Chapter 4:Demon Devourer

KWANG!

“Is that all you’ve got! Muno!”

KWAAAANG!

The moment he narrowly dodged the greatsword hurtling towards him, the stone floor to his side exploded.

A destructive power unbelievable for a strike from a blunt iron sword.

On top of that.

“Come here!”

“Ugh!”

The moment his father pulled on the black iron chain wrapped around one arm, Muno’s body, which had been creating distance, was helplessly dragged back.

“Didn’t I tell you not to rashly wrap your chains around the strong!?”

JJEEOOOONG.

He barely blocked the ensuing attack, which would definitely not end in a minor injury if it hit, with his chains.

“Keok!”

But he couldn’t stop his body from being sent flying and tumbling across the floor.

“That’s why I used all four strands……!”

“Silence!”

KWANG!

“Ah, seriously!”

The four iron chains moved much more freely than before and boasted twice the strength, but even when gathered together, they couldn’t even restrain one of his father’s arms.

In the end.

‘Daamn it!’

Muno, with the support of his four chains, could only focus on dodging the attacks.

Chwajajak.

The long-extended chains became another set of limbs, aiding his three-dimensional movements.

He moved frantically across the training hall’s ceiling, walls, and floor with his two legs and four chains, but it was all he could do to barely evade his father’s sword.

KWAAAANG!

“Nicely!”

KWAAANG!

“dodged!”

KWANG!

“Are you a spider!”

KWAAAANG.

Oh dear. The training hall is getting completely wrecked, Father.

“Haap!”

KWANG.

“Keok!”

He tried to block or counterattack with his chains and iron sword once in a while, but the moment they collided, his entire body was usually sent flying along with the chains.

He barely managed to brace himself against a wall or the floor with his chains to disperse the impact his flying body had received.

Even that alone made his whole body tingle and felt as if his soul was leaving him.

‘Damn it.’

How did it come to this?

Back when his father came to his room.

– Son, I’m so glad. I’m truly glad.

– Thanks to you, Father…….

Muno had been expecting such a moving reunion.

But reality was completely different.

– You seem to be in one piece. Let’s have a spar.

Those were the words his father uttered after looking him up and down the moment he opened the door.

That was the beginning of this whole mess.

“You’ll die if you block this wrong. Dodge well!”

“Father!?”

KWAAAAAAANG!

Even with his evolved abilities, he was still far from a match for his father.

Ururururung.

“No, really! What is this……!”

Muno, who had barely dodged the widely swung sword, shouted in protest.

A cold sweat trickled down his back.

The blow had passed by his body with a paper-thin margin.

‘I really almost died.’

The proof was that one wall of the training hall had been completely blown away, and the iron sword his father was holding was half-broken and bent.

He felt a chill run down his spine at the dizzying situation of how it was even possible to blow away a wall with an iron sword.

And yet.

“Fortunately, I don’t feel any demonic energy.”

At that one sentence from his father, he couldn’t help but feel his strength drain away.

Because he instantly understood what it meant.

But he couldn’t help but shout again out of a sense of injustice.

“No, did you do this just to check that!? You could have just asked!”

“If you had been devoured by the demon, what good would it do to listen to you first? You would only speak bewitching words.”

“That’s…….”

He had done nothing but dodge with all his might, and now his hands and feet were trembling from exhaustion.

“There must have been other ways! Ah, really!”

It wasn’t that he didn’t understand the purpose of the spar, but what was unfair was unfair.

However.

“Still, it’s good to see you arguing properly without stuttering. Muno, my son. Congratulations on escaping the nightmare.”

At the sight of the brown-haired middle-aged man smiling and opening his arms, for some reason, he could only laugh.

“Ha. Really…….”

In the end, he had no choice but to accept his father’s rough embrace with a smile.

And behind them.

– My Lord! What is the meaning of this!!

A roar filled with indignation was erupting.

* * *

Drip.

As the smoothly poured tea water gave off a warm aroma.

Along with that aroma, a grumbling voice spread through the room.

“Was there really a need to destroy the training hall, my Lord?”

A calm voice, unbelievable for someone who had just been shouting as if the sky was falling.

At the words of Palmer, the inner castle’s sole butler, administrator, and official, Ryan Drasen broke out in a cold sweat.

“Ah. Ha. Ha. Well, that’s, uh……. Seeing my son become stronger, I got a little carried away. Haha.”

“Young Master, please have a cup as well.”

“Thank you.”

Drip.

As Muno thanked him with clear pronunciation, not stuttering, Palmer’s eye behind his monocle gleamed as he gave a slight smile.

“Well, seeing the Young Master’s appearance, it’s truly a good thing, but…….”

Muno, who had undergone his first evolution, ‘Awakening’, had grown significantly in size.

He had heard that although it was rare, awakening at a very young age could sometimes cause the body to grow a great deal all at once.

Even so, Muno’s grown height was about 180cm, not particularly tall for a knight, so it didn’t feel out of place either.

But more than his height or build, his clear gaze was what he liked even more.

However.

“Haha. Right? You understand, right?”

He couldn’t help but shoot a fierce glare at the lord who was fawning over his son’s appearance.

Of course, despite that, his gentle voice did not waver.

“……Because of the repair costs, I suppose I won’t be able to eat a single piece of meat until next spring.”

“Ugh……. Just cut my food expenses. That’s the most……!”

“Cut the meals of someone who has mastered the Corporeal Arts of Gluttony?

If the strength of the territory’s greatest fighting force diminishes, how many more of the territory’s people will die in the upcoming monster wave?”

Drip.

While arguing point by point, Palmer precisely poured tea into Ryan’s quickly emptied teacup.

“……I’m sorry.”

The lord and the territory’s strongest knight.

The 4-star Corporeal Arts master, who had completed four evolutions, raised his hands in surrender.

But Palmer’s words did not end there.

“By any chance, did the Young Master also master the Corporeal Arts of Gluttony……?”

“No, not at all. Although I received help from the Evolution Factor my father gave me, I wasn’t in a state to properly utilize the family’s Corporeal Arts.”

“I see. That is a pity.”

Palmer said, stroking his chest in relief.

Muno wasn’t offended at all, as he knew what he was worried about.

However.

“If you’ve evolved in a way that improves your intelligence, could you perhaps help me with my work…….”

At Palmer’s following words, he couldn’t help but put on a serious face.

“Ah, no, absolutely, it’s not to that extent at all. It’s just enough to have cured the ‘side effect’.”

“Is that so.”

Seeing Palmer’s face as he let out a deep sigh, he felt a little sorry for no reason, but it would be troublesome to be bogged down with work right after having painstakingly awakened.

Fortunately, his father helped him out.

“As Muno has grown stronger, this winter’s subjugation will be even easier.

Then there will be more spoils of war. Isn’t that better?”

“That is true, but…….”

Palmer cast a lingering, regretful glance. Seeing him, Muno cautiously cut in.

“Um, Butler Palmer. I have something to discuss with my father privately. If I could have a moment of your time…….”

“Ah, yes.

I understand. It would be nice if it were a conversation about my successor, though.”

“……No, it’s not that.”

“Oh dear, what a shame.”

Palmer retreated with a joke, but Muno couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.

One of the few people in the Drasen territory who had treated him well without prejudice even in his former state.

But even for Palmer’s sake, it seemed better to have the following conversation with just his father.

This was a story where the fewer people who knew, the better.

“Is it about that demon?”

Slurp.

Right after Palmer left the room, his father, Ryan, who was drinking tea, spoke first as if he had guessed.

“Yes, something similar.”

A problem they had glossed over as a ‘side effect’ in front of others.

But it was a story he had already confessed everything about to his father.

– Never speak of there being a demon in your head. Especially if someone asks about those chains, just say you don’t know.

Recalling his father’s past words, Muno began with a bitter smile.

“Thanks to the Evolution Factor of Gluttony you gave me, Father, I devoured the demon that was trying to devour me.”

“Pfft!”

He had only stated the facts, but at those words, tea water spewed from his father’s mouth.

Cough. Cough.

“Devoured? A demon? Not just fended it off?”

Seeing his father’s eyes shake widly as he coughed repeatedly as if he had choked, Muno was bewildered.

“……Yes.”

“How?”

“What do you mean, how?

You said that the evolution of Corporeal Arts isn’t limited to the physical body, didn’t you, Father?

So I combined and maximized the Evolution Factor of Gluttony and my abilities and just swallowed it whole…….”

The more he spoke, the stranger his father’s expression became, and he trailed off.

His father cut him off with a dumbfounded expression.

“What I meant by that was that evolving the brain could maximize one’s mental strength and control over the body.

I thought the demon would then give up and leave…….”

“Pardon?”

“……I should have guessed when I felt the chains connect to your body. But, how could this…….”

At his father’s dazed muttering, Muno became dazed as well.

“Heol…….”

“……How on earth did you do it?”

“Ha. Well, I’m not sure myself…….”

In his bewilderment, he naturally recalled the memory of his evolution.

The time he had struggled with all his body and mind just to survive, to not be eaten by the demon.

– I am the demon of chains, ‘&%@#’. The one who binds and oppresses.

Binding, oppression.

The demon that had been stimulating the trauma spanning two lives, that of Han Munho and Muno, since that day 10 years ago.

– Don’t make me laugh! I will bind and oppress you. No, I’ll just…… devour you!!!

– How……!? Ah, no……!

– Yes!!!

Kwadedeuk.

Yes, that was about all he remembered.

“I don’t remember the process clearly. But, that demon had the attribute of metal, and as you know, my ability is…….”

“The ability to control metal, yes. But does that make this happen? It’s more likely that there’s something in your lineage with that unique power…….”

Lineage.

At his father’s words, Muno reflexively recalled his infancy memories.

A time not long after he had realized he’d been reincarnated in this land.

The time when he had first felt the warmth of people called ‘parents’ with his entire body.

The disaster that had suddenly struck.

– Uwaaaaah!

– Baby, my baby……!

– ……’s bloodline. Kill them all. Keep only the baby alive as a test subject…….

Gadeudeuk.

“……What’s wrong?”

“Ah, it’s nothing. A memory of when I was kidnapped by those bastards came to mind…….”

“What?!”

“Ah, no, I don’t remember everything clearly.

On top of that, most of the things that come to mind in bits and pieces are bad memories…….”

It was true. His long-ago memories, estimated to be from about 15-16 years ago, were fragmented.

Moreover, none of his memories after being kidnapped by those bastards remained intact.

– Accept any injuries that aren’t fatal. Conduct all possible experiments.

– It doesn’t matter if his mind breaks.

Excruciating pain, splattered blood.

Just recalling those hazy scenes seemed to make the anger in his chest boil over.

What remained clear were the memories related to that pain and anger.

And at the final moment, those bastards…….

Throb.

“Ugh…….”

At the pain that came again, he unconsciously clutched his head.

“Stop! There’s no need to force yourself to think, Muno.”

Only after realizing that his father was shaking him by the shoulders at some point did Muno become aware of the cold sweat trickling down his entire body.

“Heu, hooo. Heu…….”

“That’s enough.

Don’t try to force yourself to remember.

We’ve already taken care of those bastards, so there’s no reason to cling to a bad past.”

Hoooo.

“……Yes.”

As he calmed his boiling heart with a sigh, he suddenly felt that something was strange.

It was as if there was a discrepancy between his father’s words and his own experience.

But what it was did not immediately come to mind.

Throb.

“Eum…….”

Trying to think about it for no reason just seemed to bring on a headache again.

As he clutched his head, his father immediately changed the subject.

“Anyway, if you’re right, your evolution has undoubtedly surpassed the limits of Corporeal Arts. But……. for that ability to be Demon Devourer, we’ll have to keep this strictly hidden.”

And that topic, too, was one that could not be taken lightly.

That was precisely the reason why they had to hide the fact that there was a demon in Muno’s head.

“Ah……. It’s because of the magicians, right?”

“Right.”

Magicians .

Users of supernatural powers who performed miracles by borrowing the power of demons.

They were the ones who formed the largest group in this world, surpassing the spirit masters of the Tower of Spirits and the holy knights and priests of the temples, and were the holders of power.

And.

“They call demons Outer Gods and worship them.

Those bastards who kidnapped you and caused a great disturbance in our kingdom were also magicians, but they were just treated as heretics kicked out of the mage Empire.”

They were also his enemies.

“Remember this. From this moment on, do not speak of that ability to anyone. Understood?”

His father urged him with a resolute expression.

“……Yes.”

Muno’s reply came a little slowly as he swallowed the anger that had begun to boil up again.

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