Gluttony Demon King with the Swampman ~A Man with No Magic Power Who Dreamed of Magic, Wielding Knowledge from His Past Life Through Steady Research and Hard Work to Become the Most Vicious Final Boss~

Chapter 44: The Golden Paradise Crumbles

“—Foolish God Praise Cthulhu”

Eight legs of ink swept across the ground.

There were probably two enemies.

A neatly dressed young man and a refined-looking woman standing beside him.

The young man tried to defend by generating gold against the flung ink limbs, but the waves of ink that seeped through the gaps still sent them tumbling far away.

Noiche landed in the now-empty center, holding me in her arms.

Good, everyone looks safe.

Zaria, Egiy, and Oz. From what I could see, no serious injuries.

I didn’t know the details of the situation—

But it was clear Oz was being targeted. By a fellow guild member, probably that so-called “hero.”

“At least you’re not dead. Good job holding out, Egiy, Zaria.”

“H-Haro-kun! Noiche-san too…!”

“I was waiting for you, Haro. That spell you developed? It was seriously clutch!”

Ah, that one.

If it worked in real combat, there’s nothing better. Satisfied, Noiche gently lowered me to the ground.

Since I can’t use magic for body enhancement, when I need to “run” like this, being carried by Noiche is faster.

“…You’re Haro-sama?”

“Yeah. First time since the street market, Oz.”

Oz sensed me only by ear.

I had just been investigating her, so it didn’t even feel like only our second meeting. It felt like reuniting with an old friend.

“…Why help me?”

“At first it was just the doll incidents, but now I have no intention of capturing you. I’m interested in those magic eyes.”

“Interested…?”

“A rare research subject. Which means I won’t let you die.”

Plus Raoul asked me to, I added. Oz twitched.

When I told the monastery boys Oz was in danger, they apologized for their earlier rudeness and bowed, begging me to save her.

I was going to help anyway, but now I’m even more motivated.

“Oz, did you use your magic eyes in the fight just now?”

“…No. I couldn’t bring myself to kill the hero.”

“Very mature.”

“Besides, I doubted it would work. With that much magic power, it would probably be neutralized.”

Oz said it calmly.

Yeah, probably, I thought.

Magic-eye spells that directly affect the body can be overpowered by the opponent’s magic.

Against someone circulating massive magic power throughout their body—like the hero in front of us, or the dragonkin I once fought—such spells are nearly useless.

“Envy you.”

I wish I had that kind of magic power.

Well then, let’s do this.

I turned toward the enemy.

“What is this black liquid… it looks like an octopus? Could it be magic related to evil-god worship!?”

“Sorry to interrupt your confusion, but if you’re not backing down, I’ll take you on.”

Demon King and hero—what a strange connection.

Normally we wouldn’t meet so easily.

But in terms of rare cases, this is lucky. Will my magic work not just on Demon Kings, but on heroes too?

“Ink, time for an experiment.”

And I made the eight legs writhe.

Perhaps sensing something bad, the hero moved first.

The instant he touched the ground with one hand, jagged gold erupted from the earth.

Against the gold rushing toward me—

I used about half the ink legs to crush it.

“This guy…!?”

“That all?”

Pretty ordinary attack.

It’s alchemy, I guess, but why gold? There are plenty of metals better suited for combat.

The hero kept generating gold one after another.

Crawling along the ground, climbing building walls, waves of gold assaulting from every direction.

“W-white doves! Deliver heavenly judgment to the blasphemer!”

The woman unleashed magic too.

A flock of charging white doves. I vaguely recall a marquis house that uses that spell, but I don’t remember the name.

Either way—

The eight ink legs deployed without a single gap wrapped up gold and doves alike and crushed them with water pressure.

“N-no way!? My alchemy…!”

“…Well, yeah, against anyone but me, this volume would be a threat.”

Against someone with no counter, this alone could seal the deal.

Compared to the “Sword Demon King’s” possession technique, though, it lacks uniqueness. Just overwhelming with sheer quantity. And—

“—The excellent properties of gold as a material are mainly malleability, ductility, chemical stability, and specific gravity. It’s certainly powerful in terms of weight, but the rest aren’t particularly combat-oriented traits.”

“Wha…!?”

“You haven’t thought deeply about combat magic.”

Wouldn’t mercury be better?

Heavy, easy to manipulate, vaporizes at room temperature and becomes deadly poison. That’s what I’d use.

Ah, wait—there’s a god of gold, right?

If mimicking that boosts effectiveness, then yeah, gold makes sense as a choice.

Anyway, I crushed all the oncoming gold.

Crushed, tore, washed away—then blew away the hero’s sword strike slipping through the gaps with a swing of an ink leg.

“Guh!?”

The hero rolled across the ground, stunned.

Crawling to raise his upper body, his eyes held shock, fear—and anger.

“W-what are you…!?”

That’s a tough question.

What am I, exactly? I don’t really know myself.

When I tilted my head, the hero shouted.

“I’m the hero—I can’t be allowed to lose! If it’s come to this, then I have no choice…!”

“…! Luek-sama, no!”

The hero gripped his sword with both hands.

He thrust it into the air, looking like he had made some kind of resolve, and the woman beside him tried to stop him.

What, a trump card?

My guess was probably right.

“Blaze, glitter, shine brilliantly! Golden hue, manifest our royal domain in this present world—”

Incantation.

Gold erupted from the ground again.

But this time not just the ground—gold appeared even in midair, countless masses of it beginning to spread in all directions.

…At this point, I have to admit the sheer volume is astounding.

Can the ink cover it all? No—if it’s just me, I can protect myself. But—

“…Hero, you planning to drag the whole city into this?”

With this range, it won’t end with just wrecking the main street.

When I pointed that out, the Hero glared at me.

“T-the residents have already evacuated!”

“So what? It’s not just people in the city—their homes, their goods—”

“Shut up! I’ll hear nothing from someone shielding a minion of the Demon King!”

And the hero unleashed the spell.

“Golden God Doldrad, manifest the resplendent golden paradise here and now—!”

Gold spread.

Invading earth and space, surrounding me—yet in the process it would cause catastrophic damage to the surroundings.

Then—there’s no choice but to contain it.

No helping it. It’ll look scary to the residents, but I’ll forcibly suppress it.

“Noiche.”

“Yeah, use as much as you want.”

“Thanks.”

I unfolded my own magic.

“Shadow-Picture Kingdom R’lyeh”

The first time since exterminating those goblins.

Pouring in the enormous magic power from Noiche, the ink multiplied on that foundation and blanketed the city in the blink of an eye.

First, a membrane over everything to protect the buildings.

Then, from the blackened ground rose innumerable tentacles.

They held the spreading gold from the outside and twisted it to pieces.

“What…!?”

“You wouldn’t listen, so I’ll just wear you out.”

Crushing the newborn gold one after another.

Crushing, compressing, swallowing.

Even so, the hero kept generating gold to surpass my volume—but soon his face twisted.

“W-what? My magic power—”

“It’s not coming back, right?”

At my words, the hero froze.

“W-what did you do to my alchemy!?”

I won’t give him the answer.

But it looks like the mechanism was exactly as I thought.

The hero probably recovers most of the spent magic power by immediately turning the transmuted gold back to its original substance.

More precisely, he creates a system that saves magic by “temporarily converting matter into incomplete gold that reverts right away.”

…Who came up with that? Somehow I doubt it was the hero in front of me.

Well, being a hero, it’s not strange he has excellent tutors.

Anyway—

Right now I’m disrupting that magic-power cycle system.

I soak the soil with ink.

When the hero turns soil into gold, the ink mixed in causes the alchemy’s magic cost to skyrocket—because the magic powers clash and cancel each other.

That way, even when the gold reverts to soil, the recovered magic can’t keep up with the cost.

“Still going to continue? At this rate your magic power will just keep draining.”

“Y-you… don’t get in my way!”

Looks like he’s continuing.

The hero’s magic power really is enormous; the gold generation shows no sign of stopping.

But on the other hand—

“Have you left any magic power for body enhancement?”

“W-what do you mean…!”

“It means you’re not just fighting me.”

—Behind me.

That woman had finally lost her patience.

If it was just about killing her, whatever—