Chapter 134: Great Escape (2)

“Found it!”

With the escape right before our eyes, a pleasant signal flare went off. Alice and Lorena, covered head-to-toe in snow and scraps of leather, were hugging each other and looking at the documents. I watched the two of them with a pleased expression, lying on the floor.

Even with my help, it took a full two more days before we could find the documents. It was as if someone brimming with malice had intentionally hidden them; this bag full of documents was right in the dead center of the heirloom meatballs. If I hadn’t helped, we would have had to escape leaving the documents behind.

“How’s the content?”

“Yep! It’s fine! It’s intact! We can read this much! Ledgers and records left behind with magic tools, and look, photos!”

Alice fluttered the photos, which showed a high-ranking person I didn’t know meeting another high-ranking person. Lorena looked at the photo, her eyes widening, and said.

“I, I saw this person in the newspaper! This person did that? I heard they were a really good person.”

“You can’t even trust the newspapers these days.”

Alice said that and put the documents into her bag. I took another look around the surroundings, then said to Alice and Lorena.

“The Imps’ plan is nearing its final stage. I’ll tell you when things are ready separately. You two secure a sled, and look for any Beastmen who might be cooperative. Got it?”

“Okay.”

“Got it.”

I held out my hand. Lorena and Alice also put their hands up with determined expressions, and the three of them joined hands. I gave a nod as a signal and said.

“For love and justice……”

One

Two

Three

“Let’s go!”

“For justice!”

“For justice!”

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“…..Should we just match our rallying cry?”

“Dad, I deliberately said ‘For justice!’ for you. Are you going to change it again? Can’t a man have some conviction?”

“Alice. Like Evan said, it might be better to just match the cry this time. How about ‘Fighting!’? Full of fighting spirit.”

The rallying cry still didn’t match.

“Now, now, all preparations are complete!”

An Imp’s voice echoed through the cabin. An ominous magical energy was emanating from a jar in the center of the room, and a vessel for blood was prepared on the altar. A group of Imps were teary-eyed with emotion, and I also had to catch my breath, overwhelmed.

The Imp said.

“Incubus. Now, now, all preparations are complete. All we need is the human sacrifice, and then, our leader! The great Imp! Krik-Sai-nim will descend upon this land!”

He was so worked up, veins bulging in his neck, I worried he might burst a blood vessel and die. I felt pressured by the Imps’ passionate gazes and had to step back, while they held my hands tightly and said.

“Ah, Incubus! Come now, show us your faith! Quickly! Bring the blood sacrifice!”

Bringing the blood sacrifice posed no problem. All I had to do was bring one prisoner locked up in the jail, under the guise of relieving stress. Even if they sensed something suspicious and chased after me, the moment the Imps began the ritual, it would all be over.

Therefore, there was nothing problematic about this plan. Success was truly within reach now.

I said confidently to them.

“Alright, then wait here. I’ll……”

Thump!

Thump!

Thump!

“Hieeek!”

“Hiyyaaaak!”

The faint-hearted Imps suddenly started foaming at the mouth and collapsing. The leader-like figure among the Imps clutched his chest, trembling violently, and stared at the door. I also stiffened my face and looked at the door.

This cabin was located in a remote place, backed against a rocky cliff. If the opponent blocked the door, I would have nowhere to run.

“Open the door! Imps! We’ve received a report that you’re plotting something suspicious!”

I knew who the owner of this voice was. It was the voice of Bison Beastman, who had arranged my training schedule. He had discarded his usual gentle tone towards me and was threatening the Imps with a stern, killer-like voice.

“Open the door right now and show me what’s inside. If you don’t open it, I’ll blow this entire cabin away.”

The Imps looked at me with anxious faces. These pathetic Imps had no one but me to rely on. I also held my trembling chest and said in a calm voice.

“Uh, uh……! It, it’s me. Evan. I’m here.”

“Why are you, an Incubus, with the Imps?”

Bison Beastman seemed surprised that I was hiding inside this cabin. He questioned me sternly as well. I had to rack my brain as quickly as possible.

“It’s a party, a party. These guys wanted to get friendly with me, so they prepared food and various other things.”

Bison Beastman let out a hollow laugh. In that laughter, I could tell he had no intention of believing anything this demon said from the start.

“A party? So this ominous magical energy I feel inside is also because of a party? I already know that you Imps are plotting something sinister. And you Incubus are involved too? As expected, demons of lust can’t be trusted. Open the door immediately. Baara-nim said he could execute you all on the spot, but if you open the door now, you might be spared.”

That was bullshit. The moment I opened the door, he would slaughter the Imps with those burly arms and massive thighs. Although I had become much stronger, I had no way to defeat Bison Beastman right now. Compared to him, I lacked combat experience, and the space was too cramped. He would be prepared for my surprise attack, and I was outmatched in sheer physical size.

The Imps looked at me. I answered by shaking my head. I couldn’t do anything either.

Running away without a word, or killing all the Imps, would have been the right answer. Wasn’t staying loyal to these tiny demons the right answer?

“I will count to three, starting now!”

As Bison Beastman said that, a sudden, intense pressure crushed the cabin. I clenched my fists tightly. I had to knock this guy down and somehow continue the ritual.

“Oneeee……!”

“There’s no other choice! This is the only way now!”

The leader Imp, trembling, climbed onto the altar. That wasn’t all. The Imps around him climbed onto the altar all at once, as if by agreement, and drew their knives.

“What the?”

The leader Imp said with a grief-stricken expression.

“Incubus! We will fill the altar with our blood! The moment our blood fills it, break the jar!”

“What?”

It seemed the reason they needed a human sacrifice was simply because humans were the easiest to obtain. Bison Beastman shouted.

“Twoooo……!”

“There’s no time!”

The Imps simultaneously plunged their knives into their own necks and thrust their heads into the altar vessel. With a whistling scream, blood poured into the vessel. The leader Imp, shaking his head, shouted.

“Someone must live! Someone must inform Drak-Sai-nim of our desperate deaths and avenge us! Incubus! Trusting you, a friend of K-Sai and Krik-Sai! I entrust the future to you!”

Even the leader Imp plunged a knife into his neck. The moment he collapsed onto the altar, I kicked the jar with all my might. Bison Beastman’s voice echoed behind me.

“Three!”

A powerful explosion hit my back. Along with the deafening noise, I saw purple magic seeping into the altar. I saw the cabin shattering like it faced a storm, and the blood in the altar vessel erupting into the air. I too was floating in the air.

The corpses of small Imps were flying in all directions around me. Bison Beastman’s face was filled with bewilderment as he looked around. I floated slightly in the air and surveyed my surroundings. The magic circle created by the Imps was channeling the collected magic and blood, exerting its power. Hidden conduits, concealed by carts and brooms, glowed red, pushing aside grass and debris.

“Uh, uh……!”

Bison Beastman, looking around with a bewildered face, stepped back, pointed a finger at me, and opened his mouth. His face contorted as if to curse me, but then his eyes widened again as he looked behind me. I slowly followed his gaze and looked behind me.

There, a red door had opened. Crimson blood droplets spun rapidly, gleaming like rubies. Through it, I could see a black sky and a gloomy red earth. And then, a demon with enormous horns and a physique as massive as Baara’s raised its head.

Red skin. Enormous horns. Heavy wings and sturdy muscles. He was a being far too colossal to be called an Imp. His immense size, making it impossible to guess how many souls he had consumed, inspired awe in me.

Those weaklings, who barely reached my thigh, grew this much?

When I recognized Drak-Sai, he also noticed me and Bison Beastman. As I blinked after seeing him crouched before me, Drak-Sai had suddenly grabbed me and brought me down onto the northern land.

The descent was quieter and more impactful than I had imagined.

Flapping his wings, Drak-Sai, who had set me down, looked down at Bison Beastman and said.

“What are you?”

“You, you… Are you an Imp? Are you an Imp?”

Bison Beastman shook his head as if denying reality and swung a fist at Drak-Sai, saying.

“You’re like……!”

No, he was about to say. I thought a gust of wind blew for a moment, but Bison Beastman’s upper body was flying towards the mountaintop. His lower half twisted at an unnatural angle, danced, then collapsed onto the ground, spilling its guts.

Drak-Sai looked back at me. Then, he saw the Imp corpses scattered everywhere. Just the brutal deaths of the Imps were enough for him to lose his temper.

“Ah…! Aaaah……! Ugh……! Wh-what is this……! The Imps, the Imps who are like my brothers……! Why have they met such a brutal end!”

I flattened myself onto the ground. This was the best way to survive him. Drak-Sai turned towards me as if to take his anger out on me, but seeing me prostrate and cautiously observing, he calmed down and said.

“….Who are you? Who called me here, and why!”

“Drak-Sai-nim! I summoned you to avenge the Imps!”

“The Imps’ enemy? Yes! Who killed my comrades so brutally!”

Every time he got angry, I felt like my whole body was being scorched. I bowed my head again and said.

“It was the Beast King Baara! That bastard abused and! Raped the Imps!”

“Wh-what did you say!! You baaaaastard!”

Drak-Sai writhed in anger, shouting. Gradually, Beastmen began to gather around.

“That’s not all! Your brothers, K-Sai and Krik-Sai!”

“Wh-why do you know those names? How do you know my brothers’ names!”

Drak-Sai trembled with anxiety. His face was like that of a soldier’s parents receiving a death sentence. I delivered the final blow.

“….Baara cruelly tortured and killed them all.”

“Aaaaaaaargh!”

Drak-Sai no longer listened to me. He swept aside the gathered Beastmen as if sweeping dust with a broom and charged forward.

As soon as I confirmed he had left without me, I ran off to find Alice and Lorena.

Now, I really had to scram.