The Knight Who Devours Magic - Chapter 23

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 23. Subjugation (2)
“Quiet. Hold position.”
At that single command, the soldiers came to a halt without a word, as naturally as if they had been waiting for it.
Muno didn’t wait for acknowledgment either—he simply bolted into the undergrowth.
It looked reckless at first glance, but there was reason enough for it.
‘I can sense Demonic Aura.’
The Hunting Subjugation had been underway for four days now.
In that time, Muno had produced results far beyond what his skill level should have allowed—and through that process, he had gained something new.
‘This much Demonic Aura, yet I can’t see it or smell it. At this density, it might be worth consuming.’
Namely, the sense to judge his ‘prey.’
Monsters were remnants of the Demonic War of Mythology, which had occurred in the age of myth.
More precisely, there was a legend that they were the leavings of demons.
And indeed, monsters did carry dense Demonic Aura according to their grade.
Yet over the past two days, despite having slain five Grade 2 monsters, he felt no genuine increase in his own strength.
It was merely replenishing the stamina he’d spent.
– But isn’t that something? Sustained combat ability is the chronic weakness of our Drasen Great Sword technique. At least when fighting mages or monsters, we don’t have to worry about that anymore.
He couldn’t dismiss his father’s point, yet having hoped to grow stronger with each monster he defeated, he couldn’t help but feel disappointed.
But the density of Demonic Aura he sensed now—that might change things.
‘At least Grade 3. And if traces are this faint, it must be a monster that specializes in concealment.’
A name came to mind naturally.
Giant Boa.
– If you sense no sign of other life in the forest at all, be cautious first. It may have devoured everything.
– When that master of hiding, that colossal serpent, descends suddenly from sky or earth, even a decent Knight will have every bone in his body crushed in an instant.
When he’d first heard Gunther speak those words, he’d felt a slight chill. Now, though, only a smile crossed his face.
He smelled nothing, sensed no presence—yet his Demonic Devourer sense captured perfectly the form of the massive serpent, some twenty meters long, draped across the tree above.
‘Very good.’
Monsters had grades just as Knights had Knight Stars or mages had Circles—but these grades were assigned with the understanding that at least three ability-users of the same rank working together could safely take one down.
In other words, unless one was exceptional, a solo monster of the same grade was supposed to be uncatchable.
Which was why Ryan Drasen, a 4-Star Knight who had slain a Grade 5 Snow Troll alone, had earned the epithet the Voracious Knight.
Muno’s achievement of slaying five Grade 2 monsters over two days had drawn astonishment for the same reason.
And it was through that feat that the nickname—Drasen’s prodigy Knight—had begun to spread.
Of course, few believed he could take even a Grade 3 monster.
He himself thought the same.
But this one was different.
‘The Giant Boa is only rated Grade 3 because of that uncanny concealment ability. It’s entirely possible.’
Whoosh.
The moment he entered the forest, black iron chains burst outward in all directions from Muno’s limbs.
Since they were so distinctly different in color from the surrounding environment that they might catch the enemy’s eye, the chains moved along the ground at first.
Then they dug subtly into the earth, surfaced again, and climbed the tree to which the Giant Boa was clinging.
“Hmm. Where. Could. It. Be…….”
Muno walked beneath that tree with awkward, theatrical speech, drawing the creature’s attention.
His Demonic Devourer senses tracked perfectly the Demonic Aura dwelling in the enemy’s body.
And just as the serpent’s enormous head drew silently near, hovering above his own—
Four strands of iron chain plunged into the gaping maw wide enough to swallow his entire body.
Crunch-crack.
“Hissss—kk!?”
Bang. Bang!
The Giant Boa, which had meant to gulp down its prey, thrashed violently as it suddenly found hard foreign objects lodged in its throat.
“Huh!”
Even as he grimaced at the creature’s convulsions and foul stench, Muno held the forced-open jaws of the Giant Boa directly in his gaze.
……Ugh. Repulsive.
Well then.
‘I’ll simply cut it in half.’
Thud.
With a powerful pivot that withstood even the thrashing of a creature weighing hundreds of kilos—perhaps even a ton—his body bent sharply backward.
Crack.
His body, tilted back hard, suddenly flushed crimson as his muscles swelled with terrible force.
The overwhelming strength that would normally have consumed all the heat accumulated in his body in an instant was now being channeled through Demonic Aura instead.
And with that—
‘Wind Slash.’
Flash.
A piercing screech.
A sword strike invisible to the naked eye split the Giant Boa’s head lengthwise.
The shockwave erupted.
Half a beat after the blade completed its arc, the concussive force rippled outward and tore the wound open wider—but.
“Keeeeee!”
‘Damn it. Too shallow.’
The creature’s absurdly enormous head meant Muno’s blade hadn’t reached the brain.
“Hah!”
He whipped the Iron Chains burrowed deep in its body with renewed violence—but.
“Kyaaaaa!”
“Ugh!”
Crash.
His frame was far too light to weather the convulsions of a Giant Boa in agony.
“Kyack!”
Crash!
‘Damn!’
He was driven repeatedly into the surrounding tree trunks, his innards seeming to twist with each impact, yet predicting the serpent monster’s thrashing in its death throes proved impossible.
So Muno yanked two strands of the Iron Chains free from the creature’s interior.
Thud. Thud.
He regained his footing with difficulty, treading on the stumps and earth around him.
“Hah!”
Timing it barely, he leaped toward its head once more.
But in that instant.
“Die……!”
“Kyaaaack!”
Muno was drenched in a thick, viscous fluid the massive serpent spewed forth.
‘Filthy.’
Yet the secret technique he’d unleashed by wringing every muscle and drop of mana from his body—the Wind Slash—tore through the creature’s form like lightning, even as his vision was obscured by the loathsome, sticky liquid.
A piercing screech.
The enormous Great Sword carved deeper through the wound already split lengthwise.
The shockwave erupted.
The supersonic slash’s concussive force burrowed into the gash a half beat late.
“Kh. Kh…….”
The colossal body—nearly twenty meters—stood rigid, gazing skyward, trembling.
Thud.
“Cough.”
Muno, drenched in the unidentifiable fluid, instinctively employed the Falling Technique, rolling across the ground before rising.
Deep rumble.
The massive corpse toppled, sending a tremendous shockwave through the earth.
Yet the one who’d felled this titanic beast was in no better condition.
“Damn it, hell.”
His entire body was sticky.
Too much so to even open his eyes.
‘I was told there was no poison. What is this…….’
His body wouldn’t move properly—as though he’d been draped in thick, tacky spider silk.
But there was a way.
Whoosh-click.
He recalled the Iron Chains that had ravaged the serpent’s innards all at once, and as they shed the disgusting residue, they shrank back into protective bracers at his wrists and ankles.
Whoosh-click.
The moment they deployed again, the chains moved with delicate precision, swiftly scraping away the fluid that clung to every inch of his body.
After repeated cycles of deployment and withdrawal—the chains responding to his will with fine control—Muno’s movements were freed in an instant.
And in that moment, he decided.
“Ugh, the stench…….”
Hunting was done for the day.
Not merely because this foul, sticky body fluid had caked his Great Sword and dulled the weapon.
He’d killed a Grade-3 Monster, yet the yield was pathetically small.
The Giant Boa’s scales, fangs, and hide would fetch decent prices, true—but that wasn’t what he’d come for.
‘All this struggle.’
The creature’s Demonic Aura had felt thick and concentrated, yet the amount of Demonic Aura his chains had absorbed from their passage through its innards fell far short of expectations.
Of course, his magical reserves had been replenished enough that he felt little fatigue even after unleashing successive Wind Slashes, and his skill had risen, however marginally.
But this was nowhere near what he had anticipated.
A sharp intake of breath.
‘It’s different. Why?’
The total amount of Demonic Aura he had sensed from the Giant Boar was far greater than that of Aimers, who had been a Second Circle mage.
So where did this disparity come from?
It seemed he would need to hunt ten of these creatures just to match the growth from devouring Aimers once.
‘Or perhaps even worse than that…….’
His hope for rapid ascent crumbled to dust in an instant.
But he quickly rallied himself.
A soft clap.
“Even this much is an extraordinary ability. Right, no complaining. When has anything ever come easy…….”
He murmured these words of encouragement to himself and released a long sigh, but his conclusion remained the same.
Muno drew in a breath, then bellowed out across the clearing.
“Come in!! I’ve brought down the big one. We’re done for the day!”
– Yes, sir!!
The voices calling out from beyond the brush seemed unnaturally vigorous—no trick of the ear at all.
“Whoa…….”
“This is……?”
“Did you take it down alone, sir?”
The soldiers who caught sight of the Giant Boar’s corpse first froze in shock, then turned to Muno with astonished eyes.
“You know which parts we need, don’t you, Rom?”
“Yes, sir!”
Though called soldiers, in truth they were little more than versatile laborers.
Rom, who had served in Drasen’s military for seven years, was also a seasoned monster butcher.
‘I should send a signal too……. Ah, they’re soaked through. Damn.’
Muno sighed again as he eyed the firecrackers drenched in viscous fluid.
On either side of this hunting ground, Gunther and Karina were positioned to counter any unexpected moves by the Demonic Cult.
And well closer to this spot than their originally assigned positions.
‘Gunther I understand, but Karina has essentially given up any Hunting Subjugation credit. I’ll owe her a debt I need to repay.’
That rare Knight Star of the Third Grade, specialized in speed.
When Muno had judged that she could hold her own against even high-ranking mages and requested her aid.
– I understand the situation. But still…….
– I’ll do it!!
– Sister!?
Roanna’s shocked expression was still vivid in his mind.
He was grateful to Karina for stepping forward with such enthusiasm.
A tremor of unease.
‘Honestly, I’m still a little frightened.’
Not that he was repulsed by her, but he had a nagging premonition that if he became entangled any deeper, he’d find himself ensnared for life.
She was the type whose beauty belied a ruthless streak.
‘Wait, am I already wrong for describing a woman who lopped off enemy knights’ limbs as merely “ruthless”? At least she did it against enemies…….’
What exactly this warm yet chilling sensation in his chest meant, a born-and-bred bachelor found difficult to articulate clearly.
“Hah…….”
Each time he thought of her, only sighs escaped him, so he decided for now to focus solely on the matter at hand.
“Rom. Will these firecrackers ignite in this state?”
He called out to the diligent jack-of-all-trades without particular reason.
“Ah, you’re sending another signal? The others don’t bother, but why do you insist every time, sir…….”
Of course, it was to maintain close communication with his comrades against a potential Demonic Cult ambush.
But he couldn’t explain that to Rom.
“That’s just how it is. So take a look and tell me. Will they work?”
“……I’m afraid they’ll need some drying first, sir.”
“As I thought.”
A quiet exhale.
He’d asked just in case, but the answer was as he’d suspected.
He was about to turn away when suddenly——
Muno’s spine went rigid, and he found himself gritting his teeth without conscious thought.
‘This is……!?’

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