Otherworld Conquest (1)
-Dimension Name: Devour
-Registration Number: A-034BM
-Dimension Type: Fantasy Realm
-Danger Level: Very High, Survival First
-…
Before coming here, Hans had reviewed the information from the Returnee Association, which had completely stopped updating years ago.
He slowly surveyed his surroundings, organizing the thoughts swirling in his head.
‘This is exactly…’
The basement where he had manifested was decorated in a quintessential occult style that seemed like something out of an old horror film.
From the blood patterns scattered around the room to the worn-out, stubbly candles that almost touched the floor, to the pile of bones and skulls forming an altar, and even a human forearm and an eye still dripping fresh blood.
‘The dimension where the executioner came from.’
His gaze shifted forward, lingering on a young man who had lost one eye and one arm and was currently frothing at the mouth, fainting.
‘Infinite Great Demon, they called it?’
As far as he knew, that was indeed the alias used by the executioner in this world.
It seemed that this ceremony was conducted with the purpose of summoning him.
Glancing around again, Hans shook his head slightly.
‘Everything’s a mess. They really thought they could summon a demon with preparations like this.’
No matter how different the detailed formats were, someone of his level could tell with just a glance.
This ritual held no mystery whatsoever.
He might have dragged the potential up if he had some innate talent, but the young man clearly didn’t seem gifted in that direction.
“Ugh… oh, great demon… I offer my soul… please, grant me my wish…!”
As he was inwardly clicking his tongue, a thin moan suddenly caught his attention from below.
A pitiful voice, as if about to run out of breath at any moment.
Hans looked down at the young man, surprised.
[Oh? Not bad.]
While somewhat suppressed, the aura of fear emanating from his body was enough to intimidate anyone to the point of not being able to raise their head properly.
It was pure intangible violence that inspired despair just by existing.
Yet here was a young man still managing to resist that intimidation, even with one arm and one eye ripped out?
‘At least his willpower is commendable.’
Hans slowly stroked his chin.
It was merely a coincidence that he appeared during the young man’s ritual.
Who could have known that such a ceremony would be taking place just as he set foot in this world?
‘… No, it can’t just be coincidence.’
The executioner was an entity known as the Infinite Great Demon in this realm.
It made perfect sense for someone hoping to contract with such a being to choose a place connected to him for the ceremony.
And it was likely that he had been drawn here by that earnest wish.
‘I couldn’t extract precise location information because his level was too high. So I took into account a slight margin of error…’
At this point, it could not be seen as mere coincidence but rather necessity.
Hans, with his fiery gaze lowered, quietly observed the young man.
And he opened his mouth to the young man, who trembled like a leaf yet desperately tried to maintain his composure.
[Kuh-huh, good. You haven’t lost your wits in front of this body. You seem like someone who might be useful.]
“A, ah… Thank you!”
Since he was in a new dimension, securing a local informant was essential.
The information he had grasped before coming here was outdated and practically useless.
In that sense, this young man was the most fitting choice available.
‘Then I need to take care of this first. If I leave him like this, he won’t last long enough to survive.’
With a flick of his hand, the severed eye and forearm lying sprawled on the altar soared into Hans’ palm.
Body parts that had undoubtedly been self-amputated as the price of the ritual.
However, they were already decayed to the point where their original shape had fallen apart.
‘It’s unavoidable since they were too close to me.’
Still, it didn’t matter much.
After all, he wasn’t a black magician or a priest.
He had no intention of reattaching them in a proper way anyway.
Woosh—
A black flame ignited in his palm.
A terrifyingly ominous black fire that looked as if it could gaze into the abyss of deep hell.
Yet the eye and forearm did not burn away but began to absorb the flames, gradually regaining their original form instead.
If he had to point out a difference, it was that they started to shine with a glossy black sheen, as if carved from obsidian?
[So—]
As soon as Hans opened his mouth again.
The parts he held were engulfed in black flames and shot through the air.
Heading towards where they originally belonged.
Sssss—!
“Ahhh—!”
A scream ripped through the basement with the sound of flesh searing like hot iron.
The young man, who had to part with his body parts, rolled deliriously on the floor.
The thoroughly deceased body’s power of death rejected him, blending with his physical form and creating a natural repulsion response.
[If you can’t even endure that much, you can’t be my contractor. Prove your worth. We shall discuss the real deal afterward.]
Hans coldly remarked, glancing down at the young man, whose eyes rolled back in agony.
Of course, he wasn’t simply tormenting someone innocent out of spite.
‘In a world like this, I can’t easily trust someone trying to contract with a demon.’
This was a shackle and a surveillance device to ensure he wouldn’t betray him.
It was nothing more than a necessary clause to sign before the real contract began.
However, it wasn’t all downsides to accepting this.
Besides regaining his lost eye and arm, the young man would likely develop some resistance to the aura of death Hans exuded now that he had a part of death within him.
He wouldn’t be blacking out from just facing him anymore.
‘He’s optimized for necromancy now too.’
He would see things he couldn’t normally see through the eyes of the dead, and manipulate things that he shouldn’t have been able to handle with the arms of the deceased.
Necromancy was a power that shone brighter in a world permeated by death, and in this realm, it could easily be called the ultimate ability.
[Hmph, did he pass out after all? Even so, this much is commendable. I can expect something from you going forward.]
Hans slowly nodded, observing the young man, who lay twitching on the floor, having fainted from the shock of the new body settling in.
Then, leaving him there, he began to walk slowly outside.
‘Since I don’t know when he’ll wake up, I’ll at least get a general understanding of the situation.’
The world of Devour had long ago fallen into ruin and was now sealed away.
An outsider took his first steps into this stagnant world.
A giant leap that would shake the entirety of this stagnant world.
*
McCarthy was a somewhat special young man.
To survive, he had done everything under the sun since he was little, including murder.
Just like everyone else in this world.
‘If I don’t kill first, I’ll die.’
That was the truth of life he had realized early on.
Thanks to this early realization, he managed to cling to life until he grew up.
Even while his parents and the gang he hung out with perished one after another.
It was around this time that he recognized his uniqueness.
‘This place is dangerous. I need to flee to a different place.’
His survival instincts were remarkable.
He could sense approaching peril without any premonitions at all.
While he couldn’t predict exactly when or what situation would arise, that alone was enough to ensure his survival.
The moment he felt a crisis, all he had to do was run as far away from that location as possible.
Afterward, he became a wanderer, roaming here and there.
Starting from the Cave Village, which rejected outsiders, to valleys filled with raiders, to devastated hell cities and castles ruled by demon contractors.
Naturally stronger than others, he had managed to survive tenaciously through perilous events, experiencing life and death.
In the process, he was able to witness many landscapes of this world.
A sky that was perpetually dark with no sun rising.
Arid land with only grotesque plants resembling monsters.
A few survivors clinging to life in the ruins of a civilization destroyed to rubble.
And demon contractors ruling over those few survivors, clinging to life.
There was no land in this world where farming could be done normally.
Those who formed groups were all violent clans busy pillaging and hunting, and those of considerable size were mostly enslaved under demon contractors.
And McCarthy, who thought he would wander and die in the streets for the rest of his life…
Fate brought him a woman in a ruined village he happened to visit.
‘Delia…’
His savior who reached out to help him when he was gravely injured due to a minor mistake, nearing death.
In a world where one must kill to survive, such selfless deeds shone brightly all on their own.
‘If it were me, I would have killed for sure and taken the spoils.’
Her kindness wasn’t directed only at him.
Struggling to survive herself, she took in homeless orphans while working as a prostitute.
A ray of light in a world filled with darkness.
Falling for her was only a natural progression.
As a wanderer, McCarthy settled in the village, helping her for over a year while slowly building their relationship.
Never had he been more grateful for his strong body than during that time.
And the poison called love that burrowed into his heart led him to deep despair.
Woosh—
The sharply burning flames and black smoke.
The familiar smell of burning corpses.
A ruined home and a village devoid of life.
Though the warm space he once felt was now stained with blood and death.
He could do nothing.
‘Why?’
He had warned her of the danger, but she didn’t listen.
To be precise, she understood his words but chose not to follow them.
She couldn’t help it.
There were too many things she had to be responsible for, even if it meant leaving everything behind to hide with him.
And McCarthy…
As always…
‘…’
After a while, he returned to the village, filled with regret.
He wished he had kidnapped her and fled, or that he had stayed with her and died together.
He thought he would be okay repeating the familiar ordeal he had experienced countless times, but the sense of loss, as if his heart had been pierced, never faded no matter how much time passed.
‘Who could it be?’
Identifying the outlaw wasn’t difficult.
The opposing force had no reason to hide its actions.
He was the lord of the largest castle among the existing castles and the contract holder of the great demon at the top of the demons that roamed this world, Lapua.
His “hunting festival” for his master was the root of this tragedy.
‘Infinite Great Demon. And Lapua.’
There was no prospect of revenge.
It was only right to forget everything and make a choice to survive.
Just as he had done thus far.
Just as he had done not long ago.
Yet, he who had let everything go did not give up.
After leveraging his abilities to the maximum, he searched desperately for a way.
He finally obtained a record.
‘Infinite Great Demon.’
A being that had once been called the strongest in the world before the Infinite Great Demon.
A pivotal entity in the destruction of the world, who had suddenly vanished about a hundred years ago, having slaughtered numerous heroes.
‘If only I could contract with him…!’
He didn’t care that the being he sought for revenge was also a demon.
In this world, it wasn’t that rare for demon contractors to kill each other.
He had heard that great demons, like demon lords, also had discord among themselves, so perhaps they might welcome his proposal.
Thus, he prepared the ritual to summon the Infinite Great Demon while crossing countless dangers.
[Infinite Great Demon…? Where did you pick up such a lowly name?]
Ultimately, he failed to achieve his objective.
[Kuhuhuh, I am he who reigns over all dead—the king of death, Hannibal Strauss.]
But he did not resign.
If there existed a being who could belittle the Infinite Great Demon, who had been known as the greatest for a century…
If there was someone who could call themselves the “King of Death,” then perhaps a chance still remained.
‘Even if it’s just the demon’s lie.’
So, he wrung out the last of his strength and clung to the being.
Hoo—
The high sky was far away.
“Ugh…!”
Biting down on the pain from his left eye and arm, McCarthy recalled the past.
And he took a deep breath, looking at the “master,” who was observing the ground from the lofty heights, emotionless, just as he was.
[Hmm, I see. That means the Infinite Great Demon and the other demons are the culprits behind this world’s condition, right?]
“Y-yes… That could be said. To be honest, the events happened so long ago, and as you can see, we couldn’t precisely document it, so only the demons themselves know the true facts, including the contractors who heard the stories from them.”
As he had always done, he diligently answered the questions.
Fortunately, his experiences wandering around, hearing various rumors, allowed him to answer most of the questions without much difficulty.
[Oh, I see.]
A short line echoed ominously.
Woo—!
As soon as he finished speaking, their bodies rapidly descended to the ground.
The pain from his arms and eye intensified, but he gritted his teeth and somehow managed to swallow a scream.
[Well, the details don’t really matter.]
Landing lightly on the ground, Hans didn’t even glance at the staggering McCarthy as he muttered softly.
From the explanations he had heard so far, he had already figured out what he needed to do.
[In any case, the root cause is the demons, isn’t it? Then all I have to do is take care of them. Kuhuhuh!]
With a low laugh, he calmly uttered absurdity.
However, McCarthy had no rebuttal to his words.
He sensed, instinctively, through the pain connected to his arms and eye.
That this was absolutely not just empty talk, but a statement based on confidence.
‘No way, he’s serious…’
Just as he swallowed hard without realizing it.
The abnormal events had already begun.
KYAAHH—
Woo—
Ughh—
Startled by the eerie wails echoing from all directions, he looked up at the sky.
Through his left eye, resembling polished obsidian and possessed by the dead, he could vividly see what was happening.
“Oh.”
Countless souls, covering the dark sky, had arrived, cascading like a wave.
They easily numbered in the tens of thousands, flowing like a tide towards this place.
And at the front, representing the multitude, a ghost clad in a black veil, dressed in mourning attire, knelt before the king.
[Olivia.]
[Command me… O king… The girl… has arrived here… .]
The information officer of the undead army, Banshee Queen Olivia.
She had gathered the spirits filling this land under the king’s orders since McCarthy lost consciousness and now respectfully bowed her head.
[Seek out.]
Reaching across dimensions, toward her great master.
[Those who reign atop this world.]
[I shall obey…!]
It was the moment her notoriety, transcending the limits of a dimension called Auterica, took root even in the Devour dimension.
