The Greatest Sinner

Evan and Demien walked slowly through the clouds of smoke floating in the air, just enough to reach the other end.

<What an interesting spell. Doesn't that mean Demien can practically fly, if he wants to?>

Evan gazed at the bottomless abyss below and at the cave walls studded with crystals, he was enthralled by the beauty and the vast darkness that lay just below him.

Demien, unlike Evan, had no emotions whatsoever. He didn't care, he just smoked his cigarette and walked along the slabs of smoke.

After a while, Demien frowned and said grudgingly: "Damn, why the hell did they make this chasm so wide? Why couldn't they have just put up a hundred barriers and that`s all."

"Make?" Evan thought he'd misheard. He thought this chasm was of natural origin.

Demien nodded: "Yes, Fane wanted to put a lot more barriers in front of the fourth section than there are now, but Koen decided that making this chasm would be much more effective. All brawn and no brains."

"I see you're a critic." With a smile on his face, Evan said as he pondered Demien's words.

<This chasm was made by Koen? Unbelievable, but why are such unusual protective measures for?>

It seemed strange to Evan, in his opinion it would have been much easier to put people to protect the entrance to the fourth section.

"Well, to be honest Koen's actions have some logic. Barriers are good, of course, but they don't save against some creatures."

"Hmm? Are there a lot of people trying to get into section four?" Evan asked puzzled.

He didn't believe there would be a person in all of Mossy Vulture who would be willing to be an enemy of the Erden Family and the Cross Family.

"People? Are you a fool? There is no such idiot who would risk sneaking in here. The fourth section of the "pond of Mountain Crystals" has an incredible concentration of mana and if you think it attracts only people, you are deeply mistaken." Demien said calmly as he continued to stride forward.

Demien's words led Evan to an unusual reasoning, because he had been in the city most of the time, he had completely forgotten how dangerous and diverse this world was.

<Well, let me think, I've never met a monster before. If they use mana the same way magicians do, then it's no wonder they're attracted to the fourth section.>

"So it turns out that monsters sometimes try to get into the fourth section?"

Demien nodded: "Yes, and not just into it. The other sections, too, and even the numerous caves. I see you're still wet behind the ears and know next to nothing about monsters."

Evan nodded. Demien's words were harsh, but that was all because of his character, it would be foolish to pay attention to them. But learning more about monsters would be interesting.

"Okay kid, since you won the tournament in the coat I`d made, I'll give you a little lecture. Don't interrupt and listen carefully, I`m not going to tell you twice, I'm not getting paid for this." Demien took another puff and began his monologue: "Let's start with why a magician's meeting with monsters is inevitable. Firstly, the best resources for weapons, armor, potions, and so on, come from mines, forests, and from monsters. Secondly, in the future you have to travel to learn more about the world and become stronger. In that case, you can easily run into monsters."

"Thirdly, and most importantly, the reason why monsters attack magicians, and when I say magicians, I mean them specifically. Almost every monster has mana, which means such a monster won't attack ordinary people, they're useless to it. Of course, if the monster is hungry it will have no other choice, but that happens very rarely."

"Monsters attack mages exclusively for one simple reason, magicians have mana and lots of it. Monsters kill us not because they want to, but because eating our flesh makes them stronger. Eh, it's a shame that people can't do that, you can't get any stronger by killing them."

<It turns out that monsters literally absorb mana from the flesh of magicians? Hmm, although there's some balance to it. We kill them for resources, and they for mana. Both we, and they get stronger by killing each other. Pretty brutal.>

Evan was surprised by this arrangement of the world. In his opinion, it was fair in some ways. Ordinary people who already have a difficult life due to their lack of mana don't have to worry about being attacked by monsters. Unless in exceptional cases.

"What about beasts? Do they behave the same way as monsters?" Evan asked calmly.

"Hey, boy, I`ve told you not to interrupt me. Hmm, beasts are a little different from monsters. How can I explain it to you, compared to monsters, beasts are less aggressive toward humans and other creatures. They have no reason to attack us. If you don't disturb them, they won't hurt you."

"Can't beasts do the same as monsters? Kill and eat a magician thereby increasing their powers?"

Demien shook his head in response, "They can, but it doesn't make any sense. Compared to monsters, the beasts would get a hundred times less mana from such a method, it's too inefficient and dangerous."

Demien exhaled a puff of smoke and continued: "On the other hand, unlike monsters, beasts accumulate mana and condense it into "Void Liquid" much faster. Magicians can do it too, but much slower, and we have a lot more "Barriers" than beasts.

"It turns out that some become stronger by devouring others, while the latter, on the contrary, gain strength faster from their environment. Both monsters and beasts have one of these parameters very strongly developed, but humans have none of these things..."

"Yes, compared to beasts and monsters, humans are a real mistake of nature." Demien said calmly.

His words were harsh, but it was true. Man has no advantage over monsters and beasts. He cannot devour others and become as strong as monsters, and beasts are superior to humans in the rate at which they get mana from their environment.

Crack.

Demien wanted to continue, but suddenly, from the left, there were many cracks in the wall.

Whoosh.

An armored paw with long claws kicked out a layer of stone, and a creepy lizard-like monster's head emerged. Its mouth was very large with sharp teeth, and the wide plates all over its body provided excellent protection.

Evan flinched in surprise at the monster's appearance, but he was not frightened. A few minutes ago, Demien had said something like this could happen.

Demien grinned and looked into the monster's eyes and said: "Evan, people this is a mistake, but..."

Whoosh.

The next moment a huge amount of smoke rushed toward the monster and it was instantly trapped in a sphere of smoke. The lizard tried to break free from this trap, but the smoke grew denser with every second, and the sphere gradually narrowed.

Whoosh.

Demien clenched his hand into a fist, the sphere shrank even tighter, followed by a loud crack.

Whoosh.

The sphere dissipated and the corpse of the monster fell into the abyss. Its bones and plates were broken and its organs crushed.

Demien took a puff and muttered: "But, this "mistake" just doesn`t give a fuck on the rules of this world and it is going to outdo all other creatures."