The Demonic Realm (2)
The Demonic Realm was a snowfield shrouded in a sinister aura. The sky, which should have been bright, was dyed a deep red, and snow swirled violently through the air. A thick fog hung over everything, creating an atmosphere that naturally filled the heart with unease.
Still manageable for now.
Right now we were walking with Vincent at the front, followed by me, Christina, and Circe. Allen brought up the rear. Perhaps because Allen was still radiating his aura, we hadn’t encountered a single one of the Seven Evils yet.
I kind of want to see one, though.
The demons were the continent’s greatest enemy. Wasn’t it a little strange that I had never seen one in the flesh?
KWAAAAANG!
There it goes again.
In the far distance, a thunderous roar erupted alongside a plume of rising dust. According to the others, that sound usually meant heroes were fighting demons somewhere.
KWAAAAANG!
Another explosion rang out from the opposite direction. This place, where countless sounds of battle echoed endlessly, was the Demonic Realm.
PWAAAAAH!
…Hm?
This time it was different from the usual roars. A pitch-black energy shot straight into the sky.
Demonic energy?
A demon possessing such vast demonic energy couldn’t possibly exist at the entrance of the Demonic Realm. Something felt off. I immediately turned to Allen, who was walking behind me.
“…What is that?”
“It’s a Seven Evils Transformation,” he answered indifferently.
Seven Evils Transformation?
It was the phenomenon where, when a human reached the extreme of a negative emotion, their mind would be devoured by that emotion. There was no way this could be a good thing. I figured there must be a reason he was so calm and waited for him to continue.
“Looks like one of their comrades died. I can feel the emotion of rage,” Vincent said, stopping in his tracks to gaze at the storm of demonic energy with a detached expression.
“Shouldn’t we go check on them?”
At my question, he slowly shook his head.
“A Seven Evils Transformation isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Even if someone loses a comrade and is consumed by rage, that rage can still be directed at the demons. We won’t interfere until they start attacking humans.”
Vincent muttered that most Seven Evils Transformations that occurred in the Demonic Realm were aimed at demons.
“……”
When I glanced at Christina, she wore a complex expression—sad and apologetic at the same time.
It’s not Tina’s fault, though.
Not just anyone could feel that much sorrow over someone else’s misfortune. I could sense the difference in the size of our hearts.
“I’ll suppress my aura,” Allen said. He had somehow moved ahead of Vincent.
Suppressing his aura meant the demons could now come attacking us.
“Since it’s the first day, I’ll show you just how many demons gather if you don’t raise your aura.”
Srrrng.
With those words, both Vincent and Allen drew their swords.
Drop.
The aura that had been radiating from Allen vanished. In an instant, we had become prey for the beasts.
How many seconds had passed?
THUD!
A tremendous tremor shook the ground.
“Huuuuuumaaaaans!”
It was the sound of beasts charging toward their food.
“Humans! It’s humans!”
“That woman is mine to eat!”
“No, I’m eating her!”
The demons rushed at us like beasts in heat. Hundreds of them—at least—charging all at once was honestly a bit grotesque.
So those are demons.
Creatures that lived purely according to their desires. Their name was demon. There were red-skinned demons, demons that looked almost human, demons with horns, and more. Their appearances were incredibly varied.
Oooong.
Before I could even raise my flames, Allen had already drawn up his mana.
“Haaam.”
When I looked at Vincent, he was yawning. Even with demons right in front of him, he remained completely nonchalant.
“To someone like me or Vincent—or any other powerhouse—hundreds of these mindless demons aren’t even worth considering,” Allen said.
Both Vincent’s attitude and Allen’s words were perfectly natural. These two were disciples of incredible people, and they themselves were powerful. A single swing of their swords would be enough to silence the demons’ clamor.
“But you three are different from us. You haven’t built up much foundation, and your martial prowess is still shallow.”
Mana began to condense on Allen’s blade, maintaining a precise amount.
“There are two main ways to deal with multiple enemies. The first is to kill them one by one. The second is…”
Allen swung his sword, now clad in a mana blade, toward the horde of demons.
“To kill them all at once.”
Slice.
The sound of something being cut rang out. The demons froze in place.
What?
I was still wondering what had happened when—
PSSSSSSSH!
A bursting sound echoed, and the demons began to collapse one by one. In the blink of an eye, every last one of them fell, gushing fountains of blood. Not a single demon remained standing. Trees behind them had been sliced apart, though some remained in unnatural shapes.
Just what…
I hadn’t seen anything. All I had observed was Allen forming a mana blade and swinging his sword. That was it.
He lightly ran his fingers along the blade.
“My senses must have dulled a bit.”
Even that strike had apparently fallen short of Allen’s standards.
He really takes after him.
There’s a saying that children are mirrors of their parents. Allen’s behavior was exactly like Cain’s—his high standards, his bluntness, his preference for getting straight to the point. I was starting to see Cain in his every action.
“I knew it,” Vincent said with a mocking laugh as he looked at Allen. “You should’ve trained your sword a little more.”
If they weren’t close, Vincent and Allen would have already come to blows.
“Yeah, my bad.”
“……”
At Allen’s apology, Vincent snorted as if it wasn’t even fun anymore and raised his own mana.
“Hmph. Can I take care of the next batch of demons?”
“As long as there’s something to learn from it. Though I’m not sure there will be.”
“There’s more than from you.”
“No way.”
“……”
Before I could watch the two start bickering again, the sound of more demons charging reached us.
“Let’s talk later,” Vincent said, looking toward the source of the noise. “The way to survive against multiple demons is…”
He swung his sword in a casual arc. He hadn’t taken a proper stance like Allen, but the mana clinging to his blade spun rapidly and shot toward the origin of the sound.
KWAAAAANG!
A single massive explosion rang out, and the sound of the demons’ charge vanished completely.
“Kill them before you get surrounded.”
Having said that, Vincent puffed out his chest with pride.
“……”
I looked at Christina and Circe. They seemed to be thinking the exact same thing I was.
These two were terrible at teaching.
No matter how bad they were at teaching, the word “terrible” didn’t apply to geniuses. Christina and Circe had taken their words and interpreted them in their own unique ways to put them to use.
Christina created light that didn’t exist in this place and used it to her advantage. Circe took advantage of the fact that this was the northern region to maximize her frost powers.
How should I make use of this?
With that thought in mind, I walked through the Demonic Realm. Sometimes we encountered injured heroes. Other times we discovered the corpses of fallen heroes.
“……”
I glanced at Circe and Christina walking beside me.
Their expressions aren’t great.
Christina looked as if someone close to her had died, her face full of sorrow. It wasn’t obvious, but I could see it. And Circe…
…She’s shaking.
For some reason, Circe was trembling.
“Are you cold?” I asked first.
She stared blankly for a moment before giving the tiniest nod. I took her hand and sent a stream of my flames into her. The trembling that had been wracking her body gradually subsided, and she seemed to feel better.
What’s going on with her?
If I asked about her physical condition, she would probably answer, but now didn’t seem like the right time. We were inside the Demonic Realm, and neither of them looked particularly well.
“That’s it for today.”
When we returned to the wooden cabin we had started from, Allen, who had raised his aura again, spoke.
“For the next week, come at the same time you arrived today. I’ll explain the rest tomorrow. Use the remaining time as you see fit.”
Instead of entering through the door we had come from, Allen headed for the exit. Their personalities really were similar. Half-jokingly, I even wondered if Cain’s real name might be Cain Gawood.
“Adel, what are you going to do now?” Christina asked, coming up beside me.
“Now? I think I’ll stop by the training ground for a bit, then sleep.”
“Really? Want to go to the training ground together?”
“Sure, I’d like that.”
After all, we couldn’t have her getting lost again.
She’s not exactly a directionless person, but…
It was better to be safe.
“Heading to the training ground?” Vincent asked with an easy smile as he approached.
“Yeah.”
At my answer, Christina—who had apparently been thinking about our conversation until now—quietly whispered into my ear.
“Adel, are you on casual speaking terms with Mr. Vincent?”
So that was why she had been making that slightly confused face earlier.
“Yeah. We don’t really care about formalities. Vincent, want to come to the training ground with us?”
“Sure, why not?”
It was true. Even though I had spoken casually just now, he answered without any sign of displeasure. But at my invitation, Christina’s expression turned somewhat gloomy.
“Tina, what’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing.”
Her tone had grown a little chilly. While I stood there quietly, Circe grabbed the hem of my clothes.
“…Me too.”
“You want to come to the training ground too?”
“…Yeah.”
While the two of them were talking, Christina came closer again.
“Circe’s coming too?”
“…Yeah.”
Just as the four of us were about to head to the training ground, Vincent suddenly went “Ah” and opened his mouth.
“I just remembered I have something to do. Adel, let’s go together next time.”
“Alright.”
With that, Vincent hurriedly left. After watching him go for a moment, I spoke.
“Shall we go, then?”
“Yeah. Let’s go.”
“…Yeah.”
The three of us who remained headed for the training ground. Thankfully, we didn’t get lost this time.