Chapter 41 – Juan

There was a sewer underground in the city.

The odor was strong due to the countless waste collected from the city.

Ed, who entered the sewer with a torch, sighed as he looked at the mossy and spider-webbed sewer. The odor was really bad, but the problem is that he doesn’t know where Juan is yet.

He didn’t know how long he had to walk through the dirty sewer to find him.

At that time, Arin stepped forward and said.

“Wait a minute.”

Arin recited a prayer, and soon a small lump of light appeared over her head.

Ed thought only magicians could do that, but Arin could make it with sacred prayers.

A lump of light that illuminates a distance longer than a torch allowed both of their hands to be free. Ed turned off his torch and looked around, relying on the light that Arin had made.

As his level rose, my senses improved, but there was no such thing as the ability to see through the darkness.

Still, he could see farther than others. He prepared an arrow and walked after Arin.

She took the lead not because she could use sacred spells, but because she was a holy knight.

Walking behind her, Ed opened his mouth.

“Can you detect any magi here?”

“No. I don’t think we can find him until we get close.”

He thought it would be easy if they found the target point, but they needed to do manual work from here.

Before that, Ed was thinking about whether his nose would fall off due to the odor. Ed was watching Arin’s back while walking behind her.

The odor was also bad, but there was dirty water between their ankles.

In this uncomfortable feeling, Arin was calmly taking a step-in check around.

She only moves with the upright belief that she needs to find and punish demons and does not care about dirt on her body.

Ed was following her and awakening his senses. His reaction can be late if you rely only on sight in dark sewers.

Ed, who was walking with all his senses awakened, heard a snap.

There are certainly beings living in this dirty sewer.

At first, when he was interested in the distant sound, the sound began to be heard everywhere.

From one to ten, from ten to a hundred in an instant.

“Something is coming up.”

Arin also pulled her shield forward and gave strength to the hand holding her hammer, nervous at his words.

The sound of dozens to hundreds was now heard in Arin’s ears.

Ed stood next to her, listening quietly. Fortunately, they only had to be careful of their front and back.

“I’ll block the back.”

As Arin nodded and took a step forward, she could see the presence of a clashing sound approaching in the dark.

It was the rats living in the gutter that ran around with their red eyes.

However, the rats were as large as a small dog, and the number counted tens.

They were approaching as if they would leave nothing but bones if they caught a human.

So Ed injected mana into the frozen bow and fired it. Polluted water in the sewer froze around the arrow.

Sllllll.

All the legs of the running rats froze and stopped.

Then the rats bit off their legs and began to crawl over the frozen sewage.

Ed frowned at their persistence.

“They’re not rats, they’re beasts.”

It is not difficult to deal with rats crawling after losing they have lost their legs. Ed also fired another arrow forward.

Even the rats running from the front were unable to run anymore because their legs were frozen.

Ed approached the rat and swung the Salamander’s sword. No experience came from the rat that died.

No matter how small a beast is, if it dies, experience would come in, but for some reason, they were useless things that didn’t even give experience.

Arin asked Ed.

“Are you going to kill them all by yourself?”

“No. Let’s just kill these together. Because we don’t have enough time.”

Arin nodded, walked with a hammer, and hit the heads of the crawling beasts.

Ed also killed all the crumbling rats without any hesitation.

Arin looked down at the body of the rat and said.

“They’ve been transformed into rats because of magi. But it’s hard to say it’s magic.”

“So the rats transformed into beasts?”

“Yes.”

Ed could see why these rats didn’t give him any experience. When ordinary rats are killed, experience values do not come in.

“I don’t know what it is, but it’s happening right now.”

Ed nodded at her words and took the lead.

“I’ll take the lead. Can I hold the light?”

“Wait a minute.”

When Arin beckoned, Ed could see a group of lights moving in front of him. Ed took a step.

After confirming that he was moving along the steps, Ed began to run toward the place where the rat’s footsteps were heard.

It was obvious that it would take longer to find Juan, so he accelerated. Arin also began to run fast with Ed.

Ed focused on the place where he could feel the ups and downs while running. It orients a place where the number of things exposed to magi.

The rat beasts were such a waste of arrows, seeing that they don’t give him any experience.

Ed saw a half-rotten dog while running. Even before Ed could react, a hammer flew from behind and smashed the rotten dog.

“I don’t think it’s normal magi. If the dead can still get up and walk, the spirit of a demon seems to be near.”

There is a power of demons that can awaken the dead. The spirit of a demon.

The spirit of a demon has yet to meet Ed. It is a power that belongs to at least an intermediate demon.

It was highly likely to be more than an intermediate demon because it followed the traces of the bloodstone.

But this means this could be a tough task to deal with the spirit of a demon.

“Let’s go this way.”

Ed took the direction of the rotten dog awakened by the spirit of a demon.

The dog died on its way there. The dogs’ skeletons also began to emerge. When they saw the half-rotten body, their impression hardened.

“It’s a ghoul. I’ll take the lead.”

Arin, who was running from behind, threw her shield.

The boulders caught in the trajectory of the blue shield literally smashed. Perhaps because of its sacred power, it was shattered and could not get up again.

Arin, who read the spirit of a demon, took the lead again. She picked up the shield as she ran and shouted.

“This way.”

Arin ran frighteningly against the ghouls, wondering why so many bodies were dumped in this sewer.

Ed, who was following Arin, saw a spider hanging from the ceiling. The spiders were almost the size of a young child, and the poison was dripping from their mouths, so they shot it with arrows and dropped them.

Arin focused on the ghoul and Ed took care of the spiders that appeared above her head.

Arin, who was running like that, stopped. The place where she stopped is where the water from the sewer gathers. It was a large vacant spot.

And there was a man with his head down, tied to a chain. The ceiling was higher than anywhere else, so the man’s feet did not touch the dirty sewage.

However, the man was bloody, and his body was engraved with red-lit runes.

Arin’s eyes trembled when she saw it.

“He’s extracting the energy of the Magi and the spirit of a demon from that person’s body.”

The rune letters drawn on his whole body and the blood-fluttering light were steadily leaking under the dirty sewage on the floor.

“And he’s using a magic circle, so now the sewer is rising, and the power of the demon is overflowing.”

Arin continued to talk while looking at him.

“And this isn’t even his max powers. It’s just the power of the demon and magi overflowing from his body.”

Ed made a strong impression at her words and looked around.

“There’s no one else here?”

“No.”

Ed shouted at the hanging person and asked.

“Are you alive?”

The man slowly raised his head at Ed’s question.

He was a brown-skinned man with a nice mustache. His eyes resembling Diego. He looked at Ed and Arin and smiled.

“…I guess it’s time to die. When I see the holy knight in sight.”

Ed, who was looking at him while talking and vomiting blood, asked.

“Juan?”

“Forget about the holy knight. Who are you?”

“Ed.”

He seemed to have a hard time talking, so Ed looked back at Arin.

“Can we go inside the circle?”

Arin, who had been looking, shook her head.

“If you go in, you’ll be engulfed by the power of the demon.”

Ed took an arrow out. Two arrows flew and cut off the chain that was holding Juan.

Juan fell on the floor and breathed out roughly.

Juan asked with his head up.

“Did you come to kill me?”

Ed couldn’t easily answer the question. It could be seen that Juan was the demon.

He’s not just an intermediate demon. Considering the amount of magi and power he has. His powers resembled a great demon.

But he was exhausted now. It was surprising that he was still alive.

But what should they do with him?

He’s the demon, so they need to kill him. Until now, they would have done that without hesitation.

However, Juan was robbed of his power and Magi, and they could tell that he didn’t want to use these powers.

That is why Arin did not immediately throw her weapon at him.

“I met Diego and Sophia.”

Juan struggled to get up at Ed’s words. Juan’s eyes were burning red.

“Are they okay?”

“They’re okay. Sophia asked me to save you.”

Juan burst into laughter at the words.

“She asked a holy knight to save me?”

“Yes.”

Juan’s gaze headed for Arin.

“So, what did the holy knight say?”

Arin replied, looking down at her hand, which Sophia held tightly.

“I told her that I’d save you if you weren’t a demon.”

Juan looked at Arin at the words.

“You’re a real holy knight.”

Juan stood up and said, looking under his feet.

“But how did you find me? It’s been more than 10 years since I’ve been hiding.”

“Yeah. I’ve heard incredible stories about you. Having been the ruler of the slums for 10 years, you created a clean slum without drugs, gambling, or prostitution. You were hiding well. If we hadn’t chased the traces of the bloodstone, we wouldn’t have found you.”

Juan brought his hand to the magic circle, but his hand behind him flashed with a red spark.

“Bloodstone. Yeah, that’s why you found me.”

Juan continued helplessly.

“After giving birth to Diego, I had no choice but to change the slums.”

Juan sat on the floor without touching the magic circle. Then he asked Ed.

“Are Diego and Sophia safe?”

“Sophia was suffering because she was exposed to magi when you fought. She would have died if Arin hadn’t treated her.”

Juan laughed in vain at his words.

“I didn’t know I’d get help from a holy knight in my life. But I’m still thankful.”

Juan said so and asked with his arms open.

“Can you break this magic circle?”

Arin shook her head.

“The magic circle is full of energy. If I do the wrong thing, I’ll end up activating it.”

Ed asked Juan when he said that. But Arin answered.

“How powerful is this?”

“The energy will not only blow away the town but also kill more than 30 percent of the city at once.”

Juan continued the afterword.

“And the dead will be revived by the energy of the demon. A day will be enough for the entire city to become a land of death.”

A technique made by extracting all the energy of the upper demon’s magic and power. The power is said to be so strong that it can blow away a city.

“How do you prevent this?”

Juan said.

“You’ll put it back in a bowl.”

Arin shook her head at his words.

“That can’t be possible. Your body won’t be able to handle it right now.”

Juan burst into laughter at her words. Juan, who was smiling while holding his stomach, looked at Arin with tears in his eyes.

“Is the holy knight worrying about a demon?”

Arin frowned and replied.

“If something goes wrong while absorbing the energy, the magic circle will explode. And then the city is wiped out!”

Juan stopped laughing and stood up again.

His body was so damaged, but his momentum changed. Ed and Arin both got goosebumps when they saw him.

He was the most powerful demon they’ve met until now. Juan said with a smile.

“I’m Juan Retrias. One of the most powerful demons. I know I can absorb this.”