Eustar’s expression, who had been watching the screen floating in midair, sank into an even more serious light. As Yuan had said, the demons continued to gather around the sink.

From insect-types crawling out of the grass, to beast-types lumbering closer, to hybrid types mixing the two, there were various kinds.

Byron stroked his bearded chin and said as if it was giving him a headache.

“Until yesterday we were at least able to eliminate them as they gathered, but now even that has become difficult.”

Eustar and Laila knew the reason. It was because they could see the shadow of a demon writhing like a giant snake among the smaller demons.

On closer inspection, it was not a snake but rather an insect-type demon resembling a centipede.

Every time its segments that seemed to move independently twitched disgustingly, a pale poisonous mist could be seen spreading on the ground. Whenever fluid dripped from its massive jaws, the relatively smaller demons beneath it would struggle and melt away.

Yuan said.

“Every time that thing moves, poison continues to spew out. If you get close, it’s like clouds have settled on the ground. It penetrates armor of course, and even protective spells are of little use. We need to eliminate that one to be able to take out the others, but the problem is we can’t see because of the mist.”

Laila remained silent, lost in thought. Meanwhile, Eustar was having some conversation with Byron, but she kept her gaze fixed on the screen with a pensive expression.

“Laila.”

Eustar’s hand gently gripped Laila’s shoulder. It was a habit of his that had become more frequent lately, as it had been before.

Eustar was becoming increasingly sensitive to Laila being quietly lost in thought or silent, in any case, shutting out her surroundings and being absorbed in her own world.

As if Laila might be suddenly dragged off somewhere the moment he looked away, as if she might disappear like an illusion.

“Have you figured out some way?”

But Eustar always subtly hid his true feelings. Suppressing his anxiety so as not to appear neurotic, he smiled slightly and treated her as if nothing was wrong.

Did Laila notice this fact? She might have. But she thought it was better not to know.

Laila turned her gaze back to the screen and shook her head.

“I don’t know.”

Swallowing a sigh, she shook her head again and continued.

“I wasn’t looking because I had some solution. It’s just… I thought it was strange.”

Saying that, Laila bit her fingertip in a way she had never done before. Eustar gently took her hand and enclosed it in his own, as if to trap it.

As she felt the sensation of fingertips pressing lightly against her palm, Laila suddenly felt a tickle behind her knees. It was unlike usual, even though it wasn’t particularly notable contact.

Laila cleared her throat lightly, then closed her eyes tightly before opening them again.

“If there’s a sink, demons or ghosts occur around it. As everyone knows… But to gather like this, and not even budge after gathering, what could be the reason?”

No one could answer that question. In fact, even the members of Branch 1, and even Branch Director Byron, had called Eustar and Laila because they couldn’t find the reason, so it was natural, if natural.

“Branch Director, look there!”

One of the members urgently pointed at the screen as if to stab it. People who had been lost in their own thoughts all raised their heads at once.

The body of a small demon visible on the screen swelled up and grew larger. It wasn’t just one. The bodies of similar small armored insect-type demons swelled up here and there, finally growing about twice as big before remaining motionless with their heads buried in the sink.

“What in the…”

The expressions of all those watching changed completely. Among demons, there are those that go through processes of growth and aging no different from other living beings.

However, the speed could not be this fast. If they suddenly doubled in size like this, what would happen tomorrow? There’s no rule that they have to double every day, and what if the growth rate gets faster and faster?

“We need to devise countermeasures immediately.”

Byron said. Meanwhile, demons continued to gather. Some of them collapsed before even reaching the sink due to the poison gas emitted by the giant centipede, and corpses of demons were piling up around the area.

Those that had resistance to the poison or didn’t die kept swarming towards the sink, crossing over the corpses that had become like small hills.

As a lion-like demon with four huge fangs approached, armored insects could be seen being crushed under its ferocious front paws.

As the centipede twisted its body once more, the poison mist thickened and the screen became almost invisible. Perhaps because they had just seen the armored insect demons grow, the giant centipede also seemed to have grown fatter.

Laila, who was still not taking her eyes off the screen, said.

“Growing means… taking in nutrients, right?”

Eustar and Byron turned to look at her. But Laila didn’t give her gaze to either of them, muttering softly as if talking to herself.

“Could they be feeding on the energy emitted by the sink?”

As soon as her words fell, murmurs spread among the members. Laila suddenly looked at Eustar as if waking from a dream. Her red eyes were gleaming clearly.

“Absorbing the energy of the sink…”

Eustar repeated. Then a member with hair branching out in all directions stamped his feet. He was a senior member called ‘Po’ among his colleagues.

“Then shouldn’t we close the sink as soon as possible?”

The other members also looked at Byron, Eustar, and Laila as if agreeing with Po’s words.

Branch Director Byron, making a sound like a patient with a toothache, said.

“To do that, we need to approach, but how do we purify that poison mist? As you know, we’ve tried everything until yesterday. Even Marnak from Adiak couldn’t find a good solution.”

“Marnak came?”

When Eustar asked, Byron nodded.

“Yes, Your Highness. We urgently requested help yesterday because we couldn’t do anything with what we had here. He tried blessing and magic, but it only irritated those things.”

Then Yuan scratched her freckled cheek and said sharply.

“That’s what I said, Branch Director. I told you it would be faster to draw them out one by one and kill them. Until yesterday, we could at least see ahead to some extent.”

“Shut up, you. How could we have known that even Branch Director Marnak couldn’t solve it? Besides, drawing them out one by one, when would we finish with all those? Were you planning to lure the beetles at the bottom with honey or something? And look at yourself in a mirror before you speak.”

“What’s wrong with how I look? It’s just one arm.”

“Enough.”

Eustar intervened between Byron and Yuan, cutting off their conversation.

“We don’t have time to argue about what’s already happened.”

Yuan pouted with a sulky expression. Then she started scratching the bandage wrapped around her right arm.

She too had been touched by the poison gas emitted by the centipede when approaching the sink yesterday. It was fortunate that it was just a graze; if she had gone a little deeper, her arm would have had to be amputated.

Then Laila spoke.

“We need to kill that centipede that’s creating the poison mist first. Shall we use a bow?”

Byron shook his head with an ambiguous expression.

“Your Highness is right, but we need to be able to see ahead. And the poison is so strong that the arrowheads melt before even reaching the demon.”

Laila, who had been silent for a moment, shook her head.

“If we could just see, I could somehow manage the arrowhead problem. If there’s any blessed water or crystals left.”

“There should be.”

Eustar, who had been staring at the screen that had become completely opaque and showed nothing, licked his dry lips.

“Is there no way to widen the range of this screen?”

Byron stared blankly at Eustar as if to ask what he meant. Eustar too, not knowing how to explain, searched for words in his mouth for a moment. Then he spread his arms shoulder-width apart.

“The screen we’re seeing now shows barely a 2-meter radius around the sink, right? I’m asking if we can widen this radius.”

Only then did the others understand what he was saying.

“Elrobe, can you do as His Highness says?”

“Please wait a moment, Branch Director. I’ll try.”

A humming noise and vibration could be felt. The crystals embedded in the wide plate vibrated and shone every time Elrobe’s hand touched them.

Occasionally, bluish sparks flew from Elrobe’s fingertips, but since it wasn’t real fire but an energy reaction, it was just a momentary sting.

As Elrobe manipulated the crystals, the blurred screen flickered as if it might go out, then grew a bit larger. And the field of view widened a bit more. It was enough to see the edge of the poison mist emitted by the centipede.

“This seems to be the limit.”

Elrobe turned around and rubbed his fingertips that had become numb from the energy reaction. Byron looked at Eustar as if to ask how it was, but Eustar still shook his head with furrowed brows.

“This isn’t enough. A bit more… we need at least 5 meters of distance secured from the poison mist. That way, even if a dangerous situation arises, we’ll have time to respond.”

“Eustar, what are you trying to do and how?”

Eustar took out something round from his leather bag. Laila’s eyes widened as she saw the red bead that looked like two grapes combined, with a thin line drawn in the middle. It was an object in her memory.

“This… isn’t it that? The eye…”

It was the Ranningrore, commonly called the ‘eyeball,’ a magical tool. It was what Eustar had used when searching for Laila. The crack had suddenly split open and an eye popped out, startling Laila.

Byron said.

“How do you intend to use this in this situation?”

Eustar rolled the Ranningrore once in his palm and then gently stroked it.

As if petting a real animal with eyelids. Then the crack in the middle slowly opened—like a sleepy cat opening its eyes—revealing a pitch-black pupil.

“I’ll have the Ranningrore find that giant centipede. Then we can see inside the mist. We can just look at the outside of the mist through the screen… Byron, we need a member who’s good at archery. So we can take it down in one shot by overlapping the two views.”