Chapter 683: Last Episode - Red Thread

Some parts of the history of the Demon King’s empire can only be written and illustrated in blood.

After the Gate Incident, the Demon King proclaimed the birth of a new empire. Some people put their faith in the Demon King, while others did not, leading to a deep division within humanity. This division sowed seeds of discord that sprouted in many places, igniting several wars. Though these conflicts were all stamped out, they were never fully eradicated. Instead, the conflicts only served to scatter these seeds further, ready to take root elsewhere.

But one crucial fact remained: the Demon King’s empire did not taste defeat.

If one were to ask whether there was no prosperity or reconstruction, the answer would be no. Despite the divisions and sporadic conflict, civilization was slowly piecing itself together across the continent.

And so, amidst the hesitant yet determined march of history, in the fifth year of the New Imperial Calendar...

Rustle...

Ellen surveyed the corpses scattered about this part of the blood-stained forest. She silently studied the remains of the creatures, which were neither human nor any known beast.

She seemed to be lost in deep thought, as if she were trying to imagine what they had looked like before they had been torn apart.

Ellen quietly took out a notebook and began to write. She sat there, writing, and drawing as well, though her sketches were simple. She had never been one to draw before, but somehow, it had become a part of her routine.

But why draw?

Monsters still had, for the most part, symmetrical structures, yet each one was distinct in its grotesque, terrifying, and unfamiliar form. Capturing their likeness on paper had seemed pointless during the chaos of the Gate Incident.

Still, Ellen drew.

After spending a long time scribbling in her notebook in the blood-scented forest, she finally closed it, tucked it into her backpack, and set off in a new direction.

The sun was setting.

Ellen understood all too well how quickly night descended upon the forest and in the mountains.

***

Crackle... Snap.

Night had settled in, and Ellen sat by a campfire.

Fire could fend off beasts, and sometimes, it kept monsters at bay, too. But deep down, she knew it didn’t always matter.

For every monster that feared the flames, there was another that was drawn to them. The glow of a fire at night could be a beacon of danger, yet some creatures didn’t depend on sight. In the solitude of the wilderness, a campfire could either be a shield or a risk. It could be pointless or purposeful.

Even so, a campfire was essential. It kept the cold at bay, so it was best to keep it burning. This was just one of the many insights Ellen had gained during her long, wandering life. In the end, all she could do was sleep with her senses on high alert.

She lived in a deserted area, constantly battling monsters. Ellen could kill them, but she couldn’t wipe them out completely.

The days when hundreds of thousands of monsters poured out of warp gates were behind her. But to say that the five years since had been without danger would be a lie. Monsters often had deadly means of attack, which sometimes posed a fatal threat to Ellen. She had faced more near-death experiences after the Gate Incident than ever before.

Moreover, it wasn’t just the monsters that posed a threat to her survival. She had more close calls from starvation, or by consuming something poisonous.

Over time, she realized she had developed an immunity to most toxins. Yet she never dared to try monster meat.

Ellen pulled a notebook from her backpack. She had several, not just one.

In the flickering firelight, she flipped through the pages. Some pages held her attention for a long time, while others she skimmed through without much thought. Occasionally, she added notes to jog her memory.

It was a journal of sorts. Ellen had been working on it for quite a while. She felt a deep, unshakable sense that this was something she needed to do.

Every now and then, she ventured into nearby towns to pick up notebooks and pens. Naturally, her rugged lifestyle had left the notebooks with frayed edges.

After spending a long time reviewing her notes, Ellen carefully organized them and tucked them back into her backpack.

She let out a sigh.

“Hoo...”

Reaching into her pocket, Ellen pulled out a root and began to chew on it. She wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but she knew it wouldn’t make her sick. Over time, she had learned a lot about what was safe to eat, even if she didn’t know the names of the plants.

Ellen couldn’t recall the last time she had a decent night’s sleep or a proper meal. She survived on the bare minimum—just enough food, sleep, and water to keep going. When she found herself in places without food, she sometimes wandered for days after her supplies ran out. She faced a constant struggle against starvation, not monsters. If she weren’t unusually resilient, she would have withered away long ago, like any ordinary person.

Why not return to civilization and rest for a few days? Her food supplies were indeed running low. Despite living completely detached from civilization, Ellen occasionally ventured into cities or villages. Of course, she had to conceal her identity during these visits.

But first, she had something important to take care of. Even if she returned to civilization, though, there was no solution for it.

The most urgent problem was money. Living in the wilderness was all about surviving and fighting monsters. There was no way to earn a living out there.

She knew she could find ways to make money in human cities, but that was risky. Alongside the deposed emperor, Vertus de Gradias, the Hero Ellen Artorius was one of the empire’s most wanted fugitives.

Whether by choice or necessity, the new Emperor had labeled both the Hero and the deposed emperor as the New Empire’s greatest enemies. His supporters despised the fugitive emperor and Ellen Artorius, no matter the Emperor’s feelings on the matter. She couldn’t linger in human cities for too long.

The anti-imperial forces were no better. They, too, would try to capture Ellen, albeit for different reasons.

Ellen found no peace, no matter where she went. Some wanted to arrest her, while others hoped she could be the key to humanity’s salvation. A quick visit to a town wouldn’t give her away, and she could disguise her identity and appearance, but she couldn’t linger anywhere for long.

Though she couldn’t always keep tabs on humanity, Ellen occasionally glimpsed civilization slowly coming back to life.

The Adventurers’ Guild she had briefly been a part of still existed. However, instead of exploring the vast Dark Land, it had morphed into a mercenary-like operation, hunting down monsters for money.

Many regions were still destabilized due to the presence of monsters, and no single force was capable of purging the entire continent of them. As a result, individuals took on monster-hunting missions and received rewards from the New Empire, and the Adventurers’ Guild facilitated it.

If Ellen were compensated for every monster she killed, she might have been swimming in wealth. However, she doubted the empire could afford to pay her that much.

Living in the wilderness to avoid the empire’s attention made registering as a new adventurer for money impossible, and her face was too recognizable to create a convincing false identity.

While there were ways to earn money, they all came with significant risks. In desperate times, she would disguise herself as an anonymous adventurer and present evidence of her monster kills to earn some money. The Adventurer’s Guild still paid for proof of monster kills, even if it wasn’t part of a specific mission. If the evidence was substantial enough, they had no choice but to pay.

Naturally, doing so would often cause quite a stir in the Adventurers’ Guild, leaving many to wonder about her identity. Many times, she had to make a quick escape with the money before the commotion escalated. This was indeed a risky endeavor.

Wandering through the wilderness was both perilous and exhausting, but returning to human settlements was just as dangerous, if not more so, than braving the wilds.

Despite all this, there were still places where kind-hearted people lived, indifferent to the Demon King or the New Empire, where she could trade some of her labor for food and shelter. In these places, isolated from the rest of the world, there were still people who had never heard of Ellen Artorius, let alone recognized her face.

After finishing the root, Ellen leaned against a tree trunk and gazed up at the sky.

During her time at the Temple, she had eaten to her heart’s content. Now, she wondered if all that food had been wasted, considering she could survive on so little now.

“...”

Amused by her own thoughts, she allowed a faint smile to play across her lips.

There had been someone who used to scold her for eating so much every day. Yet, whenever she craved something, that person always made it for her.

Ellen lowered her head and took a deep breath.

Despite leaving of her own accord, she couldn’t stop the thoughts that surged through her mind like an obsession.

What if she had stayed?

Despite these wistful thoughts, she knew that reality was different. Bounty hunters marauded across the continent in an effort to capture Ellen and Vertus, while others still revered her as a true Hero and hoped she would save humanity someday.

Her very existence was a catalyst for war. Even without her presence, wars had erupted several times over the past few years. Had she been there, even greater conflicts might have ensued. The Empire might have collapsed before it ever had a chance to rise.

There could only be one sun in the sky. Two suns would scorch the earth simply by existing.

The past held no significance. Being a wanted fugitive was irrelevant. Despite everything, reality persisted.

The Demon King had married, and a long time had passed.

“...”

She had no desire to interfere with that.

She had left all of that behind. Things would have continued on its own, and she couldn’t go back to that with just a handful of memories.

By this time, those memories would have gathered countless stories of their own.

She could only imagine.

What if everything had been good?

She could only reminisce.

She should have eaten more back then.

The meals Reinhart prepared for her.

The moments they shared.

Those times.

‘Just a little more. Just a little bit more...’

“...”

Ellen forced herself to break away from her thoughts and quietly closed her eyes.

The wind was cold.

***

The next day, Ellen extinguished the fire and stood up, slinging her backpack over her shoulder.

The chaos of the night vanished with the morning light. When there was something to focus on, her thoughts could be kept at bay. But as the day went by, the sadness and self-reproach crept in like an ambush, always arriving just before sleep.

As always, she did what she had to do.

She had chosen to hunt monsters in the wilderness. Unable to remain in any place touched by civilization, she roamed only where it was absent. It was a harsh and grueling path, but it was one she had chosen for herself.

Ellen quietly walked through the forest. It wasn’t difficult to find the tracks she had discovered the previous night. As time went on, Ellen had learned to do things she never imagined she could. Not just drawing, but tracking as well.

The shape of broken branches and their position. Footprints. Droppings. Signs of predation. From these clues, she could deduce the size, range, and whereabouts of monsters that were nowhere in sight.

If Ellen had chosen the path of an adventurer, she would likely have been hailed as the greatest of her time. After all, she had honed this skill of tracking long before the Adventurers’ Guild began rewarding monster kills.

Sometimes, Ellen found it amusing. Her brother, Ragan Artorius, was a legendary adventurer who had become a hero after earning his fame. But Ellen’s calling was different. Ellen had been first celebrated as humanity’s Hero, and only later became known as an adventurer.

She examined the traces, trying to figure out which way the missing group had gone.

After confirming the presence of footprints and noting the bushes that had been faintly disturbed, Ellen consulted her notebook. The evidence matched her notes.

She followed the trail quietly. Sometimes the tracks vanished, but once she had a sense of the general direction, she could find them again.

There was a time when she had slain monsters indiscriminately. Monsters roamed about the continent, and so she kept killing, believing she would eventually hunt down the last one.

Her goal was to save people from these creatures. That was an achievement she’d believed she could attain. But the process had grown far from easy, and eradicating every hidden monster proved to be an immense challenge.

As time went on, the number of monsters dwindled, making them increasingly elusive, and Ellen slowly honed her skills in tracking these creatures. In essence, it was similar to hunting, but each hunt brought a new kind of prey.

Giant monsters were easy to spot from a distance. Yet, regardless of their size, monsters were always deadly. She dispatched the giant ones on sight, and tackled the medium and small ones with equal determination. She also sought out and eliminated the hidden threats.

In recent months, Ellen had been gripped by a suffocating fear. Despite her dwindling food supplies, she prioritized hunting monsters over securing provisions. She found herself reaching for her notebook more often, driven by this singular focus.

Ellen moved with a blend of caution and urgency, her eyes scanning the ground for clues. She passed by tracks and broken branches—tracks that matched the sketches in her notebook. Her heart quickened as she followed the trail.

Monsters varied greatly in appearance, each one unique in its own strange way. Some were so bizarre they defied the very idea of what it meant to be a living creature. While most were still symmetrical, ultimately, no two were alike. Even though many resembled each other, especially those that flew or had giant forms, perfect matches were rare. No matter how close they were, differences in colors, horns, and other features set them apart.

However, a few months ago, Ellen had come across a pack of monsters that were exact replicas of each other. They had not been especially powerful, and Lament’s blade easily cut them down, their blood staining the ground as they fell. Yet, the sight of them filled Ellen with such fear that she’d retched.

Since that day, Ellen had been searching. She wandered the area, searching for new tracks and comparing them. She was looking for something, hoping that it wasn’t there, hoping it was just a figment of her imagination.

She drew the tracks when she saw them, searching tirelessly, amassing a small collection of drawings. She searched and searched again, hoping it was just one of those rare occurrences, hoping it was just some kind of monster.

Ellen wandered the forest for over five hours before she found what she was looking for.

From within a crevice on a hill, Ellen heard a low, menacing growl.

“...”

With a swift motion, she drew Lament, her sword, and fixed her gaze on the cave.

The monster’s red eyes glowed within the shadows, a clear warning to back off or face the consequences.

But Ellen stood her ground, refusing to retreat.

Ellen cautiously moved closer to the monster.

Growl!

As she neared, the creature stretched its clawed front paw out from the crevice, a clear warning and threat.

Yet Ellen, her eyes wide with determination, kept advancing.

Hoping it wasn’t true.

Praying it wasn’t real.

She took another step forward.

Roar!

The enormous beast lunged at her, its mouth bristling with hundreds of teeth.

She spun around lightly, dodging the attack.

Slash!

The lunging monster was sliced cleanly in two from maw to tail by the Void Sword, its momentum sending it crashing into the forest. It was an instant death.

This monster was identical to the one she had been tracking. It wasn’t the only one of its kind she had killed. She had taken down several monsters of this kind, yet they kept appearing, all with the same form.

She had been searching for this kind of monster, yes—but this was not the prize that Ellen was truly chasing.

Most monsters, aside from their own kind, are indiscriminately hostile toward everything—human or animal alike. They attack on sight, driven by pure instinct. But this one... it had stayed hidden inside the cave, merely growling, as though warning her not to approach.

Why had this monster issued a warning before it attacked?

Cautiously, Ellen approached the cave the monster had emerged from.

‘It can’t be. It has to be a delusion. Something like that could never happen.’

Those thoughts had haunted her for months as she wandered this area, obsessively and relentlessly.

‘Perhaps there are monsters that can divide and multiply, after all.’

She kept trying to convince herself that it had to be something like that. But even before she stepped into the cave, Ellen felt herself sinking into despair.

Groan...

Screech!

Whimper...

She could hear faint cries emanating from within the cave.

“Ah...”

When Ellen entered the cave, all she could do was gape in stunned silence.

There were about six of them—tiny creatures, each no larger than an adult’s forearm.

They looked just like smaller versions of the monster that had just died, squirming weakly with eyes still half-shut.

“Ah... ah... ah...”

Thud.

Ellen sank to the ground as the tiny monsters clawed feebly at the air and the ground around them.

She had seen something that no other monster had demonstrated before. She had found the monster, but that monster was not her true target. She had been searching for its offspring, and she had found them.

These offspring meant one thing—reproduction. Not replication, not division, but the most ordinary form of propagation. It was something that had never been observed among monsters before—and yet the existence of multiple creatures with identical forms had hinted at the possibility.

Now that reality was laid plain before her, alive and undeniable.

There were monsters from the other world that could breed. Whether they had existed from the beginning, or if this had appeared as part of some adaptive evolution, she couldn’t say. But if one species could reproduce, surely others naturally could as well.

If monsters could be anything, then of course some of them could also be this—creatures that could multiply. The monsters might even be able to interbreed with entirely different species to evolve.

Ellen had never witnessed it with her own eyes, and so it had remained nothing more than a theory. But right in front of her was the offspring of a creature that could reproduce—and if one could, there was no reason others couldn’t as well. Not just this species, but others too. Somewhere, somehow, there would be other monsters capable of the same.

When and where it had begun, she did not know. But the monsters were not diminishing in number. Their numbers were still increasing—somewhere out there in the world. Not emerging from gates anymore, but multiplying among themselves.

And that could mean only one thing: the monsters would never vanish from this world.

The day when the last monster was slain would never come.

“No...”

In those tiny, wriggling newborns, Ellen saw nothing—nothing but a despair deeper than despair itself.