A cave in a treacherous mountainous region. Ren, who discovered the portal installed inside, scanned the surroundings with an uncharacteristically anxious expression.

As expected from seeing the corpses of low-level demons in front of the cave, it seemed Vivian had gone through that portal.

‘I knew this would happen….’

Ren recalled the conversation he had with Vivian a few hours ago.

When he heard the plan to directly enter the demon realm to stop the epidemic, he strongly opposed it.

Vivian said she understood and would give up.

However, despite receiving a clear answer, Ren was left with uneasiness.

Because he knew her personality.

As a result of watching her closely for a long time, Vivian was the type to accomplish whatever she set out to do.

Just look at the serial handsome man kidnapping incident. She possessed an execution ability not found in ordinary people.

Moreover, while being quite timid, she unexpectedly had a bold side that put her own safety on the back burner to carry out tasks.

Would such a person give up on her plans just because those around her opposed? Ren didn’t think so.

Of course, there was a separate incident that made him certain.

He had sensed an air of trying to hide something from her uncharacteristically awkward behavior.

So Ren said he was going to the information guild and went out, but in fact, he secretly followed Vivian.

Before long, he discovered her about to embark on a long journey, and immediately pursued her.

And the result was now.

Ren lowered his knee to examine the demon corpse that had collapsed right in front of the portal.

A torso caved in, seemingly unable to withstand the massive force unleashed in an instant.

And the ambiguous posture as if thrown from inside the portal to the outside.

It was certain. Vivian had taken down the demon beyond the portal and roughly moved the corpse to the human realm.

There would be no one else but her who could turn a demon’s robust body into such a state in one go.

If there was a problem, it was the time this demon died.

Judging by how the blood spilled by the demon had dried to some extent, this demon had been dead for quite some time.

In other words, it meant that more time than expected had passed since Vivian entered beyond the portal.

‘Given Lady Vivian’s personality… there’s no way she would stay this long without a special reason.’

Her original plan, as revealed to her companions, was to quickly survey the demon realm and then find the Redaniphus breeding ground to demolish it at once with a bomb.

It should have been over in a few minutes, no matter how long it took.

The fact that there was no sign of her coming out meant she was still in the demon realm, and something had gone wrong.

As soon as that thought occurred to him, Ren immediately rose and stepped into the portal. There was not a moment of hesitation in his demeanor.

He knew absolutely nothing about the ecosystem of the demon realm.

Was there air to breathe, was it a place where the body could endure?

The only thing he knew was that the dense demonic energy could devour his soul and drive him mad.

However, he was not afraid at all.

As long as Vivian was safe, he didn’t care what happened to anything else.

As he passed through the portal, sure enough, there were traces of her.

Fortunately, there was only one path, so he wouldn’t waste time getting lost.

He hurried to the end of the passage.

Finally, at the bottom of the cliff he reached, Ren was able to find Vivian quickly.

However, the her he had just found was different from his expectations.

Vivian appeared to have no serious external injuries, but she was clutching her head in agony.

Her eyes were unfocused, as if she was someone possessed by something.

The moment Ren saw the demon sneering right in front of her, he grasped the situation.

A mental attack. Apparently, that demon seemed to be the owner of a rare ability. And Vivian was helplessly overwhelmed by it.

Ren leapt down the cliff without even a second of hesitation.

The shadow that had been lying quietly rippled as if enraged.

Sensing the presence, the demon’s head turned grotesquely in a circle and a half.

As Ren came into view, the demon clapped her hands in surprise for a moment.

“What luck this is…!”

The demon was familiar with Ren’s face. Not because she had heard information about him from Siegfried beforehand.

It was because he was the protagonist of the hallucination playing in Vivian’s mind.

Vivian, seeing the image of Ren dying repeatedly in her hallucination. And him, coming to save her without knowing the situation.

Looking through Vivian’s memories, they didn’t seem to be lovers, yet what an interesting relationship!

To be able to care for each other so much without even a confession of love! And to think that both their lives were now in the palm of her hand! The demon’s heart pounded wildly.

How should she torment these two?

The demon became excited as she let her imagination run wild.

Although she had tortured countless humans, this was the first time she’d encountered such a special situation.

The corners of the demon’s mouth, already turned upwards, soared endlessly towards the sky. She was clearly showing her joy.

Despite the intimidating smile, Ren did not falter and glared at the demon with fierce eyes.

Thanks to the necklace, he was fine despite the terrible demonic energy, but he didn’t know how much longer he could hold out.

He needed to quickly kill that demon, take care of Vivian, and escape.

The demon also approached with sharp, glowing eyes.

Her movements were bizarrely fast. It was immediately apparent how much stronger she became in a place with dense demonic energy.

Watching the demon approach him in one breath, Ren deliberately stepped back a few steps as if to lure her.

And finally, when the distance between the demon and Vivian was sufficiently far, the shadow that had secretly moved to the demon’s feet revealed itself and grabbed her ankle.

Her movement slowed for a moment.

Ren immediately ran towards Vivian. Then he quickly examined her condition.

Even though not much time had passed, her complexion had darkened considerably in that short while.

Vivian was muttering incomprehensible words with her soul gone.

It seemed her condition would continue to worsen until that demon was killed.

Ren embraced Vivian protectively and then used the shadow to attack the demon.

The shadow that had climbed up from the ankle began to cover the demon’s body without any gaps.

And finally, at the moment it was about to swallow the demon, with a pop sound, the shadow was torn to shreds.

The shadow could not digest the powerful energy released by the demon.

Ren’s plan to absorb the enemy in one go was thwarted, but it didn’t matter.

The shadow that had been shattered into pieces revived like an immortal and merged into one. At the same time, the shadow and the demon began to engage in a fierce battle.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Strangely, although neither the demon nor the shadow were holding weapons like swords, every time they exchanged blows, a metallic sound that hurt the ears occurred.

Ren left the battle to the shadow and desperately shook Vivian.

“Lady Vivian, please come to your senses.”

However, calling her name wouldn’t bring her consciousness back.

The demon, who had deflected the shadow’s attack aimed fiercely at her neck, burst into laughter as if finding it amusing. Then she threw out advice that wasn’t really advice.

“Pfft! How unfortunate? The prince on a white horse came all the way to save her, but can’t. My unique ability can never be overcome by someone else’s power. Unless Vivian finds the condition herself and breaks the hallucination… there’s no way to wake up. Now she’ll probably writhe in agony and end up killing herself?”

“……”

“It’s a pity. You should have come a little earlier. Then at least you could have seen each other’s faces before dying!”

Despite the clear mockery, Ren didn’t care and focused on the demon’s words.

He needed to extract even a little more clue to wake her up.

“Aren’t you curious about what Vivian is seeing right now? I’m showing her a really spectacular scene.”

Outwardly, Ren was maintaining his composure, but he was unable to contain his anger at the demon’s continued taunting.

The shadow attacking more fiercely than before was proof of that.

However, as if all the fighting so far had been just a joke, the demon leisurely avoided the attacks and continued speaking.

“Vivian is now repeatedly seeing the person she loves dying. Now it’s… what number? I counted up to three hundred, but I don’t know after that.”

At the demon’s words, Ren’s face contorted in confusion.

And at that moment, the demon split the shadow in half and then disappeared as if teleporting, only to stand right in front of Ren’s nose.

The demon’s face was excessively close.

The pupil split horizontally in the middle like a goat’s completely filled Ren’s field of vision.

“Aren’t you curious? Who the person Vivian holds in her heart is, which even she herself is unaware of.”

The demon, who had moved her face slightly away, looked down at him with a gloomy smile.

As if saying to confess his honest desires.

As if promising to tell him everything if he just did that, her voice sounded strangely sweet.