Monkeys are masters of climbing trees. Though they are not beastmen, the Hanuman Tribe, who shared a contract with the Monkey King in the distant past and received a portion of his power, can run atop trees as if they were flat ground.
Moving through the jungle at a speed that defied pursuit, they utilized their talents very well. Ordinarily, they lived in the trees, stealing what they needed and making their escape.
This raid on Fiou Village was no different. Even if the Undying Ones were strong, they were still dull and slow Natives. The Hanuman Tribe had the confidence that they could easily shake them off.
They were also certain that if they kidnapped a child from Fiou Village rather than an Undying One's child, nothing major would come of it.
"Ukkyak! You said there wouldn't be any trouble!"
The monkey mask shrieked, jumping about in frenzy.
"It's a Wind Spirit! The Wind Spirit is enraged, so we're going to suffer a terrible fate!"
"We came prepared to be hated by the persistent Natives, but we never expected a spirit!"
"If we had known this, we wouldn't have raided Fiou Village!"
In reality, it wasn't a Wind Spirit but a Regressor wielding Cheon-aeng. To them, distinguishing between the two was meaningless. Suffering the Regressor's wrath would be just as terrible.
Perhaps even more so than a Wind Spirit.
"Forget the sacrifice, we need to run right now!"
"Then what about this? We sacrificed five of our kin just to bring this offering?"
The monkey mask pointed to the child stuffed in the sack and asked. The monkey mask wearing a lion-like furry mask, who appeared to be the leader, suddenly shouted.
"Why are you asking about that! Kill it and hang it somewhere!"
"W-what if the Wind Spirit gets truly angry then?"
"Washing our hands of it and fleeing is the best option! Ukki. If we leave for another place, who cares about a Wind Spirit or whatever!"
The leader monkey mask violently threw the sack. The child, who had been holding its breath in terror inside the sack, let out a groan.
"A-uh, auah..."
"If we leave it roughly like this, a leopard will tear it apart!"
The leader monkey mask reached out both hands toward the child's neck. To snap the child's neck with those sturdy hands.
However, the monkey mask should have considered the Wind Spirit more carefully. No matter how cold-hearted the Regressor was, she wouldn't stand idly by while a kidnapped child was killed.
Not that she was particularly cold-hearted to begin with, though.
"Kieeek!"
Blood splattered as the leader monkey mask's arm was violently flung back. An invisible sword wind had struck his arm away. In front of him as he writhed in pain, the Regressor shot up like lightning and kicked away the monkey mask guarding the child.
The Regressor glared at the leader monkey mask and spoke.
"It seems the tail ends here. Hughs, no complaints, right?"
"How could I have complaints? Isn't this also being guided by the Saintess's Blessing?"
Facing the monkey masks who were backing away hesitantly, the Regressor lightly summoned a wind. The sack containing the child slowly descended on the wind.
Rash leapt up in a single bound and caught the child. Stroking the terrified child, Rash wore a deeply regretful expression.
"You are Fiou, yet you treat the lives of your fellow Fiou so recklessly? Has the Hanuman Tribe lost both its pride and honor?"
"Ukkit. What does a Native who luckily gained some power know...!"
The leader monkey mask clutched his heavily bleeding arm and shouted.
"You Undying Ones wouldn't know! For us to survive, we must offer sacrifices! By offering sacrifices to the Great Spirit and the Beautiful Muho, and gaining their power, only then can we survive!"
"There are many ways to live without offering other children as sacrifices. I saw such things beyond the Great Grasslands."
"Beyond the Great Grasslands? That's possible because it's beyond the Great Grasslands! Not here!"
The leader monkey mask twitched his fingers as he continued.
"This land is a territory ruled by witches, beasts, spirits, and the Muho! Without power, without a place to lean on, you are just abandoned and miserably eaten! You who luckily offered your bodies to gain immortality... cannot understand us who are desperate just to survive!"
And then, the leader monkey mask pulled out a leather bundle hidden in his clothes. It was a poison sac made by gathering insect venom. The leader monkey mask instantly crushed the bundle in his grip and threw it toward us.
"Kikkiki! It's ant venom! Die drenched in poison!"
However, the leader monkey mask's trump card achieved no results.
Click. The Regressor sheathed Cheon-aeng. And dozens of branches were severed in an instant, falling all at once. Among that countless falling leaves was the blood-soaked hand of the monkey mask.
The wind whipped up a beat late, and the monkey masks hanging from the trees flailed and fell to the ground.
Even the poison sac, their trump card, fell quietly to the ground, sealed within the vortex of Cheon-aeng.
"Poison? Too outdated. Who gets hit by that these days?"
Since the emergence of Qigong, asymmetrical means of attack like poison and curses had practically become obsolete. Not only was it impossible to invade a Qigong Master's body, but even if by some luck it did enter, it was difficult to wrest control of the body. Fed a poison that stops the heart? Just squeeze your own heart with Gamt-gigong and that's that. In the era of Qigong, poison lost its place.
However, this land of barbarism was not properly introduced to Qigong, so they still used poison.
"Ukkiki..."
"The Spirit is enraged..."
The monkey masks crawled on the ground, having lost all will to fight. The Regressor took control of the space with the wind and looked down at the monkey masks.
"Now. You have one choice. Die obediently, or confess everything and die. What were you planning to do with the child?"
"No, Shei. If you corner them like that and threaten them, will they really confess?"
"Ukkiki... We must offer them to the altar of Ankra, the Demon of a Thousand Feasts..."
"Wait, they're actually confessing?"
It might not make sense to demand loyalty to the death from barbarians. But they confess obediently when threatened with death?
The Hanuman Tribe barbarians bowed their heads to the Regressor and spilled everything obediently.
"We, we were also requested! The Demon of a Thousand Feasts, Ankra, needs a thousand souls to offer as sacrifices. They said they would give us an apple tree as payment for every person we bring."
"The Demon of a Thousand Feasts?"
"A powerful ancient demon that devours a thousand people! They said if we don't help, they'll eat us first. Ukkiki! We kidnapped the children to survive too!"
Thanks to them taking a perfectly submissive stance from the start, the Regressor's killing intent toward the Hanuman Tribe softened.
Though they verbally called her a Spirit, showing unconditional obedience to a strong wielder of incomprehensible power was their own survival strategy.
"It must be a demon with an epithet. It really seems to be the ancient evil Meiell described."
"It sounds terrifying just hearing about it. Can you win against it, Shei?"
"Of course. Demons aren't that powerful of existences. Now, nearly a thousand years since Year One, a demon's power has mostly faded. Even if revived with sacrifices, it only inherits a fraction of its power and cannot reach the strength it had back then."
'A demon I don't even remember in the first place couldn't be that powerful. Meiell wouldn't have told me to face an enemy she absolutely couldn't defeat, either. Let's wrap this up quickly. I have no business in the land of the ancient Myriad Nations anyway. There's nothing there but the Tree of Depravity as a Demon God...'
With a much lighter heart, the Regressor asked the monkey mask.
"Tell me their location. Then I'll spare your lives."
The monkey mask, brightening at the promise of survival, quickly spilled the beans.
"The Bone Altar! Ukkiki. They are at the Bone Altar! As for where that is..."
It was then. One of the monkey masks crawling on the ground suddenly stood up. That monkey mask exuded an ominous aura, raised both arms, and snapped its own arm joints.
Crack. With a sound that made one shudder just hearing it, the arms of all the monkey masks twisted simultaneously. Their unusually long arms snapped grotesquely, creating a gruesome spectacle.
"Kiiiiik!"
"Kieeek!"
The monkey masks screamed at the unexpected pain and collapsed. Amidst the sight of limbs twisting all at once, only the monkey mask that had broken its own arms stood there letting out a gloomy sneer. As if it felt no pain.
"You monkey bastards. I planted poison in you beforehand, knowing this would happen."
The Regressor tried to kill the bizarre monkey mask with Cheon-aeng but hesitated, sensing an unpleasant energy.
"It's Black Magic, isn't it?"
The thing most similar to a human is a human. Therefore, to use magic that harms humans, using a human body as a medium is the easiest and most convenient method.
What developed from that principle is precisely Black Magic. A body-medium magic. As powerful and easy as it is, Black Magic has the disadvantage of damaging one's own body when used...
"It's a puppet? It seems you don't have the guts to step forward with your real body?"
"Kikki. Naturally. There's no need to reveal my real body just to dispose of these lowly beasts."
The monkey mask smiled a vile smile beneath its mask.
Using one's own body as a medium allows one to easily use powerful magic. But even a Black Magician cherishes their own body. Therefore, Black Magicians prepared ways to protect their own bodies while still exerting Black Magic.
The most barbaric among them, and the first method utilized, is the sacrifice. Because the medium doesn't necessarily have to be one's own body.
"What a waste, such a waste. The monkey bastards were stupid and easy-to-handle pawns... Because of you, it looks like I'm going to lose a puppet I put effort into making."
"What a pointless effort. Rather than making one puppet, you should have just hired people with money."
The Regressor said with contempt.
Just hearing about it makes Black Magic seem easy and risk-free, but in reality, there is no power as wasteful as Black Magic.
Writing with one's own body is easy, but making someone else's body write by controlling it piece by piece is next to impossible. Let alone if that 'someone else' resists. So, to properly use a sacrifice, drugs and poisons are needed to strip the sacrifice of its will and take over its body. At this point, the cost-effectiveness has already gone down the drain.
And is it easy to find people to become sacrifices? If you can't get more than one using a single sacrifice, the yield doesn't come out. Furthermore, if the sacrifice resists and damages the flesh, its value drops significantly.
The public believes that Black Magicians fell to easily gain power, but in truth, that's spoken out of ignorance. Black Magicians have their own struggles too. Small and mid-level Black Magicians are desperate just to survive day by day.
"People from beyond the Great Grasslands like you might not know, but this side is moved by fear and desire rather than money. A puppet is much cheaper."
However, a Black Magician who overcomes all those hardships and gets on track becomes a monster that greedily consumes human lives. The Black Magician controlling the monkey mask before us was one of them.
The Regressor asked in an even lower voice.
"Are you planning to revive the Evil God?"
"Of course. Isn't it the dream of all Black Magicians?"
"Stop with the useless acts."
"Kikkiki. Are you afraid? But what can you do? That is exactly what I wished for!"
The monkey mask spread its broken arms wide. Blood flowed and twisted bones dangled, but it spat out a mad laugh as if that wasn't a problem at all.
"I will revive the Evil God and become one with Him! And then I will clear away the remnants of the Muho that still loom over this land, and stand as the new god! Kikkiki! This land will become great again!"
Despite his ambitious declaration, the Regressor answered nonchalantly.
"No, the Evil God you're trying to revive. I don't know what it is, but it's so weak that even if it revives, it'll just die by my hand, so give up."
Was it too unexpected? The monkey mask froze with its arms wide open. It might hope for a joke, but the Regressor was sincere.
'A Thousand Feasts? I've never even heard of it in my previous iterations. Even though I'm the one chosen now, since it was foreseen by Meiell, it would have been subjugated anyway. Seonghwang-cheong wouldn't tolerate such an Evil God.'
The plainer the truth, the deeper it cuts. The monkey mask, bleeding profusely, grabbed its mask and laughed like crazy.
"Kikkiki. How arrogant, humans who crossed the Great Grasslands. You were always like that... Mocking, trampling, and destroying everything on this land, and then trying to correct us... As if we were wrong!"
Blood vessels bulged beneath the monkey mask's clothes. In an instant, a tremendous energy surged from the puppet. Burning all its vitality like fuel, the monkey mask spewed demonic energy and charged at the Regressor like a beast.
"I will kill you and use your corpse as a sacrifice! Let's see if you still laugh then..."
"Hilarious."
But to be honest, the power shown by that monkey mask wasn't that impressive.
Through our adventures so far, we had faced legendary opponents far too often. Compared to them, a Black Magician, and not even the real one but a mere puppet... sorry to say, but even I could win against it.
Dozens of blades created from the wind slashed the monkey mask to ribbons. If it had learned Qigong, such sword winds wouldn't have worked, but it was difficult for a Black Magician to learn Qigong, and even if they did, they couldn't use it through another person's body. The blades sliced the monkey mask's body like tofu, cutting through its muscles and tendons.
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"Kiiiit!"
The monkey mask let out a single scream and collapsed. It wasn't its own body anyway; the Black Magician tried to move the puppet, but with its tendons severed, the puppet merely twitched.
The Regressor spoke with an expression devoid of any particular joy or sense of accomplishment.
"Wipe your neck and wait. I'll kill you."
"Kikki... Do you think you can kill me?"
The blood-soaked monkey mask shouted fiercely with a voice that sounded like it would breathe its last at any moment.
"This is just one of countless puppets to me. I too failed to kill you, but the same goes for you! You will never be able to find me, nor kill me!"
"You see, I..."
The Regressor cut off the monkey mask's words and opened her eyes wide.
"I've caught countless bastards like you!"
Three of the Seven-Colored Eyes—the Golden Eyes that see the unseen.
She thrust Cheon-aeng deep into the puppet. The storm ground the puppet's flesh away, gifting a certain peace to that pitiful body. The Black Magician's consciousness, no longer able to stay in the dead body, left it...
And the Regressor clearly watched the part of the consciousness leaving the body with her Golden Eyes. Though invisible to me, the Regressor saw the remnants of the consciousness flying toward that dark forest.
"Found it."
The Regressor muttered eerily.
Now all that remained was to track it down and kill it. Realizing this was a more serious matter than expected, Rash looked at the rescued child and spoke.
"It's going to be quite an arduous fight. What should we do with the child? If we take him, he might get swept up and die."
"We should send him back to Fiou Village. Rash, please take him."
"I can't do that. The priests of the Evil God are despicable. If it were me, a member of the Undying Tribe, it would be one thing, but the young man or you, Teacher, could be caught off guard by their vile tricks. How about you take him, Teacher?"
"I appreciate your concern, but just as we don't know our enemy, the enemy doesn't know us either. It's not just our opponent who can catch us off guard."
And we have the so-called 'Blessing of the Saintess', too.
One must not drag out time against a Black Magician. A Black Magician always hoards sacrifices and wealth, and the moment they feel threatened, they will consume it all recklessly. To save even one more person, we have to leave right now.
"You can go too, Hughs. It'll be easier for me to deal with it alone."
Oh, how kind of her. To go home and rest instead of working—an offer I would have gladly accepted normally.
But right now, I have a slight interest in demons and evil gods. I politely declined the Regressor's offer.
"No. I'm also interested in the Evil God, so I want to try fighting it. And coincidentally, I'll help you out too, Shei."
"...Really?"
'What? That's quite commendable of him? He even said he'd help. What's gotten into him? Is this also thanks to the Saintess's Blessing?'
What does she take me for? After all the help I've given so far, was it really that unexpected that she'd think it's the Saintess's Blessing?
Well, she's half right, though.