Chapter 65 - The Great One (9)

Once I'd made up my mind, I didn't hesitate. It would be a waste of time.

I called Grizzly back into the grimoire.

Then I looked at Soo-ah, who had her eyes shut as I'd told her, her body trembling faintly.

She wouldn't have seen Grizzly rampaging firsthand, but....

She must have heard every sound of people being killed.

She'd have roughly figured out that I hadn't resolved things with some dazzling destructive beam of magic like back at the campground.

In this party hall strewn with mangled corpses, torn flesh, and scattered entrails,

the only living people were me and Soo-ah.

It wasn't a sight that was good for one's mental health, but I had no time to be considerate.

"Open your eyes."

At the calmly resonating voice, Soo-ah's eyelids trembled.

I had told her to close her eyes, and immediately after came screams, the sounds of flesh being torn and crushed. Recalling the quiet silence that followed when no sound could be heard at all, she cautiously opened her eyes.

"...!?"

Her pupils shook at the gruesome, blood-soaked scene spread before her.

But.

Soo-ah bit down hard on her lip, grabbing her other arm with one hand as she tried to steady her trembling body.

"Haah......."

Fear and revulsion at the horrific sight, and ironically... relief.

Because the thing she'd feared most was the thought that after she closed her eyes,

she might never hear my voice again.

That was why Soo-ah lifted her head and looked at me across the blood-drenched party hall.

"Now...."

She parted her trembling lips and spoke.

"What do I need to do?"

I looked down at Soo-ah and met her eyes.

For starters, not wasting time with other questions given the current situation was high marks on the wizard point scale.

I quickly summarized the situation and told her what needed to be done.

"Armed men working for Chairman Kim are going to storm in any minute. This sounds insane, but if we want to survive, we need to summon a demon."

I opened <The Lesser Key of Solomon> to the page with the magic circle that protects the wizard during a demon summoning and held it out to Soo-ah.

"I'll use the corpses here as the offering. While I prepare the ritual, you draw the base sketch of the magic circle using the blood from these bodies."

"Ah, got it."

Soo-ah's face went pale as she looked at the nearby corpse of a middle-aged woman whose lower half had been blown off, but she nodded.

Using her hands, napkins from the dining table, and handkerchiefs, she drew the magic circle as depicted in the grimoire.

I immediately began preparations for the summoning ritual of a high-ranking titled demon.

I took off my trench coat and placed it on the dining table.

I grabbed a water pitcher and a salt shaker.

Normally this was supposed to be done while bathing in a filled tub, but given the circumstances, an abbreviated version would have to do.

"O water, creature of God. I purify thee. By the power of Him who created thee and gathered thee in one place to reveal the dry land, the schemes of the enemy shall be laid bare."

I lifted the water pitcher above my head and poured it over myself while reciting the incantation.

"May the impurity and defilement of evil spirits be cleansed and no longer cause harm. By the grace of Almighty God, who reigns unto the end of the world. Amen."

Now I shook the salt shaker over my wet body, sprinkling salt.

"Mertalia, Musalia, Dophalia, Onemalia, Zitanseia, Goldaphira, Dedulsaira."

...If I thought about it seriously, the sight of someone sprinkling salt over their own head probably looked insane, but this wasn't the time to worry about that.

Anyway, I finished by pouring water over my head once more.

As I swept my wet hair back, my eyes met Soo-ah's.

"Did you finish the base sketch?"

"Ah, yes, um... I finished it."

"Good. Come here too."

"Huh?"

I took the aspergillum from the container of Holy Water and tapped it against her head and shoulders.

"Lord, purge me with Hyssop, that I may be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."

I did the same for Soo-ah.

Abbreviated as it was, the ritual preparations were complete.

I draped the coat I'd taken off earlier over Soo-ah's head and pointed under the dining table draped in a white tablecloth.

"Now put this on and stay under there. Don't come out."

"Mister, are you... Okay, I understand."

"Don't take it off no matter what."

Soo-ah nodded and crawled under the table.

I knelt on one knee and checked the base sketch of the magic circle Soo-ah had drawn.

She had a knack for it. She'd drawn it quite well.

Two magic circles were needed for a safe demon summoning.

One was the circle to protect the wizard who summoned the demon, whose base sketch I'd had Soo-ah draw in advance.

The other was the circle to summon the demon and suppress its power.

"Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered; let those who hate Him flee before Him."

I recited the incantation while finishing the magic circle Soo-ah had sketched.

"As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish before God."

Then I continued drawing the Demon Summoning Circle.

"Let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God; let them exult with joy."

I drew the sigil of the demon to be summoned from among Solomon's 72 demons.

Preparations were complete.

I stood up and took my place on the magic circle that protects the wizard.

And then, at that moment.

"Move in!"

CRASH-!

The party hall doors shattered as Chief Kim appeared along with men armed with rifles, wearing ballistic helmets and body armor like some kind of special forces unit from a movie.

'Chairman Kim's private soldiers....'

I'd expected them to show up, but a hollow laugh formed at the corner of my mouth.

Privately armed soldiers with firearms... Was this Korea or Mexico?

Chief Kim's face twisted into a complete grimace at the carnage in the party hall as he glared at me.

"You son of a bitch... You really went and did it because you wanted to die, huh."

He was honestly startled that the man they'd hit with a car had come back alive and committed a massacre, but....

Chief Kim didn't let it show.

He was probably the same type as Chairman Kim. Must have been a wizard with special powers.

This time he'd just pour on the firepower and kill me for certain.

And since he'd observed Chairman Kim's magic rituals from the side before, he could tell that one of the magic circles drawn on the floor was incomplete, with parts missing here and there.

Chief Kim glared at me and sneered.

"Looks like you tried something. Didn't work out, huh?"

But even in response to that sneer,

a calm voice simply echoed through the hall.

"Leopard, lion, wolf, beast, do not stand in my way."

"...What?"

There would be no conversation. I began reciting the incantation immediately.

"Do not dare step before me. I am."

The grimoire <The Lesser Key of Solomon> fluttered in my hand and opened on its own.

Whoosh-

"The master of the Key."

I hadn't even shouted, yet my voice filled the entire hall.

Gooooooo-.

Chief Kim and the men around him sensed something wrong in that instant.

"......?"

They were inside a building... yet wind was blowing.

Heat radiated from the magic circle. Chief Kim's nostrils twitched as his eyes hardened.

'Is this... the smell of sulfur?'

Goosebumps rose across Chief Kim's body.

"...!?"

Realizing something was terribly wrong, Chief Kim screamed his orders at his men in a panic.

"Shoot! Shoot everything! Open fire!"

The men pulled their triggers at me immediately.

Bang! Rat-tat-tat! Bang bang-!

But bewildered sounds escaped their lips.

"...Huh?"

The bullets weren't reaching my body, blocked midway, ricocheting off the empty air.

The Invisible Vampire.

Grizzly had emerged from <De Vermis Mysteriis> and taken the bullets for me.

"Grrrr...!"

Grizzly glared at the shooters, but.

It turned its head. Seeing the magic circle from which sulfurous smoke had begun to rise,

it returned into the grimoire as its master willed.

I watched the Demon Summoning Circle drawn in blood begin to bubble and boil.

...An incomplete magic circle, just as they'd said.

I'd been short on time, and I'd left it incomplete on purpose.

Normally when summoning a demon, you were supposed to draw both the summoning sigil and the sigil that prevents the demon from leaving the circle.

This circle was missing the sigil that constrains the demon's power.

And among Solomon's 72 demons, there were those who loved the spectacular.

If the wizard didn't actively control them,

"Open, O gate."

they would drag a portion of their legions through with them.

My eyes narrowed as I recited the incantation.

"Abandon all hope."

Hadn't I said it? That I'd kill every last one of Chairman Kim's people in this building.

Chief Kim's and his men's faces went pale.

"Ah..."

A thunderous war cry erupted.

"Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"

Like a geyser bursting, the demon's legions poured out of the summoning circle.

KRAAAAASH-!!

***

Chairman Kim was leisurely walking through the building on his way to attend the dinner gathering, listening to a subordinate's report.

"So, you've brought Namgung Soo-ah."

"Yes, she should be in the party hall right now."

"Heh heh... I wonder what kind of reaction she'll show. I look forward to it."

Chairman Kim wore a twisted smile.

And then....

"Hm?"

The grimoire with the dark crimson cover in Chairman Kim's hand.

<Cultes des Goules> began to tremble violently.

Fwap-fwap-fwap-fwap-!

It flapped and shook wildly, going berserk.

"What the-?!"

From the hand gripping <Cultes des Goules>, the grimoire's emotions flowed into him.

'Fear, excitement, anticipation?'

Unable to comprehend the situation, Chairman Kim first seized <Cultes des Goules> tightly and brought it under control.

Then Chairman Kim's third eye looked down at the floor of the building corridor.

"......?"

His sixth sense saw an abyss.

A deep darkness from which sulfurous smoke rose.

Yes, there was no other word for it but abyss.

A massive hole had opened up in his building.

His body froze for an instant. Goosebumps covered him from head to toe as cold sweat broke out.

'What, what on earth has appeared?'

"Ah, ahhhhhh..."

It was an incomprehensible situation. But his animal instincts told him.

This was no longer his building. It was no longer a safe Workshop.

If he stayed here, he would die.

"Ch-Chairman?"

"AAAAAAAAGHHH!"

Chairman Kim ignored the subordinate calling out to him and sprinted down the building corridor, smashed through a window, and leaped out.

He had to escape before it was completely too late.

CRACK-.

Chairman Kim's arm deformed, transforming into the arm of a massive beast.

SCREECH-!

He scraped down the building wall with the beast's claws, but his fingers snapped.

THUD-!!

He fell back-first onto a parked car below.

"Guh, guhk-!"

Chairman Kim coughed up blood and rose.

"Haah... haaah...."

He staggered and ran, doing anything to get away from the building.

...And that decision was correct.

Immediately after Chairman Kim leaped out the window,

something like a thin membrane enveloped the building.

The subordinate who'd just watched Chairman Kim jump in bewilderment approached the window and reached out his hand.

His hand wouldn't pass through to the outside.

"Huh?"

The building itself had become an offering consecrated to one of the Kings of Hell.

Ding-.

The corridor elevator doors opened.

Demons dressed in various garb, medieval knights and soldiers in World War-era military uniforms, stepped out.

"Huh?"

That was the last word of the subordinate who couldn't keep up with the situation.

Screams echoed throughout the building.

Those who had been devouring humans were now devoured by demons.

***

The party hall.

I stood on the magic circle. I looked at Chairman Kim's dead soldiers.

If there was one surprising thing I'd realized, it was that guns actually worked on demons.

...Well, they'd all been overwhelmed by sheer numbers and died anyway.

I turned my head and looked at the corpse of a demon that had been killed by gunfire.

'Was it taken down because it was a low-ranking demon?'

Then again, this legion was nothing more than an audience for that demon to show off to in the first place.

Aah-.

A song echoed through the party hall.

Aaaaaah~.

A beautiful melody, impossible to believe it came from the mouths of corpses, reverberated like an opera.

"Aah~ He is the beautiful one."

Song poured even from the severed neck of a decapitated corpse.

"He is the King of Flames, King of the West of Hell!"

Flames bloomed from the eyes and mouths of the corpses, from the vocal cords of their severed necks.

The demons that had been running wild lined up before the summoning circle and called out for their master.

"The Great One! The Great One! The Great One!"

And as if the star of the show were making their entrance to thunderous applause,

Click-.

Parting the smoke rising from the summoning circle, a camel emerged, and riding atop it.

With skin white as jade, clothes adorned in thin silk, a body as slender as a work of craftsmanship.

A beautiful girl with a shining crown and golden hair as radiant as molten gold appeared.

I narrowed my eyes.

...To be precise, it was a male demon wearing the guise of a beautiful woman.

King of the West of Hell.

9th of Solomon's 72 demons, Paimon.

When no separate constraints were placed, the demons that get summoned along with their legions were Beleth and Paimon.

Beleth hated the mortal realm.

I'd heard that when summoned, he breathes fire on the wizard who called him, so I chose Paimon.

The camel bent its knees and lowered its body.

Paimon dismounted with an elegant motion, smiled beautifully, and then

lightly raised a fist above her head.

"Yeah."

A sweet, beautiful voice rang out.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah!"

She swung both arms cutely and swayed her hips.

Flash-!

Demons hovering in the air on standby shone a spotlight on Paimon.

Paimon's legion's military band played their instruments.

Sneering at the human corpses strewn across the party hall with an angelic smile,

"Yeah It's a wonder man can eat at all."

Paimon sang.

"When things are big that should be small."

She brought her lightly clenched fist to her lips and sang as if holding a microphone.

"Who can tell what magic spells we'll be doing for us."

The demons went wild for Paimon.

"You're the best! Paimon is the greatest!"

My brow furrowed slightly.

That song was....

Jamiroquai, "Virtual Insanity."

The music video was from an era before CG had advanced much. I remembered it because the moving sofa was so fascinating.

'Hmm... Good taste in music, though.'

When our eyes met, Paimon snapped her fingers and stopped the music.

"Hmm~ Being summoned with my legion is flashy and nice and all~."

She sneered with pretty, smiling eyes.

"But what kind of offering do you intend to give me, little wizard?"

After already devouring an entire building whole.

Given the way she was talking, I decided to be equally blunt.

"Your head is too high."

"What?"

The instant Paimon repeated the words in disbelief,

<The Lesser Key of Solomon> glowed, and chains of light shot out from its opened pages.

Paimon was startled by the glowing grimoire, but.

"Wait, that's-!?"

It was already too late.

Vwoooom-.

The chains surged toward the demon who dared raise its head before its master.

Clang-clang-!

In an instant, shackles of light clamped around Paimon's neck, both wrists, and ankles.

I pulled the chains of light taut, forcing Paimon down onto all fours.

"?????"

What had been a delightful concert in front of her subordinates turned into utter humiliation before them in the blink of an eye.

Paimon's haughty face trembled and quivered.

On all fours, she looked up and glared at me.

"You, you... what are you...."

"Yo-han. Kim Yo-han."

I calmly explained to her.

"Your new master."

I looked down at one of the Kings of Hell with cold eyes.

"Remember it, you son of a bitch."

...And then.

At that sight, <The Lesser Key of Solomon> grew even more excited, glowing brighter.

Clench- clench-!

'This is my master!'

The chains of light tightened fiercely around Paimon.

"AAAAAAAAGH-!"

Paimon's scream echoed through the hall.