Chapter 188 The Farther, The Clearer (2)

"Kuhuk-kuhuk! P-Please, don't kill me!"

Splash!

While I am stomping on the head of the Adventurers that I have just killed, the only survivor of the group, Eric looks at me pathetically as he lies on the ground in his bloodied state. I haven't touched him at all, but the beatings he got from his "friends" almost killed him.

Stabbing Rexorem into the ground, I command it to absorb all of the blood pooling on the ground. I walk toward Eric the sole survivor and kneel as I look at his swollen eyes.

"Do you know the only reason why you are not dead yet?" I ask.

"N-No…"

"Because you are on the ground. Among your group, you are the only one who knows your worth—no higher than pebbles."

"Please, don't kill me."

From the amount of Mana that he has, I can tell Eric is a new Adventurer. Among Adventurers, new guys like him are the sanest but also the most na?ve.

He spouted about how wrong the thing they had done was as if he didn't know how ugly this world truly is. He already knows it now and he is afraid to face the truth.

"Don't you see what I am?" I ask in amusement.

"You are… those horns—a Demon!" Eric exclaims in horror.

His swollen eyes that were almost closed previously are now wide open. His entire existence is emanating so much fear that I can't hold back a smirk; he is triggering my urge to kill him.

Stomping down the urge, I extend my hand and grab his forehead. I grab it hard enough to almost squash it, causing him to groan painfully.

"Kaak! My head… you are going to crush it!"

Ignoring his exclamation, I ask, "Do you want salvation?"

"I…"

"You have seen the ugly truth of humanity. Demons and humans—we are not that different, don't you think? We have our own ego and we will do anything to satisfy it. What makes us different, you know, is the fact that we don't hate each other."

"That—"

"We don't kill our kin for our ambition. When there is death, there is always a meaning to it. We, Cursed Creations, are way better than you humans. You now know that and I want to ask you if you still want to remain human."

I don't know if he will ever be useful to us, but seeing someone who has just undergone their "awakening," I can't help myself from brainwashing them. Rather than convincing people who have a good life, after all, it is easier to convert people who have lost their faith in humanity.

Just like this guy, Eric.

"In the end, all of you only think about yourself, don't you?" Eric exclaims with gritted teeth. "You will indiscriminately kill people to satisfy your ego. What is the need to change sides when the reality—"

"We don't do that thing. We care for the people on our side—haven't I told you that?" I interrupt. "You may not believe me and I won't convince you with words. Come to Brontes and you will see what I mean."

As Eric looks at me with a bemused look, I mutter, "[Inis Imperium]!"

With this, I have bound his life to the task he should accomplish: come to Brontes Dukedom and become a Demon King follower. If he doesn't accomplish one of the tasks, he will die right away.

"Alright, I am going to give you a chance, so use it well," I say as I retract my hand. "You have two choices: you can die here as someone who has killed the innocent or live as a sinner who saves the innocent. Choose wisely."

I stand up straight and turn around. At that exact moment, I find Millonia and Winerva before me. Genelos is not far away from them. He is looking at me guiltily because he didn't keep his promise to keep them where they are.

Ignoring them, I pull Rexorem out of the ground. All of the blood has been absorbed; negligible as it may, it is still a meal for Rexorem.

"What are you doing here?" I ask as I return Rexorem to our Bond Seal.

"Well, why did you have fun without me?" Millonia asks back. "Oh, did you leave him behind for me? That is thoughtful, but one person is not enough!"

Shaking my head faintly, I say, "No, leave him be. I have a use for him."

Whoosh!

Teanosvera, who has returned from investigating the village, lands on my shoulder. Millonia and Winerva are a little bit surprised at his appearance since this is their first time seeing him show himself; like Luxia, he had been concealing himself until now.

"Did you find any trace of Demonic Mana there?"

"No, Master. The foreign Mana trace there belongs to Wild Beasts." Cackling faintly in amusement, Teanosvera adds, "Again, the human committed another mistake. Ku-Ku-Ku."

Turning to Millonia and Winerva, I ask, "Have you packed our things?"

"Yup," Millonia answers simply.

"Very well. Let's visit the village."

Hopping onto Genelos' back, I immediately instructed him to fly to the village. We reach the village in less than a minute.

Getting down from Genelos, I summon Rexorem and stab it into the ground. The blood that is pooling on the ground of the village is immediately absorbed into it in the next moment.

"A fairly developed village, isn't it? I wonder what is wrong with it," Millonia remarks. "Ah, I know! They were accused of being Demon advocates, weren't they?"

"This is… look at these kids," Winerva mutters as she looks around. "Those adventurers—how could they…"

"We do everything for money. This is the kind of world we are living in," I say. "They didn't want to kill any of these people; but the moment they got the Quest, what they saw were no longer people. These villagers were nothing but a source of income for them."

"The 'Purge,'" Winerva mutters. "These people weren't related to us, were they? Then, why would they put a bounty on their heads?"

"To achieve their goal, of course. What do you expect?"

The pink-haired girl, Winerva, looks at me in disbelief. It is now clear to me that Xenon, who has become Velucan's private maid, is the only person in her party, which has been demolished, who understands how ugly this world is.

"This isn't right. The Temple shouldn't do this kind of thing, should they? They are all the people chosen by God, aren't they?"

"Humans will remain humans in the end, no matter whom they have become. They are born that way; it is impossible to only get good things from them."

Clip-clop!

Our attention is attracted by the sound of horse hooves that are coming from the west. The moment we turn around, we find a group of Paladins coming our way.

I immediately pull Rexorem out of the ground and hop on Genelos' back. We can still avoid them, so there is no need to engage them in combat.

After Millonia and Winerva hopped on, Genelos takes off. He flaps his wings once and we quickly soar to the sky.

The Paladins noticed us and point their swords at us. Screaming is the only thing they can do, so I ignore them entirely.

Since our flight path requires us to pass them, there is a moment when we are directly above them. At that exact moment, something that surprises and pisses me off happens.

Swish! Swish!

There are Priests among them; they are sending Iudicum at us, which is their version of Spell. Genelos, of course, can dodge all of the Iudicums perfectly, but that doesn't mean I will just let them go.

I have given them a chance to live and they mocked me by spitting in my eyes. It is time for me to let Genelos spit on them.

"What do you think of human barbeque?" I ask neutrally.

"Good idea!" Genelos responds enthusiastically.

Burst!

With the help of my Wind Spell, Genelos' fire breath engulfs the Paladins completely. Their horses die before them, but they have the most painful death since their armors allow them to suffer first instead of immediately dying.

Ignoring the heart-wrenching scream of the unfortunate Paladins, we fly away.

…

We ended up flying for twelve hours straight. We only found a village where we could rest when the sun rose.

Millonia and Winerva said that they wanted to have some proper sleep, so they immediately went to find an inn as soon as they got down from Genelos. I, on the other hand, was not sleepy at all, so I chose to explore the village with Genelos and my Spirit partners.

You may be wondering how I can explore the village with Genelos without attracting people's eyes. Well, the good thing is that he can change shape; he is following me around while assuming his little lizard form.

"It is a very advanced village, considering they are not part of any Kingdom," I remark as I look around. "Despite that, still, those bastards' influence is strong here."

I have been walking around the village for 4 hours at this point and my ears are already hurt from hearing the talk about the demolished group of Paladins that wanted to save an unknown small village in the east.

The Temple, like a snake, has turned the reality against us, Cursed Creations, fueling the people's hatred yet again. What an infuriating bunch indeed.