On the east side of the hall is the garden, on the west side leads to the cathedral tower, the whole tower above the ground is used as accommodation for hunters, the part below the ground is used as a prison.
Shire and Ines came to the tower through the inner corridor, the middle corridor was terrible to see, there were deep claw marks on the wall, probably the devil had made a big noise when he escaped. The winding stairs leading to the prison looked rather grim, and all the torches along the way were out.
He took out his knife and flint, rubbed off sparks, lit the nearest wall torch, and then dismantled it for lighting along the way.
"This is where you keep my kind." Graddius sounded unhappy, "All the smell of company, some even familiar... Some are unfamiliar..."
"What are you thinking?" 'asked Charles.' Shouldn't we shut them down? '
"The world is very painful for us." "Whispered Graddius." An invisible pressure compels us to leave, tortures us every moment, even when the shell is barely holding us back, and is more tormenting if the soul is not eaten."
"Then I will try to capture some demons alive and lock them up to make them suffer."
"Well, soon they'll be out of prison again, killing people, and you'll be sorry."
They entered the dungeon of the Chapel, where the central corridor was lined with gray and white basalt slabs, and the cells on either side were each very large, and the walls were sealed with metal so that no one could see inside, and the doors were extremely thick, with intricate locks that were difficult to break violently, and could only be opened with a silver key. Three of the prison doors were opened, and Shire saw that the metal doors, a quarter of a meter thick, had melted into scrap metal in some twisted shape. It was hard to imagine what force had destroyed these doors.
Three demons escape from the dungeon.
"This must be the door where the devil is kept." Shire reached out to touch the remains of the door, which had a large number of bubbles formed after corrosion or burning, "they can't do it on their own, someone helped it escape."
"Who could that be?" Ines was curious.
"I don't know, but if it's a group of people who would help the devil, then they're our enemies." The Shire was worried that the enemy was in the dark, that they were in the light, that the temple was in the midst of the city, and that those who dared to help the demons escape were looking out for them. Could they be the same people as the thieves? The robbers broke into the sanctuary, ransacked it, and then the evil wizards entered the prison and unleashed the winged demons. Damn it, who's secretly helping the devil?
"Do these closed doors hide demons, too?" Ines knocked boldly on a closed metal door.
"Whoops, no, those doors are empty inside."
"How do you know?" Char asked in his mind.
"Why do you ask me? I didn't say anything." "Grumbled Gladius." What's wrong with you? Why do I whine?"
Shire had a shudder all over him.
'Who is it?
In the light of the firelight, a demon imp slowly approached.
Imp? Shire was surprised. The hunters divided demons into many different roles and alleles, with the blade demon being the highest level, and the imp being the most insignificant and inferior type of demon, and any brave ordinary person could kill a demon imp.
It was not very good-looking, with dark red skin, a pointed nose, large hollow eyes, two long curved horns on its head, a pair of bat-like wings behind it, a long long tail hanging down to the ground, and claws on its hands and feet.
Shire frowned: "Where did you come from?"
"Goo goo goo." Kid scratches his head.
"I asked you where you were from." Shire pressed, although the little devil is the lowest, but certainly also uneasy good.
'Lord! The imps bow to the Sherpas.
Char drew his knife, torch in one hand, knife in the other.
'Ah! The child was so frightened that he ran wildly on the ground and hid in the corner of the prison, shivering, his wings folded, his hands behind his head.
"What is it? Little devil?" Ines watched with great interest.
"The lowest of the demons, we call imps, the stronger ones are the great Demons, and then the ordinary lower demons, the demon pioneers, the demon warriors... The highest level is the demon." Char walked to the wall as he spoke, pointing his knife at it, ready to kill the little boy.
The child turned around and looked at the knife in Shire's hand, and looked at Shire's armor, and the blade pattern on the armor dazzled it.
'Lord! It shouted, "Lord!"
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha," grady broke into laughter, "it to you as a demon! It's got you! A demon hunter! A bigger human being acting like an evil superior! The devil's breath in you is too strong to confuse it!"
Shire was surprised.
"You..." He thought. "You call me 'Lord'?"
"Whoops." The imp made an unintelligible cry, and ended by adding, "I want to eat fresh souls." It seems demons desire souls the same regardless of rank.
"If you want fresh souls," Char threatened him, "you must behave, or you will die."
"Whoops." The kid nodded.
"Shall we feed this little monster?" Ines wondered. "It's a demon."
"The devil doesn't have to eat human souls, animal souls are fine, and it doesn't seem to eat much... The most important thing is that I have to ask him something." Shire thought.
While Charles was talking to Ines, the child was quacking and jumping up and down, very excited and restless.
"Hell will climb out of the magma in a blink of an eye tens of millions of imps, they are eager to power, kill each other and devour, become bigger and bigger, many powerful demons are from this humble imps slowly grow up, soon you will see..." Graddiu's voice rang out.
"Who set the winged demon free?" Char pointed to the melted iron door. "How did they break the door?"
"A few ordinary human souls, a black soul, a half-demon soul, these souls went from the top of the earth to the bottom of the darkness." In a high-pitched voice, the imp describes, "Black spirits destroy doors and find winged demons and demonic beasts." The black spirit also found me, but said I was too weak and left me here."
"Demon beasts... What is it?" Shire's eyes wide open. He escaped from the chapel. Where is he hiding now? Where to plan the attack? This unexpected news makes the Shire in chaos, once another demon wreaks havoc, new destruction and casualties will occur again.
"A fiery demon, threatening to smash me." Kid dances, "Me! To eat souls, to become a powerful demon, and to let it pull my chariot."
"I want to know what it looks like and what it's capable of?"
"A menacing demon... It's scary! Strong! Big beasts!" The kid's got a messy description.
"The imp made it very clear, you fool, that the demon beast is naturally a fiery beast, taking on the form of the animals of the world, but with all the characteristics of a demon, and I guess it could kill three or four of you." "Said Graddiu scornfully.
Difficult to do It's another homicidal monster, and we need to figure out where it is.
"You say someone came in and set you free on purpose? Who are those people? What does it look like?"
"Human souls, I see human souls." It climbed up to the wall, and with its sharp nails, it pressed gently against the stone wall, "there is a powerful soul in it, a black soul, a half-demon soul."
Well, demons only see souls, and they don't see the same things as humans. The higher demons may have more developed senses, but this primitive, low-level imp probably hasn't developed that much functionality yet.
"I am your Lord... Then you will listen to me." Char feels like he's on the payroll.
"Whoops." "Cried the child, and he crawled to the ground, at Shire's feet.
"You are not to attack without my orders. You are to run or hide. You are not to appear before men, and you are not to leave this church."
The child nodded vigorously.
"Will he really be honest?" Char doubted in his mind.
"It does not dare to bargain with you, and the imps are afraid of demons stronger than they are, because they know they are the weakest." When I'm bored, I often gather the kids and stomp on them." Graddiu likes to bully.
"What are you going to do with the kid?" Ines tentatively poked at it with the tip of the sword, and the imp made a dodging action and fled flexibly, almost like a small animal.
"It'll come in handy. Keep up."
The tiny little devil flapped his wings and flew behind the Shire.
"We have to give it a name." Char twirled his hair. "A little imp..." There's a lot of ideas. Call it wings, call it whoops, call it claws, whatever.
"There is no need to bother with names, they are nameless, they have no names, they have no ideas of their own, they are consumables, and a conflict of influence in Hell will destroy hundreds of thousands of imps." The imp is in hell, just like the poor people in your world, living small and dying unheard of." Graddiu sniffed.
"Do you have a name?" Ines took the tip of the sword and pushed the child with the hilt, deliberately bullying it, forcing it to flap its wings vigorously to prevent it from falling.
"My name is Hope." "Said the child.
"You have a name?" Shire was surprised. "Did you get up by yourself?"
"Whoops. Hope." The kid nodded.
"These little guys have names." Charles reminded Graddiu in his mind, "And you said that the imps have no names."
"Fuck, who cares! Graddiu was swearing.
Charles realized the problem with Graddiu.
"Well, you fellow, you don't know all about your demon kind."
"I don't care what other demons do to me!"
"I think I know why you were banished to this world by the lords of hell."
Graddius was silent for a long time.
"You don't understand." 'it said reluctantly.