Insanity I

Day 5 of 183

Clank– Shing– Thud!!!

Regis fell to the ground as he received an attack that was infused with tainted aura.

"Get up brat! We're not finished yet!"

Shouted the demonic human while licking the blood off her blade.

Regis's eyes widened as he touched his left cheek, feeling a burning sting from it.

His face perfectly portrayed that of a child's expression of fear, making the demonic woman smile even crazier.

However, his mind and heart remained calm.

'Just what the hell are they planning to do.'

In these past five days, there were a few things that caught his attention.

First was the fact that they stopped giving them those weird soups that calms them down.

Second was that they didn't give them any time to take a rest.

Currently, they had just finished massacring a village and were immediately subjected to combat training.

'They haven't let us sleep in the past five days… and I doubt that they have any plans on doing so in the future.'

Regis thought as he clumsily dodged the sword of the demonic woman.

He then proceeded to attack her with his twin daggers but was easily pushed to the ground.

That's right, he was using daggers now.

'With this, I'm sure of one thing…'

Regis thought as he continued exchanging attacks with the demonic woman.

In the past five days, he tried all sorts of weapons in order to confirm something about his gift.

His gift of Perfect Adaptation was nothing short of miraculous.

Therefore, he tried to feel its effects.

Now, Regis was sure about one thing: the fact that he could adapt to any techniques that he was defending against.

This adaptation enables him to dodge, block, parry, and even counter the attacks of his enemy after being exposed to their fighting skills for a few minutes.

Of course, this meant that he had to be on the receiving end of the attacks in order for him to be able to adapt.

'Still… this is too powerful.'

Once he adapted to a technique, Regis would be able to defend against it no matter what method he uses.

Whether it be with swords, axes, daggers, and even with his bare hands.

However, defending against a technique doesn't mean that he would be invulnerable against it.

'Though this might change in the future…'

Unlike straightforward gifts like Strength Enhancement, individuals with comprehensive gifts needed to explore their gifts more to discover more abilities it may or may not have.

'If I get more familiar with my gift in the future…'

Regis subconsciously smiled as he thought of all the possibilities.

"What are you smiling for, brat? Did you forget that we're now permitted to use aura in training?" 

The demonic woman snickered as she kicked Regis in the stomach.

Ughhh—

Regis groaned in pain.

Of course, it was an act.

In fact, his every struggle was an act.

'However, I mustn't let my guard down…'

Regis wanted to squeeze all the benefits he could get from this opportunity.

***

Day 14 of 183

'Shit…'

Regis cursed in his mind as he saw the blank expressions of Greg and Lea.

Their minds have been deteriorating since the demonic humans stopped giving them the soups with calming agents.

In fact, Regis noticed that more and more of the children were starting to become insane.

They became more bloodthirsty and irritable.

The minority that still had some conscience in the past now became indifferent to life.

Greg and Lea were one of them.

Although they were still not exhibiting signs of insanity, their quiet demeanor was an obvious sign that something was wrong.

'Fuck… I really need to figure this out!'

Regis thought as he analyzed the memories of his Corruption Manipulation evil craft.

He had been studying it ever since getting it.

However, his hours of studying and analyzing it was fruitless.

'Just what the hell is this Corruption?!'

Regis felt confused.

Since he obtained the evil craft, he hadn't really figured out its ability.

Even the information inside his memories only stated that it was one of the evil craft of the Devil of Corruption.

Nothing more, nothing less.

He was starting to become impatient, worried that the two people that were the closest to being his friends were about to become crazy demonic humans like the others.

***

Day 33 of 183

"No! No, please!"

Splurt—

The head of an innocent villager flew in the air.

"He…hehe…" Greg giggled as he stared at the headless body of the villager he killed.

Pakkk—!!!

The loud sound of slap resounded in the area.

"Get yourself together, fucker." Lea shouted into Greg's ears.

Greg turned to look back at her angrily, "Why the hell did you do tha—"

However, seeing her eyes that became red and swollen from crying, as well as the blood from biting her lips, he became silent.

"I-I'm sorry… I lost myself…" Greg whispered as his expression softened.

Lea rolled her eyes, "As if that wasn't obvious enough. Hmph, let's go see Regis!"

Greg didn't speak any longer and just followed behind her silently.

"Those fuckers! What are they doing to us!?"

Lea gritted her teeth.

***

"W-What the hell is this!?"

Doron's eyes widened as he looked at the reports on the bulletin board.

He was currently in a branch of the Adventurer's Guild to look for information about demonic human activities.

'I was sure that they'd at least lay low for a few months…'

However, looking at the reports of villages being attacked by demonic humans in the span of just a few weeks, he was shocked.

"This can't be right… something must be going on."

"That's what everyone thinks too, Pal."

A bulky man wearing steel armor spoke beside him.

Seeing Doron's expression, the bulky man scratched his beard and said, "I don't know much too, but there's a rumor that the Ligera Kingdom has sent one of their Executors in this area…'

Hearing the word Executor made Doron relieved, "Right, the large amounts of activity from just one demonic cult really seemed suspicious…"

'It seems like I don't have to break my promise to Dahlia… I'll just take her with me after the Executor takes care of it…'

Doron said to himself, relieved that Dahlia wouldn't get hurt at the very least.