CHAPETR 32
Midnight Adventure (2)
As that face came to mind, Sisyphus became certain.
‘He really didn’t forgive me. Because surely, Talos—!’
Even Talos himself might not know.
But Sisyphus felt he understood the emotions Talos held toward the “13th generation.”
At that moment, Erebus stepped closer.
‘He’s wavering. I can see it in his face.’
He knelt on one knee and grabbed Sisyphus’s ash-brown hair.
“Ugh?!”
“Did you think we couldn’t start a war just because we backed off the border once?”
“Hrk—Why… Why are you doing this to me—?”
“If you tell me now who sent you…”
Erebus’s tone was flat and emotionless.
Yet Sisyphus could feel an invisible force ripple through the air.
The Demon King’s pressure felt like thick chains tightening around his neck.
‘And Talos, that bastard, he’s not going to help me!’
After all, Sisyphus had already abandoned the 13th generation once out of fear of war.
Under Erebus’s threat, he began to tremble harder.
He recalled the oath he’d sworn at the temple in the capital—but survival came first.
“P-Please, spare me, I beg you!”
“…I’ll send you away with your limbs intact. Maybe to another country.”
“Hrk, huu…!”
“Fine then. What was your reason for separating from Halkion’s group?”
“Th-That was…”
Just as Sisyphus was about to answer—
A voice rang in his mind, filled with disgust.
『You ran away then too. Absolutely useless.』
The breath caught in Sisyphus’s throat.
‘Talos!’
How could he hear that voice so clearly?
Then it hit him—Talos’s ability.
‘You used your ability on us?!’
『…Only just realizing? How pitiful. You don’t deserve the title of priest.』
‘You bastard… You never trusted me, not once—!’
He could almost see Talos casually waving his hand as if annoyed.
『That’s enough, Sisyphus. I’ve gotten all I needed.』
‘No! Please, spare me, I beg you!’
『Your role can be given to someone else.』
‘Talos!’
『Farewell.』
In that moment, a faint red line appeared behind Sisyphus’s neck.
It was so thin, no one noticed at first.
But it quickly thickened—until it was as wide as a child’s wrist.
And the instant it spread across the nape of his neck, Sisyphus’s body went limp.
“Your Majesty!”
Phobos and the advisors shouted urgently.
“Your Majesty, are you all ri—”
But before Phobos could finish, the priests who had been dragged in also let out strange groans.
“Ugh…!”
“Ahhh!”
“S-Save me…!”
They clutched their heads in agony as if they were splitting open.
Moments later, they began foaming at the mouth and collapsed unconscious.
Even if they woke again, their minds likely wouldn’t return to normal.
The torture chamber fell into sudden silence.
The first to break it was Phobos, who placed a hand over his chest.
“…Wow, my heart’s pounding too hard. I’m not sleeping tonight, Your Majesty.”
“Then help with the cleanup.”
“Uugh…”
While Phobos groaned dramatically, Erebus looked down at Sisyphus’s corpse.
‘This is definitely a curse technique—an ancient one, no less.’
What was Halkion trying to hide, going this far?
The only evidence of a “barrier” being used was Minte’s testimony.
The rest of the humans had just been captured and dragged in by the Kore Knights and Phobos.
‘But pressing the Halkion people now… There are too many foreign humans here.’
Tartarus sat in the heart of the continent, surrounded by human kingdoms.
Though Erebus was of a different race, he’d opened the borders for trade.
Demons might be physically stronger, but—
‘If we push too hard against Halkion, the human kingdoms might all unite and turn on us.’
If that happened, things could get dangerous once Elysion came of age.
Erebus let out a long sigh.
He wanted to give his daughter peaceful days—but they were still far off.
“Phobos. Was there anything suspicious when you caught these people?”
“Hmm… Well, they resisted a bit, but we got them quickly—oh.”
Phobos recalled the moment they pursued them with the Kore Knights.
They’d caught every last one, thanks to the dragon.
But they didn’t go down without a fight.
Some had fiercely resisted the magic knights—enough to draw their weapons.
“…Now that I think of it, they fought so hard that they even broke some of our swords.”
Almost as if intense combat was part of their objective all along.
“Tch. Fool. Frightened so easily after just a little pain.”
Back at the Holy Nation’s delegation quarters, Talos let out a disgusted sigh.
Just now, Sisyphus had been destroyed by the “Blood Oath,” and the rest had been mentally shattered by Talos’s “brainwashing.”
‘Good thing I pre-programmed them before we left. Otherwise, they’d have spilled everything.’
It was a loss to be without their sensory abilities.
But Talos grinned, thinking of Sisyphus.
‘Did you think I’d just let the man who let the 13th die go unpunished?’
They had outlived their usefulness.
And now he knew the “High Saintess’s soul” lingered somewhere in Kore.
Now he just had to prepare a way to seal that soul.
Talos held up a shard no bigger than a thumbnail.
“So this is bloodstone.”
It was a strange dark-green fragment with crimson specks that shimmered ominously.
‘A special ore found only in Tartarus…’
Not every demon knight could convert mana into weapons like the “Mad Hound Knights.”
But a sword made from “bloodstone” could counter holy knights.
‘Because it can trap divine power.’
When a holy knight used divine power, this stone could seal that power and neutralize the attack.
Talos had seen it happen on the battlefield.
‘I told the priests to resist the demon knights as best they could.’
One of the captured priests had secretly dropped the fragment in the garden.
That had only been possible because Talos raised his voice intentionally, drawing attention away.
‘Things are finally moving forward.’
Feeling pleased, Talos tossed the shard to the bowed priest beside him.
“Here, Antias.”
“Yes, Lord Talos.”
“Will this be enough?”
“Hehe, yes. Thank youuu.”
The priest called Antias caught the shard and smirked.
As he lifted his hood, dark purple curls and dull black eyes were revealed.
He looked like a beautiful boy in his late teens.
But his twisted smile didn’t match his youthful face.
Antias gazed at the shard in fascination.
“It’s a little small… but I’ll analyze it thoroughlyyy.”
“Good. I expect results.”
“Heehee, yes. Leave it to me. So, are we returning to Aeolos nowww?”
“That’s right. Begin preparations once the festival ends.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to leave any pawns behind? Even one of that bastard’s servants?”
“The Demon King ordered all the servants to leave. Only the bastard himself is to remain.”
“Heehee. The demon king is suspicious by nature.”
As Talos turned away, he could still hear Antias’s raspy, unsettling laughter.
Tch. The Sisyphus mess probably has them on high alert now. No Holy Nation personnel will be welcome in this land for a while.
Thinking of the “13th’s soul” made his chest tighten.
But clouded judgment could ruin everything.
‘Now is the time to retreat, for the sake of the future.’
Just then, Talos’s eyes fell on the palace of that insignificant princess.
A wave of irritation surged through him, and his fingers twitched.
‘That arrogant, insect-like girl. Let the demons watch too.’
One day, when he reclaimed the 13th—
And regained that soul and its divine power—
‘I’ll turn this place that killed her into a sea of fire.’
The thought that she had died because of the demons made fury rise in his throat.
‘What makes the demons so loathsome is that they’ve made everything more complicated—because of her.’
Deep down, something whispered that it wasn’t just that.
But Talos had already turned his gaze away from the Palace of Persen.
