"We’re Demons. It’s our way of life."
Simon stopped what he was doing for a moment as Thorgan’s words were continuously replayed in his mind.
’We’re demons huh... Sixteen years of living as a demon has been able to corrupt my sixty years of living as the Hero of Earth.’
’Am I a demon now?’
This question was a lot deeper than it appeared to Simon, and he could not help but ponder on the question deeply.
He looked at the candidates he had killed. There were dozens of them, and each of them were teenagers in the real sense of things. They were literal children in his eyes, and he had just killed dozens of them.
But he felt absolutely nothing.
One might think that this made him a demon, but Simon thought otherwise. Simon believed that he was not truly a demon of demons yet.
’One of the main reasons I feel nothing is because these are demons, and my hatred and disgust for demons still remains. I’m just very good at hiding it.’
’I know what chaos and destruction these kids would cause if they were on Earth, so I feel nothing when I kill them.’
’But what if they were humans instead? Would I have done the same thing if they were humans instead of demons?’
’I tell myself that I’ll become a demon, but a part of me still clings unto my humanity... I have not truly encountered a situation that would completely shatter the humanity and morals in me.’
’This is not something that can truly define me as a demon of demons... and I’m not sure if I ever want to be placed in such a situation.’
’But my shitty ass luck and demon life would definitely do otherwise.’
Simon sighed, then he continued his task of removing the condensed shadow essence from the corpses.
After taking out everything, he gave half of it to Thorgan just like they agreed, then Simon ordered the girl to take them to the Odrasil.
The girl was still filled with fear, but she did as she was told. She knew that if she didn’t, Simon would definitely kill her just like he had killed the rest.
Thorgan also followed, and Simon did not prevent him from doing so.
As Simon and Thorgan followed the girl through the valley, they all moved silently and avoided any other candidate or beast they encountered on the way.
Because of their battle, it was certain that some beasts and candidates would decide to investigate mainly because of the blood and sound, and Simon personally did not want to get into another battle before reaching Odrasil called Varreth.
In the fight against the Alpha, he had used over half of his demonic energy even with the help of the Miser’s Ring which reduced his demonic energy usage by half.
While he was searching the corpses for their condensed shadow essence, he was also trying to recover his demonic energy.
It was not back to 100%, approximately 85%, and with every minute that passed, he was slowly but steadily restoring his demonic energy.
Avoiding unnecessary battles was where Thorgan’s extremely high shadow affinity came into place.
With the darkness of the valley and the countless shadows around them, Thorgan was able to sense beasts and candidates from a far distance, and depending on the location of the candidate or beast, they’d change their direction.
Simon was immensely impressed by Thorgan’s shadow sense and shadow affinity, and he was even more curious about what demon race he was affiliated with.
’He’s definitely hiding it. But I don’t know any demon or affiliation with the symbol of a dark crescent moon on their forehead.’
This was Simon’s thought as he observed Thorgan who was also restoring his demonic energy at an even more rapid pace than him, and this was despite using a fraction of his demonic energy to scout their surroundings using shadows.
’Thorgan and those strange duo... Merrath and Jorra. I have no idea what demonic race they’re from.’
’Could they possibly know each other?’
’No.’
’I doubt it since I have never seen them together before in even the first trial. But it is strange that all three are from demonic races I have no knowledge of.’
’Could it be that new races were birthed while I was dead? It’s possible. Evolution is also very possible amongst demons.’
A myriad of thoughts appeared in Simon’s thoughts as he pondered on the enigma that was Thorgan.
However, he had to stop when the girl stopped running and pointed at a particular spot.
Simon and Thorgan had no need for the girl to point because they had already seen their goal a long time ago.
It was quite obvious... and quite very much disgusting.
Just like where Simon found the entrance to the underground layer of the Sword Daemon, there was a circular clearing right in front of them.
At the center of the circular clearing was a massive dried and dead tree with leafless branches but different sized crimson fruits hanging from them.
At the crown of the tree was the familiar face or faces of the Odrasil, of Varreth. However, there were over a dozen wooden tentacles attached to his back and chest.
And these tentacles were attached to over a dozen naked candidates- both males and females.
They were not attached to their back, or chests.
No
They were inside their mouths, in their assholes, or in their vaginas... of both men and women.
The tentacles were pushing in and out, almost like they were having sex with them. And in a way, they were.
Every single candidate had ecstatic expressions as it looked like they were experiencing the greatest pleasures one could ever imagine.
They were moaning, but because of the tentacles, their moans were low, not loud. And some of their bodies were like dried up husks.
However, despite the conditions of their bodies, they still had ecstatic expressions, like they were having the best sex of their lives.
Thorgan’s eyes widened in disbelief and disgust the moment he completely saw everything, and he subconsciously took a step back.
"What the fuck?"