CHAPTER 49

  MISSING THE FATHER

  “Agh…ugh… stoop!!” The female red demon wailed, but Hans’s control clenched the mana within her.

  “Just come out already,” he growled. The authoritative Commander couldn’t hold it in and lunged at Hans to stop him. But his steps froze as he saw the gooey substance in Hans’s hand.

  “Anfaleen Torceran.” Hans spoke the name with a deepening voice, his eyes filled with hatred mirroring the leader’s expression.

  He turned his head to share his findings with these folks and saw them all infuriated and angry. “Just hearing that name makes them react this way… if I play this right, I’ll have an army of my own.” Hans almost chuckled at his predicament. He was at a critical juncture in making a life-altering decision.

  And convincing these people that he could be their saviour would be the first step in making them his followers. He finally pulled the gooey stuff out, which caused the woman to turn into a weak, almost lifeless husk. He clenched his fist, turning the dark substance into nothing and summoned a breathtaking ParadiseGarden, showing off his magnificent spell.

  The fine creepers crawled in and began to transfer the vitally absorbed from barrier to her through Hans himself. In no time, she regained youth, her human flesh visible to others. The onlookers who had come to surround Hans upon hearing the screams of the sole healer of the village stared at the human-like figure of their healer.

  It wasn’t a complete recovery; some features of Red demons were still lingering on their healer, but the thing that no one could reverse, Hans had done that. A flame of hope lit into their hearts. Maybe, they could be turned back to what they were; these were the thoughts clouding their heads.

  Hans wanted to test his doubts, “This is Anfaleen Torceran’s doing, isn’t it?” He asked, but no one spoke, only showed hostility towards the name.

  However, the leader of the village, the commander-grade red demon, approached Hans more politely than ever. “Can you heal others—“

  “Heal? This isn’t healing, man. This is sickening. That bastard did this to you and you—

  “Can you turn back others like you did to her?” The commander insisted for an answer, adding, “I’ll answer you anything you want, please, help these poor people first.”

  “I don’t run on sympathy, Mr. But I do pay back the help I received. You nursed me back so I’ll do much more.” He nodded in affirmation.

  The man never asked to help him, but to help others first. He was kind and compassionate. Hans liked these kinds of people since it was easier to manipulate them than to deal with greedy ones. He nodded again and asked everyone to come out in line.

  It was like a festival in this hidden community of people turned red demons. First were the children, who showed a similar condition like Vanessa, this made him bitter but he held on. However, his mood was read by many others, they misunderstood his suppressing anger as the contempt he was showing on children’s behalf.

  The people there looked at him as the god-sent angel and he did not see the need to clear this up, since the more these people trusted him the better it was. His mind was separately working on how he could put them to good use.

  The kids were around his age but there were some younger than him. He did not pull the gooey stuff aggressively but as slowly as he could to prevent the pain on them. This all took a whole day and even if the light never faded inside the barrier he could feel the sun was setting outside. He stopped the treatment since using the barrier’s energy was only good in combat, he needed the sun’s presence to heal them accurately.

  The people there were genuinely polite to him, and to show their sincerity, the warriors of the village brought as much food as they could gather despite the scarcity.

  It was a small feast there, but on the other side of the Barrier, Hera was unearthing everything to find traces of Hans. Two days had passed since he had gone missing, and only she knew about it. Zephyr had informed her to avoid bitter responsibility, all pinning it on Hans, that he had stepped into the barrier on his own.

  However soft Hera was, her aide was meticulous. On her behalf, he quickly dispatched the scouts to search any anomaly inside Deadlands. And after a day, they brought a concerning news only to her ears— Her Sister was spotted in bad condition with her human companion, Bernard.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  The Nodemaster was soft but not stupid. She didn’t need to add those variables to figure out what had happened to Hans. Soon, an order was issued to her trusted ones —Search wherever it needs to be and bring the boy to her in one piece. Several search parties were deployed; she even joined one herself. She could care less about what would happen between Clandor and Parv; all she cared about was that Hans must remain unharmed.

  While the search for missing Hans continued, Hans feasted on limited provisions available. However, the infected people, whom Hans had come to refer to as villagers, kept gathering whatever they could to express their appreciation to him.

  It was the third night Hans had been in Deadlands. With the moon hanging high in the red-lit sky, he found the leader of the village sitting in the corner. Hans’s ManaVision was working with maximum output as he was scanning the calm yet terrifying-looking monster. The mutation of Red Demon had gotten worse in him to the point where he wasn’t sure if he could remove it without killing him.

  His condition was perilous, yet that fool didn’t even once ask Hans to treat him like he had accepted his fate. Hans had reached him by asking others about his whereabouts, and finding his gaze on him, he asked, “I did what I could for today, now can you answer me?”

  “You being here, right at this moment, me finding you in the vast lands. Do you think it’s the coincidence?” The Commander, red demon, spoke in his reversing voice.

  “I don’t know,” Hans answered, “But I’ll be really glad if you answer—”

  “You are really his son, the questions always come before anything, right?” The commander, grade red demon, grunted, “Your father was the same.”

  “Of course, it’s in the blood.” Hans smirked back.

  The commander showed a warm look that became even more terrifying on his red demon face. He spoke further, “My name is… I paused thinking and continued, “was Zilong. I was tasked to kill some high-ranking Red demons here.

  “Your name and objective are none of my concern, Mr. Zilong. All I’m curious about is how did you and others end up like this? Did Anfaleen abducted you too?”

  “Hm…it certainly looks like you met someone like us before?”

  “Yes, someone dear to me suffered the same fate, and I’ve got a name with no clue what to do.”

  “My condolences—

  “She ain’t dead, so spare me the sad eyes, you look deadly.”

  Looking at his own stature, Zilong let out a chuckle. It was the first time he had even cracked a smile since his arrival in the Deadlands. Hope was a wondrous thing as he would have said in his younger, more free years, but during his torment, he came to believe - Hope in reality was the worst of all evils because it had prolonged his Agony.

  He turned to look at the child who was rekindling the extinguished flames and answered what the child wanted to hear, “Most of the people here are red demon trial candidates, but some were abducted from the nearby settlements outside the barrier—

  “For experiments?” Hans confirmed. “All I know is that. You said something like creating… no harvesting sunstones from people by turning them to red demons, right?”

  “You have a good head. I’ll give you that.” Zilong nodded, adding, “It’s all because of sunstones, since it can only be harvested from Red Demons.”

  “In short, Anfaleen is making red demons so he could farm them, did I get that right?” Hans asked.

  “Yes, sunstones are the object of great wealth and power.” Its influence can also increase the aura density or mana capacity of a circle.”

  Hans stopped, thinking an absurd theory and relayed, “If I was powerful enough and had the ability to keep up its supply, then I would rather domesticate these red demons than exterminate them.”

  “Hmm…Why do you think these vile creatures are still alive ? Do you think the Genas does not have enough power to eradicate Bakrans?”

  This was very new to Hans. What he was thinking, someone already had implemented. It was just a thought, but what if this man had told the truth? Then Genas' powerhouses were allowing these filthy species to prey upon others so they could gain the sunstones. He got angry, and it was definitely not because someone else was doing this instead of him.

  Misunderstanding his emotions, Zilong added, “Getting rid of them would have been impossible in the beginning, but since the making of this barrier, your people have advanced so much, and with the help of ancients, we just need a final push. Your diseased lands would be cured.”

  “Then you are saying,” Hans’ eyes became narrow, and he asked, “Just for some profit, the alliance is stopping the eradication?”

  “Yes, and it's not just wealth!” Zilong emphasised. “Sunstones are the very thing that made Samson Parv what he was at his prime, the strongest entity. Do you think others won’t want to reach that stature? Even Ancients halted their attacks on red demons for the very same thing.”

  “My father’s kindness is what killed him. Having that much power and putting a restraint over himself with some moral shit. That is what got him killed. The more I long for his existence, the more I begin to hate his nature.” Hans laid out his inner thoughts.

  As someone had said, it was quite easy to share your inner thoughts with strangers than any acquaintances. He began to feel his father’s absence nowadays. Reina almost killed him. Fighting her, he was putting on the strong front but was also scared. The moment he launched the suicidal attack, his whole life flashed before him.

  A chuckle from Zilong broke his thoughts. “He…Kind…” Zilong shook his head, not believing Hans and added, “Sure, he did put several restraints on himself, and I can’t comment on that since I’m not him. Only he knew how his mind worked. You should not judge him, kid.”

  Hans knew Zilong was right, yet he deeply yearned for his father's protective presence. He craved that sense of security, longing for it so strongly that no one, not even Reina, would dare to point a finger at him. He didn’t know when his eyes welled up, and both he and Zilong just sat there in the presence of the moon, reminiscing about the people whom they missed dearly.