Heroic Chronicle of the Reincarnated Demon General

Chapter 7

Luke exhaled softly as he stared at the five corpses lying in front of him, all of which belonged to the monsters that had attacked the village, including the one he had fought and killed.

The night had passed, and dawn had broken, and now, the village men were handling the aftermath of the monster attack.

A total of five monsters had attacked the village, and the village guard, which consisted of hunters and a few villagers who had once worked as low-ranked adventurers before retiring, had managed to take down four of them.

The fifth monster had been dealt with by Luke, which was precisely why he had become the subject of so many gazes as he sat at the edge of the village square, watching the men prepare the monster corpses for dismantling.

Word had spread throughout the village that the orphan kid living on its outskirts had killed one of the monsters that attacked the previous night.

Initially, many villagers hadn't believed the story, since it was common knowledge that Luke didn't possess a skill that could give him such power. However, the testimonies of several village guard members had put those doubts to rest, and some curious villagers had begun making their way to the square to see the kid who had supposedly killed one of the monsters.

Even from the corpses alone, it was easy to distinguish which monster hadn't been killed by the village guard members, as four of them had numerous blade marks scattered across their bodies, whereas the remaining one only had its eyes punctured, with a fire tong still sticking out of one of them.

As Luke watched several villagers working on the monster corpses, a loud voice suddenly echoed across the square.

“What the heck are you all doing, just standing around and staring? Get to work already! We need those things dismantled by the time the merchants arrive!”

Upon hearing that familiar voice, Luke turned around and saw the old woman who had treated his and Judith's injuries the previous night, Iva, the village's apothecary.

She was one of the oldest people in the village, and under certain circumstances, her words carried more weight than those of the village chief. After all, she was responsible for everything related to drugs and medicine within the village.

If you were sick, you went to Iva. If you were injured, you went to Iva as well. Being in such a position naturally granted her considerable influence among the villagers.

She approached Luke while continuing to shout at the men, ordering them to return to work, and when she finally came close enough, he turned toward her and said, "I wasn't exactly bothered by their gazes, you know."

His words made Iva turn to him, and with a snort, she replied, “It doesn't matter whether you're bothered by them or not. They have work to do, and yet, they were simply standing around gawking like fools instead.”

Luke chuckled at her brusque response before turning his eyes back to the monster corpses.

"Is Judith awake?"

"Not yet. She's still sleeping," Iva replied, a slight frown appearing on her face as she recalled how unusually deep Judith's sleep had been.

However, she chose not to mention her concerns to Luke, hoping to avoid worrying him unnecessarily.

“Is that so? Let me know when she wakes up, then,” Luke said. “I need to thank her.”

His words caused Iva to raise an eyebrow, and she looked at him with a puzzled expression before asking, "Thank her? What for?"

"She pushed me away," Luke replied.

Luke didn't need to turn around to know that an imaginary question mark had appeared above Iva's head, so he quietly elaborated on what he meant. "The monster broke through the wall behind me, and just before it happened, Judith grabbed me and pulled me to the ground, away from the section of the wall it broke through."

Iva's eyes widened at his explanation, her lips parting slightly. After a moment, she closed her mouth and nodded silently, choosing not to offer any further response.

Luke, on the other hand, still staring at the monsters, thought about Judith's actions the previous night, and a soft exhale slipped from his lips.

‘It was definitely her Hero Skill at work. Specifically, ‘Danger Sense’, one of the passive abilities granted by the Hero skill.’

He recalled how Judith had suddenly frowned and mentioned feeling goosebumps moments before the sound of the emergency bell reached them. He also remembered how she'd instinctively leapt forward, grabbed him, and dragged him to the floor to the side, which was precisely why some of the debris from the collapsing wall had fallen across her leg.

"It's a monster of the lowest rank," Luke suddenly said aloud.

Hearing his words, Iva turned her gaze to the monster corpses lying on the ground, which the villagers were currently dismantling so their meat could be preserved for consumption and their bones, flesh, and other parts could be sold to the merchants expected to visit the village that day.

"I'm just thinking about how it's the lowest-ranked monster, and yet, I had to expend so much effort to kill it,” Luke muttered.

His words sounded rather strange to Iva, but that was only natural, considering that their perceptions of the monsters lying before them were completely different.

Their village was located on the outskirts of a country noble's territory, so even an F-ranked monster posed a considerable threat to the villagers.

For Iva, who had grown up in the village and witnessed the dangers these creatures presented, the monster was a serious threat that couldn't be taken lightly.

For Luke, however, who was once a demon who’d reached Level 910, such a creature was insignificant.

In his previous life, he could've killed a thousand of these monsters simply by flexing his magic power, but now he could barely manage to kill one, and he'd even needed help to accomplish that.

Luke hated this feeling of weakness.

He absolutely detested it.

It reminded him of memories from decades ago, memories he'd buried deep within himself and had no intention of recalling.

They were memories of his early years as a young demon born to two infantrymen serving in the demon race's army, and of how he'd been left alone after both his parents died in battle, eventually being forced to join the army because it was the only way he could secure a stable source of food.

Just as those memories began resurfacing, something suddenly prickled against Luke's skin, causing the hair on his body to stand on end.

His eyes widened as he immediately turned toward one of the monster corpses, his Mystic Eyes activating.

"Luke?" Iva called out, surprised by his sudden movement. Then, she noticed the rings of light glowing around his irises and pupils.

"Wait, your eyes!"

Luke had infused so much magic power into his eyes that the rings of light were glowing brightly enough to be noticed, but he paid no attention to Iva’s words as he immediately leapt from his seat and dashed straight toward one of the monsters.

His magic power had increased slightly after he levelled up from killing the monster the previous night, and he infused that power into his feet to increase his movement speed.

In quite literally the blink of an eye, he crossed the distance, pushed aside the man who was cutting into the monster's corpse, and thrust his hand into its chest to search for something inside.

"What the hell are you doing?!" one of the men shouted in surprise.

Luke ignored him and grabbed something from within the monster's chest, ripping it out and splashing blood across the surrounding area in the process.

He held the object in front of his face and analysed it with his Mystic Eyes, confirming that it was exactly what he thought it was.

‘A demonic core!’

Luke's hand trembled as he identified the object in his palm, and his expression turned grim at the implications.

‘These monsters didn’t originate from human lands!’

Cracks spread across the surface of the demonic core as he gripped it with force, and the magic power uncontrollably flowing into his hand increased his strength, eventually causing the core to shatter in his palm with a small burst of energy.

‘These monsters were from demon territory!’

“What the?! Luke!” Iva shouted in worry, grabbing his hand and forcibly opening his palm to check whether he'd injured himself.

Unsurprisingly, the shattered pieces of the demonic core had pierced his flesh in several places, and not only were fragments embedded throughout his palm, but his skin had also been scalded by the burst of energy when the core shattered.

"Oi, Iva, this kid's interrupting our work!" the man Luke had pushed aside complained.

Iva clicked her tongue in irritation before responding, "Don't worry about it. I'll take him out of here."

She tightened her grip on Luke's arm and dragged him away from the area, while Luke simply allowed her to lead him away without any resistance.

"What was that all about? And what did you pull out from inside that thing?" Iva asked as she took Luke to a nearby bucket of water, dipping his injured hand inside to wash away the blood before carefully removing the pieces of the demonic core embedded in his flesh.

Once she'd removed the fragments, she used Light Cure to close the wounds scattered across his palm.

After she finished treating his injuries, Luke silently clenched his fist before opening it again and saying, "Thank you."

Hearing his response, Iva frowned and repeated her earlier question.

“What was that all about? And also, your eyes—!”

Iva went silent midway, her expression changing as she noticed that the glowing circles she’d seen in Luke’s eyes earlier had completely vanished.

Luke, tilting his head slightly to the side, asked with a puzzled expression, “What about my eyes?”

For a moment, a tense silence fell between them as realisation gradually dawned on Iva.

“You—”

"Was there something wrong with my eyes?" Luke asked again, interrupting her before she could finish speaking.

“This kid...!”

Luke smiled brightly when Iva didn’t attempt to repeat her question, then bowed lightly.

“Thank you once again,” he said. “I'm going to check on Judith.”

With that, he walked away, heading toward Iva's house where Judith was recovering.

However, the moment he turned down a street and moved out of Iva's direct line of sight, he immediately slammed his hand against a wooden pole, denting the surface slightly.

‘Demonic monsters have already gotten this far out!

I'd already expected that not everything was going to be the same, especially since a ‘childhood friend’ of the Hero, who never existed in my previous life, is present in this one, and Judith awakened her two years earlier than she should've. But now, I’m seeing demonic monsters this far up north already?!

There’s no way the world’s restrictions on the invading demonic entities should have weakened this much!’

Luke silently clenched both fists as he suppressed the irritation building within him.

"I really have to kill that Demon King bastard," he quietly muttered.

The moment those words left his mouth, the ambient magic power surrounding him began to stir, prompting him to immediately activate his Mystic Eyes and examine the flow of magic power around him.

However, just as he did so, a translucent board appeared in his field of vision, displaying a single line of text.

[You have awakened the Hero skill.]