Chapter 688: The Little Demon
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 688: The Little Demon
The demon tribe was situated on the edge of a grassland that had already begun to turn barren.
Buildings of earth and stone, large and small, were scattered haphazardly across the landscape without any discernible order, looking like a cluster of ugly mushrooms sprouting after a rain.
The perimeter was marked by a wall of loosely piled stones, yet it was completely unguarded. As Muen walked toward the main gate, he saw only an elderly Low Demon with pale blue skin curled up in a corner, half-asleep.
Sensing Muen’s presence, the elderly demon jolted awake. It bared its teeth and snarled at the stranger like a common guard dog.
Muen thought for a moment, then delivered a sharp kick to the elderly demon’s side. "Get lost!"
"Whine!"
The elderly demon’s aggression instantly withered upon sensing Muen’s powerful aura. It shrank back into its corner, whimpering softly, not even daring to look Muen in the eye.
The lower a creature’s intelligence, the more it feared those stronger than itself. The hierarchy within the Demon Race was even more rigid than Muen had imagined.
"But since they’ve formed a tribe, it means this place can't be entirely populated by mindless Low Demons."
Muen peered through the stone gate into the interior. The tribe was even more desolate than he had expected; he could hardly see any living soul. Only a murky little stream flowed through the center of the settlement.
The impact of the war wasn't limited to the Empire.
After all, the Demon Race’s army of a million hadn't appeared out of thin air. Their unrestrained conscription of cannon fodder had inevitably left small tribes like this one almost entirely hollowed out.
This allowed Muen to relax slightly. It seemed he wouldn't need to be so tense before entering Gutons Fortress...
"Hmm?"
Muen suddenly looked down.
He felt a sudden tug on the hem of his clothes.
When he lowered his head, he discovered... a tiny, scrawny demon.
She looked to be about three or five years old in human terms, not even reaching Muen’s knees. On a small face covered in dust and grime, two large eyes like faint rubies blinked up at him.
The little demon’s skin was a bluish-gray, but she had very few aberrations. She looked more like an ordinary human girl, forming a stark contrast to the elderly, hideous demon he had seen earlier.
Perhaps because she was so young, this little demon didn't possess the ferocity of the others Muen had encountered. Instead, she exuded the innocence and fragility unique to a child.
She simply stared at Muen with her large eyes, making unintelligible "gugu" sounds in her throat. Muen followed her gaze and realized she was staring intently at his hand, which was still dripping with blood.
"Did you catch the scent of the magical beast?"
Without much thought, Muen pulled out a piece of Magical Beast meat and handed it to the little demon.
Even if humans and the Demon Race were at war, it shouldn't be taken out on children.
Perhaps if the Demon Race won, they wouldn't treat humans this way, Muen thought, mocking his own overabundant sense of compassion.
But perhaps because he had witnessed too much cruelty on this journey, seeing this innocent little demon—who had yet to be hardened by the brutal baptism of the Abyss—offered a small measure of solace.
"Gugu!"
The little demon’s eyes lit up the moment she saw the meat.
She gave Muen a cautious look, instinctively confirming he meant no harm, then snatched the meat with the speed of a wild monkey before nimbly darting into a narrow side alley.
After a long moment, she slowly poked half of her head out, peeking at Muen.
"Quite cute, actually."
Muen waved at her.
Then, remembering he needed to maintain his persona as a fierce demon, he immediately followed up with a savage snarl.
"Gu!"
The little demon was instantly spooked and vanished back into the alley.
"It seems this journey won't be as dangerous as I thought—at least not here."
Muen smiled, putting away his playfulness, and pulled out a map.
However, it wasn't the comprehensive map of the entire Abyss from before. Instead, it was a hand-drawn sketch with wobbly lines, yet it was strangely detailed.
"Let’s see... left turn... right turn... right turn... this should be a right."
Muen followed the map, winding his way through the tribal camp, which felt quite complex to him.
It took a considerable amount of time. Most of the mushroom-like earth-and-stone houses looked exactly the same; without specific guidance, it would have been incredibly difficult to find his destination.
"Finally... I need to turn left in front of this red building, then left again..."
Muen’s whispering suddenly stopped.
The entire demon tribe was deathly silent; not even the cry of a crow could be heard in the twilight. Yet Muen seemed to sense something, and his movements paused.
But only for a fleeting second.
Instead of taking the left turn as planned, he suddenly veered right, ducking into an even more secluded path.
The path was flanked by unadorned earth walls overgrown with weeds. Once he entered, Muen found the way ahead blocked by a collapsed wall.
It was... a perfect spot for an ambush.
Therefore...
"You can come out now."
Swish!
The moment Muen turned around, something flashed before his eyes.
It was a petite figure, moving with incredible speed, closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye.
Amidst the blur of the spinning approach was a sharp weapon glinting with a cold light. Combined with that impressive speed, it could easily slice through the scales of a Magical Beast.
But...
It was still too slow.
Muen raised his hand and caught the blade between two fingers.
The approaching edge came to an expected halt. Only then did Muen see that the so-called blade was actually just a bone knife that had been sharpened to a fine point.
The owner of the bone knife was staring at him, her large eyes now filled with a ferocity that had replaced her earlier innocence. She looked utterly shocked.
"I see."
Muen looked at the little demon expressionlessly. "Was it my kindness that made you think I was a pushover?"
Muen flicked his finger, and the little demon was sent flying backward.
Her physical coordination was even better than Muen had expected; she easily stabilized herself mid-air and landed on her feet. She lifted her grimy little face, baring her teeth at Muen.
"Heh..."
However, just as Muen thought she would pounce again like those demons who feared neither death nor injury, the little demon suddenly turned and... fled?
"Now that’s interesting."
Muen raised an eyebrow, tucked his map into his coat, and followed her at a leisurely pace.
*
"Gugu!"
The little demon twisted and turned through the tribe. Using her small stature, she squeezed through narrow gaps that no adult could pass. After circling nearly half the tribe to ensure the dangerous demon wasn't following, she stopped, panting heavily, in front of a stone house that was slightly larger than the others but far more dilapidated.
A human-like look of frustration crossed her face, as if she regretted choosing the wrong target and nearly getting herself killed.
But that frustration quickly turned to relief because she hadn't come away empty-handed.
She carefully pulled the piece of meat Muen had given her from her tunic.
Though the piece wasn't large, it was fresh Magical Beast meat, enough to provide much-needed...
"Ugh..."
Before the little demon could admire the meat, a suppressed groan echoed from inside the stone house.
She immediately forgot her exhaustion, lifted the tattered curtain, and ducked inside.
In the center of the room, lying on a bed cobbled together from mismatched wooden planks, was an adult demon.
"It... it hurts..."
The adult demon’s expression was twisted in agony as he groaned weakly.
The little demon rushed forward, stepping onto a wooden stump by the bed. She held the meat over the adult demon’s face and squeezed with all her might.
Blood from the meat flowed through her fingers, dripping bit by bit into the adult demon’s mouth.
She continued the feeding for a long time until she was nearly faint from exhaustion. Only then did the adult demon’s pale face regain a hint of color, and his painful groans finally ceased.
The little demon let out a sigh of relief.
But before she could fully relax, the curtain of the stone house was lifted once more.
"I see."
Muen stepped into the room, looking at the demon on the bed. "So this is the High-Class Demon of this tribe? To think he’s ended up like this."
"Gu!"
The little demon bristled like a frightened cat. Her trembling hands gripped the bone knife as she stood guard in front of Muen, shielding the adult demon behind her.
Muen ignored her, his gaze fixed on the demon on the bed.
There was no doubt he was a High-Class Demon. Aside from the horns on his head and a few patches of coarse scales on his neck, his appearance was virtually identical to a human’s.
He actually had fewer aberrations than the little demon.
Yet here was a High-Class Demon, lying pathetically on a bed, eyes tightly shut, face bloodless, his upper body wrapped in bandages.
As for his lower body...
He didn't have one.
"A veteran of the battlefield?"
Unlike his feelings toward the little demon, Muen felt no pity for this crippled High-Class Demon. He observed him coldly, as if examining an ordinary object.
"Discarded because he became a useless cripple on the battlefield. A High-Class Demon who founded a tribe, left here to rot and wait for death. Heh, the Demon Race is as cruel as ever—cruel to their enemies, and just as cruel to their own."
Muen’s lips curled into a mocking smile.
After sensing the High-Class Demon’s aura, Muen knew his time was short. The Demon Race was neither skilled in magic nor possessed the resources to heal such grievous wounds. An injury of this magnitude was essentially a death sentence.
Even if he didn't die, a tribe led by a cripple would inevitably be swallowed by other demon tribes in the near future.
Such was the law of the Abyss.
"Well, it doesn't matter. I don't know how many human lives are on your hands, but since you're dying anyway, it saves me the trouble of finishing you off."
Muen quickly lost interest in the crippled demon. If the man had been conscious, Muen might have been able to squeeze some information out of him. But there was no point wasting time on someone in a coma.
"As for you..."
Muen looked at the little demon, who was still snarling at him. "You should be glad that I’m about to have a younger brother or sister soon, so I don't feel like laying a hand on a child."
Muen turned to leave.
But just then...
"Ma... ma..."
He heard the sound of sobbing.
Muen turned back in surprise to find two crystalline tear tracks rolling down from the corners of the High-Class Demon’s eyes.
His eyes remained closed, but his pale lips moved, whispering hoarse, clumsy syllables.
"Ma... ma..."
Muen blinked. He looked again at the little demon standing before him—trembling with fear yet refusing to move, protecting her parent. She really was only about three or five years old.
There was no mother here.
There was only a child like her, a pitiful daughter who was just as motherless as he was.
"So he’s lost his mind entirely?"
Muen let out a soft chuckle and shook his head.
"How pitiful. And how ridiculous."