Why must the devil be Defeated?

"Boom!"

With a roar like the wrath of the heavens, the Death Qi—transforming into countless pained faces—struck like a storm.

Where it passed, the air would rot.

Where it passed, the ground would wither to dust.

It was like a toxic gas that corroded the world itself, a conglomerate of all the filth between heaven and earth, carrying a terrifyingly dangerous aura as it enveloped the area where Shane and his companions were.

"Danger!"

Everyone, including Tielle and Cappelen, felt this emotion and realized they couldn't dodge in time; they could only instinctively raise their hands to shield their faces.

Of course, that was futile.

How could such meager resistance possibly fend off the terror of the Death Qi?

Fortunately, Shane took action.

"Grant·Dispel."

Shane flashed in front of Tielle and Cappelen, protecting the entire Broken Blade Knights behind him, and unleashed dispel magic against the incoming Death Qi Storm.

The approaching Death Qi Storm suddenly stalled and exploded with a boom, but it didn't disperse on the spot; instead, it turned into chaotic, pitch-black currents, sweeping around.

The currents, like whips of air, would dry up and blow away anything they touched like sand.

The female knights of the Broken Blade Knights cried out in alarm one after another, feeling their scalps tingle, not daring to touch the whips of Death Qi, and clumsily hiding.

But those soldiers and knights who were kept outside the doors of the Royal Hall, forbidden by Moro's orders to enter, fared much worse.

Caught off guard, unable to react in time, they faced the direct touch of the Death Qi whips.

"What... what is this...!?"

"Ah, ah, ah...!"

"My body...!"

"Help me...!"

In an instant, those unfortunate enough to come into contact with the whips of Death Qi screamed out in agony, their bodies visibly shriveling at a speed visible to the naked eye, turning directly into dried corpses on the ground, with not a drop of blood spilled.

Their life force was plundered by the Death Qi, which in turn strengthened it, making Moro's Death Qi even more powerful.

"...!"

Tielle was taken aback.

"Damn it!"

Cappelen too was fueled with anger as she beheld this grisly scene.

Shane watched Moro with a cold glare, a murderous intent flickering in his eyes.

Seeing this, Moro, surrounded by Death Qi, laughed instead.

And it was a very joyful laugh.

"Don't look at me like that," Moro chuckled. "If you keep looking at me that way, I'll get even more excited."

Because she loved to see those associated with the Hero in pain, anger, and hatred.

The more Shane hated her, the more murderous his aura, the more exhilarated Moro became.

"This makes me want to kill you all the more, to drive you into deeper despair."

Saying this, Moro gestured with her delicate hand and the Death Qi once again formed a storm.

Only this time, the storm of Death Qi wasn't just pained human faces but faces expressing all sorts of emotions.

Pain, howls, despair, fear; every sort of negative emotion appeared within the Death Qi.

Shane could feel that the power of this Death Qi was far greater than that of the High Priest.

Not only was the "quantity" of Death Qi much more than the High Priest's, but the "quality" was vastly different too.

"This is a spell I created based on the 'Duke of Horror,' considered an upgraded version of the 'Duke of Horror.' Its power and effects are much stronger, and it can change in many ways; it just requires a considerably more terrifying amount of Death Qi too," Moro's playful laugh resonated throughout the area.

"Fortunately, this Empire has long been plagued with many disasters. Beneath this land, who knows how many bodies and how much blood have been buried. Just use Death Magic to extract the life force directly from the land, and there will be as much Death Qi as needed. Only a fool like the High Priest would painstakingly extract it from one person at a time, accumulating thousands of years of Death Qi, which is still not as much as I've accumulated in the Empire in just ten years."

Moro's words made Shane's gaze even colder.

"Who exactly are you?"

Shane pressed out such a question.

Death Magic.

Death Spirit.

And that Limit Level strength.

All these factors indicated Moro's extraordinary nature and hinted at her complex origin.

Moro did not seem inclined to conceal this.

"Now that we've come to this point, there's no need to keep it a secret anymore," Moro said nonchalantly. "Judging by your expression, you seem to know about the Great Spirit Body, right?"

The fact that the High Priest was nurturing Lymco into a Great Spirit Body was something Moro would naturally be aware of.

And since that base had been destroyed, the existence of both the High Priest and Lymco becoming public knowledge was entirely within expectations.

Not to mention, Moro had planted a curse targeting the soul on the High Priest.

She knew that should something go wrong, a death-fearing individual like the High Priest would undoubtedly spill everything.

That's why she had placed the curse in advance so that if he disclosed her plans or her true existence to anyone, the curse would take immediate effect and eradicate the High Priest's soul.

Still, some information leakage was inevitable.

Therefore, Moro no longer concealed the matter of the Great Spirit Body.

"The young master you've met was merely a Great Spirit Body that the High Priest recently concocted," Moro stated, gazing directly at Shane with a charming smile.

"And I am the first Great Spirit Body created by the High Priest, an ancient being born a thousand years ago."

A Thousand years ago, the High Priest created a Great Spirit Body and deemed it a failure.

Though this failure managed to reach the limit of life and achieve Limit Level strength, it could never naturally cross the barrier that it should have been able to and become a Transcend Level existence.

"I am that failed creation," Moro admitted bluntly, but seemed indifferent as he continued, "Of course, no matter how many great spirit bodies she creates, they will all end up as failures in the end."

Why was that?

Moro did not explain.

That was all Moro said.

"I think she calls me a failure not because I haven't met her expectations, but rather because I've slipped from her control," Moro said mockingly, as if taunting the High Priest, "She thought I hadn't seen through her intentions, unaware I knew she planned to take over my body after surpassing the limits of life. So, without worry, she kept me by her side for nearly a thousand years."

This gave Moro a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

"She never thought that not only did I guess her purpose but also had an extremely high affinity with death magic. Any death magic she used in front of me, I could remember successfully after seeing it just once."

"She never thought I would suddenly rebel ten years ago, escaping her control and instead taking control of her, forcing her to work for me."

"The curse I placed on her was not merely directed at the soul but also capable of removing the magic that maintained her undead body."

"In order not to lose that undying body, that cowardly, death-fearing wretch could only obediently follow my orders."

Moro shared all this with a smile.

"Of course, she wouldn't just sit and wait for death, nor could she accept being controlled by a failure like me, so she urgently wanted to create a second great spirit body. By taking over its body, she aimed to free herself from the curse I had cast."

Unfortunately for her, Moro knew all this well yet allowed the High Priest to carry on.

Since the High Priest's plan wasn't going to be completed anytime soon, why not squeeze out her remaining value before that?

"I also have to thank Lord Bezut for clearing away the trash that needed to be cleared."

Moro smiled very happily.

That beautiful smile, tainted by death qi, left only a sense of horror behind.

Shane didn't change his expression because of this.

The great spirit bodies certainly surprised him, but after hearing Moro's tale, Shane became concerned with another issue.

"Why do you hate heroes so much?"

Shane posed this question.

"———"

At that moment, the smile vanished from Moro's face.

The sense of horror not only didn't lessen but rose even higher.

Within the storm of death qi, Moro spoke faintly.

"Do you know of the country called 'Ereiy'?"

The abrupt question caught Shane by surprise.

"Ereiy?"

Where was that?

Was there even such a country?

Shane couldn't remember.

Instead, it was Tielle and Cappelen who, upon hearing Moro's words, showed a drastic change in expression.

"You... are you an Ereiyan?"

Cappelen was shocked.

"You know of it?"

Shane immediately turned towards them.

Answering Shane's question wasn't Cappelen, but Tielle.

"… It was a country that existed a thousand years ago."

Tielle spoke gravely.

"A thousand years ago, in the Human Realm, there was a small country called Ereiy that was destroyed just before the final war of the God, Human, and Demon clans."

Moro immediately took up the thread of the conversation.

"That's right, wiped out in an instant—what a fitting phrase," Moro said with heavy irony, "Because it truly was destroyed in less than a day, by your so-called praised Hero."

Upon hearing this, neither Tielle nor Cappelen uttered any objections.

This surprised Shane greatly.

"You're joking, right?"

A hero destroyed an entire country?

"Why?"

Shane asked instinctively.

Moro answered.

"Because Ereiy just happened to be situated at the crossroads of the war front between the God and Human clans, and the Demon Clan at the time."

Moro spoke coldly.

"If that place couldn't be secured, then the Demon Clan could use the large Magic Power Source that existed in Ereiy to perform a Great Ritual Magic that favored the Demon Clan in battle, boosting their power on the battlefield by at least twofold."

Such frightening ritual magic naturally had to be stopped.

"So, the Hero, along with his companions, stormed into Ereiy. To prevent the emergence of the Great Ritual Magic, he used the Holy Sword to sever that Magic Power Source directly."

"But the Magic Power Source, which had been subjected to the ritual magic, went berserk thereafter."

"Countless people of Ereiy were consumed by the storm of magic power, screaming for help, and I was among them."

"And the Hero?"

"He could have saved many people, even saved Ereiy, sparing the country from tragedy."

"But he did not."

"Enraged by the disrupted ritual, the Demon Clan commenced a furious onslaught, marking the beginning of the final battle."

"To rush back and face the Demon Clan, the great Hero left his mess behind with his companions. He walked away without looking back."

"Ereiy was destroyed not by the Demon Clan, but by their own kind from the Human Race, by a Hero."

Moro's voice was as cold as frost.

"Tell me, should I hate the Hero or not?"