Modern World Warlock-Chapter 82: Malgaroth, The Braineater

After destroying the fiend’s soul, the trio returned to the intersection and switched paths to the center one, leading to an open area.

When the hallway opened up for them, they found themselves in a large room with a circular platform in the center, surrounded by a deep fall that led to the sewer canal.

Hundreds of pipes met in this room, flowing the sewer water into the underground canal that seemed to go around the vicinity.

Malgaroth’s ichor corrupted the entire area. Its black flesh covering the walls and floor, palpitating like a heart.

"Woah, I didn’t know our sewer system was this complex…" Zac muttered, slightly surprised at the size of the place.

Dante agreed with his friend, saying that it was indeed impressive while scanning his surroundings.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

As the trio walked a little more towards the metal bridge that led to the platform in the center, they felt an overwhelming sense of danger as the umbra got denser.

On the platform, Malgaroth’s ichor started to move and twirl, making Zac cringe at the disgusting sounds it made, materializing a tall and fat monster atop the grates on the floor.

"That must be him…" Zac muttered, slightly nervous.

When the monster appeared, Zac and Megan could barely keep themselves standing as they found the umbra flowing inside the room to be quite unbearable.

The creature that appeared was at least 8 feet tall, with dark gray skin and green glowy eyes. His belly was the biggest part of his body, held by his four legs that gave the monster an uncanny and disturbing appearance.

"Humans… Your curiosity has led you to me," Malgaroth said in a deep tone that was hard to comprehend.

"It wasn’t curiosity—more like annoyance…" Dante replied, surprising the demon as no other human had been able to overcome their fear of speaking to him.

As the monster gazed at the warlock, his eyes widened slightly. "I’ve seen you…" he muttered.

"Yeah?" Dante sarcastically asked.

"You… You are that piece of shit’s student—Xander!" Malgaroth shouted, his voice making the structure tremble.

’Xander?’ Megan and Zac thought in unison.

The demon took a deep breath to calm himself, staring at the warlock while he inserted his arm into his own belly, pulling out a curved blade from his inside, covered in blood and ichor.

"I see… I didn’t recognize you at first since you are weaker now, even when your eyes changed," said Malgaroth.

’His eyes changed?’ Megan pondered.

"But this is perfect. Who would have thought that I could get my revenge on Xander in this world!" the demon continued.

The trio stood across the metal bridge that led to the platform where Malgaroth was standing, and as the demon pointed his sword at the group, they felt an ominous amount of umbra gathering around his blade.

"Dante…?" Megan asked, expecting the warlock to do something about it.

"Don’t move. We’ll be fine," Dante calmly replied with his hands in his pockets.

At that moment, the umbra that gathered on his sword materialized into a physical substance, resembling trails of blood floating all around it that flew straight at the trio.

Nonetheless, the projectiles dissipated into thin air before reaching their targets, surprising the demon and Dante’s companions.

"What…?" Malgaroth pondered aloud, not knowing why his spell had suddenly deactivated.

"Is that truly all the umbra you can control?" Dante loudly asked with a smirk on his face.

Zac and Megan turned to look at the warlock, noticing that the umbra that was flowing from his body was at least ten times the size of the one flowing from Malgaroth mere seconds before.

"Dante… wh-what is that?" Zac asked, his body trembling from the energy that the warlock produced.

In his mind, he knew that Dante wouldn’t hurt him or Megan, but his body reacted intuitively to the ominous aura that oozed with ferocity.

The warlock used that moment to teach his companions a lesson, reminding them of the time he explained that umbra was the energy that only demons and warlocks could control.

"Now, what would happen if I just simply controlled all the umbra here?" Dante asked.

"You leave the demon powerless?" Megan replied with uncertainty.

"They are not entirely powerless, but most of their spells won’t really work," he continued his explanation.

"That’s impossible!" Malgaroth angrily shouted, pointing his blade back at the group and trying again. Still, he had the same result as his projectiles dissipated.

’Wait… So, Dante just ’stole’ all of the umbra present in this place!?’ the redhead wondered.

"Man, I thought after all this time you were going to be a bit stronger. You ate all those people for what?" Dante asked in a mocking tone.

The demon shouted in frustration, and the warlock turned to look at his friends for a moment. "By the way, there’s a weak one behind us…" he said.

Megan and Zac quickly turned around and didn’t see anything, but they didn’t doubt Dante’s words and prepared their weapons.

As the duo took a few steps back to look for the missing demon, Dante began slowly walking across the metal bridge toward Malgaroth.

Knowing that his spells wouldn’t have an effect on the warlock, Malgaroth used his sword to break the bridge, but Dante simply jumped and got atop the platform without much effort.

Standing before the massive monster, Dante looked up at him unamused, while the demon seemed somewhat scared, clenching his sword tightly.

"I see now… You were suppressing your umbra," the demon said.

Dante nodded. "Mhmm, it wasn’t something I could when I was fourteen—I guess you fell for it," he said.

"No matter. You may be strong, but you are nowhere near Xander… Even if you kill me, the new king will just bring me back," Malgaroth continued.

"New king? Is that Astaroth?" the warlock inquired, remembering he had heard the fiend mentioning it.

"That’s right. One of Satan’s right-hand men has taken the lead… You may be Xander’s student, but you have no chance," the demon explained.

*Sigh* "It was funny the first time I heard it, but now it’s just sad…" Dante replied, disappointed.

"Hmm?" Malgaroth hummed with confusion.

"Let me catch you up to date, dumbass.—Black Flame," Dante said, showing his palm lighting up with black fire.