Dark Moon Era

Demons?

 Tang Ling did not believe in demons, but in the medieval times of the Light Continent, there were many people who believed in demons and judging from Tonnies’ expression, he believed it too.

 The people from the church came as requested.

 The exorcism process was complicated and long, but in the end, the people from the church failed to solve the problem.

 The brutal killings did not even stop during the exorcism period. They just became relatively fewer.

 However, fewer cases did not mean that they were solved. The killings did not stop! It was like how a patient with a chronic disease did not get cured. Death was just delayed.

 The people from the church were rendered helpless. In the end, they provided the people of Marco Village an option, which was to move the entire village since they could not do anything about the demon.

 Move the whole village? Surrender the fertilized land and give up on the home that the people lived for generations? It was difficult for the villagers of Marco Village to accept the suggestion, but they had to. However, things then took a sharp turn again.

 Just when Marco Village was getting ready to move, the same thing happened to three more neighboring villages.

 On top of that, the incident showed signs of expanding. The incident was getting more and more severe, and it finally got Grand Duke Ferdinand’s attention. After all, the human population at such a perilous time was precious.

 Even the wealthy Grand Duke Ferdinand could not sustain the loss of population from several villages, so the fertilized land would be wasted.

 Of course, based on the Grand Duke’s character, his first choice was to trust his group of talented individuals to solve such a sticky situation.

 The facts once again proved that the talented individuals around the Grand Duke were extremely capable. One of them was friends with the cardinal of the church. With the relationship, the group of talented individuals was given permission to access the secret archive of the church.

 After all, identifying the enemy was the first step to defeat the enemy, was it not? Where else would hold more information than the archive of the church? Who else would be more knowledgeable than the people of the church?

 Such words might be ridiculous in modern times, but back then, it was natural.

 Miraculously, they actually found the answer in the secret archive of the church.

 The answer was—the Santos Demon!

 Marco Village was the Santos Demon’s home. During his last moments on this earth, he went through an arduous journey and did everything he could to return to his home before burying himself in a mysterious location, but why would a demon go through all that just to return to his homeland? Did he miss his home so much that he decided to perish in the same place?

 No! The reason why he returned to his home was a secret. Rumor had it that this secret would resurrect the Santos Demon so that he would return in his prime form.

 He did not literally bury himself. He actually used the last bit of his power to freeze himself someplace.

 Once in a hundred years, his soul would awaken and possess someone to collect the required materials for his resurrection. The materials included blood, liver, human fear, and so on.

 Tang Ling was absolutely baffled by the story. While he did not buy a single word of it, he believed the truth must have lain underneath the fiction.

 Afraid, he grabbed Tonnies’ arm and said with a pale expression, “W-who is this Santos Demon? Why didn’t I hear anything about this demon before? W-will he come after me?”

 Tonnies tapped Tang Ling’s shoulder and assured, “No, he won’t. The Santos Demon didn’t come back to life. At least, that’s what I heard. As for who he is, it’s remained a secret. Everything about this demon remains a mystery. Even the Grand Duke Ferdinand didn’t know anything about him.”

 Strange, had it been erased by someone? Or sealed away? Was it because the details about this Santos Demon were important clues to uncovering the truth?

 Tang Ling did not show any response while he mapped out the entire incident in his heart bit by bit.

 Tonnies was not done with his story either. After confirming the Santos Demon was the culprit, things got a little easier.

 Demon Santos was also involved in some of the secrets of the church. As a matter of fact, the church had been searching for Demon Santos’ burial ground for years, if it was not for Marco Village’s incident and secretive clues matching up, the church would not be able to pinpoint Demon Santos’ homeland.

 After all, everything about the Santos Demon was a mystery. Even the secret archive of the church did not have a complete set of information about him.

 How should the church deal with the Santos Demon then?

 Firstly, the church must find out who the demon had possessed. They must stop the possessed from carrying out the demon’s evil deeds and collecting the required items for the resurrection.

 Secondly, after locating a mysterious tribe and moving the tribe to Marco Village, the demon could only be suppressed if the tribal chief had been there for a long time.

 Things were moving in a clearer direction, but it was not a smooth journey.

 Since the incident had startled the higher-ups of the church, Grand Duke Ferdinand decided to partake in this. The important figures of powerful factions always sought an effective and convenient way around the matter, hence the possessed would be located after a short while.

 To the people’s surprise, the possessed was none other than the village chief! Not only was he possessed by the demon, but even his four strong and excellent sons, his two obedient and kind daughters, and his capable sons-in-law had also been bewitched into becoming his accomplices.

 People found dried human liver in the village chief’s house and some mysterious bottles with the mark of the demon, which was supposed to bottle the fear of humans, plus some messed-up things.

 It had been over a hundred years now, yet Tonnies was not clear about the details of the people’s findings.

 However, solid evidence sealed the case.

 The village chief and his family were all burned at the stake. Unfortunately, one of his sons-in-law escaped with his three grandchildren. The other unfortunate thing was that no matter how harsh the village chief and his family were interrogated, they did not reveal where the Santos Demon was buried.

 “It’s obvious that everything that’s happening right now is a problem from a hundred years ago.” Tonnies sounded angry. Judging from his tone, he deeply believed in the existence of the demon. Without his own knowledge, as he told the story, his strong emotions were infused into it.

Nonetheless, Tang Ling was not affected by Tonnies’ personal emotions because he was thinking about something else.

 In short, the village chief was dealt with in the end, but because of the lurking danger, searching for the mysterious tribe became the top priority.

 It was then that Grand Duke Ferdinand showed off his powerful luck once more.

 Since the Grand Duke had been an adventurer before he took on the family title, after he heard about the description of the mysterious tribe, he suddenly remembered that he had visited an island and made friends with some tribal people before when he was younger. Coincidentally, this tribe that he befriended was that mysterious tribe.

 Things went on smoothly as Grand Duke Ferdinand brought his men together to visit the mysterious tribe.

 However, it was said that the journey to the island was rather a bizarre one, and in the end, after rejecting the Grand Duke’s offer for a few times, the tribe reluctantly sent 20 men to follow the Grand Duke to his principality.

 It was not a favor without conditions though. The mysterious tribe requested that their people’s identity be kept secret in order to avoid their enemies.

 For the sake of secrecy, Grand Duke Ferdinand went through an arduous process to move the neighboring villages away. Then, he selected one or two families from different villages to move to where the tribe settled down.

 Since then, Marco Village was populated with people of different origins and the identity of the people from the tribe was concealed.

 After all that effort, the disaster really stopped.

 Ever since the village chief and his family were executed by fire, there were no more killings, and after the people of the mysterious tribe moved in, peace and harmony blessed Marco Village. The peace should last, but the escapee eventually turned out to be a problem.

 “The descendants of that mysterious tribe must all be dead.” Tonnies looked a little helpless when he revealed the surprising fact to Tang Ling.

 Tang Ling feigned shock and fear, but before he could ask anything, Tonnies continued, “I’ve stepped across the line. I don’t know why I’m telling you all this. Just don’t ask me how I know about the village. All you need to know is the outcome.

 “The whole thing should have spanned for a decade. We are the ones who failed to recognize the problem early on…” Tonnies scrubbed his face heavily and scratched his head frustratedly.

 His golden hair was messy after he rubbed it. Combined with his disappointed look, it made him look extremely helpless.

 Tang Ling remained quiet and did not ask questions.

 Agitated, Tonnies bolted up as he continued, “You guessed the rest. The descendants of the possessed have been planning this in the dark. They got back to the old Marco Village and dug a hole in a nearby hill.

 “Gosh, that hole in the hill reeked badly. A lot of people were woken that night and…the Santos Demon’s body and the secret of his possession were transferred somewhere else. These people wanted to possess the Santos Demon! Do you know how outrageous that is? They came back with a determined goal!

 “After that night, I think you already know what happened. Just look at how much your farm lost. Herds of sheep and cows were dead along with a few people, am I right? You shouldn’t know about all this. You should be like everyone else, listening to rumors, believing in the tales of Count Dracula or monsters. You should be at your house at night, scared to go out.

 “I’m sorry. You have no idea how much pressure I have to endure! As a knight, I must expel evil and protect the land for my master.

 “Tell me everything you’ve seen, and maybe you might have seen one of the descendants of the possessed, or maybe they are the newly possessed. What you’ve seen is important to us to find them.”

 Tonnies was seriously agitated as he stepped up and grabbed Tang Ling by the arm again.

 However, Tang Ling was calm. His muscles were coiled and he subtly got into a battle-ready stance.

 Bang!

A loud crash later, the iron door to the cell was slammed shut!