Sword of Salvation-Chapter 72: - Monster Nest (2)

Lergen had worked extremely hard. He hadn’t slept at all, not even for an hour or two. For two nights and two days, he had worked nonstop. It was probably the hardest work he had ever done in his life.

Of course, it was impossible for Lergen to work alone. No matter how fast he forced his hands to move, it would have been useless if no one brought him subjects to implant demon hearts into.

Together with Livera and the assistants managing the laboratory, Lergen was assisted by a total of six people. Four of the five assistants were tasked with capturing animals for him, while the last assistant was responsible for extracting experimental subjects from the amniotic tubes where they were being processed into half-demons.

Meanwhile, Livera had a different task. Transforming animals into half-demons through a rapid method would make them uncontrollable—not much different from what had happened to King Maggio’s daughter. Livera’s job was to control those animals using her Devil Curse. Because of that, she was just as busy as Lergen himself.

By the time the doctor ran out of demon hearts, he had performed surgery on a total of 147 animals. Ten of them were gorillas, and they were the strongest. The remaining 137 were mostly deer and wild boars. He had ordered 37 of them (one of which was a gorilla) to guide those who hunted him. The other 110 were placed in the prepared trap area.

Livera had done her job well. She couldn’t control the animals like a puppeteer manipulating their puppets, but her Devil Curse was effective. She could make creatures weaker than herself view her as their leader. That was how she commanded the animals.

However, aside from only working on creatures weaker than her, Livera’s Devil Curse didn’t work on spirit users with king-type spirits—even if those spirit users were weaker than her. That meant Lergen didn’t have to worry about her using it against him if he let his guard down. Even among king spirits, Lergen’s spirit was ranked among the higher tiers.

"Do we need to leave this place, Doctor?" Livera asked as Lergen finished wiping his hands and face. "If those people manage to escape from the traps I set, Yon and his four teammates should be able to handle them."

All of Lergen’s assistants were at least on the level of experienced Ultimate Demons. He had more than five hundred assistants scattered across various nations and continents. Losing Yon and his four teammates wouldn’t be a problem. Besides, with King Maggio’s recent decision, the laboratories in Mangolla could no longer be used effectively.

"You’re right," Lergen replied. "But, Livera, I want to see how they perform—especially that female experiment subject of mine. I failed to control many of my experiment subjects, but she is different from the others—she’s more special. Her spirit might be on the same level as mine. Maybe, if you had been with me at the time, you could have confirmed my suspicion."

"That’s your fault for assigning me to Southern Continent, Doctor."

"Kukuku."

"But, Doctor, what if they exceed our expectations? Escaping will be difficult. We’ll be forced to fight. It’s not that I’m scared or anything, but you’re not in prime condition, Doctor. I’m also quite exhausted from handling all those animals."

"Kukuku. Are you saying you’re worried I might accidentally kill them?"

"I don’t want to deal with Primordial Demon Levia. Just seeing her last time nearly made my heart stop—and she wasn’t even angry. If she comes here in a rage, I’m afraid we’re done for, Doctor."

Livera wasn’t wrong to want to avoid angering Levia. Even if he and Livera fought together in spirit unification mode, Lergen doubted Levia would lose. At the very least, two members of World Order would be needed to handle her. Or, if it had to be a one-on-one fight, Lergen would have to use Origin Mode.

Origin Mode made someone far stronger than spirit unification mode.

However, throughout history, only Great King Gilgamesh had been able to use that mode. No one knew how he did it. Gluttony King Beelzebub refused to reveal the method. The only information Lergen had was that using Origin Mode shortened one’s lifespan.

"Kukuku. In that case, Livera, we just have to make sure they don’t die. It’s as simple as that."

Livera let out a long sigh. "Then I’ll inform Yon and the others to prepare themselves. They need to prove that they’ve grown as well."

-----[ ooOoo ]-----

Mariel and Celinee continued their search even after night had fallen. The darkness of the night slowed their movements. If not for Celinee’s detection technique, they would have been forced to postpone their search—the moonlight was unable to penetrate the dense forest effectively.

Celinee’s determination to complete the search was not wasted. About two hours after the sun had disappeared, they finally found themselves a few meters away from the entrance of a cave guarded by a dozen demon beasts.

From what they could see in the dim night, the cave was far from natural. The surrounding environment did not support the formation of such a cave, especially since it was not an underground one. So, Mariel concluded that the large cave, which looked like a small hill, was man-made.

"Dr. Lergen is definitely inside, Mariel. I can clearly remember his prana. He’s at the far end. But..."

"It’s not going to be easy to reach him, huh?"

Celinee nodded.

Mariel created two long wind swords. "Then I’ll clear the path," he said as he stepped forward. "Save your prana and energy for facing Dr. Lergen."

As soon as Mariel moved forward, the dozen demon beasts immediately charged at him in a group. Mariel remained calm. He eliminated them all using only his wind swords, slicing their bodies into several pieces and splitting their demon hearts in two.

Mariel continued his steady steps into the cave, with Celinee calmly following behind him.

The moment they entered the cave, the darkness instantly vanished. The candles on the walls to their left and right all lit up simultaneously. Mariel was not surprised. Most of the candles sold in the market came from the Southern Continent. Seeing them light up on their own was not unexpected.

There were no demon beasts visible in the cave entrance corridor, but it was clear they would encounter them if they ventured further in.

"There are a total of 94 demon beasts waiting inside," Celinee confirmed Mariel’s assumption. "Nine of them are similar to the gorillas from earlier. But they’re not the real problem. Not far behind that group of monsters, there are 51 half-demons." 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"How strong are they?"

"About as strong as the gorillas, but some are even stronger."

"I think this is a great opportunity."

"Huh, a great opportunity? What do you mean? Unlike the gorillas, those ones can probably control themselves freely. Not to mention, there are a lot of them. If they work together, I don’t think we can make it out unscathed."

"When I said a great opportunity, I wasn’t talking about fighting them. This has nothing to do with them in terms of battle."

"What do you mean?"

"Princess Milly is a half-demon. Right now, she is the only legitimate heir to King Maggio. King Maggio will likely spread false information, claiming that his daughter’s rampage and the destruction of part of the city were caused by a demon taking over her body. The public will believe it, especially if King Maggio offers generous compensation to those affected."

"But," Mariel continued, "what do you think would happen if she became queen and the public learned about her status as a half-demon?"

"The public would reject her. They would feel betrayed. They would stage a massive rebellion. Fear of the princess going on another rampage would make the citizens paranoid. Especially since they have been indoctrinated from a young age to hate demons and half-demons. Princess Milly would never be able to become queen."

"Something like that. But," Mariel continued, "what if the Kingdom of Mangolla was gradually transformed into a place that welcomed half-demons? What if the public was forced to understand that half-demons still possessed all the human values they had before? What if people realized that, all this time, those protecting them were actually half-demons?"

Celinee’s feet stopped abruptly upon hearing Mariel’s long statement. Mariel also halted. He turned back, raising an eyebrow as he looked at the ninja. Meanwhile, Celinee stared at Mariel in disbelief.

"Do you understand what you just implied, Mariel?"

Mariel’s lips curved slightly at the question. "Celinee," he said. "Let’s make this kingdom a place that welcomes half-demons like you."

"That’s impossible."

An unsurprising response—one that anyone could have predicted. Celinee had lived for years as a half-demon. She understood very well that anything related to demons would never be accepted by society.

"In a normal situation," Mariel explained, "it would be extremely difficult to make half-demons accepted by society. But I don’t believe it’s impossible. If even gods can perish, then almost nothing in this world is truly impossible. Besides, the situation in Mangolla is far from normal."

"What do you mean?"

"King Maggio will do anything to ensure his daughter has a bright future. Turning Mangolla into a place that welcomes half-demons will secure her future. He will support this effort one hundred percent. Celinee, do you still think it’s impossible?"

"That..."

"You can picture it, can’t you?" Mariel didn’t wait for the ninja’s answer. "If those 51 half-demons are no longer controlled by their demon instincts, I can give them a chance. They could become an elite force directly under King Maggio. They could be trained—"

Mariel cut himself off as a sudden roar echoed from deep within the cave. It was a somewhat familiar sound, but this roar was far more ferocious and powerful. Had the doctor also turned a forest lion into a demon? Mariel had no other assumptions.

"We’ll save this discussion for later, Celinee."

Seeing Celinee nod, Mariel immediately turned and continued walking. Celinee quickly followed.