At the sudden appearance of a high-ranking demon, I hurriedly scanned my surroundings.

‘I need to escape right now!’

I looked up at the path I had taken back. Fortunately, it seemed that no one was blocking the way.

I quickly jumped up high, trying to get to the portal. If I could just escape to the human world, I would be much safer.

Although I was disappointed to return without being able to plant the bomb at the breeding ground, now was not the time to worry about such things.

First, I had to get away from that high-ranking demon.

Glancing down, fortunately the high-ranking demon wasn’t chasing after me and was merely observing.

It seemed like I could escape.

However, the moment my feet barely touched the top of the cliff, my hopes were shattered.

As if she had teleported, the demon was standing in front of me. She still smiled and spoke.

“When someone greets you, you should respond, shouldn’t you? I’ll be sad if you just run away.”

It was a kind tone, but that made me even more terrified.

To be so relaxed in a situation where an intruder was discovered. She must have been quite confident in her abilities.

‘The path is blocked. Should I fight? No, let’s avoid it for now.’

I tried to push the demon into an empty gap and somehow get behind her.

However, the moment I touched the demon’s body, her voice rang out sharply in my head.

“That’s enough of your cute behavior.”

Something strange happened. I had only heard the demon’s voice, but suddenly my body wouldn’t move as I wanted.

I tried to somehow escape from this place, but I couldn’t move a single finger.

The only thing that listened to me was my eyeballs.

I tried to roll my eyes to assess the situation, but she snatched the demon I was carrying on my back and reached out to tap my shoulder.

A trivial movement that didn’t even qualify as an attack.

But unable to resist, I was pushed back by this and even fell down the cliff, receiving a strong impact as I plummeted.

“Ugh.”

Fortunately, my body began to move again, but it seemed that my ankle had been dislocated from the impact of the fall.

I wanted to run away, but I could barely stand on both feet.

The demon’s eyes that had been observing me suddenly widened.

“It already wore off just from falling from that height? Is it because you’re an apostle of God? That’s impressive.”

Judging from the situation, it seemed that the demon had the ability to control others with her words.

‘The condition is… touching the opponent’s body?’

It was almost certain since my body stopped listening to me from the moment I tried to push the demon by making contact earlier.

‘I don’t know the details, but for now, I must be careful not to touch her at all.’

I drew my sword and guarded to keep the demon from approaching.

‘I absolutely can’t let her find out my foot is injured. If she does, she’ll target me right away.’

Although I felt a pain as if the bones were twisting, I somehow put strength into both feet and stood.

Even though groans threatened to slip out from the unfamiliar pain, I bit the inside of my lips and endured it.

That’s when it happened. The demon who had been merely observing me all along charged at a fast speed.

If it were my usual self, it would be a speed I could easily avoid and then some.

But with my injured ankle, it was impossible now. As the next best thing, I tried to stab the demon charging at me with my sword.

Since it was an attack imbued with divine power, if the sword touched the demon, it could inflict a fatal wound.

However, the demon not only avoided the attack but even flew up and stood on my sword with one foot.

Standing balanced on the narrow sword blade, she looked down at me with a relaxed smile.

I had thought I had become somewhat accustomed to their movements after facing high-ranking demons, but I was completely wrong.

Was it because this place was the Demon Realm with dense demonic energy?

The demon’s physical abilities and graceful movements were something I couldn’t even imagine.

I tried to quickly swing my sword to knock the demon off, but it was a meaningless act.

The demon was still looking down at me from the air, flapping her wings.

Soon, she folded her wings and charged at me quickly.

The thought that I must never touch her dominated my mind.

I tried to lead my uncomfortable leg and escape from her attack.

But it was impossible to run away with a handicap in the middle of enemy territory.

The demon grabbed the back of my neck roughly.

A cold chill spread over my skin. Unlike human body temperature, the demon’s was only cold.

I struggled and resisted, trying to break free from her grip. I also tried to stab the demon’s arm with the sword I was holding.

“Shall I make you stop like before?”

But as soon as those command-like words fell, my body broke down again.

I froze in that posture.

The demon tapped my cheek twice as if to check if I could resist.

I wanted to yell at her not to, but I couldn’t even move my lips.

The only thing I could do was glare at her with my eyes, the only part of me that could move by my will.

Once she was certain I could do nothing, the demon finally let go of the hand that had been grabbing the back of my neck.

Then she naturally sat on a nearby desk chair.

“So, why did our lady Vivian come all the way here? Sneaking in like a rat while I was briefly away.”

Even though she knew better that I couldn’t answer, the demon began to ramble on as if having a conversation with herself.

“Well, I actually know the reason too. It’s obviously because of the disease humans are suffering from, right? The one called Ledanipus Disease among humans. Trying to solve that one thing, a mere human invades the Demon Realm… The audacity. Meeting such an extraordinary human.”

The demon rested her chin on both hands and stared at me.

But that gaze seemed to genuinely adore me, making me choke up. It was not the gaze of someone who saw me as an enemy at all.

“Since I like you… Shall I turn our lady Vivian into a demon? Become the same race as me. How about it?”

Even just hearing such a terrible remark, my eyes trembled uncontrollably in shock. The demon clapped her hands and burst into laughter.

“I’m joking, I’m joking. How could that be possible? Instead… I’ll tell you the cure. What do you think, aren’t you curious?”

Even though I couldn’t speak to answer, the demon began explaining on her own, humming a tune.

“This bug, it doesn’t actually have poison or pathogens. It’s just a medium.”

The demon got up from her seat, opened a nearby box, and took out a glowing red stone. It was the one the low-ranking demons had been feeding Ledanipus.

“This is actually demonic energy. In places with excessively dense concentrations, demonic energy crystallizes like this. Isn’t it amazing? If you feed this, the bug’s body becomes filled with demonic energy. Then what happens when that bug bites a person?”

The demon put her hand next to her ear and leaned her head forward.

It was as if she was trying to listen to my voice.

“Huh? What’s that? The person will become addicted to demonic energy? Correct! Lady Vivian is smart.”

She acted as if she had really heard my voice, but it was all a self-Q&A. The demon’s behavior, which clearly seemed insane, gave me goosebumps. I couldn’t predict what she was thinking at all.

“Then how should it be treated? If you feed the bug energy that conflicts with demonic energy and have it bite a person in the same way, it should work. Hm? You’re wondering what kind of energy that is? Such a model student, even asking questions.”

The demon seemed lost in thought for a moment, rolling her eyes upward and tapping her chin.

Then, as if she had thought of something, she approached me even closer.

With one hand, she grabbed my wrist, and with the other, she sharpened her nails and made a long cut on my arm.

Red blood flowed down the path her nails had traced.

She swept the blood with her fingers and opened the lid of the collection container full of Ledanipus.

Hundreds of bugs simultaneously poured out and stuck to her hand, sucking the blood.

A few flew to me and settled on my arm where blood remained, starting their meal.

“The body of an apostle has divine power flowing through it. Naturally, that energy permeates the blood as well. What happens when a bug that has eaten this bites a person? That’s right! The energies mix and the disease is cured. It’s an extremely simple method, isn’t it?”

If what the demon said was true, it was a really easy solution.

Just feed my blood to the bugs and spread them nationwide to bite people.

The problem was the demon’s intention in explaining this to me in detail.

‘She definitely doesn’t mean for me to go to the human world and cure people… She’s probably just planning to kill me on the spot.’

It must be her plan to directly feed me the information I wanted, make me feel hope, and then drop me into the abyss.

It was indeed a demonic act.

But I had no intention of letting her have her way.

In fact, while the demon had been rambling on, I had been continuously trying to move my body using divine power.

A demon’s power was ultimately a force that conflicted with divine power.

If I kept countering it with divine power, I judged that even if the demon’s ability was strong, it could be mitigated to some extent.

And my judgment was correct.

‘My toes are the limit for now… But at least my body is starting to move.’

The paralysis didn’t need to be completely lifted.

If just one leg returned to normal, I would jump up and escape right away.

Now that I knew the cure for Ledanipus Disease, I no longer needed the demon I had intended to take with me. I just had to protect myself and run away.

‘Let’s pretend to be scared and stall for just a little more time, just a bit more.’

The moment I thought that, the demon pressed her finger on the center of my forehead.

“You know, my unique ability is actually to partially control the mind of the target I touch. In other words, it means I can read all your thoughts.”

The demon smiled brightly.

“What punishment would be good for our mischievous lady Vivian who was making plans to run away? Ah, I know. It would be nice to show you the sight of your loved one dying. Right?”

I wasn’t even given a chance to be surprised that she had read my mind.

A huge energy flowed into my body through the demon’s finger.

At the same time, an unknown world began to unfold before my eyes.