Chapter 161: Demonic Dungeon (2)

Rainer sat across a table from Amer as the Devil enjoyed himself with wine as always; the man had grown quite languid in his new relaxing life. It had taken only a few words and another trading of the [Mana Presence] tome to get the Devil to agree to his request: sending his Avatar with him whenever they would be heading to the Trial location.

The [Archon] had little doubt that the trip to the Demonic Dungeon would be free from issues.

Amer shook his head as he held a copy of the tome in his hands. The real kicker was the Armament spell attached with it. It would still require the Devil to learn the skill and the spell wasn’t truly complete, but it mattered little to the Devil.

“Really, you should've gotten at least three favors out of me for this.”

“Are you offering?”

“Do I look like a charity?” Amer said, enjoying the recently learned knowledge that something like a charity could even exist. The Fae were ever a strange race to him. All the better for it, given that what was familiar to him was not pleasant in the slightest by comparison.

“Nah, you don’t have hips for it, but I’m sure you could pull it off if you tried hard enough.”

“What?” the Devil asked confused. And then grumbled something uncomplimentary under his breath when Rainer explained that Charity was also a name for a woman.

Rainer chuckled at how much the frankly childish joke, that wouldn’t be unfit coming out of a 10 year old’s mouth, bothered the Devil. He supposed that was an advantage to being from another world and culture.

“Just call when you need me. And make sure no one grabs my Soul. Plus, I’ll be expecting the Mana Crystals to remake my Avatar if I die,” The Devil said, now enjoying the [Archon]’s grumble as he agreed. Remaking an Avatar was not a cheap thing. And he fully planned on getting more than the fair share of Mana Crystals out of him.

Rainer then explained what Kara’s mother looked like since she would likely be traveling with them, along with who they may end up facing and general knowledge on Demons. He left soon after giving some advice on [Mana Presence].

--

“I’m sorry I have to leave so soon grandmother,” Kara spoke to the black-haired Demon, who had a few tinges of grey in her hair. Despite being close to the end of her lifespan, Demons aged far better than other races and suffered from nearly no decrease in strength up until their natural death. Kara’s grandmother was no exception.

A bit away, Rainer shifted awkwardly as Vera’s eyes bore into him. What was it with him lately and powerful, older women glaring at him like he was a bad child?

“Yes?” He asked.

“I’m guessing your argument was over all the Demons after Kara? I’m surprised you took it so well.”

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Rainer frowned a bit, confused, but recalling the conversation when he dragged Kara away her guess wasn’t illogical. Though, now he couldn’t help but chuckle at the question.

“No it was about something else. Kara told me a long time ago about most of Demonkind, and perhaps eventually most of the world, being after her.”

“Truly?”

“Want to know what my response to that was?”

“What?” Vera asked, amused. While also wondering where Kara had heard the prophecy from. Vera saw little reason to spread that bit of knowledge around, nor burden her daughter with what may be untrue. Magic which predicted the future always seemed a bit too fanciful for her. Though, it was undoubtedly true that Kara, with her extra primary class, had the potential to be stronger than anyone else within her tier.

“I kissed her for the first time.”

The Demon stared at him for a few seconds before laughing and putting an arm around his shoulder.

“Though I can’t say I’m happy about the age difference,” Vera joked, prodding at just how old this mage was exactly.

“What can I say, I like older women.”

“I’m afraid this older woman isn’t into sharing,” the elder Wolfkin said. Thanks for reading on ManaNovel!

“Huh? I meant Kara,” Rainer responded confused, though his mind was more so on how they’d yet to introduce Luna.

“Y-you…” Vera stuttered, though the question that was on her lips got back interrupted by Kara’s return.

“To the Trial then,” her daughter said without the slightest bit of nervousness.

Rainer nodded and Void-walked the trio away, the stunned Vera remaining silent as they vanished.

--

“He teleported,” Demon Prince Felbeast said in rage, “I told you we should have attacked!” It looked as if he was but a moment away from charging at the snow-covered village.

Fang ignored him as he switched to a Soul with strong detection abilities. Most monster Souls in general had far better skill in that than other races, but the small silver bird he killed was a step above them and had an innate skill for it. It had, after all, taken 7 years of constant hunting to catch it. He had gone after it for so long out of sheer madness as it taunted him, rather than any sort of real goal after a while.

“It was a short range teleport, it seems they are heading North-east, and the only place of note there…” Demon Prince Talrai, a recent arrival much to the chargin of the others, mentioned. He had joined up with them, apparently having a spy amongst that informed him immediately of what was happening. The white-haired Demon’s form was that of an eagle-like beast, allowing him to come here quite quickly.

“The Demonic Dungeon, let’s hurry,” Fang responded and the [Vampyr]s around them prepared a long-distance group teleport. All of the [Vampyr] Demons shifted into their grey-skinned bat-winged forms.

Fang himself couldn’t teleport completely blind, being limited to eyesight, detection range, and places he’s very familiar with. And keeping up with the now long-gone rapidly-teleporting Mage would cost too much Aura. No matter how talented his Demon Prince [Vampyr] Soul was, Fang knew his limits. Competing directly with a master of a strange form of teleportation was asking to lose. They’d just have to take the risk they got there before them and could stop the young Half-Demon from potentially dying in her Trial.

--

With a few more directions from Vera, he managed to find the Demonic Dungeon. Looking across the open snowy tundra, he saw the entrance to it.

A large obsidian circle fanned out, hundreds of feet in diameter. In the center was a far darker circle tinged with a blood red, looking like a giant eye. The falling snow seemed to unnaturally avoid it.

Rainer shared a long kiss with Kara, and she shared a surprise one with Luna shortly after. A surprise to Vera that is as a small Fairy appeared from seemingly nowhere, became a 5’6’’ Silver-haired woman, and then shrunk again, before returning to the Mage’s jacket.

Kara headed to the center, as Vera just placed one foot along the edge. It seemed her mother was leveling another class recently, and took this chance to switch to another. The Trial could only be accessed in the middle, but class changes on the outer rim. Different from the World Tree which was partially worshiped, the Demon’s Ring, or Demonic Dungeon, was just seen as a tool with its origin having a variety of explanations.

[Demon, Female, Greater Demonic Werewolf(2nd) lvl 24, Blade Maelstrom(2nd) lvl 24]

[Title: Blade Master]

Rainer took a glance at the two blades… or rather slabs of metal Vera had tied to her back, amidst her fur clothing. Around her neck hung an enchanted necklace, a Trial reward, which let her keep her equipment unaffected as she shifted. He guessed it was affordable only because it’s storage functions were so limited, an easy way to save points in a Trial reward whether you remembered it or not.

“Not as pretty as Kara’s weapons huh?” Vera commented, seeing where he was looking, “All Ymir ever gave me was a crappy spatial ring,” she faux complained and seemed to hide any real feelings about the Wolf King.

“I gave Kara a Spatial Ring too,” Rainer commented.

“I know… hers is so much bigger,” Vera said before coming up close to him. Too close. “Don’t you think your mother-in-law deserves a nicer Spatial Ring too?”

Rainer frowned as he was just reminded of his early plans, plans that he forgot after their short fight and the fact that Vera was coming with him; He pictured something more private. Looking over, he just saw Kara’s eyes as she disappeared in a flash of red light. Rainer knew that with months of [Sleep Learning] under her belt, she was ready.

It didn’t make it any easier. His only saving grace was that the Trial was time-altered and at most she’d be gone for a few minutes. Rainer didn’t even let himself think about the other length of time she could be gone for.

“So who’s the little Fairy?” Vera asked, looking at his jacket speculatively. But before he could answer a massive fluctuation of space signaled that their trip to the Dungeon wasn’t a lonely one.

Four veritable shining suns of Aura lead the group, as the dozens others started fanning out in a circle. Rainer drew in a long breath as he detected the Aura of the four in the lead. It was there he was reminded in Vera’s own strength as he sensed hers as well, not falling too far behind these figures. He appraised the four of them, finding them all to be at the height of the 2nd Tier.

“I told you we should have attacked earlier, if you cost-” The [Greater Demonic Kodiak] growled out, his brown hair and beard seemingly standing on edge from the massive amount of Aura pouring from him. He appeared just like a large and tall human of 7 and a half feet.

“If I what?” The [Greater Demonic Reaper], currently covered in brown scales with two draconic looking wings behind him, threatened back, perhaps reminding the others who the strongest one here was. Already their earlier plan of a united front was failing. Not that the Reaper cared too much about it, his only plan was to rush and cripple the Half-Demon before flying away with her. He needed a safe spot to properly consume a full Soul.

Rainer narrowed his eyes as he quickly realized who the most dangerous one was. By a longshot. The Draconic vibe to whatever Soul he currently wielded was far too strong.

“Now now, it’s not nice to argue in front of our guest,” a well groomed Demon interrupted, long-white hair speaking of either inherit genetic advantage or great care. [Greater Demonic Roc], Rainer noted, his second class being obviously Aura-related, [Aura Morpher]. Just like the other three, who all seemed to focus on something that upped their Aura.

The Fourth Demon Prince, a black-haired [Greater Demonic Hydra], seemed uninterested in doing anything other than stare at the Demonic Dungeon.

“Guest?” Rainer questioned, taking the opportunity to talk. The more they talked the better, after all, Rainer fully planned on running the moment Kara finished her Trial. Hopefully letting the more pompous looking Demon, the only one of the three wearing clothes other than just furs, control the conversation would help. He seemed like someone who would like the sound of his own voice.

“Why yes of course. It’s been ever so long since we’ve had a Magus grace our lands so far east. Who would you be the guest of other than us Demon Princes?”

“I suppose so. I’m glad you’ve prepared such a welcoming for me then,” Rainer said, now glancing out at all the [Vampyr]s. Only a few were above the 2nd Tier, but none were particularly strong. However the strange mix of Aura and Magic radiating out from them and affecting space was curious. They were…

Rainer froze for a brief moment as he realized what they were doing.

How did they know…

It was a weakness of his own he never even considered, but the moment he thought of it, knew it would be one. If loosening space improved his [Void-walking], what would the alternative do? Rainer guessed that even the most casual Void-walk loosened it ever so slightly. And if he wasn’t able to? Would it be as simple as the Void-walk being blocked, or something far more gruesome? And sheer amount of power involved meant it may not be an easy solution for him to cancel the magic. At least not in front of the heads of this group.

The Four Demons, or rather Demon Princes, simply stared at him, before the well-dressed Demon, looking like a human noble than anything else, spoke again. Perhaps they too didn’t know what to do when the other side had an unknown strength and with the object of their pursuit was temporarily missing.

“Well then as your host, I have a simple offer to make. Leave now and we’ll pursue you no further. Surely a single woman isn’t worth all of the Princes of Demonkind seeking your life. Nor would you want our attention solely on your Guild, would you Magus?” It never paid to piss off a Mage Guild, and the spatial ring on his hand was an easy tell to his status. As if his impressive teleportation abilities weren't enough.

Rainer faked surprise on his face. [Acting] was ever the useful skill. And the Demon of course had no idea what his ‘Guild’ was, but he pretended the threat bothered him and rubbed the spatial ring on his hand.

“Oh… you didn’t know? The Werewolf tribe were never as loyal as the dogs you’d expect them to be like,” he said, looking as if he enjoyed the glare coming from Vera.

“And here I thought it was just a single bad ex-boyfriend,” Rainer said tiredly, making a show of looking up at the mid-day sky for a moment and inching a bit away from Vera. Hopefully, she didn’t believe in his [Acting], though, he supposed it would put merit to it.

“The hell do you even all want with her?” Rainer said, now glaring back at them, seeming snapped out of his thoughts. It wouldn’t do to be seen too eager to run away. And hopefully this question showed Vera he was [Acting] as this was something he should already know.

“To fulfill her role as she should have. A Half-Demon is quite important to us after all. And yet she would run away to those who would see us all dead… a traitor to her kind no?”

“And her role being?”

“What else but to be a focal point of our race? It is her duty to guide us forward. Are you willing to stand in the way of the entire Demon race?”

Rainer grimaced at bit at that phrase, and fed off that rage to his Void Will. It wasn’t time to strike.

“Then-” Rainer started speaking before being interrupted.

“Enough talk,” the previously silent [Greater Demonic Hydra], growled out, part of his pale skin shifting to scales. They were all aware how the situation would change if or when the Half-Demon returned. Even though she would be newly advanced, not being able to kill your opponent was a major handicap. “Are you going to leave, or not?”

The world turned grey, the snow gently floating down seemed to disappear, and silence took on a new meaning. The Void descended, and it’s commander required attention.

“I was not aware it was you who I was speaking to. Or perhaps you claim yourself superior to the other three Demon Princes?” Rainer ground out, enjoying the shock on their face as they tensed under the pressure. The Void was a fearsome thing.

“Now, now, there is no need to be ha-”

“Nor was I aware it was you who was in charge. What are you even supposed to be? A Demon pretending to be human pretending to be a noble? What kind of twisted posturing is that? No… the only person I’m interested in hearing from is the Reaper. Not only is he by far superior to the rest of you, whatever your goals are here, it’s clear his are far different. A Half-Demon Soul is a tantalizing thing.”

Rainer enjoyed the quickest flash of anxiety on the [Greater Demonic Reaper]’s face as the three temporarily forgot about Rainer and their brains clicked in gear. They likely hadn’t even considered that he’d be after her Soul. Why would they? Wasn’t she far weaker? But to Rainer who was aware of the power of taking a full Soul, and having appraised the necklace of the Reaper, it was a valid guess. Even though the [Archon] himself had no idea on the truth of the matter.

It was unfortunate their suspicions didn’t have any lasting effects. Perhaps they saw his guess for what it was?

Rainer briefly noted that the stabilizing to the space seeming to vanished under [Void Descent] before dropping the skill.

“How can I be assured if I leave today, you won’t come after me?” he then asked, looking at the Reaper, but it wasn’t him who answered.

“This isn’t a negotiation, Magus. Leave now or you die,” the large Demon Prince spoke up, returning everyone's attention away from the Reaper.

“You need only walk beyond the barrier,” the [Greater Demonic Roc] spoke and pointed to his left. As if matching his threat, the Magic and Aura coming off the [Vampyr]s multiplied. Still seething from the earlier insult it seemed, or perhaps at the Reaper. But he made no more moves to speak, all of them agreeing to the recent words it seemed.

Rainer stared for a long-time before preparing himself, sinking completely into his Void Will so that his worries over Kara wouldn’t affect the fight. It was time, a [Void Descent] loosened the space, he pinged Amer, the Devil’s Avatar appearing by Rainer’s side at the same time as Rainer’s own Avatar appeared in front of all Four Demon Princes. Runic lines of violet glowed across his body.

[Arcane Awakening: Final Arcanum].

A massive torrent of Arcane energy arced out, lashing at all four. Amer disappeared, a clawed hand of Miasma and Aura stabbing into the first [Vampyr] he appeared next to.

Each of the four Demon Princes reacted in a different way. The [Greater Demonic Kodiak] shifted as fast as he could, a powerful cladding of Aura wrapping around him in an instant. The Hydra-like Demon, turned into seven separate Serpents as they all flew away as fast as they could, two getting caught in the blast. The Roc wrapped himself in a sphere of thick Aura, tanking the blast.

Rainer dashed away and saw with genuine surprise it was the Reaper who took the most damage, missing an entire right arm, wing, and part of his shoulder and right ear.

Out of the four, the Reaper took the worst bet, choosing to teleport away instead of block and having it disrupted by the sheer amount of Arcane that attacked them.

Five serpents covered in black scales converged on the currently magicless Avatar and tore it apart as it fought them off as best it could. The Magus’ body strength surprised the serpent but in the end the Avatar fell, the Soul quickly dissipating.

As Rainer dashed backwards, he cursed himself for not testing this sooner. He hadn’t expected his Avatar using Final Arcanum to have blocked his main body magic as well. His original plan having been to grab the body with a Void-walk right after the Final Arcanum. But their Mana Pools were connected. His only saving grace was that it seemed to recover quicker than normal and the Reaper was too injured to even think of grabbing the quick-to-dissipate piece of his Soul.

“Carry me and run,” Rainer quickly yelled at Vera, who complied, but not before watching his Avatar torn apart.

“What of your brother?!”

“It’s an Avatar, clone, fake body, projection?” Rainer quickly rattled off terms for it as they rushed away from the four Demon Princes. With a deep hiss, the Five serpents were the first to chase after them, followed by a rampaging Werebear of black fur and red eyes. A spinning sphere of red liquid aura carried the still humanoid [Greater Demonic Roc] toward them.

Rainer grimaced as he felt something wrong with himself. His Void Will seemed to go out control as it had in the past but even as he retreated his consciousness from it, the rampaging did not stop. He yelled in pain from his very Soul, his thrashing caused Vera to drop him, as she then spun around and shifted into her Werewolf form, a good deal larger than Kara.

Barely registering the scene around him, Rainer looked inward. He had no idea what was going on, his mind only recalling Talvara’s words that Void Will normally didn’t exist in a body that could also use Magic or Mana. He almost missed the serpent that had slipped past Vera’s assault about to attack him.

A plumage of Violet Flame assaulted the Serpent, who hadn’t managed to clad himself in time, confident in his regeneration. After all, his two nearly destroyed bodies from the earlier attack already rose from the glassed ground beneath it. Yet this time, he felt the flame burn his very being. Crying out in a pain he never felt before.

The serpent recoiled, just the same as Rainer who still writhed on the ground, his Soul under assault from his own Void Will.

Several powerful Curses striking the Demon Princes gave them pause, before they were flushed out by a massive amount of Aura. The caster of said curses now found himself under assault by all other Demons around them. Taking the weaker ones out one by one as he teleported across the snowy field.

Rainer’s pool of Mana and Arcane Energy snapped back into use as he quickly converted Mana to Arcane Power. [Arcane Awakening] flared to its maximum and [Arcane Invigoration] flowed to his Soul. The Void Will in him calmed.

Before becoming far worse. Instead of holding each other at bay, the Arcane and Mana seemed to instead antagonize the Void Will within him, and the opposite as well. Rainer nearly fell over once more before he manipulated the two to calming down. He had a far greater problem facing him.

A whip of liquid red Aura striked out at Rainer, the [Archon] barely dodging with Void-walk. Spikes of the red aura solidified and assaulted him right after, as Rainer himself returned fire with [Arcane Combustion], barely dodging the homing attacks of Aura. The Arcane-Fire spells merely bounced off the still shielded Demon, who did not seem to lose even a bit of Aura.

They traded fire as the Demon Prince proved himself to be an endless vat of Aura, any of his attacks merely returning under his control afterwards.

Rainer rushed forward, knowing he needed to capitalize on this before the other two Demon Princes joined in once more. An [Arcane Blade] extended from his hilt and he Void-walked behind the Roc Demon Prince. He saw him sneer as the blade struck against his red shield. Yet in moments that sneer turned to panic as he retreated, the arcane weapon cutting through the sphere and missing the Demon only by inches.

Rainer chased after the Demon. His face grimaced as he lost control over his Arcane, Mana, and Void Will for a brief moment, the still out-of-control energies lashing out at his own body once more. It didn’t seem that problem was going away.

Every Void-walk predated a strike with his [Arcane Blade], cutting through and dissipating the thick Aura. Rainer detected the Demon’s Aura and noted with satisfaction that the formerly bottomless pit of Aura now started to drain. Several slashes of the blade cut the Demon Prince directly.

A distorted voice interrupted their fight as six serpents soared towards Rainer. Something about his Aura seemed less.

“I will chase you to the ends of existence Magus!” The six serpents didn’t even pay attention to the sphere-covered Demon Prince who retreated at once. Nor did their seventh body, now nearly gone from the still burning Violet flame, even twitch.

Rainer countered with six circles of [Arcanum], the beams of magic shooting at the close-together serpents. It hit all six in some way, the Hydra Demon Prince charging forward with reckless abandon. The six serpents, fangs gleaming with Aura, attacked from all directions. Just as Rainer was about to Void-walk away, he lost control over his energy pools once more and stuttered.

He barely dodged a few of the serpents, taking careful note where Luna was on his person, before lashing out with his [Arcane Blade]. The Serpents seemed to pay no mind to their decapitated forms and regenerated almost instantly at the cost of Aura. Rainer continued to attack them, mixing in [Cone of Arcane-Fire] which they avoided like a plague, finally managing to dislodge all of the serpent heads that were biting him. [Arcane Invigoration] countered the Aural-like venom coursing through him alongside Luna's flame.

It was in irony that the reason he couldn’t dodge the serpents in first place, proved to be his savior. The rampaging pools of energy in him either destroyed or consumed the venom that went towards his Soul before Rainer brought them back under his control.

Vera fought the Werebear to standstill, both their forms covered in wounds, though her clearly on the worse end despite her speed advantage. She retreated as red aura lashed at her from the side, clipping the bleeding Werewolf.

A Draconic roar of fury brought all the fights to a pause. Covered in bronze scales the last of the four Demon Princes joined the fray, completely healed. Rainer watched as he made a beeline straight towards him. The Magus barely reacted in time, [Void-walking] at the last second before a claw of Aura tore in him two.

Every Void-walk the Demon Prince appeared right after in a flurry of bronze, leaving no room for Rainer to retaliate. Void-walk after Void-walk, he dodged the enraged Demon. After dozens of Void-walks, Rainer reacted too slowly, and a claw of cut through his torso, his high Constitution barely protecting what lay beneath the skin. The force of the blow sent him crashing to the ground. He blacked out for a brief moment as his head hit the ground, his mind too disoriented to Void-walk, he barely managed to enter Shield Mode before another claw of Aura slashed at him.

The Arcane-shielding shattered as another furious claw slashed down at him. Before Rainer even had the chance to Void-walk away a final presence entered the fight.

A Werewolf appearing larger than before appeared in a Void-step, the formerly dark blue Body Enchantments glowing an eerie crimson red as their power surged. Her claw stabbed through the back of the Reaper, blood spilling on Rainer beneath him, before he reached out with his own [Arcane Blade].

Rainer slashed at the Reaper’s legs, cutting them both off. The Demon Prince howled in pain but managed to shift to another Soul and teleport away, Rainer just barely missing with [Void Grasp].

Contrary to all expectations, the Reaper healed almost instantly after taking on a bark-covered skin, roots wriggled and twisted as they replaced his legs before he returned to his usual bronze-scaled form.

Without missing a beat, Rainer spared Kara a smile from behind his grimace and grabbed her bloody claw, taking the both of them to Vera.

The group vanished before the Demon Princes’ eyes, the Devil disappearing shortly after.