Chapter 193: The Demon King of Gluttony

Not only his body but even his demonic energy refused to move.

That made the pain feel even worse.

“P-please!”

Frantisia screamed on instinct.

“Stop! I’ll do anything!”

He had no idea what the human wanted.

But whatever it was, he just wanted to escape this agony.

Yet even at Frantisia’s desperate cries, the human showed no reaction.

He simply stared at Frantisia in silence.

The silence drove Frantisia closer to madness.

Then, moments later.

Just as suddenly as it had begun, the twisting of his muscles stopped.

“Huff… huff…”

Frantisia gasped for air.

Fearing the pain might return at any second, he spoke to the human.

“I’ll do anything you want… please…”

At Frantisia’s cry, the human smiled faintly and opened his mouth.

“Hmm.”

Gaon let out a soft hum.

He looked down at the demon baron Frantisia, who lay sprawled on the ground, trembling uncontrollably.

Through interrogating Frantisia, Gaon had learned a great deal.

First, the name of this city was Asfal.

Second, the Demon King who had fled from him was Catulon, the Demon King of Destruction.

Third, Catulon had been killed by Myrdaon.

Fourth, the demon world had accepted the failure of the invasion the day Catulon died and had begun focusing entirely on recovery.

He had gained countless other pieces of information as well.

The most interesting was the information about Babub, the Demon King of Gluttony.

Babub is coming soon……

According to Frantisia, Babub would arrive in Asfal by tonight at the latest.

Frantisia claimed he did not know the reason for the visit.

Of course, the reason itself did not matter.

What mattered was that Babub was coming at all.

Should I wait here?

Gaon pondered.

He had also learned the locations of several other Demon Kings from Frantisia.

He debated whether to wait for Babub or go after the others first.

The decision did not take long.

It’s not like it’s going to be days.

Gaon decided to deal with Babub first.

Babub should know far more.

Frantisia was a demon noble.

He knew a lot.

But his rank was low.

He was only a baron—the lowest noble title.

The information was not as detailed as Gaon would have liked.

But if it came from Babub, a Demon King?

He would receive more than Gaon could ask for.

Besides, Gaon’s original goal had always been the Demon Kings.

He intended to wipe them all out—including Myrdaon.

It was then.

“……!”

Gaon’s eyes flashed.

He turned his head and looked west.

He had sensed a powerful presence from that direction.

It felt similar to Dormanimonu.

In other words, the odds were very high that it was a Demon King.

Babub!

And given the current situation, it was almost certainly the Demon King of Gluttony, Babub.

Gaon smiled brighter than ever.

He had been prepared to wait around, yet Babub had come straight to him this quickly?

A laugh escaped him naturally.

At least he can’t run now.

Gaon concealed his energy.

Just in case Babub tried to flee.

With his presence hidden, Gaon quickly closed the distance toward Babub.

Sigh.

Babub let out a quiet internal sigh.

To think I’d have to come back to this damned place.

The reason Babub had returned to the city of Asfal was an order from Myrdaon.

Close the remaining rift here.

If that was the plan, why didn’t they close it back then?

Why leave the rift open and only order it closed now?

And why did those middle-world bastards leave just one open?

The middle world had closed every passage.

To be precise, they had closed every rift except the one in Asfal.

Why had the middle world left Asfal’s rift untouched?

It made no sense.

It was then.

Step!

Babub stopped walking.

Tension flooded his face.

With wary eyes, Babub looked ahead.

Something was flying toward him from far in the distance.

And it was moving at tremendous speed.

Babub sharpened his vision.

When he identified the object, he was slightly startled.

A Fireball?

Surprisingly, the incoming object was a Fireball.

Why would a Fireball suddenly fly at him?

But Babub’s surprise quickly turned to shock.

It was because of the energy he felt from the Fireball.

Myrdaon?

For some reason, the Fireball carried the same “special power” that Myrdaon possessed.

The raw energy contained in the Fireball itself was not particularly strong.

Yet because of that special power, unease filled him.

Babub stepped sideways.

He was trying to dodge the Fireball.

The moment he moved, however, Babub frowned.

The Fireball changed direction to follow him.

If I can’t dodge it……!

Babub raised his demonic energy to strengthen his body.

He did more than that.

He created a protective barrier.

It was a barrier filled with the demonic energy of Gluttony.

The Fireball struck the barrier.

Boom!

Crackle!

Along with the explosion, the barrier shattered.

The shockwave of the blast slammed into Babub.

“……!”

Babub could not help but be shocked by the aftermath.

Most of it had been absorbed by the barrier, yet the force was still enormous.

From a single Fireball!

He had suspected something because of the special power.

But it was far stronger than he had imagined.

That made it even more bewildering.

It meant Gaon was stronger than Myrdaon.

This can’t be the end.

Babub instinctively turned his head toward the direction the Fireball had come from.

And he saw a figure.

A human with deep black hair and pale skin.

The problem was that he could sense nothing from the human.

At this distance, he could feel nothing?

From the same being who had just launched that absurd Fireball?

That was impossible.

The only explanation was an overwhelming difference in rank.

Babub’s mind went to one human.

Gaon!

This had to be Gaon—the cause of everything.

If it was not Gaon?

That would be an even bigger problem.

It would mean another monster on Gaon’s level existed in the middle world.

It was then.

Gaon smiled faintly.

Why was he smiling?

No matter how hard Babub thought, he could not understand the reason.

That only made it more ominous.

The smile did not seem to come from anything good.

What do I do?

Babub hesitated.

Should he run immediately, or should he test Gaon’s strength first?

He did not have time for long deliberation.

Babub made his decision quickly.

I’ll test his power first.

At first he had considered running right away.

The gap between them was clearly enormous.

And after experiencing that Fireball, the decision had seemed perfectly rational.

But Catulon’s fate had changed his mind.

Why had Catulon died at Myrdaon’s hands?

Because he had simply run.

Of course, Babub’s situation was different from Catulon’s.

He had already experienced the Fireball.

But would Myrdaon accept that excuse?

From a single Fireball?

To avoid dying at Myrdaon’s hands, he needed to gauge exactly how strong Gaon was.

Having made his choice, Babub closed the distance to Gaon.

Gaon was a mage.

He could not be allowed to keep his distance.

The best plan was to approach, test Gaon’s power, and then flee quickly.

Yet the next moment made Babub regret that decision.

As the distance shrank, he finally felt Gaon’s power—the power that had been undetectable before.

Gaon’s strength was staggering.

There was no end to it.

He was far stronger than Myrdaon.

I have to run!

If he kept closing the distance, he would die.

And it would be a meaningless death.

Even if he ended up dying at Myrdaon’s hands, he had to escape right now.

The thought hit him strongly.

The instant he reached that conclusion.

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!

Countless projectiles appeared in the air.

They were not just Fireballs.

There were Ice Balls, Lightning Balls, Poison Balls, Dark Balls—every color of “Ball” spell imaginable.

“……”

Babub could not say a word.

The thought of running did not even occur to him.

It was not because he was impressed by the sight.

It was because he realized escape was impossible.

What the hell……!

Now he understood why Dormanimonu had died.

Now he understood why Catulon had simply run.

He understood everything.

Soon the colorful projectiles began to fly.

Babub snapped back to his senses.

He could not die like this.

The odds were low, but he still had to struggle.

Babub poured everything into summoning his Gluttony Demon Beast.

Whoosh!

In an instant, a giant toad twenty-five meters tall appeared in front of Babub.

The toad opened its mouth.

Its tongue shot forward.

The tongue split into dozens of strands in the blink of an eye and collided with the incoming projectiles.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Explosions rang out with every collision.

And with each explosion, Babub’s expression grew darker.

The toad’s tongue was growing shorter.

At this rate, the tongue would soon be unable to block anything.

Then he would have to take the hits with his own body.

The problem was the sheer number of projectiles.

There were far too many.

Could he really block all of them?

Will it be enough?

Honestly, even blocking every projectile would be a problem.

These were not the end.

New spells—far more dangerous spells—could come flying next.

It was a total crisis.

And Babub’s prediction was accurate.

The moment soon came when the tongue could no longer handle the projectiles.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Projectiles slammed into the toad’s entire body.

The toad’s energy began to weaken rapidly.

But Babub could not spare any attention for the toad.

A new spell had appeared.

Swish.

Babub looked up at the sky.

Dark clouds had formed.

Like the projectiles, the clouds carried that “special power.”

The problem was that the energy contained within them was incomparably stronger than the projectiles.

The special power alone was dangerous, yet the raw energy was strong too?

The feeling was terrible.

He had a powerful premonition that something impossible to endure was about to happen.

And Babub’s premonition was correct.

The dark clouds flashed.

Lightning fell.

The bolt struck the toad in an instant.

Already weakened by the projectiles, the toad vanished from a single strike.

The toad had been destroyed, but Babub had no time to care.

The lightning had not been aimed at only one place.

Crackle!

Lightning struck Babub.

The speed was impossible to dodge.

For a moment, Babub felt tremendous pain and lost control of his body.

It was only temporary.

The instant he regained control, Babub stepped back to avoid the next bolt.

But stepping back did not help him evade it.

Crackle!

Lightning struck Babub again.

The moment the second bolt hit, Babub felt his mind grow hazy.

What is this……

He could not believe the situation.

Even Myrdaon could not do something like this.

It was then.

The dark clouds stopped spitting lightning.

Babub instinctively looked toward Gaon.

……Huh?

Gaon was gone.

Where had he gone?

Babub’s confusion was answered immediately.

He felt a powerful presence behind him.

Tap.

A hand touched his shoulder.

Babub turned his head and looked at the hand on his shoulder.

It was a pale hand.

He turned a little farther to see the owner of the hand.

It was Gaon, of course.

Gaon was smiling brightly.

The smile made all kinds of thoughts race through Babub’s mind.

One thing was certain.

He was going to die.

But he would not die easily.

Even if he wanted to die, he would not be allowed to.

Knowing that, Babub quickly opened his mouth and shouted.