After watching my inhuman display of skill, others went on alert and moved together to finish me off.
With a loud cry, they rushed toward me. However, before the attackers could come near, I took out a grey orb and tossed it on the ground.
A white smoke engulfed all of us as the grey orb exploded. Attackers started looking around for me, but I moved swiftly before sneaking back behind one attacker, jumping in the air and using the same skill. Another head fell on the ground, alerting the other three remainings.
I took out my dagger and threw it toward one attacker. The blade directly pierced the skull of one attacker.
I then leapt towards the other attacker, who was carrying a meter big axe with him even though the person itself was only 165 cm tall with ginger-coloured hair colour and a moustache. He also attacked similar to the first attacker, so I deployed the same tactic. I dodged the axe and used the skill to slice his neck clean.
But before his head can fell, I kicked his skull and knocked the other attacker with it.
Soon the white smoke started to go dull as I silently walked toward the final attacker.
"P-Please don't kill me! I didn't do anything! I was being controlled! I swear!!" He was the final attack who spoke. He was attacking me mindlessly, and the next moment, he was begging for his life.
I tilted my head, and before he knew it, his head also slipped from his abdomen like others, followed by a fountain of blood. It was just acting by Evil Spirit since they could deceive many in the game too.
Soon the white smoke died down and what was revealed was the gruesome sight of bodies and heads scattered around the bloody hay.
I could also see a dark mist leaving their bodies. Those were the Evil Spirits who died after their hosts were killed.
It was an ugly sign, but all I could do was sigh in the sense of disappointment in myself. I was so reluctant to kill people in my second life, and I was standing in the pool of blood.
However, there was still a challenge that I had to face. The dead from my previous life were still there and staring at me.
'Mr. White Soldier, you killed again… people who were just like us… being controlled…' A girl around eight came forwards and spoke with a wide smile.
She was the first person I killed in Afghanistan when she was being used to deliver weapons to terrorist posts.
I would have been screaming or shivering with fear if I had seen her before but not now.
I crouched down and looked into her hollow eyes.
"Yes, I killed them. Those attackers were innocent, yet I killed them without even trying to save them. But do you know why?" I asked with a smile, to which the little girl shook her head.
I then lifted the shirt of the last person I killed, whose chest area was so decomposed to the point where his heart became visible.
"Because sometimes death is the greatest mercy for the victims."
I killed these people because I couldn't save them from Evil Spirits from being eaten by them.
Evil Spirits have to be exterminated before they could completely reside in the human host, especially if the host is a low-level commoner. Otherwise, they would completely take over the body and eat the human host alive from inside to get mature.
The only way to stop an Evil Spirit from getting mature is to kill the human host or purify them using holy magic if the Evil Spirit takes complete control over the human host.
If I hadn't killed them, the human host would continue to suffer by being eaten alive. There was no use in keeping them alive.
I did regret coming late here, but I didn't regret my decision to kill these people for good as I could see the smiles on the farmers' faces I had just killed standing behind the little girl.
Seeing them so happy about their death, the little girl looked at me again with her eyes becoming visible.
I chuckled and spoke, "Although I could not save you, I will bring justice, I promise."
'We will believe in you for now… Don't run away….'
"Yes, I will not run away this time." I smiled.
The girl nodded, and all the dead disappeared into thin air.
I stood up and retrieved the dagger from the skull of a person I had killed with my dagger.
I then ran towards the underground basement where Shin had run to. I saw some huge monsters like ogres and orcs sliced into pieces as I was running. It was wise to send Shin to the underground basement since those were high-level monsters, and they could have killed me.
However, it was nothing that came next before my eyes.
In a dark room, a slab was situated in the centre of what appeared to be a magic circle drawn on the ground.
It looked like some ritual room being performed here but what shook my soul were the heads of children and women hanging on the spikes erecting around the magic circle. A lifeless body of a woman was also lying on the slab.
I closed my eyes with disgust. It was a grotesque place filled with the limbs of dead children and women.
I then felt a hand gently rubbing my back. It was Shin.
"Are you okay, Ivan?" Shin asked with concern.
"Yes, I am fine. Don't worry." I replied while holding my stomach. If not for the bloodbath I displayed while killing Evil Spirit hosts, I would already be throwing rainbow liquid.
"Were there any survivors?" I asked.
"Yes, you can see them," Shin replied, pointing at the one woman and two children around ten years old. They had blank faces but shivered with fear. "Though, it appeared they are a little traumatized."
"It's fine. At least they are alive." I smiled, being glad to save them on time.
"So you finally spilt the blood?" Shin asked, watching blood dripping from my blade.
"Yes. You must be happy that I also became a killer." I smirked. I knew he was tasked to see if I get my trauma cleared, so I wanted to see what his expression was.
"Oi, oi, don't make it sound like I am the bad guy here!" Shin returned by shaking his hands.
I chuckled and smiled, "Relax, I am not a child who would blame others for his fault. I knew what was coming for me."
In this world where challenges await every corner of your path, I knew I was fated to kill people at some part of my life. Whether killing the criminals or killing innocent people to stop their suffering, I would rather bathe in blood than live a life of regrets.
I had already lived a coward's life, but I won't live like this anymore. Such was my new resolve.
"I am glad that little Ivan was able to get his proper resolve. Now I can also be at ease." Shin smiled.
"For not killing me or to answer Duke for the failure of this mission?" I raised my brow.
"Again, stop making it sound like I am the bad guy here. You know, I still consider you my child! Although an outer one."
"Like outer disciple of some kind of martial art sect?"
"Ugg, don't talk about them. I have a bad history with these sects…." Shin frowned, looking unhappy but mentioning specific Chinese martial art sects.
We then looked at each other and smiled.
"What's up with all of this? Were they trying to summon some demon or something?" Shin muttered, with his question directed towards me.
Now that he mentioned it, I could see some hooded men being cut into pieces and lying on the floor. They must be the people responsible for the ritual.
"Yes. They wanted to summon more demons." I replied.
"Wait, I thought these rituals were lost 100 years ago. How come people perform them now?"
Shin, along with most people, wasn't aware that Demon King was to be revived soon since the temple had had yet to announce the prophecy.
"I remember reading somewhere that lessor demons start coming out from hell and possess humans to summon higher demons. It was to welcome their new lord, the demon king."
I didn't know how I should convince Shin about demon lord since the info I had was from the otome game I played in my previous life. I didn't know if I should even tell Shin about the demon king and such, but I wasn't an idiot to take this lightly, as it could pose a significant threat to innocent people. At least people will become cautious, and the state can stop these rituals on time.
But what I said wasn't wrong either. The information was written in secret books held by loyalty and temple. They didn't want to reveal such information for fear of people contracting demons at times of great despair.
Shin stared at me briefly fore, shrugging his shoulders in the end. "I see. I remember hearing this from the emperor in my days in the academy." He said and added, "I should contract Duke soon."
"You do know that temple will get involved, right?" I reminded him.
It would be a huge trouble if the news about the demon king got in the ears of the temple. It shouldn't be an issue from the start, but it does involve two countries of respective faith. They would start hunting down the heroine, the Saintress, which would destroy the future plot and my countermeasures.
We should clear the signs of world war in the dark rather than reveal the news to the public.
"Naturally. I will keep the secrecy in my mind." Shin replied, understanding my point.
The next step was to confront the person possessed by a demon, but my concern was how.
I then thought something.
Even though purifying Evil Sprit was not possible without killing the human host, it shouldn't be the case with demons possessing a high level of humans.
An idea popped in my head as I began to run.
"Mr Shin, wind up everything and immediately seize Punnia Plaus's house!" I tasked Shin since I didn't have time to deal with cleaning things up. Time was of the essence here.
"But wait, where are you going?!" Shin asked.
"To find the last clue!" I said as I sprinted towards where our horses were on standby. I hopped on one and jerked the halter.
One last clue is how the perpetrator brought the demon to the outside world, why and where. There shall be no running away or second chance for the villain. I will get the proper justice this time for all those innocent people.