Chapter 238: Chapter 237

Has she ever found plants creepy in her life?

Flowers.

Leaves.

Stems.

Fruits.

Greenery and beautiful trees that were refreshing just to imagine. The beauty of Mother Nature, full of life. Those phrases were completely inapplicable to the residents of the gap who invaded the demon world.

Screech—!

Plants were plants, but... The sight of those weeds twisting and contorting their vines, desperate to imitate humans, was undeniably creepy.

Crackle! Crackle! Crackle!

Their structure was similar to a kind of planter. If the skulls they wore on their heads were upside-down flower pots, the numerous purple vines extending from beneath them crawled on the ground like octopuses. But as the battle began in earnest, those vines intertwined and twisted, clumsily imitating two arms and legs, trying to walk on the ground. The demons felt an eerie sensation at that sight and attacked them.

"The residents of the gap are imitating us!"

"Stop them! Don't let them!"

Why...? From the moment the trial began, the demons were instinctively disturbed by the rising discomfort. This feeling of disgust was the same for both demons with and without intellect. It was strange, wasn't it? The demons had been living without even knowing the name 'residents of the gap.' But the moment they saw them, they instinctively realized their name. As if they had known it all along.

'These guys are strange...' Esil was the one who felt the most ominous and wary of this fact.

For demons, 'instinct' was directly linked to survival, a sense that should never be ignored. Especially since knowledge that wasn't even in their memories suddenly surfaced, it meant that it was information engraved in the blood or souls of demons...

"Kyaaak...!"

"...!"

"Everyone be careful! If you touch these guys, your mana will be sucked out!"

But there was no time to ponder. Just then, she could see the demons who clashed with the residents of the gap at the forefront retreating in a panic. The purple vines that wrapped around their bodies were sucking out their mana.

"Get out of the way!"

Slash! Slash! Slash!

Just in time, the demon knights clad in the evil spirit's armor sprang forward and tore the vines wrapped around their brethren without hesitation. But the weeds were tenacious.

Screech!

The torn vines twisted in the air like snakes and wrapped around the bodies of the demon knights.

"...Where do you think you're going?!"

Fortunately. The evil spirit's armor they were wearing prevented their mana from being sucked out even if they touched the residents of the gap. The armor that at Suho's command, Harmakan specially modified to be used by demons, was doing its job. But the veins moved even more tenaciously and finally found the narrow gaps, stabbing their sharp thorny tentacles into them!

"Th-these guys...!" The demon knights felt a dizzying sensation and hurriedly tore them off, then shouted at Esil,

"Lady Esil! Be careful!"

"These guys not only suck mana, but they also inject a strange poison with their thorns!"

They truly were like mosquitoes. No, even worse, they were a combination of the unpleasant aspects of mosquitoes and leeches. If you touched or brushed against the vines, your mana would be sucked out. And if you were stabbed by the thorns, an unknown poison would infiltrate you?

"Damn them. I'm going too!"

Clank!

Just in time, Esil also equipped the evil spirit's armor and sprang forward.

"Die!"

Whoosh! — Crack!

The demon horn spear launched from Esil's hand pierced and shattered their skulls. Then, the vines that were growing like flowers from the flowerpot, from those skulls lost their strength and fell to the ground. Confirming this, Esil gave a resounding order.

"The head is their weakness! Aim for the head!"

The demons relayed Esil's words to others still fighting.

"Everyone, aim for the head!"

"The skull is their weakness!" Following the order, the demons rushed to smash the heads of the residents of the gap.

"If you wear the armor, your mana won't be sucked out even if you touch their bodies! Death Knights, lead the way and be careful of the thorns!"

"We don't know what kind of poison it is! Don't get stabbed by the thorns!"

Crack!

Smash!

Tear!

The skulls were helplessly shattered by the demons' attacks. And the battle began in earnest. But even though they found the weak spot, the clash didn't go smoothly. In the first place, there was a huge difference in numbers. Enemies that poured in endlessly through the dimensional crack. Esil gritted her teeth.

'I should have gathered more demons...!' She was frustrated. If this was the demon world of the past, they would never be outnumbered like this. But what could she do? The current demon world was torn apart and drifting through the dimensional gaps, if she had gathered all the demons scattered in those fragmented pieces of dimension...!

'These guys are weak individually. But there are just too many of them. Where have they been hiding all this time?'

"Kuhk...!"

In the midst of the fierce battle, the first casualty finally occurred.

"Grrr..."

The demon, entangled in vines and having all its mana sucked out, foamed at the mouth and lost focus in its eyes. At that moment...

Kiekek! Kihihi!

A laughter erupted. It was clearly a chuckle coming from the skull... No, from the weed that succeeded in devouring a demon.

"...!"

At that moment, Esil finally realized it. The identity of the eerie feeling flooding her mind since the moment she encountered the residents of the gap, those unknown beings.

Whoosh—!

Suddenly, the vines wrapped tightly around the skull. Like real muscle fibers attached to a skeleton, they began to create a 'proper body'.

"...Oh my god." At that astonishing sight, gasps escaped the lips of all the demons, including Esil.

Yes. Something was strange from the beginning. Those creepy guys created arms and legs by weaving vines, imitating demons... But the moment they devoured their prey...

"Khit! Kihihi!"

That nameless weed finally became a 'real' demon.

* * *

"...Is this the demon world?" Suho, who entered the double dungeon through the crack, opened his mouth in dismay at the sight of the magical beasts swarming before him.

"No, it's just a dimensional gap." The Dragon King shook his head.

"Then what are these demons?"

"What else? They're residents of the gap who devoured others and proved their qualifications to become demons themselves."

"...!" As the Dragon King said, there were swarms of purple demons gathered before them.

[Gap Demon]

𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

[Gap Demon]

[Gap Demon]

[...]

Although name tags clearly saying 'demon' were floating above their heads, their essence was still weeds made of vines. Those octopus-like things that parasitized skulls had woven their vines to create muscles and transformed to look like anatomical models you would only see in a science lab. In terms of size and shape, they were closer to the form of demons rather than humans. There was even one with horns. The problem was that this wasn't just imitation in form.

[Title: 'Demon Slayer' buff effect is activated.]

[All stats increase by 40% when facing demon-type monsters.]

"They really are demons." Suho's eyes gleamed. The fact that the title effect, which only applied when facing demons, was activated automatically was proof that these weeds were real demons.

"They became demons by devouring demons?"

"Yes. It seems like the fragments of the demon world scattered in the dimensional gap were invaded by these guys. In short, they've been 'contaminated'." Antares' gaze towards the gap demons was full of disgust.

"As I said, the residents of the gap are scraps that the Absolute Being created and discarded. That's why these weeds always crave to become something. And the easiest targets are the souls of demons."

"Is it because the souls of demons can't go to the Sea of The Afterlife even when they die?" Suho seemed to know what would come next.

"No, the order is a little different. When a living being dies, its soul wanders the Sea of The Afterlife and is used as nutrients for the World Tree. That's the natural order..."

Kihihi! Kikikekek!

The conversation was interrupted, and the battle suddenly began. The Gap Demons began to surround them and attack from all directions.

"I'll take the rear!" With all sides wide open, Seo Jiwoo took the rear.

And Suho swung Vulcan's horns at the gap demons rushing in from the front.

Flare!

Rumble—!

But their reaction was quite different from the weeds they fought earlier. The weeds named [??] burned helplessly in Suho's flames, but the Gap Demons were dodging the attacks or even fighting back with weapons.

"Their response is exactly like real demons." It was curious, but that was all.

[Using Skill: 'Storm of Black Flames'.]

Rumble!

[Gap Demon has been defeated.]

[Gap Demon has been defeated.]

[Gap Demon has been defeated.]

[...]

As the battle intensified, the Dragon King Antares spread his short wings and landed on Suho's head. And he continued his explanation with a solemn expression.

"First, I should tell you about the World Tree. The World Tree grows and bears fruit by feeding on souls of the dead. And new souls are born from those fruits. The most beautiful and pure of them bear the Rulers' soldiers, and other fruits bear the souls of the many races you know."

"Reincarnation?"

"Well. Any term would be fine, but no one knows what kind of process happens within the World Tree. Since a dead soul becomes a nutrient and is reborn, no one can be sure if it's the same soul. Anyway." Antares looked at the gap demons and continued,

"As I said, among the souls that fall into the Sea of The Afterlife, there are quite a few that are caught and sucked dry by weeds before being eaten by the World Tree. We call that 'mana contamination'."

"...Mana contamination?" A strange light appeared in Suho's eyes at the familiar expression.

"Yes. One of the roles of the World Tree is to purify dead souls. But if they're caught by weeds without going through the process, they become contaminated. Then those souls can never return to the Sea of The Afterlife."

Kihihi!

Kikikekek!

"And they become demons like these guys. It's the moment when those who were nothing gain an identity..." Before Antares could even finish his words, something caught Suho's eye.

[Extraction is impossible due to mana contamination.]

[Extraction is impossible due to mana contamination.]

Seeing the messages floating above the corpses of the gap demons he had just killed, Suho realized the truth.

'Yes. I've always been curious.'

Whenever he fought demons.

Whenever he saw the message that their souls couldn't be extracted.

Suho was really curious about that.

'Why can't they be extracted?'

'Why can't the souls of demons be extracted?'

The more he thought about it, the less he understood. What was so different between the souls of beast-type magical beasts, insect-type magical beasts, and other races, and the souls of demons? What was the big difference? Why didn't the power of the Shadow Monarch, who ruled even death, work on them?

'Contaminated by mana? Contaminated by 'what' exactly?' If contaminated meant 'poisoned' it could be solved by detoxification. And if contamination meant 'filth', how nasty could they be? First of all, the souls of villains that Harmakan, a magic spirit, liked were also evil souls, but they were extracted into shadow soldiers without any problems. Then why can't demons be extracted? But today, finally...

He understood the reason...

He understood what the souls of demons were contaminated by...

"Weeds are tenacious. They never give up on prey they've set their sights on." Listening to the Dragon King Antares' words, Suho remembered.

"The souls of demons cannot go to the Sea of The Afterlife because... They are already nutrients for the weeds, not the World Tree."

Demon world... From the beginning of time until now, demons have lived in a relationship of eating and being eaten by each other.

"Demons were originally... residents of the gap."

'It seemed like the trial that Esil is waiting for...'

'Is a test to see who was qualified to become a true demon.'

But then a system message arrived before Suho.

[A quest has arrived.]