A soft and soothing voice continued to fill the dim sleeping city of Velmire. It was comforting, a melody so tranquilizing that it makes you want to lay down and sleep.
As if a fairy had blessed the city with her hypnotic voice, her mellow humming allures people to come towards her.
On the other hand, Eli was looking at all the unconscious bodies in panic.
"Mr. Chad! What do we do? We have to wake them up! How is this even happening? Why?"
Chad let out a sigh,
"It's the work of a demigod."
"T, then, shouldn't we look for them? Let's look for where this humming came from! We have to stop it!"
Eli was growing impatient, and he couldn't stand waiting anymore.
If Chad didn't know any better, he might have gone to look for the woman humming too.
His grip on Eli tightened.
"Once you enter her range, it'll be over. You won't wake up unless the user stops the spell completely."
"Then, is there anything we can do to stop it?"
Eli asked.
Chad thought about it for a moment,
"For now, we can only observe. From what I've seen so far, it stops for a certain amount of time until it hums again. We have to wait for that opening to try and approach the caster."
Eli frowned,
"Mr. Chad, do you know who's doing this?"
Chad heaved a sigh,
"...I have an idea. This is a curse-type spell, most likely from Hypnos' Verse."
"Hypnos?"
Eli tilted his head.
"Yeah, Hypnos' Atlas of Verse consists mostly of sedative and hypnotic spells. This one is definitely from someone who belongs to that bloodline. Moreover…"
A whole city was wiped out in such a short amount of time. The buildings haven't turned on their lights yet, so the spell most likely started during the daytime.
To be able to invoke such a high-tier spell for that long, there is only one answer.
A divine mark.
And for that, there are two possibilities.
An Archeion, someone who is a crowned bearer of a mark or an heir, who possesses an heirloom mark.
Chad turned to Eli,
"Most likely, it's Hypnos' heir."
"An heir? I thought it'd be the Archeion of Hypnos, but an heir…"
Eli gasped.
"That's right."
There is no way an Archeion would act like this. They hardly take an interest in harming powerless humans, much less holding them captive like this.
They are the most prideful kinds of demigods, the strongest, and a leader.
On the other hand, it's not unusual for an immature heir to get on their high horses and do some sort of power play out of ego.
Chad paid close attention to the interval between the humming and its pauses.
'30, 31, 32…'
Soft humming voices filled the air surrounding them. It was eerily the same note over and over again.
"We have 32 seconds 'til the next round of humming comes out."
Chad patted Eli's head.
"Get ready."
"I'm going too?"
Eli tilted his head.
"Of course. There's no way to tell what could happen later. You're a weakling so you have to stay with me."
Chad scoffed at him as if he was asking the obvious.
"I see…"
Eli laughed sheepishly.
Mr. Chad was not wrong. He could not fight, and had just run out of energy. He's the most useless right now.
Chad put his hand on Eli's waist to lift him using one hand.
"Uhmp!"
'...So heavy!'
He nearly coughed.
'What in the darn heavens is this kid eating? He looks so thin!'
Chad used both of his hands earlier when he saved him, so he only noticed Eli's weight now.
He had underestimated how weak his body currently is.
It never even occurred to him that the kid was not heavy, but he was just weak.
Chad clicked his tongue,
'Screw it.'
Wind gathered below their feet and started lifting them.
Eli flinched when he saw a gust of wind below him, and the sensation of his body weight lightening made him clench onto Chad's clothes.
The moment the humming stopped, they went straight to the direction where the traces of the voice came from.
It was a battle against time before the humming started again.
Chad rushed in to go find the caster.
While he was riding the wind, Eli didn't miss the chance to look around.
It wasn't visible when they were on the outskirts of the city, but as they move along, he can now see clearly how many people lived on Velmire.
However, all of them showed no signs of life, asleep as if nothing was wrong.
'So terrible.'
Eli bit his lower lip while thinking of the person who could do such a thing singlehandedly.
Meanwhile, Chad focused on where the wavelength of the spell came from.
'There it is.'
He could feel the strongest energy on the east side of the city.
Chad surged in to get there but he noticed something was amiss.
'Whoever it is, they're not even trying to hide.'
Openly using a high-level spell on a peaceful city like Velmire, and their presence not hidden.
He couldn't even begin to fathom what the caster was trying to do.
Are they really just an immature brat like he thought?
Did they hold the city captive purely for entertainment?
Nonetheless, he continued going forward.
Their intention doesn't matter. He has to stop this now before it gets worse.
"Kiek–!"
"What?"
Chad quickly stopped after he heard the sound of a creak.
A bunch of dark creatures bearing the height of a human toddler gathered in front of them.
They were small with pointy, big ears.
Their sharp teeth were visible, as if they couldn't fit through their mouths.
"Kiek. Kiek!"
Chad frowned at them and said,
"Get out of my way."
They're running out of time. There's only a few seconds left until the next humming comes.
He's not about to entertain the small demonic creatures crowding over them.
"Kiek! Kiek!"
The imps started screaming.
"I don't have time for this. Get out now, while I'm still being nice."
Chad was getting impatient.
Eli, who was watching, looked at the small creatures in pity.
"Mr. Chad, I don't think they want to fight."
Eli looked closely at the dark creatures. For some unknown reason, he could tell. They were more frightened than malicious.
Chad's glare made the small imps flinch.
"K, kiek…"
However, after looking at each other, the small creatures proceeded to form a line, creating a barricade against Chad and Eli.
Their arms were trembling yet still determined not to let them through.
'This is…'
Chad's face hardened.
Imps are the weakest kind of demons.
They're at the very bottom of the food chain, that's why they stick to moving in a group.
Once they feel their enemy is stronger, they will not hesitate to prostrate or retreat. That's how imps survived against stronger demons. They are weak, but have one of the best survival instincts out there.
Chad put his hand down.
"I don't want to attack you. Surely, you can understand me, right? Let us through peacefully and you will be unharmed."
'16 seconds left.'
He clicked his tongue as he removed the cloth wrapped around his right palm. He wanted to curse out loud.
The wound on his palm hasn't even healed yet, and now he has to use them again.
'Haa… This wretched day, I swear…'
His stance changed as he got his left hand holding onto Eli and his right hand getting ready to fight. The sharp fingernails started digging onto his palm, until he flinched.
Chad swiftly conjured a barrier made out of his divine power to shield both him and Eli.
'Barrier!'
"Seriously, nothing's going my way."
He scoffed as the humming started again.
The effect of the relaxing voice of a woman was not relaxing at all.
Chad bit his lips as he struggled to maintain his arms up while using the barrier against the hypnotic voice.
They were fine before because they weren't inside its range, but it's different now.
They entered the range and had to defend against it head-on.
Sweat lined his brow as he narrowed his eyes, straining his already weakened muscles.
This is not his intention at all.
Taking it on was out of his plans, but these imps just had to distract him.
He turned his head back frowning, clearly confused.
Chad muttered to himself,
"It's not moving?"
Eli couldn't help but ask,
"What's not moving?"
"Whoever's doing this is not moving."
"Eh?"
Eli looked at where Mr. Chad was looking but could cease his brows.
Apart from the unconscious bodies around them, he can't see anything.
He could feel the strong vibration of the air from the humming voice but he doubted that's what Mr. Chad was talking about.
"How could you tell? I don't see anything."
But Chad didn't answer.
As his right hand trembled from the impact against the barrier, he finally realized something.
Even though it seems like the humming voice is attacking, the force it has is constant.
The range is also fixed, which means the user is not moving.
The slightest bit of movement would make the range vary, albeit small, and if they saw their barrier, then the caster should naturally strengthen or change the attack.
However, none of that has happened so far, not even a fluctuation.
His thoughts were getting muddy.
Chad doesn't know how to make sense of this.
The situation keeps on getting confusing.
"K, kiek…!"
The imps trembled at the voice of the humming woman.
"Huh?"
Chad snapped out of his thoughts. He looked at the imps strangely.
'What? They're not asleep? Does it not affect them?'
The imps were just standing there, not doing anything to defend themselves at all.
They're trembling but overall, they were fine.
It should be impossible for these weak imps to defend against a spell as strong as this.
"Kugh–!"
His hand trembled as they were starting to get tired.
He had to withstand it for a bit longer until the alluring voice finally stopped.
'Now!'
The wind under their feet gathered like a small storm, giving them momentum to go straight ahead to the caster.
32 seconds.
The air around them started getting chilly.
Blood flowed out of Chad's right palm as they stormed straight through the imps.
The blood shifted to take the shape of a long staff.
Whack!
Chad did not hesitate to smack the imps sideways who were blocking his way.