Forsaken Priest of the Hero's Party-Chapter 7: Hydras Poison

Hittite Canyon, the place where the wind howled.

Someone approached this land where the wind blows with such an intensity that it could raise a bonfire’s temperature enough to melt steel.

“Yurinel Lakponcia.”

If you know they’re coming for you, it’s not an ambush, but a confrontation.

Horisa, the Demon King of Wind sat at the edge of the cliff as he chuckled. Since he had no more reason to live, he didn’t avoid the Hero.

“I welcome you.”

“What’s your scheme, Demon?”

The Holy Sword, forged by the Three Goddesses themselves, emanated a chilling light, Illuminating the Demon King.

As the one chosen by the Goddesses, the Hero possessed a power closer to the Divine.

However, even though such an existence aimed the Holy Sword at him, Horisa scoffed.

“Look at me, Hero. Do I look like someone who can even scheme something?”

As the Demon King of Wind turned around, Yurinel flinched and stepped back.

His skin clung to his bones. His eyes already lost their light and turned milky white.

Could this truly be the fearsome Horisa, The Demon King of Wind, one of the upper powerhouses among the Demon Kings?

“Tell us what you’re plotting foul Demon! Do we look foolish enough to be deceived by your illusion?”

The family that fought against the Devilkind. Those who subdued evil with evil.

The last descended of the Western Family, the famous Demon Hunters feared by all, struck the ground with her whip.

That whip, Demon Killer, reeked of bloodlust and resentment. A weapon feared by many demons. Seeing such a nightmarish weapon, Horisa flinched, but his expression quickly devolved into a desolate smile.

“I knew you were coming. The wind whispered in my ears. But what does it matter? I’m going to die soon anyway.”

“That’s why you called us here? To listen to your last words?”

Parnell, the blue-haired mage, glared at Horisa with a tense expression.

“Last words....? Hahaha-. Do you even know what you’ve done, oh mighty Hero?”

“Yes. We sent you demon bastards where you belong.”

“Lucia Western...I’ve heard your story...The nightmare brought about by the Western Family’s arrogance...”

In Horisa’s eyes, the Western Family was truly admirable.

What they had done was something so insane that even he, a Demon King, felt chills down his spine.

“To dare provoke Grimudo...Tsk, tsk-. That’s the most foolish thing I can imagine. You’d have a better chance of survival by calling those Three Goddesses whores to their faces than messing with that monster.”

“How dare you! Wait, you know about Grimudo?”

Lucia’s tone was filled with anger, as even Parnell became much more serious.

She narrowed her eyes, pointing the end of her staff at Horisa.

“You’ll tell us everything you know. What are Grimudo’s weaknesses?”

“Heh-. Unfortunately for you...”

He continued,

“The Ancient Demon King is an unknown entity even to us, demons. I may have been the fifth-ranking Demon King, but even I never faced Grimudo. And I had no intention of ever doing so either. We may both be called Demon Kings, but he’s on a different level. There’s nothing good about meeting him.”

“Then, there’s no reason for us to let you live.”

“Do you see me running, Hero? I’ll die soon. Oh, woe is me, the mighty Hero won’t even listen to my parting words...Tsk, tsk-. Some Hero you are...”

Yurinel Lakponcia retorted without letting her guard down.

“You do look unwell.”

“Oh, it’s much more than that. I can feel death coming for me even as we speak......I can’t even move my hands anymore. That Harmael...To think that wench was hiding something like this...”

“Harmael? Are you referring to the 2nd-ranked Demon King, that Harmael?”

“Yes...No matter how strong she is...She could never kill me. Beat me? Yes. But as powerful as she is, I could always escape with my life.”

Horisa continued, his tone getting gloomier.

“If only she hadn’t used a Hydra’s poison.”

“Hydra’s poison?”

The leather-armored demon hunter made a puzzled expression. Her elegant black eyes narrowed.

“Surely, you’re not talking about the poison of the venomous monster Hydra, are you?”

“Oh, but I am. The Hydra is one of the monsters that make up Grimudo’s army.”

Kuk, kahahaha!

Horisa laughed as if he had just thought about something incredibly funny.

“They say a Hydra’s poison can kill even the Mighty Hero! And it’s true. Even with all my power and the rulership of the Wind at my disposal, there’s nothing I can do about this poison. Hero, the reason I called you here is none other than...”

Was it an ambush after all?

Lucia grabbed her whip, and Parnell prepared her magic, Yurinel also gripped her Holy Sword tight. However, Horisa did nothing. He just smirked and continued speaking.

“I wanted to let you know, that with my death, the Anti-Harmael faction of the Demon Kings will die as well.”

“What?”

“Heh-! You Humans are truly foolish little creatures. All this time, every single war, every drop of blood shed, only did that woman a favor. Without knowing, she used you, the Hero as a tool to eliminate her political enemies. But considering that woman’s rotten nature, this was bound to happen someday.”

If you asked who was the strongest Demon King, even a Three-year-old child would know the answer. It’s the Ancient Demon King Grimudo.

However, Grimudo is a being that only appears in old stories or legends.

Even his monster army rarely shows itself to the world. It is almost unheard of for Grimudo to directly move against something. He also seemed to have no interest in the fate of the Demon race.

“The Immortal Demon King Harmael is a piece of work. That woman is ambitious. She wants to unify the demon race, into an Empire, and rule over them as the Empress.”

“W-What...?”

Yurinel’s voice trembled.

“Now there’s no one left to oppose her. The Demon Kings in various regions have been dealt with by you. Even I, who had been carefully biding my time, ended up like this due to Hydra’s poison, so now all the demons will come under her...This is the dawn of the Demon Empire.”

Horisa turned towards the cliff once more. His posture was relaxed.

Anyone, even a mere child could kick him, and make him fall off the cliff. But now, no one dared to attack him. Even Parnell, the most impulsive party member, was frozen.

“You were able to secure some victories when the Demons were divided, but can you do the same when they are united under a single will? The Demon Empire will be humanity’s doom.”

Horisa’s words made a certain twisted sense.

“Don’t get me wrong. I’m not on your side.  But no matter what the grudge between humans and demons is, I know this one thing. Harmael cannot be trusted with the Fate of us Demons. That foolish woman will make a mess of things.”

“That’s why you called us?”

“Yes. You must stop Harmael. After all, this is also partially your fault. When all the demons unite under her, Harmael will appear to be at her strongest. However, this will be the time she will be most vulnerable. If you seize this opportunity, then there might be a chance.”

Could they trust his words?

The chosen ones exchanged glances, and as Horisa noticed this, he smirked.

The man, now as shriveled as a living skeleton, took out a cigarette and tried to light it, but the fierce wind kept snuffing out the flame, until Parnell, who couldn’t bear to watch him any longer, used her magic to light his cigarette.

“Oh? Could this be a final courtesy to this Demon King?”

Horisa chuckled as he exhaled the smoke.

“If so, then I’ll gratefully accept.”

“To be honest. I can’t fully trust your words, Demon.”

Lucia Western grumbled with her arms crossed.

“We’ve also been hit by Hydra’s poison before. The Slime Demon King, Marmanun, used it against us.”

“What...”

Horisa’s eyes widened in surprise.

“That can’t be. You’re lying. If it was really Hydra’s poison, you wouldn’t have survived until now. There’s no magic that can cure it!”

Perhaps the Legendary Ancient Demon King, Grimudo, might have a cure.

But at least, Horisa doesn’t know the method. No matter how much he searched, no matter how much he gathered the sounds coming from the winds in all directions, there was no antidote to this terrifyingly powerful poison that was leading him to death.

“This poison is more fearsome than any curse, it’s even contagious to others! That’s why I’m keeping my distance from you all, and why I sent all of my subordinates away...For you to say you survived it...It’s completely absurd!”

The Hydra, the Monster of poisonous flames, is one of the most fearsome monsters in Grimudo’s legions.

It has nine heads and feeds on a pitchblende, a peculiar type of rock.

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Also known as Uranite. When swallowed, this rock is refined inside the Hydra’s body, allowing the monster to feed on its radiation to survive. During this process, the Hydra will exhale Radium as waste. Due to its extremely high temperature, it naturally takes the form of flames.

This was the truth behind the Hydra’s poisonous flame.

However, the most dangerous fact about the Hydra was not its flames but the poison flowing from the organ that excretes waste.

The only peculiarity is that the waste dissolved in Hydra’s blood is highly radioactive.

In the end, no matter how fearsome this liquid is, it is, in the end, a liquid.

Slimes, monsters also made of liquid, can easily extract the poison even if they come into contact with it. They are also inherently highly resistant to radiation, quickly recovering even if they take damage.

This is why the Slime Demon King, Marmanun, was able to extract Hydra’s poison multiple times.

Some of it was presented to Harmael and used to target Horisa, while another portion was directly used by Marmanun to kill the Hero’s party.

The Slime Demon King died with a bright smile, believing that the hero party would soon follow him.

However, the hero party is still alive. Very much so, in fact.

“While I felt a bit dizzy and nauseous for a moment, I quickly recovered. Could it truly be an incurable poison? Well, since demons can’t use Divine Power, it might be impossible for you all to detoxify it. Heh, your race is more pathetic than I’d thought.”

Parnell mocked Horisa.

It was a known fact that Demons are beings rejected by the Gods.

Even by the notorious Evil God Omertà.

Needless to say, the same goes for Demon Kings, the leaders of demons. No god reaches out to demons. This is because demons are descendants of those who went against the will of gods and chose to defy them.

Ironically, the unknown God Kyle adored, didn’t discriminate against demons.

But that’s abnormal, and usually, all kinds of divine power are hostile to demons.

In other words, trying to heal a Demon by using Divine Power was the same as poisoning them.

Of course, it was absolute madness to try to treat radiation exposure with divine power.

Although  Horisa didn’t know the true nature of Hydra’s poison, he knew the examples of its use. Whether humans or demons were affected by this poison, nine out of ten died, except for strange exceptions like slimes.

No Hero could withstand this poison.

What made this poison even more dangerous was that testing with it was extremely difficult, since the poison radiated heat on its own, making it difficult to store unless kept in a container with a cooling spell, as it would evaporate otherwise.

Regardless, of its difficult use, this poison is used because once ingested, no one can survive.

Once, the high priest of the Trinity Church suddenly fell and died after drinking a cup of black tea, his whole body heating up. Divine power was completely ineffective. No, rather, it was the divine power that caused his sudden death.

Knowing that the poison used in the tea was the Hydra’s, Horisa combed through all available channels for information to find a way to detoxify Hydra’s poison.

If there was a being capable of detoxifying such a thing, it would already be a being beyond human.

It was something that couldn’t be believed or accepted at all.

“This... This is absurd. It can’t be. Detoxifying Hydra’s poison? How is that possible? Are you saying the Goddess herself intervened? Are the current generation of Saints that incredible?”

“Saints, my foot. A mere commoner priest resolved it with a single blessing.”

The Demon King, who had been astonished until the end at the unbelievable reality, collapsed.

He clutched his head with both hands and screamed.

“Where, where is that priest? I want to see that priest. I’ll answer anything you ask, so let me meet him. Should I tell you the location of my hidden treasures? Even if gold forms mountains and silver paints the sea, if I die, it’s all meaningless, isn’t it!”

Horisa pretended to be composed even in the face of death, but how could a Demon King who enjoyed glory and authority be like that? He was simply in despair because there was no way out.

But now, a faint glimmer of Hope was lit in his heart.

Sadly, that Hope turned into a dagger carving his heart.

“We don’t know.”

“What... did you say?”

“We kicked him out. There’s no need for a commoner to be by our side.”

Parnell replied with a bored tone.

Yet, for someone who just found a bit of Hope in a dead end, those words were like cruel torture.

Horisa stood there blankly for a while and only spoke after a moment.

“Sigh...That’s to be expected...I made a fool of myself for nothing. That was a good one, can’t believe I fell for it.”

“What?”

“Do you think I wouldn’t know that it was all a lie? No one can save anyone from Hydra’s poison. It doesn’t make sense for a mere priest to detoxify it. And it’s even more ridiculous to say you chased away such a person.”

Suddenly, the winds swirling around in all directions distorted. The moment the hero party’s faces hardened, those wind blades shredded none other than Horisa himself to pieces.

“Even when I tried to help you, you insult me? Fine then, do as you please. I don’t care anymore. Let Harmael burn your kind, you clearly deserve it.”

“Hey!”

“Yes, I was foolish. What does it matter what happens to the fate of the demons after I die? Do as you wish. I’ll do as I please too!”

The hero party couldn’t come to their senses at the tirade of the Demon King of Wind, who scattered while cursing instead of screaming.

Only after the blood mist was washed away by the swirling wind did Yurinel make a perplexed expression.

“Why would he do that...?”

As the Demon King of the Wind died, the Hero’s party stood dumbfounded, their mouths agape.

Only the sound of the wind continued to rage through the Hittite Canyon.