In the darkness of the sewer, a staggering figure dashed madly ahead.
It frantically ran deeper into the sewers, toward that place filled with endless darkness.
As it ran, it kept glancing over its shoulder, as if terrified that something was chasing after it.
“Haa… haa…”
Finally, its strength was almost spent.
It stopped running, bracing its hands on its thighs to catch its breath for a moment.
Thanks to this pause, its true appearance finally became clear.
It was a “person” with dark brown skin, a pair of horns like a ram’s curling from its head, and eyes identical to a goat’s. Its feet closely resembled hooves. At a glance, it looked like a sheep with a human form.
Such a visage would typically only be found on demons, but demons would never flee for their lives in such panic. After all, demons in the human world could never truly die, so there was never a need for them to run away from anything.
Thus, this “person” who looked like a demon wasn’t a true demon, but a demonkin who merely resembled one!
Of course, it hadn’t always looked like this. Its current appearance was the result of an ancient magic it had been researching—a forbidden spell capable of turning humans into demon servants. It had wanted to use it on itself.
As for why it wanted to do this, it was simple—it no longer wanted to be a demonkin!
Ever since the Demon King and the Hero perished together, the remaining demonkin had been ruthlessly hunted by humanity. No matter where they fled, they couldn’t escape, and all demonkin were to be judged by mankind.
To avoid being hunted any longer, it had conceived the idea of studying this forbidden magic, hoping to turn itself into a demon. Even if it was only a demon servant, it would still count as a demon. As long as it became a demon, it would no longer need to fear death, for even if it died, it would simply return to hell.
So, to cast off its demonkin identity and become a demon, it had started researching this magic. Unfortunately, the forbidden spell meant to transform humans into demon servants was, in the end, a spell devised by humans. Used on itself, it had only changed its appearance, making it look like a demon—its nature remained completely unchanged.
This outcome left it dejected, but that wasn’t even the worst part. Because it had lingered here for so long to research the forbidden spell, it had attracted the attention of the humans hunting it down.
As a result, it had hastily activated the emergency defense system and fled its laboratory through the sewers.
The more it thought about this disappointing outcome, the more it couldn’t help but feel angry.
After working so hard for so long, it had all been for nothing! Was the entire world out to get it?!
It wanted to vent its anger right then and there, but it knew this wasn’t the time—who knew when those humans might catch up? It had to escape to a safe place as soon as possible.
With this in mind, it prepared to urge its partially recovered body onward again, but then it noticed something strange about its surroundings. True, there weren’t many creatures in the sewer, but surely there should be at least some rats or cockroaches, right? Why was it so eerily quiet? It was as if all living things were deliberately avoiding this place…
It instantly grew alert and quickly cast a protective spell. But for some reason, even though it had clearly chanted the incantation, no barrier appeared around it.
Puzzled, it looked down—and discovered that the hands it had been bracing on its thighs were gone.
At this, it froze. At last, the pain reached its mind, and jolted by it, it instinctively tried to cry out—only to find that, for some reason, no sound escaped its throat.
It turned its head—and saw its own rigid body, blood streaming down its back from above.
Rigid body? Back? Why can I see my own back? Why is blood running down from… ah.
Now it understood—why it couldn’t make a sound, why it could see its own back, why blood was dripping from above.
So, it was already dead.
That was its final thought. As that thought faded, so too did the light in its eyes. With a dull thud, its head dropped to the filthy sewer floor. The body that had been standing just moments before began to slowly topple over, landing right beside its head, the two gazes meeting.
A few seconds later, a figure emerged from the surrounding darkness.
It was a strikingly beautiful figure—just one look made it obvious its owner was a stunning beauty.
And that figure’s owner, naturally, was Liyami.
Looking at the demonkin she had successfully assassinated, lying lifeless on the ground, Liyami showed no expression. As always, she checked the demonkin’s corpse.
Once she confirmed that the demonkin was truly dead, Liyami let out a sigh of relief. Thankfully, she had acted quickly—otherwise, the mastermind behind this high-risk incident might really have escaped.
She had originally come with Colin and the others to deal with this high-risk incident known as the “Demon Gathering.” Rumor had it that there had been many recent disappearances in this small town, along with numerous demon sightings, arousing reasonable suspicion that a conspiracy was brewing here. So the kingdom had dispatched those nearest to handle it.
They’d only been in the town a few days before uncovering the truth.
The reason for so many disappearances and demon sightings was that a demonkin had been researching a forbidden magic capable of turning humans into demon servants. No one knew what it was planning, but since they had already found the mastermind, Colin had immediately led them to attack, determined to resolve the incident as quickly as possible.
But to their surprise, the demonkin was extremely cautious. As soon as they approached its laboratory, it triggered its emergency defense system and fled alone.
To prevent the demon servants in the lab from escaping, Colin and the others stayed behind to deal with them. Liyami was tasked with pursuing the fleeing demonkin mastermind to make it pay for its crimes.
Everything had happened so quickly that Liyami hadn’t even learned the demonkin’s name. Still, since it liked using magic that turned humans into demons, it probably looked like a demon itself, didn’t it?
As expected, Liyami found a demon-like demonkin sprinting through the sewers and swiftly dealt with it before it could use any magic.
After checking the demonkin’s corpse, Liyami wrapped it in shadows for cleanup, then prepared to return and report to Colin.
But just as she took a few steps, she suddenly stopped again.
Standing still, a troubled look appeared on her face, as if she was pondering something of utmost importance.
Of course, what she was thinking had nothing to do with the demonkin who had just died… no, wait, perhaps it did have a little to do with it. After all, what she was worrying about was how to face Colin after this incident was over.