Chapter 62
Chapter 62
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: Entrance to the Demonic Realm (1)
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I hurled the hammer with all my might at the charging soldiers. A few tried to block it with their bodies, only to be crushed flat.
Stopping a hammer imbued with my full strength was not so simple.
“Ugh…”
“What the hell are those guys!”
Thrown into chaos by the sudden attack, they were in a state of utter panic. A clear sign that our raid was a resounding success.
*Clang—!*
While Niceta bisected priests with her greatsword, I broke through the soldiers and reached the antenna tower. What was the purpose of this tower that had the priests throwing such a fit?
“Nooo—!!!”
With an old priest’s scream, the tower crumbled to the ground. I reached out, using my Spiritual Power to suck in the demonic energy from the top of the tower.
“Right, I get it now.”
Why the demonic energy separated from the Seven Deadly Sins’ stone couldn’t be absorbed by my Spiritual Power. Pure demonic energy. Spiritual Power could only absorb it when it was targeting pure demonic essence.
It wasn’t quite a case of extremes meeting. I didn't know the principle behind it, but if that's how Spiritual Power worked, so be it.
Just like now, with the pleasant notification that my Spiritual Power stat had increased by three.
I could see the despair on the faces of the Raelian bastards.
The way they couldn't unleash holy power from their hands.
“Hoh. So that’s what it was. It wasn't just for controlling monsters; it was a tower that transmitted something like holy power to you.”
I still wasn’t sure how they hid the demonic energy and made it seem like holy power, but I was certain of this much.
The sight of them thrusting their hands forward, trying to unleash holy power, was utterly ridiculous.
“Manufactured priests and a manufactured religion.”
Holy power was, by nature, borrowed from a god. But borrowing that power through an antenna tower, as if it were some terrestrial communication network, was anything but normal.
That was why the priests in Lagaris couldn’t use their powers properly when I destroyed their antenna.
Heh, they must have upgraded its performance. Seeing as they added functions beyond monster luring.
Besides, I still didn’t understand all its functions.
Even after the tower was destroyed, the monsters continued to attack their targets. That was probably due to something else.
“How are demonic and holy energy transmitted? What the hell did these guys create? Nothing like this was in my research.”
I looked back to see my companions had already finished cleaning up the area.
“This is absurd. How dare they insult God like this?! I ought to smash all their heads in and line them up before God for purification!”
I shook my head at Niceta, who was kicking the corpses as if to vent her anger.
At least she didn’t get worked up during the fight. Her personality is just like their leader's. Ugh.
“This place seems to be an outpost. I don’t see anyone who looks tainted by demonic energy. But there’s a lot of food. The storehouses are packed to the brim.”
Seamus was probably right. No particles had emerged when we killed them.
Moreover, there were no important documents or items to be found. This place was merely a waystation for supplying goods.
For that reason, there was a surplus of food.
Enough to fill every storehouse.
“Their purpose is likely food procurement and the like. The reality is they can’t yet sustain themselves on demonic energy in all aspects.”
“Right. You’ve got to eat to live. Unless you can grow crops inside the Demonic Realm.”
Beyond the wall, a dark, blackened land came into view. That was the Demonic Realm. An unknown land that humanity had yet to fully conquer.
“Everyone, equip your gear. We’re checking the entrance to the Demonic Realm.”
A land saturated with demonic energy. A place where even the strongest would struggle to last a few hours without protection.
“To the Demonic Realm? Will that be alright?”
Niceta asked, surprised. She would be fine. She could protect herself with holy power. She had also heard that Kratos would be fine. She’d been given a rough briefing before this mission.
But Seamus and Reinhardt were another story. If a battle broke out inside, wasn’t the Demonic Realm the perfect place to meet a sudden, violent end?
“The Demonic Realm—! A new place to conquer! Now this is more like it!”
“It’s not a conquest. We’re literally just going to check the entrance. Frankly, a conquest would be difficult without an army.”
Seamus and Reinhardt, wearing the protective gear they’d received from the Pope, waited for Kratos’s command with tense expressions.
“Why are you standing there so tense? We just have to go. It’s not like we’re going deep inside.”
Kratos took a step forward, purifying the demonic energy with his Spiritual Power.
Absorption might take some time, but purifying a certain area was possible in real-time. It just wasn’t a very wide area.
“Ah…”
The two, realizing they had been needlessly dramatic, awkwardly followed Kratos with their weapons raised.
***
Though it was only the entrance, the inside of the Demonic Realm was relatively quiet. But the frightening part was that it was *too* quiet.
A place where not even the common sound of an insect could be heard, a silence that bordered on desolation.
Not even a trace of monsters.
“It’s quiet. Too quiet. Unsettlingly so. There don’t seem to be any monsters.”
“It must mean this area is cleared out regularly. Which also means people come and go. Wait, everyone, prepare for battle.”
But the Demonic Realm was the Demonic Realm. Before long, my Spiritual Power sensed a group of monsters.
“Three of them. Reinhardt, you take the front. Seamus, strike from the rear. Niceta.”
I had her put her greatsword in her inventory and handed her the Holy Kingdom’s treasure. Outside the Demonic Realm might be one thing, but inside was no place to be complacent with a handicap.
“Don’t get excited. Stick by Reinhardt’s side. I’ll finish them. Just target any that slip past. Fighting in the Demonic Realm under these restrictions will surely be great experience.”
Ah, of course, the reason I'm finishing them is to snatch the particles. I wonder if the monsters in the Demonic Realm will be more efficient. It's been getting harder to raise my stats lately, after all.
“As expected of Kratos…!”
“To take the initiative himself when fighting in the Demonic Realm is so difficult.”
Seems like there’s a bit of a misunderstanding mixed in there.
The group of monsters drew close enough to be seen.
“Disgusting.”
I’d seen pictures like that on the internet back on Earth. Images of flora and fauna contaminated by radiation. Yes, the monsters exposed to demonic energy looked exactly like that.
A bizarre and grotesque appearance.
I wondered if any semblance of reason remained beyond pure instinct. Glowing red eyes. Dripping saliva. Asymmetrically developed muscles. And something glistening, looking like it could burst at any moment.
It was hard to even guess what kind of monster it had originally been. Based on its size and weapon, I could only surmise it was some kind of ogre.
*Whoosh—*
The club swung with a speed distinctly different from that of a normal ogre. It felt about twice as fast as one from outside the Demonic Realm. Its power would be just as exceptional.
“Everyone, be careful—! It’s twice as strong as a normal ogre!”
Three of them. I let one pass behind me and drew the attention of the two in front.
The creatures stomped their massive feet, trying to crush me, but I took the opening to smash the backs of their knees with my hammer, causing them to kneel with a shriek.
There, that’s a more appropriate height. How dare a mere monster look down on me from up there.
As I infused it with Spiritual Power, the hammer emitted a brilliant light that felt holy just by looking at it.
*Thwack—*
A full-power swing of the hammer obliterated the creature's head. The creature tried to block the hammer with its arm, but it was impossible. The hammer shattered its arm and, without losing momentum, crashed down on the ogre's skull.
Several times more particles than usual flew into the air and were absorbed.
Hmm, it's not usually this powerful. It must be the combined effect of my strength, Annihilate Evil, and the hammer.
In other words, the effect was killer. Enough to blow a massive ogre's head off in a single strike.
“That… brute force…”
“An ogre’s head in one blow… Beautiful.”
The others seemed just as dumbfounded, clicking their tongues at the exploding ogre head even as they fended off attacks.
Oh, feeling confident, are we? You have time to worry about this!
An ogre’s club slammed into the shield, and Reinhardt practically dug his feet into the ground to absorb the shock. Seamus climbed onto the ogre’s back and drove his sword into its tough hide.
“Hoh. Their teamwork is better than I thought.”
I smashed the glistening, tumor-like growth on the second ogre with my hammer, and something mixed with demonic energy erupted like a fountain, scattering it into the air.
Getting hit by that would be bad. It was like a bomb planted inside its body.
“Don’t pop the damned tumors—!”
And the ogre that absorbed that demonic energy went berserk, using its entire body as a weapon as it rampaged.
“Agh—! Hold still—!”
I smashed its instep with the hammer.
“Kweeeek—”
It thrashed even more wildly, but it couldn’t flail its whole body like before. How could it, when one of the legs it needed to stand firm on the ground was useless?
Then the other knee. And then the back of the hand swinging the club.
Only after turning each of the ogre's limbs to pulp could I finally end its life.
“Brutal…”
“I almost feel sorry for the ogre. Almost.”
Seamus and Reinhardt, having finished their battle by piercing their ogre's head with Niceta's greatsword, commented as they looked at the other ogre, which now resembled a lump of flesh more than a living creature.
*Tch.* Whatever. Then you two can try fighting two berserk ogres at once.
***
Half a day’s journey from Adma. Arriving at a place with signs of life, the party trembled with rage at the sight of the endlessly sprawling camp.
It was a sight so horrific that even I, who thought I had seen my share of terrible things, had never witnessed anything like it.
“What… is that. That’s… not right.”
“Oh God, oh God. Have mercy on us.”
Niceta’s reaction was the most severe. Unable to control her surging anger, she could only recite prayers.
Her fists were clenched so tightly that her nails dug into her palms, drawing blood, and her eyes were bloodshot.
“Urp—”
Seamus, shaken, retched and threw up what was in his stomach. Reinhardt turned his gaze away, as if he couldn’t bear to look.
But I burned the entire scene into my memory, vowing never to forget it.
A camp? No, this wasn’t a camp. It was closer to a farm.
Just by eye, I could count hundreds of people.
Was this all of them? No, there had to be other camps. The bodies of those who died here must have been used as research materials.
The eyes of the imprisoned were dead, and giant tentacles were plunged into their bodies, continuously sucking something out and injecting something in.
As if people were raw materials. Like parts in a giant factory. What could they possibly be extracting and injecting like that?
No, I don’t want to know. Whatever the answer, it certainly wouldn’t be anything good.
Could one even call that state ‘living’?
“Arbeit macht frei.”
“What did you say?”
The phrase had suddenly surfaced in my mind. The words written at the entrance to that place in Poland, where I had gone backpacking.
No, would any Earthling not be reminded of that place upon seeing this scene?
Auschwitz.
This place must be destroyed. No, more than destroyed—it must be erased.
And the Empire must pay the price.
Yes, just like the outcome brought about by some mad king who turned this land into a Demonic Realm hundreds of years ago.