Book Eater

Chapter 296: Reproduction of Myths (4)

“Kihihihihit! For the king!”

The Red Knight, Vampire Lord Elohim, moved first. He had the characteristic bat wings and pointed fangs of a vampire, a species that couldn’t use half of its power under the sun. However, it was a different story now that Erebos’ fog had filled the area.

Vampire Lord Elohim took two steps, moving faster than sound and without any afterimages, as a bloody aura wrapped around Invidia.

Jeeeong!

There was a loud impact, and Elohim was deflected away. His arms were badly shattered, but his regenerative power, using all the blood he had accumulated over the centuries, meant he was close to immortal. He acted without caring about his body. Thus, even Invidia couldn’t cope easily.

“Damn Gluttony! Do you intend to deal with me by borrowing the power of a low ranking warlock?”

However, it wasn’t a human who answered.

Kiaaaack!

White Knight Hipatia screamed! A terrible mental wave filled the area, attacking without regard for friend or foe. However, the undead’s spirits had long decayed, meaning only Invidia received a substantial blow. The sound rattled his nervous system. Invidia’s mental state was close to invincible, but its host was just a human body. The confused host temporarily escaped from Invidia’s control.

「Death… follows behind… you...! 」

The arch lich’s 8th Circle curse spell sank its claws into Invidia’s body. As it felt his body rapidly grow heavy, Invidia’s eyes turned bloodshot, and it drew on its strength. It had consumed more than half his power in the battle against Godking Nuada, but it still had many swordmaster abilities left. A bloody aura flashed, and the curse on its body exploded.

“―Good, I will play with you! You, who plays with the remnants of the deceased, I will make you regret stumbling in front of me!”

Invidia’s aura soared into the sky. The four Riders all stiffened for a moment. They were monsters with considerable battle experience, but their opponent was a grimoire that had existed since the earliest days of history. It was hard for even the four Riders to win.

“A clown is speaking such funny words.” However, Jerem chuckled without any fear. “You don’t even know the mistakes you made, lost in fear after being driven to the extremes.”

Invidia’s eyes narrowed. “What?”

Jerem smiled dangerously. “Don’t worry, I’ll use your life to teach you.”

The Riders accepted their king’s will and roused their magic power again. Invidia dropped into a combat stance, twitching as the ominous power swept toward him like a wave. The four Riders charged at it.

The terror wight screamed, the vampire lord sent his blood streaming through the air, and the arch lich launched curses at the slightest opportunity. The aura of death coming from the pale rider’s hands and feet was also terrifying. This was the second round between the Four Horsemen and Invidia.

“They should last a few minutes without my help.”

As his Riders faced Invidia, Jerem looked down at Veronica’s body, which was lying at his feet.

A quarter-dragon hybrid?

Veronica was still struggling at the border of death as the elixir fought to keep her heart beating. An average person would have died from the shock alone.

“Let’s see... Hrmm, this is a little annoying.”

Black magic, including necromancy, was a field that dealt extensively with death. Therefore, they were usually very sensitive to the soul. As such, a 9th Circle warlock like Jerem instantly identified the core problem. Theo’s body only had eight Circles, but Jerem knew that Umbra could make up for the lack of strength. At least, in Jerem’s judgment, Veronica’s wounds couldn’t be healed with 8th Circle spells.

“Tsk, I have to patch it up first.”

Umbra shone on Theo’s right hand, and a string of green magic power penetrated Veronica’s body. An 8th Circle magician couldn’t cast magic that directly interfered with the soul. However, Jerem’s deep understanding of magic and Umbra’s ability forcibly made it possible.

The astral-like magic power transformed into a needle as Jerem roughly stitched Veronica’s soul together. Then he glanced at Theo’s other companion, Randolph.

“Hmm... the wounds are serious, but he should be fine. A swordmaster’s natural recovery should be more than enough to handle it.”

It was as he said. As long as it wasn’t a deadly wound, the body of a swordmaster would recover quickly with time and nutrition. There were a few broken ribs and damaged lungs, but a few days of bed rest should bring him back to his feet. His injuries couldn’t compare to Veronica, whose soul had been torn

In case something happened, Jerem moved Veronica before looking back across the battlefield, which was gradually tilting to one side. His Four Riders were doing their best, but Invidia was quickly gaining the upper hand as it unleashed more strength.

“Indeed, a noncombatant Seven Sins is still strong.”

Invidia had already spent most of his power against Nuada. If Invidia were at full strength, Jerem would be at a disadvantage. Therefore, Jerem needed to kill him here. Theo’s face twisted into an evil smile. It would be too troublesome to confront Invidia with a body that was only at the 8th Circle and possessed insufficient strength.

In that case, all he needed to do was add more power.

「Answer me, pillars of the underworld! 」

It had been a few centuries since the legitimate owner had opened the door. The barrier to the back of the material world opened its mouth.

Named after a mythical record, Tartarus, this was the space where Jerem had placed the undead he created in his prime: a bone dragon, made from the body of a black dragon; a death knight lord, made from a grandmaster’s body; a chimera daemon, created from the fusion of a human and demon body; and a hydra, a legendary creature of the era.

If he brought out any one of them it would be a disaster on a continental scale. It had been different during the Age of Mythology when there had been nearly a hundred grandmasters. In this era, his undead were invincible monsters.

They were so powerful that only a few 8th Circle magicians together could control them.

“Ghoul prince, helix ogre. These two should be enough.”

Both undead answered Jerem’s call and rose from the abyss.

■■■■■■■■―――!!

■■■■■■■―――!!

An ogre with four horns, magma-like eyeballs, dark leather, and a mace in its hands emerged, as the ghoul prince followed. They were both akin to adult dragons in terms of disaster potential. Jerem bringing them both out was tantamount to a death penalty for Invidia.

“Go.”

Two monsters that could collapse the balance were released.

***

The earthshaking fight continued. The amount of power that had been released over the course of the battle would have destroyed a kingdom several times over. One side was a notorious grimoire from the Age of Mythology, and on the other side was a warlock who had almost turned the entire continent into a living hell.

It would clearly be a disaster regardless of who won. But in the end, a winner stood tall.

“Kneel. The circus is over, so the clown has no right to raise his head in front of the king.”

The Red Knight acted as soon as Jerem spoke.

Kwajik!

Invidia’s face was shoved into the ground. It wanted to resist, but its limbs had been cut off, and its stockpile of Aura Abilities had been depleted, leaving him powerless to fight back. Of course, the damage that Jerem’s undead received was enormous.

The red knight consumed 80% of the blood he had collected over the centuries, while the white knight and black knight were covered in too many wounds to move. They would need Jerem to restore their bodies. The ghoul prince and helix ogre were the only ones who seemed unharmed as they returned to Tartarus.

If Invidia still had all his divine artifacts, Jerem would never have won this fight.

“Well, I can’t call you cowardly because I also used an external ability. It is time to end this Seven Sins grimoire, who built up a futile thing.”

“... Wait.”

“Hmm?” Jerem nodded to the Red Knight, who removed his foot.

Invidia raised his head, “Tell me. You said that I made a mistake, and that you would use my life to teach me.”

“Ah, there was that.” Jerem nodded. “It isn’t a big deal, clown. You just picked the wrong path from the beginning.”

Invidia growled, “What does that mean?”

“If my intuition’s right, you were trying to gather Aura Abilities and fit them together like a puzzle, right? You thought to reach transcendence by filling up all the deficiencies until you reached it.”

Invidia’s body trembled. However, it wasn’t anger, but awe and envy that Jerem had so accurately deduced his thoughts.

Jerem continued without hesitation. “But your idea was wrong, idiot. Transcendence isn’t like a puzzle. It is fundamentally different. Just like a solid surface can’t become a three-dimensional surface, your thousands of years were worthless.”

A mortal needed to tear apart their shackles to cross the wall if they wanted to walk the path of transcendence. In order to cross that wall with the power of a mortal, the power needed to be concentrated on one point. Invidia’s idea of a ‘puzzle’ was the complete opposite answer.

Perfection and transcendence had nothing in common. All transcendents understood this fact, but Invidia didn’t. He had infinite time and resources, but he had been carried away by his own beliefs instead of listening to others. Indeed, it was the reason why Invidia was responsible for the sin of envy.

Invidia stiffened when faced with the truth.

Meanwhile, the king of the end pronounced his fate, “Now, it is time to pay the price.”

Jerem placed a hand on Invidia’s head and ordered.

「Death.」

This wasn’t magic. It was much closer to the source, a power which had left the mortal realm and was adjacent to the realm of the gods. One of the great magicians of the Age of Mythology had defined it as Order.

It was the expression of one’s will, a power that carried out one’s will in the world. The closest thing to it was Dragon Words. An Order could spark a natural disaster with just a phrase. Many magicians had researched it, but not one of them had succeeded.

However...

“I... Am I going to disappear...?” Invidia spoke in astonishment. It was then that Jerem realized that he had succeeded. Invidia stuttered, “Nonsense, this is nonsense. You aren’t Sloth or Wrath. Even if you have Gluttony, for a human warlock...!”

The parasitic grimoire, Invidia, could always find another body if this host died. So he had originally been calm as death approached. However, what if the grimoire itself disappeared? While Invidia faced an unforeseen crisis, Jerem used the power again.

“Death Sentence. No, Power Word Kill would be great.” It was a power that Jerem hadn’t been able to use in his prime. However, it was possible to reproduce it by utilizing the knowledge of Dragon Words gained from the sea dragon’s blood inside Theo’s body.

Warlocks were most familiar with the concept of Death. Unfortunately, Invidia became the test of this ‘Order’ and was suddenly in a position to be destroyed.

“N-No! I can’t disappear like this! I will make note of this error and in the next experiment―...” He struggled until the end as his voice faded into silence.

It was the last of Envy of the Seven Sins, a grimoire from the Age of Mythology. Of course, the information would be passed to the real body outside the dimension, but it would take at least ten thousand years for the grimoire to return.

Jerem was convinced that he would never see the grimoire again.

“―Kuhuk.” He felt joy bubbling up inside him, and let it out in an explosion of laughter. “Kuhahahaha! Excellent, truly excellent! Divinity, dragon blood, Umbra! There is even this Jerem’s soul! If I use this body, I can become a god even without the help of a great demon!”

Who wouldn’t savor a host who had so many precious things gathered in his body? Jerem was reminded that this body had one more thing, apart from the grimoire Death’s Worship where his soul had been sealed.

Any magician who knew the power of the Seven Sins desired the grimoire, Gluttony.

"I wish to talk to you, Gluttony,” Jerem’s excitement was palpable as he felt the bottomless presence in his left hand.

A few seconds later, a dark voice came from within.

- ... You know me?

Jerem replied, “That’s right. Any magician would want to be with you. It is the same with this Jerem, who wants to be recognized as your user.”

This was the grimoire with infinite wisdom, Gluttony. Jerem looked at the palm of his left hand with a dark greed. It wasn’t just the knowledge from the Age of Mythology. According to the rumors, this grimoire contained even the magic of other worlds. In the past, Jerem had treated it as just a rumor. However, after receiving Theo’s memories, he became almost certain of it.

This grimoire contained the truth that all magicians must obtain!

Gluttony was silent.

However, the nervous Jerem persevered, “Gluttony, I was told that your purpose is to achieve the 10th Circle in magic. Is that true?”

- It is true.

“Then shouldn’t I be the best fit?” Jerem was utterly confident as he summed up the reasons why he should be Gluttony’s master. “The child who was your former user can’t even compare with me, who has already reached the 9th Circle. I don’t have the unnecessary sense of justice that would hold back a magician either.”

- Hrmm.

“I am different. I learn magic for my own reasons and seek the same goal as you. I will reach the ultimate form, even if I have to consume all life in this world. Is there anyone in this age who is more qualified than me?”

No, Jerem was filled with confidence and believed that Gluttony would choose him.

It was only natural.

There had been two 8th Circle magicians in this age, and now only one remained. If Jerem didn’t continue treating them, they would also die. A grimoire wouldn’t choose a half dead person as a host, so Jerem had no reason to worry about it.

Unsurprisingly, Gluttony responded to his proposal.

- Certainly. Your proposal is reasonable.

Jerem encouraged, “A magician should pursue rationality.”

- That’s right. My user was quite immature and had many stifling morals. Compared to him, you are a perfect magician.

Jerem felt delighted…

... Until he heard Gluttony’s next words.

- I refuse.

He couldn't believe his ears. “... What did you just say?”

- I won’t accept you as my user.

Jerem’s delight was fading away. “Why? What am I lacking? Or did you like the previous user?”

- Everything is wrong.

Just as Jerem was thinking that Gluttony was being ridiculous, the grimoire continued.

- I don’t like Theodore Miller. It isn’t because you lack anything. I just don’t want to tolerate this situation.

Jerem started, “What nonsens-.”

- I’ll get my user back.?

Gluttony didn’t hesitate as he absorbed an artifact from Theo’s Inventory. It was the king’s flagpole that Theo had received from the royal family during his involvement in the Soldun civil war. When he had received it, Theo hadn’t been able to swallow it.

[Poseidon’s Trident has been consumed. The status of the divine artifact isn’t perfect.]

[The divinity of the water (small) has been acquired. The flow of water will move in a direction favorable to the user. You can interfere with currents, including ocean currents, as your proficiency increases. Regardless of elemental affinity, you can contract with water elementals.]

[Your understanding of the flow has greatly increased. You will be able to grasp the flow of the world with your senses, rather than just touch.]

Jerem’s expression changed at the sudden notification windows. What was going on? He didn’t know what connection consuming this divine artifact had with taking back the user. But if even a 9th Circle magician had no clue, then it was impossible to find an answer.

In the end, Jerem gave up trying to deduce the reason and asked, “What are you doing? This body is already mine. It belongs to me, Jerem!”

- You don’t need to know.?

Gluttony ignored Jerem as it sent out a command.

- Get started.

The entity hiding away in the depths of Theo’s body answered enthusiastically.

[Hoing!]