Mephistopheles.
In ancient times, he was the greatest Demon King. However, having been sealed away for a long time, his existence has now become forgotten.
He was visibly annoyed.
“I’m sure I told you not to address me in such a manner?”
“Then should I call you Pheles, huh?”
“Didn’t I tell you?! Every letter of my name carries an eternal and sacred meaning bestowed by the Great Demon God…!”
“Yawn.”
“You damned wretch!”
Mephistopheles.
From his eyes, which Elric casually addressed as ‘Mephisto’, flames seemed ready to burst out at any moment.
Wasn’t he the one who, throughout his lifetime, subjugated all demons, and led the world into danger and chaos?
Furthermore, he had also waged war with the last remaining Dragon King.
Yet now, he was being treated this way by a mere human. His anger was certainly rising to the top of his head.
He would’ve loved to strike Elric with a bolt of lightning at that very moment.
But he simply couldn’t.
He no longer had the physical form to do so.
“To think I’d be caught by someone like this…!”
When Mephisto first regained consciousness, he thought he had gone mad, realizing that not only had the revenge he’d awaited for over a millennium crumbled, but his magic power had been entirely stolen by Elric.
Furthermore, what was left of him after his main body was torn apart was just a fragment of magical energy.
While he barely retained memories and his identity from the past, he could no longer be called the Demon King.
In essence, he was now a fallen king.
That description would be more appropriate.
“Isn’t even a fallen king too overrated for you? You’re just a lost spirit with no clue.”
“Y-you…!”
“Ah, even that seems too generous. Let’s just simplify it to a petty ghost.”
“…!”
Mephisto raged, spewing curses, but Elric easily ignored him by plugging his ears.
However, despite that nonchalant attitude, in truth, Elric was quite shocked inside.
‘Mephisto… I remembered just now. He couldn’t possibly be one of the four disciples that the ancient Demon God once ruled over.’
In ancient times, now only remembered as myths and legends, back when Gods directly governed the world, the Demon God, symbolizing darkness, had four disciples.
They were known respectively as ‘Original Sin’, ‘Apocalypse’, ‘Madness’, and ‘Heresy’, and their stories were barely passed down.
But Elric remembered a part in an old book he had come across in his family that mentioned that another name for ‘Original Sin’ was ‘Mephistopheles.’
Back then, he thought of it as simple gossip, but…..
‘To think I’d encounter such a being. It wasn’t just a mere legend, was it?’
It was astonishing for Elric.
‘Then what is this, exactly?’
Naturally, his curiosity about the magical formula grew even more.
At a glance, it still seemed like nothing more than an old necklace without any distinctive features.
He couldn’t even begin to guess how such powerful magic was contained within it, or what other powers it must be hiding.
“Why, of all the vessels, did it have to be a Melvinger…?”
Suddenly, Elric snapped to attention at Mephisto’s mutterings.
“Mephisto.”
“What?”
“Do you know our family?”
『Hmph! Why should this king answer your questions?』
Mephisto sneered, seemingly uninterested.
‘It’s clear he knows something.’
Elric was quick to grasp the meaning behind it.
‘Is that even possible? Has our family history stretched back so far?’
Elric was well aware that the Melvinger family had been at war with the demon race for a very long time.
But he never imagined it went back far enough for Mephisto to know of it.
Especially considering the strong resentment in his words, it seemed he had a deep-seated grudge or old enmity.
‘Come to think of it…’
A voice that he heard in his dreams briefly flashed in his mind.
Presumably, it was a voice left behind by one of his ancestors.
-May our legacy be fully passed on by our descendants in the distant future.
-Originally, we…
-Right here, according to the decided order, the first demon will be consumed.
His ancestor spoke as if Mephisto, or more precisely, some Demon King or a member of the demon race, would ‘naturally’ extend their influence to his descendants.
That probably meant the history of the family’s battle against the demon race ran incredibly deep—deeper than Elric could have ever guessed.
And perhaps the magical instrument encapsulated the entire history of their family?
‘A magical instrument… no, a tool for consuming demon lords.’
Elric touched the magical instrument with his fingertips.
‘If I encounter other demons, can I consume them just as I did now?’
His ancestor certainly emphasized the ‘first.’
Did that mean there were more to come?
The moment that thought crossed his mind, Elric’s eyes shone fiercely.
‘But before I figure out the exact use of the magical instrument, I need to train my body first.’
——————
faqwiki.us
Join our Discord for new chapter updates!
https://discord.com/invite/xr7SxG5T6V
——————
Elric looked down at his trembling hands.
Even though he had simply channeled his magic, he felt dizzy.
It was evident that his physical body was not yet accustomed to manifesting magic.
But it couldn’t be helped.
Although he had been given a seemingly decent body, he had never properly used magic before.
Thus, training was essential.
‘Let’s go.’
After concluding his thoughts, Elric quickly gathered his belongings.
And as Sean had previously told him, he used the secret passage hidden behind the fireplace to leave the hospital.
It was said to have been created for the royals, as a precaution against sudden assassination threats.
Thanks to that, Sean’s guards didn’t notice him at all.
“Phew…!”
Elric took a deep breath of the refreshing air outside.
It felt liberating after the suffocating environment.
『What’s with that sigh? Sneaking around like a rat! How can you, bearing this King’s power, show such a disgraceful appearance…?!』
Mephisto seemed displeased with Elric’s actions and heavily criticized him.
Having already made up his mind about Mephisto, Elric responded lightly.
“Petty ghost.”
『How dare you disrespect this King with such words…?!』
“Just be quiet. You’re noisy.”
『…!』
Mephisto raged on.
Elric simply responded indifferently, knowing that paying attention to him would only be vexing.
‘This place seems suitable.’
As Elric climbed the slope, he was able to find an open space. It was a good distance away from the mountain path.
It appeared to be seldom visited by humans. Aside from traces of animals passing by, there were no other signs of life.
This place seemed perfect to focus on training without any external disturbances.
Elric sat in a cross-legged position and closed his eyes.
He then concentrated on all his senses.
Whoosh!
Perhaps because he had experienced it once already?
Elric was immediately immersed in his surroundings.
His senses picked up various pieces of information, painting a vivid picture in his mind.
-Hearing.
From a distance, he heard the sound of the wind blowing along the mountain path.
It seemed he also faintly heard the rustling of a squirrel, holding an acorn, running through the grass.
-Touch.
He felt the soft touch of the wind on his fingertips.
-Smell.
The wind carried a particularly strong scent of flowers.
He detected the refreshing smell of a shepherd’s purse mixed with the deep fragrance of camellia, perhaps being grown by someone nearby.
His mind felt clearer.
No, it was genuinely becoming clearer.
-Taste.
The sweetness of some fruits mixed with the wind lingered in his mouth.
Although he had been hungry, that feeling was quickly suppressed.
Even though he had been thirsty, the feeling vanished immediately.
-Vision.
As the accumulated sensory information stacked up, a new space gradually formed in Elric’s mind.
Centered around Elric, this space vividly depicted everything within a 100-meter radius.
Things that would normally not be visible to the naked eye.
From the fireflies fluttering above the grass blades, to pine cones falling from trees, even to worms revealing their faces from the soil to bask in the sunlight…
All of these were visible from an omnipotent perspective.
The extension of the senses and the augmentation of perception were essential foundational conditions for activating magic.
Considering this, among the two domains, there would be hardly anyone less than a magician who could match Elric’s capabilities.
However…
‘What I’m aiming to see here are the nodes.’
Delving deeper into the cognitive realm, Elric was able to detect the nodes hidden beneath the surface of the world.
A world entwined with complex webs of thick and thin lines, much like a spider’s web.
Yet, what he was searching for was distinct even within that.
‘Found it.’
He focused on one of the four primary elements: Fire.
Bringing his fingertip close, he touched it.
At that moment…
Whoosh.
Some magical power leaked from the Dragon Heart, rushed to his fingertips and mixed with the nodes.
And then…
“【Ignite】“
When Elric uttered that, a massive flame surged up.
Whoosh!
Was it about 1 meter?
No, perhaps 2 meters?
The intensity of the flames was so fierce that even Elric, the caster, was taken aback, his eyes widening in surprise.
He was certain he had only infused the amount typical for a beginner’s spell, classified as a 1st circle magic, ‘Flame of Fire’.
‘This feels almost on par with the ‘Pillar of Fire’…?’
He was able to produce the power of a beginner’s 3rd circle with just a 1st circle quantity.
Furthermore, Elric succeeded in manifesting magic with just the image of “igniting a fire” in his mind, without any specific spell formulation.
It was something that defied common sense.
‘In the original magical system, one would have to detect the mana circuit, extract mana from it, integrate it with the circle to process the magical power, and decipher the formula to complete the spell.’
However, Elric omitted all these basic steps, known as the ‘Spell Formulation Process.’
As if all of it was unnecessary.
‘I tried it because the purity of the power contained in the Dragon Heart is so clear, and its density is so high. But I didn’t expect it to work.’
Thoughts raced in Elric’s head.
‘I can deploy magic quickly with much less power. Not to mention its precision…!’
With this, Elric now possessed a unique advantage that others didn’t have.
‘I never imagined that my realization from the dragon’s nest would be this helpful.’
Elric trembled with joy.
The Draconic magic he glimpsed in the dragon’s nest. The newly reassembled magical knowledge was shining brightly.
And then…
『To think I’d see something like this again after a millennium… Ahhh!』
Mephisto, watching Elric, seemed to be reminded of old adversaries and trembled, albeit in an entirely different context.
Yet part of him was significantly startled.
‘A mere human reproducing Draconic magic? Even for a Melvinger, this is unbelievable…!’
