After getting caught in the middle of their retreat, the rest of the rescue team looked dejected. They were ambushed in almost all directions—from the front, left, and right. In other words, their enemies had already been aware of their trespassing. The rescue team struggled, but they had been relying on the element of surprise and were greatly outnumbered. Thus, they thought they would die helplessly at the hands of their enemies.
But for some reason, the Indigenous Monster Alliance took them as captives and brought them back to the city. As if they were going to publicly execute all of them, they raised their swords and screeched for others to come out. The rescue team had no idea what was going on. They heard murmurings from around them. Shadia blankly looked up, and her eyes widened. A temple was revealed in the once empty space.
She might have seen it wrong, but Shadia felt a strange sensation like the time she had first seen the Academy in the capital. Everyone—those who were screaming, searching for something, or roaming about—all stopped what they were doing to look at the temple.
Some time later, the tightly sealed stone door opened, and a young man walked out leisurely. After descending the stairs, Chi-Woo looked around. Although he appeared calm on the outside, his heart was thumping like mad. He was keeping a calm façade; he couldn’t show any sign of weakness and had to bluff now. Then, he met eyes with Shadia.
“…Sorry,” Chi-Woo said. One-armed, Shadia gave him a weak smile.
“Be careful of these guys. They are perverts. They kept looking for something, and when I said I didn’t know what it was, they did this to my arm—uggggh!” Before she could finish her sentence, Shadia’s face scrunched up. The guy behind her was yanking her hair.
“You talk too much,” he said. “I mean, they all must be really oblivious to not realize that they have been trapped.”
The speaker stomped out of the darkness while snickering. Chi-Woo’s eyes narrowed. It was a human—no. ‘It’s not human.’ Chi-Woo had the same feeling before when he saw a well-preserved spiritual being. But it wasn’t a spirit like Philip. It was alive and moving. There was something about it, though—its age, sex, nothing seemed clear. The only definite parts about this figure were that its hair and eyes were black, and it had long, pointy ears; it was scowling with visible discontent.
‘Is it an elf?’ Chi-Woo thought it looked scary for a being that supposedly appeared often in other worlds.
—It’s half demon and half human.
Chi-Woo had to hide his surprise after hearing what Philip said.
‘Half-human, half-demon?’
—Yup. A being born between a human and a demon is welcomed nowhere.
‘But why is it here when it’s half demon?”
—It’s a wonder. They are beings disowned by both humans and demons. It’s surprising this one is with the Indigenous Monster Alliance.
And while Chi-Woo was surprised about the revelation, the half-demon said, “But it’s really surprising.” It released its grasp on Shadia’s hair, and Shadia fell to the ground. The half-demon spoke with ease as if it thought they had the advantage with their many hostages. “How were you able to so easily find the thing we and the demons have been looking so desperately for? We should definitely have a chat.”
The half-demon smirked at the hostages and said, “But before that, you have to kneel first. Like those guys.”
The half-demon pressed its feet on Shadia’s head, and Chi-Woo’s eyebrow rose.
“Why should I?” Chi-Woo said.
“Is having no sense a trait of your race?”
“I thought you wanted to talk?” Chi-Woo retorted, unwilling to give his opponent the upper hand. “I can talk while standing well enough—”
The half-demon’s face stiffened. “Then kneel.”
Simultaneously, a sharp wind whipped past Chi-Woo’s left thigh.
“!”
It was the same attack he had been hit with when saving the white-haired girl, Balal. He hadn’t been able to even hear its sound or sense it, and his thigh would have been pierced through if it hadn’t reacted by itself.
“Ho…” the half-demon exclaimed in admiration. “How surprising. To think you would be able to evade my spirit death blow.”
Chi-Woo glanced at his left.
“Then let’s see…” A yellowish-green essence was fluttering in the air. “Let’s see if you can avoid this.”
The yellowish-green essence split and hovered before and on both sides of Chi-Woo, ready to strike at him anytime.
“…” Cold sweat streaked down Chi-Woo’s back, and after slowly looking from his left to his right, Chi-Woo gave the half-demon a bland smile.
“How amazing.” Chi-Woo raised both hands like he was surrendering and shook his head. “To think you would treat your savior like this. I guess ungratefulness is a trait of your race.”
The half-demon laughed humorlessly at Chi-Woo’s bold attitude. In a mocking tone, it asked, “Savior? Did I hear wrong? Or do you humans call those who make a mess in other people’s war zones ‘saviors’?”
“That’s not what I mean. I saved you all from dying. I feel so unappreciated.” Chi-Woo smiled slightly in response.
“What? Saved all of us? Us?”
“It’s true. You have been getting beaten up by the Demon Empire not too long ago. Isn’t that the case?” Chi-Woo said teasingly. “But thanks to my efforts, you and your people are allowed some reprieve to move away from the border and launch a counterattack. Hasn’t your life been easier since then?”
There was a slight commotion. The half-demon didn’t respond positively to Chi-Woo talking about their affairs so flippantly, and as the bloodlust in the air deepened, Chi-Woo quickly continued, “If I had known you guys were going to act like this, I wouldn’t have asked the Abyss to help. I regret it now.”
“…What?”
As expected, they took the bait.
“Abyss? You are part of the Abyss?” another member of the group asked.
“Ha! Do you expect us to believe that?” The half-demon stomped threateningly toward Chi-Woo like it was ready to unsheath its sword.
“I never said I was part of the Abyss. I only worked with them not too long ago.”
The half-demon looked beyond baffled and enraged. It was an understandable response. A member of a group consisted of nothing but refugees or slaves somewhere claimed to have worked with the Abyss—a faction strong enough to fight the powerful Sernitas. It went beyond the realm of a joke and veered into utter nonsense. The half-demon made an arm in the air with its sword and pressed the blade against Chi-Woo.
“This is your last warning,” it said in a curt tone. “If you say one more word—”
“Ah~ Yes, sir. Why don’t you try… But I’m also warning you.” When the half-demon began to move its sword, Chi-Woo quickly added, “If you kill me, Lady Witch from the Abyss Faction won’t be pleased.”
Fortunately, the sword stopped. “The Abomination of Babylon…?”
“Hey, watch your mouth,” Chi-Woo said sincerely this time. “You have to call her Onorables Evelyn. How dare you.”
The half-demon narrowed its eyes. This human knew the witch’s real name? “I think you’re…the one who crosses the line by saying her name so casually.”
For the first time, the half-demon faltered. Chi-Woo hadn’t been sure if this would work, but it seemed mentioning the Witch, who was one of the top most influential figures in the Abyss Faction, had been the right choice.
After a short silence, the half-demon glared at Chi-Woo and said, “…You punk, who are you?”
“Me? Hm—” Chi-Woo purposely paused. “If you’re asking about my relationship with the Abyss Faction—well, first, we crushed the Demon Empire’s plan to expand their border between the Abyss Faction and Demon Empire.” Chi-Woo slowly began listing out each point as he recalled them. “I was the one who requested the Witch to keep the Demon Empire at bay, who was attacking the Indigenous Monster Alliance. In exchange, I stopped the Sernitas’ attack.”
“The Sernitas’ attack?”
“Oh, you didn’t know? It was pretty funny what they were doing. You wouldn’t believe it, but they captured and altered a god to how they liked it and used them to fight their opponents.”
“What?” The half-demon’s eyes narrowed. “God? Which god was it?”
Chi-Woo purposefully did not reply because it seemed the half-demon was desperate to hear the answer. He could feel his opponent growing more agitated. Moreover, he had only seen the god’s figure faintly, so he wasn’t really sure how they looked.
“Answer me. Quickly!”
Chi-Woo smiled thinly. “Are you curious?”
“Which god was it? You better answer exactly.”
“If you want to hear more, set aside a proper place for us to talk.” This was the extent of the information that Chi-Woo was going to give out. Even though he had more, he couldn’t reveal all his cards in the beginning. It should be good enough for now; the half-demon had clearly had a change of mind.
Grit. Chi-Woo heard the half-demon grit its teeth. It licked its mouth and after steadying its breath, it said, “So, you’re saying that you defeated a god for the Abyss Faction?”
“Right.”
“And in return, you asked them to keep the Demon Empire in check?”
“Now you’re starting to understand. How smart.”
The half-demon’s gaze changed after confirming Chi-Woo’s words. On the small chance that what this human said was true, it would mean this human in front of him was capable of mobilizing all the factions controlling Liber. This was especially important information considering that the Indigenous Monster Alliance had only the Abyss Faction as their sole support.
The half-demon intently stared at Chi-Woo. “You punk, if anything you’ve been saying is a lie, you won’t be dying a peaceful death.”
“You don’t have any line of communication with the Abyss?” Chi-Woo nonchalantly asked, “With the alliance you’ve formed, you must have a way to communicate with them. Go and ask them whether or not I lied.”
“There’s no need to go that far.” the half-demon roughly spat and turned around to send a signal. After a moment, a monster approached them with a thumping sound.
Chi-Woo almost screamed out loud. ‘A tree?’ This being was definitely not human. An old tree that seemed to have lived for decades was walking towards them, with roots as its feet while wildly swinging its branches.
“I’ll ask again.” The half-demon gave the tree monster next to it a look and asked Chi-Woo with its chin lifted pointedly. “Is everything you’ve said to me true?”
“…Huh? Ah, yeah. It’s true.” Still reeling from the chok, Chi-Woo took a few seconds to respond.
The half-demon quickly turned around.
“…It is true…” the tree monster said, moving its big hollow of a mouth. “What this human said…is…all…true…” Its voice came out in bits and pieces, and it sounded like an old radio close to breaking down.
“What? For real?”
“Whether you believe it or not…is your choice…but I…only speak the truth…”
Chi-Woo heard the half-demon inhale softly. It seemed the tree monster had the ability to differentiate between truth and lie. The half-demon’s gaze moved towards Chi-Woo again. The Indigenous Monster Alliance and the rescue team were all focused on him. A frightening silence passed between them.
“Fine.” The half-demon finally broke the silence. “I’ll provide a space for us to talk, but you’ll have to tell me everything you know, especially about that god.”
Chi-Woo was surprised; he had originally planned to appeal to their enemies by highlighting his relationship with the Abyss Faction. However, judging by the half-demon’s reaction, it seemed more interested in the pitiful god that had been captured by the Sernitas. It didn’t matter that he didn’t know the exact details, though. He had achieved his desired effect.
“Well, depending on how you act. Anyway, let’s…” Chi-Woo shrugged and threw the half-demon a cheeky smile. But before he could finish—
Bam! Thud!
Once they were out of the city, Chi-Woo rolled onto the ground and groaned loudly, all tied up and helpless.
“Ack—” He hadn’t expected much hospitality, but he hadn’t anticipated that he would be captured and taken prisoner.
“I’ll prepare the place for us to talk, so you better stay here quietly and wait for me—if you don’t want your comrades to die one by one.” The half-demon left the place after giving him one last threat.
‘…Tck.’ Chi-Woo found himself inside a makeshift prison in the middle of the Indigenous Monster Alliance’s camp.
—Well, isn’t it good that you didn’t die?
Philip crouched down next to him and said with a shit-eating grin.
—Anyway, you were pretty good at talking. I didn’t expect you to talk so well.
Chi-Woo let out a long sigh with a wry smile and nodded. Regardless of his situation, he had been successful in reaching the center of the Indigenous Monster Alliance’s camp. When the half-demon came back, he would be meeting the commander of the Indigenous Monster Alliance.
‘Well, let me see. Now…’ It was time for him to prepare for the next step. ‘He said we shouldn’t have tried to go back in the first place, right?’
Chi-Woo thought about the message Ru Amuh had sent him and began working towards accomplishing the mission the prophecy had assigned to the eighth recruits.