Chapter 122
The system interpreted the language of the demon realm and displayed it as text.
[How dare you, worthless human?!]
Simultaneously, the horrifying being struck the ground with its staff.
THUD!
Black smoke seeped into the stone floor, and the ground beneath began to shake.
GRRRR!
Four-legged demonic beasts with hideous teeth and horns revealed themselves.
The terrifying demonic beasts burst through the stone floor as if growing from the ground.
Richmond hid behind Zeke in surprise.
“M-master! D-demonic beasts have appeared!”
Zeke pointed his sword and observed the horrifying being holding the staff.
Black smoke flowing from the staff wrapped around his body like clothing.
‘I need to catch that one first.’
Zeke activated the Dragon Race skill Dragon Warriors.
SWOOSH!
Five dragon warriors in black armor emerged from Zeke’s shadow.
SNAP!
As soon as the dragon warriors took complete form, they automatically pointed their spears and took defensive positions.
Zeke gave orders to the dragon warriors.
“Catch the demonic beasts! Richmond, provide cover from behind!”
As the dragon warriors charged at the demonic beasts, Zeke used Wind step to rush straight at the horrifying being behind them.
“HAAAT!”
Zeke used Mace of Light against the being.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
The Mace of Light struck the being, but black energy from the staff deflected the impact.
[Insolent fool!]
The being raised its staff and pointed it at Zeke.
WOONG!
Black energy poured out from the staff.
The black wave flew toward Zeke.
Sensing the ominous energy, Zeke used Shield of Light.
CRACKLE!
The black energy was blocked by the Shield of Light.
Zeke swung Bahamut wrapped in Aura Blade.
CLASH!
The Aura Blade collided with the black energy surrounding the being’s body.
It seemed that a normal Aura Blade wouldn’t easily penetrate that energy.
Zeke used the Purification Blade skill he had just obtained.
WHOOSH!
Golden aura imbued with purification power surged from his sword.
The horrifying being swung its staff and created a curtain of black energy.
Zeke didn’t stop and swung the Purification Blade at the black curtain.
When hit by the Purification Blade, the black energy surrounding the being dispersed and vanished.
SWISH!
The being, pushed back by Zeke’s sword strike, rolled across the floor.
It gripped the staff and struck the ground again.
RUMBLE!
This time, an even more horrifying demonic beast emerged than before.
Graaah!
A giant undead made of red bones crawled out of the stone floor and opened its mouth toward Zeke.
Simultaneously, black flames poured out from the undead’s mouth.
WHOOSH!
The stone floor touched by the flames melted and boiled.
Zeke blocked the black flames shot by the undead with Bahamut.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Bahamut, possessing the indestructible attribute, only glowed red from the undead’s flames without being destroyed.
Then a message appeared.
[Bahamut absorbs the flames of the demon realm.]
Zeke recalled Bahamut’s newly unlocked inherent ability ‘Magic Absorption’.
‘It can absorb even this?’
While Zeke was surprised, after absorbing all the flames spewed by the undead, another message appeared.
[You can release the absorbed flames.]
Zeke pointed his sword at the undead and released the flames.
Then dark red flames in the shape of a dragon burst out from Bahamut.
RAAAAH!
The black flames mixed with dragon energy devoured the flames shot by the undead and grew larger.
Then it engulfed the giant undead entirely and burned.
KEEEAK!
The undead wrapped in Bahamut’s flames writhed in agony before turning to ash and disappearing.
Zeke couldn’t help but be amazed at Bahamut’s new ability.
‘Such power. It’ll be incredible when fully unlocked.’
After proudly examining Bahamut once, he slowly approached the being holding the staff.
‘System, can you translate my words into demon realm language?’
[Initiating simultaneous interpretation into demon realm language.]
Zeke spoke to the being.
“What are you?”
The system translated his common language into demon realm language.
Then the being flinched in surprise and opened its mouth.
[You know the language of the demon realm, could you be one who has offered their soul?.]
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I haven’t offered my soul.”
The being spoke again, confused by Zeke’s words.
[To maintain sanity in the domain of power while not being a servant. Unbelievable.]
“Servant? Power?! Are you a dark mage who learned forbidden magic? Or an experiment sent by the Rom Empire?”
Zeke threw out various words to probe the other party.
But the being showed no reaction to Zeke’s words.
Zeke opened his mouth again.
“Were you sent by the Abyss?”
At that moment, a subtle reaction appeared in the being’s body.
Seeing the being’s reaction, Zeke realized it was connected to the Abyss.
‘The Abyss. Seems they’re not just a dark magic group.’
Zeke spoke again.
“Are you a demon?”
The being realized Zeke was gathering information by observing its reactions.
[What a cunning bastard.]
Speaking irritably, it struck its own chest with the staff this time.
THUD!
Suddenly his body began to melt like liquid again.
HISS!
A terrible stench rose from the black liquid.
The liquid flowing from the being’s body spread across the stone chamber creating black smoke.
RUMBLE!
Before they knew it, the chamber entrance closed, turning it into a completely sealed space.
The being, now completely liquefied, spoke to Zeke.
[The power of the ‘Herald of Blood and Madness’ is infinite. It is foolish beyond measure for a worthless human to oppose me, a servant of the great one. Die writhing in pain and despair!]
Like when they first entered the chamber, only the staff stood upright on the floor while the being completely liquefied and vanished.
At the same time, black smoke filled the entire chamber.
SIZZLE!
Zeke’s flesh began to melt and burn where the black smoke touched.
Even Healing Factor couldn’t properly heal it.
‘Damn it.’
Realizing the gravity of the situation, Zeke ran toward the dragon warriors and Richmond.
“Dismiss dragon warriors! Richmond, you too get in!”
The dragon warriors and Richmond disappeared into Zeke’s shadow.
He urgently tried to open a portal to escape.
But a red warning message appeared.
[Portal use is not available in this area.]
“Damn!”
The black smoke gradually filled the chamber and approached where Zeke was.
Zeke first equipped Hersion.
[Protects user from demonic energy imbued with the power of the Herald of Blood and Madness.]
The rune characters on Hersion’s surface glowed and rose.
From that state, Zeke equipped Agamemnon’s Mask.
Then he steadied his breathing.
‘Can I eliminate that with Grand Purification.’
Grand Purification was a wide-range skill that purified the magical energy that had long infected the Agamemnon family.
Zeke gripped Bahamut and concentrated.
Then he linked the Grand Purification skill with the wide-range buff skill.
WOONG!
Golden waves flowed from Zeke’s body.
TSSS!
The black smoke that touched the golden waves slowed its movement.
Confirming that Grand Purification’s power was effective against the black smoke, Zeke released more power.
WOONG!
Vibrations occurred in Zeke’s body and waves spread out like ripples.
PATSSS!
The black smoke scattered into ash as it collided with the stronger waves than before.
Zeke concentrated his power and drew out more purification power.
“HAAAAA!”
Suddenly a massive golden ring formed around Zeke’s body.
The golden ring gradually expanded outward with Zeke’s body at the center.
It was similar to when he purified the entire Agamemnon territory.
PSHHHH!
The golden ring Zeke emitted completely turned the black smoke to ash upon contact.
The golden ring didn’t stop there but spread widely beyond the cave where Hydra was, toward the Giant Mountains.
A message window appeared before Zeke’s eyes.
[Determining range of Grand Purification.]
[Proceeding with purification of demonic energy tainting the land.]
SWOOSH!
Though Zeke couldn’t see it, the land and vegetation throughout the mountains that had been tainted and decayed by demonic energy returned to their original state when touched by the golden wavelength.
At the same time, the Barbarian lands that the hounds had disturbed also regained their original power.
The Barbarian tribes came out to watch the mystical sight of the mountains dyed in golden light.
Big Foot, the tribal chief, was also momentarily lost in the wondrous sight.
The golden waves restored all the destroyed Barbarian territories before gradually fading away.
The golden waves flowing from Zeke’s body also subsided.
“Phew.”
Zeke confirmed the black smoke had completely disappeared and deactivated Hersion.
He approached the staff lying on the floor.
Perhaps affected by Grand Purification’s power, it had cracks everywhere.
“What in the world is this?.”
Zeke examined the staff with Dragon Eye.
―???????? Information―
Description: Staff containing authority given by the Herald of Blood and Madness to servants
Inherent Abilities: Territory Corruption, Berserking, Demonic Beast Summoning
Special Note: Broken by Grand Purification’s power, lost its original power and only partial power remains
“Herald of Blood and Madness?”
Zeke recalled how the vanished being had mentioned the power of the ‘Herald of Blood and Madness’.
No matter how he thought about it, this seemed beyond an ordinary black mage.
Zeke summoned Richmond again.
“GASP! Master.”
Richmond, a lich but a coward, spoke with a pale face looking at Zeke.
“W-what happened?”
Zeke handed the staff to Richmond and spoke.
“Richmond, do you know what ‘Herald of Blood and Madness’ means?”
Richmond was startled at those words.
“GASP, where did you hear that?”
“That staff contained the power of the ‘Herald of Blood and Madness’.”
“What!?”
Richmond dropped the staff in surprise.
Zeke shook his head looking at Richmond.
“What happened to you really being a lich?”
“T-that was just performing the ritual…”
“Anyway, so you do know what ‘Herald of Blood and Madness’ means?”
Richmond nodded and spoke.
“That refers to a demon.”
“Demon? Demon race?”
Richmond shook his head.
“Demons and the demon race are different. There are 666 demons in the demon realm, and each demon has their own servants. Those usually called the demon race are the servants of the demons.”
Zeke was startled at those words.
“Then that being was from the demon race?”
Richmond was even more surprised at Zeke’s words.
“What? Demon race?”
“You just said the demon’s servants are the demon race. That being claimed to be a servant of the ‘Herald of Blood and Madness’.”
“Gasp!”
Richmond was even more startled and scared than Zeke.
Richmond wiped his cold sweat and explained again.
“W-well… neither demons nor the demon race can freely come to the material world. What we saw earlier was more like an avatar of the demon race rather than an actual demon race being.”
“An avatar. So the real body is in the demon realm then.”
“T-theoretically yes. But I’ve only learned about this, I’ve never actually seen real demons or demon race beings so I can’t say for certain.”
“Weren’t dark mages supposed to worship demons and the demon race? Why don’t you know?”
“Such cults were prevalent before the Holy Empire era, but they’re almost non-existent these days. Even when I was active, they were hard to find. Selling your soul to the demon race to learn forbidden techniques just isn’t worth it.”
Zeke nodded at Richmond’s words.
As far as he knew, dark magic clans were problematic because of criminal forbidden techniques like illegal chimera synthesis and human experimentation, not because of cultish activities like summoning demons or demon race beings.
Zeke asked Richmond.
“So is the ‘Herald of Blood and Madness’ one of the 666 demons in the demon realm?”
“Yes, I believe it’s recorded as quite a powerful demon.”
“A servant of such a demon showing up, whether avatar or not, isn’t a good sign.”
The sudden berserk state of Hydra seemed to be due to the demon race’s influence as well.
Then something crossed Zeke’s mind.
‘Could the empire’s experiments be connected to that demon race being?’
Human experiments using demonic beast blood and chimera experiments mixing humans with monsters weren’t ideas that could come from normal thinking.
Perhaps this was even connected to Abel and Jiemens.
‘Things are getting more and more suspicious.’
Just then.
“What!?”
Strong vibrations occurred from the staff Richmond was holding.
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