Demonic Witches Harem: Having Descendants Make Me Overpowered!-Chapter 26: The Weakest Saint

Aether and Nadia trudged through the snow-covered path, their heavy backpacks digging into their shoulders.

Thick white robes wrapped tightly around their bodies, but even the holy power coursing through them could barely keep out the bone-chilling cold of Malgrave's unforgiving nights.

Their faces were gaunt, their eyes sunken with exhaustion.

Sleep had been a luxury they couldn't afford—not with cacodemons and beasts swarming them every night, drawn to their presence like ants to an unwrapped lollipop.

It was inevitable. Light and darkness were natural enemies.

The weaker cacodemons attacked on instinct, their hunger overriding any fear.

But the stronger ones—those with intelligence—kept their distance, lurking in the shadows, watching or completely running away when they realized their power gap.

Aether exhaled, his breath curling in the icy air. "Nadia, thank you." His voice was soft, but weighted.

"You've stayed with me all this time, even when the Church refused to support us."

Their journey had been a grueling one, and without proper funding, even acquiring new horses had been impossible.

The last ones had collapsed, unable to endure Malgrave's merciless terrain.

Nadia adjusted her glasses, her fingers trembling slightly. "Oh no, why would you say that? Your Holiness, it is my honor and obligation to follow you."

Then, in a quieter voice, she added, "I should be the one thanking you... for believing in me."

Aether just nodded to her words and let out a bitter laugh. "Those stupid Elders... how dare they laugh at me like that?"

Even after two years, the memory still burned in his chest—the day he stood before the main Church, declaring the existence of a descendant of the Calamity.

They laughed.

Mocked him, dismissed his words as foolish delusions. Even when he presented evidence, they refused to listen.

"What's the point of my title if those useless Elders won't even hear me out?" His jaw hardened.

He knew why. He was the newest Saint, a nobody from the slums, with no vivid bloodline or noble ties. The weakest and youngest of the Seven.

And even the Sentinel, the prophet of the Everbright Church, had remained silent when the Elders dismissed his claims.

As if she too did not believe him.

A dark thought crept into his mind, 'What if I was wrong?'

'What if he really is just a normal cacodemon? What if this entire search is nothing but a waste of time?'

The doubt clung to him like gum stuck to his boot. No matter how hard he tried to shake it off, it remained.

But despite everything...

He refused to admit that he might be wrong.

Aether and Nadia pressed forward through the thick snow when she suddenly halted, her posture rigid.

"There's a cacodemon nearby," she whispered, eyes scanning their surroundings.

Aether immediately stopped, closing his eyes to concentrate on his mana. He felt it—a dark presence lurking, watching them from the shadows.

His gaze flickered to the left, just in time to see a silhouette lunging at them, a surge of purple lightning crackling around its form.

"Barrier of Light."

A golden shield materialized around them just as a thunderous strike clashed against it, sending ripples of divine energy outward.

Aether's lips moved swiftly, "Aureate Arrows."

Ten radiant arrows appeared at his side, gleaming with a holy glow before shooting toward the attacker.

As the shadow became clear, its form took shape—a chaos hound, its eyes glowing with malevolent energy.

The hound dodged with unnatural agility and let out a chilling howl.

Electricity crackled around its body, coalescing into a massive spectral hound's head, its maw wide open as it lunged toward them, fangs ready to rip them apart.

"Weak."

Aether's voice rang with disdain as he summoned his bow—a towering weapon as tall as himself, pure white with golden cracks running across it like veins of light.

With a swift motion, he conjured a golden arrow, holy energy swirling around it. The moment he let it fly, it tore through the spectral beast, light engulfing its form.

The impact was overwhelming. The snow melted instantly, revealing the ground beneath as the sheer force of his attack carved a trail over a hundred meters long. Stones and trees in its path were obliterated.

Aether exhaled sharply, gripping his bow. "Did I overdo it?" Frustration gnawed at him.

The exhaustion, the Elders' mockery, and now this random cacodemon—everything made his patience run thin.

"Your Holiness! That chaos hound—it's too strong for its kind! This reminds me of the case in Blackwood!" Nadia's urgent voice snapped him back.

Aether's eyes widened. She's right. Chaos hounds shouldn't be able to cast such spells.

His sharp gaze turned to the side. A sound—crunching snow.

The same chaos hound emerged from the shadows. It survived.

But instead of attacking, it turned and ran.

Aether and Nadia exchanged glances. No words were needed. They immediately took off in pursuit.

Aether chanted continuously, summoning Aureate Arrows one after another, but the chaos hound dodged them all with uncanny precision.

'It's leading us somewhere. A trap?'

His instincts screamed at him, but he couldn't stop now. If this was connected to his search for Claude, the daemon he had been hunting for years, he had no choice but to follow.

Then—a sharp gasp.

Nadia collapsed.

Aether skidded to a stop, turning back just in time to see her coughing blood.

"Your Holiness, just leave me and catch that monster!" she gasped.

His eyes narrowed. He extended his mana, searching for abnormalities—and there it was.

A dark aura, slithering through her veins like a living mist.

'Poison. But how?'

They were weak to poison made by darkness, but the effect was different for each person, the stronger the mana, the less affected they were.

His jaw clenched. He couldn't afford to waste time, but leaving her here in this condition was out of the question.

"I'm sorry. Here, take this."

He pulled the amulet from around his neck and pressed it into her trembling hands.

"It will cleanse the poison."

"But, Your Ho—"

"Enough. Go somewhere safe and don't be a burden."

Without another word, he turned and sprinted forward, closing his eyes briefly to focus on the cacodemon's trail.

He found it.

And without hesitation, he followed—deeper into the unknown.

The dense white landscape of the Malgrave Mountains soon gave way to something far more unnatural.

The once towering, snow-covered trees became skeletal husks, their bark cracked and blackened as if drained of life.

The thick snow thinned out, revealing ashen earth, and an eerie purple mist clung to the ground, curling around his feet like living tendrils.

Aether's steps faltered. His breath hitched.

Poison.

The realization struck instantly as the familiar corrosive energy invaded his body, twisting through his veins.

Aether's mind raced as his body weakened further. This wasn't just any poison.

There was nothing in existence—nothing—that should have been able to affect him like this.

Except one.

Aether had never been the most diligent student—he despised sitting through the long-winded lectures of the Elders—but they had forced him to learn regardless.

History was important, they said. The past shaped the present. Their Goddess and her followers had fought for centuries to purify the world.

And in those countless lessons, there was always one name that stood above all others.

Aether's lips parted, his voice barely above a whisper.

"The Harbinger of Despair."

A legendary cacodemon. A monster of nightmares. The first to bring plague and poison into this world.

It was said that long ago, it retreated into the depths of Malgrave, using its foul power to twist the land.

It was why these mountains never thawed.

Why monsters and traps infested the region.

Why the very land rejected life.

Because something terrible lay hidden beneath the eternal snow.

"Shit. It really is a trap."

His mana surged in response, purging the toxin, but the effort was draining.

His movements slowed, his head pounded like a war drum, and his heart hammered violently against his ribs.

Even his breathing turned labored, each inhales feeling like shards of ice scraping against his lungs.

"No... Don't give up yet!" Aether gritted his teeth, forcing himself forward.

His fingers dug into the rough bark of a dying tree, using it to support himself.

"That damned daemon must be too weak to fight me head-on if he needs to rely on poison."

He spat to the side, frustration boiling in his chest. His vision blurred for a moment, but he shook it off. He had come too far to stop now.

Yet—he wasn't alone.

Unbeknownst to him, high above in the sky, hidden within the swirling darkness, Claude watched.

The daemon's black robes billowed in the cold wind, his crimson eyes glinting with amusement as he observed the so-called Saint struggling below.

'Pathetic.'

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A slow smirk curled on Claude's lips. The sight of the weakened Saint made his confidence swell.

Killing him would be easier than he thought.

Raising a hand, a small black sphere formed at his fingertips, pulsating with void energy.

"Void Strike."

The sphere compressed—and in the next instant, a thin, blazing-fast beam of destruction shot downward, splitting through the silence like a thunderous roar.

Aether barely had time to register the attack.

His eyes widened.

Too late to dodge.