IRM Chapter 141

The Light Spirit, upon hearing the uncle’s words, played along with him. “That doesn’t seem too good. That place is too dangerous. I already felt quite bad hiding under your protection this afternoon. It wouldn’t be right to trouble you again tomorrow.”

The uncle waved his hand and laughed heartily. “Don’t worry about it! To be honest, we also want to see if there are any special treasures in the black fog. We can’t return empty-handed again this time. If we don’t get any results, our adventurer rating will be lowered…”

The uncle showed a bitter smile and shook his head helplessly.

The Light Spirit looked at him sympathetically. “Ah… It seems the competition among adventurers is quite cruel too. Alright then, I’ll have to trouble you to look after us again tomorrow.”

The uncle leaned over, stretched out his hand, and forcefully patted his shoulder. “That’s great! With one more portion of strength, there will definitely be one less portion of danger! If we work together with one heart, we’ll definitely be able to reach deep into the black fog smoothly!”

The Light Spirit nodded with a faint smile.

The atmosphere around the campfire gradually became harmonious, and everyone slowly relaxed. The adventurers sat on one side of the fire, while Ji Chi and his group sat on tree trunks. Both teams peacefully conversed among themselves without incident.

The uncle told a joke to the adventurer beside him, slapping his thigh and laughing so hard he swayed back and forth. When he finally straightened up and saw the young, tender faces across from him illuminated by the firelight, an emotion of unclear meaning flashed through his eyes.

He deliberately steered the conversation toward the Saint Trilley Empire, taking this opportunity to ask them, “Your team has so many different professions. You should be attending a comprehensive academy now, right? Which profession academy did you attend before?”

Evan blinked and named an obscure little academy.

The uncle obviously hadn’t heard of this academy either. He nodded. “That makes sense. Most of the students who could get into those few profession academies in the Royal City have now advanced to the Combat Academy.”

Hearing his words, an adventurer nearby snorted coldly with a sneer. “Those are all innate talents. From the moment they were born, they were destined to attend the Combat Academy… They’re different from bottom-feeders like us who fight desperately to survive.”

“Exactly! Just look at who’s in the Combat Academy! What Demon King, some Earl’s son, Elven King… If I were them, I could also be an upper-class person at the Combat Academy!”

“Isn’t that right…” A summoner curled his lip. “If I were the Demon King, I would have already expanded the demons’ territory to the Angel Kingdom. So you see, aside from having talent, they’re essentially still useless!”

“Haha, and even if you have talent, you need to have the life to enjoy it. Look at that all-element genius who caused such a sensation back then—how many years has it been without any news of him? He’s probably long dead in some magic beast’s belly.”

As the adventurers got more excited in their discussion, they obviously forgot they had claimed to be from the “Golos Empire.” The familiarity with Saint Trilley in their words surpassed even that of several locals.

The uncle listened to their sarcastic remarks with a smile, shaking his head helplessly. A trace of mocking disdain was well concealed within his eyes.

He turned the roasted meat in his hand and passed several cooked skewers to Ji Chi and the others. “Don’t listen to their nonsense. Let’s eat this feast while it’s hot!”

Unfortunately, the direction he extended his hand toward was where Chloe sat. She glanced indifferently at the fragrant meat skewers and remained unmoved, refusing them.

The uncle didn’t get angry. He just smiled, smoothly withdrew his hand, and brought the meat to his mouth, eating it in large bites.

Hearing that the adventurers hadn’t finished discussing their views on geniuses, he asked the group of students. “What about you? How do you view geniuses?”

Ji Chi sat there and took the meat skewer Evan had roasted. He thought for a moment and said, “In my homeland, there’s a saying: People more excellent than you are all working hard—what qualifications do you have not to work hard?”

The adventurers’ discussion instantly ceased. They sat with their mouths half-open, turning their heads to stare blankly in Ji Chi’s direction.

This was the first bowl of chicken soup they had drunk in their lives, and listening to it naturally stirred their hearts.

(TL: not literal chicken soup; “鸡汤” (chicken soup) short for “心灵鸡汤” = refers to inspirational, motivational, or morale-boosting words)

The uncle also furrowed his brow, silently contemplating this truth.

Ji Chi couldn’t see their reactions, but that didn’t prevent him from giving a devilish smile. “However, I recognize another saying even more—people more excellent than you are all working hard, so what use is your effort?”

The adventurers’ passionate emotions were instantly doused with a large ladle of cold water, and morale became extremely low for a moment.

All sounds around them disappeared. In the vast forest, only the crackling sound of the campfire burning echoed.

The companions looked at Ji Chi with awe—truly worthy of you!

After that, no one was willing to speak anymore. Everyone silently finished dinner. After the uncle arranged the night watch rotation order, everyone shook out their sleeping bags and found dry ground near the campfire to lie down.

Ji Chi and his group actually had brought tents, but the tents were academy-issued, and the glaringly obvious Combat Academy emblem on them was far too conspicuous. They could only make do with sleeping bags for the night.

However, their sleeping bags were also of very good quality, so overall they were still comfortable.

After most people had lain down, the uncle climbed up the linden tree, sat beside Mog, and asked him, “How’s your wound from this afternoon? Will it affect your movement?”

Mog patted his chest and shook his head. “It’s just a minor injury. I recovered after drinking some potion.”

The uncle said, “That’s good then.”

Mog looked down at the area beneath the tree with cold eyes, seeing the students’ obviously much more expensive sleeping bags, and curled his lip. “Their equipment is all quite good. Even if they’re not capable students, they’re at least children of wealthy people, right? They’re really different from us.”

The uncle smiled unconcernedly. “Indeed they’re different. Prey that can’t resist will always have their skin stripped and flesh carved by hunters.”

The uncle didn’t want to say too much here. He patted Mog’s back. “You take the first half of the night watch. I’ll go sleep for a while. Remember to call me when it’s time.”

Mog watched him climb down the tree, crawl into his sleeping bag, and when his breathing gradually became steady, only then did he breathe a sigh of relief. His forehead was already covered with cold sweat, all forced out by the pain from his wound.

Mog gently pressed his somewhat sunken chest, and a trace of lingering fear flashed through his eyes—fortunately he didn’t see through it, otherwise the next person to be abandoned would be me…

It was a peaceful night. Perhaps because the black fog had devoured half the magic beasts and scared away the other half, the small clearing where they were located was very safe, and they weren’t disturbed by any accidents throughout the entire night.

Everyone rested sufficiently, or at least appeared refreshed on the surface.

The uncle picked several large leaves covered with dew and extinguished the campfire’s remaining embers, then covered the burnt ashes with fallen leaves from the ground.

When all this was done, the small clearing showed no trace that anyone had stayed there.

The uncle took the lead at the front, saying to them, “Today we might encounter quite a few magic beasts that have returned to observe. We need to be carefully on guard.”

The uncle’s predictive ability was quite strong. On their way toward the black fog, they indeed encountered many magic beasts, and even some intelligent plants that would actively attack.

Fortunately, their levels weren’t very high. The adventurers, fighting desperately, could still battle with them without needing Ji Chi and his group to show their skills.

However, to make their team appear weaker, they tried to find things to do.

Thus, after several battles, both sides were somewhat disheveled. The adventurers fought with all their strength, their bodies covered with wounds large and small. Mog, who was already injured, was bitten by a man-eating flower, and half his arm had already disappeared.

Ji Chi’s side was also very busy. The clean young master had been smeared with quite a bit of mud by his teammates taking advantage of the chaos. At this moment, with a dusty face and expression dark as water, those who didn’t know might think he had suffered some terrible injury…

The others were the same—there wasn’t a clean spot on any of them. Small conflicts accumulated over the years all erupted at once. What should have been a life-or-death battle, they turned into children throwing mud at each other.

The result looked much worse than the adventurer team.

The uncle bandaged his wound and looked at this group of miserable little friends with incomprehension. “You all… aren’t you going to treat yourselves?”

Evan calmly wiped his face. “It’s fine… We don’t need potions. We’ll recover quickly.”

The uncle thought they had run out of potions, so he didn’t concern himself with them. In his eyes, these were all already dead people—there was no need to use expensive potions on them.

The uncle looked up ahead. “We’re about to enter the range of the black fog. I just caught a live forest mouse. We can use it to scout the path.”

At some point, a small cage woven from vine grass hung at his waist, inside which was a lively little mouse confined.

This type of forest mouse was extremely timid. If you scared it, it would mindlessly scurry about. However, it ran very fast—if you weren’t careful, it could run out of visual range.

They came before the black fog. The black fog was extremely thick—even the most peripheral parts were like ink, rolling and spreading before them.

The uncle didn’t dare get too close. He half-squatted on the ground and lifted the cage cover holding the forest mouse in the direction of the black fog.

The forest mouse was already frightened out of its wits. It instantly darted out, running toward the black fog without looking.

However, as soon as it touched the black fog, its body immediately stiffened. Its pitch-black little bean eyes gradually turned blood-red, and moments later it even rigidly turned around and lunged at the uncle!

The uncle was already on guard. With a flick of his wrist, a dagger slid from his sleeve. He dodged the forest mouse’s attack and swung his dagger, slashing at its tiny body—

The palm-sized little mouse was cut in half at the waist. The cross-section of its muscles was gray-black, and not a single drop of blood flowed out.

Not only that, the forest mouse still wasn’t dead. Instead, it was desperately scratching and crawling on the ground with its two front paws, inching toward the uncle bit by bit…

The uncle watched with his hair standing on end and exclaimed in shock. “This is… undead?”

Undead were a race whose life and death were very difficult to define. They were clearly already dead, yet they could move about like normal people.

The forest mouse was now in this state. It had already died the instant it entered the black fog, but the excessively rich black fog had directly changed its bodily functions, transforming it into undead.

Evan and Saintess Coralie looked at each other. They both thought of Bien Village at the same time.

Back then, the village where Reize had been was turned into undead—all the villagers—because of the dark elements released by a pollution source.

However, the dark elements contained in the black fog were many times richer than in Bien Village. Just at the outer edge, it was enough to instantly kill a small beast.

The uncle had never seen such a phenomenon. He became somewhat hesitant, and the way he looked at Ji Chi and the others turned unfriendly. He began to consider whether to just kill them on the spot and take their money.

Evan pretended not to notice his thoughts. He turned back to examine that stretch of black fog and asked the Light Spirit. “Can this kind of black fog be dissolved using light elements? Like you did before?”

The Light Spirit shook his head. “No, the power of the dark elements has already been released. They’re too pure—they’ll explode if they encounter even a bit of light element.”

“However, there is another method…” The Light Spirit frowned in thought.

“What method?!” The adventurers widened their eyes and turned to look at him.

The Light Spirit held up one finger. “If we bring a unicorn’s horn, perhaps it can protect us from the black fog’s invasion.”

Ji Chi, lying on his back, blinked and silently curved up the corners of his mouth.

“I know where there’s a unicorn!” The warrior among the adventurers immediately shouted!

“Gene! Shut up!” Mog roared at him!

The uncle glared coldly at Mog and smiled at Gene. “You know? That’s great. You can lead them into the black fog together to find the unicorn.”

Gene’s face immediately turned pale. “Wh-what… Why me…”

“Gene, you should know the consequences of defying me.” The uncle put away his smile and looked at him quietly.

Gene’s eyes were full of regret. He looked at the black fog, and a pleading expression appeared on his face. “Boss… Can I tell them the location and let them go in to die instead? I’m your subordinate after all…”

The uncle remained unmoved and commanded Ji Chi and the others, “You all, follow him to find the unicorn… No, just send one person from among you. It wouldn’t be worthwhile if you all died inside.”

The uncle completely tore off his disguise and smiled sinisterly. “Oh right, as for this person, you can decide among yourselves.”

Linton pretended to look at him with fear and bit his lip. “No… We won’t go in! We want to leave here!”

The uncle sneered. “Too late. If you don’t go, that’s fine too—then you can just die here right now.”

Evan extended his hand to stop him and calmly stepped forward. “Wait! We can try, but we need the unicorn’s location. If the person who goes in can’t come back…”

A trace of pain flashed through his eyes. “The rest of us will also go to rescue them.”

“You’re quite united.” Seeing how easily they submitted, the uncle laughed heartily in good humor and said to Gene, “Speak. Where exactly is the unicorn’s location?”

Gene’s face was ashen as he gave the location in a low voice.

“Alright, we know now.” Saintess Coralie noted the location and suddenly smiled. “Then I’ll go in first. I’m definitely the most suitable person.”

Evan nodded in analysis. “Mm, that works too. You’re not affected by the Dark Night Forest’s black fog, so this black fog probably can’t harm you either. But if you feel uncomfortable, come out immediately. We have many other methods.”

The uncle’s smile froze at the corner of his mouth. He looked at their suddenly relaxed expressions with doubt, his heart full of incomprehension.

He frowned. “What exactly are you—”

“Shut your mouth.” Saintess Coralie glanced at him indifferently. As he was suppressed by her aura, she lightly pressed her right hand against her chest, and a blood-colored red light emanated from her palm.

[Demon Form]

Darkness black as night flowed down like a waterfall, transforming her brilliant golden hair inch by inch into deep black. She slowly closed her eyes, and her ice-crystal transparent blue pupils were gradually concealed. When she opened them again, they were a pair of ice-cold blood-red eyes.

Demon Saintess Coralie walked before the uncle, raised her eyes to look at him, and curved up the corner of her mouth. “What exactly are we—what?”

The uncle finally understood where the unease that had been circling in his heart and his countless suspicious probings came from… His complexion rapidly turned ashen, and his hands began to tremble.

In all the continent, there was only one person who could freely transform between human and demon forms.

She was the former Saint Trilley Empire’s Saintess, now the fourteenth Demon King of the Demon King Castle—bearing the title Nightingale.