Chapter 22: A headless horseman!

Justin hadn't had time to check for the rewards he got, killing all those demons he came across and now there was a new quest.

"I'm guessing the dead man was trying to say manticore when he couldn't finish his words." Attica said and he nodded.

"It's hard to think that we once coexisted with these creatures." Justin exclaimed looking irritated as he walked through the pile of dead bodies from both humans and demons.

"The demons didn't look this hideous then." Attica said. "They were in fact, nice to look at but now the evil energy that sprang up during the unstable times made them lose their mind and their form." She explained.

"I guess that's why people fear beastmen. They're probably scared that they'd go berserk like the demons did." Justin said.

A demon wolf tried to sneak up on him from behind but he tilted his head a bit and shot it a glare. The demon wolf whimpered and slowly retreated.

Justin looked at his front and sighed.

"I don't even know where to start from." He mumbled while looking at the quest in front of him.

{SPECIAL QUEST}

[KILL HIGH LEVEL DEMONS: 0/90]

[KILL LOW LEVEL DEMONS: 0/50]

[FIND OUT THE SOURCE OF THE RAID]

[BECOME THE CAPITAL'S HERO]

{REWARDS: Unknown}

"You've given me so much work. I have to kill 90 high level monsters and 50 low level monsters, huh? I better get a good reward for that." He mumbled and scratched his neck.

The killings in front of him and the cries from the people were enough to move a hero but he wasn't a hero. He just wanted to end this so it doesn't affect the girls back home.

"How am I supposed to find the source of the demon raid?" He asked and Attica tapped on his shoulder.

"Master?" She called and he looked up to see her pointing at the big red demon gate up front with a headless horseman in front of it.

He was on a black demon horse whose head was on fire.

The headless horseman wasn't doing anything and it looked like he was supervising.

"What the… ? Is that even a demon?" Justin found himself asking.

The headless horseman clearly had no head but it felt like he was watching everything. He turned to Justin's direction and Justin felt like there were a thousand eyes on him.

"This terror…"

It wasn't normal that a demon with no head could make a person shriek and tremble so much. He was the epitome of fear.

For a moment, Justin felt fear and he couldn't move his body. His heart beat slowed down and his pulse grew weak. It was as if he was dying from the terror it emitted.

"Master!" Attica called and Justin jolted out of his paralyzed state.

"Gah!" He crouched down, holding his neck. "I almost died." He said and looked up at the headless horseman. "That thing… it's got to be the reason these demons are so rampant."

"Master, what would you like me to do?" Attica inquired and he got on his feet, cleaned his mouth and looked up with a determined gaze.

"Watch my back." He took his sword from the inventory and pointed it towards them. "I'm going to take these assholes to hell."

Justin charged for the demons. First, he attacked the demon wolves that foolishly wanted to face him head on. They kept running towards him, mouth wide, ready to bite but he cut them off before they could even get to him.

He was putting his newly found talent to use. He stood and let out a bit of his aura to cover up his sword and he slashed the demons in sight.

Aside from the adventurers and the knights, there were a few mages who were good with attack spells, while the others were healing the wounded.

They all had different colours radiating around them and it was hard to see blue amongst them. There were a few blue hearts but the colour was faint.

Justin didn't know if it was because of the crisis or if that was how they naturally were but in the midst of those colours, he found a bright white light. And there was only one person he met with white light.

It was that saintess from earlier. She was healing the wounded and tending to those who couldn't fight anymore and she looked too focused for her own good.

Justin's eyes immediately widened on seeing a manticore approach her from behind.

He raced for the manticore that was about to pummel her to the ground without her knowledge. With his quick speed, he was able to get there on time and blocked its arms with his sword, severing them from its body.

It's green blood splashed everywhere but for some reason, he didn't let the blood splash over her. Something like he didn't want the light getting tainted.

The manticore let out a loud growl of pain and Justin charged towards him, swinging his sword endlessly. He couldn't give it time to recover.

Justin wasn't that confident he could kill a manticore since they were awfully strong but here he was, lashing at it and not giving it time to attack.

'But I guess I'm not yet as powerful as that guy.' he thought, referring to the mysterious man who saved him with a single strike.

The manticore finally crashed down. Its form was completely unrecognisable and Justin felt maybe it wasn't necessary to keep striking and would've checked to see if it was dead earlier.

He turned to the saintess.

"Are you okay?" He asked but Kayla couldn't help but stare at the marvellous white light he had surrounding him.

"You're the only light in the dark." She suddenly said, confusing him.

"Excuse me?"

"You're the chosen one, aren't you? God's chosen!" Hearing this, Justin flinched.

"Uh, I have to get back to the fight so just stay somewhere safe, okay?" He said and quickly escaped from there before she could say more. How did she know he was the gods' chosen?

"What was that about you being the gods' chosen?" Attica asked and he shrugged.

"I don't know what she was talking about. It's completely nonsense." He said but it was clear he was denying a fact.

Attica felt if it was completely nonsense like he claimed, he wouldn't have escaped.

The fight went on with Justin killing every demon that came his way. His actions didn't go unnoticed and the adventurers and everyone present, acknowledged the speed in which he killed demons and his strength which could rival a manticore.

"Does such a person exist?"

"He's practically swinging his sword and yet they're all dying like that. The strength he uses must be massive!"