Chapter 73

It has been three days since Tom and Jerry became part of the group.

The group decided on where to camp the night. There was a small village nearby, but since it was not as big as a city, there may be a surprise attack by magicians, so if possible, they wanted to search for other campsites.

After looking for the campsite again today, everyone was preparing for dinner, and Diego released Tom and Jerry. This is because Ed advised him to focus on improving his skills as a spirit commander rather than helping with dinner preparation.

Emma also liked helping Doug, so Diego decided to focus on his spirit command to improve his performance.

And his understanding of spirit command has deepened, it has become possible to communicate with Juan for a longer time without summoning him.

Diego, who was so focused on learning about spirit command techniques, decided to try a new training today.

He wanted to summon two dogs and share senses at the same time.

He was dizzy at first, but he got used to it.

What was interesting was that each spirit command had different abilities.

Sensing type Jerry and Tom was capable of hiding and darkening.

Jerry easily followed Diego’s directions, but Tom was a little different. Because of his strong memory during his lifetime, Tom climbed up trees and was moving along the branches while exploring his surroundings.

It was frustrating to see him do that even though he could run through walls, but Diego believed that he would get better gradually. Diego sent both Tom and Jerry together just in case a reverse recall would happen like the last time.

Jerry would be on top of Tom’s head. Diego was getting used to this new sense just by feeling the two moving on the branches of the forest while sharing their views.

Jerry touched his beard.

Then, there was something that caught his senses. Diego agonized for a moment.

In the past, he remembered Jerry being summoned back and fainting.

He thought it would be okay now because he had Tom, but he let Tom and Jerry wait there and cut off sharing their senses.

When Diego woke up from his seat, he stumbled because he was dizzy, perhaps because the two spirits cut off their senses. Someone helped Diego get up.

“Thank you.”

“Pfft. What’s up with you?”

Diego only then confirmed that Emma was the one who helped him.

“When did you get here?”

“I’m here to tell you to eat dinner is almost ready. Did you fall asleep because you were hungry?”

“No. Wait a minute. I have something to tell Ed.”

Diego stood still for a while, calmed down his dizziness, and walked away. As Emma spoke, everyone was gathered to have dinner.

Everyone was holding a bowl of stew, but Ed asked when Diego approached.

“Do you have something to say?”

The carriage was far away, but Ed wanted to hear about what Diego had to say.

“Brother. Jerry noticed something. I was thinking of sending Tom this time, but I wanted to tell you just in case.”

Ed put down his bowl and stood up.

“Do you know which direction it is?”

“Wait a minute.”

Diego, who closed his eyes and communicated with Jerry, opened his eyes and said.

“It’s that direction.”

Doug spoke after seeing where Diego was pointing.

“It’s the direction of the village.”

Was Diego saying that he can feel the demon’s power in the village?

Ed shook his head as all of the group stood up.

“I’ll just go and see what’s going on.”

“Let’s go together.”

Ed nodded at Arin’s words. Ed thought Brant and Dex could protect the campsite. And Diego doesn’t have to go with them.

“Diego. I’m going to ride a horse, so just guide me.”

“Wait a minute.”

Diego closed his eyes for a while, and Tom and Jerry quickly returned. Jerry ran up and came up onto Ed’s shoulder. Ed looked at Diego with Jerry on his shoulder.

“Please guide us.”

“Just leave it to me.”

Diego had a smile on his face, perhaps because he was happy with Ed’s words.

As a spirit, Jerry, who came up to Ed’s shoulder, swept down his beard with his front feet and squeaked because he couldn’t get near Arin. Ed knew the way to the village, but he needed Jerry to guide him inside the village.

Ed made eye contact with Arin and took off. It’s time for the sun to set and the night to come.

It wasn’t difficult to find the village. There was a line of wood, but there was no one guarding at night.

Above all, not only was there no light, but they couldn’t feel any movement.

When Ed looked back at Arin, she closed her eyes and opened them. Arin shook her head as she looked around the village with her blue eyes.

“We need to go in.”

When Ed looked at Jerry, he squeaked and pointed toward the village with his front feet.

“I guess it’s inside. Let’s leave the horses here.”

Since they had to cross the wooden fence, the horse was tied to a tree at the entrance to the village. The height of the wooden fence was as high as the wall height of the royal mansions, so Ed reached out his hand, but Arin shook her head and jumped over it n her own.

Her physical ability must have improved than before. As expected for a holy knight.

Ed also jumped from the ground and soared, and he quickly reached the end of the wooden fence without having to kick the wall. Ed gently climbed onto the wooden fence and looked around the village.

There is no smoke coming up, and there is no light.

It’s a ghost village.

As Ed looked around Arin shook her head.

“I can’t see or feel anything.”

Ed looked at Jerry on his shoulder at her words. Perhaps because of the characteristics of the spirit command, he proved to be superior to Arin in sensing power.

Jerry raised his head, shook his beard, and squeaked.

Seeing Jerry jump off his shoulder and run, Ed and Arin followed after him.

Since Jerry could run through the wall, Ed and Arin ran on the roofs and chased after him.

In a village of this size, there should be people coming and going. Ed’s group would have stayed here if they weren’t being attacked by beasts every night.

Was there a demon who attacked the village?

It was highly likely that the demon was a fool or something problematic happened. Otherwise, did the demon have the ability to overwhelm everything?

To be at that level, the demon must at least be high-level or intermediate.

Even Juan could make a while city disappear in a day.

It would be possible to destroy this village even as an intermediate demon, but the aftermath would have been too much to handle. An intermediate demon would know the consequences, so what happened here?

It was a village that raised doubts in many ways.

While Ed was agonizing over it, Jerry quickly began to run toward the village hall. Arin, who was chasing after him, pulled out her shield and a hammer as if she sensed something.

Ed also held his bow in his left hand and asked.

“Is this the town hall?”

“No, it’s the church.”

Ed’s expression hardened at the words.

Demons will not go near churches unless they are insane. When they go near a church, a holy knight is immediately dispatched to chase the demon until death.

But they can feel the demon’s energy at a church?

Ed thought it could be a demon who wanted to die. Arin jumped off the roof and started running toward the church at a terrifying speed.

Her muscle strength is higher than Ed’s, so whenever her feet kicked the ground, she pushed herself forward. Ed also found the destination, so rather than running on the roof to make it easier to follow Jerry, he jumped to the ground and started running comfortably.

Ed, who quickly caught up with Arin, made a strong impression.

Blood was being passed down from the church outside the village. Arin, as well as Ed, smelled the blood scent, and her eyes changed.

Seeing her speed go up, Ed also ran along with her and pulled out an arrow.

Jerry stopped where the church could be seen and stood with his front feet up. Ed, who ran to the church with Arin, made a strong impression when he saw the tragedy inside the church.

A priest was nailed on the token of the Astron Church, and corpses were piled up like mountains in the center of the church. All the people in the village were dead and piled up here.

But it was amazing. It means that none of them died at their homes.

If they had bled at home, Arin and Ed would’ve smelled the blood on their way.

Arin looked at the mountains of the corpses and spoke.

“Come out.”

Arin’s words shook the mountains of the corpses. Were they still alive?

As the mountains of the bodies shook, Ed realized that there was something underneath them, and he prepared an arrow. After a while, a head popped out of the mountains of the corpses.

“Did you guys already arrive? I’m not ready yet.”

Ed didn’t fire an arrow because he saw letters engraved on the man’s forehead. A cross-shaped tattoo in a circle. Ed thought it was familiar and muttered without realizing it.

“A crossel?”

These are the things you meet when you play Demon’s Age 1. He remembered the Druid Dread killed all of them, but there were survivors?

The eyes of the man who had only poked his head out of the mountains of the corpses turned to Ed.

“Huh. Do you know us?”

A crossel is a group of demon dependents and followers. In short, it means a group of crazy people.

When Ed tried to shoot an arrow instead of answering, there was something that flew before the crossel. A hammer full of Arin’s sacred power flew toward him.

At that time, several bodies gathered and blocked the hammer.

Boom!

The bodies that blocked the hammer full of sacred power were shattered, but in the meantime, the crossel hid under the other bodies. Arin suddenly threw a shield this time after catching her hammer.

As soon as the shield flew in, the corpses built a wall. But the wall was smashed at once.

Only then did Ed know what the crossel was trying to do.

It was trying to make a ragged golem. A ragged golem was created by raising all the bodies of the villagers.

But Arin’s condition was strange. She lost her composure.

After throwing her shield, she was rushing toward the ragged Golem with her sword.

There was no room for Ed to intervene. But he didn’t mean to leave her alone in danger.

Ed looked at the ragged Golem’s leg being cut off by Arin’s sword while raising his body, and Ed injected mana into his frozen bow.

The crossel was hiding in the ragged Golem. If Ed hadn’t finished it, the ragged Golem would continue to play with the dead bodies of the villagers.

Arin’s sacred power is so enormous and the performance of holy relics is excellent, but it was a dangerous fight. She was not targeting its weakness, but rather just trying to break it down without considering its regenerative power.

All she needed to do is catch the crossel hiding inside there, but she was making the wrong moves.

The Ragged Golem has not even properly raised his body yet. It was made of the bodies of more than 200 people, so when the shape began to rise, it seemed to be over 10 meters tall.

If so, there is no need to wait until completion. And it was necessary to cool off Arin’s incomprehensible heat and madness.

Ed’s arrow went to the ragged golem where he was raising himself and was stuck.

Freeeeeeeeeez!

The body of the ragged Golem, who was about to get up and break to the ceiling of the church, was trapped in a large block of ice. However, it was not dead since there wasn’t any experience coming in.

“Arin! Calm down!”

However, Arin did not stop swinging her sword and hammer at the ragged Golem trapped in the chunk of ice.

Ed doesn’t know what happened to her, but it’s dangerous to leave Arin like this. They shouldn’t act this ignorant without knowing what the crossel was planning.

Ed went behind Arin and shouted once again, hugging her with one arm.

“Arin! Calm down!”

At Ed’s cry, Arin’s holy sword and hammer slowly stopped.

“Whew. Whew.”

Ed saw for the first time that Arin was so upset that she couldn’t even control her breathing. Ed said, hugging Arin’s shoulder from behind.

“Arin, don’t worry. I’ll let you kill that thing.”