HPV 43

The power given by the spirits could protect life, but it was not allowed to harm it.

While it could block swords and deflect magic, it couldn’t sharpen the green waves to pierce an enemy’s body.

Damn game. Couldn’t you at least give spirit magic some decent combat functions!

If Banwes were here, he would’ve blasted these guys away easily.

As he ran for his life, Riarun suddenly thought that.

At the very beginning, it had been Riarun who saved Banwes in the Byahil Forest. That was how they started traveling together.

Whenever Riarun asked for a piggyback ride, Banwes always made it very obvious how annoyed he was — yet he never actually refused.

Even though he didn’t trust food made by humans, he would still eat the things Riarun handed him.

And when Riarun cut his finger on a razor blade once, Banwes hadn’t said much, but he certainly didn’t look happy about it either.

If he knew I was in this mess, he would’ve saved me.

Such weak thoughts clouded Riarun’s mind.

His legs, already tingling and numb, felt like they were about to give out.

“Haah, haaah.”

Panting for breath, he squeezed out every last bit of strength he had.

Ordinary people, startled, scattered in all directions.

The chaos spread even wider.

His heart thundered as if it would burst, and his lungs and throat burned as if they were being torn apart.

Since he had played the game before, he knew the layout of the southern district where the workshop and temple were located — down to every last alley.

It was like he had a map spread out in his mind, tracing his location step by step.

It’s okay. I can keep going. I can’t lose strength now!

Even though he felt like he was dying, he held on.

Telling himself it would end if he just made it a little further.

If he could just meet either Paronai or Penzey, they would take care of things.

After all, the enemies who started killing civilians in the duchy were supposed to be the ones Paronai and Penzey were meant to fight.

Riarun had decided to use himself as bait.

The moment he turned a corner, he crashed straight into someone’s chest and face.

“Ah…!”

He tumbled violently across the ground.

His head hit the ground hard, making his vision spin.

“Oh dear. Should I help you up?”

Before he could refuse, a hand grabbed his and pulled him upright.

As his dizzy vision cleared, he saw the face of the person before him.

Enemies were still chasing him from behind…!

He had to get out of the way quickly to avoid dragging this passerby into it.

Riarun twisted his hand —but the other person didn’t let go.

“Trying to pull tricks? How cute… Was this little thing what gave my men so much trouble?”

The man whispered as he tightened his grip on Riarun’s arm.

Riarun recognized the face — he’d seen it in the game.

One of the demon worshipers.

While the man was holding him, the sword-wielding enemies rushed in from behind.

The man’s grip was so strong it would leave bruises on Riarun’s thin arm.

Gritting his teeth, Riarun raised his free hand.

The man clearly knew Riarun was trying to summon a shield.

He moved faster, aiming to slash Riarun’s neck before the shield could form.

At that moment, Riarun’s entire vision was dyed green.

The spirit’s shield, rather than protecting Riarun alone, pierced through the heads of all the others nearby.

Screams burst out from the enemies rushing in.

Crack, crunch—horrifying sounds of skulls breaking echoed all at once.

The bloodstained shield quietly disappeared.

The enemies rolled on the ground, bleeding from their noses and ears.

Trembling, Riarun watched the nightmarish scene.

He had succeeded.

The spirit’s power had just harmed people.

Only those who had drawn weapons to attack me.

The shield was designed to protect Riarun— it manifested physical form.

At that moment, he manipulated the shield to pass through their brains.

Normally, the spirit’s power would immediately lose physicality to avoid harming humans, but because it had just been blocking swords and maintaining its physical form, a brief delay occurred.

If Paronai sees me now, he’ll probably say my soul’s gone pitch-black.

Maybe it was a good thing that Paronai had sworn never to look into anyone’s soul again.

“Ugh…”

To pull this off, Riarun had to pour every ounce of spiritual energy he had, ensuring the shield’s strength was greater than the moment the spirit would try to dissipate to avoid harming life.

Riarun gagged dryly, twisting his body on the ground.

I can’t pass out yet.

His blurry eyes searched the surroundings.

The real scenery overlapped with the game’s graphics.

The house with the red roof. Right there.

Staggering like a crawling beast, he limped past another alley.

This point marked the beginning of the priests’ purification range.

At last, he had entered the priests’ territory.

The divine power burning the demon host would soon reach Riarun’s body too.

When the demon is exorcised, it’s going to hurt. I might thrash around.

He didn’t know if that was unfortunate or a blessing.

He was already on the verge of passing out anyway.

Riarun slumped over like a vagrant.

—

The two High Priests proclaimed: The demon host had been fully purified, and the demon was expelled from the land.

The purification ceremony ended.

The overwhelming divine power that had blanketed the duchy slowly faded away.

At the outskirts of the purification zone, the divine power that had been brushing over the body of a fallen young man also disappeared completely.

Unaware of the reality he would face upon waking,

Riarun remained unconscious.

And he did not notice—one of the corpses he had killed with the spirit’s power twitched.

He was a demon worshiper, and in order to host the demon his group summoned, he repeatedly committed taboos: drinking the blood of monsters and injecting it into his body. He turned himself into something close to a monster… but in the end, it wasn’t him who was chosen.

Some other bastard had been chosen instead—and that fool had gotten himself caught by the priests and ruined everything.

The man let out a bestial howl and slammed his fists into the ground.

Even after having his brain crushed, he survived, but he was far more enraged by the fact that their demon had been destroyed by the priests.

That anger, wildly misdirected, turned toward the nearest being—Riarun.

As the man’s bloodstained hand reached out, he grabbed the collar of Riarun’s clothes.

But then—In that instant, he felt something unbelievable. His eyes, wide as if they might pop from his skull, stared down at Riarun.

What the hell is this?

Why is there another demon inside him?

How… did he receive grace?

The demon we summoned was destroyed by holy power—why is this one still intact?

Jealousy surged through him like a flood.

Then he remembered—the boy was unconscious.

The man’s hand trembled violently as he looked around.

No witnesses.

He dragged Riarun’s limp body into a corner, clutching it tightly.

He could just take it.

He had already consumed the blood of monsters, so he could use the methods of monsters.

“It’s here. It’s mine!”

The man, filled with frenzied joy, opened his mouth.

He shoved his tongue into Riarun’s mouth.

—

“Riarun? He’s not this way! Don’t tell me you lost him?”

Paronai’s trembling voice shattered coldly against the man’s ear.

“You lost him? How could you! You should’ve been watching! Don’t you know how dangerous it is here…!”

Banwes didn’t listen any longer. He turned away sharply.

Ever since he decided, belatedly, to chase after Riarun, anxiety and urgency had gnawed at him.

That fragile thing… there was no way he could achieve anything on his own. He was probably collapsed somewhere already.

After stepping out of the hideout, Banwes immediately noticed how strange the duchy had become.

People were shutting themselves inside their homes out of fear, bolting doors and windows.

It made it easier for unwelcome monsters to roam the streets—but Banwes didn’t care about that at all.

The smell of blood grew stronger, and so did his worry for the troublesome brat.

Corpses lay scattered across the once-proud, extravagantly decorated city.

The widespread holy power suffusing the duchy made his whole body ache.

Every second, it felt like his skin and insides were melting, like he was being burned alive.

But through sheer stubbornness, he forced himself to endure and wandered the streets.

When he stumbled across a cluster of rotting corpses, a stench harsher than any other hit him.

Casually glancing beyond them, Banwes’s gaze froze.

His heart skipped a beat—then pounded fiercely against his ribs.

He saw hair the color of sun-bleached sand, spread out over the ground.

Rarun’s limp body, eyes closed, was being violently jostled.

The ragged sound of gasping breaths mixed horribly with the wet, sucking noise.

Banwes lunged forward.

He grabbed the man whose face was pressed against Riarun’s and tore him away by the hair.

Then he crushed the man’s skull with his bare hands.

He shook Riarun’s limp body, his heart racing.

The sight of Riarun’s lips, slick with another’s saliva, made rage surge up to his throat.

He roughly wiped Riarun’s mouth with his sleeve.

“Riarun!”

The boy didn’t resist. He didn’t even wake.

Banwes felt his fury spike—but the faint, wheezing breaths rasping from Riarun’s chest made his face twist with another, unfamiliar feeling.

He had never experienced an emotion like this.

Even after killing the man, his rage hadn’t abated; it was close to pain, a horrific sensation that only resembled violence.

Finally, Riarun slowly opened his tired eyes.

The moment their gazes met, all the strength drained from Banwes’s body—and at the same time, his mind was completely seized.

In his head, he could only replay the horrific scene he had just witnessed, over and over again.

He had no idea how to calm these feelings.

When Riarun weakly tried to call his name, Banwes bent down—and kissed him fiercely.