Chapter 41 – Fog

===================

Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

===================

Aiming Bone Fragment was bewildered.

His dismay was understandable. Aiming Bone Fragment had devoted his entire life as a demon to assisting his lord.

He probably hadn’t known that he would be thrown away like an old shoe when the situation became difficult.

Even though he had seen similar cases countlessly, he had the complacent thought that he would be different.

A demon was a demon.

There was no way a kind that didn’t pay any mind to others would be considerate just because they were fellow demons.

Being close among demons was merely an illusion. No matter how high their position was, or how close they were, they were eventually thrown away when their usefulness ran out.

It was closer to selfish childishness rather than rationality. Because they only threw you away when you caused harm to them.

However, there was exactly one intense emotion even a cornered human could never dare to approach.

A bitter taste like chewing a whole sowthistle spread. It was so salty it felt like his tongue was being pickled.

The demon was desperately wishing.

Survival.

The desire to survive was everything to a demon.

This was the reason Blood-Soaked Mud and his subordinate demons could not be ignored. They were ugly, but that was why they were strong.

True to being guys who accepted not only a bizarre appearance but also all sorts of strange ecologies with the single thought of surviving.

Sure enough.

Aiming Bone Fragment quickly regained the light in his eyes as I narrowed the distance.

The pupils hidden inside the amniotic membrane were revealed. A snake’s pupils torn elongated vertically.

A god could figure out the emotions of even beings other than humans.

What was driving the demon right now was thick, dense fear.

=No…. I can’t die here!=

The demon roughly flicked his finned snake tail.

Using that repulsive force, he leapt lightly. And inhaling a breath in a single bound, he puffed up his body.

A puffed-up body.

Above it, sharp bone thorns were revealed from the gaps between the widely opened scales.

=Heup!=

Swaeeeek!

The short shout of spirit was the signal for the attack.

The bone thorns the demon shot were covered in fine cracks.

It was a thorn shotgun.

It was a skill that shattered along the fine cracks and scattered bone fragments the moment the distance narrowed sufficiently.

I had not to avoid it.

It was a wicked thing that easily pierced through even stone walls surrounded by multiple layers.

If by any chance it flew to where the survivors had gathered, a major disaster would occur.

I slowed down my speed and made the stars inside my flesh orbit.

-Punishment miracle, Crushing Death

Bang!

An invisible, uniform force was applied from both sides.

The bone thorns turned into dust as they were and couldn’t cause any harm.

They merely scattered, leaving behind only a slightly whitish smoke.

However, it seemed the demon didn’t expect much either. As if predicting the attack would end in failure, he was already running away.

Crawling like a snake between the crumbled debris, smashing everything with a snakehead fish’s characteristic strong power, that was.

The way he twisted his body into a bizarre shape to run away was no joke. His fleeing speed was unusual, so I had to narrow the distance first.

Looking at the way he moved, I couldn’t deal a proper blow aiming from afar.

Judging so, as I chased.

=I can’t die. Absolutely not!=

The demon started spitting out bone thorns while drawing S-shapes as if swimming.

Unlike before, instead of shooting in a straight line, he deliberately used less power and fired them in a curved trajectory towards the sky.

He wasn’t particularly aiming anywhere. That’s why it was more dangerous.

If even one of those fell on a survivor, they all died.

He was firing them profusely knowing that.

“Look at that disgusting pattern.”

-Punishment miracle, Crushing Death

Bang!

I handled all the bone thorns the guy spat out, but that was it.

Beyond the whitish smoke made of bone dust.

To replenish his ammunition, the guy was chewing and swallowing even piles of stones as soon as he saw them.

As if that wasn’t enough, he tried to avoid my pursuit by cramming his body into narrow alleyways.

Without even knowing that he was actually being herded, that is.

Worrying that he might rush towards the survivors by any chance, I intentionally tightened the noose moderately.

The moment I confirmed the guy ran to the outskirts of the city.

-Punishment miracle, Sound of a Thousand Thunders

I started the scorched-earth operation without hesitation.

Snakes of lightning stepped forward to where my fingertips point.

The lightning streaks divided from dozens to hundreds, and ultimately divided into a thousand branches, evenly illuminating all directions.

The demon, noticing belatedly that he was herded, tried to pop out, but he was late.

The speed at which I clenched my hand was much faster.

BOOM!!

The buildings that barely had their foundations left were completely demolished this time around.

It was a power enough to finely fragment even boulders. Even the dust clouds were swept up in the aftermath of the explosion and cleared away quickly.

Even so, I couldn’t kill the demon.

A characteristic squelchy, unpleasant sensation lurked around. Wondering what the problem was, I slowly looked around…

A single whitish cloud that peculiarly didn’t scatter was slowly sinking.

Thanks to that, I realized how he avoided the Golden Path.

“He ate Wavering Fog.”

Cloud, wait no.

The fog laid low on the ground as if knowing nothing, but it was useless.

I could even feel the demon’s emotions, so would he be able to hide just by wrapping his body in fog.

It turned out better instead.

Because even if it was fog, if I crushed it with divine power, he would die.

-Punishment miracle, Crushing Death

At that moment, I saw a part of the fog taking shape.

A finned snake tail struck the ground strongly.

Next was just like the stunt he showed at first. Right before being crushed by the force, the demon barely managed to run away.

Bang!

=Uu, uaaaaaaah!=

He was originally supposed to give up his life, but it ended with only his tail being cut off.

As soon as Aiming Bone Fragment regained his shape, he grabbed his severed tail and struggled.

“Stop acting frivolous and stay still.”

=I, if I stay still.=

“I’ll finish you in one hit.”

=Because it’s life… I only ate life!=

To think I would share a topic only environmentalists would discuss with a demon.

The world was truly a magical place. He looked ready to host a lecture claiming that eating humans was a natural thing.

I told him flatly.

“I am merely punishing the sins you committed back when you were human.”

=You’re saying the desire to live is a sin?=

“Saying you wanted to live, you offered all your family, relatives, and acquaintances as sacrifices.”

The power demons used, the sacrificial ritual, always demanded a scapegoat.

Although there were many cases where they offered innocent people they had no connection or grudge with… there were also many cases where that didn’t fill the requirement.

In a situation where they had to offer even one more person, those who left someone alone claiming a deep relationship could be counted on one hand.

Aiming Bone Fragment was no exception.

=Isn’t it natural for family to care for family. They merely chipped in their assets for their more prominent blood relative.=

“You probably forced them to give up their lives.”

=What arrogance to judge even a non-human by human standards!=

“The past was something you could never shake off until you paid the price.”

Even while exchanging nonsense with each other, I couldn’t let my guard down.

The demon who was only thinking of running away ate Wavering Fog. It was a considerably dangerous authority.

To the point that if he came out in a do-or-die manner, I would have to risk casualties.

I had to let him loose moderately… then tighten the noose all at once and kill him in one hit.

However, a demon was a demon.

Aiming Bone Fragment moved true to a kind that solely chased the desire to live, habitually resorting to sudden accelerations and betrayal.

Seuseuseuseu…

The moment the scales covering his whole body stood up.

=Then I shall offer even the prey I have no acquaintance with.=

The demon who had been shooting bone thorns suddenly emitted water vapor.

As soon as I saw that, I knew what trick he pulled.

Atomization.

It’s the authority possessed by Wavering Fog. It was a utility authority that returned one to their original form the moment they wished.

Even so, being fog didn’t mean it pierced through everything.

What I had to do was clear.

-Protection miracle, Barrier

The fog that was spraying out was blocked by the barrier.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t block all of it. Before the barrier covered the demon, a streak of thin fog leaked out.

Normally, I would have flown over saying I had to block that, leaving the demon I finally caught… but there was another helper in Ranium.

“Angel! Block the fog!”

Angels were much more sensitive to a god’s call than ordinary people.

Since she innately had excellent senses, she should hear it even from this distance. If she couldn’t hear it, she should quit being an angel.

Because I wasn’t expecting an answer, I quickly turned my attention away.

I pondered whether I should just call the angel here and let her strike the final blow, but absolutely not.

A demon who ate an Elysium could never be dealt with by just an angel. I could only hope she blocked that one attack.

Now, compared to an angel whose face I saw for the first time, the Sentinel Star was much more reliable.

“Sentinel Star, illuminate the inside of the barrier. Making it very dry.”

The Sentinel Star twinkled once as if it understood, and soon gathered all its light to a single point.

-Star Protection miracle, Protection of the Sentinel Star

A solid white line neatly crossed the still-pitch-black night sky.

Perhaps because it put in more effort than usual, the range narrowed but the power jumped twofold.

I could tell by the demon twisting its entire body at the starlight emitted by the Sentinel Star.

A warm and gentle energy felt albeit faintly.

A fragment of the sun that once illuminated the world was slightly seen in the starlight of the Sentinel Star.

=Sun, sunlight. I barely avoided the sunlight!=

Bang, bang-bang, kwajik.

He bumped his body against it.

The barrier, which usually didn’t break easily unless I withdrew it, was cracking in an instant.

-Bestowal miracle, Stability

So I overlaid a miracle so it wouldn’t break.

With this, it should be fine for a while. However, he wasn’t a demon who would give up just because the wall was solid.

Aiming Bone Fragment even recklessly shot out the thorns he boasted of.

However, perhaps owing to getting hit by a powerful skill from the beginning, anyone could see he had consumed his strength.

Ting, ting.

The bone thorns that dropped after making only feeble sounds.

Eventually, Aiming Bone Fragment began to howl while rolling his body around.

=It’s hot, I feel like I’m going to burn to death! My body… my body is burning!=

The starlight of the Sentinel Star was searing the demon alive.

And a faint fog was leaking out from between those seared parts.

The inside of the barrier was denser than a smoking room where heavy smokers were bundled in one place puffing out smoke.

=Eok, eoeuk, eoheoeok… M, my breath….=

“If you want to resent someone, start with the fact that you ate an Elysium. I don’t originally kill with this kind of method.”

To think there was a demon who would suffocate to death from the smoke produced by searing himself.

Because I couldn’t hit him with my fist, I coped by improvising, but I didn’t know it would be this effective.

Eventually, Aiming Bone Fragment, while trapped inside the solid barrier.

=Save, me…..=

Was crushed to death by the fog created by the starlight.

That fog itself was an Elysium. Wavering Fog was dancing with all its last strength as if saying it served him right.

“I am glad you got your revenge.”

As I approached, Wavering Fog also let out laughter.

[No matter how thin the fog is, one is bound to lose their way if they roam around haphazardly.]

“I am.”

[God who makes stars, thank you for helping my revenge. Heuheuheu… It’s a relief I fed him a blow.]

“Do you have any advice.”

….An answer did not return.

Only then did I realize that the lingering thoughts had completely disappeared.

Truly true to being fog, confusing and making one unable to distinguish their surroundings when laid thickly.

He just said what he had to say and left.

There was only one reason I could notice that death. It was from seeing the fog seep into me.