Mystic Overlord: Reading Gives Strength
Chapter 449 - 446: Annihilation

Chapter 449: Chapter 446: Annihilation

They tiptoed closer to the kitchen, peering in from the side.

What appeared before their eyes was a scene far worse than any they encountered at the banquet hosted by Sir Philips.

The owner of the footfalls and breaths.

It was a Swollen Demon that had fully completed its ritualistic transformation and was actively moving about!

A mass of human limbs, complexly intertwined and in utter disarray, had twisted together to form a roughly humanoid but grotesque monster—standing on two legs, with a multitude of arms.

In the dimly candlelit kitchen, only it paced back and forth, and each time it passed the stove, it would cook its own flesh by adding Magic Power to turn it into delectable food that appeared savory and aromatic, then place it on plates on the nearby table.

Witnessing this scene, Eloyce scrutinized it carefully before whispering,

"Ronald, many of the dishes are empty..."

"I see that..."

With Ronald and Eloyce’s abilities, they could clearly see about ten portions of food laid out on the table. However, there were dozens of used plates beside it!

No wonder everyone in this office building harbored strange Magic Power within them!

Wasn’t this its great achievement?

Even with this continuous consumption, the demon’s size didn’t correlate to the number of humans it had merged with; having lost a considerable amount of flesh, it was now only about the size of three adults combined.

Clack clack clack—

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps approached from the corridor outside the kitchen.

Ronald and Eloyce exchanged a glance before both hiding in an empty storage room next to the kitchen, leaving only a crack open and using a Spell to keep watch.

Soon enough, the creator of the footsteps appeared at the end of the hallway.

This too was an ordinary, nondescript company employee, his greasy skin bearing signs of exhaustion from overtime work and a flush from alcohol.

He walked into the kitchen with a sluggish gait.

Heading straight for the table, the man picked up a ’dish’ and began to eat. Just as he was finishing up and about to leave, he even started greeting the empty kitchen.

"Mrs. Mary, working so late to prepare us a midnight snack, I’m truly sorry..."

"Miss Emilia, that dish just now must have been your craft. You’ve really improved lately..."

"Carter, you can come along after work too. Brother Kai will take you to broaden your horizons..."

Under the influence of the illusionary Spell and alcohol, the man spent a good while greeting ’people.’ But the humans assimilated by the Swollen Demon no longer had the possibility of responding.

Ronald and Eloyce watched the scene unfold, silent and still.

They had the power to rush out and stop this man’s meaningless actions.

But in reality, it wouldn’t make any difference.

Because, before swallowing the food before him, even before Ronald and Eloyce had entered the office building, this man had already consumed the Swollen Demon’s food, and his body was infused with that bizarre and evil Magic Power.

Continuing to eat only deepened the effects to some extent.

Ordinary people, lost in the illusions crafted by the Swollen Demon, were completely unaware of the danger they were in and had no chance of saving themselves.

"..."

"Eloyce, I’m going to take action."

As the last farewell concluded and the poor employee turned to leave, Ronald could no longer hold back.

Acting now might have some unfavorable consequences.

But witnessing such a reality, Ronald was no longer willing to just watch.

He wanted to kill the monster immediately.

Now! Right now! Kill this thing immediately!

Eloise also detected the anger in Ronald’s voice, so she silently stepped back.

Immediately after, Ronald took action.

He didn’t even bother going around to the corridor to reach the kitchen.

Through the wall separating the storeroom and the kitchen, he gauged the Swollen Demon’s pacing back and forth and then slammed his fist into the wall before him.

Boom!

With a crisp exploding sound, the red bricks within the wall were shattered by Ronald’s punch. The next second, Ronald’s fist that had smashed in grabbed a boning knife from the tabletop, and at the same time, his fingers brushed the ring imbued with the power of the "Heavenly Chapter."

Shhh—

The power of the "Mighty Angel" took effect, and the scorching, holy power of daylight instantly enveloped the surface of the knife.

Faced with the sudden explosion of the wall beside it, the Swollen Demon did react.

However, it had just completed the action of turning around when its head, assembled from a pile of human skulls, saw the knife wrapped in daylight power flying out instantly and plunging straight into its chest.

"Huh?"

After a puzzled low growl, flames immediately began to burn fiercely.

An evil existence like the Swollen Demon was exactly the type of enemy that daylight power was meant to restrain.

Much like how potassium chlorate decomposes when heated and encounters manganese dioxide.

The daylight power, triggered instantaneously, violently covered the Swollen Demon in a blink of an eye, enveloping it completely before starting to erode the demon’s filthy body.

"Ssss—"

Perhaps due to its inherently twisted body, being directly burned by daylight power, the demon could only let out a pain-filled sound like air leaking out.

The Swollen Demon was a typical ceremonial summon.

It was already at a significant disadvantage compared to Ronald’s original spell.

Now facing a counteracting attribute, the reaction produced by the combination of the two was imaginable.

The daylight power lasted for a little over twenty seconds.

Accompanied by a ’plop’ sound, the demon that had previously been creating ’food’ fell to the ground, its body gradually turning to ashes amid the unceasing flames, and eventually vanished on the kitchen floor along with the daylight power.

"..."

"Aaaaaah—"

In an instant, various places within the office building began to emit a series of wails.

As the Swollen Demon died completely, its dispersed Magic Power also underwent an unrestrained transformation, and ordinary people who had ingested its food faced their own painful bodies as they snapped out of the illusion, turning the entire building into an abyss of wailing.

Even more worrisome was the additional change occurring in the city of Springs.

As the Swollen Demon, the center of the entire ritual, lay on the ground, the widely spread spell suffered from severe damage, and several places throughout the city began experiencing Magic Power abnormalities.

Sensing the sudden intense changes, Eloise immediately turned her head towards the man beside her:

"Ronald?"

"Let’s split up and act, save as many as we can."

Ronald answered Eloise quickly, then turned and walked out of the storeroom.

Of course, they needed to catch the main culprit, but ordinary people in the office building were also suffering.

If they could be saved...

Better try to save as many as possible.