When I Tried Strengthening 【Rusted Sword】, It Evolved Into An Overpowered Magic Sword

Chapter 69 Healer

“I’ve been searching for you, Citrine. The game of hide-and-seek is over. Well, it’s not really hide-and-seek but more like a game of tag, right?”

The demon with a devilish grin said this, and the sight of his smile made Citrine’s fear deepen. She truly hated this demon’s face and voice, so much so that she never wanted to see him again.

“Surprised, huh? To think there’s a demon with such an outrageous ability. With that power, I could bring you here in an instant. And now you understand that no matter where you run, it’s pointless, right?”

Citrine quickly realized he was referring to the demon named Quartz from earlier. Indeed, escaping from such an ability was nearly impossible. It was almost a miracle she had managed to escape him before.

And now, another demon had appeared, adding to her misfortune. It was like adding a battering ram to a demon.

It was safe to say that escaping from this man was now entirely impossible. This man always brought despair to her.

(If only he weren’t here…)

She could have lived quietly without knowing despair. Citrine had lived in this place before. Obsidian Mountain, if one could overlook the unpleasant burnt smell, was a calm place without other creatures or conflicts.

Because it was somewhat inconvenient to live in, other demons or adventurers never came, making it a sanctuary for the weak and mild Citrine.

But one day, the “Onyx Legion” arrived. And from the day the Onyx Legion arrived, everything in Citrine’s life began to unravel.

“Don’t make that stiff face. It’s not like I’m asking you to do anything complicated. As you know, it’s a super simple request.”

Onyx, never losing his devilish grin, approached Citrine. When he got close, he waved his right sleeve, which was missing an arm, in a lazy manner to show it off.

“Fix my right arm, Citrine.”

“…”

The same order as before. He commanded with the same indifferent tone, showing no concern for her feelings. Onyx was always only concerned with himself.

In response, Citrine’s answer was just as unchanged as before. She didn’t want to heal this man’s arm. In fact, even before that…

“I don’t have that kind of power. I’ve told you that many times.”

Citrine’s artifact is rare among demons for its healing abilities. However, it can only heal minor wounds like scrapes, and it’s utterly impossible to regrow lost limbs.

So, she cannot heal this. Not only does she not want to heal someone like him, but her abilities simply aren’t sufficient. She has told him this repeatedly.

Yet Onyx would always respond in the same manner.

“I’ve known for a long time that your artifact doesn’t have that kind of power. That’s why I keep telling you to ‘kill a lot of humans’ to grow your artifact.”

Onyx’s exasperation only made Citrine more frustrated. Killing humans would indeed help in leveling up an artifact. In simple terms, it would increase the artifact’s rank.

With such growth, Citrine’s currently underdeveloped artifact might one day become capable of healing lost limbs. Onyx’s expectation that Citrine could achieve this by killing humans was precisely what Citrine wanted to argue against. Because…

“My artifact can only heal injuries. It has no power to kill.”

She had explained this to him many times before. How was she supposed to kill people with her powerless artifact to make it grow?

Seeing Citrine’s puzzled expression, Onyx suddenly seemed to remember something and called out.

“Oh, I haven’t explained this to you yet. I’ve come up with a brilliant idea recently. Hey, Black Snake, bring that kid here.”

“Yes, Onyx-sama.”

The serpent-like female demon, Onyx’s aide, grabbed Citrine’s arm and pulled her along. Citrine felt anxious about where she was being taken but soon realized it was pointless to resist at this point.

Resigned, Citrine followed Onyx’s lead, being dragged by the female demon deeper into the cave.

Eventually, they arrived at a place larger and darker than the previous square. It was so dark that nothing could be seen, so the aide lit the lamps along the walls.

As the obscured view was illuminated, an unbelievable sight came into Citrine’s view.

“—!?”

What Citrine saw were “bloodied humans writhing on the ground.”

There were about thirty of them.

All had severe injuries somewhere on their bodies and were unable to move properly.

Citrine was belatedly struck by the overwhelming stench of blood and the mournful groans filling the space.

The horrific scene displayed before her left Citrine speechless.

“Now then, do you know what these people are?”

“…”

Citrine had no idea, nor did she want to know. Losing even the ability to respond to the question, Onyx answered in a cheerful tone.

“The answer is… these are adventurers that Quartz kidnapped!”

“Adventurers…?”

Were all the people lying here adventurers?

Did Quartz really bring nearly thirty adventurers to this place?

At that moment, Citrine recalled an incident.

The incident involving the kidnapping of adventurers.

The guild had questioned her about the incident, asking if she knew anything. She had also overheard Rust and Dia talking about it.

An incident where adventurers were being kidnapped by someone.

The number of victims had reached nearly thirty.

Yes, thirty.

The number of adventurers lying here coincided exactly with that number.

Moreover, Onyx had just confirmed that these were the adventurers kidnapped by Quartz.

The culprits behind the kidnapping incident were indeed the “Onyx Legion.”

“Why… why are you doing this…?”

A hoarse voice escaped her without her realizing. Onyx, clearly enjoying Citrine’s reaction, answered in a mocking tone.

“There are two reasons. The first is to find a user of a healing artifact. If any of these adventurers have a healer who can regrow limbs, we can get them to fix my arm.”

Onyx’s goal, in simple terms, was to heal his right arm.

He desired Citrine’s healing abilities for this, but it didn’t necessarily have to be Citrine. He could find another skilled healer to do it instead.

Targeting adventurers to find an excellent healer was a smart move. Healing artifacts are generally granted only to “humans,” and among humans, those who have developed their artifacts are adventurers.

So, searching among adventurers would naturally increase the chances of finding a skilled healer.

This was definitely a more practical approach than chasing around the inexperienced Citrine.

However, Onyx looked disappointed and sighed.

“But, healing artifacts seem to be quite rare, and even with all these kidnappings, we couldn’t find a decent healer. Even if we did, they were as useless as you. It was a real letdown. …But well, that was just within the expected range. The real aim is the second reason.”

The second reason?

Citrine felt a vague sense of dread in her chest.

Onyx, with a creepy smile that seemed to affirm her bad feeling, continued.

“The real reason for kidnapping the adventurers is to collect ‘materials.'”

“Materials, collect…?”

“If there had been a healer among them, it would have been the easiest way. But even if there isn’t, it’s not a problem. These people are valuable ‘materials.'”

Materials.

Citrine couldn’t understand what Onyx was talking about, or rather, she didn’t want to understand.

Her bad premonitions grew even stronger.

As Citrine stood there in shock, Onyx grinned malevolently and whispered in a low voice.

“Kill them, you.”

“Eh…?”

“Kill the adventurers here and use their deaths to grow your artifact. If that happens, it won’t matter if there are no healers among them. In any case, we’ll use them as materials to strengthen your artifact. How’s that for a two-in-one plan?”

She was told to kill the adventurers.

Citrine had anticipated something like this—she had expected Onyx to come up with an efficient plan that fit her lack of ability to kill people.

Onyx began to explain his plan with a self-satisfied tone.

“For demons to enhance their artifacts, there’s no method other than killing humans. But this is actually an advantage.”

“…An advantage?”

“Apparently, for humans to enhance their artifacts, they have to ‘fight demons.’ The gods of ‘Blessing’—in other words, the gods who provide ‘experience points’—won’t grant you blessings unless they recognize that you fought demons. But for demons, all you have to do is ‘kill’ humans.”

It’s often thought that the methods for enhancing artifacts are the same for both demons and humans. However, the actual methods are completely different. For humans, it’s about fighting demons, while for demons, it’s about killing humans.

“Fighting” and “killing” might seem similar, but they are fundamentally different.

“The gods on the human side are quite ‘smart,’ and they only grant blessings if you actually fight demons. On the other hand, the evil gods on our side are rather ‘lax,’ giving blessings just for finishing off weakened humans. They’re pretty much careless gods.”

Onyx’s playful tone made Citrine uncomfortably agree. Indeed, it seemed that the gods on the human side were sincere, while the evil gods on the demon side were not. The evil gods didn’t care about the process of combat and only considered the result when granting blessings.

In contrast, the human gods, regardless of whether someone was killed or not, awarded blessings based on the nature of the battle, showing they paid attention to the world below.

Onyx seemed to have thought of exploiting this insincerity of the evil gods.

“So, if you finish off the dying adventurers here… your artifact will grow stronger and stronger. If you kill this many adventurers, even your pathetic artifact should improve a little. It might even become strong enough to regrow lost limbs.”

Thus, it didn’t matter if Citrine lacked the power to kill humans.

She belatedly realized the meaning of Onyx’s smug smile.

Even for Citrine, killing dying adventurers without an artifact should be possible.

But just because it was factually possible didn’t mean her emotions would catch up with that reality.

“…I can’t do that.”

“What a pathetic thing to say. It’s normal for demons to kill humans. Besides, weren’t you almost killed by those adventurers? Don’t you want to get revenge on them?”

No, she doesn’t want to.

It’s true that she was pursued and nearly killed by adventurers, but she couldn’t bring herself to think of revenge.

Seeing Citrine bow her head in hesitation, Onyx seemed irritated and deliberately clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“Just hurry up and kill them. With that crappy artifact of yours, you can’t heal my arm. It’s seriously inconvenient not having a dominant hand. Plus, if you strengthen your artifact, it’s a win-win for both of us.”

Citrine had no recollection of agreeing to anything like that. She had never even considered growing her artifact by killing humans.

Still, Onyx raised his voice even more, as if to intimidate her.

“Or what?! Do you want to end up like that guy?! Just like your ‘big brother’!”

Citrine’s entire body tensed up like stone. At the same time, the image of a single demon appeared in her mind.

The kind, gentle smile of that warm person, who didn’t seem like a demon at all, was unforgettable.

“I love humans.”

The favorite saying of the demon Citrine once looked up to as a “brother” echoed in her mind without her realizing it.