Episode 339: Mount Karon (2)

The moment Ruin moved, a barrage of slashes rained down.

His entire field of vision was filled with the onslaught. There was nowhere to escape.

Damian desperately parried Ruin’s attacks, but he couldn’t block them all. Cuts began to etch themselves across his body.

“Damn, he’s really strong.”

Ruin’s skill had vastly improved since their first encounter. Or rather, it seemed more accurate to say that his true abilities were finally being revealed.

“Is he regaining his original strength as he regains his sanity?”

Just as this thought crossed his mind, a slash from outside his field of vision sliced through Damian’s neck.

His first death.

Damian awoke immediately, rubbing his neck with a grimace.

He spat on the ground and stood up, just as Ruin charged at him again.

The battle resumed.

Ruin’s slashes came down like a storm, but this time Damian wasn’t so easily overwhelmed.

Having grown accustomed to Ruin’s movements, Damian narrowly dodged the attacks.

Ruin hesitated, surprised that Damian could evade him.

Damian seized the opportunity, closing the distance with a powerful leap.

In a flash, he severed Ruin’s neck, and Ruin vanished.

“Haah, haah.”

Damian panted heavily, but his face was bright.

When he first met Ruin, he had died thousands of times. Now, he had only died once before claiming victory. It was a remarkable improvement.

Then, Ruin’s apparition reformed. Damian steeled himself for another round.

“Wow.”

But Ruin didn’t attack immediately. Instead, he laughed and shouted, “Damian! I didn’t expect you to kill me so quickly!”

Despite only dying once, Ruin’s mind seemed clearer.

Damian lowered his sword, looking deflated. “Why are you already back to your senses?”

“What, did you want to kill me more? That’s a bit disappointing,” Ruin replied cheerfully.

“My apparition has grown stronger, so I can resist my emotions better now.”

Ruin plopped down on the ground and patted the spot next to him, inviting Damian to sit.

Damian trudged over and sat in front of Ruin, who looked at him with satisfaction.

“You’ve really improved. It couldn’t have been easy to kill me now that I’m stronger.”

“Still, I’m nowhere near your level.”

“Well, I’ve been training longer than you have.”

Ruin examined Damian closely before asking, “You don’t look too happy. Did you meet Dorgo?”

“Yeah, it was a hell of a meeting.”

Damian briefly recounted his encounter with Dorgo, and Ruin’s expression grew serious.

“So, you ended up confronting the Demon King’s body.”

“It was nothing. Next time, I’ll kill him.”

Damian spoke with confidence, not out of arrogance, but because he had managed to cut Dorgo’s neck. Though he hadn’t been able to kill him completely due to the power of Sloth.

Ruin shook his head, disagreeing with Damian’s assessment.

“It’s not that simple. The Four Demon Kings couldn’t fully absorb the Great Demon’s body, but Dorgo is different. He was a Great Demon.”

“If he was a Great Demon, he could harness all that power. That’s definitely dangerous… Wait, Dorgo was a Great Demon?”

Damian was taken aback, and Ruin looked at him with wide eyes.

“What, you didn’t know?”

“You never told me!”

“Oh, right.”

Ruin scratched the back of his head, looking sheepish.

“Dorgo was the Great Demon of Lust. He abandoned his demon body because of me. Or rather, he burned it.”

“Burned it?”

“Dorgo’s power was mind control. He used it to erase his past from everyone’s memory.”

Ruin crossed his arms and continued.

“But even a Demon King needs to pay a price for such extensive memory manipulation. Dorgo paid with his body, leaving only remnants behind.”

Damian listened, shocked by Ruin’s words.

“And to be with me, he discarded even those remnants. That’s how Ruin abandoned his demon form and became human.”

Ruin looked into the distance, his expression complicated.

After a moment, Damian asked, “Why did Dorgo go to such lengths?”

The Dorgo Damian knew was selfish and cruel. But the Dorgo Ruin described seemed foolishly devoted.

“We were engaged.”

“Engaged… what?”

Damian’s eyes widened further. Ruin tilted his head, puzzled.

“What? I didn’t mention that either?”

“You mean you two were… involved?”

Ruin lowered his head, his cheeks tinged with a hint of red.

“Anyway, Damian, don’t underestimate Dorgo.”

Ruin tried to change the subject, and Damian decided to let it go. He was still reeling from the revelation.

“Dorgo manipulated space and time, right? He probably absorbed his own remnants too. That means he has at least three Demon King powers.”

Though Dorgo’s remnants were just scraps, the other two Demon Kings were the real problem.

“Time and space… Pride and Sloth were the strongest among the Demon Kings. I struggled to kill them. Even if he doesn’t have all their power, absorbing both could make him stronger than they ever were.”

Dorgo was now more powerful than the Demon Kings at their peak.

Considering the legends of the Demon Kings, even Damian couldn’t be sure of victory.

“It doesn’t matter if he’s a Demon King or not. I’ll stop Dorgo, even if it costs me my life.”

Damian spoke resolutely, but Ruin shook his head.

“That won’t work.”

“You never know until you try.”

“You know it too, don’t you? You can’t fight at full strength with that body.”

Ruin gestured to Damian’s body.

“Your body is too weak for your skills. Even if you’re willing to die, you’ll fall before your enemy does.”

Damian couldn’t argue with Ruin’s cold assessment.

In truth, using his full power even briefly left Damian with severe internal injuries.

Even now, his mind was racing with ways to enhance his abilities, but his body couldn’t keep up.

“Still, I have no choice.”

Damian spoke without hesitation. Ruin sighed deeply.

“If that’s your decision, I can’t stop you. But don’t throw your life away. If you die… the people left behind will suffer.”

Ruin’s words pierced Damian’s heart like an arrow.

He thought of the faces of his family, the ones he would leave behind.

If he sacrificed himself to stop Ruin, the world might find peace, but his family wouldn’t.

“Why are you giving me advice? I’m planning to kill your lover.”

It was something that had puzzled him for a while.

Even knowing Damian’s intentions, Ruin didn’t hold back his guidance.

“Because you’re on the wrong path.”

Ruin answered without hesitation.

Damian was at a loss for words, once again realizing the kind of person Ruin was.

Then, Ruin suddenly grinned mischievously.

“So, you realize you’re getting help from me? That’s impressive.”

”…”

“What? No response? Are you embarrassed?”

”…I know I am.”

When Damian reluctantly admitted it, Ruin’s smile widened.

“Then can you do me a favor? If you really do manage to take down Dorgo…”

Ruin’s request was long and detailed.

After hearing it all, Damian frowned.

“Are you serious? You want me to do that?”

“If you really don’t like it, you can ignore it.”

Damian pondered for a moment before reluctantly agreeing.

“Fine. I’ll do it.”

“Really?”

“But that’s it. Don’t ask for anything more.”

“Of course.”

At that moment, Ruin’s eyebrow twitched, and his eyes began to darken.

“Time’s up. Shall we go again?”

Ruin’s eyes turned completely black.

The battle resumed once more.

---

Damian opened his eyes in the real world.

Valhard was still soaring through the sky, the wind whipping through Damian’s hair and clothes.

He looked up, gauging the time. Only a few hours had passed since Valhard began its flight.

Despite the endless battles with Ruin in the mental realm, not much time had passed in reality.

“Damn, he gets stronger every time I kill him.”

Damian grumbled, rubbing the spots where Ruin had struck him.

He thought the gap between them had closed, but it was just an illusion. There was still a vast chasm between their abilities.

“Are we really supposed to have the same talent?”

As Damian pondered this, he…

The scent of blood hung in the air. Demian turned to Valhard and said, “Hold on, let’s head over there.”

“What?” Valhard asked, puzzled, but he followed Demian’s lead and changed direction.

Demian glanced down at the ground and quickly spotted the source of the metallic smell. The village was under attack.

Men with strong builds were using farming tools to beat women and children to death. “Why are you doing this?” a woman cried out. “Please, spare this child…!” But the men showed no mercy, ignoring the desperate pleas of mothers clutching their children.

Though they were in a hurry to reach Mount Karon, Demian couldn’t just walk past this atrocity. He leapt off Valhard’s back, landing with a thud that drew everyone’s attention.

Demian’s gaze flicked between the men and the terrified women. The women were sobbing in fear, while the men wore expressions of cold brutality.

“Stop this madness and leave, or I’ll kill every last one of you,” Demian warned.

The men scoffed at his threat. “Who the hell are you?” one sneered. “If anyone’s leaving, it’s you!” another shouted. “Or do you have a death wish?”

They brandished their tools menacingly, but Demian just clicked his tongue in annoyance. “If that’s how you want it…”

In an instant, the men’s bodies split open as if slashed by an invisible blade. They collapsed, coughing up blood, as Demian looked down at them with a chilling calm. “I went easy on you,” he muttered.

Even a mere hint of his killing intent was enough to wound ordinary people. He could have torn them apart completely, but he held back, not wanting to traumatize the villagers further. Yet he couldn’t let them live either. Just as he was about to finish them off, a woman rushed forward, pleading, “Please, stop, sir! I beg you!”

Demian paused, puzzled. “These men tried to kill you. If I don’t end this now, they might come back for revenge.”

“But he’s my father!” the woman cried.

Demian hesitated, taken aback. “What are you saying?”

“Yes! That man is my husband!” another woman shouted.

“He’s my brother!” yet another added.

Their desperate pleas only deepened Demian’s confusion. “If they’re your family, why would they try to kill you?”

“We don’t know! This morning, they started saying strange things…” one woman explained, her voice trembling. “They suddenly tried to kill us, no matter how much we begged!”

“Ugh…” one of the fallen men groaned from the ground. “We must gather… the offerings… for him…”

Demian’s expression darkened as he grabbed the man’s collar. The man coughed up more blood. “Offerings? Who are you offering them to?”

“To him… the most beautiful… to him…” the man gasped.

“Who is ‘him’?” Demian demanded, his voice rising.

“To Dorgo… we must offer them to Dorgo…” the man finally uttered.

The name was all too familiar, and Demian clenched his jaw in frustration. He understood immediately what was happening. Dorgo had brainwashed these men to collect souls and bodies for his dark purposes. By targeting only the men, he ensured that the souls of the murdered would be tormented, releasing dark energy.

“Offerings… we need offerings…” the men continued to mutter, even as they lay dying. “Kill… we must kill… for him… for him…”

These men, once fathers, husbands, and brothers, had been manipulated by Dorgo into turning on their own families without hesitation. A wave of disgust washed over Demian, bringing with it memories of his own past.

He remembered the day Dorgo’s machinations had forced him to kill his own family. “Damn you,” Demian cursed under his breath.