When dawn broke the next day, I woke up early to leave. However, I was awoken by the commotion coming from the monastery.
Later, I found out that something unsettling had happened. Two of the children had gone into the forest behind the monastery and hadn’t returned, causing a commotion in the monastery.
One of them was Tom, a friend of Erica and Heron, whom I also knew well.
'Just when I was about to leave, this happens...'
I stood by the window in the hallway, looking out over the forest beyond the backyard. It was a strange timing since I was scheduled to leave the next day.
Of course, the disappearance of the child didn’t concern me since I was leaving as planned.
However, Erica, Heron, and Tom were the only children I had gotten close to during my stay at the monastery. It was natural to feel uneasy. I just couldn’t like nothing had happened.
“Ethan.”
Someone appeared on the opposite side of the hallway and approached me. It was Priest Tane.
Although it was midnight, the dark shadows on his face were clearly visible.
“Are you still awake when you’re leaving tomorrow?”
“Yes, because of what happened.” Tane sighed at my response and I asked him, “Did you find anything?”
“Unfortunately, no. I’m only praying that the children are safe.”
“I see. Are you still searching for them?”
“No, the abbot told us to stop the search for now, but the knights will resume the search once it’s daylight.”
“I see.”
According to Erica, there had been a time when priests and knights had gone missing in the forest.
It seemed like they had stopped the search for now, as they didn’t want to risk the knights’ safety by searching recklessly in the middle of the night.
'Is there really something in the forest?'
Was there really an unknown monster lurking about, as the rumors said?
But what didn’t make sense was that, if it really was the monster’s doing, could there be no trace of it whatsoever?
Tane said, “However, Sir Jerel is going into the forest himself to look for the children. If he can find anything at all...”
Jerel?
The radiant knight himself was going to search?
If that’s the case, then I could feel somewhat relieved.
His level was over 80. As someone with that much skill, he could find some clue that even the knights couldn’t.
'But what if even the radiant knight goes missing in the forest?'
What could be there that the other couldn’t even handle with his own level of skill?
At that moment, one person flashed through my mind.
'The abbot.'
He was a skilled person over level 60, it was not weird to think that he was hiding something.
Of course, it was a huge leap to think that he had anything to do with this incident just because of that.
But for some reason, I had a feeling that I couldn’t explain.
I asked Tane quietly, not ignoring my intuition.
“Where is the abbot now?”
Tane responded with a puzzled look on his face.
“Well, wouldn’t he be in his office?”
It was as if he didn’t know for sure.
I nodded my head without asking any further.
“Anyway, Mr. Ethan, don’t worry too much and get some rest. It’s already very late.”
As Tane left, I looked back at the forest outside the window.
For some reason, it felt like an ominous aura was emanating from somewhere in the forest.
I surveyed my surroundings and jumped down to the ground.
I had to go into the forest myself.
***
Jerel felt a chill run down his spine as he looked at the ashen-skinned man before him.
He knew very well what this endlessly fierce creature, emanating a threatening energy, was.
A demon.
The scourge of the continent that had taken the lives of countless colleagues in the past. The worst race.
“...You must be the demon who gave strength to the abbot.”
It wasn’t difficult to guess the identity of the demon.
If a demon suddenly appeared in this situation, it must be related to the abbot.
Jerel focused all his attention on the demon and aimed his sword at it.
The destructive power of the earlier strike that flew was definitely not below its own level.
The demon looked around briefly and muttered to himself with a small sigh.
“Tsk, that bug-like thing... caused quite a stir despite after being told to be cautious.”
Dehod, who was held by Jerel, trembled.
With a face filled with fear, he cried out desperately in protest.
“Lord M-Mephrim! You misunderstand! This person is a radiant knight! I did my best to...”
“You’re being too loud.”
The demon interrupted him and waved his hand.
Hwaaak!
Then, a crimson smoke burst out of his body and was absorbed into the demon.
“K-aaah!”
Dehod screamed like a broken machine.
His body dried up and twisted like a mirage, as if his life force had evaporated in an instant.
Jerel watched the scene with a calm expression.
As someone who had seen people who made a contract with demons, he knew it was the process of regaining power. There was no way to stop it.
In an instant, the demon absorbed all of Dehod’s energy and turned his gaze back to Jerel.
Jerel stood in front with Erica and Heron behind him, and spoke up.
“Answer me, demon. What were you doing here?”
The other was not an archdemon.
They were monsters that were completely different from ordinary demons.
But it was clear that the opponent in front of them was a powerful demon who belonged to the upper echelon.
This demon had formed a contract with the abbot and was plotting something here.
Something suspicious and ominous was spreading over the Robelgeo Monastery. It was now a confirmed fact.
The demon glanced strangely at Jerel and muttered, “Looks like you weren’t sent here with all the information.”
“What do you mean?” Jerel asked.
“Well, if that was the case, the hero would have been dispatched instead of a lowly rat like you,” the demon replied, casually gesturing towards Jerel.
“After I take care of you, I just need to clean up this monastery and then I can retrieve what I came for,” the demon said.
At that moment, Jerel noticed the demon’s gaze shifted towards Erica.
But before he could think any further, the demon launched an attack. The same blood-red energy that had surrounded the demon’s hand moments ago shot out like a beam.
Jerel blocked the attack head-on with the golden sword.
He couldn’t dodge it because Erica and Heron were right behind him.
With a deafening explosion, the blood-red and golden energies mixed together and detonated.
Jerel expanded his shield to protect Erica and Heron from the blast and urgently shouted, “Run! Get out of the forest!”
Erica quickly regained her composure and pulled Heron’s arm, following Jerel’s order.
Even though she hated being in a helpless situation more than anything else, she couldn’t ignore the fact that their presence was only getting in the way of the fight.
A blood-red energy swirled around the demon and transformed into a massive sword that smashed into the ground, trying to crush the two fleeing figures.
Jerel urgently shot out his sword and destroyed the sword blade. Another shockwave occurred in the air.
As if annoyed by it, the demon raised its energy once again.
The energy that gathered around him like a sphere shot out sharp thorns explosively in all directions.
Kakakakaka!
Jerel, who prioritized their safety, had no choice but to focus on blocking the thorns from hitting them.
Numerous golden traces were engraved along his sword in the dense darkness of the forest.
Jerel’s eyes widened suddenly after deflecting the thorns for a while.
Suddenly, crimson tentacles sprang from the ground right beneath him and coiled around his ankles.
At the same time, a tremendous power that was dimensionally different from before flowed from the demon.
Urgently looking ahead, a huge crimson sphere was gathering.
The sphere, which gave the illusion of distorting the surrounding space, slowly but rapidly approached him, seeming to swallow him whole and make him disappear.
Jerel had no choice but to use his last resort.
Flash!
The rosary hanging around his neck emitted a dazzling light.
Even the demon was momentarily distorted by the bright light.
The light not only released the energy that bound Jerel’s legs but also completely destroyed the huge sphere that the demon had shot out.
Jerel, now free, rushed toward the demon at an incredible speed.
At the moment when his sword blade was about to cut through the demon’s neck...
Puk!
Jerel’s body staggered.
He looked down at the sudden sharp pain that pierced his chest.
An unknown sharp red energy had penetrated his chest without him even realizing it.
'Why...'
Why was he attacked?
Jerel looked at the demon with an unbelievable expression as he coughed out blood.
The demon still looked at him with indifferent eyes, as if the result had been predetermined from the beginning.
Jerel finally realized that the other had never exerted his full strength from the beginning.
“Kugh...”
The red energy quickly penetrated his body, evaporating all remaining strength.
Jerel, who had lost even the strength to stand, kneeled on the spot.
Erica and Heron, who were running away, stopped and shouted.
“...Jerel!”
Jerel barely gestured for them to keep running, but the two just hesitated.
The demon spoke in a mocking tone.
“It’s pointless. You, and the bugs crawling in this monastery, will all disappear by morning.”
Jerel barely clung to his fading consciousness.
He couldn’t use the power of the relic magic that he had unleashed a little while ago.
He was now at the mercy of the demon and his life would soon be cut short, followed by the people in the monastery.
“What’s your purpose? Is it related to that girl?”
Jerel asked with a squeezed voice.
The demon’s gaze towards Erica before the battle had started was not a good sign.
The demons reached out their hands towards him without answering anymore. It was to put an end to it.
“Oh god...”
Jerel closed his eyes and even Erica and Heron, who were watching him, were filled with despair.
A crimson energy surged like a wave from the demon’s hand, covering Jerel.
Kwaaang!
If he was hit squarely by this blow, Jerel’s body would have disappeared without a trace.
However, he was still unscathed when the energy had passed.
Feeling puzzled, Jerel opened his eyes.
What he saw was someone’s back standing right in front of him.
“Hmm?”
The demon whose attack was blocked looked at the sudden appearance of the man with a frown.
Erica and Heron also looked at the sight in a daze, unable to understand what had happened.
The outsider who had collapsed in the forest and taken refuge in the monastery.
The man was none other than Ethan.
