279th Chapter
“Hmm…”
It’s useless.
Upon hearing those words, Ropheiren glanced once more beyond the transparent barrier.
Beyond the barrier floated an object supplying some bizarre energy to a still-living test subject.
The object, shaped like a broken dagger, was easily identified by Ropheiren as a weapon worthy of being called a demon relic.
That artifact had been sustaining the experimental subject, who should have long since been a corpse.
At first glance, the demon relic seemed to display quite revolutionary performance.
However, there were good reasons why even relatively sane mages avoided handling demonic power.
Even dark wizards who utilized demonic blessings often hesitated to incorporate that power into their bodies.
Of course, separately from all that…
Ray would never tolerate any form of using demonic power under any circumstances.
Ropheiren was certain that Ray would pathologically oppose such behavior.
And Luna was aware of this fact as well.
To begin with, Luna had no intention of directly utilizing demonic power herself.
She merely sought to understand the strange restorative abilities granted by demons to their worshippers—specifically, the mechanisms behind them.
If she could replicate that mechanism, it might fully restore Ray.
But the research results indicated that the demonic power was useless.
On the battlefield, Luna had witnessed demon worshippers rapidly regenerating lost body parts numerous times.
However, upon further investigation, the essence of this phenomenon revealed that the regeneration of demon worshippers’ bodies was less about “restoration” and more akin to “replacement” or “erosion.”
It wasn’t restoring something to its original state; rather, it was filling empty spaces with “something else.”
Thus, calling it restoration would be incorrect—it should be termed erosion.
The reason divine power emitted by high-level clerics didn’t produce dramatic effects comparable to demonic blessings wasn’t due to inferiority.
Had the divine power possessed a mechanism that eroded and contaminated the essence of its target like demonic blessings, it could have achieved much faster physical restoration.
Therefore, the authority of demons held no use for Luna.
What Luna wanted to protect was Ray, not just the shell wearing Ray’s form.
“…I will discard this experiment.”
“That is a wise decision.”
Luna’s explanation brought relief to Ropheiren.
Had Luna insisted on continuing her exploration of demonic powers, Ropheiren’s position would have become quite awkward—he’d have had to walk a tightrope between Luna and Ray.
Whoosh!!
When Luna rose from her seat and turned away from the lab, flames erupted from beyond the wall.
Ropheiren smiled brightly as he watched the remnants in the laboratory, now turning to ash.
“Burning it is certainly clean! If you burn and melt it at high temperatures, who would know what it originally was? Hmm, very tidy indeed.”
“…”
Luna found Ropheiren’s words irritating.
Long ago, her parents, who had already passed away, were also reduced to black ashes caught up in the flames she had ignited.
She had never intentionally recalled that scene.
Nevertheless, the image of the ash swirling away that day remained vividly etched in Luna’s memory.
She did not dwell on whether that memory still influenced her actions.
“…”
What mattered now was Ray’s condition.
The procedure needed for Ray’s heart had been sufficiently tested.
Though Ray’s core exhibited unique characteristics requiring further adjustments, there was no longer any need to conduct experiments on living subjects.
However, even if Ray’s heart was strengthened, the blood vessels were problematic.
The complex network of blood vessels spread throughout his body made reinforcing each one impossible.
How to resolve this issue remained unclear even to Luna.
“…”
With suppressed frustration, Luna stepped out of the lab.
Ropheiren followed her while reporting.
“Ah, we have visitors.”
Outside the research facility, beyond the barrier, around ten Rangers waited.
Among them was Roberti, the Leader of the Rangers.
As Luna stepped outside the barrier, Roberti immediately addressed her.
“I’d appreciate it if you left the mountain range.”
“…”
“I don’t want us to get into trouble because of your actions and end up being questioned by the Empire.”
Luna narrowed her eyes.
If Roberti wasn’t here just to nag, then he was warning her that combat might break out in the Sigini Mountain Range soon.
*
Even before the war began,
the situation in the Rubia Kingdom was bleak.
The most significant problem was the overt exposure of the kingdom’s demon worshippers.
Demon worshippers were supposed to operate covertly, infiltrating and corrupting groups from the ground up.
If they exposed themselves prematurely without adequate preparation, they would inevitably face rejection.
This was exactly what had happened in the Rubia Kingdom.
Many powerful figures within the kingdom distanced themselves from the royal family, citing its alliance with demon worshippers as justification.
This wasn’t so much out of genuine anger towards the royal family but rather due to concerns over the Empire’s scrutiny.
The disparity in strength between the Rubia Kingdom and the Empire was worse than the difference between a child and an adult.
Moreover, the Empire was far more united and formidable than the Rubia Kingdom.
In this scenario, siding with the royal family offered no tangible benefits.
Instead, waiting until the Empire crushed the royal family and then picking up the leftovers would be more advantageous for the kingdom’s nobles.
Consequently, the Rubia Kingdom plunged into civil strife even before the war with the Empire began.
In the civil war, the royal family quickly seized control.
Very few forces within the kingdom could withstand the might of apostles revered as messengers of the demon.
Thus, the royal family forcibly took control of the kingdom through military force, and the death toll continued to rise.
The more chaos engulfed the kingdom’s citizens, the greater the influence of the evil deity grew.
Taking advantage of this chaos, demon worshippers attempted to guide the kingdom’s people into willingly worshiping demons.
However, these schemes were supposed to remain hidden, spreading quietly and gradually expanding influence without attracting attention.
Such blatant manipulation only incited futile resistance.
If they had attacked the Imperial Capital and delayed the Empire’s movements, the situation might have been different.
But even that plan failed.
Instead, the Empire became enraged. Having thoroughly analyzed the situation, the Empire was now moving decisively to eradicate the demon worshippers.
For the demon worshippers of the Rubia Kingdom, the situation was utterly hopeless.
Meanwhile, the king of the Rubia Kingdom spent most of his days praying in his chambers.
He was old and feared death.
He yearned for immortality to escape it.
Now, with almost no rational judgment left in him, the aging king focused solely on his prayers, desperate to avoid the impending death.
He was nothing more than a puppet.
Most of his time was spent in an empty throne room, flanked by a knight wielding a Command Blade and a mage holding a purple staff.
Toward them approached an elf named Arundel, acting as Preches’ representative.
“What a mess, what a mess.”
Arundel said outright.
Indeed, as Arundel described, the kingdom’s situation was chaotic.
While the demon worshippers tried to survive by causing disturbances everywhere, the outcome wouldn’t change.
Instead, these disruptions would likely cause most minor factions remaining in the kingdom to actively support the Empire’s invasion.
It was clear that they would crumble swiftly once the war began.
“The Demonic Realm,”
Arundel continued, clicking his tongue.
“I’m considering providing you with a domain where you can operate, but I can’t just hand it over. There needs to be some result.”
“…”
The atmosphere grew tense.
Preches had initially planned and executed the attack on the Imperial Capital, failing to achieve results and hastening the Empire’s invasion.
So how dare they talk about results now?
Moreover, relations between Arundel and the worshippers of the Demon of Greed had never been good.
The beings known as evil deities were not singular entities; thus, factions venerating different evil deities maintained separate territories even within the Demonic Realm.
Centuries ago, the faction worshipping the Demon of Greed had been the most powerful in the Demonic Realm.
However, an event hundreds of years ago caused them to lose most of their influence.
Other factions venerating different evil deities seized that vacant space.
Recently, the Demon of Greed had been actively blessing worshippers to reclaim its lost status.
Unfortunately, the results hadn’t been favorable.
Now, with Arundel offering a corner of the Demonic Realm, the Demon of Greed’s wrathful and greedy emotions intensified.
These emotions urged the worshippers to tear Arundel apart immediately.
However, to survive, they needed to regain their composure.
Soon enough, the murderous aura emanating from the worshippers of the Demon of Greed subsided.
In the silence, Arundel strolled toward the throne and sat down, smiling.
“The Apostle of El-Lam. We must eliminate the element that poses the greatest threat to us.”
“…Osiris Countdom.”
“Yes, apparently, that’s where they’re staying.”
Gathering information about Ray wasn’t difficult.
Due to the large-scale movement of supplies centered around Ray’s existence, identifying him became exceedingly easy.
Yet, despite having this information, the mage shook his head.
“It’s impossible. We’ve received intelligence that a substantial number of troops are stationed in the Osiris Countdom.”
“Why so negative? The kingdom won’t last more than a few months anyway. We should use it as bait to disperse the Empire’s forces.”
“…”
Well…
Even if they managed to disperse the enemy forces somehow, Ray was strong.
Ray was undoubtedly a near-Lord level powerhouse.
But they too had someone approaching Lord-level strength.
“I’ll help too, so there’s no need to be overly afraid. After all, the only ‘near-Lord level warrior’ there is the Apostle of El-Lam, right?”
“…We must move stealthily to avoid detection by the vigilant Empire. We’ll be surrounded before we can eliminate the Apostle of El-Lam.”
“Hmm, you’re right. So, maybe we should go a bit lower… How about making the Apostle of El-Lam make poor decisions? We need to lure them into an unfavorable battlefield. Thus… What do you think about securing potential weaknesses before targeting the Apostle of El-Lam?”
I heard this guy cares deeply about his family.
Arundel added.
