## Chapter 487 – Killing Demons
ㅡThwack!
ㅡThwack!
ㅡThwack!
ㅡThwack!
ㅡThwack!
ㅡThwack!
“Krrrrrrrk!!!”
After stabbing it nearly two hundred times, the demon completely melted away. No being, no matter what it was, could withstand such a tsunami of brutal violence.
As the demon vanished, the madness dissipated, leaving only a pool of black blood at the scene.
“Verde-nim, hooray!!!!”
“I dedicate this victory to the Scales of Heaven!!!”
“Waaaaaaaah!!!”
The religious people who had smiled and shaken hands before setting off were gone. They were now just true warriors consumed by violence.
Prayers and shouts of triumph echoed loudly.
“Wow! The Guardian of the Park, no! The Guardian of the Scales is born!”
I shouted joyfully as well.
The violence they displayed was pure hatred itself. People need to be able to hate that purely. An extreme murderous intent that doesn’t compromise with anything. That was what made them strong.
Pure violence was, therefore, so inhuman.
If there is a clear enemy, people become cruel.
“Hahaha! How is it! Do you like it! This is the new execution rule! If a demon is subdued, all the believers on the scene share the joy of its execution! Of course, only when there’s time to spare!”
Bacherel laughed cheerfully and patted my shoulder as I rejoiced.
He seemed to believe he had shown me something truly good, and in fact, it was good. No one would criticize executing those demon bastards as a whole family, strung together like sausages.
“Cool, huh? Firm belief adds sharpness to the blade. Katt, you saw that, right?”
Claudie also seemed quite satisfied.
“I saw it very well. They are people from whom I can learn a lot.”
“Hehe, I knew you’d learn from them, Katt.”
Claudie, who was in high spirits after watching the brutal lynching, wrapped her arm around my waist.
Meanwhile, the priests were diligently collecting all the demon’s blood into containers they had brought. Their backpacks were filled with many water bottles.
“Well, they’re trustworthy people. They seem like good people too.”
“Yeah. Who else would you trust if not religious people?”
Winia seemed to have put her worries aside now.
Anyone would sleep soundly knowing that people with such barbaric violence were on their side.
“Then let’s start again! A great start! Verde must be blessing us! Brothers, remember! The gods of heaven are always watching over us, Verde hooray!”
“Verde hooray!”
“Verde hooray!”
The unfortunate demon being utterly destroyed boosted the morale of the search party to the extreme. And so, we resumed our journey.
We spread out the map and looked around to find the way.
We walked for a long time, easily smashing any monsters that appeared along the way, and when it was time to rest, we sat around and talked about justice.
“That’s right! What was there was the remnant of bandits who worshiped the evil god Ejatz! No one could bear to see it! Immediately, I killed them all with the righteous adventurers and Elise, a nun from the Holy Light Cross Society! They screamed in agony until the moment they died!”
As the atmosphere ripened, I brought up the story of the bandit subjugation case I had taken on last time. The paladins and priests focused on my story and applauded.
“Oh my! You have done a truly righteous deed!”
“The Holy Light Cross Society… they are also capable comrades! Although there may be differences in the gods they worship and their doctrines, the ultimate goal of eliminating evil beings is the same!”
“Oh my! You were continuing the holy war even in places where others don’t see!”
ㅡWahahahaha!
As expected of religious people, they really liked this kind of murderous story. Laughter soon bloomed, and a sense of camaraderie sprouted. They also shared their own stories that I could relate to.
About judging heretics, directly executing death row inmates in the city, and chopping up groups of thieves they met on their journey.
Even the most righteous and devout human beings accumulate stress if they undergo inhuman training and harsh doctrinal practices.
These religious people release the stress that comes from such ascetic lives by smashing evil beings. You can tell by the way they laugh and talk about it with pleasure.
Perhaps even if they are evil beings, there may be religious people who are reluctant to kill humans.
Such people would be greatly stressed by killing.
However, in the end, the fundamental way to relieve that stress was also killing. Therefore, they relieve the stress they receive from killing with killing. It was a continuous cycle of cruelty, but in the age of barbarism, compassion and love were important values, but not the top priority.
Only true violence and righteous hatred can punish evil and benefit the world.
Those who run away because they don’t like it or don’t want to do it cannot become paladins. And they fix the direction of their lives while steeped in religion. Killing evil people was a way of life and a means of proving faith.
ㅡA world overflowing with evil people.
I will punish evil with the meaning of Hongik Ingan.
“Of course! There is no need to be lenient with bandits! They say they became bandits because life is hard, but they kill, rape, and sell other people as slaves! They must all be killed!”
“Hehehe! You are absolutely right!”
Somehow the story had strayed from demon hunting to human hunting. It was only natural since I was the one who brought up that story in the first place.
I roughly finished the story and finished the meal before starting again.
We still have a long way to go.
We have to walk diligently to arrive by the afternoon tomorrow.
“Blackie. I always think, you could be a paladin. What, are you already close? I’d believe you if you said you were the same religion.”
Winia said with an absurd expression.
Certainly, it was easy to become close because there were many stories and ideologies to share. Surprisingly, I seem to have a personality that makes it easy to become close to religious people.
“Me, a paladin?”
But I’m already half a paladin. What I carry on my shoulders. That was Fusion Confucianism.
“Katt as a paladin, that would be cool too. Katt in paladin armor would be nice, wouldn’t it?”
“Hehehe, if this goes well, they might give you an armor set. But if you become a paladin, you have to live at the church.”
“Oh my, that won’t do.”
As we continued marching, the sun began to set.
Looking at the location, it seemed we would arrive at our destination on time. The movement itself was smooth.
“I will set up the watch!”
I went there to decide the order, but the paladins were considerate, saying that we were guests and guides, so we should rest well without worrying. They are good people after all. If they are considerate, I will gratefully accept it.
I immediately prepared a campsite using branches and cloaks, and then the three of us went inside and slept.
* * *
“We will arrive soon. We must be extremely careful from now on.”
The march was coming to an end. If we moved a little more, we would arrive at the place Hildegard had marked. Looking at the terrain, it was certain.
ㅡEerie Death Valley.
I felt a strange, ominous energy from somewhere.
Damn, it’s too eerie.
I suddenly thought that Hildegard, who had been chasing me, might suddenly pop out, but that was nonsense.
That guy is a cautious succubus.
Anyway, whether this is her trap or not will soon be revealed. Honestly, if that guy is bluffing and we don’t find anything, it will be really troublesome. That’s why I tried to get close to him on purpose and told him all sorts of stories.
“Hmm… I definitely feel an ominous energy. We haven’t seen any monsters since dawn.”
Bacherel’s eyes were more cold-hearted than ever. I looked at the map with him and identified the direction.
“Somewhere in this area is certain. I didn’t get a good look around at the time because I was running away, but the atmosphere itself is similar.”
“I understand. We will soon find it if we search.”
But if strong demons appear from that gate, it will be very troublesome. But no matter how strong a demon appears, our group of twelve will be able to retreat without any damage.
No matter what anyone says, the people here are already professionals in battle who have experienced all kinds of hardships.
“Even if we find demons, we will retreat if we don’t think we can win. Keep that in mind. It is certainly right to fight with a burning sense of justice and sacrifice one’s life, but our purpose today is not a glorious death.”
“I understand. We must not spoil the work for the purpose of martyrdom. We must live longer to eliminate more evil people.”
“That’s right. I see… are you interested in becoming a paladin?”
“Hehehe, unfortunately, I have a national religion. Thank you for the offer.”
“That’s a shame. It would have been easier to proselytize if it wasn’t for Mirkesha.”
ㅡSwish, swish.
We stuck together without falling behind and guarded all sides. The extremely sharpened senses and the paladins’ intuition, which was sensitive to evil energy, turned our search party into something like a radar center.
They rolled their eyes as if they could sense the movements of flying birds and crawling insects. I felt an extremely strict order. Religious people poured out violence when they had to, but in other situations, they were extremely cold-hearted intellectuals.
Religious people usually receive a lot of education.
ㅡThud, thud.
It was a forest that had already entered autumn, but the plants here were still lush because of their strong vitality. The occasional maple leaves were beautiful, but I didn’t have time to pay attention to such things now.
After searching for nearly an hour, we took a break and then moved again.
“Show me the map for a moment.”
I took out the map and handed it to Bacherel. He looked at the map intently and determined the direction.
“Let’s go this way. Rather than moving randomly, we should go with the feeling of surveying the entire area.”
“You are absolutely right.”
I don’t need a guide anymore anyway. This was as good as the destination. I also slowly pulled out my sword and moved.
ㅡFlash!
At that time, a priest who was crawling at the front while climbing the hill raised his hand and lowered his body.
“…!”
Signal completed!
It seemed that he had found something beyond the hill. The search party immediately stuck to the hill, being careful not to make any noise. We guarded the search party climbing up from below.
There might be demons nearby.
Soon, Bacherel, who had climbed the entire hill, gestured urgently to us. He seemed to have found something after all. The search party that had climbed the hill was hiding behind trees.
Anyway, Claudie went up first, and I slowly pulled Winia up. And that’s when we all went up.
ㅡGoooo…
“Oh my, shit.”
I couldn’t help but gasp as I looked at the other side of the hill.
“…Lower your voices. It seems that this is the source of the ominous energy that the brother felt.”
What was there was a huge, black gate.
ㅡA gate floating in the air.
It was spinning like a black hole, and black energy was gushing out from it.
“Kkigigigigik!!!”
“Heeheehee!”
“Human world, human worlddddddddd!!!!”
ㅡKroooooooo!
ㅡKkeurerelelelelek!!!!
It wasn’t just the gate.
Imps, small demons, and high imps were constantly coming out of the gate. The demons that came out spread their arms towards the sun and roared, and then started going their own way towards a farther place.
ㅡThe information Hildegard gave was true.
Even everyone’s size is small. The information that the low-level demons who didn’t have the ability to open the gate themselves used it also seemed accurate.
I will definitely receive a reward.
“…That is the gate.”
“The gate of hell…”
Claudie and Winia also hid and stared at it intently.
“…Demons are coming over. Oh, Verde. How can such a thing happen in the real world.”
Bacherel rarely had a shocked face.
“Do you think annihilation is possible?”
“…”
He was silent for a moment at my question, and then barely opened his mouth.
“To be honest, I don’t know. Attacking and closing the gate would certainly be a good method. If we go back from here and organize a subjugation force again, more demons will come over, and perhaps the demon gate we just discovered may disappear.”
If it was the Holy Light Cross Society, they would have charged straight away, but he began to think deeply and make a judgment.
“But… I need a little time to think about this. This is the first time in my life as a paladin that I have seen such a clear demon gate. First, I will gather information through reconnaissance.”
“I understand. I will help too.”
“Thank you so much.”
We went down to the middle of the hill and gathered again.
“Verde… please give us your blessing…”
The search party prayed quietly.
