only worried about the uterus stew that would soon be finished. In fact, that was the biggest concern. Parsih thought optimistically. At most, she must have rolled off the cutting board. Besides, she couldn’t even move, could she?

…Or so he thought. When Parsih arrived, Yujin had already disappeared.

“….”

“Did you find her?”

“…!”

A shallow, soft breath flowed down the back of his head. A chilling whisper like a witch’s murmur. Parsih shuddered at this terrible sensation and reflexively swung his knife. That’s not a human. It’s something wearing a human mask. His guess was half right and half wrong. It was difficult to see the Copy Ego, who had forcibly occupied Yujin’s body, as ‘a human being’.

“Huhu.”

Kang! She surrounded herself with a Mana barrier and lightly blocked the attack. Then she laughed. Parsih was shocked. Blocking the attack was within his expectations, but he didn’t expect that she wouldn’t even be scratched. Moreover, Yujin’s smiling face was truly insane.

Strangely enough, the copied Yujin’s ego had a more spontaneous and cheerful personality than the original. It might be because she knew her end. Unlike the contradictory Yujin, who wanted death but also rejected it, Copy Ego only had death, so perhaps she had become enlightened.

“Who are you?”

Who are you? You’re not the young girl who was being butchered like a pig. Parsih asked, sweating coldly, at the sight of Yujin standing unharmed.

“You were happily cutting me up a moment ago, and you’ve already forgotten?”

“Don’t talk nonsense. Do I look like an idiot to you?”

“A little.”

Copy Ego liked Parsih. To be exact, she was fascinated by his expert-like technique of exquisitely cutting away flesh without killing her. With her limit released, she only followed her instincts, except for the first principle of memory recovery, so the Demon in front of her was a perfect fit to stimulate her ‘masochistic instincts’. Perhaps that’s why Copy Ego’s cheeks were flushed as she looked at Parsih.

“I haven’t been born for very long, so there are many things I regret. If I had a real body, I would have made you my pet.”

“…Bullshit.”

“Swallow it internally since it’s a compliment.”

Even while she was saying this, fierce knife attacks were exchanged. Copy Ego narrowed her eyes. Parsih’s method of using magic power resembled that of a knight. The blue afterimage flowing along the sword strikes… it was Aura.

“I already noticed the possession.”

“I came into my own body, so is there a problem?”

“Where did you come in?”

Parsih was dumbfounded. He, who was skilled in space magic, monitored all the space in the swamp area. But the crazy bitch in front of him had infiltrated the kitchen without any signs. It was hard to even call it an infiltration. It was as if she had suddenly been created, appearing instantaneously. He clicked his tongue. The alien energy from two times ago. It must have been then.

“It’s your fault for not noticing.”

“….”

Pudeuk. He gritted his teeth. At that moment, a clear sound rang from the oven – ding. The uterus stew was complete. Parsih pushed the girl in front of him even harder, starting with the oven alarm.

Was Parsih threatening because he was just a Demon who used simple Aura? Parsih would laugh his head off if he heard that. His true value lay in his indiscriminate weapon summoning through space magic and the swordsmanship that came with it. Countless weapons popping out from all directions. And bizarre swordsmanship that omitted the preparation motion. The tricky attacks using the gate could not be ignored either.

He slammed down a mace diagonally. The girl laughed loudly and bounced the mace away. A short breath after one beat. He abandoned the mace. At the same time, he summoned two daggers above his head, then held longswords in both hands and slashed them in a cross. They were blocked. Parsih, who had given up on the swords, used the recoil as propulsion to plant his feet on the ground and kick his leg out widely. He didn’t forget to summon claws at the tip of his foot. The girl simply avoided it by quickly taking a step back.

He cleverly mixed in feints to cause confusion.

It didn’t work.

Pretending to plant his feet on the ground, he aimed for her nape through the gate.

The gate was shattered before the attack.

The weapons in the subspace gradually decreased as the offensive and defensive battle continued. Parsih swallowed hard.

Every attack was filled with murderous intent, attack. And attack.

But.

They were all blocked.

“….”

He created distance. The girl still didn’t erase her sly smile. Parsih put murderous intent and all his power into every attack, but despairingly, he could realize it from the first exchange. That damn bastard wasn’t using his full power. Even now.

‘Crazy bitch… where did she come from?’

Parsih looked at the shabby and small dagger that was left. It was the last weapon. It was obvious that it would be blocked even if he threw it. But he couldn’t give up. He thought of Artania, who was waiting for the next dish and had fallen into a deep sleep. So he couldn’t lose. He put all his Mana into the dagger. He didn’t stop even when the blood vessels in his arms burst and the muscles in his legs melted. Full power全力. When the blue crystal finally left his hand, a dark blue flash illuminated each other’s eyes. An attack so dazzling that it seemed like he would go blind from its ferocity was fired at the girl.

Space severance.

The world split apart.

“Heueok….”

Parsih knelt down on one knee and vomited blood. It was hard to even maintain his posture. He waited quietly for the hazy dust to clear.

And when the split space healed.

Parsih opened his eyes.

“Ha….”

Was it a sin for a Demon to seek God? Either way, they were also God’s creations, so wouldn’t it be okay to expect something once in a while? Parsih felt the overwhelming difference in power from the girl who was still standing unharmed despite his full-power attack. How… how could she still maintain that smile? He even felt absurdity. So much so that he wanted to resent God if he existed.

“…You.”

“I’ll give you time to catch your breath.”

“Are you a Demon?”

“Gaolise said the same thing.”

Gaolise… the cold Demon Gaolise. He had heard of her.

But why was that bitch’s name coming out of a human girl’s mouth?

Could it be. Did she kill her?

“Did you… kill her?”

“No. Just the horns.”

Parsih closed his eyes tightly. The great Demon of the White Calamity had fallen to the human in front of him. And she had suffered a humiliating defeat with her horns cut off. If this fact got out among the Demons, the ‘Great Assembly’ might begin.

“So. Is this the end?”

Copy Ego was disappointed in the lower-than-expected swordsmanship skills. A blind attack without Mana was more threatening. Because to her, who could see and control Mana, ‘Aura Swordsmanship’ was like a test with the answer key in front of her. She could recognize the trajectory and the gate before the attack.

Parsih spat out blood and glared at the arrogant girl.

“Eugeuk….”

“What more can you do in that state? You shouldn’t even think about running away.”

“Haha. Surely… not.”

She had to synchronize. And she had to extract information from these guys. The reason why Demons were gathering around Britonia. Wasn’t that why she had willingly been captured in the first place? If some crazy bitch hadn’t become an idiot just to feel good… but that was a problem that would have been solved a long time ago….

Parsih said to the girl whose expression was rotting away.

“Why do you think I forced a reckless attack? I knew it wouldn’t work anyway.”

“I don’t know. A last struggle?”

“No. It was to wake her up. With this much attack… ah. I don’t even need to say it, do I.”

-Kugugung….

A vibration that made her body tremble.

He smiled with his gums fully exposed and created a gate under his feet.

“The her who woke up from sleep is very ferocious….”

-Who is itttttt!!!!

A scream that could tear her ears. Dust fell from the ceiling. Copy Ego frowned at the pebble hitting the top of her head and checked the surrounding Mana flow. Her eyes widened. An abnormally large wave was rushing in.

-How dare, how dare you touch ussss?!?! You mongrel bastard who doesn’t know your place!!!!

Artania, the queen of the Ketalia Swamp.

Artania, the Demon of Sloth.

Artania, the Gourmet Demon.

There were many epithets that modified her, but there was one fact that everyone agreed on.

“…Then. I hope you live well.”

If she wasn’t lazy.

The epithet ‘Sloth’ would have become ‘Rage’.