Chapter 40

“Ugh…”

As soon as the blinding light that covered his eyes disappeared, Evan opened them.

“Where is this…”

What had happened?

Evan recalled what had occurred just moments before.

Albert had walked ahead of them, as if trying to lure them, and then stood before a magic circle, activating it.

As soon as the magic circle was activated, a light burst forth, nearly blinding, and when he regained his senses, both Aria and Albert, who had been there just a moment ago, were gone.

That wasn’t all.

His current location felt odd.

“In the middle of the forest… not?”

It was somewhere inside a dark building.

‘Was there a building in the forest…?’

No, was this even a building?

He hadn’t examined everything, so there might be a building he didn’t know about, but even so, it felt too unnatural.

Then, where exactly was this place?

While Evan was looking around, a thought suddenly struck him: staying here quietly was probably not a good idea.

His presence here meant that Aria and Albert were in another location.

He had no idea what the two of them might be enduring right now.

Therefore, the first thing he needed to find was, without a doubt, Aria’s location.

With that in mind, Evan began to move in search of Aria.

– I have a bad feeling about this… Be careful, Evan.

Evan nodded, breaking into a cold sweat at Estelle’s words.

As she advised, something felt off.

This was something far too severe to be just an ordinary trap mixed in the dungeon’s class assignment exam.

Even if it wasn’t magic designed to separate them by a long distance, considering that a teleportation magic circle itself was very rare, the possibility of such a trap being set in a simple forest rather than a typical dungeon was nonsensical.

To think that they would resort to such measures just to determine the class of academy students?

This was outrageous.

Once his thoughts reached that point, Evan concluded that there was someone behind all this, and he stopped walking to quickly try to activate the bracelet on his wrist.

But,

“The bracelet… is broken?”

Could it be… was it damaged due to that magic circle from earlier?

He tried manipulating it here and there to see if he could get it to work again, but no matter what he did, the bracelet showed no signs of activating.

– I sense magic from the bracelet…

Evan shuddered at Estelle’s murmuring.

If it was magic, then everything aligned.

And… an attack by demons?

‘There’s a high possibility of there being traitors.’

If he recalled Principal Argen’s words from earlier, it wouldn’t be surprising if there was another attack.

However, no one would have anticipated such an act happening openly during the class assignment exam.

‘This… was planned from the start.’

Most of the students and instructors would have heard about the fight he had with Albert at the beginning of the semester.

The fact that the hero Evan didn’t get along with Albert was a well-known fact because rumors had spread regarding their fight.

Thus, it was highly likely that the idea of pairing them together had originated from that.

Considering that one of the things highly regarded at the academy was teamwork, it seemed plausible that they decided to pair the two to foster cooperation.

And with Aria present as well, it was almost certain.

Evan wasn’t sure what had been done to Albert, but the oddly diminished hostility compared to before, as well as the consistent sense of something being off, led him to never have imagined he could be controlled by demons.

Even though he didn’t sense any magic, the fact that he had been controlled was strange; however, what mattered right now wasn’t that.

There was only one reason behind this act.

‘Aria… or me…’

Aria was the saint, and Evan was the hero.

Yet Aria had once said it herself.

Thanks to the divine power bestowed by the goddess, she wouldn’t die from ordinary attacks.

Then…

Whoosh!

“Ugh…!”

Evan barely dodged the black thorn that shot toward him.

He turned his head to look at where the thorn had come from.

“…”

A black figure, made entirely of mist, was staring at Evan.

– [That being wishes for your death.]

The mist said this while transforming its body to create numerous weapons aimed at Evan.

– That’s… the Demon of Temptation…!!

The Demon of Temptation…?

Before he could even ask Estelle what that meant, the demon morphed, launching itself at him like a weapon.

While it was important to gather information about that demon from Estelle, getting attacked while doing so would defeat the purpose.

Desperately, Evan raised his sword to block the mist-like weapons, but he heard Estelle’s near-screaming shout.

– Don’t block with the sword!

The moment Evan heard that, he twisted his body to dodge while still in the defensive stance.

– [You’re quite perceptive.]

The mist that had narrowly missed Evan lost its shape and transformed into another black mist, glaring at him.

With the sudden increase in attacks, Evan could only react.

If he dodged one incoming attack, another would follow from behind, and just when he thought he had managed to evade that, an attack would come from the side, continuing this cycle.

At this rate, no matter how much he tried to dodge, he would eventually tire out and be hit.

Evan gritted his teeth.

That black mist was clearly the body of a demon.

Demons are fundamentally the antithesis of divine power.

Then…!

Evan summoned the strength of a hero.

The magic power transformed into divine power through the Sacred Sword, causing Evan’s body to begin shining brightly.

“With this…!”

No matter how strong the demon was, it would be difficult to counter this.

His body was now enveloped in divine power to the point of shining brightly; even the strongest demon would hesitate to attack him directly.

With this thought, Evan confidently stepped forward to confront the mist.

But at that moment, just as he swung his sword toward the mist, Estelle’s urgent voice rang out once more.

– Don’t attack!

Evan stopped his attack and jumped back wide, avoiding the mist’s attack.

“What do you mean…?”

– The Demon of Temptation is made up of pure mental substance. Even if you attack with divine energy, it won’t work because the entity isn’t here in this place. Instead… if you’re consumed by that mist, it will become dangerous!

At Estelle’s words, Evan’s expression twisted grotesquely.

No, that meant there was no way to attack it at all?

Was it really that absurd…?

“So, does that mean I have no choice but to keep dodging and running away?”

– For now… yes.

“…”

In this regard, Estelle’s words were authoritative.

Having fought alongside heroes for generations, she had an extensive understanding of demons.

Even so…

‘I can’t believe it…’

It was hard to accept that there was a demon that he couldn’t even touch right now.

‘Is running away the only option…?’

If he fled like this, he wouldn’t be able to go save Aria…

But if he were captured, it would all be meaningless.

“…”

His contemplation didn’t last long.

– [This is a rare chance granted by that being. You can’t let this opportunity slip away.]

As Evan finished his thoughts and tried to flee, the demon’s low murmuring echoed.

At that moment.

The demon’s form widened, and pure mist began to fill the room completely.

It was dangerous.

Judging that, Evan quickly expanded the divine power from the Sacred Sword, trying to escape, but the mist filled the enclosed space faster.

– “Face your nightmare…”

As the mist closed in, Evan felt a red glow of nightmares slowly approaching him, and he gulped.

There was nowhere left to run.

– Evan!!

“Estelle…”

To face the nightmare.

Evan let out a chuckle, as if he were incredulous.

At this point, he was determined to overcome and return.

To the powerful magic of the black mist that began to consume even his consciousness, Evan surrendered himself to the closing darkness.

Finally, like a puppet with its strings cut, Evan collapsed right where he was.