Demon Lord - (New World Book 1)

by K R Zax

  Bloody Hell!

  Chapter 10.

  We rushed down the hill, the uneven terrain making us slow our pace a little. I was watching out for surprise attacks, but fortunately, my senses didn’t pick out any threat. By the time we arrived in the north-west area, the screaming couldn’t be heard anymore.

  We found a trail that seemed to be heading for Jolek, so we went in the opposite direction. After a couple of miles, I felt multiple presences, so I grabbed Lina’s hand to slow her down, and we silently approached them. Soon, we could hear voices.

  Using the trees for cover, we made our way to the sight.

  At first, I thought that we arrived at some kind of human settlement, but after a better look, I realized how wrong that was.

  The ‘huts’ had a pyramidal shape and were made of large branches, tied together with vines and covered with dirt. They could only provide minimal protection from rain or snow. There was also some kind of cave further away, it was probably used during the winter. After all, Orcs had some fat and hair on them, I doubt it was a big issue for them to make it through a harsh season.

  “Oh, God!” Lina covered her mouth and started crying. I hugged her tightly and turned her head away from the scene.

  In the center of the ‘village’ was a clearing filled with more than a hundred orcs. It was like they were having some kind of festival. Surprisingly, this was the first time I saw female orcs and orc children. They were as ugly as the male warriors I previously saw and killed.

  The women were gathered around a big fire, cutting pieces of meat and handing them to the males and children. I had a strong urge to vomit, but then I forced myself to swallow the acid that filled my throat.

  The meat that the women were cutting belonged to the corpses of four human males, spinning slowly over the fire. They were probably all adventurers. The orcs were making happy sounds as they chewed on the roasted meat. But for most of them, food wasn’t the main attraction.

  More than half of the orcs were watching a small group of males, gathered around the fifth human.

  It was a female with thorn clothes. Her arms and legs were broken. I could even see bones, sticking out of her skin in a few places. She was already dead. Broken neck, by the looks of it.

  Of course, all of that didn’t mean that she was going to join her friends above the fire pit. She was a female after all, and an enthusiastic orc was still using her body. Such a cruel and animalistic act, made my blood boil.

  The rest of the orcs looked like they were having a good time, and I could see several others, waiting eagerly for their turn.

  “Stay down,” I told Lina and summoned the zombies. They came out of the shadows one by one, gathering in two groups, left and right from me. But before deploying them, I wanted to try something.

  With Trinity staff in my hands, I created a Fire Arrow and compressed it until it looked like a slim big bullet. The staff gave me finer control over magic, so I wasn’t as limited as I would be when using my bare hands.

  Since my mana was S, and Fire Arrow an F skill, I could create a lot of them. When I had around fifty bullets, my head started hurting a little.

  “Darling! They’re coming!” Lina held her Daggers and stood close to me, ready to fight. I could hear the orcs voices, they were confused, and wanted to check the source of light they saw. Perhaps they were thinking that more adventurers had come, just in time for dessert.

  Shit! I’m about to lose control. It was very difficult to keep concentration and channel mana.

  Argh! This should do.

  “Fire!”

  According to my will, the bullets flew consecutively, like I fired them from a machine gun. The orcs screamed when the first bullets hit their target, and at the same time, my zombies advanced.

  A sense of surprise and fear washed over the orcs in the village when they saw their warriors falling like rocks.

  Lina was running around me, defending my body from attacking orcs. There weren’t many of them, maybe two or three so far. They needed to slip past the zombies to get to me, and it was enough for Lina to slow them down a bit so I could kill them.

  Some of the orcs from the village shot magic at me, in such a way, that I had to dissolve my spell a few times to avoid being hit. Fortunately, none of them had a great rank, or else I would’ve had to retreat.

  I kept making volleys of 25 bullets and firing them as I walked forward, my magic tearing through the orc flesh like it was paper. Terrified screams arose when the zombies started clawing and stabbing the living, male, female, child. The dead didn’t discriminate against anyone, they simply wanted to fulfill their Master’s orders and kill. Kill all and everyone.

  “You can stop now. Darling?” Lina hit my arm. The slight pain was enough to clear my mind. “Ah!”

  When I looked at her, she was holding her chest, “Uh! Slave crest. I forgot that I am not allowed to hurt you.”

  The zombies were assembling the corpses in neat lines. They were ready for me to cast Darkness on them. Two members of the Desert Blades went inside the cave, and after a while, they brought an old barrel filled with junk. There were knives, flasks, broaches… Among all the different things, I saw some adventurer plates. There were 26 of them.

  The red moon covered the forest in a ghostly red light by the time I finished making more zombies. My magic bullets were more effective than I thought, only 68 bodies were able to become an addition to my forces. The rest had shattered bones or missing limbs. Fortunately, we can still sell them at the Guild.

  “It’s too late to go back now. Should we camp here?” Lina asked while looking around, the village was a disaster. There was blood everywhere, the houses were either demolished or on fire. Even several of the thinner trees fell down, smoldering.

  I channeled Darkness on a burning hut, it took a while, but I was able to suck the flames. It was a weird sensation, maybe I should experiment more later.

  “We may as well camp here,” I said after putting the fires down. “I will leave the zombies to guard duty, and we’ll take turns sleeping. Just in case.”

  The only good place we could use was the cave. How do I explain it? It was strange, having a cave on such a small hill.

  “What the hell?”

  “What is it, Darling?”

  “This,” I motioned at the flat ceiling, “Is not a cave. This are the remains of a concrete building!”

  I could discern some holes where the power switches used to be, and even the metal framework could be seen in a few places.

  “Concrete? Is that how this stone is called?”

  Lina didn’t have a clue about what I was saying. Anyway, I doubt people would use concrete even if the knew how to make it. Why go through all that trouble when an Earth Mage can make a better wall or ceiling?

  My initial excitement subsided, and I went deeper into the structure. There were several rooms, all empty, and one side of the building collapsed ages ago. I picked a room near the entrance and set up camp there when Lina brought some wood, and soon we had a nice fire going.

  “Are you alright?” I asked her, putting an arm over her shoulders when she snuggled against my side. It must’ve been an awful experience for her, seeing what the orcs did to the girl. Hell! I felt sick to my stomach after having to witness that.

  “Well, that kind of thing happens from time to time. I heard the stories, and even saw a corpse once, but… It was difficult. To see that kind of cruelty.”

  It was a harsh world. The orcs probably saw humans as animals, nothing but prey.

  A slightly bigger kind of goblin with the wrong skin color? Perhaps humans were tastier than goblins to them.

  Lina drew closer when I took out my Status Plate.

  Name

  Alex Miller

  Mana

  S

  Strength

  A

  Speed

  B

  Dark Magic

  B

  Fire Magic

  E

  Ai
r Magic

  F

  Water Magic

  G

  My Dark, Fire, and Air magic went up! I also got a new Element! What kind of spells could I make with these?

  Protection! Could I make an Air Shield? Or a water one? Do I need to bring water with me anymore? Could I just drink Water Magic?

  “Demon.” Lina wrapped her tail around my waist and rubbed her face against mine. “I wonder if you will get tired of a weakling like me one day, and sell me to someone else? Or just toss me aside?”

  “Didn’t we agree that you were my woman? Besides, you can get stronger.”

  “Thanks for comforting me, Darling.” Lina kissed my cheek and blushed. “But you know, it will take a while for me to get stronger. I’m not a monster like you.”

  “Really? What do you say about this?” I concentrated and showed her the other plate. The one with her stats.

  “Wait. Did something change? My mana! How?”

  Name

  Lina

  Mana

  F

  Strength

  D

  Speed

  D

  Air Magic

  G

  “Last night I tempered with your Mana pool, remember? All I needed to do was expand it a little, and there you go.”

  She stared at me for a moment, and then she grabbed my coat like she was some bad-ass guy.

  “My Strength! And Speed! Can you do the same for them?”

  “I don’t know?” I said honestly. That was a good question. I would like to know that myself.

  “Oh, sorry. I got carried away.” She apologized and sigh. “It would be nice if I could be at least half as strong as you are.”

  I gave Lina some blankets and took the first shift. After questioning her about some E and F magic skills, I started trying to develop them. She didn’t know a lot about magic, so it was a little hard to understand what she was saying. ‘Wall’, ‘Bind’, ‘Confuse’, ‘Strike’? I needed more details.

  And then, there was the thing she asked me before, about increasing her stats. So far, I know that I can help her increase her mana, but what about Strength and Speed? Maybe even add a new element? I Absorb those things from the enemies that I defeat. Was there a way to ‘extract’ and then ‘inject’?

  After practicing my magic for hours, I shook the kitty and she took the second shift while went to get some sleep too.

  In the morning I packed our stuff, and we headed back to the town. I put the old barrel and what was left of the adventurer’s corpses inside the Storage last night, so we didn’t have to stay more than necessary. We ate our breakfast while walking, and decided to take a little detour, in the hopes of finding more monsters.

  This forest was like a treasure trove. A monster here, another there, a small group, big one… The time passed by, and around noon we were at Jolek.

  “That’s them!”

  As we walked out of the forest, we saw a group of maybe twenty adventurers at the entrance of the town. Some of them were pointing at us and speaking vividly with the others. Did something happen? We didn’t break any law right?

  Man, why can’t I just do my thing and be left alone?

  F*ck it, let’s see what they want.

  Chapter 11.

  “Alex, you're fine!” Aler, the wolf-kin adventurer that traveled with us from Tsarigrad, stepped out of the crowd when we approached the gate. “We thought you were dead.”

  “Huh? Why?” Was there another adventurer party targeting me?

  “Yesterday, you two went inside the forest and didn’t come back at all! We thought something happened to you.” Velira hugged Lina and then looked at her body for any signs of injury. “You’re fine, right? I didn’t open a wound or something?”

  “I’m fine. Darling protected me.” Lina hugged my arm like she always does, “He’s so strong and reliable.”

  Ahem! An older Adventurer stepped forward and introduced himself, “I am Tarlan, a B rank adventurer. Last night we received information that a five-member D rank party didn’t came out of the forest. It wouldn’t be an issue if they were at least C or B rank, but D rank parties are as good as dead if they plan to spend the night in that place. Did you happen to come across anyone while you were there?”

  “Four men and a woman?” It’s them, isn’t it? Shit, man.

  “Yes. When did you saw them?”

  I explained what happened after we heard the scream in the forest, the adventurers' expressions turned grim, and the women shuddered. They were all well aware of what orcs did to adventurers when they got their hands on them.

  After hearing that I brought back the corpses, some adventurers that were their friends asked me to put the remains on a wagon. They thanked me and left with the bodies, the group wanted to take care of the funeral, and the first thing they need to do was search for a priest.

  Sometimes the dead adventurers would turn into zombies, so having a priest purify the corpses before the funeral was a must.

  Lina found us a carriage heading for Tsarigrad, but we had to wait for almost an hour until there were enough people for it to take off. Lina and I spent the whole trip watching the scenery and making some small talk, the four adventurers we traveled with were veterans who only complained about the younger generation, so I wasn’t inclined to listen to their rumblings.

  After what seemed like ages, we arrived at Tsarigrad and headed to the Adventurers Guild. The sounds of laughter and music greeted us when we entered the building, some of the adventurers sang a song, and one guy was even playing an instrument that looked like a banjo.

  “Alex, Lina, are you here to sell some materials?” Elyn asked when she saw us at the counter, she seemed a bit tired, it must’ve been a hard day for her.

  “Monster bodies and quests.” Lina handed her the notes with a smile.

  “Wow! How many Corpses you got there?” Elyn asked in surprise when she scanned the papers.

  “93, I think. They’re mostly orcs.” Silence engulfed the whole Guild room in a few seconds, and then people started talking in low voices.

  “No way.”

  “It has to be a lie, right?”

  “93! Holy Kriss!”

  “A monster.”

  “I heard his girl calls him a Demon.”

  “He looks human.”

  “You saw his face yesterday, it was scary.”

  “Like he wanted our souls.”

  “He looked snub, like one of those nobles. Like some Lord.”

  “A Demon Lord?”

  Oh, bloody hell. I do like Japanese light novels, but 'Demon Lord' was such a cliché.

  Elyn arranged a lot of tables for me, and I begin taking out the bodies. Like the last time, I could feel the stares of the other adventurers again. By the time I was halfway through, the talking resumed.

  “That’s insane!”

  “Look! Many of the corpses have holes in them.”

  “A Raging Bear!”

  “A B-rank monster?! Holy...”

  “And the limbs! Arms and legs - all torn apart!”

  “Dear God! Are those children!”

  “They are ugly.”

  Blargh!

  “A true Demon Lord.”

  “Demon Lord.”

  Some of the Guild employees that came to help looked sick, one of them even vomited, and had to sit down. This is so embarrassing, they are even avoiding to look me in the eye now.

  After I finished with the corpses, I handed the stuck of adventurer plates I retrieved from the orc village to Elyn.

  Lina and I had to wait for almost half an hour before Elyn came back with the reward money and our Guild cards. This time, we didn’t submit any goblins, they were rare in the forests around Jolek. I did hunt some, but they were all turned into zombies.

  “Here is your reward.” Elyn handed me 11 gold and 23 silver coins. “Although you had mostly orc corpses, there were also some other, more valuable ones. Like for example the Raging Bear, he’s a B rank mons
ter. The fact that you managed to kill it is unbelievable.”

  Only the bear was worth 5 gold coins, not bad at all. I would prefer to have it as a zombie, but it wouldn't be of much use with only one arm. I’ll need to learn to kill more efficiently, maybe Lina could help me practice since she took some kind of lessons. Was it something like an assassination class?

  “Your Party’s name has been recorded.”

  Name? I don’t remember submitting one. When I took the card from the Guild receptionist I saw it. The name.

  “Is this a joke.” Embarrassing. So embarrassing. And worst - so close to the truth.

  “It is a policy of the Guild to chose a name for a party if they haven’t picked one themselves. Usually, you would have about a week to think of one, but in a case when you earn a name that is recognized by a large number of adventurers, that name becomes the Party’s name.” Elyn explained professionally and looked at Lina. “And a member of your Party agreed to it.”

  “It sounds really good, Darling. And it really, really suits you!” The kitty said in her defense.

  Well, at least my rank went up again. I’m E rank now, and official leader of the ‘Demon Lord’s Party’.

  ***

  The next day, Lina and I were in a forest near Tsarigrad. We didn’t go far, just enough to avoid being seen, as I wanted her to teach me some moves. She only knew how to use daggers, but still managed to give me some good advice.

  We took a break when she got tired, and then I commence my magic practice. I bought a book with detailed depictions and information about low-level skills, so I wanted to learn as much as I could.

  “That staff is amazing,” Lina commented while I practiced magic with Trinity. I tried to use Darkness, Fire, Air, and Water to create bullets, balls and slashing attacks. I needed to use different amounts of mana for different attributes, to achieve the same result. There was very little I could do with Water since my ability for it was G.