Chapter 68 : Chapter 68

Chapter 68: Choice (5)

Keldric bound the demon with Tello’s supply rope.

The demon’s arms were tightly secured behind its back.

It didn’t resist, merely blinking at us with a bored expression.

“We’ve tied it up for now… but is there any point?” Keldric asked.

“Who knows? It doesn’t seem like it’ll fight for now, so let’s leave it like this,” I replied.

If Eidon had been here, he could have restrained it securely with ice magic.

His absence was regrettable.

But the situation soon improved.

Support from Tello arrived.

A giant man, likely over two meters tall, approached with heavy steps, holding a spear even longer than himself.

The man smiled and spoke.

“The rookie agents have pulled off something big. Nice to meet you. I’m Melkri, Tello’s chief agent.”

“Hello! I’m Keldric.”

“I’m Polarin.”

We bowed slightly, greeting the chief agent.

His imposing presence was undeniable, and as a rare chief agent in Tello, he lived up to it.

Our mentors, Nofen and Eidon, held the rank of senior agents in Tello, a step below chief.

“I was monitoring the Empire’s movements, so I could come quickly. Where’s the demon?” Melkri asked.

I pointed to the demon we had just restrained.

“It’s here. We tried interrogating it, but it wouldn’t talk.”

“Don’t worry. I’m here now. Have you used the truth serum?”

“Not yet. We haven’t interrogated it enough to get permission for the serum.”

The truth serum was a drug that profoundly affected the target’s mind.

Tello’s manual permitted its use only when there was certainty the target was lying.

Melkri chuckled and patted my shoulder.

“Sometimes, in the field, there are things more important than rules. Watch and learn.”

He crouched in front of the demon, pulling out the truth serum from his bag and showing it to the demon while explaining.

I was curious about what would happen next, but I couldn’t afford to linger.

“Melkri-nim, as I reported earlier, I have another urgent mission. May I leave first?”

“Ah, right. You said there’s another battle happening. Go quickly.”

“May you walk the path you seek.”

“You too.”

Suddenly, the demon, which had been quietly restrained, spoke up.

“Let me come with you. If I follow you, I can meet the one who spread the prophecy, right?”

It had been nonchalant, even willingly taking the truth serum, so its sudden words caught everyone off guard.

Melkri, however, was the most enraged.

“You! Don’t you know your place? You’re a prisoner of the Adjak family. You’ll be taken to headquarters and forced to spill everything you know!”

But the demon didn’t even glance at Melkri, who was shouting with veins bulging in his neck.

Instead, it looked at me and whined, “Come on, let’s go together! I need to kill that guy. I’ll do it for you!”

“You—!”

It was chaotic.

I didn’t have time to argue here.

The Crow members Blaze had called had turned toward Crimson Basin upon hearing the situation here was resolved, but I needed to hurry too.

“Melkri-nim is right. You’ll need to explain everything, starting with why you left the Dome and the situation inside it. That interrogation will be handled by Melkri-nim, not me.”

Fortunately, we were near Manoa.

Since I had a connection with the baron ruling Manoa, we could likely borrow a place for the interrogation.

I handed Keldric my solver’s badge, telling him to use everything available.

Then the demon started snickering.

“Heh, heh, you think I got caught because I’m scared of you?”

I briefly recalled the earlier battle.

I had swung my sword, confident it could cut through anything, but it was effortlessly caught by the demon’s hand.

The Branch of the World Tree, gripped by the demon, didn’t budge.

It was a target too strong for my current level to cut.

With my weapon caught, the demon could have killed me if it wanted to.

“I don’t know what you’re plotting, but I have to go—”

“If you don’t take me, I’ll kill everyone here.”

The demon cut me off.

Unlike its earlier tantrum, it now spoke with a detached tone.

But Melkri couldn’t stay calm.

Taking it as an insult, he pressed the jagged tip of his spear against the demon’s throat.

“You think you can kill us all?”

Melkri’s aura surged menacingly, as if he’d kill the demon on the spot, interrogation be damned.

Then, a sudden sense of unease hit me.

Demonic energy surged rapidly from the demon…

“Melkri-nim!”

Shunk!

But before I could convey the cause of my unease, it happened.

A hand sprouted from the shoulder of the bound demon and sliced Melkri’s throat in one swift motion.

Blaze drew his sword, and Keldric clenched his fists, assuming combat stances.

Their reactions were quick, but they couldn’t hide the shock on their faces.

“If you don’t take me, I’ll kill them all.”

The atmosphere grew heavy in an instant.

I signaled to Keldric and Blaze that it was okay, then spoke to the demon.

“Why do you want to come with me? To kill that demon, like you said?”

“Yeah, I’ll take care of that scrap.”

“Let’s go.”

Keldric and Blaze were stunned by my decision, but I gestured for the demon to follow me before they could protest.

“Polarin, really…”

“I’ll be back.”

Cutting off Keldric’s worried words, I stepped forward.

“We’ll handle things here, so go quickly,” Blaze said, glancing warily at the demon with a stern expression.

I knelt before Melkri’s headless body to pay my respects.

Then I pried the red spear from his tightly clenched hand.

“Keldric-nim, I’m borrowing this spear. If Tello asks about it, please report it.”

“Got it.”

It was time to part ways.

I spread the [Wings of Ainsitel].

The demon looked at my wings with curiosity, but I ignored it and kicked off the ground.

* * *

“Polarin, you’re Adjak’s successor, right? You’re really fascinating!”

As if it had mood swings, the demon’s attitude changed in real-time.

Now in a manic state, it bombarded me with questions.

But I couldn’t respond casually.

Knowing it could kill me at any moment made it hard to speak.

I considered outrunning it mid-flight, but that seemed impossible.

The demon used giant hands formed behind its back like wings, and its flight speed appeared far faster than mine.

“What should I call you?”

“Nagelmayer. That’s my name.”

“Nagelmayer, do you plan to kill me once we arrive?”

“Why bother? If I wanted to kill you, I had plenty of chances!”

“My comrades are there. You won’t harm them either, right?”

“Hmm… as long as they don’t act like that guy earlier?”

I wondered how Tello would react to the chief agent’s death.

My mind was a mess.

I was heading to save my comrades with a demon capable of killing a chief agent in one strike.

Though I had no other choice, this was still my decision.

“Don’t worry too much! I’m just going to deal with the scrap.”

“Why do you keep calling that demon scrap?”

“All the ones prancing around outside the Dome are scrap. They fled during the war 300 years ago and now act tough. I can’t stand it.”

Nagelmayer openly expressed its emotions.

Was this how the demons born under the new Demon King viewed those from the previous one?

At least Nagelmayer seemed to think so.

I didn’t have a good response, so I stayed silent, but Nagelmayer kept talking.

“Soon, the Dome will break, and a new era will begin. Before that, I came out to deal with the scraps.”

“Why? Just because you don’t like them?”

“They’re obstacles to the new era. That’s all I’ll say.”

Nagelmayer’s voice lowered.

After a brief silence, it suddenly became animated again.

“And I was curious about you! The heir of Adjak!”

Though it said it wouldn’t kill me, anxiety crept up.

If Nagelmayer’s mood swung again, it might decide to kill me.

“I was born after the great war, so I don’t know Adjak. The old ones all feared Adjak, but I can’t stand that!”

True to its words, it showed no fear of me.

It kept staring at me during the flight, seemingly fascinated.

“You gotta step up! Gather all the different races and storm the holy land. Grow as strong as you can until then!”

I never expected to be encouraged by a demon.

But the short conversation gave me plenty of hints about its intentions.

It only acknowledged the demons currently in the Dome as true demons.

It called those who fled “scrap” and came out to kill them.

Why did it encourage forming an expedition?

I’d need to probe further to find out.

“What’s happening inside the Dome?”

I had many questions.

This was my first time meeting a demon from the Dome.

Information about it had been completely cut off.

With Nagelmayer speaking so openly, this was a prime opportunity to gather intel.

It answered nonchalantly.

“When the Dome breaks, we’ll conquer the world. Coming out here made it clear. This world is wrong.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“It’s a polluted world. It’s hard to even breathe! We need to make it a land for demons.”

Nagelmayer didn’t hide its ambitions.

The demons’ goal was to turn the entire world into Myeolji, and I had to stop that.

If a world where demons could breathe easily came to pass, humans wouldn’t be able to.

I knew from the game that demons were weaker outside Myeolji.

The problem was that, even so, the power gap between me and them was clear.

It was frustrating to realize how lacking I was.

“So you plan to turn the whole world into Myeolji.”

“That’s right. We have a mission to save the world. We’ll make it pure.”

“Is this continent polluted?”

“Totally. It reeks. I’ll create a purified world.”

To demons, a Myeolji filled with demonic energy was pure, while the rest of the continent was polluted.

Through this conversation, I confirmed the demons’ perspective.

“If an expedition is formed, the demons will suffer heavy losses too.”

“No, we won’t lose. So bring everyone for a proper fight. We want to crush the strongest all at once and purify the world easily.”

I now understood why Nagelmayer didn’t kill me or hinder the expedition but instead encouraged it.

The demons wanted the continent’s forces to unite in an expedition.

They aimed to crush them all at once, making it easier to turn the world into a demonic realm.

“We’re almost there. Please don’t harm my comrades.”

“Depends on how they act!”

Crimson Basin was shrouded in thick sand fog.

The sounds of explosions suggested Arandir was still facing off against the demon.

“There’s the scrap,” Nagelmayer said with a grin, diving into the sand dust.

BOOM!

A deafening explosion rang out in the air.

Demonic energy clashed head-on with demonic energy, spreading an ominous aura.

As promised, Nagelmayer attacked the other demon.

But what would happen after Nagelmayer dealt with it?

Or if Nagelmayer lost?

I couldn’t predict what would follow.

I plunged through the thick sand, descending rapidly.

Though my vision was obscured, I could sense Arandir and Derix below.

Thud!

I landed on the ground without slowing down.

Derix, covered in blood, and Arandir, in equally bad shape, stared at me with wide eyes.

“I’m sorry for being late. Really… I’m sorry.”

“*Huff… huff…* You’re here.”

- It’s fine. You’ve done well.

Neither Derix nor Arandir showed any resentment.

But I couldn’t feel at ease.

- What’s happening? There’s another demon.

“It’s a temporary ally for now. That demon is targeting the one fighting you.”

Arandir seemed taken aback.

But Derix was in critical condition.

His body was covered in wounds as if shredded by blades, and without immediate treatment, he might not survive.

“That demon said it won’t kill you or Derix-nim as long as you don’t provoke it.”

- Can we trust a demon?

“No. But I have a plan. For now, let’s get out of here.”

Arandir nodded and hoisted the collapsed Derix onto its body.

“Let’s go now.”

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