Demon King: Hero, don’t run away!

The elder across the shore slowly turned around, and his attributes appeared on Yang Yu’s system panel.

To Yang Yu’s surprise, the attributes of the Curse Sect’s Pope were quite unremarkable, even weaker than some of the bishops under his command, with no special abilities.

The more Yang Yu studied the Pope of the Curse Sect, the more he felt the man was just an ordinary old person, with no madness on his face, nor any joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness—only the helplessness of approaching the end of life.

The Curse Sect’s Pope seemed so ordinary that Yang Yu suspected that the real Pope wasn’t even here, but had escaped through teleportation magic instead.

It was indeed possible.

From the beginning to the end, the ”Song Yang”, who had once caused trouble for Yang Yu and his group, never appeared before them.

Although the outside of this mountain was enclosed by a barrier constructed from ”Vine Overgrowth”, it couldn’t be ruled out that the Curse Sect might have completely left from here.

In Iyas’s perception, two demons seemed to have completely vanished.

Just as Yang Yu was doubting the elder’s identity, the elder gestured for everyone behind Yang Yu to stop. Everyone behind Yang Yu unconditionally put down their weapons and respectfully stepped aside.

If the elder in front of Yang Yu was a fake, he wouldn’t have such authority.

The surrounding believers no longer held hostility, and Yang Yu sheathed his sword.

Gasque Loren looked at Yang Yu and asked, ”Why not attack? Wasn’t this why you came?”

”You should know the gap in our strength pretty well....

You wouldn’t be able to summon demons, right? Otherwise, I wouldn’t have come here so easily.

If I’m not mistaken, you summoned demons in advance to deal with us, and as a cost of summoning in advance...

The number of demons you can summon is limited.”

Gasque Loren responded expressionlessly, ”To notice this, you truly are the commander of this expeditionary team.”

”Your plan has already fallen apart, why not flee?” Yang Yu asked.

Gasque Loren gazed toward the pure waters in front of him and said, ”To you, the plan may have fallen apart, but that’s not necessarily true.”

”Is it because of the two demons you released?”

Gasque Loren did not deny this and nodded.

Yang Yu let out a long sigh, ”Why did you choose demons?

Do you really believe that demons would listen to your wishes and help you achieve them?

Your wishes are countless, if there is a conflict between two wishes, is it decided by who is more devout?”

Facing Yang Yu’s three questions, Gasque Loren shook his head,

”What you said is what demon believers believe, but we are not demon believers; we are the true Curse Sect.

If our sect were full of demon fanatics, our church wouldn’t have made it this far.”

Gasque Loren paused for a moment, then, as if determined, continued speaking:

”The reason we choose to summon demons, I might as well tell you.

We release demons because demons were created as weapons against the goddess.

Their strength is indispensable for fighting the goddess.”

As Yang Yu was about to speak, Gasque Loren interrupted,

”Before you question, would you mind listening to a story first?”

Yang Yu remained silent, agreeing to let Gasque Loren continue.

Gasque Loren looked from the pure water to the empty ceiling, ”This story is quite simple.

In an extremely distant past, you and I weren’t like we are now; each of us was not much different from the other, and everyone could equally enjoy everything the world had to offer.

But when an entity called the goddess descended upon this world, everything changed.

Because of her, humans began to be divided into classes; some could hear the goddess’s voice even in the depths of their minds, received her guidance, and thus achieved blissful, fulfilling lives.

While others, who seemingly had everything, lost it all due to the chain reactions set off by a series of actions from the goddess.

The goddess began dividing humanity from within. Those who truly worshiped at her feet believed that faith in the goddess would lead to a blissful life. They became her believers, and indeed managed to gain some strength from her.

Some realized the goddess was deliberately dividing humans, knowing that if some became more prosperous, others would inevitably suffer, and those who suffered would further devote themselves to the goddess. Finally, the goddess could effortlessly control faith and fully dominate humanity.

After recognizing the goddess’s conspiracy, the remaining aware humans decided to launch a rebellion against her, creating this world and producing demons.

However, the demons did not heed their commands, so they had no choice but to temporarily seal the demons, waiting for the day they could control them.

But that day never came.

Soon after, humans quickly split into two factions, fighting fiercely.

Thanks to that battle, the goddess let her guard down, giving the awake faction the chance to temporarily seal the goddess’s powers.

However, their war did not end with the sealing of the goddess.

On the contrary, it intensified, ultimately leading to the collapse of civilization.

Why, still leading to the collapse of civilization...

The reason still traces back to the seed of inequality sown, causing some to believe their strength was greater, that they were more excellent and deserved more, completely ignoring the psychological boundaries they had crossed of others.

All this inequality stems from that despicable goddess.

Sealing the goddess isn’t nearly enough; she must be utterly defeated and killed.

To erase this damned curse of inequality.

Only then might this world return to its original state.

To an era where everyone can advance hand in hand, with no tragedies occurring.

That is why we decided to release the demons.”

After hearing Gasque Loren’s words, Yang Yu rubs his temples, connecting many dots in his mind, though some subtle discordance lingers.

Is everything Gasque Loren said true? Yang Yu cannot make that judgment.

After pondering for a while, Yang Yu speaks again:

”I begin to understand why you stand united.

But where exactly did you hear these things? Surely it wasn’t ancient ghosts sending dreams to you?

Such certainty, such unwavering conviction—there must be evidence that proves what you say is not false, right?”

In response to Yang Yu’s inquiry, Gasque Loren pulls out some complete but incredibly ancient pages from his neat attire.