episode_0004

*

The surroundings remained unchanged.

The waves relentlessly crashed against the embankment, and the clouds crossed over the village with a slow but unyielding pace.

The grass and trees, of course, and even the quaint brick houses and salt-stained wooden signs, were still in their place.

Only the people were gone.

It was as if all the villagers had left together.

I felt chills all over my body in that fatal emptiness.

I looked around and muttered softly.

“… Not like an evacuation…”

My first thought was that a war or something had broken out, and the people had evacuated en masse.

But there were many unnatural aspects to it.

The number of fishing boats had decreased significantly, but the large boats remained.

Judging by the ropes tied to the mooring posts and broken, it seemed the fishing boats were abandoned and drifted away on their own.

Moreover, in the many boxes strewn haphazardly on the harbor floor, numerous fish were left to rot, emitting a terrible stench.

Did they evacuate by land, not by sea?

To grasp the situation, I carefully moved toward the houses in the center of the village.

“… No one’s here.”

There were no signs of people in the houses either.

Some houses were a mess, reminiscent of a struggle, but there weren’t many signs that they had packed their belongings and evacuated.

Dusty clothes were left untouched in every house, and valuables were still neatly placed in the drawers when opened.

If valuables are left unattended, there are usually thieves who target empty houses, but the fact that money pouches were left on the tables in some houses meant that there weren’t even thieves.

It was as if all the residents of this village had disappeared in an instant.

I know it doesn’t make sense logically, but my mind can’t picture any other situation.

I started to move my feet a little faster.

Quickly passing through the houses, I headed to the street of stalls where local merchants gathered.

Again, there was no sign of anyone.

Here too, meat and fruits placed on the stalls were rotting, left unattended.

Judging by the degree of decay, the people disappeared a day or two ago.

At least a few weeks, maybe a month.

A month…

That’s exactly when the supplies stopped.

“What on earth happened?”

Was it because I was farther from the sea?

Without even the sound of the waves, the terrible silence conveyed by the absence of people was more vivid and greatly asserting its presence.

I couldn’t hide my bewilderment at this situation, which could be called a mass disappearance, no, a mass evaporation.

“… Could it be the work of a devil?”

I muttered in an uneasy voice.

Such cases sometimes happen.

A small village in the countryside being swept away and suffering a misfortune due to the rituals of cunning devils, ancient evil gods, or ominous pagans who worship evil alien gods.

But when I came to this village before, there were no traces of such pagans.

Like other rural areas on the periphery, this place was full of ordinary people who wanted the help of the Order.

“… Huff,”

I took out a small bottle containing a transparent liquid from my bag.

If it’s a matter of devils or pagans, it’s something I can solve with my power.

If the missing villagers have already suffered a misfortune, I can’t save them, but I can at least soothe their grudges through revenge.

I gripped the bottle and slowly put my hands together to pray, organizing the situation in my head.

One. Is it the work of a devil or a pagan?

The possibility is high, but it’s not certain yet.

Two, is this village the only one affected? Or is the whole country caught up in this strange event?

I don’t know, but seeing that the supplies sent by the Bishop of the capital aren’t coming, it might be a larger-scale event than I thought.

Three, if all this is the work of a devil, can I get rid of the evil?

“… Deliver us from the power of evil and violence.”

With a short prayer, I squeezed my hands together and shattered the bottle in my hand.

With a clanging sound, glass fragments were embedded in my palm, and at the same time, the liquid inside overflowed.

“… Heup,”

It was Holy Water.

As the Holy Water in the bottle soaked my palm, my hands were instantly dyed in brilliant gold.

A shimmering golden light, like magma, swam over and covered the skin of my hands.

A sacred flame that repels evil and burns the wicked.

I stared blankly at my hands, then clenched my fists and said.

“It’s there. I can kill enough. If it’s a devil.”

With the representative miracle that I use most often on my hands, I began to search the streets again.

I couldn’t find any intact food anywhere.

Sola is going to be disappointed.

As I was thinking that and hurrying my steps, that moment.

I saw a human figure standing in the shadows inside a curved alley.

“Hey!”

I shouted, wondering if it was someone who hadn’t been caught up in this situation.

The figure instantly ran into the corner.

I ran into the alley after the figure.

Turning the corner, I could see the figure that had quickly moved away.

“What… what’s that,”

Looking closely, it wasn’t a person.

At first glance, it looked like a person, but looking closely, it was too tall to be called a person.

Moreover, it was abnormally emaciated, had thin arms and legs like bamboo, and had overall pale skin with no blood at all.

It was a bizarre monster that seemed to have forcibly stretched a human.

An appearance that is clearly not human.

There’s a high probability it’s a devil, but at least to my knowledge, I’ve never heard of such a devil.

The monster walked away from me at a fast pace, loping with its long arms and legs.

I gritted my teeth and ran after the monster.

It’s not too late to burn it with this hand and investigate what it is later.

“Damn it, super fast…!”

Just as I was cursing at the distance that I couldn’t catch up with,

Pale, long fingers poured out from a small building gap next to me.

“Oh!”

Reflexively twisting my body and turning to the side, I saw four or five monsters running towards me, reaching out.

“Damn it, it was an ambush!”

I stretched out my golden glowing hand and struck those arms flying toward me.

But the monsters’ arms didn’t budge.

A heavy weight that is unbelievable to have come from those thin arms.

It felt like kicking a tree stump.

Pale and gaunt fingers instantly clung tightly to my left arm like ropes.

I gritted my teeth and grabbed their thin arms.

But nothing happened.

“What…!”

The miracle of the sacred flame wrapped around my hand is a miracle of God that burns all evil.

Devils and apostles of foreign gods used to emit dark smoke and feel terrible scorching pain just by touching my hand.

But it didn’t seem to have any effect on these monsters.

This means it’s not a devil.

“… Keuk!”

The more I resisted, the tighter the fingers of those who wrapped around my arm tightened.

It was like a strong vine squeezing hard.

Only then did I take a closer look at the appearance of these monsters.

Drooping skin covered half of their faces like the cap of a mushroom, and the place where their mouths should have been was greatly swollen like a bizarre tumor.

In the center of that tumor was a small hole, and the hole expanded to the size of a thumb and then returned to its original size, according to their breathing.

Inside the hole, teeth resembling human molars were densely packed in a circle.

Just looking at their faces, they’re really disgustingly ugly.

But more terrible than anything was their skin.

The skin of the monsters, which looked simply pale when viewed from a distance, was actually covered with disgusting white blisters on black skin, constantly wriggling without any gaps.

I don’t know what the hell these things are, but at least they’re definitely not human.

“… Let go of me, you disgusting things.”

I took my hands off their wrists and put the arm that wasn’t caught in the bag.

Meanwhile, the monsters’ other arms were constantly clinging to my body.

One arm was holding my left arm, one arm was holding my shoulder, and the other arms were holding my waist and neck, respectively, pressing me down as is.

I was pressed down by the strong force and fell to the ground, hitting my head on the ground.

In the meantime, some hand grabbed and pressed down on my head.

I barely turned my head and looked up at the monsters with one eye.

“God. Shit.”

Goodness gracious.

On the face of the closest of the monsters, that small mouth instantly opened wide, and a round pillar-like gum protruded from it.

The gums contracted and relaxed like that mouth, clashing the molars attached to it.

Are these things eating humans?

If so, were the villagers eaten by these guys?

Is this really not a devil?

An indescribable sense of horror rushed in at the bizarre creatures I had never encountered before.

But, it’s rather good.

If that’s really a mouth, then just breaking it would mean that this guy can’t eat people.

I gripped the dagger in my bag with my right arm, which was still free.

While being held down on the floor by the monsters, I worked hard to peel off the scabbard with my fingers.

I desperately twisted my body.

Then, I threw the dagger at the monster’s disgusting gums that were drawn out long.

Plunge,

Like the arms that held me down, the gums were solid monsters, but the dagger can be sufficiently embedded in a piece of wood.

The dagger pierced the monster’s gums.

The monster flinched greatly.

At the same time, the fingers that were holding my left arm loosened.

It seemed like it was the guy who was holding my arm.

I moved the dagger to my left hand and gripped it firmly in reverse.

Then, I plunged it straight into the arm of the monster that grabbed my head.

Beeeep.

Making a thin and beautiful sound like a canary screaming, the monsters moved away from me.

I rolled my body and got up in an instant, looking at the monsters.

The guys started to twitch in place, not knowing what was going on.

I realized that my cheek was stinging.

“Ah, shit… it’s scratched.”

Ha, I thought I died a bit while living on the island.

These things are making my old temper come out.

I gripped the dagger and looked at the guys.

“Hoo… let’s calm down… Think. Think.”

Whether through rituals or miracles, the most important thing to be careful about in exorcism is that you must not lose your composure.

I slowly took a breath and observed the guys.

Those monsters are stronger and harder than humans.

It is definitely not human.

There is also almost no possibility that it is a human deformed by being corrupted by a devil.

Judging by the fact that God’s miracles don’t work, it doesn’t seem to be a devil… but at least there is still a possibility that it’s some kind of trick that a devil used.

Sacred miracles don’t work, but physical force does.

I came to a conclusion.

“I don’t know what it is, but it can be defeated.”

It was then.

As if mocking my conclusion, the guys instantly healed the wounds made by my dagger.

I couldn’t quite grasp how they did it even though I saw it with my own eyes.

I keep comparing it to trees, but the wounds were filled as if small tree trunks were tangled together.

“Damn it.”

Beep,

Squeak squeak.

Strange sounds started to be heard from far away.

I swallowed my breath.

From far away in that alley where the first monster ran away, monsters started to pour in.

At least, dozens of them.

“Ha, God.”

It became clear.

This village was destroyed by those guys.