Shlen Canyon (3)

“…You?”

Shuriel said, fumbling with his mask. The physiological activities he’d witnessed while with me… were nonexistent. Except for the occasional piss from extreme pleasure. Only he, who was glued to me 24/7, would know.

“I told you I’m a semi-spirit. I can’t absorb the Mana here… so I have to live like a normal human while we’re on the move.”

“Tch. You should’ve said so sooner.”

Prukaise scratched his head and handed over the empty holy water bottle…

“…Huh?”

“What?”

“Um… so, you want me to do it in here?”

I stared blankly at Prukaise, holy water bottle in hand. His dumbfounded expression was on full display since he wasn’t wearing his mask yet.

“What choice do we have? We need to hurry up and get going.”

Well… given the situation, it was understandable. And climaxing and pissing in front of everyone was kind of exciting. But.

‘There’s more to take care of than just that.’

The situation was tricky in many ways, so I needed to get away.

‘Hoo.’

I sighed inwardly and, after a few seconds, flushed my face bright red.

“U-uh… th-that’s…”

I put on a very embarrassed and ashamed expression, darting my eyes around. Of course, every emotion was planned from start to finish.

And then, a few steps back. But I despaired at the fact that the effective range of the divine barrier wasn’t that long. My pink-tinged face turned scarlet. I hesitated, clutching the hem of my dress tightly.

“Ahem…”

Just then, Pawin gave an unpleasant sigh, giving me the stink eye.

Good. Pawin. Good job. Give me more stink eye. Help me slip away from here for a bit.

Shuriel, despite Pawin’s stink eye, maintained his constipated expression. But while that was normal for him, Prukaise was different. He was, to put it bluntly, the only sane person in this group, and he had a relatively normal way of thinking.

“What about me?”

“…Lael. She is a lady, you know.”

“No. What’s that supposed to mean? Ha. Seriously.”

Pawin, unable to bear it any longer, spoke up. Prukaise tilted his head with a dumbfounded expression. So what? That seemed to be what he wanted to say.

“…….”

“…….”

A few seconds of meaningful staring contest.

Prukaise was the one who gave up.

“Ah, fine. I get it. Hurry up and come back. You’ll rot to the bone if you’re exposed out there for too long.”

“Th-thank you. A-and! Sorry.”

I bowed my head with a genuinely apologetic face. I was confident in my ability to look pathetic and pitiful, so there was no chance of raising suspicion.

-Jiiing…

The divine barrier was lifted. The toxic air hit my face. My cheek flesh rotted away but was quickly restored by reconstruction.

I put on my mask and ran to a rock a little further away.

* *

-Click.

Behind a rock a little further away. I took off my mask and put on a cold expression.

-Throb.

“…Shit.”

An extreme pain shot through my left eye. I felt the foreign sensation of the holy iron inside my eyepatch and the intensified movement of the demonic energy.

It was only natural, since I had come to Pandemonium, the demons’ stronghold. Yeah. It was like releasing fish into the sea.

‘The erosion is getting worse.’

If I took off my eyepatch and created a mirror in the air, I could see black veins spreading around my eyes.

‘Should I go back?’

They’re the kind of people who can handle things well even without me. Shuriel could use magic through Aileen. In terms of brute force alone, Shuriel alone would be enough.

-Throb.

‘No.’

I don’t want to.

“I don’t want to.”

My heart beat rapidly. The faster my heart beat, the more air I took in. I felt the dirty air entering my lungs and gritted my teeth.

‘If I keep going like this, my personality will be twisted.’

Shimma (心魔). Demonic heart.

Demonic energy twists the mind. The reason Shuriel had a slightly crooked personality was also because of Shimma. Before the erosion progressed in the tower, he sometimes showed an innocent side.

Like him, I’ll change too. A personality twisted by Shimma can’t be changed even after purification. That’s what the black-haired priest Serti warned.

‘…Could I be any more twisted than I already am?’

I scoffed at myself once again. An already twisted personality. What would change even if I became more broken here?

My head was ringing alarm bells, but dangerous curiosity was boiling over. But since I still had some reason left, I didn’t act. I put on my mask and turned around.

‘We’re not far from the gorge.’

But the final battle with Barfeugos was also not far away. I can’t give up here.

‘Even if we part ways, it’ll be there.’

-Pshhh.

That’s when it happened. Just as I was about to put on my mask, an attack flew towards my hand. It was a sharp needle.

-Clatter.

The mask fell. Several gas canisters separated and bounced around. The mask was also damaged here and there, as if it had been hit by the attack.

‘Ah, damn it.’

I thought after being hit by the needle.

‘I should have dodged.’

Like when I caught Weeseo Gyeong and the Poisonous Spider, I didn’t bother trying to dodge attacks that were easy to recover from or deal with. It was good for inducing the enemy’s carelessness, and it felt good too.

But the crucial problem was…

-Trickle…

“Keuk, hoo…”

The strength in my eyes drained away. Soon after, a transparent liquid flowed between my legs. I shuddered and slumped down, soon falling forward and taking on a vulgar appearance, trembling with my ass sticking up.

“U-ah… haeu…?”

When I came to my senses, my face was touching the ground. The poisonous smell of dirt filled my nose and mouth, shaking my insides.

“Ugh, cough, huek…”

I moved my trembling hand, retching. Just as I was about to get up, I saw a shadow quickly looming over my head.

-Kwajik!

“Eugeuk!”

I was slammed back down by the impact on my head. Judging from the circumstances, it was a kick from the guy who shot the needle.

I considered blowing up the demon’s body, which had fearlessly touched my skin, but I lost the will to do so and simply tasted the floating sense of exhaustion with my head buried in the ground.

‘…I’m not a kid.’

Is this why habits are so scary? I caught my breath and recomposed myself. There was so much fluid that a small puddle had formed between my legs. There must be vaginal fluid mixed in there too.

It was a moment of defenselessness that made my body and eyes go limp.

I flushed red with extreme self-loathing. This wasn’t acting.

‘So…’

Who is it?

Who dared to attack me?

“-You bastard!”

When I rolled my eyes, I saw a shadow of a massive figure. And wings. If you put bat wings on an Orc, would it look like that? It was a disgusting-looking guy, even just from the shadow.

The demon spoke in a sadistic voice.

“A guy without horns dares to wander the Red Land! Do you want to die by my hand-!!”

The guy laughed, “Kuhahaha.” It was a laugh full of joy, like a child who had found an interesting toy.

It was good that the view was more open than in Purgatory, but that also applied to the demons. They could see us too.

Most of them were unfinished demons that hadn’t even been fully created, and more than half of them were committing mass suicide to go to the surface, so it was rare to see fully grown ones.

But rarely, there were demons with clear desires who would attack us.

“Are you so scared of me that you pissed yourself? Kuhahaha-!!”

Like this one.

“Tch…”

Ignoring the bullshit, I twisted my body. The demon, mistaking it for a struggle, cackled with glee, but I ignored that too. As my arm became a little freer, I raised my hand and stretched it out.

I immediately prepared the incantation. I adjusted my power so as not to consume all the divine power in my body. Even with a very small amount of power, I would be able to tear that bastard’s body apart. As soon as I made up my mind, purified Mana swirled around my palm, and soon a round sphere flew away.

-Paaang!!!

A shockwave that distorted the surrounding space as it was fired. The sphere I fired distorted everything in its path as it flew.

The sphere, which shot out diagonally, emitted such strong energy that it made the surrounding land cave in. The attack, which tore through the air, flew straight at the demon, blowing away his entire right shoulder.

“-?!”

A speed that was hard to react to with the eyes. The demon stared blankly at his missing shoulder and slumped down, spewing blood.

‘If I had shot a little to the left, it would have been an instant kill.’

I didn’t blow up his heart. The cause was that I was annoyed and attacked carelessly.

“-Keuheok!”

He collapsed. The gushing blood didn’t stop and ate away at his life. He muttered with an unbelievable face.

“B-but. Horns- cough, hueuk, y-you. Horns…”

His throat was full of blood, making it hard for him to speak, and he kept spitting out blood.

I frowned and squatted down next to him. The hot air passed quickly between my legs because I had torn off my wet panties. I shuddered at the creepy sensation and said.

“Horns? What horns?”

He kept muttering horns… horns… so I asked out of curiosity. The demon looked at me with fearful eyes and said.

“…Y-you. A demon, cough, heu. A-are you not?”

…….

…Damn it.

“Demon?”

I took off my eyepatch.

“Are you talking about this?”

Black energy flowed out from between the holy iron embedded in my eye. It wriggled as if it were about to escape at any moment. Since the holy iron was gradually sticking out, I had to occasionally push it back in. Every time I did, a waterfall would flow between my legs, but there was no way around it…

“-!!”

The demon was startled when he saw my eye. Fear, and emotions beyond that.

He seemed to know what this was.

“Th-that. That’s-“

“It’s just a thought.”

“-A thought?”

The demon couldn’t continue speaking and just gasped for air.

“B-but-“

At that moment.

-Pung.

A small explosion. I blinked at the sound, which was as cheerful as a firecracker going off. And then red paint splattered. Pink jelly. Hard horn fragments. I didn’t even blink as I watched the ‘explosion’ in front of me.

“…Shit.”

The demon’s head exploded.