Chapter 16
The stench of decay seemed to rise from the hill of corpses.
Blood pooled thickly on the ground, enough to soak one's feet.
As soon as the video started playing, countless villagers' corpses came into view. Bodies with stab wounds were strewn about like garbage throughout the village.
No... could those even be called stab wounds?
The injuries looked more like they'd been torn apart rather than cut. The state of the corpses was that grotesque.
Even though it was just a game, Chae-rin found herself grimacing.
They really went overboard with the realism - unnecessarily vivid even at times like this.
The situation had clearly been ongoing for a while, as the surroundings were pure chaos.
Surviving villagers were screaming about a Demonkin appearing all around.
Looking at the scene, you'd think either a psychopathic killer or some huge beast had passed through.
But standing in the center of the video was...
-It hurts... it hurts...
A young boy. He looked to be about 14 years old.
Just a small boy who hadn't even hit puberty properly yet.
Though his whole body was covered in blood, and tears were flowing from his eyes.
-Why, why do I have to go through this...? I was just born, why do I have to live running away?
But his eyes were rather strange - the pupils were completely black.
Only the eerie red glow shining from their centers hinted that he even had irises.
What people commonly called the Evil Eye.
After crying for a while, the boy spoke again.
-...Whatever. I just want you all to die.
A childish, almost whining tone.
But that power couldn't be ignored.
Suddenly the boy shot toward the person recording.
BOOM-!
A huge roar echoed all around.
The recorder must have been a tank class since they managed to withstand it, though their expression was deeply pained.
The impact must have been considerable.
Since aggro was focused on them anyway, the recorder shouted to the villagers:
-Everyone escape while you can!
-Th-thank you!
-We're saved thanks to you, young fellow!
After that... well, it was repetitive.
Chae-rin found herself watching a grown adult woman, and a tank class at that, getting pushed back by a boy who hadn't even hit puberty.
To be honest, the recorder did have a few chances to attack.
But perhaps due to the enemy's young appearance, they hesitated each time.
The tedious standoff ended a few minutes later when the Knights arrived at the village.
The Knights who arrived immediately formed a circle and cut down the Demonkin.
Without hesitation, despite his 14-year-old appearance.
Blood sprays. Innards spill out.
After the commotion ended, a seemingly high-ranking Knight came to thank the recorder.
-Thank you. Thanks to you we were able to prevent the damage from spreading.
-No... well...
The recorder scratched their head awkwardly. Perhaps because a young child had died, they seemed quite uncomfortable.
The Knight's expression wasn't very bright either.
However, in the Knight's case, they seemed uncomfortable for different reasons than the recorder.
The Knight looked around before asking their subordinate:
-...The casualties?
-Yes! From what we've confirmed so far, around 41 people.
-Quite heavy losses for such a remote village...
The Knight's expression turned grave. Then, as if making an announcement, they spoke.
-A demon may descend soon.
That was the end of the video.
Yoo Chae-rin immediately looked at the comments.
The reactions in the comment section were varied.
[These game devs are fucked up again]
[Even if they're going for realism isn't this too fucking brutal?]
[Whatever artistic bullshit they're going for, killing a kid is just~~]
[Do these knight bitches not have hearts wowow]
Sympathetic opinions saying this was too much even for a game, doing that to a child.
[Demon descent? wowowowow]
[New content dropped? lololol]
[Game finally dropping demon hints after half a year wwww]
Those who couldn't care less about that and were just excited about new information.
[But... that kid is kinda lol hot..haha]
[ㄴ fr lolol]
[ㄴ die1secondfaster]
[ㄴ Teacher please hold your breath for just one hour I beg you]
And mixed in were these weirdos making the comment section a complete mess.
Yoo Chae-rin sorted through to find the useful information.
[So what exactly is a Demonkin? Is it even human?]
[ㄴ hmm, asked the villagers and they said something about demon's blood?]
[ㄴ Demon's blood?]
[ㄴ tf is that;-;]
The reason that boy changed like that.
[So what's this demon descent thing]
[ㄴ Asked the knight and they said the boy and dead people were all sacrificed so the demon's seal is probably really weak now]
[ㄴ oh]
[ㄴ So we're getting a raid soon?]
[ㄴ dunno lol]
And the fact that something new might be coming soon.
After checking the post, Chae-rin fell into thought.
'Demon's Blood...'
Though she didn't know exactly what it was, she thought it was quite a malicious setting. Making a young boy like that, really. The naming was a bit chuunibyou-ish too.
Even though this game was virtual, all the NPCs living in it felt real.
They all felt emotions, felt pain, and laughed like actual people.
As such, that kind of tragedy couldn't feel good.
Of course, as a gamer, she just needed to enjoy the game.
She decided to push away the bad thoughts and focus only on the new content.
Fortunately, no one connected that Demonkin to Yor.
*
A week had already passed since winter ended and spring arrived.
The brilliant moon was almost gone now, gradually darkening.
What does this mean?
It means the time has come again for that beggar's rags Rage Mode to trigger.
Since today was the new moon, I had to face the akuma boiling inside me once again.
But this time I wasn't too worried.
Because I had Holy Water!
Holy Water was quite important to me in many ways.
True, using it weakens my power.
However, Holy Water only affects the demon's blood, not my actual body.
What does this mean?
It means when Rage Mode A triggers, it can prevent my blood from going berserk. Used properly, I can get through Rage Mode with almost no pain.
Using roughly 3 Holy Waters per Rage Mode.
With 6 Holy Waters, I could skip two whole months of Rage Mode for free.
So naturally I was in a good mood.
'Usually these are hard to get.'
Thanks to Chae-rin I was able to get them relatively easily. One of the benefits of interacting with an Otherworlder.
Anyway, because of that I had nothing to fear today.
Come at me Rage Mode A, if you dare!
But what came to me when night fell was.
-Surrender your body to me.
An unpleasant voice echoing in my head. Rage Mode B.
Realizing this, I cursed.
"Ah, fuck."
Unfortunately Holy Water doesn't work on Rage Mode B.
Feeling the strange anger boiling up inside, I rushed out of the cave.
*
As mentioned before, Rage Mode A affects the body, B affects the mind.
With A, as we saw before, you could see the blood itself going berserk.
So then how exactly does B affect the mind?
The answer is simple. It amplifies emotions themselves.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Coming out of the cave, I could feel my heart racing strangely.
It wasn't from being out of breath. It was a bodily response to manipulate anger.
My head felt hot, my chest tight. Negative thoughts kept trying to cloud my mind.
And... blood was kind of rushing to my lower body too.
Can't be helped. Rage Mode B didn't just amplify emotions but human instincts too.
The more complex and twisted a person's mind becomes, the easier it is for the demon to tempt them.
-Aren't you dissatisfied with the world? How long do you plan to live running away?
I don't know if this voice in my head is an actual demon or just an auditory hallucination.
But one thing's certain. If I surrender my body to that thing, I feel like I'll cross a river of no return.
Therefore, the countermeasure for Rage Mode B was opposite to A.
Unlike A where you had to endure quietly deep in the cave, with B you had to come outside and move around as much as possible. If you stay still, you get consumed by your own emotions.
You have to distract yourself with external things as much as possible to avoid listening to the voice.
"Grrrr! Woof! Woof!"
"Kreeeek!"
Even on a moonless night, enemies were scattered everywhere.
I could see the glowing eyes of mutated animals and monsters. They charged at me as soon as they saw me.
I didn't bother avoiding them, killing every one I saw.
Night was their territory. Even with my skills, it was hard fighting them in darkness where you couldn't see a foot ahead.
Wounds opened and blood flowed with each fight. But I didn't care.
Right now I had to release this directionless rage.
Had to relieve this stress.
Even then, the voice kept coming through.
-Tell me what you desire.
What I want is a cute girl harem sex.
A room full of cute girls. Soft skin and big breasts!
Building a paradise of wine and flesh with the world's cutest girls was my dream.
When listening to the demon's voice, you had to throw in bullshit like this sometimes.
If you listen seriously to that edgelord, depression creeps up on you.
People need to live with jokes. The world is too harsh otherwise.
As I was thinking that, it spoke to me again.
-Don't lie.
I asked it out loud.
"What?"
Are you saying I don't want a cute girl harem sex?
Ridiculous nonsense!!!
If a man is born with one stick and two balls down there, isn't this a natural dream to have?
Truly if you're a real man you should desire cute girl harem sex.
That's why I thought most 'men' here were gay.
Of course, if there are any in this world who want cute girl harem sex, I'm willing to acknowledge them as real men.
Even then, it continued.
-What you truly desire is something else.
There's something I want more than cute girl harem sex?
I unconsciously asked it.
'What is it?'
It answered.
-Return to civilization.
'......'
-I'll do it for you. If you surrender your body to me, I'll make that dream come true. No, I'll do more than that - I'll change this whole world.
I was silent for a while. But soon enough, I coldly told it:
'Not interested.'
Because I knew its words were just hollow temptation.
Because I knew that was an impossible dream. I could reject its offer without much hesitation.
So I wandered the forest through the night.
The sun rose several hours later.