DOTD Chapter 5

Without asking, I turned my gaze elsewhere.

 

What I saw was a cold, lumpy monster.

 

“By the way, this…”

 

Rowan frowned, staring at the creature’s corpse.

 

Evan leaned back against a tree and spoke, “I think I’ve heard of it before. A monster that looks like a man and kills indiscriminately.”

 

“A monster that looks like a man?”

 

“Yep. They’re rare, but I’ve heard they’re quite strong.”

 

“I’ve heard of them, too. They’re said to have ties to the Usher Empire.”

 

“Some say it’s the work of wizards.”

 

“Or both.”

 

Rowan glanced in my direction as he finished speaking.

 

Something about an unidentified monster, I’ve heard of. Of course, the source was the original novel.

 

Those monsters were magical experiments infused with the same power as Louis.

 

That’s why they emanate such energy.

 

“Is it possible that Emperor…”

 

“Rowan.”

 

Evan called his name firmly, interrupting Rowan’s speech.

 

“Why, this is not the first time you’ve done this. The source of tragedy on this continent is obvious.”

 

Rowan spoke in a heated tone despite Evan’s interruption.

 

“…”

 

Evan didn’t interrupt Rowan further, his expression grave.

 

Perhaps when he said ‘that Emperor’, he was referring to Louis.

 

The blood-crazed, warmongering Emperor who declared war on the continent.

 

A bloodless, tearless slaughterer who said that if someone didn’t kneel at his feet, he’d cut off their legs and chop off their heads.

 

He was such a villain in the novel.

 

Louis, now Emperor, would have been a different man from the one I knew.

 

I was there at the moment of his darkening.

 

🦋

 

— Bella…

 

— Louis?

 

He was crying.

 

— You should have left sooner, sooner… 

 

The traveling magic circle, enchanted with anti-tracking magic, took a moment to activate after a while.

 

In the meantime, Louis had come out of hiding to find me.

 

— I’ll leave before you get too tempted to grab me.

 

— What the hell are you talking about…

 

Louis looked very different from his usual self. 

 

His usually neat cherry-colored hair was disheveled, and his eyes were glazed over from crying so much.

 

Several buttons on his uniform, which were typically fastened up to his neck, were undone and disheveled.

 

His teary blue eyes were filled with an emotion I couldn’t tell if it was desire or sadness.

 

His gaze remained fixed on me. I was bound by its gaze, unable to move. 

 

Goosebumps broke out all over my body, as if the temperature in the room had dropped numerous degrees in an instant.

 

— Before I make up my mind.

 

His voice was not his usual soft tone. It was thick, hard, and cold.

 

— Louis, wait…

 

Louis slowly moved closer to me.

 

It was the first time I’d ever felt scared of him. I took a step back, but it was only two steps. He closed the distance in a single stride.

 

— You should have run.

 

His voice was a snarl, like a wild beast with its prey close at hand.

 

— It’s too late now, Bella.

 

He reached out to me. It was a rough touch, the kind of touch you’d expect to be brutal, the kind that would break if wrongly struck.

 

It was the moment, just before he reached out. 

 

The man who was slowly being consumed by the power of evil had changed completely.

 

The process of a human becoming a demon was simple.

 

Nothing changed on the outside, but I could tell at once. He had become someone else.

 

The pent-up evil energy burst forth, filling the surrounding air.

 

He wasn’t Louis anymore, at least not the Louis I knew.

 

Then the darkened figure attacked, knocking me unconscious and carrying me away.

 

🦋

 

“Bella, what are you thinking?”

 

Evan interrupts me from my bittersweet reminiscing, and I realize that he’s looking at me anxiously again.

 

His eyes are sweet blue, and I couldn’t quite look him in the eye yet. 

 

He looks so much like Louis before he changed.

 

When I thought he had stopped looking at me, Rowan spoke, “Yeah. Like you have a history.”

 

I smirked again, lowered my gaze, and replied, “Some people aren’t without a story.”

 

Thankfully, they seemed to be convinced by that and didn’t probe further.

 

🦋

 

Evan and I slept rough in the ruins, then hit the road as soon as the sun came up.

 

“Where do you think we’re going when we get to town?”

 

Rowan asked next, as she became this temporary companion of sorts.

 

We’re on our way to the nearest town.

 

Assuming there was a village, of course. 

 

The Land of Gold remains largely uninhabited, so I’m not sure.

 

“I’m not sure, I’ll think about it once we get there.”

 

Rowan hadn’t yet realized I’d declined to accompany them.

 

I glanced in Evan’s direction, our eyes met, and I quickly looked away.

 

Then, something stopped us in our tracks.

 

“Evan, is that…”

 

“It’s a person.”

 

“But it’s in bad shape…”

 

It was lying in a heap on the side of the road.

 

A human being in a state of decay that I couldn’t think of a word to describe that wasn’t a corpse.

 

It smelled faintly but really disgusting. Similar to the smell of yesterday, it was the scent of death.

 

As I got a little closer, I realized that the wound where he had been attacked was oozing an aura of evil.

 

There were sharp cuts all over his body.

 

It was almost as if the attacker was trying to maim rather than kill.

 

“How cruel…”

 

Evan frowned as he examined the body. Rowan’s face crumpled as if he felt the same way.

 

“This is really bad.”

 

Then, suddenly, an enormous surge of energy hit them.

 

“Huh?”

 

It was as bad as if it had come from right in front of me. Just as I was thinking, ‘Where did that come from?’ 

 

I was knocked backward with a bang.

 

It was a blink of an eye, and I felt a burning sensation in my side, like it was on fire.

 

“Ow!”

 

An agonized scream escaped my lips.

 

“Bella!”

 

Screech—

 

A beast cried out.

 

Evan, calling my name urgently, drew his weapon.

 

Sudden shock and confusion overwhelmed me. 

 

It was him. The creature from yesterday.

 

One swing of his hand, and so much power.

 

If I hadn’t reacted quickly and enchanted my entire body with a body-enhancing spell, I would have been ripped right through my side.

 

The monster climbed on top of my stumbled body and immediately prepared for its next attack. 

 

It swung its sharp, hard nails in front of my eyes, the kind of nails that would kill a normal person in an instant.

 

Quickly dodging to the side, I formed a spear of concentrated mana and drove it into the nape of the creature’s neck.

 

Grrr!

 

The creature twisted, letting out a ghastly scream as it fell apart.

 

I staggered back, feeling an excruciating pain in my shoulder.

 

“Ouch.”

 

Rowan said, lunging forward, “Get back.”

 

Evan and Rowan stood, besieging the creature from both sides.

 

The monster was defensive, blocking Evan’s movements. It didn’t seem to have the same power as yesterday.

 

Screech!

 

The creature was swept into the air by the great firestorm Rowan had summoned, and then plummeted to the ground.

 

But the monster wriggled its scorched and scarred body back to an upright position and wasted no time in attacking.

 

‘I have to help.’ 

 

With blood pouring from my wounds and my vision increasingly blurred by pain, I cast my magic.

 

Binding the creature’s limbs with mana as it continued to veer toward me.

 

“Ugh, cough.”

 

With a dry fit of coughing, I tasted blood in my mouth.

 

The wound visibly widened as the mana drained out of it.

 

Such was Louis’s power. 

 

It devours the soul. It requires a vast amount of life energy, like the power of a god, to stop it.

 

A terrifying force that aggravates wounds even in the briefest of gaps in mana drainage while casting magic.

 

Though I was fortunate enough to have the mana of a god to withstand it, for a mere mortal, the slightest scratch could be a fatal wound.

 

There was no time to dwell. With another pull of mana from the ground, I pinned the creature’s leg.

 

I could feel hot blood trickling from the corner of my mouth. I wiped the corner of my mouth with my hand, and my sleeve was damp with blood.

 

“Evan, now!”

 

Rowan blocked the creature’s swinging claws, and Evan took advantage of the opening and thrust his sword at the creature’s throat.

 

The creature screamed in agony, writhing in pain.

 

Its blood splattered along the sword’s trajectory.

 

I shot a bolt of mana with a confirmation kill, piercing the creature’s head.

 

The arrow followed my gesture and pierced the creature’s head, causing it to scream and its body to shrivel.

 

My eyes were spinning, and my stomach felt nauseous. I was in worse shape than I thought.

 

Bella lost her balance and fell to the ground.

 

“Bella, are you okay?”

 

My vision flickered back and forth as Evan ran toward me, calling my name urgently, and I soon lost all sense of consciousness.