The Academy’s Weapon Replicator - Chapter 235
Chapter 74 Devil (8)
──I will grant your wish. Instead,
numerous fables, legends, and myths begin like this.
There is always a devil lurking behind it.
“It seems that the shadow man made an offer to the devil. “I don’t know what method they used, but it seems like they succeeded in summoning the demon.”
“What kind of compensation did the devil want from Ambu, and in exchange for that, did he receive the knowledge and power of mana injection?”
“…Ambu must have known that would happen.”
“yes?”
I don’t know what kind of devil’s book Ambu read and did such crazy things.
They have some misunderstandings about the devil.
“The devil never really keeps his contracts in the first place. “They just use the name ‘contract’ to attract people.”
“Are you saying that even though humans gave the devil what he wanted in return, the devil wouldn’t give humans what they wanted?”
“On the surface, it looks like giving. A contract with the devil is not made solely through the power of the devil. A ritual to summon a demon. An exchange of price and conditions in the form of a human wish contract. “All these forces come together and manifest as the power of wish.”
So it is possible for the devil to grant human wishes.
Even if he himself has no knowledge or ability, the power of summoning and the power of forming a contract in exchange for the price given by a human can make his wish come true.
“But eventually people realize that it leads to absurd results.”
When demons make a contract with a human, they usually want the soul of the person who made the wish. Even in the game Etius, information in many books provides this information.
Of course, the person in the dark was prepared for that. He must have had the intention of strengthening humanity by perfecting mana injection, even if it meant selling his soul.
However, no matter how great his determination, no matter how
noble the sacrifice he made that even put his own soul on the scale,
the devil is not interested in such things.
“People are afraid of the devil taking human souls in a pact with the devil, but that’s not what they really have to fear. “We should be afraid of the cruelty of taking one’s soul and not even keeping a contract properly.”
The devil has a good understanding of human psychology. Especially in compensation psychology.
A clumsy belief that if a contract is worth selling one’s soul for, the honest and proper compensation will be given.
“In this case, the empty dark area would have been the knowledge to make mana injections without side effects.”
“Are you saying the devil didn’t give you that knowledge?”
“I would have given it to you. Because I have to fulfill the contract. However, this type of contract always has pitfalls.”
“What is a trap?”
“Knowledge becomes meaningful only when it is used. And knowledge and things created with that knowledge are two separate things.”
Fili made a sound like he understood what I said.
“…The devil was targeting the ‘thing’ created using that knowledge.”
“yes. It was probably intercepted during the experiment. “The knowledge was given and the contract was fulfilled, so after that, it has nothing to do with the contract.”
However, it is unusual for a demon, who is basically indifferent to human wishes, to be interested in the object.
Usually, they do things like the so-called ‘monkey hand’, which aims for a loophole in a wish or intentionally distorts it to make a wish come true but cause further misfortune.
Simply put, it is playing with humans.
It seems quite interesting that such a devil would be interested in human experiments and intercept them.
“Then what was born from that experiment…”
“Yes. “This is the monster that targeted the emperor.”
The plague of metamorphs.
That guy has the ability to imitate anyone he sees.
Not only the appearance, but also the flow of mana from within.
“Originally, it would have been a way to eliminate the side effects of mana injection. “If you can create mana that is exactly the same as the target, there will be no side effects even if you inject it.”
“I guess you weren’t a monster with an ego back then like you are now. There would have been no need for that.”
“yes. “It must have been the devil who did that.”
The disaster of Metamorph, which was originally supposed to be a mana injection.
It is unknown what the demons were aiming for with that ability, turning a human experiment into a monster.
Well, I’m stuck in my studio right now, so I’ll take my time and find out later.
“You arrived while we were talking.”
Philly and I came down all the stairs in the basement.
It’s been a while since I came here, but the sight I saw was completely different.
First of all, the door to the room where the Dragon Heart was stored has already been smashed, and the lingering scent of heterogeneous mana remains. Probably of the devils.
And above all, it smells like blood.
“The devil had a hand in human experimentation. When humans made a contract with the devil, a gate of sorts would have been formed in the ritual so that they could meet each other. The medium used as that medium would have been ‘Dragon Heart’. “It’s a mana crystal that’s very suitable for summoning demons.”
“So there were signs of a break-in here. It’s amazing. “I wasn’t planning on using the dragon heart itself as a mana injection, but rather using it to summon a demon.”
“The demon may have already been summoned at that time. The Dragon Heart was only a medium and would not be destroyed, and after making a contract with the summoned demon, the demon returned and the gate closed again. When that happens, all that remains are minor signs of intrusion.”
However, as long as the Dragon Heart remains in place, the devil will be able to open the gate again and come here.
Hiding the Dragon Heart and fixing its location for safekeeping became a stepping stone for the devil to come back here.
“…Let’s check inside.”
“yes.”
We walked slowly and entered the room where the dragon heart was.
And I found blood splattered everywhere. It seems as if there was a terrible massacre, but there are no corpses to be seen. It’s just full of blood.
Moreover, my ‘sixth sense’ tells me that this blood
is definitely “not the blood of one person.”
“How many?”
“It’s a significant number. “I can’t even count how much time has already passed.”
If you just want to kill someone, sometimes there isn’t that much blood. Of course. Because I’m not trying to draw blood.
Moreover, as predicted, this blood is not from ‘murder’.
“It looks like the contract has been completed.”
“…Then the owner of this blood”
“Yes. “It’s a dark room.”
[Subquest completed.]
[Subquest: Weeding out]
Description: The group that planned the mana injection belongs to the shadow department. Execute them according to Fili’s orders.
Goal: Eliminate the mastermind and collaborators of the plan.
Compensation: Paid separately depending on quest performance. If you miss a few of the masterminds or collaborators or eliminate other people in the shadow, your reward will drop. If you kill someone who is not a character in the shadow, you will fail.
If you fail, you lose Fili’s trust.
[Confirmation of reward]
– The mastermind of the plan lost his life to the devil.
– A collaborator in the plan lost his life to the devil.
[Reward has been withheld. Currently checking.]
I smiled wryly at the alarm on my smartwatch.
This quest was solved without me touching anything. Was there some confusion because it was a third outcome that was not determined by the quest?
In place of the shadow, something more troublesome has appeared.
“The Dragon Heart is still there. “I feel like I’ve used up a lot of mana.”
Fili narrowed his eyes and looked at Dragon Heart. As she said, the triangular ring has now lost much of its brilliant light and has become faint.
Following the summoning of demons, contracts, and Mizonas’ call, numerous demons have appeared through the gate here, so the vast mana is likely to run out.
‘…It’s a little strange.’
But I felt something different inside the dragon heart.
Ambu used this dragon heart to summon the devil and make a contract with him. Probably Satan.
Mizonas, Satan’s direct subordinate, is currently fighting Ajie.
Even though Ajie has the superiority in skill, the fact that a match is held is a testament to Mizonas’ power.
In addition, countless hordes of demons poured into the gate opened by this dragon heart.
‘…Hasn’t Dragon Heart already surpassed its limit?’
I have swallowed a dragon heart myself and handled it. Although it is not exact, we can get some idea of the size of its power.
According to my intuition, it is normal for all dragon hearts to have already been used up and disappear.
So how does the dragon heart still maintain its form?
“So what do we do now?”
I was awakened from my deep trouble by Fili’s question.
“It’s a bit of a waste, but let’s destroy this.”
“Dragon Heart?”
“yes. Then there will be no connection between here and the other world, and no more demons will come.”
The Zodiacs will take care of the demons that have already appeared, and if we leave Mizonas to Ajie, things will work out somehow.
If you destroy this heart, the immediate incident will be over.
“…great. “I don’t think I can use it for my husband if it’s been wasted like this anyway.”
Fili looked a little somber and nodded.
I slowly reached out for the dragon heart.
Moment.
[A moment before that.]
An unfamiliar and equally dull voice struck my ears.
[Sorry to disturb you, but please excuse me for a moment. Please forgive my rudeness.]
An overly polite voice. After that, a shape slowly formed above the dragon heart.
Fili and I looked up and saw the figure.
The pale-skinned man had a handsome appearance, but what caught my eye was his wide-open wings.
And I knew right away.
Bird wings, not bat wings.
A very deep and dark black, reminiscent of an angel.
Among the Seven Sins demons, only one has the wings of a black bird.
“…Satan.”
[Nice to meet you. Frontier. There was a lot of misunderstanding between us regarding this matter.]
Satan spoke to me.
The very gentlemanly gestures and tone actually raised my guard.
“You’re mistaken.”
[yes. I deeply apologize for harming the human king and for my subordinates threatening humans. It wasn’t originally planned to be like this.]
“But even now, a guy named Mizonas is setting it up, and swarms of bats are flying around in the imperial palace?”
[of course. Isn’t that why I came here myself?]
After saying that, Satan stretched out one hand.
Moment.
Squirt-!!
Suddenly, a sound as if air was being sucked rang out from the Dragon Heart and
“Kwaaaaah!!”
“Aaaahhh!”
A gate opened in front of Satan, and black things were sucked into the gate from all directions.
It was a group of demons who had completely lost their bodies here and their souls had passed on to the other world.
‘It may be said that the dragon heart was borrowed to open the gate, but it is only Ija’s power that can force the demons back.’
Moreover, looking at the way the demons scream, it seems as if they are being forcibly sucked in.
To drag so many demons to his world with a single wave of his hand.
And the last one after all the demons have been sucked in.
“Oops! Gagging! Lord Satan…!”
Satan’s right hand was holding Mizonas’ neck.
[Now, all the demons have been driven away. Will you accept my apology?]
After saying that, Satan even threw Mizonas beyond the gate. The reason he took it in his own hands in the first place was to appeal to me.
“…For a demon of rage, you’re quite gentle.”
I said. This was more of a question.
Satan’s eyes widened for a moment at my words, and then he laughed out loud.
[ha ha ha. Isn’t it natural?]
“Of course?”
[There is no way for a person in charge of anger to be consumed by anger.]
Those words.
Those words were said as if they were extremely common sense.
I got a hint to a question I had been thinking about until now.
‘okay. of course. A person in charge of anger cannot get drunk on anger. That’s not ruling, it’s being dominated.’
The devils who are in charge of sin are the ones furthest from that sin.
Demons are not drunk on sin.
“I just like anger. It is my nourishment for the emotion of anger. They prefer angry people and pursue angry situations. “It is the role of sinful demons to enjoy it.”
“…Right.”
Then by the same logic.
The devil of sloth, ‘Belphegor’, is also probably not a devil swallowed up by sloth. It must have a role in granting sloth.
‘First of all, that’s later.’
I withdrew my thoughts and asked Satan.
“Then Satan, the demon of anger, came all the way here to apologize?”
“of course. This incident is entirely my fault, so it is right for me to apologize. “That was the biggest reason.”
…the biggest reason.
“Then will you please go back? I need to destroy this dragon heart now. “I was so nervous to be in front of the devil.”
I said with a smile.
To put it simply, I was told to fuck off.
[Ah, before that.]
Satan shook his head.
[I would like to make a suggestion. What do you think?]
Satan said as if it was no big deal.
He said that the biggest reason was to apologize, but
he knew very well that what he was saying from now on was his true intention in coming this far.
“proposal?”
[okay. I’ll tell you straight.]
Satan lowered his eyes and looked at me.
[The monster you trapped.]
It was almost as expected.
[Return that disaster. It’s not something you should have.]
It’s not something you should have.
That being said, I was really wary of meeting that guy.
I asked with an innocent smile.
“I said it was a suggestion. “If I give him back, shouldn’t I get something in return?”
[Okay then. of course. Why don’t I know that?]
Satan nodded as if he deeply understood.
And said.
[Your life will be saved.]
He said in an overly polite voice.
[Not only you, but all citizens of the empire, no, all of humanity will not die by my hand. I could always take that heart out and step on it, but I won’t. [I have decided not to do it.]
He said, spreading his hands in a gentlemanly gesture.
[In other words, I saved all of humanity. Wouldn’t it be nice to get that monster back as a reward for saving humanity?]
That’s what the Demon of Anger does.
He spoke with a face that showed no trace of anger.