Chapter 44: Diversion

“…Was that intentional?”

—To some extent, yes. She told me you were an exceptional Harmonizer, one of those who defeated the Demon King. Though she’s powerful, it would’ve been difficult for her to protect me while fighting alone. I’m really glad you arrived on time.

I felt like I’d been played, but there was nothing I could do.

“For now, let’s deal with the immediate threat, and we’ll talk later.”

“Thank you for your help.”

The polite words of gratitude sounded somehow shameless, but I left him behind and walked out of the cave.

The Puppet Crows and wolves bared their claws and fangs uneasily at the approaching threat, and even the Duramino Kordos were nervously kicking their hind legs.

I couldn’t see anything yet, but with the footsteps echoing from all directions and the intense presence transmitted through the summoned beasts, no further explanation was necessary.

With a gesture, sigils floated into the air again.

Out of habit, Morotai’s name crossed my mind, but I didn’t summon him.

While he would certainly be useful in this situation, I had no desire to see that annoying face and his gleaming armor—not right now.

The air tore apart like fabric, revealing a rift, and through the black gap stepped out a massive black creature, easily twice the size of an adult man.

It stood on two hooved legs, its long, sharp claws gleaming.

Its entire body was covered in black fur, and on its face was a single, massive eye.

This creature’s name was Kadulukude, which in a forgotten ancient tongue meant “He Who Must Not Be Looked At.”

It was one of the many phantasms—demonic entities that fed on the fear of living beings.

Its language was incomprehensible.

But what it desired was always the same: cruel and malicious amusement.

“A great battle is coming. Enjoy it as you will. But if you harm any allies, I won’t forgive you.”

It nodded with a grotesque sound that might be called a laugh—if one were feeling generous.

There had been many summoned beings with whom I had to unwillingly form contracts, but this one was by far the worst.

Kadulukude had crossed into this world not for the Demon King’s revival or the coming of Nyx, but simply for entertainment—he turned a remote mountain village into a hellscape and toyed with the people inside.

Normally, he would have been destroyed then and there, but to save the villagers, whose souls were bound, we were forced to engrave a contract seal onto him.

We banished him back to the phantasm realm under the condition that he could only return to the surface world through summoned contract—nothing else.

But that’s not the reason he’s the worst.

The real issue was the pure, hateful malice I felt through our soul link.

All phantasms were unpleasant to summon to some extent, but this one was unique.

It wasn’t twisted or impure—it was pure evil.

A darkness that no ordinary being could possess.

Just being connected to it was enough to let that darkness crawl into my soul.

And yet, in this moment, his presence was—as we had predicted long ago—useful.

The rising pressure of the enemy’s presence made me want to summon more, but there weren’t many expendable summons left.

Most of the disposable ones had been lost in the final battle, and since then, aside from the Black Wyvern, I hadn’t made any new contracts.

A wild roar echoed through the gorge.

Each roar was different, but all were filled with fury.

Finally, the enemy forces came into view from across the gorge.

They were diverse beyond belief.

There was no common thread in species or shape.

Giant forest trolls, massive spiders, goblins wielding stone axes, monstrous creatures that looked like mixtures of dogs and cats, multi-legged monkeys, horned gorillas, and enormous bees shaped like humans.

More followed—monsters I had faced on past journeys, ones I had only read about in books, and many I had never even heard of.

It was strange how such a diverse group could move in such perfect unison.

They weren’t just stampeding from all directions—they advanced in formation from a single direction.

Something was definitely off.

“Kadulukude.”

I sent him forward first.

Numbers meant nothing to him.

With a grotesque laugh, he stepped forward.

His ominous black body began to fade, then vanished into the air.

And at the same time, the monster army’s advance slowed.

Phantasms aren’t usually known for combat strength.

They deceive, taunt, and lead others to ruin.

They don’t just overlay illusions over reality—they link the target’s mind to a constructed fantasy world, imprisoning the soul within.

Without fulfilling certain conditions, the trapped soul cannot ever escape.

I deepened the connection with him.

The malice surged through our shared consciousness, and for a moment, I couldn’t breathe.

Have you ever imagined pure evil?

It’s not jealousy, not envy, not hatred.

Those are twisted, mixed emotions—ultimately just feelings.

But this… this is something else.

Like breathing, you don’t even notice you’ve accepted it.

It doesn’t belong to relative reality—it is close to an absolute concept of cognition.

Maintaining my sanity within this malice was unpleasant and exhausting, but it had to be done.

By deepening the link, I could connect to the illusionary world Kadulukude created—and to the monsters trapped within it.

I couldn’t force a contract within that illusion, but I could control them briefly using his power.

By manipulating their fear and rage with a few illusions, it would be easy—even against a massive army—to either wipe them out or scatter them.

“…!”

But beyond the minds of the monsters, I sensed other connections—like fine, stretched threads.

Thin, but unbreakably strong, and more importantly, the ends of those threads led outside the illusion.

“…!”

The halted army began to move again.

Though their minds and souls were trapped in the illusion, the threads reaching outside were pulling them forward.

“So that’s how they’re moving like that.”

I severed the link with Kadulukude.

It was impossible for me to cut all those threads—this wasn’t simple mind control.

Their consciousnesses were being shared.

That made the connections far stronger.

I could raise the soul synchronization even further to follow the threads to their source—but that would be too dangerous.

The only comfort was that with their main souls still trapped in the illusion, their movements remained stiff and unnatural.

“No choice then. Wipe them all out.”

With my command, the summoned beasts leapt into action.

The Duramino Kordos charged forward with their massive bodies, and the wolves lunged with bared fangs.

The Puppet Crows were slower and a bit frustrating to watch—but that didn’t matter.

They weren’t meant for physical combat.

They crouched and pressed their hands to the ground, creating black liquid pools like the ones they first crawled out of.

The black liquid itself was a deadly poison—but more than that, it was a curse.

I strengthened my connection to the Puppet Crows, chanted a spell through their mouths and their magic, using the remnants of ancient witches’ systems embedded in their bodies and minds to invoke a long-forgotten curse that even the eldest of witches had forgotten.

I felt the shift in air.

The dark incantation and magic swirled around me, and through our soul link, unfamiliar emotions surged up from my chest and head.

Malice again—but different from Kadulukude’s.

Twisted, mixed, impure emotions.

Craving for power, envy, rage, and a dark longing.

My soul soared amidst those emotions, and the Puppet Crows’ power grew stronger.

At last, they raised their heads to the sky, and a low cry echoed from between their beaks.

The curse was complete—and its effect was immediate.

The monsters that had fought reasonably well against the wolves and Duramino Kordos, despite their sluggishness, began to scream in pain and fall.

Black splotches appeared on their bodies, which then rotted and oozed dark fluid.

This ancient curse—The Visit from a Forgotten Future—decayed flesh.

Normally, curses didn’t work well against strong minds or magical resistance, but with their souls trapped by Kadulukude, they had neither.

Not all of them were affected, but as long as the Puppetcrows’ magic lasted, the curse would persist—and the victims would grow.

“This ends the first phase.”

There were still countless monsters left, and the battle raged on, but the first engagement was over.

There was no chance of losing now.

But of course, this couldn’t be the end.

Despite the scale and rarity of the monsters involved, there weren’t even many mid-tier monsters among them.

If whoever was controlling those monsters had power only of this level, they wouldn’t have been able to orchestrate all this.

“The vanguard…?”

No, there were too many of them for that to be the case.

And the fact that they deliberately attacked from only one side was also strange.

While it might not matter much, considering the egg couldn’t escape anyway, it was definitely inefficient from a combat standpoint.

Moreover, if you consider how they made such a loud entrance before the attack…

“Everyone, fall back!”

I summoned the return dimensional circle and sent Duramino Kordos and the wolves back to the forest.

Of course, the wolves’ original habitat was elsewhere, but unfortunately, there was no auxiliary dimensional circle set up there.

So, for now, I sent them back together with Duramino Kordos.

Immediately after, I turned and ran deeper into the cave.

Not because there was another unit or anything like that.

This was just a simple diversion.

—What?

Eril and Granviphra looked confused by my sudden entrance, but I didn’t have the time to kindly explain.

I took out the crystal, placed my hand on the egg with Eril and Granviphra, and in the next moment, we arrived in Denatel’s study.

I hadn’t separately returned Puppet Crow and Kadulukude, but since the magical connection with their summoner had been severed, they would have automatically returned to their original world.

“W-what’s going on?!”

Ropena looked slightly flustered by the sudden appearance of the large egg and Eril.

Naturally, Eril and Granviphra were just as startled.

Eril, in particular, expressed shock and fear at Ropena’s presence.

“Eril. Calm down. It’s okay.”

I could barely calm her by strengthening our soul synchronization.

—Hooh, this place is…?

Granviphra, on the other hand, seemed more curious about the new surroundings than anything else.

“Sorry for bringing you here so suddenly, but there was no time for a leisurely explanation.”

—No problem. But why bring us here…?

“Wait, Anak! What on earth is going on? Why did you bring that phoenix and the egg here?”

“Please wait a moment. I’ll explain when I return.”

Using the crystal, I returned to the cave where we had been.

“…Surely I didn’t misread the situation again, right?”

I took out the Sphere of Light that had vanished earlier, but the inside of the cave was unexpectedly calm.

Without summoned beasts blocking the way, I could sense the presence of the monsters more clearly, but other than that, there was no noticeable change.

“I was sure I was right.”

I had been convinced that the monster army outside was a diversion.

I thought they’d collapse the cave or launch a surprise attack through the tunnel while drawing our attention, which was why I had moved Granviphra and Eril to Denatel’s study.

The reason I had deliberately returned was because the return point of this crystal is always fixed to its last-used location.

If the cave collapsed and made a return impossible, the destination would default to the prior usage point—the inn room.

Since we had already checked out, I didn’t want to risk reappearing there awkwardly, whether the room was empty or occupied.

Still, I hadn’t expected things to be this uneventful.

I felt as if everything had suddenly deflated.

Well, in any case, I began heading outside the cave.

Whether my guess was right or wrong, staying inside would only risk getting trapped.

When I came out, the monster horde had already advanced almost right up to the entrance.

I briefly considered whether I should summon again, but instead I leapt toward the opposite direction of their approach.

It was dangerous to hesitate here without confirmation that my guess was wrong, and since I had already relocated Granviphra, continuing to fight was meaningless.

As I ran in the opposite direction, I secretly hoped to hear the sound of the cave collapsing.

But no such sound came.

“Things keep going wrong lately.”

Excuses like being rusty or out of practice were getting old.

Over the past few days, it was easier to count the times my predictions didn’t come true than when they did—whether in combat or in tracking.

“That’s probably the only explanation left.”

The title “Strategist of the Second Best Path” wasn’t exactly a flattering one, but at this rate, even maintaining that would be difficult.

Just when I was debating whether to put away the Sphere of Light, I realized how pointless that hesitation had been.

The monsters weren’t even bothering to chase me.

I wasn’t even particularly fast, yet the distance between us widened easily.

They were still within view, but since running any further was meaningless, I stopped and looked down at the crystal again.

It was time to go back.

Granviphra seemed relatively calm, but Eril and even Ropena were likely feeling uneasy.

Especially Eril—she was frightened of Ropena.

But just as I was speaking the final command to the crystal, I heard the cave finally collapse.

A breeze blowing through the gorge carried a trace of dust that lightly brushed my skin.

And as I realized I was inwardly cheering at the sight and sound, I was already back in Denatel’s study.