The Demon King Who Draws

Chapter 98

Fwoooosh…

The corpses, along with the buildings, were engulfed in flames, releasing the smell of cooking meat. For a moment, the stench seemed revolting, but the letter in hand drew all attention, and the thought was quickly forgotten.

– It all began when I miraculously got my hands on an item used in the Dragon’s humanoid experiment.

The letter was written in the form of a chronicle. The story detailed how an ordinary low-tier demon had stumbled upon this artifact and even managed to extract The Blood of Gluttony.

It was quite an intriguing story, though difficult to believe.

“A demon that was captured by a witch, turned into a puppet, and then died… stole The Blood of Gluttony?”

Well… it wasn’t easy to imagine.

Gurgle…

Looking closely at the small vial containing blood, it indeed seemed worthy of being called an artifact.

‘I can’t take it out.’

The blood appeared to be inside the vial from before it was even made, as though it couldn’t be extracted.

He continued reading the rest of the letter.

– Damn it… this artifact wasn’t complete.

‘It wasn’t complete?’

Well… it didn’t seem possible to extract the blood in its current state.

As he read further, it was revealed that this artifact’s name was Dragon’s Blood Fang. It was divided into three parts, and only when all three parts were assembled could it function properly.

‘…Even if you possess just one of the three parts, you can sense the other parts?’

Given how small this artifact was, perhaps the dragon added this feature to prevent accidental loss.

The part this man had was responsible for blood extraction, while the other two parts handled purification and injection, according to the letter.

‘Stealing the secret passed down through bloodlines? Hmmm….’

The power of Gluttony hadn’t been revealed in the original work either. In fact, only the power of Greed was ever disclosed.

He carefully stowed away the letter and vial.

‘It’s hard to believe, but it’s worth checking out.’

Crackle…

Tap…

Whoooooooosh…

The fire quickly died down.

Now, it was time to say goodbye.

“Enis.”

“Haha… It feels like I’ve been dreaming for the past few days.”

“Thank you for your help.”

“So stiff, huh? Well, take care! It’s time to say farewell to this wretched frozen land!”

After briefly watching Enis’ departing figure, he turned toward the dungeon.

* * *

“Ughhhh…”

“Uuuunnngh…”

Amon and Ipos groaned as they cut away the vines that had wrapped around their bodies, slowly rising to their feet. Lucifer and Ariel inspected their condition and reported that there were no issues.

“Ipos! Amon! Waaaahhh!”

Peshua ran towards the awakened Amon and Ipos with arms wide open.

“G-get away from me.”

“Ugh…”

As expected, Amon hurriedly escaped Peshua’s embrace, while Ipos was caught, nearly suffocating from the tight hug.

“Death… It’s been a while.”

“Considering how long you’ve lived, shouldn’t you be used to it by now?”

“Even for me, experiencing death is rare. To begin with… Never mind. What about Albinas and Mislante?”

““Both are broken. Perhaps permanently.”

“…You mean you’ve subdued Eckelart, right?”

Nod…

If it wasn’t the case, it would have been Eckelart, not me, welcoming her recovery.

“Then, where is he now? His submission….”

Clang-!

Thud!

The scabbard, which had been strapped to his back, was slammed down onto the ground.

“He refused to submit…. I somewhat expected that, but more than that, this power—is it Halphas?”

“You know Halphas?”

“We’ve crossed paths a few times. A craftsman I could trust.”

Though Amon hadn’t been revived for long, she needed to clear up my curiosity.

“More importantly, this.”

Tuk.

When I handed her a note and parts of the Dragon’s Blood Fang, Amon examined the parts closely.

“Hmm… interesting.”

After quickly scanning the note’s contents….

“So, they cultivate refined blood to inherit their family’s powers?”

“Family? What family?”

“The Seven Deadly Sins themselves represent the seven families, don’t they?”

“…What?”

This was the first time I’d heard this information.

I had only thought of them as the heads of the demons.

“The Seven Deadly Sins are the seven families that supported the former Demon King. The Demon King was bonded with the daughters of each family, and children who inherited a portion of the Demon King’s blood were born, becoming the current Seven Deadly Sins.”

I see, so it was in the form of families.

In the original story, I hadn’t been close to the Seven Deadly Sins, so it made sense that I didn’t know this.

“Whether the former Demon King wanted the seven families to keep each other in check or if it was just a coincidence, I’m not sure, but the Seven Deadly Sins each awakened different powers.”

Suddenly, I recalled the artificial Demon King experiment. The experiment aimed to create a new Demon King by artificially injecting the Demon King’s blood.

‘The experiment I went through wasn’t much different from this item.’

As I pondered while holding a part of the Dragon’s Blood Fang in my hand, a long-awaited guest arrived.

“Have you finished the preparations?”

It was Akad, grinning brightly.

* * *

“Once we extract the core, it’s over.”

Once the core is removed, the relocation preparations will be complete.

However, moving the core itself is quite dangerous, as I’ve learned before, so we need to be cautious.

“How far is Malasis from here?”

“Sometimes it’s close, sometimes it’s too far.”

He’s not joking. I know this myself.

‘Malasis is always on the move.’

That’s why it’s called the last paradise of demons. No one can conquer it because of that.

“With this many forces moving… isn’t it dangerous? We won’t be able to avoid being exposed to those around us.”

It doesn’t matter what else, but would any passerby act as if nothing happened when three giants are stomping around?

Of course, rumors will spread, and there’s a high probability that those rumors will reach the ears of Lust, who’s already interested in what’s happening in the Frozen Lands.

“That’s exactly why it’s been giving me a headache. Here, take this.””

Thud…

A pouch the size of a palm.

‘This is….’

“This is something I used personally before. It’s called a Gye-nang. It’s not something made by demons, but I happened to acquire one and modified it for mass production.”

Gye-nang.

Literally translated, it would be something like a “false world pouch.”

Originally, it was a relic left behind by a celestial being who had stayed in the celestial realm, but for some reason died on this continent. The human kingdom, at the time, acquired this item and presented it to the Demon King, who was ruling the continent.

‘Strictly speaking, the demons essentially stole a relic from the celestial realm.’

The residents of Solaria were aware that the world was divided into various dimensions. After all, the mere existence of demons was proof that hell also existed.

‘The celestial realm and the yokai realm are in the east, right?’

The world where celestial beings and yokai existed was separated, much like hell, and it was known that various incidents occurred in the East, intertwined with their worldview.

Of course, in the story, Faust had never once set foot on the eastern lands, so he merely understood it as part of the world’s setting.

At the time when the demons accidentally acquired the relic from the celestial realm, their culture was both aristocratic and scholarly. The mysterious powers of the Gye-nang were thoroughly explored during this period, and it continues to be used as a unique demon relic to this day.

‘It’s also a symbol of the demons affiliated with Malasis.’

The subordinates of the Seven Deadly Sins typically carried this Gye-nang.

“Do you know what this pouch is for?”

“…Roughly.”

“Oh, really? How did you find out?”

“I must have overheard some wanderers talking. I don’t really remember.”

“Hmm… is that so. Well, let’s check the contents first.”

Thaaack-!

Whhoooosh…

As the mouth of the Gye-nang opened, it engulfed the surroundings.

Boom—!

Rumble!

Suddenly, a mountain of rocks struck by lightning appeared out of nowhere.

“Haha! I didn’t get around to cleaning the inside, so you can take care of that yourselves!”

‘Was there a thunder-element familiar staying inside?’

A presence of extraordinary energy could be felt from inside the Gye-nang. Since the motive was derived from a celestial relic, it made sense for it to have such power.

‘To manifest a small world… even with weather.’

“The core will be stored here. It acts like a makeshift dungeon, so there won’t be any problems. However, if the Gye-nang is destroyed, you’ll die, right?”

“……”

“But the material used to make the Gye-nang is Byeongseok. You’d be hard-pressed to find something as sturdy across the entire continent, so unless you run into an enemy beyond a Transcendent, and that enemy spends days focused solely on destroying this relic, it’s unlikely to be damaged.”

They were also given warnings about the Gye-nang.

“Don’t carelessly open or close it just because it’s convenient. The Gye-nang is a relic connected to your soul, so you must never use it during battle or while being pursued. Its distinct energy will reveal your presence to your enemies.”

“What about entering the Gye-nang yourself?”

“Be cautious with that as well. The maximum stay time is 3 hours. If you go over that, you won’t be able to open the door from the inside, and you’ll be trapped forever.”

Well, the explanation was the same as the original.

“When you reach Malasis, you will receive a new Gye-nang, but it won’t be a comfortable environment for your familiars. In the meantime, use this.”

Not all Gye-nang were of the same grade. The grade of the Gye-nang one received varied depending on rank.

“This Gye-nang won’t be detected even by appraisals, so use it as your main one. You can use the new one you receive as a decoy.”

“Are you telling me to hide my power?”

“If a demon with no prior ties shows up in Malasis with a Gye-nang full of demons, it will cause an uproar. The idea is to avoid unnecessary trouble.”

While that might have been the reason, it was clear that they didn’t want him to reveal his identity to the other Seven Deadly Sins.

“Oh, and these as well.”

He received several suspicious rings.

“While wearing this ring, it will erase your demonic energy. I personally enhanced them, so no one will be able to notice.”

As a test, he handed one of the rings to Peshua.

Swoosh…

“Oh! Look at this. My horns disappeared, sir!”

“…How amusing.”

After distributing the rings to the demons, Akad explained the reason behind giving them these rings.

“Of course, you’ll have to wear one too.”

“Even me?”

“Of course. If you walk around with demonic weapons in plain sight, you’ll naturally draw attention.”

“That makes sense.”

“Even without those weapons, your power alone should be enough to handle most things in Malasis.”

Swoosh…

As he put the ring on, the demonic energy that had been emanating from him since the lake and snowfield gradually faded.

Slam-!

Whoosh…

He opened the Gye-nang and put most of the dungeon’s familiars inside.

Only four demons remained outside the Gye-nang.

“Well then, shall we go?”

* * *

They walked nonstop until they left the Frozen Lands. Amon, who complained that they should’ve just stayed inside the Gye-nang from the beginning, was ignored as they covered quite a long distance on foot.

Curious as to why they weren’t using a carriage, he asked.

“The footprints will be covered by the falling snow. But the tracks of a carriage will remain unless we pick up all the horse dung along the way. It’s easier to walk than to clean up dung.”

He immediately agreed.

The thought of being tracked down by Lust’s minions because of horse dung made him feel disgusted.

Of all things, horse dung… That was intolerable.

After two more days of walking, the snow was no longer visible. Instead, they had moved deep into a forest.

“Aita, this should be good, right?”

“Looks good enough! Should we call it?”

“Let’s do it!”

…Call?

‘What are they summoning?’

In the original work, there were many different ways described to get to Malasis. Some would ride a giant bird to cross the continent, while others would be transported through an underwater cave by a turtle.

‘But considering it’s the Seven Deadly Sins, it should be a bit more sophisticated…’

Bwooo-!

…Rumble, rumble, rumble.

“That vibration…”

Rumble, rumble, rumble…

Boom-!

What appeared, burrowing through the ground at incredible speed, was a gigantic earthworm.

Squelch-!

The earthworm, which looked like a monster by any definition, opened its maw, and Akad pointed towards its mouth.

“Let’s go.”