"What else did you see in the Black Mist?"
Looking at Surt in front of him, Luke continued questioning him.
Surt shook his head and said with difficulty, "Nothing else... I was too scared at the time. I only saw the captain and the others..."
After thinking for a few seconds, Luke looked at Surt and said, "We still need to make a trip to the island. Do you remember where those soldiers were? I'll need you to guide us."
Whether he was telling the truth or not, they had to go to the island ahead.
At those words, Surt both nodded and shook his head, his face full of fear.
The nod seemed to mean that he still remembered.
The shaking seemed to mean that he was terrified and didn't want to go back to that island.
"Don't be afraid. When the time comes, we'll prioritize your safety."
Luke looked at him seriously and made that promise.
His clear eyes seemed to give Surt a great deal of courage.
After hesitating for a long while, he finally nodded. "All right. I'm willing to guide you."
After that, everyone brought Surt back onto the ship.
At present, he was the only one who had been to the island ahead, and the only one who remembered where those Dauntless Vanguard soldiers were.
Luke personally poured him a cup of warm water, stepped out, and handed it to the pale-lipped, dried-out Surt. "Drink a little first."
"Thank you, sir."
Surt accepted it, flattered and overwhelmed. He really was thirsty.
He tipped his head back and drained the water in several gulps. His complexion finally eased a little and no longer looked quite so deathly pale.
Luke asked, "Do you want something to eat?"
Surt shook his head. "I don't have any appetite right now."
"Mm. Try not to dwell on it. We'll keep you safe."
After saying that, Luke turned and walked toward the bow.
What he didn't notice was the flash of excitement that passed through Surt's eyes the moment his back was turned.
Surt licked his lips as he watched Luke's retreating figure.
He didn't have an appetite now.
But he would soon enough.
He really hadn't expected to run into prey of such high quality here.
Far better than the few he had caught on the island a few days earlier.
As one of the five great demons under the Pain Demon, and one whose combat ability leaned toward the weaker side, his only hobby and preferred method of hunting was relying on his superb disguise to transform into a human and deceive other humans.
Then he would lure them into dangerous places, where he could borrow the hands of others, or other things, to kill his prey for him.
Then he could feast to his heart's content.
And while devouring them, he could watch the despair on their faces.
That feeling was so good it was almost intoxicating.
At that moment, Luke stared out across the pitch-black sea. On the vast surface, only the lamps aboard the ships cast any light.
It was only nine at night. This should have been an hour of bright moon and sparse stars.
Yet even the moon above seemed veiled by the darkness.
And then there was the silence.
A suffocating, unnatural silence.
There was no sound of waves, and no sound at all beneath the sea.
He had already given the order for everyone to stay on high alert. The Black Mist could arrive at any moment, so they had to remain extraordinarily cautious.
After about forty minutes, the blurry outline of an island appeared in everyone's view.
At a glance, the island looked as though it were shrouded in darkness, standing beneath the night with an eerie, deathly stillness.
Ten minutes later, the five Dauntless warships slowly docked at the island's small harbor.
There, Luke and the others found the other two missing fishing boats.
The moment they saw those two ships, everyone knew that the cause of it all really was here.
"Your Highness, should we search the two ships?" Cithria stepped up and asked for instructions.
Luke considered it for a moment, then nodded for safety's sake. "Search them."
The squads moved immediately.
Naturally, they found nothing.
The two ships were incredibly dilapidated, even worse than the one they had found earlier, and completely unusable.
Inside, they were empty. There wasn't a single trace of any person.
"Move onto the island!"
Seeing there were no results, Luke gave the order to advance inland.
Lucian's letter was no longer useful once they reached this point. Lamins' location could be narrowed down to this island, but not to any specific place on it.
Luke had turned the relic of light into a bracelet and wore it on his wrist.
The relic functioned like a signal beacon, able to detect nearby Sentinels of Light and be detected by them.
One torch after another was lit, barely pushing back some of the island's grim, lifeless atmosphere.
The firelight illuminated the path ahead while Surt, shivering, walked in the middle of the formation.
Not long after, the troop entered the forest and began moving down the muddy, silent trails beneath the trees.
As they made their way deeper in, people noticed that the temperature around them seemed to drop several degrees.
A little farther ahead, the group reached a fork in the road that split like a canyon pass.
"Which way?" Luke looked at Surt.
Surt thought for a moment, then raised his hand and pointed to the right. "That way..."
Luke paused briefly, then said, "All right. Then we go left."
He took the lead and headed down the left path, with the rest of the formation following right behind him.
Surt froze for a moment, not quite processing what had just happened.
Thinking his voice had been too soft, he hurried after Luke and said, "Sir, I said the right side."
"I heard you."
Luke nodded. "But I want to go left."
Surt: "..."
Then what the hell is the point of asking me to guide you?
He fell silent and had no choice but to continue following.
As for Luke's decision, the soldiers simply obeyed and kept going.
After entering the rough mountain trail on the left side, Luke discovered that the terrain could only be described as twisted and complicated. Not only was the path difficult to traverse, it was practically mountain climbing.
Even so, nothing unusual happened along the way and they encountered no danger.
After some distance, they came upon another fork in the road.
Looking at the surroundings, Surt said, "I think I've been here before..."
"Then it looks like both paths lead here." Luke nodded and asked again, "So, which way now?"
Surt hesitated for a moment, then still pointed to the right.
"Go left."
Luke gave the order again, and the formation immediately followed him down the left-hand path.
Surt was dumbfounded.
He genuinely couldn't figure out what Luke was doing.
You brought me here to identify the route, but every time I point, you go the opposite way?
Are you screwing with me?
He had already set ambushes and traps on the right-hand route, and had even guided those undead from the Black Mist into that area.
If Luke took the right path, it wouldn't matter how many men he had, some losses were guaranteed.
But time had been short, and Surt hadn't had the chance to shift any traps to the left.
More importantly, he had never imagined he would run into someone like Luke.
Someone who played by absolutely no normal logic at all.
He realized this man seemed to enjoy taking the opposite direction from whatever he pointed at.
So he made up his mind.
Next time, he would deliberately point to the other side.
The troop continued onward. After another thirty minutes or so, they reached the third fork in the road.
Cithria's expression was strange as she said, "Why haven't we seen a single wild animal the whole way?"
Vayne, standing nearby, swept her gaze across the surroundings. Forget beasts. Other than them, they hadn't seen a single living thing.
Poppy held her hammer in one hand, with a small shield strapped to her back, and muttered, "I don't like this place..."
At that moment, Surt looked around and said, "I think I've been here too. The captain and the others ran through here."
Luke looked at him, then asked, "Is that so? Which way did you go after this?"
This time Surt raised his hand and pointed left.
Luke nodded. "Good. Then we keep going left."
Surt: "..."
You motherf—
?
Why aren't you going the opposite direction this time?
He reacted a beat later and quickly pointed to the right instead. "I think I remembered wrong, sir. We went right."
"It's fine. I like left."
Luke smiled at him.
Surt had no words.
He silently followed the group, head lowered, his expression turning increasingly sour.
He truly never could have imagined it.
He had actually run into this kind of complete blockhead.
With things playing out this way, all the preparations he and Vora had set up on the island were useless.
Damn it...
He needed to think of another way.
Lowering his head, Surt's mind started working fast. With the troop still at full strength and not a single casualty, the only thing left was to find a way to use the Black Mist itself.
That Black Mist was eerie beyond words. Even he disliked getting too close to it.
But over the past few days, he had certainly enjoyed several full meals thanks to it.
The whole way, Surt kept trying to think of a new plan.
Meanwhile, Luke and the others followed the mountain trail on the left and eventually found themselves descending.
Halfway down the slope, the group discovered a cave.
The interior was pitch black, without the slightest sound coming from inside.
But perhaps reacting to the firelight and footsteps outside, several rhythmic thuds suddenly sounded from within the cave.
The moment Cithria heard them, delight flashed across her face. "It's them. They're still alive!"
It was a specific Dauntless Vanguard signal, and many people present recognized it immediately.
At once, two team members carrying torches entered the cave.
Before long, four men were helped out from the entrance.
Compared to before, the armor on those four was now covered in grime, as if it had been corroded by something. It even had small holes in places, as though something had gnawed at it.
Their faces were pale and weak, as if they had only barely held on until now.
The moment they saw the larger force outside, they seemed to relax all at once and their eyes shut powerlessly.
After confirming that they were indeed human, Luke stepped forward, took out the pills he carried with him, and fed them into their mouths.
As the medicine took effect, the color in the four Dauntless soldiers' faces gradually returned a little.
One of them recovered enough strength to weakly open his eyes. After seeing Luke, he murmured, "We... couldn't save them."
"You did more than enough. Get some rest. Leave the rest to us."
Luke looked at him reassuringly. The grief in that soldier's eyes was plain to see.
Even Luke felt genuine admiration rise in his heart.
You could say Demacia had many problems, but you could never deny the determination of this nation and its soldiers when it came to protecting the weak.
The soldier closed his eyes again, seeming to drift back into sleep.
All four had suffered many injuries, but at least they were no longer in danger of dying.
The fact that they had held out this long under the Black Mist was nothing short of extraordinary.
Luke stood up and walked over to Surt. With a smile on his face, he looked at him and said, "We really have you to thank for leading the way."
Surt forced out a smile. "Actually, it didn't have much to do with me..."
Thank me for what?
Surt almost felt like having him there or not made no difference at all.
It wasn't like Luke had actually followed the route he pointed out even once.
"No, no. We definitely have you to thank."
Luke emphasized it again, then asked with concern, "Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?"
Surt froze for a moment, then shook his head. "No. I actually feel much better now."
"All right. I understand."
Then came a wet, sharp sound.
The sound of a blade piercing flesh.
A burst of pain spread through his chest.
Surt stared blankly downward at the long sword protruding from his chest, confusion flashing through his eyes.
"Looks like human poison still isn't strong enough to do much to a demon. Next time I'll increase the dose. Thanks for helping me test that."
Luke wore a harmless, almost gentle smile as he poured righteous energy into the blade.
"Aaaah!!"
Surt instantly let out a shriek.
A scorching force suddenly surged from the sword, like blazing fire, burning through every corner of his body.
That tearing pain, that sensation of life slipping away and death drawing closer, filled Surt with terror.
He had no idea what was happening.
He had no idea why it had turned out like this.
He was a high-ranking demon.
How could he die in such a ridiculous way?
"Why..."
He forced the word painfully from his throat and stared in disbelief at the man before him.
How did this man know he was a demon?
Even the Pain Demon had praised his disguise before...
Luke had no interest in answering. He simply pulled the blade back out and let Surt's body collapse to the ground.
That sudden scene left everyone stunned. The surrounding soldiers all froze, staring at Luke in confusion.
They had no idea why the prince had suddenly struck down the man who had guided them.
Then, in the very next second, something happened that no one had expected.
The fallen Surt suddenly began giving off a plume of black smoke.
His face twisted and warped, gradually transforming into a hideous humanoid demon.
Dark energy coiled around his entire body. Its face was triangular and grotesque, with long horns jutting outward from either side of its head.
"A demon?"
Cithria's eyes widened.
Even Vayne hadn't expected it. The weak, helpless-looking man's true form was actually a demon?
Ever since destroying the demon seed inside her, her ability to sense demons had only returned to the level of normal trained instincts.
And that man's disguise had been flawless.
Including her, there were many people here, among them numerous Dauntless Vanguard soldiers.
Yet not a single one of them had realized that Surt was a demon in disguise.
Poppy's eyes lit up as she looked at Luke with unrestrained admiration.
That was incredible!
"How did you know it was a demon?"
Vayne voiced the question everyone was thinking.
At that moment, everyone looking at Luke was curious about the same thing.
"I thought it was strange that he could survive the dangerous Black Mist he described."
Luke answered casually, "So I added a little modified Tattooed Two-Tailed Snake venom to the water he drank. That poison causes pain and itching, but it isn't fatal."
Vayne had been hit with that venom once before. A poisoned victim would feel alternating chills and heat, unbearable pain and itching, and as the tattoo-like pattern spread, it would eventually lead to death.
She remembered that Luke really had collected some back then.
She hadn't expected him to still be carrying it around.
"By all rights, the poison should have shown symptoms by then. I asked him how he felt, and he said he felt much better. Doesn't that make it obvious he wasn't human? And if he wasn't human and wasn't undead, then he was obviously a demon skilled at disguise."
Luke's casual explanation fell into the silence.
No one said a word.
As expected of His Highness.
He thinks ridiculously far ahead.
At that moment, that exact thought flashed through the mind of everyone present.
There had been absolutely nothing visibly non-human about Surt. If it had been them, they probably would have been completely fooled.
Of course, Luke left out one other reason.
His Eye of Truth had seen the demonic aura around Surt from the very beginning.
Luke had known from the start that Surt was a demon in disguise.
As for its purpose, there was no need to guess.
Now everyone also understood why Luke had kept taking the opposite route from the one Surt pointed out.
Cithria felt a chill run down her spine. "Which means those other paths may have had traps on them?"
"I'd say there was a very high chance of that."
Luke flicked the demon's blood off his sword, spattering it onto the ground, then looked over Surt's corpse.
For a demon to disguise itself so perfectly as a human reminded Luke of another demon.
He didn't know whether the two were connected.
But one thing was certain.
This Surt's rank among demons had to be far from low.
At minimum, it had been a high-ranking demon.
At that moment, the four Dauntless soldiers who had drifted into exhausted sleep began to stir awake again.
"No..."
"Don't..."
Their sleep had never been deep to begin with, and in a place like this, real rest was impossible.
Now they jolted awake as if from some horrifying nightmare.
After taking Luke's medicine, they looked much better than before.
Luke stepped forward. "Tell me exactly what happened here."
One of them, the Dauntless squad leader Kavin, began recalling it all with a pained expression.
"Six days ago, we arrived in Dawnhold... Then we set out immediately to investigate the missing ships. By the time we reached the island, night had already fallen.
"We found the missing boats here, but not a single person. So we continued deeper inland. Not long after, we found a group of survivors. But we quickly realized they weren't alive. It didn't even seem like they themselves had noticed that.
"They talked, walked, cried, and felt fear just like normal people... Before we could even ask what had happened, it came. The Black Mist came."
Kavin closed his eyes, either unwilling to remember or caught in what he remembered.
"The Black Mist awakened the undead sleeping on this island, including those survivors. They all lost control. The undead suddenly attacked us, and we were forced to split up. We spent the entire night avoiding the Black Mist and the undead. That's how we survived the first night.
"When dawn came, the Black Mist retreated on its own, and the undead with it. We started searching for the teammates we'd been separated from. I thought they'd be looking for us too. But by noon, we still hadn't found anyone.
"Johnny suggested we withdraw for the time being, and I had also realized how strange this island was. So I decided we should send the information back to the capital first. But before leaving, we heard someone shouting.
"So we turned back and followed the sound. That's where we found a real survivor. He was badly injured. After treating him with the medicine we had on hand, we decided to bring him back to town. But when we reached the shore, our ship was gone, and those two fishing boats couldn't be used anymore."
At the mention of one survivor, everyone's minds immediately went to Surt.
Kavin continued, "We were forced to stay on the island, so we decided to make a raft. We found some rope on the abandoned boats, but before we got halfway done, night fell again. Thinking of the Black Mist from the night before, we decided to find somewhere to hide."
"Following the survivor's directions, we traveled onward, but Johnny unfortunately stepped into a trap on the island along the way. Iron spikes pierced his right leg, though fortunately we still had some medicine left."
At this point, Kavin's breathing grew heavier.
"After that, we found Ant and Barney. They seemed to be looking for us too. But when I embraced them, I couldn't feel any warmth from them at all.
"They weren't alive either.
"Then the Black Mist came. Ant and Barney lost control, as if something were manipulating them, and attacked us. No matter how we called to them or tried to stop them, it was useless.
"We were quickly surrounded by undead. In order to carve out an escape route, Johnny... charged out. He cut open a path for us, and all I could do was watch as he was swallowed by the Black Mist... and then turned his weapon on us."
Tears slipped from the corners of Kavin's eyes.
That was the last thing he had ever wanted to see.
And yet it had happened.
As everyone listened to his hoarse account, silence settled over the group.
No one wanted to see their closest comrades turn their blades against them.
"After the second night, only four of us were left. Hyde went missing, and the survivor disappeared with him.
"At the same time, our means of returning to Dawnhold was destroyed."
Kavin's voice was filled with helplessness.
From this island to Dawnhold, even the Dauntless warships needed more than six hours to make the trip. Even if they managed to build a raft, they couldn't know whether it would actually hold long enough to get them back.
Not to mention that by then they had lost even the possibility of finishing one.
"I thought the capital might already know something had happened to us. So I led the remaining three and found this cave. We decided to wait here for reinforcements from the capital.
"On the third night, we successfully avoided the Black Mist, but we didn't find Hyde.
"On the fourth night, while we were hiding in the cave, we heard many voices. It seemed more people had come to the island. They were being chased by the Black Mist.
"There were a lot of them. We came out of the cave and decided to cover their retreat.
"But the Black Mist came at them from the other side. I could only watch helplessly as those people were swallowed by it..."
The fourth night was the night Captain Kahn had secretly sailed out, the same one Surt had described.
So in those matters, Surt hadn't actually lied.
After hearing that much, Luke asked, "How did you survive the Black Mist that night?"
Kavin answered, "There was... a crossbowwoman. She showed up just in time. And again the following night. Her weapon was incredibly effective against those undead creatures. If not for her, we probably would have become lost souls long ago."
Luke fell into thought.
Was that crossbowwoman Lamins?
Whoosh—
Just then, a fierce gust of wind rose up, rustling the leaves overhead. The temperature in the air dropped sharply, and the whole atmosphere turned deeply unnatural.
"The Black Mist is coming?"
"It's a sign that it's about to arrive..."
Kavin had lived through six nights of the Black Mist by now and had a clear sense of its patterns.
This still wasn't the true arrival of the Black Mist.
It was only a precursor.
And that usually meant the undead were about to awaken.
"All units, on guard!"
Luke raised his hand and gave the order, his eyes sweeping over the surroundings as a faint sense of foreboding rose in his heart.
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