The forest of black trees was an even more gloomy place than expected.

The branches of the trees, laden with leaves that had lost their original color, became increasingly bare as one went deeper into the forest.

It wasn’t just the trees.

While plants covered the ground at the entrance, as one went further in, all the small plants were withered and dead.

It was as if the Grim Reaper had passed through.

‘It must be because of the demonic energy.’

At the deepest part of the forest, there was a portal.

A portal connecting the human world and the demon world.

Because it was hidden so deep, people didn’t even know there was a portal, but in fact, it was the cause of the forest’s destruction.

This strange portal, which shouldn’t have existed originally, brought changes to the peaceful human world.

Demons and demonic energy were originally concepts that didn’t exist in the human world.

But with the creation of the portal, both began to flow into the human world.

The demonic energy killed the living creatures of the human world in the forest, and demons filled those empty spaces.

Thus, the concept of demon habitats was born.

The Black Tree Forest was the place where the first portal appeared.

‘That’s why it’s so desolate.’

I had been to other demon habitats before, but this was the first time I’d seen even plants die off like this.

The cause must be that the demonic energy was denser here than in other places, as the portal had existed for a long time.

I headed towards the depths of the forest, extremely tense.

Finding the direction wasn’t difficult.

Elaine grass could be found near the portal where the demonic energy was densest.

So I just had to keep walking towards the desertified area.

As I penetrated deeper, the number of demons I encountered gradually increased, but I dealt with them appropriately.

Sometimes I just brushed past them, sometimes I hid behind the remaining bushes.

If demons detected my presence, I immediately subdued and knocked them down.

This was when Dietrich’s lessons shone.

‘Still, I can’t let my guard down.’

Was it due to the thickening demonic energy? If it wasn’t just my imagination, the demons seemed to be getting stronger.

It was after I had resolved to conserve my strength as much as possible and wandered for a long time.

After much searching, I was able to reach a certain place.

‘That’s…!’

A space that seemed cut out from this world, alien.

When I looked directly at what appeared to be a mirror at first glance, a world dyed entirely in red light unfolded before my eyes.

Surprised by the sight, more eerie than I had imagined, I immediately covered my mouth.

It was the portal.

‘Wow, the pressure is no joke. Is it really okay to approach that?’

I wanted to turn back immediately out of fear, but I mustered my courage and approached the portal.

‘Let’s not make any noise. Demons might swarm.’

According to the original work, the demon world was currently suffering from severe food shortages.

So despite it being unsuitable for survival, some demons were crossing over to the human world in search of prey.

That prey was humans.

In other words, if I caused a commotion here, demons might cross through that portal.

I looked around, trying not to even make a sound of breathing. I had to find the Elaine grass quickly and leave this place.

Fortunately, finding it wasn’t too difficult.

Because in this desert-like space, the only plants that had survived were all Elaine grass.

I searched for the grass with flowers as gorgeous as peonies.

The flower buds were black like all plants in this forest, but the leaves had a vivid green color.

I collected all the green I could find in the vicinity.

I put all the black flowers that were attached to the leaves into my bag.

Each of these I gathered now would play a big role in the fight against demons in the future.

‘There’s more than one or two things I can do with this.’

Elaine grass itself is actually just a common weed that can be seen even on roadsides.

It was sometimes used for landscaping, but had no other value.

‘But Elaine grass grown near the portal is different.’

The flowers of Elaine grass were originally red, but those grown near the portal were black.

With strong vitality befitting a weed, Elaine grass was the only living thing in the human world that could survive in an environment full of demonic energy.

This weed’s survival method was to produce even stronger resistance substances in places full of demonic energy.

‘That substance is the solution to everything.’

I continued to pick the Elaine grass around me intently.

Fortunately, it seemed no demons had entered through the portal so far. Did I pick a good timing?

‘The bag is almost full.’

Just as I thought I’d pick one last one.

“Miss Vivian! What on earth are you doing here!”

A roar directed at me came from behind.

I turned around at that voice echoing through the quiet forest.

“…Dietrich? Why are you here…”

“That’s my line!”

His face, usually full of composure, was now filled with urgency.

He quickly approached me and grabbed my wrist.

“We need to get out of here right now!”

Seeing him urging so frantically, I hurriedly covered his mouth. Then I whispered softly.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’ll explain everything. So please, just be quiet for a moment…”

But Dietrich just removed my hand.

“Do I look like I can calm down right now? I said we need to get out immediately.”

He focused his gaze solely on me, as if the portal in front of him was invisible.

That intense gaze momentarily took my breath away.

‘…I know I did wrong, but why is he so angry? No, this isn’t anger, this is…’

It was close to a plea for me to listen to his request.

Although I couldn’t even guess what he was thinking, I decided to follow his words as I felt the weight of his emotion.

“Alright, I’ll leave. I’ll leave, so quietly…”

As I was trying to persuade him to lower his voice.

His gaze, which had been directed at me, suddenly shifted behind me.

With an ominous feeling, I turned my head to follow his gaze, and there was a demon that looked like it could swallow ten people in one gulp.

It seemed to have crossed over to the human world through the portal, drawn by the sound of Dietrich and my conversation.

Dietrich seemed quite confused.

He would be ignorant of the concept of portals, so it made sense given the sudden appearance of a demon.

Still, befitting someone with extensive extermination experience, he quickly entered a combat stance.

At some point, a demon sword was in his hand.

He was about to charge at the demon before it could attack us. I hurriedly activated my ability to stop him.

“What are you doing…!”

“No, you can’t. If we take down that demon now, more demons will swarm in.”

I grabbed him once more as he tried to shake off my hand.

But then the huge bird-like demon lunged at us with its beak.

We dodged the attack simultaneously by scattering.

“As you’ve noticed, other demons can pop out through that hole! So we absolutely can’t deal with it here!”

Anywhere else, it would be fine to just kill a demon and be done with it, but this was right in front of the portal.

If the demon made even a death cry, it was as good as certain that other demons would be drawn to it.

‘No matter how strong Dietrich is, multiple demons in this situation is too much. There’s no winning against a group attack.’

Moreover, this was near the portal.

The place in the human world with the densest demonic energy. At the same time, it was where demons and devils could exert their innate powers best.

The stronger the demonic energy, the stronger demons and devils become.

So somehow escaping this place safely and quietly dealing with the demon was the best option. Or running away.

“Then… let’s run away.”

It seemed Dietrich had the same thought as me.

We started running in the same direction.

The demon chased us at high speed. It seemed to be overflowing with power, having just crossed over from the demon world.

It spread its huge wings and flapped them towards us. Each time, a fierce gust of wind arose.

Small demons that had followed the commotion were blown far away by that wind.

Despite looking like a bird, the demon either couldn’t or wouldn’t fly, chasing us by leaping with its two thick legs.

Despite its heavy body, the demon accelerated and gradually got closer to us.

‘This won’t do.’

I approached Dietrich while dodging the gust attacks.

“I’m sorry! Excuse me for a moment!”

After a brief apology, I wrapped my arms around his waist and lifted him up.

I ran while carrying him, just like when I had abducted him in a frenzy.

Fortunately, the demon gradually disappeared from view. The strategy of running away while carrying him seemed to have worked.

“Miss Vivian, I think you can put me down now.”

“Ah, I’m sorry! You must have been surprised.”

The situation had been so urgent that I only realized belatedly. He seemed a bit embarrassed by the current position.

I unwrapped my arms from his waist and set him down on the ground.

“No, it was wise. You are indeed faster than me.”

“More importantly… where on earth are we?”

In front of us, who had moved our feet randomly to avoid the demon, there was strangely something like a small stone building.

‘No, it’s strange to call it a building… An altar?’

I looked up along the concentric circular steps.

Then I saw something on top of the altar. It was none other than a human corpse.

‘What is that… No way. Is that really a human corpse?’

The ominous energy I had felt since entering the forest seemed to envelop my entire body.

I stepped back in surprise at the corpse on the altar.

As I did so, the back of my head bumped into something. The identity of that hard thing was Dietrich’s chest.

He grabbed both my shoulders with his large hands. Then he whispered softly in my ear.

“…Be quiet. Someone’s here.”

Just then, a frivolous voice was heard from the opposite side of the altar.

“Oh? How did they know? That we were here?”

“I know, right? We definitely suppressed our presence. They’re quite sensitive.”

“Ah, but this might be a bit fun.”

It seemed like several people were conversing, but strangely, the voices of all the speakers sounded the same.

As I swallowed nervously, a creepy laughing sound echoed.

The high-pitched tone overlapped as if resonating, to the point of hurting my ears.

Eventually, a human-like form revealed itself from the darkness.

Dietrich and I couldn’t help but be surprised at that strange form.

A appearance similar to but different from humans.

More than the black wings attached to the body, what caught my eye first was none other than the five heads.

A appearance too bizarre to be human. Intelligence enough to converse.

‘If it’s such a being, there’s only one possibility…!’

I naturally realized. The fact that the opponent before us was a devil.