’This disguise works... somewhat.’

It was no doubt effective against these lesser demons, but the biggest problems would start if he somehow ran into a powerful demon so early into his mission.

The closer he drew to the castle, the more corrupted the land became.

The red veins beneath the black stone were thicker here, pulsing in an unsettling rhythm like an enormous heart buried under the ground.

Strange structures jutted out of the earth on either side of the road, some shaped like watchtowers, others like broken ribs rising toward the sky. Chains hung between several of them, each chain covered in dark runes that occasionally sparked with crimson light.

Once, he passed a pit filled with pale human corpses.

The sight made his stomach churn. More so since the bodies were piled with a mix of varieties, children included.

He also ran into a bunch of bodies that looked like they had been flayed alive.

Their bodies had been skinned, mouths frozen open in silent agony. A few still twitched faintly, though there was no life left in their eyes.

He found himself stopping briefly at the sight, with a sting in his eyes that he could not explain. He felt his heart thundering violently in his chest.

He stood there for a while, seemingly having forgotten his purpose, but only he knew that he hadn’t. Not even. He was considering quickly putting every single one of them out of their misery in a swift and kind manner; whoever had done this wanted them to suffer.

But such a thing would probably get noticed. Who knew if the demon responsible was silently watching from some distant peak and relishing in the ugly sight?

’I can’t risk it.’

He could only hope that death was not too far for these poor souls. He was no saint, but would never wish such a thing even upon his greatest enemy.

With great difficulty, he reaffirmed his thoughts, took a deep breath, and moved on. However, as he walked along the whole winding pathway up to the distant castle, a similar sight could be seen.

Fortunately, these were just dead bodies instead of flayed bodies barely clinging on to life. What truly surprised him was when he came across a huge pile of demon bodies. Elion’s expression darkened even further beneath his hood.

’Burning through his commanders’ lives,’ he thought, remembering Melroy’s voice through the communication device.

Apparently, that had not been an exaggeration.

The Demon King, or Demon Lord, as Zenith had called him, was not merely sacrificing nameless fodder. He was draining his own kind to fuel whatever ritual allowed him to stand against the coalition Saints in battle, where he was outnumbered.

It was sickening.

Elion had seen cruelty before, but this was on another level.

Perhaps demons had a different meaning of morality than even the lowest filth that humanity had to offer.

A pillar of golden light suddenly rose in the distance, so bright that it pierced through the crimson haze covering the sky. A moment later, a wave of darkness crashed against it from the opposite side, the collision creating a silent flash before the sound finally arrived.

BOOOOM!

The shockwave swept across the land seconds later, making the black banners along the road snap violently in the wind. Several demons nearby looked toward the distant battle and began growling among themselves.

Elion snapped out of his trance, and his pace quickened slightly. He had to reach the castle before that fight ended.

He didn’t need to guess what had caused that monstrous shockwave from such an impossible distance.

On another note, he couldn’t help but wonder if the traitors had already warned the demons of his role...

That would certainly complicate things even further for him. He pushed the thought aside and focused.

One impossible thing at a time.

The road eventually split near a collapsed archway. One path continued toward the main gate of the castle, where even from a distance, Elion could see several larger demons standing guard. The other path curved around the side of the fortress, descending toward a lower district of smaller structures built into the cliffside beneath the outer walls.

Elion slowed.

The main gate was impossible, not because he couldn’t force his way through. He probably could, especially with Kurogoroshi, but forcing his way through would defeat the entire purpose of infiltration.

He chose the lower path.

The air grew colder as he descended.

The buildings here were cramped, angular, and ugly, made from black stone and some kind of bone-like material that seemed to grow directly out of the walls. He passed storage dens, collapsed barracks, cages filled with strange winged beasts, and a forge where three lesser demons were hammering pieces of armour without any real enthusiasm.

The place was not empty, but it was undermanned, as he had hoped. That, at least, was going in his favour.

Most of the strong demons really had been pulled away.

Elion moved through the lower district quietly, keeping to the edges of buildings and shadowed paths. His cloak helped somewhat.

Twice, he had to stop and wait for patrols to pass. Once, he had to duck behind a broken pillar while a hulking demon beast padded by close enough that its hot breath brushed against the stone hiding him.

Eventually, he found what he had been looking for: a way inside.

It was a simple drainage channel.

’Of course, it had to be a drainage channel.’

The sight of it was incredibly repulsive. It was almost enough to make Elion reconsider the main gate.

It opened beneath the castle wall like a dark wound, half-hidden behind a hanging curtain of dead vines and dripping red-black water. The smell coming from it was terrible, a mixture of rot, old blood, and corrupted mana so thick it almost felt physical.

Elion stared at it for a long moment, as if regretting his life’s choices. Eventually, he sighed deeply.

"I really miss the palace." 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Kurogoroshi hummed faintly.

"Don’t judge me. You were in a velvet box until recently."

There was no response from the enigmatic sword. He crouched and slipped through the vines.

The entrance channel was incredibly narrow, forcing him to duck low as he moved through the slick stone passage. Red-black water flowed around his boots, though he used a thin layer of water magic to keep most of it from touching him directly. The smell still clung to the air, but he had endured worse. Probably.

After several minutes, the passage widened into a maintenance tunnel beneath the castle.

The walls here were covered in old markings. He assumed the writing was demonic, since he couldn’t recognize it. It was carved so deeply into the black stone that it looked more like scars than writing.

The red veins from outside continued through the walls, pulsing in slow rhythms, all flowing in the same direction.

Elion stopped and looked at them.

"Why does this look like a bloodstream?" He thought silently. He couldn’t help but wonder. If the domain had a core, as the coalition had been told by their informant, then the veins likely led toward it.

If he was wrong, then his assumption would probably lead him toward something that would kill him horribly.

Either way, it was the best lead he had, so he had no choice but to trace them. He followed the pulsing veins deeper into the castle.

The farther he went, the more the pressure increased. It pushed against his skin, seeped into his lungs, and silently scratched at his mana.

No doubt, this is the corruption he had been primarily warned off.

If he had been an ordinary mage, or even the old him before all of this madness, he might have already collapsed. But with Kurogoroshi’s Heaven Defiance subtly resisting the spiritual oppression, and Isla’s pendant warming faintly against his chest, he managed to keep moving.

Still, it was very uncomfortable.

It made him think why he hadn’t felt this oppressive air the last time. Perhaps it was thanks to some sort of temporary protection that Zenith had placed on him that time.

Every step felt like walking deeper and deeper into the belly of some sleeping monster. It was extremely unsettling, to say the least.

Voices began to echo ahead. Elion immediately pressed himself against the wall and lowered his presence.