Deep inside the forest thicketed by trees that appeared as if no humans would ever tread among them, a commotion arose.
Bam!
A huge explosion sounded, and the forest was shrouded by light. The light was so intense and bright that it momentarily erased the presence of the moon and stars.
Crackle!
The trees in the surroundings caught on fire. The dense forest was usually humid and moist. It was a difficult environment for a wildfire to spread, and fire sparks tended to fail to spread across trees and died after failing to find anything to prolong their existence. Yet, this time, the moist trees inside this forest failed to withstand the recent explosion’s fire. The place was now a hot sea bed of fire. High temperatures, acrid smoke, and the ominous glow of the area sang the song of the disaster that had dawned upon the place.
As wild animals interrupted from their peaceful sleep ran wild in search of safety, the chaos inside the forest heightened further.
Bam! Another explosion sounded. At the shock of the explosion, a side of the forest became a vacant lot. Flames knocked down trees, set the grass on fire, and expanded outward. More explosions followed.
Flick!
Through the wall of fire, a person jumped out. A disorderly, red-eyed man covered in blood from head to toe was senselessly running across the forest away from the intense light of the fire.
“Huff! Huff!” Was he simply tired or overwhelmed by fear? The man found it extremely difficult to breathe, but it didn’t seem like he was bothered by the heavy smoke or heat from the fire. The man looked behind him. There was a look of clear fear in his eyes; as if he were checking something that he didn’t want to see but had to, his pupils moved this way and that. All that was reflected in his eyes was the mad, burning flames and the animals making their desperate escape. He didn’t see the one who had driven him into his current state of fear.
‘D-Did he die?’ the man thought.
A voice immediately sounded from his side. “Hey!”
All the hairs on the man’s body rose. He quickly arched his body and rolled to the ground.
Whoosh! A glowing red sword reflecting the firelight cut through the air where he used to be. The man felt chills on his back.
“What? Are you going to keep running like that? What happened to your overflowing confidence at the beginning of our fight? You said you were happy to see a human you could burn after a long time!”
Pop! The sword’s mana chased after the man. The man couldn’t escape. Thus, he shot out flames while clenching his teeth.
Booom! There was another explosion. The man had shot out the greatest firepower he could muster and burned the forest once more. Yet, the flames only had power over the unmoving, unspeaking vegetation in the area.
Boom!
A faint explosion sounded near the man’s ear. The man turned, feeling that something bad was going to happen.
Slice!
With a clean, sharp sound, the man’s vision tilted strangely.
Thud!
The man’s chest was deeply cut, and his body fell over without resistance.
Hwaaa! Nearby, fire burned the grass on the ground and slowly approached the man. Soon, the man’s clothes caught fire, and flames began to spread across. The fire looked voracious enough to eat its own master...
After killing the man, Zich stood by and watched with interest. Then, as if something suddenly came to his mind, Zich began to cut up the nearby trees. It didn’t matter if the trees caught fire or not. Zich cut up fine pieces of firewood and began to pile them neatly on top of the man. Sparks from the burning wood spread to the other pieces of wood. After covering the man with firewood, Zich picked up fresh tree branches with plenty of wide leaves. He crouched next to the firewood and waved the branches like a fan. He stoked the flame by even pouring a bit of his mana into it, and the fire completely swept up the firewood.
Zich nodded like he was satisfied with his work. Then, he looked around after his clean-up. Although the man had died, the forest was still burning fiercely.
‘I should take care of this too,’ Zich thought and raised his sword.
Baaam!
Mana swept the forest with a loud roar. Flames that were passionately marking their presence into the world by burning everything twisted in the shape of the great wave of mana.
Fwoosh!
The flames, which had spread like they would burn the entire forest, disappeared in an instant. Only the rising smoke and burnt ashes of the forest remained. There wasn’t a spark anywhere except the fire burning the man who had caused the wildfire. It was a confusing sight that would make one wonder whether they should admire Zich’s skills for leaving only the fire burning the man against a great fire that had swept the nearby forest, or sigh about Zich’s sadistic tendencies.
Zich sheathed his sword.
‘One more off the list,’ Zich thought and pulled out a piece of paper from his magic box. There were many names written on it and some names were crossed out. Zich pulled out a pen and placed its tip on the name right below a crossed name. Demon Person: Cinder.
The man had gained this name because cinders only remained in the areas he passed by. His skills allowed him to use the power of fire, and because he enjoyed burning humans, people from the future cowered in fear of his name. Yet, Zich had now taken his life in this nameless forest where his body burned away from the fire he caused himself and turned to cinders like the nickname he gained in the future.
Scratch! Zich drew a few lines with his pen to cross off Cinder on his list.
‘There are only a few left.’ The note in his hand contained the names of the few completed demon people in this era. Since the era of demon people hadn’t arrived—no, hadn’t been created yet—most demon people didn’t openly appear in society. However, their danger was not negligible by any means.
Before Ultel launched a massive invasion, he planned to cause confusion by releasing demon people into the world, so it was only natural that Zich, who planned to hinder all of his plans, would step forward to get rid of all the demon people in this world. Of course, since Zich couldn’t search everywhere in the world for demon people by himself, he left those who weren’t dangerous yet or fully developed to the others.
‘Should I start moving?’ Zich needed to move diligently to end the next demon person. His figure disappeared in an instant across the forest.
After Zich disappeared, Cinder’s body, which had been burning for a long time, began to break apart. The firewood on top of his body also collapsed. However, the flame continued to burn for a while, and his body turned into a handful of ashes, perfectly befitting of his nickname.
* * *
Zich’s plan didn’t end with just finishing off the demon people. Demon people wreaked havoc and caused chaos by themselves, but Ultel also had forces that could move systematically under his command—and one such group was the Bellids who’d taken root all over the world. However, now that Lyla sent him information about all of their hideouts, they no longer posed a significant threat.
Even though the Bellids spread like cockroaches, if all of their hideouts were raided and demolished at once, it would be possible to get rid of them no matter how many cockroaches there were. The first thing that Zich did was spread the locations of small Bellid temples throughout different countries, and he borrowed Karuwimans’ name while doing this. Even though his fame was spreading all over the world as a dragon slayer, there was no group that was more trusted than the Karuwimans in dealing with the Bellids.
Since Zich had provided all kinds of information about the Bellids and had always been correct, the Karuwimans’ trust in Zich was at its highest. Of course, the Karuwimans easily allowed Zich to borrow their name. The name value of a dragon slayer and guarantee from the Karuwimans was enough to immediately make each country mobilize their troops against the Bellids. The Bellid temples, which had been hidden in all sorts of extraordinary methods, began to be cleared and swept away by the forces of each country.
Naturally, the Karuwimans also tried to provide support in attacking the Bellid temples. However, with another piece of information from Zich, they gave up on attacking the small temples for the sake of accomplishing a significantly more noteworthy and important goal.
Zich was climbing a mountain. It was a desolate mountain, only covered in small patches of grass and stones, without a single tree or small shrub in sight. Even if one looked around, all one could see were other mountains. It didn’t look like a place where people could live nearby. Zich lifted his leg again and pressed forward. He didn’t know how far he moved until—
–Raaaaaaaah!
Zich heard a faint roar from afar and picked up his pace. When he crossed a ridge, the roar grew louder.
“Raaaaaaah!”
“Kill all those dirty Bellids!”
“Just breathing in this world is a sin for them! Kill them! Karuna will punish them accordingly!”
A considerable number of holy knights unleashed their holy energy in strings and charged toward the Bellids. The priests standing behind them supported them with all kinds of holy techniques. The place they were headed to was a building carved out of a huge cliff, and this place was the reason why the Karuwimans had canceled their plans to destroy the small temples. They were at the Bellids’ southern branch. The vast valley next to the cliff contained a large body of water and indicated a definite sign that a Bellid temple was situated here.
The Southern Branch, which had long served as the spiritual pillar of the surrounding Bellid believers, looked insecure and unstable, as if it would immediately fall under its enemies’ attacks. The southern branch had only been able to stay hidden because it was inside a rugged mountain range. Now that the Karuwimans had brought their elite forces and ambushed them, the fall of the southern branch was only a matter of time. However, the Bellids were also extremely persistent.
They furiously resisted with everything they had, and the damage against the Karuwimans also slowly accumulated. There were no signs of Lubella or Belri Weig, as they had gone to another branch that Zich had informed them about. Zich headed straight toward Karuwimans’ commanding post.
“Why, if it isn’t Sir Zich?!” A holy knight screaming commands toward his soldiers until his neck turned bright red rejoiced at seeing Zich. Although it was Zich’s first time meeting him, it seemed as if the holy knight knew Zich very well.
“Sir, I participated in the raid of the Bellids’ northern branch. That’s where I first saw you, Sir Zich. My name is Hadel Dnir.”
“Nice to meet you, Sir Dnir. How is the situation?” Considering the current situation, their greeting was brief.
“Those Bellid bastards are furiously resisting, but it won’t be long until they’re dragged in front of God Karuna to receive their great judgment.”
“Your forces seem to have taken a considerable amount of damage.”
“It can’t be helped, since we’re here to prove Karuna’s power.” Even while saying that, Hadel didn’t seem very pleased by the situation either.
Zich pulled out his sword. “There’s no need to receive any more damage. I’ll join you.”
“You’re welcome to participate anytime, dragon slayer, Sir Zich!” Hadel said with delight.
Zich ran into the area where a battle was taking place, and his enormous mana fell in the middle of the enemy camp.
Baaaaam! The Bellids were blown away like leaves caught in a storm. No matter how important or well-equipped the southern branch was, they weren’t difficult opponents for Zich, who had regained the strength of his prime.
All the Bellids’ efforts to furiously hold out against the Karuwimans became futile as the Bellids had no choice but to make way for Zich. On that day, the Bellids’ southern branch disappeared into history.