novelLuxuria: I Cannot Understand
| ← Ch.10 | Ch.12 → |
"Oy, you call yourselves the Third Brigade!? How long will you waste on a single Demon!?"
With a line like the trigger of a death flag, Deije burst onto the front lines.
The force of a thousand had, by the work of a single Demon Lord, been reduced to half its size. I'm unsure whether it's amazing or not that half of them even survived. But from a strategic standpoint, this battle is already our complete loss.
Of course, the enemy forces have only one survivor.
The Celeste in Deije's hands lets out heat again, as he lifts it, and swings it towards the ground.
A hot wave of air is let out, raising a dust cloud.
Deije opened his large mouth, and laughed.
"Ki ki ki, so you'll dodge a direct attack like that."
"... Enemy leader."
Zebul's voice was huskier, and more intellectual sounding than I expected.
She drew an ivory-white crescent moon-shaped blade, and began to attack. It was the first direct action that Demon Lord took.
While Deije's body was well trained, with the territorial boost, the Demon Lord greatly outclassed him. His arms continue to get cut up as he tries releasing power. The body of his sword lets off intense heat at the Lord, but her expression remains as cold as ever.
Deije used one of his remaining arms to swing a sword at her, but the tentacles extending from her back shot it down.
Even with six arms, he only has a single body. Compared to this Demon Lord with a seemingly endless amounts of appendages, his plight was close to mere child's play.
"Good skills."
"Ki ki ki, 'tis an honor to be praised by you!!"
His Demon Blade erupts in flames, and the fires lick Zebul's face.
A red flash shoots at her white sword. Fire spreads down her own irregularly sparkling blade, but while it's painful to admit, the Demon Lord calmly took the attack. It's as if she had read all of our movements.
But we had also anticipated that. It's not like we were certain the first strike would decide it.
Deige had attacked head on.
In the gap he made, I lowered my body, and cut at Zebul as well.
There was no order to the tentacle's movements, but they weren't faster than my perception. I used the dagger in my left hand to clear them away, and the ice sword in my left to finish.
For an instant, her body greatly contorted.
The sword swung through empty air, and her eyes turned to me.
Her gaze was hot. They resembled those of the Demon Lord of Lust who embraced her passions, and Deije, who hald his Demon Blade out front.
But these eyes were more sinful. I could only feel repulsed.
As Zebul governs Gluttony, the emotion she's feeling is naturally...
"Two of them... a little small, but they look quite tasty."
... Her Appetite.
She holds a strong desire to eat us, of the same race. Fear runs up my body, and my arm goes stiff.
There are plenty of demons that govern Gluttony out there, but within them, there are few who readily practice cannibalism.
The Devourer, Zebul Glaucus.
The land itself, other demons, and even Demon Lords are on her plate. One whose hunger was great enough to lead her to becoming a Demon Lord.
A tentacle goes through my back and left breast... it pierces my Soul Core. My magic, the organization of my body being stripped away.
"Fumu... a light taste... an illusion...this taste, so you're a Lust-kun..."
The last of my doubles finally vanishes. Phantom Aliquot Dance comes to an end.
With this, I've been reduced to but a single person.
But I've done enough.
"Ki ki ki, not bad, girly!"
In the moment I occupied her attention, Deije launched his attack.
He swung down Celeste at her unoccupied back... in front of the Demon Blade said to destroy even angels, Zebul merely turned her head, and opened her mouth wide.
Nicely lined up fangs, garnished the mouth that spread all across her face. By what order I do not know, but a completely calm response came from the back of her throat.
"A Demon Blade... never eaten one before. It may be a delicacy."
"What!?"
The sword swung down by his strong arms were stopped by her mouth. The red steel is pierced by her fangs.
Flames try to mow down her teeth, but since most of its power had already been devoured, Zebul doesn't show any anguish on her face. Her teeth make a grinding sound as she begins to chew up the sword.
Deije tries to pull it back, but there are no signs of it escaping her mouth.
However, the fact that she was eating the sword meant her main body could no longer move.
Deije lowered another sword with his upper left hand.
Zebul blocked it with her own sword, and locked it down.
Chance!
I lower my body, and sprint towards her before stabbing my sword at her now-defenseless back.
But then, I heard a voice from an unexpected plase/
"Your main body... that magic looks quite delicious."
The back tears open, and a viscous black liquid stains the overcoat.
It was a large mouth. Each and every one of her lined up fangs was about the length of my dagger.
I frantically withdrew my blade, but the long tongue that shot out followed me.
With impossible anatomy, it wound itself around the sword. The cold atmosphere around it freezes the tongue, but without paying any mind, she continues pulling it with amazing force.
"Fufufu, the texture isn't bad..."
Her voice is in high spirits.
She shows no sway in her emotions even when up against demons swinging swords at her.
Her desire is so incomprehensibly deep that I'm not sure it can even be summed up as appetite.
"Ku, monster!"
Deije brings out another sword, and swings it with his left-center arm, and Zebul caught it with her unoccupied hand.
No, that's no hand. In the palm of it... another mouth sprung up.
Those fangs easily bit through the sword's body. Even though it was supposed to be a Demon Blade, a single bite caused countless fragments of metal to scatter.
The tongue from her hand mouth circled to make sure no fragment was lost, before wrapping around the broken blade.
With that timing, without even paying heed to Deije's hand.
"... You have something nice here. It's Tasty. The consistence, and the taste... Not bad at all."
The handle he let go of disappeared into the mouth.
To savor the taste, the hand mouth leisurely started chewing.
Her eyes are colored with supreme bliss.
"This one... my collection..."
"Fufufu, so you're a Greed-kun. I feel my stomach will be satisfied for the first time in a while."
The power of the tongue I was fighting with finally plucked my sword off of me.
I feel bad for Deije, but I back stepped to create distance.
The mouth crunches the sword to pieces. The grinding sound released was as if the sword itself was crying out.
Noticing that, Deije released an exasperated scream.
"O-oy, girly! Don't just let her eat it! That's mine, you know!"
"T-there was no helping it!"
Zebul's tongue continues to float in the air as it searches for new prey.
Rather than me, it goes for the closer Deije.
Before I could call out to warn him, the tongue was knocked down by a large sword.
"... What are you?"
"..."
A giant skeleton... Leigie-sama's Slaughter Doll swung its arms that were now the width of iron poles.
A sword much larger than Zebul dug into the ground.
The earth rends below it, but the skeletons hands don't stop. Those were movements that were definitely impossible for a normal Demon. The sword drew a strange line in the air as it cut forward.
The tongue and Tentacles tried to entwine it, but the sheer momentum of the hunk of iron brushed them off as it came at her face.
The skeleton didn't exude a prescence, and its attacks didn't give off a hint of life.
"Good job!"
Deije reached his hands into the air, and pulled out more swords from his special space.
The Skeleton's physical strength is terrifying. Its arms probably exceed the trained mercenary Deije's in might.
Zebul's expression is colored by panic, and she releases Celeste as she takes some distance.
Celeste is covered in something like mucus, and fine cracks extend along its surface.
"... What could that be... it's not a Demon, it has no presence."
"Ki ki ki, it's just a candlestick holder, you know! Boss's just put a little spell on it!"
The skeleton answers Deije's will, and pushes the sole of its foot into the ground.
Its explosive power rockets it forward, and Zebul blocked it with a perfect stance.
The bastard sword and the Demon Lord's blade locked.
The swings from a body twice the size of Zebul's were as swift as a storm, and with chaotic motions, it continued to try and mow her down.
But Zebul's blade accurately repels it, and her eyes show she's trying to aim for its neck.
"... Doesn't look very tasty. Though I look like this, I'm quite a gourmet."
"..."
Like hell, Devourer!
She lightly dodges the bastard sword, and slashes forward with her ivory-white sabre.
It took the attack with the upper part of its left arm. The joint area snapped, and the rest of the arm flew into the sky.
But the Doll didn't seem to mind that at all, as it continued to swing the sword in its right. It swiped at Zebul horizontally.
Zebul dodged the attack by lowering her body to the ground.
Even if it doesn't have a sense of pain, it's just a Doll. It's lacking in power to take on a Demon Lord.
It was enough to create an opportunity. The amount of arms and enemies Zebul had to concentrate on increased, and she was left with more openings.
But that's all. None of our attacks even work on her, and our weapons were indiscriminately eaten up.
The situation is still as bad as it had been. The fact that we're all alive is close to a miracle.
What's more, up until now, Zebul hasn't even used any direct skills.
Her magic power is sky high, and she hasn't used any skill with a high output.
Zebul took a deep sigh as she jumped backwards.
"My, my, what an annoying ingredient... Well, meals tend to taste better if you have to put in the time and effort."
Countless tentacles erupt out of her body. Please cut us some slack already.
Their number and thickness is incomparable to what she displayed before.
I'm starting to doubt whether that small body or the tentacles are this one's real body with how buried she is in them.
Of her body itself, only a single mouth could be seen in the center. This is getting quite grotesque, and her voice hasn't changed in the slightest.
"Demons of Greed... you can get a greater depth of taste if you eat their collections first."
Her words came abruptly.
Her slim figure was overflowing with power. The vague Mana that had been hanging in the air suddenly became concentrated.
"Strangely, Demons of Lust give off an extremely sweet taste. Fufufu, I'll teach you the greatest of pleasure. It's fine, you all are splendid ingredients, so I won't eat you like those other Demons. I'll eat you in the proper way."
That... doesn't actually make me happy at all.
To violate as you eat. To be violated as you're eaten.
Imagining it sends shivers down my spine.
Even as a fellow Devil, I cannot understand it in the slightest.
This is bad. I'm not exactly sure what's bad, but if keep wasting time, something bad's going to happen.
However, my feet won't move. Immense pressure binds my body.
It's a Demon Lord Series skill. While its user cannot move while using it, it can bind the movements of others. It can only bind beings lesser than the caster, but it's more than useful enough to create preparations to use a large skill.
Perhaps Deije is the same. His face is stiff as he opens his mouth.
"This is no joke. Just what is your goal...?"
"Goal...? Let's see, if I had to say... I'm hungry."
The casual words she leaked out made me doubt my ears.
But that line had a meaning much deeper than that.
Endless hunger... I'm glad. Glad that I wasn't born under Gluttony. No, perhaps this one is just abnormal.
"I'm a bit of a heavy eater... At some point, I realized I had finished eating all of my own portion. So there's no helping it. In order to live, I have to eat, and I had an obligation to let my people eat."
"... What about those people?"
"I've already eaten them."
The people lent to him by the Great Demon King were... eaten?
Zebul speaks as if she's giving a simple explanation.
"Well, they were low quality goods, but they did manage to fill my stomach somewhat. Fufufu, it seems my subordinates were satisfied with them, but for me the taste was just terrible... honestly, that Greed-kun's sword was much tastier."
"..."
Even Deije didn't expect that one. He remains silent.
There's no words to return after being told his sword tasted good.
No, the personality that girl has... it'll forever be beyond my comprehension. I mean, even the Second Brigade has some Gluttony Demons, but they're just slightly big eaters, and they haven't leapt this far over the edge.
"Well, I would like to give you peace of mind. You all will... continue to live on within me!"
Countless Tentacles flew at me with a speed incomparable to the attacks she used before.
Something is coming.
That vigilance was the only thing that kept my life attached. The moment the Tentacles came, I instinctively kicked with my feet, which had regained movement, and rolled to the side.
Each and every tentacle drips with a purple fluid, which glittered as it caught the light.
Deije also determined he was screwed, and instead of confronting it, he jumped backwards.
Only the one-armed doll swung its sword to meet the tentacles.
It cut them down as they rained on it from all directions.
But the sword 'slipped'.
The giant blade made a loud sound as it fell.
The tentacle that had successfully knocked away its obstacle wrapped itself around the skeleton, and the silver body that was supposed to be strengthened by Leigie-sama's magic quite literally began to fall to pieces.
"Wha..."
Its ending was so abrupt that Deije had no choice but to raise his voice.
The feelers grabbed the skeletal parts as-is and brought them to a hole that opened in the dark mass.
"... As I thought, it's just normal metal. It isn't even a maic tool or anything... was it controlled by some skill? It isn't very appetizing, but it's not inedible or anything."
"Dammit, in order to get that, do you know just how much trouble I went through? How many Demons I killed...!?"
"Fufufu, it looks like I did something inexcusable. Don't worry, you'll meet up in my stomach soon enough."
He cuts down the purple tentacles coming at him with Celeste, and gives tears of grief as he barely dodges them.
One of the Third Brigade Members was caught by one, and easily torn to pieces. A shower of blood disperses into the air, before he was swiftly absorbed into the tentacle.
He was eaten... each and every one of those tentacles... they're mouths!?
"Even if it isn't the leader, aren't they all quite tasty? Nice and powerful."
"..."
The racing tentacles go out in all directions, and I was unable to perceive them.
My cloak was barely pierced, but the hole made in it gradually began to grow. I immediately cast it away, and exerted myself to dodge the rest.
She isn't serious. If she was, we'de have died long ago.
The tentacles I dodge either hit the ground, or pierce some other Demon and absorb them. Each and every time that happens, Zebul raises a cry of ecstasy.
Why won't she get serious?
No, that's wrong... she's...
Unable to dodge, my belt was grazed next.
It began to erode my body, so I discarded it.
Again. She isn't going for me when I'm wide open. She's...
They extend at me from all sides. I have no time to even counterattack.
This time, my metal breastplate is grazed. Again.
The feeler's liquid even melts the metal easily. It was probably an item imbued with magic, but that doesn't seem to matter.
I take off the mail, and take some distance.
With attacks from all directions, where each blow would be fatal, as well as the pressure exerted by the Demon Lord, my stamina is at its limit.
Her attack range is wide, and each time she melts down a Brigade Member, Zebul's magic is restored.
But above all else, this Demon Lord is definitely going easy on me.
"What are you planning..."
"Fufufu, do you go as far as to crunch the shell when eating?"
| ← Ch. 10 | Ch. 12 → |