“You didn’t get infected?”

“Yes, I was lucky.”

The brown-haired girl pointed at her necklace.

It emanated divine power, which proved that it was an artifact.

Woohyuk observed it closely and spoke to her.

“Did a priest give you that protective necklace?”

“It's something that Saint Maria gave to me in the past. She told me that I would need it in the future when the village would be in danger.”

Saint Maria was famous for her intelligence.

Helena nodded to the girl’s words.

“Maria could very well have done that. She serves the G.o.ddesses of fate.”

The three G.o.ddesses of Urdarbrunn.

They were the ones to have given Woohyuk the Return Scroll in his past life for completing the epic quest.

The peculiarity was that they hardly appeared on the Eeth Continent, and that the three shared one divine throne.

Therefore, according to some ancient doc.u.ments, it was debated that they were originally one existence, but separated themselves due to circ.u.mstances.

Anyway, it was surprising that Saint Maria was chosen by such mysterious G.o.ddesses.

The morbid fanatic, Rosenkreuz, was also being cautious against Saint Maria.

“Urgh... Saint Maria! I will definitely get you!”

The young man on the floor drooled and shouted while Woohyuk and Helena were talking with each other.

The evil spirit had regained its strength while the two were distracted by the girl.

“Is Maria the saint that the demons were chasing recently?”

“Kekeke… Indeed. Lady Lilith is asking for her...”

It appeared that Lilith wanted to use Maria's powers to get information about the future.

Once he understood the situation, Woohyuk glanced at Helena.

"I understand. Let us finish the purification ritual.”

"You can’t! A great tragedy will happen if you do!”

As Helena unfolded her magic book, the girl with brown hair hugged her legs.

A desperate plea.

Woohyuk looked down at the girl.

“What do you mean? If we leave him be, there is a high possibility that your brother will not survive tonight.”

“That evil spirit is the cause of the plague that has spread throughout the village.”

Apparently, the young man, who was currently lying on the floor, was the first infected person in the village.

The evil spirit in his body was an individual personally selected by Aleister. 

Even high-ranking priests could not easily defeat it, and if it felt threatened, it could sacrifice the host and cast an explosion spell to destroy the nearby area.

If that were to happen, the damage would be much greater than now.

Therefore, they had to give up on the purification ritual and find another solution.

'Is this one the head of evil spirits?'

Woohyuk was surprised by the explanation of the brown-haired girl.

These kinds of evil spirits were usually the ghosts of those who had contracted with witches.

They often used wicked tricks and required considerable attention to deal with them.

“Kekeke… Now, what are you gonna do now? Will you continue reciting the holy spell?”

The young man looked at Helena as he sn.i.g.g.e.red.

As chills went down Helena’s spine, Woohyuk stepped in front of her.

“We don’t need to use holy magic to defeat you.”

“… Are you thinking of using your abilities, Asura? However, I am a new evil spirit created by Sir Aleister. I will not give in easily. Moreover, as the little girl said...”

“Accept my summon, Dantalion.”

Woohyuk ignored the words of the evil spirit and opened Lemegeton.

Then, dark demonic energy leaked out of the book, and Dantalion appeared.

“Hhave you called, Lord Asura?”

“Do you know how to defeat that evil spirit?”

Woohyuk gestured with his chin to the brown-haired young man.

Dantalion observed him closely and nodded.

“I have learned some things from Aleister. It won’t be possible to completely expel it from the host's body, but I can at least make it so that it can’t use explosion magic.”

“That's more than enough.”

They had to go to the Devil's Crystal Cave and catch Mandragoras to make the cure.

Whether it was the boss of the evil spirits or not, it would be impossible to keep possessing the host's body if the Ghost Disease were to be cured.

When Dantalion performed a sealing technique, the young man frowned deeply.

“Urgh... Now that it has come to this, I must use my last resort. I tried not to make a move since it would be annoying to find another village, but if you keep pus.h.i.+ng me like this...”

He meant that he would now cast the explosion spell as his last resort.

But Helena didn't stand still at his words.

“I won’t let you do that. I am technically a saint, so I can easily temporarily neutralize evil spirits like you.”

“Ugh… ! Arrgghhhhhhhhh!”

The young man screamed as the divine spell crackled like lightning.

Dantalion quickly completed the sealing spell using this opportunity.

Swoooos.h.!.+

Immediately, a dark vortex and a jet-black magic circle appeared below the evil spirit’s host.

“Thi-this can’t be… I'm being sealed...”

“Stay quiet until we come back. Otherwise, you will be purified by my va.s.sals.”

Woohyuk stationed Bailey next to the magic circle, to monitor Dantalion in case he tried doing anything suspicious.

Although he was sealed inside Lemegeton, he hadn't pledged loyalty to Woohyuk as of yet.

“Lord Asura, who is this man…”

“He’s Bailey, the current lord of the Schwarz county.

Dantalion reluctantly bowed his head at Bailey with a gloomy expression.

[n.o.ble Dark Knight Bailey]

-Cla.s.s: Dark Knight Commander (Humanoid)

-Traits: Leaders.h.i.+p (8,000 people), Jet-Black Knights (Can use opponents who have been personally slain or have completely surrendered as his own va.s.sals), Phantom Sword Dance (Create multiple clones and invade the battlefield. The number of individual clones gradually decreases as time pa.s.ses. The duration is proportional to the total stats), Aura Blade (covers the weapon currently in use with aura and does an AoE attack), Deep Night Rhapsody (Health is restored every time an enemy is cut, and stats are temporarily increased up to 30%), Pitch Black Aura (all stats of va.s.sals within a 500m radius increase by +35), Enchant Darkness (weapon is given a darkness attribute), Incorruptible n.o.ble Heart (Every time this skill is used, health decreases by 1%, but resistance to debuffs increases by 35% and resistance to light attribute skills increase by 50%)

-Stats

Strength 267

Vitality 255

Agility 274

Intelligence 231

Spirit 286

“You, you have excellent traits and abilities, Sir Bailey.”

"It is nothing. I was lucky to have the chance to make a contract with an outstanding lord.”

Bailey's natural qualities and abilities were expressed at their peak through Woohyuk’s contract.

However, the darkness attribute cla.s.s did not match his n.o.ble disposition, resulting in some side effects such as debuffs in the Incorruptible n.o.ble Heart.

However, Woohyuk believed that the shortcomings were sufficiently offset by the various advantages listed in the status window.

'Bailey is a superior version of the undead Isaac.'

Unlike the Death Templar, the Dark Knight Commander could turn opponents into allies without having to necessarily kill the opponent. And above all, the leaders.h.i.+p skill’s capacity was 40 times higher. This was slightly lower than Sieg’s, which could hold 10,000, but wasn’t much of a problem.

In addition, he had excellent swordsmans.h.i.+p. So if he made good use of the Phantom Sword Dance, the Aura Blade, and the Deep Night Rhapsody, he would play an active part in large-scale battles.

“Then I will go to the medicinal herbs with the saintess and the inhabitants.”

“I want to be by my brother’s side. Tonight is going to be the most painful for him as you mentioned earlier.”

The little girl approached the young man on the floor and began praying. A blue light leaked out of the necklace she was wearing and covered the area.

‘She has the qualities of a saint.'

There must have been a reason why Saint Maria gave the brown-haired girl that protective necklace.

Woohyuk spoke to her as he felt her divine power gradually increase.

“What's your name?”

“I’m Karin. My brother's name is Sion.”

"I see. Karin, Sion is suffering from the Ghost disease, but there is a cure for it.”

“Is, is that true?”

“If it's hard to believe me since I have demonic energy, the saintess next to me will vouch for my words.”

Woohyuk turned to Helena.

Her eyes widened as if she was surprised by the unexpected attention, but did not refute his words.

“But I don’t know if I can return before the sun sets…”

"You won’t be of much help even if you stay here."

If Karin had the ability to help, Sion would not have deteriorated this far.

When Woohyuk managed to convince her, Karin lowered her head with a solemn expression.

“Is there anything I can do to help? I just know how to pray in front of the bed.”

“Aren’t you familiar with where medicinal herbs grow?”

In order to heal Sion, Karin must have worked tirelessly to obtain medicinal herbs.

As Woohyuk's guess was correct, she nodded vigorously and gave a strong affirmation.

“Yes, I’ve searched and found most types of herbs. I also memorized each of their locations.”

“I have the perfect role for you.”

He needed a number of other ingredients to make the cure.

It was near impossible for Woohyuk and Helena to find them all before sunset quickly.

Therefore, it was good to have Karin accompany them.

“I'll be back, brother. Please be patient.”

Karin told Sion and she followed Woohyuk, preparing to leave.

Sion was no longer possessed by the evil spirit due to the sealing technique, but was still in pain.

It seemed difficult for him to breathe since his symptoms were terribly bad.

When Karin finished packing her luggage, she fed Sion some herbal tea while Woohyuk summoned Petos.

“Did you call for me, Lord Asura?”

“You must thoroughly search this village while I am away.”

It didn't matter if it was a suspicious magic circle or traces of a witch's presence.

When Woohyuk ordered with a solemn expression, Petos bowed his head politely.

“Please do not worry, Lord Asura. I will not miss any signs. My original role was a tracker in the first place.”

“Yes, you are seven hundred years old. I'm sure you’ll do a good job.”

“May I ask how you know my age? I do not think Demon King Dantalion would’ve talked about that...”

“Alphone told me. She boasted that she was younger than you.”

“… Isn't she human? I am a demon. I think her standards are quite bizarre.”

Petos pointed out the unfairness.

Helena, who was listening to them, spoke with spite.

“If you add up your hibernation period, aren’t you over three thousand years old? If you compare that to human age, it's as if you’re a grandfather.

“… You're quite the vicious saintess. Although we have different tendencies, how about getting along with each other now that we are in the same boat?”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always been like this. Sometimes, I get called a witch or a prost.i.tute.”

Helena folded her arms and stared at Woohyuk in disdain.

An unspoken message telling him to apologize using this opportunity.

Woohyuk sighed and nodded.

“Yes, I was in the wrong. Helena, you are neither a witch nor a prost.i.tute.”

“So you do know. Then from now on, call me a respectable saint.”

The fight had begun again

As the two continued their back and forth dispute, Karin carefully asked Bailey.

"Umm… Are those two lovers?”

“Not sure. I don’t know because there are so many women around my master.”

However, as far as he knew, not a single woman had shared the bed with Woohyuk as of now.

Bailey scratched his head, wondering who was his lord’s partner for life.