Chapter 173

The world is filled with countless colors.

Including the first appearance of the rainbow color, there are so many that it’s hard to count them all.

Each color has a unique name depending on brightness and saturation, and combining different colors creates entirely new ones.

Especially for ‘life,’ color is something inseparable. Without colors, maintaining life would be impossible.

In that sense, ‘demons’ are entities that completely disregard the very foundation of the world, including common sense. They exist even after being stripped of their colors.

Demons aren’t alive because they lack color. Yet, they manage to maintain their existence just fine.

They are beings that will eventually disappear unless they regain their colors. This led scholars to ponder.

“How on earth do demons exist with colors intact without disappearing?”

Demons themselves, by their very nature, upend the foundation of the world, making them poorly understood.

In fact, there are hardly any records beyond the color indigo. It’s an event long forgotten by humanity.

However, since they cannot leave any descendants, they are bound to naturally perish over time. Most scholars predict this.

Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean they are harmless. First off, they are quite powerful and must seize life to maintain their existence.

Above all, they possess intelligence and even the ability to control monsters.

Due to this, incidents suspected to be caused by demons occasionally arise. Well, it’s just suspicion, after all.

“Hmm…”

It appeared to be a spacious cave that the demon had arbitrarily claimed as its home.

In a place solely illuminated by torches, a being sat on the ground.

This being had a rather unique appearance—overall, it was in black and white.

It looked as if it had been drawn with a black pen. Unlike the colorful surroundings in this dark space, it seemed completely isolated.

However, its chest, specifically the area around the heart, faintly glowed blue. That was the only color it had.

A demon who had been stripped of color in the war against the gods and disregards the very essence of the world.

On the surface, it appeared to be a muscular giant, but the different aura gave away its demonic nature.

“I’m not satisfied.”

The demon muttered irritably. Beside it lay a greatsword.

This greatsword was distinctive in that its blade was red, while the handle and decorative parts were jet black.

Moreover, the connection between the blade and the handle had a shape resembling an eye, much like that of a reptile.

“Still not enough.”

Muttering, the demon slowly rose to its feet. As it did, its massive size became apparent.

It was so large that it almost matched an ogre in size. Its body, brimming with muscle, suggested immense strength.

Eventually, the demon picked up the sword that lay on the floor and walked towards a wooden prison.

“Keruk? Keruk?!”

“Kyiiik!”

Inside the prison were two goblins trapped. As the demon approached slowly, the goblins recoiled in fright.

But there was no way to escape the wooden prison. The demon reached in and grabbed a goblin’s head.

Crack!

With that, it exerted force and easily burst the skull, like popping a water-filled balloon.

The nearby goblin met the same fate. Despite desperately trying to resist, it was utterly helpless against the demon’s strength.

“Hmm…”

The demon grimaced as it looked at its hand. Goblin blood and brains splattered all over its black-and-white hand.

To sustain its life, a demon must take other lives. Just like what it had done moments before.

Yet, strangely, it felt unsatisfied. Before, taking monsters like goblins would fill it up to a blue state.

‘Now it seems I need to take human lives.’

The blue symbolizes the creatures that rule the world—humans. It seemed it was time to feast on their lives.

Although it had consumed quite a few humans before, it had been cautious lately. Restraining itself was to prepare for the future.

But now that it had reached blue, it would have to take human lives without question.

Clomp-

“Keruk! Keruk!”

“Kaek!”

Just as the demon fell into thought, a few goblins burst through the door and confidently entered.

Being low-intelligence beings, they hadn’t even knocked. The demon shifted its gaze towards the goblins.

“Mm?”

Then its eyes widened in surprise. The goblins had brought a human with them!

Just when it needed a human, they had conveniently kidnapped one. But that didn’t mean it was entirely good news.

‘I must have commanded them to ignore humans as much as possible…’

Kidnapping a human was a premature move. Acting too hastily might expose their location and identity.

Of course, the goblins had no way of knowing this. They hurriedly lowered their heads and scampered away.

Soon, the door closed, leaving only the demon and the lone human inside. The demon looked down at the human with indifference.

“Mm?”

The demon’s eyes widened slightly. There was something strange about the energy emanating from the human.

With softly glowing pink hair and long eyelashes, the outfit was reminiscent of a priest’s robes.

Objectively, she was beautiful, but the demon didn’t care. What concerned it more was the energy she radiated.

“You’re a follower of Gaia.”

Priests, who are blessed with a life force greater than others. Specifically, she was a follower of Gaia, who governs life directly.

Thus, taking her life would be quite tricky. To the demon, priests were like a double-edged sword.

Her overflowing life force would significantly strengthen it upon absorption, but the problem was that it could backfire.

Divine power was akin to poison for the demon. Absorbing it in its entirety could lead to complications.

It’s kind of comparable to food poisoning for a human. In fact, that’s exactly how it’s treated.

‘I’ll deal with this human later.’

The demon clicked its tongue. It was still premature. No matter how weak a priest is, absorbing one would cause trouble.

So, it decided to confine her to the wooden prison. If she starves to death, so be it.

It had learned long ago that acting in haste could lead to bloodshed. Now was the time to lie low.

‘If only it were another human…’

The woman was tossed into the same place where the goblins had their heads burst earlier. I repeat, she was tossed.

It may have looked like she was thrown carelessly, but to the demon, she was mere cargo.

Thud!

“Ugh…”

Perhaps due to the impact of being roughly tossed, the priest let out a sound of discomfort.

Then, she slowly opened her eyes, revealing her pink irises hidden beneath her eyelids.

“Wha, where is this…?”

Despite her disorientation, she looked around. In a cave illuminated only by torches, it was hard to discern her surroundings.

Clatter-

“Huh?”

Just then, a clattering sound caught her attention. She turned her head to look for the source of the noise.

What lay in her view were the decapitated bodies of the goblins. Blood and brains splattered everywhere.

For a moment, she couldn’t grasp the situation, but her complexion turned pale. It was too shocking for her to even scream.

“Ah… ugh… wh-what is this…”

How did it come to this? She had simply entered the forest looking for a lost item.

After encountering goblins, she tried to escape, but was ultimately captured. Now, she woke to find herself surrounded by goblin corpses.

She forced herself to keep down the rising bile and scanned her surroundings. At least she realized she was trapped in a wooden prison.

Soon, she could see a being seated in the center like an ancient tree. She opened her mouth to speak, but then stopped.

“What, what is that?”

It stood out drastically from its surroundings. Its color, of course, gave it a surreal, painted appearance compared to the world.

It was overflowing with colors but filled only with black and white. The only thing glowing faintly blue was its chest.

At that moment, she had a hard time identifying its nature, but it soon dawned on her. Recent knowledge from the academy came to mind.

“Could it, could it be a demon?”

“… …”

No matter what the priest babbled, the demon remained silent. It simply closed its eyes and calmed itself.

Then, the priest panicked and kept rambling, but the demon let it go in one ear and out the other. After all, the priest was more of an emergency food supply.

“Why is a demon here?! Answer me!”

“… …”

“If you don’t answer…”

“Quiet.”

A heavy reply came back. Upon hearing the demon’s response, the priest clamped her mouth shut.

Just a single word from it weighed down on her shoulders. What on earth was the demon’s true nature?

Yet, it seemed the woman wasn’t going to back down either. She looked around and gathered her hands together.

“Oh, Gaia, lord of life! To that wicked one…”

Whirr-

The golden energy began to accumulate from her joined hands. The demon felt this energy and frowned.

Then, she pointed her finger at the demon and shouted.

“Judgment!”

The golden energy shot forth from the tip of her finger like a laser. The moment the demon saw the beam, it nonchalantly raised its hand.

Sizzle!

The energy was extinguished by the demon’s hand. However, a change occurred in the demon’s hand upon being struck.

Like paper being burned in a fire, its hand began to burn away. It did subside shortly, but the demon frowned.

This is why it dislikes priests. Even a weak existence could inflict this level of damage.

If the demon’s body were like a sheet of paper soaked in oil, the divine power was a tiny spark. They were polar opposites.

“This won’t do.”

The demon slowly rose to its feet. It had intended to leave things be, but that was an oversight.

Indeed, it was better to eliminate priests beforehand. No matter how strong, a direct hit to the heart could lead to unforeseen consequences.

As the demon approached, sword in hand, the priest shrieked and recoiled. She wanted to speak, but fear rendered her mute.

“Ah… ugh…”

All she could do was clasp her hands together and fervently pray. There was no one around to call for help.

“Please, please, please, oh Gaia…”

As the woman desperately prayed with her hands together, the demon opened the prison door.

Then, with its enormous hand, it grabbed her arm and hurled her outside. Her body fell out helplessly.

“Ugh!”

The shock from the hard cave floor was too much to bear. The priest grimaced and suddenly felt a chilling presence.

The source of that energy was directly above her. So, she slowly looked up.

When she did, she saw the demon standing boldly, its greatsword raised. Its size rivaled that of an ogre, and the pressure it emanated was terrifying.

“Goodbye.”

“… …”

The priest couldn’t even utter a farewell. This was understandable since fear had paralyzed her.

As the demon’s greatsword came crashing down, she shut her eyes tight, bracing for the impending pain.

Crash!

But before the sword landed, another sound broke the tension. It was the noise of something smashing.

Both the demon and the woman turned, surprised, towards the source of the sound.

“Kaek…! Khek…!”

It was a goblin. The goblin burst through the door, breaking it down.

At first glance, it was hard to grasp what was happening, but the goblin’s condition was alarming.

Its face was severely caved in, as if it had been struck by a massive hammer. The only thing left intact was its little mouth, that still moved about.

“… …”

The demon slowly lowered its sword. Whoever this was, it was undoubtedly an intruder.

Perhaps it was here to rescue the human priest. Intuition told it so.

‘What about the others? Did it kill all the monsters inside the cave?’

If that were the case, there should have been noises. But there were none.

It seemed they had snuck in or killed the monsters one by one. The demon leaned toward the latter.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have pulled such a stunt at the end. In fact, there was barely any presence detectable within the cave.

Step, step-

In the meantime, the culprit behind the door crashing entered. A person wielding a large axe in one hand.

Surprisingly, he had a youthful face. He looked like a man who hadn’t yet crossed into maturity.

With a boyish charm, the most striking feature was his bright red eyes.

“Here.”

The boy murmured disinterestedly. With a voice as fine as his youthful appearance.

Then, the boy’s gaze met the demon’s. The priest who had been waiting for death remained frozen.

‘…What the?’

The demon narrowed its eyes. The suddenly intruding boy appeared human at a glance.

But… something felt off. Though he looked human, there was a significant strangeness about him. His eyes, and even his skin were unnaturally pale.

His well-trained body didn’t match his youthful looks. Certainly, he might just be youthful, but there was something strangely twisted about him.

It felt like his body was fully grown, yet one part had not matured. Whatever it was, it felt odd.

“Please, save me!!”

In the midst of the demon’s contemplation, the priest crawled toward the boy, Sivar.

It was pretty comical, but she didn’t mind. She needed to survive, after all.

Sivar, noticing the woman crawling towards him, frowned as if responding to something unexpected.

“What are you doing here?”

“Uh, huh?”

“Never mind.”

“Y-you’re here to help, right?! Yes?!”

The woman asked hastily. Sivar scratched his head, then looked ahead.

He spotted the demon, towering like an ogre, holding a sword.

It was clear that defeating the demon was the priority. Sivar nodded in agreement.

“Then let me help you! Oh Gaia, bless this brave soul!”

She was so quick to assess the situation, instantly invoking a blessing. Her hands held onto Sivar’s.

It was one of the blessings a follower of Gaia could perform to enhance physical abilities. Initially, he thought so, but…

Hiss!!!

For some unknown reason, smoke began to billow from Sivar’s hand.

“Yowch!!!”

Sivar jumped and swiftly shook off his hand.

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