Chapter 2460: Jinn

When Caesar turned to the left and finally focused his attention on the outer edge of the enormous array, his already pale expression grew even paler, while a strange mixture of confusion and hatred appeared across his face at the same time!

At the edge of the circle stood a number of people, each one positioned at perfectly equal distances from the others, forming an orderly arrangement around the enormous array.

Every single one of them wore a long white robe that completely covered their body from top to bottom, while the same white fabric extended upward over the head and then hung down across the face through what appeared to be an enormous pointed hood. No eyes could be seen beneath those garments, no mouths, not even the slightest trace of facial features through which Caesar could determine who or what exactly was standing underneath those clothes; all that could be seen were motionless white human figures standing there around the circle, silently watching everything taking place before them.

And in this dark, gray place, surrounded by the oppressive atmosphere of the desert, their striking white garments didn’t make them appear any less terrifying. On the contrary, that whiteness made them stand out more clearly than practically anything else in the surroundings, as though they were a group of bodies wrapped from head to toe in burial shrouds that had somehow risen onto their feet simply to stand there and watch that horrifying event unfold.

Not a single one of them moved despite the continuous silent screaming coming from the human suspended at the center of the array.

Their body language revealed neither joy nor sorrow, neither anger nor happiness, nor any other obvious reaction toward what they were witnessing... They simply remained standing in their designated positions, completely silent and motionless like statues.

Until that moment—

One of those white-clad figures slowly turned toward the exact place where Caesar was hiding behind the sandy hill.

"..!!!!" Caesar immediately lowered his head as quickly as possible, screaming inwardly from the sudden shock and fear while forcibly suppressing the sound before even the slightest trace of it could escape his mouth. His eyes were opened to their absolute limits and his heart was pounding inside his chest with tremendous force... Although he knew absolutely nothing about that person’s strength or history, and couldn’t even properly see the figure beneath those strange white clothes, there was no doubt whatsoever that Caesar felt an overwhelming sense of dread toward them.

Run? If he moved even an inch from his current position right now, they would discover exactly where he was hiding.

All Caesar could do was remain completely still in this position and pray that the concealment artifacts he was currently wearing, which were among the finest concealment equipment in the entire universe, would be enough to help him survive this situation, and that the darkness surrounding his current location would provide enough of an advantage for that person to mistake whatever they had noticed for nothing more than a passing shadow or perhaps a wandering ghost.

"...." After nearly ten full minutes of absolute silence and tense waiting, Caesar finally gathered enough courage to slowly raise his head once again and cautiously check the situation on the other side of the hill, and only then did he finally breathe a quiet sigh of relief... That person had already returned to watching what was happening beside the enormous array, just like all the other figures standing around them, remaining completely silent and calm as though nothing unusual had happened.

Are these... the jinn? Caesar asked cautiously, his eyes still firmly fixed on the white-clad figure standing outside the array.

<No, they’re human devils.>

"...!?" Caesar was greatly surprised by that answer, his confusion immediately increasing. Humans? Those are actually humans?!

<Yes, that particular group is mostly composed of humans.> Mortex’s voice appeared once again inside Caesar’s head, answering him without much hesitation. <This isn’t their first time here.>

Not their first time? Caesar repeated inwardly, but despite the many questions that immediately appeared in his mind about those strange white-clad figures, he quickly lost interest in them for the moment.

Instead, Caesar shifted his attention back toward the center of the enormous array and the terrifying scene that was still unfolding there. Then... these are the jinn.

What was happening inside the array was still continuing without interruption. Those strange creatures were still repeatedly draining the human’s blood and then filling him with it again, carefully ensuring throughout the entire process that he remained conscious and responsive to everything happening to his body, while each one of those creatures entered his body in turn for some unknown reason before the entire process began once again from the beginning, forming a continuous cycle of torment that appeared as though it would never come to an end.

<The jinn? Almost...> Mortex replied mysteriously, his answer only adding another layer of confusion to what Caesar was seeing. <They’re the devils among them.>

"....?" Caesar was utterly bewildered by Mortex’s answer and immediately lowered his head once again, afraid that someone standing around the enormous array might notice him if he continued peeking over the hill. What the hell do you mean?!

<Haven’t you heard the term "devils" countless times before? There’s no need for me to explain in detail how the term is used or exactly what it represents whenever people speak of it. In the simplest possible terms, it represents absolute evil and the drive toward destruction and ruin, doesn’t it?> Mortex replied calmly, as though what he was explaining was something perfectly ordinary. <That’s what they are. You’re looking at devils right now, the true devils that are used as the very example of evil itself, the ones to whom practically anything wicked or evil is attributed.>

".....?" Caesar cautiously raised his head and stole another quick glance toward the enormous array, focusing once again on the creatures revolving around the tortured man. Those transparent fiery things are the devils? And they’re all here?!

Caesar’s already pale face grew even paler upon receiving confirmation.

He couldn’t determine their strength at all from where he was hiding, nor did he dare send his spiritual sense anywhere near them in an attempt to investigate them more closely, but despite that, there were still two clear indications that allowed him to understand just how terrifying their strength truly was.

The first was the instinctive warning coming from his very being, telling him with absolute certainty that clashing with those creatures was a direct and certain path to death. Caesar had experienced countless dangerous situations before, yet he hadn’t felt this degree of overwhelming terror even when he faced Helen on Coronation Day, despite that encounter having placed him in a situation where there had been no possible escape from death.

The second indication... was that the suspended person currently being tortured at the center of the enormous array was himself radiating the unmistakable aura of a Mid Nexus State.

<Yes, those are the devils, or rather, some of them, to be more precise.> Mortex added after allowing Caesar a moment to absorb what he had just heard. <"Devils" is simply a term used for the evil ones among the jinn, those among their kind who communicate with humans.>

"........?" Caesar grabbed his head with both hands as the information began piling up faster than he could properly process it. So the devils everyone has heard about since birth are actually part of the jinn? But I’ve never known anything about the jinn before. Do all of them live here in the Necrofortress Galaxy? Is this some kind of refuge for evil or something like that?!

<What are you talking about?> Mortex’s amused laughter echoed inside Caesar’s head in response to his conclusion. <The jinn live everywhere, on every planet and every star, in every remote city and every crowded one. They aren’t confined to this place at all, and it wouldn’t even be particularly surprising if you once returned home from a battle, went to sleep as usual, and spent the night beside a jinn without ever realizing that it was there.>

"......." Caesar’s blood suddenly ran cold as he listened to those words and understood exactly what Mortex was telling him.

<The jinn are ancient creatures, Caesar, and when I call them ancient, I’m not talking about the current cycle or merely comparing their age to yours. Their existence goes deeper than that, an existence we cannot fully understand even now. Only a very small number of people know that they exist at all, while some humans happened to see individual jinn by coincidence, or because a particular jinn chose to reveal itself to them one day, and those humans subsequently spread rumors about what they had seen... They exist among us, around us, but we neither see nor sense them under normal circumstances, and even your soul sense won’t detect their presence.>

Caesar resisted the instinctive urge to swallow his saliva, unwilling to risk producing even the slightest unnecessary sound while those white-clad figures remained nearby. What about Dominators? Can they sense them?

<It has nothing to do with how powerful someone is, but rather with the nature of the creature itself. Most of the jinn scattered throughout the universe, sitting unnoticed on store shelves or playing atop beds, are actually weak creatures, but even if you brought a Dominator and placed them nearby, they still wouldn’t sense those jinn unless the jinn themselves chose to reveal their presence... And in truth, there isn’t any need for you to sense them in the first place.>

What do you mean? Caesar asked quickly, finding Mortex’s last statement even more difficult to accept after everything he had just witnessed. Harmful creatures like these are moving freely around inside our homes, and you’re saying we don’t need to sense them? ...I have to tell Father about this!

Panic gradually began taking hold of Caesar as he thought more deeply about what Mortex had just revealed. Those strange fiery creatures existed everywhere throughout the universe? If that was really true, then perhaps he himself had slept beside one of them before without seeing it, sensing it, or even knowing that another creature was there?!!

<Your father won’t be able to do anything about them. Perhaps he’s already seen one of them before at some point and simply ignored the matter because he knew pursuing it wouldn’t lead him anywhere... The problem is simply that you don’t understand them yet, Caesar.> Mortex explained calmly, <The jinn don’t want to harm you. Even if you were 100 million years old, to them, you’d still be nothing more than a child exploring the world around him, and if knowing this makes you feel any better about their presence... they fundamentally can’t harm you directly in the first place.>