Demon Chapter

Chapter 6: Unexpected

The City Portal Scroll in Kain’s hand slipped and fell to the ground.

This sudden turn of events sent Gavin Lin’s heart plummeting.

Without hesitation, he dropped to the floor the next second. Just as Kain bent down to retrieve the scroll, Griswold’s massive figure appeared in the doorway.

It had failed.

Gavin wanted to curse aloud—he knew his plan was ruined. He’d accounted for nearly every variable, but never imagined Kain would falter.

Perhaps Gavin had overlooked one critical detail: this wasn’t a game world, and Kain was an old man. Falling from a height of three or four meters would leave anyone dizzy. It was only natural that an elderly man might stumble at such a moment.

Regardless, Gavin now had to swallow the bitter consequences of his failed scheme.

At that instant, he couldn’t afford to worry about Kain. Dropping to the ground wasn’t a choice—it was his only option. He pretended to be a dead zombie, lying beside a corpse Griswold had just crushed with a single punch. Gavin hoped the stench of decay would mask his own scent. He also prayed that, as an undead, Griswold’s mind wasn’t as sharp as before—if the creature remembered exactly how many bodies had been on the floor earlier, Gavin was done for.

He stayed perfectly still. Kain, clearly stunned, was about to use the scroll when a gust of wind swept past. In the next second, Griswold snatched the City Portal Scroll from his hand and tore it to shreds.

Gavin’s blood ran cold—he feared Griswold might kill Kain in a rage. If that happened, his mission would become impossible.

Fortunately, Kain seemed to hold some special value to the demons. Though furious, Griswold didn’t kill him. Instead, it grabbed a rope, bound Kain tightly, and tossed him aside.

Strangely enough, Kain landed less than two meters from where Gavin lay.

Griswold’s crimson eyes began scanning the room. Gavin held his breath. Covered in zombie skin, he looked almost indistinguishable from a real corpse.

The terrifying gaze passed over him without pause, sweeping toward the other side of the chamber. Seeing its underlings devouring the sacrifice it had offered to the High Demon, Griswold roared in fury, charged forward, and knocked out several greedy zombies with a few powerful swings of its arms.

“Roar!”

The monsters, roused by blood and flesh, finally quieted. Contractor 1064—the unfortunate one—was already devoured beyond recognition, dead past any hope of identification.

Gavin could only whisper an inward “Sorry,” but he was in no position to help. His sole priority was avoiding detection. He focused all his willpower, controlled his breathing, and remained utterly motionless.

The situation had reverted to what it was before—but worse. Now, Gavin had lost all initiative.

Thankfully, Griswold’s intellect had indeed dulled since becoming undead. Though it sensed it had been tricked, it failed to notice the extra body on the floor.

The other monsters in the cathedral were even less perceptive. Thus, amid the recent chaos, Gavin had miraculously survived.

Now, he could only wait for an opportunity.

His eyes flicked to the dagger still clutched in his hand. A thought triggered a status readout:

Dagger

Weapon | Quality: White

One-handed Damage: 3–9

Attack Range: Close

Required Agility: 5

Durability: 20

By its stats, it was just an ordinary dagger—far less effective here than Wirt’s Leg, which granted “+50% damage to undead.” Yet Gavin felt that if he ever had to fight these monsters head-on, this dagger would be far more practical than Wirt’s Leg.

He’d also picked up a few pieces of leather armor earlier but discarded them in the rush, never getting a chance to check their attributes.

Now, lying motionless on the ground, every passing monster could end his life—and the terrifying Griswold stood less than five meters ahead.

Beside him, Kain had clearly recovered from his shock. His eyes locked onto Gavin, gleaming with an unusual light.

An ordinary person would have given up—or gone mad by now. But Gavin was different. Though fear gripped him, he silently tracked the time passing in this trembling state.

Because he hadn’t given up.

For the next two and a half hours, Griswold didn’t move an inch. Gavin maintained the same pose, as still as a true corpse. The moisture from the zombie skin had dried, sticking uncomfortably to his own—as if a hundred insects crawled across his exposed flesh.

He longed to scratch, but dared not.

To endure the maddening itch, he forced his mind to focus—naturally circling back to the tasks at hand, starting with the main objective.

The main task only said: Follow Kain to escape. That implied two possible paths: either rescue Kain himself, or rely on someone else’s intervention to create an opening.

The first path was now closed—he’d missed his best chance. But the second remained. If he interpreted the task correctly, someone would come to rescue Kain soon.

Yet this raised another question—one tied to the side quests.

Take the first side quest: it wasn’t mandatory, meaning demon hunting was optional. But Gavin’s analysis showed a stark difference between doing it and ignoring it.

Suppose he hadn’t sneaked out to search for Wirt’s body, hadn’t found Wirt’s Leg, hadn’t spent so much gold to buy extra time, and—most crucially—hadn’t killed that Level 6 zombie. What then?

In that scenario, according to the clock, he would’ve died minutes ago—the “2 hours 15 minutes” would have run out. That outcome made no sense; it would offer zero chance of survival, directly contradicting the premise of the main task.

The same logic applied to the second side quest: Kill Griswold. The creature’s power was undeniable—how could a Level 0 Contractor possibly slay it?

Even though the quest wasn’t required, its very existence suggested a method did exist. The problem was that Gavin hadn’t uncovered it yet—which was why he initially deemed the quest unreasonable.

Whoever designed this vast task world—and brought him and others here—couldn’t have set up a suicide mission. Such a being, powerful enough to summon them, could kill Gavin effortlessly. There’d be no need for elaborate traps. Therefore, the apparent impossibility must have an explanation.

Gavin’s conclusion: the difficulty of the tasks shifted based on his own actions as a Contractor.

If the wandering zombies appearing in the room—and Kain’s mistake just now—were consequences of his decision to hunt Wirt’s body and kill a Level 6 zombie, then everything made sense.

Because of his above-level kill and the substantial time bonus he’d earned, the main quest’s difficulty had increased—to prevent him from completing it too easily.

In other words, even though the challenge had intensified, a sliver of hope remained. His continued survival was proof enough. Likewise, the second side quest was achievable—just far more dangerous. But danger wasn’t the same as impossibility.

Griswold failing to count the corpses—that was the “one path of escape” the system had left him.

Conversely, if he hadn’t gained so much gold, hadn’t bought extra time, and hadn’t slain the Level 6 zombie, he’d have been marked a “weakling.” The main quest’s difficulty would’ve been lower, allowing a relatively easy completion.

Realizing this, Gavin suddenly felt lighter. As long as it wasn’t a true dead end, he’d find a way to seize that sliver of hope.

What Gavin didn’t know was that while he pondered all this, a red portal suddenly opened in a corner outside Tristram—and a second later, several figures stepped through.