Why Did You Mess With Him? He’s the Evil God’s Lackey! Chapter 129

Chapter 129: Why Can He Fly?!

Erika stood beneath the crimson Blood Moon, letting the howling blizzard slash across her cheeks.

She stared blankly at the towering red Demon—as though it had lost all sanity—tearing a rift through the overcast sky and brutally ravaging the 2 mountain-sized giants.

In its hands, the 2 giants were nothing more than 2 worms, tossed back and forth at its leisure.

Until they were reduced to shattered ruin.

The red Demon clutched the massive, bloodsoaked bodies in both hands and let out a victor's roar toward the heavens.

Its posture was as if it were flaunting itself before everyone—flaunting its power, its savagery.

A few fleeting visions flickered across Erika's eyes.

She pressed a hand to her slightly burning forehead, her mind drifting into a haze.

She understood the terror of Demons better than anyone.

Because she had once faced such a being head-on.

Nearly powerless to resist.

The mont the Demon appeared, she too had felt a pang of bewildernt.

Why had a Demon appeared here?

Like Gwen, Erika found herself instinctively connecting this Demon to Viktor—the sa way she had connected him to the Demon incident that occurred at the Back Hill of the Academy.

She rembered clearly: the horrifying Demon of Greed, that black-mountain-like presence, had erged from Heni's body.

Heni was Viktor's Teaching Assistant.

Ever since she had fallen unconscious, she had only heard secondhand accounts of how things had unfolded afterward.

No one had ntioned Heni during the Demon battle. Instead, the one they referenced most was that pig-headed Professor from the Rether Family.

Dewen Rether had been described as the Demon's Host in that incident.

She had wondered about it before—the one possessed by the Demon had clearly been Heni.

Yet not a single person had uttered her na.

Behind all of it, it was as though an unseen hand were pulling every string, redirecting the arrow of suspicion wherever it pleased.

All at once, a flash of clarity cut through Erika's mind, and she instinctively went looking for Viktor.

While everyone else was cheering for the Demon that had destroyed the 2 giants, she alone let her gaze drift to the far distance.

To those 2 silhouettes.

Erika's pupils contracted slightly.

That silhouette was one she knew intimately—she could never mistake it.

Professor Viktor.

Was the person in his arms Grand Knight Commander Gwen?

Erika watched as Gwen lay limp in Viktor's embrace, the 2 of them in an unmistakably intimate pose.

"......"

What exactly were those 2 doing?

Suddenly, a flash of light blazed across her field of vision, her attention wrenched away as though by force, drawn toward the side of Viktor's shoulder.

A Crow's single eye shimred with a blue glow, and it turned its head, fixing its gaze squarely on Erika.

As though drawn in by that eerie blue light, Erika couldn't help but lock her eyes onto the Crow.

Then, without warning, an overwhelmingly violent aura ca rushing straight at her.

It swept through her golden hair, sending it swirling in wild, formless patterns across the snowfield.

Her eyes were invaded by a strange and wondrous vision.

The snowfield bathed in the red moon's glow suddenly began to lose its stability, trembling like the rippling surface of a mirror lake.

In the blink of an eye, a pristine white scene leapt out before her.

She was standing atop the clouds. Several towering pillars rose up from an endless expanse of white.

Far in the distant sky hung a golden sun, its warmth washing over Erika's body—as though she had been instantly transported away from the snowfield.

A vast white temple erged slowly from among the pillars, and an enormous bird beat its wings ceaselessly across the clear blue sky, circling the temple in flight.

The great currents of air lifted Erika from the clouds, spinning her through the boundless open space, carrying her freely in every direction.

In an instant, freedom was hers to hold.

A distinct power gradually rged into Erika's body.

Beneath her golden eyes, a white Rune slowly appeared—a Rune that bore the symbol of wind.

Inheritance—

A bolt of lightning cracked through Erika's mind without warning, and those very words surfaced in her thoughts on instinct.

In her daze, she caught a glimpse of that jet-black Crow, and felt the lightness of her body.

And the Crow's mocking laughter gradually began to echo in her ears.

"This power again."

Erika was sowhat puzzled.

She still rembered it even now: in that dream, the one who claid to be the Evil God had bestowed the power of Inheritance upon her.

And this ti, it was Wind.

Erika slowly extended one hand, as if testing it, and gradually roused the wind elents within her body.

Without needing to etch a single Rune or Formation, a powerful current of air gathered instantaneously from all directions, beginning to swirl endlessly in the center of her palm.

The divine power of Wind.

When she raised her head again, attempting to find the Crow—

She heard a hoarse cry.

'Wrath, it is ti for you to go.'

In an instant, the scene before Erika's eyes shattered violently apart, and a few seconds later, surrounded by the red glow and howling frozen winds, she felt herself co back to the Northern Frontier.

"This....."

Laiton, having received the order, hurled the severed giant limbs in its hand hard into the water.

It reached up and tore a massive red gash through the sky, then drove both legs down hard and leapt into the crimson rift.

As the Demon departed, the dark storm clouds gradually dispersed, and the red full moon returned to its clear white glow.

The blood-soaked snowfield stretched before everyone's eyes, appearing even more terrifying than before.

All of them had witnessed the arrival and departure of the Demon throughout this battle.

Only Erika kept her gaze on the malicious one-eyed Crow perched on Viktor's shoulder.

A deep tremor surged through her heart, refusing to fade for a long while.

***

《It Was the Demon That Saved Us!》

《The Knight and the Demon—Who Truly Stands for Justice!》

Countless slogans were etched into the walls of Pallid Mage Society's buildings, spreading wildly across the territories.

In the battle to annihilate the Savage Beasts, the warriors of the Pallid Mage Society had achieved an absolute victory.

The vast majority of the Savage Beasts had been wiped out and driven from the Northern Frontier.

A resounding triumph for the Mage Society! Only a small number of valiant Mage-soldiers had made the ultimate sacrifice, giving their lives to cut off the Savage Beasts' escape routes.

Yet no one had anticipated that this victory would be delivered by a Demon.

From the mont that Demon descended upon the world, the fate of the Savage Beasts had been utterly sealed.

Even the crimson of the sky seed to welco the Demon's arrival, and the sea of blood appeared to be that great crocodile's own domain to roam freely.

That savage yet exhilarating scene was forever etched into the hearts of the Pallid Mage Society's mbers.

At this mont, the Pallid Mage Society was swept up in a celebration the likes of which it had not seen in a long ti.

mbers had shed their robes entirely, dressed in their own clothing, singing and dancing around enormous bonfires across the territory.

They raised their goblets high, faces flushed with broad, jubilant smiles.

These warriors who had stood guard in the Northern Frontier would never again have to fear the Savage Beasts' raids.

After this battle, the 2 great Savage Beast clans, stripped of the bulk of their main forces, were no longer a threat to be reckoned with.

As for the smaller tribes, the Pallid Mage Society didn't even bother putting them in their sights.

mbers even gathered around Vladimir, dancing together and drinking barrel after barrel of wheat ale.

Erika sat quietly to one side, watching the scene of celebration.

Though the joyful atmosphere could infect anyone, she had never been soone who spent years stationed in the Northern Frontier after all, and she naturally couldn't share in the soaring elation of the Northern Frontier's warriors and residents.

Still, she could feel with full clarity the deeply hateful nature of the Savage Beasts.

Her mood was sowhat intricately tangled. She rested her chin in one hand, slowly sipping the bitter wheat ale in the other.

A figure slowly settled down beside Erika.

It was Alia.

Erika knew she was the only 3rd-Tier Mage in the Pallid Mage Society, and the Mage contingent was led by her.

The 2 sat quietly side by side, without a word for a long while.

In the end, Alia was the first to speak.

"Our strength is ager. Everyone lives in the territories governed under this Mage Society."

"The land we can survive on keeps shrinking, and even getting information out is difficult."

Sooner or later, there would co a day when the Pallid Mage Society would have to fight the savage Savage Beasts in an all-out, life-or-death battle.

Otherwise, simply waiting would only invite a slow, certain death.

Erika listened quietly, continuing in her silence.

A lollipop was held out before Erika, still wrapped in that familiar candy paper.

Erika stared at the candy in slight bewildernt, then slowly reached out and took it.

"Give Viktor our thanks on our behalf."

Alia rose to her feet and walked back into the midst of the celebrating crowd.

Erika lowered her head, staring at the candy in her hand.

As though she had made so kind of decision, she got to her feet.

The snowstorm howled. Atop a snow cliff, Viktor stood there alone.

His Coat rustled ceaselessly in the blizzard.

The Crow perched on his shoulder, letting the wind and snow scatter its feathers.

Erika appeared behind Viktor, taking in that solitary silhouette.

"...... Professor."

Viktor did not turn around. Erika continued:

"I saw you... on the wanted notice."

"But I believe in you! You must have been wrongly accused."

He turned his head slightly back and gave Erika a calm, unhurried glance.

Erika t Viktor's gaze, and the mont she caught the indifference in those eyes, her heart gave a faint lurch.

Yet she did not look away on account of it, continuing to hold Viktor's gaze.

Then she heard the voice of the person before her slowly rise:

"I hadn't expected to find you here as well."

Erika was slightly taken aback, and Viktor had already turned back:

"They are not wrong. I did personally cripple Angus and his heir with my own hands."

Hearing Viktor state it as plain fact, Erika suddenly felt a surge of fierce emotion.

"They had it coming!"

Having spent a few days here, she knew all too well just how infuriating the conduct of those Northern Frontier Knights had been.

And yet, from a certain angle.

No one could find fault with Angus.

He had fulfilled his duty of guarding the Northern Frontier and preventing the Savage Beasts from breaking into the Empire's north.

As for the people living close to the northern border?

Who told you to live in such a dangerous place?

Erika could even recall it clearly: when the lives of those at the extre Northern Frontier ca under threat and they turned to the Royal Capital for help, the hideous, contemptuous expressions on those nobles' faces.

If they had the ans to leave the Northern Frontier, who would willingly stay in this godforsaken, barren place?

They were nothing but armchair critics.

Erika had always believed Viktor had done nothing wrong—even if every Knight across the entire Northern Frontier was hunting him down.

"Is that so?"

She couldn't make out Viktor's expression, but she could hear the faint trace of a smile woven through his tone.

"Yet even so, they remain safely settled in the Northern Frontier, living a life without a single care."

"The Savage Beasts have been wiped out entirely. And the credit for all of it—who exactly will it fall to?"

Erika paused.

The Pallid Mage Society's existence was not sothing the Imperial family had established.

The group that bore nominal responsibility for guarding the Northern Frontier was still those Northern Frontier Knights who had done nothing.

Under Angus's influence, the nobles in the Royal Capital would naturally give their trust to the Northern Frontier Knights first.

There was nothing to be done about that.

Even if Angus's conduct in abandoning the people to their fate had been exposed, in terms of law and duty, he had not technically committed a dereliction.

Even if the Emperor despised him, there was no way to arrest Angus on those grounds alone.

Besides, Angus had once served under the Emperor as well.

That sentintal old Emperor would never strip Angus of his position for a reason like this.

Then—where could one find a charge weighty enough, and one with the force to convict Angus?

All at once, sothing struck Erika, and she froze in place.

"...... The Demon?"

The Demon had carried all the fury of the Northern Frontier's people, taking shape upon the ice plain and wiping out every last Savage Beast.

Then from where had all that fury of the Northern Frontier's people co?

It wasn't only from the Savage Beasts.

There were also those Northern Frontier Knights who had done absolutely nothing.

But—would the nobles truly believe the Demon had appeared because of Angus?

In this mont, Erika found herself thinking, in a daze, of that exchange between the Evil God and the Demon.

"Professor, so that Demon was actually because of you..."

"Keep it secret for ."

Viktor's voice lay flat and indifferent, swallowed up by the falling snow.

At once, atop the snow cliff, a howling gale erupted without warning, so fierce that Erika could barely keep her eyes open.

She attempted to call upon the wind elents within her body to make the wind and snow stop, but it was no use at all.

"What's happening....."

Then all at once, a white Rune slowly lit up on the collar of Viktor's Coat.

Before Erika's eyes, a cluster of white cloud-smoke gradually ford around Viktor's entire body.

Within the cloud-smoke, the silhouette of a living creature began to take shape.

It was a giant white bird.

It soared through the skies above, soaring through the goose-feather snowfall, like the sovereign of the heavens.

At so point unbeknownst to her, Viktor was already standing atop the giant bird.

Erika's eyes went wide, watching as the giant bird stirred up a raging vortex of wind.

The gale surged to a roar, and in the blink of an eye—

It pierced through the pale clouds, its violent currents carrying a dense, surging wave of air.

And vanished from Erika's field of vision.

She stood alone atop the snow cliff, watching Viktor's departure.

For a long, long while, she stood there in a daze.