Mages and Knights alike looked at the cell with Cray in it silently. Possibilities of what had happened inside ran through their head as they grew suspicious towards Cray.
They didn't only consider the possibility of Cray being the Demon himself however, they also considered the possibility that Cray had killed the impersonating Demon after it had killed the civilians inside.
Luckily however, Whitney could attest that Cray was not a Demon as he had been in the same cell with Cray before. Iliana had also said herself, the Demon was only one.
Furthermore, Cray was just as confused and bewildered as the others, so it even proved his innocence. Of course, since they had been done twice by the Demon, they couldn't just immediately believe it.
"Should I cut him?" Steven asked tensely.
"Hold on, Steve." Thompson put his hand in front of Steven. "He is innocent."
"Monsters can act. We shouldn't—"
"He's human—I can guarantee."
Thompson and Steven immediately turned their head to Iliana at her interruption. Iliana merely glanced at them before walking towards Cray, who was still looking around in confusion.
"Do you remember what happened?"
"I wish I could." Cray turned his head to Iliana then, chuckled emptily. "I saw nothing but a brief darkness, before finding the door was opened."
"You were Bewitched?"
"Similar, but it didn't work like the Bewitchment I know..."
Cray was unusually quiet as he caressed his chin in contemplation. 'If the Demon had intended to kill me, I would've been dead.' He shivered slightly as he looked at the bodies littering the ground around him.
Iliana turned to the others, and motioned them to come. Unlike the Mages who immediately came however, the Knights hesitated slightly as they looked sceptically at Cray.
They immediately came over upon receiving everyone's gaze though.
"I wasn't sure about it at first, but now I am absolute about it," Iliana spoke as she silently gazed at people. "The Monster has the ability to put an illusion on people."
She had expected something like this since the very beginning, but she wasn't very sure about it because she had no definite evidence other than her intuition.
As she had fed the civilians and her colleagues something that she didn't know well, she had attributed what they had seen as the aftereffect of eating the heart.
She only started to consider her intuition to be the truth after she had asked what the little girl had seen.
The little girl was the only person other than her, who didn't eat the Minotaur Warrior's heart, but like the others, she also saw the same thing. This proved that the Minotaur Warrior's heart had nothing to do with what everyone had seen.
Now that Cray had become a victim too, she was absolute the Monster had the ability to create an illusion.
"Let me ask you something." Whitney raised his hand. "Are you saying that the Monster had been getting out of the chamber it was put into, and visited the other chambers for all this time?"
"I am surprised you have only figured it out now."
"It's not that. I, like the others, also believed that the Monster was more than one." Whitney shook his head faintly. "That doesn't matter anymore—I am convinced it is only one now. So, how could it get in and out of the chamber without our notice?"
"Are you asking why it could do its deed without making any sound?" Whitney nodded his head along with the others, and Iliana continued with a scoff. "Maybe, it's a part of its ability. What are you expecting?"
Whitney opened his mouth, and immediately frowned as nothing came out of his mouth. He sighed in the next moment, before directing his gaze to the appalled civilians in the cells.
"What are we going to do next?" Whitney asked as he gestured his chin towards the civilians.
Iliana tossed her hair gracefully. "We will exclude six groups—the groups that were with us—and put the rest into the chamber once again. Maybe we'll be able to find the rat this time."
"Since it has the capability to fool all of us, shouldn't it have enough intelligence to not do anything when we do that?" Thompson pointed out.
"Don't worry, Thompson. No matter how smart it is, it won't be able to defy its nature."
Iliana was referring to the Demon's lust for the alluring smell of the Minotaur Warrior's heart in everyone's stomach, but, of course, Thompson couldn't know that. He, like Jocelyn and Steven, merely thought that Iliana was referring to the Demon's lust for blood.
Although Iliana had said that she had fed them some medicine to figure out who had been infected, Thompson and the others believed that it was merely Iliana's excuse to put the civilians inside the cells so she could find the impersonating Demon.
They had no idea that they were really fed something that amplified the Demon's desire to eat them, and not even Whitney and Cray knew of it. In other words, Iliana still had everyone playing her game.
Slightly more than two minutes passed, and the remaining three groups of civilians had entered three different cells. The rest of the civilians were with the Mages and Knights outside of the cell, watching the people inside from afar.
"Alright, close the door." Iliana motioned her hand at Cray, Whitney, and Thompson.
"Beautiful lady, why is grandpa there?"
Iliana looked down at the little girl in her arms, and smiled softly. "Your grandpa seems to be sick, so we need to cure him."
"But... Won't the Demon come out?"
"There is no such thing as a Demon, silly." Iliana rubbed the girl's head. "Your grandpa should be fine—no, I am sure he will be fine."
"Okay."
Iliana moved her gaze to the closed cells, and stared at them silently. She held a strong suspicion towards the little girl's grandfather, and whatever she had said towards the girl wasn't meant to comfort her, but a direct way to express her suspicion.
'After all, if this girl's grandfather was the Demon, he would be the only person who was left uninjured.' With this thought in mind, Iliana and the others waited for 10 minutes.
The moment the door of the cells was opened, everyone peeked inside in anticipation. They didn't see anyone had gotten out of the cell, so there should be one cell that contained five dead bodies and one Demon.
"This is...?"
"Now things got complicated."
"Hmm... As expected..."
The cell was fully opened and everyone could see the inside perfectly. It was much to the Mages and Knights' disappointment that they found no one was killed—everyone inside the cell was alive.
"There is no way the Monster could hold its urge to eat them." Iliana frowned as she thought of an explanation about what had possibly happened. "Is the Monster really more than one?"
As she started to doubt herself, Iliana decided to doubt everyone once again. With how things were developing, there was a high chance that there wasn't only one Demon, but many of them, and she needed to make sure of it.
Putting another three groups of civilians along with Cray, Whitney, Thompson in each three different cells, they waited for another 10 minutes. When the door was opened, the same result came out—no one died.
"Alright, it is our turn."
"Are we going to enter the room again, beautiful lady?"
"Yes."
Iliana smiled at the little girl in her hand, and brought her to one of the last three groups of civilians before entering the cell together. Under everyone's supervision, the door was closed.
Silence instantly engulfed the cell Iliana was in as the inside got visibly darker than before. She could see everything around her clearly, of course, but it wasn't the case for the civilians; they were hugging their knees on the ground anxiously.
"Everyone is afraid. I wonder whether giving people their nightmare is one of every Mage's hobbies."
"Do you hate Mages?" Iliana asked as she turned her head to the person beside her. "Are you feeling unwell being in the same room with me?"
"No, esteemed Mage. I have no hate towards Mages, especially the ones like you." The person beside Iliana shook his head. "The way you hold my granddaughter is enough proof of how caring of a person you are."
"Caring, huh? Interesting." Iliana scoffed at the grandfather of little girl in her hand. "I am just sane, unlike most of my fellows."
The little girl's grandfather merely smiled at Iliana's passive aggressive response, and stopped speaking right after.
Iliana also didn't initiate any more talk as she wanted to watch him lose his control. Despite having put the elderly man to "trial," she still doubted he was the impersonating Demon.
Minutes passed, but nothing happened. Iliana was already irked at that point as she considered about killing all of the adults inside the cell, but something stopped her from doing so.
Her vision darkened, and only then she realized the Demon had gotten her. She immediately activated her Magic Circles, and burst the Mana inside one of them out.
Boom!
As her Mana overwhelmed the cell, she was awaken from her dazed state. Her eyes immediately turned cold as she saw the bodies and the viscera littering the ground, while the little girl's grandfather was prying the little girl off her thigh in front of her.
"What are you doing?"
"Huh?! N-No! It is not as what you—"
Bam!
Iliana kicked the little girl's grandfather squarely in the chest even before he managed to finish his sentence, sending the elderly man outside of the cell. She picked the trembling little girl up, and went outside the cell in the next moment.
"What happened?!"
"Iliana, are you okay?!"
"Hold this girl for me."
Whitney and Cray had immediately run towards her the moment they saw her got out of the cell, but she merely gave the little girl to them before walking towards the elderly man who was lying limply on the ground.
"Was it fun playing with us?" Iliana put her foot on the elderly man's chest. "You thought you would be able to get me back then, didn't you?"
"N-No. There is a mis—AAAHHHH!"
"There is no need to make an excuse. What you were about to—"
"Hear me out... Please." Iliana immediately recoiled in surprise as she looked at the genuine pleading gaze of the man, then lessened the pressure she put on the man's chest. "S-She is my granddaughter no more... S-She is-"
Swish.
One swing—Iliana cut the man's head off with one swing of her sword. She had thought he would say something to defend himself, but he accused someone else instead—his supposed to be granddaughter no less.
Iliana was disgusted by the Demon's pathetic attempt ... At least, that's what's she thought, until she noticed the elderly man remained human even after he was dead.
"AAHHHHH!"
Not only that, but a chaos also unfolded in the back.
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter