As the voice sounded out, the corpse-eaters immediately stopped their assault, pausing in place as if time had been stopped for them. Even their groaning and moaning ceased as they froze in place, a silence coming down across the clearing. The only sounds left were of those from Melinda’s side of the clearing, the clear shouting and sounds of battle.

Pausing in place, the corpse-eaters began slowly backing off. One of the creatures that had been hanging off of Mican, biting him, even loosened its jaws, backing off to return with the crowd.

As they slowly shambled a distance away, it was very obvious to Mican where his struggle had led him. He saw the distinct red line of slaughter that led him from one clearing to the next through the crowd, the trail littered with limbs, and corpses. The grass had been painted completely red, and the ground had been all but soaked through.

After a few more moments of retreat, the skinless creatures stopped in place around fifteen meters away from Mican.

As they had left, Harold had taken the opportunity to step behind Mican, shielding his children behind him. The middle-aged man was clearly absent of strength, slouching over and supporting himself on his knees as a strand of drool leaked from his mouth. He didn’t even have the strength to carry his children, having been forced to let them down.

“Let me see him.” The disgusting voice sounded out again, and the creatures readily complied.

The hideous freaks seemed mindless, but they obeyed the order to perfection. They reminded Mican of puppets on a string. The crowd of red slowly separated, revealing further the darkness in the clearing.

A fair distance away in the clearing sat a large, bone-white, and hideous creature that sat on the ground. The creature sat in complete silence in the darkness of the night, only illuminated by the blue light of the moon and the shining runes. While Mican saw no eyes on the creature, only two pits of empty darkness, he could still feel a gaze probing him up and down, slowly observing him.

He had never thought that he could ‘feel’ a gaze, but he indeed did. It was an extremely unpleasant feeling, like a giant spider crawling up one’s skin, and it irritated him immensely.

The creature grinned at him in the moonlight, revealing a set of rotting yellow teeth, with no lack of red.

The monster was one that Mican recognized instantly, being the cambion, Rose.

It was sitting on a recently extinguished campfire with bits of smoke still steaming out, its gangly limbs playing with a blood-soaked limb of a human.

Mican recognized the campfire as the location of the group of adventurers that had been fighting the horde earlier, and he recognized the limb to belong to one of them as well. Looking further, he noticed the ground around the demon was strewn with gore. The beheaded heads of four adventurers had been haphazardly thrown across the ground, along with four limbless and bloody torsos.

“Ahhhh~” Stretching his jaw open to a seemingly impossible extent, Rose hung the arm above him with both hands, wringing out a massive squirt of blood into his mouth before tossing the limb straight into his mouth.

“Mmmm! Superb!” The freak gave him a disgusting smile, its face showing clear pleasure.

It clasped its hands together and layered its legs onto one another in false femininity, giving a gleeful moan.

The sight sickened Mican to the stomach as he stared at it, his face slowly growing further menacing as his eyes narrowed.

“Urk.” A retch sounded out behind Mican, coming from Duarte.

He had tried to hold it in, but the horrific sight was too much for the boy, forcing him to retch as he stared at the scene. Even despite that, he held his sister close to him, pressing her face against his chest to avoid the cruel scene.

“Oh?” Rose exclaimed as it looked behind Mican, as if noticing the trio for the first time.

Hearing the sickened and fearful gasp, it gave an orgasmic shudder as its face broke into a grin that stretched from ear-to-ear.

“Why, hello there. What’s your name?”

Duarte’s face immediately grew pale as he noticed it addressing him, slightly stumbling as he took a step backwards in retreat.

“…”

But before it could say anything further, the large back of his father stood before him, facing the creature with hostility in his eyes, even as he gasped for breath.

“…”

And stepping in front of him was an even broader back, as Mican stared down at the creature in disgust that was as obvious as daylight.

The young man had to force his face to become expressionless as he tried to calm down, controlling the surging emotions that threatened to break out inside of him. He didn’t know where such intense emotions were coming from, or why they were appearing in reaction to the demon, but he refused to let them control him.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“So we meet again, ‘The Devil’s Messenger’.” Although he was far shorter than the demon, it felt to the Ashleye family like Mican was looking down on the intimidating creature from a higher place, as he addressed it blandly.

“Wh-! You! Do not call me by that name!” A furious expression appeared on the cambion’s face as it stared daggers at him. It had spat out the words through gritted teeth, in apparent anger.

Just as the demon had named him Paridus, he at least had a name for it in return.

Although he didn’t know why it was making such a gleeful display, or taking obvious joy in mentally tormenting Duarte, he refused to let it have its fun.

Mican stood at the entrance to Melinda’s clearing, his back alit by firelight as he stared at the monster.

“…”

Staring straight back at him, Rose’s eyes narrowed in the dark.

“Do you know just how much humiliation you had put me through by fooling me like that? Why, I had never felt such humiliation before!” Grabbing his chest, the demon thrust a finger out towards the young man, as it stared at him..

A dirty feeling washed over Mican, like smelling the remains of an open sewer after a rainy day.

A lie.

“You don’t care at all about the humiliation, do you.” The question that came out of Mican’s mouth was more of a statement as he raised his chin towards the demon condescendingly.

“Haaahaaahaaa! No, I do not!” Rose gave a sickening laugh towards the open sky, under the light of the moon. “The power of a god, is it? Whether lesser or minor, it will be mine.”

As it spoke, Mican narrowed his eyes towards it, his eyes flashing with a dangerous glint.

“Harold, take Duarte and Sarah towards Melinda’s campsite. Get as far away from here as you can, as quickly as you can. I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you this but use every last bit of strength you have left to get to safety.” Flinging his hand out behind him in gesture, Mican didn’t even turn his head as he addressed the father.

Since Rose began loosening its mouth, he didn’t want any of his secrets to leak out, even if it were Harold and his children.

“Mican… I can’t just leave you here.” Harold looked at Mican’s back with resolute eyes, having finally caught his breath.

“I’ll be fine Harold. Besides, he’s here for me.”

“I…” The blacksmith’s resolute eyes grew hesitant as he looked at his wounded son and trembling daughter, his gaze quivering slightly.

“Harold, listen to me. What’s most important right now is protecting your children.”

“…” The middle-aged blacksmith shuddered slightly, gritting his teeth in desperation. “I understand.”

“W-wait!” Duarte, who had been silent the entire time, suddenly spoke out.

It was apparent that it had taken all of his courage to speak as his voice quivered, his face still pale as if it lacked blood.

“We have to stay, father! Mican needs our help!” The teenager spoke while staring at the monster in the distance, through slightly chattering teeth.

He was afraid, deathly so, but his heart refused to simply let him abandon his light in the darkness.

“We have to, son. We would only hold him back.” Harold decisively lifted his son and daughter up, holding them in his grasp. “Even if we were to stay, what would we do? Use our bodies as meat shields? Die in vain? We have no other choice but to leave.”

He knew his place well in a battle, not wanting to bog Mican down. It was evident that he wanted to stay, though, his eyes slightly reddened as he spoke through gritted teeth.

“Don’t worry about me Duarte, just leave. Run as fast as you can, as far as your legs will take you, until you reach safety.” Still staring at Rose, Mican spoke out in front of the young teenager.

“I’ll be back with help, Mican. I promise. We of the Ashleye family never abandon one of our own…” Turning his back to Mican, Harold took a deep breath. “Good… good luck…”

“Urk…” As the man began running into the clearing, the sound of a sob being choked back echoed out in the clearing.

Turning his head to the side, Mican watched the man run into the distance. From his back, a pair of eyes glistening with tears watched him unblinkingly.

The pair belonged to Duarte, and the young man noticed that they were extremely distinct. His eyes shone with vivid and intense emotion, and a trail of blood ran down his lips, dripping off his chin.

The emotion displayed through Duarte’s eyes was of hatred, it was of hatred towards himself. He hated himself for his lack of strength and for his incapability. He hated himself for his weakness and powerlessness.

It was that same sense of helplessness that forced him to abandon his light, as he stared at Mican’s figure that was slowly shrinking into the distance, surrounded by darkness.

“Hmm…” Mican, interested, observed the teenager’s form distance itself in the light.

If Duarte was of intrigue to the young man before, he was now of value. The resolute hatred that shone in his eyes would become a source of determination and strength for him, bringing him to potential greatness.

“Minions, head to the clearing. There are some potential annoyances there. Either kill them or stall them for as long as you are able to. Block them with your bodies if you must.” A dark voice sounded out, breaking Mican out from his thoughts. “Several of you, stay back with me.”

As he finished speaking, the vast amount of corpse-eaters flooded past Mican through the trees and the opening in the forest, to the clearing on the other side. Around a dozen of the skinless creatures stayed behind, moving back to be beside their master.

Mican stayed completely still through the process, only staring at Rose. He wouldn’t waste his energy trying to stop the horde from passing. He fully believed in Melinda’s ability to handle them.

He could have left himself, but the smiling face of the demon told him that it wouldn’t let him go so easily.

Besides, if he didn’t deal with the problem now, then Rose would only come after him some other time, likely even more prepared. He didn’t want to let this cockroach out of his sight, despite not knowing if he would win or not.

He didn’t doubt his own capabilities, but he had seen the demon’s physical prowess before. Even despite that, his intense feelings of disgust only convinced him further to stay. The main factor in not breaking out into a run, was that he didn’t need to win. If he was able to stall long enough, then considering Melinda’s power, she would arrive sooner or later to whisk him off to safety. He had decided to take the gamble, believing in the young woman’s ability to deal with the seemingly immortal demon.

The annoyances that Rose spoke of were most likely of the adventurers that had been hired to protect the caravan. Perhaps he was doubtful of his capability in killing Mican if the adventurers interfered.

“I am going to strip you of your flesh, Mican.” As soon as the freaks finished filing out, Rose spoke out, standing up from its seat of ash.

The demon’s limbs were elongated and gangly, dangling at its side as it narrowed its eyes and leaned forward slightly, in obvious impatience.

“...” His gaze darkening, the young man faced the creature head on, his gaze growing murderous in distaste and repulsion.