I Picked up the Demon King - Chapter 124

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 124

 

I felt it when facing the Elf King.

 

The mind of one who has lived as a group’s leader for long years is difficult to fathom. They don’t act with just one purpose. Sometimes they sacrifice many things simply for pleasure alone. Therefore, they must not be trusted.

 

This completely matches the characteristics of demons.

 

Demons are originally like that. They too are long-lived beings who live through years incomparable to humans. Strange life forms whose very concept of lifespan is unknown unless physically killed.

 

This is precisely why the maxim that Dark Mages must never trust demons has been passed down.

 

The essence of demons. That is deception itself.

 

Then what about the Demon Lord, who is the source of all evil and master of the Demon Realm?

 

Dark Magic has various schools, and within each school exist all forms of magic. However, the essence of all that magic lies in the act of twisting laws.

 

It lies in the act of deceiving the world. This is why many Dark Mages contract with demons despite knowing they shouldn’t trust them. The essence of demons is deception, and the essence of Dark Magic is also deception. Demons are Dark Magic itself.

 

The Demon Lord taught me only two types of magic.

 

Soul Magic that absorbs souls and increases one’s rank. Hidden within this was the ulterior motive of making part of the absorbed soul his own to recover his power.

 

And Deception, which he taught me to hide my mana. It wasn’t simply hiding mana, but Illusion Magic capable of concealing my existence or showing a completely different appearance. That’s what I thought.

 

But what if that wasn’t the case?

 

“You’ve noticed.”

 

Everything around me stopped.

 

The researcher’s hand that was mutilating me, the mechanical sounds operating from somewhere, the Holy Power flowing in through the magic circle, the screams from the adjacent room. Even the terrible pain stopped.

 

I slowly raised my body and looked ahead.

 

There was me.

 

Not the young me from times I couldn’t even remember, but me who seemed slightly more grown than what I last remembered.

 

Inside a neat black robe, wearing a shirt and vest like a noble. His languidly open eyes were directed toward the book in his hands.

 

“It’s rather late, but you’re not completely useless in the head either.”

 

Sitting with legs crossed, she only slightly raised her eyes to look at me. Though anger surged at that nonchalant attitude, my head grew cold instead.

 

“Let me point out what’s wrong. This is a recreation of your past. I’m not deliberately torturing you. After all, you once served me as master, so do you really think I would do such a thing? I’m hurt if you thought that.”

 

The Demon Lord pretended to cry. It was disgusting.

 

“So, what do you plan to do now?”

 

The corners of the Demon Lord’s mouth slightly rose. Seeing my face being used in such a way made me feel quite unpleasant.

 

“It’s quite impressive that you realized being trapped was Deception. But how do you plan to escape?”

 

The Demon Lord closed the book she was holding and asked. Though the gaze that seemed to peer into my thoughts was unsettling, I had no strength left to avoid it.

 

“Let me see. Yes. You’re thinking of that? In Belive Territory, the memory of when this was first broken. Dispel.”

 

I flinched momentarily at the spell that burst from the Demon Lord’s mouth. It was such an intense memory.

 

The Red Magic Tower Mage at the Lord’s Castle didn’t panic even at the Deception and broke the spell. How painful it was when the magic being cast was forcibly dispelled due to the backlash. If I hadn’t contracted with the Military Spirit, I would have been caught by that mage that day and ended up as a test subject spouting spells in a research room.

 

It was the moment I realized that even the Demon Lord’s magic wasn’t invincible.

 

“Do you think it will work?”

 

The Demon Lord asked as if incredulous.

 

“Do you consider your magic ability and level to be above mine?”

 

The principle of the magic called Dispel is simple. Strongly shake the surrounding mana to shock the structure of magic being activated. Naturally, if the opponent’s magic ability is higher, there’s a high chance of failure.

 

The opponent is the Demon Lord who reached the pinnacle of dark magic.

 

No one on the continent, not even the Goddess, could guarantee they possessed superior skills to her.

 

“Besides, I think I already told you the method to avoid being broken by Dispel. Surely I won’t fall for what I taught you.”

 

In the fight with the Elf King, to prevent Deception from being broken, I used the World Tree Branch. More precisely, I utilized the Divine Fragment contained within it. Since divinity is a higher concept that exists above all powers, magic containing divinity cannot be disrupted by something like Dispel.

 

With a body that can’t even properly sense mana, let alone divinity, I cannot break the Deception cast by the Demon Lord.

 

“If you stay still, I’ll return it on my own. A few months should be enough.”

 

The Demon Lord said this as if doing me a favor.

 

“…eat…”

 

A cough burst out. That damn Demon Lord. If he was going to pop out anyway, he could have at least healed my body. My voice was quite hoarse from all the screaming I’d done while being tortured.

 

The Demon Lord leaned his head toward me with a face that seemed to be holding back laughter.

 

I swallowed the fishy saliva and barely managed to calm my coughing.

 

“Go to hell.”

 

I stopped myself from spitting. The Demon Lord wouldn’t just stand there and take it.

 

“I’m waiting to see what you’ll do with my body.”

 

Instead, I forced the corners of my mouth upward. I was out of breath and my vision was shaking, but it didn’t matter. The more I suffered, the more that demon would enjoy it.

 

“It’s strange.”

 

The Demon Lord was someone who could solve problems I couldn’t handle in one go. But every time he took over my body, I was always the one left to deal with the aftermath.

 

It was hard to even follow the flow of events.

 

Dahan, the Golden Star Trading Company Owner, suddenly became competent as if he’d become a different person, and showed me an eerily strange kindness. The Great Demon became a disaster that devoured the Holy Nation, and Johnny became a real Hero.

 

I couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of actions would cause such changes. In the end, the Demon Lord wasn’t a problem-solver who helped with my issues. He was just a disaster, a natural calamity that shook up both the problems I faced and the entire world.

 

And now that bastard was occupying my body and roaming around freely. I didn’t know how the world had changed. I didn’t know what kind of hell it had become.

 

“If you wait here quietly, there will surely be something to gain.”

 

“Not interested.”

 

If this really was a past event as the Demon Lord said, there might be useful information here. I might be able to find weaknesses of the Second Hero I’d eventually have to face.

 

But how useful would that really be?

 

This was at least 10 years in the past. The Hero’s trials and such probably hadn’t even begun yet. Since I couldn’t remember it in the first place, it clearly wasn’t in the Hero’s memories either, and any weaknesses from this point would have been overcome long ago.

 

And most importantly.

 

Hadn’t I resolved not to be bound by past events anymore after defeating my mad Master?

 

“Release me right now.”

 

“I don’t need to tell you, but I have no intention of doing that.”

 

“Then I’ll break out myself.”

 

The Demon Lord briefly wiggled the fingers he had placed on his face.

 

“Well….”

 

Gradually, his figure became blurry. After he completely disappeared, his voice lingered in the space.

 

“I’ll be cheering for you.”

 

The laughter was a bonus.

 

* * *

 

I had spoken confidently, but once the Demon Lord left, a sense of helplessness washed over me.

 

Everything around me that had stopped began moving again, and at the same time, the torture directed at me resumed as well.

 

Drawing magic circles with mana failed repeatedly. Why was this happening? Why didn’t I at this time possess the same mana manipulation abilities as before? Was it simply because I hadn’t formed a mana core?

 

It was different from when I handled the dragon’s divine-infused mana. Back then, the dragon’s will remained like a curse, interfering with my movements. Even though it was long ago, when I first learned magic from my Master, it wasn’t this difficult.

 

Or could it be related to the researchers calling me by a number?

 

In the Great Demon’s memories, there was a scene where I received a name when I had grown a little more than now. Names were a means to distinguish test subjects who had shown satisfactory results, so at this point, those conditions hadn’t been met yet.

 

Then should I wait until those results appeared?

 

“No, no….”

 

I muttered while waiting for my body to recover on the cold floor.

 

I shouldn’t trust the Demon Lord. I shouldn’t trust demons. And I shouldn’t trust my own thoughts. Even what I was thinking now might be flowing according to the Demon Lord’s intentions.

 

If I kept waiting here, it would be irreversible. In the meantime, the Demon Lord might completely tear apart and devour my soul.

 

If I couldn’t draw with mana, I had to draw with my hands.

 

The material would be blood.

 

I dug into wounds that hadn’t healed yet to extract blood. With trembling hands, I drew the magic circle from my mind onto the wall surface.

 

The researchers passing by occasionally bothered me, but instead they just sneered at my appearance and walked past. Among test subjects who had gone insane from torture, this kind of thing probably wasn’t unusual.

 

It took a long time. More than my small body, it was because my hands kept trembling and the shape kept getting distorted. It took several hours to finally complete, but this time also failed.

 

The magic circle carved into the floor became a hindrance this time. The magic circle operated to heal wounds, and the spilled blood gradually returned to my body.

 

“Ah….”

 

It wasn’t difficult to think of a solution.

 

I had to stop the operation of the magic circle that healed my body, and complete the magic circle in the meantime.

 

Could I do it?

 

This small body lacked precision. To make it work somehow, I would inevitably need to increase its size. For that, a lot of blood was needed.

 

I had to manipulate mana so the magic circle wouldn’t operate, while simultaneously shedding enough blood to draw the magic circle without losing consciousness.

 

Beyond the realm of possible or impossible, it was questionable whether I could stay alive until then.

 

Both in the laboratory and in this room, while gathering mana, the magic circle’s output had decreased but never completely stopped. If it had stopped completely, I might have died long ago. Even though this was within the Demon Lord’s magic, I couldn’t know what effect death here would have on reality.

 

Wouldn’t I really die? The Demon Lord’s magic was that realistic.

 

But.

 

Even amid such doubts and fear, I felt certain that I had to do it. This was the only way.

 

There would be no second attempt. To solidify my resolve, I channeled some of the mana I had gathered and destroyed the magic circle on the floor.

 

Now if I failed, it would truly be the end.

 

I bit my hand to draw blood.

 

I drew the magic circle on the wall surface. My head grew dizzy in real time. My vision blurred. My movements became sluggish. If I hadn’t fully recovered my body before starting, I would have collapsed.

 

For some reason, a smile appeared on my lips. Perhaps the continuous torture had really done something to my head. The Demon Lord, my Master, the World Tree, Ice Spirit, Dragon—maybe they were all fantasies conjured by my madness.

 

Whether that was real or not, I would find out by activating this.

 

Staggering, I channeled mana into the magic circle.

 

What I had completed was Deception.

 

If the Demon Lord tried to deceive me, then I would deceive that Demon Lord.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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