Chapter 54: Demons’ Awakening

Chapter 54: Demons’ Awakening

“Ugh...where am I?”

Tigar, the leader of the “Lugall squad,” woke up with a throbbing headache and held his head while trying to make sense of his surroundings. He got up from his prone position, confused by his stiff muscles and the pain coursing through his body.

Taking stock of his condition, Tigar realized he was naked, and a fresh set of clothes and underwear had been neatly folded beside him. Although he found this odd, he quickly donned the garments as the discomfort of his nudity was too much to bear. Placing a hand on his pounding head, he shook it in an attempt to alleviate the pain.

“Damn, my head hurts... What happened after that? Where am I?”

Tigar looked around while holding his forehead. He found himself in the same large room where they had been for the past few days. He noticed the familiar faces of his wife, his child, and fellow soldiers from his squad, along with members of the Kadaha squad, all lying on the ground beside him.

He quickly checked the condition of the people lying beside him and was relieved to find everyone was safe. Tigar decided to wake up his wife and son first, and gently shook their shoulders.

“Sharl, Leo, wake up.”

“Dear....”

“Hmm....Dad?”

Realizing that Sharl and Leo were in a similar state to when he had awakened, Tigar immediately urged them to get dressed.

Sharl was alarmed at her own nakedness and hastily put on her clothes. However, Leo, still groggy from sleep, took his time getting dressed.

Tigar and Sharl, dressed now, went around the room, waking up their comrades. While the reactions upon waking up were mostly the same, it was no surprise that the women in the group were quicker to put on their clothes than the men.

“For now, we can be happy that everyone’s alive, right?” Tigar asked Zald, seeking confirmation.

“I want to believe that. But if what that spiritualist said is true, then we might already be...”

“............”

Zald’s words trailed off, and he avoided finishing the sentence. Apparently, Orvo had told everyone what he was going to do with their bodies. Remembering that he had deliberately avoided thinking about it, Tigar fell silent again.

They were no longer human. Although they didn’t feel any different at the moment, they couldn’t laugh off the fact that they had been subjected to something beyond their understanding. The fear of something unknown crawling up from under their feet was palpable.

“Ah...? Ahhhh!?”

“My leg, my leg is healed!?”

As the large room fell into silence, a sudden loud voice echoed, catching everyone’s attention. It was the voice of those who had lost their limbs in the battle, just before they were transported to this place. Surprisingly, their missing limbs had reappeared, and they were now able to move them as they wished.

The same miraculous recovery seemed to have occurred for those who had lost other body parts in previous battles. Even Tigar, who had sustained a deep wound to his left shoulder in the recent battle, had completely healed without any explanation. While the sudden change was a positive development, it took everyone by surprise.

“Huh? Is this a scar or something...?”

“Whoa, what the...!?”

Those who had lost significant body parts were the first to notice the strange transformation. When they touched their once-missing body parts and concentrated their thoughts on them, an unusual sensation washed over them. Before long, fur or scales began to sprout from the affected areas, eliciting screams of terror from the startled individuals.

However, unlike Tigar and the others, the individuals inside the cages were all in a state of frenzy. Unbeknownst to them, all of them were demons created using the souls of non-human species.

“Sorry to start the day on a bad note, but we’ll be conducting a performance test and disposing of defective products simultaneously. You’ll be fighting against the defective products over there. Please feel free to use your weapons we brought on the carrier.”

The uncontrollable demons were useful for experiments, but they were useless as weapons. That is why Orvo decided to confirm the power of the new demons created using human souls while disposing of the unnecessary ones.

Tigar and his companions had no idea about the situation, but even if they knew, they could not oppose the given orders. They picked up the weapons piled up in the corner of the room.

“Are you ready? Let’s begin~,” Orvo said casually while tapping the floor with his staff. At the same time, the cages were opened, and the raging demons burst out.

Despite the charging demons and their cries, Orvo and his group remained calm. They organized their formation, and Tigar and Zald stood at the forefront with their weapons ready.

“Fire!”

“Release!”

When the two gave the command simultaneously, the team members specializing in spiritual arts and those carrying bows and arrows fired in unison. The synchronized attack crushed the demons’ spirits, and at that moment, the front-line warriors charged in and began slashing with their weapons.

Tigar hoisted his ancestral greatsword onto his shoulder and swung it down from a high position. The greatsword, which would normally feel heavy even with his fighting spirit strengthened body, now felt as light as a twig in his hands.

“Ooooooh!”

“Gyaaaaaah!”

The greatsword cleaved through one demon from its head down to its crotch effortlessly. Before the bisected demon’s body hit the floor, Tigar had already moved on to the next target, cutting it down with ease. Members of the Lugall and Kadaha squads also fought bravely, taking down the demons one by one.

However, the enemy’s numbers were almost three times that of their own. The limited space they had to fight in made it seem like Tigar and his comrades were cornered.

“Enough of this! Grrrrrr!”

“Guaaaaaaah!”

Tigar and his companions transformed into their demon forms, bestowed upon them by Orvo, to even the odds against their enemies. Covered in fur and scales, their bodies grew larger, and their physical abilities were enhanced.

With their newfound power, the battle quickly became one-sided. The mindless demons had no chance against Tigar and his companions, and they were swiftly hunted down and eliminated. It was a pitiful sight to behold, as the demons were destroyed by their own kind.

“Wow! You guys have already mastered the use of your demon forms! Very good~I wonder If that’s related to your experience. Anyway, leave your weapons here and come with me. I want to introduce you to a special demon,” Orvo exclaimed excitedly as he led the way with the Imperial soldier following behind.

As they walked, the group found themselves in what appeared to be a prison-like area with rows of empty cells. But at the very end of the hall, there was a strange sight waiting for them.

The first thing that caught their eyes was the sight of two ordinary ox and horse, which were not fitting for a prison, lounging on a pile of hay and peacefully sleeping. It was an abnormal situation that didn’t match the surroundings of a prison cell.

However, even more abnormal was the cage inside the cell. In the cage, there was a chair, and sitting on it was a demon with an exoskeleton covering part of their body and a thick tail growing from their waist.

“Allow me to introduce them! They are your senior demons! Especially the one sleeping on the chair who is the first demon...the strongest demon as of now.”

Orvo said, proudly puffing out his chest. However, the attention of Tigar and the others was focused on the demon, the scorpion demon, who remained motionless with all three eyelids closed.