CH 26

“Warrior, don’t you think that the Devil’s castle… is way quieter than we expected?”

Duke of Blake’s knight, Kozen, spoke slowly to Haron.

The Duke had generously supported all of the enlisted soldiers of the family, as if expressing that they really intended to exert great effort into subjugating the Devil.

Lord Icus, Lord Hermila, and Lord Kozen were also among the family’s outstanding knights.

Haron nodded, agreeing with him.

“It’s so quiet that it feels very suspicious.”

The barriers that protected the Devil’s Castle were almost completely broken. At this point, all of the Devil’s vassals and subordinates would have come out already and started to attack, but not a single soul was seen.

The silence further amplified the fears of the other soldiers.

The soldiers were all nervous and tightly grasped the weapons in their hands.

The Devil’s Castle, which was only known through rumors, was exuding more energy than they thought.

“After this…”

Haron wiped the sweat flowing down the edge of his chin. Breaking the barrier was by no means a simple task.

“It’s finally done.”

As Haron lifted his hand from the broken barrier, a tremendous thunder rang.

The barrier of the Devil’s Castle quickly turned into glimmering specks of dust that fell onto the floor.

Even in this situation, the huge fortress standing alone with its dark atmosphere and sparkling dust falling down its side looked incredibly beautiful.

The other soldiers couldn’t help but stare at this lovely scene for a little while.

‘Will I ever survive after this?’

Haron took a deep breath.

The Devil King was truly his lifelong enemy.

From the first day that he was declared to become the Warrior, Haron’s final goal was always about the Devil King.

Kill the Devil and save the world.

That was his main goal as the Warrior.

But of course this was what was decided by the higher ups, which happened to be the Temple and the Grand Duke.

So once he manages to defeat the Devil and save the princess… What will happen to him after that? Haron had never thought about it before. At least, not until recently.

“I’ll enter first.”

Haron stepped forward with his feet towards the entrance of the Devil’s Castle. He finally realized that this might be the end, and he didn’t know if he would be able to survive this or not.

‘I know you can accomplish anything. Since you are the Warrior, you can successfully complete any mission.’

Haron remembered the words that were said to him and also the person who said those words.

If… If he manages to kill the Devil King and wins this final task that was given to him, then maybe…

Haron bit his lips.

After all this, it wouldn’t be too late then to think about his own future.

~♡~

The door of the Devil’s Castle was slowly opened by Haron.

The inside of the castle was so quiet, to the point that not even a mouse could be heard.

“How come no one’s here?”

One of the soldiers muttered in a tense voice.

“No vassals, no subordinates, and even the Devil King is not here…. Is it possible that the Devil is already dead?”

“That can’t be true. Not long ago, the Warrior had been attacked by them and you noticed that the barrier that was recently destroyed by the Warrior was still activated before we arrived, which means that the Devil is still alive.”

They carefully looked over the quiet fortress.

The castle was large and wide, and there were still a lot of spaces that had not been checked yet. Somewhere in the quiet interior of the castle was a Devil King and a princess.

First, Lord Icus, the leader of the subjugation team, stepped forward and organized his unit.

“I’ll divide ourselves into three groups and we will complete different assignments. The search team will look through the fortress first, while the main team deals with the enemies, and the last group will block the enemies from fleeing or support the main team in case they’ll be needing some help. How about you, Warrior, what would you like to do?”

“I’m comfortable being alone.”

“Yes, I see. I wish you the best, Warrior.”

The soldiers were then divided and infiltrated into the castle under the orders of Lord Icus.

Haron watched the soldiers move from behind, and he moved carefully by himself as well.

“…It looks much wider than what it did from the outside.”

It was only a few minutes after he had separated from the group, but he could no longer hear the footsteps of the soldiers.

He was now walking alone through the tranquil corridor.

He tried to mutter by himself, to shake off his anxiety.

His suspicion grew more and more after he tried talking to himself.

Since he separated himself from the soldiers, he could no longer hear any footsteps from them.

Furthermore, he couldn’t get rid of this unsettled feeling as if he had entered a strange space.

[…Tick.]

At that moment, a small sound came from afar and caught his attention.

[…Hahaha]

“…Who are you?”

Haron turned his head and looked around, but he didn’t see anything.

There was only an empty hall in front of him.

He tried to move again.

[Idiot.]

He could definitely hear a small voice. It wasn’t an illusion. This time, without answering, he listened carefully to the voice.

It was giggling and poking his left ear.

[You look a lot more stupid than I thought. Are you the one who they called the Warrior?]

“···”

[Actually, your sword has the scent of blood. I’ve been flying around for a little bit , and I noticed your strong presence. How long have you been killing people?]

“You’re so noisy. Also, I didn’t kill because I wanted to.”

Haron, who was only going to listen quietly, eventually uttered an irritated retort.

[How many people did you kill? Did you want to show the whole world how strong and mighty you were?]

“No, that’s not true!”

[You know that I can see everything right? Even if you thought that you didn’t like what you’re doing, I could still see that you’re a cruel, trashy man who’s rolling on the floor!]

“It’s not like that, so shut up!”

Haron tried to swing his sword in the air.

The walls of the corridor were cracked with the sound of his sword being smashed against it. But regardless of his actions, the unknown sounds were still fluttering in his ears.

Haron’s head felt like it was about to break.

“Shut up, I’m not like that…” Haron shouted.

[It’s not like that? Then do you remember why you came here?]

“I’m here because…”

Haron’s eyes suddenly blanked out.

‘Why did I come here?’

He tried to look back but he was dazed and couldn’t remember anything.

For a while, the only sound that Haron could hear was the giggling sound of the person who’s talking to him telepathically.

[Tsk… open your eyes, idiot. You just fell into the trap that the Devil himself had prepared for you.]

A trap?

The moment he heard those words, Haron started to feel his feet again and wake up from his stupor.

Just like what the voice had said, when he opened his eyes again, it’s no longer the hallway that he was walking through before, but a completely different place.

“Where am I?”

A sudden change in space made him even more confused.

[This is the ability of hallucinations. It is one of the basic powers of the Devil King and you’re nicely caught, you idiot, hahaha!]

“You’re the idiotic one! You’re the one who keeps talking nonsense to me! Who the hell are you?”

Haron suddenly stopped talking.

A sparkling jewel suddenly floated in front of his eyes.

He reached out for it and touched the jewel.

He was familiar with this jewel because he had seen this countless times before. It was a Mahone stone.

“Why is this here…”

Among the hundreds of Mahone stones that Haron had seen, this particular one was exceptionally large and black in color, which shimmered beautifully.

When the jewel had finally fallen onto his hands, there was a sudden laughter heard from his ears.

Instead, a deep, dark voice lingered within his head.

[Take me with you, human and I will personally satisfy all the desires that you have.]

~♡~

Ah…

A lovely voice echoed throughout the entire castle.

The faint and beautiful voice that resonated throughout the castle was also clearly heard by the soldiers.

Countless soldiers who were searching for the Devil King, throughout the entire castle, suddenly stopped when they heard the singing voice and then they suddenly felt dazed.

“Go towards the top of the tower! That’s where the song is playing!”

Soon one of the soldiers shouted.

They began to rush towards the top of the tower where they could hear someone singing, not caring who was in the front.

A beautiful voice that was coming from a woman.

Everyone already knew whose singing voice this belonged to. The woman who was taken by the Devil, Princess Christina, who was known for her special power.

“I need to save the princess before the Warrior does.”

Originally, they were going to be busy dealing with the Devil’s vassals, but since there were no demons or vassals to stop them inside the castle…

Ah…

They suddenly stopped for a while thinking that this might be a trap for them, but when they heard the voice again, they suddenly moved forward again as if they were possessed .

If the legendary Siren actually existed, this would be exactly how it would sound.

All the soldiers were excited, and felt their throats drying up.

“It’s just beyond this room…”

Before they knew it, all the soldiers who climbed up to the top of the tower had finally reached in front of the door. They reached towards the knob and slowly opened the door.

At the exact same time, the singing voice suddenly stopped as well.

Inside the room, they could see the back of a woman with blonde hair standing in front of the window.

“Ahem… Princess?”

“Princess Christina… Is that right?”

The woman slowly turned her head at the call of the soldiers.

She had lovely blonde hair and beautiful golden eyes. However, she looked sad and strange.

The soldiers were positive that the voice came out from this room, and she’s the only person inside the room.

The soldiers knew at once that she was the rumored princess.

“Princess, are you alright? Come on, come with us and we will help you get out of here.”

The princess stared at the soldiers.

Obviously, these people came to rescue her, but her gaze directed at them was somewhat cold and dull.

“Ahem, princess?”

She’s been held by the Devil for a very long time so that was why they thought that she would be begging for them to save her.

But contrary to their expectations the princess only smiled slightly.

“…Who’s going to save who?”