By the time Malis had caught up to Lei, they had already reverted to their original form. But Lei was too preoccupied by the scene before him to care. Humongous crystals lined the walls, occasionally glowing blue. Occasionally, the crystals were carved to resemble houses, and pathways made of stone connected them like an intricate spider web. By all standards, this underground village would be considered beautiful, only missing the bustling noise of life. But to Lei, that beauty could not be seen.

 

At least, not over the filth of death.

 

Scattered around the village were the remains of the residents, torn into bits and pieces. The stench of blood permeated the air, corrupting the very essence of the cave. Strangely enough, despite the large amounts of stray limbs and entrails, not a single head could be found. Lei looked around the village, trying to find the demon from before, but there was no trace of his movements. Suddenly, a loud groan echoed throughout the chasm.

 

'Cattle?'

The shadow of a quadrupedal animal loomed over the distance. From Lei's position, he could see it looked like a blue cow. 

 

Only, a glowing crystal pierced through its stomach.

 

The creature groaned again, making a noise akin to a siren combined with a meat grinder. It bent down and picked something up with its mouth, then began to chew. The momentary silence in the cave was broken by the sound of crunching as the cow calmly ate the ripped-off head of an unlucky demon. After it finished eating, it looked up and suddenly charged at Lei, who quickly drew his scimitar in preparation.

 

"It attacks in groups, idiot!"

As soon as Lei heard that shout, five more cows appeared from the distance. Before he could react, the cows' heads split apart, revealing a row of sharp, black teeth that most definitely did not belong to a herbivore. While groaning loudly, each creature fired its teeth, sending a barrage towards the adventurer. As a swordsmage, Lei was definitely ill-prepared to face so many small projectiles, but as soon as he prepared to attack, a large burst of energy pulverized both the teeth and the cows. Apparently, Malis wasn't lying about being a demon general.

 

...

 

"What the fuck?!" 

In the span of thirty seconds, Juno had witnessed more horrifying things than she had ever in the entire ten months spent with the hero. Who knew that right under the humans' noses lied the devil's spawn in bovine form?

Actually, this was demon territory. But even Malis jumped when the cows split open, so this was definitely not a normal occurrence.

 

While everyone else stared in shock, Malis went forward and kicked one of the corpses.

"So this is why they're missing the quota, I guess."

"...The hell was that?" Lei regained his composure, though his voice was slightly shaken.

"They're supposed to be cows."

"Then why are they BLUE?"

Malis fired a few more blasts at the cows, turning what was left of them into mush.

"Well, they eat lumite, meaning their meat can become rich in divine energy depending on what other food they eat. It's a staple for most demons, since we need to eat divine energy to live."

"Wait, you don't have to eat humans?" Juno asked.  "But I was told that the humans were retaliating against predatory demons?"

"I mean, it's kind of weird to kill and eat something that looks similar to you. Lumite itself has the ability to absorb divine energy in its surroundings, but its fragments are so sharp they're dangerous to eat directly for most creatures. The exception being these cows, and the residents of this village."

What Malis said made sense, and it's not as if Juno had ever wandered across a demon attempting to eat a human. The only exception were animal-like demons, but in that case, could the same not be said for normal animals? And what was the line between animal and demon? The way the king told the story made it seem like anything that wasn't a human was a demon!

 

"So in the end, if the demons don't even eat humans... why was I even summoned here????"

"Territory. Why else?" Malis smirked. "If it weren't for the hero's backing, Diverre would have long been conquered. And not by us, either."

"The Cres Empire," Lei interrupted. "But stop talking about unimportant things. First of all, we need to know what happened to this place."

"Fine, relax. It's just some small talk."

 

Slightly dejected, Malis stepped forward and shouted with all their might.

"Hey, kid! Get out here! I'm the general Malis sent by imperial decree! If you don't respond I have authority to hunt you down by force!!!" Malis's shouts echoed throughout the entire village, and a group of children soon emerged from within a house, led by the child from before. He already looked like he was barely over the age of twelve, and the others were all younger. 

"Wh-What do you want?! S-Stay away, I don't trust you! You're with the humans!" 

"Bastard, I'm being forced here too! So anyways, what happened to your cows?"

"The cows started eating everyone, and then a lot of the survivors started eating people too... It's because the humans poisoned our lumite!" 

"They poisoned the lumite? How?" Malis paused for a second. "...Oh fuck." 

 

Immediately, a cluster of purple mist formed in front of Malis, before condensing to reveal what looked like a throne room to Juno. On the throne sat a young man with silver hair, styled into an unruly ponytail. Upon seeing the figure, Malis knelt.

"Your highness, there's an urgent issue!" 

 So this was the supposed demon king? From afar, Juno couldn't see his face, but with the bright hair and regal uniform he was wearing, the last thing that she would have guessed him being is a demon.

 

"What, Malis?" The demon king's voice was smooth and firm, more befitting to the crown prince of a renowned country than a demonic ruler.

"Your highness, there is a high possibility of divine energy contamination in the recent supplies of cattle. The village here has been afflicted with some sort of infection, resulting in the cattle going mad. According to the residents, it happened after a mining expedition by humans, so I have reason to believe it's the result of the lumite in this cave absorbing impurities from those miners."

"I see. Destroy the entire supply and quarantine the survivors."

Without waiting for a reply, the demon king closed the connection. Malis stood up again, turning towards the small crowd of people around them.

"You heard what he said. Let's get out before I blow this place up."

 

One of the children started pulling on Malis's leg, and others soon followed.

"Don't blow up the village! I'm staying!" The children started wailing, each clinging onto a different part of Malis. No matter how hard Malis struggled to move, they kept pushing down in unison. Eventually, even the sounds of their crying seemed to sync up...

 

"Demon, there's something off about those children!" Lei jumped backwards, taking Iliya and Juno with him. Heeding Lei's warning, Malis promptly kicked off the children and flew away.

Without something to hold onto, the crowd fell together, almost melting into a pile. Even without Malis in the middle, the children continued to wail, with their cries getting more and more distorted. Amidst the wave, what seemed to be a crystal started to protrude from the leader's body, with the others soon following. Bit by bit, the crystals linked with one another, forming a large mass of crystals and children. As the mass grew, it also sucked in the gore strewn across the village, including the bodies of the cows from before. To make matters worse, the commotion attracted more cows, which also ended up connecting into the mass. In the end, the entire village seemed to have combined into a half humanoid, half bovine amalgamation of rocks and bodies, emitting a combination of wails and groans. Once it stopped growing, the creature screeched, shaking the walls of the cavern.

 

The four outsiders all had their mouths agape, stunned by the nightmare that they had just witnessed. Despite everyone's best attempts to keep composure, the look on their faces conveyed a singular, unified thought.

 

'WHAT!!!! THE!!!!! FUCK!!!!!!!!!!'