Chapter 97

“Wh-what’s gotten into everyone?”

“Who is this Vulcan, anyway?”

The younger demons were bewildered by the sudden change in atmosphere. The old demons born before the War of the Monarchs clicked their tongues reproachfully.

“What? You don’t know Vulcan the Greedy?”

“You youngsters these days!”

“Do you think we’d be doing nothing worse than swinging pickaxes if Vulcan were still alive?”

“Exactly, exactly. We’d have been eaten long ago, without so much as a scrap of bone left!”

“...?”

As the youngsters grew even more confused, the old demons began talking over one another, recounting that dreadful, terrifying past.

... Demons fall into two broad categories: those with intelligence and those without.

Intelligent demons did not even consider unintelligent demons their own kind, treating them as insignificant vermin.

And...

“Long, long ago, Vulcan was nothing but a nameless little creature too!”

A creature that crawled abjectly through the very bottom of the Demon Realm, licking up the blood and scraps of flesh left on the ground after other demons finished hunting.

“Just a worm wriggling on instinct.”

That was the full extent of Vulcan’s standing in the Demon Realm.

But the Demon Realm was a hellish place where a vicious struggle to eat or be eaten was simply part of everyday life. In that pandemonium, a truly strong demon was not one with great physical strength or mana, but one that somehow endured and survived to the end.

“... In that sense, Vulcan was a truly strong demon.”

Though born weak and lowly, Vulcan crawled flat against the ground by day and hid underground at night to avoid becoming prey for the strong. Scavenging the scraps other demons dropped as they ate—the blood and flesh of demons—he slowly built up his strength where no one could see.

Then one day, while endlessly hiding from the strong, Vulcan discovered “it” entirely by chance.

[“Grrr...?”]

Unfortunately, Vulcan lacked the intelligence to recognize what it was back then. But even without intelligence, his instincts led him to the best possible decision.

CRACK!

Clinging to that enormous thing, Vulcan snapped off a small branch. Then he greedily devoured the leaves growing on it.

At that moment...

CRUNCH!

[“... Grk?!”]

A change came over Vulcan’s body.

CRACK! CRACK!

[“Graaaaah...!”]

Writhing in excruciating pain, Vulcan began to grow larger. At the same time, a faint spark of intelligence blossomed in his empty head.

And he finally realized what stood before him.

[World Tree]

“... What Vulcan discovered was the very tip of the World Tree, whose branches extended into the Demon Realm.”

Thus, the lowly demon who happened upon and ate the World Tree’s leaves came to acquire the name Vulcan. Wielding “Vulcan’s Club,” fashioned from a branch he had broken off the World Tree, he turned the tables on the powerful demons that had scorned him, hunting and devouring them.

[“Graaaah!”]

No demon could withstand Vulcan’s attacks with that sturdy World Tree branch as his weapon. He grew and grew, chewing and swallowing the blood and flesh of his defeated enemies until his belly threatened to burst.

“The moment we encountered Vulcan, we were forced to choose.”

Become his food, or prostrate ourselves before him and volunteer to serve him.

That was how Vulcan finally became the ruler of a region—a demon noble.

But was it because of his abnormal growth?

For some reason, Vulcan never acquired the ability to speak, even after becoming a demon noble. He had developed a bare minimum of intelligence, but that was all. He remained nothing more than an instinct-driven predator and never even learned how to create bloodstones, the hallmark of demon nobility.

Of course, it hardly mattered if he couldn’t make bloodstones. He could simply chew up and swallow the demons he hunted whole. To Vulcan, that was far tastier and more enjoyable anyway.

“So even after becoming a demon noble, Vulcan reigned as a predator, constantly devouring the demons beneath him.”

[Vulcan the Greedy]

That was the name demons of the time called him, trembling with fear.

“Until the shadow army killed him during the War of the Monarchs, that is.”

“...”

The younger demons swallowed hard at the old demons’ tale. They understood just how extraordinary it was for a lesser demon to become a demon noble through his own power.

“J-just how many did he eat...?”

Even devouring every demon filling this colosseum would not have been enough to accomplish that.

And at that very moment, in the center of the colosseum...

MOOOOOO...!

BOOM!

A gigantic demon bearing Vulcan’s Horn was locked in a bloody battle with minotaurs. Watching him, the old demons nodded with conviction.

“He looks a little different, but there’s no mistaking it.”

“That’s Vulcan’s horn.”

“That’s Vulcan’s aura.”

“If that isn’t Vulcan brought back to life, then he must be Vulcan’s flesh and blood...”

Whichever was true, the situation was undeniably shocking.

* * *

Meanwhile, even as he fought, Suho could hardly believe what he was hearing from all around him.

“Did you hear that? They say I’m Vulcan’s son.”

[Congratulations. The secret of your birth is finally out.]

“Quit joking. What kind of guy was Vulcan to get this reaction?”

[Just a fat pig with a big appetite. And a potbelly.]

“That doesn’t sound anything like me.”

[I think eating bloodstones in here must have stimulated something in Vulcan.]

Vulcan was a demon noble who had never eaten a bloodstone in his life. Now that he had suddenly gotten a taste of them—even if only through his horn—the aura he had possessed in life had surged.

Like sprouts emerging from parched earth after a welcome rain.

[Vulcan’s distinctive stench is pouring out of your horn right now.]

“Stench? I don’t smell anything.”

[Of course not. Only demons can smell it. More importantly, behind you!]

“I know!”

At Esil’s warning, Suho immediately stopped talking and spun around. He grabbed the horn of the minotaur charging him from behind like a maddened bull and drove his fist down.

BANG!

“Moooo!”

The minotaur facing him was truly tough. It took Suho’s powerful blow head-on while simultaneously returning a savage punch of its own.

BOOM!

An immense shock wave burst from Suho’s body as though a bomb had exploded.

But...

[‘Skill: Toughness’ reduces damage.]

“I’m pretty tough myself.”

Suho kept swinging his fists, taking the attack head-on too.

“Moooo!”

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

[Wh-what a mindless way to fight...]

Esil clicked her tongue in dismay.

Abandoning all defense and doing nothing but raining attacks on each other was such a crude way to fight that a demon noble could scarcely imagine it.

No, there had been exactly one noble like that.

Vulcan.

BANG!

“Moooo...”

At last, that mindless battle had a winner and a loser. Another gigantic beast finally lost its strength and collapsed beneath Suho’s merciless violence.

“You really can take a beating.”

Suho was genuinely impressed. All five minotaurs he had defeated were still alive, writhing on the ground and panting for breath.

Even with the victor decided, the demons were too stunned to cheer.

“Good grief...”

“He took down five minotaurs all by himself...”

“Vulcan’s son, all right...”

But one demon reacted differently: the head jailer.

“... Heh.”

His eyes gleamed with greed as he watched Suho.

‘What a windfall. Vulcan’s own flesh and blood!’

SLURP.

His mouth kept watering. Naturally. This was Vulcan they were talking about! The very symbol of how even a lowly demon could rise to nobility!

He wanted to know.

‘How much stronger could I become if I ate him?’

The mere thought stirred an enormous appetite. The head jailer quickly scanned the colosseum.

‘He’s not here yet!’

Despite all this commotion, the Tyrant King had yet to appear in the colosseum. It was all thanks to One-Horn ending his fights so quickly.

As he realized that, urgency crossed the head jailer’s face.

‘What if I eat him before the Tyrant King arrives?’

What would happen then?

‘Could I become even stronger than the Tyrant King?’

The moment that audacious thought occurred to him, an incredible thrill shot through his entire body from head to toe.

‘I could become stronger than the Tyrant King? Me? I could rule this place?’

The demon’s desire-filled heart began pounding like thunder. And as a demon, wouldn’t it be terribly rude to ignore such a desire?

WHOOSH!

“Huh!”

“H-head jailer?!”

The Demon Jailers beside him stared wide-eyed as he suddenly leaped into the arena. But none of them dared stop his unexpected action. In the Tyrant King’s absence, he was the highest-ranking demon here.

A gleam entered Suho’s eyes as he saw the head jailer charging straight at him without warning.

“Caught a big one.”

[Don’t let your guard down! He has far more mana than you!]

“Mana isn’t everything.”

Besides...

‘Taking out their leader first is much more efficient than having them all rush me at once.’

Suho quickly readied himself for battle.

But although desire had driven the head jailer to act impulsively, he was no fool. His cunning gaze darted toward the minotaurs lying around Suho.

‘I mustn’t get careless.’

After all, One-Horn had single-handedly beaten down five of those tough creatures. If he was Vulcan’s son, that was all the more reason not to underestimate him.

The head jailer extended both hands and shouted at the minotaurs.

“Rise again, Frenzied Blood Bulls!”

[Kieek?! How dare you say those words first!]

Beru, hidden in the shadows, flew into a rage. But Frenzied Blood Poison was already streaming from the head jailer’s hands, poisoning the fallen minotaurs.

“Moooo...!”

Writhing in tremendous pain, the minotaurs hauled themselves upright again. Their bodies burned unbearably within. Every drop of blood in their veins was boiling.

Using Frenzied Blood Poison on creatures already exhausted and dying was effectively a death sentence. If he had used the poison from the start, the minotaurs would not even have tried to fight, desperate to preserve their lives.

But things were different now.

“Mooooo!”

The minotaurs unleashed all their pain and rage on Suho, the one they had been fighting all this time.

[Domesticated Minotaur is overcome by madness.]

[Domesticated Minotaur is overcome by madness.]

[Domesticated Minotaur is overcome by madness.]

...

Smiling with utter malice, the head jailer gave them their orders.

“Yes! Kill him! Burn away your very lives if you must, but tear him limb from limb!”

“Mooooo!”

“Bwahaha! Flesh and blood of Vulcan! I’ll devour every last drop of your blood, every scrap of flesh, and every fragment of bone!”

The head jailer charged with the maddened minotaurs, intent on chewing up Suho’s heart.

“Vulcan’s power is mine...!”

It happened then.

HUMMM.

As if answering the head jailer, Suho’s horn—no, Vulcan’s Horn—began vibrating and emitting an eerie cry.

Then...

DING!

[An Emergency Quest has been issued.]

‘Emergency?’

A quest window suddenly unfurled before Suho’s eyes.

[Emergency Quest: Vulcan’s Greed]

A powerful craving for strength has awakened the demon soul slumbering within Vulcan’s Horn.

Having awakened from a long sleep, ‘Vulcan the Greedy’ is suffering from extreme hunger.

Feed Vulcan his fill of demon souls and obtain a special reward.