Chapter 157: Demon Worshippers

“You still haven’t caught that vampire?”

An altar-like structure stood in the center of the massive magic circle drawn on the floor.

The man’s eyes flickered with a spark upon receiving the report from his subordinates.

“These useless bastards. Worthless creatures. Just because you can’t properly manage a single material, I have to deal with this mess?”

“I’m sorry!”

“He’ll be here soon. If anything goes wrong, we’ll all die, so find that vampire quickly at all costs!”

The man, who had driven away his subordinates, paced back and forth on the altar, biting his nails.

“Why would he come here in person? Why? Why?”

Since receiving power from him, there had never been a moment like this.

Finding the demon’s seeds, investigating and relaying information—always faithful as a servant, merely carrying out orders.

Had the great being ever shown an interest in insignificant beings like them?

Moreover, even if the sacrifices were of low quality, they were instructed to prepare as many as possible.

Putting everything aside, there was one thing that bothered him the most.

As a powerful contractor, the man was capable of receiving orders from the other through a mental connection with the other.

When he had previously received an order… the emotion he felt from him was nothing but urgency.

It was as if he was being chased by something frightening. Why?

No, no. He must not dare to doubt his master’s power.

The man solemnly clasped his hands together like a devout believer and bowed his head.

“Oh, mighty god, your faithful servant awaits your glorious command.”

***

We got off the carriage and walked from the middle because there was no path.

I asked the boy, Heppy, what I had wondered about earlier.

“How did you end up living with humans? Aren’t there any other members of your kind?”

The boy, who had an uneasy expression, responded:

“Well, there used to be, but then other tribes invaded… and I ran away and wandered around until I ended up here.”

Was it a war between tribes? It wasn’t an unfamiliar story.

The vampire sisters I had helped before also had similar circumstances.

“The villagers seemed very friendly.”

What were the chances of a vampire who’d wandered into Santea’s territory finding a village that didn’t hate them and surviving?

Usually, their fate would be either death or being sold as a slave.

“…It’s not like that.”

“Huh?”

“They make you work your ass off from morning till nightfall. They swear at you, kick you, and starve you if you don’t do a good job. They took me in just so they could treat me like a slave.”

Everyone looked surprised at the unexpected story.

Kaen scratched her head with a perplexed look.

“What? They were such bad people?”

Naturally, I couldn’t help but feel puzzled.

“But still, you didn’t run away alone and seem to want to save the people in the village…”

Was it because he had nowhere else to go if the villagers die?

Heppy spoke with a teary voice.

“To be honest, there’s someone I really want to save more than anyone else…”

“Someone you want to save?”

“Her name is Enma. She’s my only friend in the village. She has always been kind to me.”

Ah, so that’s what it was.

I roughly understood the situation.

Lea, who was listening to Heppy’s story, glanced at Kaen, who spoke.

“He’s amazing, risking his life in such danger to save others. Don’t you think so?”

Lea shrugged her shoulders.

“To be honest, I already felt very drained, but what can we do? We have to do it.”

“Then he’s met an incredible hero.”

While observing the two, I asked what I had been curious about.

“And you managed to escape from such dangerous people all by yourself?”

“Yes…”

“Can you tell me more about what happened?”

Happy hesitated for a moment and raised his arm.

And in the next moment, everyone was surprised.

Happy’s hand transformed as if melting into red blood and floated in the air.

Blood art?

The blood art of transforming one’s body parts into blood, a blood art that I had been seen before.

Wasn’t it the ability used by the chieftain of the Elrod Forest Vampire Tribe?

“Wow, what’s that? How did you do that?”

Kaen exclaimed, startled. Heppy, who returned his arm to its original state, explained.

“This is my ability. Vampires can use various abilities with their own blood.”

“Huh…”

I asked indirectly.

“It’s called blood manipulation, right? But I thought young vampires couldn’t use blood manipulation.”

“You know a lot, Ran.”

“I’ve read it in the inter-species encyclopedia before.”

“Well… somehow, even though I was trapped in prison, I suddenly awakened my abilities and became able to use them. So I managed to escape through a loophole in the surveillance.”

Did he awaken his blood manipulation ability in a life-threatening situation?

Kaen took the boy’s bloodied hand and looked it over, then smiled.

“Anyway, don’t worry too much! We will definitely rescue your friend.”

After walking for a while, Heppy spoke with a tense expression.

“We’re almost there. If we go a little further in this direction, we’ll reach the cave.”

“Alright. Let’s stop here for now.”

Yuz stopped everyone and spoke.

“Miss, and her friends. Please follow my lead from now on.”

“Yes, we will.”

“Good. First of all, if the boy is right, the passage structure to where the people are being held is not complicated.”

According to Heppy’s explanation, the demon contractors’ base is an underground cavern inside a cave.

A straight passage inside led to two paths, the left of which was where the people were being held.

“We don’t know the exact number of enemies or whether there are any trap devices. If possible, I would like to go into the cave alone and leave you and your friends outside, but…”

“I don’t want that, Yuz.”

“Yes, we can’t afford to scatter. There may be enemies wandering nearby from the outside. I will take the lead. The knights will cover the rear, and you, miss, and your friends will move in the middle.”

Yuz looked at Lea.

“If a really dangerous situation occurs, please use it to protect yourself.”

“Got it.”

Lea touched the cool bracelet on her wrist.

It was a bracelet she almost always wore.

I’d assumed it hid some sort of enormous power, but apparently it wasn’t just an ordinary tool.

After a short tactical meeting, we reached the enemy’s stronghold.

Yuz, who had been walking ahead, glanced back and spoke to the knights.

“I found a cave. There are two guards at the entrance. I’ll take them out first with a surprise attack.”

Yuz went ahead, and we followed behind, moving slowly.

Shortly afterward, faint footsteps echoed in my ears, one after another.

Finally, through the thickets, the cave came into view for everyone, along with Yuz standing in front and the bodies of the enemies.

“There’s a passage leading underground inside the cave. From now on, make sure you thoroughly guard the rear.”

The knights nodded in response to Yuz’s command.

Even the kids, including Kaen, became tense.

As we entered the cave according to the previously planned formation, just as Yuz had said, another entrance appeared inside.

“Let’s double-check one more time. We were supposed to take the left fork after passing through this iron gate, right?”

“Yes, yes, that’s right.”

Heppy nodded vigorously.

The iron gate led to a downward slope. Yuz unleashed a powerful sword strike toward the gate.

Crash!

The iron gate shattered into pieces, and Yuz rushed ahead, with us following closely behind.

There were lights at regular intervals on the ceiling of the passage, so darkness wasn’t an issue.

“…It’s an ambush!”

As we ran along the straight passage, enemies soon poured out from the inside.

Yuz drew on his mana again and poured sword energy forward. The enemies in his way were torn apart.

Yuz’s attack was even more fierce than the previous battle because the situation was different.

Unlike before, where we were surrounded by enemies, this time we had them all in front of us and we were all positioned at the back.

As such, he didn’t seem to have to worry about us getting caught in the crossfire.

Thanks to that, we ran safely, without any collisions, only looking at Yuz’s back.

He has delicate control.

While attacking relentlessly, Yuz made sure not to cause any impact on the outer walls of the passage. It would be a disaster if the walls collapsed.

The enemies that emerged were all low-level minions, around level 40 to 50.

Unlike the two from before who directly used the power of demons, there was no one like that, so our advance was smooth without any significant obstacles.

I spread my super sensory to find any potential traps or the enemies’ positions. I encountered none.

By the way, it’s quite impressive that they built an underground cave in the middle of the forest as their base.

“Over there!”

As we swept through the enemies and moved forward, it didn’t take long for the intersection Heppy mentioned to appear.

The stench of decaying corpses that had been bothering my nose made me look toward the path to the right.

For now, rescuing the people on the left path was the priority. We headed towards the left path.

“…There they are! People!”

Kaen shouted. Just as she said, we saw the people trapped in the prison.

Men, women, children, and even the elderly. There were approximately thirty people.

As we approached the prison, the faces of the people were filled with fear.

“H-hi, hiik!”

“Stay calm. We came to rescue you.”

Boom!

Yuz lightly sliced through the bars of the prison and let the people out.

Heppy, who was turning his head here and there as if looking for someone, shouted in frustration.

“Enma!”

One girl among the imprisoned people widened her eyes upon seeing Heppy.

“…Heppy! What’s going on?”

“Well, long story short, I came to rescue you! These guys took down all the people who captured us!”

Watching the two embracing each other, I finally eased my suspicions.

To be honest, I didn’t fully trust Heppy, so I had been observing him. But it seemed like his story was completely true.

“Is there anyone who can’t move? Then hurry up and get moving. We’re going to escape from here.”

“Yes, yes! Understood, sir!”

The people followed Yuz’s words with expressions that showed they had finally been saved.

At that moment, Enma, the girl, hastily spoke while taking care of others.

“Uh, excuse me. But besides us, there are others who were taken to a different location.”

One of the people suddenly exclaimed.

“Enma, all those people are dead!”

“How do you know? They could still be alive…”

“Isn’t it obvious? What’s more important is the lives of the people alive here! Don’t get in the way of our progress!”

“That’s right! Stop talking nonsense!”

“Uncle Debbie’s brother was also dragged away. Aren’t you worried about him?!”

Lea gave the bickering people a pitying glance.

Speaking of the people who were taken, were they in the passage on the right?

I thought and then turned my gaze toward the entrance.

“I understand, so first…!”

Soon, Yuz turned his gaze towards the entrance with a stern expression.

I heard footsteps. It was the sound of one person’s footsteps. As the sound approached, the voices of people diminished.

“Ah…”

【Level 75】

What appeared before my eyes was an old man dressed like a priest.

The man raised his trembling hands to his face.

“Ah, ahh! How dare these insignificant worms…!”

His face contorted viciously, and a wicked and sticky mana enveloped the space.