35 The White Haired Demon Slayer (Part-1)

"Don't ask me why I fight. Ask me why I'm willing to bleed for a world that will never reach salvation..."

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"Fine say it."

"You promise you won't try to kill me again?"

"You are the one who came at me first!"

"Yeah well maybe–"

Ren tossed away a goblin body turning back to me and Luca with an annoyed look on his face. "Will you two just stop it already?! Don't make me say something that will embarrass you both."

That got us both to shut up.

I rolled my eyes and turned back to Luca. "Just say what you wanted to before."

Luca shook his head and sighed. "Fine. As I was saying. It's midnight, if there are corrupted monsters they will be far stronger during the night. Especially past midnight."

I frowned again. "Still that's no reason to delay saving the villagers. I can't let them stay captured by the goblins any longer than they need to be."

"Yeah, I know. You made that plenty apparent already. But we don't know what we are walking into. We were told 8-10 goblins, ended up with a hostage situation that we failed and faced 40+ goblins already. That doesn't even start to cover what happened with the village and what we are about to do now. Everything is escalating into some kind of goddamn fuckshit of a situation."

I didn't like how he described everything that happened, but there was nothing I could disagree with.

"Corrupted monsters—" Luca dashed forward and cut down a forest goblin before Elaina could even call out its location and continued. "— are no joke. Every adventurer knows they should be avoided and reported back to the guild if you have the luxury to. If you don't, they need to be dealt with very carefully with extreme force."

He then turned to me. "Since we won't be 'abandoning' anyone, it won't do us harm to be a bit more careful about it."

Once again he was right. I sighed and got out my hologlass, the inch-thick slab of circular glass that had runes etched on it that had been given to us by the guild receptionist. Activating a few runes in a particular order, the current time showed up on the glass.

12:09. Just past midnight. This is bad. Really bad.

Sylvie raised her hand and skipped on her toes like a kid eager to ask a question in class. "Me, me! I have a question!"

I pointed to her. "Yes, Sylvie go ahead."

"Can someone explain corrupted monsters to me again?" She asked shyly.

Just as I was about to answer Ren grabbed a goblin leaping out of the trees and smashed it into the ground, while two more dropped out of the canopy as Elaina shot them down.

I sighed at the interruption and continued with my best teacher's voice. "We all know that all demons and monsters in this world originate from the Dark Lord of Demons. They have been around for so long, they essentially became a part of the world itself. Not every monster is created by the Darklord, often the monsters reproduce by themselves as well."

Sylvie was looking at me so earnestly I had to pause for a second. I swear if she had a pen and paper, she would have started taking notes.

Anyway, I continued.

"Now, corrupted monsters are those whose 'monster souls' have been directly infused with darkness. While all monsters and demons have an inherent hatred for humanity and serve the Dark Lord of Demons, corrupted monsters have their monsters instincts and urges overwritten by a pure bloodlust for all humans. They are an incarnation of pure carnage born out of a deep hatred instilled in them by the Darklord. And when needed they also serve as the direct force for the Darklord and the Demon Generals."

Sylvie's expression showed that she was starting to understand that corrupted monsters are nothing but bad news. But there was more.

"Corrupted monsters are already much stronger than average monsters of the same species. But as night falls, they keep getting stronger. Especially once midnight strikes, they will be at their strongest all the way until the first light of dawn."

"Which is why the Guild advises all adventurers to avoid doing quests at night." Luca butt in glaring at me. I waved him off.

Sylvie was wowed and concerned at the same time. "How do you differentiate between a regular monster and a corrupted one?"

Now that question had me stumped. For all I had studied about corrupted monsters, I had never actually seen one myself. And I didn't exactly remember the illustrations given in the textbooks. Back then I just assumed I'd know whenever I see one. You know... because I am a Descendant of Light and all.

I know... I was stupid. And young.

Trying my best to remember (Kids, always pay attention in class). "They are like uh..."

"A part of their body will have a veil of darkness. Deep black violet darkness, like staring into the abyss, covering a part of the body like a second skin. Mostly around the head or the heart. Which is what we are looking for here." Ren said turning back to us as he casually tossed away yet another goblin body.

That's right. As we follow the trail back into the forest, we are constantly checking the body of every goblin attacking us, for any sign of corruption. Ren, Luca, and Elaina are the only ones killing coz we need to inspect the bodies after killing them. If I kill any monster it would simply disintegrate into fragments of light.

And Ren said I need to take some time to calm down without swinging my sword around coz apparently he can't trust me with holding back on the light magic. Pfft, I can control myself.

"You have seen corrupted monsters before, Ren?" Luca asked.

"Hm? Yes, I have killed a few before." Ren replied nonchalantly.