Chapter 18: The Demon Baron (4)

Deep darkness covered the land as night fell.

The moon, which had been sleeping, cracked open an eye. Just a sliver of a crescent, like a glowing fingernail in the dark. A hazy halo bled out from behind the shredded clouds as a dense shadow slipped up the stairs to the castle wall.

A soldier who had been dozing off sensed something. He jumped in surprise and raised his spear.

"Who goes there! Identify yourself!"

"...It's me, Delton. Keep your voice down."

“Ah, M-My Lord!”

"Shh!"

Baron Molden brought his index finger to his lips.

The Baron wasn't alone. Trailing behind him was the massive shape of the barbarian. The Baron was geared up for a fight in padded chain armor, with a spear and sword in hand, while the barbarian had various weapons dangling from his waist and a thick rope slung over his shoulder.

Are they going on a monster hunt in this moonlight?

 The scene was so surreal that for a moment, Delton wondered if he was dreaming. The other soldiers who turned to look had the same expression.

The Baron spoke softly but firmly to the dazed Delton.

“Get a grip, Delton. You’re the senior man up here. Act like it. You need to set an example for the other soldiers."

"I-I'm sorry, my lord. But what brings you here in the middle of the night...?"

Instead of explaining, the Baron gave orders.

“Tie this rope to the rampart. Make it tight. And listen: whatever happens, do not leave the castle.”

He wasn't his usual, gentle self. It was hard, filled with a kind of tragic resolve. Even more so than when he’d walked out of the gate to die earlier.

Delton swallowed hard. He didn't dare ask any more questions. He simply decided to carry out the Baron's orders in silence.

The barbarian basically dropped down the rope, moving so fast it looked like a controlled fall. And the weirdest part was, he didn’t make a sound when he hit the ground. The Baron pulled on his metal-lined gloves, got a good grip on the rope, and prepared to follow.

The Baron called out each of the soldiers' names one last time.

"Delton, Skeggron, Odric, Kren, Benin, Cherod, Donepin."

"...Yes."

"...Yes, my lord."

“I’m leaving my greatest treasure in your hands.”

"...?"

"Protect Molden well."

With those words, the Baron gripped the rope and slid down.

"..."

A solemn atmosphere settled over them. An inexplicable heaviness and tension filled their chests. The soldiers of Molden exchanged glances, then kept their eyes on the Baron's back until he completely disappeared into the darkness.

***

Kadim's proposal was simple.

"Kill as many enemies as you can until you die, Baron."

"...What did you just say?"

"Once the sun sets, we will raid their camp. Just the two of us. All you need is a sword and a spear. And wear light armor. Heavy stuff will just get in the way.”

“Wait, you want the two of us to just charge their camp? That’s suicide!”

"Isn't that what you were planning to do anyway?"

"..."

It didn’t matter how he died. Once the ‘Demon Baron’ was gone, the Viscount lost his excuse for the war. It doesn’t matter if he was executed as a prisoner or died fighting. The result was the same.

But the Baron still had one worry.

“But what if they overpower me while I’m killing their men? Won’t the Viscount just attack Molden out of pure spite?”

"Don't worry about that. I'm planning to cut that bastard's throat in tonight's raid."

"..."

"If by some chance I don't kill the Viscount today, I'll help you defend the castle just like you wanted."

It was the kind of arrogant answer a man gives when the thought of his own death doesn’t even cross his mind.

But to the Baron, that confidence wasn't unfounded. He was pretty sure that even if he got himself killed, this barbarian could cut his way out of anything.

Either way, it was a good deal for the Baron. His own sacrifice would be the same, and it was also a chance to eliminate the root cause of this disaster.

Of course, that wasn’t the real reason Kadim brought him along… but the Baron had no way of knowing that.

Before they knew it, they'd reached the camp entrance. Kadim made a brief gesture to crouch down, and the Baron carefully bent his knees, mindful not to make any metallic sounds.

The stillness of midnight was suffocating. Not a single torch burned in the enemy camp and the only light came from the scattered moonlight and starlight twinkling like grains of sand.

Even squinting with all his might, the Baron couldn't easily make out what lay ahead. In contrast, the barbarian's sharp eyes quickly pierced the darkness and caught the outline of a sentry.

"Let's begin."

Without a moment's hesitation, Kadim drew a dagger from his waist and threw it.

Shwick!

The dagger flew like a furious wasp. It slipped between the armor and helmet, striking precisely in the throat. With a stagger, the sentry on the left lost his balance and collapsed like a drunk. Another sentry's head slowly turned in that direction.

But even seeing his comrade's corpse, the sentry showed no reaction.

"..."

He stared at the body like it was a rock on the ground.

In the split second he stood there, Kadim closed the distance and swung his blade in a vicious uppercut aimed at the guard’s jaw.

CRACK-SHUNK!

The sheer force of the blow shattered his jaw and teeth, drove up through his skull, and tore his head clean off. A mess of blood and brains oozed out from the mangled stump. The sentry crumpled, his shoulders twitching. A faint hissing sound leaked through the split.

"Heh..."

Kadim narrowed his brow and briefly examined the fallen soldier's corpse.

His cheeks were hollow, his eyes were sunken pits, and his arms and legs were like sticks. He'd been too preoccupied during the day to notice, but now he could see that both were nothing but skin and bones. This wasn't the look of someone who'd starved for just a day or two.

‘They don’t react when their comrades die right in front of them and they don’t desert even when they’re starving to death…’

No normal person would act like that. Yet these weren't some masked monsters either. The flowing blood was definitely warm, and when he pressed the heart, he could feel a pulse slowly fading.

This observation turned his suspicion into certainty.

Kadim shot the Baron a sharp look before making a brief gesture.

"Into the camp."

The Baron followed his orders without complaint.

And the moment he stepped inside, he couldn't help but let out a low groan.

"Ugh, uhhh..."

Even with eyes not yet fully adjusted to the darkness, he could see it. Ghostly shadows shambling through the camp, soldiers who hadn't removed their armor or set down their weapons and hadn't slept just walked around sleeplessly.

Shuffle, shuffle—

Eerily, the soldiers made no sounds at all. Only the chirping of insects mixed with the sound of feet dragging across the dirt echoed in this space. The scene was so far removed from common sense that it felt like stepping into someone's surreal nightmare.

Then, the wandering eyes all focused on the two men at once.

A hollow yet tenacious gaze. The soldiers started to shuffle toward them.

"..."

The Baron's breathing grew ragged. But Kadim, having sized up the situation, gave his orders without wavering.

"Stay here and kill as many soldiers as you can. I'm going to search deeper in the camp."

"...What are you looking for?"

"Didn't I tell you? Viscount Adlen. He’s the one in charge; the demon is likely inside of him.”

"...!"

The Baron flinched so hard he almost jumped. The eyes fixed on Kadim trembled as if asking, ‘How did you know that?!’

Instead of answering, Kadim shot back with a cynical tone.

“Go wild, Baron. Fight until you die. Aren't these soldiers the ones who destroyed your most precious treasure?"

"..."

These are just mindless puppets. And it's not like you're actually going to die here anyway.

He didn't bother saying the rest. Kadim turned his back on the Baron and charged at the soldiers.

Shwick, shwick!

He drew daggers from his waist and hurled them in succession. The short blades lodged precisely in the soldiers' foreheads.

Thunk, thunk!

Their eyes rolled in different directions. Without a single scream, two bodies fell stiffly backward.

Shing!

He drew his sword like lightning and cut down the soldier in front of him. The blade, reflecting the moonlight, left a brilliant afterimage. The soldier’s throat opened up in a spray of blood, and the sword itself seemed to drink the blood down greedily before it could even hit the ground.

"..."

The soldiers stared at the spectacle with hollow eyes.

A second ago, they didn’t seem to care that their friends were dying. Now, they were starting to shuffle toward him, slowly raising their swords and spears.

CLANG, SHIING—

There were a lot of them, and not a lot of room to move. The only way forward was to cut a path. And that meant killing every last one of these walking corpses.

Kadim drew the forearm-sized battle axe he'd brought from the castle. He gripped it in his free hand, then he charged at the crowd with fierce momentum.

"HRRRRAAAAGH!"

He swung his weapons in wide, powerful arcs. It was a sloppy way to fight, leaving him wide open, but it put every ounce of his strength into each hit and made his already devastating attacks even stronger.

Crack! Crunch!!

He was a whirlwind of merciless axe swings. The blade was too dull to cut the armor, but the sheer force of the impact went right through. Men went down with shattered collarbones, pulped insides, and spines turned to dust.

SHUNK, SLICE!

His sword, on the other hand, aimed at vital points. Even in the middle of the chaotic brawl, where he could barely see, he kept finding gaps between armors and joints like a humanoid slaughter machine. Carotid arteries were punctured, joints were shattered, limbs were lopped off, and faces were smashed in.

And through it all, Kadim didn’t get a scratch. Their attacks were too slow, too clumsy to even touch him. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to kill him. It’s just that their killer instinct was watered down to the point it was harmless to Kadim.

He concluded that controlling many bodies must be overwhelming even for a demon.

But the deeper he went into the camp, the more things changed.

Most of the soldiers just dropped, falling to the ground like marionettes when the puppeteer lets go. But the ones still standing started to change.

Their eyes began to glow and they became feral all of a sudden. Vicious spear thrusts and sword strikes flew, and some even began making sounds.

"Krrrrr, krrrrrrr..."

"Krrrrrr! Krrk, krhk!"

The demon started to pull its power out of the cannon fodder and put it all on a handful of soldiers.

But they still weren't enough to match Kadim.

If anything, Kadim was almost glad the soldiers were starting to bare their teeth. It was proof he was getting closer to his target, and the more lively the enemy, the more satisfying it was to cut them down.

CRACK! SQUELCH!

"KYAAAAH! Krhk!"

He ripped his way through a few dozen more soldiers, and then he saw it. The biggest tent in the camp, with the Adlen family banner planted before it. The target had to be inside.

"KRRRRAAAAGH!"

"Kr, krrrrrr..."

The second Kadim stepped inside the tent, all the noise from the soldiers just stopped.

"..."

Thud.

Just like the soldiers had collapsed earlier, all the remaining soldiers fell without a single groan, as if they'd become corpses.

Kadim's gaze wasn't on the soldiers.

He was staring straight ahead, at the cause of all this chaos, who was sitting there waiting for him in the light of a single lantern.

—You have done well to make it this far, you shameless wild dog of the wasteland.

A voice so unsettling it seeped into his bones.

The figure before him was Viscount Adlen and yet not Viscount Adlen. The well-built lord who'd commanded four hundred soldiers had transformed into a sinister figure with glowing eyes radiating bestial malice.

Kadim wasn't frightened. In fact, he chuckled. A shameless wild dog of the wasteland? So what, there were polite and pleasant wild dogs in the world?

He figured demons of ‘this sort’ always did have a fancier vocabulary than the rest, probably from jumping between so many bodies.

'A Possession-type... You don't see these often. Even in my first cycle, I only got to cut down two or three of these.'

The demon possessing Viscount Adlen's body was clearly displeased that a human had mocked it to its face. Its face twisted into a snarl as it gave a sharp warning.

—I see that you greatly trust in the power of that lowly body of yours. But you should learn your place. Brute strength is just a stupid little trick next to my power to control the very soul.

"..."

—This is my final warning. Leave Molden, the Baron, my prey alone and go. I have tended this garden for a very long time, and the fruit is finally ripe. Now is the time to enjoy it. I’m not about to let some pathetic stray get in my way.

Kadim let the demon's words go in one ear and out the other. Instead, he raised his sword and axe. He was tired of listening to demons' disgusting speeches.

A sharp piece of steel was all the answer it needed.

The Viscount's shadow reflected in the lamplight flickered like burning flames. The enraged demon was extending its demonic energy. Kadim felt a heavy pressure crushing his chest, a terrible smell shaking his nostrils, and a tingling tremor spreading through his muscles.

The demon snarled as if chewing and spitting out words.

—You truly won't back down? Fine… so you’ve chosen death.

"..."

—Say farewell to your pathetic ego, dog. I will be the master of your body from now on.

The demon reached out its hand and demonic energy surged into Kadim's mind like a tidal wave.

The demon's will twisted and squirmed, trying to worm its way into his soul. It thrashed around like a mad mutt desperately searching for its prey. It reeked of ego and confidence that stemmed from its owner. All it needed was the smallest foothold, and the body would be his…

But soon the demon had no choice but to withdraw its will.

—Hah, haah...!

Thud.

The Viscount’s body crumpled to the floor. The venom in his eyes was gone, and his face was white as a sheet. The demon was terrified, trembling like an ordinary human in the face of death.

—Wh-what are you? Why, why can't I possess you even with my full power...?

Kadim was unfazed. He'd seen this scene when encountering Possession-types in his first cycle too, so it wasn't something new.

Kadim sneered.

“Too bad, the house is full.”

And the man who had been forced against his will to take over a barbarian’s body steady steps toward the demon.

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