《Demon Hero》 Prologue Pierce The sound of my body being pierced echoes in the dimly lit hall. Although I am familiar with the sound, this pain is certainly something that I am unfamiliar with. The hero wears a tattered white armor. His body is covered in scratches and burns from our battle. His cape which is full of holes, flutters with the wind. His left hand grips the blade harder and thrusts the holy sword deeper into my chest. Purple blood oozes out of the wound and I start gurgling from the viscosity of my own blood. The hero lets go of the holy sword and watches as I fall onto the ground. This is the first time in a long time that I¡¯ve stared up at somebody. I have reigned over these lands for the past millennia as a demon lord and it was not within my expectations to be killed by a dirty human. I refuse to admit defeat! The holy sword activates its hidden power and burns my organs. Using my last ounce of strength, I can only self-destruct to blow away this filthy human as well. The human, having sustained similar damages to me, stares at me like he¡¯s looking at an old friend. He continues to pity me despite being in a pathetic state himself. His left eye was gouged out and his dominant hand was ripped out by my [Dark Hounds]. The hero, with his fatigued voice, says:This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Goodbye old friend¡± (hero) ¡°FILTHY HUMAN" (demon lord) I spit out my blood to clear my throat. "DON¡¯T THINK YOU¡¯VE WON¡± (demon lord) I activate my self-destruction spell, but my magical power has been drained by the holy sword.The magical circles automatically disappear as the conditions for casting the spell wasn''t fulfilled. All I could do now is stare at the back of the human that killed me. ¡°DON¡¯T LEAVE HUMAN... I CAN STILL FIGHT¡± (demon lord) As I try to chase after him, I could hear the sound of the empire''s forces invading my castle. Outside the window, I can see distant smoke and a bright light. I can hear the distant screams of my servants and familiars. ¡°TAKE YOUR HANDS... OFF MY... SUBJECTS¡± (demon lord) Helpless, I crawled pathetically in an attempt chase him. Like a limped animal, I tried to chase him. My life... slowly starting to be drained away as I leave a trail of purple blood. In my last breath, I couldn¡¯t help but think about my servants that have served me till now. ¡°My brethren¡­ I¡¯m sorry... Sorry to have failed you. My loyal subjects¡­ surbib-...¡° I clench my fists as unfamiliar salty water fills my face, rendering me unable to finish my sentence. The holy sword continues to burn me and my lower body starts to turn into ashes. The corrosion starts to accelerate and before I die, I strengthen my resolve and speak with a wet face. ¡°I... will exterminate you.¡± (demon lord) The demon lord¡¯s tears drop as his ashes disappear into thin air. The demon lord that has spread fear on all of humanity for the last milennial has been eliminated. And peace? It only existed for 50 years before war waged throughout the world, but that¡¯s a story for another time. The demon lord¡¯s soul entered into a hidden space. However, the soul is sucked in into a strange divining light- almost as if to pursue its dream. The soul entered the light Plop and the demon lord¡¯s eyes opened. ¡°Welcome Hero¡± (court priest) Let the extermination begin. - END OF PROLOGUE ¨C Chapter 1: Name ¡°Welcome Hero¡± (court priest) First thought: Where am I? I am crouching down with my face facing the floor. The memory of my defeat and the cries of my subjects are still fresh in my mind. But this is not my castle, and this is not me...? I look up at the court priest and look at my surroundings. There are around 30 soldiers stationed in the courtroom, with 10 on each side of the wall and 5 stationed on the left and right wing of the courtroom. The court magician stands on the right side of the king and beside her is a middle-aged man with a nasty looking scar. One can see that he has ventured countless battlefields. On the left side of the king is another male with glasses on in a hood. He attentively stares at me with a book in his hand. Second thought: Something is wrong with me. I stand up and brush off the dust on my shin. I look at my clothing and realized that I¡¯m wearing the mantle that I wore when I died. It¡¯s red and cladded with gold ornaments used as buttons. Buttons sewn by my loyal subjects, and cloth made by our best wool¡­ All of this was los- Zzz But I really just wore this cause my marriage councillor told me to ¡°jazz it up¡± to find a wife¡­. Wait a moment. Third thought: Why am I having such casual thoughts? Why am I so calm? Well, let¡¯s focus on the situation here right now. I pointed at the man sitting on the throne. ¡°And you are?¡± (Demon lord) The soldier¡¯s immediately reacted to my tone and stepped forward. ¡°You insole-¡° (One of the soldiers) The man waves his hand to stop the commotion and the soldiers unwillingly retract to their positions. ¡°I am the King of Camelot, King Uther, the ruler of the 7 seas and everything underneath the sun.¡± (King Uther) As the King tries to assert dominance, he lets the court magician continue the speech. ¡°O¡¯great hero, we have summoned you for a disaster will strike us in the future¡± (Court Magician)Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°My foresight has told me that there would be a disaster that will happen in the near future, we would like to ask for your powerful existence to aid us in quelling these unfortunate lands. Please lend us your aid for our kingdom¡­¡± (Court Magician) What a bunch of bullshit, these guys just want me to clean their mess. People like them should burn un- Zzz My anger is subsiding again, this is weird. I need to investigate this. The court magicians continues on for another 10 minutes, talking about their big history, about what I get from this. While she was talking, I finally found the cause of my anger subsiding. There¡¯s a mechanism in my body. Hah, they never even gave these ¡°heroes¡± a choice to rebel did they? Inside my spiritual body I can feel shackles. Almost like a valve, whenever I try to harm the humans with a hostile intention, I would be stopped. My magic power or physical power won¡¯t come out. Even to the point where my blood thirst just evaporates into thin air. Quite the device, it can even stop my never-ending hate for them. I pour in more of my magical power in order to break the valve by force, but it won¡¯t budge. Just what is this foreign magic? The one who did this must be quite talented. To be able to plant it when I was summoned requires a high level of skill. Looking into it, he must¡¯ve planted the substance in the bridge connecting my magical power and my soul, so I can¡¯t use any power at all. To explain, magical power comes from the power of the soul, the soul replenishes it¡¯s magical power but in order for the body to actually use ¡°magic¡±, it needs a gateway that leads to the soul. This valve stops the gateway and destroys the bridge, so my magical power instantly becomes 0. Oh well, I¡¯ll at least find the culprit to this device. I poured in an even greater surge of magic power directed to the king in an attempt to break the valve by force, and viola. The glasses guy reacted. So it¡¯s this guy. Interesting¡­ I accidently let out a mischievous smile as I stare at him. The glasses guy looked at me with suspicious eyes. As much as I want to kill ¨C Zzz Hm, nevermind. Looks like I have to play along in order to get this device off of me. ¡°I am very sorry for my rude behavior. If I only knew you were the great king, I would not have been so insolent.¡± (Demon lord) I quickly crouch down. ¡°It is my honor ¨C Zzz no, my duty to serve a king as wise and dominant as you. Zzz I offer you my power to you, I would do my best to serve this kingdom and defend it from harm. I shall swear upon my name¡­¡± (Demon lord) Zzz I stopped. This is too much. I need to direct my anger to this name. This name shall be my vengeance, it shall taint the name of the person that took my everything ¨C The person that was the hero, that followed the divine church, and wielded the magnificent blade. Only one person¡¯s name comes out. As much as I hate him¡­ What was his name again. ¡°Your name?¡± (Court magician) Silence fills the courtroom as I try to remember his name. Ah, yes, I remember now¡­. The hero¡¯s name was¡­ ¡°I swear upon my name Arthur, Arthur Pendragon¡± (Arthur) As I crouch down and swear my pledge to the king. Thus, my story to rule humanity begins. -end of chapter 1- Chapter 2: The New World As I swear my pledge and tell my name, I can hear a slight chuckle at the side of the room, almost as if they are ridiculing me. These little plebeians¡­ is what I thought towards the laughter until Zzz My hate slowly dissolved like sand. ¡°Arthur, a good name befitting of a hero¡± (King Uther) The King raises his hand to motion his approval and immediately turns his head to the court magician. ¡°We prepared an artifact to gauge your strength.¡± (King Uther) The court magician, bows her head to the king and approaches me. She places a rectangular stone in front of me. The stone is fairly thick around 3 cm thick, and has a dimension of 10cm x 10cm. After placing the stone, she goes back to her original position. ¡°Place your hand on the stone, Hero¡± (Court Magician) Following her instructions, I place my hand on the rough stone. The stone feels unexpectedly smooth, and after a few seconds, the rough stone started beaming with light. Slowly, but gradually, the stone shrinks in size and floats in the air. The shining stops and a card about the size of my palm forms in the air. I grab the card and quickly look at the card. Name: Arthur Pendragon EBP (Estimated Battle Power): - invalid because of missing variable - LF (Life Force): 100/100 MP (Magical power): 150/150 STR (Strength): 45 DEF (Defense): 30 SPD (Speed): 35 STA (Stamina): 40 INT (Intellect): Invalid Oh, I am once again dazzled by the technology in this society. The stone has just absorbed some of my magical power and my skin in order to gather information about this bodies capabilities.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. I looked at my statistics, even though I am not too familiar with this machines way of estimating one¡¯s strength, I can tell that this mortal body is quite the disappointment. I never cared about these limitations when I was the demon lord, but if I used my magic with this measly magical power, I would have exploded like a bloated frog whom tried to fly higher to appease their lover. That would be a fairly foolish death. As for the reason why my intellect is ¨Cinvalid- is because this artifact cannot calculate the power of my soul. They are unable to delve into my endless wisdom and intellect. Usually, wisdom lies dormant and inactive, only to slowly activate when one experiences. Even after 1500 years, I am still unable to delve into the full power of my soul. It is truly a mysterious thing. Intellect, on the other hand, can be gained through attaining knowledge and it is associated with your body¡¯s ability to refine the magical power into ¡°spells¡±, and ¡°incantations¡±, but it looks like this little tablet has a limit to that as well. Although it is an interesting artifact, it looks like there are still lots of improvement that could be made. Whilst gathering my thoughts, the card in my hand starts to slip away from me and float towards Merlin. Looks like she has used the skill [float], although it seems like a basic skill, it is actually rather high-level skill. The caster has to have talent in order to unlock this hidden power. The control is very delicate and she did it chant-less - it looks like Merlin is a magician that I have to keep an eye on. Merlin catches the card and presents it to the King. The King takes the card and reads it. He closes his eyes and looks at me an icy glare. ¡°It is rare to see an ¡°invalid¡± in this artifact, it looks like you do show some promise¡± (King Uther) After King Uther says that, the knights in the courtroom starts to make a commotion, it looks like the Invalid is not a mistake from the artifact, but something that exists in this world. To think that they knew about the faulty machine but are still unable to fix it¡­ maybe I have over-estimated this country by a fair amount. ¡°However, it appears to me that you need training.¡± (King Uther) How very, very arrogant. While saying that, the King passes the card to Merlin and Merlin reads the content. ¡°Merlin, I leave his training to you¡± (King Uther) ¡°Yes, your majesty¡± (Merlin) ¡°You may rest for tonight, Merlin shall come to your chamber to explain the plans for tomorrow¡± (King Uther) ¡°Yes, your majesty¡± (Arthur) A few maids that were hidden behind the soldiers appear and guide me out the throne room. As I follow their lead, the entire army in the throne room eyes me as I leave. The glasses guy especially looks at me, trying to understand my true attentions. It feels like the time I tried to hold a peace conference with the human empire. As I walked out of the courtroom, I tripped and fell flat onto my face. This body¡¯s center of balance is very peculiar, and I just realized that the maid looks inhumanly large¡­ As I tried to stand back up, the maid tried to offer me a hand. That¡¯s what I thought until she easily straightened me up. The soldier from before chuckled a bit again and I glared at him. That was the moment he was looking at me with affectionate eyes, almost like he¡¯s observing a wild rabbit. This was the point where I realized that¡­ I was a kid. Chapter 2 end Chapter 3: Merlin The maid opens the heavy wooden doors and guided me towards my chamber. The room was decorated with paintings and had a very glamorous feeling- peh, conspicuous consumption¡­ never really understood why the humans were so obsessed with money. The room had a King sized bed in the middle with a desk next to it. To the left side is a gigantic window that illuminates the entire room. Next to the window is a desk that can be used. A rather common room, I would say ¨C but there¡¯s too many decorations, not enough practicality. After analyzing this room, the maid bows and slowly leaves the chamber, leaving me alone. I slowly walk towards the window and look at the slight reflection of myself. I look¡­ soft and feeble. I have a slightly round face with big eyes and small nose and lips. Stray minotaurs would love eating this type of meat and giving it a few more years to grow would make this body excellent bait for roaming succubus. No wonder the guard acted up when he saw me say those big words. He probably thought I was a kid that didn¡¯t know any better. Well, he¡¯s wrong. For now I guess, there¡¯s still nothing I know about this world, so I can¡¯t exact my revenge. I remembered how one of our general tried to take over a small village when I was still a rookie, only to get surprised by a hidden martial clan that was secluded from this world. That was my first defeat. Those were some rather disappointing times. But I shouldn¡¯t think about the past, I must first test the limits of this body. I turned to head to my bed, but I stepped on myself and fell onto the floor. ¡°¡­¡± (Arthur) Although it didn¡¯t hurt, it sure did hit a blow into my pride. I really need to get used to this body. As I tried to stand up, I hit my head onto the desk. ¡°o-o-u-----¡° (Arthur) No... I must not¡­ I must resist this pain. I haven¡¯t tasted this type of pain for hundred of years¡­ ¡°aaaaahhhhh¡± (Arthur) I stand back up, albeit with shaking legs. As I walked back to the bed, what happened next exceeded my expectations. Once upon a time, there was a long debate about what would happen if an immovable object collided with an unstoppable force. There were scholars in the community that tried to test out this theory, but they came to no conclusion. I think I have finally found the answer to this eternity-long debate¡­ - Pain. Let me recount my story: I propelled my left leg forward, mustering all the strength that I had, but it was met with an immovable object, at the weakest part of my body, my toe. Let¡¯s just say that the pain exceeded my death.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. I wailed¡­ loudly, whilst curled up into a ball and holding onto my leg and that was pathetic. How is it even possible for it to be this painful? I thought. Until the pain started to fade. Is this¡­ Healing magic? I have never felt healing magic before. We didn¡¯t even need it because of our super regeneration. But this light feels very warm, almost like I was clad in light and sunk into lukewarm water. ¡°Ahhh¡­ this feels good¡± (Arthur) ¡°I hear this wailing and I thought something happened, turned out it was just a child that shat himself¡± (Mysterious voice) Wait¡­ did I hear that correctly? ¡°Oh for the love of- do I really have to train this kid that can¡¯t even walk properly?¡± (Mysterious voice) I glared at the voice, repulsively. It was Merlin. Merlin was looking at me in disgust. I mean, I would. However the pale blue moonlight bounced off her crystal blue eyes. She was half lit, with her side bangs covering her right eye. Although her words were unpleasant, she is truly a beauty. If I were to compare, she¡¯s like a pale blue flower on top of a hill. This clear flower struggles through the harsh winds, but stands majestically like it owns the plains, never faltering, forever fighting. ¨C But it just has a slight hint of loneliness. ¡°What a glare ¨C and to think that I healed you just now too¡± (Merlin) ¡°I don¡¯t need your help¡± (Arthur) ¡°And you think I want to help you? Ungrateful kid, you¡¯ll be eaten by demons one day. You know? The ugly, merciless and cruel ones.¡± (Merlin) ¡°I. Am. Not. A Kid.¡± (Arthur) I said in a cold and calm demeanor. I can stand to be underestimated by a human, but not if they talk about demons. The room starts to turn icy cold, with shadows creeping slowly underneath my feet. I activate one of the magic I could use now, dark whip. ¡°Looks like the kid can throw rocks¡± (Merlin) ¡°Disappear¡± (Arthur) The shadows beneath me jump towards Merlin like a whip, but Merlin teleports away. I close my eyes, tapping into the mana world to find where she has teleported to. Behind me. I reacted and directed my whip to my back, but not until I get lightly tapped. A sudden gush of cold wind hits my face. I open my eyes, and I¡¯m falling face first towards the ground. I recovered quickly and saw the environment I was teleported to. I¡¯m surrounded with grass. No matter how far I look, all I see is grass. ¡°Great reaction to that kid. We can start learning here¡± (Merlin) I hear Merlin¡¯s voice behind me and I launch my dark whip towards her position. ¡°Learning? I don¡¯t need to learn, I¡¯ll kill you right now¡± (Arthur) I look back, but the attack misses. ¡°It seems that it is true, you¡¯re not a child, are you?¡± (Merlin) I attack the location of the voice again, but it seems like none of the attacks are connecting with anything, even though I¡¯m attacking the person, it¡¯s almost like she vanished into thin air. ¡°Interesting, you¡¯re magic is darkness, very unbefitting of a hero¡± (Merlin) Could it be? Did I not get teleported? ¡°But let me tell you, your body can¡¯t handle the magic you are using. If it weren¡¯t for me, you would have collapsed already¡± (Merlin) ¡°I see, so I didn¡¯t get teleported at all. You¡­ Are a user of mind spells¡± (Arthur) She is more dangerous that I thought she initially was. Her proficiency in mind spells could even strike terror in my country. ¡°Correct! Let today¡¯s lesson be an introduction. I got to know some of you, and you got to know some of me. You¡¯ve still got some ways to go, kid¡± (Merlin) Merlin gives out a small devious smile as she appears in front of me, almost as if she were hiding something from me. ¡°Wai-¡° (Arthur) ¡°Sweet dreams¡± (Merlin) I black out. -End of Chapter 3- Chapter 4: Departure The sound of the maid rushing through the corridor woke me up. Waking up from deep slumber, I feel very light headed. If I were camping in the wild, I would definitely be preyed upon. Sobering up, I can recall the humiliation from yesterday. That women¡­ She really is something, isn¡¯t she? ¡°Good morning, Master Arthur¡± (Maid) ¡°Where is Merlin?¡± (Arthur) The Main stumbles a little due to my sudden question. ¡°She left early in the morning to head to another castle, Master Arthur¡± (Maid) I leap out of my bed and heads towards the door. The Maid blocks my way ¡°You must rest, Master Arthur¡± (Maid) I slide right in between her legs, running outside the corridor. ¡°Master Arthur! It is impossible to catch up with her! Please come back!!¡± (Maid) The Maid droops her shoulders and sighs. Bolting through the castle, I outmaneuver the guards, and the maids, passing them like a bolt of lightning. ¡°We can¡¯t let Master Arthur leave!¡± (Soldier) Finally battling through the dozens of servants, I arrive at the front door of the castle. I¡¯ll fly towards her carriage, I should be able to catch up. I jump up and activate ¡®fly¡¯, but my magic power won¡¯t come out?! I fall towards the floor face first. Why is it always my face?? This has probably been the most amount of face implants I¡¯ve had in the past century. The maid runs over and finally catches up with me. She starts gasping for air. ¡°Master Arthur... hah, hah¡­. it is scheduled¡­ for you to meet Sir Ector today¡± (Maid) Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. The Maid catches her breath and straightens her clothes. ¡°Master Merlin has told me to convey to you that you will see her later in the day at Sir Ector¡¯s place.¡± (Maid) The maid takes out a long sword. ¡°This has been entrusted to you for your journey¡± (Maid) It seems like I¡¯m dancing on the palm of her hand¡­ She placed this magic constraint on me didn¡¯t she? I head towards the main chamber, understanding my defeat. ¡°This is the first time I¡¯ve had such a huge obstacle in my life¡± (Arthur) I take the sword, and walk outside of the castle. A guard standing next to the gates greet me. ¡°Sir Arthur, your carriage has been provided. I wish you a safe trip.¡± (Guard) Whilst the carriage moves, I start to investigate my status card. I navigate through the manual and notice a new tab called spells. I hover my hands around it and information about my dark whip is displayed. Dark Whip [75 MP per whip] Condensing dark energy, you can mold darkness into the form of a whip. The whip can be controlled by the owner and can perform complex maneuvers depending on the user¡¯s ability. No wonder I was exhausted after using it twice. It seems like I have to recall how I managed when I had a limited mana pool. My Level went up by 1, but my ¡°MP¡± is in grey, indicating that I still can''t use my MP. Merlin really stopped it huh? I was too careless. I faintly feel another human presence in front of us. We¡¯re under attack. ¡°We¡¯re under attack!!!!¡± (Jockey) The driver screams and falls down. A powerful aura leaps towards the carriage and stands in front of me. I pierce my sword into the driver seat, trying to immobilize the attacker. Having pierced emptiness, my instinct causes me to dodge towards the side. A clean slice. The carriage walls slowly shift and splits in half, revealing the azure sky. The cool breeze hits my face, and the crisp air enters my nostrils. Cold sweat drips down my forehead. ¡°It would¡¯ve been a shame if you died from that!¡± (???) Standing in front of me is a hooded man. His shoulders are wide, and his outline carefully outlined his huge biceps. His body seems to have been chiseled by the minotaur himself. Underneath the hood, I can see a faint scar underneath his eyebrows. Relaxing his posture, he places his great sword on his shoulder. ¡°It¡¯s just some kid?¡± (Hooded Man) I need to escape, but I point my sword towards the hooded man. ¡°What can you do with that?¡± (Hooded Man) Without magic, I can¡¯t defeat this monster. What can I do? No¡­ A defeated mentality will result in defeat itself. Even without magic, I was still the demon lord, the demon lord that battled the greatest monsters in the demon world! Judging from his clothing, he¡¯s wearing chain mail and armor underneath the hood. I can¡¯t wound him, but he could kill me. I raise my sword and change my stance, tightening my defenses, but leaving certain parts unguarded. ¡°Defending? Then I¡¯ll beat you until you can¡¯t stand!¡± (Hooded Man) The hooded man swings his gigantic sword down. I shift my side of the sword and guide the blow to the ground. The sword splits the ground like butter. I transition my sword seamlessly and aimed for a slash towards his neck. With the weight of his sword, in addition with the momentum, my strength should be able to slit his throat. ¡°Haha! Good judgement!¡± (Hooded Man) The Bald Man steps forward, releases his grip on the sword smashes my sword with his bare hands, causing me to fly instead. He resumes his stance, and lifts up his great sword, he swings his sword in an arc, and smashes it. I recover and slip away, without countering with my sword. The ground doesn¡¯t split into two this time, but literally cracks and turns the beautiful plains into a fissure. If I tried to block this strike, my bones would¡¯ve shattered instead. Shit. I quickly analyze the situation, if I try to run, he will just slice in half. If I counter, I don¡¯t have much strength left, and it¡¯ll just be a struggle. The damage I incurred from the strike is starting to settle in. Shit. Shit. Having almost accepted my fate, I look at the man that¡¯s about to kill me. My slash only managed to connect onto the side of his hood, as the hood flutters off and reveals the face of a middle aged man. He was bald, and didn¡¯t look refined at all. I reaffirm my stance and take a deep breath. I guess this is it. ¡°Not bad, not bad at all! You need some basic training, but your ability to stay calm, analyze tactics and swiftly execute were pretty good. Although you do seem to overestimate yourself. You should¡¯ve ran mate! You need to watch your limit¡± (Bald Man) ¡°???¡± (Arthur) ¡°You also pack quite a punch, Arthur¡± (Bald Man) The Bald man smiles as he reveals the small cut that I made on his neck. ¡°Any deeper and maybe I would be the one in your position! Haha!¡± (Bald Man) ¡°Who are you?¡± (Arthur) The Bald Man laughs loudly, instantly scaring the birds to relocate. Truly, like the king of the forest. ¡°I¡¯m Sir Ector. The one that will train you from now on.¡± (Sir Ector) Chapter 5: Forest (1) Afterwards, I walked with Sir Ector towards the secluded area we are meant to train in. Ector explained to me the details of the monster that surrounds the area and the approximate distance to our residence. It seems that there are monsters in this world, and they are animals that absorbed the magical power in the land. ¡°Watch, that¡­ is a bear¡± (Sir Ector) Sir Ector says that as he points to a huge furry animal with claws. ¡°It carries only brute strength, and is one of the weaker monsters in the vicinity¡± (Sir Ector) As he says that, the bear smashes the boulders next to it and turns it to dust. ¡°And you take care of a bear by doing this¡± (Sir Ector) As he says that, he walks to the bear. ¡°Watch¡­ and learn¡± (Sir Ector) Sir Ector punches the bear in the stomach with enough force to pulverize trees. The bear shows signs of gurgling, and falls down. Great. Lesson learnt. As Sir Ector talks to me about the dangers in the woods, he would occasionally attempt to teach me. A single slash, a single punch. There isn¡¯t much to learn from his brute force, only the name of the monsters and sometimes¡­ Sometimes¡­ Their characteristics. Looking at these ¡°monsters¡±, I wonder if their the same as ours. ¡°Where do they come from?¡± (Arthur) Sir Ector stops for a while and thinks. ¡°They just appear¡± (Sir Ector) ¡°Appear?¡± (Arthur) ¡°Well, some people from the East say that they are born from the land. Some from the West say it¡¯s a form of natural transformation. My soldiers believe that their born from sex, and a conspiracy of the empire. I believe that it¡¯s from all four.¡± (Sir Ector)This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. This sounds fairly similar to my world. Demons are beings of magic, and we are always told that our ancestors were born from the crux of the world. We crawled out from the earth, and some of us held unimaginable power and potential within us. Monsters in the other hand, were born from the magic leaking after our birth. A natural condition from the influx of mana. ¡°But honestly, we don¡¯t really know¡± (Sir Ector) As Sir Ector says that, he turns his head over to me. Within a flash, he sees that there is a ¡°Twin Headed Snake¡± dangling on a tree trying to ambush me. Before Sir Ector even reacts, I raise my sword and swing it like an arc, decapitating the snake clean. ¡°One hit kill right?¡± (Arthur) Sir Ector looks at me like he couldn¡¯t believe it, that I managed to sense the snake before he did. ¡°Actually, to kill snakes, you do this!¡± (Sir Ector) Sir Ector swings his blade twice, and another ¡°Twin Headed Snake¡± falls to the ground. However, it wasn¡¯t decapitated, but had two slits over its head to its tail. ¡°Looks like we¡¯re having wine tonight son!¡± (Sir Ector) As Sir Ector laughs, he swings his blade exactly 10 more times, and 5 ¡°Twin Headed Snakes¡± fall to the ground. We battled the group of snakes for 10 minutes and completely annihilated them. The snakes aren¡¯t too troublesome as long as we could feel it¡¯s attack. Their strength is in their stealth. After we slaughtered the snakes, we got to set up camp and camp for the night. Not gonna lie, I kind of liked Sir Ector. Even though he was a human, he is too much like someone I know. He showed profound knowledge, a deep understanding of life and most importantly ¨C a good sense of humor. If only humans tried to communicate with demons in this way, we could¡¯ve perhaps worked together to create a better place. Too bad they¡¯ve already picked the fight. ¡°And it is time for the main character of tonight¡¯s dinner¡± (Sir Ector) Sir Ector says that as he rumbles in his bag. ¡°The Alcoholic¡¯s jug!¡± (Sir Ector) ¡°The what?¡± (Arthur) ¡°Mhmmmmmm! This is a godsend for warriors like us, truly something that can only be known as mysterious!¡± (Sir Ector) Sir Ector says that as he caresses the jug like it¡¯s a female. He slides his face up and down the jar, licking it as well. Gross. ¡°Look Arthur, if we put the snake in here, and water¡­ We can create wine!¡± (Sir Ector) After Sir Ector puts the snake and water in, he inserts some of his magic into the jar. The jar rumbles and the liquid turns yellow. He quickly takes it out and drinks it. ¡°Ah¡­ Usually snake wine takes a long time to ferment, but by adding magic power into it, it speeds up the process and turns it into tasty wine¡­¡± (Sir Ector) What, isn¡¯t that time magic? ¡°Arthur, do you understand the miraculous of this item??? It¡¯s the dream of every warrior, the passion of every man, the love of our lives. It¡¯s the miraculous alcohol maker¡± (Sir Ector) To put such a sophisticated spell for something so trivial¡­ I also never thought Sir Ector was this kind of character, completely different from when he¡¯s in combat. Sir Ector chugs the entire jar and slowly finishes the snakes. Another one, another one, another one, another one. It¡¯s almost like I¡¯m looking at a machine, I don¡¯t think even my great generals can drink this much. ¡°We have to celebrate Arthur¡­ To our training!¡± (Sir Ector) ¡°I¡¯m good¡± (Arthur) To be honest, I was never quite the drinker. The last time I got drunk, I randomly confessed my love to my maid and got turned down. A mighty demon lord, to be turned down by a mere maid. I became the laughing stock for a few decades. ¡°I¡¯m not going to take no for an answer.¡± (Sir Ector) Sir Ector grabs my head at an unimaginable speed and puts me in a head lock. ¡°Wai¡ªgurg gurg gurrr¡± (Arthur) I tried my hardest to resist, but I can''t. The alcohol seeps into me. It tasted terrific, but it was also very heavy. The alcohol content burnt my tongues, and then my throat, all the way to my stomach. The alcohol rushes to my head in an instant. Almost like a spell, it put me into a deep state. This has gooot to bE tHe... fastes... alcohol eVer. Sir Ector finally let me go. "See boy, you can do it!" (Sir Ector) Sir Ector says that with a drunked laugh, and I can''t help but feel amused as well. "I.. Guess... I can eh!" (Arthur) *hiccup* "Oh, this feels... Amazing" (Arthur) "We sould... definitely....... do some. thing for this joyous..." (Arthur) heh, hehheh... *Hiccup* "Occ... OCcasion!" (Arthur) Uoooo... WhAt''SS HaaappPeeenNnning Chapter 6 - Forest (2) Where the fuck am I? Actually. I don¡¯t know where I am. My head is hazy and I¡¯m suffering some major headache. Fuck¡­ I don¡¯t remember anything after drinking that wine. I don¡¯t feel like moving. I¡¯m still dizzy. Ah¡­ Shit. I could sense a pack of enemies approaching. There were 5, no, 6 demonic beings heading to me. From the speed of it, they are likely wolves or hounds, the ones that Sir Ector told me to be careful of because of their precise pack hunting methods. Ugh¡­ Now is really not a good time. In a battle, information is the most important aspect of a battle. If one does not know their opponent¡¯s skillset and where they are located, then it would become exceedingly hard to win. Right now, I am the one in the upper hand with both terrain and knowledge. Ah, my head hurts. From the speed they are approaching, they are going to arrive in 2 minutes. Let¡¯s begin puppies. Branches broke as a group of 6 wolves trampled the forest. They tracked a small being in the western part of the forest and immediately ran there to get their meal of the day. The pack was lead by a wolf with dark strips, and his partner was one with blue stripes. ¡°Leader, we¡¯re approaching the boy¡± (Wolf 1) ¡°Good, let¡¯s do it as we usually do¡± (Leader) ¡°But it¡¯s just a kid¡± (Blue wolf) ¡°We can never underestimate an enemy, even a child.¡± (Leader) As soon as the leader said this, the blue wolf and 2 of the underlings disappeared into the thickness of the leaves. The wolf continues running and locates the kid. He stealthily waits with his underlings for his companions to reach their positions and finally he jumps across the bush to attack the kid. There are a few things to note about wolves in their strategies. They aren¡¯t monsters that like to drag out the battle, so they try to finish the battle smoothly by affecting their target¡¯s psychology and then dealing their finishing blow. An injured animal can be dangerous, but an animal filled with fear ¨C that¡¯s the easiest. But before talking about prey, I need to do this first.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Ok. One. Two¡­ Wait, let me prepare myself. One, two¡­ Three. I force my stomach to contract and puke out all the alcohol out of my system. The bitten snake, and food from the last few days all came out. Alright, this is good enough. My ears are still ringing, and I can¡¯t hear anything, but I¡¯ll be able to sense them just fine. Let me think about this. Usually the wolves would have a frontal assault group that targets their prey in the front. If the prey becomes scared and flees, their companions, who are positions on the wings and the back would immediately come out to finish the target. If the prey chooses to fight, then the first set of assault would come from the wings, and the rear would soon be attacked as well. Since they have peculiar noses that can track down the enemy¡¯s position, a firm grip that can move quickly in any terrain, and a huge number of companions, they rarely lose any battle. They are truly a fearsome enemy. But that¡¯s it, at least for regular wolves. They don¡¯t have too much attack power, so they need multiple hits to kill their prey if they don¡¯t hit the vital points. And, because of their knowledge, they never pick losing battles, so their plan is so effective that they win most battles. My puke should be the only thing they smell right now, but may leave some problems for them to track me¡­ Truly a fearsome animal, but you¡¯ve met the wrong match today. What seemed like the leader of the group took my bait and jumped into a boulder. It bit the boulder and it¡¯s teeth sunk into the boulder, alongside my vomit. A wolf usually locates its target through a sense of smell, and relies too much on it. So all I had to do was put my clothes onto a boulder, and bathe myself with the foreign substance that just came out of me. They would just think this foul smell is some deformed version of the snake I ate yesterday. It tried getting out, but I would say it needs another minute, just enough time for me to finish all of them off. 2 other wolves came out of the bushes and saw its leader in a difficult position. ¡°Where¡¯s the kid?¡± (Wolf 2) ¡°Let¡¯s help the leader first!¡± (Wolf 3) The wolf on the right, thinking that the signal was given, jumped out of the bush to help its leader. This is the moment I strike. I fall down from the trees and immediately stab the wolf that came out, killing it. A blue wolf from the side stares at me and unleashes an ice beam from its mouth. ¡°It¡¯s the kid! He smells like shit!¡± (Blue wolf) This isn¡¯t going to be easy. I dash towards the left, closely dodging the ice beam, and throw small rocks I prepared beforehand towards the blue wolf, blinding it. Immediately, a wolf behind me leaps out to attack. Another thing about their attack style is their reliance on leaping to gain attack power and momentum. However, this restricts their movements to only propelling forward. I¡¯ve already sensed the wolf behind me long before it chose to attack me. I duck down and place my blade above me, slicing the wolf in half. Too easy. Too predictable. 4 more wolves to go. I grab the wooden spear that¡¯s camouflaged next to the tree trunk. After vomiting, I slowly started to be able to tap into my mana again. I take a quick deep breath and feel my magic returning to me. I enhance my muscles with dark magic and coat the outside of the spear with a magical coating that increases its sharpness. The magic starts to grow dark and I throw the spear towards the red wolf, the one that¡¯s stuck on the boulder. ¡°Leader, watch out!¡± (Wolf x2) 2 wolves leaps in front of the spear to block the red wolf from getting injured. The spear pierces through both the wolf¡¯s thick fur and continues propelling forward. The blue wolf immediately makes an ice wall to block the spear. The remnant of the force pierces the ice wall and heads straight towards the red wolf. With the additional time, the wolf comes out of the boulder and escapes but gets pierced on the side. The spear penetrates the boulder and gets stuck inside. Fuck. My calculations were off. ¡°We have to go Lev!¡± (Blue wolf) My ears finally stop ringing and I can faintly hear again. The red wolf stares at me, but I¡¯m more astonished at another fact: I can understand them. The red wolf growls, but looks at its wounds. The blue wolf, Carol, stomps the ground and creates shards in the ground that¡¯s directed to me. But I wasn¡¯t intending to, the both of them retreated. As they ran, they howled loudly, as if mourning the loss of their companions. ¡°I¡¯ll remember your smell, human!¡± (Leader) I drop my sword. ¡°I can understand the monsters of this world?¡± (Arthur) I give out a small laugh, I guess some things never change. ¡­ ¡­ I need to vomit again.