Chapter 136. Generational Hatred
While the new races adapt to living in the Crystal Cube world and mainly focus on building fortresses in the two valleys of the mountain range, several low-ranking blessed secretly gather near a remote village in a certain human territory.
Those people were mostly individuals dressed in black robes from the Magic Associations, who have recently begun calling themselves magicians to differentiate themselves from other blessed who mostly used their blessed power and didn’t major in using magics.
Aside from them, there's a masked boy in fancy clothing, accompanied by a hooded man standing nearby.
Once the sky darkened, the Magic Association's magicians gathered together and crept closer to the village.
Under the cover of the night sky, they silently attacked the village. The village, mostly made up of ordinary humans, couldn't defend itself against the group of blessed. All of them were easily captured and bound with ropes.
The hooded man next to the masked boy turned to whisper to him, “Prince, we've successfully captured the villagers here. Should we check that insane magician’s demon-creating method now?”
The masked prince hesitated a moment before nodding.
The hooded man saw the boy’s hesitation and sighed softly. “Then, I shall tell those magicians to start their rituals. For now, please enter a building and prepare your state of mind.”
The masked prince nodded and entered a building. Meanwhile, the hooded man whispered to the robed magicians to start their rituals.
The individuals dressed in the Magic Association’s robes nodded. One magician announced, “Then, we will proceed with the ritual.”
The magicians dragged the restrained villagers into an open space. Each magician wielded knives, whips, and other strange items, whipping and beating the villagers. Despite the villagers' pleas for mercy, screams of anger, or attempts to reason, the magicians continued torturing them all day, barely keeping them alive.
As night fell again, the magicians gathered all the captured villagers around a building and executed the despairing villagers simultaneously.
Inside the building, surrounded by the dead villagers around it, the lead magician drew a bizarre magic circle with blood, while keeping one person in deep despair and a living, skinned chicken.
If Cedric had seen the scene in this area, he would've seen a massive amount of NE dispersing from the dead villagers before moving into the building and getting absorbed by the chicken.
After an hour, the skinned chicken’s body slowly enlarged, while new, scarred skin grew from its flesh. Soon, the veins under its skin bulged and exploded, causing blood to drip from the chicken.
When it grew to three meters tall, the giant chicken’s skin turned reddish black from the blood that had burst from its veins.
With a loud clucking sound, the chicken slammed into the building’s wall several times. The village’s mud wall couldn’t withstand the chicken’s assault and soon collapsed.
The moment the chicken started transforming, the leading magician left the scene and joined other magicians to cast an earth-element spell or blessing to seal the demon chicken by summoning earth pillars. They then gathered ice magic materials to freeze the giant chicken's leg.
With its mobility reduced, they continued attacking the demon chicken until it was half defeated, then restrained it with several spells before calling the masked prince to deliver the final blow.
As the masked prince left the building where he rested, his gaze was immediately drawn to the enormous chicken.
"Is this a demon?” he asked while trembling at the sight of the giant featherless bird. His eyes then fell on the villager’s brutalized remains, almost causing him to vomit.
The hooded man gently patted the prince’s back and said, “Prince, based on the information, delivering the final blow to the demon alone will bring you the greatest benefit. I will take the magician away and assist you from a distance."
“Please stay strong. Increasing your strength quickly is the only way to boost your chances of winning the throne and make your mother proud,” the man whispered softly to the boy.
The boy took a deep breath and nodded. Seeing the boy’s determination, the hooded man led the magicians to move away.
The boy, now wielding a sword, stood in front of the giant chicken and slashed at it. In response, the giant chicken cried out several times while attempting to peck at him.
Although the magicians had damaged the chicken’s beak during their early attack, if it pecked his vital area, it could still kill him instantly.
The boy quickly dodged to the side, then stabbed deeply into the chicken’s eyes. He activated his lightning-imbued power to electrocute the chicken’s head through the sword, instantly killing it.
With the chicken’s death, the masked prince felt his strength increase slightly.
When they saw the chicken’s death, the hooded man and magicians returned to the boy’s side.
“How is it? Did you feel your strength increase?” The hooded man asked.
“Yes.” The prince nodded.
“Then, shall we continue our cooperation with them?” The hooded man whispered.
The boy slightly glanced at the ravaged remains of the villager while contemplating.
For a few hundred years, the ruler of the human world understood that killing demons could help humans rapidly increase their power to a certain level. However, the Temple, as the strongest force, possesses the best information network. Using this network, they have essentially monopolized the weak demons wandering through human territory and used those demons to quickly boost the strength of their new recruits.
That only left the powerful demons at Peak Level 2 or Level 3, which weak blessed cannot fight.
Meanwhile, those capable of battling these powerful demons likely cannot raise their levels further by killing demons.
‘Historically, rulers of human kingdoms and empires have tried everything to artificially produce demons, but all attempts have failed. At least until a certain unknown magician came and told his mother they had a ritual to summon weak demons to boost his strength.’ The masked prince thought of this as he looked at people in Magic Association robes.
Realizing he had made the hooded man next to him wait for a long time, the prince looked at the man and nodded, “Let’s continue our cooperation with those magicians.”
Time quickly passes by.
With the help of magicians who constantly created demons, the prince’s strength skyrocketed.
Although they have been discovered several times, the magicians willingly became bait to hide the prince’s involvement. With each group of captured magicians, a new group appears to assist the prince.
At the same time, tensions rise between the Magic Association and the Temple because the magician commits such a vile act under the Temple’s territory while wearing the Magic Association’s robe.
Due to the pressure from the Temple, the Magic Association started looking for the person responsible for the demon incident. However, even after several years, they still couldn't identify the main culprit.
The incident became so widespread that even Cedric heard about it. When he learned that someone in the Crystal Cube world had begun trying to create demons, Cedric experienced a terrible headache and decided to intervene slightly.
Using his Past Observation, he checked the magicians responsible for creating demons.
He continued tracking the magician’s past, following the one who had taught them how to create demons, until he finally identified the main culprit.
The person in question is called Verdian, a member of the Magic Association's council.
Cedric has also used his Past Observation to check Verdian’s past and found out the main reason he decided to mess with demons is for the sake of revenge.
Unlike most members of the Magic Association, who gradually lose their hatred for the Temple, Verdian comes from a hidden radical faction that has maintained their predecessor’s hatred against the Temple for hundreds of years.
Feeling it's impossible to destroy the Temple simply using the Magic Association's power, the radical faction began looking for other means.
Some attempt to control magical beasts, others plan to incite war between the Temple and other races, while some seek to sow discord and plunge human kingdoms and empires into chaos.
As for Verdian’s faction, they see potential in using demons to defeat the Temple.
***
In the Divine Space, Cedric's headache worsened. "Damn it! It seems I'm to blame again this time."
Cedric recalled that he wanted the Magic Association to despise the Temple, but he never expected them to go this far. "To think they're risking everything out of revenge for their predecessor."
Realizing he might be at fault, Cedric started considering how to address the situation. ‘Should I directly get involved and tell Elisa or Catherina to uproot the source of this mess. Or should I just watch and see?’
“Honestly, I think even if I killed everyone from the Magic Association's radical faction and everyone involved with creating demons, the people in Crystal Cube world would eventually find out the method to create demons again." Cedric sighed. After all, the secret of the demon’s birth is tied to increasing their strength, which is something everyone in the world values.
“Perhaps I should have moved the giant ants to human territory instead of directly destroying them,” Cedric thought. Despite this, he had no regrets about killing the demon ants; they are truly dangerous, especially since they reside underground, making their eradication nearly impossible.
Ultimately, he decided on a balanced approach to the demon's chaos. He would help the investigation team find who was responsible for creating the demons, but his help would be minimal.
Once he made up his decision, Cedric began to look for evidence.
He quickly gathers sufficient evidence and uses a [Divine Intervention: Urge] to enable the Magic Association’s investigation team to quickly obtain clues and evidence that lead ot the culprit.
Guided by the instinct fueled by the [Divine Intervention: Urge], the team quickly uncovers key evidence pointing to the culprit. They gather numerous Level 2 and Level 3 magicians and try to apprehend Verdian, who is staying near a Magic Association branch in one of the elven cities.
As a part of the Magic Association’s council and also a scholar in the field of magic, Verdian chose to stay close to the Magic Association branch under his control.
The dozens of Level 2 and 3 magicians surrounded Verdian. But Verdian showed the power of a Magic Association’s council member and their massive resources.
With the help of many processed magic materials, potions, and other trinkets he has stored, he still manages to leave the encirclement even when surrounded by many people of similar level. However, he sustains heavy injuries that don’t hinder his escapes.
Verdian’s hasty escape only gives him time to destroy his computer plant, leaving behind many documents that finally led the Magic Association to discover the radical faction and their plans.
Although the Magic Association knew many still harbored hatred towards the Temple, they never anticipated that they would develop plans likely to cause massive casualties.
Given the tense situation caused by the sudden appearance of the valley that opened a pathway for exchange between humans and other races, such chaos in human territory could ignite a war between humans and other races.
After a brief discussion among several council members, including Catherina, they decided to detain members of the radical faction temporarily.
But as a faction that has existed since the founding of the Magic Association, their connection in the Association is extremely deep.
Before the other council members could react, several council members and magicians from the radical faction escaped with most of their resources.
They fled from the Magic Association's headquarters in Elven territory, using the association’s secret passageway to bypass the mountain range.
Although some were captured during their escape, most managed to reach human territory.