“Fools! You’re all dead now. Foolishly rushing to the afterlife!”
The Count, tightly bound to the mast, didn’t stop talking even while guiding the way.
‘He must have lost his mind.’
Arundel thought as she looked at the Count.
He had a gloomy side, but she didn’t expect him to change so drastically. The sight of the doll imitating his wife was a bit creepy.
It was a doll that looked just like a person, but it had no blood or expression. It seemed like a dangerous magic was cast on it, with dark energy flowing out.
It was a story that could be roughly guessed. A husband who lost his beloved wife and went mad.
The Count was pitiful, but the crime he committed was too great.
“To Baphomet, your lives are like bugs! If you don’t want to regret it, even now…”
“Baphomet?”
Lucas, who was listening, muttered.
“Lord Baphomet! How dare a lowly human casually utter His name!”
“I heard it from His Majesty’s mouth earlier…Is the Baphomet you’re talking about the same Baphomet I know?”
Lucas, who had been thinking, asked. Arundel tilted her head.
“What is the Baphomet that Lucas is thinking of?”
“Baphomet…I know it as the name of an ancient demon.”
At Lucas’s answer, Arundel frowned.
“An ancient demon?”
“Yes. I read about it once in a very old temple. It’s recorded as a demon that can seduce humans and feeds on death.”
It was strange that Lucas, who was more of an archangel, knew more about demons. He must have read the scriptures diligently, judging by his neat posture.
“But it’s an ancient demon that’s practically extinct… I’m not sure if the author is right.”
“We’ll see.”
Arundel said, looking at the back of the Count. But the path was getting rougher. It seemed to be heading to a very remote place.
They had walked quite a bit.
The Count gasped for breath.
“Huff huff!”
The destination was a barren open field. Arundel, who was looking around, thought this space felt strangely uncomfortable.
“There’s nothing here.”
Zion muttered. The Count, hearing his words, laughed as if he had lost his mind.
“Ahahahaha, you fools. Did you think I would quietly guide you to Lord Baphomet!”
Arundel’s guess was not wrong.
Suddenly, a huge flame erupted from all sides.
“This is a trap area where we’ve dealt with guys like you. I’ll turn you into ashes in an instant!”
As the Count said, the flames did not exceed a certain range.
The flames, like a huge mouth opening, engulfed Arundel and her party.
Then Zion waved his hand in the air. The flames subsided in an instant.
“What…what!”
Zion approached with a fierce face and grabbed his neck.
“You’re doing something useless.”
Zion, holding the Count, drew a dagger from his waist with his other hand. The merciless blade was aimed at the Count’s face.
Puck!
Black liquid began to flow from the Count’s left eye that was stabbed.
“Ah…Ahhhhh!!”
Zion threw the Count to the ground.
And then a tremendous spectacle followed.
Smoke flowed out of the eye along with the black liquid, and the smoke took on a huge form.
The completed form was a being with a lower body like a horse and a human-like appearance. There was a huge horn on its head.
“Are you Baphomet?”
At Zion’s question, Baphomet just brushed his hair once and wore a haughty expression.
“Yes, I am the infamous demon, Baphomet, who led the ancient world to destruction.”
Arundel made a bored expression. The demons were all so self-praising.
Meanwhile, Zion threw a glass bottle filled with black liquid in front of Baphomet.
“You must have made this.”
“So what?”
“I have to kill you.”
At Zion’s words, Baphomet laughed like a madman.
“Kill me? Ahahahaha!”
Baphomet stopped laughing and said.
“Just because you thwarted one trap, do you think you’re a great being?”
Baphomet said so and leisurely walked around the open field.
“You seem to know too little, so I’ll explain it to you.”
No one asked, but Baphomet opened his mouth with a smug expression.
“I’ve been asleep for a very long time. But I woke up recently. The balance of the world was a mess because Mannheim wasn’t doing his job.”
Arundel listened to Baphomet’s words with an anxious heart. She might have been able to hear the story she was curious about.
“The demons were crazy, too. Even the high-ranking demons who had quite a reputation. A demon who has lost his reason is just right for absorption.”
Arundel frowned as he listened to the story.
She had heard from Baphura that the demons were crazy. What the hell is happening now…?
“And I met that guy.”
Baphomet pointed to the Count lying down.
“When I met him, he was out of his mind…He was a perfect prey. He quickly followed me when I showed him a being similar to his dead wife.”
And he picked up the glass bottle that Zion had thrown.
“You must have already known, but I gave this to the Count. And I told him to feed it to some of the cows in the barn. If it grows too much, many people will doubt…I gave it with the order to control the distribution.”
Arundel looked at the black liquid that Zion brought.
Zion wasn’t playing around, but he quickly figured out the inside story on his own. Plus, he even brought solid evidence.
“So if I kill you, it’s all over.”
Zion muttered. But Baphomet wore a scornful smile.
“You didn’t understand the words properly.”
Underneath Baphomet, enormous souls screamed and came to life.
“Not only the stupid demons, but also the human souls gathered by the plague have all become part of me, and I am stronger than ever.”
The soul rushed at Zion with a death rattle-like sound. But before it could touch Zion, the soul disappeared.
Despite seeing the rapid elimination of the soul, Baphomet was not flustered.
“The number of souls I’ve gathered so far is enormous.”
Whether it was bluffing or not, the souls kept popping out and attacking. Arundel and Lucas, who were behind Zion, also took a combat stance.
But then,
“What’s all this?”
Hills’ voice came through between the screams of the souls.
“Hills?”
Hills, who had left, returned at a good timing.
Arundel let out a sigh of relief. She had been wondering how to deal with this enormous amount of souls.
“I felt a strange energy from afar and came to see…This is no joke.”
Hills clicked his tongue as he looked at the pouring souls.
“There’s no time to admire, help now!”
At Arundel’s urgent cry, Hills took a stance and fired magic.
Baphomet, seeing this, stopped commanding the souls and looked at Hills with narrowed eyes.
And he muttered.
“…Hills?”
Hills hesitated for a moment, but soon answered with a brazen face.
“You’ve mistaken me for someone else. I’m just an ordinary human.”
“…I must have seen it wrong. There’s no way Hills would be here.”
Baphomet muttered with his arms crossed.
“By the way, is there an end to this?”
Hills frowned and complained.
As he said, no matter how much magic was fired, the attacking souls did not seem to decrease.
Arundel wiped the sweat off her forehead and thought to herself.
‘I’m rather curious about that.’
This was like a river that had burst its banks, with no end in sight.
Suddenly, Arundel, who was turning her head, saw Lucas fall. Arundel quickly approached and eliminated the soul trying to attack.
Lucas seemed a bit out of it.
“Pull yourself together!”
“I’m…I’m sorry. This is my first time seeing this many souls.”
It was understandable for an ordinary human to be flustered.
The souls were emitting negative emotions apart from the attack. Even for a priest, it wouldn’t be easy to withstand.
But it’s right to pull yourself together in order to survive.
But then it happened.
While helping Lucas up, the movement of the souls changed.
The attack was all aimed at Arundel.
When the movement of the souls, which had been evenly targeted at the four, unnaturally turned towards Arundel, Arundel was overwhelmed to block it.
‘Why…why are they doing this.’
“Sure enough, when they focus their attack on you, the guys around you waver.”
Zion and Hills blocked in front of Arundel. Baphomet seemed to have noticed Zion and Hills wavering depending on Arundel’s condition.
“Oh, you’re quite quick-witted.”
Hills said jokingly.
“I’ve roughly figured you out, so now it’s my turn.”
Baphomet rolled his foot as if he was going to do something. And when he stomped his raised foot hard, the ground cracked.
It was instantaneous.
The ground collapsed under Arundel.
“Ah…!”
Before she could even reach out her hand, Arundel’s body fell into a hole with no end in sight.
She was falling.
Her body was heading endlessly downwards. She moved her hands and feet, but they just flailed helplessly in the air.
A dizzying sensation ran through her body. She closed her eyes without realizing it.
In the darkness, she remembered the faces of the last people she saw.
He remembered Hills reaching out his hand. His eyes were wide open.
Lucas seemed to have a bewildered look on his pale face. Honestly, she didn’t know because she just glanced at him.
‘And Zion…’
Arundel’s closed eyes trembled.
Desperate honey-colored eyes were chasing her. Despite the situation unfolding in an instant, Zion’s desperate movements came into view as if time was moving slowly.
‘What’s this, why am I remembering the people around me like I’m about to die.’
Arundel suddenly opened his eyes wide.
“I can’t die like this.”
After all the hardships I’ve been through.
Thud!
Arundel, who was falling, grabbed a protruding part of the wall.
The recoil made Arundel’s body bounce. Her shoulder ached from the shock.
‘Fortunately, I’ve stopped the fall.’
Now how do I climb up? Arundel had to put strength into her arm due to the pulling force from below.
Looking down, she saw a soul pulling at her ankle.
‘Damn it.’
Arundel let out a divine power from the tip of her foot. The soul quickly fell away, she felt bad, but souls were chasing up from below.
Arundel bit her lip and pondered, feeling unjust.
Every time a crisis hit, she thought that although the divine power was strong in itself, its range of use was too narrow. If she could use magic, he would have flown right away.
‘…That doesn’t mean there’s no way.’
Arundel swallowed dry saliva.
She gathered divine power in the hand that was bearing the weight. She had to hurry because the souls were chasing her.
She closed her eyes and concentrated. She hoped that nothing had happened while she was falling.
Gradually, divine power gathered in her hand. It was the maximum amount that a human body could use. She might be exhausted after using it.
Arundel took a deep breath and let go of the protruding part of the wall. The moment she fell, she fired the divine power downwards.
The recoil made Arundel’s body soar.
‘Please, please.’
Arundel prayed that her soaring body would reach the ground.
The soaring body approached the sky.
Thud!
Finally, Arunel reached out and grabbed the ground.
She thought there might be people looking for her to help, but contrary to expectations, there seemed to be no one near the hole.
Thanks to that, Arundel struggled alone to climb up to the ground. Fortunately, it didn’t seem to put much strain on her body.
But then,
“What…what is this.”
Arundel looked around with surprised eyes. The trees that had been surrounding the area were nowhere to be seen, as if they had never been there.
That wasn’t all.
The grass that had been covering the ground was nowhere to be found. Arunel looked around at the desolate scene, as if it had been hit by a meteor.
‘Where…where is Zion? I can’t see Baphomet either.’
As Arundel turned her head, she spotted the purple back of Hills’ head, who was crouching down.
She quickly approached him. At the sound of her approach, Hills raised his head.
“You’re alive after all…!”
She found Zion and Lucas lying behind Hills. But both of them were lying with their eyes closed, their faces pale.
“Zion…what happened…?”
Arundel’s voice trembled.
Even though Lucas was there too, her gaze only went to Zion.
For a moment, her heart seemed to stop.
