There’s a Monster Inside Me Chapter 16

There’s a Monster Inside Me

Chapter 16

The library was in complete chaos.

“AAAAAH!”

New students screaming as they ran, piles of books collapsing…

I darted swiftly between them.

I was heading toward the skylight at the top of the stairs, toward the dark rift that had opened in the world.

Beyond the skylight, a massive rock formation had appeared in the void. Between the mountain-like boulders was a dark, murky gap that seemed to suck in even light.

That was the rift between the heavens and the underworld.

Through that gap, hell monsters could step onto the glorious earth they had so desired.

From the darkness filled only with rocks and flames to a honey-sweet world overflowing with plants and life.

The world’s rift wasn’t that ancient in history. The first rift occurred only about ten years ago.

At first, rifts appeared once every few years, then gradually the intervals shortened.

The types of hell monsters that emerged from the gap also changed. At first, they were low-level and weak, then they gradually became stronger until finally even the King of the Endless Hell…

If the Thousand-Year School had remained intact, it wouldn’t have come to that.

As long as spiritual power users united around the Thousand-Year School, hell monsters couldn’t covet the mortal world.

When the Thousand-Year School collapsed, the kingdom collapsed, and the human world collapsed.

Monsters and demons appeared all over the country, and the boundary between life and death became increasingly blurred.

Finally, when the King of Endless Hell appeared, tearing through the rift, the mortal world transformed into hell.

I saw that terrible end of the world clearly.

“Run! Faster!”

I shouted to myself.

My thin legs raced madly.

“…Run away! Come down, I said!”

Someone shouted from far away. Running toward danger, I must have looked like a foolish moth to a flame.

“…Bada Maru! Hey, you crazy fool!”

Hearing the cursing, I realized.

Ah, Gurumi was nearby. I’m fine, I answered in my heart.

‘…Where is that guy going?!’

The one screaming was Jin-dallae. Of all people, both of them spotted me.

But there’s nothing I can do about it now.

I finally reached the end of the stairs.

The skylight was already completely shattered.

WHOOSH!

I put strength into my legs and sprang upward.

The jump didn’t need to be strong. The whirlwind was already blowing through the rift. Whether I wanted it or not, I would be sucked in.

I let my body ride the fierce wind.

Once caught in the whirlwind, everything around me spun wildly.

GRIND!

I tensed my entire body and escaped from the gust.

Landing on the ground by bending my knees wasn’t difficult.

However, at that moment, I realized an unexpected problem.

“…You crazy Bada Maruuu… you… idiooot!”

“…Maruuu… Gurumiiii…!”

Entangled voices came from within the whirlwind.

Only then did I realize that Gurumi and Jin-dallae were trapped in the raging wind.

“Oh no!”

What a mess! Why did they follow me when they should have run away?

I had delved into the rift to feed the food spirit and quickly become stronger.

In any case, I couldn’t let them see the monster hunt that the food spirit and I were about to conduct.

But this place was too dangerous to leave them alone.

There was only one thing I could trust.

“Baek Eun-ok!”

As soon as I called, Baek Eun-ok appeared in his beautiful spirit form.

“Please take care of these two friends. Watch over them while I go with the food spirit!”

“…I understand.”

His obsidian-like eyes sparkled.

That one word was enough.

I bowed deeply and rushed deeper into the rift.

In the rift, there wasn’t a single blade of grass or tree. All that could be seen were desolate gray-black rocks.

Between the rocks flowed only crimson lava, making this a land of death where no living being could survive.

Yes, this was the land of hell.

From below, I heard drum sounds booming.

POP!

My stomach gurgled and the food spirit sprang out.

“Hehe, food, food!”

It instantly detected the demon beasts.

“Wait, hold on!”

I grabbed the food spirit just as it was about to dart away.

“Why? I’m hungry!”

“SHH!”

I held onto the food spirit and examined the area below the rocks.

Hell monsters had gathered where crimson lava was bubbling up.

Horned creatures beat drums with rod-shaped stone handles. Monsters with two horns circled around as if dancing.

This is roughly what they do when celebrating a feast.

These creatures were Rock Horn Monsters.

When angered, fire rises in their eyelids, and their limbs are as hard as stone.

When fighting begins, they attack randomly without rules, but that’s also their weakness.

The fact that even in groups, they don’t cooperate at all.

“Let me go! Let me go, I said!”

Now I understood why it was a feast day.

Two Rock Horn Monsters had captured a human. The one being dragged away screaming was a young girl.

The Rock Horn Monsters, belonging to the underworld, were going to taste soft human flesh, there was no greater feast than this.

If such creatures came out through the rift and saw humans scattered in all directions, they would be as excited as if they’d received a birthday feast.

“You guys, do you know who I am? Do you know who my father is? You are all dead!”

Seeing her sharp yelling even in that situation, this young girl is no ordinary person.

I gestured to the food spirit demon.

“Hey, did you see? There’s someone there. Don’t let them see you!”

“HMPH, that’s your job, Maru!”

“You demon. Just try getting caught! I’ll rescue the girl first, then you come after. Stay hidden, got it?!”

“HMPH, I shall handle this myself!”

I glared at the food spirit demon then went over the rock.

Thanks to the loud drumming and the struggling girl, they didn’t notice me approaching at all.

“KWEEEE, KWEEK.”

I couldn’t tell if that was speaking or vomiting…. Strange conversations continued among the rock monsters.

After a while, they started messing with the girl’s hair.

“KYAAA! Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me, you monsters!”

They were removing ornaments like hairpins from the struggling girl. Thick, blunt fingers tangled in silver hair.

Huh?

Come to think of it, her hair is silver? Suddenly Senior Pureum Usol’s silver hair came to mind.

“KWEEEK KWEEK….”

“KYAAA, GET AWAY!”

They took quite a while removing things, as she seemed to have many ornaments in her hair.

The moment the creatures surrounded the girl from front and back.

TOONG!

A soft, light furball jumped up. At the same time, I also emerged from behind the rock.

I slid with my back against the ground, passing between the monster’s legs. Then I grabbed the girl who was being held by them.

“KWEEEK!”

The rock monsters were bewildered by their vanished feast. And then….

“CHOMP!”

The sound of taking a bite.

A perfectly timed attack began.

The girl who had been prey was curled up like a shrimp in my arms.

I pressed the girl’s head to stick as close as possible to my shoulder. So she couldn’t see what was happening behind.

“W-who are you?”

Round eyes looked up at me.

“Are you perhaps someone my father sent?”

Although her eyelids were red, the girl’s eyes still sparkled brightly.

To maintain her composure despite such terrible fear – though young, she had extraordinary mental strength.

“CHOMP!”

The food spirit demon bit off a rock monster’s arm.

“PTOOEY!”

Not liking the taste, the furball spat out the arm it had been chewing. The girl tried to look back at the strange sound.

This is troublesome.

I quickly grabbed the back of the girl’s head. Startled, she stopped and stared up at me.

Can’t be helped.

I can’t let her see the food spirit demon.

If it became known that a student of the Thousand-Year Academy had a demon in his stomach, he would not only be expelled but also hunted by those with divine powers.

In my past life, the decisive reason I became a fugitive accused of setting fire to the Thousand-Year Academy was because it was discovered that I was a sorcerer who controlled demon.

Because I was a demon master, no one would listen to my explanations.

I can’t let that happen again, so this secret must not be discovered by anyone. Absolutely not!

The rock monsters’ eyes burned red with anger at the unexpected troublemaker during their merry feast.

“KWEEEK! KWEEEEK!”

The angry rock monsters threw stone clubs at the food spirit demon.

TOONG! TONG!

The stone clubs were too slow to hit the food spirit demon as it dodged here and there.

Just then, one club flew toward me.

Perfect!

I grabbed the girl’s head and adjusted the angle.

“HMMM…?”

The girl’s eyes widened as she felt the grip. But only for a moment.

THWACK!

The girl lost consciousness after being properly hit by the stone club.

I controlled the angle and strength so that she would only faint for a while.

Sorry, but you need to stay like this for now.

“Hey, Maru! I can’t see!”

Oh no!

While I was focused on the stone club, the food spirit demon was jumping around because I had blocked its vision.

I quickly scanned the rock monsters while dragging the girl behind a rock. Only then was the food spirit demon’s vision restored.

“CHOMP!”

The food spirit demon bit a rock monster and spat out something small and black. My two legs dashed toward the black bead.

“HAP!”

The black bead that the food spirit demon spat out went into my mouth.

Since it had eaten and spat out the rock monster creature, it should have contained magical power, but strangely, the bead contained pure divine power.

Whether it was because the food spirit demon digested it well or for some other reason, that’s how it was.

After discovering this fact in my past life, I never missed the beads it spat out. Thanks to this, my divine power, which had been as small as millet, changed unpredictably.

But swallowing the beads spat out by the food spirit demon didn’t infinitely increase divine power. More precisely, it only increased according to the divine power I had accumulated.

My original divine power was as small as millet, but through meditation and training, it had now grown to the size of a rice grain.

The food spirit demon’s beads had the mysterious power of doubling that rice grain.

“PTOOEY!”

“HAP!”

I again ate the bead that the food spirit demon spat out. As the black bead went down my throat, it turned into blue energy.

WHOOSH!….

I gathered the bluish energy that scattered through my blood vessels into my lower abdomen.

Behind my original divine power, pure energy gathered.

Like a shadow behind the white, fine divine power, another layer of divine power overlapped.
My hands and feet tingled as energy surged within me. I wanted to use this power right away.

I took out a needle from my pocket.

Honestly, a needle wasn’t an appropriate shamanic tool against rock monsters. There was nowhere to stick a needle into something as hard as a rock.

If the creature were to strike the needle, it might break in half.

Still, I was going to try.

I drew out the divine power concentrated in my lower abdomen. I wove it like a thin thread and connected it to the needle.

The needle climbed up the rock monster’s incredibly hard body.

What had been wriggling like a worm now moved as fast as an ant.

The rock monster’s skin was extremely dull. It didn’t notice at all as the needle traveled up its leg, torso, and to its forehead.

When the needle reached near the forehead, I gave the command.

“Pierce!”

“KWEEEEEK!”

The rock monster swinging the stone club grabbed its eyelids and screamed.

My needle had pierced the monster’s blood-red eyeball.

The rock monster’s limbs were as hard as armored rock. Its only weakness was its eyes.

The monster’s howl spread in all directions.

“CHOMP!”

The head of the screaming rock monster disappeared in an instant.

The food spirit demon, chewing thoroughly, spat out another black bead.

“PTOOEY!”

“HAP!”

After swallowing each bead that entered my mouth, everything around became quiet.

There were no more rock monsters left.

The food spirit demon smacked its lips, seemingly satisfied with its meal.

“PTOOEY, what’s this?”

It spat a black needle into my palm.

“Is this child’s play?”

Considering my past life’s end, such talk was understandable.

Back then, I was incomparably stronger than now and would have scoffed at such a small needle.

“Can’t be helped. I’m barely thirteen now, with meager divine power. At this point, even a needle is a blessing.”

Even if I received better shamanic tools, they would be pearls before swine for me.

“HA, is that so? You’re truly weak!”

“That’s funny coming from something that’s just gotten fatter…!”

“It’s muscle, not fat!”

“Don’t make me laugh, you demon brat!”

In the middle of our bickering, a faint moan was heard.

“MMM….”

It seemed the girl was about to wake up.

GULP.

My stomach wobbled, and the food spirit demon tactfully disappeared.

I quickly ran over and helped the girl up.

“Are you alright?”

“Mmm, what happened…?”

Feeling dizzy, she shook her head and found a fist-sized lump on the back of her head. The girl immediately frowned.

“What is this…?”

The girl looked around but saw only black rocks; everything was quiet.

“Those… monsters?”

The rock monsters were gone, leaving only their purplish limbs.

The food spirit demon was quite picky about food, eating only the tasty parts.

Today it swallowed only the heads and torsos of the rock monsters, so the rest remained.

“What… what happened…?”

The girl’s pupils shook widely.