We brought Helen's family back to Mirfield, house and all. But as I was about to retire for the day, it hit me.

Periodic damage inflicted. Soul Vessel corruption progressed by 1%

It sucks. I'm dying. I spent the rest of the day with my extended family, sharing stories and just talking. So little time, so much to do.

The next day I spend killing monsters in the Battle Spring Dungeon to get this system job out of my way. No time for it now.

Morning came and I kissed Crimson and Golden goodbye before going out to get the key element for the rescue of the [Magic Down] kid.

"Remote Senses!" My target is the ruins of Fort Gehenna. As I expected, there is a demon patrol camped nearby. The mana levels are low enough to disallow camping inside. But there is some demon inside the ruins. Robed and with a staff. Time to pay a visit.

I teleport to my hidden anchor and use invisibility and shadow stealth. The robed demon is without an escort. He is doing some sort of ritual. The earth is being twisted. Is he trying to restore what I did with earthkeeper?

I approach him, but he speaks before I could make my move, "It is a rare sight to see a human around. No, you are no human. What are you? A fragmented soul. Dark power oozing out. The master's dark power is within you. Were you the one responsible for this destruction? Answer me!"

This demon is bald has long pointed ears, a single curved horn growing from his left side and no wing or tail. His skin is dark purple.

"Yes, that was me. But how could you see all that about me?" I didn't receive an 'Appraisal blocked' message. He didn't look at me, but I got a glimpse of his eyes. Milky white. He is blind. Is it the 'blind seer' archetype? "Can you use soul magic?"

"No, I can't and wouldn't even if I could. The price for these spells is terrible."

"Why are you here?"

"To undo your work. We need this fort. Without it, the humans will encroach on the dragon valley. But I must commend you. It is not easy to unravel this change."

I'd be impressed if he could revert my earthkeeper easily. This guy looks old. If he told me he is fifty hundred years old I'd believe on the spot.

"The humans won't encroach on the dragon valley, because the valley is mine. You demons sent a strike force into my lands, killed my kin. I just struck back."

"I see. You are the one from the prophecy. My life is forfeited then. My sight cannot peek into my own future, but it was said that my life would last as long as Fort Gehenna would stand."

"You are mistaken. I am not here for your life. In fact, I'd like to make a deal. I will make Gehenna stand once again, so long no demon ventures into the dragon valley past one night of walking from its walls. You will get to live a bit more, old demon."

"Demons make no deal with the human realm."

I get ready to fight with my horn spear, "Then it is time to make the prophecy come true."

He relaxes his shoulders as if he was getting ready to let himself get killed, and I get a really, really bad feeling. I'm being goaded. I change my tactics and just touch his face. "Possession!" On hostile mode.

Name: Zeg'drazoch Race: [5] Leviathian: 76 Class: [5] Defiler: 74 Curse: Ritual Sacrifice Age: 794 years    

Drazo has a cursed status of "Ritual Sacrifice" on himself. If I killed him, it would probably finish whatever shit he was doing here. This is why someone as important as he was alone. And his job is also awfully ominous. Defiler. He has over five thousand MP. I also can't hold the possession for more than half an hour. I need to cleanse him before killing. I'll teleport him to Barnsley. I want to know how a demon feels inside a human town.

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Inside Drazo's body, I begin to choke the moment the transfer finishes. It can still breathe, but it is a different kind of choking. His MP gets drained fast, just like with the boiled repellent potion. And there is no recovery for his MP. The MP drain ends at zero, and his Stamina is next. I exit the body to recover myself. I hope nobody comes in this alley for the next few minutes.

I throw a blanket over the writhing demon just in time. A boy probably on some errand tries to use the alley as a shortcut. "Scram if you don't want to get hurt, kid!" I shout at him. He does the smart thing and gives up on his shortcut. He will probably warn someone. There is little time.

I recover enough MP to use Cursebreaker twice on Drazo and not enter exhaustion and remove his ritual sacrifice debuff. And now, finish his agony.

Beowulf has gained 6 + 27 + 24 levels (4-Racial: 59 > 65, 2-Apprentice Acolyte 10 > 37, 3-Acolyte1 > 25). +296 SP

It was the most Exp I earned from a single kill so far. I store the body and cast invisibility.  I sneak out of the alley onto a roof and a couple of minutes later the kid returns with some guards.

It is the second time a demon mentions some kind of prophecy to me. It seems their society has people capable of predicting some future events. This could be bad. And his timing was impeccable. He was waiting for me. Alone, unguarded. I bet that guy was some big shot in the demon society. Almost capped for both 5th tier. If they can predict my moves like that, I will need to either become unpredictable or eliminate that ability. Maybe breaking just Fort Gehenna wasn't enough.

I need to go back and get what I came for in the first place. Teleport back to the ruins. The demon escort for Drazo is still here. They are camped because it is day and most of them are sleeping beneath a makeshift lean-to using a tarp. Time to hunt. There are eight demons and nine horses tied around some trees. Victory condition is to capture one of the weakest alive and kill the rest. I focus my presence detection to sense treasure. One of them has an enchanted sword. Another an enchanted armor. Those two should be the leaders. Sentry ward set. The one with the magic armor is the bulkier, he is sleeping on his side. He will be the first. Sneak close to his bedroll and...

"Assassinate!"

The horn spear sinks into his brain from the ear orifice. I must get the swordsman before he draws. He is a light sleeper and is already awake even though I made almost no sound killing his friend. He rises from his bedroll with the sword already in hand. Our eyes meet as I lunge and thrust the horn spear at his heart. He tries to dodge but it is almost impossible to in a sitting position. The others are getting ready for combat too.

I can't help but admire the demon military training. These guys are at the same level as the scouts that went first into my settlement and already lost the three strongest in their group. But they show no signs of routing yet. Oops, this swing was close. {Whistling Double}! If stepping into a human town wasn't a death sentence, they would have wiped out humanity long ago. This one is using poison arrows, have a {Holy Bolt}! They are sitting too comfortable in their walled and mana-less enclaves. It allowed the guild to become corrupt and lazy and the government inefficient and self-serving. Five demons are gone, three to go.

"Flash Freeze!"

Frost Magic level 7. {Blizzard} learned. Creates a deadly blizzard over a cylinder. Deals periodic ice damage to all inside.

This demon-sicle will be left for later. The remaining two are going for the horses. They quickly release the reins and mount with the horses already on the run. Time to test a new trick. Let them get some distance. This casting will take fifteen seconds anyway.

"[Energy Conversion (Fire > Holy)] [Energy Conversion (Earth > Light)] {Lava Bomb}!"

A ball of light the size of a beach ball shoots from my hand into the ground in front of the horse-riding demons. It hits the ground and blooms into a sphere of pure blinding light.

Pyroclasm Magic level 4. Energy Conversion level 7.

It got me. Several minutes later my sight returned. All that was left of the demons was their equipment and two horse bodies slightly cooked. I went to check, and the horses were almost intact. Some ashes were fluttering away in the wind.

The remaining horses were agitated and trying to break free. I erase the memory of the giant flashbang and they calm down. And now my prize, the demon-sicle.

"Hey, lad. Tell me your name, class, and racial tier please."

"Curse you human!" I don't know why I still try to talk to these guys. At least they got a lot of spirit. I possess him. Faster this way.

Name: Oromun Race: [3] Cacodaemon: 34 Class: [3] Scout: 17 Age: 24 years

 Excellent. This is the facade I wanted. I should take the horses to the Hill for safekeeping before going on my rescue mission.

Beowulf has gained 1 + 4 + 6 levels (4-Racial: 65 > 66, 2-Apprentice Acolyte 37 > 41, 3-Acolyte 25 > 31). +61 SP