Ken Miyamoto (3)
Ken, who was quietly looking down, muttered softly.
“…There’s no doubt about it.”
He looked skinny, as if he was about to suffocate, but no matter how much I looked at him, he looked just like he did when he was human.
There’s no way he wouldn’t recognize the face he’s lived with his whole life, right?
Not only does it still maintain the basic base, but it is also a face that is often used when imitating a human.
‘Besides, these clothes… are the clothes I wore when I was a mercenary. ‘I’m wearing the same clothes I wore right before I fell into the warlocks’ trap.’
While he was so dazed, his mind began to tickle little by little.
And soon, I began to feel a headache that went beyond a simple tickling sensation to the point of throbbing.
A whirlpool of questions swirling in my mind along with intense pain that felt like my head was throbbing.
His expression distorted fiercely and he grabbed his head.
‘for a moment.’
Then suddenly.
A shiver ran down his spine as a topic suddenly came to mind.
‘···Now that I think about it, what was the unique skill I originally had?’
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t remember.
What was even more strange was that I didn’t even have any doubts about him in the first place.
He unintentionally became a settler and lost all his abilities as an awakened person.
Everything tied to the system, including status and skills.
But isn’t it clearly unnatural that he didn’t think of everything related to it and didn’t even feel strange?
‘Who am I…?’
I felt dizzy due to confusion about my identity.
Ken took a deep breath and quietly looked at his other self, who was lying as if dead.
Although his skin and bones were old, his age still seemed to have stayed the same for twenty years.
gulp-
He swallowed dry saliva and slowly stretched out his hand as if possessed by something.
It was an instinctive action that I did not even know.
And finally, the moment his hand touched the other person’s forehead.
“······!”
His body convulsed as if struck by lightning.
As if he had been waiting for just now, memories he had forgotten—and distorted—began to burrow into his head.
“Ugh! “Wow!”
dump!
He staggered back and fell to the floor, breathing heavily.
How long has it been since I closed my eyes and caught my breath like that?
After roughly sorting out his jumbled memories, he slowly opened his eyes and looked around.
From the majestic white temple to the golden scriptures engraved here and there.
I felt a strange sense of déjà vu, as if I had already been there once.
Okay, it wasn’t his first time here today.
“···is it. “Is that what happened?”
Ken Miyamoto’s unique skill is “Thought Transfer.”
It was an ability that could be used for purposes such as telepathy, which conveys one’s thoughts, or, conversely, psychometry, which reads the remaining thoughts of a target…
He wanted more combat skills to survive as a mercenary, so he developed them a little differently.
By giving his own thoughts to the magic tools he possessed, each of them had his own will and shared it with the main body to create an ‘ego weapon’ and use it.
Magic tools imprinted with simple defensive magic became treasures that arbitrarily protected their owners, and items prepared for attack and healing were no exception.
The Ego Sword, which freely moves along unexpected paths and slaughters enemies, and the potion supply device, which injects various potions into the body in a timely manner depending on the situation.
Thanks to this, Ken, a mercenary of extreme righteousness, was able to reach a level where the magic tools he wore on his body would move and respond on their own even if he lost consciousness after receiving great damage.
‘And I…’
Ken looked down at his hands and clenched them tightly.
‘Are you saying it’s a doll with Ken Miyamoto’s ego implanted in it…?’
That’s it.
This was the true identity of Ken, a count-level demon from the Demon World.
***
The deepest part of the temple is deeper than the place where Ken, who is in agony after facing a shocking truth, is located.
Something that had been asleep for a long time stirred violently.
Now it was a ‘thing’ that was in ruins and couldn’t do anything on its own, but now the situation was different from before.
at las···.
The key that will free you has finally appeared!
The little thread of self-consciousness that had weathered away, little by little, began to awaken due to external stimulation.
It immediately stimulated instinct and induced movement.
If you miss this opportunity, you will never get another chance.
There was no time to hesitate any longer as what had happened had become a reality.
Rumbling—
The shallow vibrations that had been echoing from the depths of the temple began to slowly rise upward.
The only things that moved that being were a few thoughts that now remained as fragments.
To take revenge on those who deceived him and made him like this.
To regain lost strength and to be fully yourself again.
That greater power is needed to cut down the sky, etc.
In order to achieve them, it was important to continue to climb higher and obtain the key.
To complete myself, who has become extremely unstable.
To fill in the gaps and be reborn as a more complete person.
[————!]
The figure trapped in the black nest roared loudly.
***
Ken was neither an Earthling nor an awakened person.
He is simply a being who has received those memories intact.
He himself was the rag doll who clumsily filled in various omissions of information that occurred during the delivery process.
‘Did he pull all of his ego together and make a final gamble?’
It didn’t take long for Ken Miyamoto, who was forcibly transported to the Demon World, to accept the fact that he couldn’t escape this place.
In this worst environment, he was just a weakling who could not guarantee victory even if he fought a baron-level demon.
So, in order to avoid a crisis, he gathered his thoughts together and threw them elsewhere in order to find a solution from outside and solve the problem.
‘Of course, back then, I would have never dreamed that I would come back after twenty years like this.’
In fact, the attempt itself was a gamble even for Ken, so the distortion of missing memories could not even be expected.
I came to the ‘Dark Nest’ on my own, following some kind of attraction, but because of the tight security, I was unable to find this place and that’s why I just spent my time wandering around.
“Whew, it doesn’t mean anything now.”
Ken looked down at his body with a confused expression.
It would be a lie if I said I wasn’t shocked at all, but it wasn’t to the point where I was struggling with my identity.
Perhaps it is because his body, which has already become a complete demon, is also affecting his way of thinking.
‘Looking at it, it seems like it’s already too late to save her.’
I could tell that right away when I saw it.
Right now, he’s barely able to breathe due to some kind of consciousness, but in fact, he’s no different from a dead body.
The spirit body remains like burnt ashes, and the unique skills that were arranged in advance do not even show any signs of being activated.
The fact that aging did not occur was simply an aftereffect of an evil ritual, and the body had already become a real settler a long time ago.
It was only natural that he had been in Outerica for almost thirty years.
As he slowly turned his head, the people who had turned into corpses on the small altar came into his sight.
They must also be people from Earth who were in the same situation as Ken.
An uneasy feeling came over me as I thought that the main body would soon become like them.
‘The conditions of those still alive are generally similar. What a terrible tactic. ‘What on earth were you trying to do?’
The moment Ken was lost in thought.
“Kahaha!”
“Kahang! Kahang!”
A three-headed dog the size of a large dog walked lightly into the space where he was, accompanied by a bizarre howling sound.
Even though it has the face of a dog, it has an expression full of deep satiety and satisfaction that can be felt at a glance.
“Davidson? “How so fast?”
Ken, with wide eyes, looked him around.
The fact that he followed us this far means that Sodian has been dealt with.
A type of wizard who has set up a workshop in his own residence—and to kill a marquis-level demon so quickly.
Looking at it, it didn’t seem like there was that much damage.
‘No, did I waste more time here than I thought?’
But even so, it was still great.
Even if you were a marquis of the same rank, if you were to fight an opponent with those conditions, you wouldn’t have enough time to make a final decision even if you fought all day.
‘Maybe this guy ate the essence of Duke Goerang and inherited his power.’
While Ken was secretly admiring.
Davidson, who had followed his scent all the way here, was diligently moving his three heads and looking around.
Golden letters engraved everywhere, dozens of offerings on a small altar, and even one of them… a man with a face that looked exactly like Ken.
“Kaheung?”
Davidson’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the two people back and forth several times.
At the same time, a strange majesty began to emanate from that small body.
Is it because the ranking has already been clearly established?
He didn’t say a word, but for some reason Ken seemed to know what he wanted.
“Hmm… It’s hard to explain this in words. I also found out this time, but it seems like this was my real body. “The main body had the ability to transfer consciousness to another place, but now I am…”
His words, which he continued to speak as if he were making excuses, as if he were reporting the past events to his superiors, suddenly stopped.
And then he just gaped and couldn’t open his mouth.
Who am I now… and then…?
‘Why didn’t I think of it until now?’
I figured out why things happened like this.
The problem is next.
Where on earth did this body come from, imbued with the consciousness of the “thought transference” used by Ken Miyamoto?
‘It’s the same as before. ‘It’s as important as the truth about this matter, and I didn’t even suspect it until I told you about it.’
An unprecedented power felt in the palm of your hand.
The magical power of an earl-level demon race that had reached the state of transcendence boiled up like an active volcano deep within the body.
The body he now occupies was by no means an ordinary body.
Just by simple calculation, he was a powerhouse that was considered to be in the double digits of the entire Demon World.
And above all…
‘···I have had this power since the moment my memories as a demon race first began.’
It makes no sense that the body of a demon with such power was stolen by a “Thought Transfer” that was thrown away as if gambling.
Rather, it was normal for the other person’s mind to be torn apart as soon as it came in contact with it.
‘That only means that this enormous body was left without an owner.’
It was with perfect timing that he attempted to gamble.
Coincidentally, the synchronization rate is so high that there is no particular sense of incongruity with the main body.
A body that can ignore even its lack of enlightenment and elevate itself to a state of perfection.
You accepted Ken’s drifting thoughts as if you were waiting for them?
How could something that good happen?
Rumbling—
At that time, his sensitive senses felt a slight vibration shaking the entire temple.
An earthquake that gets stronger as time goes by.
Soon he could tell it was because of something coming from below.
“Could it be that Sodian wasn’t the only one protecting this place? Davidson! Can you still fight…? Pfft!”
Ken quickly turned his head and looked at Davidson.
But he couldn’t finish speaking.
By the way—
One of the heads that was looking at him with meaningful eyes suddenly bit off his hand.
“Ugh! “What are you doing all of a sudden?”
Ken, frowning as he felt his energy being drained away, shouted harshly.
The wound itself was not a big problem as it could regenerate quickly, but since I was attacked without warning by a being I thought was an ally, I couldn’t just ignore it.
But his anger did not last long.
“Ah, as expected.”
Because of a loud voice that suddenly sounded.
“···Who are you?!”
Ken raised his guard and quickly looked around.
The only people here are himself, Davidson, and the barely breathing sacrifices.
Even so, my nerves were on edge as unexpected situations occurred one after another, but when I heard an unidentified voice without any special sign, I had no choice but to react sensitively.
“Heung! “Where is he looking?”
“Kahaha! “I thought from the beginning, he seems kind of stupid!”
“It’s too bad. “It would be better if it had three heads like us.”
However, Ken’s expression darkened at the voice he heard next.
Unlike before, when I was a bit quiet, I heard it clearly this time.
He was wary of his surroundings and looked down with blank eyes.
There, a grumpy-looking three-headed dog was looking up at him blankly.
“You could talk…”
“Okay, that’s enough.”
The humiliation of the past flashed through Ken’s mind at that cold answer.
The days when I had to sleep on the floor after my bed was taken away from me by a dog in a battle for rank, and the moment when I had to say something regretful to save the meat.
There was so much he wanted to say, but he swallowed it hard and quietly closed his eyes.
Because he also had a good sense of time and place.
“Anyway, that body doesn’t belong to you right now, right? Right?”
“···That’s true.”
Ignoring the man who was still frowning as if he was still dissatisfied, Davidson snooped around and nodded.
The prayers engraved everywhere had already been completely erased from this world, so it was normal for them to be ‘impossible to exist’, but it was a matter of little concern to him who was from another world and possessed a “Xenoglossy”.
“Heung! “I guess this is…”
One of the heads that had been scanning the surroundings for a while twitched its nose and took a bite.
“I think what’s coming now is the original owner of that body?”
“what?”
“Kahaha! This is special! The taste was definitely that of a count. “You mean the smell that’s getting closer right now isn’t that bad at all?”
His sensor, which boasts a sense of smell as good as Diana’s, was responding loudly to something he ate once.
A being worse than the marquis-level demon Sodian and the duke-level demon Karakul that I ate before coming here is approaching here.
“Oh my gosh, I was wondering where I had gone and ended up stuck in a place like this?”
“What are you talking about… no, wait. no way?”
Kugoogung! Kwaaaang—!
The increasingly strong tremors finally reached the village.
A black figure that had begun to appear from a distance began to approach quickly.
“Heung! But this is a bit difficult, isn’t it? “I was just wondering if I could smell it.”
“···Ugh, I don’t have any strength if I do this.”
There is just one problem.
““There’s no meat!””
That being was Davidson’s natural enemy, a spirit body without any flesh… no, it was a being whose entire body was made of a curse.
[————!]
An empty cry swept through all directions.