The Burning Fields (1)
We have retrieved the body of the hunter trapped in the Venus flytrap. Inheriting abilities.
Inheritance Reward: Sensory +2, Ackerman’s Construction Method (C)
The ghostly remains of the ashen corpse crumbled away. Dalen flicked his fingers lightly.
“Status window.”
Name: Dalen
Level: 25
[Strength: 38] [Dexterity: 37] [Stamina: 31]
[Sensory: 32] [Intelligence: 31] [Magic: 33]
Skills: Dehaman’s Armor Combat (D), Night Vision (E), Leap (E), Flame Arrow (D), Lapantella’s Crushing Sword (C), Hegaleus’s Rain of Fire (C), Piercing Lightning (D), Curse Ward Seal (D), Leredonara’s Secret Blade (B), Sacred Flame’s Ember (C), Crimson Dragon’s Blood (A), Key to the Gates of Hell (C), Ackerman’s Construction Method (C)
Unique Skills (9)
His level remained at 25, but he was on the brink of leveling up. The rewards from retrieving the corpse were quite satisfactory, so there was no issue.
Dalen picked up a stray axe and tucked it into his belt. After rummaging through the belongings of the dark sorcerer and the dark knight, he moved on.
“Is the job done?”
“Yes, just finished.”
A knight with long blonde hair matted with black blood smiled brightly, having just slain a demon.
The main street of the village was a mess. Beelzebub’s body had been literally dissected to extract its essence.
The road was littered with slick skin, giant fly appendages, and chunks of flesh and innards.
Lucia, feeling stiff from the long dissection, stretched her shoulders and pulled a small sealed box from her backpack, placing the essence fragments inside. She spoke.
“The essence will be preserved and studied by the Order of the Holy Knights. It’s preparation for future battles against the same or similar demons.”
Demons were broadly categorized into three types.
First, those like Kalkas, who had their own hell.
Second, demons like Beelzebub, who were affiliated with evil gods but lacked their own hell.
And third, the forsaken demons who wandered mazes or other hells without any affiliation or hell of their own.
“The demon that stole the holy sword, Golakap, was one of the third type.”
Fighting demons was always a headache, but Golakap’s type was the easiest to deal with. One victory was all it took to end the battle.
In contrast, battles with the first two types were vastly different from mortal combat.
The first type had fused their essence with their hell, so killing the summoned body yielded no essence.
The second type left most of their essence in the evil god’s hell, only bringing a small fragment when summoned.
Thus, killing a summoned demon was never the true end. The fight continued until you ventured into their hell and destroyed them there.
“There’s another way, but that’s a tale for those who have mastered dark magic to its extreme.”
For someone like Dalen, who could inherit from countless corpses, it might be possible, but it wasn’t a method the Order of the Holy Knights would consider.
Therefore, the Order collected essence fragments from every demon they defeated, researching how to combat them more effectively.
At least, the next time they faced the same demon, they could handle it more easily.
This was a testament to the Order’s resilience, having waged war against demons for over a thousand years.
“If we’re done here, let’s wake this one up.”
While Lucia packed away the sealed box, Dalen dragged over the unconscious dark sorcerer from a corner.
The sorcerer had lost an ear to Lucia’s thrown dagger and had fainted in the aftermath of the battle.
Dalen tossed the dark sorcerer among the demon’s remains. Since he hadn’t been knocked out by a spell or curse, no special measures were needed.
He simply placed his foot lightly on the sorcerer’s shin and applied a bit of pressure.
Crunch!
“Aaaaargh!”
The dark sorcerer awoke with a start, frothing at the mouth. At the same time, Sienna chanted a spell.
“Nox. Shashikaum.”
With a brief incantation, a faint feather was drawn into the dark sorcerer’s open mouth.
The sorcerer coughed violently, then looked up at her with a pale, terrified expression.
Sienna spoke.
“You won’t be able to cast spells now. If you try, you’ll have to risk your own heart being destroyed.”
“Impressive.”
A spellcaster without spells. Could there be an easier target for interrogation?
Dalen crouched naturally in front of the sorcerer, who seemed to have given up on everything.
The interrogation didn’t take long.
To extract the desired information, Dalen only had to break two more fingers.
“So, you’re saying the legendary Vine Witch has been resurrected?”
Upon hearing the sorcerer’s confession, Sienna sighed deeply, rubbing her temples.
“Y-yes. The Vine Witch… the witch who died a thousand years ago has been reborn in Enaxagus’s Cauldron.”
“And she’s the mastermind behind all this?”
“Yes, truly. She declared herself the Vine Witch, and her appearance matched the legends. A petite woman in a thick, drab robe, always hiding her face with a mask. Her path was followed by thorny vines, and she even clashed with one of the founders of the Maze City… Aaaaargh!”
Crunch!
Dalen snapped the remaining fingers in his grip. There was no need to waste time on the sorcerer’s unnecessary babbling.
The important thing was that his suspicions were confirmed.
In the game, the Vine Witch was a boss that appeared much later, yet here she was, showing up at this point.
‘If there’s one problem…’
The dark sorcerer’s testimony included a somewhat jarring term.
Dalen wasn’t the only one who noticed the oddity. Lucia, who had been frowning throughout the story, prodded the sorcerer’s thigh with her sword and spoke.
“You mentioned Enaxagus’s Cauldron, dark sorcerer?”
“Y-yes.”
“According to the Order’s records, the Vine Witch offered her soul to Lapilem before her defeat. And Lapilem is known to be possessive. He doesn’t get along with Enaxagus.”
“Ah… th-that…”
The dark sorcerer’s face turned pale again.
He watched as white flames slowly spread over the blade pressing against his thigh.
“Answer me. Why? Did you think the Order wouldn’t know the inclinations of the evil gods? Or do you have another agenda?”
“N-no, I-I just…”
The dark sorcerer shook his head vigorously, blood-tinged saliva dripping down his chin.
The White Flame of the Inquisitor.
For dark sorcerers, the fear of the inquisitor’s white flame was like a nightmare.
In a situation where even his spells were bound, the fear he felt was beyond the fear of death.
Yet, the reason he couldn’t provide a convincing answer was simple.
He truly knew nothing.
“Lucia.”
Just before the white flame seared the sorcerer’s skin, Dalen reached out and clasped Lucia’s hand.
His large, bear-like hand gently covered her small, white one. Lucia flinched for a moment and withdrew her sword.
“Ahem…”
Leaving her slightly flushed, Dalen stepped closer to the dark sorcerer. He spoke.
“These guys are decoys.”
“Decoys?”
Sienna questioned. Dalen nodded.
“Very strategic decoys, meant to draw your attention and mine.”
“What do you mean?”
This time it was Lucia. Dalen quickly explained.
“Enaxagus is directly involved in this. The fact that the dark knight was Enaxagus’s minion and this sorcerer’s testimony makes it clear.”
The dark knight, a minion of Enaxagus, was the de facto leader of this party.
The fact that they confidently attacked with just one demon meant the leader knew nothing of the power the two of them possessed.
Especially the power of Dalen’s spear, which had completely obliterated the hell of Enaxagus’s servant, Kalkas.
The fact that such crucial information wasn’t shared meant one thing.
“From the start, these guys were decoys meant to distract us. They intended to keep Sienna and me underground.”
Even the act of wiping out an entire village was just bait.
So what scale was the real plan they were preparing?
While the full details were still unclear, the dark sorcerer’s testimony revealed at least one fact.
“Enaxagus and Lapilem, the two evil gods, have joined forces.”
It was the worst-case scenario.
The fact that the Vine Witch, who should have been Lapilem’s servant, was handed over to Enaxagus symbolized a temporary but complete alliance.
Moreover, with her emerging from Enaxagus’s Cauldron, the current situation had already shattered all previous precedents.
In the cauldron of evolution, where beings are mixed and species shed their skins, the outcome is unimaginable.
The only certainty is that it will be more horrifying than before.
“A discard… you say? What is th—ugh!”
Swish!
The axe gleamed, and a head, severed from its body, rolled across the ground.
There was no time to listen to the lamentations of a dark sorcerer abandoned by his master.
Having gathered all the necessary information, the only thing left was to move quickly.
“The alliance of dark gods… Whether to report to the knights or deal with the situation at hand, we need to get to the surface first.”
“The nearest sewer exit is towards the western district. I’ll guide you along the shortest route. Follow me.”
The witch and the holy knight, who had been at odds moments before, now moved in perfect harmony.
This was proof that they had undergone countless training and battles together, and that their heroic stature was too great to be marred by petty emotions.
Gathering the blood-red dagger, a relic of the dark knights, the group swiftly left the village and headed for the surface.
In the eerie, deserted village, the bodies of demons and their followers soon became a feast for rats and insects.
Slash!
A flash of light. Blood spurted forth, a thick, dark green liquid.
A head fell, leaving a splatter of green on the wall, as if a paint can had been thrown.
Crash!
Before the head even hit the ground, Dalen’s fist crushed another foe’s skull.
“Nox! Obex!”
A spell slammed four vagrants against the wall, while a sharp sword strike cleaved two more in half.
In the murky, waterlogged streets, Dalen and his companions fought their way through drug-addled vagrants as they ascended to the surface.
“Gah!”
“Gragh! Aaargh!”
The vagrants roamed in groups, sometimes as few as five or six, sometimes nearly a hundred.
Among them were recent refugees to the city and those who had long dwelled in the lower streets.
But their origins no longer mattered. With eyes wild and frenzied, they charged to devour human flesh, resembling monsters more than men.
Their strength far exceeded what their frail limbs should allow, and their drug-clouded eyes faintly shimmered with dark magic.
“O god of war—!”
Whenever they encountered a new group, Lucia would unleash her purifying holy power, but the result was always the same.
Souls consumed by dark magic found no salvation, only agony, as if holy power were being poured onto monsters.
At this point, it seemed less like a drug and more like a curse. The method of its creation and its source were mysteries begging to be unraveled.
‘This never happened in the game. But in the episodes featuring the Vine Witch, her targets were always limited.’
The situation was too twisted to draw meaningful comparisons to past episodes.
Still, if they could glean even a single clue, it would be worth the effort, so there was no reason to neglect gathering any helpful fragments.
“Right passage! Go about thirty meters, then behind the left building’s wall there’s a ladder… No, don’t break the wall! Nox! Obex!”
Meanwhile, following Sienna’s guidance, they forged ahead, testing newly acquired skills in their minds.
A C-rank skill: Ackerman’s Cartography.
A secret left by the legendary mapmaker who charted the fourth floor of the labyrinth.
As they navigated the maze-like lower streets, for the first time, a clear view began to form in their minds.