Dungeon Hunter - Chapter 129

Chapter 129: Episode 38. Depravity (2)

My eyesight was dimming. My emotions had been stripped away and only a single thing remained. The will to kill!

I gazed around my surroundings like a wild beast searching for its prey. My saliva dribbling. My pupils reddening. Then I began ripping the monsters closest to me to shreds.

Chomp!

Rip!

They ripped apart like sheets of paper. I was grabbing their shoulder joints with both hands and completely tearing them in half. As I did this, my body was soaked with the blood that spurted out. So much so that as I repeated this action, my black skin was completely covered in scarlet blood.

I gnawed out their uvulas and dug out their eyes. I drove in my fangs and sucked out their blood to quench my thirst.

“Grrr!”

What a blood-curdling scene!

If there were a hell, it was, in fact, this place.

The nightmare that had begun with me was being repeated in this place.

“You… what the hell are you?”

Contegnome.

The shadow of futility.

In the past, he was called the king of the Yetis, but as he was now, his visage was exquisitely horrible. Like something you might fear would appear in a dream—but what was more important to me than his appearance was how powerful he was.

My instincts told me that the stronger my opponent was, the more my thirst would be relieved.

Even when he faced Mago, he didn’t step back one inch. Quite the opposite. Hadn’t he driven Mago to the brink?

Contegnome was confident. In the end, all others were destined to perish. They were nothing more than pitiful subordinates that would certainly die at some point. On the other hand, as an immortal, he himself was eternal and unrestricted. It seemed like a scheme he had constructed from the beginning. Of that he was sure… he couldn’t lose.

But… for the first time there was a glimmer of “astonishment” in Contegnome’s face.

“A man that is the complete opposite of Nothingness. I don’t sense your position as a God at all, but even so, you’ve got everything! I really, really want that body.”

This was a new experience for me.

Now that my body was considered for nothing but its appearance.

My prejudice was shattered.

I provoked a sense of astonishment, but at the same time, greed.

The look in his eyes as he stared at me was comparable to an artist discovering a marvelous piece of art that had not existed before.

“I will have you. I escaped Nothingness, and I shall obtain a true position as a God through that body!”

Contegnome flexed his feet. The monsters around him all felt his presence and stepped aside. A huge circle was formed, and in the center of it was just Contegnome and I.

I spread my wings.

My body was mine alone, and I had no intention of handing it over to anyone else. That was another vain desire. It was the futile dream that Oculus had hoped for but was unable to realize.

It could be. There was a way in which the two of them were a little alike. It seemed like they had summoned similar shadows, and like they said, birds of a feather flocked together.

“He looks delicious.”

Obviously, it wasn’t only Contegnome who was yearning. I was also licking my lips while staring at him. I felt like this unquenched thirst would only be satisfied if I wolfed down that bastard.

I was the hunter… and he was simply my prey. Even a vicious predator couldn’t overcome a seasoned hunter.

“Now give up your body without a fight!”

The shadow jolted. A pillar of light spread unrestrictedly from the battlefield and pushed toward me. I changed my mana which I had previously transferred to moon mana.

Whooosh!

Light shot out of my two horns.

The mana I had substituted, surprisingly, also contained the quality of “light.” It was a quality of mana slightly different from godly power, but not very much.

The shadow was becoming exposed due to the light. The shadow that had been rushing toward me hesitated as the light shined on it.

“Aren’t you a demon? But how!?”

Contegnome couldn’t help but be astonished again.

Sizzzle!

And yet, the aftereffect of this hadn’t completely disappeared. My flesh was burning due to the sudden transformation of mana. Since I had been knocked down and the mana was incompatible with me, it was burning the inner part of my body.

“Grrr!”

But I didn’t stop. I continued toward him one step at a time and discharged light. As soon as I did so, Contegnome retreated his shadow.

“You bastard…!”

Whoooosh!

In a moment, the recovered shadow gathered itself together and formed a gigantic sword. He seemed to be purposefully expressing that even though his horrible body was exposed with no filter, he was going to show me his true abilities.

The shadow that had gathered itself together was no longer penetrated by the light. And so I transformed my mana once again. This time to “chaos.” Ariel Diablo’s patented type. The Abyss Sword had the strength to deal with chaos in the abyss. I wrapped this around my entire body.

Sizzzzle!

The smell of burning from within my body intensified. If I continued like this I would be destroying myself, but I was completely indifferent.

The important thing to me now was whether I got to eat that guy or not.

And I unwaveringly planned to eat him.

“Grrr!”

I raised my voice and ran towards him. Contegnome faced me while carrying the sword created by the shadow and… the instant we clashed, an intense beam of light swept over the entire area around us.

Crash!

Neither of us moved back a single inch. The sword and my nails fluttered and emitted sparks, but our strength was equally matched.

“So you crave for me even more!”

The hideous-looking Contegnome cackled. His awfulness was unmatched, and because he knew this he hid behind the shadow, but now he would be gaining a new body. What was more, the thought that he would be changing over to the wonderful form that he sincerely hoped for made him infinitely joyful.

All I had to do was draw this out. It looked like he couldn’t last long in that state. I could sense his life force expiring moment by moment. It didn’t seem like he had enough reason to take care of that, either. That was why he was so relaxed.

“Raaawr!”

Boom! Boom!

Once we came apart from our confrontation, I wriggled my hands. Each time that happened, the Chaos mana and the shadow caused explosions that swept randomly throughout our surroundings. The number of monsters who perished from this aftereffect reached the hundreds.

The monsters who had formed a circle around us to watch our match began to run away. It was even hard for the high monsters to keep it up, so they also washed their hands off of us.

The battle between the two of us was destroying the mana of the dungeon. As the mana that maintained this level had disappeared, there was no way for it not to crash down.

Booom!”

“My Dungeon Master…!”

Krithli ran to the crack between a falling boulder and the entrance but she was one step too late.

The space had been divided, and now it was just the two of us.

“Just give up and hand over your body without a fight!”

As time passed, Contegnome gradually became more terrified. I considered that he was probably almost all done, but it didn’t end.

My fingernails had fractured and here and there, stab wounds filled my body, and yet I became more ferocious and wildly bared my teeth.

The back of my neck was split down the middle and in the midst of leaking pus. If I didn’t transfer bodies quickly I would also be in danger.

It was at that moment.

“Teehee. Your beautiful, kind, cute Lyhee has returned, master!”

Pop!

With that sound, Lyhee appeared.

She was carrying a golden crown, a brilliant sword shaped like a toothpick, and a jewel-encrusted shield, and gave off a certain bravado that I couldn’t explain.

As soon as Lyhee appeared, she glanced around and soon tilted her head.

“Huh? Who are you?”

Unable to recognize me in my changed shape, Lyhee now shifted her attention to Contegnome.

“And who are you? What is this? Where did Lyhee’s master go? I definitely came to where my master is? How strange.”

Lyhee placed a finger to her lips and blinked.

After a moment, she stretched out her hand as if she had realized something, and pointed to Contegnome.

“But I say, something about you feels peculiar. And your face doesn’t look good, either. You just annoy me. The Fairy Knight said that I can sense bad guys. So that means you’re a bad guy!”

Lyhee held up her shield. As she did that, a pillar of light shone out of it in a straight line.

Contegnome had no idea what was going on. We were equally matched. But he was slowly but surely capturing his chance for victory.

His movements became sluggish, as if he was tired. If we clashed just a few more times he would surely be able to gain “victory.”

In the midst of this, some fairy he had never seen or heard before appeared, interrupting us.

It seemed okay to ignore it, but… the light pouring out of the bejeweled shield was not ordinary.

And then, that feeling was clear.

“Thwack!”

It wasn’t a large blow.

But it was enough to make him hesitate for just a moment.

A brief instant. In that instant, teeth of the demon with the outstretched wings came at him.

Rip!

Riiip!

“Aaaaaargh!”

The scene that unfolded next was truly horrifying. My teeth roughly tore at Contegnome’s body. I didn’t even have the feeling of a victor enjoying a banquet.

I was eating. I ate and ate. That was all I was doing.

Shiver, shiver!

Lyhee was also alarmed by that bizarre sight. She had goosebumps, and her whole body shook intensely.

By the end, the winged devil wolfed down Contegnome’s whole body and then shifted his attention. At the end of his staring eyes was Lyhee.

“Ly, Lyhee doesn’t taste good…”

She held up her sword and shield, but it was uncertain whether she would attack.

It was surely a face she had seen many times before, but the feeling was definitely different.

If it was the master, there was no sign of the blessings that naturally connected her to him.

What was she to do?

At that moment, those grey wings fluttered and he was coming toward Lyhee.

In the end, Lyhee stood unable to move this way or that, and shut her eyes tightly.

“Heyyy!”

Buzzz!

The crown shone.

It was the first time Lyhee had used it, but the crown’s power was very unusual.

According to what she knew, it was bound to have a big effect.

For a moment, Lyhee recalled the time she met the Pink Queen.

The Mushroom Kingdom.

The Cookie Kingdom.

The treasures of those two places were the golden crown and the bejeweled shield.

She put on these treasures and went to meet the Pink Queen.

She fought and lost. She was so upset at this that she sobbed and cried—then the Pink Queen burst out laughing.

“Ah, that was fun!”

It turned out that the Pink Queen was a Fairy Knight. For a period of 20,000 years, she had waited for the appearance of her successor. So she had set up this scheme because she was very bored.

The mushrooms and cookies all apologized together. Lyhee cried, and then stuck out her lips in a pout. She was about to open her mouth to say how bad they were, when the Fairy Knight spoke.

“Someone like you will do. You said you’re Lyhee, right? Your disposition is very kind. I’m going to give you the right to succession. Even though I’ve already given it.”

The crown, the shield, and the sword.

These three were the tokens of the Fairy Knight.

“The sword pierces evil, the shield reveals evil, and the crown… it sends back evil to the place it originated from. Since the crown especially can’t be used very often, you have to only use it when you’re in danger. Be sure to use these three powers well.”

“So can I go back?”

“Sure! Where would you like to go? Think of the place you want to go to. You’ll be transported there.”

“I want to go to the side of my master!”

“Oh? So you already have someone you’re serving? That’s wonderful, wonderful. I see. Now think of that person. You have to imprint things like his features very clearly.”

“My master has two huge weapons, wait no, three, and he’s really handsome. He can be very bad, but then really considerate, teehee, but it seems like he’s only nice to Lyhee.”

“Ah… um, okay. Now, that’s enough praising your master, and you’d better get home, right?!”

“Yes. Goodbye, Fairy Knight!”

Bowing.

The power of the crown sends evil back to the place where it came from.

Lyhee figured that if it was evil then it would work, and if it’s the master it wouldn’t. This was because, while the master could sometimes be a bit capricious, he had never been evil to her.

And so the power of the crown sent the evil away.

“Ah! As I thought, it wasn’t the master after all.”

The one with the grey wings who threatened Lyhee was completely erased from that spot.

All that was left was the remains of the shadow that he had been eating and then stopped.

“Where is this place, anyway? Clearly the Fairy Knight sent me to a weird place to play a trick on me.”

She looked around her surroundings. Huge boulders were stacked in layers, so it looked like it would be difficult to get out.

It was at that moment.

From inside a small crack between the boulders, Krithli suddenly sprang out.

“My Dungeon Master…!”

Most of the nails on her fingers were cracked and had become clotted with blood. That was how earnestly she had worked her way in between the boulders to get through.

“Krithli?”

“Miss Fairy?”

“Why are you here?”

Krithli had gotten out of the crack, looked around herself nervously, and then answered.

“Didn’t you see… the Dungeon Master? He was definitely here, just now.”

Lyhee shook her head.

“Nope. The master wasn’t here. There were just two ugly-looking guys.”

“Can, can that be? He changed his shape, but he would have had a pair of grey wings.”

Hearing Krithli’s words, Lyhee opened her eyes wide.

“…Huh?”

“Why are you acting like that?”

“I guess maybe I did see him.”