The Seventh Year the Demon King Captured the Holy Monarch

At that time, the Gasuo barrier had already been declared a forbidden area by the temple. It was said that anyone who approached would be tainted by filth, and might even be possessed by evil demons.

Therefore, there was no sign of human activity as far as the eye could see. The fractured mountain looked as if it had been cut by some divine power, and then the whole thing had slid down.

Wildflowers and weeds grew freely at the edge of the cliff, and occasionally a small moth with gray wings would land on them.

Langmuir stood in the afternoon sun, unable to resist examining his hands, which were now covered in scales. He pinched his scaly tail with these hands, and finally exclaimed from the bottom of his heart about the greatness of the Goddess:

This is amazing!

She was able to completely transform him, a living person, into the appearance of a demon!

Just this morning, the elders finally agreed to Langmuir’s request to enter the abyss.

They told the son of god that since he was entering the abyss where demons crawled everywhere, he naturally needed some disguise.

The old men claimed they could use magic to turn him into the appearance of a demon, and brought out a potion for him to drink. Langmuir obediently drank it, and quickly lost consciousness.

When he woke up again, he was astonished to find that his body was covered in scales, small horns had grown on his head, and he even had a scaly tail behind him!

Langmuir was extremely surprised and couldn’t help but repeatedly ask, “Prophet elder, how did you do this?”

The prophet elder said with a smile, “The Goddess is omnipotent. You are entering the abyss alone for the sake of the people. Such great courage and love, how could she not grant a miracle?”

Langmuir then closed his eyes devoutly, “Thank you, Goddess.”

“But,” he opened his eyes again in confusion, “I seem to be unable to sense my Mana… There is another kind of energy in my blood, hotter and more violent, what is this?”

“Hehe, this is also part of the disguise, Lord Son of God. If those demons smell the holy Mana, they will go crazy chasing after you.”

Langmuir was still a bit confused.

But he knew that what was important now was not to explore this “miracle”.

The young son of god tied up his golden hair, took off his holy white robe, put on a rough and inconspicuous linen garment, and also wore shoes that were not necessary in the temple.

The elders prepared seven days’ worth of food and water in his bag, and also inserted a short sword at his waist. In this way, he was finally able to enter the abyss.

Before parting, the elders once again admonished, “Lord Son of God, you must remember that the grace of the Goddess can only last for seven days.”

“Within seven days, you must return to the human world, ask the Goddess to cleanse the filth you have been tainted with from the abyss, otherwise the effect of the blessing will dissipate, you will revert back to your human form, and you will die painfully in the miasma of the abyss, do you remember?”

Langmuir: “Yes, I remember.”

The prophet elder patted his head. The old man had kind eyes and a rough but warm palm.

“Promise me, good child, it doesn’t matter whether you can kill the demon king or not, you must come back on time, not too early or too late.”

Langmuir smiled, he looked at the grandfather who had raised him with the same admiring gaze for fifteen years, and repeated, “I really remember.”

Langmuir walked towards the barrier.

Under the guidance of the elders, he carefully pressed his hands against the barrier, feeling the majestic light Mana pulsating in his palms like a heartbeat.

He drove the “Mana” within himself – under the grace of the Goddess, it now presented a rich and hot black color, and even if it was condensed a bit more, it seemed like it could turn into flames.

This strange power wrapped around Langmuir’s fingers like tiny black snakes, biting at the gaps in the magic array.

Crack.

Soon, a gap was opened in the Gasuo barrier, and the miasma leaked out.

Langmuir was choked and coughed twice, enduring the discomfort and took a step forward.

Behind him came the call of the prophet elder, “Son of God, remember, you must come back within seven days!”

Langmuir turned back and smiled, the scales on his face could not hide his handsome beauty, “I know–”

The next moment, the barrier swallowed the figure of the young man.

The cliff returned to tranquility.

Only five elders were left standing there.

They stared at the barrier, silent for a long time.

Someone was the first to say, “Alright, let’s go back.”

There was another sigh, “Sealing the Son of God’s Mana, allowing the evil demonic breath to enter his blood… Ah, I hope there won’t be any mistakes.”

“The Son of God has already gone, it’s useless to say anything now. Alright, let’s all go back.”

Miracle?

The grace of the Goddess?

The elder standing in front of the offering took out a golden arrow from his sleeve and squinted at it in the sunlight.

The arrow made of honey gold, shone brightly in the sunlight, its shape almost identical to the one Langmuir had shot a few days ago.

Once, it contained a demonic breath. The last demon king who invaded the human world died at the hands of the Son of God at that time, this was the spoils of war from then.

Where is the grace?

It’s just…

The prophet elder slowly exhaled, the eyeball hidden in the deep eye socket turned, “Lord Langmuir is indeed a good boy. May the Goddess bless him.”

–If Langmuir saw this scene, the son of god would definitely be surprised.

Because when the prophet elder called the “Goddess”, he did not put his hands together, nor did he touch his heart with his fingers, nor did he close his eyes.

The face full of wrinkles showed no trace of devotion, nor the warmth of kindness.

In the depths of the old man’s eyes, there was only a coldness like ice.

****

Gloomy.

This was Langmuir’s first impression of the abyss.

Is this…the land abandoned by the Goddess, the sinful abyss without the sun?

The cold wind blew like a sharp knife, Langmuir was a bit stunned for a moment, all he could see in front of him were a few stubborn dead trees trembling in the crevices of the rocks.

Under his feet was a rugged cliff, there was no longer a bright sun above his head, replaced by a gloomy sky. From here, he could not see what the human world looked like, he could only see a huge magic circle emitting a strange light.

Extreme silence, extreme desolation, perhaps the hell in the holy teachings was nothing more than this.

Langmuir knew that the elders must be able to see him, so he nodded upwards, then turned around and walked down the cliff.

He listened to the sound of the wind, looked down at his scaly claws again, and thought quietly in his heart: If the elders’ original plan was followed, would the knights like Gilbert also receive the blessing of the Goddess?

If it wasn’t for him, the Son of God, who insisted on taking on this burden, would the chosen knights have to be buried in the miasma?

“…”

Langmuir sighed softly.

Although he had grown up in the Brett temple since he was a child, sometimes, he couldn’t fully agree with some of the elders’ practices.

When he grows older and ascends the throne, he will have to rectify the temple sooner or later.

But now, he must first focus on the task at hand.

…Later, many years passed, and the holy Son of God became the slave of the Demon King.

On a leisurely night, the Demon King would lie in bed playing with the honey gold dagger, laughing and saying to him, “You humans are really stupid, you just let the arrow in and don’t care?”

“After all the trouble of plundering my demonic breath, in the end, I just picked it back up.”

At that time, Langmuir was lying on the Demon King’s arm, nodding seriously, “Yes, yes, I originally thought I could kill you with one arrow, I really miscalculated.”

That was one of the rare times Langmuir lied.

In fact, humans were certainly not that stupid. Before Langmuir drew his bow, he had imprinted his soul on that honey gold arrow.

The original intention was to be able to recall the golden arrow after hitting the demon king, but the demon king’s scattered demonic breath was too strong, and he lost control of the honey gold arrow.

But that imprint was still there, and Langmuir could faintly sense its position.

“If you can’t kill the demon king, it’s good to find the honey gold back.” – This was the elders’ instruction.

Langmuir’s plan was the same. First, recover the honey gold, keep an eye on the demon king’s situation along the way, and then plan to assassinate.

……

Thus, the son of god walked in the abyss.

He walked down the cliff and saw piles of rubble. In the shadow, there was a demon with a hunched back, chewing on the raw meat of an unknown beast in his mouth.

…Barbaric.

He walked into the wilderness and saw dead trees and strange grass growing everywhere. Three demons were copulating under the open sky, making excited shouts.

…Lewd.

He walked into the plain and saw smoke rising. Two tribes of demons were fighting, they were waving iron sticks, smashing their own kind into a bloody mess.

…Cruel.

Time was short, Langmuir tried his best to hide and avoid conflict with the demons. But his face was still getting paler and paler.

The abyss was too oppressive, everything in sight was a harsh stimulus to the young man’s soft and pure nerves.

Langmuir had never seen such twisted and ugly forms of life. He just wanted to kill the demon king as soon as possible and leave this place filled with demons.

In the evening, the son of god sat under an old tree.

Langmuir slowly ate the dry bread. It was baked by the holy women of the temple for him, the prophet elder packed it in hard paper and put it in his bag, instructing him to eat it on the road.

But Langmuir found it tasteless. He couldn’t forget the scenes of bloodshed he had just passed through.

A thought suddenly crossed his mind: There are so many demons in the abyss, what will they do after the demon king dies?

Suddenly, Langmuir’s expression changed, and he abruptly retreated.

A claw came slashing from the side, cutting off a strand of his hair.

A demon appeared in front of the son of god.

This ugly creature lowered its body, its eyes were blood-red, and drool dripped from the corners of its cracked mouth.

It growled hoarsely, “Drop the food, or die.”

…Evil.

…Extremely evil.

The beautiful face of the son of god turned cold.

The ugly creature attacked him. This pitiful and ignorant demon, deceived by appearances, really regarded the human son of god as a weak inferior demon.

All it took was a moment of dodging, and the short sword at Langmuir’s waist was drawn.

A splash of blood light erupted from the demon’s chest, it screamed in despair, unwillingly glaring at the son of god as it fell.

Thud.

The body rolled on the ground.

Langmuir casually flicked off the blood droplets on his short sword.

A barbaric, lewd, cruel, and evil race, he thought.

Just as it is said in the holy teachings, the blood of sin flows in the bodies of demons.

If such creatures are allowed to crawl out of the abyss, what would the human world become?

He only had seven days, he had to hurry. He must kill the demon king… Langmuir turned around, his back to the body of the demon, and walked on.

“——Dad!”

A small cry sounded behind him.

Langmuir’s beautiful eyes widened. He turned around abruptly, only to see a thin figure rolling out from under the bushes not far away.

It was a dirty demon child.

Very thin, very small, like a four or five-year-old human child.

It crawled with its hands and feet, rushed to the side of the dead large demon, and used its skinny little hand to block the large demon’s bleeding wound.

It shouted, “Dad…Dad, what’s wrong with you, get up! Get up quickly, let’s go find something to eat…”

Langmuir stood there in a daze.

It was only then that he suddenly realized that the large demon who had attacked him was very thin – yes, the body of a demon was indeed tall. But that corpse was clearly emaciated, the ribs protruding one by one, even the scales were very dull, everywhere were new wounds overlapping old scars.

The little demon shook the corpse hard, slapped the corpse’s cheek, fiddled with the corpse’s eyelids, trying to wake up its dad.

But the dead large demon no longer responded. Finally, the corners of the little demon’s mouth twitched, large tears rolled down from its eyes, flowing down the dull scales.

It cried out loud, “Dad, Dad, wuu wuu…I won’t say I’m hungry anymore, wuu… I won’t say it anymore, Dad don’t go…Dad hug…”

The crying gradually became harsh and hoarse, the veins on the little demon’s neck bulged, and its body began to twitch.

Even so, its hands were still tightly gripping the arm of the large demon, not willing to let go at all.

A figure came in front of the little demon.

“Your father is dead.”

“He…”

Langmuir couldn’t go on. He was always good at comforting people in distress, but there was not a single sentence in the holy teachings that could be applied to this situation.

What should he say? What could he say?

Stealing other people’s things is wrong, and it’s even more wrong to hurt and kill people for it, so your father brought it upon himself?

Langmuir felt cold all over, he stiffly bent over and handed over the piece of dry bread, “Here, you eat it.”

The little demon looked up, “You killed Dad.”

Langmuir opened his mouth in shock, “…”

The little demon stood up, as if wanting to give Langmuir a claw, but just as it took a step forward, it fell to the ground with a thud.

Perhaps it was too weak.

After all, it was almost starved to death, and it had just cried for so long.

Langmuir’s face had lost all its color.

He placed the piece of dry bread next to the little demon, stumbled a few steps, and turned to run.

He ran out of the plain and into the forest, panting heavily, and walked quickly forward with his head down.

His heart was pounding, hitting his aching chest. Langmuir didn’t know where this pain came from, he could only look up blankly–

He saw the dark sky, saw the faint light emitted by the barrier.

Above the barrier, was the human world.

Thinking that the elders should still be waiting for him to return. And his parents, his brother, Gilbert… Langmuir calmed down a bit.

But the son of god was too gentle, as soon as he calmed down, the first thought was: How terrible, that little demon just now…

Such a small child, without its dad, how can it survive in such an environment as the abyss?

Yes, the demons are indeed full of sin, everything he has seen and heard along the way confirms this. But after all, it’s still such a small child…

Langmuir stopped, he began to turn around and run back, soon he was running. The old tree gradually appeared in his field of vision, and there were still two figures, one large and one small, under the tree.

……

The son of god walked to the tree.

He saw a pair of overlapping bodies.

The little demon laid on its back on the ground, its thin little hand with sharp nails tightly gripping the dead adult demon, a pair of black eyes staring blankly at the sky shrouded in miasma, its pupils already dilated.

There was a bloody hole in its chest, clawed out by a demon. As for that piece of bread, it was long gone.

Langmuir stood there with a deathly pale face.

It was just a short time to go and return.

Who cruelly killed this child and stole that precious piece of bread?

Could it be another father for another child who is about to starve to death?

Langmuir didn’t know the answer, and was destined to never know.

At this moment, the only thing he knew was that this little demon would never be hungry again, and no longer need to cry.

It will sleep with its dad forever.

The night deepened, Langmuir stood there for a long time, feeling dizzy and spinning. He thought to himself: Who am I, where is this, why am I here?

Oh, I remember. He is the Son of God, this is the abyss, he came to the abyss to kill the demon king.

Yes, kill the demon king.

Langmuir dazedly turned around again, walked back into the forest along the path he had just run back, while thinking to himself–to kill the demon king.

After walking for about half an hour, the son of god suddenly knelt on the ground and vomited heartbreakingly.