I Became the Mad Demon in a Novel - Chapter 9

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: DereKimchi

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Became the Mad Demon in a Novel ◈

Chapter 9: Identity Verification

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I looked around.

Pale steam curled up from pools of blood that had not yet gone cold.

A living hell made of severed flesh and tangled entrails.

Then my gaze stopped on one spot.

A woman lay there with her skull split open, her eyes wide as white brain matter spilled out.

I froze, utterly blank.

I couldn't stand properly.

The red trails etched across my retinas still hadn't faded, like half-burned ash.

A sickening pulse climbed through my veins. Even now, its pounding surged up beside my ears with a dull hum.

'Hah...'

An indescribable burden pressed down on my entire body like a crushing weight.

I couldn't be certain, but it felt as if one part of my soul had been worn away completely.

What was this? Exhaustion? Lethargy?

I couldn't find the right words for it.

One thing was certain.

I never wanted to experience it again.

'...'

What was even more chilling was that this merciless slaughter had been entirely my own will.

The Silent Aeon Demon Soul hadn't controlled me. I had been the one wielding that madness to my heart's content.

The pleasant sensation of slicing flesh apart. The thirst for fresh blood.

None of that had been the Mad Demon.

It had been me.

Was I truly someone perfectly suited to be a villain called the Mad Demon?

"Ugh...!"

In the end, I dropped to my knees and vomited stomach acid reeking of blood.

"Chuk-ang!"

The Mad Demon's shadows rushed toward me in alarm.

Their body odor, mixed with the scent of blood and demonic energy, was almost comforting.

I waved off the ones trying to throw themselves into full prostration before me, their faces pale with shock.

"...I'm fine. It's nothing."

The state of those who had come running only to check on me was far worse.

The one in front of me had strands of shredded shoulder muscle hanging from exposed white bone.

Another clutched the intestines spilling from their side and stared only at me.

Those mad bastards were coughing up hot, bloody foam every time they breathed.

The Mad Demon and the Ten Armies.

I still didn't even know their names.

But I knew exactly what kind of bond I would form with them from now on.

When the world called me a calamity and pointed its fingers at me, they would be the only ones lying at my feet, willing to bleed beside me.

Faced with such blind reverence, I would eventually grow attached to them.

After only one battle, I understood the romantic ideal of martial tales that had seemed so vague when I read about it in a novel.

"We're returning to the Divine Cult."

I let out a small laugh at their silently trembling gazes.

"What? Isn't that good news?"

"By your command!"

* * *

Title: Can Someone Tell Me About the Demonic Cult?

Is Chuk-ang a rank in the Demonic Cult? Or a position?

And how is the power struggle within the Demonic Cult going right now?

Is Fierce Lord's side still the strongest?

└ Oh! A fucked skip freak, welcome lol. But why are you acting all high and mighty while trying to freeload?

└ It's better not to be curious about the Demonic Cult.

└ Why??

└ Why do newbies always have some vague fantasy about the Demonic Cult? Lol.

└ It's the worst possible starting point. Never recommend it.

└ I have no choice but to go to the Demonic Cult... Can't you just answer me???

└ Nope. Skip freaks need to die.

└ Quit struggling! Skip freaks should go to hell!

└ Ugh, you fucking assholes...

Was I an idiot for expecting anything from the gallery?

Then again, having read all of Mad Heaven Records was the Gallers' most valuable asset.

There was no way they would hand over such precious information for free.

I was the crazy one for asking such a stupid question in a public gallery.

Wait.

'Gui!'

Come to think of it, I now knew the password for the so-called Return Seekers’ group.

They had probably built up their little social circle over a long time, so maybe they wouldn't dodge a sensitive question like this?

I quickly made a post titled Gui, set it to private, and entered the password.

It was 1818218, right?

Title: Gui ("Return") (Private)

Hello, Return Seekers!

I'm new here. Is there anyone who can kindly tell me about the Demonic Cult? Hehe!

I made the message as friendly as possible and waited.

But even after thirty minutes, the view count remained at zero.

I was getting anxious.

How could people riddled with holes in their bodies recover so quickly?

Several members of the Ten Armies of the Mad Demon were already moving around and preparing to leave.

Then the view count ticked up to one, and at last, a comment appeared.

└ Welcome. What do you want to know about the Demonic Cult?

Oh, I could feel the unmistakable goodwill in the tone alone.

Socializing might be banned, but perhaps desperate people understood each other.

└ What's Chuk-ang?

└ Hm. It's hard to put into words. For now, think of it as a prophet-like position.

└ A prophet?

└ Maybe that's not quite right? Anyway, it's complicated. The meaning itself is "revere and bless." Do you know the Demonic Cult's doctrine?

└ Yeah, I know.

└ Then it'll be easier to explain. Think of Chuk-ang as the Sacred Fire.

The Sacred Fire.

The Demonic Cult, descended from ancient Mazdaism, still revered fire.

The corrupted concept of the Great Light, the supreme deity of Mazdaism, was the Heavenly Demon.

And the Sacred Fire was the medium symbolizing the Heavenly Demon's demonic nature.

└ So it means the Heavenly Demon's successor?

└ No, no. There isn't any real power base behind it. It's all religious symbolism, I guess.

└ So it's just an empty title?

└ The original never said so directly, but it's certain that the Heavenly Demon wants one of their three sons to become the next Heavenly Demon.

So that was it.

They couldn't ignore the Mad Demon's reputation and martial strength, so they had thrown him the plausible honorary title of Chuk-ang to pacify him?

└ So the Mad Demon only has the Ten Armies of the Mad Demon?

└ Yeah. Why? Don't tell me you're trying to go after the Mad Demon? Wake up. The Ten Armies are tough enough, but the Mad Demon is practically invincible.

The three Demon Lords possessed overwhelming military power within the Demonic Cult.

But the Ten Armies were all the Mad Demon had?

That meant he was practically an outcast and the weakest one.

└ By the way, how long can the Mad Demon endure the spiritual energy of the Silent Aeon Demon Soul?

The Return Seeker Galler kindly replied to the comment I had deliberately left as if I were a third party.

└ Who knows? But it's certain that the more spiritual energy he uses, the more his mind and heart get worn down. Still, being a total personality wreck is the Mad Demon's whole identity. By the latter half of Mad Heaven Records, it's hard to even call him human.

'...'

My mind went cold.

That sickening pulse and exhilaration I had felt amid the slaughter just now hadn't been simple adrenaline.

In the end, Demon Calamity was a limited-use engine that burned away my human soul to produce demonic power.

'It won't just be a ruined personality.'

The Mad Demon's ending in the original was becoming a monster that had lost its human ego, leaving only a shell behind.

That terrible sense of erosion I had felt must have been a warning light that my soul was being shaved away.

Damn it, wasn't this the kind of character who disappeared like a single-use battery after it ran out?

Only now did I think I understood why the original Mad Demon had kept the Silent Aeon Demon Soul wrapped in layers of thick cloth.

Unless his life was on the line, he didn't want to hold it.

Then the view count changed to two.

Another Return Seeker, who had apparently been lurking silently, soon left a comment.

└ Lol, is that you by any chance?

Huh?

I couldn't explain it, but I had a strong feeling that this was the Swordwood Lord.

└ Ma'am...?

└ You son of a bitch.

That immediate outburst made it seem likely that it was them.

└ Are you heading to the Demonic Cult right now?

└ That's the plan.

└ Yeah. Watch out for Blood Lord for a while.

└ Blood Lord?

Blood Lord.

Fierce Lord's rival. Fierce Lord commanded the strongest faction, while Blood Lord was a demonic young lord with a personality every bit as psychotic as the Mad Demon's.

A typical inferiority-complex case who couldn't stand seeing anyone do better than him.

└ Why him?

└ The reason the Mad Demon left the Demonic Cult at this point is because of him.

└ No, what did he do?

└ Why do you think he's called Blood Lord? He became Blood Lord because he's the adopted son of the Mad Blood Sword Clan.

└ What????

└ Their only son got written off. Should they just sit back and watch the clan collapse? Isn't it obvious?

Who was the patriarch of the Mad Blood Sword Clan?

A cold-blooded man who had shattered his son's dantian and expelled him from the clan.

Of course, it must have been to appease the Heavenly Demon's wrath.

But even so, his son was still alive. Was he really bringing in an adopted son and making him the heir?

└ How can the Heavenly Demon's bloodline become the adopted son of one of the Five Great Demonic Clans? Did the Heavenly Demon allow that?

└ The Heavenly Demon proposed it first.

└ What?

Damn it. No wonder.

This was why the Mad Demon went insane from the middle of the story onward.

It had already been strange enough that a character who had been calm at first suddenly became the Mad Demon.

The Heavenly Demon he had revered like the sky and the clan he had been born into were both screwing him over.

It would have been stranger if he hadn't lost his mind in rage.

└ The Mad Demon has already turned five martial forces under Blood Lord into a complete mess and left the Demonic Cult. Officially, it's a mission. In reality, he ran away lol.

└ Ah, fuck... Why are you only telling me this now?

└ You didn't ask?

So that was why those dark bastards had looked so strange when I said we were returning to the Demonic Cult.

I desperately turned the matter over in my head.

What if the Heavenly Demon had planted their own son in the Mad Blood Sword Clan, the strongest of the Five Great Demonic Clans?

Since ancient times, whether through marriage or adoption, mixing blood was an open declaration of ambition to swallow up that power.

In other words, the Mad Demon's act of secretly reading the former Sword Demon's secret manual had merely been a convenient excuse.

A child might make a mistake, but they had seized the opportunity and devised a scheme around it.

└ Ugh, that greedy bastard Heavenly Demon... What am I supposed to do now?

└ Wait, newbie... No, sir, are you perhaps the Mad Demon himself?

Shit.

I had gotten too absorbed in the conversation and forgotten to hide my identity.

└ Lmao, this is fucking hilarious. You got exposed right away? This is going to be fun to watch lmao.

└ Ah... fuck...

I couldn't stand imagining that cackling woman's face.

└ Wow... I'm in the Demonic Cult too, wow... Holy shit... I can't even talk... Wow... The Mad Demon, wow...

└ You're in the Demonic Cult?

└ Yes, sir! Please take good care of me! Use me like a dog! I will give you my absolute loyalty! The Divine Cult Rules All Under Heaven; Ten Thousand Demons Bow in Reverence!

└ Who are you in the Demonic Cult?

└ Hehe, I'll introduce myself gradually!

As expected of a Galler, they refused to take off their mask even now.

Still, one thing had become clear.

Even in the Demonic Cult, supposedly such a difficult place to settle into, there were Gallers actively at work.

└ Mad Demon Yuk Jin-gwang is a Galler... Wow... I'm seriously, seriously so jealous, sir.

└ Stop it, asshole.

└ By your command! I'll go change my underwear!

I hurriedly closed the gallery window.

"Ha..."

The father I had trusted shattered my dantian and cast me out.

The one I had regarded as a god put me on display as a religious symbol while trying to hand real power to their own bloodline.