A giant face emerged from beneath the surface.
Sharp teeth peeking out of a gaping mouth, the corners of its mouth torn upward as if it was enjoying something.
It had no eyes or nose, so its expression was unreadable, but still recognizable.
The horrible feeling of hunger and thirst, the appetite, the gluttony, and the joy and elation that it was all about to be relieved.
The Daylilies of the Blood Tree waited beneath the water with their mouths open, waiting for the demons.
[Uuuuh?]
[Hey, what is this!?]
[Kuaaghh! What kind of power does it have!?]
[...Help me!]
The demon transformed into their bird of prey forms and took flight, only to be dragged back to the water's surface by the tough vines that were about to wrap around their ankles, or had already wrapped around them.
Wahzak-.
The mouth of a Daylily closed.
One of the demons had gotten stuck in it and bled to death.
[...]
The demon shuddered as he looked down at his mashed up lower half, like meat for a haggis.
Crushed flesh, shattered bones, and dark blood dripped down in a puddle.
As its prey watched in horror and despair, Daylily shook itself with delight, stretching out its vines again and again.
Shurorororock-
Once again, the demons that had ascended to the sky are pulled down.
[When did these vines get around my ankles!?]
[Water! It got wrapped around me when I fell in the water!]
[I can't get it off! Damn, it's so tough!]
[Ouch! I'm being dragged again! Aaaaaaah... kahg!?]
The countless daylilies soon formed a colony and swallowed up the demons.
cheombeong- cheombeong- cheombeong- cheombeong-
The river quickly turned black with the blood of the demons.
Seeing this disaster situation, Isolde could only gape.
His ankles, wings, and torso were covered with daylily vines as he struggled to hold on.
[No way! Where did these things...!?]
Isolde stared at Vikir with shaky pupils.
But Vikir didn't bother to answer.
Before Madeline and her legion of demons had pursued Bianca, he had planted the seeds of the blood daylily on the shores of Lakedog, which had been drained for the construction of the dam.
'No matter how bad the drought, the bottom of Lakedog Lake never cracks.'
Lakedog Lake hasn't run dry in thousands of years.
When someone sees a lake like that, not only bare, but cracked and dry, they should be suspicious.
It's because the daylily seeds have sprouted and sucked all the moisture from the bottom of the lake.
And now, with the water in full force, the daylilies are in full bloom.
They ate the demons in droves.
"You lacked attention."
Isolde's eyes widened at Vikir's words.
[You bastard, don't pretend to be so relaxed! You think you can escape these demonic beasts just because you're a human!]
The Daylily of the Blood Tree were obviously very fond of humans.
The size of its maw and the way its teeth were packed into it made it look like a 100% carnivore.
However.
-twees!
A surprise happened.
One of Don Quixote's soldiers, who had stumbled and fallen into the river, had been captured by the Daylily.
As Daylily wrapped the soldier in its vines and was about to take him into its mouth, it paused for a moment and stuck out its tongue to lick him once.
Then, as if touching something inedible, it threw the soldier back into the water.
[...? ...? ...? ...?]
Isoled, who saw the soldier who had survived his life hurriedly crawling up to land, only blinked in bewilderment.
He can barely speak as he struggles against the tug of the vines.
"Well improved."
Vikir nodded as the Daylily spat out the human.
Then, behind him, a figure stood, puffing out his chest with a smug expression.
Minpin. Minpin Baskerville.
His voice was full of pride as he spoke, familiar with the ecology of the monsters.
"Ah, I've been working hard to modify their diet. I've completely ripped out their taste buds to make them taste disgusting to humans, and sweet and savory to demons. In doing so, they've lost a lot of their size, but this is something that can be made up considerably as generations go by. Oh, and again....."
Minpin went on at length about his painstaking efforts, but Vikir filtered out the essentials.
Using the daylilies from Vikir, Minpin conducted many experiments in the safety of Tochka's underground facility.
Even Morg Banshee, an authority on the subject, sent his own team of researchers to assist in the experiments.
As a result, Minpin was able to identify and select individuals among the daylilies that were unusually unthirsty for human blood, and he continued to breed them, refining the breed to become less aggressive toward humans with each passing generation.
In addition, by mixing human blood with a foul-tasting substance when feeding them, and by feeding them demon blood along with small amounts of other foods that the daylilies might like, the daylilies began to be tamed in an acquired way.
In this way, the daylilies, both genetically and acquired, were transformed from seed.
twe-es!
The daylilies shied away from humans as if they lost their appetite.
But when they see the blood of the demons, they rush at them with madness in their eyes.
[... Ughhhhhh!]
Isolde flapped his wings furiously, four vines wrapped around his body.
He broke free of the vines with the immense strength of a demon.
Shurorororock!
Despite two more vines wrapping around him and strangling him, Isolde didn't give up.
[I, I am the last vassal to serve Madeline, the one who will rule over the lesser mankind in submission! I will not die in this place, I will never die, this is my world now, this is my opportunity, I have waited so long for this day, for this time, for this age!]
But.
"A opportunity?"
There was a cold voice standing in front of Isolde.
Bianca. The last heir to the House of Usher.
She stood before Isolde, bow and arrow raised.
"Opportunity does not come by waiting."
[...?]
Isolde's wavering pupils turn toward Bianca below.
Bianca raised her arrow and pointed it at him.
"Shoot, like this."
At the same time, Bianca squeezed out all of her remaining mana.
peong-
The arrow flew through the air, tearing a hole in the atmosphere.
It soared in a fluid parabolic motion, piercing precisely between Isolde's two eyebrows.
peo-eog!
The skull shatters, and all that's inside falls out in a heap.
[Euegh! Keughhh!]
But even so, Isolde held on.
Even when his head is shattered and everything inside is spilled out, he survives with the supernatural vitality of a demon.
...However.
Bianca's anger at the betrayal of her family was not of a short-lived nature.
…peong-
After the first hit, the second hit came.
…peoeog!
And the third hit.
…peoeog! …peoeog! …peoeog! …peoeog! …peoeog! …peoeog!
Arrow after arrow, all aimed at the same place.
Eventually.
[Aaaaahhhhh! No!]
Even Isolde, who had six vines wrapped around him, falls to the ground.
Underneath him, countless daylilies are gathered and smiling.
wajig- wajig- wajijijig!
There was only one body, but so many mouths chewing, tearing, and savoring it.
The end of Isolde became the starting point.
The demons began to be cleaned out in earnest.
The daylilies danced and swayed as they wrapped their vines around the pieces of the demons' bodies.
The water turned black and even more murky.
Vikir looked at the colony of daylilies and asked.
"How should I collect them? Should I handle it myself?"
"There is nothing to collect. The reformed daylilies are short-lived, withering away within a month without a supply of demon blood."
"Are they likely to spread their seeds and disrupt the surrounding ecosystem?"
"No. They are all seedless individuals. To use a man's analogy, they are Nutless."
"...."
For some reason, Vikir thought, that wasn't a very good analogy.
Well, whatever. The demons hiding in Usher began to be cleaned out.
Those of the brainwashed knights of Usher who were unable to escape and were swept away by the current were able to cling to the roots and vines of the daylilies that filled the stream below.
However.
[This doesn't feel very good].
Decarabia at Vikir's chest began to roll its eyes.
"What is it?"
[It seems like almost all the demons have been wiped out... The most core source of demonic energy has not been purified at all.]
Almost simultaneously, Camus, who was standing beside Vikir with a bored expression on her face, also glanced over at Seere, who was patting her shoulder.
"What the hell, asshole, do you want to die?"
Camus's words instantly make Seere cringe, but she musters up the courage to say what she needs to say, no matter how much she's being bullied.
Vikir and Camus's gazes snap back to the river.
The water current was raging there.
Some of the larger daylilies, as if they'd found something that smelled unusually tasty, stretched out their vines and gills and moved toward the center of the whirlpool.
Just then.
kwakwakwakwakwang!
The daylilies that had been clustered together were torn apart.
Falling flowers in full bloom.
Even the largest ones were torn to shreds, and something shot up into the sky like a beam of light.
[Hohohoho- it's the rottenness of her body that makes it take so long for me to return to my true form].
Usher Poe Madeline.
The man responsible for the downfall of the Usher family.
A usurper who covets Bianca's body.
And in the past, one of the key protagonists who led the Age of Destruction.
<'Third Corpse' Andrealphus>
Danger Rating : S+
Size: ?
Found in: 'Serpent's Womb', deep within the Gates of Destruction
-Also known as 'Third Corpse'.
One of the Ten Plagues, natural enemies of mankind, incomprehensible and unkillable.
"Hail will be poured down."
– The Ten Commandments 10: Top –
Andrealpus, the 'Ice Duke'.
The third of the Ten Corpses finally reveals itself.