Even in the endless tide of demonic beasts, the demon’s presence stood out—clear and undeniable. Yulie sensed it at once, as if the knowledge had already taken root in her mind before she could completely comprehend it.0

The demon’s form was a nightmare beyond description—so grotesque that Yulie couldn’t even begin to put it into words. Nearly ten feet tall, its twisted anatomy bore no resemblance to anything human.0

Like a misshapen lump of clay ruined in the hands of its maker, its eyes, nose, mouth, and limbs were crushed and distorted beyond recognition. It crawled forward on three legs and four arms, dragging itself across the ground. If an octopus or squid were forced to survive on land, it might move like this—a grotesque and abhorrent sight.0

Thud—!0

Just then, Deculein’s staff struck the ground, and Yulie flinched, instinctively turning to look at him.0

“A demon of enchantment,” Deculein said.0

“... Pardon?” Yulie asked.0

"Humans interpret the unknown through the lens of their own understanding, shaping it with imagination and experience."0

The most familiar example was the alien—a being from beyond the stars, wholly unknown, yet always imagined in a form close to human. People might imagine its face or skin in strange and unnatural hues, but they still gave it two legs, two arms, and a frame much like their own. The mind could not help but piece the unknown together from fragments of the familiar.0

“It feeds on human memory and experience, shaping itself from what the mind recalls. That is why its form must seem strange and unnatural to you,” Deculein concluded.0

A named demon's appearance and identity were already predictable. Even if it had never been part of the...0