600 years ago, a large star fell from the night sky of Gaia.

Unlike any other star, it was remarkably clear and followed a strangely shifting path. Ancient people, always in search of something to marvel at, gathered to watch this event.

Before long, they realized something. What they had thought was a star was actually something entirely different, though it resembled one. It was a bizarre object, like a five-pointed star, but seemingly made out of fabric.

Once the ancient people realized this, they were filled with terror and tried to flee. But by then, it was too late. The fabric-made pentagram fell amidst the crowd, taking the lives of hundreds.

The star-like object continued to move around, slaughtering people wherever it went. Though it was eventually destroyed by the heroes of that time, it was recorded in the blood-soaked histories that followed.

“Rank 69, Dekarabia, the Pentagram.”

Though it was made of fabric and seemed alive, its monstrous appearance and cruelty were beyond anything that could be called a living creature. Thus, the ancient people deemed it a demon.

This was the first recorded appearance of a demon.

From then on, people with demon blood began to be born into the world, and humanity became aware of the dangers demons posed.

400 years ago, another demon descended upon the world. This time, it was a demon with golden feathers and the wings of a bird.

The moment it descended, it began slaughtering innocent people. But alongside the massacres, it showed strange abilities: turning metals into gold, changing water into wine, and other absurd displays.

Some ignorant ancient people even began to worship the demon for its miraculous powers.

However, its downfall came unexpectedly. One single hero, engaged in a life-or-death duel, managed to sever its head. Despite the fact that the hero’s sword was turned to gold, it did not lose its sharpness, and the hero’s strength was enough to compensate for the sword’s fragility.

And so, the second demon’s life ended, more anticlimactically than expected.

Thanks to this, the ancient people thought to themselves, “Are demons really so fearsome after all?”

“Rank 48, Alchemist Hagenti.”

But that overconfidence was shattered a few centuries later.

150 years ago, another demon descended upon the world. At first, people were anxious but not overly worried. After all, humanity had twice before managed to defeat demons, with only a few powerful individuals and not entire armies.

They figured that, this time as well, the demon would be stopped before long, perhaps after causing some damage, but nothing too catastrophic...

That hope was crushed almost immediately. In just a few days, one of the world’s strongest nations was on the verge of collapse.

Many powerful warriors challenged the demon, but none could stop it. Their superhuman bodies were sliced apart by its massive sword, and over ten thousand people were burned alive by the black flames it wielded.

In the end, it took three armies and over a dozen superhuman warriors to finally put an end to the demon.

From that moment on, humanity became fully aware of the terrifying power of demons once more. The trauma from that event was so immense that from then on, any person suspected of having demon blood was executed on sight.

“Rank 68, Belial of the Black Flame.”

And most recently, the 72nd demon, Andromalius, has appeared.

Up to this point, this is the count of demons that have emerged in history.

"Haah..."

Rayley, the Commander of the 4th Knights Division, let out a small sigh as he read through the historical records. His head had been pounding frequently lately.

It had already been nine months since problems started cropping up due to the presence of otherworlders, and now demons were descending once more, along with a strange cult that worshiped them. This had given officials across the Empire quite the headache.

No matter how many problems they solved, new ones always seemed to arise.

‘What on earth is happening to the world...?’

He momentarily lamented his situation. But for now, there was something he had to figure out.

Why did those cultists steal Andromalius’ arm?

From what the records said, each demon had a unique ability. Surely, Andromalius had one as well, and it was likely that the stolen arm still contained traces of that power.

“Haah...”

The sigh from the person tasked with investigating this matter only grew deeper.

In the dark of the night, somewhere on a plain, three adventurers were dying.

They were the A-rank adventurers who had been commissioned by Im Ha-neul.

“Oh, this is weird. Are you sure you guys were the ones who captured her? Didn’t Rian report in at the last minute? Did you erase that memory too?”

It was just a handful of people who had driven them to the brink of death.

They belonged to Lemegeton, the very cult that had recently caused such a stir. Their power was astonishing; despite it being a surprise attack, they had effortlessly subdued the A-rank adventurers.

One of the cultists, standing over the dying adventurers, spoke up.

“Forget it. Looks like they had someone else report in on their behalf. These guys don’t know anything.”

“What? They went that far? How scared was that bastard?”

“Cautious, more like. Idiot. Anyway, it means we’ve lost our lead on why Rian reported in.”

“Wait, at least we need to know who commissioned them. Hey, what did the client look like?”

The woman, still holding a dagger, interrogated the adventurers. But before they could answer, their lives were snuffed out.

“Damn, I told you not to hurt them too much.”

“Who knew they’d just up and die like that, Deputy Chief?”

“Forget it. Let’s move. We’ve got somewhere to be.”

And so, the cultists rose and began walking away. The woman, referred to as the Deputy Chief, carried Andromalius’ left arm in her hands. A snake coiled around the arm twisted its head, guiding them to their destination.

The power of the arm they had acquired was both simple and powerful: it could find whatever the user desired, although there were limitations on how many times it could be used.

After walking for some time, they arrived at a remote mountain range. The snake pointed the way, and the Deputy Chief turned to her followers.

“Dig here.”

At her command, the cultists began digging into the ground.

Thud.

After a while, their shovels hit something solid. As they cleared away the surrounding dirt, an altar, carved with strange symbols, appeared.

Seeing this, the Deputy Chief smirked slightly.

“We’ve finally found it.”

It was an altar that sealed away a demon.

As mentioned earlier, demons were sealed in places all around the world, and finding these altars was no easy task. Most of them were hidden deep within the earth.

But thanks to the item’s power, they had found one after hundreds of years.

The Deputy Chief studied the altar. The engraved insignia resembled soft, feathery wings—likely the seal of Seere.

She gently touched the symbol in the center, thinking to herself.

‘I’ll be releasing you soon.’

The world was in turmoil. From a broader perspective, the world resembled a ticking time bomb, ready to explode at any moment, with conflicts erupting everywhere.

But from a more narrow perspective...

For someone who lived entirely within the forest, like Yor, none of this chaos mattered in the slightest.

It had been a few weeks since I reported the capture of the strange assailant.

My life hadn’t changed at all. I still ate, slept, hunted, and battled my loneliness. Occasionally, I’d receive visitors to the forest and endure bouts of madness. My goals remained the same: survive and live peacefully. And if possible, make some friends along the way.

That was the routine I followed. But lately, I had grown curious about something.

It wasn’t that I had any ulterior motives. I was simply curious, the way you sometimes get random thoughts.

You know how sometimes, you wonder, “Why is the sun hot?” or “Why do seasons change?”

Random questions with no real importance, but things that pop into your head nonetheless. My curiosity was much like that.

“What’s wrong?”

As I bowed my head in thought, I heard a voice across from me. It was Chae-rin. I could see the floating red dot next to her, which meant she was streaming. It felt like it had been a while since I’d appeared on her stream.

And it really had been a while. Lately, she’d been focusing on leveling up.

“Nothing, I just suddenly got curious about something.”

“What is it?”

[What is it, what is it?] [Our handsome guy looks so good today, hehe] [Tell me everything, darling, this noona will explain it all] [Don’t call him darling, you slut]

Chae-rin showed interest in my question. As my main source of information, she often answered my queries. And today, what I was curious about happened to involve otherworlders.

I asked her without hesitation.

“When it comes to you otherworlders, how do you interact with people here?”

My seemingly random question caused the chat to freeze for a moment. After a brief pause, Chae-rin asked me again, sounding confused.

“W-wait, what? What do you mean...?”