The Immortal Demon (1)
After tying up the dark sorcerer, Lucachala, with a rope we found lying around, we returned to find the tavern nearly cleaned up.
The undead, who had been glaring with wild eyes, were now all collapsed with their chests and heads caved in. Lucia and Farn were moving the bodies outside.
“That was quick.”
“Once the necromancer is dead, the undead are nothing more than puppets with their strings cut.”
Lucia said as she tossed a corpse, its head crushed as if by a hammer, outside the tavern.
She was right. Most undead draw their power from the necromancer. Unless they’re high-level undead like death knights or liches, they can’t muster even a fraction of their strength once the necromancer is gone.
Of course, the poison on their claws and teeth is still dangerous, but for a paladin like Lucia, it’s hardly a concern. With her holy tattoos enhancing her skin and muscle durability and boosting her resistances, she could withstand attacks from these bare-boned undead all day long.
In the end, even without her armor and weapons, it took her only a few minutes to deal with the thirty or so undead.
“Sir Lucia! Was that light flashing from your body and your fists multiplying something you learned in the knights’ order?”
Farn asked, his voice filled with excitement.
Even as he struggled to move the bodies with his one arm, there wasn’t a hint of fatigue in his voice.
He was like this when the Galleos caravan was attacked by orcs too.
Seeing the boy’s recovery, Dalen couldn’t help but smile.
“Multiple fists, huh? I’d like to learn that myself.”
“I was just punching really fast. Farn, if you train hard in the knights’ order, you can do it too, maybe even better than me.”
“Really? Wow! I’ll work hard!”
The boy shouted, his mouth agape. Lucia ruffled his hair affectionately.
After bidding farewell to the refugee couple this morning, she had said that once they reached the main order and completed their mission, she would have Farn join the paladins.
Over the past few days of teaching him, she had realized the boy’s talent was beyond her expectations. His diligence and intelligence were exceptional, even compared to other children his age.
With Dalen joining in, the group quickly finished cleaning the tavern and headed to the basement to rescue the people trapped there.
The gang that had taken over the inn hadn’t killed everyone. They had only murdered the original innkeepers and the merchants who had stopped by to rest.
The nearly twenty refugees were tied up in the basement, receiving just enough food and water to survive.
Leaving the rescued refugees in Lucia’s care, Dalen dragged the bound dark sorcerer, Lucachala, to a secluded room on the fourth floor.
“The necromancers are trying to release the Immortal Demon from its seal, and they warned us to be cautious of the inn.”
Dalen recalled the story the refugee couple had told him the previous night.
When he questioned the refugees who had been trapped in the basement, he learned that the couple had narrowly escaped from the inn.
If their testimony was true, then Lucachala’s gang was definitely connected to the Immortal Demon in some way.
And if Lucachala was as skilled as he seemed, Dalen might be able to learn what the couple couldn’t tell him.
Meeting the cannibal sorcerer here at this time was already unexpected for Dalen.
In the game, Lucachala had followed the Ash Witch, never getting involved with the Immortal Demon.
“But the Ash Witch died before she could complete her first contract with the evil god. Meanwhile, the Immortal Demon is trying to appear much earlier than expected.”
As the end began to hasten its approach, her future had diverged from the original history.
It was similar to the case of the two orc commanders who had attacked the Galleos caravan not long ago.
“Ugh, ugh…”
A pained groan pulled Dalen from his thoughts.
In the most secluded room on the top floor of the inn, the cannibal sorcerer Lucachala was kneeling on the floor, her limbs bound and a spell-slaying dagger embedded in her forearm.
Dalen leaned on the table, his expression indifferent. He spoke.
“When do you plan to start talking?”
“I-I don’t know. I really don’t know anything.”
Lucachala shook her head.
He had heard that same denial countless times already.
The only fortunate thing was that this cannibal sorcerer wasn’t skilled at lying.
Her expressions and tone made it obvious she was hiding something.
“I don’t know. It’s true…”
The problem was that despite giving herself away, she still refused to speak properly.
It had been ten minutes since the interrogation began.
Dalen showed no mercy to dark sorcerers, and if the questioning dragged on, Lucachala might not survive.
“Stop the nonsense. I already know what the necromancers are up to near Langlton Village.”
“What? I really don’t know. I just wanted to eat human flesh! It has nothing to do with what you want to know!”
Lucachala shook her head frantically, repeating her previous words.
With tears, snot, and drool streaming down her face, she almost looked pitiful.
If one didn’t know she was a murderer who had devoured dozens of people, they might have thought so.
Creak.
Dalen stood up from his chair. He approached the dark sorcerer and pulled out the dagger embedded in her arm.
Sizzle!
The intertwined blades tore and ripped her flesh as they were withdrawn.
The sorcerer screamed, her eyes rolling back.
“Ahhhhhh!”
“Whatever your plan is, if you keep this up, I’ll have no choice but to call the paladin. You don’t want to burn in the White Flame of the Holy Knight, do you?”
Thud!
He stabbed the dagger into her thigh this time.
“Ughhh!”
The dagger’s power shook the sorcerer’s senses, inflicting pain beyond mere physical agony.
“Heh, heh… Alright. Alright…”
Mentioning the White Flame of the Holy Knight finally broke her mental resistance.
Her pupils were half-dilated, overwhelmed by the physical pain and fear of the paladin’s white fire.
Dalen released the dagger’s handle and asked one last time.
“The Immortal Demon. Were you doing all this to break its seal?”
“No… The Immortal Demon is…”
Finally, the word he had been waiting for slipped from her lips.
At that moment.
“The demon… is… gurgle, ahhh!”
Lucachala’s jaw began to tremble violently.
Green foam bubbled from her mouth.
Soon, blood and pus gushed from every orifice of her face and body, and she collapsed, unable to support herself.
“Ugh, ugh…”
Her body convulsed in agony.
But even that soon subsided.
Dalen crouched down and turned over the fallen corpse.
”…Hmm.”
The dark sorcerer’s condition was horrific.
Her body was covered in blood and pus, and her soft tissues, like her mouth and eyes, were sprouting bluish mold.
At that moment, the curse ward engraved on his shoulder briefly glowed before calming down.
”…Damn.”
Dalen knew what that meant.
“A curse.”
A curse so powerful that its activation caused the ward to react, even if only for a moment.
“This is unexpected.”
Dalen thought as he reached out to retrieve the corpse.
[You have retrieved the Stewed Sage’s corpse. You inherit its abilities.]
[Inheritance Reward: Intelligence +3]
“A curse strong enough to kill a dark sorcerer like Lucachala the moment she utters a specific word.”
This was no ordinary curse caster’s work.
With his intelligence significantly boosted, his mind raced, listing entities skilled in curse magic and quickly narrowing down those who could be active in the area.
It didn’t take long.
There was only one entity likely involved in this situation, one capable of such powerful curses.
“This is troublesome.”
Dalen thought as he cleaned the spell-slaying dagger and tucked it into his belt.
“Perhaps the Immortal Demon is already…”
Knock, knock, knock.
Just then, Lucia knocked and entered the room.
“Dalen. One of the refugees from the basement claims to know the truth about this incident.”
“I think I know what they’re going to say.”
Dalen replied without taking his eyes off the dark sorcerer’s corpse.
Lucia, noticing the gruesome state of the body, continued with a more serious expression.
”…Yes. They say the Immortal Demon has already been released from its seal.”
The next morning, the three of them left the inn at dawn.
With the knowledge that the demon had been unsealed, they couldn’t afford to waste a moment.
Riding from daybreak, they crossed the border and reached Langlton Village within a day.
Late at night, they secured a room at an inn and gathered to discuss their next steps.
On the table were a large mug of beer and two cups of honey water.
The beer glass had long been empty, and Lucia was slowly sipping her honey water.
“Ugh. Uh, I’m sorry.”
Meanwhile, Parn was nodding off at the table, his head bobbing dangerously close to the untouched honey water.
He was just a boy who had only started riding a few days ago.
Even though they hadn’t been galloping at full speed, riding for over ten hours was bound to exhaust anyone.
Dalen leaned against the wall by the window, his hands resting on his belt. He replayed the words of the refugee woman who had volunteered as a witness in his mind.
“When we left the village, I never imagined they were such people. Gelt was a merchant who grew up in the neighborhood, and the woman was an herbalist vouched for by Gelt.”
Gelt was the name of the necromancer Dalen had put an axe through. The woman, on the other hand, was none other than the cannibalistic sorceress, Lucachala.
According to Lucia, Gelt and the refugee woman had an “inappropriately intimate relationship.”
Because of that, she had heard many stories from Gelt in bed.
Naturally, those stories included tales of demons.
“So, to sum it up, the immortal demon has already been released from its seal and is using dark sorcerers and necromancers to gather treasures, relics, and sacrifices to build its power.”
“And in the process, those who didn’t comply were cursed horribly as an example.”
Lucia added, taking a sip of her warm honey water.
It seemed that the cannibalistic sorceress Lucachala was one of those examples.
Unlike the necromancer who survived after spilling all sorts of information to the refugee woman, she had died on the spot from a curse just for uttering the demon’s name.
“What do you plan to do now?” Lucia asked.
Dalen turned his head slightly, still leaning against the wall, and glanced out the window.
Rengleton was a small village, and naturally, it had only one inn.
Being located along a trade route, it was perhaps the only reason the inn was a three-story building.
In any other remote village, they might have had to sleep on blankets in the local tavern, if there was one at all.
Looking out from the third floor of the inn, Dalen spoke.
“Staying here for long doesn’t seem like a wise choice.”
The village had a gloomy atmosphere and was openly hostile to outsiders.
With doomsday cultists causing chaos for weeks, it was no surprise.
Moreover, with rumors of the dead rising from their graves and whispers of demons, it was even more understandable.
In such circumstances, it would be strange if the village’s mood were normal.
“I thought the same. I overheard at the tavern that the Imperial Army might soon arrive to resolve the situation.”
“We don’t want to get caught up in that as outsiders, especially when we’re transporting the sacred sword.”
Dalen tapped the sacred sword wrapped meticulously in cloth behind him.
Even inside the inn, he hadn’t removed his armor or any of his weapons.
“That seems likely,” Lucia nodded. She, too, had only set aside her sword, keeping her armor on.
With such ominous rumors, they couldn’t be sure when the villagers might turn against them as outsiders.
She gently laid Parn, who was dozing off, more comfortably on the table and asked, “Shall we leave at dawn then?”
“Gather my things and the horses. We’ll meet at the crossroads leading out of the village at first light.”
Lucia looked puzzled.
“Aren’t you coming with us, Dalen?”
“I have work to do overnight. I’m going to capture the demon.”
“What—cough, cough, excuse me?”
Lucia choked on her honey water at Dalen’s declaration, her face a sticky mess as she coughed and spluttered.
“Sir Knight! A handkerchief…”
Parn, startled by the commotion, fumbled to find a handkerchief. Dalen chuckled softly.
“You saw the curse that struck the dark sorcerer. As a paladin, you can resist it, and I have my own ways. But Parn can’t.”
At this, Parn, who was handing the handkerchief to Lucia, looked a bit downcast.
Dalen walked over, ruffling the boy’s hair gently.
“Take Parn and meet me at the crossroads by dawn. I’ll bring the demon back tonight.”
“Are you sure about this? It’s not that I doubt your strength, Dalen, but if I recall correctly, the danger of the immortal demon isn’t just its curse.”
Lucia spoke with concern.
“The records of the Order say, ‘It was sealed in an unremarkable cave, unnoticed by anyone, because it could not be killed by sword or holy power.’”
“It seems there’s a misunderstanding. I never said I was going to kill the demon.”
Dalen smiled. He gave Parn’s hair one last tousle before heading to the door.
“I said I’d capture it.”
As he left the room, a pouch hanging from his belt began to hum softly.