episode_0260

The first sign was felt by two soldiers patrolling for safety during the festival.

As it was an unprecedented large-scale festival, many people would naturally hear the news and gather, which could lead to various disputes, so the royal capital’s soldiers were patrolling a little more carefully than usual.

Due to this, patrols that were usually done in a group of three were now being done in a group of two due to a shortage of personnel needed for patrolling.

Of course, that doesn’t mean there’s more work than usual.

It’s just that the frequency of patrols has increased.

“Haa… Even so, continuing to patrol until this late at night is tiring…”

“Tell me about it.”

A soldier yawns widely, and another nods in agreement.

It was a simple coincidence that these two came to a secluded place.

They just went to a place where people rarely visited to secretly eat festival food obtained during their patrol.

As they had worked harder than usual, they were simply heading to a secluded place as a way to reward themselves.

Therefore, the two of them discovering it felt like a product of simple whims and a trick of fate.

“Huh?… Isn’t someone over there?”

“Really?… Hey! Who’s there!!”

A secluded back alley where the festival lights don’t reach.

The two, who had found a good place just in time, discovered a group of people who had taken the spot before them.

What is the reason for gathering in a dark back alley during this festive season?

Are they a group of petty thieves trying to commit a crime?

Or are they criminals trying to erase the traces of a crime they have already committed?

Either way, they need to check it out.

Even if they didn’t know, now that they’ve seen it, they have to check it.

Therefore, one of the soldiers hung a magic stone lamp on his waist and instead grabbed his weapon in his hand.

Then, slowly, slowly, he approached the group.

“…Huh?”

At that moment, the approaching soldier realized that he smelled a familiar yet shouldn’t-be-felt scent at the tip of his nose.

The scent of blood.

A very strong one at that.

Why hadn’t he noticed until now?

“Y-, you bastards! What the hell are you doing!!!”

He approached them in one stride.

The soldier waiting behind was also flustered and took out his weapon, chasing after him.

As they got closer, the light from the magic stone lamp illuminated them.

“Huh?…”

Men with red blood splattered here and there….

And they were in a state where their clothes were extremely tattered, as if they had been attacked by a wild animal.

“Wh-, what the…”

“Hey, what’s going on… Wh-, what’s that?…”

“…Ugh…”

It was, strictly speaking, an undead.

A corpse puppet that forcibly drags out the body of the dead to make it move.

The moment they realized that, the two soldiers felt a chill run down their spines.

Why are there undead here?

Is there any reason for undead to be here?

Before those thoughts could even finish, they turned their bodies and looked at themselves.

They were eating the living.

They must have caught and eaten homeless people wandering in the back alleys.

And their target changed to the soldiers.

“Ughhhhh!!…”

“A-, aaaaaaaah!!”

* * *

After confirming that I felt the demonic energy along with a loud roar, I headed straight to the terrace.

The festival lights can be seen far away, but at the same time, some kind of ‘screaming’ sounds are subtly flowing in.

“Kyaa…aaa…”

“Save me… suddenly…”

It’s not just the commotion of the festival.

And above all….

“I can feel strong demonic energy from all directions.”

The Pope came out to the terrace following me and said.

All directions… All directions, huh….

Then they must have prepared really thoroughly.

“Your Holiness. I…”

“I trust you. You have already subdued fragments of several Demon Kings. I will inform King Roman and the representatives of each country about the current situation and then decide on the next course of action. You are free to move.”

“Understood.”

I came out right away.

Thanks to the loud roar within the castle, people were already realizing that something was happening.

“H-, Hero! Do you know what the loud roar from a while ago was?”

Among them, some who recognized my face saw me hurrying and asked, but I didn’t have time to answer them.

I headed to my room in an instant and opened the door wide open.

“You’ve come?”

“You’re late.”

“H-, Hero…”

“Looks like it’s time to move.”

Baekryeon, Seollin, and Baekho were already checking their weapons or warming up, as if they had finished preparing for battle.

And Rebiya was using holy magic, creating a fairly strong divine power.

“Hero…, nim…”

“Lucy…”

Lucy lying on the bed.

She seemed quite injured, her body was covered in wounds and smeared with red blood.

Was Rebiya’s holy magic to heal Lucy?

“When did you come back?”

“Was it not long after you left with the Pope?”

It was Tamiel who answered.

She shrugged her shoulders and said.

“Judging only by what I can feel, it seems that ‘undead’ have been released into the town.”

“Undead?”

“Yeah. I can feel that kind of energy from all directions. To quell the chaos, dealing with them should be the priority.”

Although the magic circuit she currently possessed was a mess, making it impossible to use powerful high-level magic, her ability to feel and analyze energy itself had not disappeared. Thanks to that, I, who had confirmed what was happening around me, immediately approached Lucy.

“Lucy.”

“Hero… Seeing the Hero’s face… I feel relieved…”

“What happened? Did Lana do this to you?”

“Lana…”

Lucy closed her mouth for a moment at my question.

She seemed to be contemplating what to say and how to explain it.

“How are the injuries? Rebiya.”

“I’m trying to heal her… But the wounds don’t heal easily…”

Rebiya looks at me with a tearful face.

She doesn’t know what to do, so she’s somehow slamming divine power into her, and engraving the shape of a magic circle there to increase the recovery efficiency, but it doesn’t seem to be healing as expected, so she seems anxious.

I stroked Rebiya’s head for a moment.

“It’s okay. Sorry, but please try a little harder.”

“Yes, yes! I’ll do my best!…”

“It wasn’t Lana…”

Lucy, who had been silent, carefully opened her mouth, as if she had decided what to say in the meantime.

“He… was not Lana…”

“It wasn’t Lana?…”

“…He was occupying the Hero’s body… but the contents were completely different.”

“…Is it the same case as Hero Abel?”

Lucy shook her head at my question.

“No… Hero Abel… was corrupted by his own will… but Hero Lana… was not like that…”

“…Okay, I know what you mean. You rest here.”

“…That… is there…, there…”

The last words Lucy left were the place where Lana was before she escaped to this place.

After confirming the location of that place, I immediately turned my gaze to Baekryeon, Seollin, and Baekho.

“I’ll go straight to Lana. You guys calm down the situation.”

“I understand.”

“Then what exactly do we have to do?”

“Oh my, are you asking me that?”

Seollin’s gaze turns to Tamiel.

She was the one who caused Baekryeon to die once, so Seollin always thought of her unfavorably, and that’s why she didn’t speak to her first.

Seollin, who doesn’t usually talk to Tamiel first, talks to her first, so Tamiel tilts her head slightly as if surprised and asks back.

“I can’t help it. You’re the expert on the situation outside.”

“That’s…, that’s true.”

Tamiel, who said that with a smile, cleared her throat slightly and said after clearing her throat.

“I’ll have to see the details to know… but judging by what I feel from all directions, it seems to be a ‘corrosion’ type.”

“Corrosion?”

“Yeah. Probably… turning those with low magic resistance who approach a specific area into the dead. If you create an area in a place where people don’t visit, there’s no risk of being caught. And when necessary, it seems that they lure victims to that area to create enough undead, and then release the created undead at this timing.”

Tamiel, who said that far, said with a glint in her eyes.

“Find the magic circle and destroy it. Those who have turned into undead can’t be turned back, but we can prevent more undead from increasing.”

* * *

Tap tap tap tap

The Pope was running down the hallway with several holy knights.

He doesn’t usually run like this, but as the situation is, he doesn’t have time to worry about that.

“King Roman!!”

He tried to have an audience with King Roman, omitting even the knock and bursting open the door.

But it wasn’t just King Roman who was there.

“!!”

“?!?”

“Wh-, what!…”

The thick scent of blood was everywhere.

On the throne where the king should be sitting, another person was sitting, not the king.

“Oh… It’s been a while. Oh… or is it not?”

He tilted his head and said, glaring at the Pope himself with his red eyes.

“Hmm… Well… It would be nice to say these words in this case.”

He cleared his throat and said in a playful voice.

“I am the Demon King.”