"You look surprised for a weird reason," Verkan said as he tied up the captured follower of the demon god. "I can understand that, though. Even before I met one of them, I heard stories… I imagined they would be grotesque-looking creatures because of the power of the demon god."

Zaos couldn't say that he didn't think the same. Although he killed three of them last year, he never had the chance to look at them properly. As for their pawns, they looked like living corpses thanks to the brainwashing. They probably were forced to do all kinds of things without having much time to rest or the chance to eat and drink properly.

After tying up the prisoner, Verkan proceeded to put together the corpses in order to burn them. While he was taking their weapons and anything weird with them, Zaos was guarding the prisoner. In the end, he decided to look at the prisoner's face, and he regretted it. It was a boy, just a bit older than him. Aside from the fact that they lived even further in the North, there wasn't a single thing between the humans down South and them. Give them some ordinary clothes, a bath, and a haircut, and they could easily be mistaken as ordinary citizens of the Sairus Kingdom.

Zaos let out a long sigh when he saw among the mages that he had killed, there was a young woman. He was fighting for his kingdom… so, why the hell did he have to kill a woman? It looked like the enemy army didn't care who they used… as long as they could use magic, any kid and woman would be used.

"Sir, why they didn't use their bows on me?" Zaos asked.

"All of them use bows when they see fit, but it is more a weapon to enhance their powers, instead of a weapon to use against every single enemy," Verkan replied. "When they are on the offensive and don't want to cause a commotion, they use invisible magic arrows. That is why it is so important to take them down fast."

"Did you meet any of them casting magic so fast?" Zaos asked. "I never heard of such fast casting before, and I know some good mages that live in the capital."

"The followers of the demon god always come up with a new trick or two," Verkan said. "Lately, they have been showing even more surprising skills. I would bet they took their magic skills to a whole new level if compared to our kingdom."

Zaos couldn't help but wonder how exactly that lately was referring to. If that recently was the last ten or so years, then their timing was just too annoying, since Zaos had come to that world ten years ago as well. Regardless, since the followers of the demon god could use the bones of their allies as a catalyst to strengthen their magical powers, Verkan worked hard to build a fire that wouldn't leave anything behind. That was something hard to do in such a cold region, but he had plenty of experience in doing that. When everything was ready, Zaos ignited it with his Fire Sword.

"Let's get going," Verkan said.

"Shouldn't we wait for a while until we confirm that even their bones will be gone?" Zaos asked.

"This will take too much time, and we don't have to wait," Verkan replied. "These kinds of groups never stay close to one another since that would be a waste of time and resources. They spread around the region to attack as many places as possible and profit from their attacks as much as possible as well."

In the end, Zaos only nodded while Verkan put the prisoner on his shoulders. While Verkan was carrying the prisoner, Zaos took one of the enemies' bows and a sword. The others had been put on the fire since their quality was questionable for melee fighters who make the North's garrison. Verkan had decided to destroy all their weapons, but Zaos asked if he could keep two of them for research. Many people had already done that, but even veteran mages didn't find anything special with them. Aside from the fact that they were made of bones and that their effects could only help other followers of the demon god. However…

"This feeling… it feels so familiar," Zaos thought while he was frowning.

Just as Zaos had expected, he could feel himself more powerful just by holding those two weapons. He wasn't a descendant of the first followers of the demon god… probably. And yet, it seems the effect of those weapons worked on him. Either he really had their blood, or there was another similarity between them… It wasn't the fact that they could use magic. Maybe it was the status Zaos could see since the day he was born, but Zaos didn't feel that was the case. If it were, the older the followers, the more powerful and resistant to the magic they would be, since they had used magic many more times if compared to Zaos. Not to mention the fact that Zaos's power grows up exponentially whenever he fights. If they had the same power, one of them could become exponentially powerful after attacking a few villages over a few years.

"I remember that Merkin was selling a magic tome that granted the caster the chance to identify magic items and their effects. The same magic book also granted the caster a spell that could make him tell how powerful a foe was," Zaos thought. "I guess I will for that one around these parts and see if I can learn anything."

Around noon of that day, they reached Salide, and the guards and Zaos's squad welcomed them back. They looked pretty happy since they more or less succeeded in the mission, but Zaos didn't feel even a little proud or happy. They had to obtain intel from that kid, and Zaos couldn't imagine that such a thing would be clean…