“What the hell happened here?” Knight of Light uttered as he saw the state of the Holy Order.

Everyone was panicking, but the main attention was focused on the heroes who have returned from their quest to find the Holy Maidens.

Holy Order was essentially an order designed to protect the kingdom, answering directly to the king.

Within the Holy Order, managed by 10 Magisters, the highest ranked ones were the Heroes who were regarded as the Captains of the Holy Order, with Holy Knights under them, and the lowest ranked foot soldiers were the knights.

After visiting his friend, Knight of Light went back to his task of tracking down and destroying undead that have spread themselves like plague within villages.

But now that he had come back, he found the Holy Order in a horrible state, with the apparent return of the Heroes sent to retrieve the Holy Maidens.

Retrieve the Holy Maidens they did, at least Knight of Mind and Knight of Ice managed to save four out of five of them, but Holy Maidens’ ability to cast the barrier over the Holy City was permanently disabled.

As far as their mental health goes, they were irreparably traumatized by their ordeal.

It took many healers and magicians to remove the illusions and the mind trap spells implanted within their minds, and likewise, restoring their awareness of reality took a lot of effort as well.

Knight of Mind apparently spent a long time, trying to repair their damaged minds, piece by piece, to make sense of what they were dealing with.

But it was clear, they were no longer the proud Holy Maidens, but weeping women stripped off everything they once were.

“What exactly happened to them?” Leon asked from one of the healers.

“Knight of Mind examined their minds once the mental traps had been removed. But as far as he found out, they were ambushed by goblins and then taken to their caves and then….”

Healer put his hand on his mouth in order to not throw up.

“They used them as their breeding stock”

Knight of Light chose to finish what the healer could not bring himself to utter.

“Yes, I am afraid that is so”

“But I also heard that when they found them, the dungeon had not only the goblins but the undead as well, isn’t that correct?”

“Yes, sire”

“But Holy Maidens are not weak, while not at the level of a hero, they are definitely as strong as Holy Knights, and considering they specialize in usage of Holy Magic, undead should have been no problem, much less goblins…What happened to their body guards?”

“They didn’t find their corpses; the most likely scenario is that goblins ate them”

Knight of Light could not hide his dread.

To be eaten by monsters is not a fate anyone would choose for themselves.

“Still, it does not make sense….Goblin is the weakest type of monster, not known for its planning skills…. but goblins....for them to overwhelm the Holy Maidens…”

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“If demons were involved in this, then it makes complete sense” Knight of Ice stepped forward, facing the Knight of Light.

“Creos Rison”

“Good to see you back, Revilles, have you come to finally grace us with your presence?”

“Unfortunately undead are multiplying like a plague, I came as soon as I could”

“At the very least you are doing something about it, unlike the others….”

“I was told you know who was behind this fiasco, so if it is not classified information that can only be shared with the Magisters of the Holy Order, could you tell me, who was it?”

“He is known as the Dark Lord”

“Dark Lord?”

“Yeah, the name sounds rather preposterous, doesn’t it? But that is as much as I know of him; ask Belius, he is the one who actually met the guy in person.”

Knight of Ice pointed behind him to the figure of Knight of Mind who was sitting by himself on a bench, deep in thought.

Without any hint of hesitation, Knight of Light approached the Knight of Mind.

“Cereb Belius?”

“Huh? Oh, Knight of Light, it is an honor, I mean…”

“I wish to ask you some things”

Knight of Light immediately cut to the chase.

“I figured as much”

As per Knight of Light’s request, Cereb filled him in on all the events that happened so far, making sure to mention Dark Lord’s involvement in them.

“Hmm, so this Dark Lord is on the side of demons, likely a Demon Lord, but the mental trap within the Holy Maiden’s mind bore his image within it, and there were zombies inside that cave…. that could only mean that demons and undead are conspiring….this is beyond horrible”

“Agreed”

Knight of Mind nodded.

“But that does not seem to be what you are concerned with right now, is it?”

“Knight of Light, I had to be the one to probe the broken minds of those Holy Maidens, their memories alone will make anyone want to puke their guts out just by seeing them, and I had to watch it all….Not to mention the fact that every time I close my eyes, I can see him, watching me, predicting my every move, making me lose the use of my peni…”

“Wait! You said you can see him! Do you know how he looks like?”

“Well, yes, when I encountered him, I got a good look…”

“Show it to me!”

“Uhm, ok!”

Knight of Mind proceeded to take Knight of Light’s hand and put it on his forehead.

‘Memory Recording’

Within an instant, Knight of Light saw the contents of Cereb Belius’s memories.

The process takes an instant in real time, but to the user, the time within the mental scape runs much differently.

A year’s worth of information could be seen within several seconds, but of course, doing so could be overwhelming to the inexperienced mind.

But then, Cereb felt a strange sensation, as though he was shaking.

But it was not Cereb, it was the Knight of Light’s hand that was shaking; his expression was that of a frozen horror tinged with epiphany.

“It is him”

Knight of Light was undeniably shaking, struggling to stay still.

“There is no mistaking it, it really is him”

“Do you know him?”

“I have encountered him once. He is extremely dangerous, but to think he is truly on the side of demons….freeing the Demon Lord, destroying the barrier by defiling the Holy Maidens….He has to be dealt with immediately, otherwise, we have a bigger threat than the Demon King himself to deal with in the future…”

“Surely you exaggerate, Demon King Draco is the hidden leader of all the Demon kind, without a doubt, killing the Demon King should be the priority. Thought, I can’t deny, this Dark Lord, he…he truly is a very scary fiend”

Knight of Mind could not hide the fact that his loins have never been the same ever since Dark Lord squashed them with a massively painful punch.

“Yes, he truly is”

Knight of Light had to agree.

Dark Lord’s actions had left him unable to use his power to its fullest due to damaging his blessing.

Currently, he was gradually regaining his strength, but his blessing was still malfunctioning.

Unbeknownst to anyone within the Holy Order, the injuries Dark Lord delivered to Knight of Light’s back and leg were still not completely healed, causing excruciating pain every day.

The scar on his back was especially painful, a permanent reminder of Knight of Light’s vulnerability.

That kind of pain made it hard to forget the one responsible for it.

‘But at the very least, because of that, I met Runfar. How strange. I sought the fiend who wounded me, yet instead I found a friend. Life sure works in mysterious ways…’

Then, Knight of Light had a horrific thought.

‘Runfar is my friend, but if he gets caught in the crossfire…’

Just the thought of Dark Lord harming Runfar was enough to make Leon’s blood boil in rage.

‘Dark Lord, I swear, I will not let you hurt my friend’

“By the way, two of you arrived with the Holy Maidens, but I heard that five heroes were sent to retrieve them, so what happened to the rest?”

“They are…not doing so well”

Knight of Mind tried to put it the best way he could, but the other three heroes, namely, Knight of Sword, Knight of Combat, and Knight of Earth, were in rather sorry shape.