Chapter 80 - Chapter 77: Episode 76 - The Burden (2)
Seon-ah was eventually seized by the assailant.
The assailant held him tight and addressed Min-ah, the commander of the expedition team.
"Drop your weapons and surrender! Otherwise, this boy's head will hit the ground!"
No one was foolish enough to drop their weapons at that demand.
Except for Min-ah, who was a fool when it came to her son.
The others noticed their leader had dropped her weapon, but she showed no sign of actually surrendering.
Still, seeing Min-ah disarm herself, the commander realized just how valuable the boy was.
It was pointless for the small fry to keep holding their weapons anyway.
It was clear that the fifteen knights sent earlier had already been slaughtered by that woman.
Of the seven who had pushed through the combat troops to reach the hostage, four were missing.
The leader, who had dealt with the fifteen faster than he'd anticipated, must have finished off the four who'd broken through with him as well.
Since she was currently standing near the spot where he'd charged, that seemed likely.
The thirty Royal Knights had been reduced to a mere three.
Considering their skill, the situation was absurd, even for the Demon World's elite.
Because the Royal Knights prioritized skill above all else, their ranks were limited to five hundred.
Furthermore, they were frequently dismissed following annual mission evaluations.
They were the elite of the elite; they couldn't keep their positions if they suffered even a single injury with lasting effects.
Thirty Royal Knights should have been enough to wipe out a territory of this size in a single night.
But there was no end to that woman's power.
He felt a level of fear he had never experienced before.
Even while holding the hostage, he realized that if the boy's life slipped away, their own lives would be forfeit, so he decided to negotiate rather than threaten.
The order on his command paper was to bring the leader to the interrogation room; the other humans were just in the way.
Kidnapping only the leader would be enough to get the full story.
"I'll let the humans fleeing to the Gate go! Only the leader of this group, come out and face me! Let's negotiate!"
The commander shouted, trying to mask his trembling voice and shake off his fear.
The leader stepped forward.
Upon sensing the power contained within her cold gaze and body, the commander nearly fainted.
There was more magic power swirling inside her than in the First Elder of the Council who had issued the order.
The purity of it easily surpassed that of the Royals.
Was she not just like the Demon King?
"If you value this hostage's life, you alone must surrender! Submit to being bound quietly! This is an execution according to the laws of the Demon World!"
Even so, his only chance of survival was to use the hostage.
"Mom! No!"
The hostage struggled, crying out in protest.
The commander was terrified by the situation.
The moment he accidentally killed or lost this hostage would be the day of his own funeral.
"Seon-ah... it's okay. Mom will definitely save you."
The human leader smiled at her family and quietly submitted to being bound.
However, they couldn't let their guard down.
Even bound, she could attack them while they were transporting her.
It was doubtful if the rope, reinforced with dozens of layers of Mana Sealing Magic, would even hold.
Therefore, he had to manage the hostage alongside his three remaining colleagues.
It would take about a month and a half to reach the capital of the Demon World where the Council was located.
It was uncertain if their sanity would hold out that long.
The Royal Knights eventually sent the remaining humans back to the Gate.
It was absurd that the Succubus Lord hadn't known such an entity had entered her territory, but there was no time to investigate.
In the end, they were left to transport the leader and the boy presumed to be her family to the Council by carriage.
It was no easy task for three people to monitor such a powerful entity.
The moment she untied those ropes in the blink of an eye, she could crush them with her bare hands.
They could be turned into chunks of meat with a single punch.
Even while sleeping during the journey, they sometimes wet themselves due to the magic power leaking from the woman's body.
Now, there was only one week left until they reached the Royal Capital.
Then, one of his colleagues started doing something insane.
Had his mind snapped from the fear?
He had been tasked with guarding the hostage, but he was fondling the boy's genitals and body.
It seemed his sexual desire had exploded—perhaps because he'd never been with a man before, and the fear was only heightening his urges.
The guy usually frequented brothels daily, but seeing him try to vent his lust in such an urgent situation forced the commander to step in.
"Stop! We have to carry out our orders. Don't provoke the hostage rashly."
"But still... look at this... isn't it soft and cute? Don't you want to tease it a bit? This part looks sturdy, too."
As soon as he finished, his colleague roughly grabbed the boy's crotch and fondled him.
He had truly gone insane.
That was the commander's thought as he watched his subordinate, who was obsessed with the man, while the leader woman glared at them with bloodshot eyes, horrified by the sound of her family being harassed.
"Huhu-heuk.... Mom.... I'm okay..."
At the sound of the boy sobbing, the leader woman gnashed her teeth and glared sharply at them.
It was terrifying when those sharp eyes, which so resembled the boy's, fixed upon them.
He wanted to kill that crazy bitch of a colleague right away, but since they were barely managing the hostage in three-shift rotations, he couldn't afford to lose a guard.
The remaining week until arrival was going to be grueling.
They arrived at the Council's interrogation room and locked the two prisoners in separate rooms where they could still see each other.
The woman's room was equipped with total magic suppression, so he could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
He went to find the First Elder to report the completion of the order and the loss of his troops.
He briefly told the First Elder, who was buried in a pile of documents, about the completion of the mission and the identity of the woman.
He explained how difficult she was to handle due to her immense magic power, necessitating the use of the boy as a hostage, and the resulting loss of his men.
It was a loss bordering on total annihilation, but the First Elder said she would check it herself, as if she couldn't believe it.
Seon-ah teared up, looking at Min-ah, who had been captured because of him.
He thought they had finally met again.
He never imagined he would end up experiencing such a terrifying ordeal again.
He had thought that after returning to Earth, there would only be happy days ahead with his parents.
He thought he would forget Yu-rin and Miel, meet a proper woman, introduce her to his parents, get married, have children, and live an ordinary life.
However, this situation was entirely his fault.
"Mom... I'm sorry, because of me..."
Seon-ah apologized to his mother.
"No... Seon-ah... it's fortunate enough that our son isn't hurt..."
Min-ah was in an anxious situation herself, but she hid her fear and spoke soothingly, worried for Seon-ah's tender heart.
Even so, Seon-ah couldn't shake off the trouble he had caused or his worry for his parents.
"Mom will save you... don't worry too much... Seon-ah..."
Min-ah knew that Seon-ah had always been a sensitive and considerate child.
Just then, the sound of footsteps echoed down the cold, hard stone stairs of the underground prison.
Two sets of footsteps.
One was the monster commander who had imprisoned them, and the other was a face he had never seen before.
"First Elder-nim, it's here."
"My goodness... the report was correct. How did you capture her alive? I'm not doubting your skills, but the caliber difference is just too vast..."
The female demon called the First Elder appeared to be in her late twenties.
"I cannot say it proudly as a knight. I accidentally took this woman's family hostage. And I negotiated to bring her here."
The knight hesitated before telling the truth.
"Negotiation, not a threat? You have good skills and tell good jokes!"
The First Elder joked, clearly in a good mood.
The utility value of these prisoners seemed very high.
Even in the man, although the knight hadn't noticed, high-purity magic power was accumulating little by little.
He would be a valuable experimental subject, and given his appearance, he was worth keeping regardless of how he was used.
And when she examined the woman, the First Elder recalled the problem that had been causing her such great pain.
She had found a suitable vessel for the Demon King.
A female body with high-purity magic power and a massive capacity.
A vessel to contain the soul of the Demon King.
She had finally found it.
Looking at the demon who was eyeing them with such greed, Seon-ah and Min-ah couldn't help but flinch and tremble.
As if they could foresee the fate that awaited them.
Only worry for each other remained in their hearts.