Chapter 104
Chapter 104
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: Mythic Quest
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I looked down at the fallen demon and clicked my tongue.
‘This seems connected to my Mythic Quest somehow.’
My instincts were telling me there had to be a link between these bug-like demons and my Mythic Quest. That was the only explanation for this unreasonable difficulty rating.
So, what I had to face was whatever lurked underground (probably at least a Disaster-class monster, judging by the signs). And these demons were after that same something?
I hauled the fallen demon to his feet and slapped his cheeks hard.
Slap! Slap!
After two hits, he bolted upright with a roar. He hadn’t even realized he’d been knocked out and started thrashing wildly, only calming down after three more slaps.
“There we go, nice and docile. Good. Just keep cooperating like this.”
“Ptoo! Kill me. Just kill me already!”
“How the hell did a loser like you even become a demon?”
If my hunch was right, another demon had turned him. There was no way the demon race would suddenly sponsor some backwater bandit chief who’d spent his days robbing travelers.
But the guy just kept his mouth shut. He wasn’t going to spill easily...
Hmm. No helping it, then.
Time to use the beautiful art of torture. Sure, it was inhumane, but who gave a damn? It wasn’t like I had to worry about this bastard’s rights.
Hell, everyone would cheer if they saw me torturing a demon. I called over the knights’ leader, who’d been watching me and the demon from afar, poised to charge in at any moment.
“What’s the matter? Did this damned heretic try to beguile you? I’ll sever his head right now and save you!”
I stopped their leader as he drew his sword, actually about to decapitate the guy, and asked,
“By any chance, do you know how to torture?”
“Torture...? Hmph. Everything these heretics spew is lies. No point in torturing them for info. Just kill ’em!”
Yeah, figured as much. I waved the leader off to a distance and rummaged through my inventory.
Unfortunately, I’d never tortured anyone before and had no relevant talents. But I was human. We’d evolved by inventing tools.
“Let’s see what I’ve got...”
Trap items would work. There had to be purpose-built torture gear. Poison would do the trick too...
I listed off a bunch of options, and the bandit’s face grew paler by the second. Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore. He demonized and tried to bolt.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
He was swiftly pinned down by me and the knights.
“Let go! Get off me, you fucks! Kill me! Just chop my head off clean! You bastards! You’re knights, aren’t you? Is this how knights act?”
“Sorry, but I’m not a knight, so I don’t give a shit. Let’s start simple and refreshing: tie him to the rack?”
The cross like the one Jesus was bound to, now repurposed as a torture device—and far crueler. Made of iron, I could crank up the heat to sear flesh anytime.
When I actually pulled the cross-shaped torture tool from my inventory, the guy’s face turned genuinely ashen.
“Neatly endure just five rounds of torture, and I’ll let you live. Deal?”
At that, the bandit shuddered violently and finally raised the white flag. He paused for a moment, like he was weighing something, then yelled,
“Fine! Ask away, you vicious prick!”
“Good. So, how’d you become a demon?”
All the knights turned to stare at me in unison, like they were genuinely baffled why I’d ask something like that.
Were they under the delusion I wanted to become a demon too? Fair enough—I’d shown demonic energy before, so it wasn’t a stretch.
“No, doesn’t this strike you as weird? How does a two-bit bandit like this turn demon? You think some demon with nothing better to do goes around contracting every loser out there? The world’s full of people brimming with desire. There’s definitely a demon who corrupted this one. Could even be in the Holy Kingdom... or nearby.”
Surprise flickered across the knights’ faces. Come on, you single-celled idiots—even Adventure Princess Nikki would’ve figured this out. They were so fixated on killing, they missed the bigger picture.
Was the demon trying to bluff his way out? Or had I hit the nail on the head?
“Uh... how’d you...?”
“So, who’s the bastard? I don’t know why demons are crawling out of every hole I poke my head into, but I need to sweep ’em all if I want my job easier. Who hooked you up with the demon race and made you one of them?”
The bandit chief clamped his mouth shut. Like it was something he absolutely couldn’t say—like he’d endure torture first.
Solar internal energy gathered in my eyes, forming a pair of glowing red orbs that fixed on the bandit demon.
“A seal. A prohibition seal. Can’t talk.”
I stood up. No use from him anymore. The seal was pretty high-level—at least Rare-grade.
‘Tsk. If ownership had hit exactly 30%, I could’ve used a seal removal scroll to make him spill everything.’
No such luck. These simple knights wouldn’t have such an expensive scroll. No merchants around either.
“Go ahead and kill him. No info coming out of this one.”
“W-wait! Hold on! I’ll talk, I’ll talk, just spare my life! Don’t freak out! The one who introduced me to the demon was the Holy Kingdom’s Car...!”
Those were his last words.
-Kiiiiiaaaak!!
“It’s a curse!”
I shouted in warning, but it was too late. The merchants and my companions collapsed one by one, blood pouring from their orifices just like the demon moments ago.
The knights held out a little longer but fell all the same. Grimacing, I summoned my Holy Solar internal energy and obliterated the blood-formed monster.
“Tsk. Killing doesn’t cut it.”
But that was no issue. I’d learned these skills precisely for situations like this.
Holy, pristine water sloshed from my hands, washing over the fallen. The bleeding slowed, their pallid faces slowly regaining color.
Thankfully, it wasn’t a curse of too high a grade—it vanished without much resistance.
Not stopping there, I awakened the holy power from the Force of Pride, scattering starlight.
Whoosh!
The miracle descended, restoring everyone’s complexions—not just to normal, but leaving them peacefully relaxed.
“Tsk. I figured it wouldn’t be that easy.”
To think this cunning bastard had even rigged a failsafe like this. I clicked my tongue as I laid the people aside, sighed, and replayed the demon’s final words in my mind.
In the heart of the beautiful Holy Kingdom stood a massive temple of pristine white—the central cathedral of the faith. Inside one room, a figure receiving reports suddenly spat up blood.
“Gasp! Cardinal! Are you all right?”
His subordinates rushed over at the sight, wiping the blood with handkerchiefs and checking his condition.
“Seems... no problem?”
“No problem, and he coughs up blood? You think that makes sense with this much?!”
“It’s all dead blood too! How can you call this fine? Fetch another cardinal at once to check with holy power!”
Amid the commotion, the one who’d coughed up blood slowly raised a hand. Holy power emanated from it, and he caught his ragged breath before smiling benignly.
It was a smile so warm and comforting that anyone would have to smile back.
“Hahaha. I’m fine. Seems no issue with my body. I’ll ask the other cardinals to check separately, so tend to your duties. Plenty to do, right? The long-awaited festival is almost here.”
“Aaa... Understood. Please, take care of yourself. This is advice from a junior and subordinate who respects you, Cardinal Aoira.”
“Thank you. I always appreciate your sentiments. And the hardships you endure following me. God sees and hears it all. May divine blessings rain upon you.”
“May divine blessings rain upon you. We’ll step out for now—call us when you’ve recovered.”
The subordinates filed out with their tasks in hand. And the moment the door shut behind them...
Gurgle!
More pitch-black, dead blood poured from Cardinal Aoira’s mouth. His face twisted savagely in the same instant.
“How dare some filthy worm! After all the work I put into crafting that puppet!!”
Kindness? Gentleness? Warmth? Holiness?
Gone in a flash—replaced by pure rage, destruction, and explosion.
He reached down to touch the spilled blood. Eyes closing, he quietly traced the connection to his severed pawn.
He found it soon enough: a worm scraping by as a bandit between Stage-0 and Stage-1.
“Subjugated, huh? Pathetic wretch. Even pearls around a pig’s neck leave it a pig. Given power beyond its station, and still this worthless.”
It should’ve accepted death quietly, but it had nearly spilled about his puppet. Even the final contingency curse implanted as a wildcard had been utterly dismantled by one interloper.
Why was someone with that kind of ability there of all places?
Frowning, Cardinal Aoira hurriedly channeled holy power to erase every trace of the blood, changed his robes, and sat back down.
“Two. Already two demons down...”
The bandit worm was just a disposable distraction pawn he’d crafted himself. But the other—a demon from the Hall of Myriad Demons—had rampaged through the Primordial City before dying.
A demon dying in the Primordial City was surprising, but that one was merely a 7th Apostle. Not even an avatar of a mid-to-low demon—just scraps granted an apostle’s seat.
Still, it belonged to the Hall of Myriad Demons and served under his command.
“Tsk. Things are getting messy.”
How much time, effort, and coin had gone into infiltrating the Holy Kingdom on the orders of the Hall’s exalted ones?
Failure was not an option. These two hiccups were mere sacrificial pawns, negligible. But better to stay vigilant.
“I absolutely cannot fail.”
He was a 4th Apostle—one with the status and power to lead all demons in a single world. Even he had to stake his life on this mission.
Success, though, would open the path to 3rd Apostle, with rewards beyond measure.
‘I claimed this position thanks to my ability.’
No failure allowed. To that end, anything disrupting his plans had to be swept aside.
Killing intent rippled in the cardinal’s eyes.