ã€ŠThe Under Partyã€‹


 Chapter 1: Victim of a Fantasy World

    (Daemon POV)

    It was just a little past noon when it had happened. Everything flashed before my eyes, and in an instant, nothing but sharp pain and black mixing with crimson. I most likely died, but now I don¡¯t know. I never really was one to care for life anyway, just living because I was. I never had any friends, just a few buddies from work, and even then they weren¡¯t real friends. I lived all by myself and had a fairly small apartment. The one thing I do remember much clearer than everything else was that life was useless.

    I was fairly good at most things, I kept to myself, so some talent was wasted. But keeping to myself had kept me from gaining any attachment to the world I was so familiar with. And that was a big help because wherever I am now, it wasn''t earth. A vast dark red sky gleamed across my vision as the sun slowly rose on the horizon. Endless trees swarmed me in a thick forest which had a very small clearing, enough to see the sky and to lie down in.

    I tried to sit up when it hit me all at once. Pain. Pain shot across my body, hitting every nerve before doubling and sending me back to the ground. The pain slowly died down, and I eventually got enough courage to try to sit up again, and doing so was much harder than expected. My legs were much stronger and heavier than they used to be, and my hands much larger too. Rubbing the side of my head, as that was one of the worst spots, I slowly moved my left hand in front of my face. And what a sight to behold, as my hand was a bright crimson.

    I heard some rustling from the bushes around me and tried to stand up, if I was still alive, then I don¡¯t want to die again, because that hurts. And it hurts a lot. Eventually jumping out from the bushes to my right, a pointy-eared human stood with a bow? And in it was a bright green arrow, wait, don¡¯t tell me. If I was put into a fucking MMORPG world I am just going to kill everything. It panicked at first but seeing as I didn¡¯t know who or what it was, I couldn¡¯t react in any other way either.

    It readied it¡¯s bow at my head, and would most likely take it clean off, so I tried to back away. Only taking a single step before hearing a voice from behind me. It was the kind of voice you¡¯d associate with a cautious yet overzealous young adult, and they spoke in a slightly deep voice.

    ¡°Stop right there demon!¡± Great, I¡¯m a demon, way to go.

    ¡°Eighyyyyia.¡± A high pitched screech echoed from my voice box, causing them to stumble back a moment.

    ¡°Anti-Curse Field!¡± Another voice that sounded as if it took on a spiritualist person¡¯s.

    ¡°Well, what do you say we do with ¡®em? We could kill ¡®em here and take his horns, might fetch a good price.¡± The elf said, causing me to tense slightly.

    ¡°No, no, if we kill it, then we can¡¯t get the reward.¡± The human said, which had a sword pointed at my breast.

    ¡°All you think about is money! It¡¯s more dangerous alive than dead!¡± The pointed-ear person accused.

    ¡°How can you be so sure? If we took its horns it might curse you!¡± The spiritual voice person said matter-of-factly.

    I started to get mad, it was as if they didn¡¯t care for me in the slightest, ¡°WILL YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP!?¡± I screamed, causing them to drop to one knee and a flock of birds and animals to flee.

    ¡°I told you it was too dangerous! Quickly, kill the thing!¡± The arrow flew through the air in no time, but I was so mad I managed to swipe at it until it drilled a hole straight through a rabbit that just came from its burrow.

    The human rushed and his sword met my foot, and it sent him flying into a tree, ¡°LEAVE ME ALONE ALREADY!¡± The spiritual guy, which now came rushing from a bush with a spear of wood, stabbed into my left shoulder.

    ¡°Eric! Are you alright!?¡± The archer said to the human, to which a cough of blood was the only response.

    I grabbed the spear, and pulled it out, seeing a black ichor that seeped onto the end, ¡°YOU¡¯LL ALL PAY, NONE OF YOU WILL LEAVE HERE ALIVE!¡± Promptly snapping the twig in half, and skewering the man who drove it into me, I sent him hurtling through the air into a tree making him hang there from the protruding stick.

    Rushing from the woods, a black-clothed person rushed to me, slicing up my arm, causing me to grunt in pain. But they couldn¡¯t dodge or block my left leg as it came crashing into their back and sending them into the pointed-ear one. Seething with anger and hatred, I didn¡¯t want to leave their fates to chance, so I stomped my way over to the two. Slowly picking up the newcomer, I bent his left arm in so many ways you¡¯d think it was a snake. After I finished with that, I slammed him into the ground with it which caused an explosion of thick blood to splatter from his mouth onto himself and the ground.

    ¡°WEAK! PITIFUL AND WEAK! GET UP. GET UP! IF YOU CAN¡¯T SURVIVE THAT YOU DON¡¯T GET TO LIVE ANY LONGER!¡± When I got angry, which wasn¡¯t often, I was a complete and utter bitch to handle.

    The man I slammed to the ground, slowly stood up, shrieking and grunting as he did, ¡°T-this is. nothing. Is that the best you¡¯ve got?¡± He said weakly and in between coughs of blood.

    ¡°OF COURSE NOT! I HAVE PLENTY LEFT IN-STORE!¡± I don¡¯t remember the last time I was this mad, or even if I was ever really mad at all.

    ¡°Then, do it. Finish us off, clearly, you knew what you were doing, but might I ask why? Why would you go through all the trouble of brute-forcing instead of using magic? Did you find us too low?¡± Damn, magic too? I swear if this was an MMORPG game world...

    ¡°OF COURSE NOT, YOU ALL GET WHAT YOU GIVE, AND YOU ATTACKED ME WITH STRENGTH THAT I MATCHED TENFOLD!¡± I was still shouting with my words, and the forest even echoed in might with my voice which left vast radiation of wrath in its wake.

    I wasn''t paying much attention to the pointed-ear one, as he managed to fire a single arrow deep into the sky, and it burst bright with color, ¡°Don¡¯t worry dear friends,¡± he said standing up, ¡°we ought to get help swiftly, and by my memory, they will be mighty strong, compared to this thing at least.¡± So they got help huh? Well, you can¡¯t help a dead man!

    Rushing back to the pointed-ear one I quickly threw a few punches, which he avoided, ¡°YOU WON¡¯T NEED ANY HELP! YOU¡¯LL ALL BE LONG DEAD BEFORE ANY ARRIVE!¡± And with my words, a swift gut punch followed by a spine shattering smash from my leg sent him flailing limply to the ground desperate for breath.

    Before getting any farther a large streak of gleaming light cascaded down from the sky like a lightning bolt next to me, causing me to jump back a bit, ¡°Looks like you¡¯re wrong!¡± The human stuck to the tree said in a mocking tone, to which I snarled in return.

    In the wake of the light was a large force of heavily armored knights, led by a single man that would have to be the leader, ¡°You all did well to match it, you¡¯ll all be heavily rewarded for this one!¡± Just another runt who thinks of me as a mere mutt!

    I stomped slowly, sending shivers into the men, but not the leader, he embraced them and readied a sword that would be equated to a broadsword on steroids, ¡°YOU¡¯LL JUST HAVE TO JOIN THEM!¡± And with that, I flashed forward faster than I could ever have moved before, and my leg met his sword, but neither would budge, so I sent a kick to his chest with the other and rebounded off of it.

    ¡°A smart one, this will be quite hard, even for me.¡± The guy said with as cocky a tone you could imagine.

    ¡°Mind his legs!¡± The other four said in unison, as they were all quite aware of their strength.

    ¡°QUIET! I''M TIRED OF YOUR GAMES! JUST DIE OR BEGONE!¡± I didn¡¯t have to kill them, but it was the safest option for the current moment.

    He stepped back a half step, lifting his left foot up high before dashing forward in a blink, and his sword came cascading towards my neck, ¡°This is no game demon.¡± He said as I just managed to block it with my left forearm, which left it oozing with my black blood.

    ¡°WHY DO YOU DARE OPPOSE ME ANYWAY! YOU¡¯RE CLEARLY OUTMATCHED!¡± Still had no idea why they would just attack on-sight.

    ¡°Cleansing the area from your filth, for the queen, and country!¡± The entire squadron of knights called out in unison, before charging full strength towards me.

    Quickly improvising, I backed into a tree and snapped off a thick branch, sending leaves and twigs to scatter when I pummeled the closest of them, ¡°SOUNDS LIKE YOU DON¡¯T KNOW YOUR PLACE THEN!¡± The branch just knocked them back slightly, which was enough for what I wanted.

    Quickly transferring the branch to my left hand, I grabbed a knight¡¯s leg, causing him to drop his large sword and shield, and flailed him back and forth into the others, ¡°Ah! Oh God! Please! Somebody help me!¡± He screamed right before getting absolutely crushed against a wall of other guards which tried to disperse but couldn¡¯t manage in time.

    ¡°SUCH A GREAT USE FOR FILTHY HUMANS!¡± I didn¡¯t care for life, and that reached all the way to humans, and I even actively hated them.

    ¡°Should have expected a demon to not know the difference between elves and humans, nothing gets past their selfish desires, not even basic information.¡± More shitty assumptions, I was done with it all, I was getting ready to let loose, and when I do, none can survive.

    ¡°I GIVE YOU ALL ONE LAST CHANCE, FLEE OR DIE!¡± I gave them a fair warning, and I don¡¯t exactly ¡®play nice¡¯ when I¡¯m angered, even more so when I was at my limit.

    ¡°Just what would make us think a demon can keep his word?¡± A knight shouted out, to which I stared him down, causing a slight panic to overtake his body.

    ¡°I¡¯M MORE THAN OBLIGED TO SLAUGHTER YOU ALL RIGHT HERE IF YOU¡¯D PREFER!¡± To which the knight backed slowly and the leader of them started walking closer to the swarm of knights around me, so I needed to rid myself of the crowd.

    Readjusting my grip on the knight¡¯s leg, I picked him up once more, ¡°Let¡¯s see if you can.¡± The leader said, to which the knight in my grasp was sent crashing into a few others, causing them all to be sufficiently knocked back

    After they had all been pushed back I dropped the branch and ripped off the knight¡¯s leg, and threw his body towards the leader which he caught and gently placed on the ground, ¡°THEN COME, LET ME SHOW YOU HOW WRONG YOU ARE!¡± And in but a single flash, I appeared in front of him, and quickly sent a fury of kicks and punches his way along with several bashes of the leg covered in bloody metal.

    He blocked most of them, but the speed at which I slammed him with the leg was too great for him to counter, ¡°Is that all you¡¯ve got? I fought goblins that were tougher than you!¡± With his words, my anger sparked to new heights, and the leg didn¡¯t come crashing down, it exploded with one massive hit against his right shoulder, which left both the leg and his shoulder broken and useless.

    After throwing down the leg, at him of course, I started to warm up my leg muscles as I charged at him head-on, ¡°KNOW YOUR PLACE, IN HELL!¡± My fist met his blade, and my other didn¡¯t, instead it was sent crashing into his chest, and it caved in as I sent him flying backward into a tree.

    I thought I heard a noise from behind me, so I did the only logical thing, jumped into a tree, and it was the right call as the place I was in was bombarded by several arrows. Glaring at the pointed-ear one with the bow, as I came crashing through to where he stood, and in nothing flat slammed him against a tree, causing a trickle of blood to rush from his face and a burst of leaves to fill the air. Using the leaves to my advantage I quickly grabbed him and threw him to the knights, and ran off at blazing speeds.

    After getting a fair way away, I finally took a little time to calm down and think logically for a second. I still had my memories of what shitty life I had, and my body is not my own, evident because I was just a casual guy that barely hit the gym. Another thing that made it obvious was that I was nearly a meter taller, standing at almost 2 and a half meters now, and I had red skin. And now that they have mentioned it, I think I do have horns, I can feel something protruding from my head.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Reaching up and finding two large curved and gnarly horns attached to my skull on the sides of my head, near the top aligned with my ears would have been a surprise enough, but the fact that they were nearly 30 centimeters long was an additional shock. But that wasn¡¯t all, as there was an additional set of small horns on my forehead, only a couple of centimeters long. Not only that, but my breathing was quite slow, and it shouldn¡¯t be after what I just did. Also, at this point, I¡¯m fairly certain that I am an actual demon, but a new life requires a new name. I don¡¯t even want to think of my old one, not that anybody really used it, and my mother who gave it to me¡­ Regardless, I think I¡¯ll go with Daemon.

    I¡¯m a demon, and Daemon, pronounced day-mon, is as close to it as I want to get before just coming up with a completely stupid name in those fantasy stories, like Sal¡¯Kelveroth, of the Down Castle series. It was a decent story, but the characters were utter trash, but I¡¯m getting off point. I like the name anyway, and if I was a demon, it would only work all the better. I looked like a demon, and was pretty strong, especially compared to my old body at least.

    I wasn¡¯t weak in my old life, I was fairly strong, but I just didn¡¯t have anything compared to this. I could pick up an entire person, and throw them around with ease. On top of that, I could snap a thick branch from a tree as if it were a twig. I finally felt the pain I succumbed in the brawl, and man it hurt a lot less than when I died. It was just a few cuts, and as I reached for them on my arm, they were gone already.

    So now that I have pain resistance and some amazing healing power, I really do think I¡¯m in an MMORPG world, but if I weren¡¯t I could just live my life out in this forest, or the mountains or a volcano! So much to do, and to see, I couldn¡¯t just waste it! But peace never long lasted, as rustling was all around me, especially from where I came. I prepared for a fight as a few figures lurked out of the surroundings. They grew ever closer until I spotted a small figure staring out at me, most likely belonging to either a shorter person or child. I called out to them, with a voice that resonates with anger.

    ¡°WHO LURKS?¡± To which the rustling stopped, and an abnormally short man appeared from the bush, with a stomach that looked starved.

    ¡°A-ah, please don¡¯t hurt me!¡± he fell onto the ground clutching and trying to put his arms over himself in defense.

    ¡°GIVE ME A REASON? WHY WERE YOU FOLLOWING ME?¡± To which he started crying, what a sad excuse for a guy.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry! I thought you were an adventurer!¡± Oh great, adventurers too!

    ¡°LEAVE ME!¡± My voice hurt slightly from screaming all the time, but it was better than my old quiet voice, especially since mine was now much deeper and sounded befitting to a demon.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯ll leave!¡± To which he hurriedly scattered around the dirt and vegetation to slowly make his way off somewhere.

    I heard a slight change in the leaves directly behind me, another trap, ¡°HAVING FUN OVER THERE? I THINK I¡¯LL JOIN YOU!¡± As I spoke they fudged an arrow that landed next to my head in the trees, and I vanished from sight coming up next to them with my arm around their shoulders in a ¡®buddy¡¯ position.

    ¡°Get ¡®em!¡± A voice echoed from the trees, and my body was jolted with electricity, and before I knew it, I fell to the ground and was getting sliced at by swords and daggers by pointy-eared people.

    Letting out a roar that shook the ground and knocked several branches off trees, I threw them off of me, ¡°AAAARGH! ALL OF YOU WILL SUFFER!¡± My voice was chocked full of hatred and I spun around with my leg out causing a bone-chilling crunch as several bones of those who were too close were crunched.

    ¡°Divination magic! Hurry!¡± One shouted out, as soon as he said that, a bright glow of green appeared from around me as they fled the immediate area.

    ¡°LEAVING SO SOON? I DON¡¯T THINK SO!¡± But before I could move I was being crushed by a blinding light that constricted my movement.

    And then, black. A blackness encompassed my vision, as I was left to an empty void of nothingness. And just as suddenly as it started, it also ended. And my vision was filled with that of grey bricks and a dark dank room, with large iron bars blocking any escape, each was sharpened and pointed haphazardly. Taking a moment to glance around, I quickly noticed that I was bound in chains, most likely iron or steel, but I could try to break out if needed.

    ¡°Awake are we? About time, we kept you to teach you why you don¡¯t make an enemy of the queen, as we are going to pummel you into submission.¡± His voice sounded chaotic and evil, but his words sounded loyal and disgusting.

    ¡°AND WHO SAID I¡¯D SUBMIT TO SOME RICH NOBODY?¡± To that, his face crumpled and he lashed out at me in hatred with a spiked chain whip, which didn¡¯t hurt at all.

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯ll submit, either willingly or forcefully, you feeling it yet?¡± Nope, but I wouldn¡¯t tell him that, as I didn''t have a reason to.

    The chains started swinging, and I was suspended in the air by them, legs separate and arms together. He lashed harder and harder, and yet I felt nothing, not a thing from it. He started to breath harder and harder, indicating it was hard work with no reward. I could just say I submit and escape or go meet this lovely queen. Either sounded like a better option than watching this no-life try to whip someone, especially me.

    ¡°TAKE ME TO THE QUEEN THEN!¡± His eyes lit up for a moment then stopped, and he just walked away and started talking just out of ear-shot.

    He came back just a moment later, by then I was already on the ground after easily breaking through the chains and spikes, ¡°What is he doing out?¡± Someone who accompanied him said aloud to which they both started to have a slight panic.

    ¡°OH, SHUT UP AND GET THIS OVER WITH!¡± To which they just stopped and the new person walked cautiously towards me.

    ¡°You must sign a magical contract stating your loyalty to the queen,¡± He said as a scroll of yellow light unfolded before me in front of his outstretched palm.

    ¡°AND IF I DON¡¯T?¡± He shook slightly, as I was still yelling all the time.

    ¡°Then we can¡¯t take you to the queen.¡± Alrighty then, I¡¯ll just say I can¡¯t use magic or don¡¯t have a name.

    ¡°CAN¡¯T,¡± I said simply, ¡°DON¡¯T HAVE A NAME.¡± And it, of course, surprised them both, but they just looked confused at one another.

    ¡°Then sign with your mana signature.¡± I don¡¯t know about any magic crap, so I ain¡¯t doing it even if I could.

    ¡°MAGIC? NEVER HEARD OF IT.¡± And that, surprised them so much they started to laugh.

    ¡°Then how did you best my men? You were just that strong that you didn¡¯t need to enhance yourself with magic?¡± He said while laughing.

    ¡°OBVIOUSLY! YOUR MEN WERE WEAKER THAN SHIT! NOW, TAKE ME TO THE FUCKING QUEEN!¡± They backed up a bit with that, which in hindsight, wasn¡¯t the best of words to use.

    ¡°Not until we figure out a way to bind you to her.¡± The new person said while stroking his hairless chin.

    ¡°I have a proposition.¡± I finally said after a long wait, and in an actual speaking voice, much to their surprise.

    ¡°And what would that be?¡± The one who lashed me said.

    ¡°I swear on my whole as a demon, if I betray her, I will die.¡± And as I said that they listened intently, as I wasn¡¯t shouting any longer and it was intriguing to them.

    They glanced at each other and back before the one who offered up the magical contract spoke aloud, ¡°Just place your hand on the contract.¡± Sweet, I don¡¯t have to do jack shit for the queen.

    ¡°Very well,¡± As I placed my hand onto it, it glowed and then disappeared, ¡°And what now?¡± They seemed to be relieved and they pointed to a long passageway.

    ¡°We are going to get you an indirect audience with the queen, so you can¡¯t hurt her as of early.¡± That¡¯s fair, but how come they want me to talk to the queen so bad?

    ¡°Before that, how come you want me so bad?¡± The one who lashed me, which was also the knight captain, looked surprised at that and he raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°It¡¯s not every day you see a demon with human-level intelligence, in the mortal realm, or use physical weapons over magical ones. You are exceptionally rare!¡± He said with what sounded extreme joy.

    ¡°So I¡¯m rare? And that¡¯s why I¡¯m supposed to be some queen¡¯s pet?¡± He shrugged and nodded, which annoyed me, as I wasn¡¯t going to be no slave to some rich girl.

    ¡°Regardless, we must carry on with our tasks. Now, if you¡¯d follow us to the room, we can use a communication stone and you may talk to her directly.

    ¡°Fine then, take me to this, communication stone.¡± They led me down the hallway they came from.

    We walked down, it was lit with primitive torches, and it had doors randomly spaced around, and we walked until we came to a door on the right. We all faced it, and the newer one opened it, and they walked in. I was much taller than the doorway, so I had to hunch over just to get inside. Inside was a large blue obelisk looking thing stationed in the middle of the far wall, glowing with strange characters. If I were to even attempt to read it, without knowing a single one, It would look like a jumbled mess of strict straight lines interlocking and connecting each character.

    ¡°So what do you want me to do?¡± I said aloud, quite quiet compared to my screaming, but still quite loud and deep.

    ¡°Just place your hand onto it, and channel your mana,¡± he said like it were common knowledge, but hey, fuck you dude, just came here you know!

    I placed my hand onto the crystal-like surface and it darkened around my hand before turning a reddish hue that seemed to be only near it and drawn to it, ¡°Is that normal?¡± I asked, wondering about the color shift.

    ¡°It should just be because of your race, If a demon were to touch it without a human, it would glow red and prevent it from activating.¡± He said, but the red soon shifted to a strange complex color I could only describe as red, black, blue, gold, and white all jumbled up in a solid sheet around my hand.

    ¡°Ok, Is that normal?¡± To which they both started in panic, which I just stood there with my hand upon the thing.

    It started to show signs of cracking before doing so, and a purple smoke slowly leaked from the crevices, ¡°What is happening!¡± the captain said to the newer guy, only to get a weak shrug in response.

    I even felt a little bit nauseous and a tad bit dizzy, ¡°It might be a good idea to flee this room!¡± I said before rushing out the room, both of them in each of my arms.

    And for good reason, as the obelisk promptly exploded in a grenade of crystal shrapnel, most of which shattered but some were now drilled into my back, leaving a constant trail of black ooze to leak once more, ¡°Good Heavens, what just happened!?¡± They said in unison as if it were practiced.

    I felt weak, but still stood strong, and I put them down, quickly taking a knee after, ¡°My, are you alright¡­ right, you don¡¯t have a name?¡± I never told anyone my new name, so it was fair, and I started blacking out slightly.

    ¡°It¡¯s- Daemon¡­¡± I fell unconscious, and for how long I can not say.

    Just as quickly as black swirled into my view, white did the same, and I soon saw before me a great hall, lit by torches and filled with plenty of men in armor. I figured I was in this so-called queen¡¯s throne room, and that would mean I somehow survived that explosion, speaking of, why would I risk my life to save those two people that were more or less trying to enslave me? I could have escaped without injury without them to impede me, but didn¡¯t.

    ¡°He¡¯s waking, give him time to recover before trying him.¡± An unfamiliar voice called out, my hearing and vision were of the lowest qualities at the moment, everything just a blur, and I was lying flat on my stomach.

    Trying to at least pick myself up, I felt a thousand pricks in my back, ¡°Gah-¡± I only let out a small gasp before falling flat back to the floor.

    ¡°Don¡¯t get up, the pieces of the obelisk that exploded are still embedded deep within you, and due to its nature, it will only fight you harder the more you resist.¡± The same voice said to me, which I barely made out, great, now I¡¯ve been effectively crippled too, and with my new body!

    I don¡¯t know how it happened, but when I closed my eyes, I saw a crystal-clear picture in my mind. I mentally walked forward feeling all the pain of the obelisk shards but keeping just enough strength to carry on. Eventually, I saw a small red orb on top of a stone pillar that came up to my breast, so I quickly snatched it. The orb showed my reflection on the surface and deep inside was a miniature version of me standing in a neutral position. I tried to do something about it, but nothing happened, and only when I tried to move from inside the orb did it work.

    The mini-me moved how I wanted, so I tried to remove the largest of the spikes from him, which worked after a long hard effort of pulling with my mind. It was exhausting, but it worked and the pain from it slowly subsided, and my consciousness started to leave the place. I held on tighter than I could leave and swiftly yanked out as many as I could, only leaving hundreds of the small splinter-like ones. My mind was so exhausted, it shoved me back into reality, leaving me to only glance around the room once more. The people looked to all be staring at me, but none spoke, maybe I was still partially deafened, I would think so if not for the same person talking out once more.

    ¡°The anti-demon magic! It¡¯s fading!¡± He cried out in disbelief, and for great effect as everyone started gasping and whispering.

    What I presumed to be the queen had silenced them, as they all stopped suddenly. I hardened my resolve and pushed myself off the ground, and I managed to get up this time. I slowly stood, and looked down around me, as there were shards and fragments of the obelisk that were previously in my back, looking at them worsened a new headache. Finally looking around the room one more time, I spotted the two people I protected with only minor bandages. It seems like I took the majority of the damage, great.

    The room was dead silent except for a few individuals that were scribing on paper with quills, which made me chuckle on the inside. I looked down at a long carpet of something that was probably rare and soft, but I was rather uncomfortable on it. My feet hated the substance and I felt like I wanted to rid myself of the area immediately, but I probably wouldn¡¯t get very far. If possible, I¡¯d make a mad dash out at first chance, as upsetting a queen is nothing compared to being her slave.

    I cleared my throat, and tried to speak at a reasonable level, ¡°What now? Am I to be executed? If so, hurry this up, this carpet thing is rather awful.¡± The guards seemed offended at my words, which I would gladly encourage them to attack first, but the so-called queen didn¡¯t say anything. ¡°Or I could prove my ¡®worth¡¯ in a gladiator ring, or I know! I can just leave!¡± I turned around and took a hard look at the door, seeing the two others with eyes that screamed ¡®please don¡¯t¡¯.

    ¡°Insolent cur, know your place before the queen!¡± One guard said, he was a random idiot guard stereotype from a story.

    He slammed his sword down at me, only missing by a slight amount, which allowed me to punch him so hard, I not only broke a few bones, I sent him flying so far back he crashed into the other guards stationed behind him, ¡°I know my place, how about yours?¡±

    ¡°Are there any others? Is there no one else?¡± Always wanted to say that, I also wanted to make a show of power to all present, especially this ¡®queen¡¯.

    ¡°Calm yourself!¡± A man said, his voice still unrecognizable.

    I took a deep breath, ¡°So, what now? Hurry and decide my fate.¡± I was getting rather impatient with being constantly treated unwanted, and I wished to leave at the first chance.

    ¡°You are to be placed in a party the queen has granted an additional powerful person.¡± So I¡¯m just a tool again? Just used to accomplish a goal?

    ¡°Fine, bring them here.¡± He looked to a guard which then walked off.

    As the guard came back with four individuals I thought I would never have seen again, a smile appeared and widened on my face. They looked pleased to get an additional party member, most likely from when I beat them so bad they had to call reinforcements. Then they looked and saw me, standing here, and they all just stopped, none moving in the slightest. The guard gave a slight push on one and they all started moving again, but they had a face that showed both fear, and fright, and their eyes reflected a deep burning rage.

 Chapter 2: Unwanted Union

    (Daemon POV)

    ¡°Who let that thing in here!¡± The pointed-ear one said, ready to draw and loose an arrow at any moment.

    ¡°Hold your fire!¡± The same person spoke out that had spoken every time something happened, and as he did, the scribes wrote frantically on their papers.

    ¡°So, I''m to be with them? I thought I''d be placed with competent party members, but I guess not.¡± They all snarled at me with hatred, except for the one who spoke in a spiritual voice.

    ¡°Now, now, let¡¯s at least try to get along. We''ll be together for a long time now, so we need to put the past behind us.¡± He said, causing the men to sigh in defeat.

    ¡°Agreed.¡± They said in unison, and they all limply walked over, while he walked proudly with them.

    ¡°Where to?¡± I said as I didn¡¯t know anything of this world still, and I was just haphazardly thrown into a group of people I nearly killed.

    ¡°Sal¡¯vae, a dungeon town, said to be infected by monsters from the dungeon.¡± The one with the spiritual voice spoke again.

    We walked out of the room, which was quite large in itself, and down several long elegant hallways that made me want to burn the place down, as beauty and functionality were on two opposite ends of the same spectrum. We eventually made it outside, where I could see the last light of dusk twinkle into the nothingness, and night befalls the large busy town that sprawled out in front of us. We walked some way to a building of large stature before the pointed-eared one spoke aloud, trying to at least get a conversation going.

    ¡°So, if we are going to be a party from now on, even if temporarily, we should know each other''s names.¡± Everyone shook their heads in agreement as we walked.

    ¡°I am Elendor, an elf from the far east.¡± The pointed-ear one said, finally leaving me with another thing to call him.

    ¡°I am Gran, a human from the Raingoth Queendom.¡± The spiritual voice person said, finally having names for these people was useful, as I didn¡¯t have to refer to them as ¡®this sounding voice¡¯ anymore.

    ¡°Name¡¯s Thrall, a human from the Raingoth Queendom.¡± The one that carried a sword on their back said, leaving only the covered one left.

    ¡°I am Vor¡¯alus, from the Raingoth Queendom.¡± That was the last person, the one with black clothing, and now that I have heard queendom several times now, it explains a lot.

    ¡°And you?¡± The pointed-ear, no, Elendor said.

    ¡°Just call me Daemon, you wouldn¡¯t have any knowledge from where I come from.¡± They looked questionably at me.

    ¡°The demon realms have been explored, most at least, and it became a general knowledge of how demon societies work. Just name the place you come from, a country if that is all you wish to give.¡± Well, let''s just go with where I¡¯m from then.

    ¡°Earth.¡± They looked more shocked, and we reached the building when I spoke, so we entered.

    ¡°Never heard of such a place,¡± Gran said, and he quickly asked the woman behind the counter for three rooms for the night.

    ¡°Why not continue this upstairs?¡± Vor¡¯alus said, which was a good idea, as prying ears weren¡¯t the best to have when you are spewing information on a place nobody has heard of before.

    We walked up after collecting three keys, one for each room and had walked all together up the stairs and into one to continue our conversation, ¡°I guess, not all of the demon realms have been thoroughly explored. Still, to believe that you hail from a country not seen or heard of by any other country or person, it sounds odd.¡± I guess it was fair for an entire country to never be mentioned, it was rather suspicious, but earth was many nations, an entirely separate planet.

    ¡°Trust me, just this once. But that is all I can say, for my knowledge is lost.¡± He shrugged, so I stopped trying to elaborate on my personal history.

    ¡°We should get roles established, yes?¡± Gran said, trying to bring the conversation to a new topic.

    ¡°Roles?¡± I asked confused, did he mean classes or something?

    ¡°Like our classes, I am a druid so I act as a healer, Elendor is our ranger, Thrall is our fighter, and Vor¡¯alus is our thief. What are you most comfortable doing?¡± I honestly didn¡¯t know, maybe a tank I guess, since I didn¡¯t feel as much pain as I did before, and I could heal fairly quickly.

    ¡°I¡¯m unsure of my abilities, but I could cover tanking.¡± I don¡¯t know if my terminology was correct, but it would be the same classification.

    ¡°Tanking? You do seem rather tough, but you could be a martial artist with your physique alone.¡± He said slightly surprised and questioningly. ¡°Before that, we should discuss something of greater importance for the moment,¡± Gran said with a less serious tone, and they all just nodded their heads and agreed.

    ¡°What is it? Don¡¯t trust me in the group?¡± I said but knew I ought to not rid these men from me, as they would be useful for plans, and I swore to myself not to for a year.

    ¡°No, of course not!¡± Gran said trying to calm me, which I already was. ¡°It is just the matter of, um.¡± He said tapering off with a small blush.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± I said, his words and actions didn¡¯t seem to explain anything of what was happening.

    ¡°You¡¯re naked.¡± Vor¡¯alus said plainly, and I looked down and indeed I was.

    Now thinking of it, I was naked the entire time, but my body had kept several pieces of foliage from the forest and some scraps of metal and the obelisk that barely obscured my lower regions. There was also a tattered cloth that loosely covered my dangling bits,  I looked at them for a moment and wondered why they hadn¡¯t brought it up before. It would have been nice to know that I was naked the entire time, and on top of that, I wasn¡¯t even aware of it myself, and I could have checked at nearly any time since I got this body. Honestly, it should have been the first thing I did. I should have felt shame or embarrassment, which I did slightly but I just wasn¡¯t that kind of guy, I also didn¡¯t enjoy being naked in front of others, or enjoy being in front of others in general.

    ¡°What clothing can you lend me?¡± I just didn¡¯t want to be naked if I could.

    ¡°We don¡¯t have any spare armor, we would need to go get some.¡± I didn¡¯t need armor right now, even just a pair of pants would do.

    ¡°I don¡¯t need armor at the moment, any casual wear would do.¡± They looked fairly shocked with my words, like not wanting to be naked was a war crime.

    ¡°You are a strange demon¡­¡± Thrall said, tapering off his words.

    ¡°And you are a strange man, what of it?¡± I returned, Gran just held up a finger to signal me to wait while he searched his bags.

    ¡°We do have a spare set of clothing, though, it may be rather small for you.¡± I¡¯d take anything at this point.

    ¡°Fine, just show me.¡± He held up a pair of brown pants I had seen a few men wear on the way to the inn, but it would do.

    I grabbed it, and gave a slight nod to him in thanks, ¡°I hope it will do until the morning.¡± He said, which made me regret treating him so harshly, as he had been the most accepting of me out of them all.

    I gave a small point with my thumb to the room next door, my room, and went off to it, they nodded and all but Gran looked more pleased with my departure. After getting into the hall and closing the door, I was greeted by a peering maid by the looks of it. I gave a cold stare as I kept walking to my room, and she nearly fell over, she then quickly ran down the stairs and nearly fell twice doing so. I was slightly amused but continued to walk to my room, which I did in little time. After entering, I locked the door and attempted to put on the pants, which caused them to nearly rip but they fit, albeit very tightly.

    After only a minute of flexing and trying to maneuver in them, I was almost ready to return but a knocking came on my door, one of a confident hand. ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± I spoke to them, but without an answer, and they continued to knock until I went and opened the door.

    Now in front of me was a large man who had upon him leather with bits of plate over it, ¡°I knew it was a demon!¡± He snarled at me in disgust.

    I didn¡¯t want to start a scene, as it would be annoying to deal with a trial if it came down to it, ¡°Go away.¡± I said as I pushed him out of the doorway and walked to the room next door with the others.

    ¡°Filthy parasite!¡± He shouted and drew a longsword from his back.

    I ignored him and started to open the door, ¡°I agree, humans are parasites.¡± He snarled at me, and I closed the door behind me.

    ¡°Daemon, we heard a voice outside.¡± Gran greeted me.

    ¡°Just another person overestimating their abilities and harboring false ideologies.¡± They looked at one another slightly confused, ¡°But let¡¯s get back to discussing our plans, shall we?¡± Gran was the most curious but also the one who didn¡¯t seem disappointed with the change in the subject.

    ¡°Of course, with your, um, strength, we will be clearing a monster horde from the nearby forests before we go to the dungeon town, Sal¡¯vae. It is on the smaller side but still very dangerous.¡± Gran said, and the others acted like they heard it so many times before.

    ¡°Yeah, and I am supposed to get armor, am I correct?¡± I said to clarify our plans for the morning.

    ¡°Yes, although getting a set of plate mail would be rather expensive, especially for someone of your stature.¡± Gran said, ¡°But we also got a fair amount of compensation from the queen to give ourselves a head start on accommodations when it came to your needs.¡± Well, a rich girl giving money to the poor, and even to little old me.

    ¡°Of course she did, is it enough to cover standard tanking gear and armor at least?¡± I said, to forward the conversation without going off on a tangent.

    ¡°It is, but anything over sillsteel is too expensive, on top of that, what weapon are you going to use?¡± Never heard of sillsteel before, but that¡¯s a fantasy world for you.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°I ought to use a weapon that can utilize my raw physical strength right?¡± I asked and he nodded so I continued. ¡°So a war hammer, mace or staff would work well, as bladed weapons would be too heavily damaged during physical overuse.¡± He seemed interested in my words, couldn¡¯t know why though, as blunt weapons should be commonly known of.

    ¡°You have done quite a lot of research, haven¡¯t you? And here I thought you were just an outcast, due to your obvious magical defectiveness. Ah- I mean no disrespect, it¡¯s just-¡± He started to get worried so I had to interrupt him.

    ¡°It¡¯s quite alright. I take no offense,¡± My words lingered in the air, and well, I did, but I still needed to play the part of a demon so it would be useful information to have. ¡°Let¡¯s just get on with the decisions, I think I will take a war hammer, and perhaps some partial plate armor, as I will need the movement capabilities.¡± I also didn¡¯t want to look stupid wearing a full set of armor, as they could look both dumb and be useless from time to time.

    ¡°Well, we could try for a light plate, but it won¡¯t do as good a job for protecting, and that is the purpose of a tank you know,¡± Thrall said, shaking his head like a disappointed father, I think I hated him¡­

    I scoffed slightly, ¡°In the morning, and if I''m not dead or gone by then.¡± I said, walking out of the room, my right hand held up as a quick wave goodbye.

    Gran was too friendly to someone that nearly killed him and his friends while everyone else seemed to act normally, and by that I mean, they didn¡¯t like me at all but had to cooperate with me for a specified time limit, so we would eventually part on even grounds. It sounded fine but tends to end poorly, as something unexpected happens and the entire set of plans gets thrown out the window. I just hoped this world had a year similar to earth¡¯s, so it was just a measly 365 days, at least every day seemed normal, at least to my knowledge.

    I decided to hit the hay, nothing better to do, as in the morning we were supposed to get equipped and head off to this forest or whatnot. And fighting monsters? That sounds awfully MMORPG-like, and I keep my mental word more than my actual words. For the sake of many, don¡¯t make this a game! But I should specify, as long as it doesn¡¯t have a console interface, I think I could manage. Those kinds of games tend to be completely unbalanced when a single player finds a way to power up at a rate that puts them above everyone else by a fair margin.

    I laid my head against a pillow that was more akin to a small cloth over some kind of sand or grain, it was hard to tell, and I wasn¡¯t that interested. There was no blanket, nor did I need one, so I just laid there, staring blankly at the ceiling. My eyes were shut for over an hour, and my mind fell into a lapse in memory, as I drifted off into the bitter embrace of slumber. I didn¡¯t know if it were just the recent events or my new race as a demon, but my body only woke after an hour or two, when the night was dead.

    I had nothing better to do, so I tried plucking the rest of the shards that were embedded into my back, and to my surprise, none were sticking out. Great, now it¡¯s like splinters that were under the skin, I can¡¯t remove them by myself nor would anyone aid me in doing such. Perhaps I could ask Gran, but I don¡¯t want to ask favors this early in our ¡®partnership¡¯. If only I tried talking to them when I first came here, maybe then we wouldn¡¯t have come to bad terms, but I did what any scared man would do in my position, fight for his life.

    The world started to brighten, after a few hours of thought, and my life was marching onwards again. I decided to take a stand, as I¡¯ve been sitting on the floor in thought for most of the night, and when I reached my feet a knock came from my door. The knock was not hard nor was it soft, and it sounded like it was meant to wake a sleeping person if there was one inside after all. I walked over, and turned the handle, outside was Gran standing there with a small smile on his face, he had a friendly exterior, but I could tell he didn¡¯t think of me as such yet if he would ever.

    ¡°The rest are getting their equipment for the moment, care to talk in their wait?¡± He offered, and I needed to get more information on this world, so I would happily oblige.

    ¡°Sure, I could use the company.¡± I gestured for him to come in and sit at the small table that was in the room, one with only two chairs, as the other one had as well.

    We sat down, and he started the conversation first, ¡°So, Daemon, what experience do you have in combat?¡± He seemed to await the answer like it was going to be an absurd response.

    ¡°In truth, I¡¯ve only fought you four in combat, I¡¯ve kept my head out of trouble and my life was one that went unnoticed.¡± He seemed shocked, and his face replicated his true feelings exactly and showed both deep sorrow and what looked like amusement.

    Before long, he burst out in laughter, ¡°I, I can¡¯t! Oh, to think you would best us in your first fight, oh it takes me back.¡± Had he experienced this before?

    ¡°Well, if you don¡¯t mind me asking, what does it remind you of?¡± I should act nicer to those who will be with me for a year before they try to kill me in my sleep or something.

    ¡°Oh, back when we all met for the first time, we were so overconfident that we tried to take down a small thief that had stolen some medicinal herbs from a potion shop. He never stole them, and he never fought the man like the story said he did. He just bought some herbs to heal his sick grandmother, and he lashed out after we tried stopping him. He beat us good, much like you did, and we were more or less dead when a small patrolling part of the knight brigade came by. Led by the very man who aided us again in the forest with you.¡± So it came full circle, and the events in their lives repeated itself?

    ¡°That is one big coincidence. Almost too close, but forget about it, we still have breakfast to enjoy, right?¡± The mood seemed to lighten, and just in time too, as Thrall came by and motioned that they were all done.

    Gran and I stood up, and we walked out, and down the stairs with all the rest, only stopping when we found a large man standing solemnly at the doorway. His stature matched mine, and he carried a large sword-like weapon with the design of a semicircle at the tip, which came to two sharpened points, one on either side. He stood with his arms crossed, and blocked the doorway perfectly, with scraps of light leaking into the room from around his figure. He also stood clad in a rather dull grey armor, that seemed to have more scratches and dents than a bucket that was thrown down a mountain, but it seemed to be fine like it was meant to take damage or get destroyed.

    The man went unchanged, even after our arrival, but we only made a slight note of it. Gran gave the three keys to the woman behind the counter and asked for five meals. From the looks of every other patron in the building, I was fairly certain that demons were overwhelmingly hated, or at least, were slaves in this region. I gave a cold deathly glance to every man who gave one to me, and each returned to their meals. From the looks of things, the basic meals consisted of a small side of eggs, some fruits like apples and something that smelled sweeter, and a whole lot of bread. I should have figured that bread was going to be featured in the meal, as every fantasy story had bread with every meal.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t we sit down while we wait for our food, she said it will be ready in a few minutes,¡± Gran said as he rejoined us over by the stairs.

    Everyone nodded, and we all walked across the room to an empty table in the far corner. ¡°Anything worth discussing while we wait?¡± I asked the group, and Vor¡¯alus seemed to be the one to respond this time.

    ¡°Yes, we need to discuss several parts of our plan. Firstly, I did some scouting in the middle of the night, as I couldn¡¯t sleep, and the forests near us have seen a surprising increase in monsters.¡± I could guess for hours about why he couldn¡¯t sleep, but the answer was clearly me.

    ¡°What kinds.¡± I need to know if it were squirrels or bears, or whatever was in between.

    ¡°For starters, several packs of stone-fang wolves have been increasing their numbers, and in addition to that, I had spotted four iron-bears.¡± Iron bears? Great, this will be a fun-filled journey to beat up the local wildlife, I can just feel it.

    ¡°Damn, 4?¡± Thrall said, his voice indicated concern, but Gran seemed to be thinking hard about something.

    ¡°Yes, but they all appear to be young adults, as the bigger and stronger ones have all been hunted down whenever one pops up.¡± Well, at least this town does something to prevent a wildlife take-over.

    ¡°Daemon, do you think you can take one of those iron-bears on? Not alone, but just standing your ground?¡± Gran said, causing the group¡¯s attention to be set on me.

    ¡°I am unsure, but if the need arises I should be able to.¡± I didn¡¯t know how strong these things were, but if they were at least as strong as a bear, I would be somewhat comfortable taking one on, especially with four others.

    ¡°It won¡¯t be easy, especially for someone of your nature. As iron-bears are known for their unusually thick and sturdy hides.¡± Elendor said, seemingly remembering something.

    ¡°Whatever the case may be, I should be able to take the damage, if nothing else.¡± Well, being the shield for others wasn¡¯t ideal, but it wouldn¡¯t be the first time, as I already did so for the obelisk.

    ¡°Speaking of, we know you took the brunt of that obelisk that exploded, truly impressive considering you being a-.¡± Thrall suddenly stopped when Elendor slapped the back of his head. ¡°Hey, what was that for?¡±

    ¡°Look around. Does it seem like we need to say it every chance we get? I¡¯m sure he feels out of place as it is, but constantly saying it will only make him feel worse.¡± Well, I didn¡¯t mind too much, but I did feel out of place.

    ¡°Oh, I-I¡¯m so sorry.¡± That was the first time he seemed to care about my feelings, but it was brief as the conversation continued quickly.

    ¡°But to follow up on what Thrall was saying, you did take an impressive amount of damage, and even now you look barely injured, and after only two days.¡± Vor¡¯alus said, and everyone nodded in agreement.

    ¡°We all know that demons have regeneration powers, but most can only repair light wounds in that time, not nearly as much as you had. Perhaps it¡¯s a trade-off for your lack of-.¡± Elendor smacked Thrall again.

    ¡°We don¡¯t need to bring that up for plenty of reasons. Especially in public.¡± Thrall rubbed the back of his head, as it stung with a hot sensation and a slightly reddish spot in the shape of Elendor¡¯s hand.

    ¡°Regardless of that, your regeneration is on par with a Jagernaught.¡± The hell was that? Did he mean a juggernaut? Why did he say it like ¡®Yay-ger-not¡¯?

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid that I am unfamiliar with the term, what is a ¡®Jagernaught¡¯?¡± I couldn¡¯t even guess but figured it was something tanky.

    ¡°Oh, forgive me. A Jagernaught is a very rare class, an upgrade from a Juggernaut. But unlike Juggernauts, they trade their magical prowess for an intense regeneration.¡± Vor¡¯alus said, and everyone¡¯s eyes seemed to ignite with realization.

    ¡°Daemon, are you?¡± Gran said, but I quickly interjected.

    ¡°Settle down, I don¡¯t even know myself. Besides, I doubt I would be, it is a rare class is it not?¡± My answer was fair, and they all accepted that, but at the very least, they all hoped it to be true.

    Two women brought out the food, and what a surprise, it was exactly what I figured it would be. ¡°Thank you,¡± Gran said, handing them each a few pieces of copper coins before they bowed and left.

    ¡°Sweet, they got jor-berries.¡± Elendor was glad, and everyone else chuckled lightly.

    ¡°Bless this food,¡± Gran said, and I figured he was religious.

    Everyone started eating, but my hunger was still not present, even after two days. ¡°The bread is still warm, they must have started up their ovens early today,¡± Thrall said, being the first person to eat over half of the bread.

    ¡°Hey, you don¡¯t need to eat it all in one go. Drink some water in between bites.¡± Gran said as he pushed a wooden cup towards him.

    ¡°You know how I feel towards bread!¡± Thrall said while taking another bite of his small loaf.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong Daemon? Not hungry?¡± Vor¡¯alus asked as he was the only one that noticed my lack of interest in the food.

    ¡°Not really.¡± He seemed to have another thought enter his mind as he asked a follow-up question.

    ¡°Can you not eat it? I know certain races can¡¯t have certain food restrictions, like Elendor over there. See how he has no eggs? Elves can¡¯t eat meat, but eggs fall on the line for many. Some still eat it, but it gives them digestive issues. Are there foods you can¡¯t eat? We should know.¡± I didn¡¯t know, but I figured that I would know if I ate some.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, I haven¡¯t eaten much.¡± They looked concerned and surprised at the reveal, but continued with their meals.

    I had to bite the bullet eventually, so I started by taking a rather large bite of the eggs. They tasted alright but definitely needed some salt. I didn¡¯t feel any issues with my stomach just yet, but then again it has only been a few seconds. I continued with the eggs until they were all gone. Next up was the apple, green and hard. I took a big bite, one that was nearly a third of the apple. It was sweet and juicy but overall tasted the same as one from earth. I finished the apple with little complications. The next thing I ate was a few of these, jor-berries. They were a bit too sweet for my tastes, so I moved onto the bread. The bread tasted like it should, but I didn¡¯t feel like I could eat much more.

    I ended up ripping off the part of the bread that I had bitten from and gave the rest to Thrall, and the remaining amount of jor-berries to Elendor. ¡°I have had my fill,¡± I said as I downed the cup of water, which tasted rather repulsive, but I drank it anyway.

    ¡°Are you sure you can drink water?¡± Gran said concerned once again.

    ¡°Why?¡± Were demons allergic to water or something?

    ¡°It¡¯s just, most demons can¡¯t stand it for some reason. Much like how elves can¡¯t bear the smell or taste of meat.¡± That would explain my natural disgust with its taste now, but I seem fine for the moment.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t drink much of it, and besides, what doesn¡¯t kill me, makes me stronger.¡± That wasn¡¯t exactly true, but I didn¡¯t care.

    After another minute or two, everyone finished their meals and Gran left a hefty pile of coins on the table. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s get on our way.¡± He said as we all stood up.

    We walked to the door, and the large man stared at us for a long and silent moment before stepping aside and letting us through. He even let me through without attempting anything, which I was slightly surprised by but didn¡¯t mind. We walked slowly, breathing in the crisp and clean air of the town. We all stretched collectively and made our way down the long wide roads lined with countless buildings and people. It wasn¡¯t impossible for me to notice all the people staring and talking about me but I paid those worthless people little acknowledgment. The first place we walked to was a shop with a sign that I couldn¡¯t read. I guess I need to learn this world¡¯s language after all.

 Chapter 3: Additional Upgrades

    (Daemon POV)

    ¡°This is it.¡± We were outside a rather small building with a singular window that was on the second floor. ¡°My good friend Rallie is a blacksmith, she shouldn¡¯t mind you too much if I¡¯m here,¡± Thrall said as we all walked inside.

    One thing I noticed immediately upon entry was the overwhelming amount of things in the store. ¡°I¡¯ll be with you in a second, feel free to browse in the meantime.¡± A voice came from a room behind a counter.

    There were countless sets of armor, some metal, some leather. There were fancy swords and bows hung up like trophies and plenty of other works. I kept looking though, as I didn¡¯t need a sword or armor fit for a human. It was only after a few minutes of searching that I found something that caught my eye. A war hammer with a massive handle. The handle was as long as an average human, and even the head of the hammer was massive. Nearly as large as a person¡¯s torso, and it was very heavy. I still tried to lift it though, and to everyone¡¯s surprise, I managed to. Even the blacksmith that just came out from the room behind the counter had her gaze fixed on the hammer.

    It was only after our gazes met, that she seemed to realize my race. ¡°A demon!?¡± She said rather surprised.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about him, he¡¯s with us. Did you miss me?¡± Thrall said with a stupid look on his face.

    ¡°Heh? You have a demon in your party!?¡± Her shock was well known to all, and she backed up a small step.

    I dropped my maw open and uttered a few words. ¡°Tasty, woman.¡± Everyone looked at me in shock and surprise and she looked all the more terrified, as I liked my lips with a rather exaggerated motion everyone just starred without moving.

    Then I burst out in a heavy laughter. ¡°Daemon! You shouldn¡¯t scare people like that! What if she called the guards or attacked!¡± Thrall said, everyone, seeming relieved besides Rallie.

    ¡°Calm yourself, Rallie. I won¡¯t eat you, I¡¯m just tired of everyone looking at me so much. I just wanted to have some fun.¡± She breathed a sigh of relief and gran followed up on my behalf.

    ¡°We were looking for a set of armor that could fit him while not being too restrictive on movement or expensive. Do you think you got anything that would work?¡± His words made her think long and hard for the next minute.

    ¡°Well, I should have something that fits him, let me look.¡± She quickly went back into the room behind her and we heard many crashes of metal as if she was searching through a metal pile of scrap.

    ¡°Do you think I went too far?¡± I asked Gran, as he seemed the most surprised by my actions.

    ¡°Being honest, I really thought you were going to try something, but I had some faith since you didn¡¯t try anything at the inn. Or even respond in the slightest to any of the women there, so In all honesty, I was unsure if you would or not.¡± Well, at least I didn¡¯t try anything, because I wouldn¡¯t want to get into trouble this early on in my new life here, at least, trouble that I could actively avoid.

    Rallie came back and was pulling a large set of what looked like metal plates attached to padded cloth. ¡°The size might be wrong, but it should fit with few adjustments.¡±

    I walked over to the counter and helped her lift the armor onto the counter. ¡°I¡¯m sorry about earlier. I shouldn¡¯t have done something so immature.¡± I just didn¡¯t want to start on a bad foot with every person I met, but her face was well worth it.

    ¡°You nearly gave me a heart attack, I was so scared.¡± I knew I went too far, but I didn¡¯t really ¡®do¡¯ anything, so it should be fine. ¡°Also, that war hammer, how can you wield it so freely? Did you use an enhancement spell?¡± My eye twitched slightly, but overall I stayed still.

    ¡°That is just this raw strength, no magic was used,¡± Elendor said, his words shocked her greatly.

    ¡°But I thought demons didn¡¯t have that kind of power outside of magical enhancements?¡± My eye twitched again, and she noticed it.

    ¡°Well, in all honesty, he doesn¡¯t have a strong affinity with magic,¡± Gran said softly, I presumed that magic was very common, or at least, most people know about it.

    ¡°Whaaat?¡± She nearly screamed but kept her voice at an appropriate level.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about that,¡± I said plainly, and the room fell silent quickly.

    I started to try on the pieces of armor, and to my surprise, it was slightly loose. ¡°Well, would you look at that. He fits after all.¡± Elendor said, his face seemed rather impressed, but he made no other remark.

    ¡°Rallie, can you fix the sizing?¡± Gran asked her, and she thought about it for a moment.

    ¡°I should be able to, but..¡± She tapered off.

    ¡°But what?¡± I said, my voice was rather flat but still deep.

    ¡°But, I would need at least an hour to tighten it properly.¡± Great, an hour of having a woman all over my body doing whatever she needed to do.

    ¡°That shouldn¡¯t be a problem, how much will this all be?¡± She thought for a moment about Thrall¡¯s words and gave an answer that made everyone but me flinch.

    ¡°Six silver coins.¡± I didn¡¯t know if that was a lot or a little, but I knew from Gran, that we had more than enough to pay that off a dozen times over.

    ¡°Why so cheap, what is it made of?¡± Vor¡¯alus said, seeming rather concerned.

    ¡°Relax, there¡¯s nothing wrong with it, it¡¯s made of sillsteel, but the one who ordered and paid for it never took it, and said to just give it to whoever wanted it. They even paid a generous eight gold pieces!¡± Her excitement was clear, and I was able to tell that eight gold was well over the price of the armor.

    ¡°Eight gold!?¡± Thrall said, his eyes nearly popped from his head, but they managed to remain in his skull.

    ¡°Well, if that¡¯s the case, we can do six silver coins. Daemon looks like you are going to have to stay here as she works.¡± I already knew this, but gran said it anyway.

    ¡°I figured. Well, let¡¯s get this war hammer while we¡¯re at it.¡± Gran seemed shocked but asked her for the price regardless.

    ¡°And how much would that be?¡± She thought for a moment and gave back a seemingly reasonable answer.

    ¡°One gold twenty silver coins.¡± Gran quickly let out a sigh of relief and handed her the coins from his beige-colored sack of coins.

    ¡°Well, we have all the equipment that we need, for now, so we are going to go stock up on some food and other general supplies that we will need for our adventure, we will come back by the end of the hour,¡± Gran said and they all left, afterward Rallie locked the door and flipped a sign on the outside of it.

    I figured the sign was the equivalent to an open or closed sign on most store doors. ¡°There, now we don¡¯t have to deal with the awkward situation that would arise if someone were to walk in on us.¡± I smiled at her words, but could only thank her mentally for the save. ¡°Why don¡¯t we get started.¡± And with that, she went through the action of constantly sewing and adjusting the cloth parts of the armor.

    She started with the main body, then moved onto the arms. The body alone took nearly fifteen minutes, as I counted every second to take my mind off of the present. The arms didn¡¯t take too long, as they were a good fit already, only taking three minutes each. When it came time to do the legs, she struggled. My legs were thick and muscular, I knew that, but the amount of space that was in the pants leggings was rather absurd. Whoever asked for this armor must have had legs twice as large as mine. It went without saying that the legs took nearly a half an hour. The only part that she didn¡¯t change was the crotch region, and I was glad, as I didn¡¯t want to deal with anything like that just yet.

    When all was said and done my armor did fit comfortably and felt quite cozy for padded cloth. There were small plates all across my body now, with large plates covering my chest, shoulders, knees, thighs, crotch, back and the sides of my ribcage. With smaller plates covering in between the larger plates, with a large amount of space without any plate armor, so it would be easy to move in. And I tried to move in it, after all, mobility seemed like one of my specialties. She unlocked the door and flipped the sign back over, and she cleared a small patch in the room so I could stretch and see if there were any issues with flexibility. I could still stretch out my legs to the point I did before in the forest, and it seemed that I could generally move in every way I could think.

    ¡°The armor works great, thank you.¡± My voice had an undertone of gratitude, and it seemed as though she didn¡¯t mind me being a demon as much as most people I¡¯ve met have.

    The door opened, and almost as if on queue, Gran and the rest of them entered. ¡°Daemon, it looks like you¡¯ve finished. Good. We just finished with our shopping as well.¡± Thrall was the one who talked first but quickly noticed something. ¡°Wait, you don¡¯t have any boots.¡± Even I was surprised, as I didn''t care until he pointed it out.

    ¡°How much for some sillsteel boots?¡± Gran asked Rallie, but she just shook her head.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that, I have the pair from this set, I just didn¡¯t grab them. Let me get them for you.¡± And she returned to the room behind the counter once again.

    ¡°Well, Daemon, does the armor work for you? Can you move freely?¡± Gran asked with interest, so I answered him respectively.

    ¡°Yes, it seems like I retain the majority of my movement, and the armor does seem very durable from what I¡¯ve seen so far.¡± He smiled and let out a breath that indicated his gratitude.

    Rallie came back after not too long, and she brought some large metal boots that ended at a short point. ¡°Here you go, they should fit.¡± She placed them on the floor and I attempted to put them on.

    It was to my surprise when they fit snuggly, not too tight or loose, somehow they fit perfectly. ¡°They fit well, thank you,¡± I said with a small amount of gratitude once again.

    ¡°Are you ready to head out? We should go before noon, as more adventurers will be out there by then.¡± Gran said, and I nodded.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go. We can always come back and upgrade our equipment when we have more time and money.¡± Thrall said, and with those words, and a quick wave of goodbyes from us to Rallie, we left the shop and went on down the main road southward.

    ¡°How long until we reach this forest?¡± I asked Vor¡¯alus since he had been there already.

    ¡°A few minutes at best, we aren¡¯t too far from it. But while we walk, we might as well come up with a plan.¡± He seemed to have one in mind but left it up to the rest of us to think of one.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    I couldn¡¯t think properly with all the people staring daggers at me, and the only thing I could come up with wasn¡¯t worth a mention. ¡°Well, I figured we could hunt down the packs of stone-fang wolves, and then we would go after the iron-bears.¡± Elendor offered his thoughts, which sounded like a decent course of action, all things considered.

    ¡°What I thought of was something simpler. We set an ambush, and have Daemon lure a pack of wolves to it since he is the fastest of us all by far. We could do that or just lure them out with food and attack them when they have their backs turned.¡± Both plans were quite easy in concept, but to execute them was another question.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine with these plans, but don¡¯t you think it would be a little reckless to have Daemon running around the forest attracting a pack of wolves?¡± Gran seemed to look out for me, even if it wasn¡¯t needed or much of anything.

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind, but I might kill the wolves by myself if nobody is there with me,¡± I said with a grin, as I have kind of developed a small lust for fighting.

    ¡°Very well, you drive a hard bargain, we¡¯ll take the wolves head-on. But you better protect us.¡± Vor¡¯alus said, changing his plans mentally.

    ¡°Only if you stay out of my way. Otherwise, you might get caught up in my attacks.¡± I couldn¡¯t pull a punch or a kick, at least not with my new strength I couldn¡¯t.

    ¡°Fine, we¡¯ll help from a short distance,¡± Elendor said while lightly pulling and releasing his bowstring.

    We continued in silence for the next minute before reaching the forest. We made our way through quietly, well, as quietly as a two and a half meter tall demon and four others could through a forest with plenty of twigs and leaves on the ground. We made little noise, but my nose picked up something. Iron? No. That¡¯s blood, I¡¯m sure of it. I signaled with my hands to stop for a moment and pointed to our left and we all spotted a pack of stone-fang wolves eating what looked like a wild boar. There were eight wolves, each three meters long, one meter wide and almost two meters tall. I motioned for Elendor to ready an arrow and got ready to rush them as soon as he loosed it. With little time to spare, his arrow whistled through the air, stopping after it ripped through the flesh of one of the wolf¡¯s back legs.

    I rushed forward, my feet leaving small indents on the soft earth below me. ¡°Don¡¯t stop firing, just shoot as many as you can,¡± I said to remove Elendor¡¯s hesitation of firing at both me and the wolves.

    The wolves seemed to notice me all too soon, as they all started to rush me, seemingly disinterested in their meal. But it was all in vain, as my hammer was brought down upon one like a judge¡¯s when he accused the defiant guilty. My strike was so powerful, the wolf¡¯s head that it was slammed into was turned into a spray of red mist and a spine-tingling crunching sound, with a high-pitched yelp thrown in half-way. Only one wolf down, the other three, one injured, jumper on me, each pinning me to the ground with the sudden force. But my strength was truly unrivaled by any beast of such a low caliber, and I quickly kicked two off of me and hugged the other one tight enough that I started to hear some movements in its bones. I didn¡¯t stop just there, as I used all of my strength to crush its ribcage, and with another horrifying crunch, it fell to the ground lifeless.

    ¡°Oh river of trees, please grant us your protection and harbor those that wish you harm, Great Tree-Vine Capture!¡± Gran spoke out an incantation by the look of things, and a dozen greed vines shot from the trees and lifted the two remaining wolves a few feet off the ground.

    ¡°Thanks, Gran,¡± Elendor said as he loosed another arrow that landed directly in the eye of the wolf on the left.

    The wolf dropped from the vines, landing on the arrow which seemed to only drive it in further, making clear that the wolf was dead. ¡°I got the last one, at least let me have some fun while I can. All those eyes in town really annoys me.¡± I said gritting my teeth, I was going to let out some anger on this wolf, and most likely kill it with a storm of punches. ¡°Gran, let it go from the vines,¡± I said, and he hesitantly followed my request.

    ¡°It¡¯s all yours, don¡¯t do anything stupid.¡± I chuckled at his words and tackled the disoriented wolf, pinning it to the ground.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, this little thing couldn¡¯t hurt me in its dreams.¡± I held it down pretty well, as it tried it¡¯s hardest to escape from my grasp but to no avail.

    When I held it down, it¡¯s fur was blowing in the breeze that was made when I rushed forward towards it, and I saw a mark on its chest. ¡°Hey Gran, there¡¯s a mark on this one!¡± I looked over to him, and they all walked over quickly

    The mark in question looked like an omega sign from the Greek alphabet, only upside down and it had a small circle with two small vertical lines on its left and right in the center of the loop. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen anything like this,¡± Gran said, and everyone else just gave signs that indicated they didn¡¯t know either.

    ¡°Can you all hold it down, I want to try something.¡± And each of them held each of its legs down firmly.

    I had no idea if anything I was about to do would work, but it was worth a try. I ran my finger around the mark, touching every line, and after that I pressed my hand against it, covering the mark completely with my hand¡¯s large size. I forced my hand against its mark harder and harder until I felt like I would start to crush its bones, and that seemed to have done something, as It stopped trying to resist and stopped moving altogether. It looked me in the eyes as I did it and something bizarre happened, telepathy, or at least I think it was, as I could hear what I presumed to be Its voice in my mind.

    ¡°Please stop! I beg of you!¡± It had a rather whistle-sounding voice that ended it¡¯s words with a slightly higher pitch each time.

    ¡°Hey guys, it just spoke to me in my mind, what do you make of this?¡± I asked the group, and everyone seemed shocked. I seem to have a tendency of doing that, don¡¯t I?

    ¡°Very strange indeed. Perhaps it is a magical creature?¡± Gran said, confused but slightly confident in his analysis.

    ¡°I am a magical creature! Please! Stop this! I will do anything!¡± I almost forgot that I was nearly crushing its ribcage, and so I let up and removed my hand from its chest.

    ¡°It said it was one, what do you suggest we do?¡± I should have just killed it instead, as this would be rather taxing on our time.

    ¡°Well, I do suppose we could sell it?¡± Thrall said while stroking his chin with his thick leather glove.

    ¡°No, no, I¡¯d rather not try that again. Last we tried to do that, well, Daemon happened.¡± Elendor said with an awkward laugh.

    ¡°That is true, though, to just kill it would be a waste. Vor¡¯alus, do you know how much it¡¯s parts will fetch compared to it being alive?¡± Gran said to Vor¡¯alus who was already deep in thought.

    ¡°By my guess, it¡¯s parts would fetch around twelve gold or so and its live capture would fetch close to twenty-five, give or take a piece or two.¡± Damn, I guess it makes sense that a magical creature would fetch more alive than dead, but still.

    ¡°What if we were to tame it? Would it be of more use as a watchdog?¡± They all looked stupidly at me at first but Gran did eventually answer.

    ¡°Well, I suppose if you could properly tame it, then yes, I do suppose it could be potentially more valuable.¡± Well, even if it were to try to fight back or run away, I could chase it down or overpower it in nothing flat, and even then, we could just sell it¡¯s parts if it does.

    ¡°Fine, what say you wolf? Death, enslavement, or being my pet? Your choice.¡± It seemed to whimper at first but did respond telepathically it¡¯s decision.

    ¡°I submit! I will be your pet or whatnot! Just don¡¯t crush me like that again!¡± A devilish smile ripped it¡¯s way across my face as I motioned for them to remove their grasps on the beast¡¯s legs.

    It quickly took a stand and looked at me, nearly eye-level. ¡°Beast, have you a name or are you that pathetic?¡± I think my demon genetics are changing how I speak now, as I never truly spoke this harshly to anyone before.

    ¡°It¡¯s Fang¡¯rar, master.¡± Its words had a high pitch whistle, and it annoyed my mind to a certain point, but I ignored it for now.

    ¡°The beast is called Fang¡¯rar. Well, let¡¯s welcome them with open arms.¡± I said while turning around to the group.

    ¡°A named beast? Truly strange.¡± Gran said, his hand placed on his chin in thought.

    ¡°Beasts normally are given names by the locals when they have encounters with them repeatedly. But a sentient creature to name themself is not unheard of. They just tend to be of a more, dignified race, like a dragon or spirit.¡± Vor¡¯alus added, which made me think slightly higher of the wolf, but not much.

    ¡°So it named itself, not a big deal. Besides, let¡¯s finish the mission we are on.¡± My words broke the group''s indecisiveness, and Gran came up with a final statement before we headed off.

    ¡°Very well, we can register it at the guild another time. For now, we will complete our quest. Sounds good to everyone?¡± Everyone nodded, even Fang¡¯rar, which I noticed out of the corner of my eye.

    We continued through the forest, Fang¡¯rar was in front of me so I could keep tabs on him. We had Vor¡¯alus scout ahead to search for the next set of wolves or an iron-bear. It took a little over three minutes to find, but he eventually led us to the next pack of stone-fang wolves. It was a large pack, twelve by my count, and they were ripping apart the remains of three boars that looked like the one from the last pack. We all took a stop, and I whispered to the group as to not alert the wolves that were a little over thirty meters away.

    ¡°Elendor, prepare to fire as many arrows as you can. Gran, prepare movement restriction spells like last time. Vor¡¯alus, I want you to start the battle by killing one, then I will rush it and take the front of the damage. And Thrall, I want you to protect all of you if a wolf slips by me. And Fang¡¯rar will charge in with me. Is everyone good with that?¡± Everyone nodded, Fang¡¯rar hesitating at first, likely because he would be beating up the equivalent of his extended family, but that¡¯s too bad for him.

    Vor¡¯alus started the fight by throwing four daggers in quick succession at one wolf¡¯s back, each penetrating deep and drawing a splatter of blood and a painful howl. The wolf fell limply to the ground as I came charging at full speed at another wolf that just looked in the direction of Vor¡¯alus, and slammed directly into them. The impact nearly exploded its head, but only managed to flatten it in a gory expulsion of crimson in a streak around my still dashing body. To everyone else, and the wolves, I looked like a blur that rammed directly into a wolf and then carried on as a red smear that continued its bloodlust.

    I quickly slowed myself by sliding on my feet until I came to a half stop with dust being thrown up to my waist. I redirected my movement and continued on my juggernaut rampage and straight for another wolf. With a swift upper-cut which was quickly followed by a long and powerful kick to the side of its head which sent it speeding off into a tree only to be ripped in two upon contact. A lovely red mist ejected from its body when it touched the tree and I kept rushing to another wolf to obliterate. Elendor had loosed four arrows in less than ten seconds, each arrow hitting a different wolf¡¯s eye.

    The four wolves that were hit let out a horrifying shriek and Fang¡¯rar came rushing in a little after. I was surprised that he would attack head-on but didn¡¯t care enough to focus on him. He ran up to one and bit it¡¯s neck so hard a jet of crimson flowed from either side of his closing maw. The wolf didn¡¯t last long and its eyes lost their life after a few seconds of Fang¡¯rar¡¯s bite. The hound threw the body to the ground and clawed the one next to it while it was distracted. Gran also played his part as we all heard him chant his spell once more, only it changed slightly.

    ¡°Oh river of trees, great and wise to all who enjoy your bounties,  please grant us your protection and harbor those that wish to raid your beauties for themselves, Mass Tree-Vine Capture!¡± I knew there was something added, but didn¡¯t pay too much attention as six wolves were yanked into the air.

    There was only the one wolf I was charging at and the one that Fang¡¯rar was clawing left on the ground so I ran forward and stomped the wolf''s head. Or so I thought I did, but instead, it managed to dodge and take a nasty chomp into my leg, it¡¯s fangs sinking quite far into my flesh, leaving a small puddle of black ichor to ooze out once more. My body pulsed, a wave of power surged through my arms and I crushed the thing¡¯s skulls with my bare hands into a poor splatter of crimson and grey fur. It¡¯s four fangs were still stuck in my leg, so I tried to yank them out. They were stuck pretty far, but I ripped them out one-by-one.

    My leg would heal, but not fast enough to finish the fight the same way it started. Elendor fired another burst of four arrows, each driving deep into the wolf¡¯s eyes, his aim stayed true the entire time, and four wolves fell to the ground, their eyes leaving a trail of red droplets as they met the ground with a crunch and lifeless bodies. Only three wolves remained, and Fang¡¯rar was nearly done scratching the wolf he had been attacking into cold cuts. Thrall rushed forward and sliced the head off of one of the still tangled wolves. Vor¡¯alus took the opportunity to follow up on the action and threw a black dagger directly into the eye of the last entangled one, bringing the battle to an end.

    I held the fangs and gripped them just hard enough to feel them in my hand without crushing them into a fine powder, then put them into a small pouch that Gran carried on his side. ¡°My leg will take a minute to heal up, let¡¯s take a break until then.¡± My words got everyone''s gratitude, and Fang¡¯rar lay down next to me and the rest of the group as we all took a seat of the fallen tree that the wolf exploded into.

    I didn¡¯t know how I didn¡¯t notice it before, but the tree fell rather quietly, almost soundless when the wolf was sent slamming into it. ¡°Gran, what do you suppose we do when we find an iron-bear?¡± I could just smash it with the war hammer on my back or just pummel it to death with my bare hands, but that wouldn¡¯t be the best course of action for every fight.

    ¡°Well, we should find a way to keep it restrained long enough for a strong piercing attack to finish it off, but my Tree-Vine Capture isn¡¯t strong enough. The only thing that could be would have to be you Daemon. Do you think you could pin it down with Fang¡¯rar¡¯s help?¡± I glanced at Fang¡¯rar, who had a face that had splatters of blood-soaked into his previously fluffy and soft fur.

    ¡°I suppose I could manage, we will  just have to find out when it happens.¡± Fang¡¯rar let out a saddened and low-pitched whistle, letting everyone know of his displeasure, but I didn¡¯t care if he felt joy or pain from the fighting, he was mine now.

    My leg was just about done haling when Vor¡¯alus suddenly jumped up and spoke ina solemn tone to the rest of us in alarm.

    ¡°Guys, four iron-bears are heading here right now! Run or fight, your call Daemon.¡± His voice made them sound close, so I did the only reasonable thing, I chose to fight.

    ¡°Get behind Fang¡¯rar, and If I say the word, hop on him and get out of here, I can lure them away and regroup with you afterward.¡± And only a dozen seconds after they managed to get behind Fang¡¯rar, the iron-bears were in sight and were much more menacing than I had thought them to be