Chapter 118

Chapter 118
## Chapter 118: The Star that Pierces the Truth (3)

The middle-aged man was actually the village chief of Quyrn. He took a seat in an open clearing on the outskirts of the settlement to hold a conversation with Kadim.

“I am truly sorry. Under better circumstances, I would have welcomed you into my home with a proper feast, but if that magical boundary is restored, it will lead to our ruin…”

“……”

Kadim looked past the man’s shoulder.

A massive group of Quyrn’s inhabitants was desperately fleeing through the gap in the shattered perimeter. Duncan was visible among the throng, providing physical support to the frail and elderly who struggled to keep pace. Every person looked like a walking skeleton, their frames wasted away and their skin layered with filth and dried perspiration.

Stroke his chin with a neutral expression, Kadim asked, “That magical wall—was it the work of a demon?”

“……!”

The chief’s eyes grew wide with alarm.

“H-how could you possibly know that? Did you encounter a demon on your way to our village?”

“No. It just felt like one.”

It wasn’t a difficult deduction for him. Utilizing his heightened senses of touch and smell, Kadim had picked up the scent of demonic influence. It would have been more shocking if he hadn’t noticed a curse of this magnitude.

However, the barrier wasn’t composed entirely of demonic essence. There was a familiar resonance mixed in—a portion of demonic energy intertwined with various other components.

It was the energy utilized by contemporary sorcerers as a substitute for the lost ‘ancient mana’: mana.

He felt a spark of curiosity as to why a demon’s construction would contain the energy of a mage. Squinting his eyes, he interrogated the chief further.

“Explain the situation. Did the demon trap the village? It seems a sorcerer was here as well—why didn’t they assist you?”

“Sigh, well… it happened like this…”

The chief hesitated briefly before recounting the events in exhaustive detail.

Since Quyrn was located far from the Golden Highway, it had initially escaped the worst of the demon crisis. The true catastrophe began after the main conflict subsided. The demons that had gathered in Soltana broke apart and fled across the alliance territories, and one eventually found its way here.

The intruder arrived in dark robes, pretending to be a practitioner of magic. The unsuspecting locals treated him with immense kindness. In return, he erected a powerful barrier around the perimeter, claiming it would protect them from any unauthorized entry.

At first, the people were overjoyed. With reports of monsters and demons roaming the land, they felt vulnerable and exposed.

It was only after the guest departed that the grim reality set in.

“Chief…? We are unable to leave.”

“……What?”

The wall didn’t just stop monsters; it imprisoned the people. Truly, no living thing could pass through it.

Only then did the mental haze lift, and the village realized their protector was actually a demon.

They attempted every possible method of breakout. Led by the chief, the villagers worked together—hitting the barrier with their bare hands, swinging axes, using heavy hammers, looking for weak points, and even attempting to tunnel beneath it.

Every effort was in vain. The structure was incredibly durable and extended deep underground without a single gap. After days of backbreaking labor, they realized they were trapped.

Yet, they held onto a sliver of hope. This region was governed by Vesta, the city famous for its Magic Tower. Whenever they saw travelers in the distance, they signaled wildly, begging them to carry word of their imprisonment to the council in Vesta.

Their persistence eventually worked. The council sent a legitimate mage—a high-ranked battle mage known for his expertise in exterminating demons.

When the villagers saw his crimson robes, they celebrated as if they were already free.

But their relief was short-lived.

Woooong—

“Hmph… This seal is too complex for me to dismantle.”

“……?”

“Do not fret. It will dissipate once the demon is slain. I shall return shortly, so remain here and stay quiet.”

After touching the wall and chanting an incantation, the mage sent a mental message to the village and walked away. The residents watched him leave, feeling like pets left on the side of the road.

The mage never returned. A week passed without a word. Eventually, the people returned to the village entrance in a state of depression, hoping for a miracle that wouldn’t come…

Kadim interrupted the narrative.

“Hold on. You said the mage touched the barrier and used a spell?”

“P-Pardon? Y-Yes…”

“What kind of magic did he perform?”

“I am not certain, but I assumed he was trying to break it. Even though he claimed it was too strong for him…”

“……”

Kadim rubbed his chin, deep in thought. He stood up abruptly and walked toward the barrier. He tapped on the sections containing mana and compared them to the rest, then looked back at the chief with a grim look.

“No, it’s the opposite. The areas where he cast his spell are actually the strongest parts. He didn’t try to break it; he reinforced it.”

“……!”

The chief’s eyes bulged in shock.

He asked for confirmation several times, his mouth hanging open. Was the mage a demon in disguise as well? Kadim shook his head. The added power was clearly mana, not the essence of a demon.

“Why… why would a member of the Magic Tower do this…? We were dying of thirst… we had no food… Do you have any idea how much we have suffered…?”

“……”

As the chief shook with a sense of betrayal, Duncan finished his tasks and approached with a dark expression. Following a silent signal from Kadim, Duncan composed himself and gave his report.

“The adults are mostly stable, though severely malnourished… However, several children are suffering from fits, similar to the victims we saw in the goblin dens… It appears the demon’s influence has taken hold of them…”

“……You did well.”

Kadim began to piece the puzzle together using the chief’s story and his own observations.

‘The demon built this cage to trap the people and saturate the area with demonic energy… to feed on their agony and hopelessness… The Magic Tower learned of the situation and sent a powerful mage… but instead of helping, he made the prison even more secure…’

And the demonic presence he sensed now… it was approaching the upper-middle tier.

The conclusion was obvious.

The mage had assisted the demon on purpose, using the villagers’ suffering as ‘sustenance’ for the creature.

His motive? To force the demon to evolve so he could harvest a ‘demon corpse’ of much higher quality.

“……”

From lower to middle, from middle to upper… Just as Kadim sought out high-quality sources of blood, mages were obsessed with better specimens. They had swamped the Golden Highway for that upper-tier demon body, thrilled by the prize.

But this was an atrocity. Helping a demon grow stronger for personal gain? Treating humans like livestock and demons like fish in a pond?

‘And since he never came back, the mage was likely killed by the very demon he helped evolve…’

He felt a dark urge to laugh at the irony. Then, the chief threw himself at Kadim’s feet, bowing low.

“Sir mercenary, we are already in your debt for our lives, and I know it is greedy to ask for more… But the Magic Tower has betrayed us, and we have no one else… The demon might come back now that the wall is down…”

“……”

“Please… could you kill that monster? We will not ask this for nothing. We are poor, but we will find a way to pay you, even if we must borrow the gold…”

Kadim crossed his arms, tilting his head slightly.

He was nearly at his destination. It was a time for stealth and avoiding unnecessary attention. Given the involvement of the Magic Tower, it would be smarter to stay out of it.

‘However…’

If the mage was already dead… did it matter?

In fact, it could be a perfect ticket into the Magic Tower. ‘I found a mage’s remains while hunting a demon and came to return them.’ Dealing with those arrogant sorcerers for their records was one thing, but getting through the front door legally was a major advantage.

Furthermore, leaving the demon alone was a waste of a resource.

He had traveled here for blood. Since he had destroyed his tainted supplies, he needed a fresh source. A mid-tier would be fine; an upper-tier would be perfect.

Most importantly, this demon was definitely ‘that kind’… Its blood would provide a boost that would be incredibly helpful for the rest of his trip.

“I don’t need your gold. I came here with the intention of destroying that creature anyway.”

Kadim agreed to the task without a fee. The chief was overwhelmed with emotion at such kindness and continued to bow until his forehead was bruised.

Once he finally stopped, he asked with a worried tone.

“B-But are you certain? Even that powerful mage couldn’t defeat it, so it must be terrifying… C-Can you really do this by yourself…?”

“Probably not.”

“R-Right, that makes sense… Then we should wait for more mercenaries to arrive…”

“The demon.”

The chief stared at him, confused.

Kadim gripped his dark axe, a dangerous grin spreading across his face. “The demon is the one who won’t be able to manage alone.”

A spark of hope returned to their sunken eyes. They were finally out of that hellish village. As they walked through the open air and drank from a nearby stream, the spirits of Quyrn’s residents began to lift, like flowers blooming after a storm.

But not everyone was celebrating.

There were children with rolling eyes and arching spines, held by parents who were trying desperately to calm them.

Those families were still trapped in a nightmare.

“Tiny room in the alley, our house made of nails, the black flowers in my eyes hurt, the old man in the cage died alone and his skin turned to liquid on the floor…”

“Enya, what are you saying…? Please, come back to me…”

“The year 828, the collapse of the Aviracus Mine, 184 dead, 21 with heads crushed by stones, 29 with burst organs between the rocks, 62 starved and dehydrated to death…”

“Selri, honey, stop… please drink some water… You haven’t had a drop in days… Sob…”

A stream of terrifying nonsense came from the children’s mouths. No matter how much the parents cried or pleaded, the fits continued.

Initially, some neighbors tried to help, thinking it was just a sickness. But it was now clear to everyone: the children were being tormented by the demon’s spirit. People looked on with pity but kept their distance.

The fate of these children seemed sealed. They would either die in their parents’ arms, be cast out when the burden became too much, or be taken away by the Magic Tower’s cleanup crews. None of those paths ended well.

However, that grim future was suddenly interrupted.

Thudung, thududung…

A brilliant, pale light cut across the heavens.

Like a passing star, the world flashed with brightness before returning to normal. The villagers looked at one another, wondering if they had imagined it.

In that instant.

“Uh, ugh…”

“Mommy…?”

The possessed children suddenly became lucid.

“M-Mommy, where are we…? Are we free…?”

“Mommy, I’m… so hungry… and thirsty…”

“E-Enya?”

“Tobik!!”

“Se-Selri! My baby!!”

The parents pulled their children into tight embraces, crying with relief. The children looked around, confused. When the parents finally calmed down enough to ask what had happened, one child spoke up.

“Mommy, I saw it… Up in the clouds… A horse with wings, like a falling star… And then the pain just went away…”

“……What?”

The parents felt a chill, wondering if the child was still hallucinating.

But when no more fits occurred, they began to relax. Someone suggested that the heavens had taken pity on them, and they accepted it as a divine blessing, offering prayers of gratitude.

One man, however, felt a deep sense of dread.

The chief of Quyrn shoved his way through the crowd and grabbed the child’s shoulder.

“W-Wait, child! Tell me again. What did you see in the sky?”

“A bright horse with wings flew by. When I looked at it… my mind felt clear, and I felt better…”

The chief’s face turned as white as a sheet.

He stared up at the sky, looking like a man who had seen a ghost.

“My god.”

This wasn’t a blessing. It was a sign of a catastrophe far worse than any demon. He remembered a legend passed down through generations, a story he had been told never to forget.

It was the story of the turning point that forced the alliance to surrender to the empire in only three days.

The exact same omen had appeared right before a great city was wiped off the map in a single night.