Chapter 31: The Heavenly Continent is About to Change
The Demon was clever. When Qin Chu attacked him, he didn’t immediately retaliate.
Assaulting a noble was a serious crime. If he fought back, the knights surrounding Qin Chu could kill him on the spot, scatter his ashes, and leave him with no opportunity to defend himself.
In this world, the power of the nobles was absolute.
However, he knew the current tension between the commoners and the nobles. Though the royal family and the aristocracy had made concessions to appease the masses, the conflict between the two classes remained unresolved.
He wanted to exploit this tension, to incite the other commoners, hoping to make Qin Chu hesitate, to force him to release him.
But he hadn’t anticipated that Qin Chu wasn’t a noble and wouldn’t act like one.
Listening to the vendor’s wails, Qin Chu chuckled, unfazed. His voice, though calm and polite, held a chilling undercurrent, his demeanor more befitting a noble engaging in a sophisticated conversation than someone devouring a Demon.
“Sir, you are mistaken.”
“I am not a noble. I am… the newly summoned Hero.”
Qin Chu revealed his identity.
The vendor’s face contorted in horror.
Though only a single night had passed, news of the banquet had spread like wildfire. He knew that the newly summoned Hero possessed a mysterious and powerful Ability, one that could see through a Demon’s disguise.
This Hero had known his true nature all along.
Realizing this, desperation fueled his actions. He grabbed a watermelon knife from his stall, lunging at Qin Chu, aiming for his stomach.
Clang!
Before the blade could touch Qin Chu’s skin, it was deflected.
Lena Martithes’s greatsword swept across, cleaving the vendor in two with a sickening thud.
Thick, white fluid splattered, a pungent stench filling the air.
Severed in two, the vendor’s true form was revealed: a milky white, repulsive worm, a Phantom Demon.
It was a Demon, just as the Hero had said.
The surrounding guards gazed at Qin Chu with newfound awe.
The commoners, initially enraged by the seemingly unprovoked attack, watched in horror as the two halves of the vendor’s body writhed on the ground, their faces paling as they realized what they had witnessed.
The empire’s new laws prohibited nobles from harming commoners, but this… this was different.
Qin Chu clicked his tongue in annoyance.
Damn it! He hadn’t managed to fully absorb the Demon’s power before Lena Martithes had intervened. He had lost at least a third of its potential.
After a moment of stunned silence, Qin Chu turned to the surrounding commoners, bowing slightly. “My friends,” he said, his voice calm and reassuring. “I am the newly summoned Hero of the Heavenly Continent. Please, do not be alarmed. I am merely eliminating the Demons hiding within the city.”
The Hero, protecting the commoners, venturing into the slums to eliminate Demons?
Wasn’t the Hero supposed to serve only the royal family, the Church, and the nobles? When had he become a protector of the common people?
The commoners exchanged confused glances, their faces reflecting their disbelief.
Qin Chu didn’t elaborate, quickly turning away, his gaze scanning the crowd, searching for his next target.
Lena Martithes hurried after him. “Hero-sama…” she said, her voice laced with concern.
The situation had been incredibly dangerous.
If she hadn’t intervened, the Hero would have been disemboweled.
“When you locate a new target,” she pleaded, “please, tell me first. Don’t approach them directly. It’s too dangerous…”
“I apologize, but I can’t do that. I can only confirm their identity if I touch them personally. I wouldn’t want to accidentally kill an innocent commoner… Of course, if you could restrain my chosen target, then I could examine them safely.”
Lena Martithes’s eyes brightened. That was a good idea! The Hero was truly clever.
…
Meanwhile, Candice had already left the capital.
She moved swiftly through a desolate forest, following the route Horus had given her, her destination the location of Benson, the Hero Squad’s Immovable Shield. She had to personally deliver this information to the Seventh Prince.
She loathed the Demons, their ugliness both physical and spiritual. But Horus’s command was absolute. She had no choice but to obey.
She didn’t know what Horus was planning, but she understood that she, the Seventh Prince, and even the Hero were merely pawns in his game.
A pawn had to prove its worth.
The Heavenly Continent was about to change.
Traveling day and night, she finally arrived at the foot of a towering mountain.
The forest surrounding the mountain was eerily silent, the air thick with a grayish-black mist, a palpable aura of dread and oppression.
There were no sounds of insects or birds, no rustling of leaves in the wind.
It was a dead zone, its oppressive atmosphere unsettling even to Candice, with her half-Demon blood.
A thick, grayish-white fog shrouded the mountain’s base, its presence both eerie and ominous.
Candice took a deep breath, suppressing her unease. She knelt before the mountain, her voice clear and strong. “Candice, intelligence operative number thirty-four, reporting from the Auville Empire’s capital. Requesting an audience with His Highness, the Seventh Prince, on a matter of utmost importance.”
Silence.
She knew that, due to her tainted blood, the Demons wouldn’t grant her an audience easily. They were likely watching her now, hidden within the fog, their laughter echoing in her mind.
“This information is crucial,” she added, her voice firm. “Any delay could have dire consequences.”
After a long moment, a pale gray figure materialized within the fog, its form vaguely humanoid, its movements distorted and unsettling.
“Candice, what important information could you possibly possess?”
“Tell me, and I will relay it to His Highness.”
The voice was shrill and grating, its tone laced with disdain. The figure within the fog shifted and writhed, its body a shapeless mass of flesh, constantly pulsating and contorting.
“I apologize, but this information is too sensitive. I must speak to His Highness personally.”
Candice’s refusal enraged the Demon. The fog surrounding them churned violently, coalescing into a massive skull, its empty sockets glowing with a sinister light.
It was both eerie and terrifying.
The skull lunged towards Candice, its gaping maw threatening to swallow her whole.
“Filthy half-breed! You dare speak to me with such disrespect? You are unworthy to address His Highness!”
Candice’s eyes flashed with anger. She almost lost control, but she restrained herself, her fingers clenching into fists, her resentment towards the Demons intensifying.
She was doing them a favor, and they couldn’t even bother with basic courtesy.
The skull loomed before her, its jaws about to snap shut, engulfing her in darkness.
Candice remained motionless.
“Stop.”
Just as the skull was about to devour her, a deep voice, like the rumble of thunder, echoed from within the mountain.
The skull halted abruptly, then retreated, shrinking and dissolving as if it had never existed.
“Let her pass.”
The fog parted, revealing a narrow path leading into the mountain.
The mountain itself was a hollow shell, its interior carved out by the Demons, transformed into a temporary base for the Seventh Prince.
Within the fog, she could sense the presence of countless Demons, their forms shifting and writhing, their eyes, some black, some crimson, piercing through the mist, fixed on her.
Even Candice, with her strong will and half-Demon blood, felt a shiver run down her spine. There was no hint of kindness in those gazes.
Whispers, groans, screams, and roars echoed from within the mountain, a cacophony of unsettling sounds.
Ordinary humans couldn’t survive in a Demon-infested area. The assault on their senses, the visual and auditory horrors, would shatter their minds.
Candice took a deep breath, her gaze hardening. She walked towards the opening, entering the mountain.
The oppressive atmosphere intensified as she descended deeper into the mountain’s depths.
Finally, she reached her destination.
The mountain’s core had been transformed into a miniature palace. At its center stood a throne constructed from bones, its armrests adorned with two gleaming skulls.
A massive figure sat upon the throne.
Candice felt a wave of pressure, an overwhelming aura of power emanating from the being before her.
It was at least ten meters tall, its dark red skin as tough as steel, its veins pulsing beneath its surface.
Thick, metallic scales covered its limbs, its form vaguely humanoid, its fingers and toes tipped with razor-sharp claws.
Two curved horns, resembling those of a goat, protruded from its massive head.
It rested its chin on one hand, its crimson eyes, larger than dinner plates, fixed on Candice.
She swallowed nervously.
The Seventh Prince, Lomond, the Eternal Monarch Nagath’s seventh son.
She served Lomond. This wasn’t her first time meeting him, but each encounter filled her with a sense of dread, an overwhelming awareness of his power.
It was as if she stood before a natural disaster, a volcano erupting, a tsunami crashing down.
She trembled, her body instinctively wanting to prostrate itself before him.
A strange thought crossed her mind: who was stronger, Lomond or Horus?
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