Episode 565: Return of the Demon Cult
The village lay shrouded in darkness.
It was a sizable settlement, sprawling so wide that even from the hilltop, one couldn’t take it all in at a glance.
Yet, not a soul wandered the night streets.
It wasn’t the darkness that kept them away.
The village had already fallen to the demons, who had seized every building.
The ground had turned a murky black after being terraformed, and the air was thick with the unsettling presence of mana.
Black moss clung to every surface, and unknown vines twisted and coiled around the buildings like snakes.
The demons had claimed their spoils and violated the women.
The surviving men and children were imprisoned in the largest martial arts hall in the village.
The demons had made it their stronghold.
“I hear screams,” Sabikang murmured from the hill overlooking the village.
Standing beside him, General Gu Yun replied, “The demons are assaulting the women every night.”
“It’s not just the demons,” Sabikang noted grimly.
Gu Yun nodded with a bitter expression. “Yes, even the disciples of the Changchun Martial Hall are involved.”
His eyes were cold, filled with a disdain deeper than that for the demons themselves.
The Changchun Martial Hall had once been a place that trained righteous warriors.
But as the demons approached, they had pledged their loyalty to them.
They had welcomed the demons led by Jakart into their hall and actively helped suppress the villagers.
In some cases, they were even more brutal than the demons.
“Are we ready?” Sabikang asked.
“Yes, the Celestial Annihilation Squad, the Newborn Unit, and the Helmut Knights will lead the charge, attacking from all sides simultaneously.”
“And the Baritan forces?”
“They’ll attack with a time delay.”
Sabikang nodded. “We can’t afford to be careless. We must crush them completely.”
“We won’t make any mistakes,” Gu Yun assured, bowing his head.
**
A piercing scream shattered the night air, rising from the rear courtyard of the Changchun Martial Hall.
The sound was so harrowing that it sent chills down the spine and made the hair on one’s neck stand on end.
The woman who had screamed hung limp, her eyes rolled back.
Her arms were chained to pillars on either side, her legs spread wide and shackled.
But worse than her bindings were the three spears already embedded in her naked body.
Once beautiful and strong from martial training, she was now a bloodied wreck.
She trembled, bloodied saliva dripping from her mouth.
Watching her, Selmos approached Jakart, who sat in a chair, and bowed.
“It seems the subject can’t endure much longer.”
Jakart’s voice was devoid of emotion. “It doesn’t matter. Continue.”
Selmos nodded. “Understood.”
With a gesture from Selmos, the mages surrounding the woman raised their magic stones and began chanting in ancient demonic tongues.
Then,
A crimson beam shot from the stones, striking the woman’s body.
She let out a weak groan, her body limp and unresponsive.
Selmos gestured again.
This time, a demon approached with a spear, moving slowly toward the woman.
Her eyes widened in terror as she shook her head.
“Please… spare me… no… please…!” she begged, but her pleas were in vain as the demon drove the spear into her chest.
Selmos shouted irritably, “Too fast! Do it slowly! Make her feel the pain, the fear! That’s the key!”
“Understood.”
The demon complied, driving the spear in more slowly.
The woman screamed, thrashing her head in agony.
She wanted nothing more than to bite her tongue and end it all, but she couldn’t leave her young son behind.
How long did this hellish ordeal last?
The mages continued their incantations, and the demon pressed the spear in with agonizing slowness.
Jakart watched with a bored expression, turning to Selmos.
“How many completed demon beasts do we have?”
“Thirty-two are currently confined underground.”
“Thirty-two… not enough.”
“I’m sorry. We’re doing our best, but all the prime subjects have been sent to the Black Star, leaving us with few quality humans.”
“What about those who led us here?”
He referred to the disciples of the Changchun Martial Hall.
“But they pledged loyalty to save their own lives…”
Jakart sneered coldly. “True loyalty requires no reward. If there’s a reward, it’s not loyalty—it’s a transaction.”
“Understood. I’ll prepare them.”
To the demons, humans were no more than insects.
There was no need to honor promises made to insects.
In fact, promises couldn’t even be made with insects in the first place.
At that moment,
The woman’s screams took on a strange tone.
Jakart and Selmos turned their attention to her.
The woman, with four spears now embedded in her, writhed and screamed.
Her body arched like a bow, and then,
With a sickening rip, her chest split open, and something burst forth.
A grotesque creature, resembling a giant maggot, emerged, dripping with viscous fluid.
Anyone witnessing this scene would likely faint from terror.
The creature writhed and let out a bizarre cry.
Selmos shouted, “Increase the magic power!”
“Yes!”
The mages responded in unison, intensifying the energy from their magic stones.
The creature, having burst from the woman’s chest, writhed violently before slowly losing strength and collapsing.
“No… no!”
Selmos cried out reflexively.
But the grotesque life form slumped to the ground, never to move again.
The woman, too, lay still, drenched in blood.
Selmos turned away, his expression hollow, and reported, “I’m sorry. The subject couldn’t withstand it.”
Jakart clicked his tongue and waved dismissively. “Clear it away. Next.”
“Yes.”
Selmos bowed and gestured.
The demons unchained the dead woman and dragged her away.
Shortly after, they brought in two more people.
One was a boy, bound hand and foot, appearing to be about fourteen or fifteen.
The other was a man, likely his father, dragged in with a body covered in wounds.
“Please, spare my son! I beg you! Please!” the man cried as he was tied to a wooden post.
Selmos, annoyed, snapped, “Quiet! Who said we were going to kill your son?”
“Then… you’ll spare him?”
“That depends on your son.”
“What?”
But instead of answering, Selmos gestured again.
A demon approached with a spear, moving toward the man.
“Ugh! Aaaah!”
“Father! Father!”
The bound boy screamed in anguish.
The man writhed in pain, his screams echoing.
Throughout it all, Jakart watched with a detached expression.
This was all part of the process to create a demon beast.
By inducing extreme fear, despair, sorrow, joy, or pain in a human, and then using a special ritual, they could transform.
Most humans couldn’t endure and died.
But occasionally, there was success.
Just like now.
“Father! Father! Please stop! Let him go! Let him gooooo!”
Suddenly, the boy’s back arched grotesquely, and something burst forth.
It was like a massive spider leg, with dozens of limbs sprouting from his back, transforming his body.
The mages surrounding him raised their voices, unleashing the full power of their magic stones.
The boy’s body transformed completely, becoming unrecognizable.
His body swelled to three times its size, and his eyes grew large like those of a dragonfly.
The boy, now a monstrous creature, moved erratically, unsure of himself.
His father, witnessing the transformation, screamed in despair.
“You monsters! What have you done to my son?! Aaaaargh!”
In an instant, a caterpillar as thick as a man’s forearm wriggled out of his gaping mouth.
The creature was so massive that the man’s jaw and neck began to tear, blood streaming down as his eyes rolled back, his body undergoing a grotesque transformation.
He was in the throes of becoming a demon.
Once again, the mages unleashed their magic upon him.
With a sickening squelch, more thick caterpillars began to crawl out from his sides and abdomen, as if his body were an egg incubating these monstrous larvae.
Jakart and Selmos watched the scene with anticipation. It had been a while since they had managed to create two demons from a single ritual.
But soon, the giant caterpillars went limp, sliding to the ground lifelessly.
The man, too, lay dead, his eyes grotesquely turned upwards.
As the mages ceased their incantations, Jakart clicked his tongue in disappointment.
“Seems the son is better than the father, after all.”
“I’ll have this one moved to the underground.”
Jakart nodded silently, and Selmos gestured to his subordinates.
Just as a demon knight moved to take the transformed child away, a report came in.
“Humans are attacking the village!”
A demon messenger landed abruptly, delivering the news.
Jakart’s eyes gleamed with interest.
“Oh?”
This was unprecedented. Humans attacking demons first? Not since the completion of the summoning grounds had such a thing occurred.
“I’ll go see for myself.”
As Jakart slowly rose from his seat,
“No need for that. I’m already here.”
A sudden, unfamiliar voice interrupted.
Jakart turned, unusually alert, to find a human standing there, boldly wearing a Veritas at his waist.
‘How did he get here…?’
With a smirk, Sabikang spoke.
“Thanks for saving me the trouble of coming out.”