High School of Demon Hunting

29: Chapter 29 Falling into Darkness_1

29 -29 Falling into Darkness_1

If wizards are the eternal foes of demons, then the Black Prison is the age-old nightmare of the demons.

The Black Prison was a prison established by wizards for demons, originally called ‘The First Prison of the Wizard’s Alliance’.

This prison was hidden deep within the Silent Forest.

Hundreds of demons were thrown into it each year, but never had one emerged alive.

Such a prison was like a black hole, swallowing all information.

Thus, it has been dubbed by the demons as the ‘Black Prison’.

After the wizards found out about this, they outright changed the name of the prison to ‘Black Prison’ as a means to deter the demons active outside.

And now, a little creature who came from the Black Prison was standing inside the cabin of the ship.

The captain of the Mist Ship rested his hand on his chin, grinning as he watched her.

She was a six or seven-year-old girl with a lovely and adorable appearance; her big, gleaming eyes were full of innocence as she looked happily at the towering captain, completely unaware of the terrifying demon before her.

“She came from the Black Prison?” The captain glanced at the female demon as he asked.

“Yes.” Nikita lowered her head in response.

“Everyone says it’s a deep abyss; how did she climb out of it?” The captain pinched the little girl’s cheek, intrigued.

“Her mother is the jailer of the Black Prison.”

“Why protect her?”

“When I was still a wizard, her mother was my tutor.” Nikita quickly answered, for she knew she had to convince the man before her.

The sentences had been brewing in her heart for many days: “She’s been infiltrated by the original demon blood and will eventually transform.

My tutor knew what would happen if she stayed in the university, so she entrusted me to take her away.

I owe my tutor my life, so I have to protect her.”

“What a joke.” The captain of the Mist Ship shook his head.

Nikita knew what he meant.

To a demon, the idea of staying true to a promise made to food was indeed laughable.

Perhaps deep down inside her, there was a sliver of unrealistic hope.

“Why not return to the Wizard Demon King’s territory?” The captain stood up, tossing his white cloak onto the armchair.

“I went back.” Nikita answered with a bitter tone.

“But she has not transformed yet.

The old wizard demons wanted her on the experimental table, the younger ones wanted to eat her, and even my partners had designs on her.”

“Why come here?”

“My tutor told me that the only way for her to survive is to board this ship.”

“Didn’t your tutor tell you about the rules for boarding?” The captain’s dark green lips curled upwards.

“Rules?” The female demon looked at the captain in bewilderment, “Isn’t the captain’s word the law?”

“Even though I enjoy your flattery, I must inform you that the boarding rules were set by His Majesty, the Sea Demon King.” The captain wagged his finger, pointing at the two prey before him, a bloodthirsty smile at the corner of his mouth: “Each boarding person must bring their own sacrifice.”

Nikita’s heart tightened immediately, her face pale as she looked at the captain.

“Sacrifice!” Her voice was somewhat hoarse due to terror.

A sacrifice is an offering used in a ritual.

In their rituals, wizards typically use sandalwood and talismans, fine wines and delicious food; more solemn rituals would present three offerings.

For them, worship is mostly a ritual to remember ancestors and occasionally acts as a bridge between Yin and Yang.

The ritual of demons is entirely different.

Demons have a long history of tradition.

Their ancestors believed that the world originated from a great True Spirit, and every life is a blood relative of the True Spirit.

The True Spirit governs the fate of all its offspring.

Wizards are stealers of the True Spirit’s fire; they are rebels.

The flesh and blood of a wizard are the best offerings to the True Spirit.

Before each of their feasts, demons carry out a simple ritual.

After each ritual, they hold a grand feast because fresh blood is both an offering to the True Spirit and a delicacy for the demons.

“So I need to choose a suitable sacrifice from among you.” The captain of the Mist Ship looked at them kindly.

His dark red eyes didn’t even flicker: “First, your names.”

He snapped his fingers, and a green flame immediately erupted from the dark oil lamp on the table.

An old elf with a pointed head, round ears, and white beard slowly emerged from the darkness, climbed onto the table shaking, and spread out a gray beast skin map.

In the center of the drawing was a black scale, seemingly drawn with charcoal from embers, roughly cut, simplistic.

Around the beast skin were dark red runes that emitted a faint red light in the dim cabin.

Nikita’s lips were trembling, her mind was blank.

Sacrifice, meant death.

Since she was six years old and abandoned on the streets, this was the closest she had come to death.

“Zhou Zhou.” The little girl next to her pursed her lips, reporting her name timidly.

The old elf brutally grabbed her little hand, pricking her arm with his black fingernail.

He dipped his finger in the flowing blood and wrote the words ‘Zhou Zhou’ in the blank area on the left side of the scale.

“The character ‘Zhou’ is derived from ‘mouth’ and ‘use’, a long time ago, it represented the best human sacrifice.” The captain was facing away from them, appreciating the splendid view outside through the narrow window in the cabin.

Behind him, the little girl was silently sobbing with her arm clutched tight

The obsolete elf poked the dazed female demon next to him with his long fingers.

“Nikita.” The demoness murmured.

Her name was inscribed on the right side of the scale.

The green flame on the oil lamp suddenly sprang up, shining on the weathered face of the old elf, adding an extra layer of gloom.

“Now, the two of you must say a passage of the ‘Sacrifical Ceremony’ in front of His Majesty, the Sea Monster King’s shrine.” The old elf hoarsely pointed to a snippet of something on the table, pitch-black, resembling a tree stump.

The ‘Sacrifical Ceremony’ is the scripture that must be chanted before a demon banquet or ritual.

It is said to be the True Spirit admonishments recorded by the ancient Demon King.

Demons who disobey this commandment will lose the blessings of the True Spirit.

Nikita was very familiar with these prayers.

The aged elf chanted a line in its peculiar tone while Nikita and Zhou followed suit.

“…Serving with a large scoop, praying for the Yellow Gou; the Yellow Gou high back, for hope and expectation.

Longevity is a blessing, to bless the Scenery Blessings…

Alas, adhere to the Sacrifical Ceremony!”

The entire scripture was less than three hundred words long, and it was fully chanted within five minutes.

The dark red runes on the gray beast skin map bloomed with dazzling red light, reflecting the silhouettes of everyone in the cabin on the walls in a menacing and distorted way.

In the red light, Zhou tightly clutched Nikita’s robes.

Nikita, arms wrapped around herself, was sitting on the floor with her head deeply buried between her knees.

…

Breaking into the Silent Forest, in order to survive.

Escaping from the Silent Forest, in order to survive.

Invading the territory of the Witch Demon King, in order to survive.

Escaping from the territory of the Witch Demon King, in order to survive.

Having struggled for so long.

Is it finally coming to an end?

…

On the gray beast skin map, the scale unsteadily wavered back and forth.

The old elf, in panic, sought advice from the captain, but the captain only grabbed his ear and threw him into the sea from the window.

“Choose one among yourselves.” The captain wiped his hand with a clean handkerchief before throwing it out of the window.

On the table, the green oil lamp flickered a couple of times before finally extinguishing.

Light blue smoke gradually filled the cramped cabin.

“If we can’t live together, let’s die together.” Zhou whispered into her ear, “I haven’t changed, I can’t eat humans.”

The demoness raised her head and glanced at the young witch.

Zhou was gritting her teeth, her eyes sparkling brightly.

Her brief memories of these moments emerged in a flood.

“Sister, this uncle is so ugly!” In the territory of the Witch Demon King, the young witch pointed at Nikita’s witch demon teacher, whispering in her ear.

“When I grow up, I’ll catch you a bunch of young wizards!

Eat one, throw one!” Standing in front of the bonfire, the little witch swung her tiny hands, all while maintaining a haughty attitude.

“Sister, when you’re hungry, you can take a bite of your finger and you won’t feel hungry anymore.” During their escape, when she hadn’t had anything to drink, the little witch tried to comfort her.

The demoness burst into tears.

“What a fascinating smell.” The captain of the Mist Ship turned his head, looking into the cabin.

He took a deep breath, his expression enraptured and his tone increasingly warm: “Exuding fear and desperation, still trying to struggle, even if it’s just a glimmer of light, she refuses to let go.”

“Perhaps your teacher knew you could still see a glimmer of light, so he sent you here.”

Nikita felt bone-chilling coldness.

“Now you can let go.”

Tears streamed down Nikita’s face.

She knew she was about to fall into the darkest abyss.

The captain looked at her kindly.

Watching as Nikita choked, chewing.

Watching as a thin strand of blood trickled down the corner of her mouth.

Watching as they merged as one in their despair.

The taste of the blood at the corner of her lips was sweet and warm.

But Nikita’s stomach started to turn cold.

This coldness would soon spread throughout her body and would persist.