Chapter 102: Demon God

About ten seconds of silence passed after Nergal fell.

“We… we won!!”

Someone shouted. That cry was the spark.

“Waaaaah!!”

“We did it!!”

Cheers followed. Everyone shouted with joy.

“Mir… I finally avenged you!”

Some were even shedding tears.

“We did it, Ms. Verdi!”

“Senior…!”

Deneb and the other Bisang guild members came up to me, unable to hide their excitement.

Even Jihyeok, who usually didn’t show emotion, had the corner of his mouth twitching.

“Senior…?”

But I couldn’t smile.

That was probably because I’d realized that even Nergal, who had routed us three years ago, was just a Demon Beast being controlled by someone.

And the exit still hadn’t opened. That meant Nergal wasn’t the boss of End Cave.

Given the circumstances, that bastard wearing my old face was most likely the real boss of this Gate.

Plus, he’d said some incomprehensible nonsense about checking my qualifications.

“This is just the beginning. First, take care of Mr. Neveres and the injured.”

“Understood.”

Jihyeok moved immediately. He first saw to Neveres and handed him over to the Hunters who could provide treatment.

“Cough, cough!”

“He’s alive after all.”

“Of course I am, you bastard. You think I’d just die like that?”

Neveres was critically wounded — it was a miracle he was alive — but true to his S-Rank Hunter status, he was still breathing.

“But this is my limit. I can’t fight anymore. A shame, but like I said before, I’ll leave the rest to you.”

“You’ve done more than enough just by taking down Nergal. Get some rest.”

“Yeah. Make sure you clear it.”

I wanted to send them out, but I’d ordered the search party to look around, and there was no exit in sight. It seemed we couldn’t leave this place without defeating the Demon God. I had no choice but to separate the injured, including Neveres, into two groups.

“Everyone, this is the real fight now. Taking down Nergal was a great achievement, but don’t let your guard down.”

After a brief briefing before we set out, we began moving through the foggy forest.

And not long after we started walking.

[ So you managed to take down Nergal. I guess Karelin didn’t lose for nothing after all? ]

I heard my voice — my voice from before my body changed — ringing in my ears.

Right after that.

The thick fog vanished, and at the same time, the bastard revealed itself.

The Demon God wearing Yoschuko Verdiol’s appearance.

“Yoschuko Verdiol!”

Someone shouted my name at its appearance.

“What were you doing here?! Don’t tell me you’re pulling some trick again—”

“W-Wait a moment…”

It seemed like there was a huge misunderstanding, so I quickly grabbed that person.

“Look, that’s a fake. The real Yoschuko Verdiol was captured by that bastard!”

“R-Really? I’m sorry.”

Honestly, I’d already told them.

This whole expedition was created to clear Yoschuko Verdiol’s name.

Haah, can’t be helped. I’m well aware that my past self was a piece of shit.

Still, to erase the impression of being a murderer or a mastermind, the only way is to defeat that bastard wearing my face and save Iris.

And.

“…I’ll take this one on.”

If I show everyone that I can defeat that bastard, I can restore Yoschuko Verdiol’s honor.

“Whoa, that’s cool.”

Whether he heard me or not, the Demon God grinned.

“Yeah, I’ve got a lot I want to say to you too. But there are too many people here.”

He glanced around, then snapped his fingers.

Right then.

Multiple black magic circles formed around him.

“Kuaaaah!”

“Kreueueu…!”

What appeared atop those magic circles were Demon Beasts.

And Demon Beasts I recognized, at that.

“Those are… from Dark Moon…!”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“The Red Dragon, Kalos?!”

The Hunters cried out in shock.

The bosses of the S-Rank Gates we’d faced before, including Dark Moon’s boss, Apollo.

All of those bosses were gathered in one place.

“It’s the finale, right? So I prepared this much.”

The Demon God smiled at the corner of its mouth and spread both hands. It looked like the conductor of an orchestra.

“WOOOOOAAAAAH!!!”

An orchestra of monsters… made of Demon Beasts.

At their roar, the Hunters’ faces began to darken, one by one.

Some of them weren’t just shaking their legs — they collapsed right where they stood.

And it made sense. No matter how battle-hardened a High-Rank Hunter was, facing that many S-Rank Demon Beasts all at once was literally no different from charging straight into all four limbs of death.

But.

“Don’t waver! We took down Nergal, didn’t we!”

Still, we couldn’t back down. Now that we’d come this far, if this subjugation failed, the Demon God wouldn’t just sit still either.

“Now is the time for the final battle!”

I shouted at the top of my lungs to boost everyone’s morale.

At the same time, I stretched out both hands. I activated an incantationless casting spell — one I’d never used in front of everyone before.

Not just my palms. Dozens of magic circles spread out behind my back as well.

Each of those magic circles contained a high-level spell.

[ Extreme Ice Element — Icicle Spear ]

[ Superheat Element — Hell Fire ]

[ Storm Element — Trident Tempest ]

…and so on.

It was the first time I’d actually poured out this many spells at once, but the output of every magic circle was stable.

Of course, the mana consumption was enormous. On the outside I looked fine, but somehow I felt like my health was deteriorating. To put it simply, it felt like I was inhaling an insane amount of sweet food.

“……!”

I fired the spells I’d created toward the Demon Beasts.

The Demon Beasts didn’t just stand there either. As if to counter my magic, each of them used their own skills.

Dozens of lights clashed from both sides. Their power was evenly matched.

“Amazing…!”

“That little girl is fighting that hard!”

“Yeah, we can’t give up here!”

Seeing me standing against multiple S-Rank Demon Beasts, the Hunters seemed to gain confidence and stepped forward one by one.

…I wish they hadn’t said “little girl.” Well, whatever. If they got their confidence back, that’s what matters.

The Hunters joined in with my magic. As they supported me with their own power, we began pushing them back little by little.

“As expected of the one I had my eye on.”

Even though the Demon Beasts it had summoned were being pushed back, the Demon God maintained a relaxed attitude as it spoke.

KWAANG!

Soon, the light of the two forces exploded in midair.

A fierce storm erupted, but neither side took any damage.

“Hey, Verdiol.”

In the tense atmosphere, it was the Demon God who spoke first.

“I prepared a special spot for you. How about we let these guys handle things among themselves, and we have a little conversation time, just the two of us?”

“Conversation my ass. I’m going to kill you right here.”

“Oh my, how scary. Don’t get so angry — it’ll only take a moment.”

KWAANG!

I didn’t want to hear any more, so I blasted Hell Fire right in its face.

“So impatient.”

Of course, that wasn’t enough to kill it. It blocked my magic with a Mana Shield, just like me.

“You’ll have no choice anyway.”

That was the moment the Demon God spoke with a sneer.

“……!”

A chill ran through me and I tried to get out of the spot right away, but it was already too late.

A magic circle I’d never seen before formed beneath my feet, and in an instant, it enveloped me.

“Damn it!”

I tried to cast a spell right away, but it was already too late.

My vision turned completely white.

I couldn’t see a thing.

“Senior!”

The last thing I heard was Jihyeok’s voice.

* * *

“Ngh…”

When the light that had covered my vision slowly faded, I lowered the hand I’d been shielding my eyes with.

What came into view were two chairs.

A chair in front of me, and a chair across from me.

“Welcome. Yoschuko Verdiol.”

And sitting in the chair across from me was the Demon God, wearing my old appearance.

“I’ve been waiting to talk to you. Sit down and let’s chat. I have a lot to say.”

“…What about the others?”

“You care about other people more than yourself?”

“Cut the bullshit. What happened to the others?”

“You’ve changed a lot, you know. In the old days, you’d only care about yourself. You’d say you didn’t give a damn about anyone else.”

The Demon God didn’t answer my question, just smiled faintly. That expression was deeply unsettling.

Of all things, it had to be wearing my face. And on top of that, the old me never talked like that, never smiled like that.

“…Fine.”

I decided to go along with its proposal for now.

I’d just watch for an opening and strike.

“Oh, and just so you know, don’t try anything stupid. It won’t work on me.”

But the bastard grinned as if it had read my mind.

“……”

Without a word, I sat down in the chair it had prepared. I cast a spell to check if it was a trap, but there was nothing special rigged to it.

“Hmm, how long has it been? This time it seems like it took quite a while.”

“…Took a while?”

“Yeah. Oh, let me tell you one thing. Actually, this isn’t the first time we’ve met.”

“What?”

“Why else do you think I’m wearing your face?”

“But I’ve never seen you before.”

I’d only first heard the name ‘Demon God’ from Karelin.

…Wait.

Come to think of it, the bastard had never seen my original appearance through the egg either.

So how was it wearing Verdiol’s form?

“Well, it’s only natural you’d react that way. You wouldn’t remember.”

“I wouldn’t remember?”

“Yeah.”

The Demon God stood up from its seat. I wondered if it was about to pull some trick. If it did, I’d already primed a spell to shove Hell Fire right in its face.

“Where should I start explaining… Right. From the beginning would be best.”

The Demon God’s gaze turned to me.

Its expression was completely unreadable — I had no idea what it was thinking.

Then its mouth slowly opened.

“I’m the one who brought you to this world.”

“What?”

“Yoschuko Verdiol, I possessed you into this world.”

Bullshit.

I was just about to say that.

But suddenly, a faint headache began to pulse.

“One more thing. Your abilities… Incantationless Casting, infinite mana, and so on. Everything you thought was your power is actually mine.”

That can’t be.

But I couldn’t force the words out of my mouth.

Because I knew that what it said wasn’t a lie.

When I heard it say it had brought me to this world.

All the memories I’d forgotten until now came flooding back.

Why it said we were old acquaintances.

That was… because we really weren’t meeting for the first time.

“…What is this.”

The horrific memories that surfaced made me blurt that out involuntarily.

“Remember now?”

The Demon God smirked at my expression and slowly approached.

Soon, it stood right in front of me, but I couldn’t do anything.

It was because of the memories that had belatedly surfaced.

I had already challenged this bastard several times, and I had lost every single one of those challenges.

In other words, this fight was unwinnable from the very start.

The moment I acknowledged that fact.

“…Ugh, uuaaah.”

There was nothing I could do except stare at the Demon God with a terror-stricken gaze.