Chapter 186: Demons Land

After giving the Fallen the order to keep watch over the area and the pilgrims throughout the night, Daniel took off his mask and returned to the pilgrims.

This time, since there were no casualties or injuries, things weren’t as chaotic. The main concern was that there weren’t enough tents left for everyone to sleep in.

"Where were you?" Malrik asked with suspicion when he saw Daniel.

"When I heard all the noise, I figured it was safer to stay inside the bathroom," Daniel said without a hint of shame.

Malrik went quiet. As stupid as the excuse sounded, it still made some sense. After all, Daniel wasn’t even a follower of their religion and wasn’t obligated to help.

Still, he remained suspicious. That was because of the power he had seen from Daniel the night before—he had put out the entire fire with just a single move.

Daniel shrugged and entered the tent. He doubted anything else would happen tonight, and they would likely reach the church soon tomorrow. He needed to rest a bit tonight.

It was decided that the pilgrims would squeeze into the remaining tents so those whose tents were burned would also have somewhere to sleep.

They spent the night without any issues or disturbances. Early the next morning, they packed up the tents and began moving again.

"How much farther until the church?" Daniel asked as he looked at Malrik.

"We should get there by noon tomorrow. But soon, we’ll be passing through a small part of Demon Realm. That’s the only problem."

Daniel nodded and waited for today’s events to unfold. He was sure things were going to happen today.

He didn’t forget to use his spiritual sense from time to time to scan everything around him.

He still had a bad feeling about how calm everything seemed. Even though there had been fires the past two nights, he doubted that was all there was to this.

The difficulty level was "Hell." The first phase of the first floor of the Tower had nearly killed him—no, it actually had killed him. If it weren’t for ranking up and having his wounds healed, he’d be dead for sure.

Just like previous days, things went by relatively quietly until they reached an area where the air became extremely cold, the sky was red, and there was no sun visible at all.

"This place belongs to the demons," Malrik said, looking up at the sky.

"So this is Demon Realm?" Daniel muttered to himself.

"No. It’s a piece of land that belongs to the demons, but it’s not exactly part of their realm. Still, you should be careful. Even though it’s not within Demon Realm, there are still demons living here."

"If I want to be more specific, we’re getting close to the Gulf. On the other side of the gulf is Demons Realm. They’ve taken over a piece of land to use as a military base. They’re willing to do whatever it takes to hold it, and the top forces of the other races have decided to leave the demons alone for now."

Daniel nodded and gave his Fallen the order to raise their guard.

’My lord, there’s a problem,’ Nariok’s voice echoed in his mind just then.

’What is it?’

’A bit ahead, there are several rank B demons blocking the road. And it’s obvious they don’t have good intentions.’

’Rank B? Early or mid?’

’Should be early-rank B. They’re not too strong, but there are a few of them—about five, I think.’

Daniel nodded and told the others to prepare for a fight. He himself was ready to draw his sword at any moment.

"Hey, lowly humans. If you want to pass through here, you’ll need to pay 1,000 gold coins," one of the demons said as they arrived at the blocked road.

The five figures had ugly faces, completely red skin, and sharp tails and horns.

"Those are demons?"

"Damn, are we actually dealing with demons now?"

"What do we do? Should we pay them a thousand gold coins? That’s way too much."

’A thousand is too much?’ Daniel frowned after hearing their words. It made him wonder how these pilgrims would react if they knew he had paid a million coins.

Among the pilgrims, the one walking in front—a white-haired old man with a long, tidy white beard, wearing a plain robe—stepped forward.

"Demons, we are followers of the great god Horvand and His prophet Zirham. If you don’t want to face divine punishment, I suggest you get out of our way," the man’s voice sounded ancient.

As soon as he spoke, the other pilgrims all got visibly excited and emotional.

"Who is that guy?" Daniel asked while looking at him, a bit surprised. Among all the pilgrims, he was the only one who had the courage to step forward.

It wasn’t like Daniel didn’t recognize him—this was the same old man who had come out and performed the Mourning prayer during the first night when the pilgrims died.

But Daniel hadn’t paid him much attention back then, assuming he was just another senior pilgrim.

"He’s one of the most well-known Paragons of our religion—Paragon Aurest," Malrik answered. "Remember when I told you about mortals who had lived for centuries? He’s one of them."

"Paragon? Who are they?"

"They’re the top religious figures in our faith. They hold very high ranks, and according to the prophet himself, we’re allowed to go to them when we have questions. They’ve been officially recognized by the prophet."

"How did I not notice him until now?" Daniel hadn’t expected such an important figure to act so low-key, blending in even more than the regular pilgrims.

He hadn’t even sensed his presence until now.

"He’s preparing for the Final Ablution. That’s why he’s spent the entire journey in silence, meditating and training at night. He didn’t interact with anyone. It’s natural that you didn’t notice him. Still, he gave away his tents and food to those who lost theirs in the fires."

"I see." Daniel nodded and turned his attention back to the scene ahead.

He wanted to see what this old man could actually do, and whether or not these demons were worth turning into new Fallen.