Al-Hek was running up the stairs, straight to his mother's chambers. However, no matter how much he ran, there seemed to be no end to it. That infuriated him, especially since the militiaman followed him everywhere. He understood that he was terrified, but.... Why didn't he join the rest of the troops? Perhaps he hoped that he would be safer by his side.

“You said they are two women, right?”

“Y-yes, M’lord!”

Although his memories were shrouded in a veil of confusion, the vague feeling was clear. It was always a single woman who came looking for him. Always with promises of salvation and peace.

The boy gasped for air, trying to keep up. "I think they are strong, M’lord. The dark-haired woman was level 1 followed by an 8. I couldn't see the red-haired woman's level. Well, I can't see yours either, M’lord."

Al-Hek knew that 85% of the population were illiterate, so expecting them to use Identify correctly could be frustrating. A feeling further accentuated by the problem of their classes. Without professional instruction, no one born in this world acquired a class other than Villager. Unless the Gods granted them the gift of being an Aspirant for their effort and dedication in fighting evil, they usually had no combat skills or spells. Only passive ones.

Al-Hek looked at him confused. That there were two women this time, and one was only level 18, was unsettling. That she had red hair was also striking. Dark elves never had that shade of hair. However, there was nothing that ruled out the possibility of one of them being her. The strange, faceless woman who appeared and disappeared in that endless, never-ending cycle.

Suddenly, the ground shook and, shortly after, the explosion was heard. Al-Hek tried to remain calm. "You held them in the courtyard, right?"

The militiaman was livid trying not to focus on the growing commotion coming from the courtyard. "Hold? No, M’lord. No one has dared to approach the faceless woman after hearing her give orders!"

“Orders! To whom? To the demons?!”

"N-no, M’lord! She ordered the soldiers to assume their positions and the rest to fall back to a safe area. Your mother supported her and ordered me to come and warn you. She is now gathering the women and children in the great hall."

Al-Hek inwardly cursed that idiot. "My mother?! Damn it! Why didn't you tell me before?"

In some inexplicable way, the disconcerting murmur in his mind made him realize that this was not the way it should be. The woman never came to help them. A command was enough to placate the demons and make them back off. With that alone, he always agreed to go with her. Perhaps this time she intended to threaten him by keeping his mother.

Al-Hek ran all the way back, crossing paths with the puzzled militiaman. "M’lord! They claimed that they had come here from the swamp, and that they were being chased by many demons."

Al-Hek did not believe such a lie. He was sure she was being followed because she was another demon. “Damn you!”

An explosion much louder than the previous one invited them to lean against the wall. Al-Hek looked back, but the militiaman had disappeared. He wasn't where he expected either. He was near the great hall, surrounded by people running in fear. Women, children and old people were screaming hysterically.

"M'lord, stop! Don't go out there, they'll kill you!" shouted Lium, the family butler.

“Where’s my mother?”

He was about to lose himself in the screams until he heard a voice calling him. “Right here, M’lord!”

Time stood still as he saw her unconscious and wounded in the arms of a priest. Her beautiful dress was stained red from the deep wound on her head. Al-Hek did not move in the slightest; he felt as if his world was about to crumble.

He clenched his fists. “You've gone too far this time! I will kill you! I swear I will kill you!"

Once in the great hall, another explosion cracked the dome of the room. The central chandelier descended almost to the point of collapse. When the roof gave way, it fell next to him as he ran to remove a carpet in a corner. Underneath, was a trapdoor to a hidden passageway. He didn't think everyone could hide inside, but what else could he do?

“Get in there and don't come out until you hear nothing!”

“But M’lord, what will become of you?”

Al-Hek left in charge of the trapdoor a militia boy who wasn't trembling as much with fear as the others. He had to buy them time before the demons reached that place. "Wait for everyone to come in and lock it from the inside!"

Before the boy nodded, Al-Hek was already on his way to the side courtyard. The large front door had been barricaded with large timbers for days. He had to attack the dark elf from behind to defeat her. However, he felt a bad omen. He felt it would be useless. If she was the one controlling the demons, who would stop them next?

"Shit! Then what?! I just give up?"

What would become of his mother and his men? Would they be lost again in that endless, never-ending cycle?

He could never talk to her and ask for forgiveness. Why did he never reach her? Why always the same memory and the same guilt? Was it his punishment for having been so unfair?

“I'm sorry, Mom! You don't deserve a son as ungrateful as me!”

Every step became a nail in the coffin she would never have. Why had he been so proud? Why was he so much like his father in everything he hated about him?

A fourth explosion knocked down the wall behind him. The debris almost reached him while the cloud of dust and smoke reduced his visibility. The screams of the soldiers and demons became crisp and close.

He immediately summoned Chameleon and stood still as he watched the hole. It connected directly to the courtyard and it was night, which could play in his favor. “Where are you, bitch?”

The dust eventually dispersed, revealing the chaos of the battle. Everywhere he looked, there were demons slaughtering the troops. The smaller demons surrounded and attacked in groups, while the larger ones exploited their power. His men's minutes were numbered.

Going out there would surely be his end, but at least he would show them what a level 37 assassin could do. He just had to get to her and kill her. However, it would be no easy task. The fire from the recent explosions would reduce the effectiveness of his invisibility. He only hoped that the feeling that finishing her off was futile was not true.

A woman suddenly jumped through the hole with several demons chasing her. She had short dark hair and wore light armor with metal protections on both forearms and lower legs. She had no weapons, but she didn't need them; her fierce blue-eyed gaze told him so.

Al-Hek considered attacking her, but he had a feeling he had seen her somewhere. Besides, the woman coming after him never attacked demons. Why the hell this woman wasn't just hitting them, she was tearing them apart. Why did each of her punches feel like a low-caliber cannon? She looked like a monk, but what level was she to hit like that?

»Human Aspirant«

Level: 18

Name: Dih

Details: The soul of this adventurer is linked to a Cursed One..

Highest Attribute (Dexterity): 36

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"A Cursed One? What the hell is that?"

That was not possible. Not just because a level 18 with 36 ridiculous Dexterity points couldn't hit like that. She wasn't a demon and she was supposed to be one.

Al-Hek unsheathed his short sword and dagger and focused on two more demons that were sneaking in from the courtyard. “Need help with your fan club?”

She punched them one by one with disproportionate speed and force. The demons' heads exploded into pieces without them touching her.

That was impossible. The weakest demon there was level 25. What the hell was going on?

Al-Hek looked at her carefully, until he noticed an almost invisible line. An ethereal chain that was connected to her chest. It was very tight, but that did not seem to destabilize her or make her less mobile.

“You fucking bastard! Get away from here and take shelter!,” she shouted as she walked back to the courtyard.

They didn't want anything from him? That irritated him. He wasn't going to let her order him around. He was an experienced adventurer with a higher level than her.

He kept pace with her, but not for long. A huge demon nearly 3 meters tall running nearby made him stagger.

»Demon ogre«

Level: 56

Details: This creature’s attributes are being drained by a Cursed One.

Highest Attribute (Strength): 91

The beast was chasing another woman who used the smoke to hide her presence and confuse the ogre. A woman who was killing the rest of the demons while dodging the ogre's attacks. Attacks that helped her in her task.

That was unprecedented. No one had ever even considered fighting the ogre, let alone in that way. He had focused on protecting his people.

“Are you going to do anything other than watch?”, Dih blurted out after pushing him slightly to kill a demon approaching him from behind.

That distraction made him lose sight of the other woman. Only the trace of the ogre's passing remained. “I couldn't do anything to help her anyway!”

Al-Hek moved close to the wall, where one of his men was fighting three small demons.

He quickly charged and beheaded one before the others turned around. The second demon saw his organs fall out without his permission while the third felt the dagger piercing his heart.

The soldier stood up with difficulty due to his wounds. If it wasn't for the armor protecting him, he wouldn't have made it in time.

“Fall back!”, Al-Hek shouted as he looked around for more to save.

The demon ogre got tired of chasing her and vented its anger by throwing a piece of a nearby column. It was not difficult for Al-Hek to evade it with a flawless dodge, but the wall behind him could do nothing to avoid it. The structure collapsed within seconds. Al-Hek escaped with another evasive leap, but caught the soldier off guard, trapping his leg under the debris.

He tried to get the rocks off him, but they were too heavy.

“Leave me here, M'lord! The leg is broken! I'm just a hindrance!”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Please, M'lord, save yourself! Take my wife to a safe place!”

Al-Hek gritted his teeth and looked straight ahead. “Fuck this shit!”

He knew that what he was about to do was suicide, but he could not leave the poor man to his fate. He ran in the direction of that mass of muscle and slid across the floor, slipping between his legs to cut his ankles. He succeeded, but it almost cost him his life; a stomp from the ogre demon nearly crushed his head.

The creature growled with hatred as it sensed the blood flowing. Now he was the target.

Al-Hek ran after standing up, but a powerful punch that he managed to dodge by the skin of his teeth cut him off. After losing his balance, he fell hopelessly to the ground. The ogre took the opportunity to jump on him. Standing up now was not a viable option, but rolling was. It almost crushed his leg with its huge foot, but managed to gain some distance. The creature was about to jump again when magical chains emerged from the ground preventing it. They trapped one of its legs just long enough for him to get up without any problems.

The spell didn't seem to be able to restrain him completely, but things changed when the chains began to burn with green and blue flames. Its screams flooded the courtyard, briefly attracting the attention of all the demons present. It didn't take long for the massacre to continue.

Demons emerged from all directions. Whether they jumped over the castle walls or the sewer, they destroyed everything in their path. How many were outside, hundreds? Thousands?

“Fuck, fuck, fuck! Where is that bitch? What's she playing at? She has to stop this madness!”

The terrible thought that this time it was not going to be like the previous ones began to eat him up from within. What was the alternative then? Would they all die?

Al-Hek began running from place to place, searching for the woman while saving as many as he could, momentarily turning invisible to deliver a lethal blow from behind to any approaching demon. He was sure it would make a difference.

“Finish him off!” shouted Dih as she relentlessly punched the massive wave of lesser demons that surrounded her.

That only confirmed his worst fear. Those women couldn't stop that. They were not the same demons that used to come after him. They did not command them.

Al-Hek approached the ogre's back, ready to climb it, when the chains pulled hard to bring it to its knees. That allowed him to leap straight for its neck, and stab it repeatedly from every possible angle. The demon fell while a similar one tried to knock down the entrance door to the castle. That was ridiculous. Why should they even fight? They were going to die anyway.

The gates fell sooner than expected, but it wasn't just one demon ogre. There were two of them, and one of them was level 66.

Al-Hek laughed as a grim smile appeared on his face. That was a fucking fucking joke. He half wished he could drop to his knees and wait for death, but then he remembered his mother.

Al-Hek charged until cannon-like booms caught his attention; a woman with long red hair was fighting at the top of the bell tower. She was completely unarmed and her armor was strange. It looked like simple black and red cloth, but it was oddly fitted to her body.

The demons exploded into pieces with each attack. Their numbers were no match for her power.

Al-Hek approached to help her. She was his hope to finish off the faceless woman. As he approached, he realized the presence of an ethereal chain coming from her arm towards the dark-haired woman. It was not the only chain coming from her body. Another was attached to a huge demon buried under a pile of rubble. A creature of unknown level with triple interrogation that still looked alive.

“Has she defeated it? That's... madness!”

»Cursed One«

Level: 29

Name: Jean

Details: Her cursed soul makes her immortal on this plane.

The redhead jumped off the bell tower and landed on the crowd of creatures surrounding Dih. Together they smashed demons as if they were nothing. They all exploded with each of their blows.

Al-Hek looked at her in bewilderment; her face was distorted. “STOP THIS!!!”

He could not make out any of her features, but he interpreted surprise in her reaction.

The weakest of the ogre demons charged at the two women, interrupting them. They dodged it with great ease.

Dih hit him in the leg. The damage was slight, but it unsettled it for Jean to take advantage of. A first blow to the ear forced it to its knees. The second went straight to the face. The ogre fell face first to the ground.

She turned to Al-Hek, advancing as she smashed everything in her path. She stood in front of him and held out her hand to him. “Only you can stop this, Al-Hek.”

He took a step back. “So the ruse is the same... What do you want from me this time? What will I be forced to accept in exchange for saving the lives of my people?!”

Jean lowered her hand; Dih was surrounded again. “Hurry up, dammit!”

She targeted the nearest demons and sprayed them with green fire that dissolved them to the bone. “I'm not Thitad! I already took care of that bitch! It was she who enslaved you and named you Gabriel, wasn't it? It was she who used you to kill innocents!”

Al-Hek opened his eyes wide; he could not believe his ears. Thousands of images overwhelmed him. Atrocious deaths of innocents executed with his hands. His legs almost failed him as the weight of the truth crushed him. Somehow, he knew it was all true. As if it were a vague memory of a bad dream. An endless nightmare of the past.

After annihilating more demons who dared to approach, she held out her hand to him again. She seemed uneasy now. “Hurry up! We don't have time! This thing you live here, only exists because you are here! It's kind of like your personal hell, although where you'll go won't be that different. And well Assassin? ... What's it going to be? Eternal and meaningless suffering or revenge and possibly redemption?”

Al-Hek looked back angrily to where his mother must be right now. Was it true that all this was happening because of his presence?

“Why?”, he shouted looking back at her.

“Because you have been dead for five hundred years, Al-Hek! Your destiny doesn't end here! That's why they want you. To prevent you from reincarnating...”

Jean's voice began to fade as something invisible began to squeeze her neck. “Shit!”