## Chapter 1031 – A Being Full of Questions

And so, we set our course and advanced.

According to Hilde, demonic energy was being felt from all directions, but a considerably intense energy was pulsating from over there, so she could somehow figure out the direction of the gate.

“But I don’t think it’ll be possible to pinpoint the exact location of the demons. There are so many of them nearby right now that all the energies are mixed up.”
“Can’t be helped.”

If energy is being felt from all directions, you can know they exist, but you can’t pinpoint their exact location.

It’s like being able to immediately tell where your friend is when they shout in an empty playground, but when there’s a sports day and everyone is shouting, it’s hard to find them even if you call out. In the first place, their voice is buried and can’t be heard.

On top of that, those demon bastards are avoiding us on their own.

In fact, from their perspective, instead of facing incredibly strong knights or paladins, it’s more advantageous in many ways to just avoid them and either escape from this area or target ordinary adventurers and soldiers, taking their blood and souls.

But… this is a bit strange.

Okay, let’s say, without lying, that I’ve become a genuine High Demon.

High Demon Kim Kat, that bastard, is a cruel and cunning son of a bitch who would cruelly pluck the thinning hair of a desperate middle-aged man and make noodles out of it to eat.

If I became such an existence, I would 100% give up on fighting and everything else and escape this crazy area overflowing with human serial killers.

I would escape no matter what. Not in a fun, escape room game kind of atmosphere, but literally betting my life to escape.

In the first place, coming out of Pandemonium and onto this land is to slaughter weak humans, increase my power, and enjoy pleasure. So, I would definitely escape from this dangerous space and flee to a human village somewhere far away.

Knights and paladins can go fuck themselves.
I have to go slaughter powerless civilians.

Yes. That’s what a High Demon should naturally do.

But right now, there are demons trying to escape, but most of them are said to be fighting hard somewhere here. There’s a lot of information that they’ve engaged in combat, so it’s certain.

Free-spirited demons.

The fact that even strong demons like High Demons aren’t escaping and are fighting tooth and nail with knights, risking their lives, is a bit strange. Ah, of course, they’re avoiding the knights as much as possible, but in the end, they’re just avoiding them, not fleeing from this place.

Could it be because they’re faithfully following the orders of the Archdemon? Even if the Archdemon gives an order, they wouldn’t be the type to listen well. It’s very strange that they’re fighting without scattering and running away somewhere.

I was talking about this as we walked, and the women who heard the story all sympathized and expressed their doubts.

“Indeed… I also find it strange.”

Hilde also thought for a moment and then said,

“Demons aren’t beings who blindly follow the Archdemon. Of course, there are some like that, but most demons are individualistic. Even if there’s a difference in power, they don’t just obey like humans. It’s more like they don’t listen well, or rather, they’d run away instead. They don’t submit.”
“Right. I heard that story once before.”

In the first place, those demon bastards are beings who pursue the extreme of rebellion. There’s no way they’d properly follow the orders they receive. Especially if their lives are at stake.

“If they had scattered and run away in all directions as soon as the gate opened, it would have been even harder for humans to respond. That’s for sure.”

I think so too.

“Isn’t it just because they’re trying to protect that Demon Gate or something?”

Winia asked, and Hilde shook her head.

“If that’s the case, it’s even stranger. If you think about it from the High Demons’ perspective, it might be better to just close the gate.”
“Ah, is it because they think other demons will become competitors?”
“Yes! That’s exactly it!”

Hilde shouted brightly as if she had guessed the correct answer.

Liztina’s words had some credibility. That’s just the demons’ nature. Well, if there’s a gate, they can escape back to their homeland, but once they’ve come down to the human world, they won’t go back unless there’s a very good reason.

“No, but maybe they just thought that the more there are, the higher the chances of survival. But if you think about it that way, it’s strange that they’re risking their lives to defend this area.”

Karin stroked her chin and said.

“Hmm, is that so?”
“Whatever it is, we don’t know for sure right now.”

Risha, who had been listening, opened her mouth.

“Indeed, only questions remain. Perhaps the High Demons who appeared here are the Archdemons’ confidants, or something like that?”
“That could be, but as far as I know, there aren’t many Archdemons who have such blindly devoted followers. The Archdemon is just a powerful demon, not a being who has a huge number of subordinates who follow them like human demons or lords.”

Is this the difference between humans and demons?

“For example, if they were Archdemons who became the rulers of a specific race, it wouldn’t be strange to have such subordinates… but in the end, we’ll know when we see it.”
“Then Hilde, what about Andromalius?”
“That crazy monster is just a strong demon, so he’s an Archdemon, but he’s not a being who can be called a lord. I even doubt if he has any subordinates who follow him. He’s famous for killing anything that catches his eye.”

That’s true too.

“Anyway, such an invasion…! It’s an unforgivable outrage! If they catch my eye, I’ll slaughter them all!”
“Of course, you should. But more urgent than that is the gate. Let’s figure that out first before thinking about subjugating the demons.”
“Yes! Let’s do that!”

Anyway, Hilde was burning with hatred towards the demons. Of course, I also think that all the demons who are doing such shitty things here should be torn to death.

How many hours did we move like that?

In the end, we reached a huge cliff area without encountering a single demon.

“Damn, it’s a cliff.”

Well, the terrain in this neighborhood is a bit of a mess. It wouldn’t have mattered in the past, but now I’m not really restricted by the terrain, so it doesn’t matter.

But the only ones who can cross such a cliff without much difficulty are me, a physical type, and Claudi. And Karin and Liztina.

The mages Winia and Risha can’t. Hilde can spread her wings since she’s originally a succubus, and Ari can also move by raising the surrounding plants, but that would be too noticeable.

We don’t know if there are people around here right now, so we can’t use such noticeable means.

“Ah… that’s right. I can’t raise the plants.”

Ari nodded when I explained that.

“Then Kat, what should we do?”
“Well, we have no choice but to carry them on our backs. Risha, Winia, and Hilde and Ari. Get on.”

It’s a bit dark, but it wouldn’t matter much if we just crossed the cliff, slept for one night, and then moved.

“Sorry for being a burden…”
“What are you sorry for? You’re lighter than a feather.”

Risha apologized, but it didn’t matter because it wasn’t hard.

That’s when it happened.

“Oh, oh?!”

Hilde shouted as if she was surprised.
I had already reflexively drawn my sword.

“What is it! Hilde, why!”
“Kat-nim! Just a moment!”
“What’s wrong!!!”

At that uneasy cry, we immediately prepared for battle. Did powerful demons suddenly appear around us?

Whatever it is, we just have to fight and kill them.

But what Hilde said was not that.

“The energy of the Demon Gate… has disappeared!!!”
“What? Why suddenly?”

The Demon Gate suddenly disappeared?

“I don’t know! If this happens, I won’t be able to pinpoint the direction!”
“What do you mean? The energy suddenly disappeared? Is it completely gone, or is it weakened?”

When Karin asked, Hilde showed her palm and closed her eyes as if trying to concentrate for a moment.

“If the energy weakens below a certain level, it may appear to have disappeared due to the surrounding conditions…! What I can think of is that the gate’s power has weakened or disappeared! One of the two!”
“Hmm.”

Such a sudden situation.

First, I took out the map, marked the place where we were presumed to be, and then looked at the situation.

“Could it be that the gate is opening and closing?”
“That could be. Originally, it’s inevitable that it’s difficult to maintain any gate stably for a long time. There’s a possibility that such a problem has occurred temporarily.”

Risha answered Claudi’s words.
Well, that’s certainly possible.

“Could it be that they closed it on purpose?”
“On purpose.”

If they closed it on purpose as Liztina said, for what purpose? It doesn’t seem like the demons have returned to their homeland right now. Maybe they’ve seen everything they needed to see here?

“I don’t think we can know right now. Maybe we’ll know if we find the demons and observe their movements?”

Ari gave such an opinion.

“That seems possible too.”

Then.

“Let’s wait a little longer and if nothing changes, let’s back off.”

It’s a cliff anyway. After all, we came here for reconnaissance purposes today. It’s a bit late, and we’ve grasped the terrain, so let’s wait for a while and if there’s no change, let’s go back.

* * *

In the end, there was no particular change, so we decided to retreat. Whether it disappeared or the power weakened, it’s impossible to track in the current situation. It’s impossible to search that wide land.

So, we decided to subjugate the demons.

We have to do something anyway. The situation has become like this for a moment, but it wouldn’t be bad to use this gap to slaughter the demons rampant around us.

“But they said they’re avoiding us.”
“It’ll be possible if we move separately.”

I answered Karin’s question simply. The fact that we were gathered together was the biggest problem. If we go out hunting separately, we’ll be able to encounter demons somehow.

“Hilde, wouldn’t that be the case? If we split up and hunt, we’ll catch something, right?”
“I think that’s probably right!”
“Then let’s do that.”

Since there are eight of us, it seems like we can divide into three groups.

“Well, then shall we kill some of those demon bastards?”
“That black liquid? You said we have to collect that, right?”
“Yeah. It seems like that’s how you prove you killed a demon.”

If we divide into three groups and slaughter the demons around us, we’ll definitely be able to reduce the number of individuals, and that way, the paladins and knights will be able to advance more easily. The search range will also be reduced.

It would be great if the gate’s power became stronger in the middle, but I had a feeling that they were hiding their power because they were wary of us. They shrank themselves to avoid being tracked after sensing the existence of a strong power.

“Then how should we divide the groups? It seems like we should divide into about three groups.”
“Hmm… what should we do?”

We had a simple discussion while eating dinner. It didn’t take that long, and we quickly came to a conclusion.

We decided to divide into me and Claudi. And Karin and Liztina. Finally, Risha, Winia, Hilde, and Ari.

“Well, now that we’ve divided, it seems okay.”

Winia nodded.

“Right? Anyway, we physical types can do something if we run like crazy. We can keep running and do reconnaissance or whatever, chase them down, and kill them all. So, it’s a team that emphasizes mobility.”

In other words, we divide into a mage group that can detect and a physical group that can run. If these three teams go in different directions and kill the demons, we can definitely catch a truckload.

We run like crazy. The mage group doesn’t have as good mobility as us, so they can go in leisurely and hunt.

“It’s been a while since I’ve run hard.”
“Let’s blow them all up and kill them.”

There’s nothing to worry about with Karin and Liztina.

“Anyway, let’s just do it moderately. Let’s stop before late afternoon and go back home. And Hilde, please check the gate’s movements in the middle.”
“Yes!”

Let’s start tomorrow.