Chapter 171: The Mystery of Tarun

The reason Gaon was puzzled.

That reason was because not a single wall-crosser was detected.

Nowhere in Kurshum’s headquarters.

Wasn’t because of the curtain?

At first, he thought it was because of the curtain that they weren’t detected.

He thought the curtain was confusing his senses.

But no.

His senses weren’t affected by the curtain at all.

Did they abandon everything and flee…….

It seemed they had abandoned everything and left.

Not just referring to Latun.

Kurshum had more than one or two wall-crossing mages.

Seeing that not a single one was detected, they had definitely abandoned everything and left.

Gaon ended his thoughts and headed to the center.

Though not a wall-crosser, the strongest among the remaining was in the center.

He should be able to grasp the current situation to some extent.

And upon arriving at the center, Gaon could see a middle-aged man loading sacks onto a carriage.

Looking at the situation, it seemed the middle-aged man was also planning to take a hefty share and leave.

“Bind.”

Gaon immediately cast Bind to subdue the middle-aged man.

“……!”

The middle-aged man stopped as is, in the posture of putting down a sack on the carriage.

And Gaon approached the middle-aged man and grabbed his shoulder.

Following that, he injected a strand of Pacheonki to create a restriction sealing the demonic energy, then unleashed Bone-Crushing Agony.

Naturally, he cast Silence magic to prevent screams from leaking out.

And 3 minutes later, Gaon stopped the Bone-Crushing Agony and began the interrogation.

It was just 3 minutes.

Even so, the middle-aged man drooled and answered everything he knew.

And having learned everything, Gaon couldn’t help but be surprised.

……Latun is dead?

According to the middle-aged man’s words, Latun’s soul stone was destroyed.

A soul stone being destroyed meant death.

Why die after going to the holy land?

The problem was that Latun had gone to the demons’ holy land ‘Tarun.’

Why would Latun, who went to Tarun, die?

Moreover, it wasn’t just Latun who died.

All the Kurshum executives who went to the holy land with Latun died.

Why would the demons…….

The only cause for Latun and the executives to die in Tarun was the demons.

Without the demons, Latun and the executives’ deaths couldn’t be explained.

The problem was why the demons killed Latun and the executives.

The demons needed every hand they could get.

And Latun was an 8th-Circle mage, and the accompanying executives were 7th-Circle mages.

Beings who would be tremendous power.

In other words, if killed, there must be a reason.

They wouldn’t have killed without any reason.

Perhaps Latun betrayed?

The first that came to mind was Latun’s betrayal.

But it was an absurd case.

Latun had already crossed the river of no return.

Even if he wanted to switch sides again, he couldn’t.

And if Latun intended to switch sides, why go to Tarun?

He could have just left.

Wait.

At the sudden thought, Gaon’s eyes flashed.

He said the demonic energy strengthened, could it be…….

Before coming here, he received a report from Graxios.

That contact came from Seionia, saying Tarun’s demonic energy had become one level denser.

If Latun and the executives’ deaths were related to Tarun’s demonic energy densening?

If they were sacrificed to strengthen the demonic energy?

It wasn’t a vain delusion.

It was a sufficiently reasonable inference.

I need to check.

Gaon decided to investigate separately and waved his hand.

Hwaruruk!

Then, the middle-aged man burned as is and met death.

Swish.

Following that, Gaon looked at the carriage.

Doesn’t seem like there’s more to take.

The carriage had numerous sacks.

All things the middle-aged man had taken, Kurshum’s major assets.

Taking just these was no different from taking most of Kurshum’s remaining wealth.

Gaon opened his pocket.

Then, the sacks on the carriage floated up and entered the pocket.

Having taken all the sacks like that, Gaon closed the pocket.

Then, shall I start now.

And Gaon activated all circles and began preparing magic.

The magic to be used now was one that even Gaon, who had entered the 9th-Circle, needed a long time to prepare.

Of course, long didn’t mean tens of minutes or hours.

It was 1 minute.

For Gaon, who could manifest most magic instantly and powerful ones mostly within 10 seconds, 1 minute was by no means short.

It could be called a very long time.

Soon, the preparation ended, and Gaon opened his mouth.

“Primordial Rain.”

Swaaaak!

With the incantation, dark clouds appeared over Kurshum.

Massive dark clouds covering the entire Kurshum.

Naturally, not naturally or coincidentally appeared.

Dark clouds created by Gaon’s magic.

Following that, raindrops began falling from the dark clouds.

Naturally, not ordinary raindrops.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The raindrops exploded the moment they touched something.

The explosion size was small.

Fist-sized.

But as small as it was, it was powerful.

It ‘annihilated’ everything in range.

Like that, Kurshum began being devastated by the raindrops.

Gaon silently watched Kurshum being thoroughly smashed.

A while later, the dark clouds disappeared.

And Gaon swept his gaze around.

Nothing remained.

Everything disappeared.

Really cleanly.

To the point no one could know something had been here.

Even those who knew of Kurshum’s existence would think they came to the wrong place.

Of course, this wasn’t the end.

Kurshum was an alliance of several mage forces.

Now, only Kurshum’s ‘headquarters’ was devastated.

Gaon planned to devastate all forces belonging to Kurshum.

Of course, most forces had withdrawn from Kurshum.

But it didn’t matter.

Withdrawing didn’t erase the fact they had belonged to Kurshum.

And to begin with, even if not affiliated with Kurshum, they needed to be smashed.

Because they betrayed humanity.

Because they accepted demonic energy.

Soon, Gaon flew into the sky.

And returned the way he came, heading to Cring.

The Intelligence Agency of the Holy Empire of Seionia.

In front of the holy relic ‘Eye of God.’

As usual, Adela was examining the situation in front of the Eye of God.

Unlike usual, Adela’s expression was very bright.

The reason Adela’s expression was good was because the continent’s situation was very good.

They were quickly recapturing the lost lands.

And the demonic energy was rapidly thinning.

At this rate, it seemed they could soon drive out all the demons.

But…….

At the sudden thought, Adela’s expression darkened.

The current situation was definitely good.

But it couldn’t be said everything was good.

There was a bothering part.

It was the demons’ holy land ‘Tarun.’

Unlike other places, Tarun’s demonic energy was getting denser over time.

To the point it wouldn’t be strange if the mark appeared.

What bothered wasn’t just Tarun’s demonic energy.

The top contributor to the current situation was Gaon.

Most of the lands recaptured so far had been subordinated to Varta.

And in the future, most would likely be subordinated to Varta.

That’s why it was a problem.

There were quite a few descendants of destroyed kingdoms alive.

Just in the Holy Empire, descendants of 10 kingdoms were staying.

Some openly, some secretly, requesting the empire.

To allow them to reestablish their kingdoms.

Helping from Seionia wouldn’t allow reestablishment.

Gaon’s permission was needed.

Because those kingdoms’ territories had been or were scheduled to be subordinated to Varta.

The problem was whether Gaon would permit.

It was brief, but Adela had conversed with Gaon.

Considering Gaon’s personality grasped then, the possibility of permitting was close to 0.

Rather, there was a chance of punishment for the absurd request.

That’s why she was worried.

Because it seemed a new war would break out after the war ended.

……Would it be a war?

Of course, it wouldn’t be a war.

The power gap was enormous.

The probability of one-sided massacre was very high.

“Sigh.”

Adela let out a low sigh.

After devastating Kurshum’s headquarters, Gaon roamed around with Cring, cleaning up.

While moving like that, killing demons and demonic beasts and closing demonic rifts for a while, Gaon and Cring encountered a village.

Hmm…….

Gaon inwardly let out a low groan.

This village was different from the ones encountered before.

For some reason, the demonic energy concentration was abnormally thin.

Perhaps because of that?

The villagers harbored only a very small amount of demonic energy.

Moreover, there was no one cultivating demonic energy.

All were leading normal lives.

That’s why he was conflicted.

Was it right to kill all of them?

While Gaon was lost in conflict.

“What will you do?”

Cring asked.

At Cring’s question, Gaon ended his conflict and answered.

“Let’s just pass this one.”

Anyway, once the demonic energy in the atmosphere disappeared and mana took its place, they would harbor mana again.

Gaon left the village with Cring.

And a while later, Gaon could discover a place with very dense demonic energy.

A place where demonic energy condensed to create ‘demon stones.’

Naturally, not naturally gathered and condensed demonic energy.

Various arrays and artifacts were installed, and by the arrays and artifacts, surrounding demonic energy was being drawn.

Definitely a demon stone production facility created by the demons.

So that’s why it was thin?

He seemed to understand why the nearby village’s demonic energy was abnormally thin.

Better not destroy the arrays or artifacts first.

Normally, he would have destroyed the arrays and artifacts immediately.

But there was a village nearby.

If he destroyed the arrays and artifacts now, the village’s demonic energy concentration would densen again, and then the villagers would cross the river of no return.

Swish.

Gaon turned his head to look at the ‘demonic rift’ located a bit away.

It seemed better to destroy the demonic rift first to lower the demonic energy concentration, then destroy the arrays and artifacts.

But that was brief.

No, do I need to destroy?

Thinking about it, he realized there was no need to destroy the arrays and artifacts.

Anyway, the effect of the arrays and artifacts ended with demonic energy collection and condensation.

They could be called very good arrays and artifacts for demonic energy purification.

Yeah, let’s leave these too.

He could destroy them when there was no more demonic energy to purify later.

Having made the decision, Gaon said to Cring.

“Cring.”

“Yes!”

“There’s a base built by the demons right under that demonic rift.”

Right under the demonic rift, there was one base.

The base’s size wasn’t large.

But the level of the demons in the base was quite high.

Of course, meaning high level compared to the scale, not that they were a threat.

“Yes yes! Should I kill them?”

Cring asked with a slightly excited face.

“Yeah. Right now.”

Gaon nodded, and Cring dashed out with the brightest face possible.

Like that, Cring arrived at the base in an instant.

Boom! Boom! Crackle!

Explosions started echoing.

Swish.

And Gaon looked at the demonic rift again and cast magic.

Numerous, colorful magics flew toward the demonic rift.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Each time magic struck, the demonic rift began shrinking.

Shrinking visibly large chunks.

In less than 1 minute, the demonic rift completely closed, and the surrounding demonic energy rapidly thinned.

And Cring, having finished cleaning the base, returned.

“But Dad.”

“Yeah.”

“When are you planning to go back?”

“……?”

Gaon couldn’t help but be puzzled.

Suddenly asking when to go back?

But that was brief.

“Ah.”

Gaon, realizing what it meant, let out an exclamation as if understanding.