Chapter 32: Magic Devourer

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[Magic Devourer]: You can interfere with, steal, or absorb the magic, curses, enchantments, and powers of others.

You are a monster that grows by devouring the knowledge, magic, and power of others.

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"Argh, Aaaargh!!!"

"Ah, does that hurt? But what a mess you are in."

"Wh-what did you say?"

"Your control. It's a complete mess. Should you really be losing a gift given by the god you worship so easily?"

You're using this precious, high-purity magical power just to wear it around your body and show off your brute strength?

Where have the processes of control, absorption, purification, transformation, and reconfiguration gone?... This is no different from a primitive using crude oil to light a fire.

"You bastard...!"

Whoosh!

His fist flew towards me but it was noticeably slower than before.

I easily dodged the fist and swung my own at the ghoul shaman.

Thump!

As soon as my fist connected, I injected magical power into his body.

This is followed by condensation, reconfiguration, transformation, and explosion.

"Now, get lost!"

[Fireball]

[Spell Enhancement: Maximization]

Grrrrrrrrr...

Within his body.... a fireball brimming with lethal firepower was formed.

"Stop, stop it! Stoooop... Aaaahhhhh!"

From every hole pierced in the body of the ghoul shaman, crimson flames erupted.

His entire body split apart...

Boom!

Ashes, flesh, and bone fragments scattered in all directions.

The ghoul shaman vanished from the world without leaving anything that could be called a corpse behind.

Thump, Ding

Then, a silver bell fell to the ground with a soft clink.

"Phew..."

I could have moved more efficiently, but to be honest, I was caught off guard which made things unnecessarily difficult. Is this the end, now that the ghouls won't be replenished?

I slowly approached and picked up the artifact that the ghoul shaman had wielded: the silver bell.

[Silver Bell of the Underworld (S-rank Magical Tool): A ritual tool crafted from pure silver mined by ghouls.

It bestows upon its owner tremendous magical power along with terrifying madness.

This item belongs to the abyss. The more it is used, the more your body and mind will evolve to suit it.

Gift of the Underworld: The blessing bestowed by the father of all ghouls envelops you. As long as this blessing is maintained, all stats increase by 50~700%, and effects such as stun, shock, disorientation, and pain are ignored. However, while this effect is active, magical, psychic, spiritual, and divine abilities cannot be used.

Pure Silver's Dominance: Automatically casts the 'Voice of Authority' spell on a designated target and enhances the effects of 'Mind' spells by 100%.

Pure Silver Charm: Grants a +2 charisma bonus exclusively to ghouls, undead, and demons.

Pure Silver Madness: Bestows 'Madness—Violence' on summoned creatures and increases their attack power by 100%...]

"All stats increased by 700%?"

What is this? Just what kind of unbalanced artifact is this?

It was certainly the first time I had seen such an item.

I had seen a few items related to ghouls before, but none with abilities of this magnitude.

"It's quite impressive, but... the penalty is problematic."

Madness, distortion, and the influence of the [Father of All Ghouls], a being from the abyss and a great ancient entity, could be ignored thanks to the unique trait [Madness of the Abyss], but the physical transformations couldn't be prevented.

A face grotesquely mutated and limbs twisted out of shape...

And with more use, I would completely turn into a ghoul.

No matter how enticing the powers, I had no desire to end up like that.

I breathed a complex magic circle into the silver bell I held in my hand.

[Breath of Severance]

A first-order sealing spell. Crystals that looked like pale frost formed on the silver bell where my breath touched.

This was an item that was too closely related to the Abyss.

I was already suffering from spam-like nightmares every night due to the [Ring of Corrupted Flame], so I had no intention of adding another source of torment to my list.

After invoking a few more spells and adding several layers of safeguards, I was finally able to push the [Silver Bell of the Underworld] into my backpack.

For now, this should be enough.

Once I set up a proper workshop, I would be able to deal with it more definitively.

After gathering my backpack I turned towards the spot where the ghoul shaman had been... now only a few coal-like fragments and some soot remained.

"It's time for you to return."

At my command, a creature of gluttony that had been writhing in the ashes of what was once the ghoul shaman responded with a strange noise.

"Grrrr..."

At first glance, it resembled an octopus.

However, it was a bizarre monster with multiple mouths akin to those of humans where one would expect the head of an octopus to be.

"Grrrrr...!"

Having devoured the magical power and "blessing" imbued in the body of the ghoul shaman, it swelled significantly larger than before. Initially, it was no bigger than a palm-sized baby squid, but now it had certainly grown to the size of a soccer ball.

The creature, having swelled in size, seemed to have gained intelligence or perhaps self-awareness, for it ignored my words and backed away tentatively, baring its teeth located all over its head and growling menacingly.

Being bitten by those teeth would surely be painful.

"Hey, stop fooling around and come back."

I glared at the creature of gluttony and gathered my magical power.

Even though my face contorted so much that it felt like my facial muscles were straining, my face was hidden behind a mask and was hence invisible.

However, whether it was due to the surge of magical power or simply sensing my anger, the creature flinched and approached me.

"Grrr..."

I placed my hand on the creature's head and spoke the pre-set command words.

"You have fulfilled the duties and commands I bestowed upon you. Now cease to exist."

Gurgle... Gurgle... Grrrrr...

The octopus-like body began to contract and harden slowly...before it transformed into a completely different form.

It became a crystallized essence, refined from the life force, magic, and the "blessing" it had stolen from the enemy.

In other words, it transformed into a magic stone.

"I didn't expect it to turn out this well..."

The magic stone was of incredible purity, not to mention its size and weight.

It was almost frightening to touch.

Can this be converted into currency? and if so, how much it would fetch; I had no idea.

Nevertheless, I put it in my backpack and slowly turned my head.

One task was completed... Now it was time to rescue the survivors that Moon Seung-hee had been looking for.

The protective circle guarding the survivors was still active.

When I was about to check the state of the protective circle, Kwak Dae-yong approached from behind and spoke up.

"You, you... really..."

What nonsense was he about to spout?

When I turned my head and looked at Kwak Dae-yong, he was making a truly unexpected expression.

"You!"

"Huh?"

"You're really amazing!"

"What?"

"I've seen plenty of mediocre, bland mages before! But you, ah, a mage like you is a first!"

I almost burst into laughter.

Kwak Dae-yong's face was filled with emotion: admiration, envy, aspiration... Well, emotions of that sort.

"If you hadn't hidden your skills, I wouldn't have misunderstood you from the start..."

Kwak Dae-yong kept talking, but in the end, it was just a repetition of the same story.

"Who's hiding their skills? And what misunderstanding? It's team leader Kwak Dae-yong's character that is rotten."

Even though my response was an outright insult, Kwak Dae-yong's expression didn't change.

"Ah, come on. Can't you let it slide this time? I've really changed my view of you. Is there any chance we could continue working together in the future? Huh? Don't you have a business card or something?"

"I don't. And anyway, team leader Kwak Dae-yong doesn't have the authority to decide on external personnel, does he?"

"Ah, really. If I talk to Human Resources, huh? Wouldn't they consider it?"

As if he could make any demands when he can't even stand up to Moon Seung-hee.

I came here intending to show them my worth, but could their attitude really change this much? Then again, considering I've saved their lives several times in this short period of time, it would be annoying if their attitude hadn't changed at all.

"No need. If you have something you want to say, tell someone with authority through Vasilisa. We're not done here yet."

"Not done? We've taken care of the ghouls and even the necromancer who summoned them. What else is there to do now?"

"......"

I paused for a moment and looked at him.

"What's the matter? Why are you looking at me like that?"

I gave him a look reserved for retards, but it seemed my disdain and disregard failed to convey as my face was hidden behind a mask.

"Team leader Kwak Dae-yong, are you foolish? We need to save the survivors."

"Survivors?"

Indeed, about 24 hours had passed since the ghouls first appeared.

It was hard to imagine anyone surviving for 24 hours in a closed space swarmed by over a hundred ghouls.

Yet, there were survivors.

They had been alive when I arrived at this apartment complex.

And... I had cast a spell to save him.

Since the magic I cast was still in effect... that person should also still be alive.

"It's over there."

"That place is... where we saw... earlier."

The location of the survivors, naturally, was the innermost part of the underground parking lot, where we had previously discovered the bizarre mural, traces of a ritual, and a pile of corpses.

"That's... I mean... those are bodies, bodies aren't they?"

"Yes, I was protecting something hidden among those bodies."

"Through magic, magic you mean?"

"Team Leader Kwak Dae-yong, do you realize you're talking like that dead cultist?"

"No, no... well..."

Anyway, I dragged Kwak Dae-yong and approached the pile of corpses.

"Roughly thirty or so?"

"People... you're saying there's someone alive in here...?"

"They should be around here."

The innermost part of the heap of corpses.

There, the protective circle I had remotely installed before remains.

To go further inside... we have no choice but to step on the bodies. Namo Amitabha.

Squish, squish...

Blood that had flowed out and unidentifiable flesh parts were stepped on.

"Ugh..."

Kwak Dae-yong shuddered slightly and stepped back.

"Squish... squish..."

This was because he could hear slurred voices among the corpses.

"There it is."

On closer inspection, a person was crouching and hiding among the heap of bodies.

"Squish... squish..."

It seems they survived longer than the others by hiding among the corpses.

There were three survivors in total.

Had I not arrived and cast a spell immediately, they likely wouldn't have survived until now.

Was it a coincidence? Regardless, one of the survivors, as Moon Seung-hee had hoped, was a woman.

No, rather than coincidence...

It might have been a contrived setting prepared by someone on purpose. After all, this was the world of a game.

"Hehehe... Heh heh heh... Kikik, Kuhuhu..."

Though I had helped them with magic when I arrived here, they had already managed to survive in the underground parking lot that was swarming with over a hundred ghouls for at least a full day.