Night Journey

Chapter 20 Believers of Chaos
As daylight arrives, the warm sun caresses the earth, and wherever it touches, the gray fog recedes.

"it is finally over……"

After spending some time recovering his strength, Cillian then began to notice the changes in the concentration of soul essence within his body.

Initially, Cillian thought that as long as he kept killing demons, he could steadily increase his soul essence concentration. However, when the number of demons he killed reached a certain threshold, he could clearly feel that the increase in soul essence concentration began to decrease, or even stopped.

"As expected, this thing isn't so easy to satisfy."

The Ouroboros Seal has grown weary of the demons' sacrifices, and Cillian surmisees that it craves more powerful chaotic beings as offerings.

"Ugh……"

Cillian sighed helplessly. He had thought he could slay demons all the way to become a giant god, but it turned out to be not so easy.

"It smells awful."

Mick appeared from the side and fanned himself in disgust.

Large numbers of demon corpses piled up around the high wall, and under the sunlight, they spontaneously combusted.

The fire burned quickly; within minutes, piles of corpses were reduced to empty shells. Ashes rose with the wind, billowing into the air and turning into fine dust that covered people's faces layer by layer.

Cillian sniffed, but couldn't smell anything. He blew his nose hard, wiping his hand with blood.

"This tastes pretty good."

Tim walked over. After a night of fighting, he was also exhausted, and his tall figure swayed unsteadily.

"Wow, you smell like a towel soaked in your post-workout sweat and starting to grow mold."

Mick pinched his nose and quickly backed away, so nervous that he uttered grammatical errors.

"You boy!"

The more Mick retreated, the more Tim chased, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him tightly into his arms.

"what!"

Mick kept screaming.

After Tim wiped all the filth and blood off his body, he put him down.

Mick's eyes were vacant, and he swayed unsteadily. This action seemed to have had a greater impact on him than the fighting that had taken place all night.

Tim ruffled Mick's hair. "So you're starting to dislike me now? You're the one I raised!"

Nunn was clearly not a good childcare person, and after adopting Mick, he was raised by Tim.

"If you can't call me 'father,' at least call me 'godfather'!"

Mick was furious. "You son of a bitch!"

"My mom passed away a long time ago!"

Tim didn't hold back and joked around, lifting Mick up with one hand.

Strength is still more important than agility.

"Haha."

Cillian crossed his arms and leaned to one side.

Footsteps approached, and a familiar figure appeared.

"teacher."

The three immediately stopped fooling around and watching the commotion, stood up straight, and said in unison.

After the night's battle, Nuen was covered in blood and grime, but looked tired.

Nunn smiled and agreed.

"You did a great job tonight."

It was a rare honor to receive Nunn's praise, and joy appeared in the eyes of the three of them.

"Tim, Mick, you two go and rest. Leave the maintenance work to the guards."

The high walls still stand, but under the relentless scratching of the demons throughout the night, a series of inspections and maintenance are still necessary. The burned-out soul essence also needs to be replenished, as they are closely related to the survival of Baiya Town and cannot be neglected.

Mick and Tim fought as they walked, it was hard to believe they had been fighting all night, where did they get the energy?

Ciri stayed where he was, awaiting Nun's instructions.

Nunn asked, "Cillian, how are you feeling?"

"I'm a little tired, but otherwise I'm fine."

“You’re adapting quickly,” Nunn asked with concern. “Are you alright?”

“Just some scratches.” Cillian moved his body to indicate that he was fine.

"Just a scratch?" Nunn laughed. "I almost died on the battlefield the first time I fought."

Cillian modestly replied, "The intensity of the battle in White Cliff Town is far less than that in the Dark World."

"Too."

The two climbed the high wall and looked out. The corpses had been burned into balls of fire, and the townspeople were busy in front of the city gate, repairing the cracks torn by the demons.

“After this night, you’ve seen it all,” Nunn said, “the threat of the demons is nothing to the superhumans.”

“Yes,” Cillian affirmed. “If we had just a few more Torchbearers, I even think we could lead a Torchbearer squad and turn the tables on the demons, driving them back to the Gray Zone.”

Cillian killed dozens of demons in one night, and apart from some minor scratches, he was not seriously injured.

He alone exerted such a strong suppressive force on the demons. Once the number of torchbearers increased, the demons would no longer pose any threat to White Cliff Town.

“In some large city-states, there is no need for torchbearers to sweep away the demons of the night.”

Nunn recounted what he had seen and heard in the past.

"The spirit craftsmen of the Myriad Machines Law Institute will build a bloated, self-regulating defense system atop the high walls. Once they detect a demon approaching, they will unleash a deluge of ammunition. The scholars of the Mo Dian Society can sing softly enough to plunge the Gray Realm of the Narrow Space into deathly silence, paralyzing the demons into empty shells..."

Nunn rummaged through his empty pockets and pulled out a crumpled cigarette.

"The real threat to the city-state comes from those who are affected by the power of chaos."

Nunn squinted and exhaled smoke.

"The vast majority of ordinary people, after being corrupted by chaos, will be deformed into terrifying demons, but a very small number of people will survive the corruption of chaos, or will be marked with blasphemy."

Cillian gently placed his hand on the hilt of his sword at his waist, listening intently to every word Nun said.

"Don't think of them as lucky ones. On the contrary, these people who haven't been demonized are the most terrifying beings."

They draw power from chaos and hear a certain voice; seduced by the power of chaos, they regard chaos as a god, worshipping and believing in it.

Nunn continued, "Besides ordinary people, extraordinary beings can also fall under the power of chaos, just like the rebels during the Twelfth Expedition."

"These people corrupted by chaos are the greatest threat to the civilized world. In comparison, demons are more like a harmful byproduct and not worth mentioning."

Cillian asked, "Teacher, have you killed many Chaos cultists?"

“Not only that, but many rebels also died at my hands,” Nunn recalled. “Back then, we regarded hunting rebels as a ritual of honor. Some bloodthirsty madmen would even keep the rebels’ heads as their spoils of war.”

After Ciri became the Torchbearer, it stirred up Nunn's memories of the Sunflower Clan. He would often think of the past, his expression filled with an unyielding sorrow.

The sorrow was fleeting, and Nunn returned to his resolute demeanor.

“Cillian, what I want to tell you is that you should never be soft on those who have been corrupted by Chaos. You don’t even need to listen to their explanations. Just cut off their heads.”

He reiterated, "Just get started."

Cillian nodded as if he understood, his nose filled with the stench of burning blood.

Previously, Cillian could kill enemies without hesitation because his targets were terrifying demons, but what if the target became a human being with flesh and blood?

Cillian murmured that name in his heart.

“Bell…”

Bell, the corrupted townsman, was the name of the first demon killed by Cillian.

In the days to come, Cillian will kill more "Bells," who will cry and plead, but Cillian will show them no mercy.

Cillian had long since witnessed the folly of pity.

He replied firmly, "I understand, teacher."

"very good."

Nunn stopped looking at Ciri and gazed into the distance.

The gray area receded like a tide, leaving nothing but the burning corpses on the ground.

Nunn was not relieved that the night of the tides had ended; on the contrary, his expression became even more serious.

"This night of tides came far too suddenly."

Nunn leaped down the high wall and wandered among the burning corpses.

He was not a stargazer and could not predict the arrival of the energy tide, but as a high-ranking torchbearer, he still had a keen sense of the energy surge.

With Nuen's abilities, he should have sensed the arrival of the energy tide at least by nightfall, but he only realized it belatedly when the demon horde was attacking the city gates.

Nuen crossed the bonfires, but the vast wilderness was empty except for the town of White Cliff.

(End of this chapter)